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The history of the Brazilian gymnastics program, from its humble beginnings in the 1970s to Olympic glory in 2024 This week's episode is a commission from our Olympic Fantasy Gymnastics winner, Liam, who wants us to discuss the history of Brazilian gymnastics. From trailblazers like Daiane dos Santos and Daniele Hypolito who put Brazilian gymnastics on the map, to the current stars, Flavia Saraiva and Rebeca Andrade. GymCastic LIVE in CHICAGO: Tickets on sale now Get Tickets Setting the Scene How the Brazilian teams of recent years embody the energy of badass, confident adult women who do gymnastics as a team sport Why we think Marta Karolyi would probably hate the 2024 Brazilian Olympic team (in the most complimentary way possible) The early days of Brazilian Gymnastics When did Brazil send its first team to Worlds? Why we need a Brazilian gymnastics shrine dedicated to Claudia Costa How did the program start gaining momentum during the 1980s? The tumultuous 1990s: from finishing dead last at 1991 Worlds, to defeating the United States at the 1997 Pan Am Championships, what was going on in these years? The Pioneers of Career Longevity Nearly every Brazilian gymnast who has ever won a World or Olympic medal has continued with the sport past age 25. What does this tell us about the program's emphasis on career longevity? What do Jade Barbosa and Oksana Chusovitina have in common? Hint: it's more than just being a great vaulter The First Stars of Brazilian Gymnastics Daniele Hypolito wins Brazil's first-ever World medal at 2001 Worlds and finishes fourth all-around How the success of 2003 Worlds put Brazil on the gymnastics map thanks to greats like Daiane dos Santos and Lais Souza Innovative skills throughout the years from Dos Santos's piked double-arabian to Oliveira's double-arabian pike half-out The Birth of a Powerhouse Brazil starts bringing foreign coaches in: Oleg Ostapenko, Iryna Illyashenko, how did this contribute to Brazil's rise? Jade Barbosa's incredible senior debut at 2007 Worlds, winning Brazil's first-ever all-around medal In 2008, the powerhouse team of Jade Barbosa, Ana Cláudia Silva, Ethiene Franco, Laís Souza, Daniele Hypólito, and Daiane dos Santos helped Brazil qualify to the Olympic team finals for the first time EVERRR Controversies and DRAAMMAA Did you know Daiane dos Santos had a 5-month ban in 2009-2010 for diuretic usage following a surgery? Jade Barbosa was taken out of the London Olympics because of a *checks notes* apparel sponsorship conundrum? Gymnastics sabotage??!! That time someone cut the power at Brazilian Nationals Struggling Towards the Rio Olympics Era (2012-2015) Things were looking rough heading into the Rio quad No World or Olympic all-around finalists in 2012, 2013, 2014 Brazil did not automatically qualify a team to the Rio Olympics The emergence of Rebeca Andrade, Flavia Saraiva, and Lorrane Oliveira and how their success reshaped the program The Rio Olympic Games (2016) What were the expectations for this team heading into a home Olympic Games? Could Brazil have medalled as a team here? What were the standout performances? Event finals? The Perseverance Era (2017-2020) Rebeca Andrade has not one, but two more ACL tears (2017, 2019) No World or Olympic medals between Barbosa's 2010 vault and Andrade's 2021 Tokyo performance The Age of Brazil (2021-present) Rebeca Andrade's amazing comeback performance at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, taking all-around silver and vault gold 2021 Kitakyushu Worlds: Rebeca's strategy to protect her body and play the long game Andrade wins her first World vault title 2022 Liverpool Worlds: Andrade takes home vault gold, floor bronze, and a fourth-place team placement 2023 Antwerp Worlds: The Brazilian team takes home SIX medals Team silver, Andrade all-around silver, vault gold, beam bronze, floor silver and bronze The Paris Olympic Games Brazil's historic team final performance, Andrade's floor gold, all-around silver, and vault silver What Are the Next Steps for Brazil? Building depth Remember the cautionary tales of the Romanian and Australian programs: don't be too reliant upon veterans to come and save the day; you need to invest in the next generation! Should Brazil's 2025 Pan American Championships performance worry us? Do we think there will be a "Rebeca Andrade effect" in Brazil and inspire more young kids to try gymnastics? Thanks to our sponsor, Huel. Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF + a FREE Gift with code GymCastic at https://huel.com/GymCastic (Minimum $75 purchase) BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes Q&A show. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, early bird discounts on live shows, two extra podcasts: Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim The Gymternet Nations Database RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. 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All the news from Hang's domination at the Pan American Championships, Sugihara podiuming all over the place at Asian Championships. TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR LIVE SHOW CHICAGO Friday, July 18th at the world famous iO Theater. Attend virtually or in-person for games, prizes and a secret guest Q&A. HEADLINES Can we please prioritize athlete safety? There were A LOT of issues with the mens' equipment at the Pan American Championships, but luckily everyone survived Jayla Hang (USA) and Felix Dolci (Canada) won the all-around titles The USA's mens and women teams won the Pan American team titles Chuso got injured in the vault final at Asian Championships, but the Olympic Channel is reporting she will still compete in Tashkent on her 50th birthday GYMTERNET NEWS MyKayla Skinner supports Riley Gaines and says Simone Biles "belittled, dismissed, and ostracized" her behind the scenes Are we taking the bait by discussing this at all? Mailie O'Keefe receives the Operations Specialist Award and will be staying at Utah for another year NCAA Coaching updates Geralen Stack-Eaton, former Alabama gymnast and Minnesota associate coach, is the new head coach at Cal Simone Brown switched her commitment from Clemson to Arkansas Former Utah gymnast, Jessie (Duke) McDonough, is the new Clemson assistant coach Former Oklahoma gymnast, Olivia Trautman, is now the assistant coach at Utah State Ragan Smith is the new associate coach at Iowa State Corinne Tarver, former Fisk head coach, was named the head coach at Southern Connecticut State University Mary Lou Retton pled "no contest" and said her actions were "completely unacceptable" 2025 Pan American Championships The US women won the team gold comfortably. Watch on PanAm Sports Why bronze was an extremely promising finish for this Brazilian team Helzly Rivera gave us all the drama during the team and all-around competitions Are the beam judges OK? What was up with all the raised scores? Something was definitely off about scoring because our favorite Argentinian beam worker, Isabella Ajalla, didn't even make the beam final??! The Panamanian women had an AMAZING competition Karla Navas won vault gold with her legit round-off, half-on, full-off Panama qualified for team finals in fourth, AHEAD OF BRAZIL! Jayla Hang Simone'd this meet by winning a medal in every round of competition including team and all-around gold Why Lia Monica Fontaine is Canada's new "it-girl" 2025 Asian Championships China won the team final by about 0.4 over Japan We don't have any pity for Japan's leadership because they only competed with four gymnasts!!! China and Japan finish Asian Championships tied with seven medals each Can someone get Chuso to take a nap?? Chusovitina was injured after her first vault in event finals Nakamura Haruka (Japan) won the "Pussilanimouses Will Never be Heroes" award with her huuuge Def Should Qin Xinyi (China) have won bars gold over Nakamura? Let's discuss Hwang Seohyun (South Korea) upset Zhou Yaqin (China) for beam gold with her stellar BHS to back-full series Sugihara Aiko won four medals here, including all-around gold which she finally is getting 10 years after her Asian Championships debut Tonya Paulsson made her international debut for Taiwan, why her fourth-place all-around finish is huge for the program Feedback Did Chuso make a mistake with her Paris qualifiying strategy LA2028 Mixed Team Final - can alternates be used How can an Xcel parent learn from GymCastic Has an emergency team ever been called in to replace another Eligabilty Calculus DiCello 7th year This episode is dedicated to the memory of coach, judge and mentor to many, Dean Ratliff. Listen to his judging myth buster episode here. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. 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Simone Biles used her Twitter sword of good once again, USAG explained their trans policy disappearance and schools can now directly pay athletes. HEADLINES Simone went OFF on social media over Riley Gaines' anti-trans statements GymCastic exclusive -- We reached out about the removal of the trans inclusion policy from the USAG website. USAG's statement below: "USA Gymnastics seeks to uphold inclusive sport practices while adhering to various local, state, and federal laws, as well as international regulations established by the IOC and FIG. In May, USAG removed its policy to assess compliance with the current legal landscape." Jordyn Wieber and Chris Brooks had their baby! The NCAA House Settlement is final, and schools will now be able to directly pay athletes Which gymnasts are on the NIL backpay list? Could this be the end of Olympic and non-revenue sports? What are the Title IX implications? GYMTERNET NEWS Li Li Leung announced she will be stepping down as CEO of USA Gymnastics at the end of 2025 What was her legacy, and what does this mean for the organization? EurovisionSport's gymnastics coverage is available for free in the US! What happened to Mary Lou Retton? The latest news following her DUI incident Fisk University will discontinue gymnastics after the 2026 season, but work is being done behind the scenes to save the program Hi USA Gymnastics, it's me, artistry: Daymon Jones is the newest member of USAG's National Team staff developmental program College gymnastics transfer news: Quincy Walters switches commitment from Cal to Michigan Adele Ossi switches commitment from Clemson to Arizona State The Masters World Cup happened at TurnFest during Euros. Here's a glimpse of what adult gymnastics competitions look like at the highest level (AKA still super fun). Thanks for the video Nate. DUMPSTER FIRE NEWS Qi Han, the founder of Everest Gymnastics and former coach of Ashton Locklear, has been banned for life by SafeSport MINI COMMISSION: Pro Gymnastics Past, Present and Future World Champion-level Club Gym Nerd member Sarah wants us to discuss options for professional gymnasts in the past, present, and future to continue their careers from competition formats like the Bundesliga, exhibition meets like the Reese's Cup, and the GIGA league Check out this article from Kensley explaining how the Bundesliga works! Remember that time we had the Pro Gymnastics Challenge on ESPN? Good times Why Nastia's infamous "IT WAS A DELTCHEV" lives rent-free in our minds Updates on the GIGA pro-gymnastics league FEEDBACK What we would score Nadia and Olga if we were judges at the 1976 Olympics We need a full minute to gush over Giulia Perotti If USAG went full Japan and decided to select the Worlds team today, who would be on it? UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: Our weekly live Q&A at noon Pacific on Friday 3:00pm Eastern/7:00pm GMT OUT NOW IN US & EUROPE The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store RELATED NIL Gymnastics Deals & Regionals Debate Club British Ute Amelie Morgan Unionize and Profit Share: The Money Game LSU Docuseries Simone Biles Rising Director Katie Walsh Judging The Judges: How Judges Are Chosen For the Olympic Games Three World Champion Coaches Get Candid Find all our recent episodes here NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RECENT Behind The Scenes: Calzones Confessions Demand More Behind The Scenes: Pottery Wheel Massacre RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
The first EVER mixed-team event happened at the European Championships, Manila Esposito is once again the queen of Europe, and all the gymternet news Support independent journalists by joining here. Photo Credits: Filippo Tomasi for © GymCastic; Mahti Olfati's vault @Milad_Milka HEADLINES Mahdi Olfati showed a Yurchenko full-in at Asian Championships podium training and our jaw is still on the floor Mary Lou Retton was arrested for a DUI in West Virginia The biggest stories at the European Championships Manila Esposito is the European All-Around Champion AGAIN! This is Ana Barbosu's world, and we're all just living in it We need to talk about the Mixed Pairs competition because strategy The domination of grown-ass women International world peace news starring Missouri Gymnastics EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS A rundown of who the Champions of Europe are in our heart and on paper What were the coolest skills we saw at these Championships? Our favorite opportunities for comedy Why Ruby Evans and Jake Jarman are our new favorite comedy duo When Jennifer Williams hits her beam routine, it's so over for everyone else In "everything is terrible" news, Helen Kevric injured her knee on vault Alice D'Amato and Sabrina Voinea had some uh-ohs during qualification The mixed-team event An opportunity for comedy brought to you by Turkish Gymnastics Thoughts on Germany's win over Great Britain and Italy I'm sorry, Italy had the highest cumulative score but only came in third??!? How would we run a mixed-team event if we were in charge? GYMTERNET NEWS Civil Rights Attack and the NCAA Mini-Commission follow-up Can we get the NCAA to boycott politically problematic states? We mentioned the sports boycott of South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, but notably the USAF let gymnasts compete in South Africa College Transfer News Brooke Pierson changes her commitment from Clemson to Georgia Ashlee Sullivan changed her commitment from Michigan to UCLA eMjae Frasier graduated from Cal early and will attend Florida for her final year of eligibility Sadie Smith is transferring from Arkansas to Arizona Naya Howard is transferring from Georgia to Michigan State Madison Ulrich is transferring from Denver to LSU Natalie Martin is transferring from Maryland to Ohio State BJ Das got promoted to UCLA's associate head coach Megan Haught is Denver's new assistant coach (previously a coach at WOGA) Josh Nilson is the new Illinois head coach Iowa State hires Jazmyn Estrella and Mary Wise as assistant coaches Eli Seitz announced her retirement at Euros Jade Barbosa announced she is pregnant Brody Malone got married and wore his 2024 U.S. Championships belt buckle to his wedding Justice for Arkansas: the SEC announced all nine teams will be at next year's conference championships Can Zoe catch a break? Zoe Miller had a second surgery on her other shoulder Abbey Scanlon announced she will be returning to Cal for a fifth season Dulcy Caylor, Jayla Hang, Gabrielle Hardie, Hezly Rivera, and Tiana Sumanasekera will represent the US at the Pan American Championships Japan has named its Worlds team 4,000 years ahead of everyone else: Sugihara Aiko, Kishi Rina, Okamura Mana, and Nakamura Haruka Dumpster fire news The man accused of killing UW-Whitewater gymnast Kara Welsh appeared in court Former English gymnastics coach, Michael Haynes, has been found guilty for raping and sexually assaulting two young girls in the 1980s What's happening on the social medias? Luka van de Keybus had his baby celebrate his win on the podium at Belgian Championships UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: at noon Pacific on Friday 3:00pm Eastern/7:00pm GMT OUT NOW IN US & EUROPE The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review. PARIS FX FINAL : Live podcast with the ROMANIAN HEAD COACHES Jessica and Spencer were joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and being the new coaches at WCC. Replay tickets available for a limited time. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RECENT Behind The Scenes: Manila4Evah 80's Fight: The Great Romanian Soviet Rivalry Behind The Scenes: Calzones Confessions Demand More Behind The Scenes: Pottery Wheel Massacre RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. 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Santi: Hi, this is a special episode of Statecraft. I've got a wonderful guest host with me today. Kyla Scanlon: Hey, I'm Kyla Scanlon! I'm the author of a book called In This Economy and an economic commentator. Santi: Kyla has joined me today for a couple reasons. One, I'm a big fan of her newsletter: it's about economics, among many other things. She had a great piece recently on what we can learn from C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, which is a favorite book of mine.Kyla's also on today because we're interviewing Wally Adeyemo, who was the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Biden administration. We figured we each had questions we wanted answered.Kyla: Yeah, I've had the opportunity to interview Wally a couple times during the Biden administration, and I wanted to see where he thinks things are at now. He played a key role in implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, financial sanctions on Russia, and a whole bunch of other things.Santi: For my part, I'm stuck on Wally's role in setting up the IRS's Direct File program, where you can file your taxes for free directly through the IRS instead of paying TurboTax a hundred bucks to do it. “Good governance types” tend to love Direct File, but the current admin is thinking of killing it. I wanted to understand how the program got rolled out, how Wally would respond to criticisms of the program, and what he learned from building something in government, which now may disappear.Kyla, you've talked to Wally before. How did that conversation go? Kyla: I actually was able to go to his office in D.C., and I talked to a couple of key people in the Biden administration: Jared Bernstein, the former chair of the CEA, and Daniel Hornung, who was at the National Economic Council.We're talking to Wally on the day that the House passed the one big beautiful bill. There's also so much happening financially, like the bond market is totally rebelling against the US government right now. I'm really curious how he thinks things are, as a key player in the last administration.Santi: Wally, you've spent most of your career in Democratic Party institutions. You worked on the Kerry presidential campaign in 2004. You served in the Obama admin. You were the first chief of staff to the CFPB, the president of the Obama Foundation, and, most recently, Deputy Treasury Secretary in the Biden admin.30,000ft question: How do you see the Democratic Party today?My view is that we continue to be the party that cares deeply about working-class people, but we haven't done a good job of communicating that to people, especially when it comes to the things that matter most to them. From my standpoint, it's costs: things in America cost too much for a working-class family.I want to make sure I define working class: I think about people who make under $100,000 a year, many of whom don't own homes on the coast or don't own a significant amount of stocks (which means they haven't seen the asset appreciation that's led to a great deal of wealth creation over the last several decades). When you define it that way, 81% of Americans sit in that category of people. Despite the fact that they've seen their median incomes rise 5-10% over the last five years, they've seen the cost of the things they care about rise even faster.We haven't had a clear-cut agenda focused on the standard of living, which I think is the thing that matters most to Americans today.Santi: There are folks who would say the problem for Democrats wasn't that they couldn't communicate clearly, or that they didn't have a governing agenda, but that they couldn't execute their agenda the way they hoped to in the time available to them. Would you say there's truth to that claim?Most people talk about a communications issue, but I don't think it's a communications issue. There are two issues. One is an implementation issue, and the second is an issue of the actual substance and policy at the Treasury Department. I was the deputy secretary, but I was also the Chief Operating Officer, which meant that I was in charge of execution. The two most significant domestic things I had to execute were the American Rescue Plan, where $1.9 trillion flowed through the Treasury Department, and the Inflation Reduction Act. The challenge with execution in the government is that we don't spend a lot on our systems, on making execution as easy as possible.For example, the Advanced Child Tax Credit was intended to give people money to help with each of their children during the pandemic. What Congress called on us to do was to pay people on a monthly basis. In the IRS system, you pay your taxes mostly on an annual basis, which meant that most of our systems weren't set up to pay a monthly check to Americans. It took us a great deal of work to figure out a way to recreate a system just to do that.We've underinvested in the systems that the IRS works on. The last time we made a significant investment in the IRS's digital infrastructure was the 1960s; before we had an ATM machine, before we sent a man to the moon, before we had a personal computer. So that meant that everything was coded in a language called COBOL.So execution was quite hard in the American Rescue Plan. People were left out and felt that the government wasn't working for them. If you called the IRS, only 13% of your calls were being answered. We got that back up to 85% before we left. Ultimately, I think part of this is an execution challenge. In government we want to spend money coming up with new policies, but we don't want to pay for execution, which then means that when you get the policy passed, implementation isn't great.When Jen Pahlka was on your show, she talked about the need to focus on identifying the enablers to implementation. Direct File was one of the best examples of us taking implementation very seriously.But also, on some policy issues that mattered most to Americans, we weren't advancing the types of strategies that would've helped lower the cost of housing and lowering the cost of medicine. We did some things there, but there's clearly more that we could have done, and more we need to do going forward to demonstrate that we're fighting to bring down those costs. It's everything from permitting reform — not just at the federal level, but what can we do to incentivize it at the state and local level — to thinking about what we can do on drug costs. Why does it cost so much more to get a medicine in America than in Canada? That is something that we can solve. We've just chosen not to at the federal level.At the end of the year, we were going to take action to go after some of the middlemen in the pharmacy industry who were taking out rents and large amounts of money. It dropped out of the bill because of the negotiations between the Republican Congress and then President-elect Trump. But there are a lot of things that we can do both on implementation, which will mean that Americans feel the programs that we're passing in a more effective way, and policy solutions that we need to advance as a party that will help us as well.Kyla: Some people think Americans tend to vote against their own self-interest. How can your party message to people that these sorts of policies are really important for them?Ultimately, what I found is that most people just understand their self-interest differently, and for them, a big part of this was, “Who's fighting for me on the issues that I care most about?”From my standpoint, part of the problem we had with Direct File, which I think was an innovative solution, was that we got to implementing it so late in the administration that we didn't have the ability for it to show the impact. I'm hoping future administrations will think through how to start their implementation journey on things like Direct File sooner in the administration, when you have a great deal of political capital, so people can actually feel the impact over time.To your question, it's not just about the messaging, it's about the messenger. People tend to trust people who look like them, who come from the places they come from. When it came to the Child Tax Credit and also to Direct File, the biggest innovation wasn't the technology: the technology for Direct File has been used by the Australians, the British, and other countries for decades.The biggest innovation was us joining that