We mourn Dolly Parton. We discuss Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s egg freezing and what it means for reproductive justice in America. Plus, the baby born from the California-Texas surrogacy case.

• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
• Donate to support Imagination Library
• Top Movies with Dolly Parton

AOC Egg Freezing

• One of AOC’s blogs on egg freezing
• Arghavan’s essay on egg freezing
• Fetal Personhood laws
• Arghavan’s substack essay with links to data on egg freezing
• Arghavan’s research on parental leave during residency
• Arghavan’s research on the costs of family building
• Arghavan’s research on barriers to family building
• Systematic review on outcomes with frozen eggs
• Alyssa’s essay series on The Retrievals podcast

More Topics

• Background on the legal issues when a surrogate refused to have an abortion
• Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
• Norwood Procedure
• WNBA update: Enes Kanter Freedom thrown out of game
• Canada/US trade war
• US threatens more sanctions against Iran

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Broadway à la Justin Bieber
• Purple Skeletons
• 99 Flock Balloons

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Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

The flagrant racism in the recent death of Cambridge scholar, Dr. Jason Arday; Also, how new technology hasn’t stopped attempts at medical knowledge gatekeeping

Note: Alex Vindman raised $16 million compared to the $1 million raised by Angie Nixon. Nixon won.

• Chocolate with viagra recalled
• Sourdough bread recalled
• Blueberries recalled (brand is GreenWise)
• Granola recalled
• Clear Eyes eye drops recalled
• List of recalled foods

Jason Arday

• Peter Thiel-backed network targeted Jason Arday
• Fact check on Arday’s story
• Nathan Cofnas under investigation
• Nathan Cofnas says vigil for Jason Arday is about him
• Kate Manne: Gossipy Academics Helped Kill Jason Arday. Or, the anatomy of a pile-on
• History of lynching in the US
• 22 Black people found “dead under unusual or suspicious hanging circumstances across the country” since March 2025
• GoFundMe for Jason Arday
• Sign a letter demanding an investigation of the handling of Jason Arday

Open Evidence

• Doctors are quietly using this AI tool
• Open Evidence is the preferred LLM of countless physicians

Other News

• Lindsay Clancy trial
• USS Lincoln deployment ends
• Who is Natalie Harp?

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Video of a young woman doing kung fu
• Sterling Point

Text us!

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Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

We cover the latest on Trump’s vaccine executive order and catch you up on some major abortion stories.

AOC’s public egg-freezing shouldn’t feel radical. But in today’s US, it does.

Executive Order on Vaccines

• Presidential executive order on vaccines
• Arghavan’s post that includes videos from the press conference
• Fact check of the press conference
• FDA head’s lies about Covid vaccines and kids

Pregnancy Surveillance and Criminalization

• Pregnancy Justice new report on Pregnancy Criminalization
• Erika Schwartz on “abortion surveillance”
• Todd Blanche wants to make abortion illegal in every state
• Police use Flock cameras to stalk woman for abortion
• Ashley Brown denied healthcare after fetal demise

Additional stories to know about:

• Dr. Fauci’s texts and the lie about the miscarriage rate for those vaccinated while pregnant
• Former NBA players declare for WNBA draft
• Conditions on the USS Lincoln
• Harvard antisemitism lawsuit dismissed

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Daddy and son bicycle ride
• Removing the toddler seat from the dad’s bike
• Review of Untamed Heart
• Revisiting 1999’s Dogma, how Harvey Weinstein kept it hard to watch
• Dogma 25th Anniversary preview

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Fauci’s diary entries, Rand Paul loses it when Fauci uses his Fifth Amendment right, RFK Jr melts down when Dana Bash asks him about measles; McConnell Watch Update

The Clown Car of Public Health is at it again!

