Loading summary

Transcript17 lines

[00:01]
A
Diamond Dames, mount up.
[00:06]
B
I'm Charlotte Clymer.
[00:08]
A
And I'm Alison Gill. Hey, Charlotte, what if you and I joined forces to create a weekly podcast amid all the chaos of the news to chat about the most recent episode of season four of Ted Lasso?
[00:18]
B
Well, Allison, we'd be taking delight amid the spite to sit and write and bring some light on Wednesday nights. I mean, look, everything right now is ridiculous. I know we're all stressed out with the state of the country and we all deserve some joy. Ted Lasso was there for us in the middle of the pandemic, and he's back to offer us a respite from Trump 2.0 right before the midterms.
[00:41]
A
That's right. We believe in Rom communism. I mean, if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. So subscribe to Diamond Dames for free right now to get notifications, and then you can join us every week and after each episode of ted Lasso Season 4, wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:58]
B
And remember, be a goldfish. Diamond Names Dismount,
[01:07]
A
Barbecue sauce. MSW Media.
[01:19]
B
News.
[01:20]
A
We're swearing. Jelly beans. Jelly beans. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Today, Cornyn and Tillis have caved as Todd Blanche writes a legally dubious rescission of the slush fund, but keeps Trump's tax immunity in place. Donald Trump is considering firing Jeanine Pirro over the dismissal of the reflecting pool charges and for claiming it wasn't vandals. ICE has handed over letters and drawings that it seized from children in detention pursuant to my Freedom of Information act request. The Senate has filed a stopgap that would block Trump's grant overhaul. And the Pentagon is relying on closed door hearings to kick out transgender troops. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody. Today is one of the harder news days, but we're going to get through this news. It's important that we get it all. Dana's traveling today. She'll be back tomorrow. So please send in your good news to us. We really need it after what we're going over today. You can send it in to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. You can also send in your good trouble suggestions. And then also, if you want to support the work that we do here, please become a paid subscriber, become a patron. You can do it@patreon.com the DailyBeans. It really helps us, helps us out and helps support independent media all right, we have a lot of news to get to today, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, for first up, this is a story from me@melissirote.com On February 9th of this year, ProPublica reported the a rainbow, a family portrait, a heart. These are drawings found in handwritten letters from children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing center in South Texas. ProPublica received letters in mid January from several children at Dilley. All but two of them had been living in the United States when they were detained. In their words and drawings, they convey how much they ache for creature comforts and describe the anguish of being trapped. And they write about missing their friends and their teachers, falling behind at school, having unreliable access to medical care when they're sick. Some say they're sick a lot and feeling scared about what comes next. Three days later, during a House Homeland Security hearing, Rep. James Walkinshaw read some of the handwritten letters and shared drawings from the children held in ICE family detention, then questioned ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons about those letters. And then on February 17, Pablo Manriquez with Migrant Insider reported, quote, staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. That day, my lawyer, Kel McClanahan at National Security Councilors filed a Freedom of Information act request demanding the letters seized from children by ice. They did not respond. So in March, I filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of my podcast network, MSW Media. Today, August 3rd, ICE responded. They did in fact snatch letters and drawings from children. They found 91 of them but only gave me nine. And I've posted them on my substack@mullersherote.com they're hard to look at. They're uncolored pages. Some are half colored pages seemingly snatched out of kids hands while they were coloring. There's a letter that I translate. It's hard stuff to look at, but you can view them there. Mullershirote.com and I'll probably be putting together a video podcast of them either for Midas Touch this weekend or for Beans Talk later this week. So I just want to thank National Security Councilors for doing this work pro bono. If you want to support them, you can go to nationalsecuritylaw.org and hit the donate button there. It's tax deductible. Donation goes directly to them for all the work that they do. And thank you again for supporting independent media. I was able to file this FOIA request and get some of these documents and we aren't done. We're going to keep fighting for the rest of them because ICE is claiming that the rest are duplicative or non responsive. So I'll keep you posted. All right, next up from Politico, Todd Blanche took a crucial step towards confirmation as attorney general late Sunday after Senator John Cornyn said he'd reached a deal with the Justice Department to rein in a controversial settlement agreement President Trump reached with the IRS earlier this year. Of course, again, don't call it a settlement agreement. The pact that's better was announced Sunday by a Cornyn spokesperson and by Blanche in a Twitter post. Documents posted by Blanche appear to meet the Texas Republicans demands to nullify the $1.8 billion anti weaponization slush fund and to limit the scope of an IRS audit immunity deal applying to the president and his family. The key word here is the documents appear to meet the demands. I don't think they do. The announcement appears to clear the way, though, for Cornyn to approve Blanche at a scheduled Tuesday meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That's today, if you're listening to this Tuesday. With Democrats entirely opposed, any one Republican defection would be fatal to the nomination. Senate Republican leaders are hoping to confirm Blanche, who's been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi resigned in April. They want to confirm him before the end of this week. Quote, senator Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the president and the irs. That's Nikki Yezbik, a Cornyn spokesperson. Cornyn's a lawyer. Anyway, Blanche said in a Twitter post that he and his team addressed any concerns or outstanding questions that senators had and issued an order that said the payout fund is, quote, rescinded and shall have no force or effect. It also stated the DOJ's interpretation of the settlement is that the audit deal applies only to the named parties in the lawsuit. And I want to go a little bit further here because they said something else. Todd Blanche said something else in his little screed there. And I'm going to pull it up here because it's important to one of my lawsuits at the end, he says. Nevertheless, several frivolous lawsuits have been filed challenging the fund, and at least one court has declined to dismiss those claims as moot this order establishes beyond any doubt that there is no fund. C. Floyd v. Department of Justice, Dunn, that's Harry Dunn v. Donald Trump, Crew v. The Department of Justice, Gordon v. Blanch and Gill v. The Department of Justice. That's me. Frivolous lawsuit, he says frivolous. The only thing is, the only problem here, Todd, is that your rescission is of the order, not the underlying agreement that established the fund. So once you're voted in as attorney general, you can resurrect the fund based on the quote, unquote settlement. Now, that might be a problem because as we know, the judge in Miami said there's no settlement here. So hopefully that voids the underlying settlement. But that doesn't stop Trump from suing Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice to get the settlement, to get the fund through the settlement. And it also doesn't stop, you know, tort claims and other ways of distributing money to January 6th rioters. So we're going to keep fighting in our lawsuit. We're not going to just voluntarily dismiss it based on this statement. But the deal emerged after a 72 hour period where Trump repeatedly attacked Cornyn and said publicly that he regretted the fund intended to pay out settlements to Trump political allies that had been withdrawn. Now he suggested Friday he would simply withdraw Blanche's nomination and resubmit it next year when Cornyn and Tillis have left Congress. Now, Tillis, the other swing vote on the Judiciary Committee, says he plans to follow whatever Cornyn does because of course, he doesn't have his own fucking ideas about what to do. He said in a Twitter post on Saturday Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout for punks and that it's unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully we can resolve this by Tuesday. Well, it appears this little band aid that's not under sworn testimony or under penalty of perjury, I should say is apparently enough for Cornyn. And if it's enough for Cornyn, it's enough for Tillis because Tillis only does what Cornyn does, I guess. Next up from CNN, President Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro as U.S. attorney for district of Columbia over the Justice Department conclusion that problems with the reflecting pool stemmed from a flawed renovation rather than vandalism. That's according to two people familiar. The president is, quote, furious with Pirro, one of the sources said, telling CNN he fumed about her all weekend. They added that based on his criticism, they find it highly likely she's going to be removed from her job. The other source, a senior administration official, said Trump was blindsided by the court filing from Pirro, who's a longtime ally. Quote, the president didn't know beforehand she was going to do that. He's not supposed to. The Justice Department is supposed to be independent from the executive branch. That for the fact that they consider it normal here for Trump to be let in on this stuff ahead of time is bonkers. It's being normalized right before our eyes. Late Monday afternoon, though, Ms. Now reported that Pirro could be seen entering the West Wing. Later. Somebody snapped a photo of her leaving with a, like a box, like a box of files on a rolly bag, like on top of a bag that, you know, one of those rolly, rolly bag things. Now, she doesn't have an office there, so I wouldn't assume that she was clearing her office out. She might have brought the evidence in to show it to him and then left with it. Somebody said, wow, that's a big box of wine. So it could be that too. Not sure. Also from Politico, Senate appropriators released text Sunday of a stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown come October 1st and punt broader government funding negotiations until after the midterm elections. Under the bipartisan plan, federal agencies would be funded through December 11th at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders have set an initial procedural vote for Monday night and want to pass the bill by the end of the week, just before senators are scheduled to leave town for a five week recess when lawmakers return to the Capitol in September. House Republican leaders must then decide whether to take up the Senate funding patch, which contains a significant rebuke of Donald Trump, a temporary ban on finalizing the White House proposal to put political appointees in charge of approving grants. Senate Democrats wanted that addition and top Republicans, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski publicly voiced support. Court now Collins said in a statement that she's pleased about the move to delay the changes to the way agencies approve billions of dollars in federal grant awards each year, noting she urged a White House budget director Russ vote weeks ago to nix part of that plan and extend the public comment period. The White House would only be blocked from making changes to the grant process during the duration of the funding patch, however. And Democrats say Republican senators fought off permanent prohibitions. Quote, Republicans rejected killing the proposed rule outright. That's Patty Murray. She's the Senate's top Democratic appropriator in a statement. And she committed to, quote, keep fighting to put a stop to it once and for all. It's unusual for Congress to pass a funding patch so far ahead of the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. But House Republicans kicked off action last month by passing their own bare bones funding extension to pressure senators into early negotiations on a plan to avert a funding lapse just before the midterm elections. They got blamed hit hard for the two shutdowns. The Republicans so they're like, let's just kick this down the road now. The Senate plan is a product of bipartisan negotiations between the chamber's top appropriators. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a responsible path forward. Ryan Rassi, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, said passing it now will avert costly government shutdowns in the fall. By contrast, House Republicans advanced their version without consulting their counterparts on either side of the aisle. The House's top Democratic appropriator, Connecticut representative Rosa DeLauro, said in a statement Sunday that the Senate version is a clear improvement over the House pass bill she characterized as an incomplete and inadequate first draft. Unlike the House version, the Senate proposal includes language Democrats have demanded ensuring no new funding goes to immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans funded those programs through a party line package this spring after the collapse of bipartisan negotiations on changes to the way the Trump administration carries out immigration enforcement. The Senate proposal includes some of the funding increases and authorizations the White House sought for specific programs, but it does not contain major military boosts that the administration requested. But it does include an extra $1 billion for a Trump class battleship. Whatever. Next up from the Times this is a tough story. She had lost 26 of her last 27 cases, a string of defeats and disappointments unlike anything she had experienced in her legal career. Quote, it's my first time getting kicked in the face over and over. That's what Priya Rashid was telling another lawyer over the phone. She looked over at client number 28, who was sitting in a hearing room where a separation board would soon decide whether to force him to leave the military. He was a 33 year old transgender army captain named Kai Prose. He grimaced at the thought of what was to come. Sorry, Ms. Rashid said. As we know, last year Hegseth issued an order that effectively forced all trans troops out of the military. More of the more than 4,000 who were serving accepted that the Pentagon was going to force them out and took a cash payout to leave quickly. But others decided to stay and fight, taking their cases to Special separation boards set up by the military. These boards operate like court proceedings, with lawyers and a panel of three officers who decide whether to retain or remove the service member. It's the same process the military uses to determine whether it should kick out troops who abuse drugs, beat their spouses, or steal. The Pentagon has treated the trans separation hearings with levels of security and silence usually reserved for state secrets. They take place behind closed doors on military bases. There are no cameras, no transcripts. The public is not allowed to attend. In some cases, service members, spouses, and even the service members themselves are kept out of the hearing rooms. One of the few people who has seen the process over multiple hearings and multiple bases is Ms. Rashid. What she has seen are troops who deployed around the world and earned their respect of their peers. They waited patiently, in some cases for years until the Pentagon finally told them that they could serve openly. Now, separation boards, afforded almost no leeway by the Trump administration, were punishing them for it. Quote, it's in a lot of ways a public humiliation ritual. That's what Ms. Rashid said in an interview Going in, I'd hoped I was paranoid and bored. Outcomes were not predetermined. It turned out to be much worse than I thought. At least six of Ms. Rashid's clients were barred from attending their own separation board hearings because they refused to cut their hair and appear in the uniform of their sex assigned at birth. One was a master sergeant in South Korea with 17 years of service who was allowed to testify by video, but only if she turned off her camera. But let's go back to Captain Kai Prose, case number 28. The heavy wooden door at the West Point hearing room swung shut. Ms. Rashid sat down at the defense table next to Captain Proce, who wore his army camouflage uniform. His hair was cropped short in a style that meets army regulations for either a man or a woman. This is a trans man. The New York Times pieced together what happened next through interviews with the participants and notes from the hearing. Ms. Rashid argued that Capt. Proce's stellar military record proved that he had never experienced a period of distress or impairment that prevented him from excelling at his job. He was transgender, she acknowledged, but he had never suffered from gender dysphoria. She called Colonel Chad Foster, West Point's deputy commandant, who was Captain Proce's last boss. West Point deputy commandant Colonel Foster described Captain Proce as a mentor to the cadets, someone they regularly sought out for advice about personal problems or army life. He would happily serve with Captain Proce again, he testified. Ms. Rashid then called Captain Jessica Jackson, who worked alongside Captain Proce as an Air Defender. She remembered Captain Proce as the best officer in her battalion. And Ms. Rashid called Captain Proce, who took a seat in the witness box at the front of the hearing room. He reminded himself to make eye contact with the three colonels on the board because, Ms. Rashid said, it's harder for them to punch you in the face when you look them in the eye. Captain Proce talked about his grandfather, a former enlisted soldier who'd been wounded fighting in Vietnam. Quote, he sat me down and told me his officers never seemed to care about their soldiers and made decisions with seemingly no regard for their lives, captain Pro said. He made me promise that I would be fast, fair, sure and above all else, honorable. He then recounted his 11 years in the army, which had taken him to Korea, the Middle East, Texas and Oklahoma, and the 20 minute exam by an army psychiatric nurse in 2021 that now threatened to end his career. He had welcomed her diagnosis, which had allowed him to transition. If I can have this happiness, why would I forego that? He asked. The Army's case boiled down to a few simple facts. Captain Prose had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and sought out gender affirming care, including hormone therapy and the language of the Trump ban is clear. The Army's lawyer said that the captain needs to go. The board member spent three hours deliberating in a small room with a coffee maker and a view of the West Point parking lot. When they returned, Captain Prost noticed they were avoiding eye contact with him and he knew he had lost. Ms. Rashid gathered her binders containing the story of Captain Proce's life and career in a cardboard box. I think we can head out, she said, her voice cracking. Captain Proce was quiet. Are you going to be okay? She asked. She had started to cry. Don't worry about me, he replied. I'll be fine. I'm worried about you. The losses were breaking her faith in the army, which had been a part of her life since childhood. I don't recognize the military anymore, she said. She stood in the hall, tears in her eyes, and checked her phone, and she saw a new email from the Army. Her next client's separation board hearing was a couple of weeks away. All right, everybody, we need your good news. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. We'll be right back with it. Stick around after these messages. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack and hydration Sponsor IQ Bar Protein Bars, IQ Mix Hydration Mixes and IQ Joe Mushroom Coffees are delicious low sugar brain and body fuels you need to win your day. And right now IQ Bar is offering you an exclusive deal. 20% off all IQ bar products plus you get free shipping. Just text daily beans all one word to 64,000 with over 20,000 five star reviews and counting, IQ Bar has become a trusted choice for people who need better ways to fuel busy days. Their bars, hydration mixes and mushroom coffees support both brain and body and the Ultimate Sampler Pack gives you all three in one box. You get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks and four IQ Joe Coffee sticks so you can find which ones work best for you. The plant protein based bars are a very smart snack. Plenty of plant protein, tons of fiber, very important and no added sugar. The IQ Mix is a zero sugar hydration mix with electrolytes that supports better mood. And IQ Joe is mushroom coffee built for mental clarity. 200 milligrams of natural clean caffeine and four flavors to choose from. So what keeps me coming back is how easy each product slots into different parts of my day. It's amazing I can start the morning with IQ Joe, keep an IQ Bar nearby when I need something fast in the afternoon, and then mix up an IQ Mix when I need to rehydrate. There's always a practical option, no matter how my routine switches up or what I'm craving at the time. And that's exactly why IQ Bar earns a permanent place in my kitchen. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast audience 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler pack that I talked about, plus free shipping. So to get your 20% off, text me daily beans to 64,000. Text daily beans to 64,000. That's daily beans to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. Hey, so if you've been a listener since the kitchen table days, you know I've been sleeping on my custom Helix mattress for years now, at least seven years, and it remains one of the best upgrades I've made for my sleep and my mornings. Before Helix, I could spend all night tossing and turning, waking up sore, covered in sweat, irritated. The, you know, sleep failed to do its one job. It was awful. But my Helix changed everything. Starting the first night, it gives me the comfort and support I need as a side sleeper without feeling stiff, and I stay asleep much better than I did before. And they've got mattresses for all kinds of sleep preferences I'm a side sleeper and I like a cool mattress, but you know, they have something for everyone. That's why you take that sleep quiz so you can customize your mattress. Now I wake up feeling more rested, less sore, far more prepared to deal with the day than ever before. And my Apple watch data is showing the results. I'm getting those longer deep cycles. So I love that data and it's proving what I already knew to be true. So Helix also offers those cooling upgrades which are necessary on hot nights or if you're in menopause like me. It makes all the difference. And I also appreciate that they make buying a mattress so much less stressful. At Helix, they ship free in the United States, deliver directly to your door. You get 120 night in home sleep trial, which lets you test the comfort in your own home so you know for sure whether the mattress works for you. They also have a limited lifetime warranty. There's no risk here. After years on my Helix midnight, I don't need a sales pitch. I know how I've slept before and I know how I sleep now. And the difference is quite obvious. Better sleep, better mornings, better days. That is why I keep recommending Helix. So go to helixsleep.comdailybeans you'll get 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com daily beans for 20% off site wide. One more time. Helixsleep.com dailybeans you'll be glad you did. Diamond Dames, mount up.
[24:38]
B
Hello, I'm Charlotte Clymer.
[24:40]
A
And I'm Alison Gill. Hey, Charlotte, what if you and I joined forces to create a weekly podcast amid all the chaos of the news, to chat about the most recent episode of season four of Ted Lasso?
[24:50]
B
Well, Allison, we'd be taking delight amid the spite to sit and write and bring some light on Wednesday nights. I mean, look, everything right now is ridiculous. I know we're all stressed out with the state of the country and we all, all deserve some joy. Ted Lasso was there for us in the middle of the pandemic, and he's back to offer us a respite from Trump 2.0 right before the midterms.
[25:13]
A
That's right. We believe in Rom communism. I mean, if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. So subscribe to Diamond Dames for free right now to get notifications. And then you can join us every week after each episode of ted Lasso Season 4, wherever you get your piece. Podcasts.
[25:30]
B
And remember, be a goldfish, diamond names dismount,
[25:39]
A
barbecue sauce. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
[25:47]
B
Everyone?
[25:48]
A
Then good news everyone. Good news, good news. And we really need your good news. It can be big good news, little good news. It can be from two days ago or 40 years ago. Doesn't matter. Maybe a fun story you like to share when you're sitting around with your friends, because we're all friends here. Maybe you can send in your good trouble suggestions or maybe a shout out to a business that you want to, you know, shine a spotlight on. Or a non profit. Some great community organizing, a loved one like your spouse maybe. Or even self shout outs. We love those. Everyone here is awesome. So tell us why you're awesome. We want to hear about it. You can send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. And all you got to do to get your stuff on the air is attach a photo. It can be your pet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. It can be a random animal on the Internet. We accept any and all jimothy photos. You can also send us otters and goats and chickens. You can send stuff you're making or creating or maybe a nice sunset photo you took or I mean really anything at all. Family photos, baby pictures, your baby pictures. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All right, first up is your good trouble. Good trouble today comes from anonymous pronouns they and them. When Baron von Bankruptcy decided to attack Iran, I knew I was likely going to be out of a job. Sure enough, because of price increases caused by the war, folks in the factory where I work were informed that we were all being laid off. In order to ensure that as many people realize the impacts of having someone like pumpkin spice Palpatine in the White House, I have taken to inserting cards that say, quote, the employees who made this product were laid off as a direct result of Donald Trump's war with Iran into the boxes of our product before we ship them out. Given the large number of our customers that support Trump, this should inspire an interesting reaction in them when they see it. Well, now I want to know what the products are, what company. This is for my podpet tags. Please enjoy this pic of feral cats that I feed. Hi little babies. That's so nice of you to feed the feral cats. That's really good trouble if you're in a situation like that. I absolutely love it. All right, next up from Melissa from local chapter 443 pronouns she and her hello from Olympia, Washington. On Saturday, my union's local chapter had our annual picnic. The weather was perfect, the turnout was great, and we all had a lovely time. After getting home that evening, I read the news of the devastating wildfires in the eastern side of the state. In Spokane, the fires erupted rather quickly and spread rapidly. Hundreds of structures have already been damaged and thousands of families have been displaced. Washington State Labor Council manages the foundation for Working Families, which offers relief to people impacted by emergencies like this. This morning I made a donation after I checked the fire maps and saw the fire was dangerously close to the Mann Grandstaff VA Medical Center. If anyone's able to please consider donating. Recently, the Trump administration denied emergency relief to the state of Oregon, and I would anticipate he'll do the same here. And you can find the foundation@wslc.org FFWF we're gonna have a link in the show notes. Thank you, Melissa, for that. For Pet Tax, here's my old girl, Fendi. She was 13 years old and a mix of three small breeds. You're experts now, so I'm confident you can guess them. Oh, my goodness. We're experts now you say. I'm gonna say shih tzu and Muppet. And something else. Maybe a. Maybe a, I don't know, a Havanese. I don't know. Let's see what we got. Let's see what we got. Shih tzu. Got that half Pomeranian, Chihuahua. Okay, missed both of those, but I got half of the dog. Right, so that's good. Three breeds, but half of the dog is shih tzu. Anyway, thank you so much for that. And again, our hearts go out to everybody devastated by these fires in the Pacific Northwest. Next up, Rob pronouns he and him. Hi, Ag and dg. You read some good news I sent in a couple weeks ago about my wife and me moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, and you seem to like travelogues. We do. So I thought I'd share my first few days in a new city. I got to explore a bit of the city today and walk to the grocery store for garbage bags. Woo to the who. I love being able to walk where I want to go, especially after two major injuries that could have taken that away from me. If you like the photos, I can send more. Here are Tito and Taya again. They are getting used to elevators and having longer walks to their outdoor space, but they're doing great. Second photo is the Charlotte skyline. Thanks for your show, Rob. Absolutely. Send more photos. Oh The Charlotte skyline's really beautiful. I don't think I've seen it before. And the puppers are adorable. So, yes, please send in more photos, Rob, as you discover Charlotte. Next up from Deb Pronoun. She and her I've been so despondent and unable to read my usual New York Times and the Guardian. My husband, his sister and her wife had all been encouraging me to listen to you two while, yes, it's still news from the United States. You two have a great format that resonates with my beliefs in my heart. Thank you, Deb. I've attached a picture of our new dog, Diva, rescued from a shelter of 700 dogs here in Portugal. Oh, you're in Portugal. Lovely. Amazingly enough, she's bilingual, so she likes your show, too. Thanks both. Diva. Hi, Diva. You're good, baby. Oh, look at the kitty orange. Now, is that a smart orange or a single celled brain cell orange? Because there are both. Next up, from Elaine Pronoun. She and her My son in law got a 3D printer and the very first thing he printed was jimothy. Oh, that's a good jimothy. Well done, Elaine. And hats off to your son in law. Next up, anonymous pronoun. She and her. Hi, AG and dg. It's been a weird week here in New York City, but I came across a little monument I thought I would share for a laugh. Enjoy. And it's a big trophy. It says number one, and on the plaque it said, visitors are invited to leave behind their own trophies for President Trump. No accomplishment is too distant, too small, or too unearned to bestow upon President Trump. Don't forget to document your donation on social media with trophies for Trump. And you can find more information atthesecrethandshake.com. that is fantastic. Look at all the tiny little trophies. Oh, my goodness. Fantastic. That is amazing. All right, everybody, I'm getting ready to go record Beans talk for today. I'm going to go over all these lawsuits that came out of Capital One when we found out that Capital One shut down hundreds of Trump bank accounts because they were front companies for money laundering. And I can't believe this isn't getting more attention. So I'm going to do its own little video about it. And you can see kind of. I'll walk you sort of through. It's only a few minutes, but I'll walk you through the first, you know, pass that he took at this and that got rejected and then some of the funnier parts. And we'll break it all down on Beans talk for you. Dana will be back tomorrow. So will I. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw Media history is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising, heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully. We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the Rabbit hole. MSW Media.

