
Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 Today, Congress has certified the 2024 election results; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces his resignation; Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt for failing to hand all his property over to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss; Biden permanently bans offshore drilling in 625 million acres of ocean ahead of the Trump transition; America’s first human death from bird flu is reported in Louisiana; a key Oath Keepers leader is revealed to be a former Las Vegas cop; a federal court rules in favor of detransitioning transgender inmates in Florida; Donald Trump is hammered over his January 6th comments at a secret Mar a Lago celebration; and Allison and Dana delivers your Good News.
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Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Today, Congress has certified the 2024 election results. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation. Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt for failing to hand over his property to Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. Biden permanently bans offshore drilling in 625 million acres of ocean ahead of the Trump transition. America's first human death from bird flu has been reported in Louisiana. A key Oath Keepers leader is revealed to be a former Las Vegas cop. A federal court rules in favor of detransitioning transgender inmates in Florida. And Donald Trump is hammered over his January six comments at a secret Mar? A Lago celebration. I'm Alison Gill.
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Alison Gill
Hello, my friend. Sad day?
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Obviously we were talking about this and just the weight, the gravity of what happened four years ago and that, you know, even though over a thousand people went to jail for this, the person that incited it, there seems to be no consequences. And it is frustrating. If you are angry, you have a right to be. Most of us who care about the.
Alison Gill
Democracy in this country are agreed, 100%. No objections today to the Trump electors from anyone. You know, you said it. I know a lot of folks are frustrated and outraged over this. I am, too. But I'm not going to abandon the party. I'm not going to fall into nihilism and cynicism. We need to fix it. And Ben Wickler appeared on Democracy Docket with Mark Elias today. He's running to be the DNC chair, and he actually acknowledged some of the shortcuts in the 2024 election and laid out a plan to overcome them. And I really appreciated that. That's the kind of leadership I think that we need. The election for DNC chair is February 1st, and so we will see who ends up leading the party in the early part of next month. Later today in this show, I'm going to be speaking with Erin Butte, the wife of the schoolteacher that ran against Matt Gaetz's pal, Joel Greenberg, Seminole county tax collector, the one that got smeared and slandered. And he's also the one that blew the story wide open, kicked off the investigations, something that they didn't anticipate. Joel Greenberg and his pals, that Brian be's wife is a SAG AFTRA screenwriter and she's written a script.
Dana Goldberg
I love that.
Alison Gill
Making the rounds. So I'm going to talk to her later in the show. And Rudy has been held in contempt just as I thought he would. And the sanctions are exactly what we thought they'd be. Adverse inferences and preclusions for the upcoming trial. They've been entered. That trial starts later this month. Long story short, he will likely be ordered to hand over his $3.5 million Palm beach condo to Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss. Harry Dunn and I are going to go over the details on tomorrow's cleanup on aisle 45 podcast. And speaking of long story short, we have some quick hits. And to make a long story short, first up, from ABC News, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he intends to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister once a new party leader is determined, quote, I intend to resign as party leader as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process. He said Monday in Ottawa, Trudeau will serve as prime minister until March 24, and he will then be replaced by a new Liberal Party leader.
Dana Goldberg
Thanks so much, Alison. This one's from cnn. And it seems the first person to have a severe case of H5N1 bird flu in the United States sadly has died. That's according to the Louisiana Health the person who was over 65 and reportedly had underlying medical conditions, was hospitalized with the flu after exposure to a backyard flock of birds. This is obviously a developing story. We're going to keep you updated. And I just want to say, you know, when I got back to Los Angeles, I went to Trader Joe's, I often do to go get some groceries. Almost everyone was wearing masks. And apparently there's a big outbreak of COVID People are getting rsv. The flu right now is up. So everyone, please, especially if you're immunocompromised, wear a mask. And if you're not and you care about the people around you, it's still good to wear the masks in public and make sure if you can and you believe in it, get vaccinated. They do help protect you.
Alison Gill
Yeah, Yeah, I know. CDC is working on a vaccine for H5N1. And definitely mask up like you said, Dana, it's not just, it's not just for you. It's for everybody around you. So thank you for that. All right. We've got a lot of news to get to today. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. First up from Erin Reed, who's incredible, by the way, and her publication is called Erin in the Morning. It's a great substack to subscribe to if you're following the fight for transgender rights in the final days of 2024 a federal judge in Florida's Northern District issued a ruling rejecting a preliminary injunction against a new Florida Department of Corrections policy that targets transgender inmates. The policy, introduced on September 30th of 2024, frames gender dysphoria as a short term delusion that's in quotes restricting access to gender affirming care, permitting hormones only in rare instances deemed constitutionally necessary. The FDC bulletin also suggests psychotropic medications and psychotherapy as sufficient alternatives to medical transition, ignoring widely accepted medical guidelines. The ACLU representing plaintiff R.A. kohane, please let me know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, challenged this policy, arguing it strips transgender inmates of essential care and dignity. Under the policy, trans women in Florida prisons are denied access to gender aligning clothing and grooming standards, with confiscation of canteen items and head shaving mandated for non compliance. According to the ACLU's October 2024 complaint, inmates face invasive examinations to assess breast size for bra eligibility, subjecting them to dehumanizing treatment. Under the guise of policy enforcement, the ACLU sought immediate relief, filing for a preliminary injunction to halt these measures. In his 23 page decision, Judge Alan Windsor, a Trump appointee with a record of anti LGBTQ rulings, dismissed the injunction request. Windsor's opinion misgendered Keohane, describing her as, quote, a male who self identifies as a woman, unquote. He argued that the FTC's policy does not constitute a blanket ban on hormone therapy despite evidence showing policy of the policy effectively forces the detransition of hundreds of inmates. Windsor claimed that Keehane again, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, please let me know. Having navigated extensive bureaucratic hurdles to preserve her care, the judge said she faced no imminent injury and therefore did not meet the criteria for emergency relief. Regarding social accommodations, Windsor acknowledged the harm but dismissed its significance, arguing that denying long hair and gender appropriate clothing does not rise to the level of grossly incompetent care or an 8th amendment violation. Misrepresenting the World Professional association for Transgender Health Guidelines, Windsor claimed that social transition is not medically necessary and suggested psychotherapy as an adequate alternative.
