CommonX Podcast

Grocery prices are crushing American families. They're up 32% since the pandemic, and one entrepreneur is building a solution. Andy Ellwood, founder of Stretch (the Expedia for groceries), joins us to explain how his free app can save you $1,000+ this year by finding the cheapest stores for your shopping list. We dig into the affordability crisis, the data behind it, and what real change looks lik...

There are artists who perform. Then there's Daniel Villegas -- a Colombian-born slam poet, bilingual hip-hop emcee, and conga player who has spent over a decade making music that actually means something, without a label, a machine, or a shortcut behind him. In this episode, we get into how a Hamlet assignment in English class at 16 cracked him open, what it took to come back after a decade of nea...

You pull the lever, but who really decided what's on the ballot? Metin Pekin, author of Breaking Democracy's Chains, joins Jared and Ian to make the case that the real problem with democracy isn't the politicians - it's the party system behind them. When billionaire donors and major financiers control which candidates even make it to the ballot, your vote doesn't choose your representative. It jus...

She didn't just write a book about wishing. She mapped the science behind it across over a dozen disciplines. And once she explains it, you'll never blow out birthday candles the same way again. Brownell Landrum is the author of "The Art and Science of Wishing" and founder of the Cosmic Wish Experiment. In this episode she breaks down why most people wish wrong, what separates a wish from a prayer...

Rob Rosen spent decades inside the machine. From KCBS Los Angeles to five seasons producing Reasonable Doubt on HBO Max, he has watched journalism drift from fact-gathering into something closer to activism -- and he has documented exactly how it happened. His new book, Crimes of Omission, makes a case most people already suspect but can't quite articulate: the media's biggest problem isn't outrig...

In this episode of the Common-X Podcast, we sit down with Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley to break down the controversial decision to remove ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) from a county government facility. This move has sparked intense reactions across the political spectrum — raising critical questions about immigration policy, federal vs. local authority, taxpayer accountabilit...

What would it look like if everyday Americans could weigh in on actual legislation, not just every few years at the ballot box, but in real time, on every bill being debated in Washington or their state capitol? Ramon Perez is a Georgia Tech-educated engineer who changed course after 9/11, became a military intelligence officer, deployed to four combat zones, and lost a friend to a sniper in Fallu...

Raymond Lavine has spent 16 years helping families prepare for one of the most emotionally brutal — and financially devastating — things that can happen: a parent, spouse, or sibling needing long-term care. He's an author, podcast host, and financial services professional. He's also watched his own family navigate it — his mother used a long-term care policy for 18 years and lived to 103. He gets...

Your congressman probably wasn't picked by you. Tom Joseph — founder of America's Main Street Party — breaks down the machinery that decides who even makes it onto your ballot, why gerrymandering is less about drawing lines and more about burying opposition votes, and how he found a legal loophole that lets a political party run a free, moneyless nomination contest completely outside the reach of...

Most of us are drowning in content but starving for actual facts. This week, Jared and Ian sit down with Kira Shishkin — 4-time entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of informed.now — to talk about why the news media stopped serving readers and started serving advertisers, how misinformation is manufactured at scale, and what a genuine "information diet" actually looks like. Kira built TurboTax Full Ser...

What if America isn't as divided as the news makes it look? Adam Mizel left a successful finance career to find out — hitting the road in a purple and white pickup truck, talking to thousands of everyday Americans from parking lots to state fairs, and filming a documentary along the way. Adam is the founder of Us United, a national unity movement built around one core idea: you can't sympathize wi...

Most organizations are throwing millions at firewalls and security software — but the real vulnerability isn't the tech. It's the people using it. In this episode of CommonX, we sit down with Robert Siciliano — bestselling author, cybersecurity expert, and the architect of the Strategic Human Firewall framework. He's appeared on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and Anderson Cooper 360, and been featured in th...

Barbara Banner didn't set out to become a medium. She spent over 35 years volunteering on crisis hotlines, in emergency rooms, and at police response scenes — showing up for people on the worst days of their lives. Then, at an age when most people are winding down, her house started going haywire: lights flashing, objects falling off shelves, orbs appearing. It was hard to ignore. In this conversa...

