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The Daily Beans
Colossal Embarrassment
00:45:57
Thursday, January 22nd, 2026 Today, Jack Smith will testify publicly before Congress at 10 AM ET; the House Oversight Committee has voted to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to testify about the eEpstein Files; TACO Trump backpedals on his tariffs over Greenland after the EU halts the approval of a US trade deal; the Pentagon orders more soldiers to prepare for deployment to Minnesota; the Supreme Court casts doubt on Trump’s ability to fire Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook without cause; the 8th Circuit has blocked a Minneapolis judge’s preliminary injunction against ICE; another judge blocks the government from accessing the devices they seized from Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson; Congressman Veasey has drafted an amendment to the funding bill that would lower the pay of that nazi ICE prosecutor to $1; the feds launch ICE operations in Maine; Trump called Greenland Iceland several times in his weird and dangerous speech in Davos; and Allison and Dana deliver your...
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A
Msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, January 22, 2026. Today, Jack Smith will testify publicly before Congress at 10:00am Eastern. The House Oversight Committee has voted to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to testify about the Epstein files. Taco Trump backpedals on his tariffs over Greenland after the EU halts the approval of a US Trade deal. The Pentagon has ordered more soldiers to prepare for deployment to Minnesota. The Supreme Court cast doubts on Trump's ability to fire fed board governor Lisa Cook without cause. The 8th Circuit has blocked a Minneapolis judge's preliminary injunction against ICE. Another judge has blocked the government from accessing the device they seized from Washington Post reporter Hannah Natenson. Congressman Veazey has drafted an amendment to the funding bill that would lower the pay of that Nazi ICE prosecutor to $1. The feds have launched ICE operations in Maine. And Trump called Greenland Iceland several times in his weird and dangerous speech in Davos. I'm Alison Gill.
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B
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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A
Oh, hello, Dana. It is Thursday. That's all I can say.
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B
That's really all we can say. So much nonsense going on in the news. And of course, the President. United States is another colossal embarrassment.
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A
Yeah, we have gone zero days without a colossal embarrassment by Donald Trump on the global stage. He's embarrassed us all. At Davos, he made it at first, in the middle of the night. The plane had to turn around and go back to the Air force base in D.C. they said that there was an electrical problem, but everybody for a minute was like, ooh, did it happen?
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B
I know. God, what have we turned into?
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A
But I know, I know, I know. But he made it. He made it there and embarrassed us all. And we'll talk about that. Also, as you're listening to this, Jack Smith is probably testifying, and I'll be sure to be posting about it over on Blue sky, if you follow me there. At Mueller, she wrote. And make sure to follow Dana everywhere. Toog comedy. Your videos are getting so much attention. I absolutely love it. I'm so. I'm just. I love that this is happening, that people are watching these and sharing them.
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B
Oh, I appreciate that, Ag. It's one of the things of my rebranding and trying to build my social media presence, because, as you know, in this world, those numbers do matter. So I've been doing more videos on Instagram and people have been responding. They really love it. My engagement numbers are massive, which is wonderful because you could have an account with a thousand, you know, a million people, but if people aren't liking and commenting, it doesn't really matter. So every time you like comment and share one of my videos, it really helps me out. So I love that the beans do it. I really appreciate my community and the community that we built.
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A
Plus you get free awesome videos that you get to watch out of it. So.
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B
And yep. And I'm just teasing this. I'm going to be starting a patreon and all those videos that I haven't been able to put up on social media because they get flagged, you'll be able to see the behind the scenes on those.
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A
Oh, very awesome. I can't wait to share that.
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B
Yes.
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A
Dana. Dana, I am now getting breaking news as we're recording this.
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B
Oh, boy.
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A
This is from. Wow. This is from the Associated Press. Two whistleblowers from the Department of Homeland Security just told Congress through Whistleblower Aid, who we've partnered with here at MSW Media in the past. But it looks like the Associated Press says ICE is training its agents to break down doors without a judicial warrant. They're actually training them that they don't need a warrant to go into people's homes. They only need an administrative warrant.
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B
Wow.
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A
They have an internal memo as evidence written last May.
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B
Holy shit. They have the memo.
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A
They have. Yeah. I'm looking at it. They have the memo. The memo cites no legal authority, but refers to a secret Office of General Counsel opinion written by Trump's DHS Office of General Counsel. His hand selected one that he installed when he got there. And apparently the people who train ICE agents were instructed to teach this to the new ICE recruits without distributing any documents so as not to leave a paper trail. Right. To cover it up. Wow. This is pretty.
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B
Holy shit.
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A
This is pretty. This is a stunning whistleblower report. Okay, so, all right, we're going to go over this report in full on the Beans Talk today so we can show you pieces of this memo. That's what we're going to do on Beans Talk today. I'll put a link in the show notes here. Please watch and share. And we're going to learn more about this together over on the Beans Talk. Holy shit, Dana.
