A (5:20)

All right, first up, Pete Hegseth's Fog of War. You don't understand we didn't see those two guys. And you would know that if you didn't sit up here and you're journalism desks or whatever. We now know that that was bullshit. From the Associated Press. The Pentagon knew there were survivors. After a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, the US Military still carried out a follow up strike. According to two people familiar the rationale for the second strike was that it was needed to sink the vessel. That's according to people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously. The Trump administration says all 11 people aboard were killed. What remains unclear was who ordered the strikes and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved. That will be part of a classified congressional briefing today with the commander that the Trump administration says ordered the second strike, Admiral Frank Bradley. Now, Hegseth has defended the second strike as emerging from the fog of war, saying he didn't see any survivors, but also he didn't stick around for the rest of the mission. Okay. Hegseth is under growing scrutiny over the military strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean. Legal experts and some lawmakers say the strike that killed survivors would have violated laws of armed conflict. I'd also like to hear from Admiral Holsey. That's the admiral who served for 40 years but resigned from Southern Command in October after being there only a year because he was flagging concerns about these boat strikes. I'd like to hear from him, too. In a related story from npr, a Pentagon watchdog has determined that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked the safety of US Service members by sharing sensitive military information on the signal messaging app. That's according to a source who's reviewed the forthcoming inspector general report. The report, which is expected to be released today. As early as today, was launched after a journalist for the Atlantic revealed in March that he'd been added to a signal chat on the encrypted messaging app in which Hegseth and other top officials were discussing plans for U.S. airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. And this was just found because that guy was accidentally added. Imagine how many other classified information went out on unsecure signal chats. Now a summary of the report provided to NPR finds that had a foreign adversary intercepted the intelligence discussions, it would have endangered U.S. service members and the mission at large. The investigation was conducted by Pentagon Inspector General Stephen Stebbins. His findings were shared with NPR by a source who has seen the document but was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The report concludes that Hegseth, who sent the information about targets, timing and aircraft to two signal groups, including his wife and brother, violated Pentagon policies about using personal phones for official business. Hegseth would not sit for an interview with the inspector general, according to the report, and he would only provide a written response. In his response, Hegseth stated he was able to declassify information. The inspector general did not determine whether Hegseth had declassified the information in the chat at the time it was shared, but acknowledged that as secretary of Defense, he does have the authority to do that. Hegseth also told the inspector general he believed the investigation was political in nature and that he lacked faith in Stebbins. In a statement, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the findings absolved Hegseth of any wrongdoing. The inspector general review is a total exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we all knew all along. No classified information was shared. This matter is resolved and the case is closed. Wow. Actually, classified information was shared. He just said he declassified it after the fact to avoid being caught breaking the law. Now the report is the product of months of investigation. The probe was launched in April in response to a request from the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Jack Reed, the top Democrat. Over the course of the investigation, the report states, Hegseth only provided a few of his signal messages to the inspector general, and as a result, Stebbins was forced to rely mostly on screenshots of the chat from the Atlantic. Wow. We're going to cover this report in more detail when it comes out later today. Next up from the Times, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York called Speaker Mike Johnson a habitual liar. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina has told people she's so frustrated with the Louisiana Republican and sick of the way that he has run the House, that particularly how women are treated there, that she is planning to huddle with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia next week to discuss following her lead and retiring early from Congress. Wow. Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida has gone around Mr. Johnson in a bid to force a vote. He has declined to schedule on a bill to ban members of Congress from stock trading. Hmm. Also, if you don't like the way Republicans treat women, maybe you shouldn't be a woman and a Republican. Less than a year out from the midterm elections in which Republicans vanishingly small majority is at stake, Mr. Johnson's grasp on his gavel appears weaker than ever. As members from all corners of his conference openly complain about his leadership. Some predict he may not last as the speaker for the rest of this term. Republican women in particular have been publicly challenging Johnson and taking issue with his priorities and his style. Their dissatisfaction is indicative of a broader splintering of of a restive group of GOP lawmakers who are perpetually unhappy with their leaders but appear to be reaching a breaking point with the current man at the top. Quote, rarely have things been completely harmonious in this conference, but it does seem like there's an unusually high level of discontent. That was Kevin Kelly, a Republican representative from California who's been at odds with Johnson over the redistricting battles that will likely put him out of a job next year. He added, the overriding issue is the House has not been at the forefront of driving policymaking or the agenda in Washington. This is naturally going to be frustrating to members who ran for Congress to make an impact on issues they care about. What issues are Republican issues? What are you talking about? What policy? Banning stuff and taking away people's rights. Like what policy do you have besides giving tax breaks to billionaires, which you got done through budget reconciliation anyway? The rifts have opened as Republicans preparing to face voters in the next year's elections are increasingly worried that they have squandered a year in which their party had total control of the government. Ms. Stefanik told the Journal Wall Street Journal in an interview that Johnson would not have the support to remain speaker if the vote were held tomorrow, adding that dissatisfaction with him among Republicans was that widespread. Some House Republican women have privately predicted that Johnson's speakership will end this term, either as a result of Republicans losing their majority before Election Day or because Johnson is ousted by his own members like his predecessor. Quote, I stand with Elise. That's what Nancy May said, who's running for governor in South Carolina, in a text message on Wednesday morning, a day after Stefanik's enmity boiled over in a public feud with Johnson over a provision she wanted to include in in the annual defense policy bill. Stefanik announced on social media on Wednesday that Trump had intervened and that she had prevailed. After a three way phone call, she said Johnson had agreed to include the measure she was demanding that would require disclosure when the FBI opens investigations into political candidates. Wow. Why would you want that?

