The Present Illness

Matthew Perry spent $7 million on rehab. The doctors who sold him ketamine charged $55,000. Plus, Tennessee execution physician thinks he’s like Jesus.

Note: This episode is a couple of days later than usual due to unforeseen circumstances.

• Sir Patrick Stewart’s death
• A round up of reactions to Sir Patrick Stewart’s death

Matthew Perry

• Matthew Perry’s autobiography
• Five people charged in Matthew Perry’s death
• Matthew Perry’s earlier hospitalization

Mark Fowler

• New Yorker interview with Mark Fowler “I’m not incompetent.”
• Unmasked: the doctor who helps put prisoners to death
• Episode 54: we talked about Christa Pike’s attempted execution
• Episode 53: we discuss the unique effects of ketamine

Other News:

• JD Vance complains about hospital interpreters
• RFK Jr’s racist comments

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Tom Hoyle and MAGA cult, interview on The Handbasket
• Saerijane’s video of fat jumping onto her face

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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.

What do we really see in You Can See Everything? Never forget that Elizabeth Holmes is a lying liar.

You Can See Everything

• Wired’s interview with Nathan Fielder
• Q&A with Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim at the New York Film Festival
• Whistleblower Tyler Schultz’s essay for STAT News
• John Carreyrou’s essay about You Can See Everything
• Reporter Matthew Herper’s essay

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• 2 Frog 601: muppet Les Mis parody
• Perla Soleil’s Dog on Neighborhood watch
• Richard Scarry’s Busytown with Marxist quotes

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.

Woman collects mountain of evidence that her co-worker poisoned her - now his criminal record has been expunged! Plus, we help you get ready to watch You Can See Everything about Elizabeth Holmes

Note: Summary of the new White House press secretary’s debut

Cadmium Poisoning

• Rong Yuan poisoned by David Xu
• Rong Yuan’s report
• Xu’s conviction expunged
• Video of David Xu poisoning Yuan’s water
• Texas attorney poisoned wife

You Can See Everything

• You can see everything
• Fall of Theranos
• Whistleblower Tyler Shultz
• The Dropout - fictional
• The Dropout Podcast - investigative journalism
• The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley - 2019 documentary

Other news

• Representative Ilhan Omar’s home raided by DHS
• Hundreds of trees cut down on DC golf course
• Sixth measles death
• RFK Jr announces vaccine clinic at NIH to investigate vaccine injuries

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Thee Make That Magic series on Disney villains that had a point: Ursula, The Sanderson Sisters
• Coyote vs ACME

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.

Are we all going to get the plague? Why did Tennessee’s execution of Christa Pike “fail”? Unethical hep B research from RFK Jr continues. Measles update.

Note: Reactions to the president’s calls for attacking LA and SD (and his speech on Monday) are here

Plague

• Initial reports about person who died in Russia
• What Russia says about the person who died
• What was known as of 10/6/2026
• Dr. Angela Rasmussen’s overview of the situation
• Why Annie Jacobsen may not be the best source on this
• 2015 article Inside America’s secretive biolabs
• 2025 editorial On the Controversies Surrounding the Lab-Leak Theory of COVID-19

“Failed” Execution of Christa Pike

• Christa Pike, Child Rape Victim, Faces Execution for Crime She Committed as a Teenager
• American Board of Anesthesiologists prohibits anesthesiologists from participating in state-sanctioned killing
• Tennessee’s Medical Ethics Defense Act
• Will physicians invoke the Medical Ethics Defense Act to prevent state-sanctioned killing?
• Trump approved the military's 1st firing squad execution since WWII
• Exonerated Play (2000), TV film (2005)

Other updates:

• 5th measles death
• Update on unethical Guinea-Bissau study
• Hegseth’s humiliation kink
• FBI denies investigation into Nolan Wells’s death
• Nolan Wells autopsy
• Pathological findings in drowning
• “When Anesthesia Goes Wrong” Atlantic article on mitochondrial condition

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Raha Akhavan becomes first Iranian woman to achieve open swimming Triple Crown
• Poems: “Failed ChatGPT” - Kate Baer
• Present for Arghavan: Persepolis pin

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.

