A (2:32)

Yep. And there's a good news story at the end of that episode. And the reason it's called Charismatic megaplastics that you have to listen to also. It is the anniversary. It's a five year anniversary, as you said. We've been doing this for a long time.

B (2:48)

Wow.

A (2:49)

And we're still just fighting basic facts of what happened on January 6th. And I think that that Jack Smith testimony goes a long way toward that. And this weekend, man, we spent 16 hours putting together the 34, what I thought were the most important clips to listen to. And that's on my substack@muellershirote.com, so you can watch that kind of condensed version of the eight and a half hour testimony. I squished it down to about an hour and a half. And we also released that.

B (3:20)

That's so impressive, the work you do. It really is very impressive. I'm sure everyone who listens deeply appreciates you disseminating hours and hours of testimony into palatable, digestible clips.

A (3:32)

So thank you. I know most of the people who listen to the show probably did watch all eight hours of it, but if you only have about 90 minutes, you can listen to it, you know, go on a walk, go on a couple of walks, and you can listen to what I think were the most important exchanges in that. And we also ran the audio of that for the Unjustified episode that also came out yesterday. Another episode I put out this weekend on the Midas Touch Network that aired on Sunday at noon, which is now on my substack, is I found my response, remember when the DOJ argued that I couldn't have expedited processing of the Epstein training videos because there's not widespread or exceptional media interest? Right.

B (4:14)

Which is bullshit. Public interest and media interest.

A (4:17)

Yes. So my lawyer, Cal McClanahan, was like, well, allow me to retort. And I went over that filing that we just. We just bench that I cool that I've been able to bench slap the Department of Justice in these proceedings. So you can also catch that at mueller she wrote.com or on the Midas Touch network. There's links to it everywhere in the show notes. So that's kind of the background of what's going on. We're going to talk as much as we can about Venezuela. And I want to preface this by saying I am not an expert in foreign relations or war or anything like that. So I've pulled. I spent hours today pulling together as much information from credible news sources as I could for us to give to you about what's going on with this. I do have. I mean, I'm not, you know, bereft so much of expertise that I can't say this is about oil. But, like, we're gonna do that for you right now. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, so let's talk about what we know so far about what's happening with Venezuela this is from the New York. Yesterday, Trump resurrected the interventionist foreign policy he had mocked for years. Under his orders, American troops invaded Venezuela and seized the president and the First Lady. Hours later, Trump said that the United States would run the country for the foreseeable future. He acknowledged the potential for entanglement. We're not afraid of boots on the ground, he said. After his arrest yesterday, the Attorney general said that Maduro would face narco terrorism and drug trafficking charges. But Trump also spoke about another rationale. Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. He said that US Companies would soon rebuild Venezuela's oil sector. CIA officers slipped into the country in August and with the help of stealth drones, began studying Maduro and his movements. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday the spies wanted to understand where he lived, where he traveled, what he ate, what he wore, who were his pets. A source in the Venezuelan government helped the CIA track him. This is since August. Months and months of planning. So this wasn't some emergency response, an emergency operation to quell an imminent attack, Right, as some in the government are positing. While presidents often open military campaigns without congressional declarations of war, the White House usually informs lawmakers about the plans. Yesterday, though, Trump said that Congress couldn't be trusted because Congress has a tendency to leak. At a press conference yesterday, Trump said the US Would manage Venezuela until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. But who will be in charge? How will it work? As David Sanger, a White House correspondent, asked yesterday, will the United States have an occupying military force? Will it install a pliant government for some number of years? Will it run the courts and determine who pumps the oil? And of course, there weren't many answers to that. I'm betting Erik Prince's mercenaries might play a role.

B (7:21)

Mm hmm.

A (7:22)

Now, Maduro's vice president, Delsey Rodriguez, took the oath of office yesterday and is now the country's interim leader. Still, she called the United States an illegal invader and said Maduro was the only president Trump said she could hold power as long as she does what we want. That's a quote. And he declined to support the accession of Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corinna Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize back in October and dedicated it to Trump. Remember that? I do. Now, Trump said the key goal of the operation was to regain oil rights that Venezuela had stolen when it nationalized its industry.

B (7:57)

Which is not true.

