Inner Circle Podcast

Jaksot

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  The Midterms & Our Vote 11.09.2026 1t 6min

  One co-host is missing tonight — she's out campaigning. That's the whole message.The midterms are November 3, early voting starts within days, and the Inner Circle has one ask: if you're a citizen, register and VOTE. Because you're not messing with politics — but politics is messing with you: your rent, your gas, your grocery bill. We know how to organize weddings. Time to organize this.Even if you decide not to choose — that is also you choosing.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The Pump Is Eating Your Paycheck: The Cost of Energy 10.09.2026 1t 6min

  One host paid $3.39 a gallon this week. Another paid $5.24 — for the same gas, in the same country.Oil just crossed $100 a barrel, diesel is near record highs, and every truck, shelf, and grocery cart is passing the bill to you. The Inner Circle follows the money: the $300 Target run that started as "one thing for my daughter," the $1,000 first-day-of-school outfits, the sale signs hiding the same price underneath, and the down payment Abe calls flat-out criminal — until Ms. B, who owns the receipts, pushes back. Then the debate that splits the panel: is your car an asset or a liability? Is the American dream formula from 1975 still working in 2026?And the line that says it all: the people stretching one paycheck across two countries aren't struggling — "they're the best economists ever."This capitalist society is going to mess around and find out.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  Fast & Furious: The E-Bike Takeover 09.09.2026 1t 16min

  There's a fourteen-year-old doing thirty on your street with no license, no helmet, and no fear — and somebody bought it for him.The full Inner Circle takes on the machines taking over our roads: kids racing city buses, e-bikes that hit sixty, emergency rooms filling up, and the one question every parent gets wrong — is that a bicycle or a motorcycle? Peterson brings the case for rules before wreckage. Buela explains why an African mother's "no" is a safety feature. And then Ms. B arrives late with a confession: the e-bike that nearly took her out in the middle of Washington, DC. The panel has not recovered.Plus a warning every family needs to hear: the e-bike "investment" that cost people in our community real money.Would you buy your child one? Be honest.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The Camera Never Blinks: Flock Cameras and Who's Watching Us 04.09.2026 1t 5min

  There's a camera on your street reading every license plate that passes. You didn't vote on it — and you probably just found out it exists.The Inner Circle Podcast closes the week on the surveillance story sweeping the country: 76,000 cameras, thousands of police departments, one private company holding the data — and citizens climbing poles to tear them down. Buela asks the question the company can't answer: a website has to ask you about cookies, so who asked us? Ms. B follows the camera map to who's really being watched — then goes full George Orwell. And Abe defends the machines just hard enough to find out if the case against them survives. It does. Mostly.Plus: the one man who will never accept what the camera saw. "That camera is broken. It wasn't me."Safe... or watched? Decide for yourself.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The Black Tax: One Paycheck, Two Countries 03.09.2026 1t 10min

  You work one job. But your paycheck has two addresses.Tonight the Inner Circle says the quiet part out loud: the bill nobody sends you but everybody expects you to pay. Abe, Ms. B, and Buela open the books on the money that crosses the ocean every month — voluntarily AND involuntarily. Ms. B does the math on a community that "budgets Liberia like a monthly bill" and drops the idea that might change everything: what if the diaspora opened its own bank? Buela confesses what she didn't understand until she earned her own money. And when the new remittance tax hits the table, the whole panel goes to war.African immigrants grew Western Union. So who's really carrying who?Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The Dormant Organization: When a Community Loses Its Voice 02.09.2026 1t 16min

  The largest Liberian community outside Liberia. An organization since 1974. So when the headlines turned on us — who spoke?Nobody. And tonight the Inner Circle says it out loud.Abe, Buela, Peterson, and original panelist Sam put the silence on trial: the scandal that ran 24 hours with no one to answer it, the candidates "doing politics in America as though they are in Liberia," the mayor who asked one question a whole delegation couldn't answer — "how many people are in your community?" — and the reason nobody pays dues anymore: "We're paying fifteen dollars for Amazon Prime every month."Other communities register their newcomers, elect their own, and speak with one voice. Ours throws a party. As one host puts it: we're making noise — but it's party noise.A community without a voice doesn't stop being talked about. It just stops being heard from.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  Summer 2026 Entertainment Recap 01.09.2026 1t 6min

  Summer's over. The stories are not.Abe, Ms. B, and Buela run the whole season back — completely unscripted, and it might be the most fun hour of the year. Messi retires from international play and the panel has questions. A 19-year-old named Yamal steals a World Cup and one co-host's whole heart ("I don't watch soccer — I just wanted to be in the fries"). And David Beckham goes on trial: "That man barely ever scored a goal!" The redemption arc is worth the whole episode.Plus: the Usher and Chris Brown tour breakdown ("the concert of the century"), a 77-year-old aunt who parties until 5 a.m., the J. Cole tickets sacrificed for an airport run, the gala weekend recap, Atlanta vs. Philly settled once and for all — and the co-host so disciplined the panel decided, live on air, that she deserves her own episode.How was YOUR summer? Ours was outside, from pillow to pole.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  Inner Circle Gala + "The Great Minnesota Get-Together: Is It Ours Too? 28.08.2026 1t 3min

  Two get-togethers. One question: do we show up?The State Fair opened its gates today — the biggest fair in the country, everything on a stick, two million people calling it the Great Minnesota Get-Together. And this weekend, the Inner Circle 501(c)(3) throws its own: a community gala with a tournament, an all-black dinner night, and a state representative as keynote — all for one scary-big dream. The largest Liberian community outside Liberia has been here since 1974 and still doesn't own a place to call its own. Time to build the community center.Abe and Buela make the case for both parties: why ownership is the community's next chapter ("if you don't own something, you have no stake in it"), why the fair belongs to immigrants too, the meat pie that could make somebody a millionaire — and the ruling that will start a war in the comments: Liberian jollof is the best jollof in Africa. Period.Show up to their party. Build our own. That's the whole playbook.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The Sekou Effect: One Headline, Higher Walls 28.08.2026 46min

  The ladies take over. And they take on the hardest story in the community.A Liberian success story — 24 group homes, a government post back home — is now the headline everyone's whispering about. But this episode isn't about one man. It's about what one headline does to everybody else: the honest operators, the new applicants, and every immigrant who built a business in an industry the state is now watching twice as hard.Ms. B and Buela Johnson hold it down solo — and hold both sides. Why the fraud investigations deserve applause. Why higher walls punish the innocent. Why the group-home boom was never a scheme but a wealth ladder: "I can't pass on a nursing degree to my child. I need to create wealth I can pass on to a generation."Plus: the scandal spreading beyond one owner, the rules that "were not created for us," and the question nobody can dodge — when your community's name is in the headline, who pays the price?One headline. Higher walls. We climb anyway.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  The $317 Million Question: Why Back-Home Scandals Run Our Group Chats? 26.08.2026 1t 11min

  A former vice president is sitting in jail. The largest drug seizure in Liberia's history. And your group chat hasn't talked about anything else for a week.Abe, Buela, and Peterson ask the question nobody in the diaspora wants to answer: why do we know every detail of a scandal 6,000 miles away — but can't name our own city council member?The panel digs into the arrest at the airport ("it's fishy"), whether $300 million can enter a country without officials knowing, the fake letters and AI-generated claims flooding Facebook, and the hard truth about misplaced loyalty: we live here, we work here, we pay taxes here.Plus: a co-host reveals she wants to enter politics back home someday, and Peterson returns with a fifteen-year anniversary announcement that settles Monday's "layaway" debate once and for all.Keep up with home. Just don't get consumed by it.Amplify. Empower. Elevate.
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  Even a Prince Went Back Home 25.08.2026 1t 1min

  Prince Harry gave up the palace for the American dream. Six years later, he's packing it in — and every immigrant knows exactly why.Abe, Buela, and Ms. B put the royal exit on trial: Did Meghan know what she was marrying into? Can a man who's never seen anybody work survive in a country where you actually have to? And why does a co-host two years off the plane say America is lonelier than back home?Plus: a nine-year courtship gets called a "layaway," the panel debates how long is too long before the ring, and one host finds out Meghan Markle is Black — live on air.Homesickness doesn't care if you're royalty. Even a prince went back home.
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  Back to School: The Costs, the Rules, and the Cheat Codes 21.08.2026 1t 9min

  $863 per kid before the first bell. Phones getting benched. AI detectors reading your essays. School is back — and it's a whole different game now.Abe hands the co-host chair to an actual college student, and Buela Johnson delivers the line every teacher and parent needs to hear: "You can score a grade with AI. But can you defend the grade?"Inside: the community college move that turns a $1,300 course into a $300 one — same credits. Why Minnesota kids eat breakfast and lunch free, and whether taxpayers should foot the bill. The phone-ban debate ("they've got to interact with a human being for once"). And the hot take that'll start arguments at your dinner table: follow the passion, or follow the money?"Is it going to be hard? Yes. Am I going to die? No."Students, parents, grandparents — this one's the family meeting.Amplify. Empower. Elevate. New episodes Mon–Thu — follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  Trust & Accountability: The Headline and the Community 21.08.2026 1t 3min

  MPR dropped an investigation: a Liberian government official running Minnesota group homes from 5,000 miles away — $36 million in taxpayer money, neglect findings, and a community holding its breath.Let's be clear: he has not been accused of any crime. But the questions won't wait. Can you run a business you can't see? Where does hustle end and greed begin? And should a platform built to CELEBRATE our entrepreneurs be the one calling this out?Abe, Ms. B, and Buela Johnson say yes — because the honest operators deserve better. Ms. B breaks down exactly how the group home industry works and where the conflict of interest lives. Buela delivers the line of the night: "Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody's watching."Accountability AND grace. Both. That's how family handles hard news.Amplify. Empower. Elevate. New episodes Mon–Thu — follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  Social Media Companies on Trial 19.08.2026 1t 15min

  A jury already made Meta pay $6 million. Now the states are in court arguing your child's attention was engineered on purpose. So who's really guilty — the platforms, the parents, or all of us?Abe, Peterson, and brand-new co-host Buela Johnson go three rounds: infinite scroll vs. personal responsibility, the tobacco comparison, and whether parents should be on trial too. Abe confesses. Peterson brings the receipts. And Buela's own face was stolen by scammers — the platform couldn't even prove she was her."You can keep scrolling and keep wasting your life.""Kids are called kids for a reason. People are aware — they just play ignorant."Welcome to the circle, Buela.Amplify. Empower. Elevate. New episodes Mon–Thu — follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  National Black Business Month: Celebrating Black Businesses 13.08.2026 1t 5min

  3 million Black-owned businesses. Only 194,500 with a single paid employee. That gap is the whole story."There's living in the business, and there's building the business. We tend to live in the business."Abe and Ms. B break down why access to capital — not effort — built the gap, how $211 billion becomes $600 billion, and the local owners proving it's possible: from renting 1,500 square feet to owning 6,000. Plus breaking news on a major Black-owned expansion — and if nuns can open a bank, what's our excuse?Nobody's coming to save us. We save ourselves.Amplify. Empower. Elevate. New episodes Mon–Thu — follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  Primary Day in Minnesota: Minority Candidates | Peterson Flies Solo 12.08.2026 1t 4min

  The co-hosts got caught up. The show went on anyway.Peterson's first-ever solo flight landed on ELECTION NIGHT — and he called it live on air: Amy Klobuchar, projected winner for governor. History moving in real time.Plus the realest take you'll hear on why immigrants sit out politics: many of us fled countries where politics meant danger. But "if you do not mess with politics, politics WILL mess with you."A record number of minority candidates just ran in Minnesota. Little mouse vs. elephant — and the mouse keeps showing up.New episodes Mon–Thu. Follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  America Is Getting Older — Who's Going to Take Care of Everybody? 11.08.2026 1t 5min

  "How many yachts do you need, Abraham?" — "A LOT, if I can afford it!"Abe and Ms. B go head to head on the crisis nobody's group chat is talking about: America is aging fast, and somebody has to pay for it. Home care runs $34 AN HOUR — do the math, that's $139K a year. A nursing home? $10K a month. And Medicare? Doesn't cover long-term care at all.Inside: why Ms. B says retirement planning is "a guessing game at its best." The culture war over "Mom lives with us" vs. "Mom goes to assisted living." Why elders say the nursing home is "where you go to die." What the immigration crackdown means for who takes care of your grandmother. And the question for your family: have y'all had THE conversation?New episodes Monday–Thursday. Subscribe on YouTube and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.#InnerCirclePodcast #AgingInAmerica #Caregiving #TheTalk
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  Body Shaming: The Ariana Grande Effect 11.08.2026 1t 4min

  The internet played doctor with the biggest pop star alive — and she quit public life. Concern? Or cruelty?Ms. B: "If I can count your ribs, that's not shaming — that's the truth."Abe: "Whose place is it to comment on ANYBODY's body?"Nobody backed down.Plus: the childhood nickname "Booney Bones" that never healed, why our community says "she's struggling" when you lose weight — and the pregnant men segment. We said what we said.Drop a comment about the body comment YOU never forgot.New episodes Mon–Thu. Follow the Inner Circle Podcast.
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  Let Your WHY Build Your WEALTH 06.08.2026 1t 2min

  "You basically decided to take your closet and turn it into a clothing store. I'm sorry to say."Ms. B and Yahri take over the Inner Circle Podcast Business & Finance Wednesday — and it gets REAL. Why staying in business is harder than starting one. The "boring stuff" behind every million-dollar launch. Working IN your business vs. building it. And why entrepreneurs who ignore politics are quietly killing their own companies.Plus: Ms. B's origin story — a little girl in a St. Paul basement with a briefcase and heels who never stopped. Yahri's hidden résumé: published journalist, family art business, paintings sold as far as Europe. The 30-year-old Black-owned beauty supply store that can't find a buyer. And one question for you: what's YOUR why?New episodes Monday–Thursday. Subscribe on YouTube and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.#InnerCirclePodcast #Entrepreneurship #BlackBusinessMonth #BuildWealth
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  The 5th Annual On The One Music Festival 05.08.2026 1t 4min

  The 5th Annual On The One Music Festival (w/ Chadwick Phillips)He was on a major label, on shows with Kendrick Lamar — and months behind on rent. Nobody knew.Chadwick Phillips pulls up to the Inner Circle and drops GEMS: winning the Hot 97 talent show, the record deal that looked like stardom and paid like a side hustle, losing it all, moving to Minnesota — and building the On The One Music Festival from no vendors and no banner to a FREE festival headlined by Grammy-nominated R&B legend Carl Thomas.Inside: "The person with the most rejections becomes the most successful." Why preparation is stress prevention. Mansa Musa and why "we are royalty." And the question that turned into a song live on air: how do you make the money work?On The One Music Festival: Saturday, Aug 8, 3–9 PM, Bloomington Central Station Park. FREE. All ages. Pull up.New episodes Monday–Thursday. Subscribe on YouTube and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.#InnerCirclePodcast #OnTheOne #CarlThomas #TwinCities