In the Meanwhile
In the Meanwhile
Podcast Description
No hot takes. No empty platitudes. No easy hope. Just real talk about how we hold onto our humanity, build something better—and maybe even laugh along the way.
Bring snacks. Bring questions. We’re figuring this out together.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on societal challenges, civic courage, and personal growth, with episodes exploring topics such as the aftermath of the pandemic, immigration enforcement, and collective endurance in a divided society. Examples include profound discussions on civic bravery in the face of ICE raids and the psychological impacts of 2020 on families and communities.
No hot takes. No empty platitudes. No easy hope. Just real talk about how we hold onto our humanity, build something better—and maybe even laugh along the way.
Bring snacks. Bring questions. We’re figuring this out together.
It’s been another “37-day week” in America, and In The Meanwhile is doing what it does best: refusing to let the chaos set the agenda.
Nora and Marcus open on the latest Washington-fueled disaster (a brand-new war with Iran, because apparently weekends are illegal now), then pivot to the scandal the powerful would love you to forget: the Epstein files, and one name still floating above the consequences like a philanthropic forcefield.
Enter Tim Schwab, investigative journalist and author of The Bill Gates Problem, to talk about Gates, Epstein, and the dangerous alchemy of extreme wealth + “good billionaire” mythology. Schwab breaks down why Gates’ “I didn’t know” era doesn’t pass the smell test, how philanthropy can function as reputation-laundering and influence-buying, and why the so-called “Bill Chill” keeps Seattle institutions and media hesitant to speak plainly, even when the story is screaming.
Mentioned in the episode:
Is Bill Gates in the Epstein files? Probably | The Epstein files should end Bill Gates’s philanthropic career | Erasing Gates Seattle’s Favorite Philanthropist Faces Campus Reality Check from UW Student | NYT Opinion: This Summer, Students From Hundreds of Colleges Will Heed One Urgent Call | Half of Americans want to Abolist ICE
More from Tim Schwab:
Tim Schwab on Substack | On X | on BlueSky | The Bill Gates Problem | on LinkedIn
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Read Nora and Marcus’s Books:
Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare | Readying to Rise
Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.
Logo by Nikki Barron.
Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.
Nora and Marcus’s work on the podcast is separate from their professional roles and does not represent the views of their employers.
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