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The Daily Beans
FOIA That Jerk’s Shiz (feat. Leigh McGowan)
01:06:29
Thursday, January 30th, 2025 Today, the White House has rescinded it’s illegal impoundment order for federal spending; the AFGE and NTEU have recommended against federal employees accepting the deferred resignation sent out to all federal employees until they can gather additional information; Elon Musk lackeys have taken over the office of personnel management; the administration has been hit with yet another lawsuit this time over Schedule F implementation; Democrats have flipped a deep red Iowa state senate seat; the USDA Inspector General that was investigating Musk has been physically escorted out of her office; Trump has signed an executive order creating a concentration camp on Guantanamo; US Senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, January 30, 2020. 25. That's right, it's still January. Today, the White House has rescinded its illegal impoundment order for federal spending. The AFGE and NTEU have recommended against federal employees, accepting the deferred resignation sent out to all federal employees until they can gather additional information. Elon Musk lackeys have taken over the Office of Personnel Management. The administration has been hit with yet another lawsuit, this time over schedule F implementation. Democrats have flipped a deep red Iowa state Senate se the USDA Inspector General that was investigating Elon Musk has been physically escorted out of her office. Trump has signed an executive order creating a concentration camp on Guantanamo. And U.S. senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. I'm Alison Gill.
- [01:16]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:20]
Alison Gill
Dana, I would like to live in some precedented times. Can we.
- [01:24]
Dana Goldberg
I would love that.
- [01:25]
Alison Gill
Go back, you know, a little bit. Not too far.
- [01:31]
Dana Goldberg
Not back to 1951.
- [01:34]
Alison Gill
No, I was thinking like 2014, you know.
- [01:37]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that'd be nice.
- [01:38]
Alison Gill
Stuff was, you know, still not great, but a lot better than it is now. Those headlines. Yikes. And as I said, it's still January. RFK Jr is ridiculous. If you saw any clips.
- [01:51]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. I, I just, I, I mean, the video that his niece also put out, or cousin, excuse me, her cousin Caroline, that put out was just scathing, scathing if you've watched it in full. But the man got called out time and time again by incredible senators that were calling him out on his bullshit, and most of them were. All right. You're saying publicly that you now support vaccines. You vaccinated your children. Why are you selling anti vax onesies on a site that on an organization you started? It sure seems like you're making money off of the lies you're telling to the general public, despite what you're doing in your own household. Like they were holding him to the fire. It was beautiful.
- [02:34]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And, and Harry Dunn and I discussed a Wall Street Journal op ed of all, you know, op eds. It's not the, the most liberal in the universe. They were saying, like, he's got connections to all these lawyers who file lawsuits against pharma companies for vaccines. Right. And he could get in there and make it easier for them to do that. And he kind of agreed that he was gonna today that he was not gonna stop taking money from law firms that he works with that sue for vaccine stuff and just, it's all Just corrupt. He's an idiot. He couldn't answer a lot of the questions. Senator Warnock really brought some receipts. A lot of Dems did. But Warnock just was like, oh, really? Because I have a transcript, right? You said this dumbass just took him to task. I hope every single Democrat votes no. Please, please, all of you, don't do like a, a Christy Gnome or a Marco Rubio. And, and you know, have some of you vote yes on this person to run hhs. It's ridiculous. Later in the show, I'm going to be talking with the host of the Politics Girl podcast, our friend Lee McGowan.
- [03:46]
Dana Goldberg
She's fabulous.
- [03:47]
Alison Gill
She's fabulous. I'm looking forward to that. She'll join me later. Also, check my. I have a new audio post. I'm new to this. I normally do podcasts through podcast platforms, but I've recorded a podcast, an interview that I did with a system security expert about that HR OPM email. And it's frankly frightening that a lot of this seems to be happening from outside the organization, from outside the agency, and perhaps even in a foreign country. So we talk a lot about that. And so I did that on Substack. I'm going to be posting that audio and doing a write up on substackmillership.com Meanwhile, the AFGE and the NTEU, those two big unions, have advised federal employees against accepting the, quote, deferred resignation, which is not a buyout, it's not a severance, it's all wonky. So they're warning federal employees, do not take this offer until we've done a little more digging on the legality of it.
- [04:50]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. So Tim Kaine had a scathing retort to that as well. And if you have not watched that, you definitely should look it up. He's like, he's never paid anyone that's ever worked with him. If you really think you're gonna get whatever this package is after you sign this thing, you're sorely mistaken. You think that he's just gonna pay you to not work for 7 months? Don't sign it.
- [05:08]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Or preserve your pension or. And we know, whatever.
- [05:13]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, we do have a little good news at the top of the show. In a Tuesday night special election, and this is a big deal. This is in Iowa. Mike Zimmer defeated Republican Katie Winnington by 52 to 48 margin. Now, I know that only sounds like a 4 point margin, but Trump won that district by a staggering 21 points just three months ago. That's a 25 point swing to blue since November. It also makes me wonder what kind of shenanigans may have happened in the election. But we're not going to go down a rabbit hole.
- [05:46]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Also, I mean, maybe they just really don't like women.
- [05:51]
Dana Goldberg
That's possible. I hate to. Or maybe they just don't like black women. I mean, I hate to say it, but you might be right.
- [05:57]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Well, hey, that's a 25 point swing.
- [06:00]
Dana Goldberg
I'll take it.
- [06:01]
Alison Gill
And I will take it. Also, former US Senator Bob Menendez womp. Womp sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes, including gold bars, which were. They were able to trace those gold bars back to him because they have serial numbers on them and he had reported them stolen in 2013. So it's like, you dumb ass. But that was an exchange for favors for Egypt and New Jersey, a New Jersey businessman. So congrats, Bob. You're eligible to work in the Trump administration.
- [06:29]
Dana Goldberg
You, too can be a Republican if you want. All right. While Trump was signing this Lake and Riley act, which, by the way, no Democrat should have voted for, but they did, he announced that he's building, and this is horrifying, a 30,000 bed facility in Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants. It is basically the beginnings, and do not take this lightly of what could look like a concentration camp. So please, everyone, heed these warnings. And I'm not making a comparison directly to the Holocaust, but not everyone thought that's how that was going to go either. They are making a facility and they're saying, oh, we're going to put the most violent and dangerous criminals. You believe that?
- [07:11]
Alison Gill
No. 48 of the people so far that have been detained by ICE are not criminals. Yeah, 48. Half.
