Next Steps Show

Host Peter Vazquez and guest Brian Thomas Wetzel go straight at the crisis in America’s classrooms and the confusion in our culture, not to complain, but to point toward rebuilding.
 
Wetzel draws on years of creating K-12 curriculum and speaking with more than 160 teachers and administrators to expose a system that burns out good educators, shields bad behavior, and sidelines math, science, and reading under layers of ideology and red tape.
 
His conclusion is unapologetic: public education must be stripped back to first principles and rebuilt around truth, order, and excellence.
 
From there, the conversation turns to Wetzel’s book, A Path to Faith Through Science and Common Sense. Peter and Brian confront the claim that “science has made God unnecessary,” and instead highlight scientists and former atheists who followed the evidence in DNA, the fine tuning of the universe, and the mystery of consciousness and came to see the fingerprints of a Designer.
 
They explore near-death experiences, serious research at the University of Virginia, and why so many people quietly testify to realities that materialism cannot contain.
 
Woven through the discussion are International Men’s Day, the vital role of men and fathers, rising youth violence and depression, and data showing that people of faith report higher levels of happiness.
 
The result is a direct, hope-filled challenge to choose design over chaos, responsibility over victimhood, and a faith that welcomes honest questions instead of running from them.

America’s future can be secured when parents step forward with confidence and purpose.
 
Combat veteran and former CIA officer Adam Hardage reminds us that Generation Alpha is growing up in an AI-driven world, but this moment offers an opportunity.
 
With faith, discipline, and strong family leadership, children can learn to navigate technology with clarity instead of confusion. His book The Alpha Blueprint shows how families can raise young people who are grounded, resilient, and ready to thrive.
 
The conversation then turns to our national history with publisher Robert “Chris” Milligan, who approaches the JFK assassination not as a source of despair, but as a call to honest inquiry.
 
By challenging decades of conflicting narratives, Milligan and his work at TrineDay demonstrate that truth can still rise when citizens insist on transparency and refuse to accept shallow explanations. His efforts highlight the strength of independent voices determined to preserve genuine history.
 
Placed together, these discussions reveal a hopeful path forward. When families strengthen their values, when citizens pursue truth with integrity, and when we teach the next generation to discern rather than drift, America becomes stronger. This is a moment for courage, clarity, and optimism about the country we can preserve.

The episode unfolds like a reckoning inside the American church. Peter Vazquez opens by challenging the spirit of the age with a simple line: “Being happy is a choice.” That truth sets the stage for a far heavier reality he refuses to ignore—many churches have replaced biblical authority with cultural approval and political loyalty.
 
Peter is joined by Dr. Eric Wallace, theologian, New Testament scholar, and founder of Freedom’s Journal Institute. Wallace lays out the crisis without hesitation: “If you put your racial identity ahead of your Christian identity, that is idolatry.” His own journey began when he realized that the values he saw in Scripture aligned with conservative principles, not the progressive ideology that now dominates much of the black church.
 
Together they confront the widening gap between what congregations profess and how they live and vote. Peter cites the numbers: 82 percent of black Protestants in predominantly black churches say religion is very important to their lives, yet in states like Virginia nearly 90 percent vote for candidates who champion abortion, gender ideology, and government dependency. Wallace calls it what it is—a failure of discipleship and a surrender to outside voices louder than Scripture.
 
The conversation cuts through the myths of systemic oppression, exposes the confusion of the gender debate, and challenges churches that have traded charity for government programs. Wallace makes the spiritual nature of the crisis unmistakable: “The enemy still controls much of what is happening in society because the church stopped discipling its people.”
 
This episode is not comfort food. It is a warning shot. It presses believers to face the truth that the Church is losing credibility because too many have shaped their convictions around race, politics, and culture instead of the Word of God. It demands a return to Scripture, a rejection of ideological captivity, and the courage to vote, live, and lead according to biblical truth. It is not a conversation to agree with politely. It is a mandate to stand up, repent, and fight for the soul of the Church before the culture finishes remaking it.

The conversation returns to its roots: one man at a microphone, facing a community wrestling with the cost of control. Peter walks listeners through a country where promises of “affordability” quietly harden into systems of dependency, where citizens are reminded that freedom fades fastest when government insists it can live life for you.
 
He exposes how expanding bureaucracy fails veterans, families, and taxpayers alike. The bitter reality confronts listeners: men and women who served return to red tape instead of gratitude, homelessness instead of honor, and a benefits system that moves slower than despair. Racial statistics surface, not as political weapons, but as evidence of operational collapse that demands accountability.
 
Callers push the conversation deeper, raising immigration pressures, youth disillusionment, collapsing urban promises, and a culture that teaches young adults to see themselves only as victims. One caller asks why God allows good people to die, and Peter answers from a place of faith, pointing toward a larger plan that human eyes cannot fully grasp.
 