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B
Incredible. I'm glad this came across your desks, too. And yeah, I love that people are still coming forward even though they've been threatening whistleblowers. And they got. They have their fucking receipts. Let's go.
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A
I mean, telling people to ignore the Constitution, telling ICE agents.
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B
Disgusting. I bet you this thing was. I mean, I can't, I can't guarantee it, but this Thing had to have come from Miller.
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A
Of course. Right, of course. Now, this. This is on par with the whistleblower who exposed the Zelensky call. Yeah, this is. Holy sh. Hol. Okay, so we'll talk about this on Beans Talk. Wow. All right, we have again, there'll be a link in the show. Notes. We have a lot of news to get to today. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot Notes. All right, first up, from NBC. The European Union's legislative body on Wednesday halted work on the formal approval and implementation of the trade deal that it reached last summer with President Trump, quote, given the continued and escalating threats, including tariff threats against Greenland and Denmark and their European allies, we have been left with no alternative but to suspend work on the deal. That's Bernd Lang. That's the chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee. I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly, then. Like clockwork, Dana. Trump said he's reached an agreement with NATO.
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B
Oh, look at that.
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A
On a Greenland framework. And will not be imposing planned tariffs on European allies. Taco. Taco Trump. Trump always chickens out. The president said in a social media post the deal would be great. It would be a great one for both the US And NATO allies, but didn't elaborate on the details. Probably because it's the same fucking thing that we already had. Anyway, quote, based on this understanding, I will not be imposing tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Stocks are basically back up to where they were before Trump announced these tariffs. They dipped like, 900 points. They're back up. I'm sure he bought the dip, but we'll see if this holds or whether he continues to threaten Greenland in other ways. Now, regarding Trump's speech, Gavin Newsom said, quote, it was very insignificant. It was a very insignificant speech. And we'll go over some of that in more detail, probably on a later episode. But Trump kept calling Greenland Iceland.
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B
Yep.
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A
So there's that.
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B
And then Caroline came forward and was like, you said that because there's ice in Greenland. Fuck all the way off.
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A
Did he fall for the classic Greenland is green and Iceland is ice trick?
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B
Probably. He doesn't know what you. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Also, he was totally talking about Gavin Newsom while Gavin was in the room, just sort of looking at him like, I'm taking up so much space in your head. Rent free. Oh, my God. And Trump looked like he was holding himself up with the podium.
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A
Yeah. And he said, they call, they think I'm a dictator. May I am. Maybe I'm a dictator.
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B
Like, just say they need a dictator. Some people say they want a dictator. Not in this situation, but. Okay, we're gonna keep moving.
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A
Embarrassing.
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B
This is from Reuters. And just as we expected, the conservative 8th U.S. circuit Court of Appeals has positive lower court's order on Wednesday that had restrained federal immigration agents use of force against peaceful protesters. Some protesters against US President Donald Trump's surges in immigration enforcement in Minneapolis area. They sued his administration in December, saying their constitutional rights were being infringed. Well, last Friday, U.S. district Judge Kate Menendez in Minnesota had ordered that the U.S. immigration agents deployed en masse to Minneapolis be temporarily restricted to use tear gas and other tactics against peaceful demonstrators and observers while the lawsuit proceeds. Apparently, that has been overturned right now.
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A
Yeah, it's been. Yeah. She restricted them from using tear gas and other tactical chemical agents against protesters. She. There was a lot in that order. And, you know, you and I had talked about this. I said the 8th Circuit is really conservative. Ten of the 11 judges are Republican appointed. Four are Trump appointees. Yeah. And I figured, I kind of think that's one of the reasons Trump and Stephen Miller have selected Minneapolis to do this and to escalate is because it's a. A blue state, a blue governor, a blue mayor. Right. So they are going to oppose this, which could help them invoke the Insurrection Act. But it's in a very conservative circuit. It's kind of one of the only cities that meets those criteria. So I'm sure there are more, but, you know, I think that's why they chose it. Also, as expected, you and I talked about this. Judge Engelmeier denied Roana and Massey's letter motion for a special master. So, remember, I said, I'm not sure Judge Engelmeier has jurisdiction or authority over the entire Epstein files. Just the files before him in the Maxwell case.
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B
Right.
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A
And Engelmeier said, you know, he had asked the government to talk about whether he has jurisdiction or not. Of course, the DOJ came back and said, no court can review do this. No court can have authority over the entirety of the Epstein files.
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B
No court can enforce the law that we fucking passed. And the President signed. It's unbelievable.
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A
And Engelmeier's like, no, that's not true. But in this case, I'm only presiding over the Maxwell grad jury materials pursuant to the act, so I can't really enforce the whole rest of the act. So kind of saw that coming. But that was Engelmeier's decision.
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B
Yeah, this one was also expected, to be honest. It's from Politico. The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared deeply skeptical of Trump's claims that he can abruptly fire Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook for alleged misconduct without giving her a forum to contest the allegations. Several justices underscored the historical significance of the Fed's independence from presidential control, and it pressed Trump Solicitor General D. John Sauer about his claim that removing Cook from her position required urgent action rather than a review of unproven mortgage fraud allegations leveled by Trump and his housing czar. Now, Justice Samuel Alito questioned the hurried manner with which the litigation has proceeded without a substantive review of fraud allegations, which is a little surprising that's coming from him. So no court has ever explored those facts. This is what he said, describing the circumstances surrounding Trump's attempt to fire Cook as handled in a very cursory manner. Now, that stood in stark contrast to the way the justices have treated a long list of efforts by Trump to assert unilateral authority over federal agencies and boards long considered to be independent of presidential control. The high court has repeatedly blessed Trump's moves and allowed them to take effect while litigation was underway. Now, there's no deadline or timetable for a ruling on this case, although Cook is likely to remain on the job in the meantime. So she's not going anywhere until they figure this out.
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A
Yeah, and you know, the billionaires who put these oligarchs on the Supreme Court don't want a Fed Reserve. That's, you know, they're thinking ahead. Like if we get a Democratic president and the Democratic president has control to just yank people off the Federal Reserve and put in their own people. So the oligarchs don't want that. And so that's why the Supreme Court is like, oh, yeah, you can fire National Labor Relations Board people, Merit Systems Protection Board people, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau people, other members of multi member boards, but not the Fed. Right. Because they're super rich benefactors have, have said no. Yeah, that's what I think. At least I don't have any proof of that. But I mean, come on. Next up from the Post, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that immigration agents had launched Operation Catch of the Day in Maine, the latest state to be targeted as part of the Trump administration's sweeping deportation push. Talk about dehumanizing language. Operation Catch of the Day. Even as Immigration and Customs Enforcement starts to surge officers there, federal officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of the widespread resistance that ice's heavy presence has triggered in Minneapolis. Are they, do they, do they hope to avoid widespread resistance? Seems to me like they want it.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Now, Carl Sheline, Lewiston's mayor, condemned the latest ICE action. Quote, these masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long term damage to our state and to our country. That's what he said in a statement Wednesday. Lewiston stands for the dignity of all people who call Maine home. Now, he made those statements before we found out about this whistleblower report, by the way, while his sitting in Portland are major, by Maine standards, major cities, they would represent the smallest metropolitan area to become a special target for the Trump administration's crackdown. The population of greater Portland, which includes Lewiston, is about 570,000 people. The operation underway in Minneapolis and St. Paul, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is the largest to date. With thousands of federal officers flooding the streets of the Twin Cities, residents have repeatedly confronted ICE agents. And on January 7th, as we know, Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Goode, a US citizen, during an encounter on a street near her home. Seven days later, another officer shot a Venezuelan immigrant in the leg. And Dana Ms. Now is reporting that the Pentagon has ordered active duty military police soldiers based in North Carolina to prepare for possible deployment to Minneapolis. A prepare to deploy order was issued yesterday for members of an army military police brigade stationed at Fort Bragg. According to two people, at least a few hundred soldiers are being prepared for possible mobilization to Minneapolis. All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity. When asked for comment, a Pentagon official said, we have nothing to announce at this time and any tip about this is pre decisional. The possible infusion of military police is in addition to the Pentagon orders last Friday that two battalions with the Army's 11th Airborne Division prepare to deploy. The 11th Airborne is stationed in Alaska and specializes in winter weather conditions. And each infantry battalion has at least 500 soldiers. So they've got more soldiers on standby to deploy.
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B
Thanks so much, Allison. And we do have some better news. This is from the Post. Government officials have been blocked from examining electronic devices seized from a Washington Post reporter until litigation stemming from the search of her home is settled, a federal judge in Virginia ruled Wednesday on that. The ruling from US Magistrate Judge William B. Porter was issued hours after the Post demanded in a court filing that the federal law enforcement officials return the electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter's home last week. The extraordinary search, and I quote, flouts the First Amendment, ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists. This is what the Post told the Court now. Federal agents executed a search warrant on January 14th at the Virginia home of reporter Hannah Nadinson, seizing a phone, several phones, two laptops, a recorder, portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch. Now, the government said it was searching Nattinson's. Is it Natanzon's? Do you know Nattinson's?
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A
I think it's Natenson, but I haven't actually heard it out loud. But that's what I've. From her at least. But that's what I heard out loud from other people.
