This week on In the Meanwhile, Marcus and Nora wade through a truly unhinged news cycle: war threats, political absurdity, late-stage empire vibes, and land on something rare: a conversation that actually feels like it offers hope.

Enter Washington State Representative Brianna Thomas, who joins the show to talk about the state's new "millionaires' tax", and, more importantly, who it's for, who it's not for, and why the people who've been carrying this system on their backs for decades are finally asking for a little redistribution of the load.

What follows is part policy breakdown, part reality check, part "why are we like this as a country?" Thomas is refreshingly uninterested in pretending that extreme inequality is either normal or inevitable. She names the obvious: working people are paying more, getting less, and being told to be grateful for it. She then walks through what it actually looks like to try to change that, in real time, inside a system that resists change at every turn.

There's talk of greed, of course. But also of courage, organizing, and the very radical idea that maybe, just maybe, the wealthiest among us can afford to contribute to the society that made their wealth possible.

Mentioned in the episode:

Trump claims the last 7 presidents are praising him | Politico: Republicans losing clout | Wisconsin flip | CNN: real polling shifts happening | Charles Douglas III episodes | Gina Baskin episode | Millionaire's Tax | 25 hour debate about millionaire tax | Artemis mission | Ijeoma Oluo episode |

Support the pod:

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Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

This week, Nora and Marcus sit down with Laura Marquez-Garrett, a plaintiff's attorney at the forefront of a landmark legal battle against Big Tech. Fresh off two historic court victories, Laura pulls back the curtain on how social media companies design products to addict and harm young users, and what it took for families to finally start holding them accountable.

What emerges is both chilling and clarifying: a system built not by accident, but by design. And yet, through the tenacity of parents, survivors, and a handful of relentless lawyers, a long-impossible fight is beginning to turn.

It's a conversation about power, profit, and the cost our kids are paying, but also about what it looks like to refuse defeat, and to believe that even the most entrenched systems can be challenged, and changed.

Mentioned in the episode:

BBC: No Kings protests draw large crowds to rally against Donald Trump | Judge temporarily halts construction of Trump's White House ballroom | NPR: No Kings rallies across the U.S., more troops deployed | Gina Baskin episode | Supreme Court seems poised to reject Trump's birthright citizenship limts | New Mexico Social Media Verdict | California Verdict against Instagram and Google | Laura on Democracy Now | Laura on Time 100 list for Health in 2026 | Social Media Victims Law Center | The Social Dilemma | Frances Haugen | Careless People | Parents Rise | Heat | Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) | World's First Known Dog | Aldis Hodge | Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere | Gabriel Teodros episode

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.

In this week's episode of In The Meanwhile, we do that uncomfortable, but necessary, thing where the abstractions of war fall away, and the human cost steps all the way into the room.

Nora and Marcus sit down with Gina Baskin, fresh out of the military and bringing a level of clarity that cuts clean through the usual talking points. She unpacks what war actually asks of the people sent to fight it, and what it takes from them in return. Not strategy nor geopolitics. But the intimate, irreversible weight of being asked to kill in a war you don't believe in.

Gina brings us inside the lived reality behind the headlines: the weight of service, the myth of protection, and the quiet ways systems, from foster care to the military, promise belonging while demanding sacrifice. And she does it with a mix of honesty, bite, and just enough humor to keep you from fully spiraling. As a queer veteran and organizer, she's not just challenging the narratives we've inherited about safety and power, but flipping them and asking who gets protected, who gets used, and who we've decided is expendable.

If you've only ever understood war from a safe, scrollable distance, this episode closes that gap, and doesn't let you look away.

Mentioned in the episode:

ID bathroom law | IOC trans women ruling | War is a Racket | ASVAB Waivers | Study: seeing a woman as a collection of body parts | Queer gun clubs | MAHA and public health scientists collaborate

Support the pod:

Donate here to support In The Meanwhile

Follow us:

Instagram | BlueSky | Website

Read Nora and Marcus's Books:

Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise

Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.

Logo by Nikki Barron.

Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.

Nora and Marcus's work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.

Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links.