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Friday, August 8th, 2025 Today, nearly 2M are on unemployment - the highest number since the pandemic; the Air Force is denying retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from service; the US plans to ease human rights criticism of El Aalvador, Israel, and Russia; the VA just terminated union contracts including nursing; top Trump officials planned their Epstein cover up at the White House Wednesday night; Trump delayed a Medicare change after a private health company donation; the federal court filing system has been hit with a sweeping hack; immigrants who are crime victims awaiting visas now face deportation; a federal judge halts new construction at the Everglades concentration camp; and Jen Pawol will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular-season Major League Baseball game; and Allison delivers the good news. Dana is out and about.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. Today, nearly 2 million people are on unemployment, the highest number since the pandemic. The Air Force is denying retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from service. The United States plans to ease human rights criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia. The Department of Veterans affairs just terminated union contracts, including nursing. Top Trump officials planned their Epstein cover up at the White House Wednesday night. Trump delayed a Medicare change after a private health care company made a huge donation. The federal court filing system has been hit with a sweeping hack. Immigrants who are crime victims awaiting visas now face deportation. A federal judge has halted new construction at the Everglades concentration camp. And Jen Powell will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular season Major League baseball game. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey everybody, happy Friday. It's Fugal saying Fridays here on the Daily Beans, which means we'll be joined by by John Fugal sang in a little bit. Dana's out. She had some last minute travel plans, but she will be back Monday. So thanks for hanging with me solo. And also I just wanted to say if you're able to like all these podcasts are always free, but if you're able to support us and to support what we do, we would love for you to become a patron, which means you get these episodes the night before they come out to the public. You get them ad free. You get to come to our monthly happy hour Q and A meet and greet extravaganza, things that we have every month. You get pre sale tickets to events and stuff like that. And it's only three bucks a month. And you can join by going to patreon.com mullershiroad it would really help us out. All right, we have a ton of news to get to per usual, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from CNN, a much anticipated meeting between Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kosh Patel and Vice President J.D. vance and others was moved from Vance's house to the White House Wednesday night after intense media coverage. That's according to a source familiar. They discussed a number of topics, including the Epstein files and potential next steps. The meeting was originally planned to take place at Vance's D.C. home and was also supposed to include White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch. Now, the administration's handling of the Epstein case, as well as the need to craft a unified response was expected to be the main focus at dinner. So the president, vice President, Attorney General meeting to discuss how to get themselves out of the quagmire of the Epstein files. Meanwhile, I think we had 24 hour news coverage for two weeks when Bill Clinton bumped into Loretta lynch on a tarmac in 2016. So those days are long gone. So the Trump administration is weighing whether to publish an audio recording in a transcript of Todd Blanche's recent conversation with Epstein accomplice, convicted sex trafficker and known perjurer Ghislaine Maxwell. The meeting was also seen as a potential chance for Bondi and Patel, who have clashed over the Epstein case strategy, including in a contentious meeting with Susie Wiles and Dan Bongino to clear the air. Vance had tried to play peacemaker between Bondi, Patel and Bongino. Previously. Vance and his office denied on Wednesday that a meeting on Epstein was taking place at all. So this is just a sad attempt at a cover up of a cover up. This isn't going to go away, y'.
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John Fugelsang
All.
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Alison Gill
So I'm not sure what you're meaning and talking about other than what to redact and edit out of the transcripts and audio recording of that meeting between Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell. All right, up next from the Washington Post, leaked drafts of the State Department's long delayed annual human rights report indicates that the Trump administration intends to dramatically scale back US Government criticism of certain foreign nations with extensive records of abuse. The draft human rights report for El Salvador, Israel and Russia, copies of which were reviewed by the Post, are significantly shorter than the ones prepared last year by the Biden administration. They strike all references to LGBTQ individuals or crimes against them, and the descriptions of government abuses that do remain have been softened. The draft report for El Salvador, which at the Trump administration's urging has agreed to incarcerate migrants deported from the United States, says that the country has no credible reports of significant human rights abuses. The State Department's previous report for El Salvador identified significant human rights issues, including government sanctioned killings, instances of torture, and harsh and life threatening prison conditions. The internal guidance circulated by the State Department leaders earlier this year instructed diplomats responsible for drafting the reports to remove references to numerous potential human rights violations, including governments that had deported people to a country where they could face torture, crimes that involve violence against the LGBTQ community, and of course, government corruption. All the things that the Trump administration is guilty of. By the way, this is going to make it very difficult for folks from these countries to apply for asylum here. Just a note next up from the Associated Press, and this makes My blood boil. The Air Force said Thursday it's going to deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without any retirement benefits. The move means that transgender service members will now be faced with a choice of either taking a lump sum separation payment offered to junior troops or just be removed from service altogether. An Air Force spokesperson told the Associated Press that, quote, although service members with 15 to 18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to the policy, none of the exceptions to the policy were approved. About a dozen service members had been prematurely notified that they'd be able to retire before that decision was reversed, so they yanked it away. That's according to the spokesperson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The move comes after the Pentagon was given permission in early May by the corrupt Supreme Court to move forward with a ban on all transgender troops serving in the military. Days later, Defense Secretary Kegseth announced a policy that would offer currently open serving transgender troops the option to either volunteer to leave or take a large one time separation payout or be involuntarily separated at a later date. This is, I hope they sue. I really do. This cannot be constitutional. But we've seen this before, right? We saw them fire Andy McCabe 26 hours purportedly before he was supposed to be eligible for retirement. They miscalculated because they can't math, but that was the intention. And on