technology with trusted people in communities who were going out to talk to people about those programs and building those relationships. That was something that the IRS hadn't done a great deal of. We invested a great deal in those community navigators who were helping us get people to trust the things the government was doing again, like the Child Tax Credit, like Direct File, so that they could use it.We often think that Washington is going to be able to give messages to the country that people are going to hear. But we're both in a more complicated media environment, where people are far more skeptical of things that come from people in Washington. So the best people to advocate for and celebrate the things that we're doing are people who are closer to the communities we're trying to reach. In product advertising today, more companies are looking to influencers to advertise things, rather than putting an ad on television, because people trust the people that they follow. The same is true for the things that we do in government.Santi: I've talked to colleagues of yours in the last administration who say things like, “In the White House, we did not have a good enough sense of the shot clock.” They point to various reasons, including COVID, as a reason the admin didn't do a good enough job of prioritization.Do you think that's true, that across the administration, there was a missing sense of the shot clock or a missing sense of prioritization? No, because I'm a Lakers fan. These are professionals. We're professionals. This is not our first rodeo. We know how much time is on the shot clock; we played this game. The challenge wasn't just COVID. For me at Treasury — and I think this is the coolest part of being Deputy Secretary of the Treasury — I had responsibilities domestic and international. As I'm trying to modernize the IRS, to invest all my time in making the system work better for customers and to collect more taxes from the people who owe money, Russia invades Ukraine. I had to turn a bunch of my attention to thinking about what we were going to do there. Then you have Hamas attacking Israel.There was more we should have done on the domestic end, but we have to remember that part of the presidency is: you get to do the things you want to do, but you also have to do the things you have to do. We had a lot of things we had to do that we weren't planning for which required all-of-the-administration responses.I think the most important lesson I've learned about that is that it comes down to both being focused on the things that matter, and being willing to communicate to the American people why your priorities have to change in light of things that happen in the world.But the people I'm sure you've talked to, most of them work on domestic policy alone, and they probably never have been in a National Security Council meeting, where you're thinking about the risks to the country. The president has to do both of those things. So I get how difficult it is to do that, just given where I sat at the Treasury Department.Santi: Looking back from an implementation perspective, are there things you would've done differently during your time at Treasury?The most important thing that I would've done differently was to immediately set up a permanent implementation and delivery unit in the Treasury Department. We always like to pretend like the Treasury Department is just a policy department where we make policy, we collect taxes. But in any crisis the country ever has, a great deal of responsibility — for execution or implementation of whatever the response is — falls to the Treasury Department. Think about the financial crisis, which is clearly something that's in the Treasury's domain. The vast majority of money for COVID flowed through the Treasury Department. You think about the IRA, a climate bill: the vast majority of that money flows through the Treasury Department.And Treasury doesn't have a dedicated staff that's just focused on implementation: How do we do this well? How do we make sure the right people are served? How do we make sure that we communicate this well? We did this to a degree by a team that was focused on the American Rescue Plan. But it was only focused on the American Rescue Plan. If I could start again, I would have said, “I want a permanent implementation structure within the Treasury Department of people who are cross-cutting, who only think about how we execute the policies that we pass through Congress and that we put together through an executive order. How do we do that extremely well?”Kyla: What you're talking about is very people-centric: How do we get an implementation team, and how do we make sure that the right people are doing the right jobs? Now we have DOGE, which is less people-centric. How do you reconcile what Doge is doing relative to what you would've done differently in this role that you had?As you would suspect, I wasn't excited about the fact we had lost the election, but initially I thought DOGE could be helpful with technology. I think marrying technology with people — that's the key to success for the government. We've never really been great at doing technology in the government.Part of the reason for that is a procurement process that is very slow because of how the federal acquisition rules work. What we are trying to do is prevent corruption and also waste, fraud, and abuse. But what that does is, it leads to slowness in our ability to get the technology on board that we need, and in getting the right people.I was hoping DOGE would bring in people who knew a great deal about technology and put us in a position where we could use that to build better products for the American people. I thought they would love Direct File, and that they would find ways to improve Direct File and expand it to more Americans.My view is that any American in the working class or middle class should not have to pay a company to file their taxes. We have the ability in this country, and I think Direct File was proving that. My goal, if we'd had more time, was to expand this to almost any American being able to use it. I thought they'd be able to accelerate that by bringing in the right people, but also the right technology. We were on that path before they took those two things apart.My sense is that you have to reform the way that we hire people because it's too hard to hire the right people. In some cases, you don't need some of the people you have today because technology is going to require different skills to do different things. It's easier to break something, I found, than it is to build something. I think that's what they're finding today as well.Santi: When I talk to left-of-center folks about the DOGE push, they tend to be skeptical about the idea that AI or modern technology can replace existing federal workers. I think some of that is a natural backlash to the extreme partisan coding of DOGE, and the fact that they're firing a lot of people very quickly. But what's your view? After DOGE, what kinds of roles would you like to see automated?Let me say: I disagree with the view that DOGE and technology can't replace some of the things that federal workers do today. My view is that “productivity enhancing” tech — it's not that it is going to make employees who are currently doing the job more productive. It is going to mean you need fewer employees. We have to be honest about that.Go to the IRS, for example. When I got there, we had a huge paper backlog at the IRS because, despite what most people think, millions of people still file their taxes by paper, and they send them to the IRS. And during the pandemic, the commissioner, who was then working for President Trump, decided to shut down the IRS for public health reasons — to make sure employees did not have to risk getting COVID.There were piles of paper backing up, so much so that they had filled cafeterias at the IRS facilities with huge piles of paper. The problem, of course, is that, unlike modern systems, you could not just machine-read those papers and put them into our systems. Much of that required humans to code those papers into the system by hand. There is no need in the 21st century for that to happen, so one of the things that we started to do was introduce this simple thing called scanning, where you would scan the papers — I know it sounds like a novel idea. That would help you get people's tax returns faster into the system, but also get checks out quickly, and allow us to see if people are underpaying their taxes, because we can use that data with a modern system. But over time, what would that mean? We'd need fewer people to enter the data from those forms.When we get money for the IRS from Congress, it is actually seen as revenue-raising because they expect it to bring down the debt and deficit, which is completely true. But the model Congress uses to do that is reliant on the number of full-time employees we hire. One challenge we have with the IRS — and in government systems in general — is that you don't get credit for technology investments that should improve your return on investment.So whenever we did the ROI calculations for the IRS, the Congressional Budget Office would calculate how much revenue we'd bring in, and it was always based on the number of people you had doing enforcement work that would lead to certain dollars coming in. So we got no credit for the technology investments. Which was absolutely the opposite of what we knew would be true: the more you invested in technology, the more likely you were to bring in more revenue, and you would be able to cut the cost of employees.Santi: If the CBO changed the way it scored technology improvements, would more Congresspeople be interested in funding technology?It is just a CBO issue. It's one we've tried to talk to them about over the last several years, but one where they've been unwilling to move. My view is that unlocking this will unlock greater investment in technology in a place like the IRS, because every dollar you invest in technology — I think — would earn back $10 in additional tax revenue we'd be able to collect from people who are skipping out on their taxes today. It's far more valuable to invest in that technology than to grow the number of employees working in enforcement at the IRS. You need both, but you can't say that a person is worth 5x their salary in revenue and that technology is worth 0. That makes no sense.Kyla: When we spoke about Direct File many months ago, people in my comment section were super excited and saying things like, “I just want the government to tell me how much money I owe.” When you think about the implementation of Direct File, what went right, and how do you think it has evolved?The thing that went right was that we proved that we could build something quite easily, and we built it ourselves, unlike many technology projects in government. We didn't go out and hire a bunch of consultants and contractors to do it. We did it with people at the IRS, but also with people from 18F and from GSA who worked in the government. We did it in partnership with a number of stakeholders outside the government who gave us advice, but the build was done by us.The reason that was important — and the reason it's important to build more things internally rather than hiring consulting firms or other people to build it — is that you then have the intellectual capital from building that, and that can be used to build other things. This was one product, but my view is that I want the IRS home page to one day look a lot more like the screen on your iPhone, so that you can click on the app on the IRS homepage that can help you, depending on what you need — if it's a Direct File, or if it's a tax transcript.By building Direct File internally, we were getting closer to that, and the user scores on the effectiveness of the tool and the ability to use it were through the roof. Even for a private sector company, it would've been seen as a great success. In the first year, we launched late in the filing season, mostly just to test the product, but also to build stakeholder support for it. In the limited release, 140,000 people used it. The average user said that before Direct File, it took them about 13 hours to file their taxes, and with Direct File, it took them just over an hour to file their taxes.But you also have to think about how much money the average American spends filing their taxes: about $200. That's $200 that a family making under $100,000 could invest in their kids, in paying some bills, rather than in filing their taxes.Even this year, with no advertising by the Trump administration of Direct File, we had more than 300,000 people use it. The user scores for the product were above 85%. The challenge, of course, is that instead of DOGE investing in improving the product — which was a place where you could have seen real intellectual capital go to work and make something that works for all Americans — they've decided to discontinue Direct File. [NB: There has been widespread reporting that the administration plans to discontinue Direct File. The GOP tax bill passed by the House would end Direct File if it becomes law. At the time of publication, the Direct File has not been discontinued.]The sad part is that when you think about where we are as a country, this is a tool that could both save people money, save people time, improve our ability to collect taxes, and is something that exists in almost every other developed economy. It makes no sense to me why you would end something like this rather than continue to develop it.Santi: People remember the failure of healthcare.gov, which crashed when it was rolled out all at once to everyone in the country. It was an embarrassing episode for the Obama administration, and political actors in that administration learned they had to pilot things and roll them out in phases.Is there a tension between that instinct — to test things slowly, to roll them out to a select group of users, and then to add users in following cycles — Is there a tension between that and trying to implement quickly, so that people see the benefit of the work you're doing?One of my bosses in the Obama administration was Jeff Zients, the person who was brought in to fix healthcare.gov. He relentlessly focused on execution. He always made the point that it's easy to come up with a strategy to some degree: you can figure out what the policy solution is. But the difference between good and great is how you execute against it. I think there is some tension there, but not as much as you would think.Once we were able to show that the pilot was a success, I got invited to states all over the country, like Maryland, to announce that they were joining Direct File the next year. These members of Congress wanted to do Direct File events telling people in their state, “This product that's worked so well elsewhere is coming to us next.” It gave us the ability to celebrate the success.I learned the lesson not just from Zients, but also from then-professor Elizabeth Warren, whom I worked for as chief of staff at the CFPB. One challenge we had at the CFPB was to build a complaint hotline, at that point mostly phone-operated, for people who were suffering. They said it would take us at least a year to build out all the product functions we need. We decided to take a modular approach and say, “How long would it take for us to build the system for one product? Let's try that and see how that works. We'll do a test.”It was successful, and we were able to use that to tell the story about the CFPB and what it would do, not just for mortgages, but for all these other products. We built user interest in the complaint hotline, in a way that we couldn't have if we'd waited to build the whole thing at once. While I think you're right that there is some tension between getting everyone to feel it right away and piloting; if the pilot is successful, it also gives you the opportunity to go out and sell this thing to people and say, “Here's what people who did the pilot are saying about this product.”I remember someone in Texas who was willing to do a direct-to-camera and talk about the ways that Direct File was so easy for them to use. It gets back to my point on message and messenger. Deputy Secretary Adeyemo telling you about this great thing the government did is one thing. But an American who looks like you, who's a nurse, who's a mom of two kids, telling you that this product actually worked for her: That's something that more people identify with.Healthcare.gov taught us the lesson of piloting and doing things in a modular way. This is what companies have been doing for decades. If it's worked for them, I think it can work for the government too.Santi: I'm a fan of Direct File, personally. I don't want this administration to kill it. But I was looking through some of the criticism that Direct File got: for instance, there's criticism about it rivaling the IRS Free File program, which is another IRS program that partners with nonprofits to help some folks file their taxes for free.Then there's this broader philosophical criticism: “I don't want the feds telling me how much I owe them.” The idea is that the government is incentivized to squeeze every last dollar out of you.I'm curious what you make of that, in part because I spoke recently to an American who worked on building e-government systems for Estonia. One of the things that has allowed Estonia to build cutting-edge digital systems in the government is that Estonia is a small and very high-trust society. Everybody's one degree of separation from everybody else.We're a much bigger and more diverse country. How do you think that affects the federal government's ability to build tools like Direct File?I think it affects it a lot, and it gets back to my point: not just the message but the messenger. I saw this not just with Direct File, but with the Advanced Child Tax Credit, which was intended to help kids who were living in poverty, but also families overall. What we found initially in the data was that, among families that didn't have to file taxes because they made too little, many of them were unwilling to take advantage of Direct File and the Advanced Child Tax Credit because they couldn't believe the government was doing something to just help them. I spent a lot of time with priests, pastors, and other community leaders in many of the communities where people were under-filing to try and get them to talk about this program and why it was something that they should apply for.One of the challenges we suffer from right now in America, overall, is a lack of trust in institutions. You have to really go local and try to rebuild that trust.That also speaks to taking a pilot approach that goes slower in some cases. Some of the criticism we got was, “Why don't you just fill out this form for us and then just send it to us, so that Direct File is just me pressing a button so I can pay my taxes?”Part of the challenge for us in doing that is a technology challenge: we are not there technologically. But the other problem is a trust problem. If I were to just fill out your taxes for you and send them to you, I think people, at this stage, would distrust the government and distrust the technology.Direct File had to be on a journey with people, showing people, “If I put in this information, it accurately sends me back my check.” As people develop more trust, we can also add more features to it that I think people will trust. But the key has to be: how do you earn that trust over time?We can't expect that if we put out a product that looks like something the Estonian government or Australia would put out, that people would trust it at this point. We have to realize that we are on a journey to regain the trust of the American people.The government can and will work for them, and Direct File was a part of that. We started to demonstrate that with that product because the people who used it in these communities became the spokespeople for it in a better way than I ever could be, than the Secretary or the President could be.Everyone knows that they need to pay their taxes because it's part of their responsibility living in this country. The things that make people the most upset is the fact that there are people who don't pay their taxes. We committed that we were going to go after them.The second frustration was: “Why do you make it so hard for me to pay my taxes? Why can't I get through to you on the phone line? Why do I have to pay somebody else to do my taxes?” Our goal was to solve those two problems by investing money and going after the people who just decided they weren't going to pay, but also by making it as easy as possible for you to pay your taxes and for most people, to get that tax refund as quickly as possible.But doing that was about going on a journey with people, about regaining their trust in an institution that mattered to them a great deal because 90 something-percent of the money that funds our government comes in through the IRS.Kyla: You have a piece out in Foreign Affairs called “Make Moscow Pay,” and what I found most interesting about that essay is that you said Europe needs to step it up because the United States won't. Talk through the role of Treasury in financial sanctions, and your reasons for writing this piece.People often think about the Treasury Department as doing a few things. One is working with Wall Street; another one is collecting your taxes. Most people don't think about the fact that the Treasury Department is a major part of the National Security Committee, because we have these tools called financial sections.They use the power of the dollar to try and change the behavior of foreign actors who are taking steps that aren't consistent with our national security interests. A great example of this is what we did with regard to Russia — saying that we're going to cut off Russian banks from the US financial system, which means that you can't transact in US dollars.The problem for any bank that can transact in dollars is that the backbone of most of the financial world is built on the US dollar. It increases their cost, it makes it more difficult for them to transact, and makes it harder for them to be part of the global economy, nearly impossible.And that's what we've done in lots of cases when it comes to Russia. We have financial sanction programs that touch all over the world, from Venezuela to Afghanistan. The US government, since 9/11, has used sanctions as one of its primary tools of impacting foreign policy. Some of them have gone well, some of them I think haven't gone as well, and there's a need for us to think through how we use those policies.Santi: What makes sanctions an effective tool? Positions on sanctions don't line up neatly on partisan lines. Sanctions have a mixed track record, and you'll have Republicans who say sanctions have failed, and you'll have Democrats say sanctions have been an effective tool, and vice versa.The way I think about sanctions is that they are intended to bring change, and the only way that they work is that they're part of an overarching foreign policy strategy. That type of behavior change was what we saw when Iran came to the table and wanted to negotiate a way to reduce sanctions in exchange for limits on their nuclear program. That's the type of behavior change we're trying to accomplish with sanctions, but you can't do it with sanctions alone. You need a foreign policy strategy. We didn't do it by the United States confronting Iran; we got our allies and partners to work together with us. When I came into office in 2021, Secretary Yellen asked me to do a review of our sanctions policies — what's worked, what hasn't — because it had been 20 years since the 9/11 attacks.And the most important lesson I learned was that the sanctions programs that were the most effective were the ones we did on a multilateral basis — so we did it with our friends and allies. Part of the reason for this is that while the dollar is the most dominant currency around the world, oftentimes if you can't do something in dollars, you do it in a euro, or you do it in a Japanese yen, or pound sterling.The benefit of having allies all over the world is that the dominant, convertible currencies in the world are controlled by allies and partners. When we acted together with them, we were more effective in curtailing the economic activity of our adversary, and our pressure is more likely to lead to them changing their behavior.We had to be very cautious about collateral damage. You might be targeting an individual, but by targeting that individual, you might make it harder for a company they're affiliated with to continue doing business, or for a country that they're in to get access to banking services. Let's say that you're a huge bank in America, and you're worried about sanctions risk in a small country where you do little business. Why not pull out, rather than having to put in