Start Me Up with Kimberley A. Johnson

Writer, performer, and activist, Lorraine Devon Wilke is back! She's the author of the award-winning novel, THE ALCHEMY OF NOISE; her next, CHICK SINGER, pubs March 2025, and her latest endeavor is a popular Substack titled "Musings of a Creative Loudmouth."

Today's conversation was centered around how the election affected us and what we're doing to cope. We talked about pragmatic, practical things each one of us can do to ease the fear of alarming news we hear daily, and we share personal stories of how non-religious faith (in The Force) is our power. Neither one of us is religious and we don't preach anything--it's more about finding strength and having faith in the loving force within that can help us do what needs to be done. 

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Christopher Bouzy is a serial entrepreneur, software engineer, and political maven and he’s the founder and CEO of both Bot Sentinel and Spoutible.com.

Topics: Christopher makes a compelling argument on why he feels the 2024 election was not rigged; Chris also talks about what went wrong with his (and others') optimistic electoral predictions): who can we trust to deliver the news; how we resist now; Xwitter is finally dying, and I share where I am emotionally. Today's show is a bit different. There's no intro or outro music. It's bare-bones talking about what happened.

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Steph is BACK for Election Eve

Steph is one of my best friends. She works for Planned Parenthood and we had an incredibly uplifting conversation about why there's so much to be optimistic about. She knocked on doors in Nevada and what she experienced was very positive. I detail why Florida is in play, and we both talk about how effective the DNC and the Harris campaign have been. If you're freaking out, listen to us. I promise you will feel better. Plus, we ALWAYS have fun!

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D. Earl Stephens is the author of "Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump's Very Important Letters."  He's the former managing editor of Stars & Stripes, a Navy vet, and a prolific writer.

Topics: With a little over a week away from Election Day, Earl and I weigh in on what we think the results will be and we specifically talk about Texas, Florida, and Wisconsin; will Gen Z show up this year; Trump and MAGA Republicans are embracing Hitler's ideology; Trump is clearly in mental decline; legacy media is a disaster, but the early vote numbers are encouraging.

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Jennifer Taylor-Skinner is a writer, essayist, and creator & host of the award-winning podcast, The Electorette—one of the longest-running feminist podcasts, offering analyses and solutions to the world's biggest political and social challenges, all through the lens of women.

Topics: Trump's campaign is in freefall, he had a disastrous Town Hall in PA earlier this week and a disastrous Univision Town Hall with Latino voters while Harris is nailing every media appearance, including an adversarial interview on Fox; JD Vance's only focus is on demeaning childless women; it has become clear this is about a Vance presidency; Jennifer talks about Harris' Opportunity Agenda for Black Men and how the black community is being pushed out of the voting process by Republicans; and the problematic white women who keep voting red. All that and more! 

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D. Knight is the host of the Pardon the Insurrection Podcast.

Topics: We discuss the idea of a possible silent majority: will there be massive support for Harris that isn't being measured, or is the race as close as legacy media tells us? Independent media is on the rise; The Harris campaign messaging is what Democratic voters have been waiting to see; talking with MAGA relatives and much more.

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Democratic Strategist Rachel Bitocofer is back. She's the author of Hit 'Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game.

Topics: What Democrats are getting right in their messaging and how they can improve; the importance of down-ballot voting AND messaging; how the latest Jack Smith filing could affect the election; Donald Trump's rhetoric is increasingly more dangerous as Harris rises in the polls; how important the VP debate was and what you can do before Election Day. All that and more. 

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Brian Karem is a White House Columnist and his latest book is titled Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It. He's a political analyst for Salon and hosts the "Just Ask The Question" podcast.

Topics: Brian weighs in on Harris doing more interviews; the Harris campaign has the momentum, Trump is desperate and begging for money; the Olivia Nuzzi scandal is about journalistic integrity and not about an affair; the Walz/Vance debate will be entertaining but will it sway voters? We discuss Trump's sentencing--the possible outcomes and so much more! 

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Writer Sarah Wood is back!

That wonderful, fabulous, historic presidential debate! We're still on a high and we celebrate all of the Harris goodness; Trump was humiliated on the world stage--in a way we've never witnessed--and from what we've seen of him to date, it's a good guess he'll spiral into an even more deplorable version of himself before this is all over; the Haitian pet rumor is already causing real-world damage; Sarah and I did our best to navigate what's happening now--all the joy and hope but we temper it with the fact that Trump and the GOP are still a gigantic threat to American democracy. Don't get happy. All gas, no brakes, but we have a real chance at victory this November.

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Steph is BACK and we had SO MUCH FUN!

Steph is one of my best friends. She works for Planned Parenthood and had the opportunity to go to the DNC this year. We had such an optimistic and hilarious conversation about Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, the future of American democracy and how good it feels to get back to hope and joy. I spill a little tea at the end...Such a fun show.

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