Manchin and Sinema DGAF

care for their children. That you know, people in Texas want to force you to have. Imagine having the power to do that and then just deciding, you know what, Nah, I'm good. That's what it must be like to be O Mansion and Kirsten Cinema, the two most disgustingly selfish pieces of shit on the planet right now. The other day, Eleventh Films and I talked about this, put out a video to tell us exactly how much money the Mansion

family was making. Cinema is over in Europe, you know, collecting her checks not from her constituents, right, but collecting them from overseas, filling up their packs, filling up their coffers. They don't give a fuck. How is it that we have a government that is supposed to be foreign by the people of these United States, that can be obstructed by two senators that represent not even a quarter of

the population fucking combined. How is it that these two people that maybe represent a handful of millions of people between their two goddamn states get to hold the rest

of US hostage? You know, there was a video recently on CNN that one of the WOKAF listeners sent me, I appreciate you set me in the video, and it was a CNN segment on how West Virginia is being hit by thousand year floods often right, how part of the state is either underwater and the other half is in drought so bad that over the past year, the governor of the state has had to declare a state of emergency. You declare a state of emergency so that you can get federal funds into your state in order

to help with the cleanup. How often do you think that we're going to be able to tap on fucking FEMA's door before all of that money dries up, Because instead of safeguarding these communities like Joe Mansion, has the opportunity to do against these you know, thousand year floods. He's decided that he's going to block the climate change part of the infrastructure bill that would help his own

goddamn state. And what was worse is that when these motherfuckers were interviewed on CNN and they were asked by the reporter, so, you know, what do you think about climate change and the climate change legislation that is right

now being stalled because of your senator. I think that climate change is a bunch of hoop law, and I don't want to play into it, says this stupid, stupid man who has been living in a trailer with himself, his wife, his two kids, and three dogs because he's still rebuilding his fucking home from the thousand year old flood that took it out. Yeah, but here's the thing. Let's not play into reality. Let's not play into the fact that insurance companies are not going to cover right

your rebuild. Let's not play into the fact that, oh, yeah, big coal that you think is supporting your livelihood is actually going to cost you your life. How can you have a livelihood if your house is under fucking water and you can't get to work because the bridges have been washed away. That's what they were talking about in

the segment. Since that thousand year flood in this one particular town, they still don't have a grocery store, they still don't have an elementary school, and I believe that they don't have a courthouse either, because they've been wiped away and they have yet to be rebuilt. Joe Mansion has been in control of that state for the last forty goddamn years, and they are fucking ringing in dead

last and most societal metrics. And then you have these people so fucking brainwashed right by the right wing as they're staying standing in water up to their fucking waists talking about, Oh, I'm not going to play into climate change? Are you dumb? And this is what I realize is that it doesn't matter whether it's Democrats or Republicans, right that they don't care about their constituents. They really don't. They care about money, They care about themselves, They care

about you know what is Joe? What is what is Joe Mansion give a fuck about a thousand year old a thousand year flood that's coming. When that motherfucker is sitting real nice and high on his seven hundred thousand dollars yacht. Right, how do you justify having close to a million dollar yacht when the combined average income of the people that live in your fucking state does it? It hovers around thirty thousand. But you guys keep voting for him and then talking about like how your life

is better. I'm just so confused, I really am. And you know, I spent a god awful amount of time watching the news the other day and I got to tell you that, you know, I turn it off after like a couple of hours, and I'm wondering why my mood is such shit. I'm wondering why, like I feel so anxious, And it's because nothing is being done. The news highlights every single problem that we're facing right now, and nothing is being taken care of, not one goddamn thing.