Why do universities protect rapists? What happened at Cornell? Why was there so much ketamine? What is Title IX? All that and more as we discuss Cornell and seven students being sued by survivor Jane Doe.

Stumbling in from:

• MAHA Summit agenda

Fact check:

• We call for the DA in the Cornell case to be replaced. NY Governor did so between recording and publication.
• The latest story to spark protest in India relates to the girl attacked in the park, but it is the latest in a series of attacks on girls that has ignited outrage.

Cornell University and DA Protects Rapists

• Independent Case Archive: Cornell Seven
• The civil lawsuit filed by Jane Doe
• Coverage of the lawsuit by the Cornell Sun
• Arghavan has multiple posts covering this story, including the names of the 7 men named in the lawsuit, in detail. You can find them here.
• The district attorney’s explanation for why he did not pursue the case in 2024
• Study on coercive SA behaviors
• SA as real threat to women

Ketamine

• Ketamine is a medication used for anesthesia
• Ketamine explainer; and another one
• Dept of Justice pamphlet on Drug Facilitated SA

Title IX

• Images from: Society of Women Engineers
• Politico article on Trump administration’s repeal of Biden
• Flip the Script approach can reduce SA by 46%
• Jennifer Freyd’s Center for Institutional Courage
• NWLC warns of harms to student survivors

Bonus News:

• Update on Riley Gaines case against NCAA
• 15 year-old girl abused in Tunisia
• Slew of rape cases in India
• 11 women found dead near Johannesburg, South Africa
• Fat Bear Week winner announced
• Lindsay Clancy trial update

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Dimpey Studios birth control clip
• Jamiroquai Virtual Insanity song banned from the OR ; watch the OG music video

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.

Good news only for our First Anniversary of The Present Illness! Ms. Rachel’s Invitation to Moral Courage. Door Dash settlement for workers. Gondwana Supercontinent.

• Arghavan’s post with videos of the president without audio

Ms Rachel Advocates for Kids’ Safety

• Profile of Ms. Rachel in The Guardian
• Profile of Ms. Rachel in Rolling Stone
• Ms. Rachel’s support of Black-owned businesses
• Ms. Rachel’s Subway Takes
• Our episode on ICE detention with Dr. Lara Jones

More Good News Stories

• Pelican asks for help
• Trumpeter saves song
• Miley Cyrus on Dolly Parton mentorship
• Dolly Parton Airport
• Gondwana Supercontinent - studies one and two
• The hole in the ozone is closing
• DoorDash agrees to give $131 million in lost wages and fees to NYC and its workers

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench covers Defying Gravity
• Squirrels look like bobbleheads
• Squirrel Maxine gets her teeth filed—and more!

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.

Arghavan is suing the National Institutes of Health. Sydney Sweeney’s ads fuel sports betting. Ed Sheeran fires Macklemore from tour to appease a billionaire, Epstein-connected stadium owner. Mitch McConnell would probably fail a capacity assessment. Hyrox poop challenge.

• Salles v NIH lawsuit
• ACLU press release re: NIH lawsuit
• Don’t forget to check your voter registration!

Advertising, Sports, and Violence Against Women

• Sydney Sweeney’s ad
• Women athletes respond to the ad
• Calloway golf club ad
• Steve Sarkisian is dismissive of Holly Rowe
• Arch Manning’s comments
• Steve Sarkisian’s statement

Macklemore Fired for Promoting Peace

• Macklemore’s initial statement
• Ed Sheeran’s statement
• Robert Kraft’s statement
• Aaron Rowe’s statement
• Lukas Graham’s statement
• Finneas’s statement

Other Topics:

• Pennsylvania’s fourth measles death
• Mitch McConnell round-up
• Hyrox race becomes biohazard
• Jasmine Crockett honors Chris Brown
• Airlines cut back flights due to fuel costs

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Matthew Rhys takes home two Emmys
• South Park cartoon becomes South America
• Kitty in a Lion Bag

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.

Mamdani releases 9-11 files. Open AI takes the credit for math program solve. Whose work did they steal? Louisiana tries to get the Fifth Circuit hears to impose national restrictions on Mifepristone.