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B
Thanks, Alison. So the government said it was searching Natenson's home as part of an investigation into a government contractor who is accused of unlawfully obtaining classified materials. Now, in brief order, Porter wrote that the Post and Natenson had demonstrated good cause in their filings to maintain the status quo at least until a hearing can be held, which he scheduled for early next month. It is exceptionally rare for law enforcement officials to conduct searches at reporters homes. The law allows a search of reporters home, but federal regulations intended to protect a free press are designed to make it more difficult to use aggressive law enforcement tactics against reporters to obtain the identities of their sources or information. The search marked the first time the government had raided a journalist's home as part of a national security leak investigation. First Amendment advocacy groups, they had noted this. Now this is the Post's first public court filing in response to the seizure. In the filing, Post attorneys said that they conferred multiple times with federal officials about the seized data, and the government agreed that it would not, and I quote, begin a substantive review of the seized data until the parties met again on January 20. So they said they would wait. The government officials said that they were still processing the data from Nathanson's electronic devices and had not started reviewing it at all. They also said, according to the court filing, that they would not refrain from conducting a substantive review and would not agree to inform us even when it began. Yeah. So the Post filing him requested that the judge hold hearings on an expedited schedule and prohibit the government from reading through Natanzen's material until the litigation is settled. Porter granted the motion and said that for now the government could keep the seized materials but was prohibited from reviewing them. So you can have them in your possession. Don't go through them. Now, Porter gave the Justice Department until January 28th to respond to the Post filing. And this is a, quote, the outrageous seizure of our reporter's confidential news gathering materials chill speech, cripples reporting and inflicts irreparable harm to every day the government keeps its hands on these materials. Post went on to say, we have asked the court to order the immediate return of all seized materials and prevent their use. Anything less would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant. And I hate to say it, but that's exactly what they want.
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A
Yeah. And now it has me thinking, do I need to power down my computer when I'm done with work? Do you know what I mean? Like, I do. Does that. Does that help secure it? You know, I don't know. I have no idea. I would think not. I mean, you got to have a. Anyway, I don't know. It's password protected. Like my phone. Like, you know how you turn your phone off and they have a hard time getting into your phone, but I feel like they could still get in. I don't know. But it's frightening because Nathan's and was like all my Slack channel chats, my notes, my emails, everything was open. All my portals were open. They have all. Imagine the government having everything in your laptop.
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B
Yeah, this. This case reminds me a little bit of Reality Winner.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know, I know that she wasn't a journalist, but I don't know, but.
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She spoke to journalists. Yeah, but the journalists are supposed to be able to report on this stuff anyway.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Yikes. That's very frightening. And it is going to have a chilling effect. All right, next up from the Times, the House Oversight Committee voted on Wednesday to recommend charging Bill and Hillary Clinton with criminal contempt to Congress for refusing to testify in the Epstein investigation, an extraordinary first step in referring them to the justice department for prosecution. Nine Democrats voted with Republicans in support of holding Mr. Clinton in contempt. Three Democrats joined the Republicans in support of holding Mrs. Clinton in contempt, teeing up votes on the full House floor within weeks. Should the full House approve the citations, criminal referrals would go to the Justice Department to prosecute the contempt charges, which can carry penalties, including a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for as long as a year. Now, Bannon and Navaro were convicted on this, and they each got four months. The measure will pass, and I believe it will pass with Democratic votes. That's what Jim Comer said, Republican chairman of the oversight panel. The votes came after heated day long debate during which many Democrats on the committee made it clear they had no interest in defending the Clintons. They conceded that the subpoenas were lawful, even though the Clintons have repeatedly stated that they are not. They asserted that Mr. Clinton in particular, who had socialized with Epstein, needed to answer the committee's questions. And some called his refusal to testify shameful. Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in 2019 while in federal custody. But on the other hand, many Democrats argued that given the Clintons effort to cooperate with the investigation, including an offer by Mr. Clinton to be interviewed under oath by Comer and their submission of sworn statements laying out what they would say in their testimony, the criminal contempt referrals were inappropriate. That's what some Democrats said, particularly for a former president. I don't like that particularly for a former president part. I don't care who the fuck you are. Yeah, agreed, but that's the argument here, Right? Like Jim Jordan, when he defied his subpoena, he didn't hand over written statements. He didn't offer behind closed doors testimony or deposition. He didn't offer any of that. He just told him to fuck off. So that what a lot of these Democrats are arguing is that they're making an effort, right?
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B
Yeah. And I wouldn't just test. I wouldn't go talk to them behind a closed door session. Put me under oath. At least that's what he's saying.
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A
Yeah, but, but Comer's like, nope, you have to do it my way or right, we're going to hold you in control.
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B
Some bullshit.
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A
Democrats also repeatedly accused Republicans of applying a double standard in the Epstein inquiry. Selectively enforcing subpoenas against Democrats while letting Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi off the hook for failing to release the Epstein files. Quote, I'll hold anyone in contempt that will not give us information. That's Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, who voted for the resolutions. But shame on us for not forcing Bondi before this committee. Representative Summer Lee, Democrat of Pennsylvania, proposed a failed amendment to hold Bondi in contempt for releasing only, you know, less than 1% of the Epstein files. That tanked. The Republicans wouldn't vote for that. Comer also said the committee would depose Ghislaine Maxwell on February 9th. Ms. Maxwell, who's currently serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking and other charges, had initially asked to delay her testimony. Her lawyers later said that she would invoke the Fifth Amendment if deposed. And that's something else, too. The Clintons could have come in and just invoked the Fifth. But then why, if you haven't done anything wrong.