A (7:58)

No. The administration described the operation as law enforcement action, not a military invasion. That sounds familiar. Sounds like Vietnam. Maduro has been indicted several times in the United States on drug and corruption charges. But under the UN Charter, a nation may not force on the sovereign territory of another country without its consent, a self defense rationale or the authorization of the UN Security Council. That's what Charlie Savage wrote, who covers national security and legal policy and occupation too, has no basis in international or domestic law. Maduro arrived in New York by helicopter last night and was taken to a detention center in Brooklyn. A four count indictment in Federal District court charges him and his wife as well as their son and two high ranking Venezuelan officials with cocaine smuggling.

B (8:42)

And we all know this is not about drugs. So it wouldn't, you know, he just pardoned a big Hernandez, leader of another country, literally because of cocaine. Because of tons of cocaine.

A (8:53)

Yeah. Haney actually said on Air Force One, Dana, look, you don't just, just because they have drugs in the country doesn't mean you go in and arrest the President. It was a Biden setup. So I pardon Hernandez. That's what he said about one of the actual most notorious cocaine smugglers, hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.

B (9:10)

Now this isn't just going over well with everybody. Russia, China, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico. A lot of others have denounced the coup as illegal overreach. The UN Secretary General said the attack set a dangerous precedent and the Security Council plans to meet Monday. European leaders seemed glad to be rid of Maduro and they were cautious about even criticizing Trump's intervention. Friedrich Mertz of Germany said that Maduro had, and I quote, led his country into ruin and that the US intervention required careful consideration. Emmanuel Macron of France said the Venezuelan people could, and I quote, only rejoice at the ousting of Maduro. In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from members of his Labour Party and other left wing UK parties for failing to criticize the US operation. And I think we have to remember two things can exist at the same time. People can be happy Maduro is gone and also realize that this was an unconstitutional invasion of a country without congressional approval. Both things can exist at the same time. Now Democrats criticized the operation, of course, and they said the American people have been very clear. They don't want to be occupiers again and they do not want to be the world police. That's from Ruben Gallego of Arizona. He said that an interview on Fox News, New York's new mayor Zoran Mamdani posted a message on Twitter saying that the military action was a violation of federal and international law. He called Trump to register his objection. Good for him. Elected Republicans were supportive, of course. Mike Johnson, who I'm shocked and say I don't know anything about this, called the operation decisive and justified. But some on the right didn't understand why the America first president had deposed a foreign leader and promised to run his country. This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. This is Marjorie Taylor Greene, and I'm sorry we keep quoting her, but every once in a while, she makes fucking sense. And as we know, she was the former stalwart for maga. I mean, loved. She wrote us this on social media. Boy, were we wrong. Talking about what they voted Trump in for. To end all these wars. She said, previous presidents told us to go to war over WMDs, weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. This is from Rep. Thomas Massie, who obviously we've gained a lot of respect over the Epstein files. He's in Kentucky. He said that on the house floor on December 17th before this even happened. Now it's the same playbook, except we're told that the Drugs were the WMDs. If it were about drugs, we'd bomb Mexico or China or Colombia. And the president would not have pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, which we just talked about. Massie said, this is about oil and regime change. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries demanded the Trump administration brief Congress on the Venezuela operation as they condemned the president's announcement that the US Will run Venezuela for now. What the f. And I say this. What the. What the are you guys going to do? Congress isn't going to do about this, And I hate to say that, of course, Fine. Request that they brief Congress. If they were going to do that, they would have done it before they did the invasion.

A (12:19)

Right? It's like that, you know, Now a warning, right?

B (12:22)

I get so irritated. And this is a quote, President Trump announced plans to run Venezuela is unacceptable. That's what they said in a joint statement. Again, this is Schumer and Jeffries. It's critical that the Trump administration provide an immediate Gang of Eight briefing followed by briefings for all members of the House and Senate early next week. Or what? What are you going to do? Mr. Trump was asked in the press conference if there's a message in the Venezuela operation for Cuba. He said, cuba is an interesting case. Okay. This is what Trump said. I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation. Right? Now a very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people. Now, Rubio said Cuba is run by incompetent, senile men. Wow. Pot calling the kettle black, aren't we?

A (13:10)

Uh huh.

