Cats on hind legs. Ducks strolling through a school. AI. Norm MacDonald. What connects the strange details that stick with us and the conversations that follow?

In this episode of At the Mic Friday Happy Hour, Keith Malinak is joined by fan favorite Brad Staggs and producer Wes Castelhano (aka “Hero Wes”) for a wide-ranging conversation that moves through recognition, coincidence, and the growing role of AI in everyday problem-solving. Along the way, humor, memory, and human instinct reveal how meaning often emerges from unexpected places, culminating in reflection on the enduring comedic influence of Norm MacDonald.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 The Call That Starts Everything
2. 07:30 When Fortune Turns
3. 15:00 Building, Breaking, Fixing
4. 24:00 Creepy or Cool?
5. 31:30 AI Isn’t Magic
6. 57:30 One Message Changes Everything
7. 01:05:00 Coincidence or Pattern
8. 01:12:30 The System Doesn’t Work Like You Think
9. 01:20:00 Stories You’re Not Supposed to Admit
10. 01:28:30 The Rules We Pretend Exist
11. 01:36:30 Ducks, Basketball, and Accidental Lessons
12. 02:05:30 Why Norm MacDonald Still Matters

If Wes designed a shirt for At The Mic, what would it look like? Be cool, not creepy.

Brad Staggs

1. https://twitter.com/realbradstaggs

At The Mic with Keith Malinak

1. https://atmshow.com
2. https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak
3. https://instagram.com/atthemicshow

1. https://secondfloorstudios.co
2. https://twitter.com/2ndfloordallas
3. https://instagram.com/2ndfloordallas

Special thanks to Gabby

https://twitter.com/jeffyapologist

Some government failures don’t look accidental anymore. They look designed. When the same “mistakes” keep producing the same results, accountability becomes harder to ignore.

In this episode of At The Mic Thursday Deep Dive, host Keith Malinak is joined by former FBI agent Steve Friend for a wide-ranging conversation about power, institutional incentives, and what happens when speaking up from the inside carries a personal cost.

The discussion moves through recruitment practices, internal pressure, public narratives, and constitutional limits, not as a checklist, but as a growing unease. Familiar justifications repeat. Outcomes drift from stated intentions. Trust erodes through accumulation.

Rather than offering a single conclusion, the episode leaves listeners with a question: can institutions built to serve the public still tell the difference between protection and self-preservation?

Chapters:

1. 0:00 — When Institutions Stop Explaining Themselves
2. 06:45 — Speaking Up From the Inside
3. 8:30 — Malicious Compliance and Manufactured Failure
4. 34:10 — Leadership, Loyalty, and Power Inside the FBI
5. 52:40 — Recruitment, Vetting, and Internal Culture Shifts
6. 01:07:20 — Redefining Threats and Domestic Terrorism
7. 01:22:10 — Statistics, Narratives, and Public Perception
8. 01:38:00 — Entrapment, High-Profile Cases, and Accountability
9. 01:52:30 — Reform, Dissolution, or Something Else Entirely

What does it say about an institution when speaking up from the inside carries a higher cost than staying silent?

Connect With Us:

1. Guest Steve Friend: https://x.com/@realstevefriend

Keith:

1. YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AtTheMicShow
2. X (Twitter): https://x.com/KeithMalinak
3. Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow
4. Website: https://atthemicshow.com

Produced by Wes — 2nd Floor Studios

https://secondfloorstudios.co

Everything feels broken, but nobody is calling it out.

What happens when systems fail, leadership disappears, and the line just keeps ringing?

In the inaugural episode of *At the Mic: Wednesday Wild Card*, Keith Malinak and Brad Staggs start with a simple experiment, dialing a remote phone booth in the Mojave Desert and letting the silence do the talking. From there, the conversation wanders intentionally, moving through books worth sitting with, strange rocks that inspire real belief, hypnosis stories most people avoid, and the personal moments that surface when there is time to wait and listen.

Calls come in. Ideas shift. The discussion follows curiosity instead of urgency, tracing how people behave when certainty is absent and no one seems to be on the other end of the line.

This episode sets the tone for Wednesday Wild Card, where exploration matters more than conclusions and questions are allowed to breathe.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 When the System Doesn’t Work
2. 08:30 Who’s Actually in Control Here?
3. 20:15 The Hypnosis Story Nobody Wants to Touch
4. 35:40 Why Human Behavior Never Makes Sense
5. 52:10 When Words Become Weapons
6. 01:08:30 The Mojave Phone Booth Problem
7. 01:20:45 Life on the Road Tells You Everything
8. 01:33:20 Culture, Comedy, and Questionable Icons
9. 01:46:00 Nothing Goes Where It’s Supposed To
10. 01:56:30 No One’s On the Line

When things stop working and no one answers, do you wait for someone else to step in, or do you change how you respond?

