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On this episode, Jen & Carolyn ask the question on everyone’s mind: Is AI coming for your job? With rapid advances in artificial intelligence — from automated text tools to industrial robots — many workers are wondering if their livelihoods are safe. We’ll break down the facts, the fears, and the future — and help you understand what’s real and what’s speculation.

Equities close with slight gains as tech shares recover | Reuters

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, PhD, MEd — Written Testimony, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, January 2026

The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids' Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again (2025)

Mark Manson, blog post — "The highest-leverage AI prompts do the exact opposite" (markmanson.net)

Holt-Lunstad, J. et al. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk. PLOS Medicine.

U.S. Surgeon General Advisory (2023). Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.

De Freitas, J. et al. (2025). AI Companions Reduce Loneliness. Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford Academic.

Fang, C.M. et al. (2025). How AI and human behaviors shape psychosocial effects of chatbot use: A longitudinal randomized controlled study. arXiv.

Pew Research Center — AI's Impact on U.S. Workers (Kochhar, R., CNBC/Pew, 2023)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Job Openings in Professional Services, January 2025

American Staffing Association — White-Collar Job Seeker Data, 2024; cited in SalesforceDevops.net, February 2025

Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) — "White-collar bloodbath" warning; cited in Axios, May 2025

LinkedIn Chief Economic Opportunity Officer Aneesh Raman — on entry-level career ladder collapse; cited in Medium/Gorsht, September 2025

Polyvagal Theory — Stephen Porges (nervous system as biological imperative)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/something-big-happening-matt-shumer-so5he/

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On today’s episode, Jen & Carolyn explore a topic that hits home for many: how intense political and ideological divisions in the United States are shaping the modern dating landscape. We’ll talk about how politics influences who we date, how couples navigate differences, and what it all means for relationships in an era of polarization.

Garcia, J., & Gesselman, A. (2025). Singles in America: 14th Annual Study. The Kinsey Institute & Match.

Gottman, J. M., & Silver, N. (2015). The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. Harmony Books.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.

American Survey Center (January 2025)

AP VoteCast (November 2024, n=120,000+ voters)

Trombetti, S. (Celebrity matchmaker, quoted May 2025)

Pew Research Center (2022)

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The United States in 2026 is not Nazi Germany…yet. But history doesn’t only warn us through identical repetition. It warns us through patterns—through early signals, institutional stress, and social dynamics that recur under different conditions. In this episode, Jen & Carolyn ask a difficult but important question: What happens when we compare the United States today—not to Nazi Germany at its endpoint—but to Germany in the years before it became Nazi Germany? Because the tragedy of the Weimar Republic was not that Germans woke up one morning and chose dictatorship. It was that many believed “this can’t happen here.”

Alexander, J. C. (2004). Toward a theory of cultural trauma. In J. C. Alexander, R. Eyerman, B. Giesen, N. J. Smelser, & P. Sztompka (Eds.), Cultural trauma and collective identity (pp. 1-30). University of California Press.

DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3), 54-70.

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. (J. Strachey, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Hübl, T., & Avritt, J. J. (2020). Healing collective trauma: A process for integrating our intergenerational and cultural wounds. Sounds True.

Isobel, S., Goodyear, M., Furness, T., & Foster, K. (2019). Preventing intergenerational trauma transmission: A critical interpretive synthesis. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(7-8), 1100-1113.

Kestenberg, J. (1982). A metapsychological assessment based on an analysis of a survivor's child. In M. S. Bergman & M. E. Jucovy (Eds.), Generations of the Holocaust (pp. 137-158). Basic Books.

Knight, Z. G. (2017). "If I leave home, who will take care of mum?" Intergenerational transmission of parental trauma through projective identification. The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 40(2), 119-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/01062301.2017.1403496

Krieger, H. (1938). Das Rassenrecht in den Vereinigten Staaten [Race law in the United States]. Junker und Dünnhaupt Verlag.

Levy, M. S. (2000). A conceptualization of the repetition compulsion. Psychiatry, 63(1), 45-53.

Porges, S. W. (1995). Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage: A polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology, 32(4), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1995.tb01213.x

Porges, S. W. (2001). The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42(2), 123-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8760(01)00162-3

Porges, S. W. (2021). Polyvagal theory: A science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227

Porges, S. W. (2022). Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 16, 871227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227

Racial Integrity Act of 1924, Virginia Code § 20-54 et seq. (1924).

Sangalang, C. C., & Vang, C. (2016). Intergenerational trauma in refugee families: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19(3), 745-754.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2023). The Nuremberg Race Laws. Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/e

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In this episode, Jen & Carolyn explore the relatively new phenomenon of bots. They’re everywhere online — but what are they doing to our elections, our beliefs, and our politics? Artificial accounts that look like real people… automated armies flooding social media… AI chatbots that can change minds. Are bots influencing elections? And if so, how much?

Brashier, N. M., & Marsh, E. J. (2020). Judging truth. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 499-515.

