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Nancy has a “virus of unknown origin” while Sarah is rarin’ to go on a story she sunk her teeth into years ago: the trials of Harvey Weinstein, this time, his current NYC re-trial for criminal sexual acts. (His previous NY conviction was overturned in April 2024.)

The Weinstein case is interesting, because most people think they know it, but they really just know the salacious details and hype of early-#MeToo media stories. The criminal case against Weinstein — particularly in New York, though he was convicted in LA, too — is a murkier thing, littered with ambiguous exchanges, years-long relationships and rides on private planes. Weinstein may be a “sexual pig, an opportunist, a philanderer and a bully,” but does that mean the women accusing him played no role in this? And if not, what does that say about all that women’s “empowerment” we keep hearing about?

Also discussed:

* Ethan Strauss brings the rain

* Is Taylor Lorenz monstrous? Troubled? Both? Nancy and Sarah discuss

* Sarah used to make jokes about crack babies (in college, y’all!)

* Rejected from a threesome? Yeah, that happened

* Ronan Farrow: It all begins with mom

* “Candace Rogan” ???

* 2020: Let’s not put people in prison! Also 2020: Men accused of #MeToo crimes should go to prison!

* Who will play Jessica Mann in the “American Crime Story” version of the Weinstein trials? Who, Harvey?

* Should Harvey take the stand?

* Gloria Allred’s daughter learned from the best

* Sarah does not have an extra-large vagina

* The sigh of Russell Brand exhaustion

* Diddy may be going to prison forever

* The genius of Don DeLillo

Plus, Sarah and Nancy discover they both just started gardens from seeds (so satisfying!), Polish women are the hottest on the planet, cunnilingus as weapon, and much more!

First Sunday Zoom is this Sunday! June 1, 8pmET/5pmPT. Paid subscribers (come on, now!) get link the day-of.

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Meanwhile over on YouTube …

Episode Notes:

So this happened:

How it started/how it’s going

“Exclusive interview: Harvey Weinstein’s youngest accuser speaks out” (News Nation Now interview with Kaja Sokola)

“Weinstein Trial to Shift to Defense After 3rd Accuser’s Striking Account,” by Hurubie Meko (New York Times)

“Medical expert talks about erectile dysfunction shot at Harvey Weinstein’s NYC sex assault retrial” (New York Daily News)

Yes, we’ve been down this road…

… and yet there seems always more to learn from the pivots and how they are/are not explained to the public

“Harvey Weinstein and the Death Rattle of #MeToo,” by Kat Rosenfield (Free Press)

Forty Bucks and a Dream: Stories from Los Angeles, by Nancy Rommelmann

What’s in your hot box?

Sarah:

Nancy:

Libra, by Don DeLillo

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137 - Dave Kalama