Dana Goldberg
And a big fuck you by the way, to conversion therapy right now. I am so furious at this story it makes my blood boil.
Alison Gill
Me too. The story goes on to say this echoes debunked conversion therapy approaches that lack scientific evidence and have been shown to increase risks of self harm and suicide among transgender individuals. Windsor's reasoning reflects broader anti transgender rhetoric typically used in debates about transgender youth, but now increasingly applies to adults. The quote, wait and see approach for minors, which relies on therapy to suppress gender dysphoria, has long been debunked as ineffective and harmful Conversion therapy. Evidence consistently shows that medically necessary care for transgender individuals leads to overwhelmingly positive outcomes, with detransition rates remaining exceedingly low. Laws restricting transgender health care, by contrast, have been linked to significant increases in suicide attempts among transgender populations. Advocates warn that such policies represent the tip of the iceberg in escalating attacks on transgender rights. Restrictions on transgender youth health care have already expanded to include adults, with proposed bans in several states targeting individuals up to the age of 26. In the UK, health care providers face growing hostility, leading many to withdraw services under pressure. These global trends underscore a concerted effort to dismantle trans rights at every level. In the United States, Republicans have made transgender people a central focus, advancing policies to restrict anti discrimination protections in schools, sports, and the military. With recent passage of the first anti LGBTQ federal law in 30 years, restricting military health care coverage for transgender dependents, attacks are reaching levels unseen in decades. House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to combat social justice in federal institutions, doubling down on these efforts under the guise of, quote, common sense.
Dana Goldberg
Anyone who is transgender, non, binary, two spirited. Who's listening to this? I'm so sorry. I can only imagine how painful hearing this story is. Transgender, two spirited people, non binary people have existed since the beginning of time. It's just. It's maddening. And I really hope that we can figure out something soon.
Alison Gill
Yeah.
Dana Goldberg
Before this gets worse. But buckle in. I promise I'm doing everything I can. Allison's doing everything she can, and we're going to continue to fight. Fight. I'm going to continue to raise money so that we can get legislators elected in states that are going to combat this.
Alison Gill
Yeah, support ELPAC for that. And also make sure you go to Aaron Reed substack and subscribe.
Dana Goldberg
Thanks so much, Allison. Next up, from Alexander Hutzler at ABC News. Four years ago, as we know, a mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. capitol, sending lawmakers scrambling for safety and throwing what was traditionally routine ceremonial process certifying the electoral vote into chaos. Trump later, as we know, was charged criminally in an unprecedented case with an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election, a case only recently dropped following his presidential victory on Nov. 5. On Monday, Trump's win was officially certified, unfortunately, by lawmakers in a joint session of Congress. Vice President Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump, presided over the ceremony as president of the Senate. Monday's events marked a return to the ministerial task that had long been a subdued affair until Trump's challenge of his loss to President Joe Biden, though heightened security measures remained in place. A winter snowstorm blanketed Washington, but lawmakers forged ahead with a constitutionally mandated responsibility. The House floor was packed with lawmakers for the count, which was the final step in validating Electoral College results this year. President Biden emphasized the importance of America's bedrock principle of a peaceful transfer of power, but urged the country to never forget what happened in 2021. Quote, we should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault. That's what Biden wrote in an op ed published late Sunday by the Washington Post. I'm actually surprised the Washington Post published it and went on to say, and we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year. Harris, too, called a smooth certification and transition, quote, the most important pillars of our democracy. And in a related news from Raw Story, the Entire panel on MSNBC's the Weeknd reacted with disgust on Sunday over report that Donald Trump held a secretive ceremony at Mar a Lago on Saturday night where he celebrated the work done by one of the lawyers who tried to get the 2020 election overturned. On Sunday morning, Vaughn Hilliard of NBC News reported that the celebration was not advertised in advance and the press was excluded, but comments Trump made were leaked. Uh huh. Where he praised attorney John Eastman as film clips were shown documenting his attempts to get former Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the 2020 election. And I quote, what was the sense in this room? What was the purpose of this gathering? It is just an in your face moment, just a tale of things to come. This is co host Michael Steele. That's what he was wondering, right? Let's be very clear. This is again, this is Hilliard is replying. There's no coincidence that this event in which he welcomed not only John Eastman but but Michael Flynn and Jeffrey Clark, the man that urged the DOJ to put off all statements about the 2020 election. And they were up on stage. Rudy Giuliani was up on stage and Peter Navarro, who spent time in prison for not complying with the subpoena from the January 6th committee. And they were watching a film that was a documentary about John Eastman, end of quote, and went on to say, let's just say, let's just put a finer point on it. This is sickening. She exclaimed. This is sickening. I am sick. Peter Navarro, Jeff Clark the people went to the Capitol to take up arms against the United States government because the president at the time lied to them. That's what happened. Those are not patriots, she continued. What Donald Trump did last night is a disgrace to the country and Constitution. And the fact that they didn't tell anybody about it lets you know that they knew what they were doing was on tour and they wanted to do it anyway. So sorry for getting tongue tied on that last paragraph, but disgusting. He's a disgusting man. We know he was behind everything. He knows he was behind everything. And it's just, it's maddening. It is, yeah.
