
Let Us Be Elegant or Die
02/11/20 • 40 min
This week the ladies return to regular programming and try to catch up after one of the more crazy weeks in recent political memory. They start off with the Coronavirus crisis before returning to an old-standby, Brexit. They also provide some color commentary on the recent Irish elections. And how could they forget the new Middle East Peace Plan! That’s before they get to impeachment, NSC firings, and White House Mayhem. Stick around and hear them gush about Little Women.
Links
Coronavirus
- “Deaths in China Surpass Toll From SARS,” New York Times, February 9, 2020
- Colleen Shalby, “Why Did the Government Mandate a Coronavirus Quarantine?” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2020
Brexit
- Dharshini David, “Brexit Divorce: Five Key Things the UK Must Navigate,” BBC, February 9, 2020
- “Brexit: All You Need to Know About the UK Leaving the EU,” BBC, January 27, 2020
Irish Elections
- Rory Carroll, “Ireland General Election: Sinn Féin Surges to 22% in Exit Poll,” Guardian, February 8, 2020
Middle East Peace
- Peter Beaumont, “Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan: Key Points at a Glance,” Guardian, January 28, 2020
Irish Election
- Riley Beggin, “Irish Election Yields a Three-Way Near Tie and a Sinn Féin Surge,” Vox, February 9, 2020
- “Sinn Féin is the Most Popular Party Among All Age Groups up to 65,” Journal, February 09, 2020
Travel Ban
- “Trump Travel Ban, Part II,” Wall Street Journal, February 07, 2020
- “Trump Administration Adds Six Countries to Travel Ban,” New York Times, January 31, 2020
Pop Culture
- Marlon and Jake Read Dead People, Podcast
This week the ladies return to regular programming and try to catch up after one of the more crazy weeks in recent political memory. They start off with the Coronavirus crisis before returning to an old-standby, Brexit. They also provide some color commentary on the recent Irish elections. And how could they forget the new Middle East Peace Plan! That’s before they get to impeachment, NSC firings, and White House Mayhem. Stick around and hear them gush about Little Women.
Links
Coronavirus
- “Deaths in China Surpass Toll From SARS,” New York Times, February 9, 2020
- Colleen Shalby, “Why Did the Government Mandate a Coronavirus Quarantine?” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2020
Brexit
- Dharshini David, “Brexit Divorce: Five Key Things the UK Must Navigate,” BBC, February 9, 2020
- “Brexit: All You Need to Know About the UK Leaving the EU,” BBC, January 27, 2020
Irish Elections
- Rory Carroll, “Ireland General Election: Sinn Féin Surges to 22% in Exit Poll,” Guardian, February 8, 2020
Middle East Peace
- Peter Beaumont, “Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan: Key Points at a Glance,” Guardian, January 28, 2020
Irish Election
- Riley Beggin, “Irish Election Yields a Three-Way Near Tie and a Sinn Féin Surge,” Vox, February 9, 2020
- “Sinn Féin is the Most Popular Party Among All Age Groups up to 65,” Journal, February 09, 2020
Travel Ban
- “Trump Travel Ban, Part II,” Wall Street Journal, February 07, 2020
- “Trump Administration Adds Six Countries to Travel Ban,” New York Times, January 31, 2020
Pop Culture
- Marlon and Jake Read Dead People, Podcast
Previous Episode

Man, I Feel Like a Woman
Erin, Radha and Loren welcome three special guests for their annual "manniversary" episode: Hayes Brown from Buzzfeed, Tommy Vietor of Pod Save the World, and Maj. Gen. Patrick Donahoe join them to talk about communicating national security in this crazy world.
Next Episode

Don't Ask, Don't Get
This week Erin, Loren, and Radha reunite after a midwinter break to talk pandemics. They then turn to the Afghanistan “peace” deal, Israeli elections (third time’s the charm?), and recent developments in Syria. As always, there’s plenty of White House mayhem with a new chief of staff, and vacancies as far as the eye can see in Pentagon civilian leadership. Thankfully, Hilary Mantel books and Love is Blind provide a pop culture escape to soothe (or at least distract) the soul.
Links
Coronavirus
- Matthew Herper, “Susan Desmond-Hellmann: The Coronavirus is Alarming. Here’s Why You Should Not Panic,” Stat, March 6, 2020
- “Covid-19 is Now In 50 Countries, and Things Will Get Worse,” The Economist , February 2020
Afghanistan
- Diaa Hadid and Scott Neuman, “US, Afghanistan and Taliban Announce 7-Day Reduction in Violence,” NPR Morning Edition, February 21, 2020
- Shereen Qazi, “Will the Ghani-Abdullah Rivalry Undermine Afghan Peace Process?” Aljazeera, March 9, 2020
- Kathy Gilsinan, “The US Once Wanted Peace in Afghanistan,” Atlantic, February 29, 2020
- David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “A Secret Accord With the Taliban: When and How the US Would Leave Afghanistan,” New York Times, March 8, 2020
- Susannah George, “Thrown Under the Bus: Some Afghans View US-Taliban Peace Deal with Mix of Disbelief and Anger,” Washington Post, March 7, 2020
- Courtney Kube, Ken Dilanian, and Dan De Luce, “US Has Persuasive Intel Taliban Do Not Intend to Abide by Terms of Peal Deal, Officials Say,” NBC New, March 6, 2020
- Elizabeth Threlkeld, “Reading Between the Lines of Afghan Agreement,” Lawfare, March 8, 2020
Pop Culture
- Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On, (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007)
- Wolf Hall, PBS
Syria
- Jen Kirby, “Turkey and Russia Reached a Ceasefire in Syria. Will it Hold?” Vox, March 6, 2020
- “Water Cannon and Tear Gas at Turkish-Greek Border,” BBC, March 7, 2020
OSD
- Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman, “Civilian Vacancies at Trump’s Pentagon Hit New High,” Politico, March 6, 2020
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/bombshell-50797/let-us-be-elegant-or-die-2542507"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to let us be elegant or die on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy