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!

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!

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!

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Tatenda Musapatike talks voting, Real Housewives, and Dem strategy

2. Infrastructure Update: Just…what?

3. Voting rights is filibuster reform. Everything is filibuster reform.

4. Joe Biden wants you to want to pay your student loans

5. A sentence we never thought would be necessary to say: India Walton is not David Duke

6. Apparently the solution to zebras on the loose is…more zebras on the loose

Follow Tatenda on Twitter and Instagram: @TatendaCheryl

Follow Voter Formation Project: @VoterFormation

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Lila’s book is in stores now. You should buy it.

2. Hurricane Ida: Just the kind of disrespectful hurricane that chose to come in the middle of a pandemic as opposed to...literally any other time.

3. Recall update: Idiots abound. Vote no.

4. No one wants everyone to be evicted from their homes more than SCOTUS.

5. Covid is now a pandemic of the radio hosts

6. Infrastructure Season: Everybody has claimed victory and yet nobody has won anything yet.

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Definitely vote no on the Newsom recall but it’s okay to scream into the void while you do it

2. Democrats actively looking to lose the Senate with new slate of candidates

3. Turns out Democrats did understand the spirit of Trump’s infrastructure week after all.   

4. Andrew Cuomo becomes the latest victim of Andrew Cuomo

5. The world is completely falling apart, but at least white people are on the decline

6. Things not working out for 20 years in Afghanistan have surprisingly turned into a continuation of things not working out in Afghanistan

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Kat Calvin (@KatCalvinLA) is in the studio to tell you why we can’t have a Dem consensus on Voter ID that involves...having Voter ID. [Go share her twitter thread about it!]

2. Democrats are bad at power: an exposé

3. The latest on infrastructure season is that it is now infrastructure year. We will never have an infrastructure deal. Get a new hobby.

4. The NYC Mayor’s race is ending in the same chaotic fashion it started: with headlines about Andrew Yang

5. Rhode Island: A non-surprising place to find an all-white country club

6. Happy Father’s day to all, including the sad men crashing weddings and funerals just for the attention while they work as unpaid hotel concierges at tacky resorts in Florida!

Also:

CALL YOUR REPS. ABOUT EVERYTHING. Make this number your profile picture. Tweet it every day. Add it to your phonebook:

Capitol Hill Main Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Thankfully Tiktok will live on under the Biden administration because there are emus committing crimes out there.

2. Terry McAuliffe is still here. Why?

3. World leaders donated money to telling developing nations about technology they can’t afford.

4. Kamala Harris is a woman, so yes, she will only be given tasks she can fail at

5. Infrastructure month has officially turned into infrastructure season

6. Israel elected new impossible person to lead their impossible government

Also:

CALL YOUR REPS. ABOUT EVERYTHING. Make this number your profile picture. Tweet it every day. Add it to your phonebook:

Capitol Hill Main Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

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!

In Which We Discuss:

1. Joe Manchin’s brain is being held hostage by the ghost of Robert Byrd

2. Giving people money stops them from starving: an expose

3. Dem soul searching leads to exact answers we gave them before they started soul searching

4. Surprising that Andrew Yang, after participating in the democratic presidential primary, admitted publicly to wanting to be more like Michael Bloomberg.

5. In effort to undermine the meat industry, vegans find natural ally in Vladimir Putin

6. Donald Trump will be back in August according to the pillow industry

Also:

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!