
Friday, March 28th, 2025 Today, a Tufts University grad student was snatched off the street by unmarked cops wearing masks; Judge Reyes rejects the Pentagon’s new guidance for banning transgender people from serving in the military; Trump has pulled his nomination of Elise Stefanik for UN ambassador; Kari Lake backs down in the legal fight to shutter Radio Free Europe; Judge Boasberg holds his first hearing in the Signalgate lawsuit filed by American Oversight; the US sent a married father with no criminal record to CECOT on a paperwork error; RFK Jr has announced massive cuts to Health and Human Services; the US is going to end vaccine funding for children in poor countries; Canada ends their Tesla rebate program as Trump hits auto manufacturers with tariffs; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, March 28, 2025. Today, a Tufts University grad student was snatched off the street by unmarked cops wearing masks. Judge Reyes rejects the Pentagon's new guidance for banning transgender people from serving in the military. Trump has pulled his nomination of Elise Stefanik for UN Ambassador because he is scared of losing that election. In New York, Kerry Lake backs down in the legal fight to shutter Radio Free Europe. Judge Boasberg holds his first hearing in the signal gate lawsuit filed by American Oversight. The US Sent a married father with no criminal record to seekot on a paperwork error. RFK Jr has announced massive cuts to Health and Human services. The US Is going to end vaccine funding for children in poor countries. And Canada ends their Tesla rebate program as Trump hits auto manufacturers with tariffs. I'm Alison Gill.
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Alison Gill
Yeah, so not much going on today.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, not at all. Where the fuck does he think we're going to do these auto manufacturers? You're going to build them overnight? Like it's just a ridiculous move.
Alison Gill
I don't know. And his stupid fucking like backing out of NATO shit is like, it's going to cause all of our manufacturers of weapons here in the United States to like, their, their stock's going to tank and the isolationism is going to know, drive us further away from global economic. It's just so dumb. It's just dumb.
Dana Goldberg
It's all a mess.
Alison Gill
Stupids. I just hate them. So I just wanted to give a shout out and a big thank you to Jody Hamilton for filling in for Steph Miller and having me on this morning. I know you're going to go on tomorrow morning, which is this morning as people are listening to the magic of time travel of podcasts.
Dana Goldberg
Wait, what did you.
Alison Gill
Are you on Stephanie Miller?
Dana Goldberg
No, you. You covered mine. Because I was. Today. You covered me today.
Alison Gill
So that' right. Fugal sang is going to be on tomorrow.
Dana Goldberg
That's right. Fugal sing Friday. Stephanie Miller and the Beans.
Alison Gill
And he's on later today in the show we have, yeah, a little bit of John Fugal saying. All right, we got a lot of news to get to as you can tell from the top of the show, so time for some quick hits. All right, first up from the Associated Press, a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University has been detained by the U.S. department of Homeland Security without explanation. Her lawyer said Wednesday, quote, it looked like a kidnapping. That's what Michael Mathis said. A 32 year old software engineer whose surveillance came camera Captured the arrest. They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered. They're covering their faces. They're in unmarked vehicles. US District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside of the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice. But as of Wednesday evening, the U.S. immigration and Custom Enforcement's online database located her as being held in South Louisiana in an ICE processing center in Basile. I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. You know, they send them all. They send all of these illegally kidnapped and disappeared deportees to Louisiana so it can go up through the Fifth Circuit again.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that video was really unsettling. Really unsettling.
Alison Gill
Yeah.
Dana Goldberg
And a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to cut off all federal funds to Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, the president's senior advisor at the agency that oversees the broadcaster, withdrew the cancellation of the network's. In a letter to RFE and rl, which I just mentioned, Chief Executive Steve Capes, Carrie Lake wrote that the U.S. agency for Global Media had, quote, rescinded the previous letter terminating your grant agreement and that Radio Free Europe would continue to receive federal funds for the time being. So again, Kari Lake is losing and Radio Free is winning.
Alison Gill
Yes. And it's nice to see the administration following court orders.
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely.
Alison Gill
Boseberg. Judge Boasberg held a first hearing Thursday, 4pm Eastern on signal Gate. And you know, it didn't go well, obviously for.
Dana Goldberg
I'm just laughing because some people are calling it Whiskey Leaks because it was Hegseth.
Alison Gill
I like that. I like that better. Let's go with Whiskey Leaks. And basically, Boseberg issued a temporary restraining order, 14 days, saying, do not delete any messages on Signal from this group from March 11th to March 14th. So first step in the. In the lawsuit is in place. That's a 14 day temporary restraining order. All temporary restraining orders are 14 days. That's why today in the Alien Enemies act case, the plaintiffs, the Venezuela, the ACLU representing the Venezuelans that were carted off to see COT without any due process, they filed a motion to extend the restraining orders that were put in place just about two weeks ago, March 15, that's two weeks tomorrow. That's when Judge Boasberg expanded the class to include more than the five plaintiffs, including all Venezuelans that were deported under the proclamation, Alien Enemies Act Proclamation. And to turn the fucking planes around, which they decided they wouldn't Do. Also back to Signalgate. Bondi announced she's not going to probably investigate anything that happened.
Dana Goldberg
Of course she's not.
Alison Gill
No surprise there. But the Wall Street Journal is reporting Israel's super pissed because that, you know, when we pointed out the, you know, the missile guy walk into his girlfriend's house or whatever.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
Alison Gill
That intel came from an Israeli human source.
Dana Goldberg
Oh, wow.
Alison Gill
Yeah. So they're big pissed. I don't think it's going to have any negative impact on Trump Tower, Gaza or anything. But Israel's super pissed at us for bet Hegseth, basically. So we'll see what happens with that.
Dana Goldberg
All right. Thanks, Allison. This one's from the Post. The Department of Health and Human Services is cutting nearly a quarter of its workforce and consolidating several of its departments. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Announced that Thursday. This is a sweeping reduction of the agency that protects America's health. Seems like a really bad place to cut jobs. Not just here. Oversees Medicare and Medicaid and ensures the safety of the nation's food and drugs. This is going to reduce staff from 82,000 to 62,000. So there's 20,000 people losing their jobs.
Alison Gill
That's like a quarter of the agency.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, half of those, by the way, 20,000 employees took buyouts and early retirement, while 10,000 are just going to lose their jobs. The HHS announcement said that NIH workforce is going to be reduced by about 1200 employees. The center for Disease Control and Prevention, they're losing about 2,400 employees. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which will lose approximately 300 staffers. And the cuts will hit the FDA very hard. It's losing about 3,500 employees at the FDA.
Alison Gill
Yeah. I'm sure the new wave of E. Coli will be welcomed by our overlords. Next up from NBC. President Donald Trump in the White House announced a series of sweeping tariffs on foreign made cars and auto parts. Not just cars, but parts, on Wednesday, a prelude to the April 2, quote, Liberation Day duties that are expected to hit a wide variety of goods made by many of the largest US Trading partners. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump initially said he was imposing a 25% tariff on all cars coming into the country. The White House later clarified that foreign auto parts would also be taxed at the 25% rate even if the vehicles they go into are assembled in the United States. This is going to. The stocks went lower. This is bad. It's bad.
