3642 - Inflation Spikes; The Quiet National Abortion Ban; A Labor Win w/ Jessica Valenti, Liza Xu

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3642 – “Inflation Spikes; The Quiet National Abortion Ban; A Labor Win”
Date: May 12, 2026
Guests: Jessica Valenti (Abortion Every Day), Lisa Hsu (Labor Notes)

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles three major political stories:

1. Surging U.S. inflation, driven primarily by Trump’s Iran war and tariffs.
2. The latest developments in the fight over abortion rights, featuring an extended interview with Jessica Valenti.
3. A rare, encouraging labor victory in the meatpacking industry, discussed with Lisa Hsu.

Sam Seder and the Majority Report crew break down economic trends, the legal battle over abortion pills and state sovereignty, and the organizing achievements of immigrant workers. The tone is irreverent but urgent, blending news analysis with high-profile interviews.

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Inflation and Economic Turmoil

[06:01–13:30]

Key Points

• Inflation Surges: Both the traditional inflation metrics (CPI) and core inflation (excluding food/energy) are up, with gas prices soaring due to Trump’s Iran war.
  • “Total inflation is eating away at wages.” (Sam Seder, 07:45)
• Wages Falling Behind: For the first time since 2023, paychecks are rising slower than prices, as explained in a cited CNN segment.
• Trump’s Unkept Promises: Seder revisits Trump’s vow to "end inflation on day one" and notes his recent gas tax suspension announcement is legally dubious and economically marginal.
• Official Spin: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett claims inflation is falling "at the microeconomic level," which is mocked as irrelevant.
  • “If one thing that I buy is cheaper but everything else is more expensive, it’s still a problem for me. Oh, I got a discount on my gum at the bodega, but dinner cost twice as much.” (Sam Seder, 10:08)
• Consumer Impact: With oil reserves dwindling, further price spikes are expected across gas, food, fertilizer, and supply chains.

Notable Quotes

• “Put it all together and you have a situation where prices are now going up faster than paychecks.” (CNN Analyst, 12:18)
• “No matter how you slice it, if you take out gas and food, you still have higher inflation than people anticipated.” (Sam Seder, 09:44)

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Abortion Rights Under Attack: Interview with Jessica Valenti

[23:49–48:03]

Main Themes

• Status Quo of Abortion Access: Telehealth and mail-order abortion pills (especially mifepristone) have kept abortion rates steady, despite bans.
• Ongoing Legal Battle: A conservative Fifth Circuit ruling aims to end telehealth access to mifepristone, challenging federal authority and pro-choice state shield laws.
  • “They want the ability to punish pro-choice providers and pro-choice states… to extradite abortion providers, bring them into anti-abortion states and send them to prison for life.” (Jessica Valenti, 28:26)

Critical Case Dynamics

• State Sovereignty Claims: Anti-abortion states argue that allowing mail-order pills overrides their sovereignty and nullifies bans.
• National Ban Potential: If the courts side with the Fifth Circuit, there would be a national ban on shipping mifepristone; in-person pickups in pro-choice states could remain.
• Shield Laws at Risk: Conservatives are using this as a test case to challenge shield laws protecting doctors who mail abortion pills into ban states.

What If the Ban Proceeds?

• Switch to Misoprostol: Valenti notes providers are ready to pivot to a misoprostol-only regimen if mifepristone access is lost, but this is only a temporary workaround.
• Persistence of Pill Networks: “People are going to keep shipping it anyway… they are not going to stop people from getting abortions.” (Jessica Valenti, 34:40)

Broader Trends and Next Frontiers

• Chilling Effects: Legal confusion and the threat of prosecution are already making abortion access riskier, especially in states like Texas.
• Attacks on Travel: Valenti warns that the next target may be interstate travel for abortion, especially for teens, with examples of CPS removing children over cross-border procedures.
• Birth Control in the Crosshairs: There is a longstanding, now escalating, effort on the right to classify certain contraceptives and gender-affirming medications as abortifacients.
• Environmental Regulation as a Weapon: The right is pushing for the EPA to restrict and monitor disposal of abortion pills and birth control as “water contaminants”, seeking a backdoor ban.
• Censorship and Speech: Republican states are moving to block advertising, online sharing of information about abortion pills, and even websites that facilitate access.

Democracy & Abortion Rights

• Ballot Measure Manipulation: States are raising barriers to citizen initiatives and even ignoring passed ballot measures, framing the rollback of abortion rights as a direct attack on democracy itself.
  • “Abortion really has been a testing ground in that way in terms of… changing what a citizen-led initiative needs to do.” (Jessica Valenti, 46:36)

Notable Moments & Quotes

• “Exceptions are a PR tool for Republicans… these laws kill women and they are working really hard to cover that up.” (Jessica Valenti, 36:20)
• “They were lying.” (Sam Seder, 34:07)
• “I think speech and just the ability to share that information… is really in their crosshairs.” (Jessica Valenti, 45:11)

Timestamps

• [23:49] – Jessica Valenti segment begins
• [25:03] – How telehealth and shield laws protect access
• [27:34] – The state sovereignty argument and legal nuances
• [31:34] – The political calculus: why Republicans are stalling
• [36:20] – Data on negative health outcomes in Texas and efforts to hide it
• [38:17] – EPA and “water contamination” as a new battleground
• [40:20] – The push to criminalize interstate travel for abortions
• [44:49] – Escalating misinformation campaigns about birth control
• [46:36] – Suppression of pro-choice ballot measures
• [48:03] – Segment ends

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Labor Win: JBS Meatpacking Strike (Lisa Hsu Interview)

[49:52–60:38]

Background

• In Colorado, 3,800+ UFCW workers at a JBS meatpacking plant launched the largest strike in the industry since 1985, lasting three weeks.

Why the Strike?

• Unsafe Working Conditions: Workers’ wages were being garnished for damaged personal protective gear, in violation of safe labor practices.
• Demands and Achievements: They won restored protective equipment, wage increases, improved health care cost protections, and better leave policies.
  • “This personal protective equipment win was very important for the workers.” (Lisa Hsu, 49:52)

Strike Dynamics

• Unity Across Diversity: The workforce included refugees from dozens of countries, speaking 57 languages, yet they united for shared workplace improvements.
• Economic Pressure: Shutting down the plant for three weeks was costly—cows must be slaughtered quickly, restarting is slow, and it’s hard to replace trained workers.
• Tactical Organizing: Success owed much to union “walking stewards,” internal group leaders, and strong organizing infrastructure.