Summary6 min read

Podcast Summary: The Daily Beans

Episode: ICE Stole Kids' Drawings
Host: Alison Gill (MSW Media)
Date: August 4, 2026

Episode Overview

In this hard-hitting episode, Alison Gill covers a string of troubling political and social justice stories with her signature clarity and candid wit. The central theme revolves around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seizing children’s letters and drawings from detention centers—a story the host personally pursued via FOIA lawsuit. Other key topics include the Senate’s latest maneuvering over Trump-related DOJ slush funds, political fallout around Trump’s associates, a Congressional fight over government grants, and a deeply reported narrative on the quiet, harsh expulsion of transgender troops from the military. The episode closes with listener-submitted good news and community support.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. ICE Seized Children’s Drawings in Detention Centers

[02:10 – 06:30]

Background:
Alison Gill recalls a February ProPublica report highlighting that letters and drawings from children, detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, exposed their profound sense of loss and suffering.
Escalation:
After Rep. James Walkinshaw publicly read from these letters during a House hearing, ICE staff began confiscating and destroying them.
FOIA Action:
Gill, with pro bono support from National Security Counselors, filed a Freedom of Information Act request (and subsequent lawsuit) demanding the return of the seized children's items.
Outcome:
ICE admitted to snatching 91 letters/drawings but released only nine, which Gill has posted for public viewing:
“They’re hard to look at... Some are half-colored pages, seemingly snatched out of kids’ hands while they were coloring. There’s a letter that I translate. It’s hard stuff to look at, but you can view them there.” (Alison Gill, 05:50)
Ongoing Fight:
ICE claims the rest of the records are duplicative or non-responsive. Gill promises to keep fighting for full release.

2. Senate Maneuvering: Slush Fund and Trump’s DOJ Deal

[06:30 – 11:10]

Summary:
Following pressure, Senators Cornyn and Tillis extracted written promises from DOJ’s Todd Blanche to terminate a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund intended for Trump allies and limit IRS audit immunity.
Dubious Legality:
Gill casts doubt on the sincerity and legal weight of Blanche’s assurances, highlighting that the language only rescinds the payout order—not the underlying agreement. She references her own active litigation on this matter.
- Quote:
  “The only problem here, Todd, is that your rescission is of the order, not the underlying agreement that established the fund. So once you’re voted in as attorney general, you can resurrect the fund.” (Alison Gill, 09:35)
Political Fallout:
Trump's open frustration with Republican senators, threats to withdraw nominations, and intra-party power dynamics are discussed.
- Quote:
  “Tillis only does what Cornyn does, I guess.” (Alison Gill, 10:57)

3. Jeanine Pirro’s Potential Firing Over DOJ Dispute

[11:20 – 14:34]

Situation:
Trump considers firing U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro after she concluded vandalism did not cause damage at the D.C. reflecting pool, contradicting Trump's allegations.
Analysis:
Gill points out the deterioration of DOJ independence:
- Quote:
  “The Justice Department is supposed to be independent from the executive branch. That for the fact that they consider it normal here for Trump to be let in on this stuff ahead of time is bonkers. It’s being normalized right before our eyes.” (Alison Gill, 13:13)
Gossip Moment:
Pirro was photographed carrying a “big box” out of the White House, leading to humorous speculation about its contents.

