Jim Crow 2.0 (feat. John Fugelsang)

Summary

The Daily Beans Podcast

Episode Title: Jim Crow 2.0 (feat. John Fugelsang)
Date: May 8, 2026
Hosts: Allison Gill and Dana Goldberg
Guest: John Fugelsang

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Overview

This episode of The Daily Beans dives into a heavy news day with a focus on alarming developments in U.S. voting rights, escalating political repression, the international fallout from Trump’s foreign policy maneuvers, and ongoing legal controversies involving key figures and organizations. The title “Jim Crow 2.0” references recent gerrymandering efforts and legal actions in Southern states undermining Black political representation. Comedian, activist, and host John Fugelsang joins for a deep and snark-filled discussion of the week’s big stories and their historic implications for American democracy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s International Fallout & Blockade on Iran

• [07:00] Trump’s “Taco Tuesday” announcement is mocked; news breaks that Saudi Arabia has blocked the U.S. from using its bases for Project Freedom (Strait of Hormuz blockade attempt).
  • “Trump launched a mission called Project Freedom… only to say two days later that the operation was paused because of great progress in peace talks. But guess what? That is not why he tacoed on Tuesday.” (Allison Gill, [08:22])
  • U.S. intelligence reports Iran can withstand the blockade for months and retains robust missile capabilities, undermining Trump’s public claims of military success.
  • Saudi Arabia’s rebuke destabilizes Trump’s narrative and potentially endangers Kushner’s $2B investment from the Saudis.

2. Voting Rights & Southern Gerrymandering: “Jim Crow 2.0”

• [10:00] State legislatures in Tennessee and Alabama aggressively push new maps to dilute Black voting power—splitting majority-Black districts and suppressing representation despite ongoing elections.
  • Stirring scenes of protest and civil disobedience are described, with chants, walkouts, and symbolic actions (bedsheets reading “No Jim Crow 2.0”).
  • “This is not a special session. This is a white power rally and a white power grab.” (Rep. Gloria Johnson, [10:50])
• [22:40] John Fugelsang contextualizes:
  • Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act is cited as a deliberate project by the Republican-dominated court, most judges appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote.
  • “These dirty six aristocrats on this Supreme Court...are now essentially saying the right to vote has gone a little too far.” (Fugelsang, [24:28])
  • The hosts and guest lay out how the changes are “race-conscious”—policing and restricting voting on racial lines while invoking “colorblindness” only when policies help minorities.

3. The Trump Administration Targeting the Left

• [12:20] The administration (via DOJ and DHS) now formally labels Antifa and “radically pro-transgender” left-wing movements as major terrorist threats alongside ISIS—despite no evidence of cohesive networks or leadership.
  • “It’s not a group like the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys… But they feel it necessary to label [the left] anti-American, anarchist, and radically pro-transgender.” (Gill, [13:41])
  • The dangerous chilling effect on basic activism and justice organizing is discussed.

4. Legal Updates: Southern Poverty Law Center & ICE Shooting

• [02:56] The SPLC pleads not guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering; narrative of conservative attempts to discredit progressive legal organizations.
• [15:04] Justice developments in Minnesota, where for the first time, the federal government has turned over evidence in the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE agents.
  • Details of evidence and its legal significance for the accused and for possible federal accountability.

5. Political Culture & the Role of the Supreme Court

• [05:52] John Roberts, Chief Justice, is “big mad” about accusations of partisanship—all while the court enables or ignores open gerrymandering and voting rights rollbacks.

6. Turning Point USA & Culture War Grievance Merchants

• [33:06] Fugelsang details hypocrisy and culture-war escalation by right-wing groups like Turning Point USA, critiquing their grievance-based rhetoric and opportunism.
  • “If you’re choosing to be the CEO of a multi million dollar political machine that pretty much exists to normalize white supremacy for people in their 20s and call it Christian, then, yeah, comedians get to make jokes. It’s not persecution.” (Fugelsang, [36:53])

7. Mass Deportation and the Census

• [30:49] Allison lays out how Trump’s push for mass deportation ties into census manipulation—reducing congressional representation in diverse states like California by removing non-citizens before the next census.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On SCOTUS and Voting Rights:

  • “When your policies become unpopular...you either change the policies, but their owners won't let them do that. So they have to change the people who get to vote.” (John Fugelsang, [30:49])

• On right-wing Christian Nationalism:

  • “They don't care about a goddamn thing in the Bible... They care about conservative Christian power. One way they think they get it is the constant penchant for victimhood.” (Fugelsang, [38:04])

• On Tennessee/Alabama shenanigans:

  • “They’re like feral raccoons when somebody leaves the dumpster unlocked....like the Kool Aid guy breaking down the door going, oh, yeah, we can racially gerrymander again.” (Fugelsang, [28:00])

• On radicalizing GOP base:

  • “MAGA is like the abused wife on cops, defending her drunken, shirtless hubby to the police when they show up.” (Fugelsang, [23:04])

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|---------------| | 01:07 | Headlines & Episode Theme Introduction | | 07:00 | Iran Blockade, Trump’s Foreign Policy, Saudi Arabia Fallout | | 10:08 | Tennessee and Alabama’s Gerrymandering, “Jim Crow 2.0” | | 12:20 | Trump Admin Classifies Antifa/Left as Terror Groups | | 15:04 | Federal Evidence Disclosures in ICE Shooting Case | | 22:40 | Interview: John Fugelsang on Voting Rights, GOP Strategies | | 24:28 | Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Rollback & GOP Tactics | | 30:49 | Mass Deportation, the Census, and Political Power | | 33:06 | Turning Point USA Hypocrisy & Rhetoric | | 39:08 | LA/CA Fundraiser, Community Activism | | 42:11 | Good News Segment: Listener Wins & Uplifting Stories |

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Tone & Style

Hosts maintain their signature blend of irreverent snark, righteous anger, deep policy insight, and optimism rooted in activism. John Fugelsang delivers sharp, comedic cultural analysis, drawing on history, religion, and the absurdities of contemporary politics.

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Additional Segments

• [42:11] Good News
  • Listeners share resistance stories (e.g. Louisiana recall effort), experiences as poll workers (“lifelong Republicans requested a Democratic ballot”), and tips for collective action—balancing the tough news with hope and community-building.
• [50:27] Listener Engagement
  • Uplifting stories about activism, animal companions, and “micro-dosed hope” anchor the episode, reinforcing the Beans’ commitment to positive, actionable news.

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Takeaways

• This episode exemplifies how contemporary right-wing strategy is focused on entrenching minority rule by “engineering democracy”—gerrymandering, suppression, and cultural grievance mongering.
• Trump’s foreign/domestic policies are not only ineffective but increasingly backfire with key allies and at home.
• Activist listeners are encouraged to keep showing up: writing to legislators, talking with neighbors, volunteering, and supporting the fight for representation.
• Despite ominous national news, the episode serves to mobilize, inform, and inject humor—even in grim times—by grounding issues in history and communal resistance.
• The fight for voting rights is pitched as the defining struggle for American democracy in 2026.

