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College Football season is in full swing, and fans are taking sides in their support of their favorite college team. Loyalty comes in many forms and as election season is now in full swing, loyalty to democracy is on the ballot now more than ever. In the last month, a few greatly beloved cultural icons have passed. While here on earth, their support of democracy and every human’s need to be free to pursue their happiness and their best life, to flourish without judgement, continues through the work they did and the examples they set for us all. In their honor and as a fan of democracy, have a plan in place as to where, when, and how you will vote and show your loyalty for democracy!

Have you ever felt up a creek without a paddle? Metaphorically speaking, Mama B feels the United States is up a creek without a paddle and lets listeners know one of the reasons why: “The fastest growing religious movement in this country has little use for religious pluralism, individual rights, or constitutional democracy. It considers itself an Army of God with a holy mission to claim the earth for God’s kingdom.” This army of believers is greatly imbedded within the Trump Administration. They are working very hard to get rid of what they perceive is Satan’s influence everywhere. While at the same time, they believe they are following God’s command to take over our country and culture through their Seven Mountains Mandate. Don’t get labelled by them as being demon possessed, or they may come after you!

In this stressful and uncertain time, where does one go to find a place to be made whole again? The answer may be found in why the Nordic countries have the highest levels of happiness, equality, and well-being in the world due in part to the concept of hygge, an Old Norse word that meant “protected from the outside world.” Mama B is a blue mom living in a red state and she says, “More Hygge, please!” Especially since this is the time of year when the US celebrates both Juneteenth and Pride Month while Tennessee leads the vanguard in the marginalization and othering of those belonging to these two communities.

In a Special Legislative Session called by the Governor of Tennessee the first week in May, the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee statehouse dismantled the only majority-minority Democratic Congressional District in the state. The goal was said out loud on the Tennessee House Floor by one MAGA Republican: To hand Trump all congressional seats in the state of Tennessee come the November mid-term elections and for elections to come. Mama B was at the capitol in Nashville to see regressive history unfold. She does not mince words as to why this happened, who was involved in making it happen, and what the aftermath was for the Democrats in the Tennessee legislature. The ending of this podcast episode is one that will reverberate in your head for a long time to come.

April is Earth Month and April 22 is Earth Day. . . though on every day of the year, it would be ideal if each of us thought about how we use our planet’s finite resources and then do something positive to facilitate change. Right now, the U.S. is waging a war of choice in Iran that involves the finite resources of oil and gas but could, in a way, also be about freshwater. Tehran and other major cities in the world, including in the United States, are the poster cities for water scarcity. Future wars will more than likely be fought over freshwater because this is the world’s most precious resource. For without natural freshwater or desalinated freshwater, life cannot survive on this planet. Listen to this month’s podcast episode as Mama B tries to answer the questions of who, what, where, why, and when as it pertains to freshwater and its future?

(Recorded on March 18 before spring travels, any solution to funding TSA happened, and any end to the Iran War was in sight.) As usual, Mama B discusses what MAGA is up to both in Tennessee and the rest of the world. Look no further than this current war in Iran. Based on living in the Bible Belt, Mama B has opinions about why the U.S. is involved in yet another war in the Middle East, a religiopolitical one. She reveals new websites and a new list being put out by Christian organizations with future implications for all Americans.

​“Life under authoritarianism is actually, for the most part, weirdly normal. It’s often even, well, boring. . . it’s easy to think that if you just keep your head down and avoid making waves, you’ll be perfectly fine, thank you very much,” VOX Until you’re not fine. This is the year we celebrate the 250th birthday of our country, the world’s oldest democracy. But we need to ask ourselves, is this year one of American Authoritarianism or possibly, even American Fascism? Does my saying this sound extreme? Answer that question after you’ve listened to this podcast episode.

​(Recorded on 1/14/26 before the escalation of federalized forces and their continuing harm to US citizens in Minneapolis.) Right now, very scary things are going on in this country and in the MAGA petri dish that is the state of Tennessee. It’s entirely possible that by the conclusion of this month’s episode of Red State Blue Mom, and after learning way more than you ever wanted to know about the color “white,” you will not only be incredulous but in agreement with Mama B on where this country is headed.

