abortion pills

The Biden Administration fights to keep abortion medication legal. Justice Clarence Thomas has a secret billionaire sugar daddy with a thing for Nazi memorabilia. Strict Scrutiny’s Leah Litman joins to break down the latest legal news. And Tennessee Democrats fight back after Republicans vote to expel two black state lawmakers. Then the guys take on the kookiest new culture wars with a round of One Line with Cocaine Bear.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

A mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, reminds us of an unfortunate reality: They’re becoming routine. As we discussed in a recent deep dive, the AR-15, the most popular weapon in the consumer market, is often used in mass shootings and has fueled debates on what should be done. Then: Crypto mining presents a huge environmental problem, but there are alternatives. And: A unique solution to the Pythagorean theorem makes us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• • “Gunman Kills 4 Co-workers at Louisville, Ky., Bank on Livestream, Police Say” from The New York Times

• • “Gunman livestreamed mass shooting at Louisville bank that left 4 dead and 9 wounded, police say” from CNN

• • “Pfizer, Biogen among hundreds of US drugmakers calling for abortion pill ruling reversal” from Reuters

• • “Why the GOP isn’t celebrating this major antiabortion ruling” from The Washington Post

• • “The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin” from The New York Times

• • “An environmentally friendly model for crypto mining shows promise” from “Marketplace Tech”

• • “With ‘the merge,‘ ethereum tries to set a greener example for crypto” from “Marketplace”

• • “New Orleans East teens make ‘impossible’ mathematical discovery unproven for 2,000 years” from WWL

• • “2 High School Students Prove Pythagorean Theorem. Here’s What That Means” from Scientific American

• • “Can ChatGPT Decipher Fedspeak?” from SSRN

• • Have I Been Encoded?

“Make Me Smart” has been nominated for a Webby Award! We are honored, but we can’t win without your support. You can vote for “Make Me Smart” from now until April 20 by going to marketplace.org/votemms.

In states where abortion is severely limited or illegal, clinicians face imminent prosecution if they continue to provide abortions. What is much less clear is what happens if providers in blue states offer telemedicine abortions to women in states where that’s against the law. These clinicians, too, could be arrested or sued or lose their medical licenses. To protect themselves, they may have to give up traveling to certain parts of the country — and it’s still no guarantee.

In the face of so much uncertainty and an invigorated anti-abortion movement, large organizations and most clinicians are loath to gamble.

But some providers think that the end of Roe v. Wade calls for doctors to take bold action.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.