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For Newcomers

If you haven’t listened:

• This episode will quickly catch you up on some of the most crucial stories in American politics, particularly the ongoing fight over voting rights, the risks of unchecked executive power, and the importance of grassroots organizing.
• The blend of sharp analysis, humor, and practical hope makes it both informative and motivating for progressives facing tough political news.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Alison Gill]

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

[Dana Goldberg]

the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully.

[Alison Gill]

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. Msw media. Daily beans.

[Dana Goldberg]

Daily beans. Daily beans.

[Alison Gill]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, May 8, 2026. Today, Trump's latest Taco Tuesday came after a sharp rebuke from Saudi Arabia, telling him he's no longer allowed to use their military bases to launch his attacks. The federal government has finally turned over some of the evidence to Minnesota authorities in the murder of Renee Good. U.S. intelligence says Iran can outlast Trump's Hormuz blockade. For months, Tennessee and Alabama have passed maps shutting out black districts. And the Trump administration has classified antifa and left wing networks as major terror groups alongside isis. I'm Alison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Alison Gill]

I wish we had better news for you on a Friday, everyone.

[Dana Goldberg]

I really do. I mean, we've got John Figelsang's hair, so that's super helpful.

[Alison Gill]

That's right, yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'll see some of you in Dallas on Sunday. Sunday. So that's a little bit something to look forward to.

[Alison Gill]

But yeah, yeah, yeah, take some of that time off. Enjoy Mother's Day. John Fugal saying, like you said, will be here later in the show. He'll also be there with us at the El Rey Theater on Tuesday at 7:00pm to, you know, to raise money for trying to flip this house and take it over like bigly because of all of this, you know, bullshit gerrymandering that's going on pursuant to the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights act, which they were already doing, but now it's on steroids, you know.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, big time, big time, big time. Speaking of his show, aren't you going to be on a show tonight?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I'm going to be on Tell Me Everything with John Fugleson tonight at about 6:20 Pacific, 9, 20 Eastern. So I'm looking forward to that. If you're, if you've got SiriusXM progress channel 127, you can tune in and I'll be there. So. Man, that's just a weird. It's just a Not the best news day, but we got to get the information to you because it's important. Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

And we have a do just a couple quick ones here. The Southern Poverty Law center. The SPLC pled not guilty. I'm not surprised, as I would expect them to on Thursday to charges related to allegations the organization committed fraud and conspired to launder money. Abby Lowell is one of the lawyers representing the splc.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, boy, I was expecting him to plead not guilty, but do you saw the thing where they. Where Todd Blanche just lied on Fox News? They had to do a. An ira. They had to file it with the court. Notice the court that when Todd Blanche said that the Southern Poverty Law center was, you know, sharing or not sharing stuff with law enforcement, that he was actually was just lying.

[Dana Goldberg]

Not surprising.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

It is shocking how easily these people lie now. It is shocking to me in some ways.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Well, Kash Patel's freaking out because he thinks people are leaking. I remember I did a show a couple weekends ago on the Midas Touch Network for the breakdown. I interviewed Andy McCabe about what he thought was going on with all of the, you know, the, the first report from Sarah Fitzpatrick at the Atlantic. Like how, how, how is the Atlantic getting all of this information about Kash Patel not being able to get, well, you know, wake up in the morning and having to be woken up or maybe, you know, trying to get battling ran.

[Dana Goldberg]

Question.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, yeah. And Andy's had a very clear answer. Haven't been at the FBI for over 20 years. He's like, look, that's. That's security detail stuff. That is. It's like this unspoken thing that when you're on a security detail for an FBI director or an FBI deputy director, but usually the director has this massive security detail that goes everywhere with the guy. They see everything all the time.

[Dana Goldberg]

Right, that makes sense.

[Alison Gill]

Well, as it turns out, you know, we talked about this a little bit on the beans yesterday, but there's, you know, with the follow up story about him giving away bottles of bourbon with his name on it. But today Ms. Now actually reported that Kash Patel polygraphed like a couple of dozen people, current and former members of his security detail, looking for who leaked to the Atlantic.

[Dana Goldberg]

Wow.

[Alison Gill]

And apparently he's flipping the fuck out. So I don't know, it seems like you would need to find a leak if it was false information. Seems like, you know, like, who told him the stuff I did that I totally didn't do? Like.

[Dana Goldberg]

Right.

[Alison Gill]

It just seems odd. But Andy and I are going to Discuss all this on the Unjustified podcast on. On Sunday. But, man. Yeah, I. I think now I've put up over on Blue Sky, Kash Patel and ahead of Lettuce, because I don't. I don't know. I think there's just too much coming out about him that I don't think the President is too happy with it.

[Dana Goldberg]

I sure hope so. But then I'm like, who are they gonna put in his fucking place?

[Alison Gill]

Somebody horrible.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, somebody horrible.

[Alison Gill]

Matt Gates.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. Oh, God, they're gonna recycle him over on beans.

[Alison Gill]

Talk.

[Dana Goldberg]

We're actually gonna talk about how John Roberts is apparently big mad that people think the Supreme Court justices are political actors. I wouldn't say all of the Supreme Court justices, but I would say possibly six of them right now.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Including you, John.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, yeah. It's not political at all. Okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

I mean, John might be a supporting actor. Maybe he's going in for supporting actor on the Oscar and the brothers are lead actors. But, yeah, it's definitely something going on there.

[Alison Gill]

I mean, I never thought the leopards would eat my judiciary like you. All right, we have a lot of news to get to today, and there's some big stories that have dropped, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the Post, a confidential CIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the US Naval blockade for at least three or four months before facing more severe economic hardship, according to four people familiar. So four people who have seen this confidential CIA analysis gave it to the press. This is a finding that appears to raise new questions about Trump's optimism. I would say his lies on the end of the war. The analysis by the US Intelligence community, whose secret assessments on Iran have often been more sober than the administration's public statements, also found that Tehran retains significant ballistic missile capabilities despite weeks of intense U.S. and Israeli bombardment. It's according to three people. Iran retains, Dana, about 75% of its pre war inventories of mobile launches.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Alison Gill]

And about 70% of its pre war stockpiles of missiles. I thought we obliterated it all, but apparently not. That's according to a US Official. The official said there's evidence that the regime has also been able to recover and reopen most of its underground storage facilities and repair some damaged missiles and even assemble some new missiles that were nearly complete when the war began a week after the ceasefire. And I'm putting that in air quotes. Was reached April 7. Trump imposed a blockade on Iran. And you can't have a naval blockade and a ceasefire at the same time, because a naval blockade is an act of war. But whatever applying it to all ships entering or leaving Iranian ports. Trump's move followed the collapse of US Iran peace talks in Pakistan. Quote, I think Iran is in very bad shape. I think they're pretty desperate, he said at the time. I don't care if they come back to negotiations or not. If they don't come back, I'm fine. It's great diplomatic speech. Yeah, whatever. Doo doo heads. I don't even care.

[Dana Goldberg]

Fine. Whatever. Sticks to bounces off me. Sticks to you.