- [07:21]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [07:22]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Frightening, frightening times. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's do the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, from Jeff Stein at the Post. The White House Budget Office on Wednesday rescinded an order freezing federal grants, according to a copy of a memo obtained by the Washington Post. After the administration's move to halt spending earlier this week provoked a backlash. That's a nice way of saying was totally fucking illegal. In the memo distributed to federal agencies, Matthew Vaith, acting director of the White House Office of Management and budget, states that OMB memorandum M2513 is rescinded. That order issued Monday, instructed federal agencies to temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance. Trump's press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, acknowledged that the initial budget office memo has been suspended, but said the administration's broader efforts to block spending remain in effect. Now, I know we're going to get a correction on her name later. So I'm, I know it's Levitt now, but I'm going to keep saying it wrong to pretend like time is linear. The executive orders issued by the president on funding reviews remains in full force. That's what Levitt said. Full force in effect, and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments. She said that in a statement and also blasted dishonest media coverage without giving any specific examples. And Cheney and Gerstein and Politico have added that a federal judge Wednesday said he intends to issue a new block on Trump's efforts to freeze an enormous swath of federal spending, citing the White House's contradictory signals about the policy. Right. So they put out a memo rescinding. So this first judge blocks it, right? Then the White House says, okay, we rescind it because you blocked it. And then Caroline gets on this behind the podium or the lectern or whatever at the, at a press conference at the, you know, at the White House and says, oh, no, no, it's still in effect. And so this other judge, now, U.S. district Judge John McConnell, said a bid by the White House to rescind the hugely ambiguous order implementing the freeze appeared to be undercut by the White House press Secretary Caroline Leavitt's subsequent statement freeze was still in effect. Now, I know I'm going back and forth on Levitt and leave it. I'm, you know what, Levitt or leave.
- [09:48]
Dana Goldberg
It, just leave it.
- [09:50]
Alison Gill
Quote, I'm inclined to grant the restraining order. The judge said he's a Rhode island based appointee of President Barack Obama. And he said that during a court hearing on the lawsuit brought Tuesday. This is the lawsuit brought by the Democratic attorneys general. Quote, I fear that the administration is acting with a distinction, without a difference. Now, Gerstein and Cheney say, remind us that a different federal judge had already put the spending freeze on hold. That judge, Lauren Ali Khan, issued an order Tuesday preserving the status quo for six days in response to a separate lawsuit from the nonprofit groups that challenged the freeze. The White House tried to upend both lawsuits Wednesday by rescinding the original memo from the Trump administration's budget office implementing the spending freeze. But the statements by Leavitt suggested that the freeze was still in effect even if the memo describing it had been rescinded. Even that confusion, clear as this Judge, this Judge McConnell said that confusion suggested the harm caused by the original memo was still likely to occur. He said, quote, while the piece of paper may not exist, there's sufficient evidence that the defendants collectively are acting consistent with that directive and therefore the arguments that they have about needing a restraining order exist. So he hasn't issued that order yet, but he says he's likely going to.
- [11:11]
Dana Goldberg
I do love that there are some still some good judiciary out there. So I am keeping hope that they are going to uphold the Constitution and the laws in this country as much as humanly possible. This next one's from Rachel Levy at Reuters. Security agents, they escorted the inspector General of the U.S. department of Agriculture out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration. This is sources familiar with the matter. That's what they told Reuters. Phyllis Fong, who is a 22 year veteran of the department, had earlier told colleagues that she intended to stay after the White House terminated her Friday, saying she didn't believe the administration had followed proper protocol. That's what the sources said. In an email to colleagues on Saturday reviewed by Reuters, she said the independent counsel of the inspectors general on integrity and efficiency, quote, has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore they are not effective at this time. And she declined to comment to this story. The White House defended the firing of Fong and the other inspectors general, saying, quote, these rogue partisan bureaucrats have been relieved of their duties in order to make room for qualified individuals who will uphold the rule of law and protect democracy. No, that's not what they're doing. The USDA Inspector general has a broad mandate pursuing consumer food safety audits, investigations of the Agriculture Department, as well as violations of animal welfare laws. I wonder if RFK Jr has broken any of those. The USDA has been at the heart of concerns about bird flu, which we all need to know about, and that has spread among cattle and chickens. It's also killed a person in Louisiana. In 2022, the inspector general's office launched an investigation of Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink, which remains ongoing. This is what sources said. In recent years, the office has also taken on animal abuse at dog breeders for research labs and the listeria outbreak at Boar's Head, and this is among many issues that they've covered. Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion with a B dollars to help President Donald Trump get elected in November and has emerged as a key player in this president's orbit. The dismissals handed out less than a week after Trump took office for a second term. They appeared to violate federal law, the Council of the Inspectors General on the Integrity and efficiency. That's what they said in a letter to the White House on Friday. Fong served as the first chairperson of CIGIE from 2008 through 2014. That is according to her biography that's on the USDA's website.
- [13:50]
Alison Gill
Somebody investigating Elon Musk was physically escorted out of their office after being illegally fired.
- [13:56]
Dana Goldberg
Huh?
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Alison Gill
Huh? That's weird. All right, next up from Victoria Elliott at Wired. Sources within the federal government tell Wired that the highest ranks at the Office of Personnel Management, opm, essentially the human resources for the entire federal government, are now controlled by people with connections to Elon Musk and the tech industry. Amanda Scales is, as has been reported, the new chief of staff at OPM. She formerly worked in talent for Xai Musk's artificial intelligence company. According to her LinkedIn that she was part of the talent and operations team at Human Capital, a venture firm with investments in the defense tech startup Anduril and the political betting platform Kalshi. Before that, she worked for years at Uber. Her placement in this key role, experts believe, seems part of a broader pattern of the traditionally apolitical OPM being converted to use as a political tool. Sources say that Ricardo Biasini, formerly an engineer at Tesla and most recently director of operations for the Las Vegas Loop at the Boring Company Musk's tunnel building operation, is also at the OPM as a senior advisor to the director. Steve Davis, the CEO of the Boring Company, is rumored to be advising Musk on cuts to be made via Doji, and was integral in Musk's gutting of Twitter, now X after his takeover of the company in 2022, according to the same sources. Other people at the top of the new OPM food chain, the top of it include two people with apparent software engineering backgrounds who Wired is not naming because of their ages. One, a senior advisor to the director of OPM, is a 21 year old whose online resume touts his work at Palantir, the government contractor and analytics firm co founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, who's chairman mm. The other, who reports directly to Scales, graduated from high school in 2024.
- [15:54]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God.
- [15:56]
Alison Gill
According to a mirrored copy of an online resume and his high school's student magazine. He lists his jobs as camp counselor and a bicycle mechanic among his professional experiences, as well as a summer role at Neuralink, Musk's brain computer chip interface technology company.
- [16:13]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, we're living in the Twilight Zone.
- [16:17]
Alison Gill
I was a camp counselor and I had a paper route and I worked for Neuralink.
- [16:21]
Dana Goldberg
What the My other ball's about to drop so I might need some time off from work for medical reasons like.