B (13:10)

And many of the people who helped Maduro were Cubans. Rubio said one of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence of Cuba, that they tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint. This is from Rubio. He went on to say, so, yeah, look, if I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned, at least a little bit. Well, if the US Were to attempt a similar operation in Cuba, it would not be the first time. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched the Bay of Pigs invasion, as we know, and that was a failed effort to overthrow Fidel Castro at the time and his communist government from power. So this is just a fucking mess. I mean, it's a mess. I love all the memes coming out of it, this. They're like, wait, you can just go into a country and take their dictator? Can someone come in and take ours, please? Thanks a lot. Mm.

A (14:01)

Yeah, we're gonna go over a lot of those reactions on social media, over on the Beans Talk episode today. And I also just wanna remind everyone what Fiona Hill testified to back in 2019. That Putin actually floated the idea of giving up its support for Venezuela if Trump gave up his support for Ukraine. That swap, she. Russia floated that swap.

B (14:24)

Right?

A (14:25)

Republicans, of course, say it's not true. It's fake news. Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. I can't believe he's the chair of the Senate Intellig.

B (14:32)

Same. Oh, it drives me crazy.

A (14:33)

He said, Sunday there's no such implication that Russia would abandon its support for Venezuela if the US Abandoned its support for Ukraine. Okay, sure, but it's happening in front of our faces, all right, Quote, russia doesn't need any kind of pretext to do so. That's what he said on Face the Nation. It's invaded Ukraine twice over the last 11 years. There's no such implication here at all. Even though everything Fiona said is coming true. This operation the United States conducted, we did it on our own, without any coordination or cooperation from other countries to advance our national interest, which is to stop the drug trafficking and stop Venezuela from cooperating with countries like Russia, China, and Cuba and Iran.

B (15:14)

Sure, buddy, but get this.

A (15:17)

The Wall Street Journal reports that some of the people from Wall street are already considering possible investment opportunities in Venezuela following the capture of Maduro. That's according to Charles Myers, chairman of a consulting firm called Signum Global and former head of investment advisory firm Evercore. Meyer said in an interview he's planning a trip to Venezuela with officials from top hedge funds and asset managers to determine whether there are investment prospects in the country under new leadership. The trip will feature about 20 billionaires from the finance, energy and defense sectors, among others. This is the Halliburton of 2025. The tentative plan is for the group to travel to Venezuela in March, March and meet with the new government, including the new president, finance minister, energy minister, economy minister, head of the central bank and the Caracas Stock Exchange.

B (16:06)

Wait, I'm confusing, I'm confusing me with the new president. Is Trump at this point, the new president?

A (16:11)

I think if he's going to run Venezuela. Yeah, either that or somebody very pliable that he's going to put in there.

B (16:18)

Oh, boy. Okay.

A (16:19)

You have to do what we say. When Trump says that the new interim president has to do what we say, you have to let my rich buddies come in who gave me a billion dollars during the election, the oil barons, and you have to let them come down and take all your oil. That's what we mean when we say do what we say. Myers didn't provide a list of individuals who are planning to travel, but he estimates that there will be between $500 billion and $750 billion in investment opportunities in the country for foreign investors over the next five years. Jesus, quote, this is a huge amount of interest in Venezuela reconstruction opportunities, and it will bounce back faster as it is in our own hemisphere. And the new government will be predicated on welcoming foreign direct investment from day one.

B (17:03)

And I really do have to wonder, and they do this all of the time, let's commit a crime or do something unconstitutional and see if Congress responds. Oh, they don't respond. And let's say it's based in, you know, capturing a drug lore or, you know, he's been committing crimes or he's a dictator, but no one does anything. What's going to stop Trump from just walking into Greenland at this point, you know what I mean, and taking over if there's no consequences for what he's done right now in Venezuela? I'm telling you, a lot of these are litmus tests to see what happens in this country. And they're like, oh, all right, there's no pushback. Let's keep going. Yeah.

A (17:36)

And how much of this investment opportunity, investment money is going to end up in congressional Republicans coffers a ton in the form of dark money donations and stock manipulations. We have. First of all, we should pass the no trading stock thing for members of Congress.

B (17:56)

Yeah, no kidding.

A (17:57)

We should just do that real quick before.

B (18:00)

Just real quick.

A (18:01)

Just do that real quick. Everybody's for it, right? Not now. Now the Republicans would be like, I think we should probably wait so that I can make $10 million on Venezuelan oil.

