Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] It’s hot, it’s June, and there’s mayhem in a major American city, this time Los Angeles. Nancy lived through the Rodney King riots, and though LA will hopefully not explode thusly, Nancy is heading there to cover the action. Want to help her? You can [https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/p/sunday-this-and-that-2]. In other news, the Musk-Trump bromance imploded last week. Sarah has theories about the timing of certain tweets and deletions, in addition to what might come next. She catches us up on the Manhattan re-trial of Harvey Weinstein, who did not take the stand in his defense, though he did give a news interview. Verdict incoming — maybe this week! Also discussed: * SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE [https://www.youtube.com/@SmokeEmPod], especially if you’re a woman * Nancy’s had it with the Trump nicknaming * Looking for some conspiracy theories? We got ‘em * “Green troll hair on the sour cream” * No dramatic hyperbolic yelling, please, Sarah’s still waking up * Jared Leto: Ick or hot? * Citizen: Protect the World app sounds kinda cool * Benjamin Franklin was a lot of things, but he was not a bangin’ father * “Women with broken dreams …” * Changing the names of battleships is hard, explained * Please don’t mention Faces of Death Plus, big love for The Dumb Zone, props to the brotherhood of the foxhole, another installment of “Let’s Be the Judge!” and more! Our bromance only gets better when you become a paid subscriber.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Brooke Siem is the author of the 2022 memoir, May Cause Side Effects [https://www.amazon.com/May-Cause-Side-Effects-Memoir/dp/1949481700], about the decade and a half she spent on anti-depressants (prescribed after her father died when she was 15) and what happened when she ditched them. Sarah is currently on anti-depressants, though she wonders whether she needs them. Nancy is not on SSRIs, though she was part of a gentle brigade who nudged Sarah to increase her dosage last year. This is a complicated knot! The ladies talk about over-medication, how cultural taboos migrate, and the problem with treating sadness, anger, frustration — very human emotions — with a pill. Also discussed: * Nancy suddenly cares about the Navy; Sarah questions this * That time Brooke wore a foxy denim jumper * “Chemical imbalance” is a hoodwink * The “Come Out of the Dark Campaign [https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/charting-the-depths/201311/the-come-out-the-dark-campaign-introduction]” meant to eradicate depression stigma leads to an explosion of SSRI prescriptions * SSRIs and orgasm * The opiate epidemic tracks with the anti-depressant era * “Chemical castration” didn’t start with puberty blockers … * 70s-80s Ritalin vogue * Related: Does Ritalin suppress male growth? * Hold up: a link between transitioning genders and SSRIs? * Drinking and depression, a tangled saga * “Headaches are caused by an Advil deficiency” * Beware Wellbutrin * Gothic SSRI withdrawal * “I never boned a cabbie … that I’m aware of.” * That time Sarah went hypomanic … * 1 in 4 American women are on anti-depressants * The hormones and menopause of it all * “Fuck you, person at Whole Foods!” * Big Pharma / Big Food = same playbook, different expression * “Do you bake with yeast?” * WTF with Pol Pot? Plus, boozy cupcakes, a coyote sighting, was Tom Cruise right about pharmaceuticals — and much more! This one’s a banger! Listen to the whole shebang when you become a paid subscriber.

Hello, mighty listeners and readers. This post is free for all, with an ask: Please subscribe to our new YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@SmokeEmPod]. Even better, watch/listen on the YT. Smooch! 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. Real empowerment comes from being a paid subscriber Meanwhile over on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@SmokeEmPod] … Episode Notes: So this happened: How it started/how it’s going “Exclusive interview: Harvey Weinstein’s youngest accuser speaks out [https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/exclusive-interview-harvey-weinsteins-youngest-accuser-speaks-out/]” (News Nation Now interview with Kaja Sokola) “Weinstein Trial to Shift to Defense After 3rd Accuser’s Striking Account [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/nyregion/harvey-weinstein-trial-what-to-know.html],” by Hurubie Meko (New York Times) “Medical expert talks about erectile dysfunction shot at Harvey Weinstein’s NYC sex assault retrial [https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/28/medical-expert-talks-about-erectile-dysfunction-shot-at-harvey-weinsteins-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 [https://www.thefp.com/p/harvey-weinstein-and-the-death-rattle?hide_intro_popup=true],” by Kat Rosenfield (Free Press) Forty Bucks and a Dream: Stories from Los Angeles [https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Bucks-Dream-Stories-Angeles-ebook/dp/B0DD8PHWMT], by Nancy Rommelmann What’s in your hot box? Sarah: Nancy: Libra [https://www.amazon.com/Libra-Contemporary-American-Fiction-DeLillo/dp/0140156046/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6a5ySRiaUZ0qAnZhr_wIjomp8Z_RVwnHv4l6n7hrRHEYSkaTQjdq0fc4c4DyJz6CUszifUEi8pr_U6_qn_BJAJNDxBDpU6e06GxZGdZPvoH4MJjezYnrZ0r40aMg3DAuwkyobe3bZj0jPngcppAhOlxFYzDypKgjp48KNYj5AX7w2Uv70TB-A9NMlHqyPyW4OctLow6I3M3-mtYE94kHWzKr2fg2ITQvr0fp8_ZVzHk.JT93VmGZ11hWlVs-Y9WIBoVGwhVmH5iJRuTfSPQDh7M&dib_tag=se&hvbmt=%7BBidMatchType%7D&hvdev=c&keywords=libra+don+delillo&qid=1748629603&s=books&sr=1-1], by Don DeLillo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com/subscribe [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] REMINDER: Subscribe to our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@SmokeEmPod] (it’s free). Even better: Watch it. Happy Memorial Day! Nancy and Sarah discuss a Columbia Journalism Review bombshell about the alleged sexual misdeeds of journalist Wes Lowery, who shot to fame during the Black Lives Matter era and is perhaps best known for popularizing the idea of journalism guided by “moral certainty.” This is hot one! Sarah gets kneejerk over blackout confusion, Nancy doesn’t understand “situationships,” and they argue over the definition of “glory hole.” Whether Lowery is guilty of these misdeeds we can’t say, but we both hope #metoo stories start to pivot away from “tearing someone down” to pointing to a better way to engage with people you love/bone/covet/teach/mentor/etc. Also discussed: * The latest Mission: Impossible — wanna guess who liked it? * A blender full of stunts, frappéd * When did we start celebrating Memorial Day? * The smell of a nuclear submarine (let’s ask Sarah’s brother) * SLEEP BUFFET!!!! * Ken Burns’ theory on binary thinking shaped by computer code * Fifth Column + Lowery = “exactly what you want from mega-minds” * Buying a woman a drink: Predatory behavior — or kick-ass? * Do people get roofied? Yes, but way less than hype suggests * How dating fell apart * Assholes vs. criminals / regret sex vs. rape * The sad and endless hamster wheel of the compulsively sexual male * When Sarah was a drunk bully … * Slutdom during Nancy’s “Eddie Vedder years” * Rise of violence on on the left: To be continued! Plus, Nancy has a request for sociopaths, Sarah makes a hopeless pass at Douglas Murray — and much more! Memorialize the day you became a paid subscriber…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com [https://smokeempodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Ethan Strauss is a straight shooter in a (slightly) crooked profession. As a writer who follows sports and culture, the Substacker and podcaster has a land grab on pointing out things that others have become reluctant to acknowledge. He talks with Nancy and Sarah about the contradictions of the WNBA, the popularity of Caitlin Clark and the reluctance of sneaker brands to give her a shoe (at least first), how men have changed the audience for women’s sports, and NBA teams as a mini-Game of Thrones, replete with palace intrigue. We also discuss Bill Belichick and his very young girlfriend Jordon Hudson, third-runner-up to Miss Maine. REMINDER: Don’t forget our whisper-soft launch over on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@SmokeEmPod]! Please subscribe to the SMOKE EM channel, which costs you nothing and brings us joy. Also discussed: * “Nancy knows she’s a narcissist” * When selfies kill (mostly men) … * Do all sports announcers sound like Marv Albert? * Why authors hated when Stanley Kubrick made movies of their books * Sports betting meets the WNBA * “Girls can do anything” era meets “Girls can’t win” era * Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s widow, may NOT the best person to negotiate the future of her late husband’s brand, but please don’t aggregate this. * Sorry, Dirk, we don’t buy shoes for centers * Luka, the hot girlfriend Dallas lost * Why people can’t leave Bill Belichick’s age gap relationship alone * “Did he get a real blowjob, and lose his mind?” * The most romantic philosophy book Belichick ever signed * Viagra, the body hack with consequences * That time Sarah matched with a silver fox who was 72 … * The Boomers won’t leave! * Did Kerry really love Logan on Succession? * The problem of an aging father who is also single * Which former NFL superstar hangs around Dallas’s Katy Trail without his shirt on, chatting up the ladies? * The surprisingly tender story of Anna Nicole Smith’s old rich husband * The best role Tom Cruise ever played, and it’s not Magnolia Plus, why Nike should have made an ad about girl dads, that time Nancy discovered Steve Nash, Ethan doesn’t know how Australians learn to read, and much more! NOTE: Ethan’s new show, RANDOM OFFENSE, premieres this Friday at 4pmET/1pmPT. Fancy Pommelmann will be there, and you come too! LOVE WINS, when you become a paid subscriber.