- [16:28]
Alison Gill
That Bobby Brady episode or Peter Brady where his voice has changed, Changing changes Among the new higher ups at OPM is Noah Peters. He's an attorney whose LinkedIn boast of his work in litigation representing the National Rifle association and who has written for right wing outlets like the Daily Caller and the Federalist. He is also now a senior advisor to the director of opm. According to the metadata associated with a file on the OPM website, Peters is actually the person who authored a Jan. 27 memo that went out under Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell's name describing how the departments would be implementing one of Trump's executive orders, quote, restoring accountability to policy influencing positions within the federal workforce. That has to do with Schedule F, a plan to recategorize most civil service jobs as political appointees, meaning they would be tied to the specific agenda of an administration rather than viewed as career government workers. They could also be fired at will. The order would essentially allow for certain career civil servants to be removed in favor of Trump loyalists by classifying them as political appointees. That's a key part, by the way, of Project 2025. Another OPM memo concerning the government's new return to office mandate appears, according to metadata, also to have been authored by someone other than Azell, a guy named James Shirk, previously at the America First Policy Institute and author of an op ed advocating for the president to be able to fire bureaucrats. Formerly a special assistant to the president during Trump's first term, he's now part of the White House Domestic Policy Council. And I have foia that jerk shiz because I have to know if he had anything.
- [18:16]
Dana Goldberg
There was a lot of words that I know some of our listeners was like, what did she just say?
- [18:23]
Alison Gill
Foia, that jerk's shiz.
- [18:25]
Dana Goldberg
You know, I'm sure some people were like, rewind. What?
- [18:30]
Alison Gill
No. Yeah, well, anyway, foia Freedom of Information act request Last week, many federal workers received test emails from the email address hropm.gov in a lawsuit filed last night, plaintiffs allege that the new email list started by the Trump administration may be compromising the data of federal employees. Quote, at a broadest level, the concern is that technologists are playing a role to monitor employees and to target those who would be downsized, says Moynihan. It's difficult in the federal government to actually evaluate who is performing well or performing poorly. So doing it on some sort of mass automated scale where you think using some sort of data analytics or AI would automate that process. I think it's an invitation to make errors. Yeah. You think, you think a 21 year old and a 22 year old, somebody like, when you hear what I talk about with this system security expert on the audio podcast I recorded for my substack, it's going to blow your mind how sloppy this OPM email situation.
- [19:36]
Dana Goldberg
We're not saying that every 22 year old may not be, you know, qualified for something like this. We're just saying specifically this 22 year old is not.
- [19:46]
Alison Gill
Yeah, it was done quickly, with urgency. It was sloppy. There's evidence of, of, of problems there. There's compromises, breaches, exposing OPM employees to attacks, you know, and I mean like cyber attacks anyway, it's all just bonkers. What's going on over there. Last week, federal employees across the government received emails encouraging them to turn in colleagues who they believe to be working on DEI stuff to the OPM via the email address deia truth pm.gov's this reminded me, says Kelman, quote, of the Soviet Stalinism, of turning in your friends to the government. And I agree.
- [20:30]
Dana Goldberg
Yep. And I would imagine that's where some of these emails and letters are coming from, if you know what I mean. This one's from Matt Cohen at Democracy Docket. Another organization filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump's executive order that strips employment protections for tens of thousands of federal workers, otherwise known as Schedule F. On Tuesday, Democracy Forward and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, otherwise known as peer. And that's a non profit organization that helps employees anonymously expose environmental waste and wrongdoing. Well, they have sued the Trump administration over Schedule F, accusing the administration of violating the Administrative Procedures Act. Schedule F reclassifies the employment status of tens of thousands of civil service employees, essentially putting them in a less protected employment class. That makes it harder for them to receive promotions based on merit and easier to dismiss them for political disloyalty. Now, it's not the first time Trump tried to implement Schedule F. He signed it as an executive order at the tail end of his first presidency, but since he lost in 2020 that election, it was never formally implemented. Re implementing Schedule F was a big part of a larger executive order that impacts the federal workforce that Trump signed on the first day of his second presidency. The EO also included a hiring freeze, five day a week return to office mandate and Changes in hiring pract According to peers lawsuit, Schedule F violates the Fifth Amendment because it strips civil servants of their accrued status and civil service protections without due process of law. It also claims that the EO, quote, instructs agencies to act in a way that violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The reimplementation of Schedule F has made reverberations throughout the federal workforce since Trump signed the EO on January 21st. Shortly after Trump signed the EO, the National Treasury Employees Union, that's a government union that represents workers from 37 federal agencies, they filed a lawsuit to reverse the order, claiming it is, quote, contrary to congressional intent. Though Pier isn't a union representing federal workers, one of its primary function, it's to help and protect federal workers who report environmental waste and wrongdoing. Pierce says in the lawsuit that Trump's EO has, quote, already impeded the organization's ability to fulfill its mission because, quote, several of Pierce clients and potential CL clients have already indicated that they're reluctant to speak to the media or to make confidential whistleblower reports due to fear of retaliation given renewed Schedule F. Yeah. In one example, an individual who previously came to Pierre as a potential whistleblower prior to Trump's executive order, quote, was afraid to give even their name and hesitant to give any information because they feared summary termination due to the executive order. This is serious, and I'm hope, I'm glad people are fighting back against some of this. But even the thing that they send it today, we talked about that in the first story, it's still confusing. So try not to get overwhelmed, people. This is intentional. The chaos is intentional.
- [23:42]
Alison Gill
Yes. Yes. And speaking of that, we have a way to fight back. It's time for some good trouble. Hey, trouble. Yes. All right. Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, call the malleable Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Bill Cassidy, and tell them to vote no on RFK Jr. Also, might be a good idea to call Fetterman and remind him that he's a Democrat and that he should also vote no. Call all five of them, and then please ask a friend to call all five of them. And, you know, when you're done with that, if you still have a little extra time for this particular good trouble, call your two senators, whoever they are, and just remind them to vote no. This is a disastrous pick which will have disastrous consequences and cost many, many lives. So thank you very much. That's your good trouble. All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with Lee McGowan politics girl.
- [24:40]
Dana Goldberg
After these messages. We'll be right back.
- [24:45]
Alison Gill
Hey everybody, it's ag. I used to think bad sleep was just something I had to deal with. Every night I would toss and turn. I woke up feeling terrible, drenched in sweat. Sluggish. My back pain made it impossible to get comfortable. And my Apple watch would confirm what I already knew that my sleep quality was terr. I'd wake up exhausted and stiff and already looking forward to crawling back into bed. But that all changed when I got my first Helix mattress. A friend recommended them and after hearing them rave about their experience, I had to try it for myself. And from the very first night couple few years ago now, the difference was unbelievable. My Apple watch started tracking longer, deeper sleep cycles. My back pain disappeared. I actually woke up feeling rested and refreshed for once. The cooling technology was a lifesaver too. Kept me comfortable all night long without waking up, like drenched in sweat. Now mornings feel completely different. I wake up refreshed, ready to take on the day instead of dragging myself through it even years later. My Helix mattress is just as supportive and comfortable as when I first got it. So there's no sagging, no loss of comfort. Every night's like the first night. So if you're dealing with restless nights, back pain, or just never feeling truly rested, Helix is the best upgrade you can make. Trust me, your body will thank you. Go to helixsleep.comdailybeans for 20% off site wide plus two free dream pillows with mattress purchase. That's helixsleep.com dailybeans for 20% off site wide plus two free dream pillows with your mattress purchase. Helixsleep.com dailybeans with Helix Better sleep starts now. Hey everybody, welcome back. I am super honored and always excited and kind of giddy every time I get to talk to this person. Our next guest, she hosts the Politics Girl podcast. We were partners in crime down at the DNC this year as content creators and she did some magnificent work there. Please welcome my really good friend, Lee McGowan.