Wider Implications

• JBS’s Power: As one of the world's largest and most corrupt agribusinesses, this victory has industry-wide implications, from labor rights to consumer prices.
• Future Potential: The new contract is only two years, and other UFCW JBS contracts will expire close to the proposed national general strike in May 2028.
  • “May 2028 is on the minds of a lot of leaders in the UFCW… very fortuitous timing and hopefully they take advantage of it.” (Lisa Hsu, 59:48)

Notable Quotes / Moments

• “You have important leaders, worker leaders, stewards, union representatives who are able to… first communicate within those groups and then at the local union level, bring them all together.” (Lisa Hsu, 55:58)
• “To see that within three weeks they basically broke, brought this company to its knees is really impressive.” (Sam Seder, 57:04)

Timestamps

• [49:52] – Lisa Hsu interview begins
• [53:01] – Challenges and opportunities of organizing a diverse workforce
• [57:04] – The potential for national ripple effects and future strikes

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Other Notable Segments & Quotes

• Skincare tangent and sponsorships (20:06–23:49): A comic detour on One Skin product reviews (“She says her skin looks better” – Emma Viglin).
• Closing banter and outtakes (62:48–67:27): Extended, humorous crew exchanges and listener shoutouts, including a quick look ahead to organizing timelines and economic forecasts.

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Takeaways

• Inflation is accelerating with significant pain for consumers, especially as war-driven energy shocks ripple through the economy.
• The legal fight over abortion pills is both a matter of state/federal balance and the front line of a push toward a de facto national abortion ban, with severe consequences for millions.
• Labor organizing, even within some of the harshest and most diverse environments, can achieve significant wins—potentially signaling broader labor action to come.

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Further Resources

• Abortion Every Day Newsletter (Jessica Valenti): [Link to be posted on Majority.fm]
• Labor Notes coverage on JBS strike: [Link to be posted on Majority.fm]

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For listeners who missed the show, this episode delivers an unvarnished state-of-the-nation picture: economic strain, creeping authoritarianism in reproductive rights, and flashes of hope in labor organizing.

Transcript

[Lisa Hsu]

You are listening to a free version of the Majority Report. Support this [e-mail] and get an extra

[Jessica Valenti]

hour of content daily.

[Sam Cedar]

The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Tuesday, May 12, 2026. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Jessica Valenti, author and publisher of the Abortion Every Day newsletter on the state of abortion rights in this country. Then Lisa Chu, organizer with Labor Notes, giving us an update on that meat four weeks ago. We're looking for some good news, folks. Meanwhile, bad news. Core inflation pops off as Trump's Iran excursion and tariffs catch up with the economy. US Iran cease fire on life support as Trump's war drives oil prices through the roof. And Trump says in response he will suspend the gas tax, which he cannot do legally and even if he did would barely help. Supreme Court does a 180 on past election rulings and allows Alabama to suspend ongoing voting to disenfranchise black voters. The primary is one week from today. FCC tells Disney it's looking to censor Disney Nebraska and West Virginia primaries today there's a Democratic primary in the senatorial race in Nebraska which though largely irrelevant, could be very relevant. Meanwhile, Virginia Democrats take the referendum ruling to the federal Supreme Court. Meanwhile, calls for ignoring the Virginia Supreme Court ruling billed. A new Michigan Senate primary poll. Abdul said is up 11 points from the last poll. He's got 27. And Stevens and McMurrow both drop 7 and 9 points respectively. Excuse me, 9 and 7 points respectively and are essentially tied at 17 or 18, 10 points behind Abdul El said. New report Crime is down significantly again in Democratic cities. New York City meanwhile is to announce the budget today amidst the question if Mamdani has been able to convince Hochul to help the city close the Eric Adams deficit. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen. It is Tuesday, what we used to call news day. Tuesday, we could still call it that. I don't think we're going to get in trouble. I I don't know why I hesitate. Emma is out today again. Some folks just can't handle their their spritzers. No, she's sick. She's sick. But hopefully we'll be better tomorrow. A lot of COVID out there.

[Matt Leckie]

F

[Sam Cedar]

does not hurt to wear a mask. Also, and I rarely give this type of advice, all I can tell you is that in there was A study in Germany not too long ago, several months ago, that showed that. And I can't remember what the, the name of the drug is. I know what the brand is in this country. Astelpro. Right. That's what it is. That showed a couple of squirts in your nose multiple times a day. Cuts down both the likelihood of you getting Covid and even other viruses. I'm not exactly sure why. The study had, I think about 450, 480 people. It was, there was a control group, so it was a pretty good study. I don't know, take it for what it's worth, but that's out there. Good idea to protect yourself from Azelastine

[Emma Viglin]

is, I believe, the generic or whatever.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, is that what it is? Okay, yeah. It's unclear what it is. I mean, but having your nose function, very helpful for respiratory illness. And that is my medical minute for the day. Let's go on to the other patient. That is the economy. And people have been feeling this and now it's showing up in the numbers. There are two real inflation numbers that you have to pay attention to. One is the CPI in the inflation number broadly, and then the other is core inflation. Now, the inflation number broadly includes energy costs, which of course are up dramatically because of the Iran war. And so a lot of people say, well, you can't really count that because if we were to end the war tomorrow, those would come down. Now, I don't, I would not take that for granted. They'll come down, but they're not going to come down dramatically for a while because we know that we have at least 1 billion barrels of oil less in the world than we did, than we did as of like two months ago, at least annualized. And. But the core inflation excludes food and energy. Food and energy are going to be going way up, but the core inflation is also up. And now we have. Total inflation is eating away at wages. Just to remind you, Donald Trump said, vote for me and it'll all be fixed. This is Donald Trump two years ago. Right. August of 2024. Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again to bring down the prices of all good. Affordability. Affordability, affordability, affordability. You know, we should have listened to that more carefully because if you, if you really sort of like parse that or grok it, as we used to say. Oh, and that's where they got the IAI from.

[Matt Leckie]

I just, I think it's Douglas Adams, actually.

[Sam Cedar]

They may have done that on day one. You just didn't see doesn't show up in the numbers. And then after that, that they stopped with that agenda and they had to

[Emma Viglin]

fire the entire bls.