Dana Goldberg
I can't, I can't even look at the stock market right now and I'm avoiding it. This last one's from NBC. President Donald Trump said Thursday he was pulling the nomination of Rep. Lee Stefanik, Republican from New York, but there's a reason. And they had her pinned as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. But he's citing concerns about the House's slim margin to enact his legislative agenda. Probably because we just flipped a seat that was held by Republicans in Pennsylvania for, I don't know, forever and flipped it by like 16 points. Trump said in a post on True Social that Stefanik, quote, will stay in Congress after her nomination for the administration post had stalled for months.
Alison Gill
They are scared out of their fucking gourds. And I can't wait to see what happens in Florida 1 and Florida 6. But that district, that is ruby red in New York with Stefanik held, they didn't think they could win it.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that's telling.
Alison Gill
It's really telling. All right, everybody, we have a lot more news to get to. We just have to take one quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, do you want to be the most interesting person at the party? Well, with Naked Wines, you can bring show stopping bottles from passionate independent winemakers, complete with fascinating backstories that are, you know, sure to impress people. Naked Wines revolutionizes how you enjoy premium wines by connecting you directly with over 90 world class winemakers. It cuts out the middle and delivers award winning bottles at up to 60% off retail prices. For 15 years, they've funded talented vintners to focus on quality over quantity. And the best part, no commitments, no membership fees. You can cancel anytime. Enjoy. On your terms. My latest revelation was Alex Farber's Cooms Street Collection Napa Valley Cabernet Sav. It's, it's one of the best cab saves I've ever had. It's from 2017. 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Head to nakedwines.com dailybeans click enter voucher and put in code Daily beans all one word for both the code and the password and you'll get six bottles of wine for just $39.99 with shipping included. That is a discount of $100 off your first six bottles. Again, go to nakedwines.com dailybeans and with the code and password DailyBeans, you'll get six bottles of Wine for $39.99. You'll be glad you did. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for some hot notes. Hot notes all right, first up From Glad Law, U.S. district Judge Anna Reyes, my hero, today rejected a Trump administration motion to dissolve the nationwide preliminary injunction issued in Talbot v. Trump. Judge Reyes issued the injunction on March 18 in a forceful order in which she held that the ban banning transgender people from serving in the military undermines national security and is likely unconstitutional, calling it soaked with animus and dripping with pretext. Defendants filed a motion to dissolve on March 21, and she said, nope, nope. Now in her opinion today, Judge Reyes denied defendants motion holding that the defendants cannot evade discriminating against transgender people simply by labeling the policy as addressing gender dysphoria. That's what Judge Reyes also said. She also denied the defendant's request that she stay her preliminary injunction while the case proceeds. As a result of today's decision, Judge Reyes's order blocking the government from enforcing the ban will take effect at 7pm on Friday, March 28. That injunction halts implementation of the ban and protects transgender service members and recruits from its significant harms while the future of the ban is being decided in court. These harms include service members being removed from deployments, denied commissions and promotions, placed on administrative leave, denied medically needed care, and ultimately being placed in involuntary separation proceedings, a process used to address instances of misconduct. The lead attorneys in Talbot v. Trump Glad Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi and CLR Legal Director Shannon Minter responded to the judge's ruling today, saying, these efforts to stall the preliminary injunction from going into effect to protect our transgender troops burden military families with a crushing amount of pressure as they navigate a limbo with outcomes that will cause devastating harms to the military careers of these incredible soldiers. That's glad Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi went on to say, it's unthinkable that we would treat this way the brave individuals who sacrificed so much for our country. And then Shannon Minter said this motion was nothing more than a last ditch tactic to sow confusion and cause delay. There is no way to defend a policy that seeks to recklessly discard thousands of highly trained, skilled and decorated transgender service members, many of whom have deployed to critical locations across the globe. The government has conceded it has no evidence to support its position and no reason to discharge individuals who are serving capably and honor Talbot v. Trump was the first legal challenge filed against President Trump's recent transgender military ban. That's just an executive order, by the way, not a law. The case is on behalf of 32 plaintiffs now and was brought by LGBTQ legal groups GladLaw and NCLR, with pro bono legal counsel from Wardensky PC and Kropf Mosley PLCC. Now Galad's lawyer Jennifer Levi and NCLR Shannon Minter. The lead attorneys in the case are Transgender themselves, and each have more than three decades of experience litigating landmark and key LGBTQ+ cases. Together, Levi and Mintner led the legal fight in 2017 against the transgender military ban in Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, which also secured a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking that ban.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, they are phenomenal lawyers and I'm glad that this is happening. It's not the only lawsuit, by the way. There's several that sued the Trump administration. You've got lambda legals and HRCs as well as these two is so they're all coming together hopefully and making sure this get squashed. And it seems like the judge is doing the right thing, or I should say the constitutional thing. This one's from the Times. The Trump administration intends to terminate the United States financial support of gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical vaccines for children in developing countries, saving millions of lives over the past quarter century, and to significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally. The administration has decided to continue some key grants for medications to treat HIV and tuberculosis and food aid to countries facing civil wars and natural disasters. Those decisions are included in a 280 page spreadsheet that the United States Agency for International Development sent to Congress Monday night, listing the foreign aid projects it plans to continue and those to terminate. The New York Times obtained a copy of the spreadsheet and other documentation describing the plans. The documents provide a sweeping overview of the extraordinary scale of the administration's retreat from a half century long effort to present the United States to the developing world as a compassionate ally and to lead the fight against infectious diseases that kill millions of people annually. A spokesperson for the State Department, which now runs what is left of usaid, the USAID confirmed the terminations on the list were accurate and said that, quote, each award terminated was reviewed individually for alignment with agency and administration priorities and terminations were exhausted. Where Secretary Marco Rubio determined the award was inconsistent with the national interest or agency policy priorities. Isn't Marco Rubio a man of God? When did that go away? God forbid we take care of the less fortunate and the poor.
Alison Gill
He's a man of Trump.
Dana Goldberg
Yes, he is. The memo to Congress presents the plan for foreign assistance as a unilateral decision. However, because spending on individual health programs such as HIV or vaccination is congressionally allocated, it's not clear that the administration even has the legal power to end those programs. Of course it's not clear because they always do this first. They shoot, they aim. It's ridiculous. The issue is currently being litigated in multiple court challenges. Among the programs terminated, though, is funding for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which conducts surveillance for diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, including bird flu in 49 countries. Yeah, some major programs to track and fight malaria. That's another one. One of the world's top killers of children that's also been added to the list. Now, GAVI is estimated to have saved the lives of 19 million children since it was set up 25 years ago. The United States contributes 13% of its budget. Just 13%. What happened to all these pro lifers? The loss of US Funds will set back the organization's ability to continue to provide its basic range of services, such as immunization for measles in polio, to a growing population of children in the poorest countries, let alone expand to include new vaccines. By Gavi's own estimate, the loss of US support may mean 75 million children do not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years. With more than 1.2 million children dying as a result of this.