So if people were to ask me, you know, what, do you think, what kind of grade would you give Joe Biden right now? Which, by the way, he has a fifty percent disapproval rating. He has his worst rating since he entered into office in January this month. And do you know why, because we actually thought that we were voting historically for change, not for mediocrity, not for a bunch of bullshit executive orders that can be turned over with the next president that comes in, as we

saw with Barack Obama. We've seen what exactly what has the Biden Harris administration done over the last ten months. Have they locked up the members of Congress that were behind the insurrection? Have they locked up anybody that was behind the insurrection, the attempted coup to overthrow our government? Have they put together a voting rights bill that would pass and push back against all of the three hundred

plus voter suppression laws that have gone out. Have they offered up anything to help women's women's rights right to ensure that Rovi Wade remains. No, they haven't. Right, you have the Justice Department right now that is saying that what is happening in Texas to Texas bill is unconstitutional. They're asking for a stay by the Supreme Court. But guess what, we got a six to three court, so

that's null and void. You tell me how many justices, how many federal justices has fucking Biden put out in the last ten months? Right? Anything anything come into mind that any justices? Have there been a hundred that have been appointed. Have there been fifty? Have there been twenty five? No?

I think that maybe we have five to ten. I am just sick to death of being told there is nothing that we can do, knowing that we are about to lose the House and the Senate in a year, and then what then We will lose the White House and we will be right back to where we were in the Trump era, and it'll be worse because they are emboldened and empowered, and we will have nothing, no recourse, no nothing. And I continue to tell people, you better

fucking enjoy your life right now. You better enjoy each and every moment, because what is on the horizon is going to be worse than your worst nightmare. It is going to be worse than what we experience during the Trump era. Because you know what Republicans know, they are fucking winning. They are winning across aboard their white evangelical Christian white supremacy fucking scheme over the last thirty forty

years is now coming to fruition. And let me tell you something what doctor Jonathan Metzel said earlier this week that when a hundred year old law is going to be overturned by the Supreme Court, trust and believe that every single fucking right that you think that you've had and you think is just in stone, including you know, the end of slavery, Brown versus the Board of Education, Right, all of these things that you think are like sewed up and oh, they'll never come for that. Fucking Wake up.

They are marching right towards it. First they come for women's rights, right, and you think that it's going to stop an abortion. No, no, no, they are going to come for birth control. They are going to come for IVF, They're gonna come for surrogacy, They're gonna come for every way that they can manipulate and own a woman's body, which then will own a woman's future. In this country, we love to parade ourselves around the world to talk about women's rights and what women need, and we don't

do dick to project women at home. So again I ask, what is a Biden administration doing about that? What is a Biden administration doing about the fact that we need a voting rights, build a pass, and we need the fucking filibuster to be deaded. And you have two fucking Democrats right now who the media continues to call moderates when that's not what the fuck they are. They are obstructionists. They might as well be arsonists to our democracy because

it is going up in smoke because of them. We had a three point five trillion dollar robust bill that was going to be life changing, generation changing for this country. It is being whittled down, as I fucking speak, because you know, Joe Mansion doesn't like certain things. I didn't get to vote for Joe Mansion, So why the fuck does he get to be the one that is making decisions for the rest of us. That's the question that we should all be asking. You didn't get to vote

for Joe Mansion. You voted for Joe Biden. But Joe Biden isn't the one that's acting like the president of the fucking United States right now? Is he looks like to me that it's Joe Mansion and fucking Kursen Cinema as president and vice president and the people did not vote for them. I am sick to death of the inaction. I'm sick to death of the iNTS. I'm sick to death of being told, well, everyone's hands are tied, because

when Republicans have power, their hands are never tied. And what Glenn Kushner told us last week is like they will work inside and outside of the law. They don't give a fuck. And you know why they don't give a fuck because Democrats never hold their feet to the fire, because they're not afraid of Democrats. There is no fear there because they know they won't do shit. Steve Bannon was just voted nine to zero to be held in criminal content. This is gonna be a long drawn out,

bullshit thing. You tell me why we can't have federal agents knocking down that motherfucker's door and dragging him out, knowing that he was part of a conspiracy to overthrow the fucking government. If he were a brown man, if he were a Muslim man, you think that Steve Bannon would be fucking walking around these United States open and free, or you think that he would be in somebody's fucking

federal prison awaiting a fucking trial. I would love for us to have the same goddamn standards that have been put in place to put black and brown and poor people in their place, to put the wealthy, white and privilege in their fucking place. But alas we do not. I'm telling you this country, this administration is an entire fucking disappointment. So if you find yourself most days just being like, you know what, I want to stop caring. I feel you, I am you and you are me.

