Our Dirty Laundry
Our Dirty Laundry
Update on McMahon and Rollins; Nesheiwat for Surgeon General
Hosts Mandy Griffin and Katie Swalwell discuss the importance of white women recognizing their role in activism and learning from communities with long-standing vulnerabilities. They critique systemic issues and figures such as Pete Buttigieg's inadequate political responses, and dive into the problematic policies and actions of Trump's administration, focusing on the misguided efforts of officials in education and agriculture sectors. The episode concludes with a call to understand the historical context and influence of white Christian nationalism in shaping these systemic issues.
00:43 Reflections on Marginalized Communities
03:29 Toxic Positivity vs. Despair
05:38 Frustration with Democratic Leadership
12:01 The Role of the Department of Education
23:42 Tariffs and Their Impact
31:30 Economic Impact of Avian Flu on Poultry Farmers
44:27 The Reality of Mass Deportations and Agriculture
47:26 Trump's Nominee for Surgeon General: Jeanette Neshewat
52:09 Upcoming Topics and Future Discussions
Hi, this is Mandy Griffin and I'm Katie Swalwell and welcome to our dirty laundry stories of white ladies making a mess of things and how we need to clean up our act.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Hello, it's us. Good to see
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Good to see you too. We're live. We are functioning. Mandy just asked me how I was doing, and the way I've been answering that question is to say within my locus of control, things are either, like relatively good or sometimes even great, like in my very small locus of control. Everything else is just like a wildly, unpredictably shitty nightmare. I was eating breakfast this morning with a friend of mine who describes himself as a queer black fat man. And he's so if I'm Okay, then everybody else needs to pull it together because he lives in Iowa, which is as I've in this podcast, a show. So I, and I was reflecting on how the least despairing people that I keep talking to in the last month, the last six weeks are people with multiple marginalized identities, I think. And we were, I was actually talking about that with my friend this morning and just thinking through. They're like why that would be the case and my friend's frustration with people he called hen the hand ringers Like pearl clutching hand wringing kind of people, you know who like think what's happening is terrible but just can't do anything but like panic and I think there is something to looking at communities that have always been vulnerable who've always been targeted and who've Long found ways to engage in mutual aid and ways to find joy and be creative, even when they are so targeted. And I think there is something there for white women who the podcast that we make is by and for, even though I know we have a lot of other people listening, that. It's just a reminder that those connections to each other, connections to ancestors, and a refusal to look for affirmation from the state or formal institutions. These are also the people who I think have been the most dedicated to fighting for justice. So I'm not saying that they're like, checked out and figured out a way to not care. It's like they, they, these are folks that care. So deeply and their existence is activism in a lot of ways like they, they are going and going strong and connected to each other and fueled by something that's so much deeper than I think the knee jerk reaction that I fall into a lot of times, which is like panic, or despair. And so just remembering that those are not helpful emotions and. Again, when the most vulnerable people are continuing to find ways to care for themselves, each other, and engage in activism, it's pull it fucking together, Katie. That's what I tell myself, if that makes sense. That's how I'm doing. That was very long answer to a short question.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:It's good. I think always have a knee jerk reaction. Against positivity.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Just in general, no matter how things are going. Yeah. Even on the best of circumstances, how's Mandy doing? Not great.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:but I think it's like it's the reaction to like Toxic positivity, as
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah. Oh, for sure.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:just the whole ignoring the horrors of the world and covering them with trite, happiness and cliches and, frivolity that I find so. Absolutely infuriating. So that my initial reaction is always to be like, no, no happiness.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I crush you. I see you and I crush you. Okay. Here's,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:But
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:actually, I think toxic positivity is the other side of the coin I was just describing. It's like panic, like spiraling panic and despair is the flip side of toxic positivity. Both are like rootless, not helpful, like un, Connect like disconnected not in community emotions to have that are not anchored in any sort of like reality or Community, so that makes sense to me. They're actually like my sense is that people who? Exhibit one in some circumstances would likely exhibit the other that's my hypothesis
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. Yeah. I like the thought of being in community being the antidote to those things. I think, any sort of either positivity or despair that is not rooted in connection and action is not helpful, I think, is what I would say. And I think there's that little phrase I think that's been going around in some meme. It says the horrors persist, but
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah yes
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:think that's where we're at right now, like we are still persisting, we are still trying, we're still fighting back about this. I think some of us, I do, here's another like tangent to go off on that I was irritated about this week. I'm irritated at the Democrats.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Oh yeah, we