4. Senate Stopgap Bill Blocks Trump’s Grant Overhaul

[14:35 – 17:40]

Summary:
Senate appropriators unveil a bipartisan stopgap funding bill, funding agencies at current levels and temporarily freezing the White House’s plan for politicizing federal grant approvals.
Takeaways:
- The temporary measure prevents changes to the grant process until after the midterms.
- Democrats pushed for blocking Trump’s plan more permanently, but Republicans resisted.
Key Quote:
“Republicans rejected killing the proposed rule outright… She [Patty Murray] committed to, ‘keep fighting to put a stop to it once and for all.’” (Read by Gill, 16:38)

5. Pentagon Quietly Expels Transgender Troops

[17:41 – 24:30]

Narrative Focus:
Gill relates a detailed, emotional account (from the New York Times) of Priya Rashid, a lawyer representing trans troops in secretive separation board hearings.
Revelations:
- Thousands of trans troops have been forced out, with hearings held behind closed doors, no cameras, sometimes barring even the service member.
- Rashid is devastated at the repeated injustices.
- Case of Captain Kai Prose: Detailing his military accolades, the hearing process, and ultimate forced removal due to his gender identity.
Notable Quotes:
- "It’s in a lot of ways a public humiliation ritual." (Priya Rashid, as read by Gill, 19:15)
- "I don’t recognize the military anymore." (Ms. Rashid, 23:35)
- "He made me promise that I would be fast, fair, sure and, above all else, honorable." (Captain Kai Prose, 21:40)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

On ICE Seizing Children’s Belongings:
“We aren’t done. We’re going to keep fighting for the rest of them because ICE is claiming that the rest are duplicative or non-responsive.” (Alison Gill, 06:20)
On DOJ/Trump Cronyism:
“...this little band aid that's not under sworn testimony or under penalty of perjury, I should say, is apparently enough for Cornyn. And if it's enough for Cornyn, it's enough for Tillis...” (Alison Gill, 10:54)
On Erosion of DOJ Independence:
“...for the fact that they consider it normal here for Trump to be let in on this stuff ahead of time is bonkers. It’s being normalized right before our eyes.” (Alison Gill, 13:13)
On Systemic Discrimination in Military:
“She had started to cry. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ he replied. ‘I’ll be fine. I’m worried about you.’” (Exchange between Ms. Rashid & Captain Prose, 23:29)

Timestamps for Important Segments

[02:10] – ICE child detention letters: background and FOIA lawsuit results
[05:50] – Host’s reflections on the trauma visible in the children’s artwork
[06:30] – DOJ slush fund dispute and Senate politics
[09:35] – Analysis of legal loopholes in DOJ rescission
[11:20] – Trump’s feud with Jeanine Pirro over DOJ conclusions
[14:35] – Senate stopgap funding bill and grant process block
[17:41] – In-depth: Secretive expulsion of transgender troops; Captain Prose’s hearing
[19:15, 21:40, 23:29, 23:35] – Key quotes and emotional moments from military segment

Listener Good News & Community Shout-Outs

[25:38 – End]

The final section of the episode is devoted to positive listener submissions and activism, including creative “good trouble” in the workplace, union solidarity during wildfires, and touching pet-adoption stories. The segment reinforces the podcast’s community-driven ethos and the importance of finding hope and fighting fatigue amid grim news cycles.

Final Thoughts

With her characteristic blend of incisive reporting, legal insight, and humor, Alison Gill delivers an episode focused on government abuses, political gamesmanship, and the deep personal tolls of current policies—balanced by calls to action and genuine stories of resilience from listeners.

Notable Quote for Context:
“They’re hard to look at... Some are half-colored pages, seemingly snatched out of kids’ hands while they were coloring. There’s a letter that I translate. It’s hard stuff to look at, but you can view them there.”
— Alison Gill, on ICE-released children’s drawings ([05:50])

For Further Reading:
Gill encourages listeners to view the redacted letters and drawings on her Substack at mullersherote.com, to support National Security Counselors at nationalsecuritylaw.org, and to keep sending in good news and activism stories at dailybeanspod.com.

