Butter For Bones (feat. Simon Shuster)

Summary

The Daily Beans: "Butter For Bones" (feat. Simon Shuster) – January 16, 2025

Hosted by Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg

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1. Major News Highlights

a. Biden's Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas

At the outset of the episode (00:00), Allison Gill announces that President Joe Biden's ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been officially established. This development follows a series of confirmation hearings in the Senate and coincides with Biden preparing his farewell address to the nation.

b. Biden's Farewell Address

Allison mentions that Biden is poised to deliver his farewell address, signaling the end of his administration. This transition is particularly significant as the country anticipates potential shifts in U.S. domestic and foreign policies under the incoming Trump administration.

c. SEC Sues Elon Musk Over Twitter Stake Disclosure

A notable segment (14:13) covers the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing a lawsuit against Elon Musk for allegedly failing to disclose his substantial stake in Twitter within the mandated timeframe. Allison Gill elaborates on the details, stating:

“The SEC alleges that Musk failed to disclose his Twitter holdings until April 4, 2022, allowing him to purchase shares at artificially low prices, resulting in Twitter investors being underpaid by more than $150 million during that period.” (14:13)

d. South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol Arrested for Declaring Martial Law

A significant international development is reported (08:00) concerning South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. He has been arrested and detained for declaring martial law, marking the first instance of a sitting South Korean president facing such charges. The arrest stems from allegations that his actions amounted to insurrection.

“Yoon's declaration of martial law is being treated as insurrection, a crime that can carry life imprisonment or even the death penalty.” (09:05)

e. Benny Thompson and the Biden Pardon Proposition

Former January 6th Committee Chair Benny Thompson expresses willingness to accept a pardon from President Biden should it be offered. Allison Gill provides a comprehensive overview (12:58) of Thompson's stance and the broader implications of potential blanket pardons for political figures.

“I'm from a part of the country where speaking your opinion used to cost you your life. … This is what a pardon would mean for me.” – Benny Thompson (10:30)

f. Blue Sky's New Photo Sharing App

Tech advancements take center stage with the introduction of "Flashes," a new photo-sharing app developed for Blue Sky. Dana Goldberg discusses its features and potential impact on the social media landscape (18:26).

“Flashes is not meant to be an Instagram clone, nor will it offer all the same features. It will support photo posts of up to four images and videos of up to one minute in length.” (19:28)

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2. In-depth Interview: Simon Schuster on U.S.-Ukraine Relations

a. Overview of Simon Schuster's Insights

In a featured interview (29:47), Simon Schuster, author of "The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelenskyy," discusses the evolving dynamics of U.S. support for Ukraine as the Biden administration concludes and the Trump administration prepares to take office.

b. Biden Administration's Legacy on Ukraine

Simon highlights the mixed legacy of the Biden administration regarding Ukraine support. While Ukraine has received sufficient aid to survive, there is frustration over a perceived lack of decisive actions to secure a definitive victory against Russian aggression.

“The Ukrainians wish that a lot of the decisions that have been made over the span of about three years now had just been made in the beginning to really help Ukraine gain and keep the momentum in the war.” (36:00)

c. Expectations from the Incoming Trump Administration

Simon anticipates uncertainty with Trump's approach to Ukraine, drawing parallels to Trump's first term where advisors like Rudy Giuliani influenced Ukraine policy for personal political gains. He notes a mix of professional and concerning voices within Trump's circle that could shape the administration's stance.

“There are some professionals in the room guiding Trump's vision for ending the war in Ukraine. But there are also voices closer to Trump that have been quite alarming to Zelenskyy and his team.” (34:00)

d. Potential Changes and Future Prospects

Looking ahead, Simon discusses the possibility of unlocking $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, suggesting a transactional approach that could benefit both Ukraine and the U.S. economy.

“Zelensky is now saying to the incoming Trump administration, unlock this money for us to use and we will use all of it to purchase American weapons.” (41:57)

e. Upcoming Events and Personal Endeavors

Simon plans to attend the Munich Security Conference and continue his reporting on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship, aiming to provide clarity on Europe's role and the future of American support for Ukraine.

“I'm looking for some clarity in what Europe's going to do if Trump pulls back American support.” (43:00)

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3. Good News Segment

Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg shift the focus to positive stories, encouraging listener participation through submissions about personal triumphs, community initiatives, and uplifting experiences.

a. Community and Environmental Initiatives

Listeners share stories such as Shaker Heights' new citywide composting program and the installation of a solar panel array funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Shaker Heights will also use Inflation Reduction Act funds to build a solar panel array on our public works roof, providing solar energy for city buildings.” (58:17)

b. Personal Triumphs and Supportive Gestures

Heartwarming submissions include congratulatory messages for educational achievements, loan forgiveness approvals, and expressions of support for public servants.

“My public service loan forgiveness application had been approved. This is my 12th year of teaching, and it just felt so great.” – Katie (56:18)

c. Pet Love and Community Bonds

Listeners showcase their beloved pets, sharing stories and photos that highlight the joy animals bring into their lives. Examples include descriptions of cats like Empress Mittens and Loki Cuzco, emphasizing their personalities and the comfort they provide.

“Oliver is the handsome M. Tabby who was either very regal or very silly since he had butter for bones and could stretch out in the most elegant or ridiculous ways.” – Mimi (57:34)

d. Advocacy and Social Progress

Submissions also highlight activism efforts, such as participating in the People's March and promoting remote work inclusivity.

“I urge you to help stand up for the position of the remote workforce in America. … Studies show it's way more productive.” – Anonymous (52:05)

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4. Closing Remarks

Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg conclude the episode by reinforcing their commitment to providing balanced news with a mix of seriousness and humor. They invite listeners to support the podcast through Patreon, offering perks like access to a private social media platform, early episode releases, and exclusive meet-ups.

“Thank you so much for supporting us. These podcasts are free, but if you want to kick some money in, we do our best to give you a few perks and we appreciate you supporting independent media.” (62:10)

They encourage continued community engagement and express gratitude for their listeners' contributions, emphasizing the importance of unity and positive action in challenging times.

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Notable Quotes

• Allison Gill on Community Resilience:
  “It's really heartwarming to see everybody pulling together like that.” (02:42)

• Benny Thompson on Pardon:
  “This is what a pardon would mean for me.” (10:30)

• Simon Schuster on U.S. Aid to Ukraine:
  “The drip, drip, drip approach to U.S. Aid has really pained the Ukrainians because they're seeing so many of their countrymen lose their lives.” (36:00)

• Dana Goldberg on Remote Work Advocacy:
  “Studies show it's way more productive.” (52:05)

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Conclusion

"Butter For Bones" delivers a comprehensive overview of pressing global and domestic issues, enriched by expert analysis and community-focused positivity. Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg adeptly navigate complex topics, providing listeners with insightful commentary and a platform for shared experiences. As the episode progresses towards significant political transitions, the hosts maintain a balance of critical examination and hopeful optimism, embodying the progressive and inclusive spirit of The Daily Beans.

