Sarah, you're a CASA? That's so great. And so hard. Thank you for that work. 🙏🙏🙏 (I'm the adoption lawyer in Seattle...you guys did a Cameo for my awesome paralegal last September.)
The conversation about the experience of attending a Taylor Swift concert got my attention. That they are gatherings of joy and connection and such. That experiences like that can lift us up. And that they are necessary human experiences. Thing is, that is kinda what I hear folk who attend Trump rallies say. How it's so joyful. There is such togetherness. People connect with each other. And on and on. So, the reality seems to be that humans need such gatherings to feel HUMAN. They energize us and ground us in community--whether that community is singing songs of love or listening to rants of anger and hate. Likewise, we can sit in a church holding hands to sermons of love or nodding heads to sermons of fear--and feel that wonderful, necessary feeling of togetherness. It's like the brain gets so locked in to togetherness that it becomes blind to the fear, hate, and anger it's rallied around.
I’d like to hear more about Beth’s comment that semaglutides are leading to more healthcare overall. Anyone have links to articles about this? Or Beth, a More to Say in 2025?
The idea of AI making things cheaper is bananas to me. Because there’s such a massive cost to AI in terms of power and climate. Like where we save on AI spending will grow on climate change issues. Anyway, bigger picture though, I think the issues with debt and spending in our government are reflective of the issues with debt and spending in people’s everyday life. I’m not sure where the mindset is coming from but there seems to be a feeling of entitlement to flashy things (military spending, a new purse, ridiculously expensive skin care) at the cost of what we actually need (social programs, a savings account, paying rent). I think the government’s unwillingness to engage with debt and spending mirrors the populace’s unwillingness to do the same. But as this dissonant dance continues to get more and more precarious, we won’t have a choice and it’s going to suck for everyone.
Wait also, my husband made me watch it’s a wonderful life for the first time last year, and I was like EXCUSE ME! This lady just cursed George Bailey out of his dream!
I agree that healthcare will be a huge part of 2025. Many people were okay with an insurance CEO being murdered … that signals it’s a metaphorical powder keg like Sarah said. And want to cut the federal budget, DOGE? Medicare/medicaid is a MASSIVE portion of that so also will have to come up.
Healthcare conversations mostly focus on the doctor-patient or individual choices around vaccines or childbirth which … I get it, that’s what we all personally experience and valuable conversations. But what is behind the scenes propping up the dumpster fire that makes it SO EXPENSIVE to get even just normal simple healthcare? And what can be done about it as voters or in political spaces? Like, where do we even begin lending our voices or efforts when it’s such a behemoth? Full disclosure I’m a healthcare worker in an academic university/hospital and have my own ideas, but would love to hear outsiders-looking-in perspective on the healthcare system/industry, and also what other countries do because some countries have better healthcare and it’s way cheaper, easier to access, etc. Have you guys done an episode on that I could listen to?
Great episode with too much to think about as usual (But that's OK). One thing I struggle with when we get to talking about what Democrats need to do in our own party and to reach out to Trump voters is that I see zero evidence that those discussions happen in the other direction and I haven't seen them happen for decades. I'm glad that the Democratic party still leaves space for a full range of viewpoints on the left to center right gradient. And I'm sure there is plenty of heated disagreement, but it seems like those disagreements are held in good faith with each other and I don't want to see that change. But that doesn't really exist on the Republican side. If you are seen to side with Democrats even in the slightest, you aren't a real Republican and you will feel the party's wrath. How many times can we try to move closer to them, when they just keep moving farther and farther right? I grew up in the evangelical south and now live in a very liberal part of New England and I'm constantly thinking, "you just don't get that part of the country." So I definitely believe Dems need to do some work on our own divides and examining our own blinders, but if that's not happening on the other side too, I don't see the entirety of our political landscape improving very much.
Sarah: you mentioned spirituality and religion and that Mark Wahberg was on some sort of app/podcast --- he was featured on Hallow, which is a Catholic prayer app (but for everyone). It's part of this movement that I, as a Catholic, have mixed feelings about (it leans a little evangelical). But the app is SUPER popular and started simply five years ago w three then college students and now it's got all manner of actors, fitness people, nuns, etc on it doing devotionals. Today's features the comedian Kevin James with the actor who plays Jesus on the chosen. I like Wahbergs series - it was on self discipline in the physical and spiritual life.
