Hot Mic'd: Kate Middleton, Boeing whistleblower, & the rats of New Orleans

A restaurant rec I have from my trip to DC is… La Tomate! I really went rogue with this res and hoped for the best, and was v happily surprised. I’m a huge pasta snob, and if it’s not up to my Jersey standard, anyone within a 2 mile radius of me will not hear the end of it for eternity, so everyone is lucky that I loved it. Highly rec the squid ink pasta [my fave noodle]. Also, we’re adding a tab in the Gov Club’s Rolodex for recs per city starting with DC, so go check ‘em out and add your faves. -SK

For anyone traveling to DC my #1 rec is… iiiiiif you work in politics, be prepared to run into people you work with, lightly know, or may work with at a future date everywhere. Your networking light should be on at all times - or if you’re like ‘can’t be me,’ invest in a disguise. Def not a city you can be anonymous in if politics is your world IMO. -SK

The topic I learned the most about during my DC week was… nuclear weapons. Literally. I sat down with Mackenzie Knight at FAS to get up on some of the nuclear weapons policy basics, and left with two new terms in my vocab – the nuclear football and the biscuit. We’re doing a bigger eppy on the topic coming up, so if you have q’s let us know. -SK

A political story that’s slipping under the radar and shouldn’t be is… MA Governor Maura Healey’s plan to pardon marijuana related misdemeanors in the state. It’s the prime example of what Biden’s move at the federal level was supposed to inspire – state officials taking the baton and taking action on state level convictions. -SK 

Something I think everyone should check out on social is… our Q&A series with Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom For All, especially this video on the federal IVF bill.The whole series is on our Insta and TikTok, so make sure to tune in and send it to a friend. -SK

An action item I think everyone should make sure they do is…related to what I was saying above^ on IVF. Watch the vid then send your reps this note telling them to protect IVF. -SK

A pop culture tidbit I can’t get over is… This Kate Middleton MIA story. Literally WHERE IS SHE?! Having worked the PR side of things in my ~past life~ I cannot stress enough how insane a kill order on a photo is from AP. So, that off the bat is WILD. What’s also wild to me is the ‘statement from Kate’ where she’s saying she’s an amateur photographer… like she’s IN the picture. I doubt she’s taking it on a tripod? And then she's handling the PR photos? NO dice. Anyways, guess we’ll see what happens, but I’m down the rabbit hole. -SK

A bar rec I have from my trip to Austin is… Marlows! It’s super cute, and for our Swifties, they have a drink called the Anti-Hero Martini, sooooo like, perfection. -MM

For anyone traveling to Austin my #1 rec is… I’m going to sound like a mom saying this, but pack warm clothes for the nighttime, at least this time of year. It gets really cold at night and it comes at you fast. As they say, it’s sweater weatherrrr. -MM

The topic I learned the most about at SXSW was… We talked a little bit about this on the pod, but I went to a panel on the growth of women’s sports that I loooooved. It’s so exciting, especially as a former athlete, seeing how far we’ve come and how much momentum there is around women’s sports. It’s BFD, and I feel like each year the buzz and the money for women’s sports grows – excited for my one-day daughters. -MM

A political story that’s slipping under the radar and shouldn’t be is… the fact that Arkansas is issuing a new state rule on licenses that gets rid of the ‘X’ marker option and only allows for a male or female designation. For a state led by a party that claims to want less government, they’re really trying to make sure government policy controls everything – including how someone identifies themselves. Given that this is the environment in the state, I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m certainly disgusted by the measure. -MM

Something I think everyone should check out on social is… this audio that Sam made on TikTok that you can use to make a vid on a problem caused by the GOP. There are certainly more than the 99 that the audio suggests, but you get the gist. -MM

An action item I think everyone should make sure they do is… schedule a vent sesh with your friends. The political enviro is always a little crazy, but obvi this current time period is so unique and exhausting for all. Chatting it out and essentially gossiping about it is therapeutic – at least in my experience. Go on a walk, get coffee, whatever floats your boat, and YAP AWAY. -MM

A pop culture tidbit I can’t get over is… We’re going to talk about the Boeing whistleblower right? Because there is not one person of any stripe that believes this man in the middle of testifying decided that was the time to unalive himself, right? True crime is the leading podcast category in this country, meaning everyone is an amateur crime detective, and this is just screaming ‘there’s more to this story, investigate me.’ Genuinely, what the fuck. -MM