Cats Against Fascism (feat. Brittlestar)

Summary

The Daily Beans: "Cats Against Fascism" (feat. Brittlestar) – August 11, 2025

Hosts: Alison Gill & Dana Goldberg
Guest: Stuart Reynolds (Brittle Star)
Producer: MSW Media

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Overview

In the August 11, 2025 episode of The Daily Beans, hosts Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg dive into a series of pressing political and social issues, interspersed with moments of levity and positivity. The episode culminates in an engaging interview with Stuart Reynolds, aka Brittlestar, discussing his new book, Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism. The hosts navigate through a blend of tragic news, political maneuvering, and uplifting community stories, all delivered with their signature progressive stance and snarky humor.

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Headline News

1. Tragic Incident at CDC in Atlanta
Timestamp: 04:00

Law enforcement officials reported that Patrick Joseph White, a 30-year-old anti-vaccine zealot from Atlanta suburb, opened fire at the CDC campus on Friday afternoon. The situation resulted in the death of a rookie DeKalb County police officer. Authorities discovered five firearms at the scene, all legally obtained by White's father. While White was found fatally shot, the exact circumstances—whether through police gunfire or suicide—remain unclear.

Alison Gill criticizes public figures, stating, “...this administration doesn't want to talk about that fucking crisis either.” The hosts condemn Republican policies, attributing the tragedy to a manufactured culture of ignorance and violence.

2. Delayed Disaster Relief for North Carolina
Timestamp: 05:00

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is withholding over $100 million in approved funds intended for hurricane relief in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. According to The Washington Post, delays are particularly impacting small, rural towns still grappling with infrastructure damage nearly a year after the storm. Alison Gill highlights DHS Secretary Noam’s unavailability, noting, “...she was out of the D.C. area... riding horses in Argentina with Corey Lewandowski.”

3. Ukraine's Rejection of Trump's Peace Proposal
Timestamp: 07:00

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky firmly dismissed former President Donald Trump's suggestion of ceding territory to Russia as a condition for peace. In a video address, Zelensky declared, “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier” and emphasized that any peace deal excluding Ukraine's role would be ineffective and forced. This stance underscores Ukraine's refusal to negotiate under terms perceived as compromising their sovereignty.

4. IRS Clash with Trump Administration Over Migrant Data
Timestamp: 09:00

A contentious battle unfolds as the IRS, led by Commissioner Billy Long, resists the Trump administration's attempts to utilize tax data to identify undocumented immigrants. The administration plans to use information from DHS to locate up to 7 million undocumented individuals. Long's refusal led to his removal, marking the sixth IRS commissioner under the current administration. Dana Goldberg sarcastically remarks, “...Long had previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside the confines of the IRS's agreement with DHS.”

5. Texas Democrats and FBI Involvement Claims
Timestamp: 11:00

Texas Republican leaders have claimed that the FBI is deploying agents to locate over 50 Democratic lawmakers who fled the state amidst redistricting disputes. However, The Washington Post reports skepticism, indicating no substantial FBI involvement and labeling the claims as unfounded. Alison Gill mocks the assertion, stating, “Another way to say that they're fucking full of shit.”

6. Trump Administration's Satellite Mission Cuts
Timestamp: 14:00

The Trump administration has instructed NASA to terminate two costly carbon dioxide measuring satellite missions. These satellites play a crucial role in monitoring greenhouse gases and climate change. Dana Goldberg criticizes the decision, pointing out the wasted investment: “$750 million just up in flames.”

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Interview: Brittle Star on Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism

Guest: Stuart Reynolds (Brittle Star)
Timestamp: 22:00 – 43:00

Book Overview

Stuart Reynolds introduces his latest work, Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism, a humorous yet poignant guide drawing parallels between feline behavior and strategies to combat authoritarianism. Initially conceived as a joke, the book evolved into a meaningful commentary on resilience and community support.

Key Themes and Insights

1. Stay Nimble and Unpredictable
   Timestamp: 25:41
   Brittle Star emphasizes the importance of unpredictability in thwarting fascist agendas. “Fascists particularly thrive on predictability,” he notes, advocating for spontaneous and flexible responses akin to a cat’s behavior.

2. Maintain Nap Time: Prioritize Rest
   Timestamp: 26:31
   Highlighting the value of rest, the guest parallels taking breaks with preventing burnout. “Never lose your nap time,” he advises, suggesting that stepping back briefly can aid in maintaining clarity and effectiveness.

3. Use Cuteness to Your Advantage
   Timestamp: 28:21
   Leveraging charm and composure is crucial. By maintaining a calm demeanor, individuals can navigate conflicts more strategically, much like how cats use their inherent cuteness to disarm and influence.

4. Look After Your Pride
   Timestamp: 29:43
   Community and collective strength are vital. Brittle Star underscores the necessity of supporting one’s “pride” or community, ensuring that individual efforts contribute to a larger, unified resistance.

Conclusion

Their conversation underscores the balance between individual resilience and collective action. Brittle Star's analogy of cats exemplifies how seemingly simple behaviors can inspire effective strategies against oppressive forces.

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Good News Segment

Celebrating Community and Kindness

The hosts transition to a heartwarming segment showcasing listeners' good news submissions:

• Sue (she/her):
  Timestamp: 48:24
  Sue expresses appreciation for The Daily Beans and shares her activism against the restoration of a Confederate statue at Arlington National Cemetery, encouraging others to voice their opposition.

• Julie (no pronouns given):
  Timestamp: 51:01
  Julie, a retired endangered species biologist, reflects on her transition to self-employment and celebrates her participation in Cat Video Fest 2025, supporting local animal shelters.

• Mariah (she/her):
  Timestamp: 52:30
  Mariah shares her journey into mosaic crochet, highlighting her new protest-themed blanket pattern available on Etsy, promoting both creativity and activism.

• Anonymous Listener:
  Timestamp: 53:42
  An anonymous contributor recounts a random act of kindness at a metro station, bringing joy to her sister's visit and sharing a photo of her cat, Mango.

The segment concludes with Alison and Dana encouraging listeners to continue sending in their good news stories to foster a sense of hope and community.

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Positive Developments

1. Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump's Spending Data Clampdown
Timestamp: 17:00

A federal appeals court unanimously ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to privatize public spending data. The court emphasized the necessity of transparency, stating, “...the administration's bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress's authority over government spending” (Timestamp: 16:50).

2. Massachusetts Passes New Shield Law for Abortion and Trans Healthcare
Timestamp: 19:00

Governor Maura Healey signed a law enhancing protections for providers of gender-affirming care and reproductive services, including abortion. The updated SHIELD Act limits personal data release and ensures secure access to necessary medical procedures. Healey affirmed, “...no one is going to prevent the people of Massachusetts from getting the health care they need” (Timestamp: 19:48).

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Closing Remarks

Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of community support and proactive engagement in social justice. They encourage listeners to share their stories, participate in good trouble, and remain resilient in the face of political challenges. The episode emphasizes the blend of serious discourse with moments of levity, embodying The Daily Beans’ mission to inform and uplift its audience.

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Notable Quotes:

• Alison Gill on IRS Data Clash (09:52):
  “If these people are mooching off our government, why would they have to get their tax data?”

• Dana Goldberg on Disaster Relief Delays (06:19):
  “She has to personally review anything, but she's fucking Corey Lewandowski on a horse in Argentina.”

