← The Daily Beans
The Daily Beans
Lewandowski's Pay-To-Play (feat. John Fugelsang)
00:59:18
Friday, March 20th, 2026 Today, Corey Lewandowski is taking millions of dollars in bribes for government contracts; California renames Ceasar Chavez day amid a backlash from sex abuse allegations; the Pentagon is seeking $200B more from Congress for Trump’s war in Iran; Joe Kent is being investigated by the FBI for leaking classified information; ICE is taking DNA samples from arrested protestors; Bank of America settles an Epstein victim’s lawsuit for an undisclosed amount; and Allison delivers your Good News. Dana is out and about.
Loading summary
Transcript78 lines
- [00:00]
Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Host
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.
- [00:35]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Msw media.
- [00:59]
John Fugelsang
Daily beans
- [01:02]
Allison Gill
daily beans.
- [01:03]
John Fugelsang
Daily beans.
- [01:08]
Allison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, March 20, 2026. Today, Corey Lewandowski is taking millions of dollars in bribes for government contracts. California has renamed Cesar Chavez Day amid a backlash from sex abuse allegations. The Pentagon is seeking 200 billion more from Congress for Trump's war in Iran. Joe Ke is being investigated by the FBI for leaking classified information. ICE is taking DNA samples from arrested protesters. And bank of America settles an Epstein victims lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody, Happy Friday. It's Fugal sang Friday on the Daily Bean. So we'll be talking to John Fugelsang later. Dana's out. This is her last day being out. She'll be back on Monday, Sunday night. If you're a patron of the Daily beans. Because if you're a patron patron, you get these episodes ad free and you get them early, you get them the night before they come out to the public. And right now we're gonna, you know, we still have a $3 a month level, just 36 bucks a year for this, plus all the other benefits of being a patron of the daily beans. But that $3 a month level is going away on March 30th. You got 10 more days to sign up for $3 and then you get to keep that $3 a month membership for life for as long as you want. But it is going away for new subscribers starting on March 31st. So just wanted to get that out there. It's patreon.com muller she wrote. If you've been thinking about joining, you can still get in on a three dollar action. So again, head to patreon.com Muller she wrote. All right, we have so much news to get to and there's a lot to cover. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, Massive, massive bombshell reporting from NBC by my friend Jonathan Allen et al over over at that network more than a year ago, the Geo Group founder George Zoli asked for a meeting with Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of Trump who had just started a powerful position as a top advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. As a titan of the private prison industry, Geo Group stood to benefit from Trump's mass deportation agenda, which would require the federal government to spend tens of billions of dollars to transport, detain, monitor and deport undocumented immigrants. Now, the company' contracts in those areas already totaled more than a billion dollars a year. But Zoli at Geo Group and his advisors were worried that the road to securing new government contracts under Trump now ran through Lewandowski. But the two had history. Lewandowski and Zoli butted heads during the transition between Trump's November 2024 election and his January 2025 inauguration before Lewandowski officially worked for the government. So Zoli and Lewandowski had a big old fight during the transition period. And that's according to two industry sources and a senior DHS official. Now, during the transition, this is what happened. Lewandowski told Zoli he wanted to be paid in exchange for protecting and growing the Geo Group's DHS contracts. So not only will we give you more contracts, I'll make sure you don't lose your current ones, but you got to pay me. That's according to a senior DHS official and three people familiar with the discussion. Zoli, concerned about the propriety of the ask the legality, told Lewandowski he would have no part of it, describing the confrontation as tense, according to sources. Now, Lewandowski took a role then as an unpaid special government employee at DHS once the new administration was sworn in, where he advised and acted as a de facto chief of staff to Kristi Noem, according to sources. And he influenced contracting awards. Now, Zoli scrambled to find a way to patch things up, assuage tensions from the meeting during the transition that he had with Lewandowski. That's according to two industry sources familiar. And he did secure that follow up meeting with Lewandowski in late February or early March of 2025. But the second meeting didn't go much better. Zoli offered to put Lewandowski on retainer, a recurring consulting fee with Geo Group, according to two industry sources familiar with the matter. But Lewandowski balked, saying he wanted to be compensated based on the company's new or renewed contracts with dhs. Quote, he wanted payments what some people would call a success fee. That's what a person familiar said. Now, Zoli declined. And in the months that followed, the Length of the two Geo Groups federal contracts shrank, and currently several of its facilities that could house migrants sit idle. Even as Congress and Trump have poured millions and millions of dollars into mass deportation, GEO Group officials believe that is tied to their not agreeing to Lewandowski's solicitations. Now, a senior DHS official told NBC News that within weeks of Lewandowski's second meeting with Zoli, Lewandowski told him not to award more contracts to GEO Group. Lewandowski, through a spokesperson, denied that. Months later, in December 2025, GEO Group did receive a new contract for $121 million for services that help locate immigrants that DHS is trying to find. We reported on that call for, quote, when it happened, but no longer detention facility stuff. So $121 million contract to help locate immigrants, but their current at the time contracts for housing, detaining immigrants shrank and they didn't get any more additional contracts for detention. Now, Lewandowski's spokesperson denied all of this, all of the interactions with the GEO Group, quote, this is absolutely false. It did not happen. Mr. Lewandowski never demanded any payment or compensation from the GEO Group at any time. That's what his representative said. Asked whether he ever received any money from any of the contracts that he signed off on, Lewandowski previously told NBC News in an interview. Zero. Not one penny. Now lawmakers are asking about Lewandowski. Noem testified at a congressional hearing, as we know, earlier this month, in which lawmakers asked about her and Lewandowski's role in government contracts. Trump called them both and asked Lewandowski questions about his role in DHS contracting decisions. That's according to a source with knowledge of the call. The president fired Noem after the hearings, saying she would depart as secretary coming up on March 31st. And Lewandowski told NBC News he's not decided whether or not he's going to leave DHS with her. On Wednesday, Trump's nominee to replace Noem, Senator Marquene, that's Senator Mullen from Oklahoma, was asked during a congressional hearing if he would cooperate with the investigation by Democratic senators into three businesses that received a $220 million advertising contract featuring Kristi Noem. That probe is looking into whether she or Lewandowski financially benefited from the agreements. Mullen said he would cooperate with any DHS Inspector general investigation. So not Congress. Got it? Speaking of Mark Twain, as predicted, by the way, Fetterman voted yes and his confirmation will now go to a full Senate vote. So even though Rand Paul, the chairman of Homeland Security. Republican well, caucuses with the Republicans voted no. John Fetterman voted yes, saying, why don't you just give him a chance? Now back to this story. One marketing firm abandoned plans to pursue two lucrative DHS contracts after it received requests to indirectly pay Lewandowski. That's according to a person familiar. The marketing firm official recounted the experience to an official in the Trump administration about two months later. That Trump administration official later confirmed that discussion with NBC News. The firm, which had no previous federal contracting experience, was contacted by Salus Worldwide Solutions, according to a person familiar. Salus