Saying hi as a fellow Catholic with mixed feelings about Hallow, haha. I really liked it in the beginning when the Chosen actors were the most famous contributors, but something about how expansive it’s become in the last year or so has kind of turned me off. 🤷♀️
I liked it BEFORE the Chosen actors came on. I loved it so much in the beginning. Where are you located fellow Catholic who is also a PP fan? 🙂I'm in Tucson.... Blue dot in red state.
Oh interesting! Was it just the Hallow team that did the voice work at the beginning? I signed up for it after the point that the Chosen folks came on board.
I’m in mid-Michigan! Our city is pretty blue, but I would be shocked if I met another Catholic in town who votes Democratic and listens to PP. I definitely feel like an anomaly a lot of the time! 🙃
Y'all, there is some good stuff (and a lot of meh/filler stuff) on Netflix. If I start something that's in the latter category, I have been stopping it and removing it from my list. And also using positive ratings on stuff I really enjoy. Hoping the algorithm does it's work, but not holding my breath on that.
The looming crisis of home insurance is one that really worries me. In blue California and red Florida, I think people will have basically the same reaction: that rising insurance rates is something that is being done *to* them, that it's the government's responsibility to keep them in their homes, and that any elected official who tries to truly address this problem holistically and systemically (which requires sacrifice and loss) may as well provide the drape measurements to their opponent in the next election.
Any time I see stories about this issue outside of the wonk podcast world, the tone is always the same. Pity this poor homeowner whose insurance rates rose. How dare those evil insurance companies do this. What is the government doing to help? At no point is climate change mentioned. At no point is it asked WHY the insurance rate has risen.
All of this taken together causes me to doubt if we are capable of addressing big problems any more, if they require tradeoffs. I think we will demand a frictionless, convenient path forward. State budgets are going to be decimated by this problem. Maybe people will accept some change, some sacrifice, once the problem becomes too big to ignore, but by then it may too late to course correct in a way that preserves social stability. It's going to be a big mess, one that I'll be watching with dread from my relatively safe perch in West Virginia.
Yes. The past year the home insurance industry paid out more than they took in. Unfortunately, this is becoming closer to being true with health insurance too, but those discussions are super difficult - what are the tradeoffs we are willing to make because this trajectory is unsustainable? And I think you are right - that anyone who tries to address it may be voted out
FYI on the Mack Weldon underwear. My 41 year old son loves their items. My 70 plus hubby hates them. He’s a Walmart or Target Hanes guy and nothing else! And the old guy NEVER buys any clothing items for himself unless there is a wedding, a funeral, or a trip to Washington DC for his farm advocacy work! LOL Suspect this is a generational thing.
Also, my word for 2025 is ‘enough’. The episode on overconsumption dovetailed will several other places in which sufficiency and not wanting to be just a consumer and work I’m doing with my therapist on feelings of being too much and a sermon on luxury all came together in a two week time period. So I’m looking forward to your ongoing conversations on these subjects!
That is my word too...I also like how it can have different contextual meanings. Like "I'm enough", "I have enough", "Enough is enough!", "That's enough!"
Sarah, I read the Hilary Mantel trilogy two years ago and savored and enjoyed them so much. I was so surprised because it wasn’t a subject matter I normally would have chosen. Savor and enjoy!
Loved this episode. Really, some of my favorites are just Sarah and Beth talking through things. I’m one of those listeners when it comes to RFK. I think I’m still a little heated about COVID and the anti-vax just really gets to me. 😬 I’m all for good research and considering all the ways we can do and be better. But he is so completely unqualified.
Can Elon just f*** off and move to Mars? He needs to be reigned in. That party he is "backing" is considered anti-democratic and some folks like me are in favor of banning it.
I have a friend who used to host these. She'd play Christmas songs and carols on the piano and we'd all have lyrics and sing along. Hoping she brings it back after this busy season of life.
Sarah, you're a CASA? That's so great. And so hard. Thank you for that work. 🙏🙏🙏 (I'm the adoption lawyer in Seattle...you guys did a Cameo for my awesome paralegal last September.)
I was so glad to hear that you have joined the Wolf Crawl slow read this year!
