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The Daily Beans
Dumb And Dangerous (feat. Adam Klasfeld)
01:11:27
Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 Today, the Pentagon announces the 8th service member death in the Iran War; Republican Kevin Kiley from California is leaving the Republican party to run as an Independent; two people were taken into custody after a pair “suspicious devices” were ignited Saturday during anti-Islam protests outside of Gracie Mansion; US intelligence intercepted messages that Iran may be be activating sleeper cells; Anthropic AI is suing the Pentagon over their supply chain risk designation; Senator Tim Kaine regrets voting to confirm Kristi Noem but doesn’t seem committed to voting no on Markwayne; an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York says prison guards discussed covering up Epstein’s death; and Allison and Dana read your Good News.
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- [00:01]
Allison Gill
Hi, I'm Frances Collier. And I'm Angela V. Shelton. And we're Frangela. You know what you mean in your life. The Final Word podcast. Yes, you do.
- [00:10]
Adam Klassfeld
That's right.
- [00:11]
Allison Gill
It is the final word on all things political and pop cultural, where we make real news, real funny, where we inspire you so you can resist. Subscribe and get a new episode of the Final Word podcast each week. It's the news we think you need to hear.
- [00:26]
Dana Goldberg
That's right. We think you need to hear it.
- [00:28]
Allison Gill
Okay. Yeah. It's what we say.
- [00:30]
Dana Goldberg
So. That's right.
- [00:31]
Allison Gill
And because all we do is give. Every Thursday, you can listen to our hysterical podcast, idiot of the week. We round up the stupid. Because you know what? Somebody has to. Okay. All we do is give MSW media.
- [00:53]
Adam Klassfeld
News whis. Daily beans. Daily beans. Daily beans. Daily beans.
- [01:09]
Allison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, March 10, 2026. Today, the Pentagon announces the 8th Service Member Death in the Iran war. Republican Kevin Kylie from California is leaving the Republican Party to run as an independent. But I think he has ulterior motives. Two people were taken into custody after a pair of suspicious devices were ignited Saturday during an anti Islam protest outside of Gracie Mansion. US Intelligence intercepted messages that Iran may be activating sleeper cells. Anthropic AI is suing the Pentagon over their supply chain risk designation. Senator Tim Kaine says he's sorry that he voted to confirm Kristi Noem, but doesn't seem committed on voting no on Mark Twain. And an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in New York says they overheard prison guards discussing covering up Epstein's death. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:57]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [02:03]
Allison Gill
So just a few things going on in the news today, huh?
- [02:06]
Dana Goldberg
And color me not surprised. That's a color right in the Crayola box.
- [02:10]
Allison Gill
It is. I'm not surprised. It's like it's in the 64 box.
- [02:13]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [02:14]
Allison Gill
The big one that comes with the sharpener. Yeah. Trump is learning that it's very difficult to walk back a war. He's trying to do that on TV right now as we speak in a press conference later in the show today. Something really big happened today, especially if you're a longtime beans listener or even going back to the Mueller she wrote days. I'll be talking to Adam Klassfeld about Donald Trump's Department of Justice offering a deferred prosecution, which a judge still has to approve on the old hulkbank Turkey's hulkbank indictment. Okay. This was something that Trump tried to stop from happening. And Bill Barr tried to stop from happening because it was the biggest money laundering like sanctions skirting crime in the history of Iran sanctions. So Trump was trying to make it okay to launder money to fund probably some of the bombs that are being used against our forces in the region right now from Iran. But Klassfeld and I are going to talk about that case. It was the reason Berman, they tried to fire Berman at the Southern District of New York because he refused to get rid of the Hawk bank case. So now they're trying to get rid of it another way now that he doesn't have any guardrails. And it's just, it's, it's very interesting given what's going on in Iran right now. Yeah.
- [03:31]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you, Allison. I'm, I'm sad to report We've lost our eighth service member. A member of U.S. national Guard died during a medical emergency in Kuwait on March 6th. The US Central Command said that on Sunday. The seventh service member lost is 26 year old Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington of Glendale, Kentucky. Pennington died Sunday from injuries he sustained during a March 1 attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
- [03:57]
Allison Gill
Oh, my goodness.
- [03:58]
Dana Goldberg
And those are the numbers we have. I don't know if they're factual. If we've only lost eight service members, I'm sure we will find out as time goes on if we're actually getting the correct numbers from our own administration.
- [04:12]
Allison Gill
Right. These are the numbers the Pentagon is reporting now. Kevin Kiley, he's a hated MAGA Republican here in California. His district's been a little bit redrawn because of Prop 50. He has decided he's changing right now his designation as a Republican to an Independent, which could complicate the razor thin majority that Mike Johnson holds in the House right now. He's going to have the House clerk write him in as an Independent, though. He said he's going to continue to caucus with Republicans, but not sure how he's going to come down on some of the more procedural votes that happen in the House. But I honestly think that he is doing this to better his chances in now his Democratic leaning district in California to run as an Independent instead of a Republican. So he's a jerk. He's, I don't think he's gonna change his spots like, you know, like some leopards do, but he is, it could make it complicated for Mike Johnson. So we'll, we'll keep following that story. But yeah, he's changed into an Independent, he says.
- [05:15]
Dana Goldberg
All right, thanks, ALLISON. And the U.S. hasn't intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran. They may serve as, quote, an operational trigger or sleeper assets outside the country. And this is according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies. The alert that was reviewed by ABC News cites, and I quote, preliminary signals analysis of a transmission likely of Iranian origin that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Khomeini. Now, the White House has halted. And the White House has halted, at least for now. A federal Security bulletin warning of a heightened threat to the United States in light of the conflict in Iran. This is from a Trump administration. That's what they told Reuters.
- [06:01]
Allison Gill
So they put out a security threat that they could be activating sleeper cells in the United States, but they're also withholding a federal security bulletin warning of a heightened threat condition.
- [06:12]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, okay. Yep.
- [06:14]
Allison Gill
I feel safe. How about you?
- [06:16]
Dana Goldberg
Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Flying. Flying tomorrow. So, you know, everything's great.
- [06:20]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Get there super early. We're going to be reporting tomorrow on very long lines at some certain airports. Houston, Louisiana, for example, because of the DHS shut down.
- [06:30]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, Houston was ugly, ugly yesterday.
- [06:33]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Oh, did you go through Houston?
- [06:35]
Dana Goldberg
No, I did not. I saw the video. Four hour wait and regular TSA two hour and clear. And I'm going through, obviously, LAX into Nashville tomorrow for the show on Wednesday at Zany's. But I'm just, you know, I'll get there early and hope for the best in lax. I haven't seen any nonsense from there, but that doesn't mean it can't start at any moment, especially in the blue areas.
- [06:57]
Allison Gill
Yeah, well, that's good. You're gonna get there a day early, so, yes, that can be helpful, I think. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from NBC, two people were taken into custody after a PA of, quote, suspicious devices were ignited Saturday during anti Islam protests outside of Gracie Mansion. That's. That's where Zoran Mamdani lives as a mayor of New York City's mansion. The incident occurred as an anti Islam demonstration led by conservative influencer Jake Lang.
- [07:28]
Dana Goldberg
That piece of.