Sunday, this coming Sunday on Unjustified, we're going to talk about Brian Driscoll, the Drizz Saint Drizz, who seemed, they seem to have held onto him until right before he hit his 20 year mark to fire him. Today's his last day. Now, a Pentagon official told reporters back in May they viewed the policy as treating anyone impacted by it with, quote, dignity and respect. But in late July, transgender troops told Military.com that they were finding the entire separation process, which has included reverting their service records back to their birth, gender, dehumanizing and open cruelty. So five time draft dodger and DUI hire from Fox News doing this to honorable people, honorable service members, is just beyond fucked up. And Thursday at the White House, during a Purple Heart award ceremony, Trump said, quote, what a great honor it is to get the Purple Heart. It wasn't that easy for me either when you really think of it. The guy who said avoiding STDs was his personal Vietnam, a guy whose dad paid a hack doctor money for five deferments. It wasn't that easy for me either. You know what? That's just disgusting. That's how he treats our troops and our veterans from nurse.org In a significant shift affecting about 360,000 healthcare workers, that's about 120,000 veterans the Department of Veterans affairs has severed ties with most federal unions, including the National Nurses Organizing Committee and the National Nurses United Labor Unions, terminating existing collective bargaining agreements effective August 6, 2025. August 6th is a peculiar date for me in my mind, because that's when they launched the VA launched their investigation into my podcast in 2019. This unprecedented move voids union contracts for about 80% of the VA's 450,000 person workforce who were previously represented by federal unions. For VA nurses, this decision eliminates long standing protections that have governed working conditions, staffing ratios, wage negotiations, wage workplace safety protocols and grievance procedures. The unions include the ones that are ending their contracts American Federation of Government Employees, AFL cio, National association of Government Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees, National Nurses Organizing Committee, National Nurses United and Service Employees International Union. The termination of union contracts coincides with the VA's plan to reduce its workforce by 30,000 people by the end of fiscal year 2025. According to the cited report, these reductions will occur primarily through attrition methods, including retirements, voluntary resignations and separation incentives rather than mass layoffs or RIFs because they know they can't do it legally. For VA nurses specifically, the combination of voided union contracts and workforce reductions raises several practical concerns. First, patient to nurse ratios are going to increase as positions remain unfilled following attrition. Second, without union advocacy, compensation packages and benefits may stagnate or decline. And third, workplace safety protocols, particularly important in psychiatric and emergency settings, may become more difficult to enforce. This is all going to lead to worse care for our veterans and the obvious horrible treatment of the employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs. And I personally got an email in my inbox as a veteran today telling me that Doug Collins is going to approve community care for a year at a time. Now, in what I can only describe as a brazen transfer of your taxpayer dollars to billionaires. So quickly, what happened back in 2014 that triggered the Choice act to be signed by Obama and passed by Congress? There was a wait list at the Phoenix va basically where veterans who went to the VA website who hadn't signed up for VA Healthcare could check a box saying they were interested in getting information and people had checked the box and no one had got back to them. And unfortunately some of those veterans had passed away so they passed the Choice act, which was to give a ton of money to the VA so they could build out more facilities and hire more staff for direct care. And in the meantime, while that, that, you know, because that is going to take a while. In the meantime, they approved veterans to go out to private healthcare providers in the community and have the VA pay for it. The problem with that is that, I mean, it's a good temporary fix, but it was only supposed to be temporary because when you go to a private healthcare provider, that provider can charge up to 115% of approved government rates. Medicare, they base it on Medicare rates. And also the wait times are longer and the healthcare outcomes aren't as good, especially for veterans, because the VA is tailored to their health care needs. Sure enough, that's what happened. The wait times were longer, the healthcare outcomes were not as good, and it was really expensive. Not just because the private providers could charge 115% of the regular government rate, but because there were third party private health conglomerate contractors that would be responsible for the administration and denials and reviews of these claims, like Health Net and triwest and United. And then additionally there were other third party contracts that would get paid per claim to just do the financial transaction. So a procedure that cost $1,000 would now cost $1,115 because of the ability to charge 115%. And then the third party vendor would get their money, as would UnitedHealthcare. So something that would normally cost $1,000 now is like $1,700. Like it's just a waste of taxpayer money for purchased care. And so now they've expanded private privatized healthcare at the VA to 65%. And the remaining care is, you can also now go to the community and they're approving it for a year at a time instead of reviewing it every three months to make sure that you're getting proper care. So they're just taking your tax dollars and giving it to United Healthcare and third party payment administrators and private providers. Much more expensive, worse health outcomes, longer wait times. That's why Republicans have been wanting to privatize this system. They want to take our tax dollars set aside for our veterans and take it for themselves. Now this next story is from the Post. The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for at least a week rose to the highest level since November 2021. In the latest sign of widening cracks in the labor market. Workers who've received benefits through the continued claims plan for unemployment Insurance jumped to 1.97 million in late July, up from 1.85 million in early January. That's according to Labor Department data released Thursday. New filings for unemployment claims remain low, rising by just 7,000 last week, but the figures reinforce the increasingly weaker labor market landscape. Even without a large pickup in layoffs, many Americans can't find new work and they're facing longer bouts of unemployment. A separate jobs report released last week showed that employers are hiring at close to the slowest pace in more than a decade, excluding the pandemic. The labor market has slowed because of the Trump administration's higher tariffs, federal spending cuts and aggressive immigration restrictions. Long awaited tariffs on dozens of countries took effect early Thursday, imposing sharper taxes on imports from dozens of countries that should get passed on to US Consumers and businesses, which further slows hiring and from the Times Oliver Burkhart came prepared for the dinner that President Trump hosted for a small group of major donors at Mar a Lago on March 1. A week earlier, one of Mr. Burkhart's biotech companies had donated $5 million to Maga Inc. A pro Trump political committee, and that paved the way for him to attend this event. At the dinner, Mr. Burkhart got a chance to speak briefly to the president and other guests about himself and the work of his company, Extremity Care, which makes pricey medical products including paper thin bandages