Alison Gill
And he's just going to get away with it. Thanks, Harlan Crowe and Leonard Leo and the Supreme Court.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
Alison Gill
Next up from Jason Wilson at the Guardian, the man in control of the Utah based right wing militia Oath Keepers usa, a recent spinoff of the national organization first established by Stewart Rhodes in 2009, is a former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective who left the force in acrimony after advocating for a race war. The revelations about Robert Bobby Kinch, now of Duck Creek, Utah, come from public records, online materials and the work of a longtime infiltrator of the Patriot movement in the Pacific Northwest who provided vital evidence to the Guardian captured inside Kinch's home. The findings show that four years on, from January 6th, the Oath Keepers who played a central role in fomenting that day's insurrection in Washington, have not disappeared, but have continued quietly, adding law enforcement officers to their ranks. The return of Donald Trump to the presidency may encourage the likes of Kinch to bring their movement back into the spotlight as this incoming administration promises to carry out unprecedented mass deportation of immigrants and to take on Trump's perceived opponents, whom he has described as, quote, the enemy within. Heidi Birek, a chief strategy officer and co founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said, quote, these disclosures show once again how police departments aren't taking the threat of extremists in their ranks seriously. Kinch's last brush with notoriety happened a decade ago when his career as a veteran Las Vegas MPD detective went off the rails. According to reporting from the Las Vegas Sun, KNPR and Raw Story, Hinch had been serving in the department's elite repeat offenders program since 2009. In December of 2013, however, fellow officers discovered inflammatory Facebook posts, including one that read, quote, let's just get this over. Race, war, civil revolution, question mark. Bring it. I'm about as fed up as a man American, Christian, white, heterosexual, can get, Unquote There's a lot more to this story. You can find it by Googling Kinsh at the Guardian.
Dana Goldberg
Thanks, Alison. Last in this segment, this is from David Goldman at cnn. President Joe Biden on Monday announced an executive action that will permanently ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in a way that could be especially difficult for the incoming Trump administration to undo. Biden's executive action will ban new oil and g leasing across 625 million acres of US Ocean. The ban will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling along the entire east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coast of Washington, Oregon and California, and portions of Alaska's northern Bering Sea. And this is a quote, my decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have known for a long time, that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation. That's what Biden said in a statement. He said it is not worth the risks. The action, which CNN reported on Friday, invokes the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. And that's a law that gives presidents broad authority to withdraw federal waters from future oil and gas leasing and development. The law does not give presidents explicit authority to revoke the action and place federal waters back into development, meaning President elect Donald Trump would have to get Congress to change it before he could reverse Biden's move. Nevertheless, Trump on Monday said in an interview he would try to undo the action, of course. Look, it's ridiculous. All unbanned immediately. All unbanned. All unbanned immediately, Trump said in a radio interview on the Hugh Hewitt show. Trump's incoming press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, lambasted the decision, writing in a post on Twitter, quote, this is a disgraceful decision designed to exact act political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail and we will drill, baby, drill.
Alison Gill
Okay, first of all, you didn't get a mandate. We stopped fucking saying you got a mandate. 1.5% does not a mandate make my little leave it.
Dana Goldberg
And the oil industry, of course, lashed out against the executive action as well, because that's profits, quote, President Biden's decision to ban new offshore oil and national gas development across approximately 625 million acres of US coastal and offshore waters is significant and catastrophic. This is from Ron Neal. He's the chairman of the Independent Petroleum association of America Offshore Committee. He said that in a statement it represents A major attack on the natural gas industry. In a separate announcement, the Biden administration is expected to declare two new national monuments in California in the coming weeks. And that's a source familiar with the planning. That's what they told cnn. So he's trying to do what he can before he goes. I know some, for some people it's not enough, but I'm glad it's something. Truly, I am.
Alison Gill
Yeah, good for him. I bet he tries to slip it into his mega bill, his omnibus budget reconciliation bill that he wants to use to give tax cuts to all of his super rich friends, raise the debt ceiling so he can give those tax cuts to his super rich friends, limit Medicare and Social Security, maybe raise the age on that. And you know, we talked a lot about budget reconciliation when we had a, when we had a close majority, the Democrats, it's basically you get, I think three per term or something like that. And it's where you go to the parliamentarian and say, we want to do this through budget reconciliation. So you don't, the filibuster doesn't apply. You only need a simple majority. So I can imagine him trying to slide this into budget reconciliation too. So we'll see what the parliamentarian decides can and cannot be included in this sweeping budget reconciliation bill. I'm hoping, I'm hoping the parliament, I don't know who this Senate parliamentarian is going to be, but I'm hoping, I'm hoping it's not an asshole.
Dana Goldberg
I agree with you.
Alison Gill
All right. Speaking of assholes like Joel Greenberg and Matt Gaetz and Chris Dorworth and Jacob Engels, we have a great guest coming up next. It is the wife, Aaron Butte of the school teacher, Brian Bute, who ran against Joel Greenberg and was slandered and defamed disgustingly. And we're going to discuss what happened and what we're going to do in the future and how that impacts local politics, which I think, you know, something that we're going to need to really dive into in the next four years. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
Dana Goldberg
We'll be right back.
Alison Gill
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Erin Butte
Hi. Thank you so much, Alison, for having.
Alison Gill
Thanks for being here. I know folks who've listened to our show for a long time and the Mueller she wrote podcast before that. Know a lot more about what happened to your husband back when this Whole thing, like, kicked off with Joel Greenberg. He was running against Joel Greenberg to be the Seminole county tax man and was a schoolteacher. And some horrible, awful things happened. And, you know, we, we reported it here. We relied on the local reporting from the likes of Gal Suburban and Julie K. Brown at the Miami Herald, and we were able to bring those stories to light. And you had reached out because you said, you know, you were listening to a bit of podcast a little bit ago where I was really wondering why nobody in Florida had prosecuted these crimes. And so talk a little bit about it. Give everybody the backdrop in case they haven't heard this part of the Matt Gaetz Joel Greenberg saga about what Greenberg and his associates did to your husband when he was running against Greenberg.
Erin Butte
Absolutely, I'm happy to do that. And you're right. Gal Suburban. And there was a lot of coverage on this and it was very extensive and we were so thankful for that, including a nine part podcast series by the Orlando Sentinel, which was hosted by Martin Comus and Jason Weiner. And it was so comprehensive and clean and great. I'm not here to add fire on top of the smoldering rubble in. Although maybe I am. Yes. So my husband ran in 2019 to unseat Joel, who was the current incumbent tax collector, and he was running unopposed for another term. And my husband found that fascinating that, that nobody was stepping in because there had been a litany of. Of crimes and whistleblowers that had been reporting for some time that there is some really weird, wicked stuff going down in the tax collector office.
Alison Gill
And that's like the, the ID fraud and the, the jobs, the no show jobs he was giving out.
