← The Daily Beans
The Daily Beans
Low Fidelity (feat. Phil Williams; Rep. Sara Jacobs)
00:52:05
Wednesday, June 18th, 2025 Today, the 9th Circuit heard arguments over Trump’s National Guard deployment to California; a federal judge has blocked Trump’s passport policy targeting transgender people; Trump has left the G7 early to return to Washington as he tells everyone to evacuate Tehran; a counter protester arrested at Nashville’s No Kings march has been hit with gun charges; Senator Mike Lee has taken down his tweets about the Minnesota assassin after being confronted by Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar; New York mayoral candidate Brad Lander has been arrested by ICE on trumped up charges of assaulting an agent; a federal judge has held the Florida Attorney General in civil contempt; for the second time the Government Accountability Office has found the Trump administration illegally impounded funds; the NAACP is refusing to invite the president to their annual convention for the first time in its 116 year history; Trump reverses course on arresting migrants at farms a...
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Today, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments over Trump's National Guard deployment to California. A federal judge has blocked Trump's passport policy targeting transgender people. Trump has left the G7 conference early to return to Washington, D.C. as he tells everyone to evacuate Tehran. A counter protester was arrested at Nashville's no Kings march and he's been hit with gun charges. Senator Mike Lee has taken down his disgusting tweets about the Minnesota assassin after being confronted by Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar. New York mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by ICE on trumped up charges of assaulting an agent. A federal judge has held the Florida Attorney General in civil contempt for a second time. The Government Accountability Office has found the Trump administration illegally impounded funds. The NAACP is refusing to invite the President to their annual convention. For the first time in its 116 year history, Trump has reversed course on arresting migrants at farms and hotels. And Mike Lindell has to pay $2.3 million for defaming the Dominion Voting SE CEO. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:32]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:36]
Allison Gill
Happy Wednesday, my friend, and to you.
- [01:38]
Dana Goldberg
It is the change of the week, everybody. We're going forward or backward? We're gonna find out.
- [01:42]
Allison Gill
Change of the week and who's the gay of the day for the show?
- [01:46]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, the gay of the day today, if you're listening, on the 17th, the night of the 17th, Brian Michael Smith. He's an incredible trans actor. He's on 911, Lone Star. He was on the L Word, Generation Q. But he's an incredible activist. He's also on the board of directors for the Human Rights Campaign. He was the trans man to be named to the list of World's Sexiest Man, People's sexiest man alive, I think. World's Sexiest Man, People's sexiest man alive. And people are loving the video and they know Brian Michael. It's nice to see a different side of him. And then today, June 18, the gay of the day is Billie Jean King.
- [02:20]
Allison Gill
Excellent, excellent, excellent. I love these so much. Everybody follow DG comedy, especially over there on Instagram, and share these videos so that everybody can learn a thing or two about.
- [02:29]
Dana Goldberg
People are really enjoying them. Even in the community. They're like, I had no idea. Yep, we need to learn about our own history sometimes, too.
- [02:35]
Allison Gill
Yes, indeed. This is going to be a big show today. We're going to have Phil Williams From News Channel 5 Nashville to discuss the arrest of a Guy who's like obsessed with Nazis and mass murderers. He was arrested at the Nashville no Kings rally and he's been hit with some gun charges. The weird thing is is that the cops went into his home and found illegal and unlawful guns back in April, but he wasn't detained. So we're learning more about that as it unfolds. We're also going to have a Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs on, you know, fantastic. Yeah, she's incredible. She was at the no Kings rally in San Diego. I saw her there. And she's also on the House Armed Services Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee. So we're going to talk about what's going on with Iran and Israel. Also today, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals oral arguments over Governor Gavin Newsom and and Attorney General Rob Bonta's lawsuit to get control back rest control back of the California National Guard from Donald Trump. So we're gonna talk about. Well, you can actually head to muellershirote.com because I have an in depth interview with Adam Klassfeld from All Rise News up there now about that hearing that happened on Tuesday.
