You may have seen headlines recently about extremists going after no-fault divorce. “Yeah, okay, I’ve seen those stories,” your friends might say, “but… why would they do that?” The answer, of course, is simple: it’s about controlling women.

Critics of no-fault divorce, like JD Vance, claim that it’s bad for couples and especially bad for kids. But the data just doesn’t bear that out. The really important thing to know is that no-fault divorce protects women. There was a 15% decrease in female suicides in states that passed no-fault divorce laws and a 30% decrease in domestic violence. Each one of those statistics is a real story — and you can hear some of them in this week’s episode.

A few years ago, an end to no-fault divorce seemed unlikely. But after the end of Roe v Wade, of course this is the next legal right to land on the chopping block. So far, bills to overturn no-fault divorce have been unsuccessful, even in states where they’ve been proposed like Texas and Oklahoma. But extremists aren’t going to stop their attack on women and it’s up to us to keep talking about it.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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Donald Trump promised to be “tough” on immigration on the campaign trail, vowing to “launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history.”

“Criminals,” he said. So why is ICE detaining children? And why do half of the adults held in ICE detention facilities have no criminal record?

In New York, a mom and her three kids—including a third grader—were arrested by ICE and shipped off to a facility in Texas. In Louisiana, ICE deported a four-year-old with cancer to Honduras, despite the child being a US citizen. Across America, families live in fear of separation, even those who are following the legal pathways and completing all of their required paperwork and check-ins.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the conditions in ICE detention facilities is atrocious: crowded cells, freezing concrete floors, water from the toilet, and constant dehumanizing treatment from guards. All of this for people with no criminal record and, again, actual children. Is this really the America we want?

This Okay, But Why is upsetting, but we can’t turn away. Trump’s ICE quotas and for-profit prison companies are creating a hell on earth for some of our most vulnerable people and we have to speak out.

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For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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When James Baldwin went on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, he was asked a very loaded question: why aren’t Black people more optimistic? Jim Crow laws had been outlawed, Black people were becoming mayors and successful businesspeople… so why was he still talking about race?

Obviously racism didn’t “end” with the Civil War, or the Civil Rights Act, or Obama’s election. In fact, Donald Trump has spurred a resurgence — there’s been a nearly 50% increase in white supremacy groups just in the past few years. And yet he’s waging a war on Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs, Critical Race Theory, and the very notion that racism still exists.

But racism – and anti-Blackness in particular – is still a powerful force. It’s built into the very structure of the country. It shows up in politics, medicine, sports, education, and even eBay.

In this week’s episode of Okay But Why, we explore the history of anti-Blackness in America, how it manifests to this day, and what we can do about it. If you want to learn more, there are so many books, films, and podcasts out there! Check out Code Switch, The 1619 Project, Stamped From The Beginning, The Black Friend, White Tears/Brown Scars, Hood Feminism, or the upcoming The Race Track: How The Myth of Equal Opportunity Defeats Racial Justice.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA

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Last year, extreme weather cost us hundreds of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. So… why is the Trump Administration defunding the Weather Service?

The Weather Service is part of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We need NOAA to help us predict storms and warn people when they need to evacuate. The data is used by airports to make sure planes can fly safely, by farmers to know when to plant their crops, by fishing companies to know when it’s safe to send boats out on the water, and by construction companies to plan the best time to pour concrete and calculate the right risks of wildfires or flooding. And individual Americans rely on their weather apps and local meteorologists to tell them when it’s safe to go out for a hike or what to pack for an upcoming vacation. The weather app on your phone isn’t magical - it relies on weather data provided by NOAA.

Climate and weather may be complicated, but the reason why Trump is cutting NOAA is very simple: it’s in Project 2025.

What Project 2025 wants to do is make NOAA a private, for-profit service. But some things are a public good - like schools, parks, and information. Who benefits when climate and weather information is suddenly paywalled? The millionaires and billionaires who run the companies that now own that information.

If we want to survive and thrive over the next few generations, we need access to the best information about our atmosphere and oceans. Weather isn’t a partisan issue and we should keep it that way.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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Right now, most of us are feeling stress and anxiety. On top of everything else in our lives, the political chaos seems too much to bear. A 2024 survey from the American Psychological Association found that over 70% of adults consider the country’s future a significant source of stress — and even though we’re only four months into 2025, if our group chats are any indication, we’re struggling now more than ever.

At the same time, there’s an epidemic of loneliness. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an official advisory about loneliness in 2023… turns out, it’s not just bad for our mood, it’s bad for our physical health too. People who are disconnected and lonely are twice as likely to die as people who have strong communities.

The good news is, community connection can help with both of these problems! Not only do social bonds make us healthier and happier, political action is far more effective when done as a group. We all have different strengths and perspectives, and our friends can fill in the gaps when we need a break.

In these chaotic and stressful times, community is more important than ever. It isn’t just good for our hearts and minds, it’s good for democracy. When women with shared values get together, there’s no stopping us.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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This week, Red Wine & Blue held a virtual event with two inspiring women: Heather Cox Richardson and Representative Jasmine Crockett. More than 45,000 people joined us on Zoom and hundreds of thousands watched the livestream!

Heather and Jasmine talked about so much — Project 2025, the power of local organizing, and what it’ll take for us to rebuild a healthy United States of America. If you missed the event, you can listen right here!

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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Social security is an American institution. After decades of working hard, we expect to retire with a well-earned safety net to help us with our monthly expenses.

Trump and Elon Musk claim that Social Security is rife with corruption and fraud. Musk told podcaster Joe Rogan that it’s “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” But whenever unbiased, nonpartisan groups study the numbers, they find very little fraud. Instead, they find millions of people who rely on those payments for their very survival. (And, it should be noted, exactly zero 150-year-olds receiving benefits.)

So... why is Social Security at risk? This episode breaks down the facts and corrects the disinformation about the agency, who's receiving payments, and what's really happening.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

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When Trump was running for office last year, he promised to “lower prices on day one.” So… why are eggs still so expensive? And why are other groceries still so expensive too?

Sure, bird flu is one factor - but it’s actually having less of an impact than you’ve been told. A lot of other factors are at play too, from tariffs to corporate profits to immigration policies that target our agricultural workers. Just this week, Trump is set to announce a new round of tariffs in what he’s ironically calling “liberation day.”

All of this would be bad enough, but in the meantime, Republicans are cutting funding and programs that help struggling families put food on the table. The USDA has stopped $500 million in deliveries to food banks and slashed a billion dollars from programs that helped schools purchase fresh local food. And SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) is likely to experience major cuts too.

You can’t find a more “kitchen table issue” than what families can afford to put on their literal kitchen tables. Extremists want us to think the economy is too complicated to understand, but it’s actually quite simple: we need leaders who prioritize families over profits.

Access to food is a basic human right and we need them to treat it that way.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA

YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA