Getting to Third Space with Lamar and Tom

Starting In 2027 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed in 2025) enables scholarships for private school tuition, tutoring, and transportation for families with incomes up to 300% of the area median income. Is this really a good idea?
In today’s podcast, Lamar and Tom talk with LaMonte Rothrock who has been an educator throughout his career. LaMonte began his teaching career as a music educator. His career’s journey led him down several paths. From music education he became a counselor and eventually an administrator. He worked in public schools and in a private prep school. In the later stages of his career he moved into college administration. At every step and turn, LaMonte learned what he needed to know to help students be successful. 
In this Table Talk, we discuss whether the education provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill will actually help all students or whether it will mostly help those from families whose wealth and education level already give their students an advantage. States must opt in. What is your state doing? What would you like it to do? 
Learn More
School Choice is Booming in Iowa: Are Students Better Off? https://www.npr.org/2026/04/19/nx-s1-5683199/education-school-choice-iowa-students-charter-school-cedar-rapids 
Federal Program Will Bring Private School Choice to At Least 4 New States https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/federal-program-will-bring-private-school-choice-to-at-least-4-new-states/2026/01
School Vouchers Explained: What the New Federal Program Means https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/25/10/school-vouchers-explained-what-new-federal-program-means 
U.S. school choice tax credit scholarship program https://ballotpedia.org/U.S._school_choice_tax_credit_scholarship_program 
A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness
Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5
There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:
What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?

What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?

What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.
Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.
How We Check Ourselves
Snopes - https://www.snopes.com/ 
FactCheck.org - https://www.factcheck.org/ 
Politifact - https://www.politifact.com/
RealClearPolitics - https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ 
Reuters FactCheck - https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ 
Because media can have its own biases, we also rely upon these sites to help us get balanced coverage:

Media Bias/Fact Check - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

All Sides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart - https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive 
Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 
Credits:
Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus
Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI
Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc. 
Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: [email protected] and https://www.rothimages.com/
Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: [email protected]. 
No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.
Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA; Original Publishing Date, May 12, 2026

You know about earworms, right? It’s a piece of music that gets stuck in your brain and won’t leave you alone. (“Baaabeee shark…”) Sorry about that. 
There are questions that are like earworms, too. In our last podcast our guest, Joel Kauffman, asked us if we are making a difference with Getting to 3rd Space and, if so, how do we know it. His questions have been earworms for us ever since. 
We started this podcast in September 2023. We are now in our 4th season and we’ve done 68 podcasts, most of them on audio and video. We are not tech savvy guys so we don’t know how to gather all the stats we need to know about our true reach. Because we do this for free, we can’t afford to hire anyone to do this kind of thing for us. So we do the next best thing…we try to make educated guesses based on the stats we can easily find and on feedback from listeners/viewers. 
Still, our minds have been spinning as we think about if we are having an impact with this podcast. We decided to explore those questions more fully in this podcast. Of course, this leads us to ask YOU: What do you think? Are we making a difference? Our conversation in either audio or video can be found on Substack at https://klaushaus.substack.com/ You have a choice of listening to the audio only or watching on YouTube. We hope you tune in and then tell us what you think.
A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness
We are halfway to Thanksgiving and we’d like to make sure we have plenty of Acts of Kindness to share at that time. Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5
There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:
What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?

What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?

What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.
Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.
How We Check Ourselves
Fact Checking: Because there are a lot of things happening…some true, some false, some unbelievable…we use the following fact checking sites. Take a look for yourself:
Snopes - https://www.snopes.com/ 

FactCheck.org - https://www.factcheck.org/ 

Politifact - https://www.politifact.com/

RealClearPolitics - https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ 

Reuters FactCheck - https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ 

Because media can have its own biases, we also rely upon these sites to help us get balanced coverage:
Media Bias/Fact Check - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

All Sides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart - https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive 

Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas for guests or topics? 
Send us a voice message on Spotify or email us at [email protected] and [email protected].
Credits:
Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus

Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI

Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc. 

Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: [email protected] and https://www.rothimages.com/

Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: [email protected]. 
Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA; Original Publishing Date, April 28, 2026

What is the state of our democracy in the U.S. today? What does it mean to be a democracy? Lamar and Tom check in with historian Joel Kauffman on these and other questions. 
Joel Kauffman is a professor, coach, reader, and world citizen. His interest in the world in which we live has led him to learn more about it through the study of history and in conversations with people from all walks of life. Joel taught courses at Hesston College, including a couple with Lamar, engaged students and pushed them to think more carefully and critically about the world they were inheriting from their elders. In this Table Talk, Joel similarly pushes Lamar and Tom to thoughtfully consider the state of American democracy and what it will take to preserve it.  
Learn More
Walden by Henry David Thoreau - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm
The Constitution of the United States of America - from the Bill of Rights Institute https://bri-wp-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Constitution.pdf also from the National Constitution Center https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution
What is a Democracy? Department of Government, Georgetown University - https://government.georgetown.edu/news/democracy-governance/what-is-democracy/ 
A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness
Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5
There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:
What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?

What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?