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For more information, visit mswmedia.com.

Transcript

[Allison Gill]

MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, January 16, 2025. Today, Biden's ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is official. There were a handful of confirmation hearings in the Senate. Biden will give his farewell address to the nation. The SEC has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk for failing to properly disclose his stake in Twitter. South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested for declaring martial law. Former January 6th committee chair Benny Thompson said he would accept a pardon if Biden offered one. And Blue sky is getting its own photo sharing app. I'm Allison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Allison Gill]

Hey, Dana, Happy Thursday. How are you?

[Dana Goldberg]

I am good. I am back in Los Angeles. I went down south for a while just to get some calmer nerves and cleaner air. And back in my place in la. And it's bizarre. It is just bizarre. There's still so much destruction and then there's calmness, eerie calmness in the city and people going, you know, about their days, doing what they need to do. But the humanity that's come together in this part of the country and from other parts of the country to Los Angeles has just been extraordinary. So it's still a beautiful place to call home. And we're going to rebuild. It's going to take time. People are going to rebuild their lives and we're going to do it as a community.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. And even, like from other places in North America, we had Mexico helping, Canada helping. I watched this really, really poignant video on Jimmy Kimmel with just all the helpers, everybody coming together to help one another. And then like the Pasadena Animal shelter can't take any more donations because it's a capacity. So people are driving up just to make sure. And yeah, all the help is really crap. They, they've showed a news clip, a local news clip of a, a local newscaster out on the streets talking to a guy. And in the Palisades, Pacific Palisades, being like, what are you doing out here? He's like, oh, I'm bringing water back and forth to people. I'm putting out any small fires that I see. I just got that dog home to that guy and I just found this dog and I'm looking for the owner. And they're like, oh, cool, thanks. And they're like, so what's your name, sir? And he's like, steve Gutenberg.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Allison Gill]

And so then Kimmel brought Gutenberg on and they had a chat. And he's just out there. Everybody's out there lending a hand. It's really, really.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Very heartwarming to see everybody pulling together like that. So my, my heart goes out to all y'all.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Allison Gill]

And so thank you, everybody in Los Angeles, for your resilience. Later in the show, I'm going to be talking to the author of the book the Showman Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His name is Simon Schuster. He was on last year, almost a year ago to the day. And we're going to discuss how far they've come in a year. The Biden administration legacy as it pertains to Ukraine as Biden leaves and what to expect from the upcoming Trump administration or what not to expect. And speaking of President Biden here, just about an hour before, two hours before, as we record this podcast, we're about two hours out of Biden's farewell address from the Oval Office. So we'll all be watching that. We can talk about it on tomorrow's Beans. There were a handful of confirmation hearings today, and they're just a show. And Harry Dunn and I are going to cover those on cleanup on aisle 45. But did you watch any of them? I mean, it was kind of. I was watching a little bit on C Span, but it was really hard to watch.

[Dana Goldberg]

Honestly, I didn't, you know, I'm getting some clips from Blue sky and the old bad site just to catch up on the news and, you know, get some of the, I don't know, highlights, if you will, or low lights.

[Allison Gill]

Right?

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, yeah, the low lights from the hearings. But I just can't with everything going on, inundate myself with that bullshit right now. So I'm trying to piecemeal information that I bring into my brain at the moment, my nervous system.

[Allison Gill]

Well, that is very wise so that we're not covering them here. We're not going to play clips here. That's just, they're just such, I think the thing that, like my takeaway is that they're just such smug, unprofessional assholes.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

And like MAGA people like that.

[Dana Goldberg]

They do.

[Allison Gill]

That's like so sad to me.

[Dana Goldberg]

I also think it's just frustrating because we know, you know, with this whole Jack Report coming out and everything, this, the son of a. Would have been in prison. And so to watch all this stuff happen and go on like it's, it's normal. Like in the first place, in 2016, we should have never had three new Supreme Court justices appointed by a man who stole an election. Like, I just, all of that makes me infuriated. So, like to watch this farce of something that somehow this guy deserves. Absolutely not.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, he's just, it's just reality television and that's why I kind of, I'm not really paying attention. And speaking of that, just want to let you know we aren't covering the inauguration on any of our podcasts. January 20th is my birthday. It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We're going to celebrate those. It's also National Cheese Lovers Day, so I'll have.

[Dana Goldberg]

My God.

[Allison Gill]

Cheese.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay, take your, take your pills now.

[Allison Gill]

But that's, that's about it. That's what we're going to be looking at on January 20th. So you don't have to worry about, you know, going into your podcast app, listening to the beans and having to hear any from, from the inauguration because there's an I watching a guy swear an oath that he has no intention of upholding. It's just not on my list of things to do that day.

[Dana Goldberg]

Well said.

[Allison Gill]

Also, ceasefire is official. Biden got the ceasefire done with Blinken and all the people we talked about yesterday, they've been working on it for a long time. So it's official. We talked about it yesterday and today it's official. It's supposed to go into effect on Sunday. Israel says, oh, we're still working out some things, but they've signed it, it's done, they've announced it and it's going to be up to Donald Trump to hold that together. So we'll see how that goes. Yeah, and you mentioned the Jack Smith Report. Just want to let you all know, part two of the audio version of the Jack Smith Report is out and part three is going to follow here. We're going to get all of that to you so you can listen to it instead of read it. And I have to say, listening to it and I don't want to toot my own horn too much here. I guess a little bit of a self shout out because I've been reading these court filings so long, I know how to read them to make them come across as, as something that is more understandable when you just read all those legalese words together. I'm not hard to read. It's, it's pretty well written from Jack Smith, kind of written for the masses. But and then to have that, the, you know, and also to have Andy and I. Excuse me, Andy and me.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice catch.

[Allison Gill]

Break in and give a little context, I think. Yeah, we do a little color commentary. So you can listen to that for free on the Jack Podcast feed wherever you get your pods. So that. That's our Happy Thursday man. And we have. That's that's all you needed to know before we actually get to the news. So let's do that. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. Oh, and now from a country who can have nice things because they have laws. From Rafael Rashid at the Guardian South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yul was arrested and questioned for hours over his ill fated declaration of martial law last month, handing himself in after an early morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul. His detention on Wednesday makes him the first sitting president in the country's history to be arrested. Quote, I decided to respond to the CIO's investigation despite it being illegal in investigation to prevent unsavory bloodshed. That's what Yoon said in a statement, referring to the Corruption Investigation Office. That's the CIO for high ranking officials that's handling the criminal inquiry. Officials from the CIO said Yoon refused to talk during his two and a half hours of questioning and refused to be filmed. His presidential motorcade was seen leaving the CIO offices late on Wednesday evening. Yun is expected to be held at the Soul Detention Center. He's going to be jailed where other high profile figures have previously spent time. He can be held for questioning for up to 48 hours on the existing arrest warrant. Authorities must then decide whether to release him or seek a fresh warrant to detain him for up to 20 days. Yoon's supporters and those who oppose him have been protesting in the Capitol for days while the president was being interrogated. On Wednesday, an unidentified person set themselves on fire nearby, according to authorities, adding that the man, who was in his 60s, was left severely burned and unconscious. The CIO is an independent agency launched in 2021 to investigate officials including presidents and their family members. But it does not have the authority to prosecute the president and must refer the case to prosecutors for further action. We need a CIO here in the United States.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

