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Kennedy Center It Is (feat. John Fugelsang)
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Friday, June 5th, 2026 Today, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says she’ll be seeking new indictments in the 2020 election interference case against Trump's allies; John Bolton is set to plead guilty to illegal retention of national security information; Trump says he’ll nominate Todd Blanche to be the next Attorney General; an internal memo instructs staff to remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center by June 12th; Republicans in the Senate refused to block Trump’s $1.8B Slush Fund and tax immunity; Stars and Stripes is suing the Trump administration for censorship; ballroom donors won over 50 billion dollars in government contracts; a California city overwhelmingly voted to permanently ban datacenters; and Allison delivers your Good News.
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- [00:02]
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. But don't let them fool you. Get Unspun. I'm Amanda Sturgel. 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.
- [00:40]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. News whispering jelly beans.
- [00:54]
John Fugelsang
Jelly beans.
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Alison Gill
Jelly beans.
- [00:58]
John Fugelsang
Jelly beans.
- [00:59]
Amanda Sturgill
Daily beans.
- [01:04]
Alison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, June 5, 2026. Today, Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays says she'll be seeking new indictments in the 2020 election interference case against Trump's allies. John Bolton is set to plead guilty to illegal retention of national security information. Trump says he'll nominate Todd Blanche to be the next attorney general. An internal memo instructs staff to remove Trump's name from the Kennedy center by June 12. Republicans in the Senate refused to block Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund and tax immunity. Stars and Stripes is suing the Trump administration for censorship. Ballroom donors won over $50 billion in government contracts, and a California city overwhelmingly voted to permanently ban data centers. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody, Happy Friday. It's Friday here, so that means I'll be joined later by John Fugelsang for Fuglsang Fridays on the Daily Beans. Dana's out. She's doing a gala for Lambda Legal. She'll be back on Monday. So thanks for hanging out with me solo. We have a ton of news, major headlines today that we need to get to, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the Post, President Trump says he planned to formally nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch for a full term as the nation's chief law enforcement office, signaling confidence in his former personal defense attorney's leadership of a department over which the president has sought to exert unprecedented control. Trump announced his intention to move forward Thursday with the nomination, and that's according to a video of his Wednesday remarks during a White House dinner posted to social media by Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. Now, quote, we are going to make him permanent attorney general, unquote. That's what Trump said in the video. And I'm going to discuss this in depth with Andy McCabe on this weekend's episode of Unjustified. He is wholly unqualified. Even John Fetterman says he won't vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. But, you know, let's wait and see what he actually does. Next up from Politico. Attorney general in Arizona, Chris Mates is planning to seek a new indictment against allies of President Trump who aided him in his quest to overturn the 2020 election. That's what her office said Thursday after the state's high court shot down an effort to revive her sprawling first indictment against them. Quote, the Arizona attorney general's office will return this case to the grand jury. That's what a Mays spokesperson named Richie Taylor said went on to say. We declined to comment further at this time. The announcement by Mays, who's a Democrat, came moments after the Arizona Supreme Court publicly revealed a June 2 decision to deny Mays bid to revive the case against some of Trump's top allies, which was dismissed over a judge's finding that there was a defect in the grand jury indictment. The brief, unexplained decision closed the book on this two year old case that threatened some of Trump's closest allies, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and nearly a dozen GOP activists who falsely claimed to be legitimate presidential electors despite Trump's defeat in the state. Now, Trump himself was named by the unusually aggressive grand jury. I wouldn't say they were unusually aggressive because they didn't indict Trump, but they named him as an unindicted co conspirator. And Harry Dunn and I are going to discuss this in depth on next week's episode of cleanup on aisle 45. Now next up from CNN, half man, half mustache. John Bolton, President Trump's former national security adviser turned adversary, has reached a plea deal over mishandling sensitive national security information. According to three sources familiar with the matter. He intends to plead guilty to one felony count of illegal retention of sensitive national security information, and he also agrees to pay more than $2 million in fines. According to one of the sources, a conviction on one count of illegal retention could come with a sentence between zero and 60 months in prison. I'm assuming it would be zero, but we'll see. The Justice Department declined to comment and referred CNN to the court docket, which indicates a hearing is set for June 26. The plea deal comes months after the top Trump foe was charged by prosecutors in Maryland for allegedly keeping diary entries from the first Trump White House in his home. Prosecutors accused Bolton of sharing, quote, more than a thousand pages of information about his day to day activities through his personal email account with two unauthorized individuals who CNN has found out are his wife and his daughter. The alleged transmission of classified information is not part of the charges he expects to plead guilty to. This is especially interesting concerning that. Trump was hit with a 42 count indictment for violating this same law by hoarding and obstructing justice in that classified documents case brought by Jack Smith, Volume two of which we still have not seen. We still haven't seen that report. That's still caught up and tied up in I think the appeals court. Next up from Politico. Senate Republicans beat back early attempts to quash the Justice Department's controversial anti weaponization fund. That's the $1.8 billion illegal slush fund and potentially endanger the Republicans. Immigration enforcement senators voted 50 to 49 Thursday to reject an attempt by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that would have sent the measure back to the Judiciary Committee to insert language that would Nix President Trump's $1.8 billion payout vehicle. The move was aimed at codifying the promise that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made to House Appropriations on Tuesday that the administration would scrap plans for the fund. Keep in mind, I'll interject here, he refused to commit to put that in writing. Quote, democrats will force Republicans to vote on Trump's MAGA slush fund, his lifetime tax exemption, his billion dollar taxpayer funded ballroom. That's what Schumer said on the Senate floor, referring also to an IRS settlement ruling that there will be no future Trump audits and the White House project to replace the raised East Wing. Now, they call it a settlement here with the IRS. It's not a settlement. And 35 former federal judges are contesting that in court where Judge Williams has reopened the case to investigate whether or not a frau was brought upon the court through collusion between Donald Trump, the DOJ and the irs. Three Republican senators, Susan Collins, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and John Husted of Ohio voted for Schumer's motion. All are seeking reelection this year. So when we say hold them to it, those are the three running for reelection who were allowed to vote against the $1.8 billion slush fund. Democrats and most Republicans rejected an effort by Thom Tillis to redirect the anti weaponization funding toward fraud enforcement at the doj. Quote, if Blanche says that this is largely inoperative. Why not use this moment to codify that? Otherwise you're exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense, tillis said shortly before the vote. Now Democrats argued that Tillis's proposal would just shift money from one politicized purpose to another, and most Republicans chose to simply maintain the status quo. But 11 Republican senators Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, John Curtis of Utah, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Husted of Ohio, Murkowski, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana joined with Tillis. Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota voted to advance the amendment. The two efforts were the first of what is expected to be many attempts from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle at inserting language into the measure about the fund during the so called Votorama that's happening now. Unlike other expected attempts, Schumer's motion could have been approved with a simple majority vote. Republicans held the vote on Schumer's motion open for more than two hours as leaders worked through concerns from several GOP holdouts who wanted to curtail the fund. Yeah, he left it open. It was open for several hours because they had to figure out which three senators running for reelection would be damaged the most by this slush fund. That's what they had to do. But Tillis amendment and other fund related amendments are likely to be at a 60 vote threshold. So we're going to keep an eye on that, but it needs to be codified. But further, it needs to be thrown out in court. There needs to be a court order against this and the tax immunity going forward. That's why I'm not dropping my lawsuit and nobody else I know that has sued to stop this fund is dropping their lawsuit either. Next up from the Post More than half of the publicly identified donors to Trump's ballroom project have won new or expanded federal contracts worth more than $50 billion during the past six months. That's according to a report released Thursday by a government watchdog group. Fourteen of the 27 known corporate donors to the $400 million project, which would replace the east wing that Trump demolished in October, have seen their government business grow in that window, according to the report from Public Citizen, a nonprofit. And full disclosure, Public Citizen Litig is representing me in my lawsuit against the slush fund. Now, most of those same companies are also facing federal enforcement actions over alleged wrongdoing or have had such actions suspended by the Trump administration since the start of his second term. The donors have sprawling interests that touch nearly every aspect of American life, including defense contracting, technology and energy. Trump has repeatedly touted the gifts as a boon to taxpayers. But critics of the project, including myself, say the administration's refusal to release the full list of donors creates the potential for corruption. It's bribery, quote. These giant corporations aren't funding the Trump Ballroom fiasco out of the goodness of their hearts. That's John Gollinger, a public policy advocate, a public citizen and author of the report. They have massive interests before the federal government, and they hope to curry favor with and receive favorable treatment from the Trump administration. Now, the analysis builds on a report from the group last fall in that found that known donors held $279 billion in government contracts over the previous five years and had spent $1.6 billion on political contributions and lobbying during that time. The new report focuses on contracts awarded in most of the seven months since the East Wing's demolition, which Trump's critics have argued creates new urgency around potential conflicts of interest. Now, of the known donors, no single contributor received more new business with the government since giving to the project than Lockheed Martin. The defense giant received about 43 point billion in new or expanded contract funding since last fall. Booz Allen Hamilton followed with more than 4.2 billion and Palantir with just over a billion. Other donors that received new or increased contracts include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Caterpillar and T Mobile. Amazon executive Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Altogether, more than two thirds of corporate ballroom donors, 19 of the 27 have received government contracts over the past five and a half years, totaling 338 billion doll. Sixteen of the 27 donors are facing federal enforcement actions. That's more than half or have had such actions suspended by the Trump administration, including major antitrust reviews involving Amazon, Apple, Meta and Nvidia labor rights cases involving Google, Lockheed and Meta and securities matters involving Coinbase and Ripple, whose cases have been dropped or scaled back under the Trump administration. Pay to play, everybody. It's a big fucking club and you're not in it. Also from the Post, two advisory board members of Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper that has long enjoyed editorial independence from the government, is suing the Defense Department. They filed suit on Wednesday alleging that an effort to impose new restrictions on the paper is an act of illegal censorship. The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, comes from Susan Suki Dardarian and William Bill Church, two Pulitzer Prize winning journalists on Stripe's advisory board. Dardarian is a former editor and senior vice president of the Minnesota Star Tribune, and Church is the executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper. Quote, unlawfully censoring the soldiers paper is an insult to the dedicated members of the armed forces and an attack on the freedom of speech, a foundational constitutional principle for which those brave service people dedicated their lives. That's Sky Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, who is representing the two plaintiffs. In March, the Defense Department outlined broad modernization efforts for the newspaper, according to an internal memo reviewed at the time by the Washington Post. That memo followed up on a pledge made in January to overhaul the publication and rid it of woke distractions. In April, Defense Department official Sean Parnell fired the publications ombudsman, a role charged by Congress with safeguarding the paper's editorial independence. Jacqueline Smith, the ombudsman, told the Post at the time she believed she was fired for speaking out against interference at the newspaper. Quote, I've been outspoken about my concern with increasing restrictions on the press by the Pentagon and in particular very concerned about the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes. That's what she said in April. All of this speaking out made me vulnerable. Now, Wednesday's lawsuit marks the first legal challenge to assert the newspaper's independence in the face of these actions taken by the Pentagon. In the complaint, the plaintiffs ask federal judges to strike down the March memo as unlawful and restore the editorial protections that have been afforded the paper. Next up from the Guardian this is cool. Residents of Monterey Park, California became the first in the United States to vote on a permanent ban on data centers on Tuesday, and early results indicate a resounding victory for that prohibition. While many cities and counties have already passed temporary indefinite moratoriums via their local governments, Monterey park will be the first to do so through a ballot initiative. The ballot measure needs the majority of the vote at least 51% to win, and as