- [26:29]
C
Hello my friend.
- [26:30]
Alison Gill
Ah, it is so good to see your bright shining face, which is sometimes contorted in rants, but rightfully so because right now I got up from the couch to come into my studio. I have a home studio. I don't record at my kitchen table anymore. Please applaud. And I came.
- [26:50]
C
Thank you.
- [26:51]
Alison Gill
And I came back here, but I got it from watching parts of the RFK Junior confirmation hearing and I put out a post on Blue sky and I said if any Democrat Y'all better vote no, every single one of you. Because everybody, they all voted for Marco Rubio. Seven of them, I think, voted for Kristi Noem. None of them voted for Pete Hegseth. But I'm not gonna high five people for doing the right thing, the easy thing, the low hanging fruit. But you and I have been having discussions these past couple weeks about how we would like to see our represented electeds in D.C. particularly on the Hill, do more. And let's talk about what it means to do more, because we know, we know we don't have the majority. We know we can't pass legislation, but we can introduce bills, we can introduce amendments, we can speak up. And we also know that we have a problem with the corporate media covering them, speaking up if they do. So let's talk a little bit about that because you put out a video and again, it's the Politics Girl podcast. You can get this everywhere. You get your podcast and especially YouTube. I love your YouTube channel. But let's talk a little bit about this because it's. It's kind of infuriating.
- [28:03]
C
It's beyond kind of infuriating. I think Shannon Watts this week said Democrats didn't just, you know, they always said the Democrats bring a knife to a gun fight. She was like, they brought a cheese stick to a knife fight. Like, that's what it feels like. And I feel like it's that level of lack of fight that I think is just upsetting so many people. You cannot tell us for over a year what we are now seeing, that this person is a threat to our democracy. He's a threat to our country. He's a fascist. He's going to implement Project 2025, which he's doing point by point right now, after saying, you know, up and down, he had nothing to do with it, you know, and just do nothing about it. Act like it's business as usual. And I think Democrats are told often, you know, not to criticize our own, to. To stay united, to be a united front. And I think we all did that very well leading up to the election. I think a lot of us did. Yeah. I mean, there was a fair amount. You and I were definitely out here being team players. We were. We were team Joe Biden till the very end. I still think that we made some major mistakes in that shenanigans. But at the end of the day, I don't know why these people are acting like things are normal, because they are not protecting us by doing that. And the norms are gone. If you are still playing the rules of the game from 1995. You have missed the boat. And the thing is that I think they really need to get with the program on this. It's a problematic situation because you want to be able to retain a democracy. You want to be able to retain a rule of law. You can't retain a rule of law if you work outside the rule of law like the opponent does. But you can certainly get your face in front of every single camera in this nation and say, this is outrageous and I won't have it. And what they tried to do when they like freezed all government funding to something like there shouldn't have been a Democrat on the Hill. That wasn't Marjorie Taylor greening themselves into a camera to say, what are we doing? This is what they need to do. They need to find their fight and they cannot do this business as usual. Well, this seems like a pretty reasonable, you know, candidate. We'll put them through. No, none of them are reasonable. In fact, when, when Obama, who really did have a mandate was elected, the very first thing Mitch McConnell said was, our entire goal is to make this president a one term president. And that's the kind of energy we need from the Democrats right now.
- [30:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I think it would really actually help get everyone engaged. And again, like, let's think, let's go back to the first time there was an impoundment control act problem. When we got a word. I was on stage in Chicago with the Mueller She Wrote podcast. Renato Marioti was there. It was July 27, 2019. I'll never forget it because we got little word in our little earpieces, well, you know, on our phones that Adam Schiff was screaming about a whistleblower who talked about the fact that aid to Ukraine was being withheld in a shakedown in violation of the, God, the whole damn Constitution. You know, taking away the power of the purse of Congress. It's like they're one thing like, you know, other than providing oversight to the Supreme Court, which we can talk about another time.
- [31:17]
C
And apparently declaring war, that's also supposed to be Congress's job.
- [31:21]
Alison Gill
Yes. Unless it's in the Middle east and then it's just kind of automatic.
- [31:25]
C
Yeah.
- [31:26]
Alison Gill
So you know, that was a hair on fire moment. And they were like, impeach, impeach, impeach, we have to impeach. And now we've got that times a million with this Office of Management and Budget freeze where he's impounding the whole damn government. And they're like, well, Nothing we can do. And it was up to a bunch of attorneys general and then some private, like, activist groups to sue and get it stopped. And it's been rescinded because of that action now. Now, yes, we understand that there's nothing that Congress could do as far as passing legislation or anything. Maybe, maybe make an amendment to Marjorie Taylor Greene's antifa bill saying, you know, sure. And also rescind this highly illegal memo. Anything. Be loud. And if the media is not covering it, bring in your 250 content creators who you brought into the DNC to spread the word, because we know how effective that is.
- [32:27]
C
But I think it's a. I think what you're saying, though, it's optics, right? Like, here's the thing. Like, we get it. You're out of power in Congress. You are the minority party in the House, you're the minority party in the Senate. They have the Supreme Court. You know, they're all in the bag. We get it. But did you learn nothing from working with the Republicans for the past 10 years? You obstruct everything. You deny everything, you're annoying about everything. You point out to the public what you have a problem with every single time. And this isn't even about the lies that the Republicans have spread for decades and decades. Oh, there's going to be, you know, death panels with Obamacare. No, there's not. Right? That was a dead lie. But, my God, every single one of them said it over and over again until the American public thought there were going to be death panels. We're telling the truth. So repeat the truth over and over again. It is literally marketing and messaging and this idea that the minority leader of the House is going to come out and say, presidents come and go. Through it all, God is on the throne. I literally almost threw my phone across the room watching Hakeem Jeffries say that, because it was basically like, what can you do? Can't do anything. And I was like, actually, there's a lot you can do. You may not be able to pass legislation, but if you want to capture the people of this country back, you're not winning the midterms with this attitude. You're not going to say, oh, he's just going to trash the country, and then everyone will vote for us. Why should they vote for you? That's one of the biggest problems the Democrats have had for years. Give us a reason to vote for you. Not just, they're not the other guy. You know what I mean? Like, be bold. It is ridiculous. What I'm watching right now.
