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The Daily Beans
Happy Blackout Day (feat. John Fugelsang)
01:10:01
Friday, February 28th, 2025 Today, a judge has ordered Trump administration officials to give sworn testimony about DOGE; a judge has dismissed Ric Grenell’s defamation case against Olivia Troye; the DHS has quietly eliminated the ban on surveillance based on sexual orientation and gender identity; Andrew and Tristan Tate have left Romania and landed in the sex pest sanctuary state of Florida; a federal judge in Baltimore has extended the PFLAG TRO blocking Trump's effort to cut funding to hospitals and others who provide transgender-related treatment to people under 19; Elon Musk claimed he restored Ebola prevention efforts but officials say that’s not true; the Pentagon sends out a memo that it will be removing transgender service members; the Office of Personnel Management has told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reinstate fired veterans and military spouses; 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 Friday, February 28, 2025. Today, a judge has ordered Trump administration officials to give sworn testimony about Doge. A judge has dismissed Rick Grinnell's defamation lawsuit against Olivia Troy. The DHS has quietly eliminated the ban on surveillance based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Andrew and Tristan Tate have left Romania and landed in the sex pest sanctuary state of Florida. A federal judge in Baltimore has extended the P flag temporary restraining order blocking Trump's effort to cut funding to hospitals and others who provide transgender related treatment to people under 19. Elon Musk claimed he restored Ebola prevention efforts, but officials say that's not true. The Pentagon sends out a memo that it will be removing transgender service members, and the Office of Personnel Management has told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reinstate fired veterans and military spouses. I'm Alison Gill.
- [01:20]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:24]
Alison Gill
Hey, everybody. It is Friday on the Daily Beans, which means later on we'll be joined by John Fugle, SAG for Feagle saying Fridays, Dana, how are you doing today?
- [01:32]
Dana Goldberg
You know, I'm going to be honest with you, under the weather a little bit, but more than that, and I don't mean to start off in such a negative, bad note, I am so fucking mad. And we're going to get to the story. I am mad about the ban on transgender troops. I am mad that they let these two admitted sexual abusers fly into the United States from Romania and probably take cover at Mar A Lago. There's so much that has happened that I am just mad. So I might be in even more rare form than normal today. More cursing today. But I just want to say, and like I said, we'll get there. To my transgender family and non binary family, but specifically to transgender military service people. If any of you are listening to this, I am so sorry. I'm just so sorry you're going through this again. It is a disgrace to this country. It is a disgrace to the honor and oath that you have taken to defend and protect this country when a draft dodger is right now the commander in chief. Like, it's. I'm just mad. I'm. I don't need to be mad on your behalf. I'm mad on my own behalf. This is my family. So I just. I just want to start off the show by saying I'm. I'm just so terribly sorry.
- [02:49]
Alison Gill
It's so. It's so awful. It's bigoted, it's targeted. It's. What a waste.
- [02:57]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. And there's still a lawsuit. There's still a lawsuit. This, the lawsuit started before. I've been literally on stage every weekend raising. Right now we're in the hundreds of thousands so that Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign can sue the federal government for this ban on our trans military. But it's, it's, it's going to take time. And they're implementing this now. There's some crazy bullshit exceptions in this executive order or whatever they did in the middle of the day.
- [03:24]
Alison Gill
It can't be.
- [03:26]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that can't be mad. It's just, it's, it's just gross. So, yeah, I'm a little more pissed off than usual.
- [03:34]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I don't blame you. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about it seems like Judge Anna Reyes is also a little bit pissed off about this. And we're going to talk about what she has to say and what she's ordered in this case as well. But first we need to, before we get to the hot notes, we have some quick hits. All right, first up from Raw Story, former Trump administration official Olivia Troy, our good friend has been cleared from a lawsuit accusing her of defaming Rick Grinnell, who served as Trump's ambassador to Germany and Director of National Intelligence. Grinnell's now tossed lawsuit accused Olivia Troy of defaming him when she posted a reply on Twitter that said as ambassador to Germany, he tried to get Mike Pence to attend a white supremacist gathering. The judge found that there was no defamation here.
- [04:18]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you so much, Alison. And that is also just a reminder that not all gays are good gays. All right, this one's from the Associated Press. And this is what I was talk influencer brothers. I don't even like what they're calling them. Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, arrived Thursday in the U.S. after authorities lifted travel restrictions on the siblings who have millions, millions of online followers. The Tates, who are dual U.S. british citizens, they were arrested in late 2022. Informally indicted last year on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. Romania's anti organized crime agency, Dicot said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved request to change the travel restrictions on the Tates, but it did not say who made the request. They flown into Florida. We know who made the request and I don't. I just. What did Romania get in return for this? And these guys are admitted Like, Andrew Tate is a horrible fucking human being who has admitted strangling women, sexually exploiting sex trafficking people in, and they're just awful people. So I guess that whole thing of, like, we're not letting, you know, rapists and abusers into our country over the border, I guess we're going to fly them in. Right. Right to Florida now. Right to Florida.
- [05:46]
Alison Gill
Right. Which is basically, for all intents and purposes, a sanctuary city for rapists.
- [05:51]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, Yeah.
- [05:52]
Alison Gill
A sanctuary state, I should say. If you think about Epstein and his sweetheart deal, think about Matt Gaetz getting off the hook.
- [05:59]
Dana Goldberg
It's true. It is true. I know there's good people in Florida, but, man, there are some bad people down there, too.
- [06:06]
Alison Gill
It's just infuriating. Absolutely infuriating and triggering. So, you know, hugs to everyone who's, who's triggered by this, by their just their presence in on US Soil. It, it's, it's, you know, it sets my hackles up. So.
- [06:22]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [06:23]
Alison Gill
Next up from, from the Post. Elon Musk on Wednesday acknowledged that the U.S. doge Service accidentally canceled efforts by the U.S. agency for International Development to prevent the spread of Ebola. But the billionaire entrepreneur insisted that the initiative was quickly restored. Yet current and former USAID officials say that Musk was wrong. USAID's Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and Doge allies moved last month to gut the Global Assistance Agency and freeze its outgoing payments. The teams and contractors that would be deployed to fight an Ebola outbreak have been dismantled. And while the Trump administration issued a waiver to allow USAID to respond to an Ebola outbreak in Uganda last month, partner organizations were not promptly paid for that work. And USAID's own efforts were sharply curtailed compared to past efforts to fight Ebola outbreaks.
- [07:15]
Dana Goldberg
Not to mention, he was just chuckling the whole time. Just, we made a mistake, but we fixed it. Don't worry. You didn't fucking fix it. You didn't fix it. You're breaking things left and right.
- [07:25]
Alison Gill
And now these poor USAID employees had 15 minutes today each to go in and clear out their offices today and tomorrow.
- [07:33]
Dana Goldberg
If anyone listening was able to do our good trouble and actually go down and give these people a round of applause in Washington, D.C. as they left. We'd love to hear your story. It was like down there and what it felt like. And if you went. Thank you in advance. Thank you in advance. This one's from Newsweek. Judge has extended a judge has extended a restraining order that prevents Donald Trump's administration from cutting funding to hospitals that provide gender affirming care to minors. Newsweek contacted PFLAG and attorneys representing the Trump administration for comment via email. Outside regular business hours, Judge Hurson agreed to extend this restraining order, which applies throughout the United States. And this is a quote and he's from the story. The temporary restraining order is set to expire on February 27th of 2025, he wrote, adding that he would extend it to March 5th for good cause shown and to afford the court adequate time to review the amicus briefs and the party's respective filings.
