Allegedly Antifa (feat. Barbara McQuade)

Summary

Podcast Summary — The Daily Beans

Episode: "Allegedly Antifa" (feat. Barbara McQuade)

Air Date: June 17, 2026
Hosts: Allison Gill (AG), Dana Goldberg (DG)
Guest: Barbara McQuade (Law Professor, former U.S. Attorney, co-host—Sisters in Law podcast)

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Overview & Main Theme

This episode centers on the current state of American democracy under pressure, focusing on legal, legislative, and civil challenges to constitutional norms by the Trump administration. The discussion includes major news stories involving antifa indictments, political corruption and slush funds, immigration detention abuse, and efforts to protect civic protest and democracy. The highlight is an in-depth interview with Barbara McQuade about her new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob Style Government, drawing historical and contemporary parallels—and offering practical solutions for institutional reform.

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Key Segments & Discussions

1. Hot Notes: Major News Stories

Timestamps: 01:03 – 22:56

Antifa Conspiracy Charges in Minnesota

• [01:03] AG: Reports on the federal indictment of 15 Minnesotans accused of antifa conspiracy to impede ICE during a deadly immigration crackdown.
  • Government shows social media posts to “underscore” alleged intent; no officers harmed.
  • Context: Previous anti-ICE protest indictments in Texas (Prairieland), Spokane, and Illinois (“Broadview Six”—charges later dropped for prosecutorial misconduct).
  • Nearly 40, including journalist Don Lemon, federally charged over a church protest; local prosecutors declined charges.
  • Quote: “If you're arresting anti-fascists, you're a fascist.” —AG, [07:04]

FBI Director Kash Patel’s Alleged “Slush Fund”

• [07:07] DG/AG: Rep. Jamie Raskin accuses Patel of illegally giving bonus payments (over $1 million) to loyalist agents—circumventing federal pay caps.
  • “Your office may be knowingly breaking federal law.” —Jamie Raskin via letter, [08:40]

Senate GOP Blocks Legislation Ending Trump’s $1.8B Slush Fund

• [09:03] AG: Bill would permanently ban Trump’s anti-“weaponization” slush fund and nullify tax immunity; blocked by Sen. Bill Haggerty (R-TN).
  • “We don't believe a fucking word you all say.” —DG, [10:39]
  • DOJ has not rescinded the slush fund memo and is fighting a related lawsuit; judge has blocked fund implementation.

Denial of New Trial for Judge Hannah Dugan

• [11:05] DG/AG: Former Milwaukee Judge Dugan denied acquittal/new trial after aiding man sought by ICE; resigned judgeship, conviction stands.
  • AG laments: “She just took him out a door two feet away from the other door.” [12:07]

CIA Director Raises Doubts on Iran Deal

• [12:15] AG: CIA Director Ratcliffe and top Trump officials cast doubt on Iran’s nuclear concession sincerity; some U.S. officials support, others skeptical.
  • $300B set to go to Iranian reparations/reconstruction, possibly benefitting Kushner’s firm—AG speculates on corruption.

ICE Contractor GEO Group Asks to Remove Wage Requirements

• [15:06] DG/AG: GEO Group (private ICE contractor) lobbied for rules allowing unpaid detainee labor; ICE removed state/local law and $1/day pay requirements from new standards.
  • “This sounds like concentration camps.” —AG, [16:06]
  • “It's disgusting. It's slavery.” —AG, [17:13]
  • Exemption: 13th Amendment allows unpaid labor for criminals, but immigration detainees are civil, not criminal, cases.

Judge Orders Restoration of Park Signage

• [17:30] AG: Judge Angel Kelly requires the government to document and restore all removed national park signage on civil rights, LGBTQ, and slavery history.
  • Judge to government: “Write down all the shit you gotta do... You have five days to do it.” —AG, [19:10]

Trump’s Statuary Garden Lawsuit

• [19:56] DG/AG: Six preservation groups sue to stop Trump’s “Garden of American Heroes” in D.C.; administration began without congressional approval.
  • "What do you bet it's all of the Confederate fucking soldiers and they'll all be plated in gold." —AG, [21:00]

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2. Feature Interview: Barbara McQuade on The Fix

Timestamps: 26:24 – 47:20

Purpose and Premise of the Book

• The Fix argues that the corruption of American governance is a present reality, not a future threat. The book blends courtroom stories, history, and global democratic backsliding, concluding with practical reforms.

On the Minnesota Antifa Indictments & Protest’s Power

• [28:07] Barb McQuaid: “Protesters drove ICE out of Minnesota. ... When Greg Bovino left there and we saw a new strategy to take a much lower profile, I think that was a result of peaceful protest. And now we see these charges filed. ... This is a president using DOJ as a tool of retribution ... I need to punish my enemies times 10 ... to show ... there is a price to be paid for taking me on.”

Historical Lessons of Peaceful Protest

• [29:56] Barb McQuaid: “Political scientist Erica Chenoweth at Harvard ... concluded that if even only 3.5% of the population engages in peaceful protest, they can effect change. ... The civil rights movement showed that public empathy for the unjustly persecuted protester can lead to a ‘civic awakening’ (Voting Rights Act of 1965). ... When the government overplays its hand ... it creates empathy and a backlash.”

Suspension of Habeas Corpus & Insurrection Act

• [32:56] Barb McQuaid: Explains historic and constitutional context of suspending habeas corpus (“should not be suspended ... unless we are in a period of rebellion”)—used only during war/emergencies. Warns against the Trump administration’s consideration of such draconian measures during protests.
• Calls for clearer guardrails on the Insurrection Act (“Make them more specific ... a president could now deploy the National Guard ... perhaps even at polling places”).

Real Institutional Reforms

• [36:19] Barb McQuaid: Lists key reforms:
  • Legislative: Ranked-choice voting, independent redistricting commissions (anti-gerrymandering)
  • Executive: Minimum qualifications for cabinet appointees
  • Judicial: Move US Marshals Service from the Executive branch to the Judiciary to ensure court orders are enforceable

Supreme Court & Judicial Reform

• [41:46] Barb McQuaid:
  • The Supreme Court’s lifetime appointments allow partisan imbalances.
  • Possibilities: Expand the court to 13 (matching current circuits), term limits (e.g., 18 years), create “senior justice” roles, and staggered appointments—without needing constitutional amendment.
    • “Thinking it through might help restore some of that balance ... more accountable to the people ... Life expectancy has more than doubled [since the founding].”
• [45:47] AG: “How many justices are over 42 right now?”

Motivation and Call to Action

• Buy The Fix through independent booksellers, share copies or donate to little free libraries.
• Visit barbaramcquaid.com for book tour dates and more info.