made of dried bits of placenta, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. And he also brought copies of a flyer urging the Trump administration to reverse a plan to restrict Medicare reimbursement for these really expensive bandages, and criticizing former President Biden for having rammed through a policy that would create more suffering and death for diabetic patients on Medicare. The next morning, Trump posted their flyer on his social media site. It wasn't just symbolic because about a month later the Trump administration announced it would delay until next year. The Biden administration planned to limit Medicare's coverage of the bandages, saying that it was reviewing its policies. So sanctioned Medicare fraud for large dollar donors, basically. Next up from Politico, the electronic case filing system used by the federal judiciary has been breached in a sweeping cyber intrusion that is believed to expose sensitive court data across multiple US States. That's according to two people. The hack, which has not been previously reported, is feared to have compromised the identities of confidential informants involved in criminal cases at multiple federal district courts. Now, like you, my mind went directly to what folks might be after, what hackers might be after here, Russia investigation stuff, Trump crimes, Epstein files. But it seems to have missed. New York and D.C. chief judges of the federal courts in the 8th Circuit, which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, were briefed on the hack at a judicial conference last week in Kansas City. It's unclear who delivered the brief, though the director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts, Judge Robert Conrad Jr. Was in attendance, per the first person. The first source, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was also in attendance, but didn't address the breach in his remarks because I don't know. He was having brewskis in the corner with Tobin and Squee. I don't know. We'll see what develops. We'll keep an eye on this. And from NBC, Domingo Mendoza Mendez's eyes filled with tears as he says he hasn't seen his family since July 10, when he went to an appointment with U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement only to be detained. Quote, I'm in the process for a U visa and they detained me, but I don't know why. I'm following all their rules. That's what Mendez said. A 45 year old Mexican immigrant in a video call with Noticias Telemundo from the Freeborn County Correctional Facility In Minnesota in 2013, Mendez, who had crossed the border 13 years earlier, was a victim of a violent robbery in Minnesota which was recorded and investigated by police. The type of assault he suffered included in the U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services list of crimes. It's included in that list that qualify people for a U visa, which is a measure designed for victims of criminal acts in the US who agree to help authorities investigate crime. Help us get these bad guys and we'll give you a U visa. However, as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, some immigrants who've applied and are in the process of waiting for a U visa, they've actually used this to detain them. Quote, I feel sad. I'm trying to gather my strength, but there's so many things happening here. Many of us are having our rights violated. That's what he said. Married, father of three, adding that he's been in the process of obtaining this visa since 2021. Magdalena Matelska, the immigration attorney handling the Mendoza Mendez case, said that other administrations didn't take coercive measures against victims applying for U visas. But that has changed with the Trump administration. Now if someone has a visa pending and even been given a work permit notification like Mendoza Mendez, quote, it doesn't really matter because these people are being arrested and detained. In April, Jose Madrid Leyva, a Guatemalan immigrant who was waiting for a U visa was detained in Kansas City. And that same month, Guatemalan immigrant Gerber Davila, who was applying for a U visa, was detained by ICE in Atlanta. In June, Esvin Juarez and Rosemary Miranda Lopez, a Guatemalan couple with four children whose U visa application had been approved, were detained and deported. The U visa was created in the year 2000 through the victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection act and is reserved for victims of certain crimes who have suffered physical or mental harm and who can cooperate with law enforcement or government officials, quote, in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. The U visa, quote, is a humanitarian benefit, but it's also a law enforcement tool. That's what Hannah Shapiro said, supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society, which provides legal help to low income families and individuals, quote, it requires the individual to cooperate in an investigation or prosecution related to the visa, qualifying offenses which can be recent or have occurred several years ago. She added the visa was designed to make communities safer by incentivizing undocumented survivors of domestic abuse and other crimes like human trafficking to contact police and cooperate in investigations, thus help making abusers and traffickers accountable. Again, they don't care about the victims. They don't care about human trafficking because they are the human traffickers. Another massive betrayal. Besides using their tax information, using their Medicaid and Medicare information. Now victims of crimes applying for U visas in the system are being targeted. All right. And we need to shift to some better news. This is from the Post. A federal judge in Miami on Thursday ordered the construction to be paused at Florida's, quote, alligator Alcatraz, the first state run detention center, I call it a concentration camp opened to accommodate the Trump administration's arrest of immigrants. The ruling by U.S. district Judge Kathleen Williams for the two week halt to the new construction at the facility in the Everglades followed a hearing in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and joined by the Miccosukee tribe. Tell me if I mispronounce that quote. We're pleased that the judge saw the urgent need to put a pause on additional construction and we look forward to advancing our ultimate goal of protecting the unique and imperiled Everglades ecosystem from further damage caused by this mass detention facility. That's Eve Samples, executive director at Friends of the Everglades, in a statement. And at that hearing, Joe Namath sat in the back because his daughter is an environmental advocate for the Everglades and was testifying in that hearing. All right, some more good news. This is from MLB.com Jen Powell will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular season Major League Baseball game. Powell will ump three games during this weekend's Marlins Braves series in Atlanta, including both ends of Saturday's doubleheader and the series finale on Sunday, when she'll be behind home plate. The doubleheader necessitated adding a fifth umpire to the crew. Since each home plate umpire skips the other game, they're not working. Quote this historic accomplishment in baseball is a reflection of Jen's hard work, dedication and love of the game. That's Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred went on to say. She has earned this opportunity and we're proud of the strong example she has set, particularly for all the women and young girls who aspire to roles on the field. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my congratulations to Jen and her family on this milestone. Congratulations. All right, everybody, we've got some good trouble, but it's actually going to be part of the good news, which we will get to right after my chat with John Fugelsang, which is up next. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
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John Fugelsang
We'll be right back.