B (18:10)

Yep. All right, we got to shift gears. I'm going to bring a little good news into the hot notes. This is, it has the midterms. This is from the Texas Tribune. A Democrat is running in every single state and federal race on the Texas ballot next year. That's the first time in modern state history that either party has fielded a full slate of candidates. And this is according to the Texas Democratic Party. The complete field is the result of a recruitment campaign run by a network of the state's top Democratic groups and politicians, including Texas Majority PAC, the Texas Democratic Party, former U.S. rep. Beto O' Rourke and former state Senator Wendy Davis, who I fucking adore. Now together the group recruited 104 candidates to fill every single congressional, state house and state senate seat up for election in 2026. And I don't know if people know this, but there have been uncontested seats in Texas for years. The effort also ensured that a Democrat is running in every statewide judicial and state board of education race. This is awesome. Here's a quote. No Republican gets a free ride in Texas. That's the Texas Democratic Party chair, Kendall Scudder. Kendall said that in an interview, said if you are a Republican and you want to hold office, public office in this state, you're going to have to fight us for it. The push to run a candidate for every seat, no matter how red leaning comes as Texas Democrats look to capitalize on turnout and backlash to the Trump administration. The theory behind this is Democratic organizers thought is that running candidates everywhere will not only maximize the party's chances of flipping down ballot seats, but it's also going to increase Democratic turnout and engagement in areas that top of the ticket candidates may not be able to reach, potentially creating an upstream effort to boost statewide Democrats.

A (19:54)

Think about how many times have I said just like the economy, politics needs to be bottom up and middle out 100%.

B (20:03)

Because if you have an area where there wasn't a Democrat running against a Republican, most of those people will be like, well why should I even go to the polls? I don't have anyone to vote for. Not thinking you have a senator to vote for. You know and now they're like, shit.

A (20:15)

You get a hundred more Democrats turning out in these red districts, over a thousand districts or whatever like across the country. Holy majoli.

B (20:24)

Yep. And this is a quote. Even the most relentless statewide candidate is never going to talk to every voter that they need to. This is Texas Majority PAC director Catherine Fisher went on to say, we need a network of talented, compelling Democratic communicators across the state to clearly communicate the message that Republican leadership has failed us and that Texans should consider voting differently this cycle and in the future. And I really like that in the future. But I would even focus on just the cycle. Let's fucking fix this now and you can decide what you want to do later. Of Texas's 38 congressional districts, Republicans currently hold 25 of them, with a new gerrymander map engineer to hand them an additional 3 to 5. The GOP also dominates the state legislature, controlling 88 out of 150 Texas House seats and an 18 to 11 majority in the state Senate, where two red leaning districts currently sit vacant. No one's run because they don't think a Democrat can win there. All statewide offices, including both U.S. senate seats, are held by Republicans. Democrats have not won a statewide office since 1994. Wow. And since then, the party has left an average of 50 state and federal seats uncontested. 50 seats uncontested in each cycle. That's according to the TDP. Even in 2018, the last midterm election with President Trump in the White House, and When Democrats flipped two congressional and 12 state House districts, the party left 20 seats uncontested. One oft repeating strategy for turning Texas blue is maximizing Democratic turnout in the state's liberal metropolitan areas. But the level of turnout required to flip the state, which went to Trump by 14 points last year, is so high that it's, if not impossible, quite improbable to get there though urban and suburban areas alone, fisher said, pointing to the party's dismal showing in rural Texas. Why have Democrats performed so poorly in rural areas? Well, one partial theory the party has landed on Democrats simply haven't been campaigning there. They haven't gone there, she said. When you don't have Democrats running, you don't have Democrats showing up in communities telling people what we stand for. This is from Scudder went on to say. The Republicans have an opportunity to brand us and tell people what we stand for instead of it coming directly from us. And that is so important. You got one person telling the story and no one else trying to Tell the other the truth about it. Of course people are going to be like, well, that's all I heard. And I guess if it was untrue, they would come tell us differently. And I haven't seen them. I love this. I love this. I love this. This feels like a Stacey Abrams moment in Texas right now. It really does all of the work she did in Georgia. It really feels like this coalition right now is happening in Texas. And I have a lot of faith for the midterms, even with the gerrymandered maps. Yep.