What emerges is the portrait of a nation at a crossroads, spiritually strained and economically suffocated, yet still filled with citizens capable of reclaiming self-reliance, demanding election integrity, and restoring the dignity of personal responsibility. Peter closes with a charge anchored in discernment, courage, and an unyielding commitment to remain a voice for liberty.

Veterans Day is not a slogan. It is a standard. On today’s Next Steps Show, U.S. Army Iraq veteran and Combat News founder Sgt. Mark “Sarge” Mitchell joins Peter Vazquez to cut through the parade music and talk reality: God, Country, Family—and the duty we owe those who raised a right hand.
 
Sarge traces a soldier’s path from Fort Jackson to Iraq and reminds us that every veteran—combat or not—earned the title. We confront the culture that makes service “uncool,” the red tape that forces veterans to “ask permission” for basic care, and the perverse housing rules that exclude 100% service-connected vets while other programs enjoy guaranteed subsidies. Numbers matter: ~1,180 homeless veterans statewide in New York, ~17 veteran suicides per day, and 15% of earned benefits left unclaimed because no one told them how.
 
Callers challenge and sharpen the hour: a push to organize veterans’ advocacy with discipline, a retired lieutenant colonel on a society that prizes “for me” over “service before self,” and a reminder that military spouses carry a silent, heroic burden. The answer is not more pageantry. It is policy that works, led by boots-on-ground veterans who know the mission.
 
Want next steps? Start with peer support, direct access to care, and telling the truth—publicly. Join the weekly open forum on X, Wednesdays at 7 p.m., with @SGTMitchell88 and CombatNews.org. Ceremony is easy. Responsibility is victory.

The noise was deafening—half-truths dressed as compassion, headlines lit to flatter the left and bruise the right. On this episode, Peter Vazquez sits down with Eric Scheiner, Senior Director of MRCTV, to chart the maze and torch the fog. Scheiner walks through MRCTV’s receipts: lopsided shutdown coverage that framed Republicans as saboteurs while ignoring inconvenient Democratic votes; glamour shots for socialist darlings and vanishing acts for stories that cut the other way. The pattern is not subtle. It is systemic.
 
From New York City’s new hard-left mayor to Virginia races the press refused to scrutinize, the lesson repeats: when narrative rules, facts starve. Abroad, the persecution of Christians in Nigeria barely registers unless a disfavored figure mentions it—then the story becomes the messenger, not the murdered. At home, the same instinct targets faith, family, and anyone stubborn enough to ask for evidence.
 
Callers weigh in—from the Marine Corps’ costly victories to libraries captured by ideology—reminding us that institutions follow the money and the courage of those who show up. Scheiner’s closing counsel is simple and stern: search for truth, speak it, and audit your tools, including AI trained to echo the usual suspects.
 
This is a call to discernment and duty: God, country, family. Peace through strength. Citizenship over spectatorship. The fog lifts when men and women of conviction light the way.

America says wait your turn. Take it. Peter Vazquez sits with Maát Reed, a woman who fought from foster care to the corner office and built On The Move Contracting Services the old way: service, discipline, and results. She turns MWBE certification into contracts, not talking points; uses APEX to cut through red tape; and proves that mentorship beats slogans because slogans do not build payrolls.
 
A caller throws heat: Do Black entrepreneurs truly network? Can women lead women without the drama? Maát answers with evidence—active directories, real partnerships, high standards, and a leader’s spine. She refuses the victim script and chooses motion over grievance. Where a door will not open, she finds another.
 
We go inside her Social & Economic Equity cannabis license, far from pop-culture haze: compliance, lending hurdles, medical relief for pain and sleep, and the hard math of running a lawful business. We confront the tired debate over “institutional” barriers with a sharper truth: jerks exist, but they do not get the last word. Tenacity, competence, and community do.
 
The verdict is blunt. Government can nudge. Freedom builds. Build anyway. Then reach back and lift the next builder.

The dust has not settled in New York. It shifted. On this episode, Peter Vazquez walks listeners through a post-election landscape where Monroe County’s old firewall collapsed, Greece and Perinton flipped, and City Hall doubles down on “progress.”
 
Callers light up the lines: Keith demanding Trump turn fully domestic and fix the kitchen table economy; John warning of nickel and dime governance; Lorraine pressing the information war the Right keeps losing; Charles pointing to turnout math and hard lessons ahead; Gary tracing thirty years of classroom conditioning and broken voter rolls.
 
Peter connects the dots: culture beats campaigns, schools precede city halls, and parties that ignore their own “Growth and Opportunity” playbook keep reliving the same losses. He uses National Men Make Dinner Day as a parable: lead at home first, model dignity, and rebuild the foundations of God, country, and family.
 
He contrasts poetic promises of “free” solutions with the prose of reality, crime, costs, and a city told “this democracy is yours,” though not for those who still believe virtue, work, and faith matter.
 
This is not despair. It is a summons. Turnout is a duty. Culture is the battleground. Leadership begins at the dinner table and radiates outward to precincts, school boards, and budgets. Truth has fallen in the streets; pick it up. Join The Next Steps Show and take your place in the rebuilding.