- [08:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah, so another restraint. We're now in restraining order extension territory, soon to be in preliminary injunction territory for a lot of these lawsuits against the Trump administration. So thanks for that, everybody. We have more news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, from CBS. The U.S. will begin removing transgender troops from the military within 30 days unless they obtain a pretty much impossible to get waiver on a case by case basis. This is from a memo the Pentagon said on Wednesday sent out on Wednesday. The memo became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Trump's late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel. Quote, service members who have a current diagnosis or history of or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service. That's what the memo read. These troops may be, quote, considered for a waiver on a case by case basis, provided there's compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports war fighting capabilities. It said to obtain such a waiver, troops must show they have never attempted to transition. How are you a transgender service member if you've never. I don't understand that that waiver, it's just eliminates everyone.
- [09:45]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [09:46]
Alison Gill
As well as demonstrate 36 consecutive months of stability in the service members sex without clinically significant distress, impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning. Now Sparta Pride, a nonprofit group comprised of thousands of transgender service members, veterans and their supporters, released a statement. They said, quote, transgender Americans have served openly and honorably in the US Armed forces for nearly a decade. Thousands of transgender troops are currently serving and are fully qualified for the positions in which they serve. No policy will ever erase transgender Americans contribution to history, war fighting or military excellence. Transgender service members have a unique fighting spirit and will continue to defend the Constitution and American values no matter what lies ahead. Transgender people have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out. The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016 during then President Barack Obama's second term. I personally, full disclosure, was working at the Department of Veterans affairs, advising the Department of Defense military health system and services on their care for transgender troops because we've been caring for transgender veterans at the VA for decades. Yes, so. And they had never had a health program for transgender people, so the VA helped set that up. Under this policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017, but the Trump administration postponed that to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely. Mr. Trump's controversial restrictions, which underwent changes in response to various court challenges, eventually came into force in April 2019, following a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the nation's top court. Trump's successor, the amazing President Joe Biden, moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021. It's one of his first things he did, saying all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so. After returning to office in January, Trump issued an executive order again taking aim at transgender military service, saying expressing a false gender identity divergent from an individual sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service. You know who can't satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service?
- [12:06]
Dana Goldberg
Bag of bone spurs?
- [12:07]
Alison Gill
Yes. Now Judge Anaras has some questions. This is from a minute order Today the court is in receipt of February 26, 2025 memo with additional guidance on prioritizing Military Excell in readiness. In light of it, the Court orders the defendants to file on the public docket the following by 10:00am March 1, 2025. Number one. The total amount of Department of Defense spending per year from 2015 to 2024 and the total overall for that time period. The total amount of DoD spending per year from 2015 to 2024 on psychotherapy for all service members and the total overall for that time period. The total amount of DoD spending per year from 2015 to 2024 on surgical care for all service members and the total overall for that time period. The total amount of DoD spending per year from 2015 to 2024 on elective surgical care for all service members and the total overall for that time period. If publicly available links exist, send links to the line Item Budget for DoD spending for each year between 2015 and 2024. Identification of any mental health constraint other than gender dysphoria that the DoD has previously found to be inconsistent with honesty, humility and integrity for each plaintiff whether implementation of the action memo would require him or her to be separated from the Armed forces and number eight, the most recent estimate made by the DoD of the number of transgender individuals currently serving in the Armed Forces. If defendants do not have ready access to spending amounts, they can provide the budgeted amounts. If defendants have any questions about this order, they should contact chambers with plaintiff's counsel today, February 27, 2025 to have them addressed. Signed Judge Ana Reyes.
- [13:51]
Dana Goldberg
So I really like this Judge. I really like this Judge. Yeah, thank you, Allison. And this one is from the Advocate the Department of Homeland Security has eliminated policies preventing the investigation of individuals or groups solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. This should send shivers up your fucking back. This is another one that makes me furious. The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis. They quietly updated their policy manual earlier this month, as first reported by Bloomberg, removing LGBTQ identities from the General Requirements section that prohibits surveillance based solely on immutable characteristics. The manual states, and I quote, OSIC personnel are prohibited from engaging in intelligence activities based solely on an individual's or group's race, ethnicity, sex, religion, country of birth, nationality or disability. The use of these characteristics is permitted only in combination with other information and only where 1 intended and reasonably believed to support one or more of I&A's national or departmental missions and 2 narrowly focused in support of that mission or those missions. The manual previously stated via the Internet Archive and I quote, OSIC personnel are prohibited from engaging in intelligence activities based solely on an individual's or group's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, country, birth, nationality or disability. The use of these characteristics, blah blah blah is permitted only in combination with and that is the same to the end. The changes came shortly after Donald Trump signed executive orders forcing the removal of all references to diversity, equity and inclusion in government, as well as mandating that the federal government deny the existence of of transgender people by recognizing only two sexes, male and female. Despite the scientific and medical consensus that sex is a spectrum and not binary. Trump has appointed Kristi Noem, a known dog shooter former governor of South Dakota, as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Noem has a history of targeting LGBTQ + rights, including by signing executive orders banning transgender athletes from participating on teams that align with their identities and banning gender affirming care for youth. Though she is best known, as I said, for her admission that she killed a 14 month old puppy she deemed untrainable, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis quote, has a long track record of civil liberties and civil rights abuses. That's according to Brennan center for justice, including unconstitutionally surveilling journalists and racial justice activists, as well as monitoring, quote, political views shared by millions of Americans about topics like abortion, government and elections that DHS baldly asserts will lead to violence. So it's, it's alarming. There's a lot of very high profile LGBTQ people in this country and the fact that they're no longer protected from surveillance is insane.
- [16:54]
Alison Gill
Right? My God. And then that story kind of flew under the radar. I really wanted to make sure that we got it out there here on the beans. Next up from Cheney and Gerstein at Politico. And I put this story here because this story makes me happy and I needed a little bit of a boost after the last story. So from Cheney and Gerstein, as I said, the Trump administration officials involved in Musk's opaque Department of Government Efficiency, so called, have been ordered by a federal judge to testify under oath in one of the sprawling lawsuits seeking to block Doge's access to sensitive government databases. U.S. district Judge John Bates agreed Thursday that very limited efforts to question officials connected to Doge would help clarify what exactly the group is doing and whether it poses a risk to sensitive data that government employees fear. Bates order will allow unions and liberal groups suing to question four officials, one from Doge's White House headquarters and one each from the Labor Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While the bureaucracy slashing Doge effort has sparked more than a dozen lawsuits, the order from Bates is the first that would force people involved in Doge to answer questions from lawyers outside the government under oath. Those depositions would be capped at eight hours in total, ruled the judge, a Washington based appointee, by the way, of G.W. bush. Neither Bates nor the unions and liberal groups that brought the suit specified which particular Doge members will be questioned under oath. They'll be selected by the Trump administration, but must be knowledgeable about the data security and access issues within the agencies at the center of the suit. Do you think he's going to try to send Amy Gleason?
- [18:36]
Dana Goldberg
Amy doesn't know she's going, but yeah, buckle up.
- [18:39]
Alison Gill
Yeah. She's like, I don't do data. I do electronic health records. What do you want from me? So far, the only insight about Doge's operations inside agencies like labor and HHS have come from carefully crafted written statements filed in court by Doge allies embedded across the government and A handful of agency officials who work alongside Bates pointed to those statements as a reason to allow the depositions. Quote, it would be strange to permit defendants to submit evidence that addresses critical factual issues and proceed to rule on a preliminary injunction motion without permitting plaintiffs to explore those factual issues through very limited discovery. That's what the judge said. The Justice Department objected, of course, to any officials being questioned at this stage of the lawsuit, but the judge said it was fair and the unions need to be given a chance to gather facts that would support their case. So tough shit. The unions contend that Musk's allies have been granted access to sensitive databases that contain private information about thousands of government employees. Bates denied their emergency effort to block Doge's access altogether, but he agreed he had concerns about the operation and said he was open to demanding more details. As the lawsuit advanced, Musk celebrated Bates initial ruling, though he separately has called Bates evil and said he should be removed from the bench for his ruling in a separate lawsuit temporarily ordering the Trump administration to restore deleted health websites that doctors rely on for treatment decisions. Over at the cdc, we're talking about hhs. Bates order also permits a limited set of written questions to be submitted to agencies targeted by the lawsuit. And I like this even more. The under oath stuff is good, but I like when they have to put it in writing under the penalty of perjury. Those questions may seek information about the extent of access to sensitive systems agencies have given DOGE employees who at the agencies authorize such access and any training that DOGE employees have received, like potty training.