A (12:50)

That was after she had written on social media that she was receiving just more lies from the speaker and that Mr. Johnson often falsely claimed to know nothing about an issue.

A (13:00)

She it his preferred tactic to tell members when he gets caught torpedoing Republican agendas. This year there were only three women in the incoming Republican freshman class, Julie Federchock of North Dakota, Sherry Biggs of South Carolina, and Kimberlin King Hines of the Northern Mariana Islands. By comparison, there were seven Republican women in the incoming freshman class of the previous Congress. There's currently just one woman chairing a House committee, Representative Virginia Fox of South Carolina, who leads the Rules Committee. She said that the insinuation that there was mounting ire from women directed at Mr. Johnson was brainless and ignorant. Now, oddly, the headline of this article wasn't that Nancy Mace is Considering Resigning. There's something about Republican anger at Johnson as party frets about future.

A (13:52)

Talk about burying the lead. I would love to see Nancy Mace step away from Congress and finally, Judge Beryl Howell has ruled on a motion to certify a class of immigrants in the District of Columbia, barring ICE and the Department of Homeland Security from arresting immigrants without a warrant unless they're a flight risk, she writes. Such repeated conjoined use by high ranking officials of the words criminal and alien prompts the need for clarification of two fundamental facts in reviewing the two pending motions brought by individual immigrants and an immigrant focused organization in this case. First, as a general rule, it's not a crime for a removable alien to remain present in the United States. As a legal matter, an immigration status violation is a civil violation, and the D.C. circuit made that clear just a few months ago. Consequently, viewing all immigrants potentially subject to removal as criminals is, as a legal matter, plain wrong. Treating all immigrants potentially subject to removal as if they were criminals highlights the Supreme Court's wise caution that, quote, perceived mistreatment of aliens in the United States may lead to harmful reciprocal treatment of American citizens abroad. Now plaintiffs move to enjoin preliminarily the Department of Homeland Security, its Secretary, and other federal agencies and officers from conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests in the District of Columbia without making individualized probable cause determinations as to each arrestee's risk of escape. And that's required by section US Code Code 1357, section 2, I think, or in the alternative, to stay the agency policy permitting such arrests. Separately, plaintiffs also move for certification of a broader class consisting of all persons who since August 11, 2025, have been or will be arrested in the District for alleged civil immigration violations without an administrative warrant and without probable cause and an additional subclass to the unassessed escape risk class. For the reasons discussed below, the plaintiff's motion to enjoin preliminarily the defendants from continuing any policy or practice of conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests in the District without making individualized probable cause determinations as required by law and a final decision on the request. Certification of class in both sub cases will be reserved for a later time, but defendants are preliminarily enjoined from enforcing their policy of conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests without probable cause to believe that a restee is likely to escape before an administrative warrant can be obtained. And only plaintiff's proposed unassessed escape risk class is provisionally certified. So she certified that one class, and she's barring DHS from making arrests in the District of Columbia without a warrant unless they're individually assessed as a potential flight risk. So that's very good news, and we'll see what happens in the appeals court, as I'm sure the Trump administration will appeal that ruling. All right, everybody, we've got a bunch of good news to go over, but we do have to take a