is run by William Walters, who the Washington Post reported is a donor to the America First Policy Institute, which is a nonprofit that promotes causes aligned with the Trump administration. Now, Salus in May 2025 won a fast Track DHS deal to help carry out deportations, a contract ultimately worth nearly a billion dollars. Now, a person representing Salus asked the owner of this marketing firm whether he was interested in pursuing a $20 million contract to create materials for an agency that falls under dhs. Getting in as a government subcontractor, which could lead to future deals, seemed to the marketing firm owner like a potentially lucrative opportunity. Salus representatives laid out most of the details on a September conference call with the marketing firm, according to the person familiar. But there was one final detail. A representative from Salus called the marketing firm owner after that conference call and said, you're going to have to bring in a consultant to manage it. That's what the representative told the marketing firm owner, quote, manage what exactly? The firm's owner replied, manage the relationship, the representative from Salus said. The marketing firm owner said, I still don't understand. And he blamed that on his lack of experience in federal contracting. Maybe everyone gets a consulting firm with their contracts. I don't know. So he asked the representative to explain it to him in more detail. And the representative quote, we are guaranteed this contract, but we need to make sure we're properly thanking the person who gave it to us. That's what the Salus representative said, naming Lewandowski as the one who had secured the contract and deserved the gratitude. The marketing firm owner was told he could hire one of several consulting firms, all of which are tied to Lewandowski. And that tripped an alarm bell. Imagine that, a private prison contractor marketing firm who works with private prison contractors having a moment, a scrupulous moment. So this tripped an alarm bell. The marketing firm owner ended the call. He phoned two friends who work in federal contracting and asked whether such an arrangement was normal One of them called it a giant red flag and the other raised legal concerns. Is this normal to have to pay Corey Lewandowski through a consulting firm to manage a contract relationship? No. No, it's not. Now, the Salus representative told the marketing firm owner that because he refused to hire the consultant, the marketing firm didn't get the deal. The contract was not ultimately awarded to Salis. A short time later, according to the person familiar with the discussions, Salis reached back out to see whether the marketing firm owner would be interested in working on a DHS outreach campaign. The representative, in a follow up call, told the marketing firm that this contract would be worth 40 or 50 million dollars, but that the marketing company would only get 20 million. The representative would direct the rest to a consulting company tied to Corey Lewandowski. Quote, we will make sure the consultant is handled, the representative said. In both cases, the Salus representatives made it clear to the marketing firm owner that hiring a Lewandowski linked consultant is a condition of winning a contract. A spokesperson for Lewandowski called these allegations patently false. And Mr. Lewandowski had no conversations with anyone regarding a marketing contract. The spokesperson added, any insinuation that someone was speaking on behalf of Mr. Lewandowski was completely unauthorized and if undertaken, it was done so without his knowledge. Well, so then I assume you would want that person prosecuted anyway. A lawyer for Salus denied the accounts of both meetings as entirely false and said Salus would never entertain this type of arrangement. You didn't get the contract, bro. They said Salus was never funded to perform work involving a subcontract to a marketing firm. In both cases, quote, had a prospective subcontractor made us aware of such an alleged communication, Salus would have taken every step to identify whomever had misrepresented themselves as an agent of the company and turned that individual over to law enforcement. Still do that. The lawyer went on to say Salis did not authorize anyone to hire or promise to hire any consultant in connection with any Salis subcontract, let alone as a condition of issuing such a subcontract. The marketing firm turned down the second offer too, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Worried that it might run a foul of the law. Not because you're profiting off of detention, but I mean, everybody's got to watch out for themselves, I guess. That's just an insane story. All right, get this next up from the Washington Post. The Pentagon is asking the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran. Enormous new ask that is almost certain to run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. That number would far surpass the costs of the administration's massive airstrike to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as US And Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past three weeks. That's according to three people familiar with the matter who confirmed that the DoD is seeking a package of $200 billion. The funding request is likely to stage a major political battle in Congress as public support for the effort remains tepid and Democrats have become sharply critical. Republicans have signaled support for the forthcoming supplemental request that haven't committed to a legislative strategy or found a clear path to surpass the Senate's 60 vote threshold. They would have to get rid of the filibuster. $200 billion. It was $50 billion a week and a half ago. Right now it's quadruple that. Meanwhile, our national debt just ticked past 37 trillion dollars. It'll hit 38 trillion next month and 39 trillion in May. Wow. Yeah, the Republican is. The Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility. Unbelievable. Maybe if he hadn't spent a hundred billion dollars on ribeye and crab legs last September and iPads and pianos, maybe you wouldn't need this. Hey, you know what? Borrow it from ICE. They have 130. ICE and CBP have $130 billion slush fund. And you don't care about what money is appropriated by Congress for what? So just go raid that raid, raid those coffers. Next up from Semaphore. The FBI has opened a leak investigation into a top former intelligence official who resigned Tuesday in protest over the war in Iran. The investigation into former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent is focused on allegations that he improperly shared classified information, according to four people with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke to Semaphore. In his resignation letter, Kent wrote that Iran, quote, posed no imminent threat to our nation and accused Trump of starting the war because of pressure from Israel. The investigation predates Kent's departure, according to the four people. One of them described it as having been months long. Trump aides and allies denounced Kent as a leaker immediately after his resignation became public. So yeah, when you're a piece of shit, you don't get a lot of credibility. It's kind of how it works. Next up from npr. In late January, Ben and his wife, Gabby, were driving to their home in northeast Minneapolis when they received a message on an activist group chat that federal immigration officers were nearby. They'd been observing ICE activity in the city for weeks, and so they headed over. A crowd had already gathered when they arrived. Ben, who requested NPR only use their first names because he fears retaliation from the federal government, stood on the side of the road filming the officers who were back inside their car and looked like they were about to leave. But they stopped and got out of the car, he says, and that's when I got tackled. Video of the incident reviewed by NPR shows a masked federal officer running at Ben and slamming him to the ground. Three immigration officers pinned him down and dragged him to their vehicle. Ben says he was held in custody for about three hours before his release. Ben officers photographed and fingerprinted him. Then, before Ben realized fully what was happening, an officer ran a swab similar to a Q tip along the inside of his cheek. It was super casual, ben says. It was just like, okay, yeah, we're going to take this now. Now, NPR found five other people in Illinois, Oregon and Minnesota who described similar occurrences in recent months in statements made under oath as part of lawsuits against the Trump administration's handling of immigration. They said they were arrested seemingly without provocation while protesting ICE and then had officers try to take what appeared to be a sample of their DNA. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that a Maryland state law that forced an arrested person to give their DNA to police was constitutional. But that case involved clear restrictions. It involved a law that required the arrest be for a serious crime, and the arrest had to be lawful based on probable cause. Now, Oren Kerr, who's an expert in these matters, especially the Fourth Amendment law professor at Stanford University, says whether the arrest is lawful is the most pressing question at hand when it comes to the DNA taken from ICE protesters. Quote, what you worry about is an officer making a decision in the field that a person committed a crime when they might not have. Maybe they were doing something protected under the First Amendment. That's what Oren Kerr said. And he went on to say, the officer says, I think you crossed the line. I'm going to arrest you. It turns out the officer was wrong, but the DNA test has been conducted and the information has been entered into the database. What then? Yes, what then? Indeed, There is more to this story@npr.org, you might want to go check it out. You can Google dnais or incur npr and I'm sure it'll pop up for you. Next up from the Associated Press. Bank of America's the third bank to settle now has tentatively settled a lawsuit claiming it ignored suspicious financial transactions involving Epstein while he was sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women. The proposed settlement was revealed in filings in Manhattan federal court Monday, the same day the billionaire financier Leon Black was originally scheduled to be deposed in the case. So they settled before Leon Black had to be deposed. Isn't that just convenient? The terms were not disclosed. The amount has not been disclosed. The bank declined to comment. Though not a defendant, Leon Black was recently described as a critical witness in the case by Sigrid McCauley, a lawyer for Epstein victims. During a hearing last week, a lawyer for Black persuaded Judge Jed S. Rakoff to postpone Black's deposition for 10 days on the grounds that the parties were close to settling. The lawyer, Michael Karlinsky, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The October lawsuit accused the bank of ignoring $170 million that Black paid from a Bank of America account to Epstein purportedly for, quote, tax and estate planning advice. I have been after this $170 million payment and I wanted that Leon Black deposition, but they've settled. The bank has settled for an undisclosed amount. You can add it to JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche bank for settling with Epstein victims. All of these banks settling probably multi million dollar suits. Of course it's an undisclosed amount, but I'm sure it's not small. All of them and no one was charged with a crime. And Pam Bondi continues to cover it up. Speaking of Pam, she gave a briefing to members of Congress today and then said that because of that briefing, she no longer needs to be deposed by Congress on April 14th pursuant to that subpoena that was issued for her deposition. Democratic lawmakers then walked out of the briefing after Jim Comer accused Rep. Summer Lee of, quote, bitching when she pressed Bondi to comply with their lawful subpoena. Typical misogyny, misogynoir going on. Rep. SUMMER lee, fantastic. Representative. She was just bitching when she was trying to, you know, uphold the law against the powerful and wealthy. One of the women most responsible for the COVID up of the Epstein files, Pam Bondi. We'll keep an eye on this story as it develops, but I imagine we'll see a letter from Pam Bondi saying that briefing she gave excuses her from being deposed. She's going to try to say that that bullshit briefing satisfies the subpoena. It does not. And Democratic lawmakers are pretty mad about this. Again, keep an eye on that for you. Next up from the Times. California lawmakers announced Thursday they intend to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day to Farm Workers Day in the wake of devastating accusations of sexual abuse by Mr. Chavez, an iconic labor leader who has been celebrated for decades in the state, I can confirm. Twelve days before the annual March 31 state holiday, leaders of the California State assembly and State Senate said they're introducing a bill to make the change. It came as elected officials across the Southwest are grappling with how to respond to the New York Times investigation that detailed how Mr. Chavez groomed and sexually abused two girls and raped Dolores Huerta, his most prominent farm labor ally. Quote, this moment calls for honesty, it calls for reflection, and it calls for renewed commitment to the values that the farm worker movement has built. That's Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. That's what he said in an emotional floor speech on Thursday, recalling his grandfather's history in the union that fought to improve paying conditions for farm workers. Monique Limon, leader of the California State Senate, said the lawmakers are examining how to update other parts of state law as well, because the Cesar Chavez holiday is mentioned in a dozen different provisions, including educational requirements. Mr. Chavez, who co founded the United Farm workers, died in 1993 at age 66. Been hailed as a civil rights champion for decades, his status only seemed to build over time. His governments and schools hailed him as a hero, holding celebrations and teaching lessons every March, grounded in farm worker history and the fight for Latino equality in the United States. So shocking were these revelations, however, that many state and local leaders raced on Wednesday to distance themselves from Mr. Chavez. The governor of Texas and Arizona almost immediately moved to cancel state observances of Cesar Chavez Day on March 31. In Dallas, city Council members are seeking a different change, renaming the holiday to Dolores Huerta Day and moving it to April 10th, her birthday. I like that solution. Now, Ms. Morguia and another woman, Deborah Rojas, say that Chavez sexually abused them for years when they were girls, 12, 13 years old, from around 1972 to 1977. He was in his 40s. He'd become very powerful, a charismatic figure who captured global attention as a champion of farm worker rights. Now, the two women had not shared their stories publicly before, and that investigation or the New York Times, as I said, uncovered extensive evidence to support their accusations and those raised by several other women against Mr. Chavez. The abuse allegations appear to be part of a larger pattern of sexual misconduct, much of which has never been publicly revealed. The Times Investigation found that Mr. Chavez also used many of the women who worked and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification. His most prominent female ally in the movement. As I said, Dolores Huerta said in an interview that he sexually assaulted her, a disclosure she has never before made publicly. Many of the women stayed silent for decades, both out of shame and for fear of tarnishing the image of a man who has become the face of the Latino civil rights movement. His image is on school murals. His birthday is a state holiday. The Time spoke at length with Ms. Huerta, who is a renowned Latina activist who helped run the farm workers union with Mr. Chavez and coined the social justice rally and cry si se puede, loosely translated as yes we can. She said she has held back on her dark secret for nearly 60 years. Quote unfortunately, he used some of his great leadership to abuse women and children. It's really awful. That's what Ms. Huertas said. Now I want to end the hot notes on some better news. CBS is reporting that the people of Minneapolis St. Paul are being honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile and Courage Award for their response to the federal immigration enforcement operation this winter. And that's according to the JFK Library foundation announcement that happened on Wednesday. The award recognizes residents who risk their lives to protect neighbors and immigrant community members during what the Department of Homeland Security described as the largest federal immigration enforcement enforcement action in U.S. history. The foundation also announced it's going to honor Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest level of government. All right everybody, it's Fugal Sang Fridays. I'm going to be right back with John Fugalang followed by the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [27:04]
John Fugelsang
We'll be right back.
