Behind The Story Show

Staring at a seven-page ballot full of names you don't recognize? You're not alone. In this episode of Behind the Story, host Jelani Gonzalez sits down with a Los Angeles software engineer who was born in China, became a U.S. citizen, and set out to fix one of the biggest problems in American elections: most voters have no idea who the candidates really are.

Using AI to gather and summarize public records, he and a team of friends from across the political spectrum built a free, open-source site that shows what candidates have actually done: how they voted, who funded them, and what each office does, all in plain language and always linked to the original source.

In this conversation:

- Why campaign ads make it so hard to know who to trust

- How to research candidates fast, even with only 10 minutes

- What "vote power" means and why local races, like city council and school board, can matter more than the presidential race

- How AI summarizes legislation and ballot measures without making anything up

- How to see who funds a candidate (PACs, super PACs, and donors)

- Why open source matters when you're using AI around elections

- Party loyalty vs. voting your own values

- Mail-in ballots, ballot overwhelm, and what happens after the midterms

Look up your own ballot: https://electionsimplify.com

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Behind the Story is a weekly long-form interview podcast hosted by Jelani Gonzalez. Follow @behindthestoryshow on all platforms.

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Zolal Habibi was seven years old when her father, a well-known human rights activist and writer, was killed in the summer of 1988, during the wave of executions of political prisoners in Iran. She found out months later, from a newspaper she wasn’t supposed to see.

In this conversation, Jelani Gonzalez goes behind the headlines with Zolal to explore the personal story that shaped her life’s work. She shares how growing up in the U.S. inside an activist household led her to Congress at twelve. She also explains why the student uprisings of 1999 pulled her away from a planned career in medicine, and what she believes Americans misunderstand about Iran today.

Zolal draws a clear line between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people. She makes the case that the choice isn’t limited to war or appeasement, and she describes what she sees happening inside Iran, from communication blackouts to organized underground networks. She also answers the hard questions about sanctions, the “death to America” footage, and what meaningful outside support would look like.

In this conversation:

• The memory of learning about her father’s death, and what helped her cope
• What the 1988 massacre was and why it still shapes Iran’s politics
• The turning point that led her to give up medicine for activism
• Why she says Iranians aren’t stuck between war and appeasement
• What it’s like to hear so little from ordinary Iranian families
• How she stays hopeful after nearly three decades
• One thing listeners can do this week

The views and figures shared in this episode are Zolal’s own.

Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: BALT25ZPX6CHDWKF

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Why do so many founders feel lost after selling their business? Adam Roach exited three real estate brokerage franchises in 2019, hit the number he’d set for himself, and then faced what he calls the hangover: a loss of identity no exit plan had prepared him for.

Adam, founder of I Love Coaching Co., shares how he rebuilt, from an exercise that connected a wound, a lie and a vow to a question from John Maxwell and a stranger holding old cassette tapes at his father’s funeral.

Questions this conversation answers:

• What do you do after you sell your business?
• How do you know when it’s time to exit?
• How should coaches price their offer? (He says you are not for sale, your payoff is.)
• How do you find your coaching niche and ideal client?
• Why does consistency have to come before scale?
• How should coaches approach AI?

Adam’s path runs from eight pro tennis matches without a win to flipping houses, losing $80,000 in 2008 and paying the bank anyway, building a recruiting software company, and starting a coaching community. If you’ve built something, sold something, or wondered who you are without the title, this is for you.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube. Subscribe to Behind the Story for more conversations that go beyond the surface.

Connect with Adam: ilovecoachingco.com Instagram: Adam R. Roach 
 
Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: BALT25ZPX6CHDWKF

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Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home on Oct 12, and reporting says the investigation centers on her 2000 naturalization. No one has been charged. This episode steps back from the headlines to answer the bigger question: can the U.S. government take away a person’s citizenship, and what does it have to prove?

We cover what is confirmed, what is only alleged, how denaturalization works in plain English (including the Supreme Court cases Fedorenko, Maslenjak and Afroyim), and then the strongest case for the government and for the critics, with equal rigor.

CHAPTERS

0:00  Cold open: the question behind the raid

1:58  What we actually know (confirmed vs. alleged)

6:35  How denaturalization actually works

11:20  The two strongest cases

16:30  Close: the standard that applies to everyone

This is a developing story. Everything about the investigation is reported as alleged or according to named sources. No charges or civil case have been filed as of recording. Sources are linked below.