The operation to detain Yoon began in the early hours of Wednesday, with investigators sealing off streets around the compound and police buses and thousands of officers were deployed. TV footage showed about 20 people, believed to be investigators, then climbing ladders into Yoon's residential compound. This is the energy we need here in the United States. Images showed scores of officers with police and CIO marked on their backs inside the compound. Here in the United States, we if we're going to do a search warrant on a former president. We don't wear our FBI jackets and we wear civilian clothes and we don't go into locked closets and we call the lawyers before we show up. It's not a surprise. So this is done a little differently. In South Korea, investigators attempted to enter the residence via a mountain hiking trail. According to Yonhap News tv, at least one person was injured during the standoff and they were transported from the scene by fire authorities. Investigators are seeking to execute a warrant for Yoon's arrest over allegations that his declaration of martial law amounted to insurrection, a crime that can come with life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Again, I wish we had better laws in place, better guardrails, better systems, and a better Supreme Court here so we could handle these situations properly.

[Dana Goldberg]

Amen. All of that. All right, A.G. this one's from Scott McFarland at CBS News Democratic Republic.

[Allison Gill]

Scott McFarland, sorry to interrupt.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's right. He's a good one. Give some props where they're due. Democratic Rep. Betty Thompson, speaking of, and he's from Mississippi, says if President Biden offered him a preemptive pardon for his role in leading the investigation into then President Donald Trump's role in 2021 Capitol riot, he'd accept it. Thompson, who was the chair of the House select committee investigating January 6, he embraced the idea of a pardon in an interview with CBS News, saying Tuesday, quote, I'm from a part of the country where speaking your opinion used to cost you your life. When I hear someone about to be sworn into the presidency of the United States say he wants to lock you up for doing your job, I believe it. This is what he said of Trump now, as we know, the president elect. Yeah. And he said, and so if for Benny Thomps, that is something that's offered to me, I'll accept it. The Democrat added, because there are a lot of people who take this person at his word, and I don't want him to weaponize the government against people for doing their job. President Biden has said he's continuing to weigh possible blanket preemptive pardons for prominent critics and political enemies of Trump, a move that could shield them from prosecution by the incoming administration. The president has not said he might receive such a pardon. The president elect has openly threatened members of now defunct House committee. In an interview with NBC News Meet the Press last month, the incoming president accused members of the panel of destroying evidence and committing, quote, a major crime during this investigation. He said that everybody who served in the committee should go to jail. As Tuesday About Trump's claim that the committee had destroyed evidence. Thompson noted that House Republicans have been conducting their own investigation of the Select Committee's work for two years. They're not coming up with anything, said Thompson. I know, but Thompson appears to be the only member of the Select Committee who would welcome a pardon ahead of Trump's inauguration on January 20th. Several of the panel's members have rejected the idea, arguing they don't need a pardon because they committed no wrongdoing in the course of their work. Rep. Pete Aguilar, he's a Democrat from California, he told reporters on Tuesday, I stand by the work that I did. We didn't do anything wrong. I don't think a pardon's necessary. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said he didn't know what the right answer was when asked about a Politico Live event about the possibility Mr. Biden could pardon members of the Select Committee. He argued that in any just world, they wouldn't need a pardon because they hadn't committed any crimes.

[Allison Gill]

We're not in a just world.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know. He also noted that the Constitution's, quote, speech and debate clause protects members against criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits related to their legislative work. Some of the panel's other former members have discouraged pardons. Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, told CBS News in December that he didn't think the idea of a blanket pardon of any kind was a good idea and would recommend against it.

[Allison Gill]

Yep.

[Dana Goldberg]

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, he's one of the two Republicans who served on the panel. He said on CNN this month that he didn't want to pardon, quote, I understand the theory behind it, because Donald Trump has clearly said he's going to go after everybody. But the second you take a pardon, it looks like you're guilty of something. I'm guilty of nothing besides bringing the truth to American people and in the process embarrassing Donald Trump.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. See, I don't think taking a pardon when a dictator is coming in to protect yourself in the courts is admitting guilt at all. I know people are like, oh, it means you're guilty? I don't think so. I think it means I don't want to spend $500,000 defending myself.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

And so high five to Benny Thompson. If I was offered a pardon, I'd be like, fuck, yeah, bro. Can you put I'm pardoned in it? Can you put a swear word in it? Yeah, I would like that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Alison Gill is pardoned.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. Next up, from Ramesha Maroop at cnn, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Elon Musk Tuesday for allegedly failing to properly disclose his ownership of Twitter X as required by federal law, which allowed him to buy shares of the platform at artificially low prices. Not sure why they aren't charging him with crimes, but they're suing him. Before he closed the $44 billion deal by Twitter in October 2022, Musk began to acquire a quote, significant number of Twitter Shares. By mid March 2022, he owned more than 5% of the company's common stock and was required to disclose that to the SEC within 10 days. The calendar days too. The filing alleged that Musk failed to disclose that information until April 4, 2022. Yeah, so in a statement to CNN, Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro said that Musk has done nothing wrong and that the lawsuit was an admission by the SEC that they, the they, they, they had a little typo in their message, cannot bring an actual case. He added that the SEC's multi year campaign of harassment against Mr. Musk culminated in the filing of a single count ticky tack complaint against Mr. Musk under section 13D for an alleged administrative failure to file a single form, an offense that even if proven, carries a nominal penalty. So filing a form or failing to file a form like Hunter Biden did with something incorrect on it is something that you want people to go to jail for, but this is a ticky tack complaint. Okay, well boy howdy, who says tick attack complaints. In keeping these purchases at low prices, Musk underpaid Twitter investors by more than $150 million for his purchases of Twitter common stock during that period. That's according to the complaint, which was filed in D.C. federal court. By the close of March 24, 2022, Musk had increased his stake in the company to more than 7%, according to the lawsuit. And the next day he purchased almost 3.5 million shares. And over the next few days, he also expressed interest in acquiring Twitter to members of the company's board of directors. So he's, you know, stocking up on stock and saying, I'm thinking of buying it. And yeah, you can see how there, that's a problem that, you know, thinking of buying Twitter. So Musk joined Twitter's board and formally disclosed his stake in the company in April of 2022. And by the time he disclosed his stake, he owned more than 9% of the company and Twitter's stock price had increased by more than 27%. Musk paid significantly less for the shares of Twitter common stock he purchased between March 25 and April 1 than if he had timely disclosed, the suit said, adding that he spent more than $500 million acquiring shares during that time period. The lawsuit is one of the last moves under SEC chair Gary Gensler, who is stepping down this month following President elect Donald Trump's vow to fire him. It's unclear if the incoming SEC head will pursue the lawsuit. I can tell you he will not. Musk is a major supporter of Trump and is taking a front facing role in the administration as co head of the newly created doggy department. Musk has clashed with Gensler for years, even mocking him on Twitter. The SEC has been probing Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk over his acquisition of Twitter for a long time. In December, Musk disclosed on social media that the agency had demanded that pay a fine of an undisclosed amount to settle charges over his purchase of Twitter shares. And that's according to a letter from his attorney, Alex Spiro. Last year he ran into trouble with the SEC because he failed to appear for testimony. Remember that he wouldn't show up. The judge was like you got to show up. You have till this time to show up. So he's been going, he's been a loggerheads with the SEC for a long time, but now a crypto guy is going to take over the sec, which is terrifying and I'm sure all of this will go away soon.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thanks AG. This last one's from TechCrunch. More good news for those looking to exit Meta's social app ecosystem in favor of a more open alternative. An independent developer is building a photo sharing app for bluesky called Flashes. The soon to launch app is powered by the same technology that underpins BlueSky, the AT protocol, and it has been built using code from the developer's earlier BlueSky client. And that's Skeets. Now, when it's launched, Flashes could tap into growing consumer demand for alternatives to big tech social media monopoly. This trend has led to the adoption of open source decentralized apps like Mastodon and bluesky, among others, including the recently launched Pixel Fed mobile apps built on Mastodon's Activity Pub protocol. It's also in part what's fueling TikTok's user shift to the Chinese app RedNote ahead of the US TikTok ban. That is us users are signaling that they would rather use a foreign adversary's app then return to Meta at this point, right?