This is a short holiday message with lots of bright hope for the future and in 2026, there is a way to "finally put this MAGA nightmare behind us."

In Part 2 (recorded 11/13/25) of a two-part podcast episode series, Mama B gives listeners her viewpoint on and the counterpoint to comments made by last month’s interview guest, a long-time family friend from Arizona who was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020. Having recently been on vacation in Poland, Mama B also wants listeners to be aware of a few similarities between the Nazi occupation of Poland in WWII and the Unites States of today.

In Part 1 of a two-part podcast series, Mama B sits down with a dear, long-time family friend to get his viewpoint on a few things they greatly disagree about and a few things they totally see eye to eye on. While Mama B is a blue leaning Independent, this friend went from being a Democrat for (Bill) Clinton in the 1990’s to telling Mama B he is now “more MAGA than most MAGA people.” By the way, he was at the January 6th Insurrection and in this podcast episode he will tell listeners why he was there and what he did and didn’t see, what he did and didn’t do. The constitution and the Electoral College are briefly mentioned and the enmeshed topics of the killing of Charlie Kirk and free speech are also discussed. You won’t want to miss listening to this episode!

(Recorded on 9/8/25 before MAGA political activist Charlie Kirk was killed.) Mama B is a big advocate of free speech rights and does not condone political violence of any kind. Because of Mama B’s recent and unexpected medical event, this podcast episode is very short and concludes with a political endorsement of a candidate running in a special election for a vacated U.S. House seat in Tennessee, her daughter.

This month, Mama B. and her Production Manager and Sound Engineer, Landon Skeen, celebrate the fifth anniversary of Red State Blue Mom. Mama B. shares some background and anecdotes behind the podcast’s production. Then she heads straight into this month’s episode as listeners wind their way through the following topics: Comments from Mama B. about her summer reading of How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley and how it ties into last month’s podcast episode. Find out why Mama B. blames both a former Vanity Fair Editor and a former Democratic President for Trump becoming President. She goes on to talk about The Godfather Presidency (an article in the July/August Vanity Fair) and gives a cliff notes version of the controversial first episode of this year’s South Park. Mama B. finishes her talking points by telling Red State Blue Mom fans about her first Joe Rogan podcast listening experience featuring Democratic Texas House Representative, James Talarico. The Rogan Experience podcast episode was recorded before the Texas Dems decamped to blue states to try to stop Texas Republicans from accomplishing the election rigging demanded by Trump. Believe it or not, one topic flows into another for an interesting and sometimes surprising listening experience. (Recorded on August 11, 2025.)

This month is the 100th anniversary of a historically seminal event that took place in Appalachian East Tennessee in 1925: The Scopes Monkey Trial. This event occurred before the advent of television and was the first time in history a newsworthy trial was broadcast nationwide over the radio. The “trial became a symbol of the larger social anxieties associated with the cultural changes and modernization that characterized the decade of the 1920’s in the United States.” Currently, our nation is dealing with the shock and anxieties associated with the cultural changes brought on by Trump and his MAGA acolytes, accompanied by the rise of homegrown fascism. Mama B. feels a straight line can be drawn from the Scopes Monkey trial, where the theory of evolution was pitted against fundamentalist evangelical Biblical teachings that have not changed one iota since 1925, to the brilliantly red MAGA controlled state Tennessee has become, through to the national level ecosystem of MAGA Republican politics where religion and money determine the “survival of the fittest” and who gets culled from the human herd.

In Tennessee, the city of Nashville is ground zero for ICE arrests, detentions, and deportations. Mama B. has a few stories to share regarding what her progressive state politician daughter (who represents Nashville), has experienced during this crazy, turbulent time. As protests against ICE operations are still ongoing all over the U.S., Mama B. shares some historical examples as she gives her opinion on what may lie ahead.