Erin Butte
Yeah. If I remember correctly, $5 million in padded contracts and friends and family bonuses and free Ford Explorers. And I mean, on and on it went. And so my husband read about this once again through the Orlando Sentinel, and he, he just thought, well, gosh, I could do a better job than this. I mean, he's a systems guy. He knows facts and details like nobody's business. And so we decided as a family, all right, we're gonna run. Let's. Let's do this together. Our girls were both in high school at the time. We're like, let's let them see their dad stand up for something in their community. Right? What's the worst thing that could happen? You win. And we're busy for a few years. Okay.
Alison Gill
So little did you know.
Erin Butte
Little did we know. And I'll stuff this all in a short little bit, but nine days after my Husband filed to run. He was called into the headmaster's office at the private school where he's a teacher, and he was informed that he had been accused of raping a student and that this was a fellow student who had sent nine letters to the school over nine letters within. And again, this is like a week later after he filed to run. So whoever sent it wasted no time at all accusing him of racism, segregation, and sexual impropriety with a student. Of course, that blew our minds, and we didn't know who it was or why they would do this or who would have something to gain by it, although we had maybe suspicions. My husband was also the president of Save Rural Seminole, which was a conservation group in central Florida. And they had decided that they were going to band together and to support the prohibition of a new property development. I think it's like a couple thousand homes that were going to go in, in this area that was marked as a wilderness conservation area. And they were just going to, you know, mow it all down and build something anyway. And so these community members, including my husband, put a stand up to that and ultimately beat the system. And so there are people, I think, that have a long memory. I can't be certain, but I'm pretty darn sure of that. And at any rate, then fake Twitter and Facebook and Instagram posts giving sordid details that were completely not true about Brian. And one of them even claimed to be a teacher at the school where my husband worked and said that, yeah, we. The school's hiding it and we knew all about it and our world just blew up more and more and more and more. And of course it was not true, and of course we knew that. So most people would say, well, why don't you just kind of get over it and, you know, move on.
Alison Gill
It sucks.
Erin Butte
But, you know, that's politics. And in a way we did. But here's the thing. When you have this kind of smear and this kind of oversight at the local level, what you ultimately end up with is people like us who don't have, like this. This massive bank account, you know, to make us whole again afterward. And so we have to go after the people that did it because we can't just get back on our feet again. So that is. That's where we began with this. And my husband kept following, following the breadcrumbs, and instead of rolling over and taking it, he contacted local law enforcement. We got a lawyer. We had. We sent all of the letters to a forensics analyst and they actually found and traced the DNA that was on the envelope and the stamp, as well as the IP for the fake Facebook messaging messages between him and the alleged student, all back to Joel Greenberg and his home, which, wow, they caught the bad guy. Great ending. And it is. But the thing is, and this is what you brought up in your podcast the other day, why didn't anybody bring charges sooner? Why didn't anybody look into this? Why did that after $3.5 million went missing and all of the stuff that came up in between Mr. Greenberg and Mr. Gates and all the alleged cahoots that they had together, why didn't anybody report it sooner? Why is that?
Alison Gill
Right. And to think about, I want to get into why local politics are so important for this particular reason. And I think going forward over the next four years, focusing on your local politics, your local indivisible groups, your local Dem chapters is going to be so very important. Because I've long said before this election that politics needs to be like economics. It needs to be from the bottom up, in the middle out, not trickle down from the federal level. It doesn't. It never works. We never see the benefits of it at the bottom. And so I want to get into that, but first I wanted to ask you, there were several indictments that came out of this investigation. A lot of Joel Greenberg associates went down. I thought for sure Dorworth was going to be one of them.
Erin Butte
Oh, yes.
Alison Gill
But what ended up happening was Dorworth ended up suing Matt Gaetz's ex girlfriend and, and the, the 17 year old that he raped, allegedly for ample evidence in the ethics report from the House showing that.
Erin Butte
Correct.
Alison Gill
Sued them for defamation. And then like the day before Matt Gaetz was to be deposed, bam, drop the case. So my question always was, and not, not just for what Matt Gaetz did, Joel Greenberg took it on the chin. I think he's also the fall guy for Matt Gaetz. But yes, why there wasn't any, like you said, reports about this, you know, corruption, these no show jobs, this, you know, taking advantage of the office from Joel Greenberg earlier, but also why Florida prosecutors didn't bother to go after Matt Gaetz. Now they say it's because the feds, who was, you know, Trump's DOJ at the time, came in and said, don't, don't you do anything. We're looking into this, we're looking into Matt Gaetz. And then they sat on it until the statute of limitations expired in Florida. So they tried to do the same thing with the Stormy Daniels case in Manhattan. And they would have been successful were it not for the fact that the governor of New York told all criminal statutes of limitations during COVID And so the Manhattan DA was able to bring the case back to life, but they tried to make Cohen the fall guy there, just like I think they did with Greenberg. Not to say that, you know, Joel Greenberg shouldn't be in prison and he did terrible things, but, you know, once you make your main witness, a terrible, terrible witness, unreliable, incredible witness, you have a much better chance of winning your case. That didn't pan out for Trump in New York, but it seemed to work down in Florida.
Erin Butte
It was convenient, I'll say that for sure. And you're right, you know, as Tip O'Neill said, and if all politics is local politics, then I think that. I think that governing and oversight of politics needs to happen at the local level as well. And people try just to kind of finish that before we get into the question that you just asked there. There was a whistleblower who reached out three times to a tips line, trying to reach out to ultimately what would have been the clerk of court here in Seminole county saying, this is happening and this, and you really should look into this. It's not good. And this was since early 2018. And he got zero response. The same response that my husband got when he. Wait.
Alison Gill
Yeah.