A (23:21)

And this is what the Democratic Party and their groups like the dnc, the dccc, the dnce, this is what they're good for. This is what they should be doing. Number one, do what Mom Donnie did. Knock on everybody's door. Find out what people want. Don't tell them what they want. Right. And then run on that. Run on affordability, probably this time. And then number two, run somebody in every seat. That's what the DNC and the DCCC should be working on. Absolutely not. Whether Janet Mills has a pack or whatever, you know, like get in there and get somebody in every single race. I didn't know that, Dana, until you brought it up from the Trib that even in 2018, when we schlatted attacked the Republicans, there were 20 uncontested seats.

B (24:08)

I didn't either. I didn't either.

A (24:10)

That's banana pants. And it's, it's a very good point. It's very hard for the top of the ticket candidates to get to all these very rural areas. But if you run somebody in every seat in every school board and every state legislature in every district, you're going to have Democrats there telling people what the Democrats are about, asking them what they want from their politicians instead of the Republicans going in there and saying it for us. All right, so very, very cool, Texas. We need to do this everywhere. Are you listening? Ken Martin, dnc. Are you listening? All right, everybody, we've got some really great good news. If you have any good news that you want to submit or good trouble ideas, you can do it@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. Our wonderful web designer, my best friend also of 30 years, who is at Moxie Design Studios, has just reworked the entire Daily Beans website. We hope you love it. Oh, nice. Let us know what you think. Yeah, let us know what you think.

B (24:59)

I can't wait to see it.

A (25:00)

It's pretty cool. I've seen, I've seen the, you know, the behind the scenes parts before it went Live. It's pretty awesome. All right, everybody, we will be right back with the good news.

B (25:10)

Stick around after these messages.

A (25:12)

We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, it's the new year and now I want to clean out, organize and upgrade my entire closet and my wardrobe, get rid of all the old stuff I don't wear, and add some great new pieces. And luckily, our next sponsor is Daily look, and they make that not too easy. So thanks to Daily look, the number one premium personal styling service for women sponsoring us and our show. You've got to check this out. For 50 off your first order, head to DailyLook.com and use code Daily Beans. Now with Daily Look, a real actual human personal stylist builds your box around your body, your taste, and your day to day life. And you keep the same stylist each time so they get better and smarter. Now you start with a style quiz that includes your budget and your lifestyle. They Send up to 12 handpicked items to your door, and you try everything on at home. Buy works and return the rest with free shipping both ways. Dana and I have been talking about Daily look. The way people talk about a new show they binge in two days. My latest one was a pair of jeans that fit on the first try. They're fantastic. It feels like spotting a unicorn at Trader Joe's. The cut was flattering, the fabric was great. They were kind of stretchy, so they moved well. I didn't have the dreaded dressing room spiral, so I wore them out to run errands and ended up feeling weirdly put together for someone buying cat litter and cough drops. The quality is fantastic. My stylist keeps nailing it box after box. I love that. Daily Look's whole mission is to elevate your style. And they mix established brands with up and coming designers too, to give them a chance so it never feels boring. Also, shout out to sizes that actually include almost every body because my clothes should fit me, not the other way around. It's time to get your own personal stylist with DailyLook. Head to DailyLook.com, take your style quiz and use code DailyBeans for 50% off your first order. Once again, that's DailyLook.com for 50% off. And make sure you use my promo code DailyBeans, so they know I sent you one last time. DailyLook.com and promo code DailyBeans. Hey all. January is a great month to get back to basics in the kitchen. When routines start back up, winter nights feel endless. Home Chef keeps things nice and simple. Fresh pre portioned ingredients show up ready to cook so I can eat well without taking up any unnecessary time or energy. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease. And for a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50% off and free shipping on your first box. Plus free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans One thing I like about Home Chef is flexibility. You can choose classic meal kits, express options or recipes from the culinary collection and the steps are designed to help you feel confident in the kitchen. Whatever kind of day it is. There's a quick microwave lunch, fresh ingredients meals or even oven ready dinners. There's even a family menu with hassle free meals for four or six now. It keeps dinner moving without any of the stress. I love it. I was looking for a quick lunch yesterday, so I pulled out their sweet citrusy chicken with butternut squash and corn and it was just under 20 minutes. To make the ingredients paired delightfully, I topped off with a tasty chipotle crema and it made the entire dish a treat. So thanks to Home Chef, I was able to have a delicious lunch and still make it out the door in time for the rest of my day. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50 off and free shipping on your first box. Plus free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans that's homechef.com dailymeans for 50 off your first box and free dessert for life. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news Everyone? Then good news everyone. And if you have any good news or good trouble suggestions you want to share with us, please send it to us. It can be something small, something big, it can be recent or in the past. Anything that you think will make a put a smile on our faces, we definitely need it. Going into 2026, we'll start the new year right. Because for me the new year starts today, January 5th. Yeah, seriously that we're out of that sort of cloud of holiday times. But you know, it can, it can be anything. It can be a story that you would share with your friends, maybe your favorite joke or a shout out. You can give a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or a non profit you want to draw some attention to. Maybe you have a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one. We got to shout out our great government programs because they're going away one by one under this administration and this particular Republican Congress. And all you got to do to get your submission read on the air is pay your POD pet tariff, which means, really just means attach a photo of anything. It can be your pet. We can guess the breeds in your pet if you want. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find them a home. It can be a random photo of an animal on the Internet. It can be a bird watching photo. I in my. In my 50s now, am now a bird watcher. It just happens. It's what happens to you. And it could be a photo of an actual bird or you flipping the bird to a Trump building. I've got plenty of those photos myself, but I've been doing that my whole, you know, for the last eight years. Also, a photo of what you're making or creating. We have a lot of great entrepreneurs and makers and creators and people who work with textiles and fiber in the fiber space here that listen to this podcast. Show us what you're knitting or crocheting. Show us your goats, show us your chickens. Show us whatever you're doing, we want to hear about it. Your garden, Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your Good trouble. And this Good Trouble submission starts with do you oppose the US intervention in Venezuela? Indivisible will send an email on your behalf to your Congress member. We will have a link in the show notes@act.indivisible.org there's going to be. It's a longer link, so you want to click on the link in the show notes. And they have scripts for phone calls as well to make it easier for you to voice your opposition to Trump using our military like they're part of big oil. So that's your good trouble today, should you choose to accept it.