Because the rage is just it doesn't go anywhere. I can't figure out a vessel to put it in. I feel like most days i am screaming out into the void because I'm looking around at the people who are in power, who have open ears and open eyes, and yet are pretending like we're not under attack, like that we are not at war with authoritarian fascist right now, Wake the fuck up, Woosa wo Sa Friends. Coming up

next is my conversation with Nadia Okamoto. She is the host of a new show called Tigress, and we will get into a really great conversation on reproductive rights, on periods, on menstrual cycles. That is coming up next, folks. I am so excited to not only welcome onto Okay, but into the DCP entertainment family, Nadia Okamoto, host of the new show Ti Griff. I am really excited to talk to you because your background, the work that you have

already done is so interesting. You're the co founder of August, which is a lifestyle period brand working to reimagine periods. Talk to me about that being as how right now we're kind of devolving into the Handmaid's Tale, where we are, you know, setting up the situation, a scenario in which it is becoming completely normalized in Okay to go back

to policing women's bodies and policing women's reproduction. We barely have normal commercials about periods on television when we're selling tampons, right, So talk to me about what it means to reimagine the period. Yeah, I mean, I think it's really interesting that you bring up the Handmaid's Tale, which, by the way of the show I could not watch because it made me so angry because it is terrifyingly realistic in some ways. Right, but you know, I think, you know,

kind of building off of that. A huge part of my mission with August Branding and reimagining period care is to say this is a part of our biological process that makes human life possible and needs to be treated as the magical, powerful thing that it is. Right. That

means being very upfront about period blood. I post multiple videos of period blood on TikTok a day of my own period blood and showing how the products actually work, and being open about period pain so people aren't having to suffer in silence, talking about the inequalities around access to period care, which I believe should be completely subsidized

and supported for free. And I think also when we talk about reimagining periods similar to the Handmaid's Tale, which equates women to having a sole purpose and utility of bearing children, I think that's been a lot of the conversation around periods. Right. When you're taught as a young person what a period is, You're taught that is when you can now bear children, right, when menopauses when you cannot bear children anymore? Right? And how we know what it means when you do or do not get your

period is whether you're pregnant or not. Right. And I think that a lot of what we wanted to do was throughout history, when you look at period ads, it's you know, buy our products so that you can hide your period, you can forget about it, and you can

attract the date. Right. How many period ads have we seen throughout history where it's like, oh, when she puts the tamp on in her date picks her up and they have like a great date and she's wearing a white dress, right, Yeah, And I think that a lot of what we're trying to say is like, yes, your period is linked to fertility, by de fact, that does not mean having a period as preparing us for motherhood.

And it's not means that having a period is defining our utility as someone who can produce, right, and really just saying my period is my period and just something I'm going to take care of for my body. You know, It's so funny because I can think, you know, I have such vivid memories of when I first got my

period because I was very young. I was ten years old, right, and so I remember being ten and I was foolishly excited about it because I thought it meant that I was like becoming a woman, right, because this is what

you were told. And you know, but I remember during that time, you know, my mother is a nurse by trade, so we had like real conversations about your period, about your body, about why you were going to feel uncomfortable if you were bloating what you know, what was actually happening, That it wasn't something to just ignore, right, that it

was like a part of your body. I think what's really interesting is that since you know, many many, many thousands of moons ago that I got my first period, that we haven't evolved in the conversations that we have about it, right, Like, I still go into an obgyn and I'm still learning new things, and I'm saying, where

is the research. We are more than half of the population in the United States, and I'm so confused about why we don't have like real conversations about what's going on with the body, about how it equates, you know, with the moons, with the ocean, with water, with all of these facets of you know, our lives, and we

just don't talk about it. And I can remember even an episode and this will you know not age well because of who Bill Cosby is now, but on The Cosby Show, when the young character Rudy got her period, it was a big deal. It was a purposeful episode about womanhood and about you know, power and and you know, in fertility and all of these different things. And I remember, because I was around her age it being something that was celebrated. What do you think needs to happen? Right?