[Allison Gill]

I mean RedNote was like number one downloaded app because so crazy. Everybody's anticipating TikTok ban. Nobody's going to Facebook or Twitter, they're all going to rednote and Blue Sky.

[Dana Goldberg]

Wow. Flashes itself. It's that's based on Berlin developer Sebastian Vogelsang's earlier app and that's Skeets, as I said. And that's his initial foray into creating consumer facing apps for the growing social network BlueSky, and that now tops 27.5 million users. While Blue sky offers its own official mobile client, SK differentiated itself by focusing on the needs of iPad users as well as customized accessibility features for the blind and low vision users, as that's one of Vogelsang's areas of expertise. Late last year, Vogelsang also realized there was potential to build apps using the same code base that would cater to Blue sky users more interested in visual content like photos and videos. Because bluesky already supports this type of media, it was only a matter of reconfiguring the Skeets app so its design and user interface would look more similar to the other photo sharing apps like Meta's Instagram Quote I thought about the idea of having one base social graph and then having just different apps pick from that graph whatever they want to display. This is what Fogelsang told TechCrunch. He said, I found it very intriguing because before we had these separated networks. He says Flashes again, this is the app we're talking about, could help pull in new potential BlueSky users who have yet to join the social network because they never saw themselves as a Twitter person. This may give them an entry point into the network, into the whole protocol. This is again Vogel saying. However, the developer stresses that Flashes is not meant to be an Instagram clone, nor will it offer all the same features. At launch, Flashes will support photo posts of up to four images and videos of up to one minute in length, just like Blue Sky. Users who post to Flashes will also have their posts appear on bluesky and comments in those posts will also feed back into the app as if it were just another BlueSky client. It will also support BlueSky's direct messages. For this to work, flashes simply filters BlueSky's existing timeline for posts with photos and video posts now. In the future, Vogelsangs also plan he plans to add metadata to Flash's posts so BlueSky users would have a way to keep their feeds on bluesky's main app from being flooded with photo posts if that became a problem. Yeah, Flashes didn't take too long to build because it was able to reuse Skeets existing code. The app will also be able to market the Skeets existing user base which have now downloaded the app some 30,000 times. 30,000 plus times to date. Vogelsang says he's now working to integrate subscription based features from both his apps so users don't have to pay twice for the premium features like Skeets bookmarks, draft, muting rich push notifications and other specifics to Flashes. Both apps, by the way, are free to use without a subscription and I just want to be clear on that. These are for other features now. Later, Vogelsang says he wants to launch a video only app called Blue Screen. The developer expects to be able to launch Flashes to the public in a matter of weeks with a test flight beta arriving ahead of that. Interested users can follow Flash's account on bluesky for further updates. And if you're not on bluesky, it really is a more lovely place to be be. So if you haven't come over and you're not following Allison, you're not following me, please do. Allison is the same Mohler she wrote on Blue sky and I'm DG comedy. So head on over. Lots of joy there. We're still fighting democracy, but we're doing it with much less hate, much less trolls, much less Nazis and much less white supremacy.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I, I, I actually really like the idea of these sort of more independent media networks, like what they call open source media networks, social media platforms to have a, a tick tock and a, something like tick tock, something like Twitter and something like Instagram. You know, I mean I think that that's really good. It'll give people another alternative so you don't have to, you don't have to with Zuckerberg and yeah, Musk.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's so hard because I know people have like so many opinions of people that like stay on Twitter or they stay on Instagram and I just be gentle in your comments. Even some of the people that listen to this pod and some of Luguminati, the moment you're like oh I posted on Twitter, they're like how dare you? And then they want to burn you and cancel you and all these things. And I just, just say that there are social media influencers. Not that I would consider myself one, but I have to have these databases and if they just go away, I don't have a place to promote my shows and those sorts of things. So just be gentle as people rebuild on different apps and maybe try not to be so judgy. We are all doing our best.

[Allison Gill]

Let people do their thing. And also, you know, I gotta protect our, our, our names, you know, like, people are like, why didn't you delete? If you suck, you didn't delete your Twitter. You're an. You're a fascist. I'm like, I can't, because if I delete my Twitter, someone else is going to create it. Somebody's going to take my handle, pretend to be me. And that's really, really dangerous, particularly since I have an abusive ex husband who's out to get me. I have people who want to find out where I live. And if you, if people think they're me, that's really not safe. So we also have to protect our namespace. So just. Yeah, keep that in mind. So very. And there are people who for a living, do incredible work, like our good friend Lee McGowan, politics girl. These new platforms as they start up are only allowing one minute videos. And so that's another thing. It's just. Yeah. So show some grace. All right. Let's get into some good trouble. Hey, wanna get into trouble? Yes. And today on Good Trouble. Speaking of apps, I just want to tell you about this app called Goods Unite Us. Goods Unite Us was started in 2017 to help consumers more easily align their everyday purchases with their politics. Goods Unite Us is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. The company's mission is to empower people to become political consumers and investors so that we can all collectively put an end to corporate political donations. As we know, U.S. supreme Court has said that corporations have a constitutional right to political speech. But Goods Unite Us allows you to hear what they're saying and for them to hear you. So Goods Unite Us is. It's about bringing more accountability and transparency to our political process. Basically, you go on Goods Unites. You look at a company, it'll tell you everything they support and what politicians are giving money to and what party they support. So it helps you kind of, you know, vote with your wallet. So look, yeah, look up the political giving of brands and companies and start making a difference today. So you can download the app. It's called Goods Unite Us. Also, one last quick Good trouble thing. Just keep calling your senators and tell them not to confirm any of these assholes. They're probably going to get confirmed because they only need a simple majority vote. They don't need 60 votes in the Senate and the Republicans have those votes. But it does feel good to use your voice.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

So thank you very much, everybody. We will be right back with Simon Schuster, author of the Showman, right after this quick break and then we'll follow it up with the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.