Loading summary

Transcript17 lines

[00:01]
A
Diamond Dames, mount up.
[00:06]
B
I'm Charlotte Clymer.
[00:08]
A
And I'm Alison Gill. Hey, Charlotte, what if you and I joined forces to create a weekly podcast amid all the chaos of the news to chat about the most recent episode of season four of Ted Lasso?
[00:18]
B
Well, Allison, we'd be taking delight amid the spite to sit and write and bring some light on Wednesday nights. I mean, look, everything right now is ridiculous. I know we're all stressed out with the state of the country and we all deserve some joy. Ted Lasso was there for us in the middle of the pandemic, and he's back to offer us a respite from Trump 2.0 right before the midterms.
[00:41]
A
That's right. We believe in Rom communism. I mean, if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. So subscribe to Diamond Dames for free right now to get notifications, and then you can join us every week and after each episode of ted Lasso Season 4, wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:58]
B
And remember, be a goldfish. Diamond Names Dismount,
[01:07]
A
Barbecue sauce. MSW Media.
[01:19]
B
News.
[01:20]
A
We're swearing. Jelly beans. Jelly beans. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Today, Cornyn and Tillis have caved as Todd Blanche writes a legally dubious rescission of the slush fund, but keeps Trump's tax immunity in place. Donald Trump is considering firing Jeanine Pirro over the dismissal of the reflecting pool charges and for claiming it wasn't vandals. ICE has handed over letters and drawings that it seized from children in detention pursuant to my Freedom of Information act request. The Senate has filed a stopgap that would block Trump's grant overhaul. And the Pentagon is relying on closed door hearings to kick out transgender troops. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody. Today is one of the harder news days, but we're going to get through this news. It's important that we get it all. Dana's traveling today. She'll be back tomorrow. So please send in your good news to us. We really need it after what we're going over today. You can send it in to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. You can also send in your good trouble suggestions. And then also, if you want to support the work that we do here, please become a paid subscriber, become a patron. You can do it@patreon.com the DailyBeans. It really helps us, helps us out and helps support independent media all right, we have a lot of news to get to today, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, for first up, this is a story from me@melissirote.com On February 9th of this year, ProPublica reported the a rainbow, a family portrait, a heart. These are drawings found in handwritten letters from children detained at the Dilley Immigration Processing center in South Texas. ProPublica received letters in mid January from several children at Dilley. All but two of them had been living in the United States when they were detained. In their words and drawings, they convey how much they ache for creature comforts and describe the anguish of being trapped. And they write about missing their friends and their teachers, falling behind at school, having unreliable access to medical care when they're sick. Some say they're sick a lot and feeling scared about what comes next. Three days later, during a House Homeland Security hearing, Rep. James Walkinshaw read some of the handwritten letters and shared drawings from the children held in ICE family detention, then questioned ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons about those letters. And then on February 17, Pablo Manriquez with Migrant Insider reported, quote, staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. That day, my lawyer, Kel McClanahan at National Security Councilors filed a Freedom of Information act request demanding the letters seized from children by ice. They did not respond. So in March, I filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of my podcast network, MSW Media. Today, August 3rd, ICE responded. They did in fact snatch letters and drawings from children. They found 91 of them but only gave me nine. And I've posted them on my substack@mullersherote.com they're hard to look at. They're uncolored pages. Some are half colored pages seemingly snatched out of kids hands while they were coloring. There's a letter that I translate. It's hard stuff to look at, but you can view them there. Mullershirote.com and I'll probably be putting together a video podcast of them either for Midas Touch this weekend or for Beans Talk later this week. So I just want to thank National Security Councilors for doing this work pro bono. If you want to support them, you can go to nationalsecuritylaw.org and hit the donate button there. It's tax deductible. Donation goes directly to them for all the work that they do. And thank you again for supporting independent media. I was able to file this FOIA request and get some of these documents and we aren't done. We're going to keep fighting for the rest of them because ICE is claiming that the rest are duplicative or non responsive. So I'll keep you posted. All right, next up from Politico, Todd Blanche took a crucial step towards confirmation as attorney general late Sunday after Senator John Cornyn said he'd reached a deal with the Justice Department to rein in a controversial settlement agreement President Trump reached with the IRS earlier this year. Of course, again, don't call it a settlement agreement. The pact that's better was announced Sunday by a Cornyn spokesperson and by Blanche in a Twitter post. Documents posted by Blanche appear to meet the Texas Republicans demands to nullify the $1.8 billion anti weaponization slush fund and to limit the scope of an IRS audit immunity deal applying to the president and his family. The key word here is the documents appear to meet the demands. I don't think they do. The announcement appears to clear the way, though, for Cornyn to approve Blanche at a scheduled Tuesday meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That's today, if you're listening to this Tuesday. With Democrats entirely opposed, any one Republican defection would be fatal to the nomination. Senate Republican leaders are hoping to confirm Blanche, who's been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi resigned in April. They want to confirm him before the end of this week. Quote, senator Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the president and the irs. That's Nikki Yezbik, a Cornyn spokesperson. Cornyn's a lawyer. Anyway, Blanche said in a Twitter post that he and his team addressed any concerns or outstanding questions that senators had and issued an order that said the payout fund is, quote, rescinded and shall have no force or effect. It also stated the DOJ's interpretation of the settlement is that the audit deal applies only to the named parties in the lawsuit. And I want to go a little bit further here because they said something else. Todd Blanche said something else in his little screed there. And I'm going to pull it up here because it's important to one of my lawsuits at the end, he says. Nevertheless, several frivolous lawsuits have been filed challenging the fund, and at least one court has declined to dismiss those claims as moot this order establishes beyond any doubt that there is no fund. C. Floyd v. Department of Justice, Dunn, that's Harry Dunn v. Donald Trump, Crew v. The Department of Justice, Gordon v. Blanch and Gill v. The Department of Justice. That's me. Frivolous lawsuit, he says frivolous. The only thing is, the only problem here, Todd, is that your rescission is of the order, not the underlying agreement that established the fund. So once you're voted in as attorney general, you can resurrect the fund based on the quote, unquote settlement. Now, that might be a problem because as we know, the judge in Miami said there's no settlement here. So hopefully that voids the underlying settlement. But that doesn't stop Trump from suing Todd Blanche and the Department of Justice to get the settlement, to get the fund through the settlement. And it also doesn't stop, you know, tort claims and other ways of distributing money to January 6th rioters. So we're going to keep fighting in our lawsuit. We're not going to just voluntarily dismiss it based on this statement. But the deal emerged after a 72 hour period where Trump repeatedly attacked Cornyn and said publicly that he regretted the fund intended to pay out settlements to Trump political allies that had been withdrawn. Now he suggested Friday he would simply withdraw Blanche's nomination and resubmit it next year when Cornyn and Tillis have left Congress. Now, Tillis, the other swing vote on the Judiciary Committee, says he plans to follow whatever Cornyn does because of course, he doesn't have his own fucking ideas about what to do. He said in a Twitter post on Saturday Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout for punks and that it's unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully we can resolve this by Tuesday. Well, it appears this little band aid that's not under sworn testimony or under penalty of perjury, I should say is apparently enough for Cornyn. And if it's enough for Cornyn, it's enough for Tillis because Tillis only does what Cornyn does, I guess. Next up from CNN, President Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro as U.S. attorney for district of Columbia over the Justice Department conclusion that problems with the reflecting pool stemmed from a flawed renovation rather than vandalism. That's according to two people familiar. The president is, quote, furious with Pirro, one of the sources said, telling CNN he fumed about her all weekend. They added that based on his criticism, they find it highly likely she's going to be removed from her job. The other source, a senior administration official, said Trump was blindsided by the court filing from Pirro, who's a longtime ally. Quote, the president didn't know beforehand she was going to do that. He's not supposed to. The Justice Department is supposed to be independent from the executive branch. That for the fact that they consider it normal here for Trump to be let in on this stuff ahead of time is bonkers. It's being normalized right before our eyes. Late Monday afternoon, though, Ms. Now reported that Pirro could be seen entering the West Wing. Later. Somebody snapped a photo of her leaving with a, like a box, like a box of files on a rolly bag, like on top of a bag that, you know, one of those rolly, rolly bag things. Now, she doesn't have an office there, so I wouldn't assume that she was clearing her office out. She might have brought the evidence in to show it to him and then left with it. Somebody said, wow, that's a big box of wine. So it could be that too. Not sure. Also from Politico, Senate appropriators released text Sunday of a stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown come October 