Erin Butte
When he filed for Freedom of Information act so he could find out who, like, this unindicted co conspirator is. Right. So we all know it's really easy for. For these folks to just turn their eye because it's uncomfortable that it makes her party look bad or, you know, I'm up for a promotion. I'd rather. I'd rather not get dirty right now and air these things in the light of day. And so for us, like, just regular people, you know, who come home from a long day of work and just come on out, crack a beer and just not think about this kind of thing. It's not as complex as we think it just might be. Right, meaning who are the city council members, where you live? Who's your mayor? Right. What. What policies did they bring in last year? What do they vote on? Do you like it? Do you not like it? Do you recognize their names? And even if you just start there, then maybe, you know, person by person, county by county, we can at least make them think twice before they just, you know, run amok like children without a preschool teacher in a kindergarten room like happened here in Seminole County, Florida. You're right. There's a Lot of obfuscation and subterfuge. You know, I just think people splash the water to make it muddy just to kind of hide their own presence at certain parties on July 17 and 20 or July 15 and 2017. But, yeah, Mr. Greenberg deserved all of the indictments that he received, which were 33 and all, and convicted on six after his plea deal. But he was a scapegoat, and that's not right either. Everybody's washing their hands on Joel Greenberg, you know, and that's not fair.
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, let's talk about some of the other people that were indicted, and there's currently still somebody at large that should have been indicted. Yes, talk about that.
Erin Butte
This unindicted co conspirator.
Alison Gill
Yeah. Right.
Erin Butte
Okay, so in the. The US vs Joel Greenberg docket there, there's several. Several parts to that. And in section 38, there is mentioned several, several times a redacted name who is known as this unindicted co conspirator who was doing all of this stuff right next to Greenberg, feeding him the ideas or, you know, tapping it out on his computer, whatever. Someone very, very close and on the inside knows and fed it and should have suffered the same consequences. So after that, the section 4 of the same thing, which is basically the search warrant, mentions this person. And so we have sent multiple Freedom of Information acts trying to find out who that person was so that they can be brought to justice as well. And every single time, we're told the same thing. We're sorry, that's restricted.
Alison Gill
Do they tell you why? Do they tell you the exemption?
Erin Butte
No, not at all. And that's if we could get an answer. And the actual FOIAs were never responded to. This was when my husband finally got somebody on the phone in the office, some poor, exhausted office manager who's like, I don't know. It's restricted. Mr. Bute, please go away.
Alison Gill
No, you should file that lawsuit and. And figure that out, because if these. If these cases are closed, if an indictment isn't pending and these cases are closed, Right. Then there's no exemption.
Erin Butte
Right.
Alison Gill
Unless they have declined to prosecute and don't want to drag that person's name through the mud. But then why can't you tell us that? Just tell us, hey, we declined to prosecute, so that's why we. That's an exemption.
Erin Butte
That would be great to know. Exactly.
Alison Gill
Do you have an idea who it is?
Erin Butte
We do, but we can't be certain. You know, was it Jacob Engels? Right. Was a Central Florida Post Made a lot of videos that weren't true about him. Was it someone much closer in his own neighborhood? I. I don't know. And I would like to know that, and I would like to put this aside, but the bigger goal here, you know, it. It was rough to. To put it mildly.
Alison Gill
I can't imagine what your family went through.
Erin Butte
We filed for. For bankruptcy where we still don't have a home. It's. All of these things are true and they're embarrassing, but they need to serve a purpose, and I think that they can.
Alison Gill
Yeah, let's talk about that. Because it also so happens that you are a SAG AFTRA screenwriter.
Erin Butte
That is correct. You know, they did the research on Brian as they were vetting him and deciding to do this smear campaign, but they didn't look too closely at what his wife does for a living. And to write this was not an easy thing when it was first recommended. I could have throat punched the person that said it because you just want to forget about it and just move on and figure out how we're going to start our life over again. When you're a teacher and you have those kind of labels next to your name on the Internet, you don't get another teaching job job.
Alison Gill
Right.
Erin Butte
You don't. Anyway, so I decided over. Over a period of about a year that I would write it. And it was very therapeutic. Very, very thankful for that. But it wasn't just to rat out and to, you know, regurgitate all of this junk. We do. But it's not a heavy drama. We've actually written this as a dark comedy because when you have this level of criminal activity, of an absurdity here in Florida, there's only one thing that you can do, and that's to paint it as what it is. Which feels like a Coen Brothers comedy.
Alison Gill
Girl, that's my whole podcast foundation is we have to laugh at this or we'll cry.
Erin Butte
That's exactly right.
Alison Gill
We need appropriate profanity. It's.
Erin Butte
And I've had plenty of that, too.
Alison Gill
It's a dark comedy. It's the way that I think it should be presented. And I'm really excited to see where this goes.
Erin Butte
It is. I am, too. Thank you. It's on a lot of desks right now. The project is completed. It's been written by myself and a really talented, talented screenwriting friend of mine who is my partner, Justin O'Neill Miller, and is being co produced by our third colleague, Wes Hagan. Both of them have pretty heavy IMDb cred. You can look them up. But I'm just so thankful to have this team supportive behind this. So what we essentially have is this regular, you know, red blooded American family, right, who is in the center, I mean, suffering legitimately amidst this entire circle of Coen brothers, characters who are just larger than life. And that's the way that we've chosen to present it. Not that we laugh in some, you know, hardened, cynical way, but because you're right, the only thing to do with that kind of absurdity is to first laugh and then cry with the family and then say, what can we do about this? I don't want anyone to leave the theater discouraged or even, you know, further depressed than they were than they walked in. I want them to say, I'm going to keep an eye on where I live in la, New York, Ohio, North Dakota, and, and just pay a little more careful attention, you know.
Alison Gill
Yeah, it, it reminds me of good old Phil Williams, which I think John Oliver referred to as the nosiest in Nashville, going after Andy Ogles when nobody else would. And you know, now we get the ethics report out on Ogles, that he basically pulled a George Santos and stole a bunch of money or donated enough money to his campaign to get the big party money and illegitimately got his seat in Congress. But once you're elected, real hard to get you out of there. But that's the kind of stuff that we need.
Erin Butte
Well, it is. And maybe if we had a little more of that, then maybe it wouldn't have gone near as long as it did. And maybe we wouldn't be where we are with Mr. Gates indiscretions.
Dana Goldberg
Right.