[Dana Goldberg]

We'll be right back.

[Allison Gill]

Hey everybody. The holidays might be behind us, but the cold weather is here to stay. Which is why I like comfort food. Hearty, comforting dinners. And if you're like me, deciding what to cook can feel like a chore in it of itself. So when the nights are long and your energy's low, that's where Home Chef comes in for me. They deliver fresh, delicious meal kits right to your doorstep, making dinner time simple and satisfying. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 18 free meals plus free dessert for life and of course, free shipping on your first box. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans now home chef meal kits are crafted to save you time without sacrificing flavor. They use fresh ingredients, Chef design recipes. They deliver a practical, delicious cooking experience right to your doorstep. And if you're craving variety, Home Chef has you covered. They have classic meal kits featuring pre portioned ingredients. They have quick 30 minute recipes, super convenient, oven ready or microwave meals. And their dedicated family menu makes serving restaurant quality dinners simple no matter the size of your household. They have over 30 weekly options and they cater to a wide range of dietary needs so you'll always find what you're looking for. Their new five ingredient meals feature just five fresh pre portioned ingredients and straightforward steps. Very simple, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not only does Home Chef simplify meal prep, but it's also a smart way to save money. Customers report saving an average of 86 bucks a month on groceries. So I recently had garlic pepper butter steak with Mac and cheese. It was delicious. The steak was tender and juicy. The cream sauce for the Mac and cheese was excellent. It was easy to make comforting, warm restaurant quality meal that just really hit the spot. So for a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 18 free meals plus free desserts for life and of course, free shipping on your first box. Go to homechef.com dailybeans that's that's homechef.com dailybeans for 18 free meals and free dessert for life. You heard that right. You must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Hey everybody, welcome back. So about a year ago we had a guest on the show who had written a book and released a book called the Inside the Invasion that shook the World and made a leader of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And now it's a year later. It's coming out in paperback on January 21st. And we're in the middle of a transition from one administration to the next that have, I think we can agree, very different policies on Ukraine and US Ukraine relations. So I wanted to talk to him again. Please welcome Simon Schuster. Hi, Simon.

[Simon Schuster]

Hi. Thank you so much. Great to be back with you.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, it's good to see. Happy one year anniversary, my friend. It's been a year since we spoke last.

[Simon Schuster]

Thank you.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you. So excited for your book, the Showman, coming out in paperback. Last time we talked about the book, we talked about the beginnings of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, him winning the election there and then, of course, the invasion. And I wanted to talk to you today a little bit about what we're gonna see transitioning from the Biden administration to the Trump administration. And we have some historical analog here we'll all remember. In Trump's first administration, he pulled out all the actual experts on Ukraine relations and put in a shadow group. We called them the Ukraine Clown Posse here on the show. But it was Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, they worked with Firtosh, Dmitry Firtosh and all of that. And so we already kind of have a preview of what that looks like. And we also know Trump's long, sordid history with NATO. And so I wanted to bring you back in, talk to you about where we've come in the past year and what Joe Biden's legacy is going to be with regard to Ukraine, U.S. ukraine relations. But what we are looking at, you know, I think feel like we're staring down the barrel of something here. So what are your thoughts?

[Simon Schuster]

Yeah, that's quite a flashback when you, when you name all those characters that were really shaping the U.S. policy toward Ukraine during the first Trump administration around 2017, 18, 19. I mean, for those years, it was a very different picture, crucially, because the full scale war was not yet underway. But even then, Ukraine was facing a long, simmering war with Russia over control of its eastern regions that started in 2014. And Trump's priorities at the time, just to continue the flashback he started with, he saw Ukraine as potentially helpful to him in defeating Joe Biden in 2020. He was trying to mine for dirt against the Biden family in Ukraine, and he sent a number of emissaries, most prominently Rudy Giuliani, to get that dirt against the Bidens in Ukraine. So President Zelensky was dealing with that when he took office in 2019. Now, all those factors are Gone. All those characters really are not in Trump's orbit anym to include Rudy Giuliani from, from what we can tell. And in some ways, there's a bit of good news. I mean, from my reporting of what is going on in the incoming Trump administration. Trump circle as relates to Ukraine is a bit more encouraging, at least in the sense that there are some professionals in the room guiding Trump's vision for, for ending the war in Ukraine. I know that when General Keith Kellogg was appointed as the point man for the incoming Trump administration on matters of the war in Ukraine, there were some sighs of relief in Kyiv because he is seen as quite a professional, a military man who understands the military and strategic risks of allowing Russia to win in Ukraine. But there are also voices arguably or quite clearly closer to Trump that have been quite alarming to Zelenskyy and his team. That includes Donald Trump Jr. And that includes President elect J.D. vance, who have made some statements that have really alarmed Zelenskyy and hurt some feelings in Kyiv. So at this point, we're looking to see who's really shaping the, the agenda, who, who Trump is going to listen to. And I think the jury is very much still out on, on that. I don't think they've settled on a specific plan or anything on paper that Trump would be ready to present to either of the warring sides.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, and that's kind of his way. I mean, his, his, his, the aura that surrounds him wherever he goes is instability. And I think that, that, you know, if we compare what Ukraine policy has been here, Biden administration versus whatever Donald Trump decides to do, I think we can all agree we're going from a stable policy to we don't know. And that, I think, is for me, at least, where a lot of my fears come from, you know, under the Biden administration. You know, we talked a little bit before I hit the record button about, you know, Biden trying to get every last dollar out the door that was appropriated by Congress. And the way that we do that, a lot of people need to understand it's not like we send Volodymyr Zelenskyy a check. Okay, we, we gather if we're going to give a billion dollars in aid, we gather a billion dollars worth of our old, older weapons, send them over, and then spend that billion replenishing our stockpile, hopefully using, you know, our own labor unions, US Steel, US Manufacturing, et cetera. And that was kind of the win, win, win, win of the whole situation. Him. But now especially, you know, and it's not just Donald Trump. We have to think about our Congress. We have a Republican Senate, we have a Republican House of Representatives, but there are still a lot of Republicans, first of all, who have to win reelection, whereas Donald Trump does not. But that still do believe that the best way to go forward is to fund and support Ukraine so that we don't have to put boots on the ground and do all that, spend more money and end up costing lives. But because, you know, like I said, we still have those we call, you know, the hawks right over the Russia hawks over in the Senate. But it, the instability is what, is what shakes me up. So talk a little bit about kind of the legacy that the Biden administration is going to leave behind as far as U.S. ukraine relations.