of 2am Pacific Time a couple days ago, 86.3% of the more than 7,000 votes counted so far were in favor of banning data centers. While it can take days to finalize election results, the stark gap was enough evidence for Jose Sanchez, a city council member, to claim a landslide victory for residents who don't want to live near data centers. Quote this shows unequivocally that residents at Monterey park do not want data centers in their community, and we hope that other communities will use this model set by residents here in Monterey park as inspiration to stop data centers from encroaching in their backyards. Monterey Park City Council already passed an indefinite moratorium on data centers in April after growing anger toward HMC strapcap, an investment company that was pushing to put one in the city located in the Los Angeles region. Developers have since withdrawn the application. The project would have covered nearly 250,000 square feet. Residents worried about negative environmental effects, increasing utility prices and the proximity to homes. So congratulations to Monterey Park. We should do this in every city. Next up from Politico. The Kennedy center on Thursday directed its employees to remove all references to President Donald Trump from its communications to comply with a federal judge's order blocking the president's name from being added to the performing arts center. That's according to a memo obtained by Politico. The memo states that staffers must immediately change email signatures, letterhead and other documents to reflect the name as the John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, or Kennedy Center. This also includes voicemails, social media accounts, press releases, changes to templates, forms, signage inside and outside the building, brochures, website pages with Trump's name. All must be updated by June 12. When reached for comment, the White House pointed to past social media posts from Trump criticizing the court decision. The Kennedy center did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. district Judge Chris Cooper appeared to side with Beatty, who sued Beatty's on the board ruling last Friday that the rebranding of the institution to honor President John F. Kennedy as the Trump Kennedy center violated federal law that requires the building to honor President Kennedy and President Kennedy alone. Quote the Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the center is to be named for President Kennedy and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the board's unilateral say. So that's what Cooper said in his ruling, and went on to say Congress gave the Kennedy center its name and only Congress can change it. Cooper also reversed the board's decision to shut down the center for two years. After the ruling, Trump posted on social media he would abandon his pursuit of a Kennedy center redesign and transfer oversight of the center back to Congress if he did not maintain control over decision making. Womp, womp. But the Justice Department said that it's going to continue to defend Trump's ability to restore the center to its former glory and the finest performing arts center in the country, if not the world. So I cannot wait. Maybe I'm not alone here for video of them removing Trump's name from the front of the Kennedy Center. All right, everybody, that is the news. We're going to be right back with John Fugelsang, and then we'll have the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
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John Fugelsang
We'll be right back.
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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.
- [18:41]
Alison Gill
But don't let them fool you.
- [18:42]
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 your time is of being fooled by the news, subscribe to Unspun today. Unspun because you deserve the truth.
- [19:11]
Alison Gill
Living with cats means accepting that every meal is a tiny hostage negotiation. They will stare at the bowl, they'll stare at you. Then they'll make a judgment that somehow feels personal because you pay rent and you have the job. But they're sitting there very dissatisfied with their food. So when I put down Smalls for the first time and got immediate approval instead of dramatic skepticism, I knew I made the right decision to switch. This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. Your cat's health and longevity starts with what they eat. Try Smalls and 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 and one thing I appreciate about Smalls, it gives me much better answers to the questions of what my cats are actually eating. Their food is fresh, it's gently cooked, it's packed with protein, and it's made with preservative free, 100% human grade ingredients that you would recognize in your own refrigerator. Then you add the convenience of having it delivered right to your door. So it's even better now. Since switching, I've noticed a stronger appetite, better energy coats that look healthier and softer and more they like don't tangle as much. I noticed the improvements right away and Smalls is built around the fact that cats use protein as their main energy source, so better fuel makes a big difference. I've also noticed fewer litter box issues, which I will take as a major household victory. And if you're worried about trying new food, Smalls makes that decision even easier. You can try it risk free and if your cat won't eat it, they will absolutely refund you. So stop serving your little carnivore a bowl of processed shortcuts for a limited time. Because 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 is 60% off your first order, folks. Plus free shipping and free treats for life. Just head to smalls.com dailybeans all right, so you know that stretch around 6pm when you're starving, you're getting hangry, but somehow you still have nothing in the fridge that'll hit the spot. Well, Home Chef has changed all that. It's helped me get out of that cycle and I'm saving money by not constantly getting takeout. And I'm eating meals that are actually balanced, satisfying, and worth sitting down for. It's a win, win, win, win. One meal I really loved recently. Garlic shrimp risotto with peas and parmesan. It tasted rich and comforting. The garlic, herb butter and parmesan gave it a lot of depth. The al dente risotto was a perfect consistency. The shri tender. It was amazing. The whole thing came together without turning my kitchen into a disaster area. So it was incredible. Now, Home Chef makes cooking simple with fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door, recipes that are easy to follow, and meals that genuinely taste good. And I also love that they cut out the worst parts of dinner. No giant shopping list, no over complicated prep, no crazy cleanup. It's all manageable. And when the week gets really busy, Home Chef has what you're looking for. Whether you need a 30 minute meal or an oven ready tray or even a quick lunch, they've got you covered. Now Home Chef keeps my fridge stocked. It takes meal planning off my plate and it makes it a whole lot easier to eat well during the week. And people really love it. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease. And for a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50% off and free shipping on your first box. Plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.comdailybeans that's homechef.com daily beans for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com dailybeans must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Hey everybody, welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans. That means it's Feaglsang Friday. So joining me today, host of Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127, weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. Also new York Times bestselling author of the New York Times bestselling book, Separation of Church and Hate, working on his second book, can't wait to read it. And you can also listen to the John Figo Saying show podcast and find him on Substack. He's everywhere. Please welcome John Fugal Sang.