Fazio, L. K., Pillai, R. M., & Patel, D. (2024). The illusory truth effect: A review of how repetition increases belief in misinformation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 56, Article 101736.

Henderson, E. L., Simons, D. J., & Barr, D. J. (2021). The trajectory of truth: A longitudinal study of the illusory truth effect. Journal of Cognition, 4(1), 29.

Li, N. P., van Vugt, M., & Colarelli, S. M. (2018). The evolutionary mismatch hypothesis: Implications for psychological science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 38-44.

Menczer, F., Hui, P., Ahn, Y. Y., Ciampaglia, G. L., Ferrara, E., Flammini, A., ... & Yang, K. C. (2024). How foreign operations are manipulating social media to influence your views. The Conversation.

Porges, S. W. (2022). Polyvagal theory: A science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 16, Article 871227.

U.S. Department of Justice (2024). Justice Department disrupts covert Russian government-operated social media bot farm. [Press release].

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In this episode, we dig into the implementation of Project 2025 — the 900+-page blueprint created by The Heritage Foundation and other conservative organizations for remaking the federal government and policy agenda. What parts have already been actioned? What remains pending? What are the risks, and where are the potential levers of accountability? We’ll review data from trackers and assess next steps.

American Civil Liberties Union+2Democracy Forward+2
Wikipedia+2Congresswoman Grace Meng+2

Democracy Forward

AFSCME Council 5 Retirees United+1

Democracy Forward+1

PBS+1

Project 2025 Tracker+1

Center for Progressive Reform

Project 2025 Tracker+2American Civil Liberties Union+2

Seligman, M. E. P. (1972). Learned helplessness. Annual Review of Medicine, 23(1), 407-412. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.me.23.020172.002203

Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2016). Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychological Review, 123(4), 349-367. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000033

Lodge, M., & Taber, C. S. (2013). The rationalizing voter. Cambridge University Press.

Cialdini, R. B. (2006). Influence: The psychology of persuasion (Revised ed.). Harper Business.

Kunda, Z. (1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 480-498. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480

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In this episode, Jen & Carolyn dive into the phenomenon of leaders who surround themselves not with the best and brightest, but with the most loyal and the most sycophantic. Yes-men. Lapdogs. Toadies. Whatever you call them, they have shaped history — and often brought down the very leaders who empowered them. Our jumping-off point is a recent column by Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, titled Why Trump Built a Staff of Incompetent Sycophants. Reich’s argument is stark: Donald Trump, like authoritarian rulers before him, prizes loyalty over competence. And the result, he says, is a government of the unqualified, a culture of flattery, and ultimately, a recipe for failure.”

1. Why Trump built a staff of incompetent sycophants | Robert Reich | The Guardian
2. Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017
3. Fried, Richard M. Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective. Oxford University Press, 1990
4. Radosh, Ronald, and Joyce Milton. The Rosenberg File. Yale University Press, 1997
5. Schrecker, Ellen. Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America. Princeton University Press, 1998
6. Von Hoffman, Nicholas. Citizen Cohn. Doubleday, 1988
7. Oshinsky, David M. A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy. Oxford University Press, 2005
8. Robert Conquest, The Great Terror (1968)
9. Kanan Makiya, Republic of Fear (1989)
10. Hannah Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951) 
11.  Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy (2009)
12. On this Day, August 2, 1986, Roy Cohn Died of AIDS. | by Ken Gault | Think Queerly—By Darren Stehle
13. Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.
14. Dana, D. (2018). The polyvagal theory in therapy: Engaging the rhythm of regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.
15. Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. Harper & Row.
16. Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.
17. Janis, I. L. (1972). Victims of groupthink: A psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. Houghton Mifflin.
18. Janis, I. L. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes (2nd ed.). Houghton Mifflin.
19. Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press.
20. Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Harvard University Press.
21. Bulhan, H. A. (1985). Frantz Fanon and the psychology of oppression. Plenum Press.
22. Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. W.H. Freeman.
23. Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2016). Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychological Review, 123(4), 349-367.
24. Alexander, J. C. (2012). Trauma: A social theory. Polity Press.
25. Brave Heart, M. Y. H. (2003). The historical trauma response among Natives and its relationship with substance abuse: A Lakota illustration. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 35(1), 7-13.
26. DeGruy, J. (2017). Post traumatic slave syndrome: America's legacy of enduring injury and healing. Joy DeGruy Publications.
27. Litz, B. T., Stein, N., Delaney, E., Lebowitz, L., Nash, W. P., Silva, C., & Maguen, S. (

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So there we were, at the Anne Rice Vampire Ball in New Orleans, surrounded by people in Victorian goth attire, fangs, and elaborate costumes...and thinking, "Yeah, we're definitely the weirdos."

We fit right in!  But you know what? That's exactly the energy we need for today's episode. Because Jen & Carolyn are talking about an organization that's been called everything from "trolls" to "heroes of religious freedom"—and they're doing it all while waving the banner of Satan.   But here's the twist: they don't actually believe in Satan.