SOURCES

CNN exclusive: Judge limited DOJ access to Omar’s records (Oct 14, 2026), read via KVIA syndication: https://kvia.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2026/10/14/exclusive-judge-limited-justice-department-access-to-rep-ilhan-omars-records-in-sprawling-immigration-fraud-probe/

TIME: Can Trump Strip Ilhan Omar of Her Citizenship? How the Process Works (Oct 14, 2026): https://time.com/article/2026/10/14/ilhan-omar-citizenship-investigation-denaturalization-DOJ/

Reason: DHS searched Ilhan Omar’s home (Oct 12, 2026): https://reason.com/2026/10/12/dhs-searched-ilhan-omars-home-as-part-of-immigration-fraud-investigation/

AP via PBS NewsHour: Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home (Oct 12, 2026): https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-report-federal-agents-search-rep-ilhan-omars-home-as-part-of-a-criminal-investigation

Fox News: Could Trump revoke Omar’s citizenship? (immigration attorney Michael Wildes): https://www.foxnews.com/politics/could-trump-revoke-ilhan-omars-citizenship-alleged-brother-marriage-ex-federal-prosecutor-breaks-down

Western Journal: Jonathan Turley on denaturalization: https://www.westernjournal.com/legal-expert-jonathan-turley-says-ilhan-omar-line-denaturalization-immigration-laws-clear/

Political Wire: “Ilhan Omar Probe Aims to Revoke Her Citizenship” (summarizing WSJ, Oct 14): https://politicalwire.com/2026/10/14/ilhan-omar-probe-aims-to-revoke-her-citizenship/

Maslenjak v. United States, 582 U.S. ___ (2017), Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/16-309

Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U.S. 490 (1981), Cornell LII: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/449/490

Afroyim v. Rusk (1967), EBSCO Research Starters: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/afroyim-v-rusk

Peter Spiro testimony, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution (June 3, 2026): https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/2026-06-03_testimony_spiropdf

National Law Review: DOJ Civil Division denaturalization memo (June 2025): https://www.natlawreview.com/article/doj-civil-division-prioritizes-denaturalization-new-enforcement-memo

Behind the Story goes past the headline with balanced, plain-language explainers on law and civic affairs. Subscribe so you don’t miss the next one.

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What if you never filed a tax return again — no April 15th, no IRS — and a single 1% tax funded the entire government? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Gary Barnes, a retired tradesman turned author of Fixing America’s Broken Government, for a wide-ranging conversation about the idea he calls the “receiving tax.”

Gary spent 45 years as a wallpapering artisan in southwest Connecticut, raising six children while wrestling with a tax code he describes as 12,000 pages of complexity. After the 2008 housing crash and years of watching his own kids struggle to reach the American dream, he set out to design a different way to fund government — one that taxes the movement of money beneath the economy rather than the people producing it.

In this conversation, Gary explains how a 1% charge on money changing ownership could, in his telling, replace income, payroll, corporate, capital gains, and inheritance taxes; why he wants to abolish the IRS and route everything through the Treasury; his “nine pillars” model for what government funds and what gets spun off; and his proposals on retirees, property taxes, campaign finance, immigration, and education. Jelani pushes back throughout — on double taxation, on the economists who say the numbers won’t add up, and on the real people whose jobs the plan would eliminate.

Whether you agree with Gary or not, it’s a thought-provoking look at taxation, government, and the question of who really holds the power. Gary’s ideas are his own, offered here for discussion, not as financial or policy advice.

Learn more about Gary’s work:
 Book & grassroots community: https://fixyourgov.com
Fixing America’s Broken Government is available in paperback and ebook on Amazon.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by the guest are their own. This conversation is for informational purposes and is not financial, tax, or legal advice.

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Reid Robinson was a hardworking IT infrastructure architect and father of two in Calgary when an icy-road car crash changed everything. What followed was more than a dozen surgeries, years of crutches, and a recovery that tested his patience, his body, and his determination to stay present for his family.

In this conversation, Reid takes us behind the story of how he went from hospital bed to inventor. Frustrated by how hard crutches were to live with, he sketched an idea for a "crutch for your leg," searched the patent databases, and spent three weeks in his garage welding the first prototype himself. The first time he walked across the road to kick a soccer ball with his kids, he knew it was worth pursuing. That prototype became the X Leg.

We talk about:

• The day of the crash and the moment he chose to cut the boot instead of losing the foot
• What life really looked like between surgeries
• The 16-hour surgery that finally got his leg to heal
• How the X Leg works, who it can help, and when crutches are still the better choice
• The road from prototype to Health Canada and FDA registration, ongoing medical studies, and his goal of making it more affordable
• How the experience reshaped his approach to health, fitness, and longevity

It's a story about resilience, problem-solving, and the idea that we're tougher than we think.

Learn more about the X Leg at xleg.ca.

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What does it take to change a habit that has outlasted every attempt to break it? Connie Kwan, author of Story Habits, says the answer starts with the story you tell yourself about who you are, not with more willpower.