- [24:22]
Alison Gill
Hey everybody, I'm so excited to tell you about our new sponsor, Koyuchi. Koyuchi is in a league of its own when it comes to bedding, bath and home products and their organ crinkled percale sheet set is the key to a cooler, healthier sleep year round. I've always cared about what goes on my body, but I hadn't thought much about what goes on my bed and Koichi changed that for me and I started using their organic crinkled percale sheets a few weeks ago. They're amazing. I absolutely love them. And we have a deal from you from Koiuchi. You can get 15% off when you visit Koiuchi.com DailyBeans now the first thing I noticed was the packaging. It was completely recycled, plastic free. And then there was the fabric. It was soft. It's soft and breathable. It's cool to the touch. I especially love that I didn't have to iron it. The texture is subtly crinkled and it always looks great. Koiuchi is built on 35 years of experience and you can tell their products are certified free from toxins made from organic sustainable materials and with every wash they get softer and cozier without losing their shape or strength. Also, they don't hang on to cat fur, which is really, really helpful in my house. And I also respect that Koyuchi uses low impact dyes and they even run factories that recycle 90% of their wastewater. It is such a cool company. You guys and their products are so amazing. It's like a spa experience. Like I'm at a four star, four star hotel. It's really, really awesome. And it feels good to know that the sheets I sleep in are not only luxurious, but good for the planet and my health. This is the kind of home upgrade that ends up improving your whole day. So if you want healthy, handcrafted luxury bedding that lasts a lifetime, you need Koyuchi. And you can get 15% off when you visit coyuchi.comdailybeans that's coyuchi.com dailybeans to get 15% off. That's c o y u c h I.com dailybeans. You'll be glad you did. Hey everybody, welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans, which means it's Fugal Sang Friday. So I'm being joined by my very good, handsome, amazingly coiffed friend who hosts Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127 weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. If you don't have that, you can always listen to the John Fugal Sang show podcast. Don't have that. You can always read the John Fugelsang sub stack.
- [26:36]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, do that.
- [26:37]
Alison Gill
And if you don't have that, he's got a book coming out in September on the 9th called the separation of Church and Hate. A very long awaited book with the best blurbs in the business. Please welcome John Fugelsang.
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John Fugelsang
Thank my quaff. And I thank you. Alison. What a pleasure.
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Alison Gill
It's, you know, always a pleasure. And I, I want to talk a little bit about the final 10 months of Stephen Colbert.
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John Fugelsang
Sure.
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Alison Gill
And how he is and I think south park too, after getting their $1.4 billion deal with Paramount, are just going scorched earth on this administration. Last night, Stephen Colbert referred to RFK Jr. In response to him canceling $500 million in vaccine research. He referred to him as well. First he said fuck you and then flipped off the camera and called him a Roy Adult Nepo carny roadkill munching luddite human Slim Jim and I just hats off.
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John Fugelsang
Lovely.
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Alison Gill
Hats off to Colbert.
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John Fugelsang
This is how it's going to be done. Look, I am so tired of the capitulating weasel train. It's really great. Let's all go down to Mar a Lago, folks, on the capitulating weasel train. Oh, look, there's the Scarboroughs oh, wow, there's Mark Zuckerberg. Hey, what's under his feet? Foot. Oh, Lindy Lee, how nice to see you.
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Alison Gill
Right?
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John Fugelsang
I mean, Lindy Lee. So over Columbia University and Paramount and ABC and all the capitulating weasels. Listen, the future belongs to people who are going to stand up against this because this thing is not going to end well. There's no. Dr. Strange can't find 14 million scenarios where this ends well for the Republican Party or Donald Trump or are like, he's not going to suddenly become smart. He's not going to get hit on the head and become competent or a good person who cares about the less fortunate. We already know how this thing's going to end. So you can angle for short term gain right now, or you can be on the right side of history and call these rat bastards out. So, yeah, what south park did has been fantastic. South park, my God, they've moved my heart like the Superman movie moved my heart this year. I mean, what they've done has been so intensely moral and yet still totally, totally funny. In old school South Park, Colbert is showing how it's done as well. And we're gonna see more of this in politicians and in corporations and in universities and in artists. I mean, again, I keep saying it like, this White House in six months has already made me feel sorry for the Wall Street Journal, the Catholic Bishops and Harvard University. Alison, there's gonna be all kinds of weird good guys popping up from this, but, yeah, you have to fight back hard on this because we know how it's gonna end. We knew with Bush and Cheney that they were lying about Iraq. We knew their economic plans wouldn't work. Some people got terrified into silence. But I'm proud of everybody who kept loud because we were proven right by history. We were proven right by history. In Trump's first term, we're going to be proven right again. So why snuff out your own fire just to protect people who are wrong about things?
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Alison Gill
Yeah.
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John Fugelsang
And when it comes to RFK Jr. I mean, I was. I was thrilled that Stephen did that because, I mean, I think the Department of Health and Human Services is now, like, in a Whole Foods parking lot at this point. But this COVID vaccine we had is the one successful thing Donald Trump had from his first term. And could there be anything more Trumpian than him running away from the one true success of his first term? This was the greatest medical breakthrough of the century. We were like, learning about zoom funerals and having to learn how to pronounce IVERMECTIN and hydroxychloroquine. And I mean, you remember what it was like five years ago. The morgues were full, we were spraying Amazon boxes with Lysol. And then suddenly this revolutionary medical leap that was achieved through global cooperation and science and billions in research, and it saved millions and millions and millions of lives and laid the foundation for future vaccines for everything from the flu to. To cancer. And now it's gone because this, this vaccine skeptic, this clown, this, this, the steroid addled Nepo baby has canceled 500 million in MRNA research contracts. And I mean, like, literally, literally, it worked. Like, we're not losing 3,000Americans per day anymore because this science worked.
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Alison Gill
14.4 million lives were saved.
