Swalwell Scandal, Faith in Space, and Chinese Surveillance

Thursday, April 16, 2026

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You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for April 15, 2026. 

We open with the Eric Swalwell fallout — and we go deeper than the headlines. The real question isn't whether Swalwell behaved badly. It's what did Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Democrat leadership know, and when did they know it? We dig into why a congressman this high-profile and politically useful to the Democrat Party couldn't have had these allegations swirling around him without somebody in leadership hearing something. We also compare how Democrats handled Swalwell to how Republicans handled Tony Gonzalez and George Santos — and the contrast is revealing.

Then our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson join us to talk about Artemis II pilot Victor Glover. Just before the crew went into radio silence on the dark side of the moon, Glover read a Bible verse, prayed over the mission, and later told his neighbors gathered on his front lawn that God told us to be better neighbors to each other. We dig into why a scientist and astronaut openly crediting God is being largely ignored by big media, what made this Artemis crew feel different from any that came before, and why the relationship between faith and science isn't a contradiction — it's reality.

We also break down a bombshell report from the Financial Times — leaked Iranian military documents suggest that Chinese-built satellites were used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard to monitor and target American military bases during the conflict. We talk about what it means if China gave a designated terrorist organization real-time surveillance capability to use against U.S. Forces, why China's plausible deniability is wearing thinner by the day, and what this means for trade negotiations.

In our Digging Deep segment, we walk through the Rich States, Poor States annual economic outlook report, which ranks all 50 states by 15 equally weighted policy variables including tax rates, debt, regulation, and government size. We explain what the results mean for your family, your business, and your future.

We also get into Virginia joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact — a move by Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger that would effectively void the votes of Virginians in presidential elections and award the state's electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote. We call it what it is — an unconstitutional attempt to dismantle the Electoral College without actually amending the Constitution.

For our Bright Spot, Houston's Democrat mayor called an emergency city council meeting to repeal the city's anti-ICE cooperation ordinance after Texas Governor Greg Abbott pulled $110 million in public safety funding. We celebrate the governor for meaning business and the mayor for being smart enough to recognize that ideology is a lot less important when your police and fire departments are suddenly $110 million short.

And we close with a fifth grader named Alexander in Tyler, Texas, who was adopted by his foster family this week — with his entire fifth grade class sitting in the courtroom to cheer him on. May your pursuit of happiness bring you joy.

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

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