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3. Good News Segment

Timestamps: 48:38 – 63:52
Community letters highlight:

• Pet stories and photos, local activism, and corrections from loyal listeners
• Shout-outs to community organizations, family members, and high school bands under political attack
• Podpet tax: Adorable cats, dogs, goats, crochet projects, and a rainbow over Scotland
• Notable shout-out: “Marching band joy must not be ruined by trolls!” —Listener, [59:01]

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Notable Quotes

• “If you’re arresting anti-fascists, you’re a fascist.” —AG [07:04]
• “Your office may be knowingly breaking federal law.” —Rep. Jamie Raskin on Kash Patel [08:40]
• “This sounds like concentration camps.” —AG on ICE detention labor [16:06]
• “It's disgusting. It's slavery.” —AG [17:13]
• “If even only 3.5% of the population engages in peaceful protest, they can effect change.” —Barb McQuaid, citing Erica Chenoweth [29:56]
• “This is a president using DOJ as a tool of retribution ... I want the whole world to see that there is a price to be paid for taking me on.” —Barb McQuaid [28:07]
• “Thinking it through in this way might help ... a little more accountable to the people...” —Barb McQuaid on judicial reform [45:33]
• “We are not an idiocracy.” —Barb McQuaid, on meeting engaged readers [46:27]

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Memorable Moments

• Dana’s emotional good news reading and acknowledgment of community empathy [02:23]
• AG and DG’s banter on legal, legislative, and moral absurdities — maintaining trademark humor and indignation (“plate the Confederate statues in gold!”)
• AG’s step-by-step summary of the court’s instructions on restoring park signage [18:51]
• Barbara McQuaid's clear, authoritative breakdown of both historical and concrete policy solutions

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Overall Tone & Takeaway

The episode fuses rigorous legal and political analysis with genuine empathy, indignation, and optimism. The tone is both urgent and hopeful: democracy is under attack, but collective action, historical precedent, and pragmatic reform can restore faith in the rule of law.

Listeners come away better informed about both immediate threats (politicized indictments, institutional corruption) and the historical power of protest and reform. The interview with Barbara McQuaid elegantly bridges past, present, and actionable pathways for the future.

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For More:

• The Fix by Barbara McQuaid — available on indie booksellers and barbaramcquaid.com
• Sisters in Law Podcast (with Barb McQuaid)
• Submit “good news” or activism stories at DailyBeansPod.com

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Barb McQuaid]

It's no surprise that newsmakers try to manipulate the audience. They want you to believe that they are the one holding the line, and they'll use any trick they can to get you there.

[AG]

But don't let them fool you.

[Barb McQuaid]

Get Unspun. I'm Amanda Sturgel. I've been a reporter, and today I teach future reporters to cut the spin and think critically about what newsmakers say. My podcast, Unspun, shows you how to know when you're being manipulated by the

[AG]

news, learn to spot the tricks, and

[Barb McQuaid]

how to make up your own mind about what's true. So if you're tired of being fooled by the news, subscribe to Unspun today. Unspun because you deserve the truth.

[AG]

MSW Media.

[Barb McQuaid]

News whispering

[AG]

jelly beans.

[Barb McQuaid]

Jelly beans. Jelly beans. Daily beans.

[AG]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Today, the feds have charged 15 Minnesotans for being part of an antifa conspiracy to impede ICE officers. CIA Director John Ratcliffe is casting doubt on the Iran memorandum of understanding. Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to end Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund and tax immunity. A federal court has denied Judge Hannah Dugan's bid for a new trial. Six preservation groups in D.C. are suing to stop work on the statue Garden because the administration failed to get congressional approval. Jamie Raskin is accusing Kash Patel of having a personal slush fund to pay loyalist FBI agents. Geo Group privately asked ICE to remove requirements to pay detainees for work. And a federal judge is doubling down on her order that the government must restore national park signage. I'm Alison Gill.

[DG]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[AG]

Hey. Hello. Happy Wednesday.

[DG]

Happy to have you back, my friend. It's nice to see you.

[AG]

Thank you so much for covering me, everybody. I woke up on Monday, which will record for Tuesday's show, and my voice was just gone. It said, nope. It noped out. So I really appreciate you covering for me yesterday, but everything's bad, of course, back to normal today.

[DG]

I only had one breakdown to read the good news and I won't even apologize for it because we're not supposed to apologize for feeling. But when I tell you I was bawling in a very sad way, I could not compose myself like the producers. I asked for like a break and then edit and everything got some water. But, you know, it was just one of those stories that I was so pissed that we lost one of the good ones. And normally I have you on the other side and I was just like, I'm just here crying by my side and probably all of the listeners if I know our community because we're all such empathic people.

[AG]

Oh, man. Well, I really appreciate you covering for me. So which story was it?

[DG]

Basically, there was one of the protesters that was struck in a crossing walk by a car. And it was just one of those moments where we lost one of our helpers, you know, and you've got all these horrible people walking around the earth and not that I'm wishing pain on anyone, but it was one of those moments where I was like, man, why they gotta take the good ones? Yeah.

[AG]

It's just absolutely not fair.

[DG]

Yeah.

[AG]

Later in the show today, our guest is University of Michigan law professor, co host of the Sisters in Law podcast and author of the national bestseller Attack from Within. She's gonna join us, Barb McQuaid, to discuss her new New York Times best selling book called the Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob Style Government. She's got all sorts of great ideas about how we can do that, so I'm looking forward to that discussion. All right, we have a ton of news to get to today, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, everybody. First up from the Guardian, 15 people in Minnesota were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers over their response to a controversial and deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in the state earlier this year. The U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, and the special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations, hsi, announced the charges at a press conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday. The prosecutors alleged that the defendants were part of two Minneapolis based antifa groups that violently oppose immigration law enforcement. Of those charged, 12 people were arrested Tuesday. One was already in custody on other federal charges, according to officials who said two remain at large. Rosen showed social media posts and videos of a couple of the people indicted to underscore their allegations and that they intended to impede law enforcement. In one video, a man declares he is antifa and discusses bringing guns to a demonstration. Rosen didn't answer whether any of the agents were actually harmed or injured by the defendants because none were. Okay, we need to be very clear about that. He even showed a Facebook post of someone said we must be ungovernable. And he's like, look at this, this is antifa. Like, it's just absolutely ridiculous. Earlier this year, the Trump administration secured its first successful conviction on the basis of antifa terrorism in the Prairieland case in North Texas following a non fatal shooting at a Fourth of July 2025 noise demonstration in a case with 22 defendants across federal and state charges. In Spokane, Washington, three activists were convicted on conspiracy charges over an anti ICE demonstration. This is their wet dream. Dana, remember when they wanted desperately to go after the peaceful George Floyd protesters?

[DG]

Yep.

[Barb McQuaid]

And?

[AG]

And they even blocked Biden's DOJ nominees until Merrick Garland started going after George Floyd protesters the same way he was going after the January 6th peaceful protesters. Just absolute bullshit. And that delay meant that we didn't have a U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia until November, till almost a year into Biden's administration, which I'm sure also helped slow down those investigations of January 6th.

[DG]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[AG]

The federal government also charged six people in Illinois with conspiracy over a protest at Broadview. We call that case the Broadview Six, though the government later dropped all the charges because of prosecutorial misconduct in the grand jury room. And I hope these 15 defendants demand grand jury transcripts to see how this indictment was secured. Nearly 40 others, including journalist Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, face federal charges over protest at a Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a pastor reportedly worked as an ICE official. Local prosecutors declined to charge the protesters in that case as well. And I think these charges against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and the rest will be thrown out. Andy McCabe and I are going to cover this story about these 15 charged in Minneapolis in more detail on this weekend's episode of Unjustified. But this is fascism. That's what. If you're arresting anti fascists, you're a fascist.