- [03:41]
Dana Goldberg
All right.
- [03:42]
Allison Gill
Mike Lee took down his horrible tweets after being confronted by Amy Klobuchar and teacher.
- [03:46]
Dana Goldberg
Such a jackass.
- [03:47]
Allison Gill
I know he should. He needs to be expelled from Congress for that. It's a bunch of. Also, Mike Lindell lost in court. The pillow man, pillow guy. He's lost again. You can check out. We'll go in depth on that on today's Clean up on Aisle 45 podcast for that story. So check out me and Harry Dunn.
- [04:05]
Dana Goldberg
And we are starting off the episode with good news. I've been watching this case and I'm really happy to see that it's falling where it is right now. This is from Reuters. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and non binary Americans nationwide that reflect their gender identities. After finding it was likely unconstitutional, U.S. district Judge Julia Kobic in Boston issued a preliminary injunction and expanded an earlier order she issued in April that had stopped the US State Department from enforcing the policy in the case of just six people. So this is good news. I'm glad that this is happening. It is bullshit that it's happening. And I hope that the people who have a lot of their forms and a lot of their birth certificates and Social Security cards in the hands of this government that are just trashing them are gonna be able to get them back and hopefully get a passport with the right gen. Yeah.
- [05:00]
Allison Gill
And this was originally she issued the block for Just the six people who sued. But now, today, this is a nationwide injunction.
- [05:05]
Dana Goldberg
Fantastic.
- [05:06]
Allison Gill
Wonderful. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the Times, Brad Lander. The New York City comptroller who's running for mayor, was arrested on Tuesday by federal agents in an immigration court in lower Manhattan as he tried to escort a migrant out of the courthouse to prevent his arrest by federal immigration authorities, who were wearing, like, jeans and T shirts and masks, by the way. Mr. Lander, a Democrat, he was at the city's main immigration courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza to observe court proceedings where an increasing number of migrants who appear for court like they're supposed to have had their charges dismissed and then have been rearrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in recent weeks. Video taken by reporters at the courthouse show Mr. Lander standing by a migrant man in a crowded hallway. When several men who appear, I guess, to be law enforcement officers, they don't appear to be law enforcement to me. Some of them wearing masks. They. They walk up to the pair in an apparent attempt to arrest the migrant. And Mr. Lander repeatedly asks the agents whether they have a judicial warrant and then walks behind them, appearing to hold on to the man as the agents shepherd him toward the elevators. The video was posted on social media by a reporter from the City, a digital news outlet. After being released, Lander said at a press conference, quote, I'm happy to report I'm just fine. I lost a button. But I'm going to sleep in my bed tonight, safe with my family at that elevator. I was separated from someone named Edgar. Edgardo is now in ICE detention and he's not going to sleep in his bed tonight. Also, when leaving the courthouse. This is amazing. Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state of New York is dedicating $50 million for legal assistance for immigrants like those who may be targeted by ice.
- [06:49]
Dana Goldberg
That is wonderful. Thank you, Alison. This one's from the Times. President Trump on Tuesday called for Iran's unconditional surrender, cited the possibility of killing Iran's supreme leader, and referred to Israel's war efforts with the word quote, we all apparent suggestions that the United States could enter the war against Iran. Now, Mr. Trump's comments in social media posts came as Israel has been pressing the White House to intervene militarily in the conflict with Iran to put an end to that country's nuclear program. The president has long professed opposition to getting involved in foreign wars and has expressed hopes for a Negotiated agreement with Iran. Now, Iran had prepared missiles and other military equipment for strikes on US Bases in the Middle east should the United States join Israel's war against the country. That's according to American officials who have reviewed intelligence reports. The United States has sent about three dozen refueling aircraft to Europe that could be used to assist fighter jets protecting American bases or that would be used to extend the range of bombers involved in any possible strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
- [07:56]
Allison Gill
Yeah, and what this seems to be, Iranian.