1st and punt broader government funding negotiations until after the midterm elections. Under the bipartisan plan, federal agencies would be funded through December 11th at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders have set an initial procedural vote for Monday night and want to pass the bill by the end of the week, just before senators are scheduled to leave town for a five week recess when lawmakers return to the Capitol in September. House Republican leaders must then decide whether to take up the Senate funding patch, which contains a significant rebuke of Donald Trump, a temporary ban on finalizing the White House proposal to put political appointees in charge of approving grants. Senate Democrats wanted that addition and top Republicans, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski publicly voiced support. Court now Collins said in a statement that she's pleased about the move to delay the changes to the way agencies approve billions of dollars in federal grant awards each year, noting she urged a White House budget director Russ vote weeks ago to nix part of that plan and extend the public comment period. The White House would only be blocked from making changes to the grant process during the duration of the funding patch, however. And Democrats say Republican senators fought off permanent prohibitions. Quote, Republicans rejected killing the proposed rule outright. That's Patty Murray. She's the Senate's top Democratic appropriator in a statement. And she committed to, quote, keep fighting to put a stop to it once and for all. It's unusual for Congress to pass a funding patch so far ahead of the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. But House Republicans kicked off action last month by passing their own bare bones funding extension to pressure senators into early negotiations on a plan to avert a funding lapse just before the midterm elections. They got blamed hit hard for the two shutdowns. The Republicans so they're like, let's just kick this down the road now. The Senate plan is a product of bipartisan negotiations between the chamber's top appropriators. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a responsible path forward. Ryan Rassi, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, said passing it now will avert costly government shutdowns in the fall. By contrast, House Republicans advanced their version without consulting their counterparts on either side of the aisle. The House's top Democratic appropriator, Connecticut representative Rosa DeLauro, said in a statement Sunday that the Senate version is a clear improvement over the House pass bill she characterized as an incomplete and inadequate first draft. Unlike the House version, the Senate proposal includes language Democrats have demanded ensuring no new funding goes to immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans funded those programs through a party line package this spring after the collapse of bipartisan negotiations on changes to the way the Trump administration carries out immigration enforcement. The Senate proposal includes some of the funding increases and authorizations the White House sought for specific programs, but it does not contain major military boosts that the administration requested. But it does include an extra $1 billion for a Trump class battleship. Whatever. Next up from the Times this is a tough story. She had lost 26 of her last 27 cases, a string of defeats and disappointments unlike anything she had experienced in her legal career. Quote, it's my first time getting kicked in the face over and over. That's what Priya Rashid was telling another lawyer over the phone. She looked over at client number 28, who was sitting in a hearing room where a separation board would soon decide whether to force him to leave the military. He was a 33 year old transgender army captain named Kai Prose. He grimaced at the thought of what was to come. Sorry, Ms. Rashid said. As we know, last year Hegseth issued an order that effectively forced all trans troops out of the military. More of the more than 4,000 who were serving accepted that the Pentagon was going to force them out and took a cash payout to leave quickly. But others decided to stay and fight, taking their cases to Special separation boards set up by the military. These boards operate like court proceedings, with lawyers and a panel of three officers who decide whether to retain or remove the service member. It's the same process the military uses to determine whether it should kick out troops who abuse drugs, beat their spouses, or steal. The Pentagon has treated the trans separation hearings with levels of security and silence usually reserved for state secrets. They take place behind closed doors on military bases. There are no cameras, no transcripts. The public is not allowed to attend. In some cases, service members, spouses, and even the service members themselves are kept out of the hearing rooms. One of the few people who has seen the process over multiple hearings and multiple bases is Ms. Rashid. What she has seen are troops who deployed around the world and earned their respect of their peers. They waited patiently, in some cases for years until the Pentagon finally told them that they could serve openly. Now, separation boards, afforded almost no leeway by the Trump administration, were punishing them for it. Quote, it's in a lot of ways a public humiliation ritual. That's what Ms. Rashid said in an interview Going in, I'd hoped I was paranoid and bored. Outcomes were not predetermined. It turned out to be much worse than I thought. At least six of Ms. Rashid's clients were barred from attending their own separation board hearings because they refused to cut their hair and appear in the uniform of their sex assigned at birth. One was a master sergeant in South Korea with 17 years of service who was allowed to testify by video, but only if she turned off her camera. But let's go back to Captain Kai Prose, case number 28. The heavy wooden door at the West Point hearing room swung shut. Ms. Rashid sat down at the defense table next to Captain Proce, who wore his army camouflage uniform. His hair was cropped short in a style that meets army regulations for either a man or a woman. This is a trans man. The New York Times pieced together what happened next through interviews with the participants and notes from the hearing. Ms. Rashid argued that Capt. Proce's stellar military record proved that he had never experienced a period of distress or impairment that prevented him from excelling at his job. He was transgender, she acknowledged, but he had never suffered from gender dysphoria. She called Colonel Chad Foster, West Point's deputy commandant, who was Captain Proce's last boss. West Point deputy commandant Colonel Foster described Captain Proce as a mentor to the cadets, someone they regularly sought out for advice about personal problems or army life. He would happily serve with Captain Proce again, he testified. Ms. Rashid then called Captain Jessica Jackson, who worked alongside Captain Proce as an Air Defender. She remembered Captain Proce as the best officer in her battalion. And Ms. Rashid called Captain Proce, who took a seat in the witness box at the front of the hearing room. He reminded himself to make eye contact with the three colonels on the board because, Ms. Rashid said, it's harder for them to punch you in the face when you look them in the eye. Captain Proce talked about his grandfather, a former enlisted soldier who'd been wounded fighting in Vietnam. Quote, he sat me down and told me his officers never seemed to care about their soldiers and made decisions with seemingly no regard for their lives, captain Pro said. He made me promise that I would be fast, fair, sure and above all else, honorable. He then recounted his 11 years in the army, which had taken him to Korea, the Middle East, Texas and Oklahoma, and the 20 minute exam by an army psychiatric nurse in 2021 that now threatened to end his career. He had welcomed her diagnosis, which had allowed him to transition. If I can have this happiness, why would I forego that? He asked. The Army's case boiled down to a few simple facts. Captain Prose had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and sought out gender affirming care, including hormone therapy and the language of the Trump ban is clear. The Army's lawyer said that the captain needs to go. The board member spent three hours deliberating in a small room with a coffee maker and a view of the West Point parking lot. When they returned, Captain Prost noticed they were avoiding eye contact with him and he knew he had lost. Ms. Rashid gathered her binders containing the story of Captain Proce's life and career in a cardboard box. I think we can head out, she said, her voice cracking. Captain Proce was quiet. Are you going to be okay? She asked. She had started to cry. Don't worry about me, he replied. I'll be fine. I'm worried about you. The losses were breaking her faith in the army, which had been a part of her life since childhood. I don't recognize the military anymore, she said. She stood in the hall, tears in her eyes, and checked her phone, and she saw a new email from the Army. Her next client's separation board hearing was a couple of weeks away. All right, everybody, we need your good news. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. We'll be right back with it. Stick around after these messages. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack and hydration Sponsor IQ Bar Protein Bars, IQ Mix Hydration Mixes and IQ Joe Mushroom Coffees are delicious low sugar brain and body fuels you need to win your day. And right now IQ Bar is offering you an exclusive deal. 20% off all IQ bar products plus you get free shipping. Just text daily beans all one word to 64,000 with over 20,000 five star reviews and counting, IQ Bar has become a trusted choice for people who need better ways to fuel busy days. Their bars, hydration mixes and mushroom coffees support both brain and body and the Ultimate Sampler Pack gives you all three in one box. You get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix Sticks and four IQ Joe Coffee sticks so you can find which ones work best for you. The plant protein based bars are a very smart snack. Plenty of plant protein, tons of fiber, very important and no added sugar. The IQ Mix is a zero sugar hydration mix with electrolytes that supports better mood. And IQ Joe is mushroom coffee built for mental clarity. 200 milligrams of natural clean caffeine and four flavors to choose from. So what keeps me coming back is how easy each product slots into different parts of my day. It's amazing I can start the morning with IQ Joe, keep an IQ Bar nearby when I need something fast in the afternoon, and then mix up an IQ Mix when I need to rehydrate. There's always a practical option, no matter how my routine switches up or what I'm craving at the time. And that's exactly why IQ Bar earns a permanent place in my kitchen. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast audience 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler pack that I talked about, plus free shipping. So to get your 20% off, text me daily beans to 64,000. Text daily beans to 64,000. That's daily beans to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details. Hey, so if you've been a listener since the kitchen table days, you know I've been sleeping on my custom Helix mattress for years now, at least seven years, and it remains one of the best upgrades I've made for my sleep and my mornings. Before Helix, I could spend all night tossing and turning, waking up sore, covered in sweat, irritated. The, you know, sleep failed to do its one job. It was awful. But my Helix changed everything. Starting the first night, it gives me the comfort and support I need as a side sleeper without feeling stiff, and I stay asleep much better than I did before. And they've got mattresses for all kinds of sleep preferences I'm a side sleeper and I like a cool mattress, but you know, they have something for everyone. That's why you take that sleep quiz so you can customize your mattress. Now I wake up feeling more rested, less sore, far more prepared to deal with the day than ever before. And my Apple watch data is showing the results. I'm getting those longer deep cycles. So I love that data and it's proving what I already knew to be true. So Helix also offers those cooling upgrades which are necessary on hot nights or if you're in menopause like me. It makes all the difference. And I also appreciate that they make buying a mattress so much less stressful. At Helix, they ship free in the United States, deliver directly to your door. You get 120 night in home sleep trial, which lets you test the comfort in your own home so you know for sure whether the mattress works for you. They also have a limited lifetime warranty. There's no risk here. After years on my Helix midnight, I don't need a sales pitch. I know how I've slept before and I know how I sleep now. And the difference is quite obvious. Better sleep, better mornings, better days. That is why I keep recommending Helix. So go to helixsleep.comdailybeans you'll get 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com daily beans for 20% off site wide. One more time. Helixsleep.com dailybeans you'll be glad you did. Diamond Dames, mount up.
[24:38]
B
Hello, I'm Charlotte Clymer.
[24:40]
A
And I'm Alison Gill. Hey, Charlotte, what if you and I joined forces to create a weekly podcast amid all the chaos of the news, to chat about the most recent episode of season four of Ted Lasso?
[24:50]
B
Well, Allison, we'd be taking delight amid the spite to sit and write and bring some light on Wednesday nights. I mean, look, everything right now is ridiculous. I know we're all stressed out with the state of the country and we all, all deserve some joy. Ted Lasso was there for us in the middle of the pandemic, and he's back to offer us a respite from Trump 2.0 right before the midterms.
[25:13]
A
That's right. We believe in Rom communism. I mean, if Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. So subscribe to Diamond Dames for free right now to get notifications. And then you can join us every week after each episode of ted Lasso Season 4, wherever you get your piece. Podcasts.
[25:30]
B
And remember, be a goldfish, diamond names dismount,
[25:39]
A
barbecue sauce. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
[25:47]
B
Everyone?
[25:48]
A
Then good news everyone. Good news, good news. And we really need your good news. It can be big good news, little good news. It can be from two days ago or 40 years ago. Doesn't matter. Maybe a fun story you like to share when you're sitting around with your friends, because we're all friends here. Maybe you can send in your good trouble suggestions or maybe a shout out to a business that you want to, you know, shine a spotlight on. Or a non profit. Some great community organizing, a loved one like your spouse maybe. Or even self shout outs. We love those. Everyone here is awesome. So tell us why you're awesome. We want to hear about it. You can send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. And all you got to do to get your stuff on the air is attach a photo. It can be your pet. It can be an adoptable pet in your area. It can be a random animal on the Internet. We accept any and all jimothy photos. You can also send us otters and goats and chickens. You can send stuff you're making or creating or maybe a nice sunset photo you took or I mean really anything at all. Family photos, baby pictures, your baby pictures. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All right, first up is your good trouble. Good trouble today comes from anonymous pronouns they and them. When Baron von Bankruptcy decided to attack Iran, I knew I was likely going to be out of a job. Sure enough, because of price increases caused by the war, folks in the factory where I work were informed that we were all being laid off. In order to ensure that as many people realize the impacts of having someone like pumpkin spice Palpatine in the White House, I have taken to inserting cards that say, quote, the employees who made this product were laid off as a direct result of Donald Trump's war with Iran into the boxes of our product before we ship them out. Given the large number of our customers that support Trump, this should inspire an interesting reaction in them when they see it. Well, now I want to know what the products are, what company. This is for my podpet tags. Please enjoy this pic of feral cats that I feed. Hi little babies. That's so nice of you to feed the feral cats. That's really good trouble if you're in a situation like that. I absolutely love it. All right, next up from Melissa from local chapter 443 pronouns she and her hello from Olympia, Washington. On Saturday, my union's local chapter had our annual picnic. The weather was perfect, the turnout was great, and we all had a lovely time. After getting home that evening, I read the news of the devastating wildfires in the eastern side of the state. In Spokane, the fires erupted rather quickly and spread rapidly. Hundreds of structures have already been damaged and thousands of families have been displaced. Washington State Labor Council manages the foundation for Working Families, which offers relief to people impacted by emergencies like this. This morning I made a donation after I checked the fire maps and saw the fire was dangerously close to the Mann Grandstaff VA Medical Center. If anyone's able to please consider donating. Recently, the Trump administration denied emergency relief to the state of Oregon, and I would anticipate he'll do the same here. And you can find the foundation@wslc.org FFWF we're gonna have a link in the show notes. Thank you, Melissa, for that. For Pet Tax, here's my old girl, Fendi. She was 13 years old and a mix of three small breeds. You're experts now, so I'm confident you can guess them. Oh, my goodness. We're experts now you say. I'm gonna say shih tzu and Muppet. And something else. Maybe a. Maybe a, I don't know, a Havanese. I don't know. Let's see what we got. Let's see what we got. Shih tzu. Got that half Pomeranian, Chihuahua. Okay, missed both of those, but I got half of the dog. Right, so that's good. Three breeds, but half of the dog is shih tzu. Anyway, thank you so much for that. And again, our hearts go out to everybody devastated by these fires in the Pacific Northwest. Next up, Rob pronouns he and him. Hi, Ag and dg. You read some good news I sent in a couple weeks ago about my wife and me moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, and you seem to like travelogues. We do. So I thought I'd share my first few days in a new city. I got to explore a bit of the city today and walk to the grocery store for garbage bags. Woo to the who. I love being able to walk where I want to go, especially after two major injuries that could have taken that away from me. If you like the photos, I can send more. Here are Tito and Taya again. They are getting used to elevators and having longer walks to their outdoor space, but they're doing great. Second photo is the Charlotte skyline. Thanks for your show, Rob. Absolutely. Send more photos. Oh The Charlotte skyline's really beautiful. I don't think I've seen it before. And the puppers are adorable. So, yes, please send in more photos, Rob, as you discover Charlotte. Next up from Deb Pronoun. She and her I've been so despondent and unable to read my usual New York Times and the Guardian. My husband, his sister and her wife had all been encouraging me to listen to you two while, yes, it's still news from the United States. You two have a great format that resonates with my beliefs in my heart. Thank you, Deb. I've attached a picture of our new dog, Diva, rescued from a shelter of 700 dogs here in Portugal. Oh, you're in Portugal. Lovely. Amazingly enough, she's bilingual, so she likes your show, too. Thanks both. Diva. Hi, Diva. You're good, baby. Oh, look at the kitty orange. Now, is that a smart orange or a single celled brain cell orange? Because there are both. Next up, from Elaine Pronoun. She and her My son in law got a 3D printer and the very first thing he printed was jimothy. Oh, that's a good jimothy. Well done, Elaine. And hats off to your son in law. Next up, anonymous pronoun. She and her. Hi, AG and dg. It's been a weird week here in New York City, but I came across a little monument I thought I would share for a laugh. Enjoy. And it's a big trophy. It says number one, and on the plaque it said, visitors are invited to leave behind their own trophies for President Trump. No accomplishment is too distant, too small, or too unearned to bestow upon President Trump. Don't forget to document your donation on social media with trophies for Trump. And you can find more information atthesecrethandshake.com. that is fantastic. Look at all the tiny little trophies. Oh, my goodness. Fantastic. That is amazing. All right, everybody, I'm getting ready to go record Beans talk for today. I'm going to go over all these lawsuits that came out of Capital One when we found out that Capital One shut down hundreds of Trump bank accounts because they were front companies for money laundering. And I can't believe this isn't getting more attention. So I'm going to do its own little video about it. And you can see kind of. I'll walk you sort of through. It's only a few minutes, but I'll walk you through the first, you know, pass that he took at this and that got rejected and then some of the funnier parts. And we'll break it all down on Beans talk for you. Dana will be back tomorrow. So will I. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw Media history is messy. It's weird, wild and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising, heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully. We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the Rabbit hole. MSW Media.