[DG]

Yeah, that's basically it. We're so on the pipe. Anyway, this one's from Ms. Now. FBI Director Kash Patel may have authorized taxpayer funded special payments to his inner circle of FBI executives and agents on his protective detail, according to the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

[AG]

Dude, I bet he was buying their silence because one of them is leaking all that shit about him drinking and being hungover and stuff.

[DG]

Absolutely. And this is a quote. We've been receiving troubling reports that you may be using part of the budget of the FBI as a personal slush fund to make tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlawful bonus payments to loyalist MAGA henchmen who have engaged in misconduct. Says a letter from the amazing Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Democrat from Maryland, to Patel, obtained exclusively by Ms. Now committee. Democrats have informed that Patel has issued more than a million dollars in awards. That's what the letter says. The letter also says that the money went to special agents serving on his director's advisory team, which Raskin's letter describes as a curated group of agents who are willing to carry out your unlawful partisan and personal orders. It also went to agents on Patel's security detail and I quote, circumventing the mandatory maximum pay caps established by statute.

[AG]

Can you imagine if Merrick Garland paid FBI agen agents a million dollars to.

[DG]

He'd be behind bars. He'd be behind bars in this quote. By issuing these side payments, your office may be knowingly breaking federal law. That's what the letter says. In some cases. Nearly $8,000 payments have been made to multiple individuals every two week pay period. Despite many of the beneficiaries of your selective generosity already maxing out on federal employees salary.

[AG]

Ooh, yeah, that's massively illegal. So I'm sure Kash Patel will be like, we'll get to the bottom of it. I'll investigate myself. It'll be fine. Okay. Sorry. We. By the way, if you have good news, send it in. We really need it this week. That's DailyBeansPod.com and click on Contact. Next up from HuffPost. Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democratic effort to move legislation in the US Senate that would abolish Trump's $1.8 billion anti weaponization slush fund and nullify a settlement freeing Trump and his family from ongoing tax enforcement, which I call the tax immunity section of this agreement. Quote, the only way we're going to ensure that they never see the light of day is to ban them permanently by law. That's what Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor. Schumer asked the Senate for unanimous consent to pass the bill, meaning without a vote. But Senator Bill Haggerty, Republican from Tennessee, objected. Why are you objecting to something that everyone on your side has promised isn't going forward?

[DG]

Mm.

[AG]

What is the problem? It's like how they want to pass a law to make it illegal for undocumented immigrants to vote even though it's already illegal for undocumented immigrants to vote. But this is going the other way. Like this slush fund is illegal, but why not? What's your problem? If it's illegal, we'll just pass the bill. It's quote, the president made clear he'd not seek any compensation from the anti weaponization fund, Hagerty said, adding that the acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, has said the fund isn't going forward. Why is that not enough for my colleagues from across the aisle? Well then, because what?

[DG]

We don't believe a fucking word you all say.

[AG]

What are you fucking objecting to? Oh, God. All right. Despite saying the fund wouldn't move forward, the Justice Department has refused to rescind the memo in writing, the memo that announced its creation, and they even are fighting a lawsuit to block the fund. A judge has temporarily blocked the department from implementing the program, which is intended to pay January six rioters.

[DG]

So.

[AG]

Good Lord.

[Barb McQuaid]

Yep.

[DG]

All right. This one is from Wisconsin Public Radio. A federal court has once again denied former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan's request that she be acquitted or allowed to stand for a new trial. In December, a jury found Dugan guilty of impeding an official proceeding. That's a felony. That's after she led a man named Eduardo Flores Ruiz through a side door of her courtroom last spring after immigration agents showed up to arrest Flores Ruiz for being in the country illegally.

[AG]

Yeah.

[DG]

Dugan resigned from her judgeship in January. In the months since, her attorneys have been working to try and overturn her conviction. That's including filing a motion arguing that Dugan's conviction should be overturned or that she should be allowed another trial. U.S. district Judge Lynn Adelman, who oversaw Dugan's trial in December, denied that request in April. Dugan has not yet been sentenced. Her attorneys issued us one sentence statement on Tuesday, and all it said was, the court's decision is wrong.

[AG]

This sucks. I really like Judge Hannah Dugan. She just took him out a door two feet away from the other door.

[DG]

Yeah.

[AG]

Anyway, next up from Axios, so take it with a grain of salt, But CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Trump and other senior officials that evidence gathered by US Intelligence agencies raises serious doubts that about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking in any final deal, according to three sources familiar with those discussions. Ratcliffe isn't the only skeptic in Trump's top team. In internal discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both expressed concerns and raised questions about the mou, the memorandum of understanding that was announced Sunday, but nobody will show it to us, probably because it's extremely embarrassing. It's a surrender memo is what it is. While Vice President Vance and US Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are advocating for it, according to two sources. I wonder how much they're getting off the top. Like, yeah, part of the deal, apparently, is $300 billion goes from us and our allies to pay for reparations and reconstruction in Iran. And I'm sure, like, Kushner's private hedge fund is going to broker that money probably somehow, so he can get a Cut of it. Oh my God. I'm just, I'm just guess on that. But I mean, come on now. There were, there were a series of high level meetings about this deal. I call it a surrender between Trump and his advisors. In the lead up to Sunday's announcement and during those meetings, Trump and his team discussed intel gathered by several US Intelligence agencies that showed that the way Iranian officials were discussing the deal amongst themselves was inconsistent with what they were telling the mediators and the United states, according to two sources. Sure, they want their $324 billion.

[DG]

No kidding.

[AG]

Ratcliffe and Rubio said that based on the intel, they doubted the Iranians would agree to take the nuclear steps the U.S. was seeking. Quote, the intelligence reflects that Iranian intentions are not in line with the commitments under the deal. Now from CNN, U.S. intelligence agencies have recently assessed that Iran can effectively shut down access to the Strait of Hormuz at will from now on, meaning the country's regime has acquired a powerful new ability to hurt the global economy as a result of the war. That's according to three sources familiar with the find. Regardless of the framework agreement that is due to be formally signed on Friday to open the key waterway as a prelude to nuclear talks, Iran proved it can shut off access to the strait during the current conflict. And U.S. intelligence assessments suggest that it could probably happen again. We have now handed Iran de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz, a weapon more powerful than any nuke. That's what one of the sources familiar with the intelligence assessments told cnn, emphasizing how the war has fundamentally altered Tehran's thinking about leveraging similar tactics in the future. So, great job, everybody. Good job, Donald Trump.

[DG]

Yep. All right, this next one's from the post. When U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement was revising the federal standards that govern immigration detention centers, one of its top contractors privately asked for changes that could benefit its business. That's according to a person briefed on the discussion. Geo Group, which oversees more than a dozen ICE detention facilities, has faced lawsuits in three states alleging it violates minimum wage laws by paying some immigrant detainees a dollar a day to work. The company maintains that the work is voluntary and that it operates the program at the direction of the government. GO asks that ICE remove lines saying contractors needed to follow state and local laws around the treatment of detainees and that ICE amend language to support its legal position in these cases. This is what the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The company also asked that the standards specify that detainees are not employees of the facilities where they work.