The conversation about the experience of attending a Taylor Swift concert got my attention. That they are gatherings of joy and connection and such. That experiences like that can lift us up. And that they are necessary human experiences. Thing is, that is kinda what I hear folk who attend Trump rallies say. How it's so joyful. There is such togetherness. People connect with each other. And on and on. So, the reality seems to be that humans need such gatherings to feel HUMAN. They energize us and ground us in community--whether that community is singing songs of love or listening to rants of anger and hate. Likewise, we can sit in a church holding hands to sermons of love or nodding heads to sermons of fear--and feel that wonderful, necessary feeling of togetherness. It's like the brain gets so locked in to togetherness that it becomes blind to the fear, hate, and anger it's rallied around.
I’d like to hear more about Beth’s comment that semaglutides are leading to more healthcare overall. Anyone have links to articles about this? Or Beth, a More to Say in 2025?
I agree, I came here looking for more information about this!
The idea of AI making things cheaper is bananas to me. Because there’s such a massive cost to AI in terms of power and climate. Like where we save on AI spending will grow on climate change issues. Anyway, bigger picture though, I think the issues with debt and spending in our government are reflective of the issues with debt and spending in people’s everyday life. I’m not sure where the mindset is coming from but there seems to be a feeling of entitlement to flashy things (military spending, a new purse, ridiculously expensive skin care) at the cost of what we actually need (social programs, a savings account, paying rent). I think the government’s unwillingness to engage with debt and spending mirrors the populace’s unwillingness to do the same. But as this dissonant dance continues to get more and more precarious, we won’t have a choice and it’s going to suck for everyone.
Wait also, my husband made me watch it’s a wonderful life for the first time last year, and I was like EXCUSE ME! This lady just cursed George Bailey out of his dream!
I agree that healthcare will be a huge part of 2025. Many people were okay with an insurance CEO being murdered … that signals it’s a metaphorical powder keg like Sarah said. And want to cut the federal budget, DOGE? Medicare/medicaid is a MASSIVE portion of that so also will have to come up.
Healthcare conversations mostly focus on the doctor-patient or individual choices around vaccines or childbirth which … I get it, that’s what we all personally experience and valuable conversations. But what is behind the scenes propping up the dumpster fire that makes it SO EXPENSIVE to get even just normal simple healthcare? And what can be done about it as voters or in political spaces? Like, where do we even begin lending our voices or efforts when it’s such a behemoth? Full disclosure I’m a healthcare worker in an academic university/hospital and have my own ideas, but would love to hear outsiders-looking-in perspective on the healthcare system/industry, and also what other countries do because some countries have better healthcare and it’s way cheaper, easier to access, etc. Have you guys done an episode on that I could listen to?
Great episode with too much to think about as usual (But that's OK). One thing I struggle with when we get to talking about what Democrats need to do in our own party and to reach out to Trump voters is that I see zero evidence that those discussions happen in the other direction and I haven't seen them happen for decades. I'm glad that the Democratic party still leaves space for a full range of viewpoints on the left to center right gradient. And I'm sure there is plenty of heated disagreement, but it seems like those disagreements are held in good faith with each other and I don't want to see that change. But that doesn't really exist on the Republican side. If you are seen to side with Democrats even in the slightest, you aren't a real Republican and you will feel the party's wrath. How many times can we try to move closer to them, when they just keep moving farther and farther right? I grew up in the evangelical south and now live in a very liberal part of New England and I'm constantly thinking, "you just don't get that part of the country." So I definitely believe Dems need to do some work on our own divides and examining our own blinders, but if that's not happening on the other side too, I don't see the entirety of our political landscape improving very much.
Sarah: you mentioned spirituality and religion and that Mark Wahberg was on some sort of app/podcast --- he was featured on Hallow, which is a Catholic prayer app (but for everyone). It's part of this movement that I, as a Catholic, have mixed feelings about (it leans a little evangelical). But the app is SUPER popular and started simply five years ago w three then college students and now it's got all manner of actors, fitness people, nuns, etc on it doing devotionals. Today's features the comedian Kevin James with the actor who plays Jesus on the chosen. I like Wahbergs series - it was on self discipline in the physical and spiritual life.