Erin Butte
Maybe from the very beginning somebody had said, hey guys, knock that off, off. Put those IDs back right then. Then maybe, you know, it just wouldn't have gone as long as it did and as far as it did with as many tentacles as it did and grew into this hydra. And that's kind of what I, what I had to say and why I came out about this. You know, I, I'm not here to throw Mr. Gates or anybody else under the bus. I mean, quite frankly, I think they've done a great job of jumping in front of it themselves. So I'm just here with a sharp pencil to write down as I saw it, as I lived it, as I witnessed it, and as I read in a very long ethics report and, and Bendmower seats and everything else and to tell the true story.
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, the pen is mightier and God's blessed the whistleblowers because we need them. And we need to create an environment where that's encouraged and not looked down and frowned upon. So, yeah, I appreciate you writing all this up. I look forward to it. You need to keep me posted on what's going on and come back on the show.
Erin Butte
Thank you.
Alison Gill
And like you said, it brings us right back to where we began, local politics. Join your local community organizations, find out who is running for what, look into them, alert your local journalists about what's going on and root out this corruption at the level where it's, I think, the most effective and gives you the biggest bang for your buck, so to speak. Because where we all live and who governs us, where we live is where the rubber meets the road. So thank you so much for doing all this, for coming on and talking to me. Would you let everybody know where they can find and follow you and your work?
Erin Butte
I will. Thank you for having me in. Allison. So you can. My reps are all listed on IMDb Pro. I have a Facebook fan page, you can find us there. Instagram and we will shout it from the rooftops when we have a release date on this project. Please be looking for it. I've had to paint it in broad strokes until all of the dust settles and the ink dries, but there is a film and it's coming and it's. It's going to be pretty terrific. Thanks ag. I appreciate it.
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, you keep me posted. We'll blast it out here as well. Thank you so much everybody. We have a lot of good news to, to get to, so stick around. We'll be right back everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news everyone. Then good news everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news stories at all, maybe some confessions or corrections, you know, especially name pronunciations, send those to us. I'm. I'm kind of done with a Portico share or whatever it is, but if you have any other corrections, you can send them to us. And of course, if you have any shout outs, whether it's a loved one or a self shout out, those are amazing. Small business in your area, your small business. And of course a shout out to a government program like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, SNAP, WIC, Head Start, Section 8. Anything that has helped you or a loved one, especially and including student debt relief, you can send all of that to us. All you have to do is go to dailybeanspod.com, click on Contact and submit your good news story and include a photo of your pet. We call it paying your pod pet tax. And if you don't have a pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find him a forever home. And if there's not one of those nearby, you can just grab a picture of a random animal off the Internet. We don't care. We're not picky. And of course, if you don't have any of those, you could send us your baby photos because we absolutely love your baby photos, whether it's you or your baby. Or again, random baby on the Internet doesn't matter. That's how you pay your tax to get your submission in. And again, we are also having a special segment, probably for the next four years, called Bird watching. So if you have a photo of you and or your friends and families flipping the bird at a Trump property, that's called bird watching. And we would love to see that photo as well. Again, that's DailyBeansPod.com click on contact to submit. First up, DSM correction from Jacqueline Trump suffers malignant narcissist personality disorder and evidence signs of dementia. Not borderline. Okay, Jacqueline, thanks. I do have some personal experience. Not me, but some personal experience with borderline. And the histrionics of it seemed to fit, but, you know, I'm, I'm armchair. I only got a bachelor's in psychology. So thank you, Jacqueline, for the DSM. I think we're on DSM 5, I.
Dana Goldberg
Think so that right.
Alison Gill
So thank you. Thank you so much for that, Jacqueline.
Dana Goldberg
All right, this one's from Anonymous. No pronouns given. Hello, beans, Queens. Gentle correction. Oh, for God's sake, here we go. Oh, wait, no, it's different. This is not the Cash. Whatever the. The.
Alison Gill
This is a portico area.
Dana Goldberg
Cachet county is pronounced Cash County. Thank you. I'm sure I said cachet. Thank you, Cash.
Alison Gill
Cash. I think I said cachet.
Dana Goldberg
Oh, I like when you take responsibility. I grew up in Utah and can attest to conservative views on books. In ninth grade, we read Anne Frank but had to skip the first chapter due to Anne's same sex exploration. While porn may be literally everywhere in Utah, they want to pretend otherwise and get very strict about even basic sex information. Wow. I'm a listener for a few years now and enjoy your news with swearing, your banter, and the togetherness of watching the world change around us. Well said. I find comfort in all three podcasts being informed, not feeling crazy, and feeling like we are not alone. I traveled during the holidays and went through Vegas. I hope to get a bird Picture from the air, but the plane banked in the opposite direction and I missed out. Got a great sunset, though, for my pop Pet tax. Please enjoy my pups when they were little. They're 11 now, one month apart. The smaller one rules the roost and insists on touching me whenever I sit down. Thanks to all you do. And it looks like there's a what? The month. They look like a Maltese on the left and a cocker on the right.
Alison Gill
But yeah, or a maltipoo and actually.
Dana Goldberg
Cocker spaniel mixed with something super.
Alison Gill
Yeah, or a. Like, what's that? King Cavalier.
Dana Goldberg
Oh, there you go.
Alison Gill
Maybe. All right, let's see. Black one is a shih Tzu mix. Cream is a. Look at you Cavachon, a mix of Bichon and Cavalier. King Charles Spaniel.
Erin Butte
What?
Alison Gill
What? I got one.
Dana Goldberg
You sure did.
Alison Gill
Well, then I got one out of three. F. That's a fail. Beautiful puppers, though. Thank you so much for that. General correct. Cash County. Good to know. Next up from kp, pronouns, he and him. This is informational and a shout out. As a Montanan in Minnesota, I'm not exactly sure which states do which, but bucks are identified by the total number of antler tines, an eight pointer east of the Rocky Mountains, and by the number on one side, like a four pointer in the west.
Dana Goldberg
Thanks, kp.