- [34:01]
Alison Gill
Yeah. I mean, we're sitting here watching this administration dismantle the federal workforce and in my view, in an effort to break it so that the oligarchs can privatize it and then line their pockets and then save the money on government spending to give themselves tax cuts. I mean, it seems very clear to me. Get some messaging together, go out and shout about it every day. Protect the people who have worked, these civil servants, these career professionals who have worked for the government and held our institutions together for, in some cases, decades. But they're dismantling it and the best we can get. Well, first of all, I haven't heard much on that front at all. It's the unions who are doing the heavy lifting and the lawyers that are doing the heavy lifting.
- [34:42]
C
No, but it's again, it's like make a show of it. Like, yes, how many times did we see Donald Trump driving around in a dump truck or in a garbage truck or like, like rent a dump truck and back it up to Congress and put a thing on the side that says gop, you know, put your money in here. Like they are literally gutting the government to steal taxpayer money and drive away with it. Start making some optics that benefit you, that tell the people what's really happening. Like, you know, break it down the way you've watched your opponent do it successfully for years. The fact that we're just sitting here being like, oh, well, you let 1600 people out of jail, you know, and these people are already committing crimes and being like that, sell it, sell it.
- [35:27]
Alison Gill
But all we got was a formal resolution.
- [35:29]
C
A resolution.
- [35:31]
Alison Gill
Now back in 1986, a censure or a formal resolution was a big deal.
- [35:38]
C
Sure.
- [35:39]
Alison Gill
It is not. Now it is not at all strongly worded letters. Do nothing other than make me go, is that it? Is that what you've got for me as a formal resolution? And again, I'm not shitting on formal resolutions. Go ahead. But also, you know, be loud, be angry, be obstructive, be annoying, be a part of the problem, help throw sand in the gears and at least do that over and over and over again to get your message out. My problem here is that I've kind of been seeing a lot of folks say, well look, they're going to destroy themselves. We should just sit back and let them do it. And while, you know, I guess I kind of understand that strategy, it seems a little lazy to me. It seems like, like none of us are sitting back. I, I, you know, you're, we're working 70 hours a week. We're trying to get the truth out there where I am putting together a group of lawyers to try to help federal workers. I, I've got, I, I've created a monster by trying to create a new 501C3 to, to help people. I think I did hear from, I think there was a post on Ron Wyden's website that if you want to blow the whistle to contact him at this particular address, but that's it. I want to see what you want to see. I want to see trucks driving around D.C. whistleblower. Call me. You know, or some even remember the old Bender and Bender.
- [37:12]
C
Did you, were you injured in an accident?
- [37:16]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [37:16]
C
Did you lose your job because Trump stole it from you? Call me. You know, like, that would be fine. Listen, like, like it's not just you and me. It's every normie Democrat out there that has put in work for years to try and get the people who have the better ideas and the better candidates and the better legislation for the American people into positions of power. While the Republicans play these games where they gerrymander things and they get rid of like vote, they voter suppress and they try and overturn elections that they lost, they are playing a completely different game than we are. And you know, it's not just you and me talking about this. Like I was saying about Shannon Watts. I mean, she started Moms Demand Action. She's someone that said something else needs to be done. I'm going to create a whole new group. She's like, I have been a team player for so many years with the Democrats. And she wrote a tweet this week that said to watch Democrats make millions off stock trades and cozy up to people. They already said we're fascist. To trade obligations for access to play internal politics while democracy is destroyed is a disappointment I don't have words for. And I was like, yes, girl. Because that's the thing that we are the people that are putting in 80, 100 hour weeks trying to save democracy. And the very people who are actually in a position to do something about it are like, listen, you know, like, we, we wrote this formal resolution. You're like, great, write the formal resolution. But also, and you know, there's a former White House communications director, I think his name is Aaron Hertz. And he put online recently, this week that every Trump outrage is an opportunity to communicate our core messages to different people. Right. That our party leaders need to be less concerned about controlling the message and being exactly right and not saying the Wrong thing. And more invested in communicating authentically to the widest audience possible while we let the Republicans hang themselves because every single thing they do is terrible. We can do both, hate it. We can do both.
- [39:12]
Alison Gill
And we have some really great examples of that. AOC is really talented at this. And everyone on the Hill should be taking a page from what she does with her live Instagram discussions and taking her message to the people, but also making it a two way conversation, a push and pull. Like tell me why you voted for me and Donald Trump. I need to understand. Yeah. And Ben Wickler, who is running to be DNC chair, that's I think two days from now is the election, is the first person I saw come out and say here's what we did wrong. We didn't get. It doesn't matter what the message is. We can hash the message out later. It didn't get to the people and we have to meet them where they are and figure out how to get that to them. And he, you know, said we can't play politics like it, like we played politics in the 90s and the aughts and the teens. This is a whole different world. We should have learned that from 2016. And we also should have learned from 2016 that we, there's no silver bullet. We can't rely on Merrick Garland or Bob Mueller to save us or you know, a Supreme Court or a particular single person or a single institution that it's all of us all together. And the single biggest check on these folks is us, the voters. The single biggest check on the executive power is the voters. And if you don't reach them where they are, I mean how many people had to Google terrorists after the election? After the election, like that means our message isn't getting out. And I'm glad that Ben Wickler understood that. And we, and I do see rays of hope and I do see some of our members doing the right thing. And there's more. There's Elizabeth Warren, there's, you know, we. Raskin is very vocal and out there. They all need to be doing this all the time. It needs to be non stop.
- [41:03]
C
Yeah. And I think the thing is, is that we need to be really careful with our leadership. I think that's the thing. I mean when, and I am a huge supporter of Nancy Pelosi. I think she absolutely saved us during the first Trump presidency. But her sidelining AOC to put, you know, a 70 plus year old man with throat cancer in the position that AOC was going to win was a giant mistake. And I think we need to be able to say that. Not just because, you know, we can respect and appreciate all the work Nancy Pelosi's done, But at this point, you gotta let the new blood come up. You've gotta let the new voices come up. You've gotta let the people who understand what game we're playing play. Because there's a reason AOC is a. Is connecting with the people. There's a reason that. What's her name? Amazing. From Texas. She's, like, super ballsy in all the community.
- [41:52]
Alison Gill
Jasmine Crockett.
- [41:52]
C
Right. Jasmine Crockett. We've got to let those people talk. Maxwell Frost. They're talking about things that everyone under 40 is like, what's happening? You know, if you never had to spend four lifetimes of salary on a house, if you never lost your job, if you've never spent $70,000 a year on college, if that's a completely different world than you lived in, then how can you possibly conceptualize what most people are dealing with? And then to watch and to tell us how terrible it's going to be, then to have us see it, and then to say, well, there's nothing we can do. That's just not where we're at.
- [42:27]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And I don't think that. I think that those folks that you just named are actually speaking to everyone over 40, under 40, everyone who listens to my show. I know that is, you know, my age is like, yes, I need that energy.
- [42:41]
C
Yeah. I think everyone likes a winner energy.