Note: Mamdani releases over 170,000 pages of documents on 9/11

• Falling Man essay
• Essay about Bobby McIlvaine and his family’s grief after his death
• Humans of New York shares Tyree Bacon’s story of how rescuing a burn victim saved his life
• The story of the so-called Dust Lady (Marcy Borders)
• Some moving audios to listen to, if so inclined:
• Linda Gronlund called her sister from flight 93
• Betty Ong called the airline from flight 11
• Brian Sweeney called his wife from flight 175
• Melissa Doi called 911 from the south tower
• Kevin Cosgrove called 911 from the south tower
• Brooke Jackman called her mom from the north tower

AI Math Feud:

• Summary of the Navier-Stokes/Buckmaster/Alpöge/OpenAI/Anthropic story
• Arghavan’s post including statements from OpenAI, Buckmaster, and Alpöge
• Jacob Coxon’s original posts about his resignation

Mailed abortion pills, FDA, Louisiana:

• Fifth Circuit Judges Press Louisiana on Standing as Mifepristone Stays Available by Mail with No Ruling Yet
• Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.

Other News

• Watch the Elizabeth Holmes documentary trailer (Book: Bad Blood; Alyssa’s essay on Holmes)
• Lindsay Clancy mistrial—jurors speak out
• McConnell watch update - expected to vote on farm bill on Sept 14; meat processing, veterinary care etc
• Sarah Kendzior’s Essay on Iran, Israel, and Epstein

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Hamilton/EDM mashup
• Hamilton cast performs My Shot at 2016 Obama White House event. (note: the play was already on Broadway at the time after opening in August 2015.)
• Dog wants his toys repaired when owner is at sewing machine

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.

Measles ramps up in Pennsylvania; RFK Jr. interferes with public health reporting; Dan Arielly’s fraud expands - he’s never faced scrutiny like Jason Arday faced; Lindsay Clancy trial drags on; Fake NFL player arrested

• Daejon Love charged by DOJ
• One hour of Daejon Love videos
• A parody by KevOnStage
• A parody by Camo
• A parody by Been Dat
• A parody by Anthony Adams, a former NFL player
• A parody by comedian Michael Blackson

Measles

• Pennsylvania Department of Health data and guidance
• RFK Jr asks for measles deaths not to be counted
• CDC Measles Data (Aug 30, 2026 excludes deaths in Penn)
• The Measles-Stricken Mother Who Lost Her Newborn Son

Misconduct

• Data Colada has multiple posts dissecting Ariely’s research. Parts 138 and 139 are the ones on procrastination we discussed in detail in this episode. Part 98 is about the study on honesty.
• Ariely’s friendship with Epstein
• Arghavan has videos about all of these scandals (and the allegations against Francesca Gino) on her Work/Med Culture playlist on Tik Tok

Other News:

• Gloria Steinem obituary
• Lawsuit against xAI/Grok
• 7th Circuit Court decision on AI-generated CSAM
• Latest on Lindsay Clancy trial deliberations

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Duck Tales a cappella
• Healing Together with Introspective Spaces
• The Joint Medical Program

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 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

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.

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!

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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.

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

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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!

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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.

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!

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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.

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

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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.

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!

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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 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!

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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.

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 http://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.

It’s the second Pride Month of this Trump administration, and things are rough. San Francisco Giants’ pitchers anti-Pride stunt; gender as a weapon; Rainbow washing and corporate backstabbing.

Note: Dana White is the president and CEO of UFC

Summary of MOU with Iran

Pride Under Trump + Juneteenth:

• What happened at the Giants’ Pride Night
• JD Vance says “Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore”
• Josh Hokit calls Michelle Obama a man
• Reactions to Josh Hokit’s comment
• Dad takes daughters to the bathroom, police are called
• 1 year-old Kohen Wiley killed by police in Mississippi
• Cyrus Carmack-Belton killed by Rick Chow

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• A fabulous song about perimenopause
• A hilarious rendition of You Oughta Know
• Collage from anesthesia drug labels
• Complex sculptures made of old medicine containers

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.