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John Fugelsang
Human. This, this, I mean, RFK is, he's. I think he's like a Reddit comment section that's come to life. Like, like, why not put a flat earther in charge of NASA? So his, he, he, he doesn't want to follow science. He follows his gut. His diseased, dope soaked gut. The same gut that thinks vaccines are microchip cocktails and I wi fi makes you gay. But I mean, it's this whole thing. It's like the FDA invented insulin and then hired a werewolf to manage it. And everyone knows they're wrong. Everyone knows they're crazy. And we all know how this thing ends. We see this coming like Covid at a Sturgis rally. I mean, RFK Jr. Can't stop lying when it comes to public health. Historians of the future need to know we're not all this dumb, but it's going to be really, really bad for the next couple of years. And look at this. As America under Trump, we created a miracle, and we're mad that the miracle worked too well.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. All right, I'm gonna do a choose your own adventure here because you mentioned three things that three directions we could go in and we'll cover all three things, but I'm interested in what we could cover.
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John Fugelsang
First, so much fuckery and malfeasance.
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Alison Gill
First, you mentioned Superman, which reminded me of Dean Cain. And we can talk about them removing the age limit for people who want to sign up to be ICE agents. Second, you mentioned fighting back hard. And I want to talk about gerrymandering because a lot of people are saying Democrats shouldn't gerrymander, but I don't think what Democrats want to do is gerrymandering. It's the Republicans that are gerrymandering. And it's like, it's like how Assault is not self defense and vice versa. Yeah, I think that. And then the third is you talked about the capitulators and I want to talk, I also want to talk about the, the dinner for schmucks that was supposed to happen at JD Vance's house but then got canceled and then happened at the White house apparently without J.D. vance. So you choose J.D. vance, Dean Cain or gerrymandering.
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John Fugelsang
I mean, we can do gerrymandering, I guess, but I love all these topics, especially Superman. But I mean, we can talk about the gerrymandering because, I mean, what they're doing out in the open in Texas, it's just so shocking that these guys don't seem to think history is going to record what's happening here. I mean, like, they treat democracy like an expired coupon and now they're tired of voters picking their own politicians. So the politicians are trying to pick their own voters. Like, I mean, we're watching this happen in real time. Are you shocked by this? It's Jim Crow with a gps. Trump said do it and now they're just doing it. They're trying to crack all the diverse urban centers like Dallas and Houston, like they're cutting a fish.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. And now he wants to do a middle decade census.
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John Fugelsang
Yeah.
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Alison Gill
Oh, yeah. And not count the persons in the United States as the, as the Constitution requires, but just the citizens.
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John Fugelsang
Oh, yeah.
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Alison Gill
Which he failed at with this Supreme Court in his first term, if you remember, he wanted to add a citizenship question to the census and he failed at that. And now he wants to do not just add a citizenship question, but he wants to do it mid decade, which is also against the Constitution.
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John Fugelsang
Yes.
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Alison Gill
And seemingly a losing battle. But the outcome, I don't think is always the point when it comes to what this administration and the corporate.
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John Fugelsang
Very good point.
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Alison Gill
Cooperative media does with, with this information.
- [34:01]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I mean, there's a lot of debate going back and forth over what the Democrats should do. And I really am actually a fan of this debate because I know that two wrongs don't make a right. But doing nothing when a wrong has happened loses the House. And so, you know, like it would be. It's easy for Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hogle to say, oh, well, we're going to rejig our own, our own districts and we'll create five minutes. Well, we'll create five new votes for our state right here. I mean, obviously, yes, it's very dangerous to hear that they want to do this and, and it's so scary, but I kind of feel like Democrats have to. We want them to fight back, right? Well, are they going to fight back or not? I don't want to see this redistricting der where every state is trying as much as they can to. To. To rig the election so only one party can rule in each state. But, I mean, Abbott is trying literally to arrest legislators for not helping him steal more seats, and they're trying to redraw maps that would give the Republicans control of 80% of the House seats. I mean, and it's not about maps. It's about power. It's about hoarding it and rigging it. And these Democrats who have left Texas are inspiring me so much because they're gaining nothing from this protest. These new maps don't even affect their own seats. These Democrats are risking their jobs and their reputation and now their freedom and liberty to protect the rest of Texans right to a fair vote. And they're terrified that Gavin Newsom might fight back. I mean, my God, these guys are. These Democrats are, Are. They're buying time for democracy for every American who's sick of hearing your vote counts, your vote counts. Well, do they? Then show us you mean it because they're trying to gerrymander us back into another hostage situation. People keep saying, what are the Democrats doing to stop fascism? Look at these Texas Democrats, right? They're doing it, and it's happening out in plain sight. And gerrymandering is not popular. But it just shows to me, Allison, and I think the story the media is missing here is this is how terrified these Republicans are that 18 months before the midterms they're fighting this hard to rig Texas. I mean, the tariff money hasn't even started hurting the Walmarts that bad yet. Imagine how bad the economic landscape's gonna look a year from now if they're this scared already. This is Texas they're doing this to, right?
- [36:22]
Alison Gill
And we keep seeing in special election after special election, I mean, I think somebody just won a Rhode island state legislature race with an 82 percentage point win, like, like a 50 point blowout. And so, you know, before it was like a 30 point. So it's. It's been demo, you know, a Democrat seat, but it's really, really a Democrat seat now.
- [36:45]
John Fugelsang
And the other thing is that Donald Trump is never running for office again, right? So let's just remember this is the reality show. White Trash Aristocrat President. There's folks who voted because Mr. Apprentice TV program was on the ballot. There's people who would not normally come down from the mountains to vote, and they won't be coming down from the mountains to vote in 2026. Like, they didn't come down in 2022, and they didn't come down in 2018 when Mr. Trump wasn't on the ballot himself. So these Republicans are really facing a very interesting choice. They can remain obedient to Trump, which at this point buys them nothing, or they can start thinking about what the world's going to look like when Trump is gone, which could be any day now if his arteries keep doing what they appear to be doing with such ferocity.