[Alison Gill]

Infinity now. On Sunday, Trump launched a mission called Project Freedom with a goal to help commercial vessels transit the strait, including with US Navy escorts, only to say Tuesday that the operation. This is like less than two days later that the operation was paused because of great progress in peace talks. But guess what? That is not why he tacoed on Tuesday. Here's the real reason he paused Project Freedom. NBC reports. Donald Trump's abrupt reversal on his plan to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz came after a key Gulf ally suspended the US Military's ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation. That's according to two U.S. officials. Trump surprised Gulf allies by announcing Project Freedom on social media on Sunday, and that angered leadership in Saudi Arabia. In response, the kingdom informed the United States, you can't do Project Freedom. You can't the US Military, you can't fly aircraft from Prince Sultan Air Base southeast of Riyadh. Plus you cannot fly through Saudi airspace to support the effort. So a call between Trump and the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as Mohammed Bonsa, didn't resolve the issue, according to two officials, forcing the president to pause Project Freedom in order to restore US Military access to the critical airspace. So he's gonna. I'm gonna freedom from the bases in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia goes, no, you're fucking not. Yeah. And this makes me wonder. I think they may have been mad at him already. Remember how they pulled out all their money out of the Liv golf tournament thing?

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, yeah. Yep, yep.

[Alison Gill]

And I'm wondering how safe that $2 billion in investments into Kushner's companies is right now.

[Dana Goldberg]

The fair question. Fair question. This next story, it's brutal to report the the emotions that were in the Tennessee House today. Like the chamber, it awful. This is from NBC. Tennessee Republican led legislature passed the new congressional map, splitting up the state's lone majority black district, thereby eliminating it. The Tennessee state House passed the map without any Republicans speaking in defense of it. None of them, obviously. When one member rose to speak, members of the public watching the proceedings from the gallery began chanting and yelling so loudly that the House speaker called the vote as Democratic members stood and walked out on the session. And I quote, this is not a special session. This is a white power rally and a white power grab. That's from Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who represents Knoxville. She said, vote yes. You're telling everyone you're racist. As the state Senate discussed the map, protesters chanted outside the chamber. They could be heard as in the House. The map passed the Senate amid shouting from protesters and Democratic lawmakers. One senator stood on a desk with what appeared to be a bedsheet emblazoned with no Jim Crow 2.0 and stopped the Tennessee steal. Other members turned their back on the Senate dais. The Alabama House voted Wednesday to approve a plan that would change the congressional district map during an active election, even though some votes in May 19 primary had already been cast. The hurried districting push was part of a last minute attempt to roll back black voters political representation in time for November midterm election. Unlike some other states, Alabama is bound by a legal agreement to use a court ordered congressional map until 2030. But they're trying to reverse it.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, they're trying to say that the Supreme Court just said we could be racist again. I mean politically gerrymandered again.

[Dana Goldberg]

So yep, that's supremacy clause. That's all of a sudden the white supremacy clause. We're going to follow that.

[Alison Gill]

That's their argument now. Yeah, Alabama and Tennessee, we're going to go over this, show you some really, really moving clips. First of all, Alabama, they were in the middle of a tornado watch. There's flood waters and sirens and they pushed that through in Alabama. And then of course what happened in Tennessee, I'm sure people have seen clips, but we're going to show some of those over on Beans Talk today. Next up from cnn. The Trump administration has classified left wing networks like Antifa, which doesn't exist as a network among three major types of terror groups the US Faces according to the counterterrorism plan released Thursday. In addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, the plan says our national counterterrorism activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti American, radically pro, transgender and anarchist. In recent months, as Trump administration officials have ramped up the rhetoric around investigating and prosecuting people who it says are part of groups like Antifa. They have struggled to answer basic questions about these organizations. During a congressional hearing last year, Michael Glescheen, operations director, the FBI's National Security Branch, could not answer questions about Antifa's group size, its location. Who's the leader? Nothing. Because it doesn't exist. It's not a group like the Oath Keepers or the Proud boys or the 3 percenters.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nope.

[Alison Gill]

Like and then they feel that it's necessary to Anti American, anarchist and radically pro transgender.

[Dana Goldberg]

The I'm so fucking tired of it. I'm so tired of it. I mean, I can only imagine what the trans community feels. I'm so fucking tired of it. Yeah, okay. This one is from the Minnesota Star Tribune. The federal government has turned over evidence from the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross to a magistrate judge in US District Court for Minnesota, and that's according to attorney involved in the case. Tangentially to Ross, Eric Newmark said that the federal government informed him and had turned over a digital drive with the evidence to comply with an order issued by Judge Jeffrey Bryan. The deadline to turn over the evidence was May 1. Newmark represents Roberto Carlos Munoz, Guatemala, who was convicted of assaulting Ross last year in a traffic incident in Bloomington. Newmark has not seen the evidence, has not seen the evidence, and said he remains skeptical of whether the government will provide everything that was ordered or stay with its public stance that it's not investigating Ross for killing Good. This is the first known instance of the federal government supplying its own investigative evidence to the courts from any of the three shootings that took place in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge last month. Bryan ordered the U.S. attorney's office for Minnesota, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise of course known as ice, to turn over a wide swath of evidence from the killings of Good so the court could review it for relevancy ahead of the sentencing. The order stemmed from the case against Munoz, Guatemala. The judge ordered the following evidence turned over any photos, videos or audio recordings taken by Federal agents from 30 minutes before to 60 minutes after good shooting, including body worn cameras and camera on federal vehicles Any statements made by Ross 60 minutes prior to and during Good Shooting Any statements made by Ross from January 7th to May 1st related to the investigation into Good Shooting, the shooting itself or comments about Good or her family Any statement made from January 7 to May 1 by any federal officer or federal employee who witnessed or involved in the shooting of Good Any statement made by witnesses to Good Shooting copies of reports Any data taken from Ross's cell phone on January 7th. Ross's complete training and personnel files. That one's interesting. Department of Homeland Security and ICE trainings and policies for use of force and officer involved shootings from June 17th of 2025 to January 7th of 2026. What the was the training during that time? Copies of Ross's medical examinations and lab results related to the shooting. Any evaluations and medical examinations determining Ross's fitness to return to duty from January 7 to May 1, including mental health evaluations, which I would be surprised if there are any. We'll see what they actually turn over.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, and, you know, it's kind of, you know, when you talk about Munoz Guatemala, you know, his attorneys asked for this information about Ross because he, you know, Guatemala's being charged with assaulting Ross. And so if Ross testifies, the government technically has to hand over anything that could impeach a witness. It's called Jenks material. It's something that they have to do, you know, but to make sure that there's a fair trial. And so that's why they're. They're asking for, give us all the stuff before and after the shooting of Renee Goode, because we might be able to prove that. That Ross was, you know, he's. He's just. He's a bad dude. Right. Like, you know, if. If my client's being charged with assaulting him, we need to know everything about him, and the DOJ bylaw has to hand it over. It could wreck their case, so.

[Dana Goldberg]

Got it.