quick break, so everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey everybody, December can be a lot. Between parties and holidays and shopping and travel, I start to feel stretched pretty thin. And my reset button is CBD from CB Distillery. It's clean formulas, straightforward dosing and dependable results help me slow down and show up for the people I love. I want to thank them for sponsoring this episode and I have a discount for you. Get 25% off your entire purchase at CBDistillery.com and use promo code DailyBeans now. I came to CB Distillery looking for help with post workout recovery and the relief stick is the product that hooked me. The cooling sensation lands quickly. It feels amazing. After a tough session, I roll it over sore shoulders and on my tight calves. It helps me bounce back. So the next day is about movement, not soreness. So what won me over there is the CB Distillery has far more than a single solution. Their lineup is built to work with your body whether you want to ease stress, get better sleep, boost focus, support recovery. I rotate based on what I need each day and the quality shows up in the formula. They use premium ingredients. They keep it all clean. They skip fillers or unnecessary additives. And that matters to me when I'm building habits I plan to keep. And it's not just my experience. Over 2 million people have made the switch to CB Distillery, which proves how reliably these products perform. From recovery to focus, I've seen results I can feel. So if you want a straightforward way to feel better and stay consistent, CB Distillery earns a spot in your routine. So this year, give yourself and everyone on your list. The gift of better sleep, less stress and pain relief with CBD from CB Distillery and with promo code DailyBeans, you can save 25% off your entire purchase. Just visit cbdistillery.com and enter code Daily Beans for 25% off. That's cbdistillery.com code Daily Beans one more time cbdistillery.com and use code Daily Beans for 25 percent off. Specific product availability depends on individual state regulations. Hey everybody, I'm so excited my holiday Wild Grain box arrived. It's the first bake from Frozen subscription box that delivers artisanal breads, pastries and fresh pastas right to your door. Everything bakes in 25 minutes or less, so you get that fresh from the oven flavor without the hassle. They use simple real ingredients and slow fermentation that's easier on digestion and richer in nutrients. And you can even customize your box with options like classic gluten free or plant based varieties that change seasonally. So thanks to Wild Grain for supporting the show. Check this deal out. For a limited time, Wild Grain is offering you $30 off your first box plus free croissants in every box. Just go to wildgrain.com dailybeans to start your subscription. Or you can use promo code DailyBeans at checkout. My Wild Grain box arrived just in time for holiday baking season. Inside Fresh Pastries, Rustic Sourdough, the New Tear and Share Cranberry Pecan rolls which are just delicious. They instantly became a favorite. Dana's Gluten Free she says her gluten free delivery was also amazing. Flaky, flavorful, baked perfectly in less than 25 minutes. That convenience makes a huge difference when things get busy, so I'm planning to use Wild Grain for holiday gatherings. It fills my house with delicious smells of baking and it makes me look like I baked everything from scratch. Now the Parmesan Herb biscuits and Apple pie bites are already on my holiday menu. And Wild Grain even lets you buy certain items in bulk, which is perfect for hosting. It's also an easy, thoughtful gift. You can send a box or an E gift card straight to someone's inbox. Between cozy brunches and warm dinners, Wildgreen keeps my home smelling and feeling festive. For a limited time, Wildgreen is offering you $30 off your first box plus free croissants in every box. Just go to wildgrain.com dailybeans to start your subscription. You heard me, Free croissants in every box and $30 off your first box. When you go to wildgrain.com dailybeans, you'll be glad you did. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone? Then good news everyone.