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:a long time. We have discussed this fuck the Democrats and their inability to do anything meaningful. But Pete Buttigieg was on Colbert this week and Colbert was asking him, basically, What are the Democrats doing? And he was asking him in the context specifically of a Trump tweet that was the anti protest tweet he put out about how they were going to like on college campuses, they would arrest people participating in quote, illegal protest, whatever the fuck that means. And stating that it would be illegal for protesters to wear masks. Because he doesn't want people to be able to hide their identity and about deporting any students who protest who are here on student visas or anything. This is the tweet he put out. Then Colbert was saying, what is America if we're illegalizing protests? What is an illegal protest? What are you even fucking talking about? First Amendment rights here? Are we just getting rid of that? And he was saying, what are the Democrats doing about this? And Buttigieg's answer was, Like people, all freedom loving people should join together against this. This is an assault on all of our rights. This is we need conservatives who love freedom to support us. We need libertarians to get on board. We need everyone to fight against this, Because it affects all of us. And people in the comments under this post were like, I love Pete Buttigieg, like Buttigieg for president. We need Pete. And my response, quite frankly, was fuck Pete Buttigieg. He just dodged the motherfucking question. The question is what are Democrats he's like pussy footing. And being like, we need everybody. No, quit this. No, forget those people. They do not care about us. They are not on our side. They do not want to fight with us. They are beyond repair. Like just. Go to the grassroots of the people who want fucking change and actually like I'll green it You know stand up and scream in the middle of the speech. Don't hold up your paddles Don't do this other bullshit Like I'm just so infuriated at that sort of response and that people liking that sort of response
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I I wonder if it's like too, so how I, when I listened to that story, so I feel like I both agree and disagree, like on the one hand, it's absolutely Dodge. I absolutely share your frustration. Yes, I need to know what are you doing? Like I'm asking you as not you, but like you Pete, you know what, like the Opposition party has a role to play and has things that they can and should be doing. That is a fair question and it deserves a direct answer. So that, I share that frustration. And as his answer to a different question, I do think that having a way for people to find shared, Concerns across all different kinds of groups is super important and is essential to building something different. And I don't think it's possible to build a necessary coalition with contempt as part of it. I think, and this is a whole conversation for another day. I'd like to unpack how coalition building could work, should work, etc. And I'm definitely not the expert to figure that out, but I keep thinking about it. So I don't. I don't think like I think there's something in his answer that I understand why people would be responding to but it's not the answer to that question and it's not and I actually think it falls back in on itself like I actually think where his answer does connect to that question is if my take is that if The Democrats were more clear voiced and taking direct action and focused on like actual populism and the actual root of the problem and taking more radical aggressive stances on things. I think that actually would be what would build a bigger coalition. So I think that coalition building is important. I think the Democrats doing things are important, and I actually think that them doing more and clear, direct actions would be what actually connects with people because a lot of the people who are disaffected and are hurt right now are people that were drawn to the idea that this the system of government is broken fundamentally and is not working for us, and they're not wrong about that. So Yeah, anyway, we could get a whole other conversation about that, but I am also frustrated. And I think that's why I will always vote. I think that's really important. It's just something personally that I've decided I will always commit to doing. I will help get out the vote, but I don't put all my eggs in that basket. And I also really want to focus on local mutual aid and community action and all of that. But I don't like, and people who listen to this podcast know our hot take, not even hot take, but our stance on. Capitalism and white supremacy and how they're connected and just, I don't know, it's just it's frustrating to not have a clear, strong oppositional party leadership, but at the end of the day, maybe there's, this is me being toxically positive, probably like something that I fear that can happen so easily is people just rallying around like another cult of personality. And I don't think that's helpful either. Okay. I think it's helpful in the short term as like a shortcut to stuff, but it doesn't, I don't think that's a great long term solution, so I don't that is probably me trying to put like sprinkles on a pile of shit, but there you go.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Oh, yeah
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:A doily! That's right. We put doilies on shit piles. That's what white women are really good at doing. Tell me, so you prepared more for additional people that had been nominated.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah, I'm just an yeah, and I wanted to do an update on the last couple that we talked about, just because a couple of things have happened. That are pertinent to that discussion. So our last little mini sode was about Linda McMahon for education secretary and Brooke Rawlins. For agriculture both of whom have been confirmed now and are underway in their, dismantling of their whole entire programs.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yep.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:so specifically, I was going to address like Linda McMahon's confirmation and the just absolutely bonkers fact that in her confirmation as the head of this department. She endorsed dismantling the apartment, the
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Mm hmm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So I'm like how do you position yourself as being the best person for a job? That you don't want to exist like this is just I don't understand I don't understand the mental gymnastics of
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Like why why even have any other questions at that point? That's really the only question that matters is do you want to dismantle this department? And if the answer is yes, which of course it is because that is the whole reason she's getting nominated, then who fucking cares, to be perfectly honest, what you think about Title IX, or what you think about IDEA, or what you think who cares what you think about literally any of the other responsibilities the department has had? Who cares? Because if you don't want it to exist, and that will be your priority is to dismantle it, then what do I care what you think about students with disabilities? It doesn't matter.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:because you're just getting rid of all of this. Anyway, yeah, and so that was her answer whether she thought the department it, whether the United States needs the department of education. And she said, no, we
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:There you go.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So wild. And I'm so infuriated about this because we knew from the campaign trail that Trump wanted to dismantle the department