[Sam Cedar]

We're just going to do that in day one. Here's Kevin Hassett. He is the National Economic Council director and this is him yesterday. Not to worry, folks. Not to worry at all about inflation.

[Mac (Macro)]

The bottom line is inflation is going down at the microeconomic level by a million things that we've done, like, you know, fix the avian flu, so egg prices are down, you know, change beef imports so that beef prices go down, make drug prices more affordable with Trump bar ex and so on. And so if you look at the individual items of the CPI that at the micro level, lots of things are going down because of specific Trump policies. But at the macroeconomic level, the driving force right now is the temporary increase in the price of gas.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, no, well, first off, well, let's just take it from the last thing back. The price of gas is driving up the CPI to 3.8%. But core inflation is also up much more than economists predicted. Now, that may be because, and again, core inflation excludes food. And energy costs rose almost rose.4% from the month prior. Now, a lot of things are downstream from gas and, and oil, but nevertheless, no matter how you slice it, if you take out gas and food, you still have higher inflation than people anticipated. And as far as the difference between micro economic measures and macroeconomic measures, that is completely irrelevant. If one thing that I buy is cheaper but everything else is more expensive, it's still a problem for me. Oh, I got a discount on my gum at the bodega, but dinner cost twice as much as it did three months ago. That's the difference between micro and macro. I don't think I've ever heard anybody use those terms. And the thing is, it's like this is on cnbc. And you wonder, are, are all the business people just idiots or are they believing this? I don't, like, I don't know. I don't. I guess I'm a businessman, but I'm not a businessman. And even I am like, what? Here is a clip from CNN that at least I guess feels like this. They're not in a position to lie to their audience. Let's see if it's talking macro micro, on a micro level, if you get really micro, I mean super micro, you're going to be able to find like anecdotally there are some things that are down. It's just that the data shows that's not the case.

[CNN Analyst]

Put it all together and you have a situation where prices are now going up faster than paychecks. Right. And that's the first time that we've seen that where real wages, inflation adjusted wages are falling for the first time since 2023. You look all the way on the left side of the screen, that's the red line is prices. Prices were going up faster than paychecks. Then you had this massive improvement. And for about three years, right. People's paychecks were going up faster than the cost of living. Not anymore. We've seen that crossover there. So look, bottom line, this is just more evidence of how the war in the Middle east and this energy crisis is making it more expensive for consumers.

[Sam Cedar]

It explains this new CNN polling how people are feeling about the economy. And you know, three fourths of the population just about are saying it's not going well. This is why.

[Mac (Macro)]

Yeah, this is validation.

[Sam Cedar]

Validation. Thank you so much, Mac. Macro. It's macro validation, but not micro validation.

[Matt Leckie]

Go to macro.

[Emma Viglin]

Donald's prices of shoelaces are down. Pays attention to that.

[Sam Cedar]

Nobody pays attention to the shoelace prices.

[Emma Viglin]

Jackfruit for 50% off today.

[Sam Cedar]

And understand that we are just on the, just on the cusp, maybe two months away, two and a half months away from all the oil reserves that are being spent down, or I should say use down or whatever it is. What's the term? Spent down? Spent down. All of those oil reserves are about to go bye bye. And when those oil reserves go bye bye, you're going to see really massive spikes in the price of things like gasoline. And we're already seeing farmers talk about problems affording and getting what they need for planting in the end of 2026 and into 2027. Fertilizer, really expensive. We're going to see it in chips with helium. I mean, where we are not even, I think at the end of the beginning of what's going to happen economically because of this Iran war. In a moment, we're going to be talking to Jessica Valenti, author and publisher of Abortion Every Day newsletter, because the news is not good there. Then we will have Lisa Hsu on organizer with Labor Notes, and she will give us some good news. So we're trying to mix it in seven parts bad news, one part good news, and that's eight out of eight. Yep. Hey, folks, this is a product that I've been using for probably over 10 years. I've been doing the show for six. Oh, gosh. This iteration for 16 years definitely have been using it for over 10. And then they came to us and said, will you advertise for us? And I was like, of course. I already use your product. Delete me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online. At a time where surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable, it has made a big difference. Brian comes in today because we got him. We got it right for you. We got Brian a delete me account. And he says, you know, I got to be honest, I don't get as many. We call it spam calls. Spam calls?

[Emma Viglin]

I mean, like significantly dropped off.

[Sam Cedar]

That's the thing, is I rarely get them. Rarely. And a big part of it is your data sits on these brokerage sites, these broker sites, I should say data broker sites. There are millions of them. I mean, there's. I don't understand. It's because it's very easy for them to get your data and then they just turn around and sell it. It is a, is passive income for them, the famed passive income. And, and the problem is, is that not only will like spam callers get it, not only can creeps get your information, but also like phishers and other scam artists who may want to steal your identity, they'll take the information from the data broker site, they'll combine it with stuff they can buy on the dark web. Or they use the data broker site to trick you. Hi, Sam, it's your cousin Bill. Because they can literally list you like your families on these things and remember that time that you lived in, you know, in the mission in San Francisco. Hey, I need your Social Security number or whatever it is. I'm sure it's more sophisticated, but Delete me stops all that in its tracks. They do all the hard work of wiping you and your family's personal information from data broker sites. Delete Me knows your privacy is worth protecting. You sign up, you provide Delete me with exactly what information you want deleted. Their experts take it from there. Delete me sends you regular personalized privacy reports showing what they found, where they found it, and what they removed. That's the point. It's an ongoing service because the data broker sites, they repopulate. So like, if you were to go around individually, demand they take it down, it would take you a year to find all the data broker sites. Then once you did, you demand they take it down, and then they repopulate within months. So like I say, Delete me isn't just a one time service. It's always working for you constantly monitoring and removing personal information you don't want on the Internet. Thanks to Delete Me for sponsoring the Majority report. Take control of your data. Keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our audience. Get 20% off your delete Me plan when you go to joinedelete me.com Majority use the promo code Majority at checkout. The only way to get 20% off go to join deletem.com majority enter the code majority at checkout. That's joind deleteme.com majority code is majority put that information in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. Also sponsoring the program today. One Skin. You've heard Emma talk about One Skin before. It doesn't matter if you're someone who tries every new skincare product that hits the market or you've been using the same one or two things for years. At some point most people realize that our skin is just not keeping up the way it used to. I will tell you, both Emma and Julie have been using one skin. They both rave about it. I guess as far as they say, it's not only made their routine better, but it works differently according to them. And you said your girlfriend loves it too, right? Yeah.