• Zelensky Rejecting Trump's Proposal (07:02):
  “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier.”

• Brittle Star on Staying Unpredictable (25:41):
  “Fascists particularly thrive on predictability.”

• Court's Stance on Spending Data (17:20):
  “No president would allow a usurper to command our armed forces.”

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For more information, visit mswmedia.com.

Transcript

[Alison Gill]

MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, August 11, 2025. Today, Trump and Putin are gonna meet in Alaska this week for talks about Ukraine as Zelensky rejects Trump's proposal to cede territory. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Trump administration for inhumane conditions at 26 Federal Plaza in New York. Trump is delaying millions of dollars in already approved disaster relief funds for North Carolina. Greg Abbott claims he's sending FBI agents after Texas Democrats. A gunman who hates the COVID vaccine opened fire at the cdc. We now have our sixth IRS commissioner after the fifth one refused to hand over private tax data on migrants. The Trump administration is going to destroy two really expensive carbon dioxide measuring satellites on purpose. An appeals court has ruled that Trump's clampdown on spending data is against the law. Another judge has blocked limits on domestic violence grants. And Governor Maura Healey has signed a new shield law for abortion and trans health care. I'm Alison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Alison Gill]

Welcome back, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. Thanks for covering me. Well, I needed just one day. Well, you didn't. Did you cover me? No.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

I don't even remember what happened. Was I here Thursday?

[Alison Gill]

You were like, I'm going to fly. And so I was like, all right.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'll take care of you. That's right, you did. You covered me. I appreciate you.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, of course. And so it's now Monday, so that's all I have to say about that. Um, I really don't. Posted without comment. Uh, it's Monday. We do have some bright spots in the news, though, to report today, and we'll save those for last. And later in the show, I'm gonna be speaking with Brittle Star, AKA Stuart Reynolds, the Internet's favorite dad. He's comedian, writer, TV host, and my personal emotional support Canadian. He has a new book, Dana, called Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism.

[Dana Goldberg]

Amazing.

[Alison Gill]

It's, like, on Tyranny, but with Cats. It's. It's fantastic. And it's, like, funny, but also very serious. So we're gonna talk about that later in the show. So we have a really busy week. Later in the show, we're gonna talk to Tara Settmeier. We're gonna have John Fugal saying, as always, on Friday, I have court on Wednesday in my VA case. Okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay.

[Alison Gill]

For my wrongful termination. And we're gonna have Kathy Harris, former fired member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, on this coming weekend's episode of Unjustified. So it'll be really great to speak with her. And we're also gonna play that interview on Monday's Beans next week. So also thanks to everyone who watched my appearance with Rick Wilson. Got a lot of positive feedback on that particular nice appearance. So thank you. That was about the lawsuit that I filed a week ago, almost over a week ago now to get at the Epstein files. So anyway, we do have a ton of news to get to, as you can tell by the headlines. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, law enforcement officials said that Patrick Joseph White, a 30 year old from the suburbs of Atlanta, opened fire at the CDC campus complex in Atlanta on Friday afternoon. He's anti vax or he was an anti vax cult member. He was found fatally shot, although it's unclear if he was killed in exchange of gunfire with the police or if he unalived himself. A Rookie cop from DeKalb County Police Department was killed in the situation. RFK Jr. Acknowledged it after a couple hours of posting phishing videos. He said he acknowledges how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. Sure, but stopped short of taking any fucking responsibility for his role in creating an anti vax death cult in America. All the guns recovered at the scene, there were five of them. Four of them were long guns. They were all obtained legally by this guy's dad. But this administration doesn't want to talk about that fucking crisis either. And this guy apparently reached out weeks ago to get mental health help. Something else Republicans have destroyed in this country. A tragedy wholly contrived, created and executed by Republican policy, which has devolved into a death cult fueled by ignorance and violence. So all the thoughts and everything to all of my friends at the cdc, that had to be harrowing and terrifying.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely. I'm sorry, that's our first story. But there's not much good news these days. That's why we count on you all. So thank you for always submitting. This next one is from the Post. The Department of Homeland Security is holding up more than $100 million in already approved funds. It's already been approved intended to help hurricane battered North Carolina, specifically clean up storm damage and fix infrastructure still in despair almost a year after Helene hit the region. And that's according to documents obtained by the Washington Post and people that are familiar with the process. The delay has been hurting small, more rural towns that spent millions in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, essentially keeping them in limbo, unsure of whether they're getting paid back or what additional work they can even afford to do given the budgets that they have at the moment. Now, Noam wants to review most of the contract requests herself. Multiple officials familiar with the process have told us that. We've reported that previously. But her schedule's hectic and she's traveling often. For example, internal DHS records show that she was out of the D.C. area July 24, and that was two days after North Carolina's governor sent his letter, which DHS confirmed it had received. She got back the next evening and was out of town again from July 27th until August 4th. That's according to internal DHS records. Now, wasn't she riding horses or some shit in Argentina with Corey Lewandowski or some crap?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just checked and that's exactly where she was.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh God, I'm telling you. What if it's not them raising the river so they can go rafting her, going to ride horses in Argentina? These fucking people. Now that trip, by the way, two FEMA officials said caused a 10 day pause in the agency's efforts to get contracts for disaster aid and other services moving. They don't give a shit.

[Alison Gill]

So she has to personally review anything, but she's fucking Corey Lewandowski on a horse in Argentina. Sorry for that visual, everyone. All right, next up from the Times, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Saturday flatly rejected the idea that Ukraine could cede land to Russia after Trump suggested that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia could include some swapping of territories. Excuse me. Fuck you. No, it can't. Quote, Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier. That's what Zelenskyy said in a video address from his offices in Kyiv several hours after Trump's remarks, which appeared to overlook Ukraine's role in the negotiations. Ukraine's not going to be in Alaska when they have this peace talk.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nope, they sure aren't.

[Alison Gill]

Remember when Jared wanted to do peace in the Middle east and he brought everybody but the Palestinians in?

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, that sounds familiar.

[Alison Gill]

Uh huh. I remember that. Oh yeah, no, Israel and the United States are. We're going to sort this out. Oh yeah, that worked out well. Anyway, here's another quote. Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine, at the same time, decisions against peace. That's what Zelensky said. Went on to say. They will bring nothing. These are dead decisions. They will Never work. And Mr. Trump said on Friday he's going to meet with Putin on August 15th in Alaska to discuss a possible peace deal again without Ukraine there, with potential land swaps on the agenda. Quote, we're going to get some back and we're going to get some switched. That's what he said during event at the White House. Are you, quote, there'll be some swapping of territories for the betterment of both. What? Exchanging territories is not peace. It's a breather for the enemy before a new attack. That's what an officer from Ukraine's 72nd Brigade said on Saturday in a text message. Speaking from the Eastern front, he asked to be identified by only his call sign for security reasons and in keeping with military rules. He went on to say, we do not bargain with the blood and graves of our people. Every meter of Ukraine has been fought for and my brothers in arms paid for it with their lives. So, no, your peace deal from 2016 that Manafort helped you write is not still not a thing. Stop trying to make fetch happen.

[Dana Goldberg]

This cosplay with all of these people is just insane.

[Alison Gill]

We'll just give up the land they've been fighting for. No, no, no, sir, we will not. I wonder if Sarah Palin can see the meeting from her house.