- [42:43]
Alison Gill
Who.
- [42:44]
C
Who doesn't? No one wants to be on the losing team. It's one of the reasons MEGA is so successful, because they look like winners and they don't apologize for being winners. And I think the Democrats need to embrace the fact that literally the majority of the country wants what the Democrats are actually offering. So they sure as hell better start selling it and not acting like these sort of wussy sideliners when they could be out in front saying, no, absolutely not. This is outrageous. What are we doing? Like, I think AOC wrote recently, I will fight Nazis until I'm 6ft under the ground. And you want to, like, go, yes. To your screen. Yeah, that's how we need to feel.
- [43:21]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And one last thing I want to bring up before you go, and you've mentioned this a couple of times since we started talking, it's kind of this black and white thing. Like, if you come out and you criticize Nancy Pelosi, that means that you just hate Nancy Pelosi. And if you say that she's done something good, that means you aren't able to criticize her for anything. It's this all or nothing purity politics. That I think has been a real problem. And it's true for both. I'm not just saying that we should be able to criticize our leaders without someone thinking that we hate everything they've always ever done and erase their entire history of doing great things, but also that some people actually react that way. If they hear me say something like, I didn't like this post from Hakeem Jeffries, they assume that I mean that I hate Hakeem Jeffries. And I think the timing here is important, which is something else you brought up, too. But the three months, five months leading up to the election, people are like, why aren't you calling Biden old? Why aren't you saying Kamala needs to do this? Why aren't you criticizing our leaders? And I'm like, because I'm not going to do that before an election. I'm not going to put out negative messaging before an election, especially this important election. I'm not saying I don't disagree with a lot of stuff, but I'm. That's not what I'm going to do. We are after an election right now. We don't have another big federal election for these folks on the Hill until 2026. I mean, there's going to be some special elections in between, obviously, but, you know, big picture, now is the perfect time to push them. But I also want people to understand that when I criticize or push our leaders to be better, please understand, and everyone should understand that. I'm not saying that I won't vote for them or I am leaving the party or Democrats are the same or like, it has. Like, everyone is so extreme, and I think we need to bring ourselves back into a little, oh, I don't know, common sense. Have you heard that phrase before, my friend?
- [45:15]
C
Yeah, dude, I wrote a whole book on common sense.
- [45:17]
Alison Gill
Did you write a whole book about it?
- [45:18]
C
I did. I wrote a whole book on common sense. Because here's the thing. I really, I couldn't agree with you more. I think this is the perfect opportunity to look at what's not working, to build something better out. Because to say, like, okay, we obviously missed it. If the country didn't understand that we're the party of unions, if the country didn't understand that we're the party that wants to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. If the country didn't Understand that we're the ones that are going to listen to them and want to improve their health care and lower their health care bills. If the country didn't get that, then we made a mistake in messaging. Yes, we had to deal with, with vast amounts of disinformation and misinformation. And that's its own problem, that is its own thing that we have to deal with. But this is the opportunity and I think it's great that we're getting a new DNC leader at this exact time. And I will say that, you know, I think Ben has got it right on, but I will say that every single one of the people that is running understands we need a 50 state solution. We need to be in every state in this nation talking to every voter that we cannot continue to do this. Consultant clad, you get 75 mailers a day if you live in one of the seven swing states. And those are the only people we talk to. Every single one of the people running to run the DNC is like, that's a mistake, you know, and I'm glad to hear them say that because it is. And now is a great time for us to figure that out, to say we actually are here for you. And if you didn't know that, then let us tell you and find new young candidates or new old candidates who are good at expressing themselves. I'm old, right? Like, like let's, let's get people that are out there that can say, hey, this is what we stand for. What do you need? How can we help you? What needs to be done? I look at somebody like Marie Gluzenkamp Perez in Washington's third. She's not your classic Democrat. She ran against super hyper Mega Boy. But she's out here saying, why do we need four levels of government to pick the right knife to cut these oranges for these kids in this preschool class? Like, that's too much government. Just give the kids an orange. You know what I mean? Like, it is that kind of common sense behavior that we need from our government. Because most people be like, like, yeah, just cut the frickin orange.
- [47:18]
Alison Gill
Lee. They paid me six figures to ensure that the Department of Veterans affairs was getting the money from the Department of Defense for the care that we gave active duty service members at the va. They literally were paying people tons of money to ensure that the government paid the government. And I, I actually was like, I don't think this job should exist. I think we should do, we should include our payments to each other in our budgets and My, my supervisor, like, but then you wouldn't have a job. And I'm like, I don't. You can find me something else to do. This is Department of Energy.
- [47:50]
C
I am going to doge myself. And it can be done. Like, it's not that we can't make decisions. We don't need to say, oh, the government is perfect and it will never make any changes. Everyone loves it. No, it's not perfect. And we should say, here are things where we could make changes. You are not wrong thinking that your salary should be better. You are not wrong thinking the government is bloated. You are not wrong thinking that we're doing this kind of thing, but what can we do about it that isn't come in and take TNT to the entire thing so we can build some weird oligarchy out of it where the rest of us are serfs on some sort of tech plantation.
- [48:23]
Alison Gill
No. Agree so much, and I'm really glad that you brought that up too, because Ben Wickler said, look, we don't need a 50 state solution. We need a 57 states solution, plural. Each state has a different need.
- [48:34]
C
Each state's had its own need.
- [48:36]
Alison Gill
And I was like, thank you for saying that. We can't cookie cutter this shit anymore. We got to find the people where they are and we got to give them the right message. So I appreciate your time again, everyone. We love them. We are Democrats. We love Democrats. We will vote for Democrats. It is the best way to get rid of the Republicans because we have a two party system. Don't misunderstand us, please. But I think that this is a good time to push our leaders to do better for us and get in the fight. You might not win the fight, but step in the ring. I mean, how many, how many sayings are there? You miss 100% of the shots, you don't take. A phrase I coined the other day was, everything's a long shot until it's not.
- [49:16]
C
I love that.
- [49:17]
Alison Gill
And so we have to. Well, that amendment will never pass. Well, impeachment will never work. Well, of course not. Impeachment wasn't going to work the first time, but it was our duty to do it. Yeah. And so anyway, I appreciate your time today. Everybody has to check out, first of all, the book Common sense by Lee McGowan.
- [49:35]
C
A Return to Common Sense by Lee McGowan. Yeah. And honestly, I'm going to be talking a lot about that coming up because I, I mean, I wrote it last year, but it couldn't be more prescient. Now, like, it's just, you know, it's called how to Fix America before we really Blow It. And. And I think that's where exactly we are right now. And I think that it's actually more present. You'd be more inclined to read the book now even than before the election, because now we really need to make some major changes. And I would say, to your point about criticizing Democrats, like, I think about being a parent, you know, like. Like, I don't just let my son get away with things that aren't great. My job is to make him the best version of himself. And if he's making a mistake, I say, yo, bro, that's not good enough. You need to do better. We need to have more from you, whether that's in school or when he was little, with his behavior. And that's what makes people the best version of themselves. It's our job. If we love this country, if we love this party, if we want things to be better, to push them to be better, that doesn't like them. It's our government. It's of by for the people, and we've forgotten us in the mix. And I think we need to stand up and say, hey, we're still here, and we have higher expectations than this.