- [07:31]
Allison Gill
Is that the guy that kicked over the ice sculpture?
- [07:34]
Dana Goldberg
And the one that was trying to do that. He was trying to burn a Quran on the steps of the Capitol in Minnesota. I believe it was at least one of the buildings. And he was saved by a black man and a trans woman. Woman. After he. All his racist posts. Yeah, yeah, that little.
- [07:49]
Allison Gill
And a counter protest were underway, by the way. Police Commissioner Jessica Tish told reporters. An NYPD spokesperson said there were no injuries, fortunately. Now, Tish said earlier that she did not believe Mayor Zoran Mamdani or First Lady Rama Duaji were inside the mansion at the time, but the police department clarified Saturday night that Mamdani was in the residence. Mamdani spokesperson Joe Calvallo said the mayor and his wife are safe, quote thankfully the mayor and the first lady are both safe, though the events are a stark reminder of the threats they both face regularly. That's what he said in a statement. A bomb squad examined the devices described as being smaller than a football and said they appeared to be jars wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts, screws and a hobby fuse. Quote we do not yet know whether the devices were functional improvised explosive devices or hoax devices because we don't yet know if there was energetic material contained in them. That's what Tish said, meaning you have a fuse, but what, what blows up if it's full of nuts and bolts. So they're they're investigating that both devices were being transported for further testing and analysis. The Lang led protest called Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City Stop New York City Public Muslim Prayer, that's the name of his protest, drew 20 participants. The counter protest Run the Nazis out of New York City Stand Against Hate drew 125 demonstrators at its peak. The protest started around 11am with both groups separated into their designated areas by police, but tensions escalated shortly before noon and at 12:15 one protester from the land group fired pepper spray at counter protesters and was arrested shortly after. 12:30. 15 minutes later an 18 year old counter protester lit and threw an ignited device toward the protest area. It landed in the crosswalk and witnesses report seeing flames and smoke as it traveled through the air. The device struck a barrier and extinguished itself a few feet from police officers. The that counter protester. They ran and retrieved a second device from a 19 year old man. According to the police. The 18 year old lit the device and ran with it, then dropped it on the west side of the East End avenue between East 86th and 87th Streets. Both people were taken into custody. NYPD said no charges have been filed as of yet. The men are from Pennsylvania and law enforcement officials were headed there to speak to their relatives and contacts, according to sources familiar Tish said the whole incident was captured on NYPD surveillance cameras. She said there was no immediate indication the incident is related to the ongoing hostilities in Iran, but said the investigation is still ongoing. Six people were arrested overall in Saturday's protest. The two men responsible for handling and deploying the devices, the person who deployed the pepper spray, and three others related to disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic. Mamdani is New York City's first Muslim mayor. The protest was held during the holy month of Ramadan, which is observed by Muslims around the world. Calvello condemned the language led protest as despicable and Islamophobic. Okay, now Lang couldn't be immediately reached for comment. He's that right wing provocateur who was pardoned for charges tied to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. He also, like you said, hosted an anti immigration protest in Minneapolis in January and the days after the killing of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by a ICE officer, a CBP officer, prompting national outrage. Ahead of the rally, Lang promised to burn a Quran at the site of the demonstration, but actually never ended up doing it.
- [11:05]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, because the crowd turned on him. He almost got his ass beat. That's what happened. This next story is from Politico. Anthropic, an AI company, on Monday sued the Trump administration for declaring the artificial intelligence company a risk to the Defense Department's supply chain, a step that further escalates a standoff over the ethical limits on increasingly powerful AI. In a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Northern District of California, Anthropic accused the government of violating its First Amendment rights, exceeding the legal scope of the supply chain risk statute and circumventing the process through which the president and Cabinet secretaries are even allowed to cancel government contracts. The company also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the U.S. court of Appeals in D.C. circuit, and I quote, anthropic turns to the judiciary as a last resort to vindicate its rights and halt the executive's unlawful campaign of retaliation. This is what the company's lawyers wrote in a California filing. The lawsuit named several federal agencies and Cabinet officials as defendants, including Pete Kegseth. Yeah, anthropic filed its second action in D.C. circuit Court of Appeals because the court is charged with reviewing protests to administrative decisions made by the Secretary of Defense and I quote, Anthropic petitions this court for review because the Department of War's actions are, among other things, a pretextual form of retaliation in violation of the first and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. Anthropic's attorneys wrote that in a petition to the D.C. circuit, noting that its lawsuit in California was challenging Kegseth's supply chain determination rooted in a law that is not part of DC's court's jurisdiction. Anthropic's twin legal attack on the Pentagon's decision was driven by laws that specifically govern which courts have authority to hear challenges of this kind being mounted by the company. The company, in its California lawsuit, also accused the government of exceeding the legal scope of the supply chain risk designation statute. Anthropic argued in court documents that the law is narrow and meant to address the risk that foreign adversaries could sabotage or subvert a national security system, a determination it says the government has not made about the company. Anthropic also argued in his California lawsuit that Trump and Hegseth exceeded their authority. What, by attempting to cancel the startup's government? I can't imagine. I know. By attempting to cancel the startup's government contracts without following correct procurement procedures. I'm not even involved in the case and I can 100% guarantee that actually happened. The company also claims the government violated the Administrative Procedures act and Anthropic's fifth amendment right to due process. And that wouldn't surprise me because this administration loves, loves actually causing a problem with anyone's due process.
- [13:57]
Allison Gill
So, yeah, and let's keep in mind, this all started because Anthropic wanted to put in its contract that the government can't develop autonomous lethal weapons robot killers and that it can't use Anthropic's AI to surveil American citizens. And Kegseth lost his mind. You can't tell us what to do. And. Which means it sounds like they want to surveil American citizens and build, you know, killer robots. So, yeah, yeah, it's just bonkers. They ended up getting a their contract with Open AI, the Pentagon did. And so millions of people are leaving OpenAI and subscribing to Claude or Cloud. A lot of people say Claude with Anthropic for their AI needs. We don't use AI here. No, we do not. The MSW media. But it's been interesting to see the. The exodus from. From their company. And of course, Trump and Kegseth are like, we aren't going to take orders from some extreme liberal. Whatever. Like, it's just. It's a ridiculous public battle. All right, next up from the Miami Herald, an inmate housed at the Metropolitan Correctional center in New York told the FBI he overheard guards talking about covering up Jeffrey Epstein's death On the morning he died. The federal government's online Epstein Library contains a five page handwritten report of an FBI interview with an inmate who awoke the morning of August 10, 2019 to the loud commotion in the Special Housing Unit, or Shu Shu, where he and Epstein were both jailed. Quote, breathe, breathe. He recalled officers shouting about 6:30am Then he said he heard an officer say, dudes, you killed that dude. A female guard replied, if he's dead, we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi, my officers. That's what the FBI note said.
- [15:39]
Adam Klassfeld
Wow.