- [07:58]
Dana Goldberg
Excuse me, I'll just correct myself there. Iranian nuclear facilities.
- [08:01]
Allison Gill
Yeah, thanks. And what this seems to be is that, see, like Israel, they don't have the ability to drop 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs, but the United States does. And so it seems like Bibi Netanyahu is like, hey, do us a favor, you know, go in with, you know, because we moved some B2s close to over there.
- [08:25]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [08:25]
Allison Gill
A while ago we talked about that. And then they scrambled these refueling tankers for the Air Force recently. But it seems like Bibi is like, hey, help us out because we want to destroy that underground nuclear facility there and Israel can't do it themselves. And, you know, Trump's always wanted a Nobel Peace Prize. He, he's going to spin this, that, you know, dropping a 30,000 pound bomb on this enrichment site, potential enrichment site, is going to bring peace right to the Middle East. Right. That's what he'll, he'll be saying. He's always been really mad that Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize. And he. All right, next up from the post, the Department of Homeland Security on Monday told staff it was reversing guidance issued last week, just last week, that agents were not to conduct immigration raids on farms and hotels and restaurants, a decision that stood at odds with Trump's call for mass deportation of anyone without legal status. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ice, including its Homeland Security Investigations Division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants. Not the owners, not the wealthy white owners. Right. Just the workers. And that's according to two people familiar with the call. The new instructions were shared in an 11am call to representatives from 30 field offices across the country. So looks like Stephen Miller won this round.
- [09:53]
Dana Goldberg
I hate when he wins anything. This one's also from the Times. The Trump administration broke the law. Shocking. I know everyone when it withheld funding to the nation's libraries, a nonpartisan government watchdog said on Monday. And a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country's spending. The decision by the Government Accountability Office was the second time in two months that oversight officials have found fault in the ways that Trump and his top aides have tried to circumvent lawmakers in their quest to reshape the federal budget so that it conforms with their political views. And by lawmakers, we're talking about Congress because they hold the power of the purse. The inquiry concerned the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which serves as the federal government's primary source of funding for libraries, museums and archives. In March, Mr. Trump sought to sharply curtail the agency as part of an executive order focused on, quote, reduction of the federal bureaucracy, prompting legal challenges from states, librarians and other opponents. And what that's done is really trying to dumb down America because if people can't educate themselves, that's what they're hoping for because they're more easily controlled.
- [11:03]
Allison Gill
So a win for librarians and libraries and museums. We'll see if they obey the court order.
- [11:09]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, we will see.
- [11:10]
Allison Gill
Next up from pbs, the NAACP announced Monday that the group will not invite President Donald Trump to its national convention next month in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the first time the prominent civil rights organization has opted to exclude a sitting president in its 116 year history. NAACP President Derek Johnson announced the move at an afternoon press conference, accusing Trump of working against its mission. This has nothing to do with political party, he said in a statement. Our mission is to advance civil rights. And the current president has made it clear that his mission is to eliminate civil rights.
- [11:46]
Dana Goldberg
Seems pretty clear.
- [11:47]
Allison Gill
Seems pretty clear to me, too.
- [11:49]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Federal judge took the extraordinary step of holding Florida's attorney general, that's James Uthmeyer, in civil contempt of court on Tuesday in a continuing clash over the state's new immigration enforcement law. This is a really shocking thing, but a good thing, to be honest with you. The judge is Kathleen M. Williams of the federal district court in Miami. Kathleen ruled that I shouldn't say. Kathleen, not that Good old Kathy. Good old Kathy. Good old Kathy ruled. Let's say the Judge Williams. Judge Williams ruled that Mr. Uthmeyer had defied an order putting part of the new law on hold when he told police officers that he could not prevent them from making arrest under it. And I quote, litigants cannot change the plain meaning of words as it suits them, especially when conveying a court's clear and unambiguous order. That's from Judge Williams. She said that in a 27 page ruling. She said fidelity to the rule of law can have no other meaning. And I think where they're going to get lost is the word fidelity, you, Honor. We're talking about the four millions here and Republicans. The judge ordered Mr. Uthmeyer's office to produce biweekly reports in coordination with state attorneys and other law enforcement agencies detailing whether any arrest, detentions or law enforcement actions under the disputed provisions of state law had occurred. The first report, that's due July 1st. The court must also be immediately notified of any arrest under the law's provision. This is what the judge said. In the event of any arrest occur, the court will require the attorney general to again notify law enforcement agencies of the judge's order to prevent future violations. If Mr. Uthmeyer does not comply with the sanctions, Judge Williams wrote, she will consider additional ones, quote, including fines and fees to compensate plaintiffs for costs of enforcing the court's order.