- [27:08]
Allison Gill
There are plenty of days when I want a good home cooked meal, but I don't want to spend a bunch of time planning, shopping, prepping, etc, figuring out at the end of a long day. I just kind of want to chill. And that's exactly why Home Chef has worked so well for me. Just the other day I had their teriyaki salmon and edamame with cabbage and rice. It was fast, easy, delicious, ready in about 20 minutes. I had a dinner that felt fresh, flavorful. It was satisfying. The salmon was a standout. The teriyaki glaze gave it a great sweet and savory finish. The cabbage, the edamame. I love edamame so much. The rice rounded it out nicely. It made the whole dish feel really balanced. I absolutely loved it it 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. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans One thing I really appreciate about Home Chef, the variety. They offer over 30 meal options each week. They're always changing. They have choices that fit all different diets and tastes so it does not feel repetitive, it doesn't get boring. And whatever kind of day you're having, they have an option that matches it. You can do a 30 minute recipe, you can do fresh and light, you can do warm and comfy. There's oven ready trays, there's quick microwave lunches. They have collaborated with chefs like Gordon Ramsay and now they're teaming up with Giada De Laurentiis to bring restaurant quality recipes right to your kitchen. I'm so excited. So for a limited time, Home Chef is offering you 50% off and free shipping on your first box, plus free dessert for life. Just go to homechef.com dailybeans that's homechef.com dailybeans for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.
- [28:44]
Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Host
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.
- [29:19]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans. That means it's Fugal Sang Friday. So I'm joined by my good friend, New York Times bestselling author and he's writing a new book, a second book to follow up, the Separation of Church and Hate, which is always a fun time writing a whole book from scratch. He also hosts Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127. That's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. If you don't have SiriusXM, don't worry, you can catch him on the John Fugal Sang show podcast for free wherever you get your pods. And he also has a sub stack and he's on stages everywhere. If you, oh yes, get a chance to see him live, I highly recommend it. Please welcome My good friend, John Fugelsang. Hi, friend.
- [30:10]
John Fugelsang
Oh, thank you, Allison. It's great to see you. And, yes, it's. I'm only writing another book to have something enjoyable to do in between passing kidney stones. So, yeah, it's. It's right on that level. Wow. I don't know how these real authors do it. I really don't. Especially, I mean, like, if you have a job and your whole job is doing a radio show and being up on Trump all day and then pretending to be a decent father, like, I don't know how I'm supposed to do all this. So thank you for having me, sir.
- [30:36]
Allison Gill
You're an amazing father and an incredible author. You're a New York Times bestselling author.
- [30:39]
John Fugelsang
Okay, this is what I tell my parole officer. He's not swayed, but thank you anyway.
- [30:44]
Allison Gill
Speaking of parole, Mark Wayne Mullen. Mark Wayne Mullet, his nomination has advanced to the full Senate not because Rand Paul voted no, but because John Fetterman voted yes.
- [30:58]
John Fugelsang
Oh, what a shock.
- [30:59]
Allison Gill
As predicted yesterday here on the beans. I said, normally the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee voting no on the DHS secretary would kill your nomination, but not when John Fetterman in the Before Times come in and rescue you.
- [31:17]
John Fugelsang
Yeah. And I mean, also the fact that Rand Paul really is a conservative Republican. Those are endangered species now, more and more. And thank God there's John Fetterman. Just feed it pack money and it'll cheer on the deaths of civilians. Mark Wayne Mullen. I call him Mark Wayne Mullet, you know, because a mullet is for guys who think one head should get two hairstyles. And a Mark Wayne is for guys who think one guy should get two first names. So let's get that out of the way.
- [31:47]
Allison Gill
Well, Ron Johnson stood up for him today on Fox News and said, yeah, but guys, he owns a ranch. So, hey, I mean, if that's all it takes, weeks.
- [31:55]
John Fugelsang
Ron Johnson is insecure because Tommy Tuberville is really trying to become the dumbest senator. And, you know, now that Mark Wayne Mullen is leaving, that's less competition for Ron Johnson. Wasn't it amazing that he did this the same day Tulsi Gabbard testified for the Intelligence Committee? I thought it amazing, these two people. It was like a confirmation hearing and a live demonstration on why people don't trust confirmation hearings. Because it was like, when I think of protecting democracy, Alison, it's always two different people in charge of democracy stuff who are election deniers still. And I was so glad they brought it up yesterday. That Mark Wayne Mullen is still a 2020 election denier and he wants to oversee our next elections, but he can't admit that Joe Biden won 2020 and that's why he got the job. Like, he's not going to be sleeping with Corey Lewandowski, which makes me almost like him less, but otherwise, I don't. Yeah, I don't know why we should expect anything different from Kristi Noem when the entire job is performative racist theater to make Donald Trump happy. He's gonna go as far as he can, and at some point, if he goes too far, he knows he's gonna be exactly like Christie and get the hatchet for it. You know, he only hires dopes and fall guys. And Mark Wayne Mullen is a dope and doesn't realize that he's a fall guy as well.