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B
Yeah, I agree. It just makes you look, I don't know, in my opinion, makes you look more guilty. But yeah. Yeah. Okay. This one's from the Texas Observer. A new Department of Homeland Security, the DHS funding bill works its way through Congress. Congressman Mark Vesey, a Democrat who represents part of Dallas, introduced an amendment in the committee Wednesday aimed to reduce the salary of James Rodden. And I love this James Rodd, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the ICE assistant chief counsel who acts as prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas. The guy's basically a wannabe Nazi. He's horrible, but he is saying that they wanna reduce his pay to a dollar. In February of last year, the Texas observer reported that Rawdon operates a white supremacist Twitter account named Glomar Responder. We talked about this before in the podcast. It's based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the observer matched through documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation. Three members of the US House of Representatives, including vc, wrote letters to ICE and DHS demanding information and investigation. In response, ICE sent a letter to VC stating it would address the matter and that such internal investigations can take up to 120 days, but it otherwise not provided any information. Now, do you remember, and I don't know if this is in the story, but that. That reporter went into court basically, and the guy was just. He was, he was at the desk, he was on a case. They were like, what the fuck? Now, VC's amendment came a week after the observer reported. Yep, this is it. That Rodden, who was apparently pulled from federal immigration court schedules, followed the Observer's reporting last February, had returned to immigration court in Dallas. Yeah, they got.
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A
That's what it was from down the hall. Yeah.
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B
Yep. And I quote, Rodden's statements are disgusting and they are dangerous. And regardless of if you are a Democrat or a Republican, they should be disqualifying for anyone entrusted with power in the United States government. That's a. Casey said during Wednesday's House Rules Committee hearing is that if Congress does nothing, if the committee does nothing, then we're sending the message that this type of behavior is tolerable, that accountability is optional, and that white supremacy can continue to be subsidized with taxpayer dollars.
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That's. That's being. It's being done. So I love that idea. I don't think it'll make it into the bill, but I'm glad that he. That VC proposed the amendment anyway to the DHS appropriations bill. All right, everybody, we have a lot of good news that we have to get to, but we have to take a quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
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We'll be right back.
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A
January is when the credit card statements land and reality sets in between the drinks and holiday food and the gifts, it's easy to feel like you have a spending hangover. But if you want to cut back without cutting corners, start with the phone bill. Mint Mobile is helping people stop overspending on wireless this month with 50% off unlimited premium wireless make the switch@mintmobile.com TV Daily Beans one of our producers has been putting Mint Mobile to the test and he's genuinely happy he switched. He, he kept the same phone, kept his number, moved it all over, moved his contacts over and something he noticed right away was the service. He said the coverage was actually more consistent than his old provider and his data feels quicker and more responsive. And yes, he is saving more than expected. He loves Mint Mobile. He says he's never going to go back to his old provider. Mint Mobile's end of year sale is still going on, but only until the end of this month. So you can cut out big wireless bloated plans and unnecessary monthly charges with 50% off three, six or 12 months of the unlimited plan. Every plan includes high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. And you can use your own phone. Like I said with any Mint Mobile plan, bring your number, keep your contacts. It's all super easy. It's great. Reset for January so this month quit overspending on Wireless with 50% off unlimited premium Wireless plans start at $15 a month with MintMobile.com DailyBeans that's MintMobile.com DailyBeans Limited time offer upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, $180 for 12 month plan required $15 a month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial plan term Only more than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com for details. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
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B
Everyone.
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A
Then good news everyone. Boy do we need the good news today. Send us all your good news. Send it in. No matter how big, no matter how small, no matter how recent or in the distant past. Maybe you want to tell us about your favorite comedian, your favorite movie, your favorite Monty Python quote, your favorite joke, your favorite street joke, whatever it is, send it in to us. You can get a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a small business business or a non profit or a government program that's helped you or a loved one. Just share something that will help make us all smile because we all need to Microdose that hope right now. You can send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact along with your Good Trouble recommendations. We've gotten so many really good Good Trouble recommendations from listeners and all you gotta do to get your submission read on the air is pay your podbet tariff, which at this point means attach a photo of anything. Really literally anything. It can be your pet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. We can see if we can find him a home. You can grab a random photo of an animal on the Internet. You can send in your family photos. We do not care. Welcome to the We Do Not Care club.
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B
Oh, I love her so much.