- [13:37]
Allison Gill
All right, well, interesting. We'll see how that goes. I think Mr. Uthmeyer was heard saying, whatever, if I have to be held in contempt to do my job, fine. Like, you know, I do it. Defiant that he's going to put out there when I'm sure it's going to happen, and then it'll go up to the, you know, the 11th Circuit, and then I'll go to the Supreme Court. You know, we'll do the dance. All right, everybody, it's time for some good trouble.
- [13:59]
Sarah Jacobs
What are you guys doing?
- [14:03]
Allison Gill
Hey, everybody, we have another snitch line for you to invade. This one aims to, quote, save the military from woke culture. So please, from an anonymous proton mail account, if you will, reach out to tips restorethemilitary.com and let them know. I don't know how you feel about having a makeup studio for Pete Hegseth inside the Pentagon and how awoke that is.
- [14:24]
Dana Goldberg
I got a problem with it.
- [14:25]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Or you can tell them about all of the outstanding service of our transgender troops in the military. Whatever you'd like. Again, that email is tipstorethemilitary.com perhaps maybe we shouldn't have a drunk secretary of Defense. Maybe that it's another thought you could let them know that. Next up, maybe that's not woke. I'm not sure. But anyway, it's tipsystorethemilitary.com Next up, a counter protester arrested at Nashville's no Kings march has been hit with gun charges. And I'll be joined By News Channel 5 Nashville's Phil Williams to discuss that right after this break. Stick around. We'll be right back. Hey, Everybody. I used to wake up exhausted. No matter how early I went to bed, I would lie there, my mind would race. I thought it was because there was an orange man in the White House. My back was stiff, my hips ached. Also, most nights I'd wake up sweating through the sheets. I assumed this was just how sleep was supposed to be. But then I got my Helix mattress and everything changed. Partnering with Helix made sense to me because they're the leaders in sleep technology and genuinely care about your comfort. My mattress changed everything for me, starting the very first night. You know, I track everything with my Apple watch and my sleep scores went way up. They started trending up right away. Fewer wake ups, deeper sleep stages, lower variability in my heart rate overnight. It was awesome. It still is. And I even stopped overheating at night. The temperature control on my mattress is excellent and I no longer wake up drenched in sweat and ending up kicking off the covers and then freezing and then putting them back on. But my back pain has also improved. I used to dread getting out of bed in the morning. Now I wake up with no stiffness, no soreness. It makes a huge difference in how I approach my day. So it's not just a better mattress. It's a better lifestyle. It's a better relationship with sleep. I'm sharper, more patient, less anxious throughout the day because I'm finally getting rest that feels restorative. So if you deal with chronic pain, temperature issues or general restlessness, Helix can genuinely make a difference. I'm proud to work with a brand that delivers on quality and helps people feel better in their bodies every day. So go to helixsleep.com dailybeans for 27% off site wide. Exclusively for listeners of the daily beans. That's helixsleep.com dailybeans for 27% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you helixsleep.com dailybeans. You'll be glad you did. Hey, everybody, welcome back. Joining me today From News Channel 5 in Nashville with a story about an armed no Kings counter protesters who's been arrested on gun charges is the one and only Phil Williams. Phil, welcome.