[AG]

This sounds like concentration camps.

[DG]

It sure fucking sounds like slave labor. Yeah. The new national detention standards, which ICE posted to its website Monday, includes some of GEO's requested changes. The document says detainees are not employees, quote, and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or label regulations. The revised rules no longer say detainees must be paid at least a doll per day and no longer includes several references to contractors having to comply with state or local laws. That's slave labor, plain and simple, as

[AG]

a violation of the 13th Amendment. And. But let me tell you why. There is an exemption that has been exploited in the 13th Amendment for a long time that criminals do not have to be paid for work. However, people in immigration detention have not committed a crime. They have committed a civil issue. So that exemption doesn't hold true for them. And for them to be like, we don't even want to pay them a dollar a day. Can you remove that language? And they did.

[DG]

Yeah.

[AG]

It's disgusting. It's disgusting. It's slavery. All right. I'm imagining someone's going to sue over this. We've seen a lot of worker strikes and hunger strikes inside the detention facilities for this very reason.

[DG]

Yeah.

[Barb McQuaid]

All right.

[AG]

You'll remember earlier this week, we reported that Judge Angel Kelly ordered the Department of the Interior Burgum to put back all the signage that it took down from national parks that had to do with slavery and civil rights and LGBTQ plus rights. Well, Doug Burgum asked the judge for an emergency stay. He's like, can you stop it? It's just too much. It's just all too much for us to handle. The judge came back with this. At this juncture, the court requires additional information to adequately assess your assertions, particularly regarding irreparable harm. Defendants contend that the order for stay presents severe logistical difficulties and monetary costs by requiring the government to comply in full within 21 days, and it imposes a herculean and unmanageable task on the National Park Service. You took them all down. You took them all down. A herculean and unmanageable task on the National Park Service that will irreparably harm it and its programming in many practical ways. Additional information concerning the removed materials is therefore necessary to permit a meaningful review of your claims that irreparable injury will result absent the requested relief. Accordingly, y' all are directed to file by noon on June 171 an inventory of everything you removed, including the reason for its removal. The item's medium is it a poster, paper, film, plaque, etc. The item's current location and if it's been moved or if it's in storage, the item's condition, including if the item has been damaged or destroyed. And if the item has been destroyed, the expected process necessary for refab to make it again, such as reprinting, as opposed to requiring an outside vendor. And number two, what actions, if any, y' all have taken to date to comply with my June 12, 2026 order. This deadline aligns with the directive in the court's order first stay that defendants provide an initial status report within five calendar days. So they have five calendar days now to explain all of that to the court. Because they're like, we'll be irreparably harmed. Herculean task. We are Sisyphus. We can't do it. Please help us. And the judge is like, all right, write down all the shit you gotta do. I gotta see. I have to. If you want me to assess this properly and issue a stay, you're gonna have to turn in all this information to me and you have five days to do it. So good on you, judge.

[DG]

All right, this one's from the Post. A coalition of Washington area preservation and cultural heritage organizations on Monday have sued the Trump administration over Trump's plan to remake national parkland with a massive statute. Excuse me, almost said statutory, which is sort of appropriate Statuary garden. The group said that Trump's planned Garden of American Heroes. I have a feeling those will all be white statues, which the President has said would and all men if I had imagined would feature life size statues of roughly 250Americans and be built in West Potomac Park. That must be halted until Congress authorizes the project. Just like every other thing that happens on federal land needs to be authorized by Congress. Weird. Yeah. Trump officials have already begun the commission statues and secure funding to build the garden on a large field that is is an extension of the National Mall. And the President and his deputies have repeatedly said the project is moving forward. What do you bet it's all of the Confederate fucking soldiers and they'll all

[AG]

be plated in gold.

[DG]

Oh, my God. Long live the Confederate. Okay, let's see. This is a quote from the story. Congress put clear laws in place to safeguard the National Mall from new construction and to ensure the public has a meaningful voice in decisions about landscapes that belong to them as space open to all. That's Tiernan Siddenfeld, president and CEO of the National Park Conservation Association. The Interior Department, which is helping manage the garden project, criticized the lawsuit which was filed on behalf of six groups and one named Washington resident in the U.S. district Court of the District of Columbia. Trump pursued a smaller version of the statue garden. I guess who posed for.

[AG]

It was 250 people but they were shorter.

[DG]

Yeah, it was a bunch of. Marco, Marco. Can you stand still? We're actually trying to do a brawl Bonds version. Bonvino. Bongino. What the hell is his name?

[AG]

I'm trying to get the shoes right. I'm trying to.

[DG]

Can we just pour this over your body? I think it's the right size. Trump pursued a smaller version of the statue garden during the first administration but efforts stalled when he left office. I'm sorry. When he lost the election is what that should say. In President Joe Biden rescinded work on the project. We're not going to make statues of your Nazi friends, dude. Things.

[AG]

Well yeah, because you need congressional approval to with federal lands. That's just. That's just how it goes. Them's the rule. That hasn't stopped them. That hasn't stopped them in the past and they've. They just like to trudge ahead with stuff without, you know. I mean look at the Kennedy Center. Look at what they did to the reflecting pool. Look at what it's just. It's all bananas and it's all, you know, just move forward lobby damned and we can work it out at the end.

[DG]

Move fast. Break shit. That's what Facebook's motto is. That's what this government's motto is.

[AG]

Uh huh. Same, I think same thing happened January 6th. And with with trying to get pence to throw out the electors. We'll worry about whether it's legal later. Let's just do it now so I can hold on to office.

[DG]

Absolutely.

[Barb McQuaid]

All right everybody stick around.

[AG]

Right after this we're going to be talking to my good friend Barb McQuaid. You don't want to miss this conversation. And we'll follow it up with the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.

[DG]

We'll be right back.

[AG]

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[Martin Sheen]

Hello, Martin Sheen here. And it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday. For God's sake, let's change that. What do you say? Together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now, every Sunday, season three of the Martin Sheen Podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen has begun. Yeah, 10 brand new episodes are already underway. So join me, Mark machine, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry, and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world, but I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? You want to take back your Sundays? So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, season three, available now. Don't mess with my Sunday and thank you for listening.

[AG]

Hey everybody. Welcome back. Super honored to be joined today by my friend, former U.S. attorney appointed by Obama, law professor at the University of Michigan, now co host of the amazing Sisters in Law podcast, which you can get wherever you are. Listen to your podcasts. We had her on the show on the Daily Beans back when she wrote Attack from Within. And now she's back to discuss her latest book, New York Times bestseller the Fix. Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob Style Government. Please welcome my friend, Barb McQuaid. Hi Barb.

[Barb McQuaid]

Hi EG. Thanks for having me.

[AG]

It's so good to see you, my friend. We don't get to talk too often these days, so I'm glad to have you here.