[Dana Goldberg]

You know, I would give Severin Palin over these fucking fascists any goddamn day.

[Alison Gill]

Of the week, Remember, of a mostly harmless Sarah Palin.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Alison Gill]

Those days, I should say.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know. All right, this one's from the Post. The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before the Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday. Long was the fifth IRS commissioner. Now. The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. If these people are mooching off our government, why would they have to get their tax data? Oh, because they're paying taxes because they're at their jobs or going to their.

[Alison Gill]

Court dates that, you know, they said they would go to by following the rules.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, Ma'. Am. Well, DHS officials have suggested they would eventually ask the IRS for help locating 7 million people. There are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to federal estimates. So 7 million of them, they know, are working now. On Friday, though, the IRS responded that it was able to verify fewer than 3% of the names immigration enforcement officials submitted. 3% less than that. Long had previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside the confines of the IRS's agreement with DHS.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

I think all five IRS commissioners figured out that they aren't immune from criminal prosecution like Trump is. Not everyone gets covered by the Supreme Court. So Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, he's now going to serve as the interim IRS commissioner.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Hey, would you break the law for me?

[Dana Goldberg]

No.

[Alison Gill]

Can I have some of that immunity? No. How about you? Could I have a pardon? No. Okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

Puff, give, man. You're fucking up my immunity.

[Alison Gill]

Don't bogart the pardons, man. Oh, shit. Five, five irs, come in now. We're on six.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Alison Gill]

It's been seven months. Okay. All right. Next up from the Post. Texas Republican leaders hailed the FBI's apparent willingness to help them track down the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state amid a redistricting fight, calling it a necessary step to end a standoff that has ground state politics to a halt. Yeah, good. Good for the Democrats. But a day after Senator John Cornyn said that the FBI director, Kash Patel, had assigned agents in San Antonio and Austin to assist Texas law enforcement in their effort, it was unclear what steps they were taking, if any. This is the Washington Post's a nice way of saying they're fucking full of shit. They lied. There's no FBI agents out looking for Democrats in Chicago.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Alison Gill]

Here's what the Washington Post says. The FBI has not confirmed Cornyn's statement, and a person familiar with the situation said the Bureau had not deployed any significant resources. Another way to say that they fucking made it up. They're fucking lying. As of Friday morning, state and local law enforcement had made no official request for assistance. This is a person speaking on the condition of anonymity. Legal experts widely agree the FBI has little authority, which means none, to intervene in what is largely, which means wholly a dispute based in state law, that this, this weird, passive, mealy mouth language from our mainstream media is just bonkers. Quorum breaking is not a crime and in fact has become something of a tradition in Texas. Really? Most recently with instances of Democrats leaving the state in 2003 and 2021. Three times in the last 22 years has become somewhat of a tradition. Now. The Texas Supreme Court reiterated the legality of that tactic in a ruling four years ago. The Texas Supreme Court says it's chill. That was when a group of Democratic lawmakers decamped from the state amid a fight about voting legislation. A couple of different voter suppression laws were being shoved through the super majority, gerrymandered to fuck state Congress. However, the justices also found that the state's Constitution outlines measures by which the State House could compel the attendance of absent members through penalties. None of those involved the assistance of federal law enforcement, however, Those are just $500 fines. And Pritzker, you know, has, has said, I'll pay your fines.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, that's fucking chump change to Pritzker.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And by the way, Supreme Court, if you Republicans, if you want to take that to the Supreme Court of the United States, they have said now that in order for something to be a bribe, you basically have to shake their hand and say, I am bribing you. That's not what's happening here.

[Dana Goldberg]

No, not at all. All right, this next one's from NPR because it's still putting out news. The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end least two major satellite missions. This is according to current informant NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions, by the way would be permanently terminated because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere. Yeah. The data the two missions collect, by the way, is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor plant warmin house gases, climate change. Now, it's unclear why the Trump administration seeks to end the mission. Is it, is it unclear? Npr? I don't know. Maybe because the gas companies offered him a billion dollars if he would off on climate change.

[Alison Gill]

Maybe that's why it's unclear. Dana.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God. The two missions cost about $750 million to design, build and launch. So they're literally lighting $700 million on fire. $750 million just up in flames. That's what they're doing.

[Alison Gill]

Your taxpayer dollars used to monitor greenhouse.

[Dana Goldberg]

Gas waste and management. Wish that Doge kid hadn't gotten beat up. He might be on top of this.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, and speaking of Doge, I think a new report came out that says they wasted like $21.8 billion or something in their first six months.

[Dana Goldberg]

They got all they needed. They got all of our data. They got everything they needed. And why would they want our data? Because Peter Thiel has one of the biggest. Fucking spy. I know that's not what it's really called, but like surveillance companies in the.

[Alison Gill]

World, he has a hard on for our private data.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. And J.D. vance, what's the next story?

[Alison Gill]

Oh, really? Is that our segue today?

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Although I do want to say though, Democrats in Congress want to investigate that 20 something billion dollars expenditure by Doge, who is supposed to save us money. I'm sure it'll go nowhere, but at least they're investigating. All right, time for some better news. This is from Politico. A federal appeals court panel shot down the Trump administration's bid to make secret a public database of federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress's power of the purse. We've talked about this. Remember we talked about it when it was in the lower court. In an order issued Saturday night, the three judge D.C. circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously to give the administration until Friday to put the data back online. This was a law that was passed by and signed by Biden in 2022, by the way, that says you have to show all your spending, all your appropriations that were voted on by Congress. And the Trump administration's like, no, we're just going to take it down. And the lower court said, fuck you. And now the appeals court says, fuck you. And two of the three appeals judges assigned the matter also signed onto a forceful opinion declaring that the administration's bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress's authority over government spending. One that threatened the separation of powers and defied centuries of evidence that public disclosure is necessary for the public good. They said, quote, no court would allow a losing party to defy its judgment. No president would allow a usurper to command our armed forces. That's Karen Henderson, a GHW Bush appointee. What she wrote in support of the decision to deny Trump's request to keep the data under wraps while litigation goes forward. Quote, and no Congress should be made to wait while the executive intrudes on its plenary power over appropriations. So, very good, appeals court. Thank you, indeed.

[Dana Goldberg]

And we've got one from the Times. A recently detained immigrant filed a potential class action lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, denouncing the conditions inside holding cells at the main federal immigration offices in Manhattan as overcrowded and unsanitary. Have they been in the subway system? Just kidding.

[Alison Gill]

The subway system is fantastic.