[Simon Schuster]

Yeah, it's definitely mixed, especially if you ask around in Kyiv and in Zelenskyy's administration. There's a lot of frustration in Kiev about how slow and cautious in their view, U. S. Assistance has been. The, the general line is that it's been enough to help Ukraine survive, but not enough to help Ukraine win. And, and that that has been frustrating because, you know, what's often called this kind of drip, drip, drip approach to US Aid has, has really pained the Ukrainians because they're seeing their, their, you know, so many of their countrymen lose their lives, limbs, and so, so much of the country destroyed in the war that they wish that a lot of the decisions that are made have been made over the span of about 3 years now had just been made in the beginning to really help Ukraine gain and keep the momentum in the war. So, you know, I think back in terms of the legacy to a very crucial meeting that, that happened in at the end of September between Zelensky and Biden in the Oval Office. It was the last time they, they met in, in, in person in Washington. It was the last time Zelenskyy visited the White House. And he came with, with an interesting proposal that he made behind closed doors. I heard about it and some of the details and arguments from members of Zelensky's team. Part of the pitch was, look, President Biden, now is your chance to really secure your legacy as a savior of Ukraine rather than, you know, something else.

[Allison Gill]

An impediment. Right.

[Simon Schuster]

Yeah, an impediment.

[Allison Gill]

Not impediment, but a, a valve that, you know, led to the, the drip, drip, drip of. Of aid.

[Simon Schuster]

Yeah, yeah. And, and that, that legacy argument was, was something that President Zelensky made to, to Biden to say, now is your chance. You know, you are leaving the stage. But this is your chance to really grant some of those requests that Ukraine has been making for a long time without fearing the political blowback from Republicans and, and you know, some, some parts of the, of the U. S electorate. And that argument seemed to work in part. So Zelenskyy presented in addition to that argument, a pretty substantial list of requests to Biden what it would mean for him to secure his legacy as Ukraine's savior. Very high on that list, probably at the top was an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO. Now Biden did not budge on that. But in, in the months since that meeting that was again in end of September, Biden has done, has taken some serious steps that previously he felt were too provocative, too dangerous. One important one was in November he granted Ukraine permission to use American missiles for long range strikes inside Russian territory. That was a crucial ask that Zelensky made over a number of months. But, but importantly there at that meeting in the Oval Office. And there have been some other steps, an important one actually just a few days ago, earlier this month, for sanctions to sanction the energy sector in Russia and especially the shadow fleet of tankers that Russia has used to continue selling its oil on the international market. That's been a big point of debate inside the White House for about three years now how harsh those sanctions should be. And in terms of securing his legacy, you know, it's an interesting one because Biden always felt that those sanctions were not wise because they would risk increasing the price of oil and ultimately increasing inflation in the United States. Right. Increasing how much Americans pay for gas at the pump. And Biden very much didn't want to do that, especially when he was facing an election, you know, when Kamala Harris was, was dealing with a lot of criticism as a candidate for president about inflation, about rising prices and so on. So they didn't want to go there against Russia because they, they knew that it would probably raise, raise inflation further in terms of gas prices. But then, you know, just this month Biden went ahead and, and, and really imposed some tough sanctions on Russia's energy sector. So that was, I think trying to meet Zelensky halfway. But it hasn't secured the kind of, I guess, gratitude or confirmation from the Ukrainians that yes, Biden has done all he could. Just last point on this, in the recent interview Zelensky gave to Lex Friedman on Lex Friedman's podcast. It came out just, you know, at the beginning of January. He was quite harsh in criticizing Biden and, and saying that, you know, we, we can't go back to this, to Biden's approach when it comes to sanctions, when it comes to weapons supplies. So that, that was, I think, kind of a rude awakening and a sign of where Biden is leaving things as, as president.

[Allison Gill]

And is there anything that's expected to come in the next four days that could make a difference? For example, I think a lot of people keep mentioning this $300 billion in frozen Russian assets that could be released. I mean, short of obviously inviting Ukraine to join NATO, which I still think should happen. But, you know, it's clearly apparently a red line for President Biden. But what are some other things? Is there enough time? What do you expect?

[Simon Schuster]

I don't expect anything in, in the, in the, the, the days left in Biden's term. This question is really important that you raised about the $300 billion in, in Russian currency reserves that are frozen. And since the beginning of the invasion, Ukraine has been asking for that money to be, to be essentially handed over to Ukraine in some, in some way to help Ukraine survive the war, to help Ukraine rebuild some of its destroyed cities and infrastructure. This conversation is, is taking an interesting turn where, at least rhetorically, Zelensky is now saying to the incoming Trump administration, unlock this money for us to use and we will use all of it to purchase American weapons. That money would then flow into the US Economy, the US Weapons industry. So this points to a kind of transactional turn that, that Zelenskyy's rhetoric has taken as he prepares for Trump to take office. It's just one example.

[Allison Gill]

Zelenskyy is familiar with the transactional leadership style of Donald Trump. I think back to the, the, we'll give you the aid if you do us a favor, though. Yes. And speaking of that, Alexander Smirnoff just got sentenced to six years in prison for lying about Ukraine and dealings with the Biden family. We overhear, we saw that as a win for that. But before I let you go, what are you working on now?

[Simon Schuster]

I'm hoping to go back to Kyiv soon. In the coming weeks, I also hope to attend the Munich Security Conference. Not a big item on the kind of international calendar of regular folks, but it is a meeting of the minds that happens every year of military leaders and political leaders in NATO and some of NATO's adversaries coming together. It's going to be this year, I think, especially interesting. It's in the middle of February, and it'll be an important meeting of the European leaders. And then the incoming Trump administration and the Ukrainians definitely will send a high level delegation. Maybe even Zelenskyy will come himself. And I think a lot of sparks are going to fly. The Europeans are going to have to demonstrate what their role is going to be. In many ways, the discussion around Ukraine is now going over Europe's head where you have preparations for negotiations between Russia, the United States, Ukraine playing some role. But the Europeans have felt a little bit asleep at the wheel and failing to really stake out their position. So we're going to see there. I'm looking for some clarity in what Europe's going to do if Trump pulls back American support. Will the Europeans step up? That's really what I'm looking to understand in the coming weeks and months.

[Allison Gill]

Well, if that happens, I hope that Europe does. So. Thank you so much for checking in, everybody. The Showman comes out in paperback on January 21st. If you haven't read it, if you didn't grab it and read it when Simon and I first chatted a year ago, now is a good time. And tell everybody where they can find and follow you for ongoing information. And I'd love to have you back after the first hundred days of the Trump administration so we can see what shape our US Ukraine policy is taking.

[Simon Schuster]

Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean, some of the things we've been talking about. I'm planning stories that'll be published in Time magazine and on time.com mainly on social media. I'm on X, for better or worse.

[Allison Gill]

Come to Blue sky, my friend. Come to Blue Sky.

[Simon Schuster]

Yeah, I've been meaning to. It's about time. Yeah, I've got to ship. I'm bad at social media, but I'll have to up my game and make a Blue sky account as well. But yes, Simon Schuster on X. I'm not too active there, but I do post reporting bits and pieces from my notebooks and certainly my articles when they come out.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right.