- [16:56]
Phil Williams
It's good to be back with you.
- [16:58]
Allison Gill
It's good to see you again, my friend. And we've had to reschedule this a couple of times because of kind of breaking news in this story. You sent me a story about this 19 year old from Murfreesboro. Oh, and by the way, we can, I think, finally put to bed the pronunciation of Murfreesboro. Can you help us out with that? Because we've had a little back and forth here on the. On the program on the Daily Beans. But this counter protester was arrested and you did a story, a very important story about his fascination with Nazis and mass murderers. And then today, when we were supposed to originally, you know, have this interview and have this discussion, you had to go to the courthouse because he. He's been brought up on gun charges. Let's talk a little bit about that.
- [17:43]
Phil Williams
Well, that's right. And we actually, we went to his house because we got a tip from a neighbor that the FB and local police were executing a search warrant at his house a day after we kind of disclosed his disturbing online history. So essentially what happened, our investigation aired on Monday. A few hours after that story aired, someone in his family reported that he was suicidal. And so police came to his home. He had a 9 millimeter handgun tucked in his waistband, had a magazine of ammunition in his pocket. They took him in for a mental health evaluation. Doctors decided to release him. And so police were there when doctors released him to arrest him on gun charges. What we're still trying to piece together, but what we know so far is that he was under a conservatorship for mental health issues. It's not clear whether possessing a gun by itself while being under conservatorship violated the law. We're being told at the very least that he had violated the terms of his conservatorship, giving police a chance to take him into custody. He is going to, as of right now, going to be in jail at least until July 21, when there will be a detention hearing, when I'm sure authorities will get into his mental health history in deciding whether he should be back out on the streets or not. But, you know, this is a guy who was in the middle of the no Kings protest in Nashville, in the middle of thousands of people just having confrontation after confrontation carrying a gun. So it could have ended up very badly if police. If protesters had not alerted police and if police had not arrested him at that event for disorderly conduct.
- [19:56]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And that's why the other whole see something, say something thing is so important.
- [20:00]
Phil Williams
Absolutely.
- [20:01]
Allison Gill
Because these peaceful rally goers who are the ones that noticed he had a gun on him. Now, you've written here for News Channel 5 in Nashville that one of the charges stems from that 9 millimeter handgun that you mentioned. But two of the other charges stem from his possession of a Mossberg 512 gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, both of which were found during a search of his room back in April.
- [20:26]
Phil Williams
Back in April. And what we know about that is that local police got a tip from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Apparently someone in Turkey had noticed his online activity where he just is fascinated with mass murderers, had bought weapons and decorated the weapons to imitate some notable mass murderers. And so someone in Turkey noticed this and alerted authorities. And, and so they did a search of his home back in April, April 3rd, I believe. And, and at, at that occasion, apparently the mother agreed to turn those two weapons over to police. And, and those two weapons had remained in police custody, but he apparently got access to other weapons and had a weapon at the no, no Kings event in Nashville and then had a weapon when police showed up at his house on Monday night.
- [21:37]
Allison Gill
So, couple of questions. First of all, the white lettering on his rifle that you are referring to, you wrote about include white power messages and you say resembled the way that Christchurch killer Brenton Tarrant prepared one of his weapons. And that's one of the people that he was fascinated with was the Christchurch shooter.
- [21:59]
Phil Williams
Absolutely.
- [22:00]
Allison Gill
And you noted that there was an inscription that says this machine kills commies. And the other thing I wanted to ask is if he violated his conservatorship with these guns and they knew that back in April, why wasn't he arrested and detained at that point? I'm sure that's the question on everybody's mind.
- [22:19]
Phil Williams
And, and that's certainly the question I am going to be asking. And, and, and I still have a lot of unanswered questions at this point. But yeah, the police had told me when I did the story on Monday about his history that this was still under investigation. So I don't know exactly what has gone on behind the scenes, why he was not arrested, you know, that day, but there were certainly just all sorts of warning signs. You know, like you mentioned, he had the shotgun that he had decorated, like the, the, the, the mass killer in Christchurch, New Zealand. He also idolized the, the mass murderer who had conducted the killing of 77 people in Norway back in 2011. And, and I found one online post where someone referenced the 77 dead people and he had responded 77 race traders.