- [33:16]
Allison Gill
Yeah, and let's be clear here. Rand Paul, Libertarian, conservative, Republican. Whatever. Look.
- [33:22]
John Fugelsang
Wow. We're in bed with Rand Paul.
- [33:24]
Allison Gill
He's the kind of guy who only gives a shit about somebody if they've personally attacked him. If he cared about what Mark Wayne could do to the rest of us, that would be nice, but only because Mark Wayne said something about, oh, I understand why your neighbor assaulted you, which he got him to retract, but I think. Not apologize for.
- [33:46]
John Fugelsang
He did not apologize.
- [33:47]
Allison Gill
And, you know, that's why I, you know, Rand Paul. Whatever, fuck you. But, you know, for him to say something as astute as maybe a guy with such a temper problem and anger management issues shouldn't be in charge of an agency.
- [34:03]
John Fugelsang
Right.
- [34:03]
Allison Gill
That has temper issues and anger management problems.
- [34:07]
John Fugelsang
Right.
- [34:08]
Allison Gill
You know, especially with their use of force at ICE and Customs and Border Protection. So I, you know, I thought that that was a good point. A broken clock is, you know, twice a day, et cetera. Yeah, but I'm not going to lionize Rand Paul for a minute.
- [34:23]
John Fugelsang
No, if Rand Paul is your moral compass, it's already over Mark Wayne. I mean, when they said, like, will you send federal agents to polling places? And he basically said, you know, only if there's a threat. And we know who decides what a threat is, so we know exactly how. Yeah, we know how corrupt this guy's going to be already. It's like. And, yeah, while he's doing this Tulsi Gabbard, this. This human shrug emoji is testifying to intel, pretty much just trying to edit her resume in real time, you know, like, she's someone who. We only know her name.
- [34:56]
Allison Gill
She edited her opening remarks in real time.
- [34:58]
John Fugelsang
In real time. We only know her name because she's had all these years building a political identity around opposing reckless wars and warning us about war with Iran and calling Donald Trump China's bitch. And now she's out there editing her personal testimony in real time in the room like it's her damn resume. And she actually told more truth than I think she meant to, because they said, did the intel community assess that Iran's nuclear program was destroyed? She said, yes. And then she said, has Iran tried to rebuild it? She said, no, if Donald Trump could understand that, she'd be fired already. But more or less, she said that the threat was not immediate, which is exactly what her outgoing pal Joe Kent said. And the program's not active, but they were still supposed to panic. She was playing for the audience of one, hoping he wouldn't understand what she said. And that was the rest of her testimony. Like. Like, was the president warned about these consequences? And Tulsi's like, oh, I'm. We had internal conversations, which means I know the answer, and my job depends on me not saying the answer that I know. I thought Jon Ossoff was great on her. But again, both of them, Mark Wayne and Tulsi, these are the people who would oversee elections and intelligence and federal power going into the midterms. One won't say who won the last election, and the other won't say what justifies the next war. They're both just like, we'll handle democracy. Sit down. And neither of them are fit to hold their jobs.
- [36:24]
Allison Gill
Right. And the forced bootlicking is something to see so we can talk about Tulsi and her changing her stuff around. Is trying to stay quiet these last few weeks since the war started because she's had a very clear position on this, but so has J.D. vance. J.D. vance, every time he opens his mouth for this war, is lowering his chances to be the candidate in 2028. And he knows it. And he would rather just crawl into a hole, sink into a couch like Marco Rubio, maybe a giant pair of Florsheim shoes. I'm not sure, but that. And then the Mike Johnson capitulation this week where he outed Dunn's heart condition and that he was supposed to only live until June. Did you see that really weird conversation? I mean, that was.
- [37:09]
John Fugelsang
I saw that really weird conversation. And Mike Johnson deserves every moment of awkwardness he gets for the choices he has made. And by the way, I love that you're the only person to talk about J.D. vance sinking into a couch and still make it tasteful. So thank you for not making that dirtier than it needed to be. Oh, you just, you picked it up and you brought it home. You didn't do anything with it. And I respect it.
- [37:33]
Allison Gill
I set him up. You knock him down.
- [37:35]
John Fugelsang
Fugal saying, but, I mean, but like, this was hilarious. He, JD Vance knows how much trouble he's in. Like, he warned about Iran so many times over and over, said that Kamala would do it. He kept saying, don't touch the stove. The stove is hot. And now the stove is on fire and the house is burning down. And J.D. vance is outside saying, Joe Biden left the stove on because that's all he's got. He's blaming Joe Biden for gas prices that went down under Biden and are now going up a year after Biden has left. And he's saying to the journalist, you're trying to drive a wedge between me and the president. And it's like, no, you douchebag, the wedge is your own quote, you brought the wedge to this party. And it's like watching J.D. vance tries to, like, bookmark his future integrity by refusing to use it right now. And he doesn't understand yet that there's no way maga's ever going to make him president. I think Tucker Carlson is going to run for president in 2028. And the day Joe Kent resigned, I said, I bet this guy gets a position in Tucker's cabinet. And I swear to you, the next day, there he was on Tucker's show. The fact that Joe Kent called out the Israeli involvement told me that, oh, this is the Tucker wing of the Republican Party that's going to tell the truth about one thing. And you know, it's nice to hear them talking about undo Israeli government influence on our government. But when they seem like they don't like Jewish people too much to begin with, it's not really a very solid alliance.
- [39:03]
Allison Gill
Yeah, there's not even a fine line between that. I mean, there's. There's a way to oppose Netanyahu and not be an anti Semitic piece of shit.
- [39:12]
John Fugelsang
Not that hard.
- [39:12]
Allison Gill
Yeah, they can't find that line and his resignation letter full of tropes, just absolutely full of anti Semitic language. And very clearly by who is now under investigation, by the way. Yes, but I think that began a little bit before he decided to resign. So now it's like, I didn't quit. You fired me. You can't fire me. I have no idea what's going on there. But it's not good.