Fact Check: The index measles case in the Chihuahua, Mexico outbreak was a child from Mexico who visited Gaines County Texas and brought measles back to his community, infecting his class (not a Gaines County resident who traveled to Mexico)

Fauci Takes the Fifth:

• Rand Paul’s “unhinged obsession” with Fauci
• Rand Paul wants Fauci in jail
• Dr. Fauci’s lawyer removed from hearing

RFK Jr’s Revisionist History:

• RFK Jr.’s Falsehood-Filled CNN Interview
• Gish Gallop debate for terrible arguments
• VH1 Pop Up Videos
• Arghavan’s video about her time in NYC (check out the comments)
• Arghavan’s video diaries from her time in NYC in the spring of 2020

More Medical News:

• Moderna’s mRNA Flu vaccine
• Mitch McConnell Watch update
• More than 50 relatives of military members deported
• 1.5 million egg cartons recalled due to salmonella
• Salmonella on jalapeno peppers at Chipotle and Qdoba
• Popular Information: Taxpayers spend about $2 billion on Medicaid benefits for Amazon and Walmart

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Cosplaying earth (@heyitatay on IG)
• Earth calls SpaceX
• Earth asks moon if moon landing was real
• Roast Chicken with a Side of Drama

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

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Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Physician and consent-advocate, Dr. Zed Zha, joins the pod to share her new book: Consented: A Doctor's Call to End Medical Violence and Reclaim Patient Autonomy

Zed Zha's Consented

• Get your copy of Consented
• Dr. Zha’s newsletter Ask The Patient
• My Mother was a Thief - Essay about Dr. Zha’s mom

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Dr. Zha loves her dog Moshi Moshi
• Narrating dogs in the pool
• BTS for narrating animals underwater
• “Sometimes there’s a dog”
• Stress Advice from a Goose

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Too much public health news for two doctors to narrow it down. An update on cyclosporiasis, measles, raw milk, and Ebola, all with a side of Todd Blanche forgetting he’s not supposed to still be the president’s lawyer and Pete Hegseth’s begging for war-machine money while children go hungry.

Fact check: Taylor Farms may not be the only brand with the code TF

• Tate brothers arrested
• Who wore it better?
• Arghavan’s Tate brothers round-up

A Smorgasbord of Public Health Problems

• Number of cases of cyclosporiasis
• FDA and Taylor Farms
• Arghavan’s summary with Taylor Farms and FDA statements
• Where is Taylor Farms produce sold?
• Other places we have seen linked to Taylor Farm on social media (likely not a complete list): 
  • Target
  • Walmart
  • Trader Joe’s
  • Wegman’s
  • H E B
  • Costco
  • Kroger
  • Sam’s Club
  • Sysco
  • Aldi
  • Whole Foods
  • Amazon
• Mark McAfee’s Raw Milk quotes
• Former DoJ employees oppose Todd Blanche
• Blanche says he’s Trump’s lawyer
• Summary of Blanche confirmation hearing
• Hegseth on Iran war
• Arghavan’s summary of Hegseth’s requests, including Ossoff’s questioning
• Measles: Cases reach 35 year high; CDC numbers

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Helping dogs get adopted: madmax_fluffyroad
• Alyssa’s sunflower ASMR

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Explosive diarrhea? The Clown Car of the Apocalypse is at it again. ICE keeps killing people. Millions give up their health insurance because it’s too expensive. 

• Update on potential cyclosporiasis source
• Public health cuts impacting outbreak
• Arghavan’s IG post about cyclosporiasis

Mitch McConnell essay by Moira Donegan

ICE's Extrajudicial Killings

• ICE kills Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
• ICE kills Joan Sebastian Guerrero
• Susan Collins and ICE
• Join Ice by Jesse Welles (lyrics)

ACA Enrollment

• HHS Report on ACA Exchange Enrollment
• KFF 2026 ACA Market Enrollment analysis

Extras

• An overview of what happened to Nolan Wells
• Arghavan’s IG post about Nolan Wells
• Hearing for CDC director nominee Erica Schwartz
• Hegseth’s plans to test the military’s testosterone levels
• Comments on OMB proposed grant regulations
• STAT analysis of OMB comments

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Margot’s got money troubles: show, book
• Check out Mynyabiz from Dr. Blacqueer

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Is Mitch McConnell dead or alive? Let's talk about out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and critical illness in older folks. Graham Platner drops out of Maine race in wake of credible sexual assault allegations. There were plenty of red flags. 