[Dana Goldberg]

The subway system in Manhattan is actually fantastic. Yeah. The cells belong to the Immigration and Customs enforcement agency at 26 Federal Plaza. They have drawn scrutiny as ICE has hastened the pace of arrests in New York City, with migrants filling the holding facilities on the building's 10th floor. In the past, the cells were used to hold migrants for just a few hours. But amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, migrants often remain there for days or even more than a week. The lawsuit said that the migrants often sleep on the concrete floor or sitting upright, lack access to legal counsel, and are subjected to a horrific stench emanating from toilets next to their sleep. A video recorded by a migrant who sneaked in a cell phone last month appeared to confirm some of these complaints. Some of the same groups filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court last week challenging the federal government's practice of arresting migrants showing up for routine hearings in immigration court. That lawsuit coming two weeks after a similar class action lawsuit was filed in Washington, D.C. it argued that the arrests had turned the courts into traps. And that's 100% what they've done.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And you know, we talked about this. Those people who were shut in those rooms on the 10th floor and like, you could hear screaming and crying and like, just packed in there. No air conditioning, no lights, Remember? It was awful. It's awful. So I'm glad they're suing. And from Reuters, a federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from refusing to fund domestic violence programs that promote diversity, equity, inclusion or transgender rights. US District Judge William Smith in Providence, Rhode island, agreed with a coalition of 17 groups that the conditions set by the US Department of Justice in May, which reflect Trump's broader agenda, were likely arbitrary and violated federal law. Quote, if the court does not grant preliminary relief, this could result in the disruption of important and in some cases life saving services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Violence. That's what Smith wrote. He's an appointee of G.W. bush. Smith blocked the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women from imposing the conditions pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, thank you so much, Allison. And we've got great news. And I don't always say great, but we've got great news. This is from the LGBTQ Nation. At a ceremony at the Massachusetts State House Thursday. Out Governor Mara Healey, who is a fantastic person by the way, signed a recently passed law aimed at bolstering protections for providers of gender affirming care and reproductive care that's including abortion. As local station NBC10 Boston notes, the measure passed last week when the Massachusetts House approved was by 132 to 42 vote with four state Democrats voting alongside Republicans in opposition. Don't love that. In the state Senate, only three Republicans voted against it. Do love that. And I quote, massachusetts will always be a state where patients can access high quality health care and providers are able to do their jobs without government interference. This is from Healy and that's what she said in a statement Thursday. And she went on to say, from the moment Roe was overturned, we stepped to pass strong protections for patients and providers. And with President Trump and his allies continuing their assaults on healthcare, we're taking those protections to the next level. No one is going to prevent the people of Massachusetts from getting the health care they need. Hell yeah. Now the bill updates Massachusetts 2022 SHIELD act, which protects providers of reproductive and gender affirming care from out of state investig and prosecutions and other liability for providing or assisting patients in accessing such care, which is legal in the state of Massachusetts. As both NBC10 and WWLP 22 News noted, the updated law limits the release of personal data, allows prescription labels to include only the name of the prescribing practice and not the specific prescribing doctor, and codifies into law access to emergency medically necessary abortions.

[Alison Gill]

Good for more Healy.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, Love it. She's pretty awesome. Had dinner with her a few times at the HRC galas. She's pretty wonderful.

[Alison Gill]

Amazing, amazing. And also amazing the work that you do to raise money for these kinds of causes.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you.

[Alison Gill]

You're welcome. All right, we've got some good trouble, but it's gonna be first up in the Good News segment, which follows my interview with Stuart Reynolds, AKA Brittle Star, about his new book, Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism. Stick around, we'll be right back. Hey everybody. I've been a Helix sleeper for years now. It's absolutely transformed the way I rest. It's made me fall in love with sleeping again. So let me give you a peek into why it made such a difference. Sleep used to be very stressful. I struggled with tossing and turning, night sweats, endless cycle of waking up exhausted. Turns out I was sleeping on a mattress made for someone else. And I would dread bedtime because restful sleep seemed impossible. And honestly I, I started to accept it as normal. I originally discovered Helix through recommendations from listeners and friends and when I finally tried it, everything changed. My Apple Watch sleep tracking data improved and the improvement was clear. Longer, deeper sleep, significantly fewer interruptions, improved heart rate patterns as well. I mean, it's a game changer. Reliable and consistent Rest transformed more than my nights. My days improved dramatically, obviously because you need to get good sleep. There was less stress, more energy, way fewer midday slumps. I no longer felt drained before noon or desperate for a nap. I'm more productive. I'm clear headed and honestly just a happier person now. Every night is actually restful and every morning feels like A fresh start. So you got to get that rest. You got to rest up to resist. So partnering with Helix was an easy choice, and I genuinely believe in the difference that this mattress has made in my life. So if you've had sleepless nights and you're tired of it, tired of overheating or motion disturbances, you have to try Helix. It truly delivered the restful sleep I needed, and now it can help you, too. So go to helixsleep.comdailybeans for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com dailybeans for 20 percent off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know that I sent you. That's helixsleep.com dailybeans. You'll be glad you did. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I'm super excited today to be talking to my personal emotional support Canadian. He's Internet's favorite dad. He's comedian, writer, TV host. You know him as Brittle Star. Please welcome Stuart Reynolds. Hi, Stuart.

[C]

Hey, how's it going?

[Alison Gill]

It is going.

[C]

That's the wrong question to ask Americans right now, isn't it?

[Alison Gill]

I know. I'm always like, how are you? Wait, never mind. I take that back. What's new? Yeah. So I wanted to talk to you today because you sent me this amazing new book that came out in June. It's called Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism.

[C]

That's right.

[Alison Gill]

It's like On Tyranny, which I also keep a copy of very close to me. So it's like On Tyranny, but with cats, which I think is incredibly important. So let's talk about this. What gave you this idea? Were you just, like, going through On Tyranny and you're like, there's not enough cats in here.

[C]

What's funny is I haven't actually read On Tyranny yet, and I'm kind of glad I haven't yet because I don't want to make too many comparisons between the two books. Mine again, mine has cats. And I don't. I don't think that Tim's has cats. No, that's fine. There's always another book.

[Alison Gill]

He is in Canada now.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. We'll get. Get together and talk about cats. I wrote it because it was. It started off as a bit of a joke, which is the weird part. It started off as like, this will be funny. Wouldn't this be funny? Cats are jerks. Cats are horrible. They'd be the perfect foil to a fascist, wouldn't they? And I started going through and writing up different Ideas. And as I'm writing and I'm going, oh, oh, all these ideas and little tips are probably pretty applicable to, you know, not just cats, but humans in the current situation. So it's. It's become really weird in the sense it started off, like I said, like, as a joke, as a way to sort of just be something sort of funny. And now it's kind of like, oh, it might end up being a field guide for people.

[Alison Gill]

Right. And there's 11 chapters in here.

[C]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And some of my favorites. Let's talk about some of these. First of all, stay nimble and unpredictable. This is kind of like in the remain ungovernable sort of umbrella. Talk about that.

[C]

Yeah. That idea of, you know, that there's. Fascists particularly thrive on predictability. They want to know where people are and where they're going and all that kind of stuff. And it's good to be like a cat and stay spontaneous. To suddenly go from one position to another for seemingly no reason. And it just keeps the fascists on their toes, which is a good thing, I think.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. My cats do this all the time, and I have no idea to govern them or how to rule over them because of their unpredictability.

[C]

Exactly, exactly.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And so when we do our little Good Trouble piece every week, we're like, you know what? For example, Laura Loomer wants tips on who she should go after, so we should flood her inbox with our own personal tips, particularly about the Epstein files. But I think it's really, really important to, you know, this is funny, but it's also serious, like, remain unpredictable.

[C]

Well, it's true. I mean, that's the whole thing is that it sort of, again, started off as a joke and as you go through, like, never lose your nap time, sounds like a bit of a silly chapter, but at the same time, it's like one of the tactics of bullies and fascists is to bombard you with information, to bombard you with attempts to get your attention, to flood the zone. And it's important for you to sort of turn off briefly for rest and be like, you know, I'm going to just deal with you after a nap. Give me, like an hour. Give me an hour. I'm going to come back refreshed and ready to fight.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. So, yeah, very important.