Election Day, 11/4/25. I sit with Monroe County GOP Vice Chair James VanBrederode to cut through the noise: victims sidelined, bad policy fueling poverty and crime, and media narratives smearing conservatives. We weigh Cuomo versus Mandami, when endorsements are strategy, SNAP with work as dignity, and rebuilding local leadership with candidates who serve. City races and courts matter; jurists of character and Marcus C. Williams offer real choices. Turnout lags, independents surge. Faith, family, freedom, duty. Vote by 9 P.M.

Henrietta stands at a turning point. Corey Brown, engineer and father, joins Peter Vazquez to confront failing leadership, rising assessments, and cultural decay with solutions, not slogans. He built schools that deliver 100% grade-level literacy and wants that same results-first mindset in town hall: real transparency through interactive budgets, resident alerts, and fast, bias-free permitting. Brown backs small business districts, early tax relief for startups, and fair, evenhanded code enforcement that targets blight, not homeowners.
 
He rejects Albany’s energy overreach, defends faith, family, and country, and defines diversity by merit and contribution. To restore roots, he proposes Victory Gardens, orchards, and food forests after Henrietta lost 250 acres of farmland, linking neighbors to land and lowering costs. He calls for Monroe County town cooperation, citizen participation, and a return to responsibility—where informed voters shape a free, orderly, and hopeful community.

America stands at a crossroads: liberty versus control, truth versus narrative. As federal distrust rises—nearly 70% of Americans say media bias threatens our representative republic—Peter Vazquez speaks with Joshua Philipp of The Epoch Times to expose foreign influence operations, media compliance, and the legal contours of the Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C. §§ 251–255), invoked only 30 times in U.S. history to restore order when states fail to act. Project 21’s Phil Bell follows, championing faith, family, free markets, and civic grit over dependency, reflecting the truth that only one in three Americans believe government makes life better. No excuses, no fear—build, serve, and guard the Constitution.

Peter Vazquez leads a powerful conversation on faith, freedom, and the duty to act when truth is under fire. From rising antisemitism and moral confusion abroad to voter apathy, fusion politics, and dependency at home, he exposes how comfort and compromise weaken conviction.
Compassion without structure becomes cruelty, and faith without action becomes sentiment. The call is clear—restore moral courage, demand integrity, and defend liberty through informed leadership. Courage is the cure for confusion. Listen now on the Voice of Liberty.

America’s compassion has been replaced by control, trapping citizens in systems that measure dependency instead of progress. Rachel K. Barkley, political strategist and director of the Able Americans Program, shares how faith, work, and outcome-based reform can restore dignity and independence for people with disabilities while challenging policies that quietly destroy hope. Then A.K. Kamara, conservative commentator and entrepreneur, exposes media deception and the culture of victimhood, urging Americans to reclaim faith, family, and freedom through courage, accountability, and truth-driven leadership.

Peter Vazquez sits down with the Hon. Ed McGinnis, former U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy and now CEO of Curio. With over three decades at the Department of Energy, McGinnis exposes how fear and politics buried America’s nuclear future. Curio’s breakthrough turns “waste” into 150 years of clean power, critical isotopes, and generational jobs, restoring U.S. energy leadership, cutting dependence on rivals, and reigniting the nation’s will to lead again.

A hard look at truth and speech. MRCTV’s Nick Kangadis, a self-described anti-communist, calls out the culture war, dependency sold as compassion, and the entitlement behind threats over SNAP. Attorney Michael B. Morris, Director of MRC Free Speech America, exposes Big Tech censorship, AI bias, and why Section 230 needs clarity. From Europe’s speech crackdowns to American courage, we urge listeners to think, speak, and stand.

Across borders and headlines, The Next Steps Show goes to work. Peter Vazquez speaks with NCRI’s Shaheen Gobadi on Iran’s execution surge, snapback sanctions, and a people-powered push for a secular, non-nuclear republic. Then strategist Christopher Arps cuts through soft-on-crime politics, defends citizen-only voting, and calls the U.S. military back to mission. Faith, liberty, accountability. No spin.

On this episode of The Next Steps Show, Peter Vazquez drives straight into truth and tension. From a historic conversation with both Monroe County Board of Elections commissioners—the first time they faced live public questions—to callers confronting voter integrity, Sharia law, housing instability, and Rochester’s school district failures, the hour exposes deep cracks in leadership and civic trust. Vazquez calls for faith, accountability, and informed voting to confront the Vanboolzalness Crisis with courage and conviction.

Guest host Fred “Striker” Selber fills in for Peter Vazquez on The Next Steps Show, cutting through the fog of the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis—where incompetence and ideology masquerade as progress. From Rochester’s payroll collapse to Charlie Kirk’s Medal of Freedom and the “No Kings” rallies, Striker exposes hypocrisy with a veteran’s grit and a truth-teller’s edge, keeping faith, family, and freedom at the center of America’s renewal.