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:And then all of the people who were like it doesn't matter that he says that cause he can't do it. And it's what do you mean? He can't do it. I don't think there's anything. That Trump gives a shit about can or cannot, like he's going to do it and then he will make the legal battle happen to fight against it. And then we all know that there are judges in place that once it gets pushed to the very end of whatever court cases there are, they're on his side. So there is no, he can't do
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:and I think that,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:I don't get that
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I don't I have found it helpful to read about, and I just sent you that video that was about ways that things have been blocked. So I, and even at the Supreme Court level, that things have been blocked in maybe surprising sorts of ways. But I think even if things that's great. I appreciate those blocks. Great. But the fact is that even, it's all such a distraction and it's all such a massive suck of resources. And, as so many institutions of public education, whether it's K 12 or higher education, I've heard from so many colleagues in many different institutions across the country, what is happening in their school or their campus, and how the leadership is often just caving and overly complying and complying in advance and making all these huge changes. So that even if it does get blocked, like the reassembly of anything or the, Rebuilding of any, it just is so destructive. So even if it doesn't get destroyed, there is still so much destruction damage. Exactly. Yeah, it's I did.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah, and apparently like it's it takes a Congress has to approve closing the department. It takes a majority of congress to do that. They don't have the numbers To do that right now. Supposedly, although I don't trust any of that. But you're right. Like they still like the funding, the, allocation of jobs and programs and all of that are still going to be affected because their plan. The plan, when they say, so if you shut down education, then what happens? And of course the answer is, it all goes to the states. Then the states have more freedom. This whole state's bullshit thing. And really it's all just deployed for like voucher
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Right
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:and. Letting states give money to people who are already
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:and supporting discrimination.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:wealthy
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:That's what it ultimately boils down to this. I was there's like a mom's group that I'm a part of. And we were talking about this. And I think this is in the weeds that people don't always know if they're not in the field of education, public schooling is constitutionally a state's responsibility. So it's not, I think there's sometimes the idea that like, Oh, the, I don't, the department of ed is like how we have schools. And that's actually not true. The department of ed is actually pretty recent. Invention in a cabinet position, but part of the reason that it got created was to enforce against the discriminatory practice, enforce the laws that were being passed to make sure students who were being discriminated against had rights and protections. So that piece of it like that. That's a reason to want some sort of federal Intervention in things is to make sure that students rights, the rights of all young people to an education that's free and equal, that there has to be some national oversight that makes sure that happens because a state can't just like we know what happens when Supreme Court justices are supposed to check themselves Like we that's not a great system, you know It's a to say to Clarence Thomas like if you need to recuse yourself, we'll trust you so I think especially living in a state like Iowa where I live where it has like the most batshit far right legislation you could Possibly imagine like I think I don't know if I told you about this, but there's a bill right now It failed in one house, but it like one branch, but it's coming through another branch to criminalize anyone who administers an MRNA vaccine. So that's a
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yes,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:plan. But that's a medical bill, but we have just a million horrible schooling bills. So it's like at that point, then it's not like things shift so much in terms of who's had, who's borne the responsibility for public schooling. But there is also. Funding that comes along at the federal level. And even though it's not the majority of any one district or universities funding, it's a significant percentage so that to lose it would be incredibly damaging. That is a problem. So they're holding that over the heads of districts that don't want to comply with things like my home district that they don't want to comply with certain things. But then they're being threatened with not having federal funding if they have affinity groups for staff or if they do any sort of DEA, anything, et cetera. It's not like our state wants that either. But I think that black, like if that funding were to go away, either because districts aren't complying or it just goes away because they just cut it entirely. It's super, super damaging. So yeah but to your point, it only benefits the people who want to privatize education, which allows them to have all kinds of like really deeply disturbing ideological lessons taught to students in schools. And it. Absolutely allows schools just to kick kids out for whatever reason because they don't follow whatever rules they've set forth or they don't feel like they can quote serve them.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:required to many
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah, exactly. So just thinking about like why again, why there are services that just need to be public and commonly shared as a collective responsibility schooling is one of those, especially in a democracy. And it's really infuriating to just see it being so attacked. But, anyway. That's my
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. And then the other things like the Department of Education also administers financial aid and student loan programs and their answer for that is To either put it into the small business associations purview or I can't remember the other place they said that we go. I'll look it up, but I don't like. Giving control over student loan programs, again, to mostly privatized entities. If you end up letting just banks handle all of that, the amount of like corruption and discrimination and predatory lending behaviors, because we already know that happens. Like I just don't see where the only people that's good for are wealthy people. Which is what all the decisions of this administration are made for is for further enriching the wealthiest people in this country and world. Yeah, and then there, so there's 4, 200 people that are under the Department of Education that are employees and McMahon's. Answer to what would happen to these employees was, she said that workers would be provided off ramps, including an offer of severance payments up to 25, 000 woohoo. Like how long,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Right.