[C]

Exactly. All that kind of stuff. Any, like, knocking things over strategically and that type of thing that, you know, you're not doing things randomly, not doing bad things randomly, but doing productively good things or good trouble things strategically is Important as well.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And one of the big ones in on tyranny is do not obey in advance. And here we have refuse to wear collars.

[C]

Yes, exactly. Because collars are just, you know, control as a fashion accessory.

[Alison Gill]

Control and a warning. Right. Like you don't put a collar on your cat unless you put a bell on it because you want to alert the wooden creatures.

[C]

Right, exactly. Whose side are you on? The birds.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, kind of. Not in the tyranny.

[C]

No, not in the. Exactly. And the analogy will shift sides away from the birds. Yeah, no, it's. It's, you know. Exactly. You said there's perfect the art of vanishing. There's demanding food with assertiveness, using cuteness to your advantage. Result of my favorite is use your cute. Use your cuteness to your advantage. And you can, you know, charm can disarm people pretty easily, which is great. And it's a good thing to remember because it's easy to get angry about stuff, it's easy to get worked up about things, but you also want to kind of maintain composure so that you're thinking clearly. Because I think if you get too angry and you're in too much in a rage mode all the time, you're not making good decisions, you're not making productive decisions, you're not playing strategically, and you're never going to get through it otherwise.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Also kind of dovetails with the, you know, don't let them take your nap time away. And I also, like, if I could just lay down across JD Vance's keyboard strategically. The takeover spaces that aren't yours, I thought was a really. I mean, these are all brilliant, but I thought that one was pretty great, too.

[C]

Yeah. I think there's a, you know, there's a notion that people have to wait for permission to do things. And in most cases, I'm going to say, yes, you do. You should probably get permission to do things. However, I think when you're. You're dealing with a force that is not playing the game anyway, then the rules of the game no longer apply. So it's good to kind of be aware what, what positions you can take, what places you can occupy and occupy those places and just kind of take them over and make them good again.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I agree. And then, of course, my favorite, look after your pride. We talk a lot seriously on this pod about community and what you can do locally and how you can take care of and uphold and support marginalized communities, for example.

[C]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And then, you know, take care of. I sign off every show with take Care of your family, which is your friends and family, your chosen family. Yeah, so talk about that because that's the kind of wrap up here. And I think it's probably the overarching message of kind of. Anyway, to fight fascism.

[C]

I think it is too. I think too many. If you look at what's happening currently with the universities and stuff and colleges in the US who are in battles with the Trump administration, the Trump regime, I think you see them fighting individually. And my thought is always, guys get together, call each other, start working together, connect with the other universities and colleges that haven't been approached yet. Everyone's just looking out for themselves. I did a post recently about how America's individualism, as a Canadian. America's individualism was explained to me by an American as a baseball game. And it's all down to the single person. There's a team, but it's all down to the single person at bat. But if that person at bat never leaves home plate, doesn't. Doesn't. Ignores being struck out, tells you they've hit a million home runs and they haven't hit anything yet, it's time for them to go. They can't be in the game because they're not playing the game anymore. There's no point in playing the game anymore because they're playing a totally different game or no game at all. So it's time to switch games. And I think that's part of the idea is I think in my little post I mentioned. But, you know, it's time to take up soccer and start working together. But that's part of the book is saying look after your pride is that, you know, cats seem pretty and it sounds so funny. I feel it's been really weird talking about cats.

[Alison Gill]

I like cats.

[C]

I like cats a lot. But yeah, it's still. Still weird. But I think one of the things, you know, cats are seen as like, very individualistic, very do their own thing. But you get a couple of cats together and they will cuddle up, they will support each other, they will, you know, look out for each other. And I think that's really important to remember that you can still be an individual. You can still be looking out for your best interests, your own best interests. But that means nothing if you don't protect everybody. Who's part of your pride as well?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And we have kind of a hierarchy here in our home. I've got four cats. Two of them are brother and sister, so they always hang out together. And then I had this third giant dummy. Beautiful but like the one brain cell and he was just kind of like, felt like a third wheel. So I got him a little kitten friend and now they hang out together.

[C]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

But then the girl from the bonded pair, the original bonded pair, is kind of in charge of the whole group. And then we all sort of work together. Well, I scoop their poop and feed them, but, you know, we all sort of work together to have like optimal cuddle times and so everyone can get fed and have, have, have health care and things like that. And it reminds me of like I used to. I remember back when I was in the, in the Navy, it would be like within the Navy, we had different units that would kind of go at each other like.

[C]

Right, sure.

[Alison Gill]

Make fun of each other.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

But then, but then when the army showed up, we'd be like, ooh, Navy against army, all together.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[Alison Gill]

And then, you know, when somebody from, you know, an enemy from a different country showed up, it's like, oh, we're all together and it's against you. And so there's this kind of buildup and buildup. And I think that, you know, I think that's a very important lesson we can learn from cats as well.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, true strength is collective. Right? I mean, that's. That idea is you have to be working together. If you're not working together, it's the whole thing. It's a whole American thing, isn't it? United we stand, divided we fall. I mean, that's this whole shtick and I can't wait for it to see it happen soon. So.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, sorry about that. I want to apologize on behalf.

[C]

That's all right. You know, we're even. I asked you how you were they. The beginning. So, you know, it's.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, even Steven, don't ever apologize for America. Yeah, no, I'm gonna do that a lot. So what else has been going on with you?

[C]

It's been, it's been, it's really fascinating. I mean, one of the things that's interesting about being a Canadian is that you consume a tremendous amount of US media and you're very aware of what's happening in the US really loud. It's. You're very, very loud. It's like living below, living above someone who's not having an all night rave. You know what I mean? We like some of the songs, but not all of them. But it's, it's been interesting because it's been literally non stop for the past six months. That's been the sort of, sort of recurring or revolving conversation has been like, it's been six months. That's it. It's been sick. Good Lord. It's been six months. Never mind the own. Our own political situation, you know, with Justin Trudeau leaving in office and being replaced by Mark Carney as Prime Minister, that all seemed kind of quaint.

[Alison Gill]

We were all for that, though. We were like, come on. Like, don't do what we just did.

[C]

Well, I think that played a huge part. I think the US Played a huge part in what happened in the Canadian election because I think we literally looked down. Everyone was kind of toying with the idea of, like, well, maybe we should be a little bit more like that. Not everybody. Some people were. And, and then I think as they watched up play, it was like, oh, no, no.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. No, I don't.

[C]

I don't think so. It's like wanting to be like your big brother. And then you see your big brother's friends come over and they all get drunk and they go out and rip around in the car and you're like, I don't think so. I don't think that's good for me.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, but we couldn't learn from Brexit, for example, or anything. You know, going all the way back to, you know, Ukraine.

[C]

Sure.

[Alison Gill]

When they must have been looking at us in 2016. Like, have you never seen election interference by Russia before? Are you new? Like, must have just been looking at us like we were idiots. And so now here we are. And, you know, you say for the last six months, if it's been like that, but also, like the last 10 years.

[C]

Oh, for sure.

[Alison Gill]

And I think it's extraordinary that there is a generation of people who have mostly only known a political sphere with Donald Trump in it.

[C]

I don't get it.