[Allison Gill]

Well, I appreciate you joining us today. Everybody again, pick up The Showman paperback January 21st. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Good news, everyone. Then good news, everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections, you want to play animal guessing games like what the mutt find the cat opine on the bovine? What the heck wine? What the hell is in that shell? What's the model of your axolotl? Any animal photo will pay your pod pet tax even if you don't have a pet. And we're happy to Guess what breeds make up your rescue pup. We would love to do that. We're very bad at it, but it's still fun.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's still fun.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. And we also accept shout outs instead of good news stories. If you want to shout out your spouse, a loved one, family member, sib a self shout out. We love those small business in your area that could use a boost. Your small business let us know what you're making and what you're creating. We know we have a ton of really, really incredible entrepreneurs and makers and creators that listen to this program. We hear from you all the time. So send that in. And then of course, if you have a shout out to a government you want us that has helped you or a loved one, like the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Section 8, SNAP, WIC, Head Start, anything like that. Free lunch. You know, school lunches. I know they do that in Minnesota and a few other states thanks to who should have been Vice president, Governor Tim Waltz. We could have had that nationwide. And also student debt forgiveness. I know a ton of people just got their student loans forgiven. If that happened to you and you want to tell us about it, send it to us dailybeanspod.net and click on Contact. And first up, oops, sorry. Here's the cozy picture that didn't make it in yesterday. The two dogs by the wood burning stove.

[Dana Goldberg]

So sweet babies.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, I love that. All right, from Tony, no pronouns. Dear Beish Americans, My good trouble is I'm taking my giant American and Pride flags down to DC for the People's March January 18th. And if you're a new listener, this is one of my favorite submitters to the Good news, right? This guy takes this incredible flag everywhere and sends us all of the information about where he's going to be. Tony says, I was at the Supreme Court for the Mifepresstone and Scarmetti hearings. The giant flags always get a lot of attention and appear in over a dozen major media reports on the during the Scarmetti hearing, including msnbc, cnn, the Guardian, New York Times, the Advocate, the Christian Times. So on my message is that America is for all Americans and that full inclusion and embrace of everyone is the finest expression of patriotism. So well said. Tony. Please join 50,000 fellow warriors and tell Putin's poodle that we aren't having it again. That's The People's March, January 18th. Here's a picture of the big, beautiful, amazing flag with Tony.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love Tony.

[Allison Gill]

Me too.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thanks for being out there, Tony and being visible all Right. This is from M. Pronouns she and her. Hello. That's one of my favorite parts of the show, that. Hello. Every morning I had to share a funny thing that happened this morning. I had been listening to the pod before getting caught up watching the Pam Bondi hearing. I clicked. I clicked out of the app due to just sheer frustration at her. Obs. I'm. Help me with this one.

[Allison Gill]

Obfuscation. Yeah, thank you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Obs. My. I don't know if I'll be able to get this one out. Obs. Say it.

[Allison Gill]

It's just ob. Few.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay. Obfuscation. I'm learning new words, people. Live on air. Obfuscation. On this recording. And pivoting. That's what Pam Bondi was doing. Listen, people, I'm doing my best. The pod resumed. And your words exactly were quote, what a piece of shit. In the absolute perfect timing had you exerted her words and added your spice afterwards. My thoughts exactly. Ag for my pod pet tax, I give you the other two kitties that live in our house besides Lionel, that you've already seen. Empress, which is Mittens, and Loki, which is the Cuzco. Yeah, Mittens, while small due to a massive infection she had as a tiny kitten is impressive. She was born on our porch almost 11 years ago, has been sassy in the alpha the whole time. She always has RBF and is definitely imperious in her manner. She will not give affection unless she specifically asks for it. This picture shows what we call snugs. She jumps up on my desk every morning for me to wrap my arms around her and give her head kisses while she purrs her head off. It makes her happy and in a great way to remind me to relax before I begin work. Loki arrived as a cat who was randomly abandoned on a neighbor's porch and has slotted into the clowder. Well, now he's been with us a year and is finally really deciding to take up space. And so proud. His middle name is Cuzco. Oh, got it. Is Cuzco, as he's very clear about where he is okay to be petted and not so when we do something wrong, he clearly goes no touchy. Like the cartoon character from the Emperor's New Groove from Disney. Come to think of it, Mittens could also be a Yzma as a kitten, possibly laughter. Thank you and Dana, for all you do to let us know what's happening, but in a way that we can absorb without much abject horror and discuss as you voice that for us, your good trouble segment so fantastic. It's an easy thing for me to do to help our country as a disabled person who basically has no energy. Loki is beautiful. Oh, my God. And so is Mittens.

[Allison Gill]

Empress Mittens. Oh, yeah. She seems like she's in charge of pretty much everything.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love it.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you so much, Em, for that submission. Next up, Anonymous. Pronouns he and him.

[Dana Goldberg]

Beans.

[Allison Gill]

Queens. I love what you do, and I look forward to listening to you every day across podcasts. I want to urge you to help stand up for the position of the remote workforce in America. Nothing has leveled the playing field more and allowed for workplace inclusivity than growth in remote work. In the recent interview with Stephanie Rule, she repeatedly talked about getting people back to work when she meant back to the office. Ag. You did clarify what she meant, but I encourage you to push back on this corporate speak that implies remote workers don't work. You might not get many opportunities, but the battle goes on. In my experience, I can work harder at home because I don't go around and interrupt people all day. Here's my adorable nephew with a winning smile. Thank you, Anonymous. Yeah, the reason I push back is because, you know, one of the things that happened after I was told that my job was moving across country under the Trump administration as a federal government worker, I started to be retaliated against, including revoking my telework and my reasonable accommodation request thereof and trying to prevent me from having it. So I. I, trust me, I know I am. That's why I. I butted in and said, what do you mean, get back to work? Do you mean get back to. Do you mean get back to the office? Like telework? People work, and a lot of us did because of reasonable accommodations and others because, God, it just saves the taxpayers so much money, you know, if. If you don't have to go into a. Like, at least a giant building and work there, and it's a. Studies show it's way more productive. So thank you. Thank you for sending that in. Thank you for recognizing that I did push back a little bit. Sorry I didn't push back more. I only had her for a few minutes. But I appreciate it and I will do better next time.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, Allison, you're so good taking responsibility. This is from Anonymous. It's a short one, but it's from she. Her. Just some bird watching during the broadcast of President Jimmy Carter's funeral. Seems like a damn good place to do it. I also love that it appears you might be on a plane or a train.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

What is this? What do you think the TV is.

[Allison Gill]

No, look, program, enter. It looks like it's on a vcr. Okay, so our producer put a note. What is that tablet resting on? What piece of tech is that?

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, we're all very confused. Okay.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, because it's on the bottom. It's got, like, old buttons, like a eight track.

[Dana Goldberg]

Anyway, love it. Thanks, Anonymous.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, and by the way, if you get in a plane that has those kinds of buttons, get off the plane.