[Emma Viglin]

I took one of Emma's samples from the office home, gave it as a gift.

[Sam Cedar]

Does she know this?

[Matt Leckie]

Nope.

[Sam Cedar]

Does anybody involved in this know that you stole that from Emma and then you.

[Emma Viglin]

No, I brought it home as a present.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, but you took it from Emma and then you, you gifted it to your girlfriend. You send it to her and did she like it?

[Emma Viglin]

Yeah, she loves it.

[Sam Cedar]

What is it she loves about it? I don't know.

[Emma Viglin]

She says her skin looks better.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't know.

[Emma Viglin]

I can't.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, it really. It's good. You're really present in that relationship.

[Emma Viglin]

She said it's not oily. Doesn't feel like oily like other ones.

[Sam Cedar]

Okay, good.

[Jessica Valenti]

I think.

[Emma Viglin]

Or something.

[Sam Cedar]

It's fascinating to watch you like essentially like turn into a 12 year old when I ask you one simple question about skin care. As we age, some skin cells stop functioning the way they should. Longevity scientists call them zombie cells. And that's what's actually driving those visible signs of aging. The fine lines, the loss of firmness, the dullness that creeps in over time. That I feel like that describes me, nevermind my Skin one skins. OS one peptide was specifically engineered to address those so you get everything you expect from great skin care. With OS1 doing something most skin care was never built to do. Like I said. Both Emma and Julie said that they, they like the feel and texture of their skin better. I mean, I don't, I don't know how, I don't know how it works, but you don't need to have a complicated routine to get healthier, younger looking skin. Try OneSkin. They're OS1. Born from over a decade of longevity research, One Skin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the visible signs of AG, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. For a limited time, try One Skin with 15% off using the code MAJORITY at One Skin Co slash MAJORITY. That's 15% off One Skin Co with code MAJORITY. After you purchase, they're going to ask you where you heard about it. Please support the show. Tell them we sent you. Put the link in the podcast and YouTube descriptions and @M majority FM. Quick break. When we come back, we'll be talking to Jessica Valenti, author and publisher of the Abortion Every Day newsletter. Right back after this. Sam. Foreign. We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Report. Emma Vilan is out today. I want to welcome back to the program Jessica Valenti, author and publisher of the Abortion Every Day newsletter, which I can't recommend enough. We will put a link to that at Majority fm. Jessica, welcome back to the program.

[Jessica Valenti]

Thank you for having me.

[Sam Cedar]

The news is not good.

[Jessica Valenti]

It's not so good. No.

[Sam Cedar]

And I, I both want to talk to you about the, you know, sort of like the updates of, of what we're seeing, you know, having had, I guess, you know, months and months and months of sort of the implications of the different states beginning to ban abortion in multiple ways and also sort of like how that ties into sort of everything else that's happening politically on some level. But let's start with misprif.

[Emma Viglin]

Oh, gosh.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Thank you. I've said it correctly once, but that was that one time.

[Jessica Valenti]

It's a, it's a tongue teaser. It's all right.

[Sam Cedar]

It's tough for me. I'm not good at pronouncing very few things, but where are we in terms of this and different. I guess groups are in states are reacting differently. So give us a sense of what's the latest.

[Jessica Valenti]

So it's a little bit complicated. I'll give like the quick and dirty version. You know, Republicans are really, really upset that the abortion rate, the national abortion rate hasn't gone down. And the big reason that the national abortion rate hasn't gone down is because of telehealth. Abortion pills. Right. Abortion medication that's being Shipped from doctors in pro choice states who are protected by shield laws, shipping them into anti abortion states. And so those people are able to get care. Conservatives hate that. And so they have been trying to sue the FDA to repeal telehealth access specifically of one of the two abortion medications that you use to end a pregnancy, mifepristone. They got a really good ruling from the fifth Circuit, which is like a

[Sam Cedar]

notoriously conservative court that's Texas, Louisiana and maybe Oklahoma, maybe, I'm not sure. But that's where they go to get every ruling they want.

[Jessica Valenti]

Exactly. That's where they go. And so they got the ruling that they want. And the ruling said that folks had to stop shipping mifepristone, or I should be more specific, that the FDA regulations had to go back to only allowing for in person dispensing of mifepristone. And then the Supreme Court put a pause on that ruling while they considered it. And then yesterday they extended that pause until Thursday. So essentially all is the same until Thursday when we find out what the Supreme Court will do next. They could extend the pause even further. They could take the case, they could dismiss the case on standing, which is what they did last time when mifepristone came before them. So there's a couple different things that they can do, but it's caused a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion. I think what's most important for people to know and for people to tell their friends and family is that you can still get abortion medication. You can still get abortion medication shipped to you in all 50 states. And even if something happens with the Supreme Court with mifepristone, you can still have a safe and effective abortion using the second medication that you take, misoprostol. And providers are very ready to switch to that protocol if need be.

[Sam Cedar]

Okay, so it begs many questions. First off, what was the grounds in which to say that mifepistone is such a unique drug that it cannot be prescribed over telehealth?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, so they have a couple of different arguments. They claim that it's unsafe, which we know is not true. It's been, you know, safely and effectively used for decades. But like the real sticking point with Louisiana and what the fifth Circuit like glommed onto, and what I think is probably their best argument is that it interferes with state sovereignty because in effect, by shipping, by allowing abortion bills to be shipped into their state, the telehealth access nullifies abortion bans. It doesn't allow them to enforce abortion bans. And so they are going to the court saying, hey, like this, this law is making it impossible for us to be a free state. Of course, the fifth Circuit doesn't consider that by restricting telehealth access, it impedes on the state sovereignty of pro choice states who don't want a Louisiana attorney general telling them what their doctors can and can't do. And so this is not just about abortion restrictions and restrictions on abortion pills. It's about getting shield laws to the Supreme Court. Right, which allow providers and pro choice states to ship these pills. Essentially they want the ability to punish pro choice providers and pro choice states. They want the ability to. To extradite abortion providers, bring them into anti abortion states and send them to prison for life. Like, at the end of the day, that's really what this case is about.