Connect with the show:

Website: https://atmshow.com

Follow Keith Malinak:

Twitter: https://x.com/KeithMalinak

Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow

Follow Brad Staggs:

Twitter: https://x.com/realbradstaggs

Produced by Wes at 2nd Floor Studios:

https://secondfloorstudios.co

Curling might look like a quiet Olympic sport, but it reveals a lot about how people are navigating modern life.

In this episode of At the Mic Friday Happy Hour, Keith Malinak and Rebecca use Olympic curling as an unexpected lens to explore parenting tradeoffs, rising costs, and why everyday decisions feel heavier than they used to. From national pride and cultural pressure to family boundaries and financial stress, the conversation connects humor, personal stories, and social observation to the realities shaping how people live right now.

It’s a grounded, wide ranging discussion about community, responsibility, and what shared moments like the Olympics expose beneath the surface.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 Why This Week Feels Different
2. 05:30 Health Updates That Hit Close to Home
3. 11:30 Social Media Isn’t What It Was
4. 17:30 A Story That Doesn’t Add Up
5. 23:00 Community, Fundraising, and Showing Up
6. 29:00 True Crime and Family Boundaries
7. 35:00 Beauty Culture and Online Fallout
8. 41:00 Animal Stories That Took Over the Internet
9. 47:30 Olympic Pride and National Identity
10. 52:00 Curling’s Unexpected Appeal
11. 56:30 Girl Scout Lessons in Business
12. 01:01:30 When Tax Incentives Backfire
13. 01:08:00 Fun Facts That Shift the Mood
14. 01:15:00 Gold Bars, Spelling Bees, and Lost Fortunes
15. 01:28:00 Curiosity, Belief, and What Comes Next

Which part of everyday life feels the most different to you right now, and what do you think changed?

Follow At the Mic for weekly conversations on culture, money, family, and the moments that reveal more than they seem.

Most people believe they own their stocks, retirement accounts, and even their cash. In reality, the modern economy operates through centralized financial control, legal structures, and institutions most Americans never see.

In this Thursday Deep Dive, Keith Malinak is joined by Justin Haskins to examine how financial ownership quietly shifted away from individuals and toward centralized systems designed to survive crisis. From the Depository Trust Company and property rights to digital currency, CBDCs, and programmable money, this conversation explores how power moves when markets fail and who is protected when stability breaks.

As debt rises, asset inflation accelerates, and digital currencies reshape the financial landscape, the discussion turns to preparation, diversification, and what ownership actually means in an economy built on contracts instead of control.

1. 00:00 — The Ownership Assumption
2. 10:01 — How the System Quietly Changed
3. 20:04 — Centralization and the Trade Nobody Noticed
4. 27:35 — When Your Assets Become Collateral
5. 30:39 — The Market Beneath the Market
6. 34:07 — Emergency Powers and Crisis Rules
7. 35:36 — The Man Chosen to Run It All
8. 43:05 — Intelligence, Influence, and Finance
9. 47:07 — Life After the Gold Standard
10. 52:04 — Can Crypto Actually Protect You?
11. 01:00:40 — The Promise and Threat of Digital Money
12. 01:15:11 — Stablecoins, Trust, and Control
13. 01:22:37 — Regulation That Changes Everything
14. 01:30:20 — When the System Finally Breaks
15. 01:38:14 — A Warning From Abroad
16. 01:46:13 — Who Benefits From the Wealth Gap
17. 01:56:48 — Preparing Without Panicking

If the rules of ownership change during a crisis, do you actually control your money, or are you trusting the system to let you keep it?

Much like your financial future, don’t leave your information sources to chance. Follow At The Mic for weekly Thursday Deep Dives.

Justin T. Haskins

1. Follow on X: https://x.com/JustinTHaskins
2. Book: The Next Big Crash (Available on Amazon)

1. Website: https://atmshow.com
2. YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AtTheMicShow
3. X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/KeithMalinak
4. Instagram: https://instagram.com/atthemicshow
5. Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/@AtTheMicShow

Produced by Wes — 2nd Floor Studios

1. https://secondfloorstudios.co

Norway leads in gold medals. America argues about it. Then someone claims Epstein is on a CB radio in a big rig, and the conversation takes a very strange turn.

