775 Alive

With the America 250 Anniversary approaching, Crystal and Scott sit down to talk about the Declaration of Independence, both the history and its continuing resonance. After Crystal stumps Scott with some 1776 trivia, we discuss celebrations of the the holiday, how independence not only marked a new stage in the world but united the fractious colonies, the role of the militia and what became the Se...

Nevada's 2026 Primary Election Day was June 9th, 2026--a week after California's. Crystal and Scott discuss the results of Nevada's primaries, particularly the bitterly contested Congressional District 2 (CD-2) race. We also look at the impact of AI marketing, the low voter turnout--particularly from Non-Partisans--and some predictions for the upcoming General Election in November....

The concept of "cashless bail" has been a centerpiece of many of the legal reform movements for the past 6-8 years. Crystal and Scott sit down with Attorney Ken W. Good of the Professional Bondmen of Texas and the Bail Post Podcast to discuss the concept. Topics include the origin of the "cashless bail" idea, how it compares to traditional surety bail systems, and whether it is...

Metin Pekin's recent "Breaking Democracy's Chains" makes an argument that political parties, especially those in the United Kingdom and the United States, have perverted the democratic process in both countries. Crystal and Scott sit down with him to discuss the American Founding Fathers' views of political parties, some of the problems the current party systems are creati...

Homeless population growth has been a problem in both Las Vegas and rural areas such as Pahrump and Elko. Crystal and Scott sit down with David Marlon of Vegas Stronger, a Las Vegas non-profit dedicated to breaking the cycle of addiction, mental illness, and homelessness by providing compassionate, trauma-informed, evidence-based behavioral healthcare. They discuss the role that that drug addictio...

Mid-decade redistricting and charges of gerrymandering continue to roil national political discussions, leading 775 Alive to revisit the issue. Dr. Sondra Cosgrove of the College of Southern Nevada and Vote Nevada joins Crystal and Scott to break apart some of the national and Nevada concerns. After looking at the history of gerrymandering, we delve into what should be the basis of “communities of...

With the 2026 Primary Elections getting ready to start in Nevada, Crystal and Scott dig into some of the pressing issues for the 775 Alive. Two key ones emerge: data centers and water rights. Both of these are dominating a heavily-contested Congressional District 2 (CD-2) race in northern Nevada and are central to an emerging rural-urban election divide across the country.

With the rapid increase in the number of nonpartisan voters in Nevada, Crystal and Scott sat down to discuss some of the reasons for switching to a nonpartisan "open primary" with Chad Peace of the Independent Voter Project. Chad developed the voter outreach strategy for the initiative that created California’s current nonpartisan primary system. The conversations range over the motivati...

Crystal and Scott sat down with our good friends from Talk With A Conservative, Patricia and Garland Brinkley, to discuss the biggest buzzword of the 2026 Election: Affordability. What does affordability mean? Is it a measurable economic factor or a political narrative? Garland Brinkley's background as a PhD Economist guides us through topics such as housing costs, inflation, energy costs, th...

Crystal and Scott sat down to do a radio interview with Talk With A Conservative, a Las Vegas radio show hosted by Patricia and Garland Brinkley. We were also joined by guest host David Flippo. The wide-ranging conversation looks at differences between the rural and urban environments and what this means for Nevada's politics. Talk With A Conservative airs weekly on Mondays at 7pm PT on KSHP...

Crystal and Scott look back on the one year anniversary of the 775 Alive podcast and its 42 episodes. Topics of discussion include the impact of the Trump administration on our topics, unexpected issues that have arisen such as the role of AI for rural communities and the nation more broadly, podcasting as a from of media, and where we would like to see the podcast go as we enter year two and beyo...

Crystal and Scott begin analyzing the initial developments in the 2026 Midterm elections, especially given that the candidate filing deadline has just passed in Nevada. We look at the unexpected Nevada Congressional District 2 (CD-02) race, crowded with candidates after Mark Amodei's unexpected retirement announcement. We also talk about local races, the question of turnout in midterms, and w...

On a recent trip down to the Whipple Ranch in Hiko, Crystal and Scott sat down with Lincoln County Commissioner Lisa Poulsen. Living in Alamo, Commissioner Poulsen discusses the problems of governing a large county with a relatively small population spread hours apart from each other. Other topics include problems in securing local grants, development opportunities for Lincoln County, and what mak...