Because even I just I can't imagine what young girls and boys should be learning now in school when they're taking health classes and sex said and whatever it is that they're doing. I don't ever remember learning about how my body changes, like what is to be expected. It was just like here's a banana. This is how you put on a condom, you know, go on your way. Yeah,

I mean. And one thing I really want to point out too is I think part of our mission of reimagining periods is to actually not equate it with womanhood, right. I think you know. I also when I got my first period, my mom celebrated and said, you're a woman, right, And that's kind of what I understood, like having boobs and getting a period was like, now I'm a woman, right.

And I think that a lot of our mission with August is to create like a truly gender inclusive brand, because not everyone who gets a period is identifies as a woman. Yeah, some might be transgender or non binary. And I think really making that distinction between gender as

a social construct and sex is very necessary. I also think that when you look at the discrimination around periods, right, whether it be you know, in other countries, girls not being able to go to school when they're other period right, And it's like because when you get your period, you get married off and have kids. Right, when you get your period is when female gender and mutilation happens, because now you're a woman that needs to be censored. Right.

So I think that even when we have these you know, quote unquote positive examples of periods in mainstream media, in the very small instances where it happens, it's done so in a way where it's getting your period equals being a woman, right Biologically, that's saying being a woman being grown means that I can have children, right. And so I think that a lot of what we're trying to do, even with the language that we use, right, we don't

say feminine care because feminine is an incorrect term. It's not only X exclusive. Feminine is about gender expression, not gender identity, nor does it have to do with biological sex in your organs. Right. So I think that there's so just so much there, you know, I think a lot of it. What was your question again, everything that you were saying it was good, and I'm like, I

don't even remember, oh, gon sex said? Okay, yes, So I think, you know, I think the fact that we even have sex said in some schools is still like like unfortunately, like that is still a big deal. Right in most schools, sex said does not happen full stop period Right. When we used to do educational initiatives around trying to go on the nonprofit I worked on, when we would trying to go to schools to talk about periods, we could not do it in public schools because it

was considered such an inappropriate topic. We needed to get permission slips from parents about right, Like, this is a topic that is not considered appropriate. Right, I mean so

menstruation as a whole. You would have needed to get a permission slip to have a conversation about something, Okay in most schools that we went to, Yeah, like that was the case, and it was such a barrier that we could not have those conversations right in the chance, Like for me, I learned sex that it was one afternoon, right, and the girls went into one classroom, the boys went to other. Right, So also setting up gender binary. But then you talk about the basics, right, this is what

a tampon is, This is what a pad is. Blood will come out like once a month, and it just means you're not pregnant. Right, And here's a tampon, here's a pad you might have cramps. Right, we don't learn about what color period blood is the fact that like it's coming out of the vagina, which is not the external part, it's actually the canal, right, and like knowing the language. But also I think that where it's so important that we get comfortable talking about periods is well

we talk about periods in mainstream media. It's referred to as like just when blood comes out, right, And I think the reason why I don't say August is a period product company, say we're a lifestyle period brand, because there's a difference between period and a mensonal cycle. Right. A period is when blood is coming out. The mental cycle is the twenty four to seven happening all the time cycle, right, And getting your period is not just the blood, it's the period pain, right. And cramps aren't

all the time just cramps. It's also uterine fibroids, endometriosis, so many other conditions that are completely underdiagnosed that are such intersectional issues that we don't talked about because we don't talk about periods. Right, So even when we talk about period cramps, if we do not educate young men streaters about period pain, they will they are conditioned to

even gaslight themselves for the very real pain that they're experiencing. Right, If we don't teach non men streaters like young sis boys to talk about periods, we will continue with the stigma where people are afraid of being ridiculed for advocating

for their own health. Right, and that not only has repercussions on someone's individual period experience, that expands to period poverty when you're looking at whole communities, right, and when you look at period pain, I think, which is a very very concrete example, like black women are three times as likely to have uterine fibroids, where hasn't been you know, understanding around it, and because of the racism in our healthcare system, they are three to four times as likely

to be recommended and to have hysterectomies, which in a way is kind of like by perpetuating it. It's like for sterilization, which we've seen throughout history. Yeah, we've made progress in terms of what this situation used to be, but still that's happening today, Like those numbers are still there today, and I think that a lot of it is we can't talk about that issue if we don't