- [39:38]
John Fugelsang
This is the Mike Pence school of being considered a great and brave patriot because you told the truth about one thing in your entire career. That's what this is. And we should look for a lot.
- [39:48]
Allison Gill
He didn't even do it right.
- [39:49]
John Fugelsang
He didn't, but we should look for a lot more Republicans. This schism is only going to widen. I mean, Iran is not going to distract anybody from Epstein. And Epstein should have fractured the party the way Iran is right now. But we should prepare ourselves for a lot more of these fractures in the GOP over the next few months. And JD Vance really thinks that he can somehow do some kind of Ouija board economics to blame it all on Joe Biden, who just looks better and better and better every day.
- [40:17]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And now we've got in another story, bombshell story from NBC, Corey Lewandowski's paying people tens of millions of dollars, requiring people pay him tens of millions of dollars in order to keep not only get new but keep old contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. There was a vendor who wanted to do a marketing thing with dhs and there was this new thing on there that said, well, you have to also pay another $20 million to hire this. I can't remember what they called it. Some sort of a consulting firm on behalf of Corey Lewandowski in which you had to thank him properly.
- [40:56]
John Fugelsang
Homeland Security contractors. Yeah. Bring a tribute.
- [40:59]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And so $20 million, half of which would go to Lewandowski. So now not only is he just like, at least Tom Homan had the courtesy to take the $50,000 directly in a Kava bag and not put together an entire, you know, LLC s Corp or whatever to do consulting so that they can also make money off of it.
- [41:19]
John Fugelsang
Oh, he only got caught once. We don't know that. He only got caught with one bag. Never forget, Tom Holman may have picked up a lot of bags, but what
- [41:26]
Allison Gill
happened to the old fashioned bag men who just took the money, who just took the bribes directly instead of having to go through a firm? I mean, it just seems a little
- [41:33]
John Fugelsang
excessive because he knows that Pam Bondi will never go after him for criminality and that Trump will promise him on the way out.
- [41:40]
Allison Gill
Yeah, yeah.
- [41:41]
John Fugelsang
Unless, of course, Trump doesn't survive his term and whoever replaces Trump doesn't pardon him.
- [41:47]
Allison Gill
But that's why I said, have we ever had any deathbed pardons? I was thinking about this several months ago. If he doesn't make it out, you know, if he leaves the White House feet first, so to speak, do you think there will be deathbed pardons. And has that ever happened? I looked it up. There hasn't.
- [42:03]
John Fugelsang
I think Melania and Don Jr. Will sell Deathbed pardons. And they will testify that Trump, with his dying words, said, you have to pardon Gilbert Elaine Maxwell for all the good she did. There'll be a lot of deathbed pardons, and they'll be for sale, and there'll be more than one, and it'll be hilarious.
- [42:20]
Allison Gill
And if they aren't for sale, it'll be due to undue pressure. You know, Most of those FBI 302s that were finally released by the Department of Justice all came from documents that Ghislaine Maxwell has in her discovery. Well, none of the other 302s came out, just the ones that Ghislaine has. Find that really interesting.
- [42:37]
John Fugelsang
What's fascinating about Corey Lewandowski, and I've never said that sentence before, but beyond the fact that he was the first Donald Trump campaign manager to be fired back in 2015, before Paul Manafort was fired, and then Steve Bannon came in, that Lee Windowski, they've known about these. These bribes, these Mafia tributes since October. And, you know, Pam, Bonnie's not gonna do a damn thing about it. But I would imagine this is kind of not entirely unrelated to his close personal friend and colleague Kristi Noem losing her job last week. Because right after Kristi Noem gets deposed, suddenly these stories are openly leaked and being circulated. I mean, it just seems like it has to be connected somehow. And if this guy's bragging to DHS that allegedly, he said, I can do whatever the fuck I want because Trump's gonna pardon him. I mean, I know these are some terrifying bootlickers, but, boy, when we get our Warren Commission, our Truth and Reconciliation Nuremberg Committee, when this is done, they're gonna have to follow the money. And Lewandowski. Look, I don't care if this guy gets away with the money. I don't care if he never goes to jail. I just don't want these people in positions of governance anymore.
- [43:48]
Allison Gill
Yeah, we're kind of lowering the bar a little bit on justice these days.
- [43:52]
John Fugelsang
Seriously? Because I'm in favor of bringing back tar and feathering. I think tar and feathering is a fine, green kind of penalty for these people. What we're going to do, incarcerate them. Let's humiliate them in front of their children.
- [44:03]
Allison Gill
Well, here's the thing. Jeanine Pirro is on a losing streak at the D.C. u.S. Attorney's office. And after Judge Boasberg threw out the subpoenas against Jerome Powell. She got up in a press conference and said, the reason I lose so many cases is because I'm not afraid to bring all the crimes to the federal grand jury. I don't care if I get a not guilty. I don't care if I get a no. True. Bill, thank you very much. And so now she's got two slam dunk cases with Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski. Let's see if she takes them up. She could really upper winning percentage there.
- [44:36]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, let's, let's, let's go to Polymarket and bet on that one. I mean, you know, again, it's like, it's like this kind of crime is okay, just like persecuting Christians is okay if they're not white. Right? Like, you know, it's like they don't care about crime when it's their own side, when it's a white person with a means committing it. And they don't care about Christians being persecuted if it's, you know, Haitians that we're trying to deport to a war zone or the Christian refugees at our southern border we call illegals. All they care about is their own power, their own eminence, their own caste. These are the shittiest, crappiest aristocrats any First World society has ever seen. And I'm not going to support any Democrat who doesn't promise tons and tons of accountability for this. We need to scare fascists back into a hole for another 80 years when this is done. I'm seriously, like, like, are American Christians going to make the same mistake German Christians made 90 years ago and completely give themselves over to authoritarianism over decency. I want to believe that Donald Trump's own awfulness at everything, that his own incompetence, will wake up a lot of people. And we're seeing more and more people wake up every day from the MAGA hole. Prices are going to get higher. It's going to tear this party apart. And I just, you know, I don't care who's running for president. I only care about the midterms, and I only care about the Democrats who promise real accountability. Because I don't want to ever have my kid live through this kind of fascism scare.
