Y'all-itics
287 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★ - 334 ratingsY’all-itics is the unofficial political podcast of Texas. Each week we’ll crack open an ice-cold Texas brew and explore a single hot topic affecting Texans. But this isn’t politics as usual. Y’all-itics doesn’t come from a fancy studio. We’re taking our podcast on the road to get past the soundbites and dive deeper into the issues that matter to y’all. Leave your labels at the door, this is a political podcast for all Texans… even the recent transplants!
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Episodes
Hydroxy-what? The most politicized pharmaceutical of the moment
April 13, 2020 23:26 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBIt looks difficult to pronounce but seems everyone right now knows about hydroxychloroquine. President Trump said it appeared promising in the fight against Covid19. Democrats quickly and correctly pointed out that it is unproven for that use. But forget the politics. What do Texas doctors say? There’s a doctor in Galveston County who has had prescribed this anti-malarial drug for 39 elderly patients who have the coronavirus. What’s the verdict? Did they experience severe side effects? Did i...
Caller please hold, a Texas Workforce Commission update
April 10, 2020 00:03 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MBIn the weekly jobless report, we find out that an additional 314,000 Texans have filed for unemployment after losing their jobs last week. In the past three weeks, more than 800,000 Texans have applied for unemployment. That’s more than in all of 2019. Many have been able to file online for benefits. But for different reasons, some people have to call in to claim unemployment. And we are hearing from desperate Texans who are frustrated by phone lines that have been jammed for weeks. Some h...
What’s it really like in a COVID unit? A Texas nurse tells us.
April 06, 2020 21:02 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBJoanna Hernandez first poured out her thoughts and emotions to her Instagram followers after a long day at the hospital. She is a traveling nurse and currently working at a south Texas hospital where soon after arriving, she was assigned to the COVID unit. Hernandez speaks candidly about the struggles her patients experience, trying to reassure their worried relatives, and what she did with one elderly woman suffering from severe symptoms. This assignment in the COVID unit has changed her ca...
Covid 19: Unemployment questions and answers
April 02, 2020 18:16 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBSYNOPSIS: In the weekly jobless report on April 2nd, Texas unemployment claims jumped by more than 275,000. Last week, the number of Texans who filed for unemployment benefits was 150,000. As extraordinary as those numbers are, they only reflect part of the staggering number of jobs in the state that have been lost in recent weeks as the economy grinds to a halt during the Covid-19 pandemic. Not included in the numbers are all those who have been without jobs for weeks, but who have been...
Covid-19: Beer trucks, egg deliveries, and RVs for MDs
March 30, 2020 21:08 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBTwo moms in rural Collin County have come up with an ingenious way to protect doctors and their families from getting sick after long shifts at the hospital. Medical staff don’t just need PPEs right now. They also need RVs. Emily Phillips is married to an ER doctor and got worried that her husband could bring home COVID19 since both she and their 8-year-old son suffer from asthma. So, Emily got on Facebook last week and asked if she could borrow an RV to allow her husband to come home – but ...
"We can't buy our way out of a crisis"
March 26, 2020 22:31 - 37 minutes - 34.8 MBRepublican Dallas County Commissioner J.J. Koch speaks to us after tens of thousands of people watched a Facebook video in which he admonished Texans to take Covid-19 more seriously. He also lamented that the governor (from his own party) was ‘leading from behind’. Commissioner Koch also breaks down the number of ventilators available, and how Dallas County will likely be the first in Texas to have a ‘crash’ of cases coming into the healthcare system. Dr. Deborah Birx, who has been helping ...
Covid-19: The layoffs are coming, but there's still some hope
March 23, 2020 21:30 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBThe economic toll of the Coronavirus is tremendous, and this is just the beginning. Layoffs have already jumped, but Andrew Challenger, Senior VP at outplacement firm Challenger, Christmas, and Gray, says the official numbers are even reflective of what is really happening---that a lot of smaller businesses are cutting jobs, and those losses are big and have yet to be truly tallied. Additionally, Challenger predicts the job losses that will be announced soon will be in much larger numbers. ...
Early Release: This became an economic pandemic long before it became a health pandemic
March 13, 2020 18:10 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBThe coronavirus outbreak is starting to change our daily lives in dramatic ways. The crisis is, of course, a health and humanitarian one first. But the economics of the outbreak could have a tremendous impact on governments, businesses, and many people. We get the perspective on Main Street from a Texas business owner who is missing out on his most profitable day of the year because of coronavirus preparations. We also talk to one of the most plugged-in economists in the country (who herself...