Alison Gill
Oh, that's just devastating.
Dana Goldberg
It's cruel. There's no need for this.
Alison Gill
No, 13%. It's probably like half a day pay for Elon Musk to fund this for the next 20.
Dana Goldberg
You're absolutely right.
Alison Gill
All right. From the Miami Herald. If you don't subscribe, you should. It's a great paper. Frangal Reyes, Mota was supposed to be dealing with his ongoing asylum case as he fought for his chance to stay in the United States. But suddenly he instead found himself locked up in a mega prison thousands of miles away. Quote, he's in the torture prison in El Salvador. That's what Mark Prada, Reyes Mota's lawyer, told Immigration Judge Jorge Periera. Am I saying that right? I hope I am. During a hearing on Monday at the Crone Detention center in western Miami Dade County. The hearing had been scheduled before Reyes Moda was sent out of the country. Reyes Moda is among the hundreds of Venezuelans that Trump deported earlier this month through the use of extraordinary wartime powers. Based on the Alien enemies Act of 1798. The administration sent them to the Terrorism Confinement center in El Salvador, claiming that they're members of the notorious Venezuelan gang Trenda aragua. But the 24 year old father does not have a criminal record, not even in Venezuela. His US Immigration detention records are riddled with mistakes, raising questions about how reliable they are. He doesn't have any tattoos and his family members deny that he has any gang ties. Quote, he's not a gang member. Judge Prada said. Had Reyes Mota still been in the United States, the hearing related to this asylum request would have been a commonplace matter. But his absence showcases the remarkable nature of the Venezuelans deportation to El Salvador, as lawyers argue the deportation flights were unlawful and violated the federal judge's order. That's Bozberg. The immigration court system is navigating the case of an asylum seeker with pending immigration proceedings whom the Trump administration flew to another country without any due process. Quote, we're facing a novel and extremely concerning situation where people's immigration court proceedings are still pending, but they're being disappeared from the United States without any lawful removal order. That's what Prada said. This is an affront to the rule of law. Other lawyers have said in court documents challenging the deportations that their clients were also impending asylum or other immigration proceedings. Reyes Mota and his wife decided to come to the US because they saw no future for their child in Venezuela. In 2023, they became part of the 7 million Venezuelans who have fled economic turbulence, political repression and widespread poverty in their native country. Lionara Sanchez, that's Reyes Mota's wife, described him as a reserved man, a loving husband, dedicated father, pet lover. In the United States, he painted houses for a living. He carefully budgeted to buy treats and clothes to spoil his adopted dog, Sasha. This is a quote from his nine year old son. Quote, I need help from my father. By the way, his nine year old son has learned English in the United States and this is what his son told the Miami Herald over audio messages. He said, my father is very nice with me. My father is not bad people. My father is very, very good people. On February 4, Reyes Mota, who was living in Tampa, went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in the city for just a required check. In there, agents informed him that he was being placed in custody under suspicion of being associated with Trenda Aragua. The US government claims on Reyes Mota's i213 forum a document the Department of Homeland Security uses to support that someone is deportable, that he quote, may be a Trendaragua associate. But in those same documents, the government says he has no criminal record or immigration history in the United States. The government also uses someone else's last name in several parts of the document.
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God.
Alison Gill
It identifies him with female pronouns and it uses different unique identification numbers that immigration authorities use to keep track of individuals. Raising questions about the reliability of Trump officials accusations. After Prada pointed out the mistakes and argued there's no evidence Reyes Moto was in Trenda Aragua, the judge asked whether the government had made the mistake. Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security said this was not a hearing to analyze the evidence, but we'll look into it. However, there are no more hearings for the foreseeable future. Reyes Moda's family also provided to the Miami Herald government documents showing that Mota did not have any criminal record in Venezuela and photos that shows he does not have any Tahiti tattoos.
Dana Goldberg
Just a mess. Thanks, Allison. This one's from the Hill. Canada has barred electric vehicle, that's those EV vehicles giant Tesla from all of its rebate programs and banned the Texas based automotive company from future electric vehicle rebate programs over President Trump's tariff. Back and forth with Ottawa. Canada's Transport minister, that's Christia Friedland, said in a Tuesday statement to Reuters that Tesla will not be eligible for the rebate program as long as the quote, illegitimate and illegal US tarif are imposed against Canada. Trump slapped a sweeping 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada three weeks ago, only to delay most of it until at least April 2. The President set to announce new automotive tariffs on Wednesday again. This is reported by Bloomberg. Canadian Prime Minister, this is Mark Carney now who this week called a new election wrote that quote, auto parts cross the US Canada border six times on average before final assembly. Wow. In a trade crisis, that's a vulner it's time to build more cars right here at home with an all in Canada auto manufacturing network, the new prime minister said that Wednesday on the social media platform Twitter. Ottawa's move halts around $30 million in rebate payments to Tesla, a company led, as we know, by Musk. Before the program was shuttered, Tesla submitted a substantial number of rebate claims, with one Tesla dealership in Quebec city seeking almost $14 million in subsidies, according to the Toronto Star that was first reported on the rebate freeze. Now, Freelance said each of Tesla's rebate claims submitted before the freeze would be probed individually before being approved.
Alison Gill
I know, so we're not just going to pay the ones you've already submitted. We're going to look real close at them.
Dana Goldberg
Oh yeah. Now earlier this month, Tesla warned the Trump administration that Tesla and other US Exporters could be targeted with retaliatory tariffs in light of Trump's escalating trade war. And I quote, while Tesla recognizes and supports the importance of fair trade, the assessment undertaken by USTR of potential actions to rectify unfair trade should also take into account exports from the United States. That's what Tesla said in a March 11 letter to U.S. trade Representative Jameson Greer. And I quote, u. S exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US Trade actions, said the unsigned three page letter.
Alison Gill
Oops. Yeah, find a Tesla takedown rally near you for tomorrow and go to it and see if we can tank the stock.
Dana Goldberg
Definitely.
Alison Gill
All right, speaking of that, it's time for some good trouble. All right, this one comes from our alt gov friends. Some might have noticed that the hr opm.gov email address has been kicking back the five things you did last week emails because their inbox is full. This might be because of targeted spam attacks on those inboxes. So in that spirit, it we have another email address for you to hit with spam today. It's OSD, as in Oscar Sierra, Delta OSD PR11 mail mil. Okay, so OSD PR11 mail mil. That's where some DoD employees are sending their five points. Because once OPM emails were deemed ineffective, the agency moved to their own internal emails to keep the harassment going. So once again, feel free to send anything you like to osd. And everybody stick around. We'll be right back with John Fugelsang. Hey everybody, Are you tired of your plants from local nurseries dying within weeks? I do it all the time. I thought I had a brown thumb, but turns out they didn't. Have an amazing pre sale inspection thing going on like fast growing trees does. They changed everything for me. As the number one online nursery in the U.S. they deliver healthy, thriving plants right to your doorstep. And there's 2 million satisfied customers to prove it. The seed secret, direct from nursery shipping, means no middleman, so plants arrive fresher and stronger. Each one is hand selected using that 14 point inspection I was talking about, and their experts provide personalized care advice. I used to dread plant shopping because I'm just I have a brown thumb and there's a lot of mess and crowds. But now I browse over 6,000 varieties online, from dwarf fruit trees to towering privacy evergreens. I was skeptical when I ordered my lemon tree. I ordered it alongside my lime tree and my avocado tree because I want a guacamole garden. But it arrived in perfect condition at lush green leave detailed care instructions. Unlike the sad half dead citrus plants I'd gotten at garden centers before, this one flourished right away. I've had it for a couple years now, and within three months I had fragrant blossoms. It happened fast, and by the end of that summer, lemons. Best part? I spent less than half of what a landscaper quoted me for a similar mature tree. With their alive and thrive guarantee and expert guidance, even beginners can succeed like me. So no green thumb, no problem. Their resource center and care instructions make growing easy. Skip the nursery chaos. Let fast growing trees help you create your dream outdoor space. This spring 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 an additional 15% off@fastgrowingtrees.com using the code Daily Beans at checkout. Again, fast growingtrees.com code DailyBeans now's the perfect time to plant. Don't forget, use daily beans to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily beans. That means it's fugal saying Fridays. So please welcome my good friend, host of Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127 weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And if you don't have that, you can always catch the very free and very totally available John Fugle saying podcast. My friend John Fugle saying totally.
C
I'm giving it away on 7th Avenue. It's very free. Hello Allison. It's good to see you.
Alison Gill
It's good to See you as well, my friend. So let's kick this off with a little story I like to call no Shit. Let's see here. Let me read the lead for you. Attorney General Pam Bondi signaled on Thursday there was unlikely to be a criminal investigation into the sharing of military operations details in an unsecured text group on signal declaring that the specifics on when fighter jets would depart and when bombs would fall were not classified. Okay, yeah, so, couple things. First of all, shit doesn't have to be classified for you to be in trouble for releasing it. We went over this during the documents in the toilet situation, when, you know. I don't mean the documents in the toilet situation where Trump was flushing documents down the White House toilet. I mean when he was storing them in his shitter.
C
Correct.
Alison Gill
Down at Mar a Lago.
C
Oh, I understood right away.
Alison Gill
We talked about the Espionage act and how it requires that you do not disclose or retain national defense information regardless of whether or not it's classified. And when you juxtapose the fact that the sharing of military operational details, including specifics on when fighter jets would depart, is not sensitive, but when deportation planes depart is, you know, if you gave that to the court, it would just wreck national security.
C
Yes. Kind of getting it. You're starting to understand it, Allison, I think you're. I think you're getting it. You know, I know.
Alison Gill
I know it's hard to make those two things meet.
C
I know it's hard for you liberals to understand, but it's not like these men key to Tesla, okay? It's not like they did something that hurts America. All right, you liberals have got to back off Pete Hegseth. First off, this thing was at 11:44 in the morning. And so he was only on beer and wine coolers by that point, so stop it, all right? It wasn't hard liquor. Secondly, he among you, who has never, however drunk, texted classified military strikes to a journalist in an unclassified signal group chat can cast the first stone. And I mean that. Okay, Donald Trump doesn't hire people to be honest or law abiding or competent. He hires them to be obedient. And Pete's good at that. Please. So give him some slack. Yeah. You know, we've entered the Trump administration as a sitcom phase already. It took about 60 days, and right now I think we need to work on building that time machine so Petega can be fired sooner than this. This. But there's two stories here. There's the incredible screw up for which many should be fired. And then there's the COVID up part of it. And the COVID up part of it is the part that Pam Body's not going to talk about. They're going to say it's an honest mistake. When the real scandal here is not just that they put the lives of these pilots in danger, it's that they enabled signals disappearing messages feature, which is apparently a violation of federal records law laws. Because they wanted to get around any pesky woke Freedom of Information act requests about what the hell these men were doing when they were planning the deaths of civilians in a country most of their base can't pronounce. Now, have you ever sent the wrong text to the wrong group chat? Maybe you were going to text your friend about your boss and you said it to your boss instead. Instead of saying you up, they just looped in Jeff Goldberg. And let me tell you, they can just give Goldberg the Pulitzer right now. I mean, like, I've criticized this man over the years, but they made the mistake first of including an actual journalist in the chat. How did Waltz have a real. How did any of them have a real journalist handle? I mean, I understand if it was a guy from Newsmax, but this guy's the real deal. And you know what he did? He sat in it for two years and used them to sell a book. No, he didn't. He reported it. And I'm so not used to it. And they. And then they attacked him. So he published them. The Trump team freaked out. Out. And they're like, how did we have a. How did we have a real journalist on our contact list? And it's been amazing. Like, if Biden had done this, if Lloyd Austin had done this, Allison, you know what would have happened? It would have been a job ender. Lloyd Austin was. Was almost chased out of his job for having surgery, and now they're going to darvo their way through this entire thing. Deny attack, reverse victim and offender. Caroline Levitt has already done all of it. No war plans were texted, nothing classified. Then attacked Jeffrey Goldberg. He hacked in somehow. And then reverse victim and offender. How dare he publish our totally non classified but still top secret message. And Rubio is all over this as well. I mean, it's not just Tulsi Gabbard that needs to be fired. It's not just Pete Hegseth, and it's not just Ratcliffe, but Marco Rubio. I mean, my God, I guess he pulled himself out of the couch to defend all this. And their only defense at this point is that, well, signal is secure and I'm like, well, so is my grandma's Facebook page, but the bots still hack it twice a year. I mean, if these guys needed it, I would have given them my AOL account to have their meeting on. Alison, I can't believe they didn't have this at a meeting at like a booth in Hooters. But I think at the end of the day, once again, this is like the Trumpism. The COVID up is always stupider than the crime.
Alison Gill
Yeah. And the security of signal aside, there are reasons that when I worked at the Department of Veterans affairs, we couldn't send patient information from medical health records and electronic health records using things like Skype because they weren't considered. They're secure, but they weren't considered secure enough to send medical information.
C
Exactly. Because the American people own the contents of that chat. Chat. The American people are paying for it. They own the chat. They deserve to have access to it.
Alison Gill
Yeah. And let's also talk about the underlying thing that happened here from the. The peacetime non warmonger administration. Because what, did they kill 53 civilians or something? I. I've been reading different reports.
C
Yeah, there are different reports.
Alison Gill
The. We kind of seem to be glossing over the fact that we were bombing Yemen.