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John Fugelsang
Thank you, Dr. Gill. I can't wait to finish it so I can experience what the kids call sleep again. Sleep is nice.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. I would also like to experience some sleep. I think that would be great. And you know, I was up until like midnight doing election stuff on NBC 7 here in San Diego. And that's like, that's way past Meemaw's bedtime. So I'm still tired from Tuesday night. And we've got about 55% of the votes counted here in California. So of course Ron DeSantis thinks that means we're cheating. Yes, of course. Because we count our votes here in our state.
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John Fugelsang
They don't like that, Alice. And that's why. Why do you provoke them counting votes like that?
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Alison Gill
I pinch poke, provoke. That's what I do with Republicans.
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John Fugelsang
Why poke the bear like that? Why, why do things you know will get them angry, like counting votes?
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Alison Gill
I know, I know. It's just. I don't know, it's in my nature, I guess. But, but what I wanted to talk to you today about, among other things, we'll get to a couple of things today, is that before the Memorial Day break, Mike Johnson in the House, the Speaker of the House, found out, started counting votes, he doesn't do that very often, and found out that he was gonna lose a war powers resolution, meaning the House was gonna vote for a war powers resolution to restrict and rein in Donald Trump's illegal war choice in Iran with Bibi Netanyahu, of course. So he canceled the vote, sent everybody on vacation, among object asking parliamentary procedures as to why they were canceling the vote. So he sent everybody home, they came back, they voted again, and they actually voted for a war powers resolution. So that's a pretty strong rebuke from Mike Johnson's House of Representatives.
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John Fugelsang
Yeah, and I think we should be looking forward to John Thune sending his own passive aggressive rebukes to Trump in the near future. But, yeah, in fairness to Mike, Mike Johnson, America's creepiest youth pastor, I don't, I don't think he knew the Constitution still existed. So I'm going to give him a pass on this one, I215 to 208 to require congressional approval for continuing an illegal war with Iran. We haven't legally declared war since 1941, and now we're retroactively getting four Republicans to come over, including Massey. My God, you're Thomas Massie, man. Remember the old days when Republicans were wrong about everything, but they were still sane? And you could talk to him. I guess that's what Massie is. He's a conservative from the 20th century. I remember those. And these four Republicans, God bless him, decided that Article 1 is not just a decorative throw pillow. So, I mean, it's not going to stop the war. It's not going to stop anything. Donald Trump's not going to wake up tomorrow and discover James Madison and be like, oh, I've been a little cavalier on congressional authority. No. But after all, thousands of dead bodies, the House finally stands up symbolically to say, you're. You're not an emperor. Because we've talked about this Constitution, this Congress has been treating their war powers, you know, like I treat my iPhone directions. Like, I know they're in the House somewhere. I've never looked at them, but I know they're here. Yeah, they're here. Yeah. It's like, so it's really strange. I mean, this has been so unconstitutional. This is so not conservative. The Constitution literally gives Congress the power to declare war. And it's amazing when some of these guys somehow have nothing left to lose with the primary, they discover that spine that disappeared so long ago.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. Article one gives power to Congress, Article two, the executive, Article three, the Judiciary. And speaking of Article one powers, there's the power of the purse. And today they're having a vote a rama as we record this, I should say, on Thursday, over funding ICE, giving them an extra $70 billion in customs and Border Protection, because the Democrats actually held out and refused to fund that. So they have to do it through budget reconciliation. And Schumer, as promised, forced a vote on the $1.8 billion slush fund, and it was defeated. He wanted to block the slush fund, and that blocking was defeated by Republicans 50 to 49. So two Republicans voted with Democrats, but 50, and I guess one person didn't vote voted to block this, and so they're voting against their own Article 1 powers.
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John Fugelsang
Yeah. What a shock. And what's most interesting is this is coming right when the slush fund is beginning to break down, because it turns out we still have some torn and frayed and held together by duct tape guardrails and What a way for the week to end. Dr. Gill, last week, when it's like all these judges got involved in a group project to humiliate Donald Trump before the weekend, the Kennedy Center. They took his name off that, which, by the way, it was the Donald Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center. They had two thes in it because they care about the arts as much as they care about English. And then we saw the other judge completely take apart the slush fund. But then the most fascinating part of the entire process was when a third judge came out and said, hey, these 35 other retired judges all submitted a memo saying, what the hell's up with this $10 billion lawsuit the president filed against himself for the IRS to pay him and his two sons, Fredo and Shemp, $10 billion. And now you're taking the slush fund. And so the judge decided, let's reopen Donald Trump's lawsuit that he himself closed when Todd Blanche offered this little bribery deal to have you and me have a reparations fund for terrorists. So now, God only knows what could happen in that regard. But, I mean, this is. Authoritarians thrive on the appearance of invulnerability, and so much weakness has been revealed in just the last seven days with this guy, to say nothing of the fact that he has been literally in hiding. And what is that thing under right eye? So, yeah, keep the pressure on, folks. It's ugly. They're going to hurt a lot more people, but the bad guys are going to lose.