place a huge compliance program? One of the challenges that we have is that the people who make the decisions about whether to extend sanctions don't necessarily spend a lot of time thinking about some of these economic consequences of the sanctions approach.Whenever I was around the table and we were making a decision about using weapons, there was a process that was very elaborate that ended up with something going to the president. You'd often think about kinetic force very seriously, because you were going to have to get the president to make a decision. We didn't always take that kind of rigor when it came to thinking about using our sanctions policy, but the impact on the lives of people in these countries was just as significant for their access to not only money, but to food and to the resources they needed to live.Santi: What do you make of the effectiveness of the initial sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine? I've heard mixed reviews from folks inside and outside the Biden administration.Sanctions, again, to my point, are only a tool. They've had to be part of a larger strategy, and I think those sanctions were quite effective. I think the saving grace for the Russians has been the fact that China has largely been able and willing to give them access to the things they need to continue to perpetuate.There was a choice for Ukraine, but when you think about Russia's economy today vs. Russia's economy before the sanctions were put in place, it's vastly different. Inflation in Russia still runs far higher than inflation anywhere else in the world. If you were a Russian citizen, you would feel the impacts of sanctions.The challenge, of course, is that it hasn't changed Vladimir Putin's behavior or the behavior of the Kremlin, largely because they've had access to the goods and supplies they need from China, Iran, and North Korea. But over time, it means Russia's economy is becoming less competitive. They have less access to resources; they're going to struggle.I think everyone hoped that sanctions would immediately change the calculus of the Kremlin, but we've never seen that to be the case. When sanctions are effective, they take time, because the economic consequences continue to compound over time, and they have to be part of a larger strategy for the behavior of the individual. That's why I wrote the article, because while the Kremlin and Russia are under pressure, their view is that ultimately the West is going to get tired of supporting Ukraine, financially and politically, because the economic consequences for us — while not as significant as for Moscow or for Kiev — have been quite significant, when you think about the cost of living issues in Europe.I think it's important to write this now, when it appears that Russia is stalling on negotiations, because ultimately, US financial support is waning. We just know that the Trump administration is not willing to put more money into Ukraine, so Europe is going to have to do more, at a time when their economic situation is quite complicated as well.They've got a lot to do to build up their economy and their military-industrial base. Asking them to also increase their support for Ukraine at the same time is going to be quite difficult. So using this money that Russia owes to Ukraine — because they owe them compensation at this moment — can be quite influential in helping support the Ukrainians, but also changing Russia's calculus with regard to the ability of Ukraine to sustain itself.Kyla: On CNBC about a month ago, you said if we ever have a recession over the next couple of months or so, it would be a self-inflicted one. Do you still resonate with that idea? To build on the point I was making, the economy has done quite well over the course of the first few months of the year, largely because of the strength of the consumer, where our balance sheets are still quite strong. Companies in America have done well. The biggest headwind the US economy faces has been self-inflicted by the tariffs the president has put on. Part of what I still do is talk to CEOs of companies, big and small. Small businesses feel the impact of this even more than the big businesses. What they tell me is that it's not just the tariffs and the fact that they are making it more expensive for them to get the goods that they need, but it's the uncertainty created by the off-again, on-again, nature of those tariffs that makes it impossible for them to plan for what supplies they're going to get the next quarter. How are they going to fulfill their orders? What employees are they going to need? It's having a real impact on the performance of these companies, but also their ability to hire people and plan for the future.If you go to the grocery store, you're going to start seeing — and you're starting to see already — price increases. The thing that Americans care most about is, the cost of living is just too high. You're at the grocery store, as you're shopping for your kids for the summer, you're going to see costs go up because of a self-imposed tax we've put in place. So I still do think that if we do find ourselves in a recession, it's going to be because of the tariffs we've put in place.Even if we don't enter a technical recession, what we're seeing now is that those tariffs are going to raise the cost for people when they go out to buy things. It's going to raise the cost of building homes, which is going to make it harder for people to get houses, which is ultimately going to have an impact on the economy that isn't what I think the president or anyone wants at this point.Kyla: Is there anything else we haven't asked about? I think the place where we continue, as a country, to struggle is that, given the federal system we have, many of these problems aren't just in Washington — they're in state and local governments as well. When you think about the challenges to building more housing in this country, you can't just solve it by doing things at the federal level. You have to get state and local governments unified in taking a proactive approach. Part of this has to be not just financial or regulatory from the federal government, but we have to do more things that force state and local governments to get out of the way of people being able to build more housing. I think that the conversations that you've had on your show, and the conversations we're having in government, need to move past our regular policy conversations of: “Should we do more on LIHTC? Should we try to fix NEPA?” Those, to me, are table stakes, and we're in the middle of what I'd say is a generational crisis when it comes to housing. We have to be willing to treat it like a crisis, rather than what I think we've done so far, which is take incremental steps at different levels to try and solve this. That's one thing that I wanted to make sure that I said, because I think it's the most important thing that we can do at the moment.Kyla: Absolutely. During your time there, the Treasury was doing so much with zoning reform, with financial incentives. What I really liked about our last conversation was how much you talked about how important it is that workers can live close to work. Are you optimistic that we will be able to address the problem, or do you think we are sinking into quicksand?I'd say a little bit of both, and the thing that I'm doing now is getting hyperlocal. One of the projects I'm working on in my post-administration life is I'm working with 15 churches in D.C., where they have vacant land and want to use it to build affordable housing as quickly as possible.I'm learning that even when you have the land donated for free and you're willing to work as quickly as possible, it's still quite hard because you have regulations and financial issues that often get in the way of building things. Part of what we have to do now is just launch as many natural experiments as possible to see what works.What I've learned already from this lived experience is that even cities that are trying to get out of the way and make it easier to build housing struggle because of what you all know to be true, which is that the local politics of this is quite complicated. Oftentimes, the way that you get them over the line is by creating incentives or disincentives.In the past, I talked a lot about incentives in terms of “giving people money to do things.” I'm now in favor of “not giving money to people who don't do things” — if you don't take steps to fix your zoning, some of the federal money that you regularly get is not coming to your jurisdiction. I'm going to reallocate that money to places that are doing this activity. I think we have to take those types of radical steps.It's similar to what we did with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, where if you didn't spend your money, we could take your money back and reallocate it to people who were giving away emergency rental assistance money.That motivates people a lot — when they feel like something's going to be taken away from them. I'm of the view that we have to find more radical things that we can do to get housing built. If we don't, costs will continue to rise faster than people's incomes.Santi: Wally, I have to ask after that point you just made: did you read the paper by my colleague Chris Elmendorf on using LIHTC funds? The idea is to re-allocate those federal funds away from big, expensive cities and into other places in a state, if the cities don't commit to basic zoning reforms.I completely agree with him, and I think I would go even further than just LIHTC money. I would reallocate non-housing money as well, because from my standpoint, if you think about the most important issue for a family, it's being able to find housing that is affordable near their place of work and where their kids go to school. I said that on purpose. I didn't say “affordable housing.” I said “housing that is affordable,” because affordable housing is, in lots of ways, targeted towards a population of people who need it the most. But for even people who are middle income in this country, it crowds out their ability to pay for other things when housing costs continue to creep higher.The only way we solve that problem is if you get rid of restrictive zoning covenants and fix permitting. The natural thing that every city and state is thinking about right now is throwing more money at the problem. There's going to need to be money here, just in light of some of the headwinds, but it's going to be more costly and less effective if we don't fix the underlying issues that are making it hard to build housing where we want it.Right now in California, we're having a huge debate over what we do with infill housing in urban areas. A simple solution — you don't have to do another environmental review if one was already done in this area— is taking months to work through the California legislature, which demonstrates that we're going too slow. California's seeing an exodus of people. I just talked to a CEO who said, “I'm moving my business because the people who work for me can't afford to live in California anymore.” This is the kind of problem that you can solve. State legislatures, Congress, and executives have to get together and take some radical steps to make it easier to build housing.I appreciate what you said about what we were doing at Treasury, but from my standpoint, I wish we had done more earlier to focus on this issue. We had a lot going on, but fundamentally, the most important thing on housing is taking a step to try and build housing today, which is going to have an impact on the economy 10, 20, 30 years from now. We just have to start doing that as soon as possible.Thanks to Emma Hilbert for her transcript and audio edits. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub
Support our independent journalism by joining here. The greatest rivalries of the 1980s! This week, we have a commissioned episode from Club Gym Nerd member Kimo, who asked for an episode all about the 1980s rivalries between the Romanians and the Soviets, both team and individually. We are oh so happy to oblige! Setting the scene A history of Soviet dominance Romania's 1976 emergence The 1977 Europeans Romanian WALKOUT! The first great Romanian/Soviet rivalry—Nadia vs. Nellie and how it may or may not have influenced the future of gymnastics Romania wins in 1979, where Nadia saves the day with one hand. The Rivalry The 1980 Olympics of crazy judging Nadia vs. Davydova and the case of the 30-minute delay Nadia vs. Nellie and the case of the “computer malfunction” Mukhina's paralysis and the race for innovative difficulty 1981 Worlds The silliest scores of 1981 (oh, it's 9.800 for this) The case of the Szabo/Agache impersonation of 1981 Romania ends up 4th. That's right 4th. 1983 Worlds Innovation from an all-star Soviet team—YURCHENKO vaults, the SHISHOVA Just fangirling about Mostepanova for a while More fun with bonkers scoring 1984 boycott gives us an opportunity to talk about China 1985 Worlds Soviet Union casually adds Omelianchik and Shushunova to its already stellar 1983 team The Soviets were so deep that Shushunova placed FIFTH on her own team in qualification The evolution of Romanian floor to be less “chicken dance” and whether it contributed to what happened next 1987 and THE TIDE TURNS Silivas wins the European AA title in Moscow, and the Soviets (gasp) fall Romania gets its first world team title in 8 years How the addition of Aurelia Dobre changed the game for Romania Pro-Soviet bias in skill naming Dobre vs. Shushunova vs. Silivas vs. Baitova vs. Omelianchik. This was no two-way rivalry The 1988 Olympics and how timing is everything Thanks to our sponsor, Huel. Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF + a FREE Gift with code GymCastic at https://huel.com/GymCastic (Minimum $75 purchase). UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: at noon Pacific on Friday 3:00pm Eastern/7:00pm GMT OUT NOW IN US & EUROPE The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review. PARIS FX FINAL : LIVE SHOW with the ROMANIAN HEAD COACHES Jessica and Spencer were joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and being the new coaches at WCC. Replay tickets available for a limited time. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store RELATED The Karolyi Secret Police Files Olympic Gymnast Claims Karolyi Beat Her KRCA 2008 Dateline: Silent No More. Bela Karolyi "probably over 50 years ago in Romania" when asked if he ever hit a gymnast. Heavy Medals A seven-part story about the Karolyis and the steep price of gold. Firsts, Named Skills, and Innovators in Women's Artistic Gymnastics Nadia and the Secret Police: Interview part one and two Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police book by Stejarel Olaru Olympic coach John Geddert criminal charges and death Doug Boger: OC Register: Doug Boger banned Story on Colorado resident, Doug Boger: “Gymnasts Accuse Colorado Coach Of Sex Abuse, Torture” GymCastic episode Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics Episode where we predict the future: Biggest Olympic Judging Scandals 344: Shushunova vs. Silivas 1988 (Commissioned) 342: A Quitter's Try – The CNN Parkettes Documentary (Commissioned) 341: The Call Is Coming from Inside the House 340: USAG and The Case of the Missing Documents 327: 1993 NCAA Nationals (Commissioned) 325: Olympics of Difference Makers (Commissioned) 313: Best Floor Routines EVAH! (Commissioned) 312: 4th Is the New 1st (Commissioned) 309: Perfect Form – The O'Beirne Code (Commissioned) 308: 2004 Olympic All-Around Final (Commissioned) 306: Gymnastics Fails (Commissioned) 304: The GymCastic Olympics (Commissioned) 281: Myths, Legends, and Unexpected Moments PART 2 (Commissioned) 279: A Diva Is Magical: The Svetlana Khorkina Episode (Commissioned) 278: 2000 Sydney All-Around Final (Commissioned) 262: 1996 Olympic Event Finals (Commissioned) 258: The Fluff Cast (Commissioned) 256: 1996 Olympic All-Around Final (Commissioned) 255: 1996 Olympic Team Final (Commissioned) 252: Myths, Legends and Unexpected Moments in Gymnastics History (Commissioned) 228: Leotards (Commissioned) 225: 1992 Olympics Recap with Wendy Bruce (Commissioned) 185: 2008 Olympic All-Around Finals (Commissioned) Find all our recent episodes here NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RECENT Behind The Scenes: Calzones Confessions Demand More Behind The Scenes: Pottery Wheel Massacre RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. 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Kaylia Nemour is leaving Avoine-Beaumont, Chinese Championships, the Koper World Cup, and a Mini-Commision on Civil Rights and the NCAA Not a member? Support independent journalists by joining here. HEADLINES Kaylia Nemour announced that she has left her club, Avoine-Beaumont, and is currently training in Dijon under Nadia Massé The Brazilian gym gods have answered our prayers because Daiane dos Santos is getting her own movie, The Girl Who Could Fly Becky Downie took to Instagram to raise share her struggle with fibroids Sugihara Aiko wore a half-turtleneck, half denim jean shorts singlet and obviously we need to talk about it for three hours Follow-up on the Crandall-Howell's move to Clemson: Greg Marsen's response to Jessica's comments Chinese Championships Chinese Championships are underway. If you don't have a 6.8 D-score on beam, you should just go home Ou Yushan had a hilarious post-meet interview moment that most gymnasts can relate to about the social media gremlins Zhou Yaqin deigned to bless us with her beam excellence, scoring a 15.0 with a 6.8 D! Huang Ziyi's chest roll mount to shoulder roll charm offensive and a casual 6.8 D What skills, combos, and code hacks did we learn from this meet? Koper World Cup Why this was the "involvement of all the body parts" Championships Individual event titles Teja Belak took the vault title with a 13.516 Lucija Hribar won bars with a 12.400 Georgia-Mae Fenton won beam with a 13.166 Julia Coutinho won floor with a 13.100 Gymternet News Who is transferring and changing commitments? Double the Price in Arkansas: As reported three weeks ago, Morgan Price announced her departure from Fisk to Arkansas Morgan Reihl and Sydney Snyder change their commitments from Cal to Clemson Alexis Czarrunchick is transferring from Georgia to Maryland Molly Brinkman changed her commitment from Clemson to LSU Mizzou's Kaia Tanskanen will represent Finland at the 2025 European Gymnastics Championships Jordan Bowers was named the Honda Sport Award Winner for gymnastics Hire all the gymnasts: Suni Lee, Livvy Dunne, and Jordan Chiles are Sports Illustrated swimsuit models Start your engines: Paul Juda is the Grand Marshall for the Detroit Grand Prix Beth Tweddle, Andreas Wecker, Catalina Ponor, and Paul Ziert were inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame Pauline Schaefer-Betz announced on Instagram that she's working toward LA 2028 What's on the Socials? Frederick Richard is training in Beijing with the Chinese National Team and also creating hilarious high five-content while he's at it SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK: Shawn Johnson addressed the sexualization of leotards on a podcast Suni said hell no to snowboarding in this interview with Chloe Kim at the Gold Gala Mini Commission: Civil Rights Attacks and the NCAA From World Champion level Club Gym Nerd member “Gymnastics Fan” "We're experiencing the spread of laws in the US that promote sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc., in addition to a lack of accountability for those who promote racism, violence, etc. What is the likelihood that the championship might move if an NCAA team refused to travel somewhere? Could the athletes unionize as a team, or does it have to be an entire school's athletes? I know not all athletes have the same core beliefs, so that would create more challenges, but could the progressive athletes create change?" Examples of successful campaigns In 2016 the NCAA moved 7 championships out of North Carolina Colin Kaepernick's kneel during the national anthem helped propel the Black Lives Matter movement into the sports world The Sporting Boycott of South Africa during its apartheid policy The Iranian Women's Stadium Entry Protests of 2019 What is the likelihood of any of this happening in gymnastics? Can athletes unionize? Could a team boycott championships? Mid-meet walk out? IRONIC STICK CROWNS? Feedback Follow-up on routines that should be retired like a Jersey Is having "bow legs" an advantage in gymnastics? How can international fans follow along with NCAA gymnastics? UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: at noon Pacific on Friday 3:00pm Eastern/7:00pm GMT CHECK OUT FACT CHECKER'S NEW BOOK WITH AIMEE BOORMAN The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review. PARIS FX FINAL DEETS with ROMANIAN HEAD COACHES Jessica and Spencer were joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and being the new coaches at WCC. Replay tickets available for a limited time. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RECENT Behind The Scenes: Calzones Confessions Demand More Behind The Scenes: Pottery Wheel Massacre RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Episode 1711 - brought to you by our incredible sponsors: FitBod: Level up your workout. Join Fitbod today to get your personalized workout plan. Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE for seven days at fitbod.me/hardfactor Better Help: Your well-being is worth it. Visit BetterHelp.com/HARDFACTOR today to get 10% off your first month. Lucy: Let's level up your nicotine routine with Lucy. Go to lucy.co/hardfactor and use promo code (HARDFACTOR) to get 20% off your first order. Lucy products are ONLY for adults of legal age. 00:02:50 - Congresspeople fall asleep during a session 00:05:10 - Menendez brothers update, they may be free soon! 00:08:50 - Little girl traumatized by a trip to Ford's theater 00:21:00 - Lowes poop stories and a man caught pleasuring himself in a shed inside the store 00:27:15 - A UK teen who went missing in Thailand turns up in Georgia, the country, with some huge problems on her hands 00:34:15 - Kid caught drawing a huge penis on histrocal sight in Peru Thank you for listening! Go to patreon.com/hardfactor to join our community, get access to bonus podcasts and the Discord chat server with the hosts, but Most Importantly: HAGFD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Crandall-Howells are leaving Cal for Clemson with a contract worthy of the sport, floor joy at Varna World Cup, Level 10 Nationals, and an Ellie Black Mini-Commission. Support our independent journalism by joining here. HEADLINES Liz Crandall-Howell and Justin Howell are heading to Clemson. How much Clemson spent to snatch them up and why the economics makes sense. Varna Challenge Cup Everything in the world is right because Nola Matthews won bars and floor Jennifer Williams reminded us what a double pike is supposed to look like Are you on your highest toe? Antea Sikic Kaukic is Why Thelma Adalsteinsdottir wins the "involvement of your face" award Why Marcus Cassamento needs to teach the other men how to artistry properly Level 10 Nationals happened and we need to talk about this vault What are the new updates on Mixed Team Format for the LA28 Olympics? GYMTERNET NEWS We told you it was coming...Morgan Price announced her departure from Fisk Arkansas gymnast Dakota Essenpries transfers to Missouri Ashlee Sullivan is now heading to UCLA Gabby Douglas to be inducted into the USOPC Hall of Fame Club members can watch Vanessa Atler's live show by logging in to her live show page, it will appear below. MINI COMMISSION: All About Ellie Black From World Champion level Club Gym Nerd member Clarie K, "I would like my mini commission to be all about Ellie Black and how her gymnastics has evolved and what an incredible person and important figure in Canadian Gymnastics she is. Perhaps, you could also speak about her part in Canada's historic world bronze medal." Feedback Please post your feedback on the GymCastic forum or email us at gymcastic@gmail.com How to properly pronounce "Kovacs" Feedback on last week's mini-commission regarding coaching changes UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: at 2:00pmPacific / 3:00pm Eastern / 7:00pm GMT Fridays. CHECK OUT FACT CHECKER'S NEW BOOK WITH AIMEE BOORMAN The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review. PARIS FX FINAL DEETS with ROMANIAN HEAD COACHES Jessica and Spencer were joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and being the new coaches at WCC. Replay tickets available for a limited time. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Kensley's all things men's gymnastics: Neutral Deductions RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video *Correction, Fredrick Richard did beat the previous back flip record in 24 hours. He did not beat the record of 9 hours.