Where do old voting machines go to die? (+ a Texas coronavirus update)
March 10, 2020 05:02 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBWhere do old voting machines go to die? Turns out, many are being resurrected in Texas. Harris County, for example, is now planning to purchase 2,000 used eSlate machines that Travis County just retired. Harris County told the Jasons that it’s worth the money for extra voting booths before potentially long lines in November like many voters experienced on Super Tuesday. The 2,000 used machines would be in addition to the 8,000 Harris County already has. But there’s another novel election-rel...
BONUS EPISODE: Y'all really turned out Super Tuesday
March 04, 2020 06:46 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBHuge turnout, long lines, not enough voting machines; Super Tuesday in Texas didn’t quite turnout as planned. Why? The turnout! It’s a good problem to have in a state that is often called a non-voting one. Joining the Jasons for political context on this bonus episode is Deborah Peoples, the chairwoman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, Vinny Minchillo, a principal at Glass House Strategy advertising firm, Alana Rocha of the Texas Tribune and Berna Dean Steptoe, political producer at WF...
Coronavirus: What Texas learned from Ebola
March 03, 2020 08:02 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBThe Jasons discuss the FACTS surrounding COVID-19 and preparations in Texas. They start their conversation with former WFAA-TV reporter Jonathan Betz, who now lives in Beijing, China and is currently under quarantine. To say Jonathan is feeling isolated is understatement. But he’s still getting his deliveries, which is an interesting part of life in Beijing. The Jasons then visit with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins who talks about the lessons learned during the Ebola scare in 2014. The Jud...
Is health care a right… or a commodity?
February 25, 2020 08:02 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBIt costs too much. And it’s too complicated. According to a great many voters in 2020, that is the only way to describe our modern health care system. And this is driving their decision-making at the polls. The Jasons jump straight into the deep end in this episode of Y’all-itics, pouring a pint with the CEO of The Texas Academy of Family Physicians in the Medical District. Tom Banning says we have an amazing “sick care” system in America, but “health care” is broken. And he says a fundament...
The President called while I was in the shower
February 18, 2020 08:02 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBThe Jasons take a road trip to Austin to pour a pint with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. They chose Shiner, of course. And you have likely never heard the Attorney General like this. Mr. Paxton says he now has less confidence in the criminal justice system. He thinks 3 syllable names win elections. He’s not afraid of the color Purple. And he shares his thoughts whether he thinks the President has broken any laws. Oh yeah… and he’s suing the state of California. Buckle up for the ...
Registering to vote by photo booth
February 11, 2020 08:05 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBThe Latino community in Texas has long been described as a sleeping giant, an electorate with the potential to swing our politics and policies. But based on U.S. Census data, that giant is in a deep sleep. A Texas group is trying to forge a new tradition with Latino Voters where coming of age automatically means voting. And they’re targeting 15-year-old girls to make it happen. In this episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons learn more about the Jolt Initiative and why folks like Carmen Ayala th...
Registering to vote by photo booth
February 11, 2020 08:05 - 35 minutesThe Latino community in Texas has long been described as a sleeping giant, an electorate with the potential to swing our politics and policies. But based on U.S. Census data, that giant is in a deep sleep. A Texas group is trying to forge a new tradition with Latino Voters where coming of age automatically means voting. And they’re targeting 15-year-old girls to make it happen. In this episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons learn more about the Jolt Initiative and why folks like Carmen Ayala thin...
I still don’t know who won Iowa. Does it matter now?
February 04, 2020 07:42 - 39 minutes - 36 MBSYNOPSIS: Election 2020 is already off to a wild start. The Iowa Democratic Party couldn’t report an accurate count of vote totals on caucus night. So, disappointed Democrats boarded planes and flew to New Hampshire without knowing who won this famed first contest. The screwup raises the question of whether the caucuses matter anymore. The Jasons were in Iowa to witness all the confusion firsthand and stayed up late to publish this episode on time. They poured a pint with Rick Klein, ABC Ne...
The Expensive Silence
January 28, 2020 08:10 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBUnder-counting the census by 1% could cost Texas $300 million a year. In Rio Grande City, former Mayor Reuben Villareal estimates the 2010 census was under-counted by 15-20% in his city, alone. Despite this year’s census not having a citizenship question, Villareal expects the expensive silence to be deafening in border communities where rhetoric about immigration, the wall, and deportations has created a chilling effect for the legally-required survey that not only determines how many repre...
The U-Haul full of hemp
January 21, 2020 08:10 - 34 minutes - 31.4 MBWhat happened outside Amarillo made national news, turned out to be a little embarrassing for the state and highlighted a problem facing law enforcement in Texas today. Hemp is legal. Marijuana is not. But the plants look and smell exactly alike. In Amarillo this month, prosecutors had to drop charges after lab tests showed 3,300 pounds of ‘marijuana’ that a man was stopped with was actually ‘hemp.’ But this case isn’t isolated. The Amarillo attorney who represented that driver laid out the ...