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Alison Gill
Yeah, especially since when Todd Blanch testified on Tuesday, testified that he was not going to go forward with the slush fund, but refused to put it in writing. He also revealed that he was going to keep the blanket tax immunity for Trump and his crotch fruit in place.
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John Fugelsang
What. What.
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Alison Gill
That's going to. That is going to, I'm sure, be a bit of contention in that filing and in that investigation into whether there was a fraud on the court down in Miami from, you know, brought up by those 35 former federal judges. So. And that. That almost makes it more corrupt to me that Trump is like, drop the fund but keep my tax immunity, please, from my former federal private, my former private attorney who I paid $10 billion to, like, that is even somehow more corrupt than the slush fund.
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John Fugelsang
Yes, folks, remember what Winston Churchill said. Keep calm and let Todd Blanche be stupid. I think that's what Winston Churchill said. I mean, your Honor, I want to drop my lawsuit against the irs, but only if the IRS promises never to investigate me or my children or my Businesses or anything I've ever signed with a Sharpie. I mean. I mean, this is like. This isn't conflict of interest. This is conflict of everything. This is like. Like third world strong men think this is trying too hard. So. So, you know, I found myself innocent so you can never investigate me again. I mean, it's insane. And again, let them fight for this. Let them own this. All the awfulness. The dumbest thing Democrats did was let George Santos leave the Congress. Let these things be the face of the Republican Party. I want Talarico to win, But God forbid, if it's t. If it's. If it's Paxton, let him be the face of the Republican Senate. This is the Hill they're going to die on. Dr. Gill, the President and his family get lifetime exemption from tax scrutiny. These people want a monarchy. I mean, it's just.
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Alison Gill
It's.
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John Fugelsang
It's great. Let them keep on doing it. When Ken Burns makes the documentary about this, it's going to be 600 hours long. There's just so much corruption.
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Alison Gill
There absolutely is. All right. Some. Some other things I kind of wanted to talk to you about today because of what we see going on in corporate media is this Bilton Weiss versus Scott Pelley, who's been at CBS for 40 years, been at 60 Minutes for 20 years, who brought up Black Thursday and the mass firings that are occurring with Sharon Alfonsi, for example, who ran that piece on Seacoat Prison that was pulled that we had to all watch on Canadian television apps. That's right, yeah.
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John Fugelsang
Oh, it was so controversial.
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Alison Gill
But that is pretty astounding. Scott Pelley's letter to his colleagues.
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John Fugelsang
Well, the. Scott Pelley's defense of his colleagues and his defense of the institution in the actual meeting. Has that tape landed on YouTube yet? Because once that audio becomes available, and it will. I mean, he just stood up to this guy. Barry Weiss didn't even show up. Fifteen minutes into it, Bilton just said, enjoy the bagels, and walked out. And the entire team applauded Pelly. So they all knew this was going to happen. He is Spartacus in this case. But I guess, apparently the future of journalism is firing journalists. And the question that got Scott Pelly fired was, why are you firing everybody? And. And of course, Scott Pelly committed, as you know, the cardinal sin in modern media. He confused journalism with journalism, and he brought facts to a branding exercise. So it's remarkable to see how smug they're acting. Did you read Bilton's letter he released publicly to humiliate Pelly about why he was being fire. I did most petulant thing. I mean, this guy showed up five minutes ago, and the entire thing since you don't care about this show, it's like, dude, it's all abusive alcoholic dad talk to this guy.
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Alison Gill
The reason I stood up is because I care about this show.
- [32:39]
John Fugelsang
Exactly. But it shows also that, you know, I mean, Barry Weiss is going to get fired. This guy's going to get fired. This is not going to help the ratings. They are dry. We make fun of the old folks who make up the backbone of CBS's audience. And I'm not going to deny this is the beginning of the end for broadcast. And that's this guy Bilton's whole shtick. Broadcast is an ice cube. It's melting, blah, blah, blah. But it's like, it's still. How many Emmys does Scott Pelly have? 60 Minutes is still a solid show. It's not the sort of corporate journalism that people like you and me complain about all the time. It's a great, well produced broadcast as well. They're driving old folks away from this channel. And so think about what age is worse than people who think power is permanent canon. You know, like, these guys always talk like they're building the Roman Empire and they're always just leasing office space for the collapse of the Roman Empire because these people are going to get fired and Scott Pelly is going to be a hero for the rest of his career.
- [33:34]
Alison Gill
But they always bring up the Roman Empire, always, whenever they can, which is really interesting.
- [33:40]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, well, well, they all worship Caligula, so it's still. It's still timely for them.
- [33:45]
Alison Gill
Right. So, I mean, where do we go from here? Right? You and I have been talking about the media landscape for a really long time and, you know, talking about every time we were trying to integrate with legacy media, they would push us aside and say, sorry, legacy media is dying. Like, we're dying. Leave us alone. Let us die. And it's. It's just sort of kind of in the way I'm looking to see what happens now with, like, we've seen a mass exodus of people leaving corporate media and becoming independent. So I'm interested to see what happens with Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley, his colleagues who were fired on Black Thursday. Sharon Alfonsi, one of them. Cecilia Vega, another. That's right, Tanya. Like, what's going to happen with these folks? Are we going to. Are we going to get rid of this administration and push back in 2028 and kind of try to rebuild and put everyone back, or is it just going to morph into something completely different? It's going to to be really interesting to watch.