- [15:39]
Allison Gill
The inmate claimed the whole wing overheard this exchange, too. Later, after learning Epstein had died, he said inmates said Ms. Noel killed Jeffrey. He identified the female guard as Tova Noel. One of the two correctional officers who were later charged with falsifying their reports went to say that they attacked on him when they didn't. Now, the charges against her and the other officer, Michael Thomas, were later dropped, but they were both fired. The inmate's account has not been substantiated, but it nevertheless raises questions about Epstein's in custody death. Both a New York medical examiner and the U.S. department of justice concluded Epstein died by suicide. Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Epstein's estate to attend the autopsy, said he believes the injuries to Epstein were more akin to strangulation than suicide. Remember, his hyoid bone was broken. Now, this report is likely to fan suspicion, as the New York Post also reported on Saturday that Noelle's bank flagged a $5,000 cash deposit she made to her Chase bank account on July 30, 2019.
- [16:39]
Dana Goldberg
Stop it. Oh, my God. I'm so engrossed in this story. I haven't read this. I haven't read. I haven't heard anything about this, you all. Obviously, I'm hearing this in live time as she reads it. And I'm also completely enthralled, as you are. Keep going.
- [16:50]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Now, a week after Epstein was found in his cell in what prison officials concluded was a suicide attempt on July 23, 2019, so that he had that attempt on the 23rd of July. She gets $5,000 on July 30, and then he dies on August 10th. And then this other person reported to the FBI, they overheard that they did it and that they're going to cover it up. The official reports into that incident show that Epstein initially told prison officials his cellmate tried to kill him after extorting him for money. The Post also reported that on the morning of Epstein's death, August 10, Noel searched the term latest on Epstein in jail twice on a computer, once at 5:42am and one another time at 5:52am about 40 minutes before the other guard, Michael Thomas, found Epstein dead. Her bank records, which are in the files, showed that Noel received thousands of dollars in cash and Zelle payments in the months before Epstein died. She's not been charged with any crime. The Miami Herald was unsuccessful in reaching her attorney on Saturday. Epstein's former cellmate, Efrain Reyes, told prison officials he told Epstein he would be safer if he paid inmates and guards for protection. Now, sources have told the Herald that Epstein did make protection payments. Noel's bank records also reveal she was making payments on a brand new Range Rover, but she was not asked about the cash. During her DOJ interview, Epstein had three fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx. And Baden said it's rare for any bones to be broken in a hanging, let alone multiple bones. Quote, those fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation. He also added there were hemorrhages in Epstein's eyes, petechial hemorrhaging that are also more common in strangulation than hangings. The DOJ's official death investigation noted, quote, none of the inmates who were interviewed had any credible information suggesting Epstein's cause of death was anything other than suicide. The investigation also concluded the three interviewed inmates with a direct line of sight to Epstein's cell door stated that no one entered or exited Epstein's cell after Epstein was locked into a cell the night before. So all of that and then if you watched me on Midas Touch on Sunday, one of those FBI Form 302s, and I think you and I talked about this, one of Epstein's survivors said she heard Trump and Epstein talking about blackmail and her FBI 302. That was reported three days before Epstein was found dead in his cell. So it's gonna. Truth's gonna come out, you guys.
- [19:22]
Dana Goldberg
One day. It is.
- [19:23]
Allison Gill
Oh, okay.
- [19:25]
Dana Goldberg
All right. This next story is from cbs. This is Senator Tim Kaine. As we know, a Virginia Democrat expressed regret on Sunday for supporting Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security secretary last year. Big mistake. That's what he said on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Now, Trump announced Thursday that Noem would leave her role following she was fired. A string of controversies that boiled over last week. And the president announced that he selected GOP plumber Mark Kwang, who is now a senator. He's not just a GOP plumber, but also a senator of Oklahoma as her replacement. Kaine was one of seven Democrats who voted in favor of Noem's confirmation to the role at the helm of dhs. Last year. On Sunday, Kaine, former governor, pointed to Noem's time leading South Dakota as his justification for supporting her confirmation, saying governors are often good cabinet secretaries, quote. But what we learned, and this bears going forward, is that she wasn't calling the shots. That's what Cain said. Stephen Miller is calling the shots. And as long as he's calling the shots, without reforms, this is going to continue to be a very, very rogue, renegade department. Keynes said Democrats fear that Mullen could face the same fate when he takes over DHS secretary, warning of the possibilities that he could bow to the top Trump aide. GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina also warned about Miller's outsized influence on Sunday, saying in CNN that Miller should be ousted as well, though Tillis said he believes Mullen will act more independently than Noemi. Kaine also acknowledged that Mullen and I quote, could demonstrate otherwise. Like Noem, Mullen will face a confirmation process in the Senate. At least that's what should happen. I don't know what Trump thinks is going to happen. Already he's received support from at least one Democrat. Let you guess who it is. John Fetterman. Yep. The switch up at DHS comes amid a stalemate over funding for the department. Democrats have demanded reforms to immigration enforcement agencies and have pledged to continue opposing all funding for the department until an agreement be reached. Meanwhile, the department, which also oversees tsa, FEMA and the Coast Guard, has been shut down since Valentine's Day after funding lapses. Kaine stressed the Democrats want to fund the other agencies at DHS while confining the ongoing negotiations to immigration enforcement agencies. He noted that DHS immigration enforcement received an influx of funds in the one big beautiful Bill act last year. And I just want to say was not making fun of plumbers. Marquain, I was calling him a plumber because they like to call AOC a bartender. So I wanted to make sure that we're differentiating there that how come they call her a bartender but we don't call Marquain a plumber because he's a senator and she's a congresswoman, but not a good guy. And I hate to say this, not a very smart guy if you've ever seen him do an interview. So I feel like Kristi Noem was pretty smart and dangerous and I feel like this guy's pretty dumb and dangerous and I don't know who he's going to be following. But I think instead of continuing to bring people like Kristi Noem into the congressional hearings to ask them Questions. I think they need to subpoena Stephen fucking Miller. That's who I want to hear from.
- [22:36]
Allison Gill
Yeah, same. But to be like, oh, well, you know, Kristi Noem and Mark Twain can't make their own decisions. Stephen Miller runs the show. Like that just lets Kristi Noem and Mark Quain off the hook. And I don't think that that's agreed. Yeah.
- [22:50]
Dana Goldberg
Because they can tell Stephen Miller to go fuck himself. And they're not. Yeah.
- [22:54]
Allison Gill
And every single Democrat. I know Fetterman won't. But every single Democrat should be voting no for Mark Twain.
- [23:00]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely.
- [23:01]
Allison Gill
All right, everybody, we have an Adam Klassfeld interview followed by the good news. But we have to take a quick break, so stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [23:09]
Dana Goldberg
We'll be right back.
