Restoring America with Grace Reilly

James Talarico called capitalism one of three "oppressive systems." Now his Texas Senate campaign says he's a "proud capitalist."

In this episode, I play the 2020 climate forum where he talked about "dismantling" those systems and compared Texas oil and gas to "cassette tapes in the 1980s." I walk through his record on Texas's 2021 election law and on parents and gender identity, and his campaign's claim that he "missed the mark."

I ask why a Trail Blazers broadcaster loses his job over posts from his teens while politicians get a pass, and how Abigail Spanberger ran the same moderate bait and switch in Virginia. Texas votes November 3. Believe what the record shows.

Today, I react to Willy Rice's Fox News interview and Ike Wingate's Newsmax monologue on why so many Christians sit out elections. I also read what Lucas Miles and Josh Howerton are saying, plus a Charlie Kirk quote that's been going around, and I answer the two excuses I hear most: "I don't get into politics" and "there are no good candidates."

Politics was never morally neutral, and there will never be a perfect candidate. If you've felt checked out, I hope this changes your mind. The numbers are on our side. The question is whether we're willing.

Wealthy allies like Germany have been freeloading on American drug innovation for years. The Trump administration is finally doing something about it.

In this episode, I break down Jeffrey Gerrish's Newsweek op-ed on the wealthy countries that let Americans fund a disproportionate share of the world's drug research. Germany has been blocking the push to get allies to roll back their price controls, and the administration answered with a Section 301 investigation. The same pressure already worked on the UK, which agreed to double its spending on innovative drugs as a share of GDP.

Then I turn to the problem at home. Obamacare's payment and regulatory rules sped up hospital consolidation and cut competition on price and quality. Limiting competition is never good, and an administration that makes fixing healthcare a priority should be the standard.

A Massachusetts lesbian bar dropped its mask mandate in 2026 and its own woke patrons turned on it. The Last Ditch is socialism in miniature.

In this episode, I break down the Boston Globe story. Three idealistic housemates opened the bar last year, turned no one away for lack of money, and welcomed the poor and unhoused but not the police. Now two of them have left, and the one still standing is reportedly drowning in debt.

I also get into the basic economics, my suggested rebrand (Dire Straits), and the two lessons this bar teaches about woke socialism.

Grace hosts her first panel with Restoration News researchers Robert Rose, Dom Davis, and Sean Griswold to break down Wisconsin's November 3 governor's race between Tom Tiffany and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. They cover Crowley's tax record, Evers' 400-year property tax veto, Tiffany's day-one plan, the three constitutional amendments on the ballot, and what the race means for Gen Z and housing. Early voting runs October 20 through November 1. Resources: crowleylovestaxes.com and myvote.wi.gov.

Bella Dodd spent years in the Communist Party with one job: get into the schools. After she left, she told the Senate the communists would use every classroom from nursery school to university. Today 38% of Gen Z views communism favorably. I walk through the Cato numbers, the American Spectator piece on Florida's new History of Communism standards, and what Governor DeSantis says kids need to learn about Marxism. Then three takeaways, including my honest doubt that every teacher will teach it straight, and where to check your own state's schools at restoreedu.com.

For the first time in 112 years, no Atlantic hurricane formed by peak season. A former climate reporter says she knows why stories like this get buried.

In this episode, I get into Lucy Biggers' admission that she never covered positive climate stories because they would "muddy the narrative." We look at the record-quiet season, a Language Watch clip on how global cooling became global warming and then "climate change," and Bernie Sanders in 2020 saying we had six or seven years to act.

It's been six years. I keep thinking about the kids raised to believe the planet had a deadline.

The Trump administration wants to pay married stay-at-home parents $9,000 a year per child. JD Vance is pushing it, and conservatives are split.

In this episode, I get into where that $9,000 actually comes from (a fund that's existed since the Clinton years, not a new one), who would actually qualify for it, and why this has turned into a real fight on the right. Kevin Roberts, Michael Knowles, and Benny Johnson say it finally stops penalizing families for having one parent stay home. Mark Levin, Dana Loesch, and James Lindsay say it's still welfare, whatever you call it.

I started out firmly against this. I land somewhere more complicated than that by the end, and I tell you exactly why.

Should there be age or term limits for Congress?

Mitch McConnell just returned to Congress after 93 days away due to medical reasons. There are many similar examples of this happening, which has brough the question of age limits to the forefront.

In this episode, I go through what the true cost has been. Polling shows that 85% of Americans want term limits. It is not often Americans agree on something with such a big majority!

I also make the case that experience in Congress comes at a price, and that the price is usually principle. I take the arguments on the other side seriously — voters should get to pick who represents them, and the staffers and lobbyists are a real problem term limits wouldn't touch.

Then the harder question. If term limits are this popular, who is actually going to pass them?

Only 13% of pastors say they don't use AI at all. A quarter are using it to write or edit sermons, and I think the line should have been drawn well before that.

In this episode, I go through Barna's research on how pastors are actually using AI, why I'd stop at administrative work instead of brainstorming, and what gets lost when the silence before a sermon gets filled with a prompt instead of prayer. I also cover the bias problem and Barna's second study on AI as a spiritual authority.

I know I'm probably in the minority on this one. Tell me where you'd draw the line.