- [34:43]
John Fugelsang
Well, we have to recognize also that, you know, Donald Trump will be gone, but the oligarch infrastructure he has instituted will still be in power. We know a couple things. We know that the people who own this country don't like government and they think billionaires should own countries. And we know that they're working towards that kind of system. And I think we should be prepared for the legacy media collapse to continue. There will be an upswing in independent progressive media because at some point people are just going to be so disgusted by the slop that's out there. I think we have to wait and see. A what happens with CNN in a year and how much the Saudi ownership, the Saudi partial ownership affects CNN's coverage. I mean, I still can't believe I'm saying this sentence. Like, this time next year we'll see the new investigative series. Jamal Khashoggi got what he deserved on cnn, right? Like, and we gotta see what happens with Ms. Now and what they do with that brand new model when, you know, I've done a bunch of shows over there in their new studios and it really has the feel of a startup and I feel like they can do something very, very exciting with that real estate. But I'll tell you, once Trump's gone, he's just a hood ornament on the car. And the same, you know, when Bush and Cheney went back to Texas, all their enablers stayed in power. And when Donald Trump goes back to Florida or goes to, you know, know, be reunited with Roy Cohn and Jeff Epstein in that certain place, the systems that he has empowered will still be empowered. I mean, this is systemic reform. We can't have any more Democrats who want to have incremental improvements. We need sweeping reform. And I think those are the candidates who are going to dominate 2028.
- [36:29]
Alison Gill
I agree. I agree. Finally, are you a California voter or New York voter?
- [36:33]
John Fugelsang
I'm a California voter.
- [36:34]
Alison Gill
How did the primaries go for you?
- [36:36]
John Fugelsang
You. How'd they go for me? Well, I'm waiting to see about Spencer Pratt, you know, but, you know, it's, it's interesting. We've reached the point we only have
- [36:44]
Alison Gill
about 50% of the vote counted, by the way, here in California, we take, we take our time, count our votes.
- [36:49]
John Fugelsang
Listen, I've, I've met that guy. It's just, you know, I mean, you have. Yeah, yeah, I come from television. I did a I did a thing with him once and, and he's every bit as not bright as they say. And I've just seen the cruelty and the dishonest things he's done in the public eye like the rest of us. But he's a big old dope. And Ronald Reagan was a big dope and Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big old dope. Not as dopey as the other ones, but still for all of this vaunted liberalism of California, Holy crap. Do these people like to vote for shiny faces on their TV instead of experienced professionals when it comes to public office? So, you know, I'm waiting for some smart, shallow celebrities to run at this point. And Tom Steyer. You know what, it's, it's great that we're still trying to find our favorite liberal billionaire to vote for. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. But I think, I think it's becerus to blow and, and I don't think he, you know, and I, I think, I do think Karen Bass will prevail, but wow. It's not going to be fascism that's going to destroy this country. It's going to be dumb that destroys this country.
- [37:49]
Alison Gill
He's losing a little bit of ground as the rest of the half the votes come in, which I think are same day votes. We have, we haven't figured that.
- [37:55]
John Fugelsang
The fact that you got a single booking on a single news show shows how late stage Roman Empire collapse. We are like, it's a miracle we have plumbing at this point. We should be in charge.
- [38:04]
Alison Gill
No, I totally, I totally get it. I'm just saying there were a lot of folks who held their ballots or voted same day more than usual in California because of the gubernatorial race. People were waiting to see where the polls landed, waiting to game it out. We have to do a little bit of strategy here in California because we have all party primaries. And so I think we're gonna have way more same day voters, which is really actually bad. I'm loathe to vote on election day because when you vote early, your name comes off of those canvassing lists and they don't have to bother with you because they know that you've already voted. And so it makes it a lot difficult, a lot more difficult to campaign effectively. But I, you know, I don't know. Do you think we should get rid of this all party primary business or at least add ranked choice voting into it?
- [38:47]
John Fugelsang
I think we should add ranked choice voting into it, yeah. But you know, I'm a Political independent. So all the times I've gotten to vote in a, in a California state primary, it's been kind of neat for me because I wasn't able to do that as a New York voter. And I also like that all the states have their own systems. But I'm more focused on making it extremely easy for people to vote any way they want. That's where my priority is. Be it by mail. When we finally get the right app that can not be easily hacked by China. I just, you know, I think, I think that's the dividing line. Right. Are you an American who is trying to make it a little bit harder here and there for people to exercise the right, or are you an American who stands for making it substantially easier for everybody to do it however they want to do it?
- [39:30]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And we saw the results of it being substantially easier in 2020. That's it.
- [39:34]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. And. And they will never let that happen again.
- [39:36]
Alison Gill
More people, states like expanded mail in voting because of COVID That's it.
- [39:41]
John Fugelsang
And that's why it went well. I mean, Joe Biden got more votes for president than any person who's ever run for any office in this country's history. And it really happened for. For two reasons. One was because of co. Because we were all more engaged and watching the news more. And two, because. Because there were so many expanded forms of voting from the drop boxes and all that. But it goes to show that these ideas are more popular. And when there are more people engaged in liberal policies do better, conservatives do worse. And that is why our conservative friends keep repeating the pattern and showing us how hard they're going to try. A little bit here, a little bit there. There's going to be nine representatives in Congress from Tennessee and they're all going to be white male Republicans in a state that's 40 black. This is how they do it.
- [40:30]
Alison Gill
Unless it backfires on them.
- [40:31]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. Unless it.
- [40:32]
Alison Gill
By diluting their own white man votes.
- [40:35]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, we'll see.
- [40:35]
Alison Gill
We'll see how that turns out, especially this year.