Connie grew up between Hong Kong and Canada, trained as a computer engineer, and spent much of her career in product. Then she joined a smoking cessation company and, in her words, got a front-row seat to how habit change works. She shares what she saw: two simple self-reported numbers, motivation and confidence, predicted who would quit better than how long or how much someone had smoked.

In this conversation:
• Why the word "habit" originally meant a monk's robe, and what that says about identity
• Clement, a longtime smoker whose father died of lung cancer, and the new story that changed his quit
• The "manipulation fries" reframe that helped an exit founder stop reaching for fries
• Why smokers who eventually quit often needed about seven serious attempts
• Connie's own years-long struggle with late-night binge-watching, and the replacement habit that finally worked
• Why the people closest to you may quietly resist your change, and how to find your champions
• How AI is reshaping product roles, and what it means to be a builder

Timestamps:
00:00 The story you were handed about who you'd become
02:12 From engineer to product leader at a quit-smoking company
05:57 Who actually smokes, and what it taught Connie about people
09:50 Motivation and confidence: the two numbers that predicted success
13:29 Clement, and the new story that helped him quit
15:49 The "manipulation fries" reframe
20:48 Why discipline and willpower miss the point
21:05 The monk's habit: where the word comes from
23:42 The magic number seven
25:38 Four a.m. binge-watching and the replacement habit that worked
34:17 Amplify Her and The Dim Sum Club
36:15 "I'm not a writer" and the writing hat
39:27 When the people around you want you to stay the same
46:30 Will AI replace product managers?
50:14 Connie's hope for readers of Story Habits

About Connie Kwan:
Connie Kwan is the author of Story Habits, arriving in November 2026, and is building a companion app, the Story Habits Coach. She is a former product leader at a smoking cessation company and co-founder of Amplify Her and The Dim Sum Club.

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Behind the Story is a video podcast hosted by Jelani Gonzalez. Every story has a deeper story.

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The word "DEI" has been demonized — but what does it actually mean? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Celeste Warren, former Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, decades-long HR leader, author, and founder of CRW Diversity, for the clear-eyed conversation the topic has been missing.

Celeste grew up in a small steel-mill town in Western Pennsylvania, the daughter of the first Black teacher and principal in her part of the state. That front-row seat shaped a career spent making the business case for equity at the highest levels of corporate leadership.

Together, Jelani and Celeste unpack what most people — and even many executives — get wrong about equity. Celeste explains why "diverse" and "qualified" are not mutually exclusive, breaks down her "acts of equity" framework and the now-famous rocks-and-fence illustration, and shares the "five whys" method she uses to surface unconscious bias in real hiring conversations. They also dig into the history behind today's backlash, why equity ultimately benefits everyone regardless of identity, and the difference between DEI and nepotism.

As Celeste puts it, doing this work isn't a program with a start and end date — it's leadership 101, management 101, and business 101.

Connect with Celeste Warren:
 Website: https://www.crwdiversity.com
Her book on equity is available on Amazon.

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On Monday, September 14, 2026, the Supreme Court closed the book — at least for this election — on a fight Behind the Story has tracked across five episodes. By a 7-2 vote, the justices refused to let the Trump administration enforce a new U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterms, leaving a federal judge's nationwide injunction in place.

In this series finale, host Jelani Gonzalez breaks down what the Court actually decided, why a cross-ideological majority of seven justices agreed, what Justice Kavanaugh's swing vote really turned on, and why Justices Alito and Thomas dissented. He walks through what the USPS rule would have required, how the case reached the Court, and the one big constitutional question the justices deliberately left unanswered.

As always, no side-taking — just the arguments, from both directions, laid out with equal rigor so you can decide for yourself.

What it means for you: for November 2026, mail voting works the way it always has.

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Twenty-six years ago, a comedian in a yellow tracksuit and orange shades sat across from real politicians, generals, and diplomats — and they answered him seriously. That was Ali G. This fall, Sacha Baron Cohen is bringing the character back in Ali G: Who Is I? — and tens of thousands of people are trying to make sure you never get to watch it.

In this Behind the Story Exposé, we go past the headline and into the real tension: a British watchdog group has driven 45,000+ emails urging cinemas worldwide to refuse the film — before almost anyone has seen a single scene. Is that protecting people from harm, or censoring art we haven't judged yet? We lay out the strongest case on both sides, the 1998-vs-2026 history most people forget, and a twist about who's actually funding the campaign that changes the whole conversation.

No lectures. No easy bow. Just the story behind the story — and four questions worth sitting with: Have we become too sensitive, or finally honest? Where's the line between a boycott and a ban? Is there a bridge too far? And who actually gets to decide?

Listen, then tell us where you land.

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