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:how long does that last? Anyone? And then early retirement packages for qualifying workers. And she also pointed out that there were 7. 6 million job openings nationwide. They should just go do any of those things, yeah, just any of those jobs. And this, the article that I looked at said she did not mention the recent signs of the slowing U. S. economy, including 172, 000 layoffs in the month of February, which is the highest total for a month since 2009.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:You know, that job market out there is just great. I also follow this woman that like helps do career coaching for people and finding jobs for people and resume work and all of this. And she said on average, like the statistics right now that are for every 100 jobs, a person sends their resume into their hearing back from one employer.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:mm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So this idea that there's just all these jobs out there that, we can just let go of these people and they're just going to go find something and it'll be fine is ludicrous.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Thanks, Linda.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:that's education. Thanks, Linda. It's great. We're all feeling a lot better. That's
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Maybe they can all join the World Wrestling Federation and just be, like, a new ring of people with different characters. Yeah, yep, that's great. We'll just boost wrestling ticket sales. I think that sounds fantastic. Okay, who is the
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Oh, okay. So then we were also talking about Brooke Rollins and the agriculture stuff coming up with all of these tariffs and then deportations of. agricultural workers. So I was looking a little bit at where that was at because honestly I see all these clips and hear all the little news things about Mexico and Canada and they're back and forth and tariffs are in and tariffs are out and what are we changing? And so I was like, what? I don't even know what's actually
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I don't think anybody knows what's actually,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:right now. No.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:it's, that's what
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:the people
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Exactly. I don't, yeah,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:It just seems like we're just messing around. Tariffs were supposed to go into effect. Some of them have, but the general ones, the biggest ones that we all know about are Canada and Mexico, and there's like a 25 percent tariff that they are Going to have under Trump's new rules, but then that was supposedly rolled back was the headline of things that there had been negotiations and they're rolling back those tariffs, but they're actually only rolled back for a month. So they're just postponed. They're still supposed to go into effect in April. And then not only on Canada and Mexico, are they supposed to go into effect, but we've raised China tariffs were 10%. They raised another 10%. So now they're effectively 20%. And then Trump was talking about how. That he's just wants to enforce these on a bunch of European countries too. So tariffs on European imports could be up to 25%. So he's basically just starting a gigantic Across the entire world, really. And then when he does this, all of these countries then retaliatorily impose tariffs on us. So they're like, okay, you want a tariff here. Now here's our tariffs. And the people who pay for all of these are the end consumers. It's just us. Like we're just the people who are going to end up having the increased costs for all of these goods. It doesn't actually do anything, but. I don't know, be used as some sort of pawn for whatever the hell
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:is going on. I know, right,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:it's just so wild. Although I do say I do have to say, I love like. One of Canada's tariffs that they imposed because you can make these very targeted on anything from like specific products like
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Mm hmm, mm hmm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:things that we're imposing tariffs on or specific agricultural products, but Canada imposed a 100 percent tariff on Tesla vehicles. Which
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Chef's kiss, tip of the hat. Canada. Yes.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Thank you, Canada. You're amazing.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I think that people need to just troll them harder. I love that. I think that is fantastic. Yeah, great.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Just bring out the pettiness. Let's
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:What about like that pillow guy that's so into Trump? Put a tariff on pillows.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Put a tariff on those frickin pillows. Yeah. All of it. 200 percent on the pillows. Oh my gosh. Okay.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:got
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So there's that.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:of them are now in Ag Secretary and Department of Ag Secretary. Okay.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. Huh. And Brooke Rollins recently rolled out a five point proposal to defeat the bird flu and make eggs cheaper.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:is it? I'm fascinated because all of the points I would put on the list are things that are being dismantled.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah, it's a one billion dollar
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:B.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:to fight the avian flu. B. One. Billion.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah, that'll go through. That seems like in line with the effort to cut government funding. Sure.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah, and some of these are great. So the people who actually know jack shit about bird flu and eggs are like, cool, but here's why this plan is not going
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah. I'm shocked by the way, but yes.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah, so the step one is to have better biosecurity spending up to 500 million. So half of the budget to beef up biosecurity measures at egg laying facilities. So policies and physical infrastructure aimed at preventing avian flu from reaching the egg farms in the first place, specifically expanding a Biden. Era program which involves sending staff to chicken farms to
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:What staff? I'm sorry. What staff