[Sam Cedar]

So this is a way for the. For states to reach outside their states, intimidate doctors, activists who might provide care for people in their state. I mean, it also, if this concept of sovereignty functions this way, it seems like. Well, why? I mean, I think it also, you know, it undermines the sovereignty, like you say, of the other states. But why can't we mail pot between. Or weed as the kids call it, between states that have legalized it? I mean, like that, that question's dismissed out of hand. The argument that you're trampling on people's state sovereignty because I'm not allowed to sell pot to another state that has. That is decriminalized pot. I mean, so that's where we're at. But why would miso pristol be okay and mifepristone not?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, there's no sense to it. It just happens to be the one that they have done the most work on over the past few years. They are absolutely still coming for mesoprostol. One of the, you know, big conservative legal groups that brings these sorts of cases has started to put misoprostol into all of those suits. And so, you know, that's just a matter of time. Right? It just happens to be that Prestone is the one that they have the most fake research on.

[Sam Cedar]

And so in the event that they, in the event that they succeed, which I don't know, is there any way to read the tea leaves? I mean, did the fact that the court has punted for a couple more days suggest that this is. They're struggling with this? I imagine because the states rights argument is so complicated for these justices in a couple of different ways that they're trying to figure out how they thread this needle on some level. And the implications, I would imagine there's a lot of implications if a state can say we're banning something and therefore we trump the federal authority of the postal service.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, yeah. And of the FDA and of FDA science. Right? Yeah, absolutely. I don't think that there's a way different folks feel different ways about how this is going to go. I think the assumption is that part of the reason they keep pushing it down the line is the same reason that the Trump administration hasn't come out and said anything. It's because no one on the right wants to deal with this before the midterms. They know that it's an incredibly unpopular issue for them. No one wants to see abortion restricted, not even in anti abortion states. And so it's a loser. And the more press that they have for it, the worse it is for them. And so they're really trying to avoid it as much as possible. But I wouldn't be surprised if the administration wanted to have their cake and eat it too. And if they can point to the and say, well, it was the courts that banned telehealth access and abortion medication, not us, then it gives them a little bit of an out. I don't know how much voters will be able to distinguish, but it's completely unclear. The implications, though, will be tremendous. At this point Right now, nearly 30% of abortions in America are telehealth, abortion, medication, abortions. Right. So abortions that are happening because someone has gotten pills shipped to them, that is a huge number. And telehealth access to abortion medication is sort of the thing that is propping up all other access right now. Right. If that falls already, states are stretched then like pro choice states who are just being inundated with out of state patients. If all of a sudden they have all of those patients who couldn't get pills shipped to them now coming into pro choice states is going to be a total disaster.

[Sam Cedar]

And would this case stop Mr. Pristine from being sent to states that didn't have a ban?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, I mean, you could still go in person. Yes. But there would be no mail.

[Sam Cedar]

It would be a national ban.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, it would be a national ban on shipping the abortion medication. You would still be able to go in person because you're in a pro choice state. You could go to pick up the medication in person, but you would not be able to do it via telehealth. So again, this is this. It really is like one of the steps towards national restrictions after they spent all of this time Telling us that they wanted to leave this up to the, to the states.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes. Well, I mean they were lying.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, shocker.

[Sam Cedar]

They were lying. And so. Okay, and I guess we'll know more about this on Thursday. Do you have a sense of what I mean, I guess the, I don't know what the, the, the pro choice activists and forces will do in the event that this goes through. I mean presumably they'll be coming from Miso Pristal pro style as well. What do both sides do in the event that they lose this case?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, we keep shipping it anyway. Right. Like that's what's going to happen is people are going to keep shipping it anyway and not talk about it. Folks can already get abortion pills shipped from other countries, shipped through informal networks, getting access through community resources. Like this is already happening. They are not going to stop abortion pills from being shipped into anti abortion states. They're going to make it harder for people to get, they're going to institute a chilling effect. They are going to make people feel terrified, but they're not going to stop people from getting abortions.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's talk about, I mean there's been a steady flow of information out of Texas because that was one of the first places, I think, if not the first place to essentially ban abortion, criminalize it. And we're seeing a drop in birth rates and also an increase in deaths as a function of, of, of, of women bleeding out sometimes. Just give us a sense of what's happening there. And I mean, I imagine, I mean Texas is the biggest state. It's, it's had this longest. So we hear more coming out of there. But, but this is happening in all of these, these abortion states and it really shows the lie of the so called exceptions to the abortion because there's no way to assess whether someone's case is accepted.

[Jessica Valenti]

No, the exception, exceptions are not real exceptions. People should still try to make use of them. Please don't get me wrong, but exceptions are a PR tool for Republicans to be able to say, oh, like I'm not that bad, I'm a little bit more moderate. But yeah, that we're seeing an increase in maternal mortality in banned states. An increase in infant mortality rates of sepsis are going up in Texas. I think the last time they did some research, I think Texas maternal mortality rate went up by 56% after they passed a ban. And what is so troubling along with everything else is that they are working really hard to hide that data. Some anti abortion states have completely dismantled their maternal mortality committees. In Texas, they are stacking it with anti abortion activists. They are really, they know that these laws kill women and they are working really hard to cover that up.

[Sam Cedar]

What happens after the mifepristone and the Mr. Prowl Act? What is the next sort of like, you know, frontier for them? Because it really does seem like there's the pro choice activists and advocates and can develop sort of like black market and underground services and whatnot. And that's what's happening. But from a pushback standpoint, there doesn't feel like there's much opportunities on a legal sort of like structural level at this point. And so I'm curious what, what the anticipated frontier next frontiers are going to be where those activists are going to have to fill in for what could be above ground services in the past.