C
Yeah. Which. Which we've been doing for years. We've been at war in Yemen for literally years. And this is one of those topics where you'd think that people who were true conservatives and true liberals would come together and call this out, but that's not going to happen as well. The Trump administration's not anti war, they're pro authoritarianism. So they're against war, they're pro money. Well, no, they're pro imperialism. If George W. Bush is waging war in a country that never attacked him, or if Vladimir Putin is waging war in a country that never attacked him, they're fine with it. But if Zelensky fights back, if Biden helps Zelensky fight back, then they're warmongers. So, you know, we gotta stop with the language. And I said this on your show before, we gotta stop letting anyone get away with calling this a peace deal or peace negotiations. Trump is only engaged in surrender negotiations and nothing else.
Alison Gill
Well, it's like the intolerant, tolerant left. Right. Which is like, oh, if I kick my rapist in the balls, I'm the aggressor.
C
Exactly, exactly.
Alison Gill
And we see it time and again from this administration. But listen to this, though. Now that, you know, we're abandoning our allies, our allies are looking at ways, you know, there's a kill switch on the F35s or whatever. Now our allies in Europe are looking to their own companies to develop, create, build, manufacture weapons. And the US Is going to lose on this. So this, this isolationism, particularly with our allies, is going to cost Lockheed Martin, Raytheon millions and millions of dollars. When Biden was sending weapons to Ukraine, he was sending our old weapons.
C
Correct. 90% of that money stayed in the U. S or in our military.
Alison Gill
And then having Americans and American steel and rebuild and replenish our stockpiles, and now all of that's going to go away. And our allies are not going to. They're going to stop buying $100 billion in weapons from us every, every year.
C
Why? It's almost like someone has an interest in breaking up the European Union, USA alliance. Alison, who? Who Exactly? Because once you break up America and Europe, then there's only two superpowers left. There's China and Russia. And Europe will fall to the side without America. And America is essentially just going to be, you know, a country with nukes but no longer an empire. This is everything Vladimir Putin wants. Dividing the NATO alliance is exactly what both Russia and China want. And it's a good thing they've got this White House full of obedient vassals to do their bidding.
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, despite being trying to portray himself as a chicken hawk, we saw him as a chicken today because, you know, we've seen a couple of really incredible local elections go down in Iowa in January. We flipped a plus 21 Trump district just yesterday or on Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
C
15 plus 15. I mean, and this is. These are people showing up in. In March in Pennsylvania to vote on a weeknight. This is not election Day. This is an off, off, off election year. And people are still showing up in large numbers, greater numbers than maga, who we always assume the conservatives are just raring the go for every special election. It's really strange to see.
Alison Gill
Yeah, we're getting 35,000 people out to see AOC on a non, non election year. I mean, there's elections every year, but you know what I'm saying.
C
Yeah.
Alison Gill
And now it appears because we had three seats in the House, that, that we had to have special elections for. Which could have changed the balance of power in the House of Representatives in ruby red districts.
C
That's right.
Alison Gill
That are all now very close races according to polling.
C
They're going to need to keep Republicans in this House, aren't they? Alone, Allison?
Alison Gill
So, yeah. What do we do to do that? Well, we withdraw. Elise. Stefanik's nomination. Ah.
C
Say it again. Say it again, please. Say it slower. Say it one more time and slower.
Alison Gill
Because he's. Honestly, I think this is because he is terrified. And he actually said. I think he posted like, hey, we got to keep the majority. We got to defend the majority in the House. So I'm pulling her. I'm pulling her nomination.
C
Oh, it's beautiful. Oh, it's porn for the angels. And the Lord brought lube. Yeah. The best part is, you know, Elise Stefanic has been, like, annoying going around the strip club saying, so long, bitches. I got a big new job coming. You know, she's burned every bridge in her town, and it could not happen to a more deserving member of Congress to be given a promotion and then to have this historic public humiliation of having it snatched away when Harvard rescinds her degree. It might be more just than this, but this is kind of beautiful to watch.
Alison Gill
Right? And we had. We still have the two Florida districts, as far as I know, Florida 1 and Florida 6. Special elections for the House. But they've. They've pulled the New York. They've pulled the New York special election, and I've got it. I. The only conclusion I can draw is that they are terrified of losing elections because, you know, all the people are like, oh, you're so funny for thinking we'll ever have elections again. We had a couple on Tuesday. We had some in January, and we won them.
C
That's right.
Alison Gill
And we will continue to do that.
C
Connecting the dots on the daily beans. Exactly right. I thought the same thing. But in fairness, you know, Florida can keep on having these elections because they have so many underage children now can get jobs and work in the election infrastructure. So that's good.
Alison Gill
Oh, yeah, they want to again erase who? Gosh, who could have predicted that they would want kids to go to work after all of the immigrants were. Were thrown out?
C
Florida is different from the rest of them because Florida has e verify. You know, most of these states, they. They don't want the undocumented immigrants to leave. They want to demonize them for the racism, for the votes. But I talk about this all the time. Your audience is so bored of hearing me say it. If they wanted them to stop the border crossings, they'd go after the employees. Now Florida has gone after the employers, and look what's happened. They've got to bring back child labor. Now they're debating a bill this week allowing kids as young as 14 to work overnight shifts on school nights. Right now in Florida Law kids can't work earlier than 6:30 or later than 11:00pm and not only does Governor Gogo Boots want to do this, they want to have a two tiered payment system. So the kids are paid half the money. Adults would be paid for doing the same work. You send back all the immigrants, you don't have anyone to fill those jobs. And you seem to think teenagers are gonna wanna do it for half the price. I guess it's a good thing. Cause usually when I hear child labor in Florida, I think pregnancy. So I guess this is good. But it's like Make America a Dickens novel again. They're just crazy. And it's not gonna pay off.
Alison Gill
No. And you know, speaking of other things we just couldn't see coming, I remember back in, during the BLM protests in Portland and Seattle, there were unmarked vans with masked people snatching people off the street, kidnapping people, disappearing people.
C
That's right.
Alison Gill
And we're seeing more and more of that now.
C
That's why, like I'm saying, what they did to Mahmoud Khalil, we should call it what it is, renditioning. He was snatched from his building by government thugs who didn't give out their identity. He has not been charged with a crime, has not been given a hearing, was not allowed to speak with his lawyers or his wife for a while. Weak and whisked away to a foreign state. Because in Louisiana it's much easier to get around certain laws because you're gonna.
Alison Gill
Come up through the fifth circuit. That's why.