Why Melnikova has effectively ended her career, gymnast lifetime injuries, coaching change payoffs. HEADLINES Melnikova just got AIN status but it's going to be taken away... Frederick Richard now holds the world record for the most back flips within 24 hours Calling all publishers! Vanessa Atler has a book the world needs to read Serie A Final: French junior, Elena Colas beats Nemour and Esposito GYMTERNET NEWS What would you wear to Jordan Chiles' vampire masquerade birthday party? Morgan Price leaving Fisk? Why is NCAA championships viewership down slightly? Which US elites we might see at Worlds this year in Jakarta Ukrainian refuses photo with Belarusian and Russian gymnast. Lots of coaching changes including Maggie Haney, who's suspension is up. Helen Hu got the shorthand of her iconic beam routine tattooed on her arm. Sentenced for sexual abuse and having child sexual abuse material, Lance Spencer of Bozhi's Gym Nest in West Virginia. MINI COMMISSION: GYM SWITCHES World Champion-level Club Gym Nerd member Josh commissioned us to talk about coaching changes and gym-switching. How can some coaches bring out untapped potential within athletes and turn weaknesses into strengths? What are some notable examples of this across different eras? MINI COMMISSION: LONG-TERM HEALTH World Champion-level Club Gym Nerd member Kara commissioned us to discuss the long-term physical effects that gymnastics has on gymnasts' bodies. We hear stories of how Mary Lou Retton and Morgan White requiring hip replacements at very young ages - is that normal? Is the degree of impact directly proportional to the level at which the gymnasts trained? Bonus question: In the sportsballs, athletes' jersey numbers can be retired as a tribute to their greatness. If we had an equivalent for gymnastics, what floor music should be "retired" based on the level of mastery of the gymnasts who performed to it? UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: at noon pacific on Fridays. CHECK OUT FACT CHECKER'S NEW BOOK WITH AIMEE BOORMAN The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! If you loved reading the book, please leave a review BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Preventing Achilles and ACL tears starts with the Brain: How new concussion protocols may be the key to stopping lower body injuries in women's sports. HEADLINES Ana Barbosu (ROM) lost a tie breaker on floor to Alba Petisco (ESP) Which teams have the most NCAA Champions per event? GYMCASTIC UPDATES The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker is topping the sport charts - SUCK IT SPORTS BALLS! If you loved reading the book please leave a review Scalding Hot Tea: At our Live show in at NCAA Championships where the new WCC head coaches (where Simone Biles trained) talk all about the Paris floor final controversy and what it was like to coach in Romania.Live Show replay tickets available here INTERVIEW: Dr. Abigail Baldwin DPT Repetitive head impacts directly correlate to the likelihood a lower body injury, up to 11%, but our guest developed protocols specifically tailored to women. This concussion prevention and prehab program could prevent the most common injuries in gymnastics. What can coaches and athletes do to prevent ACL and Achilles tears in women Protocol time frames from implementation to results Why female athletes more susceptible to concussions and lower body injuries What are the biggest misconceptions that still persist in women's sports medicine UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: Friday May 2nd at noon pacific. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters RECENT All April Podcasts and Photo Galleries RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
We've donated to Everytown. If you can spare it, we recommend you do the same here. This week, we go over a few headlines out of the Florida State Capitol, explore Rachel Carson's writing on Florida, and chat about the strange phenomenon of a senator's voicemail box. Find Your Representative and Find Your Senator. Learn how to call your Congresspeople here concerning a number of topics. Make your comments on the black bear hunt here. Read the latest on the DeSantis scandal here. Pick up your copy of FLORIDA! right here! Thank you to Chelsea Rice for her incredible design of our logo! Follow Chelsea on Instagram here! All of the music was originally composed.
The dramatic video review that corrected the NCAA Team Finals (Photo Galleries) and Aimee Boorman and co-author Steve Cooper are here to talk about Aimee's memoire The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles OUT NOW! GymCastic LIVE SHOW at 2025 NCAAs What are people saying? Gymnerd808 said, "Hiiiii if youre not on the @GymCastic live show right now …... you're missing out! go purchase a replay ticket immediately. The tea being spilled is piping hot. Patrick is everything." REPLAY TICKETS: Virtual and In-Person tickets NCAA Championships Oklahoma overcame the 2024 vault gremlins and won its 7th NCAA Championship title! UCLA defied early-season expectations and finished as the runner-up Missouri went out with a BANG, earning its highest final placement in program history Utah finished in fourth after a late-meet beam inquiry for Amy Weir bumped Missouri ahead by 0.012 Why Frida Esparza wins the "fighting fascism even when it's inconvenient" award Our rotation-by-rotation recap of this meet, plus our favorite moments Oklahoma's beam domination vs. Utah's beam woes Why Chae Campbell is the only person allowed to do a Yurchenko full Helen. Motherfreaking. Hu. Was UCLA close to upsetting Oklahoma? Avery Neff's LEGIT 9.975 on vault "The Balance" Interview with Aimee Boorman and Fact Checker The story behind why Simone underperformed at 2013 Classics What does it mean that Marta was great at discriminated skill selection? The story Aimee has about *checks notes* cadavers? How Aimee was able to put up with Steve Penny for all of those years How Aimee was able to teach Simone the INSANE skills she does Why this book is a departure from the typical coaching narrative and opens up an honest conversation about vulnerability in elite sports The toll elite sports coaching takes on family life and Aimee's advice for coaches Aimee Boorman Interviews Women's Finals Recap with Aimee Boorman and Christian Gallardo Aimee Boorman and Maggie Haney: The Olympic Experience Aimee addresses her co-interviewee in her book Behind The Scenes: Aimee Answers More Questions BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP EPISODES Behind The Scenes: 2025 NCAA Team Finals Live from Ft Worth NCAA Championships 2025: All Around, Event Finals, Team Semifinals 2025 NCAA Championships Preview & Journalist's First Gender-Diverse Gymnastics Meet RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Helen Hu, Brooklyn Moors, Kailin Chio, Jordan Chiles and Jordan Bowers are NCAA Champions! Utah, UCLA, Mizzu and OU advance. Alabama, Florida, MSU and defending national champion, LSU are out. Photo Galleries TICKETS ON SALE NOW GymCastic LIVE SHOW at 2025 NCAAs How: Virtual and In-Person tickets When: Between meet days on Friday, April 18. Doors open at 6:30 PM; show starts at 7:00 PM CT Where: Fort Worth, Texas, or online from anywhere. Jessica and Spencer are joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and the 2025 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships of course. They will also take your (virtual and in-person) questions live! Live Show Season Pass now available (until 8 am Pacific Friday, April 18th) 2025 NCAA Championships Report Live The All-Around, Event Finals, Team Semifinal Post-Meet Show This is our live post-meet recap and Q&A episode. Today we are in Ft. Worth for NCAAs. We will go live after the meet (right here, on this page) Thursday, April 17th at 10:30-ISHpm Central/11:30pm Eastern (as soon as we can after the post-meet press conference). Login to reveal the full show. Full meet schedule. Watch the meet on ESPN2, follow scores Here's how to ask questions live. Can't make it live? Add Club exclusives to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Every week we do a live Q&A, right here on this page to discuss our immediate thoughts about the week or the meets. For more info on how to watch your favorite elites, Olympic and World medalists in college and all year long, check out The Balance Beam Situation's schedule with links. College & Cocktails combines our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A live podcast with a college meet of the week. It's all part of the bonus content for our Club Members who support our work year around. BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded, participate in watch-alongs with Spencer, access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Kensley's all things men's gymnastics: Neutral Deductions RESISTANCE Submitted by you. Action ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want then to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU Southern Poverty Law Center Northwest Immigration Law Project Stay Informed: Podcasts Amicus Daily Beans Pod Save America Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards We Have Rights Video ACLU Your Rights on trains and buses video
The Elite season is heating up, we look ahead to this week's NCAA Championships, and chat with Will Graves about his piece on trans and non-binary athletes in NAIGC gymnastics LIVE SHOW at 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Jessica and Spencer are joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and the 2025 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships of course. They will also take your questions live. How: Virtual and In-Person Tickets When: Friday, April 18, Doors at 6:30, Show 7:00 CT Where: Ft. Worth, Texas or online from anywhere Live Show Virtual Season Pass now available (For a limited time, four live show tickets for the price of three) Updates Meet and Show Schedule for NCAA Week Thursday, April 17 - All-around, Event Finals, Team Qualifying & LIVE Podcast Semifinal One: ESPN2 at 4:30pm ET/1:30pm PT featuring Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, Alabama Semifinal Two: on ESPN2 at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT featuring LSU, Utah, UCLA, Michigan State After awards and press conference, we will go live for a post-meet podcast for club members after semifinals. The top two teams will advance to finals Friday, April 18 at 7 pm CT - GymCastic LIVE SHOW No meets, but our first live show of 2025! Expect games, shenanigans, and interviews Got a question? You can submit it with a virtual or in-person ticket Want to upgrade to an in-person ticket? Be sure to do it before Friday! Saturday, April 19 - Team Finals & Podcast 4:00pm ET/1:00pm PT on ABC The four teams battle it out for the 2025 NCAA title Join us after the NCAA Finals press conference and award ceremony for our live reaction podcast Headlines A mixed-gender gymnastics event is coming to LA 2028! We spent 300 hours discussion options on Behind The Scenes: Mixed Team Event Added to LA28. We still don't have details on the format, but expect more information in May after the next FIG meeting Livvy Dunne spoke at the House NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) settlement hearing about being consistnetly undervalued and not having a say in the process. GYMTERNET NEWS Italy won the team final Jesolo! Manila Esposito won the all-around with a 55.750 Zoey Molomo suffered a knee injury on vault during training Both of the D'Amato sisters made their return Osijek World Cup First-year senior Jun Iwai tied Tokyo Olympic Champion Artem Dolgopyat for the floor title Naya Howard announced she is transferring from Georgia Badass woman alert: Marta Pihan-Kulesza won the Polish national championships for the thirteenth time Carly Baumann and Reyna Guggino (University of Michigan) announced they will be returning for a sixth year Morgan Price (Fisk University) makes history again for HBCU gymnastics, repeating as the USA Gymnastics All Around Champion The University of Iowa opened its new $20 million training center for its spirit squads and gymnastics teams NCAA Nationals Four enter only two survive! Semifinal #1: Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri Semfinal #2: LSU, Utah, UCLA, Michigan State What does a victory look like for each team? Who is each team's secret weapon? What is each team's biggest roadblock to winning? Who is our favorite to win the all-around You may have heard of her, but we think Jadey Carey has a convincing argument Jordan Bowers' 39.900 at Regionals (with three 10s) could challenge Carey Chae Campbell won the Big 10 all-around title - how could she fit into the equation? What about our apparatus champions? We pick our likely and our dream winners for each event Olympic Team Draft: College Edition If we draft a hypothetical Olympic team made of gymnasts competing at NCAA Nationals, who would be on our teams? Round One: Pick any gymnast, but only one per school Round Two: Pick ONLY gymnasts who have never competed at a Worlds or Olympics Round Three: Using the NCAA code, pick ONLY gymnasts who have never competed at a Worlds or Olympics Interview: Will Graves Read Graves' article on how NAIGC gymnastics is provides trans and non-binary athletes an inclusive space to compete and thrive in the sport Fact Checker Wrote a Book with Simone's Coach Pre-Order Now! UP NEXT Two podcasts and a live show from NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth Pre-order Fact checker and Aimee Boorman's book "The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles" National Championship Fantasy Game is open now! BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters NATIONALS FANTASY GAME: Lineups are now open (with new pricing!) Get your teams set before Thursday at 1 pm PT for the chance to win a mini-commission! GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game. Never too late to join! RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RECENT Behind The Scenes: Mixed Team Event Added to LA28 The 5th Rotation: April 08, 2025 Regionals: Carnage and Courage College & Cocktails: Regionals Day Four NIL Gymnastics Deals & Regionals Debate Club RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes SUPPORT THE LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions. ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
LIVE SHOW at 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Jessica and Spencer are joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and the 2025 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships of course. They will also take your questions live. How: Virtual and In-Person Tickets When: Friday, April 18, Doors at 6:30, Show 7:00 CT Where: Rose Marine Theater, Ft. Worth, Texas or online from anywhere Live Show Virtual Season Pass now available (For a limited time, four virtual live shows for the price of three) GymCastic Updates NCAA Live Show Tickets are on Sale now! In-person and virtual ticket options. Purchase your ticket here We launched a new store! Check it out here Headlines We have our NCAA Championship teams! What are the rankings by qualifying score? What were our biggest lessons from regionals? Why note every team is invincible Why is the NCAA suddenly so concerned about athlete harassment from sports betting when it didn't say squat about the stalking, racism, verbal harassment, and cyberbullying athletes have already been facing for YEARS USAG ends its contract with the healthcare provider that employs the National Team doctor, Dr. Marcia Faustin NIL Settlement News: Livvy Dunne will be speaking at the House vs. NCAA ruling, a multi-billion dollar settlement that will decide how college athletes can get paid Homophobia allegations from the FIG general secretary during a meeting on gender equity Russia withdrew rhythmic and artistic athletes from competition GYMTERNET NEWS Former Boise State gymnast, Hailey Okula (Gasper), passed away due to complications from childbirth Injury updates NCAA: Chloe Negrete (NC State), Csenge Bacskay (Georgia), Frankie Price (Arkansas) Shilese Jones had another surgery Kaliya Lincoln had shoulder surgery Gymnasts are among the 17 women filing a lawsuit against Michigan's ex-football coach, Matt Weiss, who is being indicted on 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft The president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine said Illia Kovtun and his coach could face consequences for switching nationalities Gymnastics Ireland is now incorporating anti-racism training into its new diversity strategy The Italian Federation has fired its rhythmic coach of 29 years after alleged mistreatment of former gymnasts USAG has announced international assignments for Jesolo, Osijek, and Varna. Who is going where? Nina Derwael got engaged! NCAA Regionals Who are our team and individual national qualifiers? What did our eyes tell us from regionals? LSU cannot be making mistakes if they want to stay No. 1 Could Michigan State be the national champions? Who are our best teams by event from this weekend and why the best vault team was OBVIOUSLY Michigan State, duh! Can someone get the judges a new pair of glasses? A WTF-off brought to you by the Alabama, Penn State, Utah, and Washington regionals BYU and Utah State tried to out-Utah each other by doing a mic'd up feature on the gymnasts' husbands in the audience HOT DAMN DENVER. The Pioneers tied Utah to knock out Stanford during round one California and Alabama looked nervy in that final rotation Florida showed they deserve to be in the top three Did Alabama get the benefit of home scoring? Did you see that Auburn vault rotation??? We debrief the close race between Auburn and Missouri for the last spot Injuries and unforeseen circumstances: Georgia didn't have a fun time at regionals Explanation please? The Lily Smith beam start value that makes zero sense Fact Checker Wrote a Book with Simone's Coach Pre-Order Now! UP NEXT College and Cocktails: Saturday at 6pm-ish Pacific after Regionals Regionals Fantasy Lineups Lock: April 2nd, 10:30am Pacific Pre-order Fact checker and Aimee Boorman's book "The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles" Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
LIVE SHOW 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Jessica and Spencer are joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and the 2025 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships of course. They will also take your (virtual and in person) questions live! How: Virtual and In-Person Tickets here When: Between meet day on Friday, April 18, Doors at 6:30, Show 7:00 CT Where: Ft. Worth, Texas or online from anywhere Live Show Season Pass now available (limited time only!) Welcome to College & Cocktails! The College Gymnastics Post-Meet Show Day Four of Regionals and we have our first NCAA Championship qualifiers: LSU, Michigan State's 198.00 (!), Utah, UCLA! This is our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A episode. Today we watched all the regionals. We recorded live on Sat night. Here's how to ask questions live. Can't make it live? Add College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Get your complete 2025 College & Cocktails/Mocktalis menu here! Every week we pick a college meet to watch, then go live, right here on this page to discuss our immediate thoughts about the meet. For more info on how to watch your favorite elites, Olympic and World medalists in college and all year long, check out The Balance Beam Situation's schedule with links. College & Cocktails combines our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A live podcast with a college meet of the week. It's all part of the bonus content for our Club Members who support our work year around. Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded, participate in watch-alongs with Spencer, access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Kensley's all things men's gymnastics: Neutral Deductions RESISTANCE Submitted by you. Action ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want then to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus Podcasts Amicus Daily Beans Pod Save America Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards We Have Rights Video ACLU Your Rights on trains and buses video Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU Southern Poverty Law Center Northwest Immigration Law Project
LIVE SHOW 2025 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Jessica and Spencer are joined by former professional musical theater boys turned super choreo-coaching duo, Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens to discuss Celine van Gerner's iconic Cats makeup, the Paris Olympic FX final from their perspective as Romanian team head coaches, choreographing in over 15 countries combined and the 2025 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships of course. They will also take your questions live. How: Virtual and In-Person Tickets When: Friday, April 18, Doors at 6:30, Show 7:00 CT Where: Rose Marine Theater, Ft. Worth, Texas or online from anywhere Live Show Virtual Season Pass now available (For a limited time, four virtual live shows for the price of three) MINI COMMISSION: NIL Deals This mini-comission is brought to you by Club Gymnerd member Jonathan who would "LOVE to hear you debate the best/worst/most ridiculous NIL deals and/or entrepreneurial endeavors of NCAA gymnasts. You can also go on a side tangent about dream partnerships from pre-NIL days” Our favorites Jordan Chiles on the face of Lucky Charms? Yes please Who wouldn't want a Leanne Wong seltzer water? Frederick Richard quashed the "ashy skin" allegations with this CeraVe partnership How do we get more gymnasts to do testicle soap collaborations? The most controversial deals? Livvy Dunne and Kayla DiCello doing an AI homework tool deal that didn't go great... MLM deals with schools and gymnasts Our dream NIL deals A TV deal for a viral floor routine, featuring the original, Llomincia Hall Akash Modi finally getting the Taco Bell sponsorship he deserved Suni Lee securing the ultimate pickle sponsorship GYMTERNET NEWS We have a Flying Banana Jesus half vault! You have to see Madita Mayr's front layout half from the DTB Cup LA2028 watch: Gymnastics bids for Crypto.com Arena to host Give me that money news: USA Gymnastics and Comcast renewed their contract through to 2028 Check out the Podium Club, USAG's giving society dedicated to support the growth of gymnastics nationwide The Gymnastics Rebalancing Act: Check out the recording from MIT's Sports Analytics Conference; you might see a familiar face! The Gymnastics for All Colloquium will now receive patronage from UNESCO NCAA Welcome to elimination season! What is the format for regionals? How do individuals qualify to nationals? Who is going to each regional? Who do we predict will qualify to nationals? Who are our dark horses? Penn State Regional Debate club: do we think Michigan State should advance to nationals with LSU over Kentucky or Arkansas? Can Michigan upset Arkansas to make the regional final? Who will make it past the play-in round? Maryland and its pride integrity? Or West Virginia with its stick plunger hat Utah Regional Debate club: is the Utah Regional going to be the most boring regional of the four? Do we think Denver was pretending to be bad on beam this whole season to lull everyone into a false sense of security heading into regionals? The stakes of the preliminary knockout round between BYU and Utah State Alabama Regional Do we think the Alabama regional judges are going to cook up some home scores for the home team? Are North Carolina, NC State, and Iowa really 197+ teams? Or is that just a figment of our imagination from some crazy scores? Why you have to watch round one between Clemson and Rutgers Washington Regional Debate: do we have a formatting flaw for all the seeded teams in this regional to be from the south/middle south? What are Georgia and Auburn's chances to make it out of semifinals and upset Oklahoma and Missouri? The legacy team vs underdog battle between Illinois and UC Davis Feedback We predict how NCAA gymnastics might change in a 5 up 5 count and an open-ended code Fact Checker Wrote a Book with Simone's Coach Pre-Order Now! UP NEXT College and Cocktails: Saturday at 6pm-ish Pacific after Regionals Regionals Fantasy Lineups Lock: April 2nd, 10:30am Pacific Pre-order Fact checker and Aimee Boorman's book "The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles" Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT Behind The Scenes: Thought Crimes The 5th Rotation: March 25, 2025 Conference Championships Regional Blastoff of 10s College & Cocktails: Bragging Rights Championships Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 11 The 5th Rotation: March 18, 2025 Jordan Chiles' Book College & Cocktails: Battle Altitude UCLA at Utah RELATED EPISODES April Fool's episodes NEW! 2015 FIG Rules April Fool's Day Show 2013 Episode 26.5: Oil Billionaire Funds Gymnastics Announcement! The Definitive Guide to the Paris Floor Bronze Debacle so far… RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
2 - Should we be shutting down Congressional voting because too many Congresspeople are voting by proxy? Is there too much leave for Congress? 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 220 - When is Trump going to start getting more credit for things he's implemented this presidency? Your calls. 225 - Hunter Biden agrees to be disbarred. Who would want him as their lawyer anyway? 235 - We have some announcements for the tariffs. How will it immediately affect car prices? 250 - The Lightning Round!