[Jessica Valenti]

So there's two things that I'm paying close attention to. One is this like really obscene, absurd claim that Americans are all drinking abortions because people are flushing their abortion remains and abortion pills and it's all getting in the water. And anti abortion activists have been working a long time to sort of force the EPA to create standards around how to flush abortion remains and miscarriage remains if you use abortion medication. And just I think it was last month the EPA put out a list of potential contaminants that states should be testing their waters for. And birth control pills and abortion medication were on that list. And so they are trying to open up this new sort of like legal frontier of environmental regulation and environmental protection to regulate, further regulate and further restrict abortion medication and birth control pills and hormones used in gender affirming care. And then the other thing I'm really worried about, honestly is travel. It's one of those things that, you know, people sort of call me like a tinfoil hat person for, but there's already sort of informal restrictions on travel. I wrote a piece last week about a woman who had her 14 year old daughter taken from her home because CPS found out that she planned to take the daughter out of state for an abortion, which is completely legal. You're allowed to take your kid out of state for an abortion. They took her 14 year old from her, removed her from the home until the abortion appointment had passed, threatened her with murder charges and we're going to take your other kid away. Similar things have happened in pro choice states where, you know, a woman who I also wrote about had a CPS and police investigation opened up into her for helping her daughter. All of which is a long way to say I think that they are going to go after travel. And I think that they're going to start with teenage girls. And this idea that you can't take teams across state lines, we're a little bit away from that. But it's happening. It's already happening informally, I guess I should say.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, and you know, as far as tinfoil hat stuff, I'm old enough to remember when, you know, back in 2004 where Hillary Clinton was telling us we need to take a couple of steps towards conservatives and try and compromise on abortion. And the idea that abortion rights over the course of those subsequent 20 years would be rolled back was always considered a near impossibility. The Obama administration failed to codify abortion rights when we had super majorities, albeit very briefly and very busy and largely because people thought like, we're not going to expend political capital on this because it's never going to get rolled back. And here we are. But I also want to just point out, at least in the first thing you were talking about, you mentioned birth control pills, you mentioned gender affirming care drugs. There seems to be an expansive definition, and there always has been in many ways, of what constitutes an abortive fashion. And they're including things that prevent you from getting pregnant if you're a woman as being abortions, in a way. Will you just speak to that aspect of that movement?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah. So this is something that the anti abortion movement has been claiming for a really long time, that certain forms of birth control, like IUD is the morning after pill, even the birth control pill, are actually aborted patients. No truth to that. It was considered a very fringe argument. And then the Trump administration started saying the same thing. Start. Story. They wanted to burn $10 million in birth control that was meant to go to women abroad. It was like this stockpile. And when they were asked why, they said because it's abortive Asian birth control and the global gag rule prevents us from, you know, providing aid to abortions. Just completely insane. You, you barely hear about that. Right. Like you're talking about the administration of the Trump administration saying that certain common forms of birth control, like hormonal implants on the pill are actually abortions. And there was barely any coverage.

[Sam Cedar]

And I should say, I mean, this is obviously obvious to you, but I don't know if a lot of people understand one prevents the egg from being fertilized from lodging in, depending on how it works, works, but from lodging in the uterus and being fertilized. And so there you're not aborting anything. Well, you're, you're inhibiting the, the, the egg from being fertilized, but you're not aborting a fetus or a zygote or any of that stuff. And, and the thing is, I really get the sense that. But a significant portion of these anti abortion advocates, I mean, I think some are just like, I want to get rid of, yeah, I want to get rid of birth control because only God decides whether. And, and if you're a woman and you're, you know, going to be a harlot and have sex and it's not to have a child, you got to suffer the consequences. I mean, this is literally their language. I think there's many who hide the fact that they know that it's a birth control, and I think there's others who don't. I don't know that it would make a difference, but it is both a testament to how they're willing to lie and manipulate and their ignorance.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yes, I do think it's both. And listen, I don't think it's a coincidence that conservatives are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on, you know, social media campaigns to reach young women to tell them that birth control is bad for them and birth control hurts them and to make them infertile. Right. Like they are seeding all of this cultural misinformation so that when they inevitably take steps to restrict birth control, they can claim that it is to protect our health, which is the same exact thing that they did with abortion procedures and abortion medication.

[Sam Cedar]

What else do you think before we go that folks should know? I know there's a million stories, I mean, but in terms of like these big movements, is there something in particular? I mean, like you say the travel is going to be the sort of, the next. You feel is they're going to be the next, I guess, frontier on speech,

[Jessica Valenti]

travel and pro choice speech. Right. Like, we're seeing a lot of attacks on pro choice speech. South Dakota just passed a law that bans advertising abortion pills. Republicans in multiple states are trying to pass laws that they will sort of frame as aiding and abetting, but what they're really talking about is sharing information. And this goes back actually to the reason that they're trying to restrict abortion pills. Right. Like people are finding out how to get abortion pills shipped to them and they're making that happen. If they can't stop abortion pills, they would like to stop people from finding out how they can get those abortion pills to begin with. And so we're seeing just a tremendous amount of censorship on social media platforms, folks who post about where to get abortion pills, how to use abortion pills again, completely legal, seeing their content blocked, seeing their accounts taken down. Republicans just sent a letter last month to the FDA because they want the FDA to use the power of that agency to get websites taken off the Internet that share information about how to get abortion pills. And so I think speech and just the ability to share that information which has been so pivotal for women post Dobbs that is is really in their crosshairs.

[Sam Cedar]

Do you see a connection between what's going on just in terms of voting rights with abortion?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah, of course. I mean every, listen, every state that has passed a pro choice ballot measure to codify abortion protections in the Constitution, Republicans have bent over backwards first of all to disenfranchise voters to make sure that they didn't have that say to begin with. Right. Like abortion really has been a testing ground in that way in terms of, you know, changing the standards from like 50% of the vote to 60% of the vote or changing what a citizen led initiative needs to do to, you know, get that to happen. In Florida, we saw Ron DeSantis use state funding to weaponize state agencies to push misinformation about the pro choice ballot measure that was in Florida in 2024. And now that a lot of these states have passed pro choice ballot measures, Republicans are refusing to adhere by them. They are trying to roll them back. They're suing, saying people didn't really understand what they were voting for because they didn't have this word on the ballot. Right. Like times on abortion are absolutely attacks on democracy and we're seeing that play out every single day.

[Sam Cedar]

Jessica Valenti, author and publisher of Abortion Every Day newsletter and site. We'll put a link to that at Majority FM and in our podcast in YouTube descriptions. Jessica, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Just such important work you're doing over there. And thanks for sharing with us.

[Jessica Valenti]

Thank you. Bye bye.

[Sam Cedar]

Bye bye. All right, folks, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to be talking to Lisa Hsu, organizer with Labor Notes on getting an Update on the 3500 worker strike against the meat processing plant, JBS JBS meat packing rather I should say across Colorado. We'll be right back after this. We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Port Emma Viglin is out today. I guess it was about about over a little bit about a month ago. Lisa, you were on the program and you were telling us about 3,800 meatpacking workers in the UFCW local in Colorado, Greeley, Colorado. And they had launched the first, the industry's first major strike in 40 years. What was that strike about? Remind us? And how long did it last?