[Alison Gill]

And that kind of blows me away because, you know, we had. It was nice and quiet. I mean, of course, there were issues and problems we had. First one, of course, two. And yeah, all that other stuff, you know, war crimes and whatnot. But like, you know, 2012, what a great boring ass year that was. You know, I didn't know who the chief of staff was. I didn't know who.

[C]

Oh, that is. That is one of my biggest complaints, I think, about this current situation, political situation in the US and the current administration is the fact that as Canadians, we know way too much, much about your political system now. Like, I don't want to know how the House and the Congress and Senate works. I don't want to know that. I don't care. I don't want to care. I don't want to have to care. But at the same time, it's like, it's like living next door to someone, you're like, I think they're burning plastic again. We should maybe keep an eye on that just in case.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And then the other thing too, that I've noticed, I want to talk a little bit more about Carney and Trump before I let you go. But like, okay, so my best friend's wife is Canadian and they were having this conversation about what patriotism is and how it seems that this rugged, individual American idea thinks that patriotism can only be American patriotism and that people from other countries cannot be patriotic.

[C]

Right.

[Alison Gill]

And it's this kind of weird, you know, flag waving, yeehaw idea when it shouldn't be. And, you know, particularly when you think about, like, our military and our defense budget and, and how this administration treats our military and veterans and, you know, for all intents and purposes, if you want to center patriotism around that, which they tend to like to do, they still treat those folks like shit. So it's kind of this weird, abstract thing, but my best friend's wife is Canadian. She's like, no, fuck no. I'm hella patriotic. And a lot of Canadians amped up their patriotism when Donald Trump was trying to get, you know, get all up in your elections and, and, and be all maga.

[C]

I think, I think even just bringing up the topic of 51st state, mentioning that, that term and annexation, I think that was enough to flip pretty much every switch of every Canadian into full on, you know, maple syrup patriotism. It was just like, it was, it was an incredible sense of betrayal. It was like, what the hell? We've been like your best pals. As someone said recently about, you know, the terror situation in automotive industry between Canada and the U.S. we don't sell things to each other. We make things together.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's a really good way of looking at the whole situation. It's like we're kind of, we work together and it's that we found that that's the best way for us to work together. Everyone wins in that situation as opposed to just transactional. So I think that, you know, When Trump mentioned 51st state and annexation, I think that made a lot of people realize, okay, wait a minute, what are we giving up? If we. Are we cool with this? And what was fascinating is that there was, you know, the trucker convoy here in, in Canada in, in Alberta and in Ottawa, primarily Ottawa, even some of those Ardent supporters of that were asked, would you be okay joining the US they're like, no, I think I'm cool. I think I'm all right.

[Alison Gill]

Still like my health care. Yeah.

[C]

I mean, it's, it's like I, I like. And I wrote a book called welcome to Stupid Apocalypse. And one of the things was relating that feeling of being a Canadian going to America as going to Disney World. The elderly octogenarian security guard who's checking my backpack for water bottles looks me deep in the eye and realizes I will be leaving in eight hours. I'll have the time of my life. But I am not staying. I'm not going to pitch tent and stay there forever and not moving in. I just want to have a good time. I want to appreciate all the great things that you guys do. But I'm not sticking around. I got to get back home after that. And that's no slight to the US it's just a case of my home is not you. My home is not there. It's. It's the same way as you'd feel going anywhere else.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, no, true. It kind of reminds me of that old Mitch Hedberg bit. You're a comedian. Yeah. Where he's like, there was a, a commercial about an above ground pool, and it was 30 seconds long. And he's like, how can we depict people enjoying themselves in an above ground pool for 30 seconds? Like, we have to, we have to shorten this commercial just a little bit. What am I gonna do, get my knees wet? Throw the ball to Jimmy? All right, commercial done. Like, that's kind of. I feel like what it's like to visit the United States.

[C]

It's such a good time though. We really enjoy it. And one of the patriotism is interesting thing because America does patriotism so well. Like, you guys do it so well.

[Alison Gill]

It's funded by our tax dollars through the Defense Department.

[C]

Well, I mean, it's even saying. I think it's, it's very impressive. And it's. I mean, right from the get go, one of the things that stands out the most to me is one of the favorite places for me to go is the Smithsonian Museum of American history in D.C. and it's phenomenal. I love the fact the lunch counters there. I love it. Like, it's just everything you want that it's Americana is in that building right down to. Stuck to the side as you walk in one of the rooms is a mannequin wearing George Washington's blue uniform. The one that he's like, in all the Paintings and stuff. And it's like, wow. Even from the very get go someone said he's dead. What should we do with his uniform? I think we should keep it. I think most, you know, Canadians would be like, I don't know, make rags out of it. I don't know what you want to do with it.

[Alison Gill]

It's like the Rock and Roll hall of Fame.

[C]

Yes. It's, I mean, right from the get go, America was like, we've got something to prove and we're going to try to prove it. I think that's, I'm, I'm. So we were talking last night, myself, my wife sitting outside thing saying we cannot wait to get back to the US to enjoy the best of the US because there's so much to enjoy. But right now is not that time. And that's sad.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And, and, and that whole idea, George Washington's coat and all that revolution, that was a, against a, you know, throwing tea in the harbor because of tariffs and the fact that we didn't want a king.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

So we've lost our way on what, what, what it means to be patriotic. Although I will say that my best friend's wife has brought me some maple fudge to, to, you know, to make me feel part of that take, you know, make sure you nothing cuts into your nap time and taking care of your pride.

[C]

Exactly, exactly.

[Alison Gill]

Because I love my, I love me some maple fudge.

[C]

It's, there's some good stuff you need to have the maple syrup like just fresh and then, and then on a stick rolled in snow. Have you had that before?

[Alison Gill]

I haven't tried that though. I haven't seen snow in many years.

[C]

Well, I tell you, you can get that delivered. It's one of the only good things about snow. That's it.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's it.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. It's visiting it. I agree. So I grew up in Cleveland. There's just far too much snow.

[C]

Yeah. I love Cleveland, by the way. Cleveland's an amazing town.

[Alison Gill]

It is now. It was not in 1974.

[C]

74 might have been a little rough. Yeah, yeah. But I think I, I, we stayed in that hotel downtown with the Galleria, like the, the old Mall. The 1800s. The mall from the 1800s. I think it was in a movie recently as well. But I was like, this is cool. This is, this is just a great spot.

[Alison Gill]

But yeah, it's all been revitalized. It's pretty cool down there.

[C]

East 4th Street. I remember that. That was good.

[Alison Gill]

Yes. And you know, we saw that happening in a Lot of cities. We, you know, we've, we're, I think we're still gonna, as, as long as we continue the grants that were appropriated by Congress for the infrastructure bill, I think we're gonna continue to see those improvements. Although I don't know if you've seen this or not, but all the infrastructure stuff that Joe Biden did. Donald Trump is slapping his name on the signs. Like there's little stickers over it that says Brough by Donald J. Trump is.

[C]

I, I mean, I think people need to buy my book. That's basically it. As many Americans as possible need to buy the book because there's a, there's a, you know, there's the warning signs of like in, in Timothy's book the On Tyranny, there's the warning signs that he points out, but it's like they seem self evident now. They seem like they're here. It's, it's all happening currently.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, we're in it.