C
But this is, this is what Bush did. This is renditioning. And we see it happening all over the place this week. I mean, what happened to Rumiesa Osert is horrifying. Thank goodness it was caught on video. So everybody can see. And all that woman did. She's a Fulbright scholar. She's a graduate student at Tufts. And a year ago, she and three other kids, students, sorry, co. Wrote a letter to the school newspaper. That's it. Criticizing their support of what Israel was doing. Not criticizing Judaism, criticizing the Israeli civilian government, not supporting Hamas, criticizing the actions against Palestinian civilians. And it's all just free speech and nothing else. Thank God we have these judges who are holding the line on this. But this administration is doing it because they are really counting on the Democratic Party party being too terrified and too disorganized to ever stand up for Muslim students. Just like they'll be too terrified to stand up for transgender soldiers. Like they'll be too scared to stand up for gay Venezuelan hairdressers who get thrown into A gang sting or guys who have the wrong soccer club tattoo on their hand and get mistaken for.
Alison Gill
Gang members or, God forbid, the autism awareness tattoo, the autism awareness of his brother.
C
So they're really counting on Democrats being too scared to stand up for this, because this is what the Nazis did. You go for the gypsies and the homosexuals first. The Nazis made sure they were going for the people no one would care about. And they got away with it until they didn't. And that's exactly what's happening here now. And I think there's a lot of people in the Democratic Party and the Senate that are going to be too cowardly to stand up about any of this. Not the House. We've only had about 15 or so house members stand up to talk about what happened to Mahmoud Khalil. But let people see this video of what happened to this young woman. Let them read the letter she wrote to the Tufts student newspaper. It got picked up by an anti Israeli site, and that's how she got on their radar. These people are bad at being fascists. They're messy.
Alison Gill
They are. They're wholly incompetent. All free speech.
C
It's all free speech. They're attacking all of.
Alison Gill
Yeah. Oh, of course. And our right protest.
C
Well, you're right about that. I mean, we talked about this two weeks ago with all this business with Columbia and the $400 million. Can I just say, you know, I sure hope Colombia gets that 400 million of taxpayer money. Boy, I'm rooting for him. But Colombia is sitting on a $15 billion endowment that can't be taxed. Colombia can afford to fight back in ways that mainstream media and Jeff Bezos don't want to fight back. Back in ways the Scarboroughs don't want to fight back. Trump is doing all of this because.
Alison Gill
He knows Paul Weiss won't fight back.
C
Paul, comma Weiss won't fight back. Trump knows there are going to be enormous student protests on campus when the weather gets warmer. And this is all preemptive intimidation to try to scare them, scare the students, scare the parents who write the checks, and scare the university out of losing funds.
Alison Gill
Agreed, my friend. Thank you. It's always good to talk to you. Love your point of view. You. And you can catch more of the incredible and inimitable John Fugle saying, try an inimitable it.
C
Try it. It can't be done.
Alison Gill
Politicization and inimitable are very hard. I should write now. I should do a substack about the inimitable politicization Politicization. Yeah. Such easy words to say.
C
Listen, I'm just glad to be alive at a time when we can plan classified military ops by using the same app the congressman use for sexting their mistresses. It's a great time right now.
Alison Gill
You know, as I said, the next signal, group chat. If you're at it, it will automatically install the latest YouTube album.
Dana Goldberg
Oh.
C
Oh, that's okay. That was a good album, too. I feel so bad for you two. Still 10.
Alison Gill
Good throwback. Good throwback on your old ipod shuffle.
C
Oh, poor you, too. It was a good record. Why they have to do it? Why?
Alison Gill
I know. All right, my friends, good to talk to everybody. Check out John fugal saying weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, on Tell Me Everything, SiriusXM progress channel 127, and the John Fugal Saying show podcast. Always a pleasure to see you, my friend. And by the way, you can catch him this morning if you're up early enough. We'll be on the good old Steph Miller show with Jody, who's filling in for Steph. I was on yesterday and it was a. It was a joy. So thank you, my friend. Thank you, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. And if you have any good news stories you'd like to submit to us, whether it's good news, a confession, a correction, especially a pronunciation correction, or if you have a shout out that you want to send to a loved one or a spouse or a kid or a parent or yourself or a small business in your area or some great activism that you've seen that you want other people to emulate. Send that to us, of course, shout outs to government programs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, SNAP, WIC, Head Start, Section 8, great VA health care you've received and student debt relief. Anything like that that's helped you or a loved one, we want to hear about that, too. And of course, we also love your street joke jokes. You can send those to us. Please do so@dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All you got to do to get your stuff read on the air is pay your pod pet tax, submit a photo of your pet, and if you don't have a pet, send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find them a home. If you don't have that, any animal photo will do. We love otters right now. Otters and secretary birds. And I like pygmy marmosets. Those are adorable. Okay, naked mole rats. Those are weird axolotls. What's the model of your axolotl? Anything like that? And of course, we don't have any of that. Baby photos work. Also bird watching photos, which can be a photo of an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk properties. Send it to us again dailybeanspot.com and click on contact. First up from Jackie D. Pronoun she and her Allison, I wanted to let you know about the band that was honored to play the Daryl Isa empty chair town hall that you hosted this past Sunday. After the first women's march in 2016, the resistors band band Resistors with a Z in the middle came together to play covers of protest songs at rallies, marches and other political events. They have evolved through a couple of iterations and to the talented musicians that they have today. The leader of the band, Laura Payne, has been part of it from the beginning. They were scaled down a bit this last Sunday, but were still a powerful presence to the over 700 people who attended the town hall. They're going to play again at the April 5th event that's happening all over the nation, but also here in San Diego. You can check them out at the Resisters. It's the R E S I Z T E R S the Resisters band dot com. This is a photo of my dear Meadow, the feral who came to stay and is a night watch cat.
Dana Goldberg
Look at the baby. I love that I got to meet the band.
Alison Gill
I got to meet the Resisters after the event. They were amazing. I can't wait to see them again.
Dana Goldberg
They actually, yeah, they got in touch with me. They wanted me to perform at a prison event with them, women's prison. And I have a conflict with my calendar, but I'm hoping that one day we'll be able to team up. So I just love that they wrote in and I love that they listen to the beans. And I love that they were at the town hall.
Alison Gill
Hey, Resisters.
C
Hey.
Dana Goldberg
All right. This is from Janine. Pronouns she and her. Oh my God. Beanie Queens Beanie Queenies. I did it. Thanks to you two for telling me to do it. By the way, I know it's not much, but I sent a message to my congressman and a little ashamed to admit he, Doug Lamalt. Alpha is my congressman. Thanks. Redistricting. Here's what I said. Quote, I'm riding as the mother of an airman who actively maintains our country's military aircraft. So I Do have some skin in the game. I am appalled at the signal gate scandal. Though I can't say that I'm all surprised. You're voting for the approval of Hegseth and other assorted unqualified candidates to be charge of the military matters was asking for the security breach to happen. If anyone else had been quote inadvertently added to that group chat with any any animosity towards our country or military, they could have easily sent that information in seconds to someone who could have used it against our pilots and our ground crew. I expect you to call for their resignation. It's the very least they and you can do to show that you actually do support our troops. If not, then I guess we know where the Republican party really stands and it's nowhere near the troops. Well said. Like I said, it's not much. I disagree agree. But I'm going to let you continue with your submission. It's not much, but I have never contacted a government official ever. So baby steps. Everything this administration is doing enrages me. But this was a special level of don't with my kids. Thank you so much for the good work you are doing in getting me off my ass. And a shout out to my friend Anne for telling me about the pod pod pet tax. First is the aforementioned air in with one of his babies. He was a rescue off the streets. I'm sure the cat, not the airman. Yep, see right there, the cat, not the airman. And it's the cuddliest cat I've ever seen. I'm sure the airman is too. And don't be late with his food. Then there's Minnie, our latest. Just adorable and curious and zoomy mad. Last we have Kiki with her proper little cross legs. Massive tortitude with that one. Love you ladies.