What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.
Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.
How We Check Ourselves
Fact Checking: Because there are a lot of things happening…some true, some false, some unbelievable…we use the following fact checking sites. Take a look for yourself:
Snopes - https://www.snopes.com/ 

FactCheck.org - https://www.factcheck.org/ 

Politifact - https://www.politifact.com/

RealClearPolitics - https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ 

Reuters FactCheck - https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ 

Because media can have its own biases, we also rely upon these sites to help us get balanced coverage:
Media Bias/Fact Check - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

All Sides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart - https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive 

Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas for guests or topics? 
Send us a voice message on Spotify or email us at [email protected] and [email protected].
Credits:
Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus
Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI
Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc. 
Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: [email protected] and https://www.rothimages.com/
Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: [email protected]. 
No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.
Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA; Original Publishing Date, April 14, 2026

It’s Lamar & Tom’s Second Annual Oddly True for April Fools’ Day podcast! Here’s how it works. Each tells the other three stories ripped from the headlines that are odd but true. However, the story teller changes a single detail in one of the stories making it only mostly true. The other has to correctly guess which story has been changed. 
Learn More
Tom’s Stories:
Wild turkeys terrorize Wisconsin neighborhood, chase postal workers https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/02/05/wild-turkeys-Janesville-Wisconsin/6431770305690/
Badger found hiding in California high school storage closet https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/03/12/Madera-Animal-Control-high-school-badger/5391773339110/ 
N.Y. governor steps in to save resident's 'PB4WEGO' license plate https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/02/26/license-plate-PB4WEGO-Gov-Kathy-Hochul/3131772123934/
Lamar’s Stories:
Making your bed every morning could actually have this health drawback https://nypost.com/2025/12/08/health/making-your-bed-every-morning-could-have-this-health-drawback/ 
Frozen Dead Guy Days https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Dead_Guy_Days 

Dog Sets Guiness World Book Record for Longest Tongue https://youtu.be/gdOH5HF3rHE?si=2S2pa35T13OKIEA2 

And the winner is…
Well, it’s a tie. However, in the podcast we say that Tom won. During editing he realized he had confused the story of the turkeys in Wisconsin with this story from Canada: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/02/25/canada-Ottawa-turkeys-chase-man/7251772035813/
Since Lamar guessed the turkey story wasn’t quite correct, he also gets a point. So, now the score is 1 to 1. The competition continues…April Fools Day, 2027.
A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness
Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5
There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:
What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?

What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?

What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.
Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.
Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas for guests or topics? 
Send us a voice message on Spotify or email us at [email protected] and [email protected].
Credits:
Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus
Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI (for our “outer space” looks in this episode)
Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc. 
Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: [email protected] and https://www.rothimages.com/
Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: [email protected]. 
No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.
Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA and Iowa; Original Publishing Date, March 31, 2026.

Have you ever felt disconnected from the decisions that shape our world? 
Today Lamar and Tom are discussing the tragic loss of six Iowa National Guard members in Kuwait. Their sacrifice reminds us of the heavy toll of conflict and the often confusing nature of war.
As they reflect on this, they also consider the broader implications of military actions and the importance of transparency in decision-making. It's vital to stay informed and engaged with these issues that affect us all.
What are your thoughts on the disconnect between leadership and we the people, particularly as it relates to the decision to go to war? Leave us a comment. 
Learn More
Americans, more than others, see their fellow citizens as “bad” or “very bad.” How does this play into what is happening in Trump’s decision to go to war? Do we see other non-citizens even worse? Do we consider them even human? 
Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/03/05/in-25-country-survey-americans-especially-likely-to-view-fellow-citizens-as-morally-bad/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#how-have-views-on-morality-changed-over-time
Tell us what you think. What does this do to us?
A 3rd Space Survey: Acts of Kindness
Do you have an act of kindness that you’d be willing to share? You can participate through a Google Forms Survey at this link: https://forms.gle/5NQakn6bgeXpm2us5
There you will find two kindness questions we’d like you to consider and then respond to:
What is an act of kindness you’ve received that made a difference to you?

What is an act of kindness you have done which you hope changed another person’s life?

What do we do with the acts we learn about in this survey? We save them and feature them in our Thanksgiving show each year…anonymously unless you prefer we use your name.
Finally, please share this survey because an act of kindness shared begets others.
How We Check Ourselves
Fact Checking: Because there are a lot of things happening…some true, some false, some unbelievable…we use the following fact checking sites. Take a look for yourself:
Snopes - https://www.snopes.com/ 

FactCheck.org - https://www.factcheck.org/ 

Politifact - https://www.politifact.com/

RealClearPolitics - https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ 

Reuters FactCheck - https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ 

Because media can have its own biases, we also rely upon these sites to help us get balanced coverage:
Media Bias/Fact Check - https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

All Sides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart - https://app.adfontesmedia.com/chart/interactive 

Meet Lamar and Tom
Lamar Roth and Tom Klaus are lifelong friends exploring how to get to a 3rd Space - a space where two or more people with opposing viewpoints, ideologies, and worldviews can come together to hear, listen, share, and connect with one another.
Want to watch us do the podcast? Visit the Klaus Haus Productions YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@KlausHausProductions. 
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas for guests or topics? 
Send us a voice message on Spotify or email us at [email protected] and [email protected].
Credits:
Wild Opinions and Nonsensical Musings by Lamar Roth & Tom Klaus
Images by Getty Images, Pexels, Pixabay, Roth Images, and Cyberlink AI
Final review and approval by Jake and Ebie Dawgs Inc. 
Photos by Lamar Roth are copyrighted by Roth Images, All Rights Reserved. For permissions or additional information: [email protected] and https://www.rothimages.com/
Getting to 3rd Space with Lamar and Tom is produced and sponsored by Klaus Haus Productions LLC and Acorn Consulting, LLC. © 2026. All Rights Reserved. Permissions: [email protected]. 
No living creature was harmed in the production of this film but a lot of Colombian coffee was consumed.
Recorded using Riverside.fm - http://riverside.fm/ - from “home studio” locations in Maryland and Kansas, USA; Original Publishing Date, March 17, 2026.