TOPICS DISCUSSED

Killing of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson
International News from South Korea, France, Lebanon, and Syria
Outside of Politics: Errand Brain

Episode Resources

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Pantsuit Politics Fan Gift Guide
The Bookshelf on Church | Shop The Shelf Pantsuit Politics Box
UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting Live Updates: Police Release Photos of Suspect in Killing of Brian Thompson (The New York Times)
South Korea's Yoon faces impeachment after martial law debacle (Reuters)
French government collapses after no-confidence vote in PM Michel Barnier (BBC)
More to Say About France's Government of Losers (Pantsuit Politics Premium)
North Korean soldiers' hooked on porn instead of fighting in Ukraine? Surprising impact of unfettered internet access (The Economic Times)
US can’t confirm Putin’s North Koreans are ‘gorging on pornography’ (Politico Europe)
Who are the Syrian Democratic Forces? (The Economist)

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TRANSCRIPT

Sarah [00:00:07] This is Sarah Stewart Holland.

Beth [00:00:09] This is Beth Silvers.

Sarah [00:00:10] You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.

Beth [00:00:12] Where we take a different approach to the news.

[00:00:14] Music Interlude.

Sarah [00:00:29] Hello, thank you for joining us today. We had planned to have a more in-depth, expansive conversation about the Middle East today after a surprise resurgence of violence and the Syrian civil war. However, there were several shocking events in the U.S. and around the world that we could not ignore. And so today we're going to be talking about the murder of United Health Care CEO Bryan Thompson on the streets of New York City; the collapse of France's government; the coup in South Korea and the violence in Syria. All of which are feeding the sense that we have and that we know all of you are feeling that everything is different now. And Outside of Politics, we're going to talk about what Beth has termed errand brain.

Beth [00:01:11] While we have those conversations, we want to remind you that we have a Pantsuit Politics fan gift guide. One thing I want to highlight on that gift guide is that our independent bookstore partner, Lisa McLoughlin, has put together a book box with our two books. I think You're Wrong, But I'm Listening. And Now What? How to Move Forward When We're Divided About Basically Everything, along with some little treats. Lisa is very good at little treats. She's a wonderful partner to us and has put a lot of care into this box. So if you would like to give our books to yourself or someone you love, this is a great way to do it. And you'll see all the information in that gift guide, which you'll see linked in our show notes.

Sarah [00:01:45] Next up, we're going to talk about the horrifying death of Brian Thompson. Beth, I said to you and Maggie before we started recording that I anticipate a capture of the person who shot Brian Thompson on the streets of New York City before we record another episode. I think they're getting closer and closer all the time. They have identified a photo of the shooter's face. They have identified his backpack. There's lots of surveillance video. It feels like about every 30, 45 minutes, another detail comes out that adds in some sort of identifying characteristic to the person who shot Brian Thompson early on Wednesday morning.

Beth [00:02:38] I think that's right. This is so hard because we're going to have this conversation and all along you have to have awareness that this is a real person who has a family and has friends and has colleagues and a community. And so much of the conversation about his death is less about that man and more about the symbol. We have chilling details that tell us that he was shot as a symbol, not just as a man. Instantly we all figured that was the case. Instantly you hear the CEO of United Health Care has been shot and you don't even have to think about what the motive might have been because there is such personal, deep anger and sadness and grief about the state of the insurance industry right now. And I just want to make sure to keep holding both of those things that there is the symbolism and there's a very real conversation to have about that; alongside the fact that this is a real person with a real family and people who interact with them for whom it is not symbolic at all. It is just tragic. So I hope that we can do that as well as as it can be done in this conversation.

Sarah [00:03:58] Yeah, the word I keep thinking about and really a word I'm probably going to use a lot in this episode as we talk about a lot of very different events is unleashed. It just feels...