[Alison Gill]

It's. This isn't even being handed over in the investigation of Renee Goode. It's being handed over in this other investigation tangentially, like you said. So. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't know that they actually turned all that over. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Yeah. Anyway, thank you for that reporting, everybody. We're going to talk to John Fugelsang, and then we're going to get to the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, it's that time of year, the cats in my house get a little extra dramatic. More window time, more sunbeams, more lounging, more wandering into the kitchen like tiny food critics with very strong opinions. And honestly, I respect that. If I'm going to hear about dinner, either way, I'd rather serve something I feel good about and that they're genuinely excited to eat. This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. Your cat's health and longevity starts with what they eat. Try smalls. You'll get 60% off your cat's first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you go to smalls.com dailybeans now smalls makes a lot of sense because it feels like cat food designed around what cats actually need. Their fresh food is gently cooked, made without preservatives and packed with protein using 100% human grade ingredients. And it shows up at your door, which also makes it convenient and easy. Before Smalls, one of the things I noticed most was that mealtime could feel hit or miss. Energy levels weren't always where I wanted them to be, but since switching there's been a noticeable difference in how much energy they have. Cats use protein as their main source of fuel, so when the food is higher in protein and supports better hydration, you really can see the payoff in stronger bodies and more sustained energy. That has been the most convincing part for me. The other nice thing is that Smalls take some of the pressure off trying it because if your cat isn't into it, they'll refund you, which makes it far easier to give it a shot. So stop serving your little carnivore a bowl of processed shortcuts for a limited time. If you're a daily beans listener, you get 60% off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com dailybeans that's 60% off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com dailybeans you will be glad you did. Hey everybody. As you know, I've had my Helix mattress for years now and it's one of those things I appreciate daily. Best thing I ever did for my well being because good sleep changes everything. Before I switched I was sleeping kind of, but not sleeping well. I'd wake up stiff, toss and turn all night. Would sweat a lot. Even when I technically got enough hours, I still didn't get enough hours. I didn't feel fully rested. But since getting my Helix that's always changed that all of it has changed. I feel more supported. I stay comfortable throughout the night. I wake up feeling a lot more human and well rested. Even my Apple watch tells the story with deep sleep numbers looking better than ever. That's part of why I believe in Helix and love Helix and recommend Helix to everyone I know they're focused on helping people sleep better and A study found 82% of participants saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle when sleeping on a Helix mattress. And that makes sense to me because that's my exact experience with Helix ever since I got it. It's the best thing I've ever done, I swear. And I also like that they make shopping less annoying. The Sleep Quiz matches you to the right mattress based on your sleep habits and preferences, which is a lot more useful than wandering around a store hoping you can guess which one works best. They ship it straight to your door. They offer 120 night sleep trial and a limited lifetime warranty and they have been recognized by places like Forbes and Wired. So there's peace of mind here. No risk. I've had mine for years. I would absolutely buy it. Again. I change a thing. So go to helixsleep.com dailybeans for 27% off site wide memorial Day Sale Best of Web this is exclusive for listeners to our show. That's helixleep.com dailybeans for 20% off site wide helixsleep.com dailybeans

[Amanda Sturgill]

it's no surprise that newsmakers try to manipulate the audience. They want you to believe that they are the one holding the line and they'll use any trick they can to get you there.

[Alison Gill]

But don't let them fool you.

[Amanda Sturgill]

Get Unspun I'm Amanda Sturgill. I've been a reporter and today I teach future reporters to cut the spin and think critically about what newsmakers say. My podcast, Unspun shows you how to know when you're being manipulated by the news, learn to spot the tricks and how to make up your own mind about what's true. So if you're tired of being fooled by the news, subscribe to Unspun today. Unspun because you deserve the truth.

[Alison Gill]

Hey everybody. Welcome back. It is Friday on the Daily Beans. That means it's Fugal Saying Friday. So I'm joined by New York Times bestselling author to the top of the charts with a bullet for separation of church and hate. You also can hear him on tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127. That's weeknights 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific and I'll be on tonight at 6:20 Pacific. Time to talk to Fugal sang on Tell Me Everything and then if you don't have have that, you can always listen the follow up on the John Fugal Saying show podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts. He's here, he's there, he's every where.

[John Fugelsang]

John Fugal Saying thank you so much. That's that's what I'm putting in my bio for my Children's book. I'm here, there and every where. It's good to see you, Dr. Gill. Thank you for all you do. I would build a ballroom in your honor if I could get taxpayers to fund the bill.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you so much. I would love a billion dollar ballroom. Nothing would be. Nothing would be. I'd feel so safe. I wouldn't have to worry about correspondence dinners, issues or anything like that.

[John Fugelsang]

Yeah, correspondence dinners that will never be held there anyway. Of course it's a $200 million ballroom. That's going to be all private donors, except now it's a $400 million ballroom, all funded by private owners. But now it's going to be 1 billion for the security. And we get to pay that because the security costs more than twice what the goddamn ballroom costs. I mean, Chuck Grassley is putting this out there and digging his own, his own highway to hell. It's just crazy. These people, I mean, they love when he breaks promises. They love that he promised that rich folks would build the ballroom just like they loved when he lied. That Mexico would pay for the wall, that we'd go after all the names in the Epstein files, that there'd be no Mideast wars. The more this man breaks promises, the more obedient they are to him. MAGA is like the abused wife on cops, defending her drunken, shirtless hubby to the police when they show up. I. He didn't mean to lie to me and make me pay for the ballroom, Officer. He's a good person. Don't take him away. It's just.

[Alison Gill]

Well, that's the isolating gaslighting and propaganda at work. That's the Darvo at work.

[John Fugelsang]

Amen.

[Alison Gill]

There's, you know, we're seeing a little bit of it break off on that, on that like rabid MAGA base. It's getting a little smaller, it's shrinking because of some of these broken promises. I think a lot of people are kind of waking up to that fact and.

[John Fugelsang]

Well, yeah, and Republicans know it. And that's why they are trying to cheat so much harder than they have all year long. I mean, you could change your policies and be more popular with women and non white people, but instead they're going to double down on the dumbing down. And now what began a year ago of Donald Trump commanding Texas to rig their election so he could win the midterms and keep the House, no matter how unpopular the Republicans are with the American people, these dirty six aristocrats on this Supreme Court, these dirty six, five of them appointed by Presidents who achieved the White House after losing the popular vote and the sixth one appointed by a president who opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. These people who were not sent to the Supreme Court by a majority of Americans are now essentially saying the right to vote has gone a little too far. And John Roberts, we've talked about this, has been chasing the Voting Rights act like Inspector Javert chasing Jean Valjean and Les Miserables for years. They gutted Section 5 in 2013, the preclearance rules for the Confederate States, and now what they've done, this is insane. I mean, the primary's canceled in Louisiana. People have already voted in Alabama, and now they're being told your vote doesn't count because your district has been moved into the swamp behind the cracker barrel. I mean, they're just cheating every way they can.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And, you know, they're using Reconstruction era amendments to do it. They're. Yeah, they're saying that protecting black votes is racist to white people and that that's what the Reconstruction amendments were really about, is protecting white people.

[John Fugelsang]

Well, white people have had it tough for a long time. I don't know if you know this, Alison. I mean, there was. There was no soy at Starbucks this morning. My. I couldn't get the foam the way I like it on my latte. This is going to be up to 10 majority black congressional districts. Right. James Clyburn, he may be out of Congress not because of age, but because they are trying to make his entire district disappear. Memphis is the largest concentration of black folks in the whole beautiful state of Tennessee. And so they're going to try to break it up into three separate districts and have all those African American voters be diluted in majority white districts. It's like race conscious college admissions to address historic discrimination, that's illegal. Right. Race conscious voting maps. To remedy historic racial vote dilution, that's illegal. But race conscious immigration crackdowns, that's fine. Race conscious policing, that's fine. Race conscious travel bans, go for it. This court only believes America has to be colorblind. When race is used to help minorities, when race is used to hurt minorities, they don't need any color blindness whatsoever.