12 - Tariff day! What did the Premier of Ontario have to say about it? Answering criticism about the Supreme Court loss in Wisconsin and hypotheticals 1215 - Side - something a consensus of people enjoys, but you don't get it. 1220 - Paying homage to the late, great Val Kilmer 1230 - Today we are joined by Fire Chief Pat Molloy and Comedian/Impressionist Joe Conklin to promote their upcoming event that benefits the Abington Fire Department and those affected by the SPS fire. How did this event come to be and how was this benefactor chosen? Will Pat be doing any impressions on stage? Joe pokes fun at Dom's Conservative Tours read. How would he do a Dom impression? Who is Jim Kelly's favorite impression? Any more recent editions to the show? Joe details the video component of the show and even has a sneak peek as to one of the videos! What will Bernie Parent be doing at the show? Some notes to clean up the segment. 1250 - Olives stink! Your calls to wrap up the hour. 1 - Dr. EJ Antoni, Research Fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, joins us today to discuss the tariffs the Trump administration is implementing today. What is the feeling like over at The Heritage Foundation? Will Trump's idea of domestic investment come to fruition? EJ details how Trump's “loose cannon” attitude is the reason the markets have not spiked or fallen yet? He also details that this is free trade at its core! Why won't Canada drop certain trade barriers yet continue to allow China to walk all over them? Some TikTok talk. 110 - Will local school boards continue to promote DEI? 120 - Is Elon using DOGE for nefarious purposes? Some responses on Twitter for the side question. How was Cory Booker able to use the bathroom? Could Dom do a show for 25 hours straight, no sitting? 130 - Matt Rooney, attorney and founder of SaveJersey.com, joins us today. What did Matt think of not-Jersey guy Cory Booker's 25 hour filibuster? How starved are Americans for real action by politicians instead of platitudes and when, if at all, will our leaders adjust? How will Republicans win non-Trump elections in swing/blue areas like in the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin? Do the Democrats have air with how close the race for the Mike Waltz seat was? What can we expect from The MAtt Rooney Show this Sunday night, some opposition? 145 - Lights out! 155 - Wrapping up the hour. 2 - Should we be shutting down Congressional voting because too many Congresspeople are voting by proxy? Is there too much leave for Congress? 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 220 - When is Trump going to start getting more credit for things he's implemented this presidency? Your calls. 225 - Hunter Biden agrees to be disbarred. Who would want him as their lawyer anyway? 235 - We have some announcements for the tariffs. How will it immediately affect car prices? 250 - The Lightning Round!
Kia ora,Welcome to Monday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.And today we lead with news commodity prices are falling away across the board, along with crypto, as a risk-off mood builds in financial markets.In the week ahead, the most interesting developments will be close to home. There will be the usual monthly dump of February data from the RBNZ later today, and the real estate industry will start reporting its March results and listing levels. And in Australia, their central bank will be reviewing its monetary policy settings. But because they are in an election campaign it would be surprising indeed if they may any moves either way that might influence voters.The week will end with American labour market data for March. But because the impacts of DOGE cuts or tariff hikes are yet to be felt, little-change is anticipated here either. But more PMI reports will start to reveal new order levels, which will give important early warning signals.There will be PMIs out for China too, Japan business sentiment, EU inflation, and German factory orders, which will all help paint a picture of how the global economy is coping.But first up today, there will be a lot of interest on tomorrow's Wall Street open. It ended its Friday session with the S&P500 down -2.0% and no signs of recovery late in the session. The Nasdaq fell -2.7% on the day. Weekend futures trading has the S&P500 recovering +0.8%, but that basically embeds the Friday retreat. Risk-off sentiment is strong with major investors selling, seeing this as a time to hold cash.The core reason Wall Street is risk-off is that American consumers are increasingly anxious about their jobs, and the inflation pressures ahead. And both of those worries are over what higher tariffs will do to them. Town-hall meetings across the country are giving the message to Congresspeople that they aren't too happy about the self-serving government- by-billionaires either.The final University of Michigan March sentiment survey was revised lower from its already low 'flash' result. Consumers are in full defensive mode, expecting inflation to jump, and job security to worsen. Wall Street can't ignore these signals.Other data out over the weekend didn't help. The core US PCE inflation indicator for February rose its most since January 2024, and of course this doesn't include the effect of the recent policy missteps. This data is a little signal magnified by current policy settings.US consumer spending came in lower than expected. Consumer savings rates rose. This is consistent with consumers shifting to a defensive mood ahead of their expected rough economic weather.It isn't any better in Canada where their monthly GDP indicator for February revealed no net expansion, following a positive January expansion.In China, talk about rate cuts that officials don't like brings prosecution. They say "the local public security organs" have dealt with two such people.In Australia, they are off and running for their May 3, 2025 federal election. Like most elections, it will be fought on "cost of living" issues. The campaign starts with the incumbents in a strong and rising position on their two-party-preferred basis. Expect a sledge-a-thon for the next five weeks.And for the record, when we are thinking of drought and rainfall in Australia, this resource is useful to keep perspective.Commodity prices are under pressure. Worth watching is the price of copper. It is very high at present, but lower economic activity in both China and the US could bring about 'a collapse'. It would not be the only commodity to suffer.We should also possibly note that the US Fed balance sheet shrunk again last week to be -US$745 bln lower than this time last year. So far we haven't seen any slacking in the pace of their tightening.We should also note that in this current risk-off phase, the US dollar has not risen. This is very unusual and may portent a diminished role for the greenback in the global economy.So far, the world has kept buying US Treasury paper, but the more the Federal finances are twisted by Trump, the less likely that demand will hold. But remember less than 24% of total US federal debt is held by foreigners (US$8.512 tln of US$36.218 tln in gross terms), so the impact from foreign demand will be muted. However, markets will notice any substantial pullback by this group, and that will colour its market status and price. The big impacts will come from the locals' willingness to absorb this debt.The UST 10yr yield is now at 4.25%, unchanged from yesterday at this time. The price of gold will start today at just on US$3085/oz and up another net +US$5 from Saturday. Although off it at the moment, gold keeps challenging it's all-time high levels.Oil prices are little-changed from Saturday at just under US$69.50/bbl in the US and the international Brent price is now just over US$73.50/bbl.The Kiwi dollar is now at 57.2 USc and unchanged from this time Saturday. Against the Aussie we are unchanged at 90.9 AUc. Against the euro we are also unchanged at just under 53 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today still just over 66.7.The bitcoin price starts today at US$82,272 and down -1.9% from this time Saturday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at +/- 1.1%.You can find links to the articles mentioned today in our show notes.You can get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz.Kia ora. I'm David Chaston. And we will do this again tomorrow.
Login for the full show. Not a member? Join here Not sure if you are ready to join? Watch College & Cocktails sample free here This is our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A episode, while NCAA is on a bye, we have a week off of College & Cocktails. We went live to answer your questions. Stories about what we would have missed had we only done college online Spy stories as told by Jessica's Berlin stationed spy father Explaining all the bars deductions, skills and code debates A listener asks if the era of OU over Suggestions on how to fix the SEC Championships 9th team out debacle How to ask questions live. Can't make it live? Add College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenesepisodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded, participate in watch-alongs with Spencer, access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT Behind The Scenes: Thought Crimes The 5th Rotation: March 25, 2025 Conference Championships Regional Blastoff of 10s College & Cocktails: Bragging Rights Championships Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 11 The 5th Rotation: March 18, 2025 Jordan Chiles' Book College & Cocktails: Battle Altitude UCLA at Utah RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Kensley's all things men's gymnastics: Neutral Deductions RESISTANCE - Submitted by you. Take Action Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) Podcasts Amicus Daily Beans Pod Save America Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards We Have Rights Video ACLU Your Rights on trains and buses video Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions Lawsuit tracker ACLU Southern Poverty Law Center Northwest Immigration Law Project
Beetlejuice...Beetlejuice...Beetle-just kidding, we're not that crazy. Today, we're talking about "you know who," and we're doing it with original Broadway cast member and current dance captain on the BEETLEJUICE national tour, Ryan Breslin! (NEWSIES, THE BOOK OF MORMON, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY) Join us as we delve into the history of this fan favorite musical, the lore of the Netherworld, and what happens when Congresspeople are escorted out of your show. Follow Ryan on Instagram at @theryanbreslin and visit him and the rest of the cast on one of their stops by visiting BEETLEJUICE The Musical | Official Tour Website If you enjoyed this episode, check out another film turned musical composed by a different Australian comic: GROUNDHOG DAY with Ste Clough Join our ever-growing community on PATREON! Starting at only $1 a month, you can gain access to membership tiers, trivia competitions, bonus episodes and voting polls! Don't forget to like and share our episodes on Instagram and TikTok. We have fun playlists on Spotify to keep you company in between episodes. And be sure to check out our TeePublic Store where our profits from the designs are donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Most importantly, thank you for being part of this wonderful podcasting community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, alongside some pop culture recommendations, we dive into the legislative bills you should keep an eye on as the session ramps up, from labor to voting and so much more. Find Your Representative and Find Your Senator. Learn how to call your Congresspeople here concerning a number of topics. We've donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. If you can spare it, we recommend you do the same here. I mention a map of Orange County's rural boundary in this episode, and site the source as WUCF. It was actually WUSF and can be found here. Pick up your copy of FLORIDA! right here! Thank you to Chelsea Rice for her incredible design of our logo! Follow Chelsea on Instagram here! All of the music was originally composed.