- [20:35]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my goodness. Thanks, Allison. This one's from Bloomberg Law, the Office of Personnel Management told the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to reinstate veterans, disabled veterans and military spouses who were fired, according to an email sent to CFPB employees who saw their terminations reversed. The CFPB's Office of Human Capital told the employees laid off earlier this month that they were reinstated under OPM's policy change. That's according to the Wednesday email obtained by Bloomberg Law, the reversal of terminations for disabled and other veterans as well as military spouses at the cfpb. Well, it comes as the Trump administration prepares for a reduction in force that could see hundreds of thousands of jobs cut across the federal government. It's unclear whether the reinstatement policy applies across the federal government or merely at the cfpb. It's also unclear whether those reinstated would be shielded from forthcoming reductions. Veterans make up about 30% of the federal workforce at the end of the fiscal 2023 and that's according to Partnership for Public Service. OPM and CFPB didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. In addition, CFPB employees with reinstated jobs won't have a break in service or interruption to their pay and benefits. That's according to an email. Yep. They'll also have their termination removed from their records and will get restored access to email and other technology. Well, that makes sense because they have to fucking go back to work. Acting.
- [22:00]
Alison Gill
You're coming back to work and we're paying you, but no email and computer.
- [22:03]
Dana Goldberg
They're locked out. Still acting CFPB Director Russell Vaught, who's just a horrible human being who also serves as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, stopped all CFPB work after taking over February 7th. CFPB employees who were reinstated will remain on administrative leave along with most other agency staff members while litigation over V's plans continues. The National Treasury Employees Union claimed in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia that Vought plans to fire up to 95% of the CFPB staff. Hearing in that case is scheduled for March 3rd. James Plover, he's a CFPB examiner working on the agency's Atlanta regional office, is a veteran who saw his job reinstated Wednesday, but he says his time at the CFPB may be short. Quote, our chapter of NTEU is getting us prepared for the possibility of a riff since the writing is on the wall. So this victory might be short lived again, that's Plover. And he ended with but at least will be treated fairly. William. Yeah, I think that's giving them a little too much credit.
- [23:15]
Alison Gill
Plover sounds like a Trump voter. Yeah, yeah, we'll see about that. Because I need to take a look at the law around RIFs, around reductions in force because they're shortening the 60 day notice, right. Required by by law to 30 days. And I don't not sure how they're circumventing a law like that. And I would imagine that anyone who is riffed without a 60 day notice could probably file with the Office of Special Counsel, good old Hampton Dellinger and the Merit Service Protection Board and say, hey, I was fired without proper notice pursuant to law. I need to look into it, though. I don't want to give anybody bad advice, especially bad legal advice since I'm not a lawyer. Don't listen to me. Anybody. All right. Time for some good trouble. Hey, wanna get into trouble? Yes. And your mission today, should you choose to accept it, don't buy Anything from rich people at all today, it is the economic blackout. Please shop small. Shop at your local mom and pops and your. And your local businesses and give your money to. To. To small.
- [24:26]
Dana Goldberg
To small businesses if you can. So if you're gonna shop and you're going to small businesses, those of you that can, if any, keep this, try and use cash because that obviously won't go into whatever the economy is. Possibly it can't be traced the credit card. It would be. You know, credit cards can be traced the transaction. So yeah, pay with cash if you can. And. And definitely shop small.
- [24:47]
Alison Gill
Yes. I always think of. Think of what? Shop smart. Shop s smart. You got that, you primitive screw heads. Love you guys. All right. Oh, by the way, that was Ash. I wasn't calling you primitive screw heads. That was Ash talking to people in a movie called. What's the movie called? Army of Darkness.
- [25:09]
Dana Goldberg
That's what. Oh, I would have never come up with that. I'm glad you didn't wait for me to answer. We would have been here all day.
- [25:14]
Alison Gill
It was. It was right on the tip of my brain. You know, that. That I'm having. I'm having a bad brain day today, Dana. I'm having a meno brain day.
- [25:22]
Dana Goldberg
You know what? Me too, honey, but I pulled it out. Listen, you have. If this is a bad brain day. I mean, it's. It's some. It's. It's definitely all Republic. Best brain day is your bad brain day.
- [25:35]
Alison Gill
My worst brain day is your worst.
- [25:37]
Dana Goldberg
Brain day is a Republican. That's right. Thank you.
- [25:40]
Alison Gill
I appreciate that. I do. Same Z's right back at you, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with John Fugal saying. Followed by the good news. Hey, everybody, it's ag. In solidarity with the February 28th economic blackout, the Daily Beans is ad free today. We now return you to your regularly scheduled news with swearing. Thanks for listening. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It's Fugal Sang Fridays on the Daily Beans, which means I am joined by my good friend, host of Tell me everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127. That's weeknights, by the way, at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And of course, the host of the John Fugelsang show podcast, my good friend, John fugelsang. Hello.
- [26:23]
John Fugelsang
Hello, Dr. Gill. Happy, happy blackout day, everybody.
- [26:27]
Alison Gill
Yes, happy blackout day. Only shopping at small businesses and probably not even then today. But if I do need something, I'm going to turn to my local mom and pops. How are you?
- [26:41]
John Fugelsang
You know, I'm okay.
- [26:42]
Alison Gill
Serious question.
- [26:42]
John Fugelsang
Not just small talk, you know, it's an interesting time. And I was dreading this time for a long time because I knew exactly how it would be. A big part of our lives is either talking people off ledges or being talked off ledges. And the media, of course, contributes mightily to this feeling of desperation and suffocation and hopelessness. We're in a period that we were in the first Trump administration that I coined a phrase to describe, which is what the fuck fatigue, where there is such a fire hose of what the fucks. Every day our outrage circuits are completely burned out. And there's lots of people better than me, stronger than me, deeply more moral than me, who are overwhelmed and you know what I'm talking about. And there's, you know, lots of good people who are. I think I said last week, 200 years ago, if you got one piece of mail a month, that was all the stimuli your brain got. Now we're getting this nonstop cavalcade of fuckeries and just various double talk and jive, and they're just throwing it at the wall to see what sticks. The corporate media, I think we've realized, is not really there to keep us sane or help us through this. And a lot of the capitalists that we thought were standing up to this the last time actually don't believe anything. I don't think Bezos or Zuckerberg are fascists. I think they believe, like Elon Musk and Trump in nothing but their own greed and getting more stuff. So, you know, we're all pointing fingers, we're all overwhelmed. But I just, I just. It's okay. It's natural to feel this way. I've been telling people on Sirius xm, you know, can you pick three things, three issues a day that you're going to allow to outrage you and limit it to three? You know, you're not going to care about USAID today, but you'll care about that we're surrendering to Russia. Just pick a couple of things, because if you try to absorb and emotionally process all of it at once, it'll make you crazy. And that is the goal. It's exactly what they want to have happen. So, you know, it's okay if you need to take breaks. It's okay if the what the fucks overwhelm you. But I always say if you feel like it's overwhelming, find someone else who's overwhelmed and be strong for them, because it's going to stay this way for a while and the media wants it this way. We have to be sane for each other. And we have to remind each other, you know, turn it off and go watch a cartoon man. Go, go read some fiction or dance or paint. Do something that's good for your other hemisphere of your brain.