Army veteran and public affairs expert Dr. Chase Spears joins Ian and Jared on the CommonX Podcast for a raw, no-filter conversation about the inner workings of the U.S. military — from how social media is reshaping wartime communication to why he turned down a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel after 20 years of service. Dr. Spears breaks down the myth of the "apolitical" military, explains how that...

Why does it take 4 months to get an 85-year-old grandmother on Medicaid when she has zero assets? In this episode of CommonX, Peter Justen, founder of Ameritrust Solutions, breaks down why government benefit systems are stuck in the past — and what his team is doing to fix it. Peter shares how a personal experience with his mother's Medicaid application led him to build a platform that reduces a 2...

Traditional safes haven’t really evolved in decades — and Oscar Hedaya decided that was insane. In Episode 74 of the CommonX Podcast, we sit down with Oscar Hedaya (founder of SpaceSafe) to talk about why physical security still feels stuck in the 90s, what it takes to build hardware + software the hard way, and why “visibility + accountability” is the real upgrade: tamper notifications, movement...

In Episode 73, we’re joined by the crazy minds behind Geezer Magazine Laura LeBleu and Paul Von Zielbauer — a publication built by and for Gen X — and let’s just say… we’ve got thoughts. The economy feels weird. Politics feels weird. Culture feels weird. And apparently Gen X is now officially old enough to have a magazine. So we ask the question: Is everything falling apart… Or are we just seasone...

In Episode 72 of the Common-X Podcast, we sit down with Dame Claire Bertschinger — humanitarian nurse, global advocate, and a woman whose life has been defined by moral courage. From war zones and famine crises to the failures of global systems, Claire shares what it means to witness suffering firsthand — and still choose compassion. We explore: What real humanitarian work looks like behind the sc...

In Episode 71 of the Common-X Podcast, Jared and Ian sit down with researcher Jenny Chan to explore the overlooked history of World War II in the Pacific. We discuss: • The incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 • The Supreme Court decision in Korematsu v. United States • The biological warfare atrocities of Unit 731 • The Cold War immunity granted to figures like S...

In this powerful episode of the Common-X Podcast, we sit down with John Kammer of Guardian AIngels to talk about something deeper than technology — grief. After losing three of his closest friends, including one to suicide and another in a tragic accident, John spiraled into years of substance-fueled avoidance. What followed was guilt, emotional shutdown, and a reckoning that forced him to confron...

Episode 69 – The Constitution, Gun Rights & the Edge of Crisis In the wake of a fatal shooting involving federal agents and a lawfully armed citizen, the national conversation moved fast. Accusations. Statements. Counterstatements. But what does the law actually say? In this episode of Common-X, we sit down with constitutional law professor Adam Winkler to separate political rhetoric from lega...

This week on Common-X, we sit down with comedian, writer, and cultural observer Victor Varnado for a wide-ranging conversation on comedy, algorithms, and why modern life feels increasingly absurd. We dig into how comedy has shifted in the age of short clips and viral incentives, why context keeps collapsing in media and public discourse, and how algorithms reward reaction over understanding. Victo...

In Episode 67 of the Common-X Podcast, Jared and Ian go off-script and straight to the core. This episode is a raw, unfiltered rant sparked by growing concerns around Spotify , platform power, and who really controls speech in the so-called “creator economy.” After facing threats of removal, we ask the uncomfortable questions: Are platforms still neutral, or are they quietly becoming gatekeepers?...

Is authenticity dead in a world run by algorithms, branding, and corporate culture? In this episode of the Common-X Podcast , we sit down with John Becker , aka We Knew Nothing — a veteran of LA’s punk scene who’s spent decades pushing back against fake culture, manufactured rebellion, and art stripped of meaning. This isn’t a political episode. It’s a culture and music conversation about: What ha...

In this episode of Common-X , we sit down with Chris Angle — writer, philosopher, and host of The Philosophical Angle — to step beyond surface-level political debate and into the deeper ideas shaping modern culture. Rather than arguing headlines or party talking points, Chris breaks down the philosophical assumptions beneath the political Left and Right , including why humans seek dominance, how n...