[Barb McQuaid]

Yeah, thanks. Great to be with you.

[AG]

So this book is billed as weaving together courtroom stories, real time political analysis, cautionary lessons from history and democratic backsliding abroad. You make the case that the threats we face are not future possibilities. They're actually already here. But the Fix isn't just a warning, right? It's a call to action. And in the book's final chapters, you outline common sense reforms and strategies, big ideas that can reclaim the rule of law and recenter democracy with the power of the people. And I think it's so fortuitous that we get to talk today because in the Fix you call for Civic awakening. Yet 15 people were indicted today in Minnesota for civic awakening, for doing legal things. I've read through this indictment and it seems like a garbage indictment, kind of like the indictment against the Broadview Six in Chicago for the same kinds of actions. So I think it's really good timing to speak to you today with regard to your book and what we are just now seeing happen in Minnesota.

[Barb McQuaid]

Yeah, well, I think one of the things the president recognizes is just how effective protests can be. I think protesters drove ice out of Minnesota. Of course, it took the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Preddy perhaps to capture the public's attention. But the people of Minnesota in some very cold weather were persistent in showing up and making a case. And I think they earned a lot of empathy from their fellow Americans. And so I think that when Greg Bovino left there and when we saw a new strategy to take a much lower profile, I think that was a result of peaceful protest. And now we see these charges filed. You know, in ordinary times, I wouldn't think twice about it. But these are not ordinary times. We have seen a president use his Department of Justice as a tool of retribution. And I think that's exactly what this is. I need to punish my enemies times 10, because not only do I want to punish these individuals, I want the whole world to see that there is a price to be paid for taking me on. And that's what's happening here.

[AG]

Yeah, agreed. And let's talk a little bit about some of the historical context, because the fix draws a lot on history and the power of peaceful protests, because like you said, this was a very successful one. And then we had the Minnesota, the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul were the flagship no Kings protest site. We had Bruce Springsteen. I mean, it was just a mass of 200,000 plus people. And we've seen this elsewhere in history. And that's what I love about your book, Barb, the fix. It draws on these kinds of historical analogs. Can you talk a little bit about some comparative nonviolent protests that have resulted in the kind of change that we are seeking here in the United States?

[Barb McQuaid]

Yeah. Well, one of the things that inspires me is the political scientist Erica Chenoweth at Harvard has studied regime change around the world, and she has concluded that if even only 3.5% of the population engages in peaceful protest, they can effect change. And that's really important. I think the fact that Trump is going after these protesters is indicative of just how effective peaceful protest can be. And, you know, some of the moments in history that I talk about are protests like what we saw in the 1960s in the civil rights movement, 50s and 60s in the civil rights movement. And part of what's so effective is what the protesters themselves are doing and saying to figures in power. That's powerful. But I think the other thing that it does is, is it causes people to pay attention who might not otherwise be paying attention. So, you know, during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, ordinary Americans, perhaps in the north, saw these very well dressed young men and women sitting at lunch counters being beaten. They saw kids being sprayed with fire hoses and attacked with dogs. They saw peaceful protesters marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, being beaten with batons. And that so horrified people that it really caused A great civic awakening, I think, that led to the passage of the Voting Rights act of 1965. So I think we can use these moments. And so often what happens in moments of political protest is that the government overplays its hand and does something like what we saw with the response in the 1960s or the response we're seeing now with these criminal charges, that overplaying of the hand actually can inure to the benefit of the protesters because it creates empathy in the public to say, you know, these people haven't done anything wrong and yet they're being attacked. So I think that there are some, some good lessons to be drawn there of the value of peaceful protest.

[AG]

Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about overplaying their hand here in this administration. The New York Times came out with some reportings, very detailed, almost as though they have recordings of things that are going on in the White House. Very detailed reporting that Donald Trump, because Stephen Miller was pushing it, was weighing, suspending the writ of habeas corpus and weighing, invoking the Insurrection Act. And I know that there are also historical analogues for those kinds of things. This five, six months ago, and then about a year or 13 or 14 months ago, we were sounding the alarm bells about potential invocation of the Insurrection act in order to grab more power. And the fact that they were thinking about suspending habeas corpus in light of what was happening in Minnesota, in light of what was happening with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, can you talk a little bit about your top line thoughts and how you address this kind of thing in the fix about, you know, the habeas corpus and an insurrection Act?

[Barb McQuaid]

Well, you know, the writ of habeas corpus, of course, is that sacred principle that comes from, you know, the Magna Carta, goes back to old England, that when we are detained, jailed, we have a right to petition the court to bring us forward, to require the government to at least explain why we're being held. That's all it is, right? They can't lock us away in some dark jail cell, throw away the key and not tell anybody about it. There has to be a lawful basis for any sort of detention. The Constitution, though, does say that the writ of habeas corpus, it basically says it should not be suspended. It's called the suspension clause, unless we are in a period of rebellion when the president can do that. We saw Abraham Lincoln do it during the Civil War. It was done with Franklin Roosevelt when he interned the Japanese Americans. So it's happened a couple times in American history. But it does require that we be in a moment of rebellion. And so, you know, the idea that there's some people out there protesting, I don't think that constitutes that kind of rebellion. So one of the things that Stephen Miller and others discussed and the reason he did not go forward with it, was the fear that it would be a self inflicted wound, that there would be a great deal of pushback, both legally and politically, that would be very costly to the Trump administration. So I guess they had the good sense not to do that. But one of the things I mentioned in the fix is when it comes to the Insurrection act, the President is allowed to federalize the National Guard in times of rebellion or insurrection and call them up to repel some sort of attack. However, the language of the statute is a little bit vague. We saw the President invoke a different set of authorities. It's not the Insurrection act, but in Los Angeles, when he invoked the National Guard to come and provide assistance, he implemented the or activated the California National Guard during some political protests to assist in things like crowd control, but not to engage in law enforcement activity. What the Insurrection act would allow is to go one step further and allow the President to call up the National Guard to engage in police practices, search and seizure and arrest, and basically militarizing the police. I think that we need to amend the statutes that are to make them more specific about when the President can do that, because it's so vague right now that a president could do it. Maybe somebody files a lawsuit, maybe they win and can stop him. But in the meantime, we could have National Guardsmen militarizing our streets, which I don't think is anything people want to see. We saw that in Washington, D.C. where the law is a little bit different because Washington, D.C. is the seat of government. But, you know, you could imagine maybe in the lead up to an election, or maybe on election Day, the President saying, I'm worried about all of the undocumented immigrants who are going to fraudulently vote. And so I want the National Guard to be at every polling place. He shouldn't be able to do that legally, but I think we need to reform and more finely calibrate the Insurrection act to make it clear the circumstances under which a President can and cannot invoke it to activate National Guardsmen.

[AG]

Yeah. And that's one of just one of the structural changes that you suggest in the fix. Let's talk about some of the other ones that you'll be looking for or that we should be as voters at least looking for from our candidates going forward in the midterms and in 2028, again, because I think one of the best things about the fix is it's not just here's the problem, look at all these problems. It's like, here are solutions. Some reform ideas, including reforming the Insurrection Act. What are some other structural changes that you recommend in the book?