Live Show Season Pass now available (limited time) HEADLINES IT FINALLY HAPPENED, Brooklyn Moors got her 10! Jade Carey hard-lanched her girlfriend on Instagram Morinari Watanabe will not be the president of the IOC Two new skills at the Antalya World Cup Yang Fanyuwei: The full-twisting Jaeger aka the skill Suni competed at 2024 Winter Cup Okamura Mana: Piked half-turn to double pike dismount off bars What happened after Arkansas was booted from SEC Championships? Jordyn Wieber released a statement on Instagram What does this mean for Arkansas' NQS heading into the post-season? GYMTERNET NEWS Why everyone needs to learn a thing or two about longevity from this 74-year-old Danish gymnast Welcome to the club! Sac State's Grace Gilman joins the long list of gymnasts who shit their pants in competition LA 2028 Watch: Ellie Black says she has no plans of retiring and hopes to compete at the Los Angeles Games! Morgan Hurd, Missy Marlowe, Rebecca Sereda, Barry Weiner, Gary Anderson, and Marc Yancey were all inducted into USAG's Hall of Fame Baby alert: Alice Kinsella announced she's pregnant! She also does not plan on retiring She can do everything! Peng Peng Lee won music video of the year at the Indie Short Fest The Utah vs UCLA meet was the 12th highest-ranked program on Fox The Gymnastics MIT Panel is available to view NCAA Our conference championship highlights including 11 10's Program records After winning SEC Championships, LSU enters the post-season with the No. 1 seed for the first time in program history Missouri heads into the post-season ranked No. 7, the highest placement in school history Florida went 49.85 on bars at SEC Championships, not only breaking its own school record but also the NCAA record HALLELUJAH BECAUSE BROOKLYN MOORS AND RILEY MCCUSKER GOT THEIR 10s!!! Chae Campbell is your Big 10 all-around champion Stanford performed an ancient Celtic ritual and it worked. Stanford, UCLA, and Utah, all former PAC-12 teams, won their new respective conference titles A nail-biting finish for regionals qualification Towson fumbled on bars and just missed Regionals qualification Keanna Abraham came in clutch and nailed her vault to help UC Davis qualify to regionals for the first time in over a decade Jade Carey had her last Oregon State meet and made it out of college as the only American woman to compete in four consecutive NCAA seasons between two Olympics Zyia Coleman (Fisk) has a creative floor routine that is everything we could have asked for Ui Soma (Stanford) showed she can hold her handstands longer than everyone else and got a 10 on bars It's elimination season: NCAA Regionals What happened at the NCAA Regionals selection show? The "Oklahoma was training" absence from the show is the most Oklahoma thing you could possibly ask for Who got Atler-ed? (AKA who was most victimized by the selection process?) Who is the real winner of conference championships and why is it Jay Clark? UP NEXT Behind The Scenes: Friday at noon Pacific Regionals Fantasy Lineups Lock: April 2nd, time TBD Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT College & Cocktails: Bragging Rights Championships Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 11 The 5th Rotation: March 18, 2025 Jordan Chiles' Book College & Cocktails: Battle Altitude UCLA at Utah Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, March 14, 2025 Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 10 The 5th Rotation: March 11, 2025 RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Live Show Season Pass now available (limited time only, four live shows for the price of three) Welcome to College & Cocktails! The College Gymnastics Post-Meet Show Conference Championships drama, Jade's last home meet surprise and was Arkansas blocked from competing in this weekend? We'll discuss everything from the last meet weekend before Regionals. This is our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A episode. Today we watched all the regionals. Login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen or watch the full show. Not a member yet? Join here. Here's how to ask questions live. Can't make it live? Add College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Get your complete 2025 College & Cocktails/Mocktalis menu here! Every week we pick a college meet to watch, then go live, to discuss our immediate thoughts about the meet. For more info on how to watch your favorite elites, Olympic and World medalists in college and all year long, check out The Balance Beam Situation's schedule with links. College & Cocktails combines our weekly Behind The Scenes Q&A live podcast with a college meet of the week. It's all part of the bonus content for our Club Members who support our work year around. Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded, participate in watch-alongs with Spencer, access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT College & Cocktails: Bragging Rights Championships Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 11 The 5th Rotation: March 18, 2025 Jordan Chiles' Book College & Cocktails: Battle Altitude UCLA at Utah Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, March 14, 2025 Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 10 The 5th Rotation: March 11, 2025 Olympic Team Draft: Every Gymnast At Their Quad Peak College & Cocktails: Michigan at Oklahoma RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Kensley's all things men's gymnastics: Neutral Deductions RESISTANCE Submitted by you. Action Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want then to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) Podcasts Amicus Daily Beans Pod Save America Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards We Have Rights Video ACLU Your Rights on trains and buses video Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU Southern Poverty Law Center Northwest Immigration Law Project
This week we discuss Jordan Chiles' new book "I'm That Girl", and the meaningful meaningless-ness of NCAA Conference Championships 2025 LIVE SHOW SEASON PASS ON SALE (limited time) BUY NOW A FELLOW GYM NERD NEEDS YOUR HELP If you've been enjoying the new badges in your fantasy trophy case, you can thank fellow gym nerd and designer, Eyal Itzhaki. Unfortunately Eyal recently had a fluke accident that required spinal surgery and has left him with a long recovery ahead. He has started a GoFundMe to support this effort. Book Club: Jordan Chiles' "I'm That Girl" Chiles' frank, unprecedented discussion of abuse and her parents the acknowledgment of the role played during that time Our highlights from the book On sexism: why can't women act competitively like in men's sports without being labeled "rude"? Therapy rewards Woodwind instrument stans rise. Did you know Jordan was a band kid? The dark side of elite gymnastics culture The lack of black represention in her gymnastics community growing up 7 hour training schedule with a 15-minute snack break Normalizing not having your period Sneaking into the kitchen at the Karolyi Ranch for food Erika Bakacs Jordan's gymnastics coach, and also Tanya Harding's choreographer Several accusations made against Bakacs in the book Calorie restrictions, racism, obsessively controlling Jordan's diet, relationships, and personal life outside of the gym Exploiting gymnasts' parents for personal favors Drunk coaching Role of SafeSport Perspective and Context Fact-Checking The publisher did not do their job Opportunities to clarify and give context - discussion of body fat, gymnasts' heights, hip-hop floor routines, competing in NCAA and elite simultaneously Luci Collins the first black woman to make a U.S. Olympic gymnastics team Other GymCastic Book Club episodes GYMTERNET NEWS Our beloved Irish king of the pommels won Irish "Dancing With the Stars" You guys, it's a college sports thing. Speedo boy, Michael Phelps joins the college sports curtain of distraction at a basketball game The National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) is surveying the adult gymnastics community. Fill out the survey here Grace McCallum is returning to Utah next season as a student coach Try not to get too excited, but Trinity Thomas announced she mayyy not be done with gymnastics NBC extended their media rights on all platforms in the United States for the Olympic Games through to 2036 under a $3 billion contract NCAA What's on the line for conference championships besides titles? Oklahoma, LSU, and Florida are all in a close race for the no. 1 spot to finish the season. What scores does each team need to win? Spencer's bracketology corner Why does Alabama need to be moved? Arkansas is locked in at no. 16 despite not having a conference championship score Our 12 bubble teams for who could grab the last three spots to regionals Greg Marsden's Instagram post about NCAA Gymnastics growth Q&A Thoughts on a reality show about an Irish Men's Gymnastics house with a dramatic game of drunk chess for each episode Are there scoring advantages for elite gymnasts in NCAA? Brown Skin tone turning shoes for gymnasts UP NEXT College & Cocktails: Saturday, March 22 at 7:00pm PT after Conference Championships Fantasy Lineups Lock: Friday, March 21 – 2:30pm PT Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT College & Cocktails: Battle Altitude UCLA at Utah Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, March 14, 2025 Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 10 The 5th Rotation: March 11, 2025 Olympic Team Draft: Every Gymnast At Their Quad Peak College & Cocktails: Michigan at Oklahoma Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, March 07, 2025 The 5th Rotation: March 04, 2025 RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Will Graves article on Chiles coaching abuse 2021 U.S. Nationals Recap (41:44) Cleo Washington Interview RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. TAKE ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes LAWSUITS - Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Update from the FIG about Fujitsu judging at Jakarta Worlds, Melnikova is back, NCAA updates, and a commissioned episode where we draft Olympic teams as if everyone in the entire quad was at their peak by Trials. LIVE SHOW SEASON PASS ON SALE NOW Support independent journalists by joining here. GYMTERNET NEWS Will Fujitsu robot judging be used at Jakarta Worlds? We have an answer See episodes on Judges Evaluation Program here LSU set a program-record 198.5 for senior night Several Russian gymnasts, including Olympic Champion Angelina Melnikova, were approved for AIN status Chusovitina won the vault World Cup with improved form at age 49 COMMISSIONED EPISODE: Repicking the U.S. Olympic Teams This week Alex AKA the "I love you Tasha guy" gave us the task to put on our National Team Coordinator hats and retroactively pick U.S. Olympic teams from Sydney to Paris using gymnasts who were at their quad-peak. Click here to see Alex's detailed spreadsheet outlining our contenders. The Rules: For each quad, pick the number of gymnasts based on the rules at that time (e.g. the Sydney format is 6-5-4, Athens is 6-3-3, London is 5-3-3, Tokyo is 4-3-3 + 2 individuals) If you are too heartbroken to leave an athlete at home, you can name 2 travelling alternates. You can even name two non-travelling alternates if you must With all of the best gymnasts from the quad competing at their quad-level peak with no injuries, burnout, and retirements, who do you pick? Go through quad by quad and determine your Olympic team (plus alternates, if necessary) and select team final lineups. Remember, the ultimate goal is to WIN UP NEXT Spencer is doing a watch-along live blog here before the podcast. College & Cocktails: Saturday, March 15th after UCLA vs. Utah Fantasy Lineups Lock: Friday, March 14th at 2:30pm PT Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT College & Cocktails: Michigan at Oklahoma Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, March 07, 2025 The 5th Rotation: March 04, 2025 A.I. Judging at Worlds in Jakarta? Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 9 College & Cocktails: Alabama at Arkansas Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, February 28, 2025 Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 8 RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
2 - Scott Jennings of CNN joins after last night's speech and Scott's masterful performance on TV afterwards. From a political standpoint, you have to applaud some of these things they rolled out last night? Remember Biden's State of The Union last year, what Trump did wasn't out of the ordinary. Why not do the tax cuts not come before these tariffs? Is Scott approving of what the LA Times is doing with the paper? Scott shares a memo he received this week. 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 220 - We continue to play audio of Congresspeople attacking the sanctuary city mayors and those attacking Trump. 235 - Nancy Mace is now going after the mayors. Your calls. 250 - The Lightning Round!
12 - No cheer from the Democrats! Reliving Trump's speech to Congress last night and the Democrats poor response. What don't Democrats understand about immigration? 1210 - Nicole Wallace uses a kid as a political pawn. Did Trump do the same? 1215 - Side - italian 1220 - Things got testy on Capitol Hill on illegal immigration between Jim Jordan and the mayor of Denver. 1235 - Do you have counsel? Clay Higgins wants to know. Funny how things change under a new regime. 1240 - Your calls. 1250 - Baked ziti in the studio tomorrow? Why won't Henry eat it? Your calls. 1 - How is public perception of Trump after last night's speech? 110 - Representative Ryan MacKenzie joins the program today. What was the scene like on the House floor last night between the ejections and the staunch difference of reactions between Republicans and Democrats. Moving back stateside, how are we looking to help those with PTSD and their families? How big of an issue are sanctuary cities in Ryan's district? Will Northeastern PA be the tech and crypto capital of the country? 130 - A special announcement. 135 - Congressman Jeff Van Drew knew the camera would be on him last night! What did last night signify to the watchers at home? Was Jeff a part of the committee that tore apart mayors of sanctuary cities today? What was the big takeaway from last night? Has Zelenskyy realized he is in the wrong? Van Drew discusses how he never puts through last minute omnibus bills to help Ukraine because we don't know what's in it! And he would never put something up that would harm his constituents. 150 - Who are the Republicans putting up in the Philadelphia DA fight? The answer… may or may not surprise you. 2 - Scott Jennings of CNN joins after last night's speech and Scott's masterful performance on TV afterwards. From a political standpoint, you have to applaud some of these things they rolled out last night? Remember Biden's State of The Union last year, what Trump did wasn't out of the ordinary. Why not do the tax cuts not come before these tariffs? Is Scott approving of what the LA Times is doing with the paper? Scott shares a memo he received this week. 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 220 - We continue to play audio of Congresspeople attacking the sanctuary city mayors and those attacking Trump. 235 - Nancy Mace is now going after the mayors. Your calls. 250 - The Lightning Round!
HEADLINES Russian Olympian Nikita Nagornyy has been sanctioned by the European Union Aimee Boorman will become Stuttgart's elite coach Boorman's move to Stuttgart comes after allegations of abuse from former gymnasts Shannon Welker of Mizzu gave us the details on the piercing controversy GYMTERNET NEWS Move over basic two-pass floor routines, Brie Clark (Clemson) just became the first person to compete a Biles in NCAA! Watanabe's opinions on transgender athletes, artificial intelligence, and judging How Kyen Mayhew just leveled-up the hair game for everyone In an exclusive, Air Force Gymnastics told us why, they were forced to take down an Instagram post To make us all feel better, watch this video of a full-twisting split leg double layout USA Gymnastics announced international assignments Jessica Gadirova made her beam comeback at English Championships without a dismount Injury updates: Viktoria Listunova tore her achilles Jennifer Gadirova suffered another ACL injury Ansel Meadows-Rader competed with blades and won floor! NCAA Say it louder for the people in the back! Greg Marsden on viewership growth in NCAA women's gymnastics Elimination season is approaching! What are the biggest surprises of the 2025 season? CORRUPT OR CORRECT? Audrey Davis vs Cienna Alipio's beam Selena Harris is the first gymnast to earn a vault 10 this season The judges-with-guts award goes to: the Maryland beam judges Feedback Nola Matthew's new floor routine as a critique of artificial intelligence and data privacy concerns Regionals questions: how are host team regionals placements decided? How does Brooklyn Moors' side pass fulfill compositional requirements? BEAM SABOTAGE AT SPRINGFIELD? UP NEXT Spencer is doing a watch-along live blog here before the podcast. College & Cocktails: Friday at 7pm Pacific after Michigan vs. Oklahoma Fantasy Lineups Lock: Wednesday at 8:30 am Pacific Add exclusive Club Content like College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Join Our Fantasy League BONUS CONTENT Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes. Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails. Not sure about joining the club? College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren't a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here. 2025 College & (M)Cocktails menu (including mocktails of course) MERCH GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast! Baseball hats available now in the GymCastic store NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters FANTASY GAME: GymCastic 2025 College Fantasy Game now open. Never too late to join! RECENT Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 9 College & Cocktails: Alabama at Arkansas Spencer's Live Blog – Friday, February 28, 2025 Fantasy News: 2025 NCAA Season, Week 8 The 5th Rotation: February 25, 2025 Winter Cottbus Pajama Revolution Preview: 2025 Winter Cup College & Cocktails: Florida at Oklahoma RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
Welcome. This week even literal Nazis are saying there's too many Nazi salutes. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” is involved. Congresspeople are getting strung up like Mussolini at town halls (just metaphorically, so far). Then, the farmers have gone woke, and the only person trying to solve the eggpocalypse is one lady running “Uber for Yardbirds.” Plus Egg Cartels? Egg Cartels. Come hang.Support the show
This month, we talk some local artists making big splashes in award shows, the Republican movement against immigration in Florida, and the history of an icon from our home state. Find Your Representative and Find Your Senator. Learn how to call your Congresspeople here concerning a number of topics. We've donated to the California Community Foundation. If you can spare it, we recommend you do the same here. Pick up your copy of FLORIDA! right here! Thank you to Chelsea Rice for her incredible design of our logo! Follow Chelsea on Instagram here! All of the music was originally composed.
What happens when there is a fire smoking out an arena? Apparently the meet goes on. Irish World and Olympic Champion Rhys is here with all the stories and NQS has begun. Extended interview for Club Gym Nerd members here. Not a member? Support independent journalism join here. HEADLINES The Georgia vs. Arkansas meet was literally on fire NQS kicked in this week. New NQS ranking shakeups have UCLA in second, Florida to fifth and Missouri into eighth. No. 2 LSU defeated no. 1 Oklahoma in Baton Rouge. How did the Tigers drop a spot in the rankings? NCAA Our total amount of 10s for the 2025 NCAA season doubled in week 7 Grace McCallum (UB), Kennedy Griffin (FX), Leanne Wong (BB), Sloane Blakely (FX), Lilly Hudson (FX) What are the NQS Ranking Shakeups? GYMTERNET NEWS USAG's FlipNow streaming schedule has been released for the 2025 season Frida Esparza played the national anthem on electric guitar at UCLA's Pride meet Irina Viner, former head coach of Russia's national rhythmic gymnastics team, stepped down from her position, marking the end of a long standing fued between her and rumored Putin mistress, Alina Kabaeva Here is the documentary, Over the Limit, of Viner's abusive coaching INTERVIEW: RHYS McCLENAGHAN The Irish double World Pommel Horse Champion and reigning Olympic Champion talks about judging, speaking up, taking advice from other gymnasts, what he really thinks about the lack of artistry in MAG, the broken PH at 2018 Worlds, most difficult meet experiences and of course an anti-sex bed update. Q&A What are the skill differences between DI and DIII programs? Why are people upset about groin injuries being mentioned UP NEXT College & Cocktails: The Live NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show after Florida at Oklahoma on Friday, Feb 21st at 7:30 Pacific Not sure if you are ready to join? Watch College & Cocktails sample free here. Can't make it live? Add College & Cocktails to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Never miss a live episode! Import the entire College & Cocktails schedule into your Google and iCal calendar here Spencer is doing a watch-along live blog at 4:30pm Pacific before College & Cocktails. RELATED EPISODES McKayla Maroney interview Three World Champion coaches get candid NCAA Gymnastics with Vanessa Atler Steve Butcher on what happened in Tokyo when Simone pulled out of finals Things you only know if you are a gymnast, with Bram Cecile Landi and Elvire Teza Judging The Judges: How Judges Are Chosen For the Olympic Games RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim RESISTANCE Submitted by our listeners. ACTION Indivisible Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices) State your name and zip code or district Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ) Wait for answer Ask for action items - tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of...etc.) ResistBot Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes ACLU Mobile Justice App Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks. LAWSUITS Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project STAY INFORMED Suggested podcasts: Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Professor Heather Cox Richardson, Strict Scrutiny Immigrant Rights Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video
12 - Who will be the big speaker at the Eagles Super Bowl parade? Why is Elon acting like he's at show and tell? Who are these Congresspeople yelling outside yesterday? 1215 - Side - tourism spot in the area 1220 - What are the legitimate reasons that these Congresspeople should be screaming and singing outside of Congress? Your calls. 1235 - Head of the Catholic League Bill Donohue joins us today. How bad was it for the giants that the Eagles let Saquon go? With JD Vance now being Catholic and him and Trump's immigration policy coming into place, the Pope has called out this administration for not being charitable to other humans. Where does he get off talking about our problems all the way in the Vatican? How would Mother Theresa and this current Pope be at odds over humanitarian works? 1250 - Carrying on. 1 - Dom explains his desire to present information to our listeners that they wouldn't find anywhere else after a caller expresses his admiration for our topics and guests. 115 - Would you bring your kids to the Eagles Super Bowl parade, even if the speakers might possibly heavily curse in front of your kids? 130 - Randall Wenger, Chief Counsel of the Independence Law Center in Harrisburg, joins us to discuss his case involving the VA in Coatesville where a Chaplain is in trouble for his sermon. Why was he censored? How was the chaplain disciplined at that moment? What happened to the security guard that shut the chaplain down? 145 - Discussing and taking your calls on the VA situation in Coatesville, even from a fellow radio “jockey”. 2 - Congressman Jeff Van Drew joins us today to discuss the wasteful spending by USAID that is being cut back by DOGE. Jeff expresses his disdain for the omnibus bills and candidly shares how next to nobody in Congress ever knows what's truly in those bills. How do we feel about hegseth abandoning the idea of pre-2014 Ukrainian borders? How sick and tired are people seeing their tax dollars go to causes and wars that they don't believe in? 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 225 - The message is just “F*ck Trump” from Democrats? 230 - What happened to special needs students in Bucks county? 235 - Your calls. 240 - Constant headline machine. 250 - The Lightning Round!
12 - Who will be the big speaker at the Eagles Super Bowl parade? Why is Elon acting like he's at show and tell? Who are these Congresspeople yelling outside yesterday? 1215 - Side - tourism spot in the area 1220 - What are the legitimate reasons that these Congresspeople should be screaming and singing outside of Congress? Your calls. 1235 - Head of the Catholic League Bill Donohue joins us today. How bad was it for the giants that the Eagles let Saquon go? With JD Vance now being Catholic and him and Trump's immigration policy coming into place, the Pope has called out this administration for not being charitable to other humans. Where does he get off talking about our problems all the way in the Vatican? How would Mother Theresa and this current Pope be at odds over humanitarian works? 1250 - Carrying on.
12 - The RFK Jr. cabinet hearing is underway. We listen in to various questions from various Congresspeople and discuss what is happening and why they attack him so viciously. 1215 - Side - All time gamechangers. 1220 - More on the RFK Jr. hearing as he continues to get grilled. 1230 - 50 million dollars for condoms in Gaza? At least they're being safe. Congressman Jeff Van Drew joins us again today to get his response to the news that the drones flying over New Jersey are just FAA owned and/or hobbyists. Why did it take so long to decipher what these were? Congressman Van Drew points out that as the public, we're not this gullible. Does Jeff think there will be future announcements on this? The silver lining is that through the incompetency of the last administration, we now know what not to do regarding this issue. What are the details about the ”freeze” DOGE has put on certain public services? What's next on the docket for the House? 1250 - What are the likelihoods that these cabinet members get confirmed?
12 - The RFK Jr. cabinet hearing is underway. We listen in to various questions from various Congresspeople and discuss what is happening and why they attack him so viciously. 1215 - Side - All time gamechangers. 1220 - More on the RFK Jr. hearing as he continues to get grilled. 1230 - 50 million dollars for condoms in Gaza? At least they're being safe. Congressman Jeff Van Drew joins us again today to get his response to the news that the drones flying over New Jersey are just FAA owned and/or hobbyists. Why did it take so long to decipher what these were? Congressman Van Drew points out that as the public, we're not this gullible. Does Jeff think there will be future announcements on this? The silver lining is that through the incompetency of the last administration, we now know what not to do regarding this issue. What are the details about the ”freeze” DOGE has put on certain public services? What's next on the docket for the House? 1250 - What are the likelihoods that these cabinet members get confirmed? 1 - NJ Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia joins us again to discuss the drones flying over New Jersey and whether or not the Trump administration is being truthful regarding their answer on the drones. Dom then moves to Dawn's new piece on school choice. Is Dawn's proposal not the most reasonable fix to our schooling issues? Why does this issue not resonate better with groups like “Latinos for Trump”? Is “Fantasia” her real name? 115 - People are aroused! 120 - Your calls. 140 - Should there be cops guarding poles after a Super Bowl win? A spirited discussion on this leads to Henry making a confession. 150 - Your calls on the pole climbing. 2 - Colonel Allen B. West joins us. Is he as aroused as Chuck Schumer? Is this freeze being blown out of proportion? Dan asks Colonel West if he would climb a pole. How does Colonel West feel about the Air Force's “malicious compliance” with Trump's ridding of DEI? What will they try to tear Tulsi Gabbard apart during her hearing? 210 - More calls on the poles. 215 - Dom's Money Melody! 220 - Winner? 225 - Doing it, My Way! 230 - Dr. Victoria Coates of The Heritage Foundation joins the program today. How are the confirmation hearings shaking out as of right now. How unusual and damaging is it that they are counting Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation in secret? 250 - The Lightning Round!