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, so yeah, notwithstanding some important walkouts in the 2000s and during COVID this was the first major strike since 1985. 1986. And it was over working conditions that lasted three weeks. And specifically the lack of. Well, the company was garnishing workers wages to pay for damaged personal protective gear. And if you have any sense of what it's like to work on a meat disassembly line, moving at high speed, wielding knives like that, protective gear is very crucial. And in our story, we reported about how workers had aprons with holes in them. And so this was a big thing that they went on strike over and they won. They also won increases in wages, protections from rising health care costs, you know, better vacation and sick leave policies. But this personal protective equipment win was very important for the workers.

[Sam Cedar]

And how long were they on strike for and what were the implications of that strike? I mean, it doesn't sound like it was very long. And so I'm curious both as to like sort of the costs associated for JBS and also JBS failed attempts to sort of get scabs to come on and work work for them, which, you know, then they're really against it.

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, yeah. So, well, they were definitely completely against was three weeks long, which is definitely enough to make it pretty costly for the company. It's not. We talked about in the article, it's not easy to like reroute cows. Cows actually have to be slaughtered pretty quickly once they're transported. And then once the plant is down, which it is, if you have hundreds of workers, thousands of workers off the line, it's hard to get it restart again at full speed. It takes a lot of time. So it damaged the company beyond just, you know, the three weeks of the strike itself. But yeah, it was hard for them to hire scabs because you have to train these workers. This is very intense work. You have to be trained. You know, I think it's like at least a week. And if it's a three week strike, you know, they kind of, you know, it takes a while to get workers literally up to speed. And then this is just hard work to hire for. You know, these are, you know, another really important aspect of the strike is that this was an extremely diverse immigrant workforce. A lot of people. Meatpacking plants are refugees. We had 57 different languages spoken in this one plant alone. But the strike united all of them. And, you know, it showed that the workers weren't going to just, you know, kind of take these conditions lying down just because, you know, they're.

[Sam Cedar]

They.

[Lisa Hsu]

They tend to be pretty highly exploited already.

[Sam Cedar]

Talk to us about that dynamic. 57 languages. You've got refugees from all around the world who have come here. It's also a time where, I mean, you get two different things going on. One, it's really hard to organize across that type of diversity. Although I would imagine the meatpacking plant is so such an extreme work environment that focusing on that ends up pushing a lot of differences aside, both in terms of, like, culture and language and just sort of, like, history of labor actions, you know, within their culture. And then I would also imagine the idea of ongoing actions by the administration to get rid of temporary protected status. I bet a lot of those people might be part of that cohort, or at least know people part of that cohort. 57 languages. And just the ongoing assault on immigrants has to also be weighing in their minds in terms of, like, do we really want to be fighting for our rights as workers at a time where ICE could pull up and just, you know, they're denaturalizing people, never mind, you know, what their immigration status is.

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it really speaks to, you know, the bravery of the workers in going out on strike at a time like this, and also the preparation that the local union laid the groundwork, the very strong communication and organizing that was already happening in the plant. And I think you're right. These are conditions that really force workers, in many cases, to come together. You know, you're working side by side on the line in these different conditions. But, yeah, it's just a big logistical effort to pull off this kind of strike across so many divisions. But, you know, as we reported, there is just a lot of unity on the picket line, People dancing and singing in all these different languages, really coming together.

[Sam Cedar]

Where did the. The organizing take place? I mean, they're working on the line together, so there's an opportunity there that you would have, as opposed to, like, I don't know, other, you know, warehouses where maybe people aren't working alongside each other as much or, you know, delivery crews or something like that. But I also would imagine that, like, you're not getting a lot of downtime in the course of the meatpacking, and so there's not a lot of time with some of this happening off site. Was it on site? Do you have a sense?

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, there. There are these positions in the UFCW called walking stewards. These are people who have time. Technically they're paid by the company, but they're essentially doing union work and they get to roam around the plant and talk to workers. They're also just like. So you mentioned workers with temporary protective status. There are a lot of Haitian workers in the plant, a lot of Spanish speaking workers, as in many meatpacking plants, a lot of Francophone, African speakers, Burmese speakers. So within each of these linguistic groups and ethnic groups, you know, you have important leaders, you know, worker leaders, stewards, union representatives who are able to, you know, I think first communicate within those groups and then at the local union level, bring them all together. I know they had big, you know, strike meetings and strike registration meetings off site, but, you know, definitely within the plan as well.

[Sam Cedar]

I wish there was a documentary about it because it just honestly sounds fascinating to me to have 57 different languages spoken in these plants. It's just. It's just nuts. And to see that within three weeks they basically broke, brought this company to its knees is really impressive and I appreciate your reporting on it. Lisa, is there anything else you think we should know about it? Are you. Are there other processing plants that are starting to think, you know, that have looked to this as inspiration? What are the implications going to be of this strike and their success?

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, so I think a couple things. One thing is just like, for people who don't know, like, JBS is just, you know, it's just like an acronym, but it's one of the biggest meat processing plants or sorry, companies in the world. It's a Brazilian agro business. It's also one of the most corrupt and predatory in the US we have an oligopoly of meat packers. It's like the days of the jungle again. And beef processing is controlled by JBS and a cartel of three other companies. So it's really significant that there are workers that are saying, you know, no to these working conditions. But this is also something that impacts, you know, consumer prices. Like even like McDonald's has sued these companies for colluding to raise prices for consumers. They also depress the living of cattle ranchers, you know, further up the supply chain by colluding to keep cattle prices low. So I think that's some of the bigger context that's important to know. It's like these workers are really standing up and saying no to this oligopoly control system. And then in terms of future fights this is a two year contract that they signed. So in two years again they'll be fighting for more. And there are a few other UFCW locals with JBS plants who also have contracts expiring then.

[Sam Cedar]

So yeah, my math is correct. They're gonna these contracts are going to end second or third week of April in 2028, two weeks before May Day, 2028, which is the date that Sean Fine of the UAW had asked for a general strike and to align contracts up at that time.