- [29:01]
Alison Gill
That's so true. You know, there's only ever been like two times in my life where I'm like, I'm just, I want to quit. I just want to move to Switzerland and forget everything. And that first time was when everybody was coming after Joe Biden and now, and even going back to military sexual trauma, dv, the Veterans affairs screwing me over, being fired by the first Trump administration, all of that. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna keep going. And I still will. I mean, I'm not going anywhere. I want people to know that I'm a survivor. You're a survivor, and I'm not going anywhere.
- [29:41]
John Fugelsang
This whole mystic is designed, designed to overwhelm us. That's what gaslighting is. It's designed to make us need to bail because there's too much stimuli and it's overwhelming. It's flooding the zone. It's the gish gallop. It's what they always do.
- [29:53]
Alison Gill
And that's why I'm not going to let them win this particular battle. But I just wanted people to know that we're all going through it. So you're not alone.
- [30:03]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, but pick a couple of things each day and don't try to be outraged. It's so good that there's so many millions of people who care about all of this criminality, because so many don't. And I admire all your deeply attractive listeners and mine as well, who care and want to be on top of everything. That's wonderful. And you're the best people in the world.
- [30:21]
Alison Gill
And my thing now is federal workers and the media. And let's talk about that, because the whitewashing happening at msnbc and I have to tell you, my hero network is msnbc. My, my personal hero is Rachel Maddow. Like when I first started reading the news, that's who I wanted to emulate. I wanted to, I always like, wanted so badly to have a show on MSNBC and to, to be part of that opposition network. But now they're in the same Tesla with, with the Washington Post and the New York Times and the LA Times and Bezos.
- [31:03]
John Fugelsang
I wouldn't go that far. I would not go that far.
- [31:06]
Alison Gill
But they just let go. Yeah, every, basically every non white anchor they had in primetime, they did not.
- [31:13]
John Fugelsang
Care about the optics on this the day Lester Holt was leaving, they let all this happen and they did not care that everyone saw who they were shedding.
- [31:22]
Alison Gill
And I will tell you, I'm very, I was very happy to see Rachel Maddow call this out for what it is on her show on the network because honestly, I think they need her more than she needs them. But it's just, it's very depressing what's happening at that network. And it's okay. I want everyone to know it's okay to be sad about it and be mad about it because it's awful.
- [31:51]
John Fugelsang
Yes. Look, you know, look, I've spent a lot of time on various shows at MSNBC over the years and I have a lot of respect. I know a lot of people who work there, a lot of great producers, a lot of people I've worked with work there. They've never been a liberal channel. They've always been a pro Democratic Party channel. Just like Fox News is not really conservative. Real conservatives would have kicked Bush and Trump to the curb. They're a Republican propaganda channel. MSNBC is a real news channel. They are real journalists there, but they're, they're, you know, Joy talked about Israel and their civilian government in ways other anchors won't. Ed Schultz talked about labor unions and ways other anchors won't. And whenever you try to do that in corporate media, you know what you're up against. It's the problem in terrestrial radio. You know why it's been so hard to have a. They always say, why can't there be a 24. 7 liberal channel in terrestrial radio? Well, because getting these VC companies to put up the money to put on progressive shows where you'll hear hosts say that millionaires should have their taxes increased. And a lot of people don't want to fund media that says their taxes should be increased, even though that's one of the only things that's going to save us. So I'm never surprised when this stuff happens. I am surprised that they let go of so many good people on the same day and so many people. And again, I've worked with most of these people and just to not have a single white man on the list. And as far as I know, Lester Holt was leaving on his own. But the fact that he made his announcement the same 48 hour period where they cut loose Joy and Katie Fung and Alex and then Iman and then Jonathan K. Part on top of all of it, I mean, right. You know, I'm all for msnbc. They, it's their property. They have a right to shuffle up their lineup any way they want. But I fear they've lost plenty of viewers who won't come back. And I hate to say it, but I gotta scrounge and capitalize off of it. This is all the more reason why people need, need to embrace alternative media and non corporate media. And by people, I mean Democratic Party politicians went to every basement with a podcast recorder in it. I mean, there's no reason why these Democrats can't sully themselves and go where the mu. Stop saying, when's there going to be a left wing meeting? It's already out there. Democrats start getting involved in it and start boosting it. There's gazillions of podcasts out there, as you know, none of them better than this one. But still, you know, just, just start building up this left wing infrastructure because there's more of us. The problem is you don't get rich saying we have to fight homelessness.
- [34:24]
Alison Gill
Right?
- [34:24]
John Fugelsang
You don't get rich saying, hey, let's not be cruel to the poorest and the AIDS patients and the trans people and the migrants fleeing violence in Central America.
- [34:33]
Alison Gill
Now, I can also guarantee you there's no money in defending Merrick Garland. No money. Zero money. Negative money.
- [34:38]
John Fugelsang
I could have, I could have took my. Probably in the media. No, you're right, you're right. But Merrick Garland, I hope he's enjoying doing nothing about Trump as much in the private sector.
- [34:47]
Alison Gill
I just, I just hope he did indict him twice.
- [34:50]
John Fugelsang
He did, he did.
- [34:51]
Dana Goldberg
He did.
- [34:52]
Alison Gill
And he was the first.
- [34:53]
John Fugelsang
Mitch McConnell can't wait to do nothing about Trump in the private sector. It's good.
- [34:56]
Alison Gill
That guy is why we're here.
- [34:58]
John Fugelsang
Mitch McConnell is why we're here.
- [35:00]
Alison Gill
Why we are here.
- [35:01]
John Fugelsang
Mitch McConnell hates him. Mitch McConnell could have gotten two or three Republican senators in 2021 who weren't going to seek reelection. He could have just said, which means you're voting this way, bitch. He could have done it and Trump wouldn't be there. And we would have seen an elderly Joe Biden beat the shit out of Ron DeSantis and we all would have enjoyed it. As it is, McConnell allowed this to happen. And every time you see him be the lone little Republican bravely standing up against his nominees, Fuck that. That's too little, too late.
- [35:30]
Alison Gill
Yeah, you're not running again. Growing a backbone when you don't have to run again is the single best argument for term limits in the United States.
- [35:39]
John Fugelsang
Mitch McConnell pretending to have a backbone makes me stare at the camera with a Blank expression for two minutes straight.
- [35:45]
Alison Gill
Yeah, all right. I'm with you. All right. We've talked about what happened at msnbc. We've talked about Bezos. Let's talk about.
- [35:54]
John Fugelsang
I mean, we haven't begun to talk about Bezos. That guy. My God. Go on, please. I mean, just. Just opposing. No, no. Opposing viewpoints on free markets. What does that even mean? What's an opposing viewpoint on free markets? Regulate billionaires. Like. Like the. I don't know who wrote this for him to sign, but.
- [36:09]
Alison Gill
Oh, my God, Sky Pratt's probably.
- [36:13]
John Fugelsang
I had to go on my show last night and announce that, you know, I only believe on Sirius xm, I believe that the two pillars that matter are the free market and civil liberty. So anyone who wants to talk about anything else can't get their call on my show. Sorry. I'll decide. I mean, the entire thing was a censorship manifesto from this monopolist who hates unions. He doesn't believe in free markets or personal liberty. And, you know, but, hey, he's got a hot girlfriend, so, you know, who got a better seat than DeSantis at the inaugural?
- [36:42]
Alison Gill
Just don't make me look at the photo of him in that shirt again. Please don't make me look at that photo. I think he probably got it on Amazon. I'm just saying, he said we have.
- [36:52]
John Fugelsang
To defend freedom, which means I can only have opinion writers who agree with me. He literally said that we have the most mediocre Bond villains. The most.
- [37:01]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And as. As Empty Wheel says Marcy Wheeler, she's like, everybody, write an op ed real quick about reproductive freedom and see if he publishes it.
- [37:10]
John Fugelsang
And now this guy's going to control James Bond. I can't wait for the next Bond movie where he fights evil union organizers. Right. Like, that's going to be the next film.