Alison Gill
Tortitude, yes indeed. Oh, and there's the airman.
Dana Goldberg
Okay.
Alison Gill
Kind of looks like rooster from Maverick.
Dana Goldberg
I'm also as gay as the night is long. And this is an adorable picture of a very handsome dude with a kit, a kitten, a cat.
Alison Gill
Yeah, I'm just gonna click and save that one and then we'll move. No, I'm just kidding. Sorry. I'm so, so happy that you wrote to your congress.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that's really awesome.
Alison Gill
A Doug, Lamolfa. Janine, you're a rock star. Thank you so much for all you do. And thank you for your service.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
Alison Gill
Next up, Isaac pronouns he and him. The reason I always thank military families for their service too, because they serve also. I love that Isaac pronouns he and him hello Beans Queens. I would like to shout out the newly elected Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Am I saying that right? Probably not. Assembly Representative Christian Phelps for fighting the good fight and defending the trans population from recently introduced anti trans legislation. He also brought up that even though Wisconsin recently adopted new in gerrymandered legislation constituent maps and are getting closer to a Democratic majority, assembly committees are still stuck at a 2 3rd Republican and 1/3 Democratic ratio. This makes fighting Republican legislation almost impossible. But thankfully we have Governor Tony Evers to veto any attempt to strip us of our human rights. Remember Wisconsinites to vote for Jill Underley, State Superintendent Susan Crawford, Wisconsin Supreme Court and by the way, you can go to mobilize us to join some phone banking for that and vote NO on the referendum to place strict photo ID requirements in the state constitution for the POD pet tax I took a picture of my cat Snowy snuggling up to her cat tree with her paws sticking out. Thanks again you guys. You two are doing amazing work and I watch religiously every day on my way to work.
Dana Goldberg
Look at the Pete's hello beats.
Alison Gill
Thank you for that Isaac.
Dana Goldberg
Yes, this one's from Liz Pronouns she and her hello Beans Queens. I'm so grateful for your podcast. You both have such a great combination of calmness, rage and humor. I've been listening for several months and it's a great start to my day. I can be informed without being overwhelmed. I wanted to shout out my Etsy shop cluster of craft and there's going to be a link in the show notes. I have been making earrings earrings with polymer polymer clay using the colors of the Trans Pride flag cut into heart shapes. I wear these when I'm out and about and will be wearing them when I attend various Pride events as a volunteer with free mom hugs. I just started volunteering with them this year. They're fantastic by the way. And we were holding signs of affirmation for the LGBTQ + community on inauguration Day as well as President's Day. It was really moving giving hugs and support in this way. Thanks to your podcast, I've learned that my darling Kitty Maisie is a Torby. We adopted her after her twin daughters moved away college. Oh, after our twin dollar daughters I was like, wait, what? We adopted her after our twin daughters moved away to college. When one of them ran back in to get her jacket and found me sobbing. She later texted me, mom, you should get a kitten. And I did. She's a great cuddler and she loves to join my zoom chats. Thanks again for all that you do.
Alison Gill
Look at the Tor beast. So cute. Thank you for that. So clusterofcraft.etsy.com we'll have a link in the show notes. Thanks for sharing. Next up, Susan Pronouns she and her hi Queens of the Beans As a longtime listener and fan of all your MSW pods, I want to give a big shout out to my husband as he describes himself, a 73 year old retired, bald, colorblind guy living in the mountains of North San Diego who decided to paint a portrait of his wife despite never having drawn a portrait portrait, never having touched an oil paint tube, yet confident he could pull it off with Mr. Google as his guide. And on top of it, he wrote a delightful accounting of his painting adventure with pictures included. It's a lovely account, but too long to include in the pod. Whoa, husband, you knocked it out of the park and got a pretty good likeness of me as well. This is beautiful.
Dana Goldberg
Oh my goodness.
Alison Gill
This is incredible. I love all the little glyphs too.
Dana Goldberg
I know, me too. You. I'm telling you, we've got some really talented listeners. So many secret talents.
Alison Gill
Talented mofos. Beans. Thank you all so much. I needed that pick me up to take me into the weekend here on Fugal saying Friday. I really appreciate it. What do you got going on this weekend, my friend?
Dana Goldberg
Oh, I. You know what? I'm gonna be on a cruise. I think. I, you know that I'm gonna be out for a week. So.
Alison Gill
I know. I just wanted you to tell everyone I'm sailing away.
Dana Goldberg
I fly to Florida tomorrow and I'm.
Alison Gill
Takes me away yacht. Rocking it with the ladies.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, 2,600 LGBTQ plus women. And listen, if you're a beans listener and you're going on this cruise and I know there's at least a handful of you, make sure you're paying attention to the Facebook page because I think it would be really fun if we all got together on the boat and just had a drink by the pool. Or if you're not, you know, alcohol, non alcohol doesn't matter. But I'm hoping you're listening to the end of this. And if you're not on the Facebook page, you really should because it's very entertaining. But also it's a really good way to just keep up with everyone. So. So I'll make a post sometime in the next few days once we get our bearings and then we'll meet somewhere on the ships and you can get to know other Beans, other Leguminati ma'am.
Alison Gill
And have to crash one of these Olivia Cruise?
Dana Goldberg
Oh, for sure. You'd have a blast. You'd have a blast.
Alison Gill
Can we do a live beans taping on an Olivia Cruise?
Dana Goldberg
Why not? I'll talk to my boss. Let's do it.
Alison Gill
Who books this? Remember, every comedian, always. It's kind of a running joke among comedians. Like, they'll be like, oh, look, here I am at the dmv and a comedian will inevitably respond or reply, reply, oh, who books that?
Dana Goldberg
Like, anyway, we all, we always, always. If it sounds exciting and especially if.
Alison Gill
It'S totally weird and random and not a show at all, we will jokingly ask, who books it? All right, everybody, we'll be back in your ears. I will be back in your ears on Monday because you're going to be sailing away with Christopher Cross and the rest of the Yacht Rock ladies. So I'll be holding down the fort. We'll have some great guests and thanks to all the guests that came on this week. John Crier, Mark Cuban Fugal saying, who else did we have? We had a pretty prolific week of guest appearances. Liz Winstead, the Amazing Liz Winstead, Evan Sutton from Tesla Takedown. That was an incredible interview. And everybody remember to go look for your Tesla Takedown rally closest to you for tomorrow on Saturday. Thanks, everybody. Back in yours Monday. Till then, please take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by 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.