Alison Gill
I'd also like to give a shout out to my wife and her business. She hosts the most supportive and positive karaoke in the state. Oh, yeah. We gotta go. We gotta go. All right. When it died during the pandemic, she took a job at a homeless shelter. She's worked hard to rebuild her business, which she sees as giving people at least one victory in their week while still working full time helping guests of the shelter. Both of her jobs are important to people in different ways. That's beautiful, kp. For Pod Tax, here are two of our three dogs. You both deserve an easy question. Guessing on the breed, you could see Louie and I bet you can find Nico. Thanks for. And I do see. I do see the kitty shadow there. So thank you for that. And you know what, kp? Shout out to your wife too. I hope. Something you might not have known about me. I hosted karaoke for, gosh, almost a decade, one of the top karaoke bars in town. And it was a blast. I have to say it was truly fun to help other people really enjoy their night. And the booze helped too.
Dana Goldberg
I bet it did. I bet it did.
Alison Gill
But. But I will say there are some. There are some downsides right Like, I really can't listen to anything off the Grease soundtrack. Done with Love Shack. I'm pretty much over certain songs.
Dana Goldberg
Mine were so obscure. I used to sing Nobody by. I think it was Sylvia.
Alison Gill
Okay.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Sitting in a restaurant, she walked by. Do you know that song? Yeah, I do.
Alison Gill
I would do Mother. Mother.
Dana Goldberg
She hung up when I asked her name.
Alison Gill
Yeah, I. I was.
Dana Goldberg
I did.
Alison Gill
Like, I was a braggy, show off karaoke singer. I would do 99 red balloons in German.
Dana Goldberg
See, I did the English version because I'm an underachiever.
Alison Gill
The End of the World as We Know it and I feel Fine and the real Slim Shady with my eyes closed because I knew like to.
Dana Goldberg
You know, I used to do Fancy Reba. Yep.
Alison Gill
Oh, I love that.
Dana Goldberg
I remember it all very well, looking back. All right, we should probably keep moving. This is for Matt Pronouns all day. Hey AG and dg thanks for all the news and for making me laugh every morning. This may be a stretch, but maybe history will repeat. The last time the American flag was flown at half staff during an inauguration, that president ended up resigning in disgrace. It's also worth noting that even Richard Nixon didn't whine about the flags. President Truman passed away on December26 of 1972, so DJT has failed even that low bar. My blue sky handle is itinerant botanist as pod pet tax. I enclosed evidence that I was born this way. This photo from the Bronze Age is me gazing intently at a blade of grass. Oh my God.
Alison Gill
Matt, born a botanist.
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God. That is very cute. Look.
Alison Gill
Look at this grass photo from the Bronze Age. Matt that fantastic. And thanks for that little history repeating. We'll see. We'll see what ends up happening in the next four years. Next up, Becca Pronouns. She and her hola, AG and dg. I am writing to give a shout out to my best friend, my husband Toby on his 40th birthday today. We just got married this past October on my birthday woot woot in New York City and had the most wonderful and beautiful New York City wedding. We met almost eight years ago on Tinder, an Internet dating success story, and I knew almost immediately he was going to be the one. He loves to humor me and go along with any weird, funny outfits that I'll buy for us to wear matching Hanukkah sweatshirts and prom night outfits on our honeymoon cruise. He's caring. He cooks, he cleans, he loves to make me laugh. He is successful and talented with his career and I'm so excited to be spending the rest of my life with him. He's also a great cat dad and for podpet tax, I've included a picture of him and our boy Milo, who we had to say goodbye to in November. Milo was was an almost two year survivor of brain surgery after we had a tumor taken out in early 2023. Toby was gung ho on doing what he could for our boy and gave the little fur baby two more years of love from us. There were many difficult moments, but what a way to test and prove a relationship than to have to take care of an ailing loved one. So, Toby, happy birthday babe. I love you so much. Love your wife. Please say like Borat your wife. Okay.
Dana Goldberg
Please love your w. Becca, these photos are fantastic.
Alison Gill
Oh. Oh my gosh. Look at the costumes. That's incredible. The prom wear is beautiful. Look at the baby kitty with the man.
Dana Goldberg
I love y'all.
Alison Gill
Me too. Cat dads are the best. Congratulations on finding the love of your lives.
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. This is her. Marty J. No pronouns given. Hello, DG and AG I've had a hard time listening to anything political since the election. I just needed a newspaper blackout for some time. I became a regular listener in spring of last year up until the election and then shut down everything. I was also feeling some guilt because I am aware of my life's privilege of being able to shut off the politics and at the same time knowing how this election will have major consequences for women and marginalized populations. I was doing my podcast when my co host came on and all I could see was the top of this T shirt which says news with swearing and it reminded me of your podcast. So I joined as a contributing member. I have turned my spouse a four years Aileen onto your podcast which we now listen to in our travels and errands. Aileen celebrated her 70th birthday on Saturday. Happy birthday Aileen.
Alison Gill
Happy birthday.
Dana Goldberg
And I am so proud to have had this liberal woman in my life for so many years. Thanks for bringing me back from the post election coma. Our podpet tax is Kona, a six year old purebred sable German shepherd. And Kona is beautiful. Kona, beautiful lady is what that means has had a rough year with two hind knee injuries for surgeries for ACL and a third surgery to remove her spleen. Kona is the furry love of our life and the vet is draining our savings. I have no doubt bills are the worst.
Alison Gill
Man, Aileen looks great. Look at these beautiful baby. Oh wow. Right? Dude looks my age. Happy birthday. Right on real and hey, welcome back. And I'm Glad you took a break. Now I'm curious as to what your co host's shirt was. If it said news was swearing and it wasn't a Daily Bean shirt. Who else is doing news with swearing? I want to know. But thanks and happy birthday. Paige is our final contributor. That was weird.
Dana Goldberg
Contributor.
Alison Gill
I'm leaving it in. Paige brought out. She and her. Hi, Allison and Dana. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being you and keeping the news factual and digestible. So about those misheard lyrics. My sister Sarah and I used to think that the lyrics to Rock the Casbah by the Clash was Sheree don't like it. The cat box. The cat box. We were kids. What the hell did we know Page.
Dana Goldberg
Very fair.
Alison Gill
It. Yeah, the cat box.
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, the cat box.
Alison Gill
And they all. Sherry don't like it. No, Sherry don't like it at all. Here's to keeping our sanity after January 20th. Also, I've included my pet tags. From left to right, they are Sky, Brooks and Clay.
Dana Goldberg
They are very good.