- [37:17]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [37:18]
John Fugelsang
Woke union organizers will be the villain in the next Bond film.
- [37:21]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And he's.
- [37:22]
John Fugelsang
Refugees. How will James Bond stop them?
- [37:24]
Alison Gill
James Bond Withdraws from NATO. Right. It's going to be. It's going to be a. A blockbuster. But let's. Let's talk real quick about something that kind of flew under the radar with all of these. What the fucks. Which is this awful first step in what we call budget reconciliation, meaning you don't need 60 votes in the Senate to pass it. Cutting Medicaid and, like, billions of dollars in Medicaid and taking our money away and then using our tax dollars to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, the.
- [37:56]
John Fugelsang
Wealthiest, which is what all this has been. I mean, look, if they really think they can cut 2 trillion out of the budget.
- [38:02]
Alison Gill
Oh and they had like you can't vote by proxy if you're on maternity leave. So I know women with weeks old babies had to travel one month of.
- [38:12]
John Fugelsang
The day she's there with her baby and, and of course Raul Gralva has as cancer. They wouldn't let him from from chemo zoom into guest his boat either. So yeah, this budget had four and a half trillion in tax cuts for people who need tax cuts the least and then 2 trillion reduction in federal spending. So at the very best it's still $2.5 trillion deficit in the hole from this. And that's the kind of math you should be expecting. Look, 86% of the budget is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the defense budget. They're never going to touch defense because that would be Elon's little welfare check. And they've promised they're not going to go after the entitlements. I think we know they don't mean it. They tried to cut Medicaid and SNAP in every one of their budgets the first time. Their argument, this is the conservative Christian argument. The only way to help the poor is to punish them with greater poverty by removing programs that help the poor.
- [39:06]
Alison Gill
Right.
- [39:06]
John Fugelsang
And you know when I saw them all praying in their cabinet meeting the next day after this, like Jesus warns you in Matthew 6, 5 never to trust any motherfuckers who pray in public to be seen. The whole budget shows how you don't need to believe in the Bible to call them out. The Bible commands lending to poor people without expecting interest.
- [39:26]
Alison Gill
Jesus commands that they flip the tables.
- [39:29]
John Fugelsang
Jesus commands they flip the tables if you're exploiting the poor. Moses demands a year of Jubilee every 50 years where all debts are forgiven. Jesus commands nations and individuals to care for the poor and says you're going to hell or heaven based on how you do it. I mean in Mark 12:17 he supports paying taxes for the government to redistribute acts of the apostles is pure opt in communism. And throughout the Bible God always identifies with the poor and oppressed. But as you know for the last 40 odd years we have had the long con of trickle down economics which selfish right wing Christians who defended slavery and defended homophobia and defended segregation. They're all too happy to sign on to this fuck the poor Christianity. But you know these social programs, they exist because of the collective failure of the world's Christians to adequately provide for the old and the poor and the sick. The way God commands in the book Christianity should put the welfare state out of business. But it hasn't happened. The Bible never commands you to take to do anything about abortion. Never justifies keeping out immigrants. But over 2000 times it commands you to care for the poor. So this is exactly the opposite of everything they claim to believe in.
- [40:38]
Alison Gill
Anyone know what Vice President Bush called this?
- [40:41]
John Fugelsang
Voodoo economics.
- [40:43]
Alison Gill
D O O economics.
- [40:45]
John Fugelsang
That's it.
- [40:46]
Alison Gill
But Bush, that's Papa Bush.
- [40:49]
John Fugelsang
Yeah.
- [40:49]
Alison Gill
Right. I mean somehow adopted it.
- [40:52]
John Fugelsang
Oh no, no. Papa Bush was a real forefather to our modern Republicans because he called it voodoo economics. And he always supported abortion rights. And the day the powerful celebrity turned president offered him a job, he renounced all his values and became anti abortion rights and embraced trickle down economics. So he was really a pioneer for all of these gutless, spineless Republicans we have right now.
- [41:17]
Alison Gill
Yeah. So what do you think coming up in the, in the, the CR fight the continuing resolution fight that's going to be happening here in March? My feeling is that it's never wrong to do the right thing and that Democrats should refuse to vote to fund this government.
- [41:37]
John Fugelsang
Yeah.
- [41:37]
Alison Gill
Maybe have individual funding bills for agencies on conditions that they bring back the workers that they've fired.
- [41:45]
John Fugelsang
Yeah.
- [41:45]
Alison Gill
But to, to cave and agree to help Republicans because they'll need Democrats to pass this continuing residency.
- [41:54]
John Fugelsang
I know, but the great danger here is because I'm with you, I want to see them.
- [41:58]
Alison Gill
But I also before, before you get going, I am never ever for government shutdowns when the government is functioning. And I'm not pro shut down here. It wouldn't be the Democrats shutting down the government. It would be the Democrats demanding that we fund the government properly. And if the Republicans don't go along, then they are the ones who are going to shut down the government.
- [42:21]
John Fugelsang
Yes, but I agree with everything you're saying and we're all eagerly waiting to see if Democrats are going to have the fortitude to actually play chicken on this us and threaten this sort of thing because Republicans don't care. Ted Cruz could shut down the government.
- [42:34]
Alison Gill
But stay on the tractor. Be be Kevin Bacon and Footloose on this one.
- [42:39]
John Fugelsang
Okay. The problem with this whole theory is that it doesn't take too much speculation to understand how the Republicans will spin it and that it will be a government shutdown completely blamed on the Democrats. And there's every reason to believe they're in charge. There's every reason to believe the corporate media will go along with it it and these Democrats aren't in power. The American people have spoken and they're mad that they weren't chosen. So they're going to punish your families by shutting down. The ads are already writing themselves. And the gop, now that they're facing a lot of negative press, could try to use this to be their rebound and bounce back because an all too willing corporate media we already know will help them. The Washington Post editorial page will demonize Democrats for this and will praise Trump. We already know how they'll feel.
- [43:27]
Alison Gill
You don't think there's more demonization for Democrats if they cave and fund the government as it is?
- [43:32]
John Fugelsang
That's it. That's the thing. I don't know how tough the Democrats will be and how willing all of them, some of them I know are in it for the fight. But we all know there's some Democrats who are not going to want to be called the very names they called Republicans the last several government shutdowns. And you may find a lot of Susan Collins's when it comes to this fight on the Democratic side.
- [43:51]
Alison Gill
Yeah, but the people who.
- [43:53]
John Fugelsang
I'm with you all the way. I'm with you all the way.
- [43:56]
Alison Gill
But the people who aren't reached mostly by the media, the people who voted for Trump and aoc, for example, the people who aren't really familiar with what's happening, I mean they certainly know that Republicans are in charge of everything right now and so that anything that goes wrong has to be the Republicans fault. I mean that's the simple Occam's razor.
- [44:16]
John Fugelsang
You think that that's going to convey? I mean Joe Biden had the greatest economy post Covid of any of the G7 nations. That didn't somehow that message didn't get across. So I'm not really convinced that, oh, it's the Republicans government, they're the ones shutting it down. I'm, I'm not convinced. I think there's too many dumb people and I think the media takes advantage of that. I'm not saying I have a media.
- [44:35]
Alison Gill
Will take advantage of whatever the Democrats do. If they, if they go to fund the government, they'll say these chicken shit Democrats funded this awful government, funded the Nazis. And if they don't, they'll say look, they shut down the government.
- [44:49]
John Fugelsang
Well, that's the thing. Yeah, I mean people, this tiny margin in the House gives Democrats incredible power if they stick together, which is why everyone's got a call 202243121 all the time to talk to your representatives. But again, like the media is going to make this big. As of next week, we're not going to hear anything in the news except the budget. It's going to be probably two to three straight weeks of this being the dominant story. And then Donald Trump saying racist shit or abandoning allies to get more attention for himself.