• The Satanic Temple: Church of Satan: churchofsatan.com
• "Hail Satan?" (2019) - Excellent documentary about The Satanic Temple
• "The Satanic Bible" by Anton LaVey (Church of Satan's foundational text)
• "Speak of the Devil: How The Satanic Temple is Changing the Way We Talk About Religion" by Joseph Laycock

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Today, Jen & Carolyn are diving into something that's going to make you rethink everything you thought you knew about political violence in America.  We're going to connect three stories that on the surface seem completely unrelated: a Netflix series about a 13-year-old murderer, the assassination of a conservative activist, and a teenager who used ChatGPT to plan his own suicide.  But here's the thing - they're not unrelated at all. They're all symptoms of the same digital disease that's rewiring young minds in ways our political systems can't even comprehend yet. So buckle up, because we're about to show you how a cartoon frog, an AI chatbot, and a Netflix drama reveal the real political crisis of our time.  And fair warning - we're going to be discussing suicide, violence, and some pretty dark online spaces. 

Council, S. (2025, March 13). Breaking down Netflix's crime drama Adolescence. TIME. 

Netflix. (2025, September 15). Is 'Adolescence' a true story? Emmy wins, plot, release date, cast, trailer, photos. Netflix Tudum. 

Bramesco, C. (2025, March 25). Adolescence movie review & film summary. Roger Ebert. 

Midgley, A. (2025, March 24). How Netflix's 'Adolescence' was based on real events and a toxic internet subculture. Elle. 

Wikipedia. (2025, September 18). Adolescence (TV series). Wikipedia. 

Jensen, M. (2025, September 14). Political violence in recent American history: Charlie Kirk is far from the first victim. CNN. 

Serrano, A. (2025, September 14). Analysis: Why Charlie Kirk's killing could embolden more political violence. PBS News. 

ABC News. (2025, September 12). Charlie Kirk shooting: A timeline of recent political violence in America. ABC News. 

Collinson, S. (2025, September 15). Analysis: Trump's cherry-picked claims on political violence ignore his own rhetoric. CNN Politics. 

Bendavid, N. (2025, September 11). United States enters a new age of political violence. The Washington Post. 

Reuters. (2025, September 13). Far-right groups dox online critics after Charlie Kirk's death. Al Jazeera. 

Kelly, M. (2025, September 11). The killing of Charlie Kirk adds to a time of political upheaval and violence. NPR. Yousef, O., & Montanaro, D. (2025, September 12). Political violence is on the rise in America. What's driving it? NPR. 

NBC News. (2025, September 10). Charlie Kirk assassination prompts outcry over political violenc

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What do Emperor Norton, Steve Silver, Wyatt Earp, and William Randolph Hearst have in common?

They’re all buried in Colma, CA — the city of souls! 💀

Join Jen & Carolyn as we take you on a video journey through the resting places of San Francisco’s most iconic figures. Happy Halloween, y'all! 🎥✨

Watch now 👉 https://youtu.be/ebYqZM1fQLM?si=XM-tEIImb_mdtnqx

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On this week’s episode, Jen and Carolyn explore the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants, both documented and undocumented. We'll examine not only the fear and disruption these enforcement efforts are causing in communities, but also the broader economic consequences of dramatically reducing immigrant labor.

Office of Justice Programs

Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants – ITEP

ACLU Announces Major Settlement in Family Separation Lawsuit | American Civil Liberties Union

900 migrant children separated from parents despite court order, ACLU says

US: Lasting Harm from Family Separation at the Border | Human Rights Watch

American Immigration Council. (2025). U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement.

Cardoso, J. B., et al. (2021). Anxiety prevalence among Latinx adolescents from immigrant families.

Côté-Olijnyk, M., Perry, J. C., Paré, M-E., & Kronick, R. (2024). The mental health of migrants living in limbo: a mixed-methods systemic review with meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 337, 115931.

Dee, T. S., & Murphy, M. (2019). Vanished Classmates: The Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement on School Enrollment. American Educational Research Journal.

Pinedo, M., & Escobar, C. (2024). Childhood parental deportations, immigration enforcement experiences, and posttraumatic stress disorder among US-born Latino adults. American Journal of Public Health, 114(S6), S495–S504.

UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute. (2023). The Impact of a Broken Immigration System on U.S. Students and Schools.

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. (2025). Know Your Rights and Rapid Response Networks.

Florida Immigrant Coalition. (2025). Florida Rapid Response Alliance for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment (RAISE).

Human Rights First. (2025). Under Attack: The Sanctity of Sanctuary Cities.

Immigrant Legal Resource Center. (2025). Know Your Rights: Community Resources.

Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. (2025). Values and Beliefs Underlying Mutual Aid: An Exploration of Collective Care.

NPR. (2025). These churches offer shelter and sanctuary to vulnerable migrants.

Sahan Journal. (2024). Minnesota mutual aid groups prepare as election anxiety builds.