Trump at NATO

Mitch McConnell - proof of life?

• McConnell’s cardiac arrest at home
• McConnell supposedly speaks with GOP leaders
• Ileana’s McConnell highlights
• Arghavan’s carousel with McConnell highlights

Graham Platner

• Graham Platner’s Reddit history
• Searchable archive of Platner’s Reddit posts
• Platner’s Totenkopf (“Death’s Head”) Nazi tattoo: We All (Should) Know This Is A Symbol Of “The Baddies”
• Platner’s response to tattoo and Reddit posts
• New York Times June article about Platner’s history with women (gift link)
• Politico article outlining the alleged SA
• An overview of Platner’s shortcomings
• Original WSJ video of the consultants
• The clip we listened to
• Platner’s video suspending his campaign
• Noah Berlatsky at Everything is Horrible

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Giraffe anesthesia
• Beatle’s drummer Ringo Starr turns 86 years old
• The Promise dance circle

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

The Supreme Court let America keep birthright citizenship for it’s birthday. Trump’s 250th Independence Day celebration is a flop. Surprise!

• Pew: Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology
• Gallup: Data on pride in being American
• What’s happening with the Great American State Fair?
• Yellow substance oozing from arch at the Great American State Fair
• Mt. Olive Pickles withdraws from the Great American State Fair

Note: Trump said he will give a speech in 107 degree weather on the 4th of July (not on the 6th)

SCOTUS Season Closes: 90 cases in 2026, 66 with majority decisions

Trans Athlete Bans Upheld

• West Virginia v. BPJ
• Little v. Hecox
• “Biological Female” is not a biology term - it’s an anti-trans slur

Monsanto and Cancer Warnings

• Monsanto v. Durnell
• RFK Jr flip flops on glyphosate

Birthright Citizenship

• Trump v. Barbara
• NPR summary
• Folarin Balogun birthright citizenship

Mail-In Ballots

• Watson v. Republican National Committee
• NBC summary
• LA mayoral race

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Arghavan’s summary (with clips) of the couple climbing the Empire State Building
• Stork Embroidery Scissors
• Hobee’s Pride Coffee Cake

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Dem Establishment hell bent to learn nothing from Mamdani and NY Primaries; Trump Admin’s dirty propaganda comparing immigrants to alien creatures; Join Team Algae in the Reflecting Pool drama; Hegseth can’t even lift; Alyssa makes a mixtape

Note: the memo labeling many people “terrorists” is NSPM-7, not NPSM-7

• Four years after the fall of Roe

The Reflecting Pool

• Some background on the Reflecting Pool renovation
• Arghavan’s first and second carousel about the Reflecting Pool saga

Lessons From NY Primary

• Mamdani’s candidates win
• Jaime Harrison’s tweet about Democratic politics
• New York AG’s comments about Mamdani

Dehumanization via Government Propaganda

• "Dept of War" UAP website: https://www.war.gov/UFO/
• Racist, xenophobic Aliens.gov site
• SCOTUS’s decision on Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians
• Hegseth works out with the military
• Longer video of Hegeth’s workout shows he does almost everything half-heartedly. What a warrior!
• Summary of Prairieland case
• Prairieland sentences

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Pentagon reinstates flu vaccine mandate
• Reactions to JD Vance patting Usha’s knee
• Alan Opts Out Mixtape
• June 26 - Come see Alyssa and Courtney Maum at Book Passage in Corte Madera

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else.