[Dana Goldberg]

No.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And that's clear. So today, Tennessee actually did pass their bill to crack Memphis into three. Look at that, three parts. Then Alabama, they pushed it through during a tornado watch.

[John Fugelsang]

During a tornado watch with people already voting. People already voting.

[Alison Gill]

Louisiana, too, People had already. They had 43,000 absentee ballots coming in.

[John Fugelsang]

They're canceling the primary. Yeah, I Mean, these Republicans across the south. And again, man, this is why we need the Voting Rights act, because the same states that have always had the problem can't wait to go back to it. John Roberts said when they gutted the pre clearance rulings in 2013, essentially we don't need these anti racist rulings because there's a black president. That means there's no more racism.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[John Fugelsang]

I mean, the fair thing would have been to make all 50 states live by the pre clearance rulings. But as soon as they were gone, the Confederate states went all for all the voter ID laws. Anything to make it a little harder here and there. And now, I mean, they're like feral raccoons when somebody leaves the dumpster unlocked. They're going crazy rolling around in this. They're like the Kool Aid guy breaking down the door going, oh, yeah, we can racially gerrymander again. All this cheating at a time when they are historically unpopular. I don't know, Allison, what if they do all this and no one shows up to vote for them anyway? I mean, it didn't work out too well in 2018 or 2022. And that might be what's guiding all of this. They know the turnout's going to be light and they got to cheat any way they can.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And you know, we know we've been pushing a rock up a hill against Republicans cheating on voting for a really long time.

[John Fugelsang]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Now with this unleashed nuclear arms race of redistricting that's been, you know, that's gonna start happening now that they've gotten rid of the rest of the Voting Rights act, which has been John Roberts

[John Fugelsang]

wet dream for the last, always years years.

[Alison Gill]

What we'll see is we'll see a curbing of the blue tsunami that would have other. That would have otherwise happened in November. So I think believe we will still win in large margins.

[John Fugelsang]

I think you're right.

[Alison Gill]

We won't win as hard. It won't look like what happened in Hungary.

[John Fugelsang]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And that's just the way that it's. That it is. They're already, you know, trying to get voter rolls and registrations. Now they're demanding that they get poll workers information, private and personal information. In Fulton County, a judge just ruled that Fulton county can't have their ballots back from the Department of Justice. They're gonna do everything and anything they can, particularly in red states where they've got a little more power to do

[John Fugelsang]

it, make it harder for citizens to exercise a basic fundamental right, whatever they can do to make it harder or to let those citizens go ahead and vote but not be represented in this Congress because black folks and women are thinking and voting too much. And when you take a step back, as bad as this is, and this will hurt our country and this will hurt the people in our country, and it's going to last a while. But this is all happening because Republicans know the demographic reality is finally catching up with them. Younger voters are more diverse. Urban voters are more progressive. The country is changing, the country has changed. And instead of broadening their appeal, they're just going to redraw democracy until democracy stops bothering them. And that's why they always go after the same people. Black voters, urban voters, young voters, immigrants, college towns, women, any. I mean, the save act, like that's all about keeping it harder for women who are married or divorced to vote. This is their game. When your policies become unpopular, you either change the policies, but their owners won't let them do that. So they have to change the people who get to vote.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, and you have to think about this as well, with the billions of dollars scheduled to go to ice, which is more than they need in the budget reconciliation bill, the one that gives a billion dollars to the ballroom. You know, we think about how the cruelty is the point with mass deportation, and it is. But then they want to build these mass deportation centers so that they can mass deport on a much larger scale than they're able to now. Because right now, what's restricting them, the bottleneck is that they aren't allowed to hold immigrants in detention centers for more than 12 hours. They are breaking those rules and people are being ordered released, but they just don't have enough room to put everyone into detention for deportation, which is why they want the warehouses. And if you think about it, our census laws. Remember when he wanted to change the census to say that you have to answer a citizenship question?

[Martin Sheen]

Yes.

[John Fugelsang]

Yes.

[Alison Gill]

Well, now, if you think about it, if he mass deports hundreds and thousands, maybe millions of people by the time we do another census, those folks, even though they don't have the right or the ability under law to vote in the United States, they are counted in the census. And it is going to weaken the amount of districts in places like Arizona, California.

[John Fugelsang]

This is what they do.

[Alison Gill]

New Mexico, Texas, Florida. And so that's part of this plan as well, to hold on to power.

[John Fugelsang]

This is why they, they always want prisons in their districts because the prisons count as residents for the census even though the prisoners can't vote.

[Alison Gill]

Right.

[John Fugelsang]

It's the same racket yes.

[Alison Gill]

So now pulling all those folks out will have fewer seats in California, for example.

[John Fugelsang]

That's the plan. And again, like, the only thing they're doing is hurting local economies, destroying families. I mean, they're not making America safer whatsoever. They're deporting Christians. And the Democratic Party doesn't have the guts yet to bring up the fact that the overwhelming majority of people, brown people, being persecuted by these frauds are Christians. From the Latinos to the Haitians with TPS they're trying to send out of here. These are overwhelming majority Christians being persecuted by Christians who don't really take the welcome the stranger part of the Old and New Testament all that seriously.

[Alison Gill]

Well, it doesn't help them to retain power.

[John Fugelsang]

That's nothing Jesus says helps anyone in power. And that's why they use Jesus instead of following him.

[Alison Gill]

Exactly.

[John Fugelsang]

Like Turning Point usa.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, hello. Let's talk about that before I let you go, because the new CEO, as we know, Turning Point usa. First of all, we had that really weird.

[John Fugelsang]

How about that?

[Alison Gill]

That video, video of Erica Kirk and her Rhythm Nation garb.

[John Fugelsang]

Rhythm Nation. It was like Goebbels for Etsy, that video. I didn't understand it, but yeah, doing

[Alison Gill]

her weird huffing and puffin dressed like

[John Fugelsang]

a European hitman is what she was dressed like.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, she. Yeah, it was, yeah, the professional, but not nearly as cool as the actual movie. So we've got that. But we had you on cnn and I'm sorry you had to be at the, sitting at the same table with like, Geraldo Rivera.

[John Fugelsang]

I've dealt with Geraldo before, but. Oh, boy.

[Alison Gill]

But what you had to. You talk, tell us about what you had to say about Erica Kirk that went a little bit viral.

[John Fugelsang]

Yeah, I caught a, I caught a bit of hate over this, but a lot more support than I thought. And I walked out feeling like, like I was in trouble and going to get canceled for it. But people have been so supportive, which was a real relief. Nothing that happened to her husband was funny. It was horrific. Full stop. Violence is evil. Murder is evil. But what this woman has chosen to do with her public Persona after the tragedy is very much fair game. And instead of using her platform to ask hard questions about gun access, you know, I mean, if we had laws in Utah, if we had laws saying that you have to secure weapons in the home, her husband would still be alive and Sandy Hook wouldn't have happened. But she's not talking about gun violence. She's not talking about radicalization. She's, I think, just devoting her Life to being the Meghan McCain of grievance cosplay.