Frenemy of the state: Saudi Arabia’s role in US-Iran clash
January 14, 2020 08:10 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBHe calls himself the Desert Diplomat. Few Texans have as clear of an understanding of what’s happening in the Middle East as Robert Jordan. The SMU professor is a former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and sat down to have a pint with the Jasons. Turns out, it’s not just Iran we should be wary of these days. Keep your eye on Saudi Arabia. It’s really a frenemy of ours, Jordan said. This Texan succinctly explains why we can’t quit the kingdom as we face down Iran and Iraq. WEBSITE LINKS: Ro...
Living in fear: The people who don’t report crimes in Texas.
January 07, 2020 08:02 - 21 minutes - 20 MBA small-town Texas police chief said something recently that caught the attention of the Jasons. Immigration rhetoric is making our communities less safe, he wrote in an op-ed. Make no mistake, this lawman isn’t taking sides. He’s advocating for keeping all criminals off the streets – regardless of their immigration status. You might know some of it. That fiery rhetoric drives undocumented immigrants into the shadows. Criminals then prey on those immigrants because these folks are less likel...
Emergency Podcast: Yes, the U.S./Iran conflict affects your money. Here’s how
January 03, 2020 21:25 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBDallas is more than 7,200 miles away from the Baghdad airport where a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Those miles disappear when you consider how Middle East tension has a real impact on your money. In this special episode, a personal finance advisor tells the Jasons why now is the time to invest in some stocks, even as the market takes a hit on fears of a worsening conflict. Plus, Texas is the third-largest oil producer in the world. But, an energy industry expert ex...
How the new trade deal will benefit Texas big time
December 31, 2019 08:10 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBThe president promised to replace NAFTA. Democrats finally got what they wanted and this new deal is now called the USMCA – or United States Mexico Canada Agreement. As we move into the new year, both sides say Texas will benefit big time from it. How so? That’s what this episode of Y'all-itics is about. We also tracked down a phone number for the original U.S. negotiator on NAFTA in the early 1990s. Turns out that trade deal – which is the skeleton for this one – might never have passed if ...
Episode 7: How the new trade deal will benefit Texas big time
December 31, 2019 08:10 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MBThe president promised to replace NAFTA. Democrats finally got what they wanted and this new deal is now called the USMCA – or United States Mexico Canada Agreement. As we move into the new year, both sides say Texas will benefit big time from it. How so? That’s what this episode of Y'all-itics is about. We also tracked down a phone number for the original U.S. negotiator on NAFTA in the early 1990s. Turns out that trade deal – which is the skeleton for this one – might never have passed if ...
Episode 6: Bridging the political divide, part 2
December 24, 2019 08:10 - 24 minutes - 33.2 MBCan’t we all just get along? On last week’s episode, we heard about Better Angels. The group is trying to close the political polarization gap, bridge the divide and get people on the left and right to start talking again. We think the group is on to something. So, in this episode, we’re pouring a pint with two people who have gone through the program – a conservative and a moderate. They’re far apart on some things but they shared a few ideas with the Jasons that have helped them understand...
Bridging the political divide, part 2
December 24, 2019 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBCan’t we all just get along? On last week’s episode, we heard about Better Angels. The group is trying to close the political polarization gap, bridge the divide and get people on the left and right to start talking again. We think the group is on to something. So, in this episode, we’re pouring a pint with two people who have gone through the program – a conservative and a moderate. They’re far apart on some things but they shared a few ideas with the Jasons that have helped them understand...
Episode 5: Bridging the political divide, part 1
December 17, 2019 08:00 - 18 minutes - 24.9 MBBefore you go home for the holidays you need to listen to this episode. Politics often creeps into the conversation around the family dinner table this time of year. The rhetoric and divisiveness has gotten so bad that some folks have stopped talking to family members and close friends because of their political beliefs. A non-profit is quietly helping to close the political polarization gap, bridge the divide and get people talking again. They explained how they’re doing it in this episode ...
Bridging the political divide, part 1
December 17, 2019 08:00 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBBefore you go home for the holidays you need to listen to this episode. Politics often creeps into the conversation around the family dinner table this time of year. The rhetoric and divisiveness has gotten so bad that some folks have stopped talking to family members and close friends because of their political beliefs. A non-profit is quietly helping to close the political polarization gap, bridge the divide and get people talking again. They explained how they’re doing it in this episode ...
Episode 4: Battleground counties will decide 2020. One in Texas could be pivotal
December 10, 2019 08:10 - 21 minutes - 24.9 MBForget battleground states; 2020 will be decided by battleground counties. Collin County Democrats don’t mind being the underdog. But Republicans there admit 2020 is no joke. Collin County used to be reliably red but the GOP has seen cracks in support there over the last few election cycles. Now, after recent Democratic victories in Kentucky, Louisiana and Virginia, Collin County Democrats say they think their county could turn blue as soon as 2020. And if Collin County turns blue, Texas lik...