[Lisa Hsu]

Yeah, that's right. You're right. I think they probably did that math too. Although I don't know for sure if this was just a coincidence, but I do know that May 2028 is on the minds of a lot of leaders in the ufcw, a lot of workers around the country. But yeah, very fortuitous timing and hopefully they take advantage of it.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, fascinating story. We will link to your work over at Labor Notes. I should also say I'm a supporter of Labor Notes and encourage people to do that because there's just increasingly, I mean I've just watched over the course of 20 years. It's not like even 20 years ago there was a lot of labor reporting. But now it is very, very difficult. And really appreciate your work. Thank you so much.

[Lisa Hsu]

Thank you so much.

[Sam Cedar]

And we'll put a link to that at Majority fm. All right folks, that's it for us in the first half of the program today being Newsday Tuesday. And I am determined to take phone calls in the second half of the program, which means very likely we will not be taking phone calls in the second half of the program. But I will do my best. I will do my best. Lesbians love Majority says on the IM My mom is CEO of the American Beat Institute. I keep trying to talk to her about JBS corruption. Keep up the good work. Just a reminder, it is your support that makes this show possible. You can become a [e-mail] Join the Majority Report.com is the site where you can sign up to help this show survive and thrive. Also just coffee co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority get 10 off any of their you can buy beans, you can buy ground coffee, you can buy 1 pound bags, you can buy 5 pound bags. You can get single origin coffees, you can get blends, great coffee. It's a co op. They got great political values. They are very supportive of their suppliers in places like. Well the co op started to support farmers in Zapatistas down In what? In Chile and Chiapas. And they also have farmers, I think in East Africa and maybe in West Africa as well. So check them out. Just coffee co op. Matt, what's happening in the Matt Leckian media universe? And I, I get so distracted by your photo in this.

[Matt Leckie]

My photo?

[Jessica Valenti]

Yeah.

[Matt Leckie]

What?

[Sam Cedar]

Well, because where are you looking at

[Matt Leckie]

somebody on my screen?

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, but it's, it, it's weird because I don't know that. And it looks like you're like looking past the F here. We got new photos soon and you gotta like.

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah, if you can't just use the same photo over and over again, just bring two shirts.

[Sam Cedar]

You use this photo over and over again.

[Matt Leckie]

This is a screenshot from the actual broadcast. So it is.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, it looks identical to the like

[Matt Leckie]

person every single day.

[Sam Cedar]

You gotta move. Where you gonna, you gotta move where your screen is.

[Matt Leckie]

I mean, I don't think I look like that in every picture. That was just the first one when I scrubbed looking for a screenshot.

[Sam Cedar]

But I have my mouth open 100, 100% do.

[Matt Leckie]

Anyway, so there's a new left reckoning coming up right after the show today. We're talking about Florida whose economy, despite all the billionaires talking about how much they going to go there because they're insulted by Zoran, is struggling massively.

[Sam Cedar]

And actually we put the Florida economy, we obviously, we have a lot of technical equipment here and we can actually take Florida economic numbers, put it through our X5000 audio interface machine and this is what we got.

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah, exactly. And also they're, you know, they're, they're not morally outraged to have alligator Alcatraz, but it is costing them money in

[Sam Cedar]

their state budget, $1 million a day.

[Matt Leckie]

So I hope it's worth it there folks and good luck, you know, with your collapsing economy as you support ICE. So check that out. Patreon.com left reckoning and yeah, that's coming up. Rap show today.

[Sam Cedar]

Can we get Andrew Cuomo to get down there? Like should we start a letter writing campaign? Florida needs him.

[Matt Leckie]

Yeah, what the hell, A job creator like Andrew Cuomo.

[Sam Cedar]

I thought, I mean, check in on him.

[Emma Viglin]

Maybe he did go.

[Sam Cedar]

I don't think he did, but he was supposed to. He promised us he would. I hope he didn't lie to us. That would be upsetting. Folks, see you in the funhouse three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow. What? What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on for a second. Emma. Welcome to the program. Fun pack. What is up, everyone? Fun pack. No. Me.

[Mac (Macro)]

Keen.

[Jessica Valenti]

You did it.

[Sam Cedar]

Fun Pack.

[Jessica Valenti]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's go, Brandon. Fun pack. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today.

[Lisa Hsu]

Fundamentally false. No.

[Jessica Valenti]

I'm sorry. Women.

[Sam Cedar]

Stop talking for a second.

[Jessica Valenti]

Let me finish. Where is this coming from? Dude, it.

[Sam Cedar]

But, dude, you want to smoke this? 7A.

[Jessica Valenti]

Yes. All right.

[Sam Cedar]

This thing. Yes. Is this me? Is it me? It is you. Is this me?

[Matt Leckie]

Hello?

[Sam Cedar]

Is this me? I think it is you. Who is you? No. Sound out. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind? We can discuss free markets and we can discuss capitalism.

[Jessica Valenti]

I'm gonna go to my life.

[Sam Cedar]

Libertarians.

[Matt Leckie]

They're so stupid.

[Sam Cedar]

Though common sense says of course.

[Jessica Valenti]

Gobbledygook.

[Sam Cedar]

We nailed him.

[Jessica Valenti]

So what's 79 plus 21?

[Sam Cedar]

Challenge, man.

[Jessica Valenti]

I'm positively quivering.

[Sam Cedar]

I believe 96. I want to say 857-210-355-0110 creates 911.

[Jessica Valenti]

For instance, $3,400. $1,900.

[Sam Cedar]

Five, four, $3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game.

[Jessica Valenti]

Actually. You're making me think less.

[Sam Cedar]

But let me say this. You can call it satire. Sam goes in.

[Lisa Hsu]

Satire on top of it all. My favorite part about you is just like every day, all day, like everything you do.

[Sam Cedar]

Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We seen you. All right, folks, folks, folks.

[Jessica Valenti]

It's just the week being weeded out. Obviously.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I, I, I don't know.

[Jessica Valenti]

But you should know,

[Sam Cedar]

people just don't

[Matt Leckie]

like to entertain ideas anymore.

[Sam Cedar]

I have a question. Who cares?

[Matt Leckie]

Our chat is enabled, folks.

[Sam Cedar]

I love it.

[Jessica Valenti]

I do love that.

[Sam Cedar]

Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o'. Clock. We're already late and the guy's being a dick, so screw em. Sent to a gulag.

[Jessica Valenti]

Outrageous.

[Sam Cedar]

Like, what is wrong with you? Love you. Bye. Love you. Bye. Bye.