[C]

Yeah, we're in it right now. How do we get through this and how do we get out of it? I think are the next questions we have to ask ourselves.

[Alison Gill]

A lot of people are like, we're in a coup. I'm like, no, coup's over. We're dictator part.

[C]

I can't wait for you guys to get over it.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you. Us too. It's gonna be a lot harder than it would have been, but. Well, we'll continue to work at it. So everybody needs to check out first of all, the 2023 book. Welcome to the Stupid Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon. And then of course, the new book Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism. You will love it. It is little. It is in hardback. It's perfect for free little libraries. You can order a bunch of copies and put em around in your free little libraries around town. They make excellent holiday gifts. And what is it? It's only like 55 pages.

[C]

I mean it's, it's 60 pages until it matches my attention span. For a guy that's been making short form content for 12 years, it's perfect length for me.

[Alison Gill]

Excellent. Well, I appreciate your time today and thank you so much. Tell everybody else where they can find. Follow you, watch you.

[C]

They can find me at Brittle Star at any social media platform or brittlestar.com. yeah, thanks so much for having me.

[Alison Gill]

Very cool.

[C]

Keep up the good trouble.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, no problem. We'll talk again soon, my friend. Everybody stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. All right? I used to not have plants I dreaded shopping for plants. I would spend half my day driving to garden centers. I'd end up with dirt all over my car. Sometimes I would leave empty handed because they were out of what I wanted or they didn't have anything that really spoke to me. But that all changed when I found fastgrowingtrees.com so fall is planting season and many plants actually do better when planted now. And fast growing trees makes it easy to find the right ones for your yard. Whether you want fruit trees, privacy hedges, flowering plants, indoors plants, their plant experts help match you with what will thrive in your climate. I ordered two, no, three now fruit trees and some hydrangeas. Also from fast growing trees. I also got a couple of indoor plants that are amazing. They all came in perfect condition. I saved hundreds compared to what a landscaper would have charged and I didn't have to drive around. They're grown here in the us they're acclimated and ready to thrive from day one. They arrived right on my doorstep and they've got a 14 point quality check which ensures your plants are of the highest possible quality. Each one is carefully tended to based on their exact needs from the amount of sunlight to their watering routines. And I saved a fortune comparing to hiring a landscaper. They even include clear care instructions for me, which is really helpful because I have a brown thumb. It's made gardening a lot less intimidating. So now my yard and my house look amazing and I've never had to leave home to make it happen. So this fall they have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on selected plants and other deals. And listeners to our show get 15% off their first purchase when using the code DAILYBEANS at checkout. That's 15% [e-mail] and use the code dailybeans at checkout. So now's the perfect time to plant. Use daily beans to save today. And our offer is valid for limited times. Terms and conditions may apply. So check out the link below or in the show notes and support the show everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news.

[C]

Everyone.

[Alison Gill]

And if you have any good news you want to share with us, any little cool, amazing thing that's happened to you over the weekend or over the last 10 years, really send it to us. We need to microdose hope right now. So we really appreciate you sending in your good news stories. And it can be anything. It can be a shout out to a loved one or yourself. A self shout out. We love those. Maybe you can tell us what your thesis or dissertation title was. We love reading those and sharing them with everybody. Maybe you have a shout out to a small business in your area that could use a boost. Or you want to highlight an incredible nonprofit that you either work for or know about that deserves some attention. We would love for you to shout them out as well. You can also shout out government programs that have helped you or a loved one like out of anything. Affordable Care act subsidies, snap, wic, food stamps. Anything at all. And student debt relief is a good one too. If you had your student debt forgiven, we want to hear about it it and you can send it all to [e-mail] just click on contact. You can also send in your good trouble ideas in the same place. And all you got to do to get your stuff read on the air is pay your POD pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet if you don't have a pet. Attach an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, just really grab any random photo on the Internet. We love animal photos, baby animals. Anything really works. Your happy place indeed. Your garden. Maybe you're growing some herbs. Maybe you've got a cool little library in your neighborhood. You want to show everybody what See signs at a rally you've been to. Really anything. And bird watching can be an actual bird. Or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to trump properties or mosque properties. Whatever. Whatever floats your boat. Send it to us dailybeanspot.com click on contact and our first Good News submission is Our Good Trouble. This comes from Sue Pronouns she and her Totally love my daily Beans. Thank you for all your hard work and reporting. I just heard that the Pentagon wants to restore a statue in Arlington national cemetery of Confederate General Albert pike, which was toppled in 2020 during BLM and then not replaced because the government was getting rid of a lot of Confederate names and memorials. So I just went to the Arlington Cemetery website to give my feedback and tell them not to spend my taxpayer dollars on replacing this insulting thing. So we are going to have a feedback form for Arlington National Cemetery link in the show notes where you can also tell them how you feel. So thank you sue for that good trouble.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh man, I love our listeners. They all have plans to do stuff. Yep. All right. This is from Julie. No pronouns given. Hey Beans Queens I recently retired early from my job as an endangered species biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service after more than 25 years in federal service. My gosh, congratulations. Oh, I wasn't quite ready to be retired yet, but workplace morale was grim and the future of endangered species conservation seems bleak. I had been getting into good trouble at the office, according to some for being a little too outspoken, like when I put a big sign in my window that said stop firing us. Scary as it was to quit, I decided I could no longer serve a government that I didn't believe in. Since my departure at the end of April, I've been self employed painting houses, which is perfect activity to do while listening to your podcast and I learned so much from you. Thank you. Now, I wanted to make a minor correction to the definition of ballast. Am I saying that right? Yeah, ballast. You were sort of right. And I'm going to point that to you ag because I think I asked you what it meant. Yeah, yeah. Now ballast is weight added to the bilge of a vessel to control its height in the water column to improve stability and maneuverability. An empty cargo ship often needs more ballast so it doesn't float like a cork on the surface. Even seawater is used as ballast if not handled correctly. Ballast water can be a vector to carry some aquatic species across oceans and introduce them into new environments where some may become invasive. San Diego Bay has been the unfortunate recipient of many exotic species invasions through ballast water releases. I love your concept of microdosing Hope. Tonight I did that by attending cat Video Fest 2025. We're gonna have a link in the show notes people at Juno's Amazing Art House Theater, the Gold Town Nickelodeon. Another link in the show notes where I also volunteer. Cat video fest is 75 minutes of hilarious videos of cats being cats and was just what I needed to temporarily tune out our national political disaster. Proceeds from Cat Video Fest support local animal shelters. Cat Video Fest is currently showing at hundreds of theaters around the globe. I encourage you to take a break and check it out. Now for my pod pet tariff, I've included a photo of my dog Lucy at an anti Trump rally in 2018. Can you guess her breed? Lucy died peacefully this week and will forever be my best bad dog. I've also included a photo of me on my last day at work in Juneau Federal Building. Yes, I'm wearing a bathrobe and a crown. And yes, there's a what the fuck stamp on my forehead that I wore all day, much to chagrin of my soon to be former supervisors.

[Alison Gill]

I love this.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know. Thanks for all you do and for many suggestions and ways to get into good trouble. Like many others, I too am smarter because of you.

[Alison Gill]

Okay, here's the dog with a Deport Melania sign.

[Dana Goldberg]

It looks like there's some of the. There's definitely a healer in there, like Australian shepherd and maybe Bernice. Mountain dog.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, Some sort of cattle dog for sure. We'll look in a second. But look at Double Bird.