- [46:09]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Affordability and accountability, those are the two things. And, you know, especially if we get a majority in one or both chambers, not even everybody has to be on board. We just have to have enough people with a backbone to start these, these investigations.
- [46:26]
John Fugelsang
And Trump knows he's getting Impeached again. He knows he's getting impeached again.
- [46:30]
Allison Gill
And I'm willing to bet that they will. And I do. I'm willing to make that bet. I have some extra money lying around because I put a bet down on polymarket that Kalshee would be indicted by the end of the month. So, hey, I made a little bit of. I'm just kidding.
- [46:43]
John Fugelsang
That's the most meta thing I've ever heard.
- [46:45]
Allison Gill
Meta? No, I did it on meta.
- [46:48]
John Fugelsang
Ah, very nice. You know what? I just had a good week myself. I don't know. I haven't really been reading the news much, but I was just offered an incredible deal. It cost my life savings, but an incredible licensing deal on all Cesar Chavez merch. I got it for, like, a song. I'm broke now, but I'm sure for the future holidays, I'll be in great shape.
- [47:09]
Allison Gill
Oh, man. We can talk about Cesar Chavez next week. I encourage everybody to read the statement put out by his family. I think they did a good job.
- [47:19]
John Fugelsang
I think so, too. And again, Democrats eject them. Republicans reelect them. This is progress.
- [47:24]
Allison Gill
Yeah, right. All right, my friend, thank you so much for joining us today. I really encourage everybody to listen to Tell Me Everything. It's on Sirius XM progress channel, 127 weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And of course, I am sure if you are within the sound of my voice, you already have your copy of Separation of Church and Hate. But if you don't grab one, grab ten, put them around the little free libraries in your neighborhood, build a little free library in front of your house and just stock it with that book, because that word needs to get out. Thank you so much, my friend. It was good to see you today.
- [47:55]
John Fugelsang
Hey, listen, I'm just gonna go off and alienate all my European allies and then ask them for more help next week. You have a great one. Thank you, Allison, for all you do.
- [48:02]
Allison Gill
Yes. As long as I can stab you in the back and then ask you to come back and help me, whatever it is.
- [48:06]
John Fugelsang
Oh, my God. Like, can you. He went from, like, NATO or freeloaders, and within two minutes, he's like, hey, Beijing, you up? You still up? Oh, make it.
- [48:14]
Allison Gill
We don't need you. We need you.
- [48:16]
John Fugelsang
Help.
- [48:16]
Allison Gill
Yeah, it's. It's bad. And we knew it would be. And he knew it would be. At least somebody briefed him on it, but maybe they used words instead of pictures and he didn't pick up the message. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how good at interpretive drawings. Tulsi Gabbard is. So we will. We're in it now.
- [48:34]
John Fugelsang
You know what? Voters who don't think say Trump says what we think. So, yeah. Thank you.
- [48:40]
Allison Gill
Well said. All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news.
- [48:44]
Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Host
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.
- [49:19]
Allison Gill
MSW Media, Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
- [49:33]
John Fugelsang
Everyone? Then good news,
- [49:49]
Allison Gill
Good news, good news. And if you have any good news at all, maybe a good trouble suggestion, maybe a shout out to a loved one or yourself, maybe a government program that you that's helped you or a loved one, maybe a shout out to some great community active activism in your area, a nonprofit. You want us to know about a funny joke, anything that will bring a smile to our face? Send it to us. All your good news and good trouble. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact and all you got to do to get your submission on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, you can really just attach a photo of anything that'll bring a smile to our face. It can be a random animal on the Internet, your baby photos, an adoptable pet in your area, some signs at a protest rally that you love so we can get ideas to make signs for no Kings on March 28th. It can be your garden, your chickens, your goats, your horse. It can be anything at all. Sunset, maybe that you had recently. Send it to us daily beanspod.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble. All right, everybody, red alert. Call your senators. Tell them to block Mark Wayne Mullen's confirmation as DHS secretary. It has made it out of committee because of John fucking Fetterman. So you need to call everybody. This is a quote. Republicans control the Senate and one Democrat has already vowed to support Mullen's confirmation. We need to put the pressure on demand. All senators oppose this nomination. A vote for Marquene Mullen is a vote for doubling down on ICE and Border Patrol's lawless violence paid for on taxpayers dimes. Senators already know what happens when they confirm a dangerous and cruel DHS secretary. Remind them they cannot be allowed to dodge public scrutiny. Our friends, the fine folks@indivisible.org have a script they make calling your senator easy. We'll have a link in the show notes for you from Indivisible. Thank you so much to our friends at Indivisible. We're going to be talking to the co executive Director and co founder of Indivisible, Ezra 11 on Monday. All right, first up from Annie in the good news pronoun, she and her hi Beans Queens after my dog Pebbles and I loaf around in bed for a bit in the morning, the daily beans is the first thing I play. Consequently, as soon as Pebbles hears news with swearing, she jumps up and does her happy dance because it's dog park time. She's a one year old blank. The color is called a Chocolate Merle and I love her so much. I've attached a couple pictures of her including one with her favorite human child and one of her melting off of her beanbag chair. We're thankful you two keep your faces directly in the fire hose of shit so you can highlight the important stuff for those of us who get to look away. Fuck Trump no Kings. Oh my goodness. What is this Sweet angel baby of a dog. This looks like a giant massive Great Dane is what this looks like. Chocolate Merle. What a beauty. I wonder how much. I wonder how much Pebbles weighs. Yep, Great Dane. I got it right. Yay. I have. I'm at 100% so far on guess and dog breeds today. Let's see if we can keep it up. Next up from Karen pronoun she and her hi adorable beans queens. Karen from Sweden here. I heard something a while ago that I found interesting. Someone compared our democracies and defined the USA as an excluding democracy with registration, voting days on work days, et cetera, and Sweden and most Western European countries as inclusive democracies. We are automatically registered to vote once you turn 18. Elections are always on a Sunday. You can vote early in the public library or the townhouse. I was not really aware of that and I'm very thankful for our inclusive variant. For my POD pet tax I send a family photo from my youth. I am the small one in front. Apparently they took about 30 pictures of me and my sister and couldn't keep it