B (31:14)

All right, this is from Scubak. Nerd pronouns he and him. Am I saying that right?

A (31:19)

I don't know.

B (31:20)

I hope so. Hello. Reynes. Reynas de Frajol. Just practicing my poor Spanish. Me too, Scubak. I wanted to give you both a thank you. When I was a boy, I was a crier. It was just the way I expressed sadness most often. As I got older, I learned to wall off that part of my emotions because it's just not what men are supposed to do in our society. In the last few years, I found myself crying more and more often. Often at a sense of impotent rage and anger at the fuckedness. The fuckness, Tina. The fuckness. I like fuckedness going on around us thanks to finding the daily beans. However, lately those tears have been coming from the Good News segment. Same. It does my heart so much good to hear stories from all of the kind, generous, supremely awesome members of Illiguminati. It helps remind me to not let the bastards win and to keep my chin up and do what I can to bring a little bit of light to everyone around me. My shout out to my amazing wife of 30 years. She retired four years ago from an extremely successful but also extremely stressful career. She is now, in her words, the happiest retired person you will ever meet. She traveled a ton for most of her career and it's been so nice to have her home all to myself now. She was always a sewist and now I hope I'm saying that right. I know what it means. But now that she has time to devote to her projects, she has turned it up to 11. She quilts, she crochets, but mostly she makes her own clothing. So for my tariff attached of a couple of photos of some of my favorite makes of hers, it pained me to blur out her gorgeous face, but she prefers to remain someone anonymous. She's remarkably talented and I couldn't be more impressed and proud of her. I would include a link to her online store, but she doesn't have one. It says making clothes for other people is too much like work. Thanks for the news and especially for the swearing. I know you blurred her out. Your wife looks like a lovely, lovely woman. Even if I can't see her face.

A (33:22)

These are incredible. My favorite. Yep. Oh my God, me too. Oh wow. That fabric is. I want one. And the martini. I'll take both of those. And the little look, she's got the fluffy peep toe slippers as well. Yep, absolutely fantastic. That's fucking fabulous. Thank you so much for that. Next up from anonymous pronoun she and her hey beans Bunch. I present a gift from the holidays that warm my heart. I'm a mail carrier. Thank you so much for your service by the way, doing that and I believe small actions have big impacts as pod pet tax a fluffy deer I see on my route being majestic. Much love. Male ma'. Am. Okay, look, it's a goose delivering the mail. And it's a ceramic goose delivering them.