[Barb McQuaid]

Yeah, well, I'll give you an example from each of the three branches of government in the legislative branch. I think that we need to do a better job in the way we select our members of Congress. We currently have a system where something like 89% of the seats are solidly red or blue. And what that means is they're constantly out, you know, campaigning each other for who could be more extreme. Instead, it would be great if we had seats that were really in play so that members of Congress were representing our own interests. I think we could achieve that through things like ranked choice voting. It tends to have a moderating effect and weed out some of the more extreme candidates. It's what gave us Lisa Murkowski, the moderate senator in Alaska. You know, they use this in Alaska and Maine. I think it's worth a try. And also eliminating gerrymandering. We have seen this gerrymandering arms race, which is really diluting democracy, in my opinion. Elena Kagan wrote in one of her opinions dissenting in the case that said gerrymandering is not something courts can fix that. It is the antithesis of democracy. There are several states, including my home state of Michigan, that has a Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission that does not use partisan politics in deciding how to draw district lines. It instead just uses common sense. They have some guidelines like you should respect county lines, you should respect city lines, you should respect communities of interest instead. What we see in places like Tennessee is a recent cracking of the city of Memphis, which was traditionally a strong voting bloc of black voters and Democratic voters, to slice them up into some three different districts. So then now Memphis is packaged with a lot of suburban voters. And Memphis as a community no longer has a say in its political representation. So I think we can do a better job in how we elect members of Congress in the executive branch. One change I would like to see is legislation that provides some bottom line qualifications for members of the president's cabinet. We have a couple of them in there. There's one that says that the attorney General must be learned in the law, but it's not much. How about it? Before you get the keys to the Defense Department or The War Department, as some call it, now that you've got some management experience because you're managing the world's largest organization. And we want somebody there who is going to be an advisor and understand what it means to go to war instead of just following the President's every whim. How about at the Department of Health and Human Services, we have a secretary who has either been a doctor or public health official instead of somebody who eats raw bear meat and has a brain worm. So that I would propose that in the executive branch. And then when it comes to the judiciary, I think one of the flaws there is, as J.D. vance has said, they can order it, but let them enforce it. And we've seen the executive branch ignore some court orders and disregard court orders. And the fear is, what happens if they continue to do that or if there's some big order and they just refuse to obey it? I think one thing we could do is take the U.S. marshals Service, which has been around for over 200 years, currently housed in the Department of Justice in the Executive branch of, and move it over by an act of Congress to the judiciary. I mean, they already really serve the judges. They work as courthouse security. They move prisoners, they look for fugitives. What if also in their portfolio was when somebody disobeyed a court order, A judge could hold them in civil contempt and direct the marshals to lock them up until they comply with that order. I think that could solve that problem. So those are just some examples, one from each of the branches of government.

[AG]

Okay, so now we get to the big question. Because if we pass all these laws, voting rights, let's say we pass the HR1, we the People act or the John Lewis Voting Rights act, we pass a law that moves the U.S. marshals under the judiciary branch to say we pass a law codifying Roe or pass a law abiding gerrymandering, which I think is part of the Voting Rights Act. It has to go through this Supreme Court, who is right now currently gutting the 1965 Voting Rights act and doing all of this. So what do we do about court reform? There's a growing number of elected politicians and politicians running for office who are supporting either adding seats to the Supreme Court or law having term limits or maybe stripping jurisdiction from the court after they gave it to themselves with Marbury v. Madison. In so many ways, how do we protect these laws that we elect people to pass from this Supreme Court?

[Barb McQuaid]

I think one of the problems with the Supreme Court as it's currently constituted is that there is a lot of luck involved in which president gets to appoint justices. You would think that over time you would have kind of an equal representation of appointees by presidents who are Republicans and appointees who are Democrats. But instead, because it's a lifetime appointment and presidents get to appoint them when they're in office. And sometimes Mitch McConnell puts a thumb on the scale. President Trump has three on the court and so he was able to get a super majority there of a 6 to 3 majority. And so we see some, what I think are very sound decisions in the lower courts where they are reining in some of President Trump's worst instincts. They get to the Supreme Court and although not in every case, and I don't think they're necessarily in the bag for Donald Trump, I do think they share his view of a very strong executive. You know, they've bought into this unitary executive theory, which I don't buy. But the idea that all executive power vests in the president and that he therefore gets to fire anybody he wants to and, you know, has a lot of power as the chief executive, I don't know that we're going to be able to prevent Donald Trump from doing that. There's only two more years left in his administration and I don't think we're going to see significant court reform in that time. But I do think there are some things that we could do even with it would probably require a veto proof majority in the House and Senate. I don't know if we're going to get that this time around or if we had a new president who cared about court reform for the long term. I think we could get it. And I think some of the things we need to do may not even require a constitutional amendment. So, for example, the number of justices is set by statute. In our nation's history, we've had anywhere from five to 10 justices. We now have nine. Nine was decided to reflect the number of judicial circuits that existed at that time. We now have 13 judicial circuits. So perhaps a statute that just says we're up in the number to 13 and then how they get selected I think could also be addressed. They'd still be appointed by the president, but perhaps, as you said, with term limits maybe I've heard floated 18 years, that's still a good long time. It's still probably sufficient that this be the last job a justice will ever take because you don't want them making decisions, trying to please somebody who might give them a job in the future. So 18 years seems about right. And that you could have them appointed to staggered terms. And although the Constitution says that they get to serve during time of good behavior, which means for life, I've heard it also suggests that you could have a structure whereby there are active justices and senior justices. And so after your 18 years are up, you become a senior justice. And maybe you fill in when there are recusals, maybe you ride circuit and handle emergency petitions. But the core group of the court are still on these 18 year terms. And it would give each president the ability to appoint maybe three. And so it would take a while to get there, but at some point we would have every president appoints three. It would mean no president gets to really stack the deck and nobody gets to do it in a way that might last for 40 years. I mean, people like Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, they're going to be on this court for 40 years. And so it skews the balance over time. And I think thinking it through in this way might help just restore some of that balance. That makes them, you know, a little more accountable to the people because the people are electing the president and the president is appointing the justices and we're getting a new batch every three years. I think that might, you know, really help.

[AG]

Yeah, and I mean, life expectancy has more than doubled since.

[Barb McQuaid]

Such a good point, isn't it? Because, you know, when they talked about life expectancies at the time of the founding, you know, it was like 42 or something. That was a big, long life.

[AG]

Yeah, right. And how many justices are over the age of 42 right now? So it's a lot. It's very different. But thank you so much for coming and talking to us. The book is out now. It came out June 2nd. It's called the Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob Style Government. What I like to recommend is people go to their favorite independent bookseller and order 10 copies and keep one and then go put the rest out in little free public libraries or give them to friends and family for holiday and birthday presents. It's like my. I have a whole closet full of like multiple copies of books to hand out for those kinds of occasions. So let everybody know, Barb, where they can find and follow you and get more information about the fix.