- [23:25]
Allison Gill
So it's just frightening.
- [23:26]
Phil Williams
Yeah, very disturbing. And unfortunately, you know what, I have been focused on hate for the past two years now, and this is like the third, third young person with mental health issues where I've seen that they've been radicalized by the, the online hate and just very Very disturbing stories that, and in one case, you know, one, one of those individuals actually conducted a school shooting here in the Nashville area, killing one person and then killing himself.
- [24:07]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And then something else that you did some investigative reporting on back in March, is the hate group Patriot Front expanding in, in Tennessee. We've seen these are the, the guys who jump out of the back of U haul trucks, et cetera, in different cities. And, and that this was expanding, this hate group was expanding in Tennessee.
- [24:27]
Phil Williams
That's right. And, and Tennessee happens to host a infamous white supremacist conference every year at a state park. And Patriot Front shows up there. And so I really started investigating people that we saw on the balcony outside this conference and identifying some of them members of the Patriot Front. They, they have a new compound in Tennessee, but we also link them, linked them to various hate crimes across the country. Showing up, jumping out of the back of their vans, trying to disrupt a pride festival in Idaho. And, and so it seems like we are living in a time when these hate groups really feel emboldened. And, and, and, and just diving into their online profiles just is very disturbing because it seems like these characters think this is their time.
- [25:35]
Allison Gill
Right. And I can see why they might, you know, given, you know, we've seen that this 22 year old gentleman being put in charge of investigating domestic violent extremism, the office that investigates domestic violent extremism for the federal government. We've seen these agencies being gutted, the Joint Terrorism Task Force being picked apart and sent out to help with mass deportation and immigration initiatives. And so I think that that sort of kind of emboldens these groups, wouldn't you say? Yeah.
- [26:08]
Phil Williams
And in this case, this young man who, who had all of this hate in his heart, this mentally ill young man had found comfort in some of the postings from the Trump administration. He had shared a post showing Vice President Vance shooting, I think it was a 50 caliber weapon. And, and, and touting that as a sign of freedom. And, and I think the one repost that he had that I found the most concerning was sharing a post from President Trump to the effect of he who saves the world does not commit a crime or does not do anything illegal. And, and that was in the context of, of this young man thinking that he somehow was going to save the world. And, and was, he was preparing for something, things were about to happen. And, and, and so, you know, what was he thinking? I, I don't know for sure, but it was certainly concerning that he thought that to be a message worth sharing. On his own X profile.
- [27:24]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And you couple that with the pardoning of all of the, you know, insurrectionists from January 6th, then, and, you know, we start getting into this kind of deep hole where these kinds of people, you know, feel that they have, that they're doing the right thing. I guess is, is kind of what scares me about this. And that's why I'm glad investigative journalists like you are on the beat to tell us about these groups, these people, these individuals and the ties they have to hate groups.
- [27:54]
Phil Williams
Yeah. I started almost two years ago not realizing this would become my complete professional focus. But, you know, you noted the political times. You know, I, in one story used a piece of propaganda video from a neo Nazi group called the Blood Tribe. And in their propaganda video, they included sound from President Trump to the point that some of my, my viewers, you know, accused me of inserting that sound. No, that it wasn't me inserting that sound. It was them, you know, feeding off of these messages and, and thinking that, that this is their moment.
- [28:37]
Allison Gill
Well, we appreciate you staying on top of this and I encourage everyone to follow your reporting because they're, you know, this is going to continue, especially, you know, with the probably upcoming trial of this particular person. So let everybody know where they can find and follow your reporting.
- [28:55]
Phil Williams
I'm on blueskylinvestigates.com on X for, for those who still linger there at Phil Investigates with the, the, the letter N instead of in. In the middle. I'm all over the place.
