Who Counts? The Census Fight Over Power and Illegal Immigration

You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for September 9, 2026. 

We open with the Trump administration's proposed rule to exclude illegal aliens from the census when apportioning congressional seats. We dig into the constitutional debate over the 14th Amendment's "whole number of persons" language, work through a household-voting analogy, and ask who should actually count when it comes to political representation.

In our Top 3 Things You Need to Know, we cover Iran firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and rising oil prices, the escalating trade war with Canada over alcohol, dairy, and auto tariffs, and the tangled fight over which congressional map Missouri will use this fall.

Our American Mamas, Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson, join us to answer a listener's question about letting kids climb trees, and we swap stories about the riskier playgrounds and looser parenting of our own childhoods.

We dig deep into why so few states mandate 9/11 education, walking through which states require it by law versus by curriculum standard, and why remembering "never forget" matters for a generation born after the attacks.

We also take on Texas Senate candidate James Talarico's walk-back of his past claims about gender and God, question Mitch McConnell's silence amid new scrutiny of his transparency, and find our bright spot in a New York Times story about AI displacing Kenyan essay-writers who'd been doing American college students' homework for pay.

We close with our Moment of Whoa on honesty and integrity, featuring quotes from A.R. Rahman, Warren Buffett, and Mother Teresa.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776. 

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