- [23:12]
Allison Gill
Deleteme makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. So we want to thank our sponsor for today's episode, DeleteMe. I use delete Me to protect my business and my personal privacy. As someone with an active and extensive online presence, that matters a lot to me. When you spend a lot of time online, you have to assume your information is being collected and copied and sold in ways that you never agreed to. Your data becomes a commodity, and that means people you do not know can buy access to private details about you. That's what makes data brokers so unsettling. They can compile your name, contact information, home address, Social Security number, even details about your family members, and then sell that info online for profit. That kind of exposure can lead to identity theft, phishing attempts, spam harassment, doxing. And it's one more reason privacy feels harsh. Harder and harder to hold on to. Now I keep hearing about data breaches in the news as well. Hackers have gotten the names, addresses, phone numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers and masked bank account numbers. And then data brokers can vacuum up all that leaked information and sell it again and again. DeleteMe helps remove your info from those sites and helps keep it out of the wrong hands. It's also been named Wirecutter's top pick for data removal services by the New York Times. So take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Deleteme Me now at a special discount for listeners. Get 20 off your Delete Me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com DailyBeans and use promo code DailyBeans at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.comDailyBeans and enter code DAILYBEANS at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com DailyBEANS code DailyBeans I do not need one more reason to spend my Saturday in a store under fluorescent lights making bad choices next to a display wall. I already shop for groceries, gifts, random household stuff and half my life. I do all from home, even clothes now, so it makes perfect sense to shop for blinds that way too. I have absolutely bought something for my house that looked amazing in the store and then somehow looked deeply cursed once I got it home. So the idea of seeing window treatments in my actual space is very appealing. And that's why three Day Blinds makes so much sense. They're a leading manufacturer of high quality custom window treatments in the United States and they handle blinds, shades, shutters, draperies. Instead of dragging yourself to a showroom, they send a local design consultant to you. Their consultants are professionally trained. They have an average of more than 10 years of experience. They help you figure out what actually works in your home. You set an appointment, you get a free no obligation quote the same day. It's so hassle free and the part I really love. They handle all the heavy lifting. They design, measure, install, which is great because I don't need another DIY project turning into a personal crisis. I was looking at their Instagram and honestly these are really good looking blinds. They can really pull a room together. Plus they have thousands of options including blackout light filtering and even smart blinds that work with Alexa right now. Get quality window treatments that fit your budget with three day blinds. Head to 3dayblinds.com dailybeans for their buy one get one 50% off deal on custom blinds, shades, shutters and draperies for a free no charge, no obligation consultation. Just head to 3dayblinds.com DailyBeans one last time. That's buy one get one 50% off. You head to the number 3D a Y blinds.com DailyBeans history is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life?
- [26:46]
Dana Goldberg
From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to
- [26:49]
Allison Gill
enlightening and surprising, heartwarming tales, we explore
- [26:53]
Dana Goldberg
the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully.
- [26:56]
Allison Gill
We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot.
- [27:03]
Dana Goldberg
It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the rabbit hole.
- [27:10]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Welcome. Joining me today to discuss something that happened today that will probably fly under the rad is Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News. So welcome, Adam. How are you doing?
- [27:32]
Adam Klassfeld
Well, Alison, how are you? And I agree with you entirely. It probably will, but should not fly under the radar as the war in Iran rages. This is a case that is not irrelevant to that.
- [27:46]
Allison Gill
No, it's not. And folks who've been listening to the Daily Beans for a while, and I mean years, maybe even going back to the Mueller she wrote podcast days, we covered the hawkbank case pretty extensively. I know that you did, too. You followed it pretty extensively. And just yesterday, Adam, I was going through some old posts on social media, keyword search, Iran, just to see what I was posting about Iran in the past. And way back in 2020, I said, whenever anyone asks me if the Southern District of New York is compromised by Bill Barr, I always remind them of the Hulk bank indictments. But as it turns out, that's what got the US Attorney at the Southern District of New York fired. So let's talk about if we can go back a little bit and talk about hulkbank and the prosecution and how Trump and his folks like Matthew Whitaker and Brian Benzkowski and Rudy Giuliani were trying to lobby Bill Barr to drop this case against hulkbank. But they and that that's why Berman was fired at the Southern District of New York. Talk a little bit about, about this case. It's been a long, grinding case. They've been trying like independent prosecutors at the Southern District of New York have been trying to bring this case and did successfully bring it for a really long time now. And the news today is that the Trump administration and the Department of Justice, I put justice in air quotes, is offering a deferred prosecution to haltbank. They want to unwind this indictment. So talk a little bit about the history of this case.
- [29:37]
Adam Klassfeld
So this is a case that Donald Trump has been trying to get rid of for the better part of a decade. About nine years ago, it was in March that Reza Zarab, who's a Turkish Iranian playboy, who was a gold trader and the man who spearheaded this money laundering scheme was arrested in the United States while en route to Disney World, of all places. So he was arrested at the airport. So began a.
- [30:07]
Allison Gill
He was arrested on the way to Disney World.
- [30:09]
Adam Klassfeld
Yes, absolutely. And it was.
- [30:11]
Allison Gill
You've just laundered billions of dollars from the Turkish government. What are you going to do next? I'm going to Disney World.
- [30:18]
Adam Klassfeld
It is one of the many interesting wrinkles of this case, let's say, and there are people who have theories about the real reason, but the, the reason officially on paper paper that he was going there with his wife there. He was also an avid scuba diver. Absolutely did have plans to scuba dive in Florida. But I digress. What makes this geopolitically such a combustible case is that Reza Zara masterminded a money laundering scheme that has been roiling Turkish politics since 2013. It is linked to a corruption scandal implicating Erdogan's government back when he was Prime Minister before he became President and established essentially authoritarian rule in Turkey, largely in his efforts to cover up the corruption scheme that grew out of this $20 billion money laundering conspiracy. What Rez Zarab was charged with and ultimately pleaded guilty to doing was funneling money from Iran's national oil company to Hawk Bank, a Turkish state run bank. He would have couriers deliver those assets which were essentially taken over international borders in gold bars that were couriered over international borders, melted down and converted into a way that could go remove the taint of Iranian oil sanctions in the international economy. Prosecutors estimated that the scheme was $20 billion. And then lo and behold, very shortly after Zarab's arrest, we find out among his many attorneys are Rudy Giuliani and Michael Mukase. Now this is a shock to much of the legal community because Rudy Giuliani, you know, who burnished his reputation after the 911 attacks on the World Trade center, was an anti Iran hawk. And here he is representing someone who spearheaded a record breaking money laundering scheme that benefited the Iranian government and his role in it. I was covering the Southern District of New York. You mentioned the Southern District of New York's reputation of independence. Those who covered the beat knew that the prosecutors in that office considered themselves the sovereign district of New York. And what Rudy Giuliani did in that case, he never set foot in the court. What he did was worked behind the scenes in what became a very familiar pattern of shadow diplomacy. He would shuttle between Washington and Ankara trying to engineer a prisoner swap that would have freed Zerab from prison and essentially torpedoed the case. But that failed. Zarab turned state's witness and testified against a manager at Hawk bank named Hakan Attila. Now while he was testifying Zarab in Attila's case, he implicated Erdogan himself in sanctions busting trades. You had people who were high ranking in Erdogan's government who were co defendants in the criminal conspiracy and that there were who were named in corruption scandals. This was something that caused intense attention from Turkey, which at the time was being decimated by. By prosecutions