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Me too. Whatever your photo is, it can be what you're making or creating. Maybe you're raising some chickens, Raising goats. We're accepting all goat photos right now. I love goats. Goats, goats, goats. 24 hour goats. Just send it to us dailybeanspot.com and click on contact. First up, here's your Good trouble. And this good trouble comes from listener Barbara. Pronouns she and her hey Beansters. I just started listening to the Daily Beans a few months ago. Welcome listener Barbara. Make sure you go and listen to the January 5, 2021 episode called Charismatic Megaplastics. That's your induction into the Leguminati. I appreciate all you do. And I keep listening because your views align with my values and because you call out the when you hear it. Hear, hear. I want to share some good trouble. I am a 57 year old woman who's always voted but haven't done anything politically beyond that. Last year my husband and I started joining protests against the fascist regime controlling our government, donating to organizations like the ACLU and Lambda Legal and writing postcards to get out the vote. Barbara, you will be happy to know Dana Goldberg does so much amazing work with Lambda Legal.
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B
I do indeed raise millions of dollars for them.
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A
And they're just such a great organization, as is the aclu. Today I did something again that I've never done. I called my member of Congress to urge them not to vote for the upcoming funding bill for Homeland Security, which will grant further funding for ice. Interestingly, my husband called the office in Washington and the person answering said she would pass his comment along without any other comment. I called the field office in San Diego, where I live, and had a nice chat with the field office person who told me about what my representative was doing to try to rein in ice. I plan on calling again in the future when other issues come up at this point, it almost feels like this could be a weekly task to add to my schedule. Barbara, we have a producer note. Calling your congressperson can be the most effective way to influence policy. The House is expected to vote today, Thursday on a standalone appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill maintains ICE's current funding level for fiscal year 2026. We recommend five calls for information on who to call and helpful scripts to use when calling your rep. Everybody, that's an app you can actually download on your phone as well, the five Calls app, to help you make those five calls to your representatives and senators. So thank you so much, listener Barbara, and welcome to the Leguminati. And this is awesome. What a great submission.
- [31:53]
B
Yeah. And it continues. This is Barbara's pod pet tariff. So she sent in a tariff because she knows the rules. The pod pet tariff is a photo of our sweet girl, Asta. We adopted Asta from the county dog shelter a year and a half ago. The poor girl was on the street, possibly for a long time. The vet said it looks like she had had puppies and she was malnourished and very traumatized. Asta was adopted by someone and returned after 10 days because she had destroyed the drywall in their home after being left alone. We took her home without hesitation, knowing about her severe separation anxiety and her wariness of people. After lots of positive reinforcement training, she had settled into a happy routine. We're able to leave her alone without issue, and she had turned into one of the sweetest girls. We're at home that always has to have a fur baby. We had Asta's DNA tested. Thanks again for all you do. This looks like a poodle mix, but also, Asta's not that big, and the fact that she tore into drywall is sort of fucking awesome.
- [32:58]
A
Badass dog. All right, I've written down my guesses while you were reading Poodle, Maltese, Chihuahua, Chow Chow, and cocker spaniel. That's what I found.
- [33:06]
B
I like Maltese, I like poodle. I definitely think there's Chihuahua in there. Yeah. And cocker. What do you got?
- [33:15]
A
Let's see what we got. Miniature poodle, pinscher, and super mutt.
- [33:19]
B
Okay, now, well, we're right then, about all that other stuff.
- [33:23]
A
No, yeah, it's in the Super Mutt. But that long redaction bar made me think there was more than two answers, so I was. I was tricked.
- [33:30]
B
Yeah, you were.
- [33:31]
A
But I love this baby. Miniature pincher and miniature poodle.
- [33:36]
B
Adorable.
- [33:38]
A
All right, next up, Falkor's mom pronouns, she and her. Hello, lovely humans over on Beans Talk. You mentioned the 1942 movie Keepers of the Flame. It was likely inspired by a 1933 event that had congressional hearings about a similar coup called the Business Plot. Quote, the business plot also called the Wall Street Pooch. Is that how you say it? Poosh and the White House. Poosh was a political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator. Butler, a retired Marine Corps major general, testified under oath that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans organization with him as its leader and use it in a coup d' etat to overthrow Roosevelt. In 1934. Butler testified under oath before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on UN American Activities, the McCormick Dickstein Committee on these Revelations. You can read all about it at a link in the show. Notes for my tariff. A picture of my daughter's favorite animal. Oh, the otter. Dana Ritz.
- [34:45]
B
They're the best. They're the best. If I could, I would forego puppies and get an otter. Two of them. Two of them.
- [34:54]
A
Their eyes are on the side of their heads. It's just extra cute.
- [34:57]
B
Oh, God. They hold hands at night so they don't drift away from each other in the ocean. It's fucking awesome. They're awesome.
- [35:03]
A
They're holding hands.