In this episode of At The Mic: Friday Happy Hour, the discussion uses Norway’s dominance on the world stage as a jumping-off point for broader questions about national confidence, momentum, and why some countries seem to understand winning better than others. From there, the conversation drifts into media narratives, cultural memory, and the way odd details and half-forgotten anecdotes resurface long after they’re supposed to disappear.

A surreal CB radio story tied to the Epstein case hangs over the episode, less as a revelation and more as a case study in how unresolved stories echo through unexpected places. Humor, skepticism, and observation overlap as familiar topics mix with details that feel strangely out of place.

Chapters:

1. 0:00 – 11:00 – Friday Vibes, Radio Nostalgia & How We Got Here
2. 11:00 – 22:00 – Wardrobe Crimes, Show Intros & Style Regrets
3. 22:00 – 33:00 – Whipped Cream Incidents & TSA Losing Its Mind
4. 33:00 – 44:00 – The Worst Christmas Songs Ever Recorded
5. 44:00 – 55:00 – Wombats, Windmills & Questions No One Asked
6. 55:00 – Frozen Spit, Balloon Boy & Internet Memory Holes
7. 1:06:00 – Postpartum Reality & Trampoline Nightmares
8. 1:17:00 – Bathroom Germs, Lazy Robots & Modern Life
9. 1:28:00 – Pronoun Chaos, Leaf Fines & Bureaucratic Nonsense
10. 1:39:00 –NPiggy Banks, GoFundMe Ethics & Viral Absurdity
11. 1:50:00 – Moose Sightings, AI Fear & “Is This Real?”
12. 2:01:00 – Foot Fetishes, Year-End Madness & Final Thoughts

Why does Norway seem to have this whole “winning” thing figured out?

Connect With Us:

1. Brad Staggs: https://twitter.com/@realbradstaggs
2. Rebecca Mistereggen: https://twitter.com/@UCTjDhUcasTplLj2mdcE3YFQ

Special thanks to Gabby:

1. https://twitter.com/jeffapologist

Produced by Wes over at 2nd Floor Studios Dallas, Texas:

https://secondfloorstudios.co

In January 1919, Boston was struck by one of the strangest and deadliest industrial disasters in American history, when a massive molasses tank collapsed and sent a deadly wave through the city’s North End, killing 21 people.

In this At The Mic: Deep Dive episode, Keith Malinak is joined by historian and author Stephen Puleo, whose book Dark Tide remains the definitive account of the Boston Molasses Flood. Together, they explore the corporate negligence that led to the disaster, the human stories behind the tragedy, and the landmark civil trial that followed, one of the earliest cases to hold a corporation accountable for public harm. The discussion also explains how the flood permanently reshaped American building codes, safety standards, and the legal relationship between corporations and the public, revealing why this overlooked moment in history still matters today.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Why Forgotten American Disasters Matter
• 10:17 The Day Boston Drowned in Molasses
• 20:12 Corporate Greed and a Tank Never Tested
• 28:10 Blaming Anarchists to Escape Responsibility
• 30:34 The Moment the Tank Collapsed
• 35:53 Rescue Efforts and the Human Toll
• 40:13 The Trial That Changed Corporate Accountability
• 45:02 How the Flood Reshaped U.S. Building Codes
• 50:15 Cleaning a City Buried in Molasses
• 53:07 The Victims’ Final Moments
• 55:34 The North End and Italian Immigrant Resilience
• 59:23 Why This Story Still Matters Today

Don’t be like the molasses company, neglecting basic responsibility. Follow At The Mic for more Deep Dives into overlooked American history.

Follow, Listen, and Connect:

• At The Mic w/ Keith Malinak
• YouTube, X, Instagram, Rumble, and all major podcast platforms

Produced by Wes, 2nd Floor Studios

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.

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)

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

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

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

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:

1. 00:00 The Night Starts With JFK Again
2. 02:58 Hidden Deals and the Systems They Expose
3. 06:02 Snow, Chemtrails, and Asking the Wrong Questions
4. 08:54 When Contact With the Outside World Goes Sideways
5. 16:00 Ghost Stories That Stop Being Funny
6. 26:00 Real Estate, Vampires, and Things You Didn’t Expect
7. 29:55 Can AI Talk to the Dead?
8. 43:25 Smart Glasses, Surveillance, and Losing Yourself
9. 52:44 Why Celebrity Culture Feels Engineered
10. 01:00:05 Robots in the Operating Room
11. 01:22:25 Death, Mirrors, and Leaving the Body
12. 01:49:01 Cures, Control, and the Future No One Explains

Guests:

1. Brad Staggs (@realbradstaggs)
2. Kelly Smith (@kelly4freedom)

Host:

1. Keith Malinak (@keithmalinak)

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

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