against journalists. It was the leading jailer of journalists at the time of that prosecution. And so there was intense interest from Turkey and what was transpiring in the U.S. courtroom. And it seemed that people close to Trump were invested in making it disappear. Now, flash forward. We find out that that Preet Bharara, who brought the case, was pressured out for reasons undisclosed. He has never confirmed that hulkbank was one of the reasons that Trump wanted him out. But there has been speculation to that effect. After Hakanatila was convicted by a jury, the predecessor of the. Excuse me, one of the successors of Preet Bharara, Jeffrey Berman, took over the investigation and indicted Halt bank itself. And that was a key action because one, that's when the estimate of the $20 billion conspiracy came to light. If that estimate were accurate, that's a number that could have severe ramifications for the tur economy and Erdogan's hold to power. And Erdogan intensely lobbied the US Government to make this case go away. That that effort tried and failed with Reza Zarab. And as things were coming to a head under Jeffrey Berman's stewardship, he had. He was forced out by Bill Barr. Bill Barr. It had come out due to reporting subsequent to that that Bill Barr was upset because he had pressured Jeffrey Berman to try to dismiss the case, settle it before an indictment went through. He pushed the case forward. He refused. And there was, there was congressional testimony on this. This is where it gets very interesting. During that testimony, he said that that Bill Barr wanted to replace him with a former securities and Exchange Commission chairman named Jay Clayton. And Berman's reaction to that was, Jay Clayton is an unqualified choice. That was the word that he used. He was someone with no criminal experience that if you want me out, you're going to have to replace me with my trusted deputy, Audrey Strauss. Berman, and ultimately allowed that to happen, folded. He was replaced with Audrey Strauss. The prosecution of hulkbank survives. Flash forward till today. Now, I'll mention in passing in the intervening years when Biden was elected president, during his tenure, the case was about to proceed to trial. But Hawkbank appealed a ruling that refused to dismiss the case on sovereign immunity grounds. It goes all the way up to the Supreme Court at a glacial pace. By the time the Supreme Court resolves that appeal, the new person in charge of the Southern District of New York is, guess who? Jay Clayton, who is now currently the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. And so now the the outcome that Trump wanted this case is going to go away. I've read the copy of the deferred prosecution agreement. There doesn't appear to any financial penalty to Turkey's state run Hawk bank, let alone a $20 billion criminal conspiracy, the kind of penalty that one would expect that would relate to something like that. They agreed to certain to certain monitoring by an outside expert. It's a little vague as to who that expert will be, how the expert will be selected, and it is justified on the grounds that apparently the Trump administration used the Hulkbank case to that they said that we can help make this case go away if you participate in the negotiations to release the hostages. So they are claiming that this case essentially became the bargaining channel in those negotiations. Now this is going to go before a federal judge who has presided over this entire saga. Judge Richard Berman, no relation to Jeffrey berman, the former U.S. attorney. He's the one who has called for a hearing on Wednesday to find out more about this deal. And he is someone who has been on record dealing with the kind of politics that have underlied this case very skeptically. So we'll see how much he challenges the government about the reasons for this sudden deferred prosecution agreement.
- [39:06]
Allison Gill
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- [40:39]
Amanda Sturgel
no surprise that newsmakers try to manipulate the audience. They want you to believe that they are the one holding the line, and they'll use any trick they can to get you there. But don't let them fool you. Get Unspun I'm Amanda Sturgel. I've been a reporter and today I teach future reporters to cut the spin and think critically about what newsmakers say. My podcast, Unspun, shows you how to know when you're being manipulated by the news, learn to spot the tricks, and how to make up your own mind about what's true. So if you're tired of being fooled by the news, subscribe to UNSPUN today. Unspun because you, you deserve the truth.
- [41:17]
Allison Gill
Yeah, boy, I have so many questions because when Hog bank was first indicted, I was like, wow, okay, so it really is the sovereign district of New York because Donald Trump didn't want this to happen. And now, you know, the claim that it was some sort of a bargaining chip and some sort of a deal sort of falls away when you look at all of the money that's been funneled from Erdogan to Donald Trump over the years. We had a Erdogan tied business guy that gave a million dollars to Trump's inaugural. I think there was a strange multimillion dollar gift from Turkey and Erdogan to Donald Trump that ended up maybe, I think in a Chinese bank account. I can't quite remember the details, but there has been so much money that has exchanged hands between Turkey and Erdogan, China hide Turkish businessmen to Donald Trump that this just on its face seems like and has always seemed like a pay for play, like a quid pro quo. I remember when Erdogan was going to pay Mike Flynn $15 million to find Gulen and spirit him away in the night back to a cleric, back to Turkey for Erdogan. So there's always been sort of this overhanging or overarching feeling that this is Donald Trump returning a favor to Erdogan and the Turkish government. So, I mean, exactly everything you laid out is something that I talked about in 2024, particularly the Supreme Court, who then sent it back down to the Second Circuit for additional, you know, additional eyes or additional, you know, litigation. But, you know, I wrote. I wrote way back when everybody was on Twitter, I said, hey, did you know? Donald Trump tried to mercilessly shield a Turkish bank from facing punishment for helping fund Iran while president. He fired the prosecutors investigating it, asked Cabinet officials to obstruct justice by pressuring the DOJ to drop the probe. The crime perpetrated by Hulk bank bank is the biggest effort to evade sanctions against Iran in history. Trump personally pressured Matt Whitaker and Bill Barr to drop the case, fired Preet Bharara. Rex Tillerson even refused an order from Trump to pressure the DOJ to back off. And when Trump met with erdogan at the G20, he told them he would take care of it. And two weeks later, on a phone call, he told Erdogan that he had assigned Barr and Mnuchin to handle the issue, which is what you were referring to. And that same month, Kushner and Mnuchin met with Turkish officials in the Oval Office, and then Mnuchin met with them six more times, all to allow money to continue to flow to Iran. Trump then fired Bharara's successor, Jeffrey Berman. Hawkbank was eventually indicted, but SCOTUS remanded the case back to the 2nd Circuit, saying they had to consider whether Turkey had diplomatic immunity. And, you know, when that indictment came down, as I said, I was very surprised that it came down under a Trump administration. And it just. That's why I put out that tweet that whenever anybody questions the sovereignty or the independence of the Southern District of New York, I always cite the Hawkbank indictments. But now those are gone. So what is a deferred prosecution? Because that's what's happening now. Right?
- [44:47]
Adam Klassfeld
Right. What it usually means in a traditional case is you abide by certain conditions for a certain amount of time, and then the case goes away. And the conditions in this case would be court appointed, monitoring. They're supposed to help. Hulkbank is supposed to help with executing any sort of fines or forfeitures against Reza Zarab. As I read the agreement, there's no specific fine levied against the bank itself. And just to follow up on some of the points that you made, Alison, and during Trump's campaign, one of, I think his first interview with Steve Bannon that he did on Bannon's radio Program Bannon. One of his first questions was about some sort of military crisis involving the Turkish government. And Trump's response to that, right before he said anything else, is, you know, I have a little bit of a conflict of interest involving the Turkish government because of Trump Tower Towers. Two towers instead of one. Not the usual one, it's two. He was referring to Trump Towers Istanbul. And that was something that set the tone. There were people, you know, when the Mueller investigation was proceeding, you had investigations into Turkish ties. You mentioned Michael Flynn, but that was a running theme. You have a lot of the Mueller investigations looking into Turkish influence in Trump's burgeoning government. And during Trump 1.0, the Southern District was facing so much upheaval, specifically because Federal prosecutors and U.S. attorneys there in particular refused to do Trump's bidding. And what we're seeing in Trump 2.0 is the hollowing out of that ethos that the very person who Jeffrey Berman did not want in that office, Jay Clayton, who he thought was, in his words, to the House Judiciary, unqualified for that role. Jay Clayton is now leading it. It was hollowed out with the Eric Adams prosecution, which was a prosecution for bribery involving the Turkish government. That was a case that disappeared quite quickly in Trump 2.0.