[Barb McQuaid]

Oh, thanks so much. Well, Barbara, McQuaid.com is a website where you can buy the book from independent booksellers and you can also find the book tour. I've been touring through the month of June and I've. I'm only half done. I'VE got at another bunch of book talks. I hope you come out and see me at one of them because one of the things that's really been fulfilling about this is a chance to talk to people who do care about our democracy. We are not an idiocracy where people are distracted with, you know, the celebrity gossip and the latest on the sports pages. Those things are fine. But there are many people who are spending a good deal of time thinking about how they can make a difference. And so meeting people like you out there is really gratifying.

[AG]

Awesome. Thank you so much, my friend, everybody. The book is called the fix. Former U.S. attorney, law professor at the University of Michigan. And don't forget to check out the Sisters in Law podcast wherever you get them. Thank you so much, Barb. It's been great to see you.

[Barb McQuaid]

Thanks, ag. Same to you, everybody.

[AG]

Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news.

[Martin Sheen]

Hello, Martin Sheen here, and it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday. For God's sake, let's change that. What do you say? Together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now every Sunday. Season three of the Martin Sheen Podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen has begun. Yeah. 10 brand new episodes are already underway. So join me, Martin sheen, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry, and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world, but I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? You want to take back your Sundays? So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, Season three, available now. Don't mess with my Sunday. And thank you for listening, everybody.

[AG]

Welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone. Then good news, everyone. Boy, do we need your good news anything.

[DG]

Yes, we do.

[AG]

Anything. It can be something. If you stopped and pet your cat for 20 minutes today, write in and tell us about that. It can be something big that happened to you 25 years ago. It doesn't matter as long as it brings a smile to it.

[DG]

Will you write that story in as if you were the cat? Though, if you wouldn't mind the good news. Like if you stop and pet your cat for 20 minutes. Will you send that story as if you were the cat, right?

[AG]

Like the human pet me today for 20 minutes. Yeah, that would be fantastic. And give us a voice, give us like an actor's voice to read it in. We'd be happy to do it. You can send in good trouble suggestions. You can give a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a nonprofit or some great community activism that you're seeing in your area. I know a lot of people are doing some great protests against data centers and these concentration camps which now have, I guess, government authorized slave labor happening. You can give a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one. We'd love to hear about it. And you can send it all to [e-mail] and click on contact. And all you got to do to get your stuff in is attach a photo. It can be your pet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area, a random animal on the Internet, a meme, a funny meme that you want us to see. I love some of these memes that people come up with are so hilarious. You can send family photos, baby pictures, bird watching photos, which can be an actual bird or you flipping the bird to a Trump building. Somebody said if you don't have your ID when door dash comes to your door, just show them your Merlin. Apparently that should qualify. I thought that was really funny. To show that you're old enough to drink alcohol, anything at all, any picture that makes you happy and will make us happy. Send it all dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your Good Trouble Good Trouble Today oppose Jay Clayton for the Director of National intelligence with the five calls app. Trump has nominated U.S. attorney and former securities and Exchange Commissioner Chair Jay Clayton to serve as a permanent Director of National Intelligence after acting DNI Bill Pulte faced intense bipartisan criticism over his lack of qualifications. Clayton, like Pulte, has no professional background in intelligence or national security. Instead, he has spent most of his career representing major investment banks in international deals, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest between corporate financial interests and national security priorities. Further, Clayton has publicly supported some of Trump administration's most blatant grifts and lies. From defending the $1.8 billion slush fund to appearing on television promote conspiracy theories about California's primary election results. The DNI oversees the nation's intelligence agencies and plays a critical role in protecting national security. Congress should reject Clayton's nomination and demand a qualified nominee with significant intelligence and national security expertise. And I will say this too. I've pointed this out on this past Sunday's episode of the Breakdown on the Midas Touch Network. He also signed onto those letters to judges in the courts to help Todd Blanche manipulate the judicial system in order to help cover up Trump's Epstein file stuff. So this is a bad dude. So call your senators to urge them to oppose the nomination of Jay Clayton for dni.

[DG]

All right, thank you, Allison. This is from Kevin Patrick. No pronouns given. Good morning, Allison and Dana. I have a correction to report on my part. It's funny that when I write in, I'm on pins and needles the next day to see if my letter gets aired. However, yesterday I was saying, please don't read mine. Please don't read mine. I facepalmed so hard when you began to read mine, Dana. Around 10 minutes after I sent you and I thought was good info, I realized it was a misunderstanding on my part. I was so certain of my information on the Kennedy center because it came from my sister who drives past the center daily during her commute to and from work. I thought the photo she texted was current. As of now, I think the tarp is still up. Sad face. But my message still stands. The joy in seeing private bone spurs house, House of Cards blown away is something to look forward to. For penance, I have added Leomi with my dog Shanka on the day I brought him home a Shetland sheepdog. Oh, my God. Thank you so much for all your efforts. And if no win the tarp comes down, I'll try and get a good picture from my sister. And you and this pup are worth a correction. I love a person who can take responsibility. All of this made me so happy. Yeah, I remember.

[AG]

I was like, I think that tarp's still up. I don't know.

[DG]

I know you are researching. You're like, nope, that's it. No. He says, no.

[AG]

Look at the Shetland sheepdog. Baby Shunka is a great name. I'm interested what that means. All right, next up from anonymous pronouns, he and him. Hello, Beans, Queens. I want to shout out to the hometown hauler, one of our local North Carolina independent media groups. Yesterday they interviewed Naomi Dicks, a drag queen. Naomi Dix, but who grew up as a Jehovah's Witness. And it was a great interview. I would highly recommend y' all listen to the episode on your favorite platform. The Hometown Holler does a great job spreading liberal and progressive news and ideas around our southern state. We need all the help we can get happy pride and thanks for what you wonderful ladies do as well. Love y'. All. The news with cursing is just what we need with all this right now. For my pod tacks, I'm including a pic of a native dogwood and a native azalea in bloom from this past spring at our place. I'm also including a link to the aforementioned show. Great. We'll have that link to YouTube in the show notes. And I love I love bloom scrolling so thank you Anonymous for sending these photos of beautiful flowers.

[DG]

Yeah, so pretty. All right, this is from Jenny Pronouns she and her I just wanted to share this picture of many of the outdoor Knicks watch parties in my neighborhood in South Brooklyn on Saturday. Someone set out a TV in front of a bodega. I fucking love New York. I know. Someone set out a TV in front of a bodega near the subway and hundred or so folks showed up to watch together. The city was one giant block party. Also, our local whistle ladies got thousands of 3D printed knicks themed blue and orange ice whistles with know your rights cards and went outdoor party to outdoor party handing them out. There's here's to solid million plus New Yorkers out on the streets together feeling unified. Jenny, I love this so much. All of the pictures. You know, I spend half my time there. It was so bummed not to be in the city when they won.

[AG]

Gosh, I love Brooklyn. I mean such a cool town, New York. Congratulations.

[DG]

You earned it.

[AG]

All right. Jules in D.C. hello to the Leguminati Matriarchy.

[Barb McQuaid]

Love it.

