Brain Trust Live

3/1/22 - LA Needs A Mayor [w/ guest Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of BISC]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Our guest Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of Ballot Initiative Strategy Center joins us to talk props and progressive policy!

2. The LA Mayor’s race update you forgot you needed!

3. And the Love is Blind recap that you knew you needed

4. Joe Biden finally delivers on a campaign promise in appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS

5. In all this week’s excitement, you probably forgot about the SOTU. It’s today!

6. What a dick move to start a war right now, two years into a pandemic. People haven’t even gone to their first party yet!

 

Find the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC) Online:

Twitter: @BallotStrategy

Instagram: @BallotStrategy

Web: www.ballot.org

 

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

And, as always, you can buy and review Lila's book here: Some Kids Left Behind

2/7/22 - NBC State Media

In Which We Discuss:

1. USA fighting Chinese propaganda by using a private media conglomerate as our own state media.

2. Whether or not the jobs numbers are good, it’s good to remember that they’re always fake

3. CA’s single payer demise is not an indication of voter sentiment, Politico. Stop using consultants as sources.

4. MN Police doing a great job of disproving the one bad apple theory

5. Meanwhile Joe BIden still publicly believing in the one bad apple theory

6. Garcetti holds his breath in photos while Los Angeles holds their breath waiting for him to just go to India already.

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

And, as always, you can buy and review Lila's book here: Some Kids Left Behind

1/31/22 - More Binders Full of Women [w/ guest Kat Calvin]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Our long-promised guest Kat Calvin is finally here!

2. Biden is collecting his own binders full of women for Breyer’s soon-to-be-open SCOTUS seat.

3. After 36 years of single handedly saving democracy, Pelosi assures us she will run again!

4. We incepted the San Jose Mayor to try gun insurance and couldn’t be more excited!

5. The Olympics are here, so you can finally experience the splendor of living through the Golden Age of Ice Dancing TM.

6. Of course the Bidens are cat people.

Find Kat and Her Work Online:

• Kat on Social: @katcalvinla
• Subscribe to Kat's Newsletter 
• Spread The Vote (@spreadthevoteus on social)
• Project ID Action Fund (@projectidus on social)

 

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

And, as always, you can buy and review Lila's book here: Some Kids Left Behind

1/24/22 - Call and Let Us Know [w/ guest Gaby Goldstein of Sister District]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Gaby Goldstein from Sister District is here to talk midterms and the importance of building our bench at the state level.

2. Joe Manchin is teaching America a lesson about why you don’t negotiate with terrorists

3. Joe Biden proves once and for all that he’s mentally competent enough to be mentally incompetant for two full hours.

4. Are we at war with Russia? Can somebody call and let us know?

5. If the LAPD is the only source quoted in the article, it’s probably not news, it’s PR. 

6. Japanese Snow Monkeys show us the path forward in 2022.

 

More From Our Guest:

* Follow Sister District on Twitter: @sister_district

* Find Sister District on the Web: https://sisterdistrict.com

* Follow Gaby on Twitter: @gaby__goldstein

 

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

And, as always, you can buy and review Lila's book here: Some Kids Left Behind

1/19/22 - Veep is Supposed to Be a Parody

In Which We Discuss:

1. Extremism, according to Joe Manchin, is you voting.

2. As you bemoan Biden’s bad week last week, the one thing that should give you solace is that this is the 52nd bad week of his term.

3. Note to Kamala Harris and all future Vice Presidents: Veep is a parody.

4. 2024 is shaping up to have…the same primary as 2020?

5. Eric Adams is not even good at nepotism.

 

Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

1/10/22 - Thanks, Teachers! [w/ guest Carissa Byrne Hessick]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Carissa Byrne Hessick joins us to talk about her book Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal.

2. COVID is everywhere thanks to…teachers?

3. Jobs: You can now even do them with COVID!

4. Voting: What if we could protect your ability to do it

5. Chris Matthews and Hillary Clinton chime in with a message from the bunker.

6. Madison Cawthorn ends his marriage to a Crossfit Influencer who may or may not be a Russian spy.

 

* Follow Carissa on Twitter: @CBHessick

* Buy Carissa's Book: Punishment Without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal

 

* Buy Lila's Book: Some Kids Left Behind

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

 

11/22/21 - You Should Run For Office [w/ guest Amanda Litman]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Amanda Litman from Run For Something tells us why YOU should run for office!

2. Call in the brass band: We signed a bill! Turns out it is still physically possible to sign those. 

3. A sprawling bill that will help all americans is now headed to the senate where it will die because of…the price of milk?

4. World War II swim meets, Jimmy Carter’s sweaters, and other missives from Kevin McCarthy’s 9 hour speech.

5. The legal system is broken beyond repair. That’s it. That’s what we have to say about that. 

6. Kamala Harris becomes the first female president due to a colonoscopy...in her defense, that’s just as legitimate as the electoral college.

 

Follow Amanda on Twitter: @amandalitman

Learn more about Run for Something: runforsomething.net

Run for Office: runforwhat.org

 

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

11/15/21 - Mayo Pete

In Which We Discuss:

1. We watched Mayor Pete so you wouldn’t have to!

2. But don’t worry, we still took bets on how many collared shirts Steve Bannon will wear when he turns himself in on Monday.

3. Also, Britney is Free...

4. But your groceries sure aren’t, and they’re only getting more expensive. 

 

Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!

Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

11/8/21 - The Congressional MLM Caucus [w/ guest Laura Packard]

In Which We Discuss:

1. Laura Packard is here to talk healthcare and Build Back Better!

2. To the surprise of zero hosts of this podcast, Terry McAuliffe was not the best candidate for Virginia governor

3. The BIF passed, the BBB needs the CBO. Is it DOA?

4. Nobody saw Australia emerging as the supervillan of this week’s climate summit

5. Last month's jobs numbers are great or terrible, depending on whether you’re Brent or Lila

6. Nothing has ever made more sense than Krysten Sinema’s ties to MLM

 

Learn More About Laura:

Follow Laura on Twitter: @lpackard

Follow Laura on Instagram: @laurapackardactivist

Follow Healthcare Voter on Twitter: @HealthCareVoter

Check Out Laura's Recent Op-Ed in Business Insider

 

Brain Trust Live is Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!

11/1/21 - When Dad Bods Take Europe

In Which We Discuss:

1. Your kids can finally get microchipped

2. Biden’s plan to brag to Europeans about his fifth rate social safety net proposals are dashed

3. What’s left in BBB? We’ll go over the very short list

4. Terry McAuliffe is not using his prodigious fundraising skills to buy good ideas in Virginia

5. Redistricting is upon us, so expect a bunch of Congresspeople to suddenly leave office for “principled” reasons

6. In the year of our lord 2021, “dad bod” has finally made it into the dictionary

 

Get a vaccine so you too can record a podcast in the same room as your co-host!

Brain Trust Live is (still) Lila Nordstrom and Brent Thornburg's look at the week in electoral and political news. Join the millions of quarantiners, sirens, helicopters, barking dogs, and computer beeps who love our podcast and tell your friends about BTL!  Then rate us on iTunes or find us Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stitcher, or Instagram!