- [47:08]
Dana Goldberg
Right. So you.
- [47:09]
Allison Gill
Then you wonder about. About what were the motives to let Eric Adams off the hook. Was it really about letting ICE into Rikers, or was it about letting Turkey off the hook as well?
- [47:19]
Adam Klassfeld
Right. I mean, one can say that Trump absolutely has a soft spot when it has to do with allegations of corruption with the Turkish government and just foreign influence peddling generally involving the Turkish government. One of the things that John Bolton said in his memoir when discussing Trump's effort to dismiss the hulkbank case, that he wanted to do it as a favor to Erdogan, who he described as one of the dictators Trump liked. So and so that was the kind of generally known and generally spoken about environment in which this was panning out. You mentioned Rex Tillerson. Rex Tillerson's role in. It was in a White House meeting involving Giuliani, when Rudy Giuliani was shuttling back and forth from Ankara to the United States to try to free Reza's rob and kill this case. The meeting in the Oval Office was between Trump, Tillerson and Giuliani, and Giuliani and Trump were essentially lobbying Tillerson, then Secretary of State, to reach this deal that would have freed Reza Zarab and that would have spelled an end, to end any sort of reckoning over the corruption scandal. That electrified the people of Turkey, that paid very close attention to that criminal trial in New York. It was a story about democracy both in the United States and in Turkey. It was a story about international corruption, about money laundering. I worked with a news organization, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP for short. And when you start to investigate money laundering networks, a lot of the illegality is very interconnected. It's woven into a lot of national security risks. It's woven into, you know, drug trafficking and other things that the, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project did a great job in kind of exposing the shell companies and things of that nature. So this was a story of great interest to folks who follow those shadow economies. And it was also of great interest to folks who followed the democratic decline of countries like Turkey and the United States states. And it comes full circle. Yeah.
- [49:56]
Allison Gill
And then it grows even more branches and tentacles. When you just talk about skirting Iran sanctions, I mean, how many schemes were there and are there were there to do that that somehow had Trump's name on it? We have his Azerbaijan tower where he was laundering. Well, I don't know if he was, but money was being laundered through that project to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. We had, you know, and Ivanka got wrapped up in somehow. I'd have to go back and look at that particular article that came out at the time, the one with the big, the photo of the tower. I think it's a pretty memorable article that came out at the time about that we can talk about. And you remember when $6 billion was freed up for the Iranian people under the Biden administration and Trump and Mago were like, he's giving billions of dollars to the Iranians. It's like, that's the money you helped skirt and put into a Qatari bank account. And it's going to be used by us for like, food and medicine and humanitarian aid and things like that. It was like this whole political football that was happening before the 2024 election and then in the 2022 midterm. So this thing, like not just this particular biggest sanctions busting, money laundering scheme in the history of Iranian sanctions, but when you add on top of it, all of the other ways that Trump is always somehow connected to skirting Iranian, Iranian sanctions. I mean, the whole web just gets giant and we could spend hours talking about it.
- [51:36]
Adam Klassfeld
Right. Well, once again, this particular scheme, if you look at the Hawk bank indictment, the prosecutors estimate it was a $20 billion money laundering scheme. As I understand it, with the Iran deal The, the billions of dollars at issue there were Iran's own frozen money here we're talking about illicitly funneled and transferred money. The prosecutors don't say in the deferred prosecution agreement that the, that there was anything wrong with the case. Quite the contrary. They're put it they're trying to negotiate certain measures of oversight over Hawk bank to prevent the the same thing from happening again. Now whether there's anything rigorous there will remain to be seen and I'm going to be in federal court on Wednesday to see the judge interrogate what this agreement actually means. But what we have here is at the same time that Trump is pursuing a war in Iran and telling the Iranian people to rise up, we are seeing him simultaneously trying to end this long standing prosecution that was the of a money laundering scheme that enriched the Iranian regime to a level that was there. There's nothing comparable in the annals of US Criminal prosecution. And you know, take that in connection and I know this is a separate story, but remember over the weekend we had Carrie Lake declared unlawfully appointed to the head of US Agency for Global Media, the company that's a umbrella of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and all of those. Well, these are media entities that operate in dozens of languages including perspectives to get raw information and news into authoritarian places where the people cannot access it. That it's there. There's something very galling frankly to see among all of the carnage and the horrible things that of that we're seeing in the images of this war in Iran playing out at the same time time that we are seeing efforts to block news organizations from getting information to the people of Iran because those news organizations are being hollowed out. We're seeing efforts to end the criminal prosecution of the biggest money laundering scheme into of Iranian oil money in US History, the biggest sanctions violating scheme that trying to end that which is a long time goal, it's a nearly decade long ambition that we've rattled off throughout our conversation. And it was, it's, it's been a tangled tale of lobbying through Trump's surrogates in, in Washington, in Ankara, trying to force out prosecutors who are pursuing the case and investigators that they've been trying to do this for a decade and it's coming to a head now during a devastating war in Iran as we hold this substack live.
- [55:10]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And one has to wonder how many of the weapons and bombs that are being used against our forces in the region by Iran were funded by this money laundering scheme that Trump is trying to let them off the hook for internal. All right. Thank you, my friend. Always great to talk to you, everybody. Make sure you follow All Rise News. If you're able to contribute monetarily, everything's always free. But if you're able to support the travel and the work of Adam Klassfeld, please do on his substack at All Rise News. And we'll be keeping an eye on what you have to say about the hearing on Wednesday and this case, about what this judge might have to say about a deferred prosecution agreement. I appreciate your time today. Thanks so much for joining us. Us.
- [55:52]
Adam Klassfeld
Thank you so much, Allison. And I'll keep you apprised about what the judge has to say about it.
- [55:57]
Allison Gill
Awesome. Thanks. And thanks everybody for listening. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
- [56:04]
Adam Klassfeld
Everyone? Then good news, everyone.
- [56:20]
Allison Gill
Good news, good news. And if you have any good news you want to share with us, it can be small. It can be big good news. It can be from yesterday or 20 years ago, it doesn't matter. Send it to us. We would love to hear from you. You can also send in your Good Trouble suggestions for our Good Trouble segment, which happens at the top of the Good News. You can also send a shout out to a loved one, you know, spouse, partner, small business in your area that could use a boost. Your small business let us know what you're making or creating. We would love to hear about that. You can do a self shout. We absolutely love self shoutouts. You can do a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one. So we can get our stories out there about why our government programs are so important to us. And it, it's seriously just anything at all that'll make us smile. We can need to microdose the hope. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact and all you got to do to get your stuff right on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means just attach a photo. It can be anything. It can be your pet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. It can be you flipping the bird to trump buildings. It can be random animals on the Internet. It can be baby pictures, your baby pictures. It doesn't matter whatever it is. Like show us your chickens and your goats and your maybe you're a cyclist. Let's see your bike. Let's see, let's see what you're knitting, what you're quilting. Maybe you've been to a rally and you have some favorite signs you want to share with us so that we can start to get our signs ready for no kings on March 28th. Anything at all. Dailybeanspod.com Click on contact and that brings us to our good trouble and your good trouble Trouble. Today is a reminder that the no Kings event is Saturday, March 28th. Events are all over the country. If you don't have an event near you, start an event near you. You can find the events@nokings.org and there's like a section where you can click on the map to see if there's an event near you. And you know also while you're at it today, just call your senators and tell them to vote NO on Mark Twain Mullen for DHS and to remind them that even though the pain point at the airport seems to to start like is seems to be beginning right now, to not cave on funding DHS until these changes, ICE and CBP are made. They're still fully funded, they're still working, they are still getting paid from that big ugly bill. So just download that 5 calls app and make a few calls.