B (34:13)

It's so cute.

A (34:15)

This is so great. Oh, and there's the beautiful deer. Hi baby.

B (34:21)

So beautiful.

A (34:22)

Oh, thank you so much.

B (34:25)

Yes, up front. Next is Anonymous. Woke up today, Saturday in Palm Springs to Trump capturing Maduro. I cannot wait to hear Monday. At least I got to go hike Takis Falls and met a girl from Amsterdam. I said, thank you for visiting our country even though the world hates us. She said, the world does, but there are men like Trump in her country too. So she said, fuck it, I'm going to visit the States. Captured a purple head hummingbird on the trail. Hope it's a sign for peace to come. Oh my gosh. What a beautiful head on that hummingbird. I love that hike, by the way. It's one of my favorites.

A (35:03)

I've never done it. I've never done it.

B (35:04)

Oh, it's great. There's a gorgeous waterfall at the top.

A (35:07)

Palm Springs. I love Palm Springs. Thank you so much and thanks to the girl from Amsterdam visiting. Hi. If you're listening to the beans. Next up, Dutch from Texas. Pronouns he and him. No good news, just paying my pod pet tariff for the halibut. First shot is a Catherine being fed at a few days old. A Catherine. Second is her at 3 years old. I won't make you guess as this is a weird combo. Her mom a long haired dachshund. Her pop a Portuguese Mondego. The ears give it away.

B (35:42)

What a cute baby. Oh my God, that's sweet.

A (35:46)

Puppy is tiny.

B (35:48)

Oh my goodness.

A (35:49)

Oh, that's a tiny puppy. Oh my goodness. Thank you. I'm gonna grab the next one too. Shanda like chandelier pronouns she and her. Thank you for the pronunciation hints, by the way, for your names. Just a little funny for you. I recently had to have my first colonoscopy. That's not the good news. And apparently all I wanted to talk about as I came out of anesthesia was my adorable dog and how much I love him. He was adopted from Douglas County Canine Rescue three years ago. I'll leave a photo of Mateo for your adoration. Holding his baby. Thanks for all you do. His baby is like one of the we. That's what we call my friend Moo's toys too. Or babies. Go get your babies.

B (36:27)

Cute.

A (36:27)

Look at this sweet baby. Yeah, boy, that Fentanyl high for the colonoscopy. I don't know if this happened for you guys, but they put there was like a 50 inch TV in my colonoscopy room where I could see what they were doing. And I was super high and I kept putting my arms up in the air like I was on a roller coaster and going as the camera traveled through my parts. Yeah, that. That I was high af. I wish I was that high when I had to drink the prep. That's the worst part of a colonoscopy is the prep. Oh, my God.

B (37:11)

Oh, my God.

A (37:12)

They make you drink a gallon of that. Disgusting.

B (37:14)

It's disgusting. So one of my favorite memes, though, of 2025 was a drink. It would be colonoscopy prep.

A (37:19)

Yes.

B (37:22)

Yes.

A (37:24)

I hope 2026 is more like the anesthesia part.

B (37:28)

Seriously, just knock, knock out to the midterms.

A (37:32)

Give us that sweet, sweet fentanyl twilight sleep for a while.

B (37:36)

No, we've got work to do, people. Don't worry, we will not fall asleep at the wheel.

A (37:41)

No, we will not. We will spend 16 hours on new Year's Eve going through the Jack Smith testimony.

B (37:45)

At least Allison will.

A (37:47)

All right, everybody, thank you so very much. Send us your good news dailybeanspod.com click on contact. Send us your good trouble ideas as well. We'll see if we can get them out into the ether, into the universe, so that we can do as much good trouble as we can. Any final thoughts on this first day back from the year?

B (38:03)

No final thoughts for today?

A (38:04)

Nope. Nothing. All right, well, we'll be back in your ears tomorrow and we'll see you over on Beans Talk, our new video podcast at MSW Media YouTube channel. Check us out there.

B (38:12)

It's free as well.

A (38:13)

Until tomorrow, 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.

B (38:20)

I've been dg.

A (38:21)

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 msw media.com msw media.