- [45:19]
Alison Gill
But every single Democrat voted against the budget that cuts Medicaid, which is great. Thank you.
- [45:25]
John Fugelsang
Yeah.
- [45:26]
Alison Gill
Now, will they do the same with the continuing resolution? And I think so far the message. Hakeem Jeffries isn't. I don't think he's coming out and, and announcing what the Democrats are going to do on the continuing resolution to fund the government yet. But it'll be interesting to see what he does and when he does it.
- [45:44]
John Fugelsang
He's not Pete Hegseth. He's not going to give it all away in the first speech. Right. What's all this leverage on my side? I don't want this here with me. But I want to also say when you call your congressman, it's not just about being strong in the budget. I want to see these Democrats call for a quorum demand. Quorum calls on everything Trump wants to do. I want.
- [46:05]
Alison Gill
Want.
- [46:06]
John Fugelsang
I want them to have.
- [46:07]
Alison Gill
Be obstructionist dicks. Be the Tea party in 2010.
- [46:10]
John Fugelsang
Like, do it block unanimous consent. You know, it forces roll call votes and delays. I mean, no more rubber stamping. It's got to end. You've got to kill all of these fast track confirmations. Democrats have got to grind this thing to a halt, call for a quorum on everything. And if the quorum's not there, it grinds to a complete halt. They've got to start doing it. They've got to start acting like they're the Tea Party. I know they're the nice guys and it doesn't feel natural, but right now we need the nice guys to really, really some bad guys here.
- [46:38]
Alison Gill
Yeah. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
- [46:40]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. Call your congressman. Just delay. Push and governors delay.
- [46:46]
Alison Gill
Be a pain in the ass. Yes, Pain in the ass.
- [46:49]
John Fugelsang
Delay special elections to fill the seats of all the representatives Trump has picked for his cabinet. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know why. Why should. They're trying to make it so Kathy Hochul can't fill Stefanik's seat until the summertime. That's exactly how it should be. Slow it all down. It's exactly what they would do to you. Stop waiting for Lucy to hold the football for Charlie Brown. For once in your life, Democrats, pull the goddamn football away yourselves.
- [47:12]
Alison Gill
Right? Please. I appreciate that, everybody.
- [47:15]
John Fugelsang
Gene Hackman would want Democrats do it for him.
- [47:18]
Alison Gill
Oh, my gosh. Hearts out to Gene Hackman and his wife and his dog. What a weird situation. At first I was like, is this carbon monoxide? No. No sign of carbon monoxide poisoning. He's in the mud room, she's in the bathroom with a bottle of pills, and the dog's in the closet. And there's two other live.
- [47:37]
John Fugelsang
Yeah.
- [47:38]
Alison Gill
On the property. That's just like. I can't. My. Even. I've watched 8,000 episodes of SVU, 900 million episodes of true crime stuff, and I can't figure this one out. It makes no sense to me. I mean, other than I love Gene Hackman and he will be dearly missed.
- [47:57]
John Fugelsang
I know his residual checks were enough that he could afford carbon monoxide alarms within his mansion in Santa Fe. So I don't think that was the issue. And it's really sad because we should all be talking about his performances. We should all be talking about how much it sucks that he retired 20 years ago and Gene Hackman was content with welcome to Mooseport being his final film. Like, that's.
- [48:16]
Alison Gill
That's just a. I like welcome to Moose.
- [48:18]
John Fugelsang
I know. Like, I gotta say, he was in a documentary about John Cazale in 2009, so that's technically his last ever movie. Okay, but we should be talking about all. I mean, the amazing, amazing performances. Amazing performances and bad films, too. I mean. But, yeah, like, I mean, Mississippi Burning and Get Shorty and Unforgiven and the French Connection and Young Frank. Unforgiven. He won a second Oscar twice in a lifetime. Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington. It's. It's. He's amazing in it. I mean. I mean, the conversation. We could do it all day. So I hope this awful mystery gets solved. I'm so glad I got to see Gene Hackman on Broadway when he was in Death and the Maiden. I figured it was the only time I'd ever get to see Gene Hackman in a play. And it was thrilling. And. And I'm one of those guys who, like, you know, looks for Gene Hackman photos online whenever he shows up. It's like Jack Nicholson or, you know, like. Like J.D. salinger. Like, oh, he went to the mailbox today, and it's. It's Seth Radesky, my friend played with him. A couple played a show, and he came and there was photos of. Of him. And I was just like, oh, my God, Gene Hackman's going to cultural events in Santa Fe. And I hope he had a happy 20 years of retirement. I'm so sad it ended this way. And I hope there, I hope his whole family's at peace. I don't understand the dog. I hope we figure it out. Then we can talk about how much he enriched our lives really soon and not this really sad true crime story.
- [49:34]
Alison Gill
Yes. Back. True genius.
- [49:37]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. Made it look easy. Most relaxed guy. He's the most right. In every film he is in, he's the most relaxed guy on set.
- [49:44]
Alison Gill
Always 100%. Thank you so much, my friend, for being you. We will see you soon, everybody. Tune in to Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127, week 19, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, and the John Fugelsang Show Podcast. If you don't have Sirius. Thank you so, so much. I really value our time together here on Fridays on the Beans. And I'm glad you're here.
- [50:07]
John Fugelsang
I really appreciate it, Allison. Thanks for having me, as always, and thanks for your excellent fans. See you next time, everybody.
- [50:12]
Alison Gill
Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Hey, everybody, it's ag. In solidarity with the February 28th economic blackout, the Daily Beans is ad free today. We now return you to your regularly scheduled News with swearing. Thanks for listening, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone. Then good news, everyone. And if you have good news, confessions, corrections, you have a shout out that you want to give to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or a government program that's helped you or a loved one, whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, which is on the chopping block right now, the Affordable Care act, snap, wic, Head Start, school lunches for kids, great VA health care you've received, and of course, student debt forgiveness. Send us all of your good news stories. Send them to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And all you got to do is pay your pod pet tax. That means attach a photo of your pet. If you'd like us to guess the breeds of your shelter pet, we're happy to try. We're very terrible, but we love doing it.
- [51:23]
Dana Goldberg
Every once in a while we get one of the breeds. Right?
- [51:27]
Alison Gill
Right. We'll get like, I think we did the. We got them all right. At one time.
- [51:31]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [51:32]
Alison Gill
There was like five different breeds in there and we got them all.
- [51:34]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. I have a little good news story to add when we get to all of this because we didn't get into the news, but it's actually kind of amazing.
- [51:41]
John Fugelsang
Cool.
- [51:41]
Alison Gill
I cannot wait. But Anyway, attach broad pet. If you don't have that, if you don't have a pet adoptable pet in your area, we'll do. We'll try to find them a home. If you don't have that, any animal photo will do. Just grab one off the Internet. I like, like capybaras and secretary birds. What do you like, Dana?
- [51:59]
Dana Goldberg
Any. Any baby animals?
- [52:01]
Alison Gill
Any baby animals?
- [52:02]
Dana Goldberg
What are you talking about?
- [52:02]
Alison Gill
Yeah, and speaking of babies, baby photos are adorable.
- [52:06]
Dana Goldberg
Yes.
- [52:06]
Alison Gill
In this instead. And we're doing bird watching now, which means a photo of an actual bird or you and families and friends and flipping off Trump properties and Elon properties. So send those to us again. Dailybeanspot.com click on Contact. What's your good news story?
- [52:21]
Dana Goldberg
Okay, so I don't know if anyone else saw this, but. And it's not a company I work for, but a lot of my comedians friends do. And as I know the entertainment director, there's a LGBT cruise line called Vicaya, and I'm not an ad for them. They were in the middle of the Caribbean and they happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico coming back to land, and they saw 11 refugees that were stranded in a boat in the middle of the waters and they fucking saved them. And you know who saw it and recorded it? Downtown Julie Brown. Who was Downtown Julie Brown performing on the cruise, actually filmed this entire thing. They, they, they took all the refugees onto the Royal Caribbean, onto the ship with them, and they gave them clothing and, and got them dried off and made sure they had food. Like, it's just a fucking feel good story. I know.