- [40:38]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, a lot of racists aren't going to be coming down from the mountain to vote this year. Let's keep that in mind.
- [40:42]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Anyway, thank you so much, my friend. Always a pleasure to have you on. Everybody make sure you tune in to tell me everything. It's on Sirius XM progress channel 127. It's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And if for some wild reason you don't yet have your copy of the New York Times bestselling book Separation the church and hate. Make sure to grab your copy as soon as possible. My friend. Always a pleasure to see you.
- [41:05]
John Fugelsang
I just want to give a shout out to Millie Vanilli, which is words I never thought I'd say, because we listen the Freedom 250 concert. Dr. Gil, it's been really funny to make fun of all these artists. God bless Young MC for pulling out. God bless Brett Michaels. Holy crap. Brett Michaels pulled out of a gig. You know what I'm saying? Like, nor if there's beer and electricity. Brett Michaels shows up and gives 100% people, but he pulled out of this. All these acts, the Commodores, whoever's in the Commodores now, like, they're. They're all pulling out. And the Milli Vanilli jokes, the. The. The torment we've thrown on. And it's two Milli Vanillis. It's the real people who did the singing, who, and then the one who's still alive who lip synced who has a band, and both of the Milli Vanillis pulled out of this thing. And for all the jokes we've made for 35 years, I just. I live for irony. It's my religion. 35 years after a complete disgrace, Milli Vanilli finally achieved greatness.
- [41:54]
Alison Gill
Give them their Grammy back by refusing to sing.
- [41:57]
John Fugelsang
They refuse to sing, and that's what made them great after all these years. So God bless irony, God bless you, and God bless Millie and Vanilla Millie.
- [42:04]
Alison Gill
That is very, very wonderful irony. All right, my friend. Thank you so much, everybody. We'll be right back with the good news. 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, Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone.
- [42:59]
John Fugelsang
Then, good news,
- [43:14]
Alison Gill
Good news, good news. And I'm gonna need you to flood us with good news over this weekend because Dana will be back Monday, and I would like our inbox to be sparkling with photos of otters and your shelter pups and pandas and babies, whatever photo you want to send us to pay your pod pet tariff and get your good news right on the air. Send it to us over this weekend. Anything you've been sitting on, you've been thinking about sending in, now's the time. So in order to get your, you know, well, we've already talked about the picture. Let's talk about the good news. You can send in a good trouble idea. You can send in something great that's happened to you recently or in the distant past. It can be big, it can be small. Anything that'll bring a smile to our faces. We want to read about it. You can give a shout out to a loved one or a nonprofit or yourself or a government program that's helped you or a loved one. Whatever it is, send it to us, please. Daily beanspod.com and click on Contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble comes from Rainbow Crossing Guard pronouns they and them Help us get the Pulse Memorial Crosswalk Repainted In August of last year, the rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub memorializing the lives of the 49 people murdered there, was erased by the state of Florida. There was no process behind this erasure. It was installed in 2017 by the Florida Department of Traffic and it was praised publicly by state officials for its visibility, making visitors to the memorial safer. But then last year, with zero notice, no public comment period, and no chance to fight against it, we awoke to find the crosswalk painted over with black paint by fdot. Local activists got to work immediately and covered the sidewalk with chalk to return the colors, but FDOT kept returning to wash it away. It's been a long year of back and forth. Arrests of chalkers has been made, charges have been dismissed, and the state was not able to provide any record of the work order order that was made to erase our rainbow. Recently, the building itself at Pulse was demolished to make way for a new permanent memorial. But even in the city's proposed memorial plans, they're still refusing to return the colors of our crosswalk. Even worse, representatives for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer have responded to our comments saying they do not care about the colors being returned to the crosswalk and have no interest in having the crosswalk or even the sidewalk repainted after seeing the fight back against Rainbow Crosswalk erasure in other parts of Florida Florida as well as other crossings across the country. This has been a huge letdown for us in this city beautiful. June 12th marks 10 years since our 49 angels were taken from us. Help us convince the City of Orlando to do the right thing and restore their memorial crosswalk to its former glory. You can contact Buddy Dyer's office phone numbers and emails of Dyer and staff can be found@orlando.gov here and we're going to have a link in the show notes and thank you in advance. Lagunati Love y'. All. You are welcome. Thank you so much for this good trouble Rainbow Crossing Guard I love that. All right, first good news up from Beth Pronouns she and her hello lovely legumistas. I want to share that calling your representatives just might work. A few weeks ago, after the horrible Calais decision that's the decision to gut the Voting Rights act more I called my Republican state senator in the deep red south at South Carolina to let him know that I opposed any redistricting. As it turns out, South Carolina Senate voted no to redistrict, at least for now. I don't know if my voice meant anything, but it would have meant nothing if I didn't use it for my pet tariff. I'm sharing a photo I took of a great blue heron drying his feathers by a pond. Beth, thank you so much for that. That is the so right. I don't know if my voice meant anything, but it would have meant nothing if I didn't use it. It was a beautiful photo of a heron, by the way. All right, next up from Kim Pronoun she and her hi beans baby babes. I know you're very interested in Ohio and I'm always thrilled to hear updates about Sherrod Brown. I wanted to suggest you consider some love for Dr. Amy Acton, who's running for Ohio governor against Gross Vivek Ramaswamy and looks poised to win a very, very tight race. Amongst her many accomplishments is that she got Ohio through the first year of COVID with