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:There's staff. Okay. Okay. Yep.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So they go to the farms and they try to identify ways that wild birds are infiltrating the egg laying facilities, which this to me, there's some sort of like hysterical cartoonish movie that comes into my mind. Of wild spy birds infiltrating with their avian
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:for sure. I'm also just imagining like you are an anti science administration. So when you like defund all science institutions, what tools do people have to do this? So I'm, in my head, I'm also picturing Them with just like two big sticks that they're just like clapping together to scare away pigeons from Farms, like what are you leaving people with or
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. And the thing is you're like, it doesn't really work. The theory is that the avian flu is transmitted to chickens from wild birds, but in order to like, stop that from happening, you actually have to have this whole Very complex, very expensive, very resource rich program to monitor wildlife,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:also just being decimated,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah, and these like these biosecurity assessments by this program. They're not doing that They're like a one time thing where the staff goes into a poultry place sees where the wild birds could be getting in and then You know give them their recommendations based on that But they're not looking at ways that like the threats
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:right
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:over time or like what's happening in the wildlife population like
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Like it's not gonna just be people noticing like holes in the roof and putting duct tape on them and now we're good
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. Yeah. And they said they're saying what they're doing what this program is doing isn't a bad thing. It's just not a complete thing. It's just like a spot In the whole system. It's not actually. Addressing all of the other problems that are surrounding it. And they don't really Capture any of the data, so they're not
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Data is gay.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:in order to have Yeah, we don't want it because data could tell us things that we don't
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I call it gata,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:and so if we don't
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:knowledge is
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:If we don't keep it We just put it in the
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:back in the
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah, if we know things, then people think things, and that can't be good for anyone. Yeah.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. So there's no data collection or storage with this program to then find out if it's even effective. If you don't collect data, how do you know if there's improvements? How do you know what's helping and what's not helping? And the USDA is we're not going to spend money on that. Okay, that's, so that's not really going to work. The step two, increasing financial relief for chicken farmers. So one of the strategies in this whole avian flu is that if there is determined to be avian flu in a poultry stock, then the farmers are paid essentially to kill off their entire
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:right,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:so that it doesn't get passed on. But these payouts are like in and of themselves expensive. And it doesn't necessarily cover all of the losses that these poultry farmers are taking even when they get them. And then there's a lag between when they can get back to production as well. And so it's not really clear how. That really makes up
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:And again, that costs money, which comes from
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah, and it's a cost.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Step three,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yes.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:ban
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Oh, you're gonna love step three
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:number
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:step three is my No more fancy feathers for you ladies
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Have you seen hens this, they are out of control. They are. We no more fancy chickens.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:No You can't do it. No step three is actually
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Oh good.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:It's actually my favorite step because step three is funding for Vaccine research to
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:But what happens to all the
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:against the avian flu. I can't like, I'm like, whoever wrote that step in that admission had to be choking on their own tongue as they were trying
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:that step makes sense. It does not make sense relative to anything else you're doing at all actually.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:not for
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Great.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Like you are anti vaccines in every way, except for when it comes to the bird flu. Let's vaccinate the birds. Another problem with that is that most countries, won't import vaccinated So then if you're trying to do something like sell those chickens afterwards, it can't be. Used I don't know. Interesting. Also on vaccine, that just reminds me of the flu and the flu vaccine, the meeting that they do yearly to decide on which strains to put in the annual flu vaccine at the CDC was canceled last week. As far as human flu goes, no, 1 knows what's going to happen about us having a vaccine for the next flu season. So that's going to be.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Mhm. Mhm. So what I'm
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:in the ER this flu season where there have been vaccines and it's been one of the most fucking awful flu seasons we've had in years and years, if we don't even have a vaccine, we are fucked and that is like not even an understatement. It's going to be insanity. So anyway, that's great. Bird vaccines. Okay, step four deregulation because you know how much we hate regulating anything except for the first
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I was, you just made my mind bleed a little bit because all of those first three steps would require regulation if I'm understanding those steps correctly. But I also have to admit that when you say step one and step two immediately in my head I start singing Dick in a Box and so that has just been playing in my head this whole time. So I might just be a little distracted. But,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Okay.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Okay
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:step four, erase steps one through three. Step five, come and die with me. Okay, great.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:No, but this is on. Regulations that restrict chicken ownership.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Oh, so just like more chicken owners. You get
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So basically any, everyone can just
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:chicken. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:My sister Katie was trying to talk me into why we should get chickens and have some chickens in our yard and I was like, the cost, ridiculous, we'd have to pay for so many 12 dozens of eggs in order to justify paying for chickens and their feed and their, Like houses and their whatever especially in Las Vegas because it's so frickin hot and these chickens will just die outside But there are I was like can we sell the eggs from chickens? We had the answer is actually no because if you like home owned Chickens, I guess where we live you're not allowed to sell those eggs for a profit. You could give them away You can't sell them. Anyway, this is supposedly one of those things that they're looking at. But there's the funniest quote in this article by this person they're asking about deregulation for chicken owners. He says, probably won't make much of a difference. This guy says, I'm sure there are rules, but I've never seen chicken police out enforcing them. So I'm not
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Oh my
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:about.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:So that's the thing. If you have rules, you have to have people that enforce them and no one enforces these fucking
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I will have to say the reason that we don't have chickens isn't because I looked into the chicken ordinance and felt like it was too cumbersome. I don't have chickens because I don't want to deal with chickens. So that is why. And I, my guess is that most people aren't. living by the letter of chicken law. Oh my god, this makes me think of did you ever watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Charlie is an expert in bird law. The more that show is making sense, like it's concerning. Yes. Okay, so that's step four is everybody gets chickens and then you just
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. Everyone,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:apartment or house or wherever you live. You will have your own eggs.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:problems. There will be no problems. And then the last step is to Expand imports and restrict exports of eggs, so that we're bringing more
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:in a trade war, super good
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:yeah,
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:great. Problem being, the U. S. doesn't export very many eggs to begin with. Apparently, like the data from 2002, only 1. 7%. Of all U. S. produced eggs were exported to other countries. So keeping those not really a huge effect and the same goes for imports. It says that did you do that? The plan was to import between 70 and 100, 000, 000, 000 eggs over the next few months, which might sound like a lot, but the U. S. produces. to nine billion eggs domestically every month. So bringing in a hundred million. When you produce nine billion
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Right. I'm sure there are
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:a whole
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:listening to us who are like, here's a solution, just don't eat eggs. That's another option. I
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Cake. Have you guys heard of cake? I've had your vegan cake. It's not that good.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I can't eat gluten, so I'm already eating shitty cake. So it's fine. I know. It's my, it's very sad. Here's, here is the one note of grace I will give for these cabinet secretaries. Like in all fairness, what are they supposed to come up with as a solution when their boss is taking away all the funding and tools? They honestly like they, they should just say, Oh, our plan is not our problem. Because that is the that is the stance of this president, is not our responsibility, not our problem. So I don't even know why they're trying to come up with a plan at all, to be honest. But, okay.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:The bottom line of this article, which I also love, like this article is a little bit petty and I like it a lot
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:If there was a petty news network like PNN, you would be the most avid fan. Yeah,
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:CEO
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:would be like, yes. You would love that. Yes.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:In charge of pettiness. But it says ultimately the only reason egg prices are a matter of national concern is because Americans want to keep eating eggs. Despite the fact that the modern poultry industry has essentially remade the animal population on the planet and been a disaster for animal welfare, the average American eats around, guess how many eggs a year? How many eggs a year do you think the average American needs?
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Mm. Um, 300.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Yeah. 280 eggs a year.
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Yeah.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:That's so many eggs. I don't eat that many eggs. I mean I, I do eat
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:we're, I'm out in our family. We all eat eggs every morning, but my neighbor does have chickens. So now I'm like, Oh, maybe I should just make a little like neighborhood chicken co op and see if they're, cause I don't want chickens. I don't want to, I have taken care of these chickens. For my neighbors.
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:Chickens are
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:I told you what
mandy---she-her-_1_03-08-2025_114034:and they're gross animals. They eat each
kms-guest529_1_03-08-2025_134034:Oh my god. Okay my poor, I adore my neighbors so much. I'm pretty sure that they love us too. But they like, They will never again ask me to watch their chickens because on my watch, so many of their chickens have lost their lives when I've been asked to take care of them when they're out of town. And I feel really terrible about that. So I there was one Morning. Have I told you the story about the chickens? I have so many, but this is one. So one morning, it was like my responsibility to take care of the chickens and this we're eating breakfast at our house. And our back door is like all glass all the way down.
Katy:So we're eating breakfast and we look in the back door and we hear this tapping sound. Look over. There's a chicken knocking on our back door with its beak. As in at first it was like, Oh, that's funny. It's like, I was too early in the morning for me to register that there's a chicken knocking at our back door. And I was like, Oh my God. So, and then I put two and two together. Like, Oh no, if there's a chicken at our back door, Something has gone terribly wrong with the neighbor's chicken coop that I am responsible for right now. So, I am super panicked and this chicken, I swear to God, came for help. Like, Lassie style came to help. There was a massacre of chickens. Next door, this, there had been a storm and like a, the door to the chicken coop, they have this really fabulous chicken coop, but some predator animal was able to punch in the window of the door to the chicken coop, and then had just ransacked the place it was awful, and then other chickens had gotten loose and fled the scene, and so there were, it was just like, chicken,
Mandy:it happens. This is how the wild animals
Katy:my god. It was awful. And so then he, this my husband is like running around trying to chase these chickens. We'd put out an APB in the neighborhood for like people to locate the missing chickens. And then when I went over there, I noticed like there were carcasses of chickens, you know? And so there was one in particular that I was like, Oh, we got to clean up and I didn't have any gloves. And so I say to my husband, can you? Like I had to go do something else. Could you go grab this chicken? So he goes next door. He's there was no carcass. I don't know what you're talking about. Those fucking chickens that were still alive, dragged that carcass of their little cousin in and packed it to nothingness. Like they, it was like, like a chicken skeleton in the corner and the other chickens were just like packing away. It was, I was so horrified. I felt so terrible. It was. Such a mess and I felt really bad and I Like and my neighbor like loves her chickens. They have names They like and I had gone into the house to get some cleaning supplies and I was like, They're just chickens and I'll just get them new chicken, like just trying to make it less traumatic and it was like a horror movie where I look around my neighbor's kitchen and I don't know why I never noticed this before but it was like every corner I turned my head to look there was chicken art like chicken knickknacks and I was like oh no no no like you I have made a terrible mistake. So all of this is
Mandy:Yeah, no. We don't
Katy:I understand why they don't want me taking care of their chickens anymore. And this is, it just reinforced my desire to not be the person in charge of chickens. Okay. That's
Mandy:that, on a scale of
Katy:a national scale, right? Okay. Yep. There we go. Okay.
Mandy:chickens. Okay, so last point on the agriculture stuff that we had covered. And then maybe we
Katy:we have time for a nominee.
Mandy:Maybe you could. Okay. Okay. We can talk about one. So the other thing we were talking about with agriculture was how all of these mass deportations were going to affect the agricultural industry because 40 percent of agricultural workers are undocumented.
Katy:That'll just be Department of Ed people will get those jobs. That's right.
Mandy:Oh, that's the jobs they should be going to get. Yep, they're going to go from working in the Department of Ed to picking strawberries. They'll be fine, I'm sure. It'll pay comparably too. There have been stories about, people just not showing up, like all these farms just don't have workers because they're afraid of ice coming and raiding them, so they're just not coming. But the thing that's That Trump is mad about with the immigration stuff is the news that has come out recently that he is actually deporting Less people since he took office Then we're being deported on average under the last nine months of Biden's
Katy:Yeah. I don't wanna pretend that like people were safe under by that's not
Mandy:No, but it's not the mass. Like we're going to send all of these people out of here within, days of coming in that he claimed it was going to be, and that makes him very upset, he's not a happy boy about that. He is arresting more people. And detaining more people, but it turns out the whole process of actually deporting them is hard. Because there are laws, and there are processes you have to go through. And those also involve federal workers, and judges, and bureaucracy, and all of the things that they are trying to dismantle. It's not going so well. The deportations. I've also seen like a couple of TikToks and reels that I find highly entertaining of people who have been deported then filming themselves coming back into the country, which is hysterical. This one guy was on the beach in Mexico saying, Oh, I got deported. Here I am. Like, I'll see you again next week America and then he has a video of himself wrapped in a Mexican flag in front of the Trump the Trump Hotel here in Vegas like giving the middle finger to it and I'm all for that kind of puttiness as well. So
Katy:Again, you need to launch the Paddy News Network. I think it would do very well. That
Mandy:I'm gonna talk to Kendrick Lamar
Katy:look.
Mandy:and he and I
Katy:That would be
Mandy:get on it.
Katy:Yep.
Mandy:Yeah. So that's not going so well. I don't know. I have not seen any actual data on how it is impacting agriculture at this point or if it's gotten to the point where we can see that on the economic side. But in general, these mass deportations are not happening the way that good old Trumpster Wanted them to happen.
Katy:Hmm.
Mandy:that? Okay. We do have a couple more people that we're gonna talk about, but
Katy:me all about them. Yes.
Mandy:Today and then maybe we can do one more episode where we can wrap up the rest of them But let's do a quick one Trump's nominee. Surgeon general is Jeanette Neshewat. I don't see any news on where this nomination is at since he announced that he was going to nominate her in November or December, so I have no idea where that is and I don't see anything on an upcoming schedule for her confirmation but just a little bit of information on her. So her background is as a family medicine doctor. And she owns a franchise of Urgent Cares
Katy:honestly the fact that she's got professional some alignment that is light years ahead of most of these other nominees so I'll give her that.