[Dana Goldberg]

To Trump and Vance.

[Alison Gill]

To Trump and Vance at the Federal Building. And she is in fact wearing a bathrobe. And it has WTF on her forehead. You were fantastic.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's awesome.

[Alison Gill]

Last day at work. Wonderful.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's so funny. I actually thought there was collie in here and I didn't say it, but the breeder says she's an English collie. I've always called her a border collie Mutt.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Those are herding dogs, right? Border collies. She's beautiful. Thank you for that. Thanks for these wonderful photos, too. I love it. Stop firing us. That's a wonderful sign to put in your window. Next up, from Mariah Pronoun. She and her. I saw a very simple. Not a sign exactly. A 3D meme may be the best way to describe it. Anyway, it was at the no Kings rally way back when somebody got a big clear plastic tub of Cheesy Poofs. You know, the ones on the bottom shelf at the grocery store? They attached a cheap blonde wig on the top and stuck the whole thing on a pole. It's the big Cheeto. And I cackled. I told my super Republican dad about it and he wants to put it on the porch for Halloween instead of a pumpkin. How great would that be if we all did that for Halloween?

[Dana Goldberg]

That's amazing.

[Alison Gill]

I'm sharing a picture of our wee Scottish lad, Hammy McBacon Fat. I love Hammy McBacon Fat in his stroller. He's now an old man and needs a ride. Sometimes I think he can move it with his mind since we just go wherever he looks. Yes, he's spoiled rotten and we are fine with that. There's Hammy. Look it now. For some reason, the photo of the giant big Cheeto didn't come through. Mariah, I don't have it here. Do you see it? I don't see it.

[Dana Goldberg]

I do not.

[Alison Gill]

I want to see it. So try to send it in again if you can.

[Dana Goldberg]

There you go. All right. This is from anonymous pronoun she and her. Hi, lovely ladies. I have some great news and some kindness from a stranger. I'm at the airport to pick up my sister for her first visit to my new city, where I'm studying, which is filling me with Joy. Then I went to the little stand where you get Metro tickets so that I could get my sister her ticket. And some kind woman came up to me to give me her pass. She told me she's leaving now to go home and that the pass would work for the whole day. And the next. I was already so happy to be picking up my sister that this kind and easy action from a stranger, it really touched me. Be kind. Have a beautiful day. Rage on for my tariff. My sweet baby science. Kitty mango. Here he is trying to get into the lab coat.

[Alison Gill]

That's Cats against Fascists. Look at that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Adorable.

[Alison Gill]

Hi, kitty kitty. How cool. You know, I should do that. I don't visit New York that often anymore because, you know, there's no Democrats in the White House, so I'm not on the eastern seaboard very often.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Alison Gill]

But you know, when I do and I've got time left or you know, stuff left on my Metro card, I should just give it to somebody at the airport. That's a cool idea. All right, thank you. All right, I'm gonna read the next two here. Cause they're kind of short. First up, from anonymous. No pronouns. Hello, lovely lagoon ladies. Microdosing Hope here. And I mean micro. Microdosing for the first time last week while conducting an everyday transaction at my local Quick E Mart, I was owed 57 cents in change. The change was given to me in the form of a nickel, two pennies and a Kennedy half dollar. I have to take that as a positive sign for something. I like that. That is pretty micro, but it's fantastic. All right. For Maureen D. No pronouns. Great news for you and Dana. You can visit the Cape May Zoo for your capybara experience.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay, it gets better because I read this one. Keep going ag.

[Alison Gill]

And then you can take the Cape May Lou's Ferry. Is it lose to lose Delaware. It's a short 40 minute drive through the cornfield.

[Dana Goldberg]

And then do what?

[Alison Gill]

You can have your otter experience at Coastal Wilds in Sussex.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'm gonna die. I have to go immediately. This place. Both of them. Kappa, bears and otters. Let's go.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Because I had asked last week, hey, is there an otter experience near the capybara experience at Cape May Zoo and. Sure.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, it's by Rehoboth Beach. It's around the lesbians are in. The gays. I'll go make them laugh and go see some otters.

[Alison Gill]

And Biden. We would love to welcome you to our vibrant coastal community. That includes Rehoboth beach and Dewey beach. And. And you all get a twofer. Animal experience. Appreciate all you're doing to bring truth to the world. For my pod pet tax, here's a picture of my current rescue, Mulligan. He's the second chance pup piece. Okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

Mulligan's adorbs.

[Alison Gill]

He is so cute. He's. Look, he's a ham too. He's like a. He's got a little ham body. I love him.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, we've got Sarah pronoun She and her beans queens. I've been crocheting for my mental health ever since the rise of the orange Orange Cheeto reared its ugly toupeed head again. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled into the magic of mosaic crochet. And because I can't do anything halfway, I immediately taught myself how to write my own patterns. When I thought about what I wanted my first design to be, I was mad. And then, inspired out of that rage came this protest poster. Inspired Fuck Donald Trump blanket. I'm so proud of it, tweaks and all. And it's now officially my first ever pattern for sale. Huge thanks to my sister Jen for modeling and showing off. A sentiment we say on the regular. Now in cozy fiber format, this crochet style looks way more complicated than it is. If you can do a single crochet and a double crochet, you can make this. Watching the words appear row by wor row is ridiculously satisfying. Also a shout out to my amandis and Jen again for keeping me sane, sharing endless FDT memes, and flipping the bird every chance we get. The pattern is available. Everyone on path of patterns on Etsy. We're gonna have a link in the show. Notes pathofpatterns.etsy.com no pets in this post, but you do get a peek at the blanket. And my badass sister skydiving. Something I never do. Meanwhile, she immediately booked a second jump alongside our 65 year old dad.

[Alison Gill]

What?

[Dana Goldberg]

Look how cool this is. This is a really awesome blanket.

[Alison Gill]

It is. There's the LGBTQ heart. There's the march, unite, stand, blm, Love equals love, justice, scales, we the people, Constitution, flag vote, and then FDT all the way around. Love it.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's awesome.

[Alison Gill]

That's a new pattern. You can get it on Etsy. And there's the skydiving sister. Woo hoo. Love it, man. I've been skydiving since, oh, right after I got out of the Navy.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, I went skydiving once in Tahiti. Not to brag. I mean, you were serving our country I was just serving and.

[Alison Gill]

I got.

[Dana Goldberg]

To skydive in shorts and a T shirt in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was pretty awesome.

[Alison Gill]

Fantastic. Thank you so much for that post, Sarah. And thanks everybody for sending in your good news. Send us your good news, all of it. Flood the zone with good news, please. You can do it at DailyBeansPod.com, click on Contact. I'm really excited because this Friday I get to see one of my besties do comedy at the Diversionary Theater Woohoo. One of my favorite theaters in San Diego. It's a small one, but it's intimate and amazing. It's truly a great space and I'm excited to see you there, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'm excited to have you there. It'll be really nice to see you again. Have you in the audience for sure. Who knows? If there's too many beans people in the audience, it might drag you up.

[Alison Gill]

Okay, I'll make sure to wear like a bathrobe and write WTF on my forehead.

[Dana Goldberg]

Perfect. Perfect.

[Alison Gill]

All right, everybody, we'll be back on your ears tomorrow. 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. 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 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 podcast dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.