[Alison Gill]

Well, after the White House correspondence dinner, Todd Blanche didn't want to talk about gun violence either, or how guns can be on trains. And nobody pays attention to that like we do at airports. He said, no, that's not the. That's not the messaging. I was told that we have to promote the ballroom. I mean, you know, that's.

[John Fugelsang]

Yeah, exactly. And they have to blame liberals for everything bad. Even though Charlie Kirk was shot by an independent from a Republican MAGA family. Donald Trump's first attempted assassination was a Republican, and the second assassination on the golf course had voted for Trump. But the liberals, the ones who seek gun safety laws, they're the problem. And so there's. Ms. Kirk comes out and says there's a serious epidemic of dehumanization in this country. Now, I don't want to pile on this lady, but she runs Turning Point USA and she's talking about dehumanization. Have y' all ever been to the website for this org? They have spent years portraying teachers and immigrants and LGBTQ folks and feminists and Democrats as existential threat to civilization. They call teachers groomers. They. They talk about how professors and Democrats bringing to America. You don't get to spend years pouring gasoline on the culture war fire and then. And then show up covered in soot and ask who started the fire? Like the. She wants us to be mad at comedians for mocking her. And that's some kind of atrocity because Drew Ski did whiteface. Whiteface hasn't historically been used to persecute a powerless minority. I mean, if you. If you. This is the price of demanding public power. If you want to be the. The private grieving widow, then you deserve all the privacy and compassion and God Bl. But if you're choosing to be the CEO of a multi million dollar political machine that pretty much exists to normalize white supremacy for people in their 20s and call it Christian, then, yeah, comedians get to make jokes. It's not persecution. Charlie mocked the Paul Pelosi hammer attack. He defended the violence of Rittenhouse. He defended the violence of the January 6th terrorists. Said that women shouldn't work and they should serve their husbands and raise children. And like, none of this is Christian. And these people are so protected from any kind of scrutiny because they have this veneer of tragedy and Christendom. But I mean, you know, blaming systemic indoctrination and radicalization for violence. After all, the. Their site is just about how drag queens are predators. Their whole business Model is being grievance merchants. They don't want healing. They want. She wants the prestige of celebrity and the money and, and none of the criticism that comes with it. I mean, go be with your kids, ladies. Seriously.

[Alison Gill]

Well, I mean, if women are supposed to be at home and you know why?

[John Fugelsang]

It's almost like Charlie didn't really mean that. That's the worst thing about these Christian nationalists and these phony, these, these, these awful Joel web on preachers and these videos, they, they. We don't even know if they mean this prehistoric garbage. They just put it up there for engagement from low wattage men who want to blame women for not liking them, who want to blame immigrants for them not being able to see spell. It's all about getting the lowest levels of white guy to blame everybody but themselves and hate everybody about themselves. I don't even know how many of these, these online preachers actually mean their misogyny. I'm sure they do mean it, but they're also doing it for the clicks.

[Alison Gill]

Every time I, I talk to you, I want to go rewatch Leap of Faith.

[John Fugelsang]

It's just the Steve Martin movie. Yeah, yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Every single time. They know. At least some of them do, maybe.

[John Fugelsang]

Oh yeah.

[Alison Gill]

You know, sure.

[John Fugelsang]

And again, this is with the politics as well. I mean, I'll never forget like seeing, you know, Mitt Romney and George Bush, who aren't homophobes, endorsing all of these homophobic anti gay laws. And it made me realize a long time ago, like, what's worse, being a bigot or being a calculated non bigot who uses bigotry to get more power? And that's what so many of these grievance merchants do. They don't care about a goddamn thing in the Bible. They don't care about religious freedom. They care about conservative Christian power. And one way they think they get it is the constant penchant for victimhood. Something bad happened to me. But if you're gonna enter the arena to run a political empire and lecture the nation and tell us who's what, minorities or the bad people, then you don't get to cry dehumanization every time we call out how much your empire dehumanizes.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I agree.

[John Fugelsang]

I love the hat, though. Love the whole rhythm nation, call it. Loved it. Aesthetically, she's rock solid. Just great.

[Alison Gill]

Love the hat. Love the hat. Very well done. Anyway, thank you so much, my friend. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you tonight.

[John Fugelsang]

We're doing a big show as well, aren't we?

[Alison Gill]

We're doing a big show together Tuesday. By the way, our patrons over here at Daily Bean snatched up a ton of tickets. So we're gonna be able to see a lot of folks faces live in the room. We're all gonna get to sing Stay Together with Lisa Loeb. It's El rey Theater. Tuesday, May 12, 7pm Doors at 7. It is a fundraiser slash community event for keeping and flipping some of the seats here, the crucial seats here in California. And we've got you, me, Dana Jean Smart, Iman Jordan, Rufus Wainwright, Andy's coming Richter, Lisa Loeb I mentioned. I mean, it's just the lineup.

[John Fugelsang]

Lawrence Juber. You got Lawrence Juber, the legend, the guitarist from Wings, the man who plays lead on Wonderful Christmas Time. He's joining this show. It's crazy. It's crazy.

[Dana Goldberg]

It really is.

[Alison Gill]

It's great. It's going to be amazing. I'm going to, it's going to be great to see you live. I haven't seen you in person, I think, in a couple years, my friend.

[John Fugelsang]

So two years. Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Looking forward to it. You can get tickets to [e-mail] concert if you want to go. And we'll see you all there on Tuesday. And I'll see you tonight on SiriusXM progress channel127 on tell me Everything. That's your show. You can catch it weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. I'll be on tonight at about 6, 20 Pacific. Something like that, 20 minute program.

[John Fugelsang]

Something like that.

[Alison Gill]

And you can also get your copy of New York Times bestseller Separation of Church and Hate wherever you get your books. And I can't wait for your second book to come out, my friend. I know you're in the cave writing it right now.

[John Fugelsang]

I'm in the cave, lady. I gotta shave before this thing on Tuesday. You're making me go out in public. Doctor.

[Alison Gill]

I am. Me too. Hey, we'll see you there. And hopefully a whole bunch of y' all will be there, too. I appreciate your time today, my friend.

[John Fugelsang]

The best. Thank you, Alison.

[Alison Gill]

You're the best. Everybody stick around. We'll be right back with the good news.

[Martin Sheen]

Hello, Martin Sheen here. And it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday. For God's sake, let's change that. What do you say? Together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now every Sunday, season three of the Martin Sheen podcast with yours truly, Martin Sheen has begun. Yeah. 10 brand new episodes are already underway. So join me, Martin sheen, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry, and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world, but I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? You want to take back your Sundays? So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, Season three, available now. Now don't mess with my Sunday. And thank you for listening, everybody.

[Alison Gill]

Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?

[John Fugelsang]

Everyone? Then good news, everyone.