Saying hi as a fellow Catholic with mixed feelings about Hallow, haha. I really liked it in the beginning when the Chosen actors were the most famous contributors, but something about how expansive it’s become in the last year or so has kind of turned me off. 🤷♀️
I liked it BEFORE the Chosen actors came on. I loved it so much in the beginning. Where are you located fellow Catholic who is also a PP fan? 🙂I'm in Tucson.... Blue dot in red state.
Oh interesting! Was it just the Hallow team that did the voice work at the beginning? I signed up for it after the point that the Chosen folks came on board.
I’m in mid-Michigan! Our city is pretty blue, but I would be shocked if I met another Catholic in town who votes Democratic and listens to PP. I definitely feel like an anomaly a lot of the time! 🙃
I'm not surprised that the app took off, in some weeks this year I got their ads every day on YouTube
Y'all, there is some good stuff (and a lot of meh/filler stuff) on Netflix. If I start something that's in the latter category, I have been stopping it and removing it from my list. And also using positive ratings on stuff I really enjoy. Hoping the algorithm does it's work, but not holding my breath on that.
The looming crisis of home insurance is one that really worries me. In blue California and red Florida, I think people will have basically the same reaction: that rising insurance rates is something that is being done *to* them, that it's the government's responsibility to keep them in their homes, and that any elected official who tries to truly address this problem holistically and systemically (which requires sacrifice and loss) may as well provide the drape measurements to their opponent in the next election.
Any time I see stories about this issue outside of the wonk podcast world, the tone is always the same. Pity this poor homeowner whose insurance rates rose. How dare those evil insurance companies do this. What is the government doing to help? At no point is climate change mentioned. At no point is it asked WHY the insurance rate has risen.
All of this taken together causes me to doubt if we are capable of addressing big problems any more, if they require tradeoffs. I think we will demand a frictionless, convenient path forward. State budgets are going to be decimated by this problem. Maybe people will accept some change, some sacrifice, once the problem becomes too big to ignore, but by then it may too late to course correct in a way that preserves social stability. It's going to be a big mess, one that I'll be watching with dread from my relatively safe perch in West Virginia.
Yes. The past year the home insurance industry paid out more than they took in. Unfortunately, this is becoming closer to being true with health insurance too, but those discussions are super difficult - what are the tradeoffs we are willing to make because this trajectory is unsustainable? And I think you are right - that anyone who tries to address it may be voted out
FYI on the Mack Weldon underwear. My 41 year old son loves their items. My 70 plus hubby hates them. He’s a Walmart or Target Hanes guy and nothing else! And the old guy NEVER buys any clothing items for himself unless there is a wedding, a funeral, or a trip to Washington DC for his farm advocacy work! LOL Suspect this is a generational thing.
Also, my word for 2025 is ‘enough’. The episode on overconsumption dovetailed will several other places in which sufficiency and not wanting to be just a consumer and work I’m doing with my therapist on feelings of being too much and a sermon on luxury all came together in a two week time period. So I’m looking forward to your ongoing conversations on these subjects!
That is my word too...I also like how it can have different contextual meanings. Like "I'm enough", "I have enough", "Enough is enough!", "That's enough!"
Sarah, I read the Hilary Mantel trilogy two years ago and savored and enjoyed them so much. I was so surprised because it wasn’t a subject matter I normally would have chosen. Savor and enjoy!
Loved this episode. Really, some of my favorites are just Sarah and Beth talking through things. I’m one of those listeners when it comes to RFK. I think I’m still a little heated about COVID and the anti-vax just really gets to me. 😬 I’m all for good research and considering all the ways we can do and be better. But he is so completely unqualified.
Can Elon just f*** off and move to Mars? He needs to be reigned in. That party he is "backing" is considered anti-democratic and some folks like me are in favor of banning it.
https://www.dw.com/en/german-politicians-criticize-musk-backing-for-far-right-afd/a-71117414
Agreed. And he isn’t brilliant. He just has too much money to fail.
He's also planning on donating $100m to Nigel Ferage's party in the UK.
Wait! I want to hear more about the caroling party 👀
I have a friend who used to host these. She'd play Christmas songs and carols on the piano and we'd all have lyrics and sing along. Hoping she brings it back after this busy season of life.