Alison Gill
Oh, we got a Labby kind of dog in the middle. We got a little Aussie kind of dog. Aussie, Aussie kind of dog. On the left. We got a collie, a Lassie dog on the right. So beautiful. Paige, thank you for being our final contributor. I appreciate you.
Dana Goldberg
Thanks for the laugh. AG is my first good one of the year.
Alison Gill
Oh, man. Oh. If I can't act stupid and make people laugh, what is my life over here?
Dana Goldberg
I know, right?
Alison Gill
So thank you all for your good news. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. All you got to do is submit a photo. Do you have any final thoughts on this?
Dana Goldberg
I'll leave them.
Alison Gill
Yeah, right. Let's just get this day behind us. Go on to the next one. I think we're going to be saying that for the next four.
Dana Goldberg
Jesus. Yeah.
Alison Gill
So we'll be back on your ears tomorrow, everybody. Until then, please, 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. Family. I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the beans. Contributor.
Dana Goldberg
Contributor.
Alison Gill
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: "Defamed And Slandered" Featuring Erin Butte
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Host: MSW Media (Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg)
Guest: Erin Butte
Timestamps: 00:00 – 14:23
The episode opens with Alison Gill outlining several key news stories, including the certification of the 2024 election results by Congress and the ongoing legal troubles surrounding former President Donald Trump. A significant portion of the discussion centers on the enduring impact of the January 6th Capitol riot.
Dana Goldberg expresses frustration over the lack of consequences for Trump, stating, “...the person that incited it, there seems to be no consequences” (01:16). Both hosts agree on the necessity to uphold democratic values, with Alison emphasizing a proactive stance: “...I am not going to abandon the party. I'm not going to fall into nihilism and cynicism. We need to fix it” (01:34).
The conversation shifts to Ben Wickler's appearance on Democracy Docket, where he candidly addresses electoral shortcomings and proposes solutions, earning Alison’s approval as “...the kind of leadership I think that we need” (02:47). The hosts express anticipation for the upcoming DNC chair election on February 1st.
Alison also previews an upcoming interview with Erin Butte, highlighting the significance of Erin’s story involving defamation and slander orchestrated by political adversaries like Joel Greenberg and Matt Gaetz (02:47).
Timestamps: 23:31 – 42:06
In a pivotal segment, Alison Gill interviews Erin Butte, the wife of Brian Butte, a schoolteacher who was defamed and slandered during his campaign against Joel Greenberg, Seminole County Tax Collector. Erin provides a detailed account of the harassment her family endured after Brian filed to run for office in 2019.
Erin recounts, “...nine days after my Husband filed to run. He was called into the headmaster's office... accused of raping a student...” (26:17). The false accusations were part of a broader smear campaign aimed at discrediting her husband, who was actively working against corruption within the tax collector’s office.
The couple faced severe personal and financial repercussions, including bankruptcy and homelessness. Erin emphasizes the systemic failures that allowed such injustices to occur: “...when you have this kind of smear and this kind of oversight at the local level, what you ultimately end up with is people like us who don't have... to make us whole again afterward” (36:11).
Erin also touches on the ongoing legal battles to identify and prosecute the true perpetrators behind the defamation, highlighting the challenges posed by limited transparency and unresponsive legal systems. She underscores the importance of local political engagement to prevent such abuses of power in the future.
Furthermore, Erin reveals her creative response to the trauma, collaborating on a dark comedy screenplay that portrays her family's ordeal, aiming to shed light on the absurdity and criminality of the events they faced.
Timestamp: 03:48 – 07:50
Alison reports that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his intention to resign as both Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister. He stated, “I intend to resign as party leader as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process” (03:48). Trudeau will remain in office until March 24, allowing a smooth transition to new leadership.
This move marks a significant shift in Canadian politics, suggesting internal party dynamics and possible responses to public sentiment may have influenced Trudeau’s decision.
Timestamp: 04:43 – 07:50
Dana Goldberg brings attention to the first reported human death from bird flu in Louisiana. She shares a cautionary observation based on her personal experience in Los Angeles, noting increased mask-wearing due to concurrent outbreaks of COVID, RSV, and the flu: “...please, especially if you're immunocompromised, wear a mask” (04:43).
Alison adds that the CDC is actively working on an H5N1 vaccine and reinforces the importance of masking to protect both individuals and the community: “It's not just for you. It's for everybody around you” (04:43).
Timestamp: 14:23 – 16:30
Breaking news reveals that the leader of the Oath Keepers, a Utah-based right-wing militia group, is a former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective named Robert Bobby Kinch. Jason Wilson at The Guardian details Kinch’s background and his advocacy for a race war, indicating a troubling trend of law enforcement officials joining extremist groups.
Dana Goldberg reacts vehemently, stating, “What Donald Trump did last night is a disgrace to the country and Constitution” (14:16), highlighting the dangerous convergence of former law enforcement personnel with extremist movements.
Timestamp: 16:30 – 19:27
President Joe Biden announced an executive action permanently banning offshore oil and gas development across 625 million acres of U.S. ocean waters, covering the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Bering Sea. Biden justified the move by stating, “...drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear” (16:30).
Dana Goldberg reports backlash from the oil industry, with Ron Neal of the Independent Petroleum Association of America calling the ban “...significant and catastrophic” (18:32). Additionally, Biden’s press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, criticized the ban as political retaliation: “...this is a disgraceful decision designed to exact act political revenge” (18:40).
Alison speculates on the political maneuvering behind the ban, suggesting Biden might embed it within a larger budget reconciliation bill to secure its permanence, despite incoming Trump administration’s intentions to overturn it.
The episode of The Daily Beans provides a comprehensive overview of significant political and social developments, interweaving hard-hitting news with personal stories of resilience and advocacy. The prominent inclusion of Erin Butte’s experiences underscores the podcast’s commitment to highlighting the human impact of political corruption and abuse. Through engaging discussions and poignant quotes, Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg deliver an informative and thought-provoking episode that encourages listeners to remain vigilant and active in local and national politics.
Notable Quotes:
Note: This summary excludes non-content segments such as advertisements and the "good news" segment to focus on the substantive discussions of the episode.