Crystal and Scott discuss the recent 2026 State of the Union address. Among the topics of conversation was the delivery and Democratic response--including the Daily Wire capturing George Washington University students critiquing the speech even before it was delivered. They then discuss the various points raised, including the AI Data Center energy proposal, the extension of the Thrift Savings Pla...

Crystal and Scott ask for some insights on the current situation in Minneapolis from Shawn Holster, Chair Emeritus of the Minneapolis GOP and former candidate. Shawn shares his view from the ground. Topics include how widespread the protests are, the connection with the fraud cases, the role played by Minnesota's political culture, and the impact of very low voter turnout in local elections h...

We sat down recently with Adam Swart, CEO of Crowds on Demand, a service that offers audience and crowd rentals for clients. Adam speaks on the role of paid crowds and how common the practice actually is across the political spectrum. He also discusses the role of protesting in the internet age and what makes an effective protest, from the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements to the recent N...

Crystal and Scott sit down for a conversation with Adrianne Marsh, CEO of Altum Insight and a Democratic strategist. Altum Insight recently completed an ethnographic research project in rural Nebraska on rural identity and discovered that one of the major fears identified by participants was how AI could undermine rural values. Altum Insight: https://www.altum-insight.com/

Gays Against Groomers' Media Director Palace Leavitt and Legislative Director Dr. Rich Guggenheim join us for a short discussion from their booth at America Fest 2025 to discuss their mission and the various ways some trans-activism is having broad-ranking repercussions. #amfest2025  Website: https://www.gaysagainstgroomers.com/ Podcast - The Dark Side of the Rainbow: https://www.gaysagainstg...

We had the opportunity to sit down at America Fest 2025 with Jacob Thifault, Founder and CEO of True Mark USA, to discuss their new Arcasya.ai launching in 2026. Arcasya promises a small-business-oriented automated AI ecosystem geared towards the trades such as plumbing to landscaping, to sales, e-commerce, and so much more, with an America-first ethos.

Digital Democracy has been a concept heavily discussed over the last 10-15 years. Travis Misurell, the Founder of the Future is Now Coalition (FiNC), sits down with Crystal and Scott to discuss a new model for digital democracy and the Digital Politics Hub that FiNC is planning to launch to support it in January 2026. Future is Now Coalition (FiNC): https://futureis.org/join to become part of the...

The question of the role of Hispanics in American politics is one of the most important issues at the moment. Crystal and Scott sat down recently with Erica Neely, candidate for Nevada Assembly District 9 and founder of the Hispanic Latin Alliance, for a broad-ranging discussion of Hispanic issues and how they are currently impacting American and Nevadan politics. Erica Neely: https://www.neelyfor...

Cody K Whipple, Republican Candidate for Nevada CD-4 (https://codyk4congress.com/) Crystal and Scott recently sat down with Cody K. Whipple, Republican candidate for Nevada Congressional District 4 (CD-4). While it includes about a third of Las Vegas, it also encompasses a wide swath of the 775, including parts of 6 rural counties (Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda, Mineral, Churchill, and Lyon). We sought...

David Flippo, Republican Candidate for Nevada CD-4 (https://www.flippo4nv.com) Crystal and Scott recently sat down with David Flippo, Republican candidate for Nevada Congressional District 4 (CD-4). While it includes about a third of Las Vegas, it also encompasses a wide swath of the 775, including parts of 6 rural counties (Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda, Mineral, Churchill, and Lyon). We sought to unde...

Recently retired City of Elko Police Chief Ty Trouten joins Crystal and Scott to discuss the current state of policing in rural America and across the nation. We delve into how policing has changed over his almost 30 year career, how the illegal drugs issue continues to be a core part of our crime issues, the concepts and experiences behind community-based policing, and questions about the interse...

Crystal and Scott sit down in Las Vegas with Dr. Aury Nagy, a neurosurgeon and Republican candidate for Nevada's Congressional District 3 (CD-3), to discuss one of the pressing issues of our time: healthcare. Dr. Nagy shares his experiences with the healthcare system and identifies a number of issues that need to be solved to make the American healthcare system functional again. Dr. Aury Nagy...