her calm, convincing daily medical guidance. And let's be honest, rural Ohio is still going to a Ohio, but we have enormous blue cities, the state is 43% Democrat and there are lots and lots of independents and everyone is painfully aware of what a half wit Vivec is. My pet tariff is Bonnie, who had her 14th birthday last Friday. She survived nine cancer surgeries. Oh my goodness. And is on a lifetime of chemo and none of that has slowed her down or changed her sweet loving self. She is is amazing. Thank you for all you do. You're welcome, Kim. And thanks for bringing up Dr. Amy Acton. I appreciate it. Down with Vivek Ramaswamy. He's such a butthole. Next up from Joan Rhymes with Bone. Hi. Love you too. And love that you covered the primary election news in Iowa. I'm a lifelong Iowan hoping that our state comes to its senses in 2026. Quick pronunciation correction. Lon is pronounced Lane. Oh, thank you very much. Sort of like how Keen is pronounced Kane, right? Also, Lane is more of a Kansan than an Iowan. You can read about that here. A quick shout out to the Iowa Writers Collaborative on Substack, with a number of writers covering our candidates. A special shout out to Laura Balin and Bob Leonard, two of the IWC's writers. Here is a photo of Hardware Hank, my six year old blank. He is a good guy because I tucked him behind my neck and brought him home as a little puppy. I wasn't driving by the way. He likes to perch on the back of the couch behind me as I write or watch tv. He's the king of all that he surveys. Yes, look at that sweet baby. It looks like a goldendoodle, but it's very tiny, so I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I'm let's see what we've got behind this black box here. Oh, mini goldendoodle. I didn't know those existed. Very, very cool. Well, Hank looks amazing. Thank you so much Joan, for that information. I got it Now, Lane like Cain. All right, from Rob. Pronouns he and him. This is good news overall. First, I want to shout out my amazing wife, Rachel Woot.
- [49:20]
John Fugelsang
Woo.
- [49:21]
Alison Gill
Go Rachel. She listens to the show and she won't realize I'm talking about her. So again, yoo, Rachel, this is a shout out to you. We've had so many adventures, good and bad, in 26 years. But every challenge we faced together and we kicked every single ass. I mean, sure, we got our asses metaphorically kicked from time to time time, but you should have seen the other guy. Next, I want to tell you about the bestest boy, Gibbs. His photos are attached. Feel free to guess his breeds. I'll list them below. He came to us about two years old and stayed with us for 15 and a half years. He was and still is my soul. The pain I felt saying goodbye can't touch the joy that he gave me and my whole family. That's a great way to look at it, Rob. This badass saw the Rainbow Bridge and opted to sprint into Valhalla and raise a little hell with his brothers who passed before for him. Modesty aside, I'm quite pleased with the piece I wrote about him, so I've included it. I plan to write more and keep the happy memories on the top, so we're going to have a link to that writing on his substack. Rob substack in the show notes, shout out to Rachel. And let's see if we can guess these breeds. Oh, I don't know, Husky, German shepherd kind of a thing. Very adorable dog, Rob. All right, let's see what's behind these redaction bars here. German shepherd, husky and mean mother. Shut your mouth. I'm just talking about Gibbs, who's the dog who can. Okay. Anyway, fantastic. Also love this photo of him in some sort of rainbow flag or bag. Anyway, adorable pupper, thank you so much for that. And that's, I love the way you put that. That the sadness of his passing can't touch the joy he brought you. I'm going to remember that when I think of the pets that I've lost. Rob, thank you for that. All right, next up from Paul, pronouns he and him. Dear Allison and Dana, I have some great news to share with you. Earlier in May, my daughter graduated from medical school. Wow. And now I can officially refer to her as my daughter, the daughter. Dr. As if medical school was not challenging enough, she and her amazing wife decided to have a baby going into her third year of med school. Wow. Their son is nearing his second birthday and is the light of all of our lives. This past month has been quite a challenge with them moving from Utah back to the Midwest where my daughter will begin her residency in internal medicine. First, my wife and I went out to Utah for a week for the graduation. Then we flew back with our grandson while my daughter and her wife drove back with their three cats. We all spent the next two weeks together while we waited for the movers to deliver their stuff in what now seemed like a very small house, especially because their three cats joined our four cats, breaking our previous record of six cats. But it was great to spend so much time with them and by the time they moved out, the cats had even grown to tolerate each other. Now they have moved into their new home, which instead of being a three hour flight away, is now just over a one hour drive for us. We're looking forward to spending more time with them in our grandson son as he gets cuter and more interesting by the day. I'm including a picture of this amazing family from graduation. I'm also including a picture of our grandson when we took him to Choo Choo restaurant in Deplane. Is that how you say it or is it Des Plaines where they deliver your meal on the back of a model train set? Our grandson loves choo Choos and he couldn't have been happier. Thanks for all you do to create such a wonderful virtual community. Okay, grandson. Amazing. Amazing. Love the meals delivered on the choo choo tracks. And this is just a beautiful family. Congratulations. You just must be bursting with pride, Paul. How incredible. And now they just live an hour away. That's so, so great. Thank you all so much for your good news. Please send it all in.
- [53:13]
John Fugelsang
Flood.
- [53:14]
Alison Gill
Flood our inbox with good news for Dana's return on Monday. Thanks for hanging out with me solo. I'll see you over on Beans Talk. I'll see you Sunday for unjustified with Andy McCabe and the Breakdown on the Midas Touch Network. And everybody, I hope. Just have a restful, peaceful weekend. And like I said, Dana and I will 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 and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Graham 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.
- [54:18]
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.
- [54:26]
Alison Gill
But don't let them fool you.
- [54:28]
Amanda Sturgill
Get unspun I'm Amanda Sturgel. 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.