Battleground counties will decide 2020. One in Texas could be pivotal
December 10, 2019 08:10 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBForget battleground states; 2020 will be decided by battleground counties. Collin County Democrats don’t mind being the underdog. But Republicans there admit 2020 is no joke. Collin County used to be reliably red but the GOP has seen cracks in support there over the last few election cycles. Now, after recent Democratic victories in Kentucky, Louisiana and Virginia, Collin County Democrats say they think their county could turn blue as soon as 2020. And if Collin County turns blue, Texas lik...
Why do politicians ignore black women?
December 03, 2019 08:10 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBThis isn’t something politicos wants to talk about. Black women are taken for granted by candidates and campaigns. That’s not just a bold statement – black women in Texas say this has been a political reality for too long. That's the topic we're talking about with Tracy Scott, the founder & CEO of The Black Women’s PAC, on this episode of Y’allitics. Black women, like all voters, want politicians to finally address issues that affect them. And these women wield power at the ballot box, remin...
Episode 3: Why do politicians ignore black women?
December 03, 2019 06:10 - 21 minutes - 29.9 MBThis isn’t something politicos wants to talk about. Black women are taken for granted by candidates and campaigns. That’s not just a bold statement – black women in Texas say this has been a political reality for too long. That's the topic we're talking about with Tracy Scott, the founder & CEO of The Black Women’s PAC, on this episode of Y’allitics. Black women, like all voters, want politicians to finally address issues that affect them. And these women wield power at the ballot box, remin...
How the tit-for-tat trade war is hurting Texans
November 26, 2019 08:10 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBOn this episode of Y’all-itics, we go out to the farm. The Texas economy has done well over the past decade. Farmers have not. They know all about economic downturns, but their income today is half of what it was six years ago. Crops just aren’t selling for what they were. Then came the trade war with China and the tit-for-tat tariffs. Now, a difficult situation is a little more desperate. But when you ask who’s to blame, there's not an easy answer. One Texas farmer shares his own struggles ...
Episode 2: How the tit-for-tat trade war is hurting Texans
November 26, 2019 06:10 - 23 minutes - 32.8 MBOn this episode of Y’all-itics, we go out to the farm. The Texas economy has done well over the past decade. Farmers have not. They know all about economic downturns, but their income today is half of what it was six years ago. Crops just aren’t selling for what they were. Then came the trade war with China and the tit-for-tat tariffs. Now, a difficult situation is a little more desperate. But when you ask who’s to blame, there's not an easy answer. One Texas farmer shares his own struggles ...
2020 will be the year of political text messages
November 19, 2019 08:10 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MBGet ready for the "Year of the Text Message." In 2020, political campaigns are coming to your mobile phone. In elections past, campaigns have spent millions of dollars on television and radio ads, campaign signs and billboards to reach voters. The 2020 cycle will be different. In this episode, we discover how much a campaign will pay for your cell phone number and what they’re going to do with it over the next year. Texting is changing the way candidates run for office. Vinny Minchillo, prin...
Episode 1: How much will politicians pay for your phone number?
November 19, 2019 06:10 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBGet ready for the "Year of the Text Message." In 2020, political campaigns are coming to your mobile phone. In elections past, campaigns have spent millions of dollars on television and radio ads, campaign signs and billboards to reach voters. The 2020 cycle will be different. In this episode, we uncover how much a campaign will pay for your cell phone number and what they’re going to do with it over the next year. Texting is changing the way candidates run for office. Vinny Minchillo, princ...
Episode 1: 2020 will be the year of political text messages
November 19, 2019 06:10 - 21 minutes - 29.6 MBGet ready for the "Year of the Text Message." In 2020, political campaigns are coming to your mobile phone. In elections past, campaigns have spent millions of dollars on television and radio ads, campaign signs and billboards to reach voters. The 2020 cycle will be different. In this episode, we discover how much a campaign will pay for your cell phone number and what they’re going to do with it over the next year. Texting is changing the way candidates run for office. Vinny Minchillo, prin...
Y'all-itics: Coming November 19
November 07, 2019 19:40 - 2 minutes - 2.05 MBY’all-itics is the unofficial political podcast of Texas. Each week Jason Whitely and Jason Wheeler will crack open an ice-cold Texas brew and explore a single hot topic affecting Texans as we gear up for the 2020 election. But this isn’t politics as usual. Y’all-itics doesn’t come from a fancy studio. We’re taking our podcast on the road to get past the soundbites and dive deeper into the issues that matter to y’all. Leave your labels at the door, this is a political podcast for all Texans…...