- [37:28]
Alison Gill
Yeah, yeah, I, I agree. It's, it's, you know, I've long said, like, look, if somebody's assaulting me and I punch them back, I did not assault them.
- [37:38]
John Fugelsang
So much for the tolerant left, Alice and punching back. Your, your poor assaulter. Exactly right. Look, I don't like it either, but we want to see these guys fight back. And that's going to require all of the above from all of us, not just waiting for Democrats or the media or celebrities to do it.
- [37:52]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And if it's illegal, the Supreme Court won't let anyone do it. And then we're right back where we were.
- [37:56]
John Fugelsang
We'll see about that. We'll see about that, too. But just remember, I've got to keep saying it. The Democrats who fight the hardest and resist the most are going to dominate the fundraising next year. And that seems to be what these parties care about.
- [38:08]
Alison Gill
Yeah, agreed. All right, let's talk about the, the ice caps melting. They have removed the cap on the age where you can sign up to be an ice agent. And I think Temu, Superman, Dean Cain says he's going to join. I don't know if they're going to also lower the, you know, the physical standards because, you know, you used to be. You had to do a certain amount of push ups and a certain amount of sit ups and all that other stuff. There were other standards as well.
- [38:37]
John Fugelsang
Right.
- [38:38]
Alison Gill
That may have to be lowered or removed or changed.
- [38:40]
John Fugelsang
No, they, they've actually lowered it quite a bit. You just have to be a bully and a coward at the same time. Okay. You have to be a thug and you have to be a dickless chicken shit coward at the same time to join ice. So it's, they've really streamlined it, Allison. You can, you can wear a mask and beat people up.
- [38:57]
Alison Gill
Now that they're backing you up in a Penske truck right into the Home Depot parking lot. You don't really need to have that physical fitness to run a quarter of a mile or anything like that.
- [39:05]
John Fugelsang
Exactly right. Especially from this president who needs a golf cart to get to his golf cart.
- [39:09]
Alison Gill
How do you get on the roof?
- [39:14]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, exactly. Someone. I mean, it's just every day it's like, oh, close your rope, racist grandpa. But I mean, in the middle of all of this, Trump said that he's going to keep on deporting criminals, but they're going to work with the farmers to find a solution for their workers. In other words, he's going to exempt deportations for the agricultural sector. Like they're going to scream, illegals are running America right up till the second their strawberries stop showing up at Whole Foods. It's peak white nationalist capitalism. It's like his marriages. It's cruel and it's short sighted and it's full of exceptions so he doesn't have to follow the rules. Like they're literally going to say it's okay for you job creators in agriculture to keep on hiring your illegals because we care about our low prices. They're acknowledging that exploitation of undocumented labor is what keeps our prices so low. They're fine with undocumented immigrants as long as they're brown and bent over in a field, not brown and voting somewhere in a swing state.
- [40:10]
Alison Gill
Right. Which they don't.
- [40:12]
John Fugelsang
They don't, they can't, they can't register.
- [40:15]
Alison Gill
Right. But, but we're not going to count them in the mid decade census even though the Constitution requires it and even though that's how, you know, they got power after the Civil War was to count slaves in the South.
- [40:30]
John Fugelsang
Yes, but that's what they're doing now. If you're undocumented but you're safe because you work in agriculture, that's not a deportation policy, that's a plantation policy.
- [40:39]
Alison Gill
Yes, yes, thank you for saying that. All right. Finally, dinner with schmucks was canceled at J.D. vance's house so that they could, you know, get together and strategize how they were going to cover up Epstein files.
- [40:52]
John Fugelsang
They strategize how they're not strategizing anything and everything's fine and they're not covering.
- [40:56]
Alison Gill
And they, they didn't want to tell anybody about it. So I think somebody said it's a cover up of a cover up.
- [41:00]
John Fugelsang
Oh, it's, it's, it's a, it's, we're going to, it's a hoax and we're going to block its release because it's a hoax. Yeah, I mean this is not going away, Dr. Gibble, you know that, right? Like, like this is never going away.
- [41:12]
Alison Gill
I'm trying to do my part.
- [41:13]
John Fugelsang
It's never going away. How could it ever go away? Because they're never going to release names. I mean, they can't release names like, like these are donors to both parties. They won't do it. They can try and have some kind of list from Gileain Maxwell where they're going to have like, I don't know, 10 dummy names that they think that they can just put up and release and all of those individuals are going to sue our government for slander. I mean, we're going to be paying on class action lawsuits between immigration and next innocent Epstein names they release to cover for Trump for the rest of our lives. But it's just like the, it's just like the gerrymandering. They are panicking. They are panicking and they're so scared and that's why they're just throwing up so many distractions. It's going to be taking away Rosie's citizenship today. Tomorrow it's going to be, hey, let's put up more, more statues honoring white supremacist confederates in Arlington. Like they just put two.
- [42:03]
Alison Gill
Removing habeas corpus from the website, the Constitution website.
- [42:06]
John Fugelsang
Oh, yeah, right away. Both of them back again. They can't stop. They are terrified. So this whole thing of sending Donald Trump, sending Todd Blanch, his hush money criminal defense lawyer down, I mean, it's like the Godfather sending Tom Hagen to cut a deal with the lady pimp. I never knew how classy Watergate was. This is like Watergate is a grindhouse porno. But they're going to cut this woman's sentence down from 20 years to say five. They'll give her a beach house and they'll put out, you know, some more distractions here. But it's never going away. Donald Trump's name will always be in these files. And I think we talked about this last week. But the oligarchs are turning on Trump. I don't worry about maga, when they're going to lose faith anymore. I'm thinking about when the owners of this country are national landlords. They're done with this guy. They got their crypto bill, they got their deregulation, they got their insane tax cut. They don't need Trump anymore. He might as well be JD Vance or one of the Bush boys. Doesn't make a difference anymore. When Rupert Murdoch reports on this Jeffrey Epstein birthday card and Trump sues Murdoch for 20 billion. And Murdoch responds by releasing the story that Pam Bondi told Trump in May he was in the Epstein files. They're not afraid of Trump. They're not afraid of his lawsuits. They may be done with him. When Fox News starts treating Trump the way Murdoch's newspaper is treating Trump, we'll know this is on.