- [58:39]
Dana Goldberg
I got a little good Trouble update. This is from Shelby Pronoun. She and her and I love this hello beautiful beans. I'm a huge fan of all the Way Back to the Beginning of Jack and Ag and Ann, I really want to thank you for your pod. I live in Palm Beach County, Florida and it has been a little hard to find a community of activists. Many friends who are like minded, they're just simply busy with their lives and I find myself attending protests by myself. My husband would come but we have the kiddos so I do bring my family when I know it. It's tame, but with two tweens with special needs, it doesn't always work out. When I listened to your 2:26 podcast with Cliff Cash and heard the event three miles to mar a Lago, I perked right up. This sounded amazing and I felt so lucky. It was only 25 minutes for me. The event was supposed to be at an outdoor amphitheater, so I packed my husband and two boys and snacks and chairs and off we went. The event location was changed due to doxing or something and wound up being moved indoors at a place in downtown West Palm Beach. We still went, folding chairs and all. And what a lineup they had. I got to listen to and meet comedian Cliff Cash. Earth to Eve everyone look up Earth to Eve. I'm telling you, you want to know where the protest songs are from right now. A lot of them are coming from that we got Robert Arnold, who's a poet and writer Adrian Bettencourt, whose father has been in Alligator Alcatraz in September of 2025. Candidate Mary Alana Kinter for U.S. congress in Florida District 7, who's a Navy vet who's running against the accused domestic violence prick Corey Mills, candidate and Firefighter Bernard Taylor, U.S. congress Florida District 21, who's running against MAGA Rep. Brian Matt and Carlos Alvarez Arenos and America's Opposition and more. After the speeches and performance, everyone got into buses and we went three miles to an earshot of Mar a Lago to protest the Orange Idiot. It was some great good trouble. It is so hard right now everywhere. Living in Florida, where I vehemently disagree with about 50% of the population, including my own mother, sometimes gives me a feeling of dread and hopelessness. After yesterday's event, I feel re energized and hopeful. I can't thank you enough for your coverage of this. I was able to connect with some wonderful women with organizations I didn't know about. I'm off to fight the good fight and get into some great good trouble with actual assignments because of you and your podcast. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I listen to your podcast every morning in the car doing kid drop offs. My son Eli absolutely loves your opening song. Insists the song is Jelly Beans Jelly Beans and makes me play it at least eight to six to eight times. I just wanted you to know your conversations keep me sane in this crazy time.
- [61:20]
Allison Gill
Keep it up.
- [61:20]
Dana Goldberg
You both rock. For my pod pet tariff, I give you Tommy. We got him for my son Joshua's 10th birthday. Tommy's now four. As you can see, Josh is Tommy's biggest fan. Here he is with the personalized Tommy pajamas complete with little tommies all over his bottoms and one big Tommy with a bow on top. Posing with the actual Tommy, we rescued Tommy, the tabby cat with the adorable white paws and from A Second Chance Puppies and Kittens Rescue in Palm Beach, Florida. I resc Rescue Group I volunteer with the Rescue saves puppies, dogs, kittens and cats from all over. They drive an RV around and pick up abandoned animals animals and kill shelters in Alabama and Florida. We don't have an actual shelter. We foster animals directly out to people so the animals are socialized when it comes to adopting them to a network of 200 plus fosters in southern Florida. The website is a second chance rescue and you can see all the little lives saved and adoptions we're responsible for on their Facebook group which is a second chance puppies and kitties rescue. We'll have a link to the Facebook group if you want to go visit. We are always in need of more fosters to give them a shout out. Thank you and keep on keeping on. Your biggest fans in Florida, Shelby Lewis, Josh, Elijah and Tommy.
- [62:35]
Allison Gill
This is an incredible good trouble update. And yeah, man, kids love they might be giant dance.
- [62:43]
Dana Goldberg
I know, right?
- [62:44]
Allison Gill
So they all love the intro. They don't listen to the rest of the show, but they're really, really into the jelly bean song. Thank you for that update. Really appreciate it. Look at this sweet kitty kitty. Those jammies are great by the way. So funny. Thank you so much for that. Next up from Gabe Pronouns he and him La Reiner. I wanted to share some good news and an invitation. My play Level Level up is set to open April 4 in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Level up is about a young trans tween who's afraid to come out to her family and only feels like she can be herself in her virtual world. A quest to save her dying dog pushes her to deal with challenges both in the real and virtual worlds. The play is a commission that has been years in the making. One of the theaters behind the commission got cold feet after Trump was elected again. But the Latino theater company felt putting the story on stage catering to a trans girl of color is even more important. Important given the times we're living in. I agree. So we have the latinotheatreco.org levelup. There'll be a link in the show notes. Amazing, Gabe. That's so incredible. I've attached a photo as pet tax. These are my three dogs. Ruby, our anxious copper colored blank. Matilda, our mischievous light colored blank. And Sweet Tooth, our less than brilliant mutt who is blank blank. Oh my goodness. There's so many dogs here. So we've got a Rhodesian Ridgeback. I can see because of the.
- [64:10]
Dana Goldberg
The Ridgeback.
- [64:11]
Allison Gill
Yep, both like Ridgebacks. What is this little terrier Chihuahua style mixed dog. Let's see what we got. We got a copper colored Ridgeback. We got a light colored Ridgeback and Sweet Tooth is a not a Jack Russell.
- [64:27]
Dana Goldberg
Okay, that very clear. I just saw the other Ridgeback. By the way. I'm gonna lighten a dark. Those are so fun.
- [64:33]
Allison Gill
Yeah, they're beautiful.
- [64:35]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [64:35]
Allison Gill
Absolutely beautiful dogs. Thanks for that.
- [64:38]
Dana Goldberg
Next up from Nicole Pronoun. She and her hi. Lovely legumes. Thank you for always giving me the news with a little bit of hope. It helps me get through the day. So I don't start screaming. Today you made a comment that Trump can be moved by the wind, and it reminded me of a story about a poet in ancient China, Su Dong Po, take a read of the eight winds Cannot move me. I think you'll enjoy it. I think the same wind that moved him across the league is moving Trump. Now he's being moved by. Oh my God. Got it too long.
- [65:08]
Allison Gill
Didn't read. He's being moved.
- [65:10]
Dana Goldberg
He's being moved by farts. As my hot pet tariff. Please enjoy the best photo I've ever taken of my lovely murder queen Annie. She gets supervised walks outside and she hates them. The supervision, not the walks. The eight wins. Cannot move me. We'll have a link to that in the show notes.