- [50:45]
Alison Gill
Love it. Thank you so much, my friend. Everybody, check out the Politics Girl podcast. Seriously, subscribe. Do it. Because the more people subscribe, and it's free to subscribe, the higher we go up on the charts and the lower people like Charlie Kirk and Ben Boingo, whatever his name is, Gino Bond face, get pushed down and we. We beat Tucker Carlson the other day. Did you see that?
- [51:08]
C
But then Tuck's son got a job in the White House. You know, he's a DEI hire, I guess. Dude, they're all a Nepo hire. Yeah, yeah.
- [51:18]
Alison Gill
But if. Yeah, we're out here doing the. Doing the, you know, getting in good trouble over, you know, flooding that Deia Truth email box to make it unusable. So much so that when they created the HR OPM, they had to load, share it and create 20, 20 different email boxes so that they wouldn't get spammed. Like, that's the shit. We can do it. Our leaders can do it, and we can push them to do better. Thank you so much for joining me today, my friend.
- [51:43]
C
Thank you for having me.
- [51:45]
Alison Gill
Yeah, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone. Then good news, everyone. Good news. And if you have any good news, Confessions, corrections? You want to play any animal guessing game like send us a photo of your pod pet and see if we can guess what dog breeds are in that shelter Pup. We're not very good at it, but it's still fun and we get to see a picture of your pet. Send that to us. Of course, if you have a shout out that you want to make, whether it's to a friend or a loved one or a small business in your area or your small business or a self shout out or a government program that's helped you or a loved one like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, snap, Affordable Care act, wic, the PACT act, great VA health care you might have received and of course student debt relief. You could send that to us. And if you don't have that pod pet photo to pay your pod pet tax, you can attach a photo of an adoptable pet in your area or any animal that you can find on the Internet. I'll just pretend it's mine because I love animals. I especially love the baby tapirs that are just were born at the San Diego Zoo. Send us any animal photo. And then of course if you don't have that, you can send us a bird watching photo which could be an actual bird or it could be you and your loved ones and family flipping off trump properties. We love that bird watching stuff here at the Daily Beans. And of course if you don't have any of that baby pictures, we absolutely love baby pictures. You can send that to us as a substitute in lieu of a pet or both. Send them both to us. We take multiple pictures@dailybeanspod.com just click on contact. All right, here's that correction from Margot. The orange ones press bot kkk. Caroline leave it's last name is Levitt, not leave it. She ran for congress here election before last. She was just as annoyingly stupid and MAGA cult washed as she is now. Thanks for the good news, good trouble and good swearing. I like that triple goods. Thanks Margo. I. You know what? Love it or leave it. It's my new. I think that's the name of the show today.
- [54:01]
Dana Goldberg
All right. Thanks Alison. This one's from Ashley Pronoun. She and her. Hey hey hey Beans Queens.
- [54:05]
Alison Gill
Hey hey.
- [54:06]
Dana Goldberg
Firstly I want to thank you from the bottom of my progressive soul for being my safe space this past year and a half. I was raised in southeast Oklahoma. Enough said. And currently leave live. Excuse me, that one's live. Not leave live and work amidst a MAGA population larger than any of us want to face on a daily basis. As you can im, I pretty much ride solo my Democratic convictions around here. Listening to your show every morning has made me feel less alone as well as more empowered to speak up. My email is about some good fun. Initially I decided to just shut down my Facebook page after all the dork Zuckerberg crap. But then I got to thinking. Why do I have to miss out on seeing relatives post updates on their lives, local music, local live music listings, and keeping in touch with lifelong friends? I don't. But I also don't have to stand for support of this weird administration either. So I kept my Facebook for those purposes as well as posting a fresh and new Trump joke of some sort every single day. Just one. Always a good one. I hashtag them all. Hashtag Pro America, Anti Trump and I have plenty of material to last these four unfortunate years. Those daily jabs are my only posts I am making. Just some slightly annoying poking of the bear for all the maga cultists out there. Keep doing the amazing work you guys are doing. Independent media has never been more important to have and hold on to. I appreciate you both more than I have words to tell you. My pet tax, my pod pet tax, is my pretty kitty girl, Gemma. I rescued her from a shelter that took her and her siblings in from being feral. She was the shyest and she stole my heart from the start. It took three weeks to see her come out from under the couch and launch longer than that before she let anyone pet her. Fast forward three years later. She's my shadow. She waits outside the bathroom door for me when I go in. She sleeps literally sprawled out like a drunk human. See the pictures? She will only drink ice water and she has a silent meow. Yep, her mouth moves but no sound comes out. I wouldn't have it any other way. Stay safe and sprinkle love everywhere.
- [56:18]
Alison Gill
Ah, I'm so jealous because my cat stove is like like urgent with his meows meow like he he he wow.
- [56:26]
Dana Goldberg
That'S a good one.
- [56:27]
Alison Gill
He yells it at you and you're like ow. What bro? And there's nothing wrong. I mean maybe the food bowl is like a quarter empty and it has to be full, but you got clean sand, you got softies, you got crunchies. The is your problem. He it just won't stop. Look at this beautiful baby. Oh, thank you so much for these photos and thank you so much. I'm glad that you don't feel so alone there in Southeast Oklahoma, Ashley. All right, next up from Terry Pronoun. She and her. This is good news for Ruby Red Iowa. Oh, hey, look. Zimmer WINS Senate District 35. Iowa Democrats picked up a seat in the Eastern Iowa special election. Local school board president President Mike Zimmer of DeWitt carried a Trump +20 district. The vacancy was left by Republican Lt. Gov. Chris Corn. Roar Corn Royer. That's what his name is. Hopefully Democrats can keep it up and people are tired of our MAGA Republicans. Here, here is a baby picture, by the way. I'm turning my head around and moving my face like a foot away from the microphone.
- [57:47]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, it's amazing, everyone. It's. It's amazing.
- [57:50]
Alison Gill
Here is a baby picture of my high school senior. She wants to be an FBI agent.
- [57:55]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, look at that face.
- [57:57]
Alison Gill
She's coming to get you. You're under arrest from cuteness. She's cutie. He's adorable. Oh, thanks, Terry. Thanks so much. And yeah, congratulations on District 35. That's so good. Good.