- [29:14]
Allison Gill
Easy to find. Easy enough to find. And always check out News Channel 5 in Nashville for, for the latest. I appreciate your time today and thank you again for the work that you're doing. Phil Williams. Thank you, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs. Hey, everybody, welcome back. I'm honored to be joined today by our representative here in San Diego, parts of San Diego, the 51st congressional district. And we're going to talk about what happened on Saturday at the no Kings rally and a couple of other things, too. Please welcome Sarah Jacobs. Hi, Congresswoman. How are you?
- [29:47]
Sarah Jacobs
Hello. I'm so happy to be here with you.
- [29:50]
Allison Gill
It was so good to see you. I actually saw you on Saturday at the no Kings rally. And I was like, hey. We're like, hey. And then we all went and march to one of the biggest marches in the country, one of the top five. I know the police, San Diego PD said that there were over 60,000. I think the number might be going up after more official counts. But give me your Top line thoughts on how it went on Saturday in San Diego.
- [30:14]
Sarah Jacobs
It was so amazing to see so many San Diegans come out and make their voice heard. I've even lost my voice a little bit from saying hi to so many people. But it was so amazing because that's really what we need, right? We need people to not give in to the overwhelmed, to not give in to the fear, but to actually remember that none of this is inevitable and we do get a say, we do have a voice and to come out and make their voice heard. And you know, San Diego, when I grew up here, it was a conservative place. So to see over 60,000 people show up, including some people who I happen to know are registered Republicans, it was pretty amazing to see.
- [30:55]
Allison Gill
Yeah, I agree. And it is a pretty purplish, reddish town. We're one of the biggest military towns in the country. And that you represent us here. And I want to ask you about what you would say to some skeptics. There are some skeptics on social media saying, well, what good does this kind of march do? These kind of numbers. What have we done? What good have we done? So talk about how what we did on Saturday is impacting, like for example, what you're seeing in, in the halls of Congress.
- [31:26]
Sarah Jacobs
Yeah, absolutely. So, as you know, my background is in post conflict countries in, you know, fragile democracies. And we know in other countries when you can get 3.5% of the population mobilized, you're able to make change. And what we saw was more than that here in the United States. And so that's why it was so important, because what this administration wants us to feel is that we are alone in what we're feeling, that we, that we are powerless, that we are helpless, and that everything they're doing is inevitable. And stick and showing up and being in community with so many people across the country just goes to show that it is not true that we do we there are. The majority of this country doesn't feel that way. And it reinforced our rights, right? Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to dissent. But. And just showing up for a march, as important as it is, is not enough. I'm going to nerd out with you for one second if you'll, if you'll allow. So prior, I was just reading this book about how protest movements have changed since social media. So prior to social media, a big march was imported because it showed that you were able to, that you'd already done all of the organizing work to be able to get everyone the information to show up in the same place at the same time. Right now, the easy part is getting everyone to show up at the same place at the same time. You just post on Facebook or Twitter or whatever. And so now it's almost like the process has been reversed. And now we need to make sure that we take that big march and, and then do the organizing work after. So everyone who showed up, if you're listening, I'd encourage you sign up for one of the organizations that help put on the march in your area, whether it was indivisible or 50, 51, or there's so many others, or move on, there's so many. And start doing that real community organizing work of reaching out to your friends and neighbors, talking to them about why you care about this issue, about why it was important for you to show up, including talking to your friends and neighbors who don't necessarily agree with you. Because the real human stories of why this is important is what's going to move people. And we need to rebuild and strengthen community ties. That's a big part of what we need to do moving forward.
- [33:48]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And I think all of the images that people are seeing of the massive, massive turnout on Saturday kind of creates a permission structure for people who might not have necessarily opposed this regime or stayed home. Can be like, okay, I'm not alone. I, you know, I can, I kind of gives people the moral courage to, to step forward and join in the, in the fight.