A (21:05)

And if you have any good news corrections, especially pronunciation corrections, we would love to hear those. We always like to make sure we're pronouncing things right. And because we read so much, you know, we don't, we don't really get to use the words that, that we see on a daily basis. So if you have any corrections, please send them to us. Also, if you have a shout out, it can be a shout out to yourself, a loved one, a small business, your small business. Show us what you're making or creating. It can be a shout out to a government program, a spouse. You can even shout out your dissertation and thesis titles. We love to try to pronounce what's in those. You guys are also smart. Send it all to us. And all you got to do to get your good news submission right on the air is pay your POD pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, send an adoptable pet. We'll see if we can find him a home. And if you don't have that, really just any animal off the Internet is fine. We love otters and frogs and pandas and I like secretary birds and naked mole rats and pygmy marmosets and axolotls. Just whatever is fine. I swear, any picture will do. We also love pictures of bird watching photos, which is, you know, either a bird or you flipping the bird to a Trump building. So send it all to us, whatever it is. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your good trouble.

A (22:24)

Your good trouble comes from Ellen. Pronouns she and her if immigrants could attend their hearing over zoom, they wouldn't be at risk by just following the law and attending their immigration hearing. So we have a petition for virtual court hearings. Stop ICE kidnappings at courts. Demand virtual court hearings now. This is@change.org, we'll have a link in the show notes and the POD pet tariff from Ellen is a kitten in a hat. A little grumpy about the photo session waking him up now. He's £15, so I cherish this old picture of him. Look at the kitty in the beanie. Oh, he's adorable. Ellen, thanks for that good trouble. Next up from Tim. Anonymous pronouns he and him hello. I enjoy waking up on a weekday morning or a Sunday morning for Unjustified because I know there's a new episode to listen to and generally catch about 15 minutes of it before your mellifluous voices lull me back to sleep, usually waking me back up amid the good news. I'm an actor, director, playwright, touring the country via automobile out of Imlay City, Michigan, where we have found an amazing Victorian home, soon to be bed and breakfast with a series of one man Shakespeare events which I bring to high schools and colleges. In 2018, I created Man Cave, a one man sci fi climate change tragicomedy which got wonderful reviews on the road, but didn't seem to move the needle on that whole taking action component. When America elected the Orange Julius a second time, I decided it was time to dig deeper, writing a sequel to Man Cave plot the last man on earth broadcasts to whatever Klingons, Vulcans or Tralfamadorians might still be out there listening, trying to explain how not to do what we did. I'll be taking both on the road through 2026. Along with my Shakespeare stuff, I attached photos of our cat Ivy, along with a peek at our soon to be bed and breakfast. I don't know anything about cat breeds, so it's all good. Thanks for all you do, Tim. This house is incredible, Tim. And look at the sweet baby kitty. Hello. Thank you for that. Love it. All right, next up, Dr. Worm, Dr. Pronouns, Dr. She, her ladies, major good news announcement. It's the official start of risotto season. Personal life goal is to become the queen of risotto. I'm not sure how to reach that level. I. E. How do I know I make it? How do I know? Hey, how do you know that you made it to queen of risotto? Pictured is a caramelized cabbage risotto, venison shank, and Eli's green beans that I cook last night with my bestie Swoon. It's hella snowy in Chicagoland and temps are about to dip, so get your risotto and jug wine on people. Podpet tariff is the morning snuggle with Moo. Look at this sweet baby. And look at the delicious risotto. I do love a good risotto. Thank you, Dr. Worm. Next up, from Nisha Pronoun. She and her Hey y'. All. Thank fuck for ladies like you. You help keep us all sane with this fascist bullshit. I swear I'm going to go bald before this ends from pulling my hair out from the stupidity of the administration and the chief Cheeto motherfucker. Are you Gen X Nisha, we listen to you every morning as we drive into work, which keeps us informed because y' all keep it simple with good humor because the big news folks just try to baffle us with bullshit. The good news always makes me smile. With all the fur babies that get sent in, I subscribed to be a patron so I could see all the pics. The first pic is my babies. We lost my old girl two years ago at 21 years old. The other two idiots, Bow and Winnie. Part of the reason I'm probably gonna be bald from pulling all my hair out. The second pick is my new ish hobby since COVID times. Happy holidays for me and my chaos crew. Nisha, thanks. Look at the sweet babies. They're adorbs. And keep the fuckery going, she says. Oh, and look at this beautiful painting of a Looks like a Pekingese. It's gorgeous. All right, next up, anonymous