- [43:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. All right, my friend, it's always a wonderful pleasure to talk to you.
- [43:33]
John Fugelsang
Aw, shucks.
- [43:34]
Alison Gill
I hope everyone continues to listen to the important things you have to say. They can do that by tuning into Sirius XM progress channel 127 on weeknights, 9pm eastern, 6 Pacific for tell me everything. Or listen to your podcast Jon Feiglsang show podcast. Or buy your book Separation of Church and Hate, available for pre order now.
- [43:52]
John Fugelsang
I'm so busy. I'm so busy.
- [43:53]
Alison Gill
Or check out your substack. I mean, everything that you're doing. Thank you so much.
- [43:57]
John Fugelsang
All of this. Yeah, please. Definitely. And I'm always dancing in the clubs, too. Come watching my moves. Thank you guys so much for having me.
- [44:05]
Alison Gill
No problem. We'll see you next Friday, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone?
- [44:14]
John Fugelsang
Then good news, everyone.
- [44:29]
Alison Gill
Good news. And if you have any little bit of good news, please send it to us. We need to microdose that. Hope you might brighten just somebody's day. You always brighten mine. So please send it to us. If you have a shout out to a loved one or maybe a small business in your area that could use a boost, a self shout out, maybe tell us about your thesis or dissertation title. We would love to hear about that. Anything you're working on. Maybe you're crocheting or knitting or quilting or painting or doing some music. We want to hear about what you're creating and making because we know we have a lot of makers who listen to this show. If you have a great nonprofit that you work for or support that you would like to shine a light on, we would love to share that information. If you've got a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a family member, we'd love to hear about that, too. Please send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And all you got to do to get your good news right on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. If you don't have a pet, you can attach a photo of an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find him a home. If you don't have that, just really grab any photo off the Internet Animals, especially baby animals. If you have family photos that you want to send, maybe you've got baby pictures of your babies or yourself as a baby. Maybe some awkward family photos. Those are always fun bird watching photos, which can be an actual bird, or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to trump or musk or their properties. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. First up is our Good Trouble today. It's from Nancy Pronouns. She and her hello Beans Queens My good trouble is for Minnesota State Fair visitors, which starts on August 21st. Action for Liberty has a contest for anyone taking a selfie with their Walls Lies sign. Like as in Tim Walls. Sure would be a shame if they had to sift through a bunch of nonsense contributions. We in the Bagpipe Band make it a habit of playing Scotland the Brave when we walk past the GOP booth for Pet Tax. I'm including these kitties I saw at Petco on Ford Parkway. I was super tempted, but I already have two Chaos Gremlins at home. So everybody, Petco on Ford Parkway. These kitties are adorable and I think we're going to have a link in the show Notes to Action for Liberty where you can submit anything but a selfie of you next to a Walls Lies sign. Feel free to send in whatever you like. All right, next up from Patty B. Pronoun. She and her hello Fabulous Women. I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that Fontainebleau Casino in Las Vegas is pronounced Fontainebleau. My authoritative source is an old friend who is in management there and who I spent some time with last week. That's a segue to my good news. I just got home from a fabulous week in Vegas at a social poker gathering with about a hundred wonderful people. This is my 30th consecutive year at this event and I count many of the attendees among my dearest friends. It was great to catch up, recharge, and mostly avoid the political insanity for a while. There's nothing like being surrounded by people you love and who love you back. To put things back into perspective, I offer a few things for Pod, Pet and Bird Watch. First is a bat signal that mysteriously appeared on the ceiling of my hotel room one day. I never managed to figure out where it was coming from, but it was cool. The second is a twofer from my Archives. I live in a loft in a converted warehouse. Neat. And many years ago, I woke up to some incredibly weird noises coming from downstairs. Some from my cats, and some noises were puzzling. When I stumbled downstairs, I discovered that a mourning dove had somehow flown in through my creaky old windows. The cats had no idea what to do with this strange turn of events, so they just stared at the invader with a mix of curiosity and puzzlement until it eventually found its way outside. The little calico girl is purring at me while I type this, but we lost her brother a couple years ago. And finally, here's a Trump bird from another recent Vegas visit. I can't resist flipping the bird at that gaudy monstrosity every opportunity. Thank you, Allison and Dana and everyone else who works to create the most excellent podcast. You make me Smarter. Okay, Great bird, great tattoo you've got there. Kitties and a mourning dove and a bat signal on the ceiling. That is so crazy. Oh, and by the way, when we talked about fountain blue, I just want to. I just want to be clear, because somebody sent an email, said, please don't make fun of the French accent. I apologize. I was not trying to mock the French. Y' all are way better than what we've got going on here. So I love the French, and I admire the French and anyone who speaks French anywhere in the world. I just wanted to point that out. I. I apologize for that. All right, next up, from Lori. Pronouns, she and her. Hello, Queens of the beans. I want to share a sweet, ducky tale and a shout out to my wonderful husband and neighbor. While I was. Is your husband and neighbor different people? It's me, Laura. You're making it sound like your husband is your neighbor, which I. I think that's a great arrangement. While I was away, my husband was walking our dog and came upon a duck just hanging out calmly on a corner near our suburban house. He asked neighbors about it and learned that the duck, who they named Giovanni, had been hanging out there for two days. Neighbors had put out food and water and tried to find the owner, with no success. They called the local shelter, which would accept the duck if someone could capture it and bring it in. Giovanni seemed friendly, but would not let anyone near enough to capture him. My husband went home and got his fishing net. With that, he was able to scoop up Giovanni. However, he had had a couple of beers and didn't feel comfortable driving, so our wonderful neighbor Wendy offered to drive him and Giovanni to the