The most successful executives, Debbie Brown says, have a few things in common. Through meetings with the governor, Congresspeople, diplomats and even the White House, the president of the Colorado Business Roundtable has an up-close look at how some of the most respected businesspeople carry themselves. In her role, Brown advocates locally and nationally on the issues she sees as most important for a thriving economy. On this episode of the Voices of Experience podcast, Brown shares some of her top priorities for the year ahead and explains what it takes to build relationships that bridge ideological differences. Plus, she shares the traits she needed to develop to get to where she is today. Table of contents • 1:12 "Business as a force for good" • 2:04 Local vs. national advocacy • 3:43 Navigating politics in business • 5:21 The influence of immigration • 6:40 Optimism in 2025 • 10:10 Lessons in leadership and communication • 12:09 What successful CEOs have in common • 13:27 How to build a relationship • 13:27 Advocating for yourself in the office • 16:27 Dealing with disruption • 18:38 Growing as a leader • 21:03 Show notes and credits
Trump makes more Cabinet selections including Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, Elise Stefanik for UN Ambassador, and Rep. Mike Waltz as NSA. How will this affect the balance of power in the House? Whoopi from The View suggests people shouldn't visit Trump-voting family members for the holidays because they're going to lash out and attack their gay children. Have you lost friends over politics? Melania Trump declines First Lady Jill Biden's invitation for an official White House meeting. Jill Biden completely dodges Kamala Harris at the Veterans Day service in Arlington. Bob Casey refuses to concede his Senate race. Dana explains why it is crucial to not take too many Congresspeople to join the Cabinet in order to maintain the House majority. Costco is forced to recall 80,000 pounds of butter over not stating that it contained milk.Please visit our great sponsors:Black Rifle Coffeehttps://blackriflecoffee.com/danaUse code DANA to save 20% on your next order. Byrnahttps://byrna.com/danaVisit today for 10% off and get the protection you need. Hillsdalehttps://danaforhillsdale.comTake some time to learn more about what makes Hillsdale College unique.KelTechttps://KelTecWeapons.comInnovation. Performance. Keltec. Learn more at KelTecWeapons.com today.Patriot Mobilehttps://patriotmobile.com/danaGet a free smart phone with promo code FRIDAY. Limited-time offer, or while supplies last. PreBornhttps://preborn.com/danaHelp a woman meet her baby for the first time by donating to PreBorn! To donate securely dial #250 and say keyword BABY or visit Preborn.com/DANA. ReadyWisehttps://readywise.comUse promo code Dana20 to save 20% on any regularly priced item.Relief Factorhttps://relieffactor.comDon't mask pain, fight it naturally with Relief Factor. Visit online or call 1-800-4-RELIEF today!Tax Network USAhttps://TNUSA.com/DANADon't let the IRS control your life—empower yourself with Tax Network USA. Visit TNUSA.com/DANA
The Equal Rights Amendment, an amendment to the Constitution, protects people from discrimination on the basis of sex. Kate Kelly, Senior Director of the Women's Initiative at the Center for American Progress, sits down to talk with us all about the Equal Rights Amendment—its history, its importance for abortion access preservation, and what's necessary for certification. The ERA, passed in 1923, is not a law but a constitutional amendment. Once put in, it cannot be removed. The ERA's introduction and popularity became a target for the conservative right, and its ratification has faced barriers ever since, including during the Trump administration. The current Federal Register archivist has said in her confirmation hearings that she will not certify anything she isn't instructed to, which leaves the U.S. at its current standing. Many organizations and Congresspeople, though, are pushing for the ERA's introduction into the Constitution as the 28th amendment. Support the showFollow Us on Social: Twitter: @rePROsFightBack Instagram: @reprosfbFacebook: rePROs Fight Back Email us: jennie@reprosfightback.comRate and Review on Apple PodcastThanks for listening & keep fighting back!
The Week Ahead! It is election day tomorrow in Wisconsin. A warning on hot noodles and a change to the philosophy of serving them in the air. TikTok is being removed from Congresspeople's phones. Zoo Ala Carte is this weekend and so is Irish Fest!
This week we talk about the Heritage Foundation, Agenda 47, and the Democrats in turmoilWe also discuss Christian Nationalism, France's surprising election outcome, and authoritarianism.Recommended Book: Filterworld by Kyle ChaykaTranscriptThe world is awash with interesting elections this year—there are a record number of people participating in democratic activities, from Indonesia to the EU's 27 governments—and we've just seen the UK's citizenry topple their long-governing Conservative Party in favor their Labour Party, while in France, the far-right party, which was previously relegated to the outskirts, has taken a huge number of parliamentary seats—not dominating the government as some had anticipated, but grabbing a convincing third place, after the first place far-left party, and the current government's second-place, none of which has a majority, which will likely make it difficult for anyone to get anything done in the country until some of these groups figure out a way to work together with each other, which isn't something they've had to do in recent history.The US election, which arrives later this year, in November, is being especially closely watched by pretty much everyone, even those in far-flung, barely connected to the US, in a practical sense, portions of the world, because the stakes are very high—the US remains the most powerful nation on the planet according to most metrics, and it sets the tone for a lot of geopolitical happenings, as a consequence. It's also being watched because the visions of the two leading contenders, and their respective parties, couldn't be more different.We've also seen a recent wave of pushback against current President Biden, who's 81 years old, currently, and who has been showcasing some of the consequences of age in a very public manner in recent weeks: perhaps most notably during a debate with his opponent, former President Trump, in late June.Biden seemed visibly not well during that debate, stumbled and mumbled and lost his train of thought near-constantly, and this brought to the forefront a till-then simmering discontent with his advanced years, and all the potential ramifications of those advanced years, when it comes to running a country like the US, from supporters within his own party.At the moment, as of the day I'm recording this at least, Biden is saying he'll remain the Democratic candidate and that those murmurings will die down, because that was just a bad night, and he's committed to regaining everyone's confidence.But there are folks within his loyalty base, including those on the editorial board of the New York Times, and some of his most prominent campaign funders, who have called for him to step aside to make way for someone younger who can continue to carry the torch for the things he's done while in office.It's time to allow someone like his VP, Kamala Harris, or possibly someone else from within the party, though Harris seems like the obvious choice for many reasons right now, to step in while there's still time to shift the narrative and get people used to the idea of someone else leading the ticket—that's the dominant argument right now, at least.It's anyone's guess as to whether that'll happen—some prediction markets indicate the odds are something like 33-50% that the Dems will oust Biden somehow, or that he'll step aside willingly, but that would be a significant and historical decision, and it's likely that if it happens, up until the very last moment he'll continue to say he's running, because there would be no upside to doing otherwise.Interestingly, though, while Biden-related drama has dominated a lot of headlines and airwaves in recent weeks, Trump has had his own, currently smaller, but possibly growing drama to deal with, this one related to a manifesto of sorts written by a collection of some of his most powerful and influential backers.And that's what I'd like to talk about today: the Project 2025 plan, what's in it, and why Trump has been going out of his way to distance himself from it.—Donald Trump's official proposal package—the jumble of policy ideas most campaigns put together and publish as a sort of "here's what we believe and what we'd like to do" document that they can point while running for office—is called Agenda 47, and as tends to be the case with these sorts of documents it contains all sorts of ideas about all sorts of things, including but not limited to implementing universal tariffs on all imported foreign products while lowering taxes on all American people and businesses, cutting federal funding for any school or educational program that teaches Critical Race Theory, increasing the President's ability to fire whomever they want, and negotiating an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine within the first 24 hours of Trump stepping into office.Some of these policies were met with general, widespread favor, like implementing term limits on Congresspeople and keeping federal employees from taking jobs with the companies they regulated while working for the government, both of which could tamp down on various sorts of corruption and regulatory capture by business entities.Others were met with general happiness with folks on the right side of the US political spectrum, like cutting federal expenses, killing off policies that allow gender affirming care, and labeling news entities that don't toe the political line, saying anything that goes against what Trump's people say, basically, as misinformation or disinformation.Still other policies have been criticized even by some people on the right because they basically seem to serve Trump's desires, but don't necessarily align with the broader movement's ambitions—giving Trump the ability to investigate and potentially imprison his political enemies and folks in the press who say things he doesn't like, for instance.Agenda 47 was getting a lot of promotion from Trump and his campaign up to the early months of 2023, when they were still releasing video clips of Trump talking about specific aspects of these policies, but following that last push, they seemed to step away from it, apparently deciding it was better to keep their specific policy ideas vague—as otherwise their opponents, and the press, could call them out on specifics, and in some cases because their own people wouldn't like something they were proposing, and keeping things fuzzy allowed them to talk around those ideas in the moment: it's much more difficult to criticize and critique if a campaign doesn't say anything concrete, and seems like they're willing to bend on just about everything they do say, depending on who they're talking to.That pivot toward a blurrier vision of the future of the country seems to be part of why Trump's campaign has been trying to distance itself from another policy document—this one called Project 2025, and penned by folks working with the conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation.Trump even went so far as to say, unprompted, that he didn't know anything about it, the former President posting on the Twitter-clone he partially owns, Truth Social, "I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they're saying and some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them."This statement—as has been pointed out by numerous in-the-know political analysts—is riddled with let's call them fabrications.More than 200 of Trump's former officials and current campaign employees and allies have worked on elements of Project 2025, and the Heritage Foundation, and many of the people who run or are otherwise aligned with it, are his biggest donors: he knows these people, hangs out with them, relies upon them for campaign funds and to rally his base, and many of his policies from when he was in office, including some of his statements and other specific details, were proposed and even written by folks at the Heritage Foundation.So while there's a chance that Trump genuinely doesn't know anything about this document or the people who wrote it, that would imply he's either so far disconnected from his campaign and the administration he ran while in office that he can barely be said to have been in office at all, or he's so far gone mentally that he actually can't remember, in which case his state of mind would arguably be the bigger scandal here.Assuming that he does know about this document and who's pushing it, though, it makes sense that he might want to distance himself from it, in part because of that aforementioned strategy of keeping things blurry enough that everything's deniable, and in part because of what it is: 900-plus pages of plans for installing what most independent analysts are calling some version of an authoritarian regime, or a Christian Nationalist kingdom, in the United States.It proposes doing this rapidly, providing instructions for how Trump could whip into office following a 2024 election victory, and within 180 days or so basically restructure the whole of the government so that he would wield near-absolute power, do away with the systems of checks and balances that could prevent him from doing whatever he wants, and would thus be able to implement the Heritage Foundation's far-right, fundamentalist Christian-oriented plans.The document doesn't mention Trump specifically, because the Heritage Foundation is technically a non-profit, and thus can't be directly, demonstrably involved in supporting one political party or another, lest it lose that tax-free status.And in the eyes of the folks writing these policies—many of whom have been involved in past administrations, and who thus have a solid understanding of how the government works and how to get things done within that system, this isn't an instruction manual for an overthrow or gutting of the democratic system, it's a battle plan for good, Christian soldiers who want to see their country revert to its (in their minds) Christian roots, after generations of straying from path.To most non-partisan, outside analysts though—folks who know what they're looking at with this sort of thing—Project 2025 amounts to a guide, specifically aimed at Trump and his people, for how they can enter the White House, post electoral victory, strip the system of any means it has of fighting him and his whims, and systematically wipe out all opposition, including those within the government, but also political opposition, journalists, and other outside entities that typically serve as a check on those in power.And they've done this, seemingly at least, because they see Trump as their way into government.Christian Nationalist political candidates, with rare exceptions, don't win many elections, and when they do, they're often successfully challenged in the next election. This approach to governance would allow them to bypass the democratic system and take control of the reins of government, and that, in turn, would allow them to work their version of fundamentalist Christianity into US federal law; to reshape law in their preferred image.Again, this is a more than 900-page document, so there are a large number of policy proposals and plans, but they almost all orient around implementing fundamentalist Christian ideology as law, including banning all types and methods of abortion and contraception, criminalizing the production and consumption of pornography, removing protections for groups that have been traditionally discriminated against, including people of color and folks from the LGBTQ+ community, and removing the separation of church and state, making the US, formally and in a legally binding and enforceable way, a Christian nation.These plans would allow Trump's administration to essentially get rid of the so-called "administrative state," do away with a slew of government bodies and agencies, including the Department of Education, while also allowing the Republican Party to take full, partisan control of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the FCC and FTC, and the Department of Commerce by firing everyone and replacing the whole of these agencies with people hired based on their ability to pass ideology and loyalty tests, and they would do away with the Department of Homeland Security and other bodies that have been keeping an eye on right-wing extremist militias and other groups that the Heritage Foundation considers to be freedom fighters, not terrorists.They would use the military to round up undocumented immigrants, placing them in interment camps, while also having soldiers act as police, to keep folks from protesting as their plans are implemented, the government gutted and public servants replaced by people who are Trump and Heritage loyalists; those soldiers instructed to use violence to keep protests from arising and spreading.The National Guard in red states, those that consistently vote Republican, would be deputized as immigration enforcement officers and deployed to blue states, those that consistently vote Democrat.These policies advise doing away with renewable energy programs and projects, protecting the fossil fuel industry indefinitely, and incentivizing the production of more oil and gas and coal, while making the production of more wind, solar, and similar types of energy nearly impossible.They want to restart nuclear weapons testing programs, build a lot more nukes, and only extend the US nuclear umbrella, which is the country's promise to basically use nukes to protect sovereign, allied nations from invasion and being nuked, to NATO countries, and to only respect the US's NATO responsibilities for NATO nations that spend at least 2% of their GDP on their military.There are guidelines for how to privatize essentially everything, and for removing the government's power to influence or regulate the free market almost entirely. It would do away with most social programs, and taxes would be reformed to dramatically reduce those applied to businesses and wealthy people, while also reforming how congress works so that increasing taxes in any amount and for any reason is a lot more difficult, in the future, creating what they call a "wall of protection" for businesses and the wealthy to whom these reductions would apply.Again, that's just a brief cross-section of what this document calls for, but I think it gets the general point across.And the response to this document has been telling, as some sub-section of the country has been positively thrilled by it, considering most of its tenets to be obvious and wonderful, and seeing the blitzkrieg-like implementation of these policies, whipping into Washington DC alongside Trump, passing as many of these things as possible within mere weeks of his inauguration, to be one of the most beneficial things that could happen to the US—a country that they, almost universally, see as a failing, flailing state that has wandered too far to the left, been taken over by the secular and woke, and which has thus lost what made it great to begin with.The opposite response is that of concern and even horror that something like this is being considered, and that it's being so brazenly and publicly proposed by some of the most politically powerful people in the country.When Trump first came into office, he was seemingly unprepared for the task, and a significant portion of his time in the White House was spent just getting his government set up—something that by some estimates never really, fully happened.And part of the idea here is that the Heritage Foundation is offering to do all that work for him, having handpicked and trained people for this task for years, giving him a pop-up government from day one, that would, in practice, make him something closer to a monarch than a President, and all he has to do is say yes, and allow them to implement their vision for America through his administration.In doing so, in the tradeoff, he would be empowered to take revenge on the people he believes have wronged him: and there's apparently a list of such people—his former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon recently said, on a podcast, that the former President is "dead serious" about getting revenge on his enemies, especially political opponents and members of the media he feels have mistreated him.Former US National Security Council Adviser under Trump, Kash Patel, on the same podcast episode where Bannon made that threat, said “We will go out and find the conspirators—not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.”It's worth mentioning here, too, that the leader of the Heritage Foundation, on Steve Bannon's podcast, the War Room, recently said that the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, which is broadly seen as favorable to Trump's position in the various court cases he faces, will reinforce a "second American Revolution," which he says will "remain bloodless, if the left allows it to be."The unconcealed implication being that the right, under Trump's banner and with the support of Heritage and similar groups, is launching a revolution, intending to remake the American government in their image, and if the left, their political opponents, stand in their way at the ballot box, keeping them from doing this peacefully, physical violence may be necessary.The ruling he was alluding to, which said the US president couldn't be prosecuted for things done while in office, while working on presidential things, would allow Trump, if he returns to office, to get away with just about anything, as long as he could say he was doing it as part of his job.So the argument is that these Project 2025 plans could be implemented relatively easily, as long as Trump is willing to do a bunch of illegal stuff, which wouldn't be illegal because he would be president, and could systematically strip the government of its ability to fight back—its authoritarian immune system—all while enjoying that legal protection.The degree to which this will matter, in the immediate future, at least, comes down to who wins at the ballot box in November, though there's a good chance Heritage will continue to push this agenda in the future, as well, either way.Leading up to the election, Trump may successfully convince those who don't like these policies and the movement behind them that it's nothing to do with him, and that he'll be doing his own thing if and when he returns to office.The heat may also stay on Biden, or whomever replaces him, if someone ultimately does, stepping in for him on the Democrat's ticket.In that latter case, the Project 2025 people have said they will hold up the election and nomination process if Biden decides to step down, flooding the zone with lawsuits and other legal challenges in order to keep the Democrats from focusing on the election and the issues they'd like to keep at the forefront of the conversation. So there's a chance this group could influence the election from that angle, as well.It's possible, of course, that Trump will genuinely push back against this group, rather than just seeming to, as Heritage, in many ways, would become a second power loci within the government, challenging his own power even as they position him as a figurehead for their activities.They would reinforce his position, grant him new powers, and thus allow him to pursue whatever agenda he likes—include a revenge tour, if he so chooses—and that could prove to be too compelling to ignore, but he could also resent their support, realizing that they hold a lot of cards he doesn't hold, and that could keep him from fully embracing their vision and offerings, maybe giving them a little leeway, but otherwise doing his own thing.Again, at the moment, Trump seems to be distancing himself from a group that's pitching broadly unpopular policies that the majority of the US electorate would not support, and there's a chance he'll continue to distance right up to the moment he has the presidency again, at which point he could allow Heritage to partially or fully move forward with their plans.All of this is very new, though, and in addition to it not being clear that Heritage's theories on how to change the government would work, it's also not clear Project 2025 would be implementable, even most of it, without a majority in both the House and Senate.So this could turn out to be an ambitious dream and nothing more than that if a lot of things don't go really well for the Republicans in November; but it could also end up sparking a huge, anti- small-d democratic movement, as well, if enough cards turn up their way, in the coming months.Show Noteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_47https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundationhttps://www.axios.com/2024/07/05/trump-project-2025-heritage-foundationhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/18/trump-has-unveiled-an-agenda-his-own-he-just-doesnt-mention-it-much/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.htmlhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/donations-surged-groups-linked-conservative-project-2025-rcna125638https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/26/what-is-project-2025-trumphttps://apnews.com/article/america-first-trump-biden-russia-ukraine-policy-54080728c6e549c8312c4d71150480bahttps://thehill.com/homenews/4344065-bannon-patel-trump-revenge-on-media/https://newrepublic.com/post/182797/steve-bannon-exposes-trump-revenge-listhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/05/donald-trump-project-2025https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/05/trump-project-2025-disavowal/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/03/heritage-foundation-trump-revolution/https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/07/03/project-2025-trump-us-government/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/19/project-2025-trump-reagan-00115811https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-seeks-disavow-project-2025-despite-ties-conservative-group-2024-07-05/https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4757210-heritage-blowback-bloodless-revolution/https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4753439-heritage-leader-second-american-revolution/https://x.com/alaynatreene/status/1809250958251077983https://thebulletin.org/2024/07/trump-has-a-strategic-plan-for-the-country-gearing-up-for-nuclear-war/https://archive.ph/liWg9 This is a public episode. 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Samantha Bee joins Alyssa to guest host while Erin is out on maternity leave! They dish about Trump's guilty verdict, Republican buffoonery, and the latest abortion news ahead of the 2-year anniversary of Roe being overturned. Then, Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan discusses working for the CIA, Congresspeople who aren't “in it for the right reasons,” and her 2024 Senate race. Finally, Sani-Petty (what is Pride Month without Dolly Parton?). For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.Show NotesSamantha Bee: podcast, SubstackElissa Slotkin for Michigan, Instagram, TikTokWhat the first polls after Trump's conviction show — and don't show (NBC) Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes (AP)Trump campaign says it raised $52.8 million after guilty verdict in fundraising blitz (CBS)Donald Trump found guilty of all 34 charges in hush money trial (CNN)Johnson in Trump verdict aftermath: 'I do believe the Supreme Court should step in' (Politico)Republicans vow to upend Dem-led Senate after Trump's guilty verdict (Fox)Trump fans turn US flags upside down to protest former president's conviction (CNN)Chief Justice John Roberts declines to meet with Democratic lawmakers about ethics flap and Alito's flags (CNN)Texas will continue its ban on abortions in medical emergencies, state Supreme Court rules (The 19th)There's No Bottom: Texas Professors Sue for Right to Fail Students for Having Abortions (Jezebel)She is set to be Mexico's first female president. But who is Claudia Sheinbaum? (CNN)
There are times where the news is slow, and there are times where it seems like it's never-ending. Both present their challenges to podcasts like ours. NOT THIS TIME!! The news is literally writing our show for us! We can sit back and watch newscasters talk about Eli Copter, and Congresspeople talking to each other like they're on the street getting ready to fight it out. Such is this week. Covering the major stories like the death of Ebrahim Raisi, as well as the ICCJ warrant against Netanyahu, we take a deep dive into Israel's current situation, while also delving into how it's affecting Jews worldwide. Also in this week is election updates, our sports update, and bonus videos for our Whatsapp subscribers! Help us continue creating content! Visit http://www.buymesomeherring.com Support Our Brothers and Sisters! One Israel Fund - https://oneisraelfund.org/ United Hatzalah - https://israelrescue.org/donate/ Friends of the IDF - https://www.fidf.org/ We have a call-in number where you can hear the cast! Tell your friends and family who may not have internet access! 605-417-0303 To Call In From Israel: +053-243-3287 Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiddushclubpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kiddushclubcast Join our WhatsApp chat: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HTWhnT1WiVFCioXjatEFi6 Send us you thoughts comments and suggestions via email: hock@kiddushclubpodcast.com
I talk to former members of the House of Representatives Luke Messer (Republican) and Elizabeth Esty (Democrat). We talk about: political polarization; their experiences being in congress during such a highly polarized period of time; their ideas for reducing toxic polarization, and more. Learn more and sign up for a premium subscription at PeopleWhoReadPeople.com.