[AG]

When you were talking about Freedom250 today, I realize you might be as confused as I was or not even know, as I did not know that there are two different series of events going on this year. America 250 has been in the works for 10 years and it's a bipartisan congressional commission and they have a website called america250.org Freedom250 has only been planned since December and it's Trump's American grift and that's freedom250.org okay, so it's the same thing. I only found this out last week while listening to a standup routine by Josh Johnson, who I love when he outlined the differences and I was like, let's see, Freedom2 oh, America250.org is the good one. Freedom250.org is the bad one. I see. So Josh Johnson, who I love when he outlined the differences and I was like, wait, what? I had no idea. None at all. So just Throwing that out there for everyone else like me who may not have had any idea that there are two series of events that are going on. Or should we call it a series of unfortunate events? Yeah, I don't know at this point. Anyway, for podpet tax, I foster with Tiny Cat Animal Rescue and we're having an adoption Fair Saturday the 20th at Johnson Center, Dewberry hall south at George Mason University. We'll have a link below. Attached is a picture of the cat that I have been fostering for about a year and a half. Sassafras swirl. He is amazing, but he won't because he has anxiety. So he's looking for the perfect pet parent that can understand his anxious issues. I'm also fostering Joe Brown, who will be there. He has a fluffy little delight and a bundle of energy packed into eight and a half pounds. You can find full bios for both on the Adopt tab of the website, which we'll put a link in the show notes for. That's all I have for now. Love you ladies. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep hanging in there and we'll keep hanging in there as well. You help guide us through this ocean of his shit that we are dealing with and we all love you for it. Thank you so much for that, Jules. And look at these sweet babies. No, also the link for that other 250 event.

[DG]

I love our people. Me too. Me too.

[AG]

Thank you so much.

[DG]

All right, thanks so much, Allison. This next one's from an anonymous person pronouns. She and her, ag and DG for those lucky enough to have lived in the state of Indiana probably haven't heard how our Temu, Seth MacFarlane, Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith recently decided to target his love for rage bait against a suburban marching band. Yep, you read that right. A government official targeted a high school marching band. He's the absolute grossest human in Indiana politics. And that's really saying something. That said, many high school marching bands, including my daughters, have started their summer camps. I know you both know the power of community music and unmitigated acceptance that high school music programs provide. Yes, I do. My soon to be sophomore has found a home in marching band. But I am eternally grateful that she has it in her life. So this good news is also a shout out for the band families, the musicians, the teachers, the parents, the public and everyone involved. Thank you for bringing band joy to the world every day. We don't let any trolls ruin our fun. So Micah can go fuck himself attaching a picture of Ozzy the Brown One reluctantly cuddling his younger sister Millie and her toy avocado. They're both the worst, and yet somehow we love them desperately.

[AG]

Oh, my goodness. They're both the worst.

[DG]

Oh, my God, look how cute.

[AG]

Oh, thank you, Anonymous. All right, next up, Terry Pronoun. She and her. I'd like to give a shout out to my fabulous nephew, Tony. He is recently profiled in the employee spotlight corner of the Mountain Communities healthcare district, where he works as an EMT in Northern California. It's a wonderful profile explaining his career path, and I was touched to read it. Although I've known him all his life, there's always more to know. I'm just so proud to be his aunt and godmother, even though I suck at the godmother part. He definitely would be One of the Mr. Rogers helpers to look for in a crisis. We need more like him at this time in our history. So if you'd like to read his profile and see why I am so proud, here's a link to the page with the spotlight corner, and we will have that link in the show notes. And by the way, he's one of the smartest and funniest people I know. For my pod pet tax, I'm including pictures of the goats he used to raise, including one of them eating my wedding bouquet.

[DG]

Oh, my goodness. So cute.

[AG]

I love goats. Thank you for sending in goats, Terri. And congrats on your nephew. Thank you.

[DG]

Yes. All right, next up, from Pigeon, who is a trans American refugee in Scotland. Pronouns, he, they. Greetings, great ladies of the beans. I just listened to an episode of the Daily Beans where you ended with a lovely duet of Copacabana. My good news is that finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of seeing Barry Manilow perform live. He opened his last last tour in Glasgow. It was amazing. I loved every second of it. My pod pet tariff is actually a thing I made and a thing I love. The thing I made. This is a great idea, by the way. The thing I made is a Tunisian crochet blanket that I made for my youngest child. I still have some work to do backing it, but I wanted to show off the finished crochet.

[Barb McQuaid]

Wow.

[DG]

The thing I love is a view of my back window in Scotland. I swear, it was welcoming my queer family and me home.

[AG]

Oh, man, look at that.

[DG]

Isn't that a beautiful rainbow?

[AG]

That crochet is amazing.

[DG]

Stunning.

[AG]

Oh, the rainbow.

[DG]

I know. With the blue sky above.

[AG]

Okay, all right. Thank you so much for that really incredible work on that crochet part. I know. Seriously, my Gosh, Pigeon, thank you so much. Thank you for writing in all the way from Scotland. We miss you, but totally understand.

[DG]

I get it. I sure do. Plus, Scotland's a beautiful country. I spent time in Edinburgh for The Fringe Festival 2003, I think, which is wild.

[AG]

It's so fun, right? I haven't been in years.

[DG]

Oh, my God. Alice and I did the Fringe Festival with like, it was called the US Comedy Invasion. So there was 12American comedians and one of them was a little person named Tanya Lee Davis. And Tanya Lee and I used to ride around on her scooter. She's 3 foot 6 and just cos mayhem. We would perform every night at like 11 or 12. And so when we were done, it was one o' clock in the morning. We were all amped. We would go drink and run amok, go to bed at 5, wake up at noon and do it all over again. And she actually, even though she's okay with this word, I realize I'm not going to tell this story. I'll use little people, even though she uses a different word. But basically, the first day, one of the comedians was on a wall, a male comedian, and he fell backwards and broke both of his wrists. Yeah, he was casted. And so Daniel Lee Davis signed his wrist and it said, I heart little people because they my look bigger. Tanya Lee is phenomenal, also. Still, still an amazing friend and we see each other online from time to time. But man, that was a month of just chaos and awesomeness. But I kicked off so much stage fright. I had 25 shows in 25 nights. It was awesome. Wow now. Yeah, wow.

[AG]

Incredible. Yeah. I remember doing the whole circuit, doing, gosh, I would do for nearly two or three years. I was doing 20 shows a month. Yeah, just the grind.

[DG]

Yeah, good for you, man. Good for you.

[AG]

It. It was an invaluable bit of work.

[Barb McQuaid]

Yeah.

[AG]

Anyway, everybody, thank you so much for your good news. Please send it all to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. I love this. A thing that I love, love and a thing that I made. If you have something like that, please send it into us. And thanks Pigeon, for the idea and everybody will be back in your ears tomorrow. So do you have any final thoughts, my friend?

[DG]

Nope. Sign us off.

[AG]

All right, until tomorrow, everybody. Please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag, I've been dg and I'm Sabines. The daily beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com MSW Media.

[Martin Sheen]

I'm Brian Caram and I've spent decades covering politics.

[DG]

Now I'm taking you behind the scenes,

[AG]

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[Barb McQuaid]

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[Martin Sheen]

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