- [53:11]
Alison Gill
I love that story. Yeah, so much. Thank that. And that sounds like a cruise that I would go on. I'm not really big on cruises, but that sounds like a cruise I would go on.
- [53:22]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, a lot of these LGBTQ cruises you would love, Olivia. Actually, the. The company I work with, it's. It's LGBTQ plus women. Super friendly. There's also trans and non binary people. They've really extended their umbrella to, you know, take, give, give shade, if you will, to a good shade to many of our community. And now people are starting to. Even more people are starting to travel with them. It's lesbians and CIS women anymore. It's amazing. I'm so proud to work for the company.
- [53:50]
Alison Gill
Awesome. That is so cool.
- [53:51]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [53:52]
Alison Gill
And speaking of Mexico, there's an article actually that we didn't have time to talk about today in the Associated Press, and the headline is Ancient Deity, Pet and Endangered Species. Why is the Axolotl Mexico's most beloved amphibian.
- [54:08]
Dana Goldberg
That's fun.
- [54:09]
Alison Gill
I know. Legend has it the axolotl was not always an amphibian. Long before it became Mexico's most beloved salamander and efforts to prevent its extinction flourished. It was a sneaky God.
- [54:20]
Dana Goldberg
I love that.
- [54:22]
Alison Gill
It's an interesting little animal. Oh my God. That's so great. It's exhibitions focus on axolotl the pre and pre Hispanic agricultural systems resembling floating gardens that still function and neighboring in Mexico and the city outskirts of Mexico City. That's just the coolest thing. There was a whole article on axolotls. I figured you guys would love that. All right, let's get to the listener submitted good news first up from Anonymous. He and him. Salve Regina Lagumina Hoptomist here coming back at you. Enjoyed the reference to the flying Spaghetti Monster the other day, but feel compelled to mention that the religion is called the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. You're right to connect the origin to the 2005 protest in Kansas. Princess, you'll enjoy. Yes, that's why you wear the colander on your head.
- [55:13]
Dana Goldberg
I love it.
- [55:14]
Alison Gill
You will enjoy the detail at Flying Spaghetti Monster Wikipedia page. We'll have a link in the show Notes have. Maybe Anonymous here has been touched by his noodle appendage. Keep on keeping on you beniferous queens. Thanks for all you do. Pod pet tax next time. Excuse me?
- [55:30]
Dana Goldberg
I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today, right? How dare you.
- [55:37]
Alison Gill
You don't have credit here.
- [55:38]
Dana Goldberg
We were tricked. We were trick. We do. It's done. The damage is done. Let's move on.
- [55:43]
Alison Gill
That's okay. There's two pet pictures on this next one, so there we go.
- [55:47]
Dana Goldberg
This is from.
- [55:47]
Alison Gill
You're very lucky Anonymous. The neighbor has paid your pet tax for you.
- [55:51]
Dana Goldberg
All right, this is from Anonymous pronoun she and her high beans queens. I'm a newish listener, but I have not missed an episode since I started listening and I often walk around my house singing the theme song to my dogs, which I can only assume they enjoy as they have not told me otherwise. I have what I think is a little bit of good news, which is that I have have also turned my best friend, who we will call Alex onto the show. I'm also looking for ideas to help her with her miserable 90 minute each way commute to and from her federal job as she had only been approved to start working from home when fascist mcfascist face issued his dumb return to work executive order. Alex Works so hard to get where she is and does such incredible work for the government and has said the past 52 years, I mean, one month. Has said the past 52 years. I mean, one month since FMFF took office has been incredibly hard for everyone at her office.
- [56:48]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [56:48]
Dana Goldberg
I was so glad to hear her tell me how much she loves listening to the daily beans and I appreciate that you guys are helping her enjoy her commute just a little more. I've included pictures of the pups who are subjected, I mean, graced with my constant daily beans. Daily beans. Everest is the American bulldog and Chase is the German shepherd, Avi, previously named by the paw patrol loving kids.
- [57:11]
Alison Gill
Oh, my God. So first of all, Everest, the American bulldog, looks like the dog because they're the same breed, by the way, that was in Homeward bound whose name was Chase. So that's pretty funny. And then this German shepherd is adorable in his paw patrol outfit. Oh, my God, that's so good. Yeah. Everybody driving to work right now to your federal job. I love you. I see you and you're awesome. All right, next up from Joe H. Pronoun, she and her dear beans queens, Scotland calling. And even though you liken Kash Patel to our beloved haggis.
- [57:51]
Dana Goldberg
I'm sending some.
- [57:53]
Alison Gill
Positive energy your way. I did not mean to insult haggis.
- [57:56]
Dana Goldberg
I know.
- [57:58]
Alison Gill
Next time maybe I'll just, yeah, call him head cheese or something. There's so much absolute bollocks that you're having to sift through on a daily basis, so you could really do with this. So some pictures. Number one, first, a Cheeto chump is from the first Cheeto chump election with my fab kids posing with some dump the trump toilet paper that our friends gave us. Number two is Glasgow Pride 2016 when my son met the Queen. Number three is our recent Christmas photo, which does have three dogs in it. But you have to look. Lucy is half lab, half cocker, now 16, pepper in the middle saying, get me the hell out of this cuckoo. This cuckoo clock is half cocker, half Springer, now 6. And Murphy, who you have featured before, eater of parking tickets is a two year old golden retriever, but you can't tell from this photo. Listen, obviously you don't need to read this all and we don't need to read it out, but I hope that you at least get a laugh out of this. And if you guys ever make it to Scotland, I'm buying y'all multiple beers. I work in international education, including working with U.S. education loan recipients and VA funded students. Such a horrid period of uncertainty for these students and federal workers and the sane amongst us who have to try and report on it. So keep on keeping on. And Scotland has your back. Okay, first of all, the kids are adorable.
- [59:20]
Dana Goldberg
They are.
- [59:21]
Alison Gill
And there's the queen.
- [59:23]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God, that's so fantastic.
- [59:25]
Alison Gill
That is fantastic. A drag queen queen. I love it.
- [59:29]
Dana Goldberg
Scotland. All right. This is from Celeste. Pronouns, she and her. Greetings, oh goddesses of the great garbanzos. In September, right before AG Told us to go get a fucking hobby and make something.
- [59:42]
Alison Gill
Did I say it that way?
- [59:43]
Dana Goldberg
Probably not, but I love that I started learning to crochet. I'm working on a sweater that doesn't look like a six year old made it, which is a miracle because my fine motor skills are trash after a stroke six years ago next month. The picture of it and how it should turn out are included. I wasn't good at artsy stuff before said stroke, so making this next pick had a lot of anxiety attached. I live in Oklahoma and our state superintendent, I call him S.S. walters. He's a horrible fucking human being. That was my addition, not the person who submitted. Oh, but she says he's also trash. The board of education meeting is in the morning, so I'm taking the sign. I finished about 2:30 to 3:00am I thought y'all might like it and I was kind of proud of how it turned out. I may not make it since it's 4:30am now, but the March 4th is around the corner, so I won't be a waste if I don't get there. Lastly, my ride or die floof ball, Nelly. It's pretty rad and she's paying my tax for me. She's on the wall mounted bed. Look on the wall mounted bed. Sorry. Really, if you don't read sentences right, everybody.
- [60:48]
Alison Gill
That's like your rhyme.