This week we talk about diplomatic immunity, Trump's court cases, and the Supreme Court.We also discuss Nixon, Clinton, and the US Constitution.Recommended Book: My upcoming book, How To Turn 39 (https://books2read.com/htt39), which is available for pre-order today :)TranscriptThere's a concept in international law—diplomatic immunity—that says, in essence, certain government officials should be immune from the laws of foreign countries, including those within which they're operating.This is a very old concept, based on similar rights that were granted to envoys and messengers back in the oldest documented periods of human civilizations.The idea is that if different cultures, whether organized into tribes or kingdoms or nation states, are going to be able to deal with each other, they need to maintain open and reliable means of communication. Thus, the folks tasked with carrying messages between leaders of these different groups would need to be fairly confident that they wouldn't be hassled or attacked or prosecuted by the people they were bringing those messages to, and whose messages they were bringing back to their own leaders.Such representatives have at times been imprisoned or killed by their hosts, but this is relatively rare, because any governing body that treated ambassadors from other cultures in this way would have trouble dealing with anyone outside their current legal sway, and that would in turn mean less trade, less reliable peace, and less opportunity to generally cross-pollinate with cultures they might benefit from cross-pollinating with.As a general rule, at least in the modern iteration of diplomatic immunity, folks operating under the auspices of this policy can still be punished for their misdeeds, it's just that they'll generally be declared persona non grata, expelled from the country where they did something wrong, rather than punished under that country's laws.In some rare instances a country hosting a misbehaving or criminal ambassador or other diplomat might ask that person's home country to waive their immunity, basically saying, look, this person killed someone or got drunk and drove recklessly through our capitol city's downtown, we'd like to try them in our courts, and it may be that the government running that misbehaving person's home country says, okay, yeah, that's messed up, you go ahead; but usually—even if that person has done something truly reprehensible—they'll instead say, no, sorry, we'll pull them back and they won't be allowed to return to your country or serve as an ambassador anywhere else, because they've shown themselves to be unreliable, and we might even try them in a court here, in their home country, but we can't allow our people, no matter what they do, to fall under the legal jurisdiction of some other nation, because that would set a bad precedent, and it may make people wary of working for us in this capacity in the future—surely you understand.There are tiers of diplomatic immunity, depending on the seniority of the diplomat or other representative in question, and the Congress of Vienna of the early 1800s charted out the basis for how these things work, in much detail, formalizing a lot of what was already in the ether back then, and creating an outline that was then further formalized in 1961's Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which has been almost universally ratified and respected, though of course there's been a lot of grey area in terms of what harassment of a representative, which is a no-no according to this convention, entails, and to what degree it can be proven, and thus punished, if violated.We saw a lot of grey area utility during the height of the Cold War in particular, in part because many diplomats were moonlighting as spies, which is still true today, though it was even more overt and worrisome to their host countries, back then, so harassment, kidnappings, even assassinations of diplomats were more common then, than today, though they were still almost universally done covertly so that no one seemed to be violating these nearly universally accepted terms.What I'd like to talk about today is another type of legal immunity—in this case, Presidential Immunity in the US—and why this type of immunity is at the center of former US President Trump's ongoing legal cases.—In the United States, many politicians and high-level appointees enjoy some of the immunity-related privileges in their own country that diplomats of various stripes have traditionally enjoyed elsewhere.Most of these figures are only protected by this immunity under very specific circumstances, though, not universally.Judges, while doing court-related, judge-work, for instance, have absolute civil immunity—so a judge who falls afoul of the law in the course of their duty as a judge, doing judge-things, will tend to get away with whatever it is they did wrong, though this won't generally apply to non-judge things they do during that same periodSo a judge would have trouble arguing that they should get off with a warning for murdering someone because they happened to kill that person while they were on their lunch break, but they would likely be okay if they accidentally ruled in a way that exceeded their jurisdiction, even if their having done so caused all sorts of secondary problems.Similarly, and also within the US court system, a prosecutor can't be sued for withholding evidence, even if their having done so leads to a wrongful conviction, which would be a bad thing that happened as a result of their actions, but because they acted while performing their protected duty, they'll almost certainly be okay from a legal standpoint, even if not always a moral one.These are not rules novel to the US system of governance; most of them were borrowed from earlier forms of the same, and a lot of the US's version of these immunity rules are derived from those that exist within the British parliamentary system, where parliamentarians can't be prosecuted for things they say while in Parliament, and the same is true for politicians while engaged in their work on the floor of the US House of Senate.Interestingly though, while the US Constitution provides that kind of legislative immunity to Congresspeople, it doesn't grant the same, or anything similar, to the President; and this was apparently a hotly debated topic back in the Constitution-writing days, as those who set up the rules of the land were aware that it might be beneficial to allow folks at the top some legal leeway, so they don't make executive decisions based on whether or not they might be sued or otherwise punished for those decisions, but at the same time they really didn't want another king, or similarly authoritarian ruler to step into office and then get away with murder—perhaps literally.So the constitution doesn't give the President of the United States the same immunity as other members of government, but a slew of cases in the 19th and 20th centuries found, in general, that if the president or members of the president's cabinet take actions that are "more or less" within the scope of their duties, they should be granted absolute immunity, protecting them from lawsuits and legal punishments.A court case against President Nixon in the 1970s made that previously somewhat vague and general legal trend more formal, at first triggering a bunch of lawsuits against him and his people, but then a 1982 Supreme Court decisions said, in essence, that former or current presidents are immune from lawsuits related to anything that falls within the "outer perimeter" of their duties, due to the president's "unique status under the Constitution."This legal precedent was tested in the mid-1990s when then-President Bill Clinton was sued for sexual harassment during his governor of Arkansas days, and a lower court, then the Supreme Court, both affirmed that presidential immunity doesn't protect the president from things they did before taking that highest government office.As a result of all that, today we have a legal context in which the President is kind of granted some immunity for some things they do while in office, but the delineation between protected and not-protected is fuzzy, and there's a whole lot of theory on this matter, but less in the way of actual court precedent that establishes confident footing for anyone stepping into this corner of the legal world.All of which is newly relevant in 2024 because former President Trump is currently being prosecuted for all sorts of things in several different jurisdictions. And part of his legal strategy is based on a sort of Hail Mary play that's made its way to the Supreme Court, and which is premised on the concept of Presidential Immunity.But before we get to that case, let's talk real quick about the other cases that are currently in progress, all of which that bigger Supreme Court case may influence, depending on how it turns out.Beginning this week, as of the day this episode goes live, the week of April 15, 2024, Trump is scheduled to be in court four days a week for the next six to eight weeks, facing 34 criminal charges related to falsifying business records in order to get payoff money to Stormy Daniels, allegedly to cover up an affair they had, which he didn't want becoming public while he was running for his first term in office.Tentatively beginning in late-May of 2024, Trump will face 40 criminal charges in Florida for allegedly mishandling sensitive documents, and his alleged conspiracy to keep those documents even after the government demanded them back.A federal case in which Trump faces four criminal charges related to his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results was originally meant to begin the first half of this year, but it's looking increasingly likely it won't occur until after the November presidential election, as the judge overseeing the case has postponed it until after the Supreme Court makes their decision about presidential immunity, though there's a chance it could start as early as August, despite that delay.And Trump faces 10 criminal charges for the same general collection of alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, alongside 18 alleged co-conspirators; that trial has a proposed start date of August 5, but that would be tricky, as it would mean the trial could run through Election Day, which would be awkward and would likely complicate things further.Trump has also dealt with a flurry of recent civil, so non-criminal, no jail time possible, just fines, lawsuits, including one related to sexual assault and his defamation of the person he sexually assaulted, which led to a big payout recently, and another in New York related to his misrepresentation of the value of his real estate holdings in the state, which led to an even bigger fine, but which is currently being appealed.There's another federal civil case that's ongoing, Thompson v. Trump, which is related to the attack on the US Capitol by Trump's fans on January 6, 2021, and that's especially relevant here because, already, the judge in that case, ruled that Trump's presidential immunity does not shield him from this lawsuit, and an appeals judge ruled the same.There's now a Supreme Court case, which I mentioned earlier, that consolidates three separate civil lawsuits into one, Trump v. United States, and this case asks, in essence, whether Trump should be protected from these lawsuits by presidential immunity; that same immunity that was upheld in many cases in recent memory, though in different contexts.The reason this Supreme Court case is so fundamental here is that it could impact many or all of those other cases, plus others that might arise related to Trump's actions in the future, as it would give him a sort of legal whammy on just about anything he could argue was done within the perview of his role as President.Thus, he could argue he wasn't trying to overturn the 2020 election that he lost, he was looking into what he considered to be legitimate election irregularities as part of his duty as President. And if some other things happened as a result of that effort, like his supporters breaking into the Capitol building, he should be protected from that under the auspices of this immunity.Those two DC court judges that earlier ruled Trump wasn't protected by presidential immunity said that it's in the public interest to hold presidents accountable for their actions, because not doing so would leave anyone who holds that office "unbounded authority to commit crimes."They determined that it was worth the possibility that a president might make some executive decisions from a perspective of worrying about later lawsuits if it would prevent the creation of a political office from which someone could legally get away with any crime they chose to commit, including but not limited to, theoretically at least, assassinating their political rivals.The big question now is how the Supreme Court will decide on this matter; some people are predicting that the heavily slanted toward conservative justices court will be more likely to find in Trump's favor, though they've defied those expectations several times in recent years, in some cases seeming to take advantage of their current 5 or 6, depending on how you measure, versus 3, conservative to liberal composition in order to get a bunch of Republican priorities accomplished, like overturning Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion at the federal level, but in other cases they've made what seem to be more objective rulings, defying assumptions made based on those ideological leanings—so there's no way to know one way or the other on this, right now. We'll likely find out, though, sometime in May or June, as the court will begin considering these claims on April 25 of this year, and it's expected they'll have their ruling sometime in those subsequent two months.Until then, though, some of these other cases are a bit up in the air, as the granting of enhanced immunity could make Trump's current and potential future cases a slam-dunk for his defense team, while a ruling in favor of the contemporary, fuzzy standard, or one that weakens that standard, at least for his specific context, would deny him that potentiality.That said, Trump's defense team seems to have also been making use of the abundant delay tactics that are available within the US justice system, and there's a chance that if he delays long enough and then wins another term as president in November, that would allow him, when he steps back into office early next year, to either pardon himself or order someone in his government to get rid of the charges against him.Which is part of why the prosecutors working opposite him have been politely but firmly asking the judges in charge of these cases to pick up the pace, because there's a looming possibility that even if the courts decide against Trump in some key cases, he could still get off Scott free, because of that other apparent loophole in the system that would allow a sitting President to get away with just about anything, though in this case because of a different, in practice immunity-granting mechanism.Show Noteshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/01/30/7th-circuit-pokes-a-hole-in-prosecutorial-immunity/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Donald_Trumphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictments_against_Donald_Trumphttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/trump-investigations-charges-indictments.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-investigations-civil-criminal.htmlhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-2024-trials-where-they-stand-and-what-to-expecthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2023/trump-investigations-indictments/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68577638https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61084161https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/donald-trump-legal-cases-charges/675531/https://archive.ph/JFsIBhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictments_against_Donald_Trumphttps://apnews.com/article/trump-jury-selection-hush-money-trial-manhattan-56d540406cd174ab143fe12469e9adefhttps://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-cohen-stormy-daniels-e40532d3bce7768e296fdaf9591ef05bhttps://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-criminal-hush-money-trial-begins-2a1bdd15https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fallout-trumps-bid-overturn-election-loss-heads-supreme-court-2024-04-14/https://www.reuters.com/legal/special-counsel-urges-us-supreme-court-reject-trump-immunity-bid-2024-04-09/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_v._United_States_(2024)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_immunity_in_the_United_Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_immunityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_immunityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunityhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/diplomatic-immunityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Diplomatic_Relations This is a public episode. 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Do you recognize all of the offices that will be on your primary ballot in March? Obviously the president and your Congresspeople, but what about when you start getting to clerks, commissioners, and committeepeople? Even host Jacoby Cochran has more to learn so we called in the Illinois Answers Project's Alex Nitkin to break down some important but lesser-known races. And turns out, things are getting spicy! Learn more about: The Cook County Circuit Court Clerk The Board of Review Ward Committeepeople Good News: Free Museum Days This Week! Want some more City Cast Chicago news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Chicago newsletter. Follow us @citycastchicago You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 773 780-0246 Become a member of City Cast Chicago. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Happy Monday! Sam speaks with Wendy Parmet, professor of law, public policy, and urban affairs at Northeastern University, to discuss her recent book Constitutional Contagion: COVID, the Courts, and Public Health. First, Sam runs through updates on the continued expansion of Israel's war on Gaza, Israel and Co.'s response to the ICJ ruling by cutting funding to UN Aid groups, the Senate immigration deal, the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas, Donald Trump's rape case, and Texas' secession, before parsing through Nancy Pelosi's recent allegations that pro-Palestine protesters are just Putin-paid propagandists. Wendy Parmet then joins, diving right into the concept of public health policy, how policymakers assess the impact of their work on broader populations, and the concept of Salus populi suprema lex. Stepping back, Professor Parmet walks Sam through the factors that influence US public health policy, and how those have evolved over the last couple of centuries, first looking to the 19th Century US's defining element of the institution of slavery, before parsing through the public health policy from vaccine mandates to sanitary measures and food quality regulations that thrived on the state and local levels, and the overwhelming belief in the superiority of common (white) welfare to individual rights. Moving into the 1900s, Parmet explores the decision of Jacobson v. Massachusetts which affirmed the state's right to mandate vaccinations under criminal consequences, how the era's rampant epidemics influenced the decision, and looks to the impact of WW2 and the New Deal on the understanding of rights, before tackling the evolution of individual, corporate, and religious rights' supremacy over regulation during the second half of the century. Wendy and Sam then expand on this as they move into the 21st Century, tackling the mass politicization of the courts, the emergence of the Federalist Society, the Roberts Court's belief in individualism, and the culmination of the GOP's attack on the administrative state, assessing how these elements served to undermine and gut the state of US public health, coming to a head with the COVID-19 pandemic. Wrapping up, Professor Parmet tackles the current moment in US public health, and the impact of the recent decimation of the US public health system on our already fraying social contract. And in the Fun Half: Sam admires the GOP disarray caused by Biden completely capitulating to their immigration policy, talks with Ashley from Vermont about the aptly named IRS leaker Charles Littlejohn, Katrina from NoLa discusses being doxxed by Congresspeople (specifically, Majorie Taylor Greene), and Sean from Washington highlights the pro-Palestinian organizing going on in the NEA and AFT. Sam also highlights the insanity of the GOP going all-in on this bogus Texas secession schtick, Matt from South Texas discusses Texas, and Greta from Upstate NY explores the problems of voting for Biden. Matt Schlapp ponders the horrors of a world where he's held accountable, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Wendy's book here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/constitutional-contagion/6BF9D06349549B35507967DEDB252301 Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Check out this Educators for Palestine event on February 10th if you're in the Washington D.C. area!: https://twitter.com/NEAforPalestine/status/1746996936086057203 Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/