together. Love the tired look on my parents face. Oh yeah, look at that. That mom's like huh huh, look at you beautiful little babies. So great. Yeah, Karen, super jealous of your inclusive democracy. See, we've got big corporations who dump money into politics so that they can keep making millions of dollars and screw the little guy and keep getting cheap ass labor and us over and so they keep pouring more money in. We don't, you know, we got. We have to stop it. We have to figure something out. That's why they keep trying to suppress our votes, because the rich people want to keep getting richer. Every single problem in this country is because of billionaires. Every single one. All right, next up, Anonymous, aprn, cns, bc, ccrn, pronoun she and her. Hi. I have some good trouble for some investigative reporter to get into after seeing that cringe fest between our dementor in chief and Mike Johnson on the breakdown today. Did Trump illegally get a new heart for that much needed vote of his? Did that guy jump the line for for a transplant, leaving someone else who was next on the list to die because the person didn't have a Republican vote in Congress? If he needed a new valve or heart failure management, that's something that could easily have been done in Florida, which has a Cleveland Clinic campus, a cardiac center so renowned the Shah has had his surgery there all the way in from Iran in Naples. Now if they gave him a few months to live, that sounds like a transplant. That is what I thought. Anonymous and I had this discussion with my BFF and I was like, did they, did Trump buy him a heart on the black market to keep his vote? Like, what the fuck happened here? I'm so with you on this. Anything fixable could happen at myriad Florida hospitals. And the fact that he would skip the world renowned heart center at the Cleveland Clinic to go to Walter Reed which specializes in soldier stuff like amputation and tbi. Sounds very sketchy to me. Soldiers have very young fit hearts. Just saying. My podpet tax is a sweet dog I met at the last no Kings rally in Hood River, Oregon. I'm getting my sign ready for March 28th. It's coming up a week from Saturday already. I know time is flying by. The midterms start early. Voting starts in like 170 days in the midterms. All right, look at this. Bite the bad orange man. Oh, what a sweet pupper. Now there's nothing to guess on this dog breed, so I am still at 100% for the day. Next up from Anonymous. Holajoles. I want to give a shout out to all the amateur but expert organizers making the resistance movement possible from Tiny towns to big cities. Organizers are what transform us from a bunch of randos into formidable collective power. So well put. Volunteer coordinators, event planners, safety trainers, outreach directors, digital security gurus, inter organizational network builders, graphic designers, fundraisers, website mavens, city permit and police, police liaisons, portaloo wranglers, meeting facilitators, trash and recycling honchos. And if you get just one other person to join you in some resistance work, you're an organizer too. Cheers to all the organizers that make our collective impact possible. And cheers to Allison and Dana for organizing this dispersed but mighty community of Leguminati. For my pod pet tax. Here is John Henry, pretending to be regal. Good luck guessing his breed makeup. You almost can't go wrong. Really? And really, screw genetics. To me, he'll always be 100% my perfect, bestest, lovable wing nut, John Henry in descending percentage. Oh my God, there's so many. It's such a long black box here that I'm afraid I'm gonna screw this up. Beagle. Let's see. Beagle healer. It looks like there's some maybe cattle dog in there. Maybe collie. There could be. It looks like a head on a dead. The head of a dog on a different dog. Maybe a ridgeback. Chow chow. Pit bull. There could be so many things in this absolutely beautiful Aristotle's perfect form of a dog. Let's see what we got. Lab treeing walker, coonhound, cattle dog, super mutt, German shepherd, Akita, Great Pyrenees and a coonhound. All I got was the cattle dog. Damn it. Well, that drops me down to like a 6% success rate on what the mutt today. But I win because I get to see this beautiful photo of this dog. All right, next up, Anonymous Pronoun. She and her. Hearing the reports about HIV medications being withheld makes me so angry. I wanted to make sure that people understand this not only hurts the patients, but society as a whole. Keeping HIV patients viral load down helps prevent the spread of the disease, keeping the number of cases low benefits us all agreed. Anonymous. For my pod pet tariff, I'm including a pic of my rescue pup and bestest girl. Thanks for all you do. Aw, she's beautiful. So great. All right, next up from Jill Pronoun. She and her AG and dg. My wife Karen has been listening to your podcast for a long time. She always told me you need to listen to the daily beans. I think you'll like it. Well, finally last summer I was really stressed with this administration. I started to listen on my Drive to work. Well, now I look forward to it. Each day you bring clarity and swearing to the news, which I love. My wife recently retired and she has an artistic side and started to paint rocks with positive messages to hide on her daily walks. This is one way she's sharing her good news in a world of hate. For my tariff. This is our daughter, Harper Lee. Yes, after the author and a purebred blank. Thanks for all you do. These rocks are beautiful. The paint is, like, so vibrant. I especially love the tree with the rainbow background. And I mean, I love them all, but man, and the dots. We have another artist that does dots named Gail that listens to the beans. Jill, these are gorgeous. Karen, thank you. Thanks for suggesting that other people listen to the podcast. Really appreciate it. Let's see this dog here. Well, that to me looks like. I feel like I'm going to get it wrong, but it looks like a purebred golden retriever. I just, I'm feeling less confident after that super mutt. But let's see. Yep, yep, golden retriever. What a sweet baby as well. Thank you so much for sending that in and that incredible shout out. And thanks to everybody for sending in your good news. Dana will be back on Monday again. If you want to see where she's at, see where she's performing, attend her galas, attend her shows, join her Patreon. You can do all of that@danagoldberg.com if you want to become a patron of the Daily beans at the $3 level a month, which is going away on March 30, you want to get in under the wire and keep that $3 a month payment for life. I mean, you can quit whenever you want, but you'll lose the $3 after March 30th. I'm not saying you have to send it to us for life. No, that's not how it works. But anyway, you can go to patreon.com mueller, she wrote, and you can get the Daily Beans ad free and early. Thank you so very much, everybody. Again, Dana will be back Monday. There'll be an episode of unjustified, Andy McCabe. There'll be an episode of the Breakdown with me over on Midas Touch on Sunday at noon Pacific. And something else is happening this weekend, and I can't remember what it is, but I'm sure it's important, and that is why I'm forgetting it. Either way, I will see you guys Monday with Dana in tow. 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'm AG and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.