* * NOTE - Mike misidentifies Louisiana senator John Kennedy as the other Louisiana Bill Cassidy in the episode. * *

A botched Tennessee execution, a disastrous Senate hearing, and a Texas political meltdown collide in one of the wildest conversations yet. Mike and Trish turn a grim headline into a sharp, funny, unfiltered breakdown of what went wrong, why the public is furious, and how lawmakers keep creating the very messes they claim to fix. Trish kicks things off with the Tennessee death penalty case, digging into the blood disorder, the lethal injection controversy, the debate over alternative execution methods, and the bigger question of whether the system can even carry out its own sentence without chaos. Mike adds real-world perspective from his background in ER and pediatric ICU work, explaining why finding a vein is harder than people think and why a failed injection can spiral so quickly. Then the episode shifts hard into political theater. Mike and Patricia tear into the viral Jack Smith hearing moment, the bad-faith “gotcha” attempt, the committee’s poster-board stunt, and the now-infamous zoom-in on Senator Katie Britt’s face as the plan falls apart in real time. From there, they move to Ken Paxton’s leaked comments about Trump’s Dallas convention and the nonstop absurdity of Texas politics, media spin, and campaign fearmongering. But the conversation is more than current events. Patricia and Mike also revisit childhood stories from South Louisiana and Alabama - peach-face mischief, homemade forts, a hole in the yard, and the kind of family chaos that only makes sense years later. They reflect on growing up, moving away, living abroad, and how those experiences shape the way they see home, politics, and each other.

Mike and Trish are all over the place today talking about everything from overstuffed Pop Tarts to failed executions in Tennessee. We had a bit of a technical issue near the end, so please forgive us. We are newbies!

Mike and Trish start out the episode talking about her granddaughter who has just experienced "The Talk" with her mother. The whole thing started with a conversation about lovebugs. LOL! Trish then talks about he she and her husband, Jesse, make sure all kids have a good experience with the Scholastic Book Fair.

Conversations about AI, self-driving cars, and how much the world has changed follow. Lastly, they do a short introduction of their "That's What You Get" segment which they assure us will be a regular part of the podcast.