Your Rights Come From God, Not Government — And New York Just Proved It
Conservative talk is the last beacon of Free Speech in America. Here on AGR, we believe the Greatness of America comes from the Greatness within you! If you're not ready to give up on your country, then this is the podcast for you!
Friday, April 17, 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 16, 2026.
We open with a story that should have every property owner in America paying attention — New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani is proposing an annual tax on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners don't live in the city full-time. We break down why this isn't just bad policy, it's a fundamental assault on property rights. Taxing someone based on how often they use something they already own and already pay taxes on is about envy and ideology — not economics.
Then Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech at the University of Texas School of Law commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and we dig into why it matters. Thomas made the case that progressivism — even within conservative circles — is quietly eroding the concept of natural rights. Once government becomes the source of your rights, it becomes the master of your rights. We walk through exactly what that means for free speech, religious liberty, gun ownership, and parental authority.
Our American Mamas Teri Netterville and Kimberly Burleson join us to tackle a growing trend — couples using AI to write their wedding vows. We get into whether AI-generated vows are a helpful starting point or a soulless substitute for something that should come straight from the heart, why there's no algorithm for authentic love, and what it means for the next generation when AI can write a poem so beautiful you can't tell it wasn't written by a human being.
In our Digging Deep segment, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a cable to every U.S. Embassy around the world directing them to shift from promoting aid to promoting trade. We explain why decades of foreign aid funneled through NGOs has created dependency, inefficiency, and corruption — and in some cases, how that money found its way back into Democrat Party coffers here at home. We make the case that trade, not aid, is how you actually lift nations out of poverty, and why nothing in world history has done more of that than capitalism and free markets.
We also dig into a stunning new Gallup poll showing that young men ages 18 to 29 have now surpassed young women as the demographic most likely to say religion is very important in their lives — jumping from 28% in 2022 to 42% today. We talk about what's driving the shift, what it means that young women are simultaneously moving away from faith, and why young men returning to the church is one of the most important cultural stories nobody in big media is covering.
We also address the tragic murder-suicide involving former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax and share an important message for anyone who may be facing circumstances that feel permanent but aren't — your situation is not your identity, and what you're going through is not who you are.
And we wrap up with Germany's plan to dock worker pay starting from day one of a sick call — a radical reversal for a country where workers average 15 paid sick days a year — and what it tells us about what happens when you incentivize absence instead of productivity.
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