[Dana Goldberg]

Get off the plane?

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, get off that plane.

[Dana Goldberg]

Seriously. All right, do you want me to take the next one?

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, sure.

[Dana Goldberg]

This is from Nick, pronouncing him. Hello, Bean queens, my old friends. I've come to talk with you again. First, I want to suggest a name for Jack's successor podcast, Tipping the Scales. Trump is definitely going to tip the scales of justice, so I think it's fitting for your new mission. Second, Allison's writing something down. Second, I want to introduce the Leguma verse to my new son, Megatron.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, I got to meet Megatron on the Q and A for patrons.

[Dana Goldberg]

This majestic orange fuzzball was at the local Humane Society. We decided to change that fact, given his size, only 13 pounds when we got him, mind you, and how ridiculous it was, we decided to keep the name of the human Society gave him. The Humane Society gave him. Wow. Dana Baby now her official name instead of story. And he will now play, which is adorable to watch, as seen in one of the attached pictures. They'll also compete to steal food. Also included is a picture of a rare moment when one of the cats, in this case, Baby, tolerates Ger's presence. I like that Gir's presence. He may like them, but the feeling isn't mutual. Keep up the good work. Especially going into the impending malady administration maladministration.

[Allison Gill]

I see what you did there.

[Dana Goldberg]

I see you guys got to give me credit when you make words up. At least I'm trying to figure them out.

[Allison Gill]

That's something that happens a lot here on the Daily Beans. People will create words, and then I feel like I do it all the time, too. Like cananigans. Those are the Judge Cannon shenanigans.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's a good one.

[Allison Gill]

We do it all the time. Jack's successor podcast, Tipping the Scales. I like it. I think we're going. It's a little secret. I think I can tell you what we're going with. I think we're going to call it unjustified side, so. Oh, yeah, we could keep an eye on the Justice Department. Plus, it sounds Like Timothy Oliphant might star in it.

[Dana Goldberg]

Just good.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, because he's hot. All right. Look at the baby. Look at her. Oh, look at this last photo.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God, that's so funny. Oh, my God. That's kind of awesome, actually.

[Allison Gill]

That's a big cat. Thank you so much, Nick. Next up. Oh, look, it's another orange kitty from Katie Pronoun. She and her. Hi, beautiful humans. New listener. My husband just introduced your show to me, and we're having a great time listening together every night after work. I got an email on Christmas morning saying my public service loan forgiveness application had been approved. This is my 12th year of teaching, and after dealing with COVID and all this garbage, with book banning and doxing teachers for talking about how gay people exist, it just felt so great. Great to have anyone from the government acknowledge that what I do is important. Is Katie Pod Pet Tax is our senior kitty, Ronald, which, by the way, is an excellent cat name. And I love his rainbow cat bed, by the way.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's awesome. All right, this one's her. Mimi Pronoun. She and her dear Empresses of the beans.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, I like empresses.

[Dana Goldberg]

Me, too. I've been unable to listen, of course, to the usual news pods since the election. You guys have saved me your kindness, heart, passion. They're just what we need to get through the next four years. And I want you to know I just sent a request to AG Garland to release Smith's documents case report. Either by following your suggestions to make an FOIA request were more successful or by dropping the remaining charges. I also suggested Garland try to ensure the report exists somewhere that Trump's DOJ cannot find and erase it for all time. My good news, Government shout out. Is that my town? Cleveland's inner ring suburb, Shaker Heights.

[Allison Gill]

Shaker Heights.

[Dana Goldberg]

Shaker Heights has allocated funds to begin offering citywide free composting for all residents in partnership with a local organic waste recycling co op named Rust Belt Riders. Cool this. Rust Belt Riders. This will prevent many thousands of pounds of food scraps from going into the landfill and releasing methane as they rot. Methane creates 80 times more heat than carbon, so anyone should urge their town to do this. I'm one of many residents who push for citywide composting, so I'm thrilled it's been approved. Shaker Heights will also use Inflation Reduction act funds to build a solar panel array. A solar panel array on our public works roof providing solar energy for city buildings. Shout out to Shaker Heights Mayor Weiss. No Weiss. Let's go with Weiss. Because that's what it is. Mayor Weiss, Shaker Shakers, dedicated city council and Mayor Justin Bibb who offering free composting in Cleveland for caring so much about our climate and our planet. My pod pet tax are pictures of brother and sister cats Lily and Oliver, who sadly, oh. Are no longer with us. Lily is the calico who loved to chase her tail and sleep on my husband Bill's legs. Oliver is the handsome M. Tabby who was either very regal or very silly since he had butter for bones and could stretch out in the most elegant or ridiculous ways. They were good buddies and put up with a lot of hugs and kisses. Thank you for all you do and for telling the truth. These cats are gorgeous. I'm sorry they're no longer with you. They really are quite beautiful. Enrique. Or Silly, depending on the day.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. The color on these coats is absolutely gorgeous. Oh, what great little companions. Mimi. Thank you. Yeah, Shaker Heights is pretty cool. Yeah, I think we just recently started composting program. We all have the tiny green cans now instead of, you know, because we have the big black ones for trash, we have the big blue ones for recycling, and now we have the big green ones for garden waste and then the little green ones for composting. So. So they just started that program. Rolled it out a few years ago here too. So that's absolutely wonderful. Love the solar panel array. So congrats. Thank you all for your good news. If you have good news, now's the time to send it in. We need it now more than ever. So I think we all can find a little joy in everybody's happiness here at the end of the show. And so we really appreciate you sending it in and also your amazing pictures. If you want to be able to see the pictures on Patreon, you can join Patreon and. And we are moments away from launching our very own behind the beans social media platform for patrons. So our little private group, like one of the perks of being a patron is we would have a, we had a private Facebook group. We could all have discussions with all the like minded Leguminati and then meta. You know, everyone's like, we gotta get the fuck outta here. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna get with my bestie. And we're building our own social media platform so you don't have to stay on Facebook if you don't want to. And to, to become a patron and have access plus ad free shows plus you get them early and invites to the happy hour. Zoom meetings. We're having one this this Friday for Beans and Cleanup patrons with Harry Dunn at 4pm Pacific, 7 Eastern. And you get pre sale tickets, VIP meet and greets, stuff like that. Like whenever if I'm traveling around I'll just be like hey patrons in this area, you want to meet up and have some drinks and hang out. That's all what you know, the patron stuff. So if you want to sign up up and take advantage of our brand new social media platform, you can do [e-mail] Muller she wrote. Thank you so much for supporting us. We, we kind of, you know, we work like npr. These podcasts are free. But if you want to kick some money in, we do our best to give you us a few perks and we appreciate you supporting independent media. So thank you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you. Thank you. Any final thoughts today, my friend?

[Dana Goldberg]

No, I think we've covered it.

[Allison Gill]

We have covered it all and we will be back on your ears tomorrow for Fugal Sang Friday. Until then, 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 and I've been DG and them's the Beans. 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 Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be John Science 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 mswmedia.com.msw media.