- [35:05]
B
All right. This is from Christina Pronoun. She and her Just writing to submit a few photos of some spectacular Aurora Australis. Australis activity. It's Aurora Borealis we've had this week, courtesy of the largest solar storm to hit us in about 20 years. To paraphrase Samwise Gamgee, there's still some good in the world and it's worth fighting for it. These photos are awesome, Christina. These are great. Thank you for sharing. I wonder where you are.
- [35:36]
A
Is Aurora Australis mean it's in the. In the Southern hemisphere, Australia? Yeah.
- [35:42]
B
Is that why it's not called Aurora Borealis? Let's see. Well, now I have to look all this up. Someone's going to write in and be like, dana, if it's in Australia, it's Australis.
- [35:50]
A
Yeah, probably.
- [35:52]
B
Probably. Christina, I'm jealous.
- [35:54]
A
Aurora Borealis. Key difference. Yes, I will accept your cookies. Northern lights, Australis, or the Southern Lights? Occurring in the Southern Lights. There you go.
- [36:06]
B
I just learned something new.
- [36:08]
A
Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and parts of southern South America.
- [36:12]
B
Thank you for teaching me, my dear Allison. And thank you for. For that submission.
- [36:17]
A
Yeah, Christina, I'll just guess. I was guessing right along with you. All right, next up from Kelly Pronoun. She and her. We're very northern hemisphere egocentric, aren't we? We're very, like, yeah, we just. Everything is borealis for us. Greetings, goddesses of the gooms, from Kelly Pronoun, she and her. This is a shout out with goats. I spent my birthday weekend out in western Massachusetts with my old college bestie on their farm. When I plop myself down at the kitchen table, my friend said, don't step on the goats. I said, ha ha. And looked down. Dana, Allison, you might want to sit down for this. There were baby goats in diapers directly below my seat. Baby goats in diapers. The two were born early and were having trouble eating. So into the kitchen they came. Guess what their farm, Finicky Farm, has in abundance. Goats and sheep. They rent the fleur out for grazing under solar arrays or wherever you need. And everything is humane, organic, and cozy. It's been a dream of theirs for the 30 years we've been friends to have their own farm, and I'm so proud of them. Picks for you both and anybody in New England who needs their lawns mowed by delightful, friendly goats or just wants a whole lot of goat pictures. Check out Finicky farm for goat cuteness overload.
- [37:38]
B
Look at these goats in diapers.
- [37:41]
A
Look at the goats in diapers. Okay, Kelly, so out here in near San Diego, in a town called Santee, there are people with herds of goats and sheep where you can bring your herding dog, like your Aussie or your German shepherd or your Great Pyrenees, to go out and herd their sheep for like, 50 bucks an hour or whatever.
- [38:03]
B
That's fun.
- [38:04]
A
So I'm wondering if. If they allow herding dogs to come and herd their goats once they're out of diapers, obviously, but, you know, adorable.
- [38:13]
B
Yeah, that seems mean if they're not. All right, this is from Anonymous Pronoun. She and her hello Queenie Beanies. Just wanted to wish Allison a very happy birthday. Thank you both for the work you're doing to keep us all sane in the upside down world we find ourselves in. For my podpet tacks, here's a pic of a beautiful gray heron I saw recently on a walk around our community lake. It looks so serene, and I was thrilled to get so close. Also, a pic of my senior kitty. Bella is one of her favorite baskets. She thinks she's hiding. The only thing she's hiding is her big, bad kitty behavior. Oh, my gosh. She's cute, though.
- [38:50]
A
I had a cat named Kevin that sucked at hiding.
- [38:53]
B
Like, he would.
- [38:54]
A
He would be, like, half under the blanket, and he would, for reals think that you couldn't see him. It cracked me up. You know when your cats, like, think they're hiding, but they aren't. Thank you for that beautiful heron, by the way. That's gorgeous. Next up, Maddie B. Pronoun. She and her. Hello, dear beans. My name is Maddie.
- [39:10]
B
She.
- [39:10]
A
Her. I'm a senior double major in political science and religious studies at a very small liberal arts school in West Virginia. One of my dear friends and religion professor recommended your show to help me survive studying for my comprehensive exams, and it truly carried me through. We're getting recommendations by professors, college professors. I feel. I feel unworthy. I wasn't sure what to write, but I kept thinking about a small monstrosity I encountered several months ago while organizing a campus protest. The dean of students called me with threats, insisted I remove the school's name from the flyers, and sent campus security to take them down. Being a fan of good trouble, once I noticed the three original flyers had been removed, my sidekick and I printed 200 more and posted them on every lamppost, bulletin board, and stop sign in our tiny campus town. The protest was generously hosted by Bethany Memorial Church, and the administration's backlash worked spectacularly against them. Yeah, that's the Streisand effect, right? We had about 60 participants. Huge for our tiny campus. I was later falsely labeled a dangerous felon by a member of the board of trustees, but democracy and freedom do tend to bother men like that. For my pod pet tariff, I've attached a photo of my exceptionally large blank attending a protest. This is a dog, by the way. I want to share that I passed my comprehensive exams, something you unknowingly helped me accomplish. And afterward, I proposed to my wonderful partner, Emily.