talk about periods in the first place. And if we don't teach people and create a culture where when you have period pain, you go to the doctor and you're not just saying, oh, that's just cramps, but it's like you're really taught to be in touch with your body and talking about it and advocating for it. You know. The funny thing too, is that we're actually taught the opposite right not to talk about it, don't mention it. You know, you brought up hysterectomies. My late grandmother, after

birthing five children, had a hysterectomy. In later when I was older, I believe that I asked my mother why the doctor had recommended she have a hysterectomy. This was at a time when they were given out hysterirectomies, the way that they were taking tonsils out and thinking that there weren't any repercussions to that. It's like, oh, it's

just removed and then you'll be fine. No, you've created an entire imbalance now in the body that can push people into early menopause, push women into really manic depression because you're altering hormones when that happens. But again, that none of that was part of the education process. And I realized too that it was because we don't teach medical school students still about like the details around around

around a woman's body, just like in general. And I say woman because in there are very few doctors right now, like very few places where you can go and have this conversation and people not what do you mean when you say that there are people who are not women who are who have periods? That makes no sense. How do you teach people or how can people learn to unpack and distill those very distinct things down when we

have all been programmed into into thinking that way. Because I just I just recent and I'm queer, and I just recently started when I was talking about the reproductive justice issues and problems and the hell that Abbot has released on Texas and the country. Have been talking about people who can give birth right people with you to like I have been, and that is a new thing to be changing the language to be more inclusive and expansive. But how do you teach people how to unpack those

things that they've been pre programmed to understand? I mean, so this is actually like something that I've worked on originally from the you know, several years ago, I was chief brand officer to gen Z Marketing Agency and we worked with a lot of large corporations on how to create like workforces for the next generation, and pronouns was

a huge part of it. And I think that pronouns were and solar like one of the hardest things to teach people of a different generation where they've spent decades thinking boy or girl, right, boy or girl? Boy or girl like when you meet someone, And I think that it actually has to do with going all the way back and thinking like asking them like, what does it actually mean to be a man? Like what is masculinity?

And separating gender expression to gender identity to biological sex, right, And I think that really understanding that is how you're able to be like, Okay, but don't you don't we understand that even if I have a penis, that doesn't mean I'm a masculine macho identify as a guy, right, That can mean I express myself in different ways. That can mean I identify in different ways. And what does

it mean to be like? These are the questions we ask, right when you draw a man on a piece of paper, why is it that people in when we run these workshops. Why do most people draw tie? Right when you draw a woman? Why is it that you often draw a necklace or boobs or you know, long hair, right? But we know women you have short hair? Does that make

them less of a right? So, like, I think a lot of unpacking this is actually kind of going to that going to the very basics, which is like, okay, well where does that education needs to start, like elementary school, right in the household? Right? So I think a lot of it does have to happen in the schools. But I think what's really interesting is like the language pieces.

Something I think about a lot, because when we work internationally, if we talk about menstruators and we don't use gendered terms, we get nothing done right, like, And it's something that I really struggle with, especially I used to travel internationally pre pandemic and doing a lot of this advocacy. I'd

walk into rooms. Actually once I was in South Africa and I was like talking about people with periods and menstruators, and they were so upset, Like the people I was meeting with, so upset and so angry that I could even think that that they completely like discredited the fact that we should even have that conversation, right, And so I think that a lot of wait, wait before you move, because I want to understand what was it that was

upsetting them, the feeling that identity anything and anything. Yeah, right, And so I think that a lot of it is, you know, the US. Also, the US is still fucked up and we have so much work to do. But in comparison to a lot of other communities around the world, the fact that we can sit here on a podcast that is like a mainstream podcast talking about trans identity, and like, that's why I think I have a responsibility as a SIS yes, queer person of color to like

come up and like talk about this. But I also think that what I've not what I've what I've seen is when working internationally or in communities where even bringing that up is so angering that it actually discounts for even having it. And it's just like and then the question that I went I'm not a therapist, but the question that I would ask is, like, where is your anger coming from? Yeah? As always, dear friends, power to the people and to all the people. Power get woke and stay woke as fuck.