[Alison Gill]

And if you have any little bit of good news you, as you can tell today, we really, really need it. So send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on it. Can be anything. Big, small, a funny joke you've heard, something that'll bring a smile to our face. We need to microdose. Hope you can send a shout out to yourself or a loved one or a nonprofit you think needs needs a shout out. Maybe a government program that's helped you or a loved one, anything at all that you can think of. And if you've been on the fence about writing in this is the weekend to do it. We need it because we gotta rest this weekend, have have a happy Mother's Day, you know, or a happy chosen Mother's Day or whatever it is that you want to celebrate. Single dad's, whatever. But we, we need to rest up this weekend and come back really strong on Monday. And we're going to need that good news to help us. All you got to do to get your stuff read on the air is submit a photo of anything. Really. It can be your pet. It could be an adoptable pet, a random animal on the Internet, family photos, baby pictures, what you're making, painting, quilting, knitting, creating, putting in a kiln and firing, anything that you're making, anything that you raise, chickens, goats, ducks, whatever it is, goats, goats, goats, goats, goats, goats, goats, goats, goats. Send it to us dailybeanspot.com click contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble today comes from Chris. Pronouns, he and him, high beans. Bad news and good trouble from Louisiana. Yesterday I went to vote early in the Louisiana primary election and found out that our Democratic congressional election is still on the Ballot. We're holding an election and the governor is saying it's canceled. This is crazy. It must be a crime. The good trouble is that a recall petition for Governor Jackass Landry has been started. And I went to the first training last night. We're going to get that corrupt fucker.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And that's what was bothering me. I mean, aside from the chaos and the coup shit about this in Louisiana and all of the Voting Rights act shit, they didn't have time to take this election off the ballot. So they're going to know how people are going to vote.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Alison Gill]

And people are going to be able to, you know, intimidate, judge their campaigns based on. They're going to be able to know who to spend ad money against.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's true.

[Alison Gill]

Fair pet tariff is for a guy you've seen before. Moose in a thoughtful mood, wearing his pork pie hat today. Also, this is a producer's note. The recall effort is being headed by Marian Bluenois. I hope I'm pronouncing that properly. And Katie Stepter. It just started and it's picking up steam now. Louisiana is a very high bar to clear to deliver a recall, but people are motivated and they're mad. Marion's Facebook. For more information on where and when they'll be out collecting signatures, we're going to have a link in the show notes to that information. More than 500,000 signatures are needed, so hopefully everybody will get out. There's Moose in his hat. I don't know if that's a pork pie. It looks more like a folded fedora. Either way, it's cute.

[Dana Goldberg]

Moose is cute.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you, Chris.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. I love this one. This is from Anonymous. No pronouns given. Not necessarily a correction per se, more of a plea. Louisiana is voting. Something like 80,000 votes, as we just talked about, have been cast. 80,000. So please don't say it's canceled. Maybe we'll have to vote again. Maybe we'll extend it. Maybe Janky Jeff will get his way and screw us all. But please don't discourage your listeners from voting early. Remember when you talked about insurance and how Florida homes were having a hard time getting insured? That's been an issue for Louisiana for decades. If you're outraged by something in this national news, something similar, if not exact, has already happened here. You're already showing what new news media can be. Please be new and bold here, too. We're here. We're fighting. And I think if people knew that, we'd be stronger. We have a couple links We've got a Nabra substack and an Aubrey avocado on ig. They're going to be helpful follows for Louisiana, so we'll have those in the show. Notes It's a really good point and I do think that so much, so many eyes have been lost on Louisiana after the flooding, you know, after Hurricane Katrina that there's so much has been going on since then that we've just lost in the national news. So I appreciate the submission. Thank you.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, you're right and we apologize. We met that the US House race was canceled but the voting is still occurring. So. But you're right, we'll be careful about that. Thank you. Next up from Joe Pronouns, he and him. Good day ladies and all of the crew who help you do amazing things. Your news the other day about the Trump administration targeting Illinois school districts inspired me to contact my representatives at the state level here in New Jersey. I called my two representatives and my state senator and asked them to consider what support the state could give to already overstressed and overstretched school districts here in the state. In the event that these types of investigations come to New Jersey. I encourage the representatives to try and be proactive and think about the best way to protect the most vulnerable. I encourage all the listeners in all the states to please engage with their state level representatives to begin planning for how to deal with the coming nonsense. Thank you for the company. On the walk with Milo. Here's a picture of him. He's a half poodle, half jerk.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love the owners of animals that are just really honest about who they're owning. All right, this is from Danny. Smart pronoun. She and her. I love the name Danny with an eye for a girl. I do. Hello Beans Queens. I was asked to speak speak to an indivisible group next week and when I asked about what topic they'd like me to talk about, I received the response that the members are frustrated and exhausted. That broke my heart. I totally understand. I am too. So in the process of writing an outline for my speech, I ended up writing an article for a substack. I'm proud of how it's coming together and I published it this morning. I would love to share it with my fellow Beans listeners. In the article I talk about how we're actually at a really exciting inflection point. Times are dark. They're fucking dark. But the winds are changing and what we need to do now is to figure out how to talk to our neighbors in our communities. That cousin who has shown up at Thanksgiving dinner again with his MAGA hat. I'm not asking anyone to pretend that both sides are equally responsible for what we're living through. They're not. I'm not asking anyone to soften their values or abandon their positions or meet bad faith with false equivalents. The goal is not to give ground, it's to find the language that lets more people stand on it. We have to remember that in the last election, if did not vote was on the ballot, it would have won by a landslide. 36% DNV 32% Donald Trump 31% Kamala Harris 36% did not vote that between one and eight one in six Trump voters now express a measure of regret. About time, cousin with the red hat. But it's an opening and we need to drive a blue bus through it it and then based on AG's very specific steps we need to take create a Supreme Court that works for us. I include some very specific reframing that we can do in our conversations about healthcare, renewable energy and other things that we hold dear. P.S. ag. I'm the product of a super nerdy, super liberal hippie professor parents and I vote for senior Justices to be Justice Emeritus now. It felt liberating to write this piece and I plan to bring that to my indivisible speech. Thank you for all that you do. I tune into Beans Talk in the middle of the night every night when it comes out to us Patreon folks. My husband has learned to not question me, giggling in bed and not taking it personally. And a call out to DG. Hello to my fellow 505er and a kid who escaped the ABQ each summer to the Haymas to get my hummingbird on. Oh my God, I wonder how old this person is. As my pod pet tags, I'm including pictures of the two furry guys who helped me wrangle my 30 chickens and keep the farm in order. Guessing their breeds is an absolute soft lob. But they're sweet guys and I hope Rocket Raccoon and the Duke make you smile.

[Alison Gill]

Oh oh, what a baby. What a sweet baby. I see a golden and I see a border collie.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, I do too.

[Alison Gill]

Let's see what we got. Rocket Raccoon, Border Collie.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice job, Danny. I'm curious what years you went to hummingbird, so if you feel like writing in again or just send in a message to the producer, I would love to know if we overlapped. I don't know if we're anywhere near the same age, but it would Be interesting to see.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, that would be cool. And we are going to have a link, Dani, to your substack article in the show notes, so thank you. All right, next up from Diane Pronoun. She and her walking in Georgia, listening to my beans unfortunately need to send in the special election to replace MTG was won by a Republican. So sad. To cleanse your mind from that, here are two cute little birdies that like the ferns my hubby just put up. Can you name the birds? Are you bird nerds? I am not a bird nerd, but let's see. No, cannot name these birds. A red crested booby and a brown winged fella.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'm gonna say a chickadee. That's not a real thing. And a robin.