pronoun she's hers. She's hers. Good news. It's really tough living in a red state and working in HealthC. A lab tech. Yeah, I perform Covid tests as part of my work, but I want to thank you Beans Queens for being a light in the redness. I also moved to an amazing small town with true neighborly spirit regardless of political ideology about 18 months ago. I've not had to mow my yard or shovel my driveway since I moved in. Everyone is so kind in my small town. They have some unexpected amazing businesses. I can finally breathe after almost 30 years in an extremely toxic and corrupt neighboring county. To that end, I did my research and a redacted dog breed became my perfect fit. My nala, hence the plural designation in my gender because we're both female and rarely apart except when I'm working. I have two other of the same dog breed and wouldn't consider any other breed. While no longer up to starting with a puppy, I have given all three rescued rehomed of this dog breed a great home and will continue to do so. I have a side hustle doing contract hand spinning, knitting and weaving. Oh very cool. Love those textiles. I have finally realized my dream in my new home of a weaving studio that I'm putting together at age 64. I've been doing some sort of textile needlework since I was 7. I retired from shearing sheep, angora, goats, llamas and alpacas after 23 years in October of 2023. My handwork has kept me sane, although at times only marginally through a lot of rough times in my life. For my pod pet tariff I've included a picture of my beloved Nala, who chose my feet over her bed in front of the wood stove in my knitting nest. And a picture of a wedding shawl that is hand spun and hand knitted that I gave as a gift to a very special young friend. It's spread out over a full size bed for scale. Keep up the great work, beans queens. I listen to you on the YouTube Daily. All right, let's look at this dog. Oh, look at that sweet baby. And wow, that is a incredible shawl. It's huge also. All right, let's see what, what do I think this dog breed is? He looks like a big giant, like a bullmastiff or a. I mean, I'm guessing it's a purebred, so I'm gonna say mastiff. Let's see what's behind the. Yep, it's a mastiff. Look at me go. Ooh, I got one, right? Thank you so much for that. Next up. And our final submission is from Karen. No pronouns given. Hi, ag, and dg. You said we could share some good news or a memory from 20 years ago, so I thought I would do just that. Twenty years ago, my lovely cousin my invited my family to her house for Thanksgiving. We've always adored Myrna and her family. Myrna is my mom's first cousin and she was like a surrogate grandmother to my children. Her kids are some of my favorite cousins. That year, her family was preparing three turkeys. Her husband made a roasted turkey. Her son in law made a big green egg turkey. I should also give a shout out to her daughter Bethany, who turned me onto the daily beans. And her son Kevin was making a fried turkey. Also this particular year, my son was 6 years old and was recovering from a traumatic injury to his arm which landed him in the hospital for eight days with four surgeries. Holy cow. In October of 2005. So we were especially glad to all be together as a family. Before dinner, my son walked up to Myrna and touched her wrist gently saying in the sweetest high pitched little voice, Myrna fire. She asked where sweetie? He said, in the backyard. We looked outside and saw the fried turkey with flames shooting 12ft in the air. I've never seen Kevin run that fast and he was a championship squash player. He somehow put out the flames. I don't recall whether we actually got to taste the fried turkey that year, but in the end there was no harm done and it was a hilarious memory. We were all together this year again at Myrna's for the night. Before Thanksgiving and we were all laughing, remembering the flaming turkey. Oh that's what a great example of good news that happened a long time ago. Thank you for sending this story in. For my POD tariff, I'm sending you a photo of me holding my sweet son that night at Myrna's house. You can see the ginger way he's holding his arm. I also tell you that 20 years later, my son is totally normal and recovered and plays tennis and pickleball. Oh that's good. His arm is normal and recovered. So I want to send a shout out to Myrna, who is gracious and loving and always brings our families together. She's currently recovering from a shoulder replacement and I'd love for all of the Leguminati to send positive healing vibes. Done. That's a deal. Karen. Every family should be lucky enough to have a Myrna look at this. Oh wonderful. What a great story. Thank you for sharing that. If you have any stories like that you want to send in, please do. Think of it as like us all hanging around talking and sharing old stories. That's what the good news is for. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. Dana's going to be back on your ears tomorrow. I'll see you over on the Beans Talk video podcast. Please subscribe to it over at the MSW Media YouTube channel. And until tomorrow, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and them's the Beans.

B (31:24)

The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.