The Daily Beans - Episode Summary: "DARVO In Chief (feat. John Fugelsang)"
Release Date: March 28, 2025
Host/Author: MSW Media
Guests: John Fugelsang
In this episode of The Daily Beans, hosts Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg delve into a range of pressing political and social issues, blending insightful analysis with their signature snark. The episode also features a guest appearance by comedian and activist John Fugelsang, who engages in dynamic discussions about the current political climate.
Alison Gill opens the episode by reporting on the alarming incident where a Tufts University graduate student, a Turkish national, was forcibly detained by unmarked, masked DHS agents.
Quote (00:00):
"Today, a Tufts University grad student was snatched off the street by unmarked cops wearing masks." — Alison Gill
Further Details:
The student, identified as Ozturk, was captured on surveillance footage showing masked officers in unmarked vehicles forcibly taking her. Judge Indira Talwani has ordered the government to justify her detention by Friday and restricted her movement outside Massachusetts pending further investigation. However, ICE's online database indicates she is being held in South Louisiana, raising concerns about enforced disappearances and lack of due process.
Quote (03:37):
"I'm not sure if I'm saying that right... they send all of these illegally kidnapped and disappeared deportees to Louisiana..." — Alison Gill
The hosts discuss Judge Anna Reyes' decisive move to reject the Pentagon's policy banning transgender individuals from military service.
Quote (28:19):
"Judge Reyes rejected defendants motion holding that the defendants cannot evade discriminating against transgender people simply by labeling the policy as addressing gender dysphoria." — Alison Gill
Impact:
The injunction halts the ban, protecting transgender service members from adverse actions such as removal from deployments, denied promotions, and involuntary separations. Legal advocates from Glad Law and CLR emphasize the significance of this ruling in safeguarding the rights and careers of transgender military personnel.
Quote (14:22):
"These efforts to stall the preliminary injunction... cause devastating harms to the military careers of these incredible soldiers." — Jennifer Levi, Glad Law
Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg analyze President Trump's decision to pull Rep. Elise Stefanik's nomination for the United Nations Ambassador position amidst fears of losing key elections.
Quote (08:04):
"They are scared and... he's scared of losing that election." — Dana Goldberg
Analysis:
The withdrawal is seen as a strategic retreat to maintain the slim Republican majority in the House. Critics argue that this move reflects Trump's anxiety over potential electoral losses, especially in competitive districts like Florida 1 and Florida 6. The hosts express anticipation over upcoming elections that could further impact the Republican Party's standing.
Quote (08:58):
"It's really telling. They are scared of losing elections because... we have to defend the majority in the House." — Alison Gill
The episode covers the Trump administration's unsuccessful attempt to defund Radio Free Europe and the legal battles involving New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Quote (04:19):
"It's nice to see the administration following court orders." — Alison Gill
Outcome:
A federal judge's injunction temporarily blocked the administration's effort to cancel funding for Radio Free Europe. Subsequently, a senior advisor at the overseeing agency rescinded the termination, allowing the broadcaster to continue receiving federal funds. This victory underscores the resilience of independent media amidst political pressures.
Alison Gill discusses the SignalGate lawsuit filed by American Oversight, highlighting Judge Boasberg's unfavorable ruling towards the government.
Quote (05:42):
"Bondi announced she's not going to probably investigate anything that happened." — Alison Gill
Details:
The temporary restraining order prevents deletion of messages in the Signal group from March 11th to March 14th. The case's progression raises concerns about the government's handling of communication platforms and potential abuses of power.
The hosts report on RFK Jr.'s announcement of significant budget cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), impacting thousands of employees and essential services.
Quote (06:15):
"Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced that Thursday... this is a sweeping reduction of the agency that protects America's health." — Dana Goldberg
Impact:
The cuts reduce HHS staff from 82,000 to 62,000, affecting departments like the NIH, CDC, Medicare, Medicaid, and the FDA. The reduction threatens vital public health services, including vaccine programs and disease prevention efforts.
Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg discuss Canada's decision to terminate rebate programs for Tesla and other EV manufacturers in response to Trump's imposition of a 25% tariff on foreign-made cars and auto parts.
Quote (16:23):
"He's a man of Trump." — Alison Gill
Economic Implications:
The cessation of rebates halts $30 million in potential subsidies to Tesla, complicating the company's operations in Canada. The reciprocal tariffs are expected to negatively impact U.S. auto manufacturers, leading to stock market declines and further strain on international trade relations.
Quote (24:08):
"I know, so we're not just going to pay the ones you've already submitted. We're going to look real close at them." — Alison Gill
Guest: John Fugelsang, host of Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM Progress Channel 127 and founder of the John Fugelsang Show podcast.
Alison Gill engages in a spirited conversation with Fugelsang about the Trump administration's mishandling of military operational details shared via the Signal app. They critique Attorney General Pam Bondi's dismissal of the security breach, emphasizing the legal ramifications under the Espionage Act.
Quote (28:19):
"The Espionage act requires that you do not disclose or retain national defense information regardless of whether or not it's classified." — Alison Gill
Discussion Points:
Quote (36:52):
"Once you break up America and Europe, then there's only two superpowers left. There's China and Russia." — John Fugelsang
Fugelsang provides a critical analysis of the administration's policies, highlighting the destabilizing effects on international alliances and defense industries. The conversation underscores the potential long-term consequences of isolationist strategies.
Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg transition to a lighter segment, featuring listener shoutouts, affirmations, and positive stories. They highlight contributions from various community members, including support for LGBTQ+ initiatives, personal achievements, and heartwarming pet stories.
Example Submission (48:39):
Janine shares her appreciation for the podcast and announces her Etsy shop, Cluster of Craft, where she creates Trans Pride-themed earrings.
Quote (53:08):
"I'm so grateful for your podcast. You both have such a great combination of calmness, rage, and humor." — Liz
Community Highlights:
In this episode, The Daily Beans offers a comprehensive analysis of significant political developments, legal battles, and policy changes affecting marginalized communities and international relations. Through incisive commentary and engaging dialogue with guest John Fugelsang, the hosts provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the current socio-political landscape, all while fostering a sense of community and resilience.
Alison Gill (00:00):
"Today, a Tufts University grad student was snatched off the street by unmarked cops wearing masks."
Dana Goldberg (01:23):
"Where the fuck does he think we're going to do these auto manufacturers?"
Alison Gill (08:58):
"I'm pulling her nomination because he's terrified of losing elections."
Jennifer Levi, Glad Law (14:22):
"These efforts... cause devastating harms to the military careers of these incredible soldiers."
John Fugelsang (36:52):
"Once you break up America and Europe, then there's only two superpowers left. There's China and Russia."
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