- [58:10]
Dana Goldberg
So good. All right, this is from Peggy Pronoun. She and her blue dot in red, Iowa. Just a small ray of hope. We just had a Democratic candidate win in a special election last night in an Iowa senate race. Since he who shall not be named won by 60%, I call that a convincing shift in the winds. Baby steps, Baby steps. For payment of my pod pet tax, I'm sending a photo of Bernie, short for Bernadette, my eight month old puppy. The clasp on the tie out rope obscures the tiny white marking on her chest. Can you tell her mix? Her very uneven haircut led to an impromptu whole body grooming session to remove millions of cockle burr clusters. The most common phrase she reacts to is damn it, what did you do now? Also useful when I react to current news.
- [58:58]
Alison Gill
Oh my gosh, she looks like a.
- [58:59]
Dana Goldberg
Big old poodle of some sort.
- [59:01]
Alison Gill
Or I'm gonna say poodle or Portuguese water dog mixed with. What do you think? What would give her the little white patch right there?
- [59:12]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, yeah.
- [59:12]
Alison Gill
Pyrenees.
- [59:13]
Dana Goldberg
If it's fluffy, maybe a Pyrenees.
- [59:15]
Alison Gill
I don't know. Let's see, let's see. Dog breeder. Bernadoodle 75. Poodle 25. Bernie's Mountain Dog.
- [59:23]
Dana Goldberg
Cute Bernadoodle.
- [59:25]
Alison Gill
Beautiful baby. And thank you for that. We're getting so many. I didn't realize we had so many amazing beans listeners in Ruby red Iowa districts. This is so fantastic. Yay. You're not alone. I love it. All right, next up from anonymous, no pronouns. Hey, beans queens. I've been a follower slash listener since COVID As I found Mueller, she wrote on Twitter. As a teacher, Covid times make me twitch. In hindsight, I try to block it from memory. Scrolling Twitter for Creatives I teach visual arts and feel good stories was one of my escapes, but when Musk took over I was slightly miffed and amused to find that my account was suspended. It didn't affect me much until now. My good news is more a plea for good news help. One of the people I followed was a detective in the South Florida, I believe that would record daily his walking down the block to feed all the stray cats in the neighborhood. I believe he also caught them and had them fixed and tried to keep the stray population down. These cats would stream from behind bushes and cars as he called out to them. It was a gift of goodness during these dark times. Those dark times and I wanted to see if he was still out there. Unfortunately, I can't get back into my Twitter account to find those I followed. I was hoping a shout out would produce a name. Perhaps he's moved to another format. I know this is small compared to the monumental, batshit crazy obstacles we're now enduring each day, but thought you your massive pull might retrieve the information and provide a spotlight on this gentleman. He was truly a treasure. Thanks for all you do. Your good news is the highlight of my day. For my POD pet tax, I submit our cat whose name has lovingly been switched to Demon. She's a character for sure. She was another Covid find, and as much as she gets into mischief, she cuddles with the best of them. Anonymous it's so important that we find these little doses of happiness during these times. So if anyone remembers this gentleman's handle on Twitter and whether or not he's moved to perhaps a different platform like Blue sky, write in and let us know. Send it to us. All right.
- [61:32]
Dana Goldberg
Thanks Ag. This one's from Justine Pronoun she and her Dear Beans Queens. I'm a new to the legumination. Since November I have quit all news consumption and since inauguration I have quit all social media. To paraphrase George R.R. martin, quote the administration is dark and full of terrors. However, I was introduced to your podcast by my best friend who I want to give a shout out to my dear friend Megan. She's a brilliant hey Megan. She's a brilliant attorney for the federal government and her department is getting dicked around big time. No lube either. She is understandably afraid for her future and that of her two wonderful boys that are just as kind, funny and intelligent as she is. Is she's raising them to be the type of men that everyone will feel safe with. True Virgo that she is, I'm sure that she will make the most correct decision as far as her career that is possible given the circumstances. I'm including a picture of us all on a trip to Italy that we took this summer, back when we thought that a qualified woman of her wholesome VP pick would be president. She's on the left with the stripes. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do. Listen to your pod is the only way I can stomach hearing the latest that is being perpetrated on all of us. I'm so grateful that Megan knows me well enough to have suggested the perfect podcast for me for pod pet tags. I'm also including a picture of my three dogs, Aiden, Milo and Iroi. Iro, Aiden and Iroquois. The black labs are bomb sniffing dogs in New York City. Yeah. Though Aiden in the middle is now retired Milo. That means one of them is not, which is even cooler. Milo is the white one with the spotty ears that could be out what the miles lot contestant. But I'm not even sure myself what it is beyond a very good boy and extremely spoiled.
- [63:25]
Alison Gill
Oh, look at everybody in Italy.
- [63:27]
Dana Goldberg
This is awesome.
- [63:28]
Alison Gill
Oh, look at these. Looks like an American bulldog.
- [63:31]
Dana Goldberg
Also, can I hang out wherever this picture was taken, please? Yeah, with the pups.
- [63:37]
Alison Gill
I know, right?
- [63:38]
Dana Goldberg
Barn door.
- [63:39]
Alison Gill
Barn door thing on the inside of Christmas decorations.
- [63:44]
Dana Goldberg
I love this.
- [63:45]
Alison Gill
That is fantastic.
- [63:46]
Dana Goldberg
Go Megan.
- [63:47]
Alison Gill
Yep, big shout out to Megan. And thanks for listening, Justine. By the way, these black labs, I. I love that they're bomb sniffing dogs. That's incredible. See, I bet you feel safe. Like, hey, wherever I am, there's no bombs. All right, next up from Susan, no pronouns. Hi. This is neither good news nor a confession mention, but I am having a really hard time as a new subscriber finding the photos that are mentioned each morning on the daily Beans podcast. How do I access those? Thank you, P S. As long as I'm here, I may as well give you a little joy by attaching my favorite pics of my daughters and our family puppies, Rufus Black Labradoodle and Larry Goldendoodle. All four people and dogs are super cute, right? Yes, all four are super cute. And I believe on the patron app, the Patreon app, if you joined through Patreon is where you get to see all of the photos that we put them in the show notes there. So it depends. I guess it depends on whether you're super caster or a patreon the best thing to do, Susan, is to email us@helloullershirote.com and ask, hey, I'm a patron. How can I see the photos? And we will give you excellent instructions on how to do that. Everybody else with good news, you can send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And that is our show for today. Thanks to politics girl Lee McGowan.
- [65:13]
Dana Goldberg
Lovely, lovely.
- [65:15]
Alison Gill
She's amazing.
- [65:16]
Dana Goldberg
She's lovely.
- [65:17]
Alison Gill
She truly is. And definitely check out Muller. She wrote dot com. Listen to that interview with that cyber security guy. Holy. It'll blow your mind. And hopefully I, I do a pretty good job of dissecting the tech language to make it accessible for people like me who are Luddites. So thank you for that interview from my, my friend, my new friend, Jay. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here today?
- [65:45]
Dana Goldberg
No. Let's get out of here.
- [65:46]
Alison Gill
Let's get out of here. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow for fugal saying Fridays. Until then, please take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been DG and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Alison 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 mswmedia.com commsw media.