shelter. When they arrived, the shelter had an enclosure ready for the duck, and after checking him in, they came back and said he's a young Muscovy duck. Muscovy, Muscovy. And they showed a sweet video of Giovanni happily splashing and paddling around in a kiddie pool. He will hang out at the shelter for a few days in the hopes that his owner will claim him. But even more good news, another neighbor who has a pond is happy to give Giovanni a home if he's not reunited with his family. He is the sweetest little duck. He didn't like the few moments he was in the net, but otherwise he was totally chill and happy during his brief time hanging out in our hood. So everything is ducky. And I'm so grateful to my husband and neighbor for this happy outcome. For Pet Tax, I give you my sweet dog Olive, who is a Boston Terrier French Bulldog mix. Olive makes us smile every day with her antics and her cuddles. She considers herself quite the guard dog and the attached picture shows her on the lookout for squirrels, crows, and the suspicious mail carrier who roams our neighborhood almost every day. I love that description of your mail carrier. And there's the duck. Beautiful. Oh, it's so cool that you caught the duck and you're gonna find that duck a home regardless. And the Boston Terrier mix is adorable too. All right, next up from Anonymous Pronoun she and her hi beans ladies. The conversation in the good news about what a ballast is made me finally write in a kind of shout out to y'. All. A couple of my children are dyslexic as well as some other neurodivergencies. They listen to the podcast with me and they have so many good conversations about what's going on in the world because of y'. All. Anyway, I absolutely love how y' all work through pronunciations and definitions and things like that without editing it out. It's such a good concrete example to all of us working through what we don't know of, not just giving up or digging our feet in and refusing to budge from our first impressions of a situation. I love this, especially for my oldest kid who similarly struggles with her dyslexia, making reading and pronouncing words more difficult. It makes her feel less alone and a little less kid ish in her struggles. When obviously smart and competent adults model things like this, it's a bit of good news. Podpet Tariff Meet our new kitty. He has been such a wonderful new addition to our family. I've watched my youngest ADHD wild child slow down to be more gentle than I've ever seen him be with a cat. And my older girl who struggles socially now has someone who will always listen and snuggle with her. Same. Same daughter, same. He is the chillest, most snuggly cat and in my completely biased opinion, the cutest. Thank you for that. I never thought about that. Working through those pronunciations and words we've never heard of. Yeah, I guess that would be good modeling. So thank you for that. Anonymous this kitten is adorable. Looks like one of the floppy kittens, which I love. I love floppy kittens. Love the rainbow shirt, beautiful big eyes. You're right, this is one of the cutest cats. I mean, mine are the cutest, but you know, we put them up on the same plane for sure. All right, next up from Anonymous pronoun She and her I heard about the food bank. So what else on your podcast? I'm a longtime listener, so my husband and I volunteered to pick up food donations from a mapped route. When the person at the food bank sent out texts to organize the volunteers, they asked if there were any members of the Laguminati. I replied in the affirmative. I'm sure the other folks in the text group wondered what in the world that was, and it made me lol. The employee also asked if I'd like a personal tour of the warehouse. It was a great experience. Controlled chaos at the warehouse, but the food bank is doing great, efficient work. I was really impressed with how much fresh produce they're able to supply folks in need. Me too, when I toured that warehouse. I've sometimes wondered where my place is in this resistance. And this I can do. And thanks for mentioning it on your show. That's so cool. Yeah, my pal Chris said that there were some Leguminati who came and volunteered to drop off donations and pick up donations from other houses. So thank you so much. Y' all are so amazing. All right, next up from Anonymous, no pronouns given. This is our last submission for the week. What if we all joined ICE and sabotaged it from the inside, took the bonuses and put it toward humanitarian efforts? ICE could hire the people who destroy it. Kind of like how America elected the people who are trying to destroy it. For my pet tax a couple of German shepherd dogs that are available to adopt from west side German Shepherds in Los Angeles. We'll have a link in the show. Notes don't just walk in. They have an online application process before you can meet the dogs. But here are these beautiful German shepherd dogs available for adoption and they are adorable. Thank you for that. Anonymous. You know, I thought about that. I thought about applying for ice since they removed the age cap and since the ice cap is melting. Haha. But I think my social media would probably disqualify me. I think they know who I am. Yeah, I was anonymous for a long time, but not so much anymore. Anyway, thank you all so much for your good news. Really appreciate it. Thanks for the pets, thanks for the chats, thanks for the good news stories, and thanks for the kind words about modeling mispronunciations and definitions. That's something I hadn't thought of. Thank you so much. And I'm glad we leave those moments in too. Anyway, y' all are amazing and thank you so much. If you want to become a patron again, it would really help us out. Who knows what's going to be happening to the media landscape in the near future. So if you can, if you can, only if you can swing it, go to patreon.com mullershiro and if you can't, you can actually sign up to get a donated year long membership. It's by going to DailyBeansPod.com, click on Patrons Helping Patrons and there you can either buy a year long membership for a new member of The Leguminati, it's 36 bucks for the whole year, or you can sign up on the list to get one. And we've had thousands of of donated memberships because people who listen to this podcast are the best people in the world. That's all there is to it. All right, Dana's going to be back in your ears on Monday. Thanks for hanging in with me solo. We're going to have Unjustified with me and Andy McCabe on Sunday. If you're a cleanup on aisle 45 patron, you'll get the bonus episode this weekend. And then of course, if you're a Beans patron, you get a weekly wrap up bonus episode. You get all of the articles that I cite in all of the news stories that I do all week if you're a patron and we'll have that probably on Saturday. So thank you all so much for listening. Again. Like I said, we'll be back with the Beans on Monday, Dana in tow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your framily. I've been AG 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.