[Alison Gill]

Okay. All right.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, we don't have any answers.

[Alison Gill]

No, we don't know. So we're correct.

[Dana Goldberg]

That was too short. You can keep going.

[Alison Gill]

Thanks. From Dusty Pronoun. She and her hello, marvelous beans queens. I managed to get myself to the polls for the Fulton County Democratic primary yesterday. Some good news. No fool is challenging ass off for his seat. There are a plethora of women running for all kinds of positions, and I definitely voted for as many of them as I could find, including Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor. Yes, there's one R who decided to run as a D for governor. Fuck him. At least Fulton county had the good grace to remove. I secured my vote from their exit sticker for my tariff. I'm including a hawk on my neighbor's balcony. And little bit my Lhasa apso driving partner. Hawk is amazing.

[Dana Goldberg]

That lasso apso's cute in that big old rig.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, my goodness. I love a Lhasa apso, by the way.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, they're super cute. All right. Next up from Jamie Pronoun. She and her. Hey, wonderful ladies. I was listening to the good news portion of the show today, and I was wondering if the synonym you were looking for was synchronicity.

[Alison Gill]

Yes.

[Dana Goldberg]

Huh?

[Alison Gill]

Yes, it was.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's it, Jamie.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you, Synchronicity. Now I've got the police song in my head. Thank you, Jamie.

[Dana Goldberg]

There you go. I had to rack my own brain, and I kept getting stuck on serendipity. When I reached out to a friend who uses synchronicity all of the time if it's not the right word, at least I scratched a spot in my own itchy brain looking for it. And I hope you both get that itch scratch soon by someone else in the bean hive. And you did it, Jamie. You did It.

[Alison Gill]

Bean hive. I love it.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know. It's. That's great.

[Alison Gill]

Awesome.

[Dana Goldberg]

I think we gotta make something. My pot pet photo has an interesting backstory. Years ago, while a family friend was in college, she called me during a lockdown, fearing that there was an active shooter on campus. She was obviously shook up, and to cheer her up, I decided to send her something completely random and shipped a yodeling pickle.

[Alison Gill]

It worked.

[Dana Goldberg]

Since then, we randomly send each other ridiculous things. To bring some light to each other, I once received a package containing cat wigs. Yes, they exist. Here's my clearly grumpy cat modeling her new style. Thank you for all of the honesty, humor, levity, reality you diligently provide for us all. I gotta say, Jamie, these are the types of friendships that are just fucking awesome. The fact that you all do this with each other. May we all have a friend where we sound these, like, yodeling pickles and cat wigs, too. That's awesome.

[Alison Gill]

Dana, did you tell everybody what Joelle and I got you for your birthday? The towel.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's a pickleball towel, and it's got a unicorn on it. And because I'm not next to it, I cannot remember what it said, but I bet you do.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, God. What did it say? Let's play pickleball? Or something like that?

[Dana Goldberg]

Something like that. It's like a uni. Like a gay unicorn and a tutu

[Alison Gill]

with a pickleball racket. And it's personalized in case there's someone else on the pickleball court with the same towel. It's got.

[Dana Goldberg]

Very funny. It's very funny.

[Alison Gill]

We also got our nice gift, too. But, no, it's kind of this bourbon, everybody.

[Dana Goldberg]

They got me bourbon that I have not opened yet, but it's bourbon.

[Alison Gill]

Amazing. Japanese. Japanese whiskey. Oh, my God. Anyway, I love those kind of gifts, too, and I love those kind of friendships. So thank you so much for sharing that. That's a good prompt. Anybody who has, like, just one of those odd idiosyncrasies with a. With a friend that you do, like, do you send weird gifts? Do you write letters? Do you. You know, whatever it is, I love those things. So do you speak your own language that confuses other people?

[Dana Goldberg]

What do I do to my besties? That's a good question. We'd love to know what you do. Those little things.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. All right, next up from he, him or they them. Dealer's choice. On Tuesday, I worked the polls for the Ohio primaries. Yes. It was my first time as a poll worker, and it was incredibly satisfying. It's so odd conceptualizing participating in the establishment as an act of resistance. These are the times we live in. I'm in a rural area and I had a handful of people who had clearly come in directly from work in their farms to vote, who loudly announced to the room that they were lifelong Republicans. But that. That ended today and then requested a Democratic primary ballot.

[Dana Goldberg]

Wow.

[Martin Sheen]

Wow.

[Alison Gill]

It's always such a fucking shot in the arm. Two days later, I'm still riding high from the experience. That's so cool.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, it is.

[Alison Gill]

I mean, not that their farms are going bankrupt and that everything sucks, but that, you know, wow, that's pretty amazing. For my pod pet tax, I'm including a picture of my girl Alice. Alice who the is Alice? Alice holding my toe. And my sophisticat, Dan reclining among his many books. I love cats with human names. I love them so much.

[Dana Goldberg]

Look at sophisticat.

[Alison Gill]

And I believe Dan is reclining in a Billy bookcase, which we had a cat named Billiam yesterday named after the Billy bookcases.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God, that's bizarre.

[Alison Gill]

Interesting callback. Anyway, thank you all so much for this. I really, really needed that. If you want to get more information and you want to see some more inspiring floor speeches and people pushing back and people protesting against what's happening in the south after the Voting Rights act was gutted, tune into Beans Talk today. It's a lot, but I think it's motivating and inspirational as well.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Alison Gill]

All right, well, I'm excited to hear how your show goes on Sunday, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. Still some tickets available. If you're in Dallas and you want to snag one of those, they're very inexpensive. You can go to danagoldberg.com, hit my tour schedule. Otherwise I will see the rest of you there. And I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a bean heavy audience.

[Alison Gill]

Bean heavy. And there's going to be a bean heavy audience. At least according to ticket sales at the El Rey on Tuesday as well. If you didn't get tickets, check your Patreon inbox. I think we still have a few in there, a few left that you can snatch up for free. But if you want to, if you want to buy a ticket, all that money goes to these races that we're trying to, you know, flip the house as. As big as we can so that we have a nice buffer. And you can do that at. What is it? BlueWaveCalifornia.org concert. So everybody, I'll see you tonight on Fugal Sang show and we'll be back in your ears on Monday. 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.

[Dana Goldberg]

I've been dg.

[Alison Gill]

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

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Angela V. Shelton.

[Alison Gill]

And we're Frantela. You know what you need in your life? The Final Word podcast. Yes, you do. That's right. It is the final word on all things political and pop cultural, where we make real news, real funny, where we inspire you so you can hashtag resist, subscribe and get a new episode of the Final Word podcast each week. It's the news we think you need to hear.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's right. We think you need to hear it.

[Alison Gill]

Okay. Yeah. It's what we say.

[Dana Goldberg]

So.

[Alison Gill]

That's right. And because all we do is give. Every Thursday, you can listen to our hysterical podcast, Idiot of the Week. We round up the stupid. Because you know what?

[John Fugelsang]

Stupid?

[Alison Gill]

Somebody has to.

[Dana Goldberg]

Okay.

[Alison Gill]

All we do is give.