- [65:27]
Allison Gill
Look at that kitty cat in nature. Nicole, thank you for that. Next up from Mike Pronouns, he and him hello, magnificent ladies of the legumes. I am a kitchen table listener and I want to thank both of you and all the people behind the scenes who help us sift through the daily avalanche of impeachable and repugnant bullshit that passes for presidential administration. If you're new to the daily beans, when somebody refers to a kitchen table daze or the Kitchen table listener, the Mueller She Wrote podcast back in 2017 or whatever was started at my kitchen table, the sound terrible. We had like $10 microphones that we could hear the fridge running in the background. But it was one of those situations, Dana, where, you know, sometimes you, you toil to make something perfect and it never gets done. So just start. Yeah, just start and build your wings on the way down. Living in Music City is both amazing and frustrating. This blue dot in a blood red gerrymandered to hell state has some amazing people doing the Lord's work. Every time you mention a story involving Nashville's nosiest bitch, Phil Webb Williams, or you have an interview with him on the podcast, I smile because of his great investigative journalism. Sadly, Tennessee is a laboratory for destructive and immoral legislation, and the state's GOP supermajority is steadily chipping away at Nashville's local control. I bring this up because so many people across the country regularly, right off the south, failing to recognize exactly how much we've been disenfranchised in our own states. It would be nice, you know, for the DNC to put up more of a fight instead of surrendering many elections before any votes have even been cast. Speaking of somebody who's been putting up a fight, I think your listeners should know about Chris Sanders and his tireless work with the Tennessee Equality project in mobilizing us LGBTQ Tennesseans and our allies against the hateful legislation our wonderfully corrupt and poorly educated state legislators regularly file. Check out TEP at www.tnep.org and the vital work that you do. We'll have a link in the show Notes this is a producer's Note. The Tennessee Equality Project advocates for equal rights of LGBTQ people in Tennessee through legislative advocacy. They lobby the Tennessee General assembly and local governments around the state. When there's an important federal issue like anti LGBTQ adoption issue language in legislation, they help you make your voice heard with your federal officials. So now Mike continues. Over the years I've considered writing, but didn't for one reason or another. Today. Today though, I want to shout out my husband Daniel. We've been together for 15 years, married for five, and a few weeks ago he received a major promotion rewarding his hard work and ingenuity. Outside of work, Daniel is so dependable and handy that some people get used to all the things he takes care of without realizing those things don't just magically happen. As an actor, dancer, website designer, Excel wizard, set builder, and such a good singer, he can surprise folks in Music City. Daniel is one of the smartest, most talented and most caring people I know and I can't imagine my life without him. Love you babe. And Dana, Back in December, I bought us tickets to see Bridget Everett, whom we've seen once before on March 11, but we're skipping her because we can't wait to see you at Zany's and meet during the post show VIP thingamajig.
- [68:38]
Dana Goldberg
This means so much to me. Please tell all the other gays I found out recently I am up against Bridget Everett in Nashville. So we've got a small but mighty crowd point at some Zany's and I love that you're going to be part of it, Mike. You and your husband cannot wait to meet you. But yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be like an like a Living Room concert.
- [68:57]
Allison Gill
Like a Living Room comedy show, everybody. If you're not going to go see Bridget Everett, come see Dana. Yes, you can get tickets@dana goldberg.com last Here's a picture of a bridge protest sign I saw Friday driving home on I440 during rush hour. The traffic was at a standstill so I couldn't reach resist. Keep up the terrific work. Y' all love Mike. Ah, I've seen this Tennessee Holler posted this his files their war, your kids amazing well done.
- [69:25]
Dana Goldberg
All right, next up from is Karen. Pronouns she and her. Okay, I have to share this. Thanks to good news today. My husband and I love the birdcage. They could not have cast it any better. We loved Agador. Yep. My husband admitted to me that he didn't hear the my Guatemalane ness. He heard my watermelon ness. I love the joy of this movie and respected cage gives for my pod pet tax. I am including a coyote I spied in Yellowstone and an otter we met at the Denver Aquarium. This brings me such joy.
- [69:55]
Allison Gill
Oh my goodness. Karen. Yeah, we were talking about the birdcage yesterday in case you you missed it. But if you're listening to this and you're like, why are we talking about the birdcage? Agadora Spartacus.
- [70:07]
Dana Goldberg
I do not wear shoes because they make me fall down.
- [70:10]
Allison Gill
I will fall down their eggs. Oh my God. Okay. We could go on forever. Look at the otter and the fox. Oh, my goodness. All right, next up, we got a quick bird watching photo from Marilyn Pronoun she and her. This is how I spent my birthday last summer. A friend and I took the water taxi in Chicago to Navy Pier with a moment to salute Trump Tower. Yeah, that's an abomination. Right on the Chicago river, by the way. And next up from Gretchen Pronoun she her. On International Women's Day, we enjoyed creating and listening to compelling speakers for the angry knit in Not Today Fascism. Knitting cult lady Daniela Mestanek Young. I think that's how you say that. I'm not sure. Let me know. And her fantastic team put together a meeting of crafters and those who love them. We gathered to stitch thousands of granny squares making blankets for the unhoused. We discussed resistance, understanding, privilege, and radical acceptance. It was an inspiring day. Good to know we have friends everywhere attached as a small segment of all the blankets together in front of the Capitol. Look at that.
- [71:15]
Dana Goldberg
Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
- [71:18]
Allison Gill
Incredible, incredible. Oh, thank you so much for sharing that, Gretchen.
- [71:23]
Dana Goldberg
Next up from Sue. No pronouns given. I'm an expat in Bali and I've been a fan since you read the M Files. The last two Sundays, I held a constitution amendments read reading event at my home for about a dozen people. We had a board on which we marked every time we saw a violation by this regime. Needless to say, there were a lot of marks.
- [71:42]
Allison Gill
Look at these amazing women. And there's one dude and there's two dudes. I see a couple of guys in there too.
- [71:47]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. Look at this dog too.
- [71:49]
Allison Gill
Absolutely incredible. Oh, My God. What is that? It's like. It's like. Is that like a silky Papillon mix?
- [71:55]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. It's like a. What are those? Turkey something. Oh, it's perfect.
- [72:03]
Allison Gill
Oh, my God. Sue, I want to know more about this dog. You'll have to tell us. That's so cool. Yeah, a constitution amendments reading. And you marked every time you got the amendments listed there with all the violations. Sue, that's wonderful, everybody. Thank you so much for sending in your good news. Please pile it on. We want to have so much good news, we don't know what to do with it. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. Anything you want to remind everybody about?
- [72:29]
Dana Goldberg
Just the last, last tickets for Nashville. Yeah. If you're around the area on Wednesday, this is it. Wednesday. I guess it would be tomorrow. By the time some of you hear this, I will be in Nashville, Tennessee at Zany's and I cannot wait to meet you that are going. Thank you for skipping, Bridget Everett. If you already have the tickets, I totally understand. And we're going to have fun. I'm going to put on a good show for whoever's there because that's what we do. And it's going to be a nice little community I'm looking for. Forward to meeting all of you.
- [72:54]
Allison Gill
Amazing. All right, everybody, we'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been ag.
- [73:04]
Dana Goldberg
I've been dg.
- [73:05]
Allison Gill
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 McFarland with art and web design by Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, please visit mswmedia. Com. MSW Media.