- [60:49]
Dana Goldberg
I'm seeing them or die. She is on her wall mounted. I'm. I'm like, she is on her wall mounted. No, she is on her wall mounted bed looking at the window, at the squirrels while the bastards get her all incense. Get you babes a wall mounted tree like you've been thinking of or make one. I'm fairly isolated. I lost a lot of social norms, knowledge and impulse control. I, E, S, T, F, U. With a stroke. You both have such a lifeline for the last year or two. And if you ever make it to Oklahoma, I make something yummy for you. Please take care of yourselves. So you keep taking care of all of us. Leguminati new and old. Oh. Anonymous. What a beautiful. Oh, no, this is Celeste. Celeste. Thank you. What a beautiful submission. And let's see these pictures.
- [61:39]
Alison Gill
This sweater is cool.
- [61:41]
Dana Goldberg
Okay. The sweater is cool as. What do you mean? That's not. I would wear that in a heartbeat.
- [61:46]
Alison Gill
Yep.
- [61:48]
Dana Goldberg
What size is it? I'll pay you for it.
- [61:51]
Alison Gill
Totally. Can you make a medium?
- [61:53]
Dana Goldberg
I know. We'll both buy one.
- [61:55]
Alison Gill
I love the colors.
- [61:56]
Dana Goldberg
I'll donate the money to whatever organization you want me to.
- [61:59]
Alison Gill
The olive drab and the skulls. This is awesome. It's fucking great.
- [62:03]
Dana Goldberg
Right on.
- [62:04]
Alison Gill
Awesome. Yeah. Allison told everyone to get a fucking hobby.
- [62:08]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [62:09]
Alison Gill
Did I say it like that?
- [62:10]
Dana Goldberg
You might have. I might have.
- [62:12]
Alison Gill
We don't know. Next up from Timothy. He. Him. I appreciate what you do every day, bringing time, timely stories and inspiration for taking on Mango Mussolini and his band of fascists. Today, as the federal workforce is being scapegoated and targeted, I want to celebrate certain aspects of the federal government. My dad a staff sergeant in the U.S. army. He died in 2003 while on leave from Guantanamo Bay when I was 15 years old. You know what allowed my mom and two siblings to have a good life and even thrive over the past 22 years? The Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs. I received monthly Social Security survivor checks throughout the rest of high school, and then I received money from Veterans affairs for college tuition every month while I was in college since my dad was active duty. When he died, in addition to my Ohio War Orphans scholarship, I finished grad school debt free. It allowed me to attend graduate School in 2010, when jobs were relatively scarce. I graduated with my PhD and am now a materials research scientist at the Department of Energy National Lab. Dissertation title, Role of Interfaces on Severe plastic deformation and HE irradiation tolerances in CuNB nanocomposites. That's my Saturday night right there. I mean.
- [63:27]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, who amongst us, Right, Right.
- [63:30]
Alison Gill
You know, the helium, irradiation, tolerance. Everybody, duh, benefits from the federal government. By the way, you're sound extremely brilliant, Timothy. Benefits from the federal government allowed me to get to the position in my life. They give people a chance. And unfortunately, the GOP and Trump are taking those chances away. So fight on, we must. Thank you, Timothy.
- [63:50]
Dana Goldberg
I love that you're like, this person's brilliant and I'm in the background going among amongst. Is it amongst? It's among us. Amongst us. Okay. And this one's from Robin G. Pronoun. She and her. The programs that benefited me were tanf, Medicaid, WIC Public Housing Medical. Alaska Native Head Start Program. Amazing. I'm a 47 year old female living in Anchorage. I'm a mobile notary in in the Anchorage area and I own my own business called Alaska Mobile Notary Services. I'm currently raising my 4 year old grandson whom I affectionately call Shoogie. He's the best thing since sliced bread. Shoogie has benefited from the Head Start program since I took him into custody at a year and a half. At that time I find myself think, oh my God. How am I going to do this? I didn't know how I made it through being a single mother at 16, having four kids by the time I was 24. But somehow I did it. You're a badass. I don't even know you and you're a badass. I had to reflect on how I managed everything and I realized that it was thanks to the programs like Temporary Aid for Needy Families and food stamps. I was a single mom with four kids and you better believe I used every program I was eligible for. All my kids were raised on Medicaid when we lived down south. Fortunately, up here in Alaska, being Alaska Native means we receive 100 free health care through Indian Health Services. However, I am suffering from several chronic conditions and no health insurance would cover my medication which costs about $54,000 a month.
- [65:26]
Alison Gill
My God.
- [65:28]
Dana Goldberg
I. I'm speechless. To say that I'm scared is an understatement. A couple of weeks ago, I submitted a letter to you. When they froze the funding for the Head Start program, we received an email stating that the school would be closing due to lack of funding. At that moment I thought, oh no, he's almost five. This is his last year there. He loves it. He goes every day. I even work there as an on call teacher when they need me. While I make more money in my own business, I primarily do it for a little extra income. Then we received another email saying that the school was back off due to a temporary restraining order. All of this hit me at once and I realized we could potentially lose our Indian Health Services. Under ansca, we're allowed to have our healthcare paid for. And the Alaska Native Medical center and the Nuka System of Care are renowned for their excellence. Countries like Norway and Sweden have even come to study at our healthcare system and integrate aspects of it into their own. At any rate, I hope this submission gets on the air because I truly appreciate what you do. I'm emotional because this all weighs heavily on me. I worry for our grandkids. They're going to suffer so much. I've devoted my life to my grandson, and everything we have could be taken away. In an instance, my children benefited from this government, flawed as it may be. They grow up healthy and strong. They were fed and we had stable housing. I think about all the single mothers who will suffer because of this. Especially those forced to have babies without any support, yet face jail if they can't care for their kids. The irony is heartbreaking. If you can't feed your kids and you're doing your best, yet something goes wrong, next thing you know, ocs, which is the Office of Children's Services, is involved. I can only imagine the trauma these women endure. I've never had to deal with ocs, but I've seen the impact on others, which is why I took my grandson when I saw he needed me. I don't think the situation will last four years. I believe it will last forever. But at least I get to listen to you while we head toward our own revolution. I'm sharing a picture of my grandkids, Shugi and Yura. They are a year apart and they are now the same Head Start class. So my granddaughter would also lose her school if the funding was cut. The almost silver lining I hope comes from this funding crisis is that people will finally wake up, especially Trump voters. I can guarantee you there are more of them on Medicaid, food stamps, or TN TANF than among the rest of us. It seems counterintuitive, but I assure you it's true. We don't need a makeover or patchwork solutions. We need a revolution at this point. Thank you for all your hard work that you put into all these podcasts. Can you give Shuggie a little shout out? He knows the jingle and he knows your whole daily Beans tune. He sings it every morning. What's up, Sugie?
- [68:20]
Alison Gill
Thanks, Shuggie. And hey, big thanks. This is the second time or the third time the theme songs come up in the good news just today. So big shout out to the people who wrote it and performed it. They might be giants just.
- [68:33]
Dana Goldberg
That's right. And Shugi, I want if you're hearing this, I want you to know your grandma is an incredible, incredible person.
- [68:39]
Alison Gill
Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much for that submission and thanks to everyone for your good news this week. Really appreciate it. Thanks to Fukushang for coming on and speaking with us today. And, you know, big weekend ahead. We'll have the unjustified podcast. We'll have the bonus cleanup for patrons. We'll have the bonus beans for patrons and I'll be giving an update on Fed Oath. For those of you who are patrons of Fed Oath donating money to help our government workers, thank you so much. Do you have any final thoughts, my friend?
- [69:08]
Dana Goldberg
I do. If any of my Boston beans are out at the HRC Gala on Saturday, make sure you come say hi to me. That's it.
- [69:14]
Alison Gill
That's all I got. Thank you so much for doing all that hard work and fundraising for the people who need it. Dana and everybody else will be back in your ears on Monday. 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.
- [69:26]
Dana Goldberg
I've been AG and I've been DG.
- [69:29]
Alison Gill
And them's the beans dims the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studio 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.