- [40:40]
B
This is awesome.
- [40:42]
A
Thank you for helping me get through some very dark, very stressful and ultimately transformative times. With deep gratitude, Maddie. Maddie, I am grateful for you and your partner for supporting you through those comprehensive exams. And this looks like a very large pug.
- [40:58]
B
Pug. And I love that there's a picture that says Trump equals public enemy.
- [41:03]
A
Trump is public enemy.
- [41:05]
B
He is. Oh, my God. Look at the beautiful photo of you proposing to your now fiance.
- [41:12]
A
Oh, man.
- [41:15]
B
I love, love. I love, love.
- [41:18]
A
I love love, too. I love.
- [41:21]
B
Thank you so much. All right, we've got Superfluous founder. Flounder. Flounder. Superfluous. Flounder. I love that there's a pronunciation on that one. I actually knew that word. Pronouns. He, him. This is a song. Lindsey Halligan. A song in three acts. Oh, man. What is it to the music of Though I am supposed to.
- [41:42]
A
Oh, I see. It's superfluous.
- [41:44]
B
Oh, so I didn't say it right?
- [41:47]
A
There's an extra R in there.
- [41:49]
B
Pooflurous. What do you think this is the music to though?
- [41:53]
A
Let's see. I learned.
- [41:54]
B
Oh, the tune of Michael Finnegan.
- [41:57]
A
Oh, Michael Finnegan. Last name Lindsay Halligan. I don't know the tune. I should. I know all the Irish, but I don't know the tune to this.
- [42:09]
B
All right, well, then this is not going to catch as much power as it should, so. Poo forlores Flounder. But we're just gonna say it. There was a lass named Lindsay Halligan she thought she could practice law again but the judge had ruled her null again. Poor, poor Lindsay Halligan. And then I'm supposed to speak this next part. Tell all again. There was a last named Lindsay Halligan Signed indictments in the hall again. She never practiced law again. Poor, poor Lindsay Halligan. God, I want to know what the song sounds like. And then it says, tell all again. There was a lass named Lindsey Halligan who fought with Trump. She could play ball again. Screwed it up and he won't call again. Poor, poor Lindsay Halligan. Here you either stop or you speak. Tell it all again and repeat all the verses endlessly. I see.
- [42:58]
A
I see. I wish I knew how I want to look this now. If it was like Finnegan's wake.
- [43:01]
B
I know.
- [43:02]
A
I know that one.
- [43:03]
B
It was the last one for my tax.
- [43:06]
A
I'm introducing a self portrait of the superfluous Flounder. You can learn more about this being. There's a video@flounder.com Greycat htm. I like. I like this Flounder. I like it. Are you looking up the tune?
- [43:24]
B
There's a video with a song, so. But I'm afraid it's going to play into my microphone. Hold on, let me mute real quick.
- [43:30]
A
All right, while she's doing that, I just want to thank everybody for submitting your good news. I think she's learning Michael Finnegan the tune from our producer's link that was provided. Or maybe the person provided that. Maybe Superfluous provided that. So.
- [43:50]
B
Okay, I think I got it.
- [43:51]
A
I can see Dana's, like, bopping her head. What do you got?
- [43:54]
B
I got. Okay, here we go. There was a last name Lindsey Halligan she thought she could practice law again but the judge had ruled her null again. Poor, poor Lindsey Halligan. That's what.
- [44:11]
A
Now I get it.
- [44:12]
B
Yep, it is a child's.
- [44:14]
A
It seems to be a child showed indictments in the hall again. She may never practice lying.
- [44:20]
B
Poor, poor, poor Lindsay Halligan Wonderful Again.
- [44:25]
A
Oh yeah, there was a last name Lindsay Halligan who thought trump she could play a ball again Screwed it up and he won't call again Poor, poor Lindsey Halligan.
- [44:32]
B
There we go. Thank you so much, sir. Poof or less flounderless flourish.
- [44:39]
A
Yeah, it's a little. It's tongue twisted since you've been saying superfluous. Right.
- [44:43]
B
I know I do have my tongue is twisted.
- [44:45]
A
Anyway, thank you all so very much. So I needed that good news. We're about to go and break. Well, not break. It'll be. It'll be day old news by the time we release it on the Beans Talk. But we're going to go in depth on this whistleblower report about ICE blatantly teaching their people to violate the fourth Amendment and break into people's houses without a judicial warrant. Holy balls. Yep, then we're going to need all of your good news for tomorrow to to pull us out of this insanity. So send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. Do you have any final thoughts, my friend?
- [45:15]
B
Nope. Let's get out of here.
- [45:17]
A
All right, everybody, we'll see you over on Beans Talk. 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 podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit mswmedia.com msw media.