Mandy:But it's also not lost on me that she's not any sort of like research or academic
Katy:Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm
Mandy:she's a business doctor. She owns an Urgent
Katy:Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Mandy:Also tracks for the kind of person that Trump would surround himself by. She was, she came onto the national scene as a contributor to Fox News during COVID. And she, are we shocked? She was a promoter of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID
Katy:Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Mandy:She is not against vaccines. She is supportive of vaccines, but she's against mandates on vaccines.
Katy:Right, because vaccines work if we just pick and
Mandy:Let people do whatever. Yeah. Is anti transgender affirming care,
Katy:Mm hmm.
Mandy:Her sister is married to a Florida congressman named Michael Walls. And then her sister also worked as a Homeland Security Advisor in Trump's first administration. So there's some family. Family things going on here because that's how we do things. That's no D. E. I. You must be qualified through
Katy:Merit. Yeah. Merit, which is synonymous with, are you friends with us somehow, then you merit
Mandy:money that you can give
Katy:Right.
Mandy:Yeah. But here's one of the most interesting things that I think is in her background. And there's not a lot of detail on who knows what actually happened to this. It's actually really terrifying. Horrible. Story because one of the things the Surgeon General in the past has been active in is discussion of gun control.
Katy:I the only thing I think about Surgeon General is Surgeon General's warning, smoking is bad for you, or Surgeon General warning, don't let your kids have much screen time, like just general health advisories, and gun safety kinds of things.
Mandy:yeah. So at least in democratic controlled administrations, people have been, pro gun control and gun control being part of public health, which some people are like, it has nothing to do with health. It shouldn't be. We shouldn't have a
Katy:I wish it didn't,
Mandy:Yeah. Right. Except for that. kills people. So that's pretty integral to our health. So the interesting thing from her childhood is that she was actually involved in an accidental shooting in her home as a 13 year old that killed her father.
Katy:my god.
Mandy:Yeah.
Katy:Oh my god.
Mandy:The story, so I tried to look into details of this, like how did this happen? And the story that I found was that her dad was sleeping in his room, in some room in the house, and she went to try to get something out of a box that was on a shelf in that room. And there was a loaded gun in that box. And when she took it from the shelf. The box fell and the gun went off and shot her dad in the head and he died.
Katy:my god. What? How?
Mandy:the craziest story I've ever heard. And apparently it's not a story that she has not told. She said that is why she decided she wanted to get into medicine. The details are vague on the
Katy:But she's anti gun safety?
Mandy:She's anti it being part of a public health initiative.
Katy:my god. This is, that's one of those examples where you are hopeful that reality helps people connect the dots and then you just know that it does not always do that. Oy yoy. What a
Mandy:Isn't that?
Katy:Wow. That's a dark and tragic note to end the episode on.
Mandy:It's pretty pretty wild. I don't know.
Katy:Who are we going to learn about next time?
Mandy:So we're going to finish up with the ones we have left on list. Tulsi
Katy:Oh yeah.
Mandy:for national intelligence and I think then not a cabinet position, but Trump's chief of staff, Susie
Katy:Oh yeah, I am very curious about her. Okay. Yeah.
Mandy:secretary, Lori Chavez de Rummer. And then Elise Stefanik for UN. So
Katy:Yeah.
Mandy:those are,
Katy:let's pack
Mandy:The ones
Katy:the next
Mandy:Yeah. To the next
Katy:And then what I am proposing, like way back before the presidential election, we had started to launch a season looking at the history of like settler colonialism and just like the, that the kind of roots of the United States and white women's role in that. And I think. I want just given everything that's happening and given the agenda of this administration and the very clear directive that they're giving state legislatures, et cetera. Not that those people need a directive. I feel like they're very motivated to do their own bullshit. But I really want to look at white Christian nationalism and just the history and the roots of it and white woman's role in that. And so we really do, in order to understand that, have to go back. We have to go way back. But I think that is what this is and we have to be able to trace that back. So I think that's just going to be once we get through the lineup, the closet of women, as we said this last time we, once we get through the cabinet and other high level women in Trump's administration, I think we just. Get in our Wayback Machine and we start at the roots of white Christian nationalism where this all comes from and the incredibly important and powerful role that white women have played both as agents of that and as the justification for that movement. So that's what's next.
Mandy:That sounds good. Sounds terrible. Sounds great.
Katy:Oh man. Good to see you and we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening, everybody. Bye.
Mandy:See you later.
Okay. Bye.