- [34:08]
Sarah Jacobs
Right, Absolutely. And I'm already hearing from folks that, that they thought that maybe, you know, in, in the really conservative part of my district in El Cajon, we had 2,000 people march, which is huge for El Cajon. Right. So you're already starting to see that it's giving people that permission to come out and say something. And, and I think this is a really important point. Many of the people who are being hurt by these policies might have voted for Trump. And we have to be able to build a broad based coalition. And so we need to resist the urge to say, I told you so, and we need to welcome them in and, and build that broad coalition. And that's why it's so important that we were able to. That I know for a fact we had some registered Republicans because I happened to know them when they walked by me at march, and that we had a march in El Cajon and that this isn't, that this isn't just for people who oppose Trump prior to the election. It's people who are being hurt right now. Even if they thought maybe Trump was going to help them because he was going to bring down the cost of goods or whatever, which obviously we're not seeing him do rather the opposite with all these tariffs and stuff. But we need to build that broad based coalition.
- [35:22]
Allison Gill
Yeah, and, and that's something I, I was very excited to see on Saturday. Not just the big, massive cities and the turnouts and the big massive urban areas, but the little towns, the hundreds and hundreds of small towns, villages and townships where they had, you know, in San Diego, I think we had like 5% of the San Diegan show up. Maybe, maybe 8%, but in these little towns, like 10%, 15%, 20% of their tiny populations showing up. So even if it's just like you said In El Cajon, 2,000 people, that's a big chunk of El Cajon as compared to like some of these massive cities. So that was very heartening to me to see all of these rural areas coming together, getting out and having their voices heard as well.
- [36:02]
Sarah Jacobs
Absolutely. Yeah. It was really amazing to see.
- [36:05]
Allison Gill
Okay, now I want to pivot for a second because I saw something amazing during a Armed Services Committee hearing where you were questioning Pete Hagseth. That's not what we call him on this show, but out of respect for your office, I'll make you all. We'll call him by his name. You know what? Just tell everybody what happened in that little part of questioning that you were able to draw out of Pete Hegseth.
- [36:27]
Sarah Jacobs
Yes. So we had Pete Hexa Secretary Heath in front of the Armed Services Committee last week, and I asked him about women serving in the military and read him the fitness reports or like the. What people, what the commanding officers use in order to, to show if they're, you know, the people who work for them should get promoted or whatever. I read them three of, I read him three of them from three female service members, and they were all glowing above standards, top 5%, etc. And I asked him if these are the kind of women that we should be trying to keep in the military. And he agreed with me. I was not expecting him to do that, but he did. He commended these three people. And then I told him that in fact they were trans women and that this just goes to show why what he's doing is so ridiculous, because he's kicking people out who are willing and able to serve, who are in the top 5% who exceed standards, all in the name of, like, you know, he's saying we injected culture wars. He's doing it just because he doesn't like Their identity. He's the one injecting culture wars into this.
- [37:38]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And I'm hoping I see that as an exhibit in some of these lawsuits brought by trans people who are being booted from the military because, you know, they're trying to prove animus. And for him to say, wonderful, these women are incredible. And for you to say that while they're trans women and then for him to fight, flip the script and say, oh, no, they're terrible, they have to go, I think really lends a lot of credibility to that, to the animus argument.
- [37:58]
Sarah Jacobs
Absolutely. And it's bad for our readiness. Like these are some of bottom line.
- [38:02]
Allison Gill
Yeah, yeah.
- [38:03]
Sarah Jacobs
We spend billions of dollars training these folks, whether they're pilots or, you know, one trans woman in San Diego is the only civilian evacuation qualified medic that we have here. Right. Like, these are important folks we need in our military. It's going to take about 20 years to replace them. And we spend more than 6,000 times more on their training than on their healthcare. And so all of those arguments are just bogus.
- [38:28]
Allison Gill
Yeah, 100%. And before I let you go, there's a lot of breaking news today with Donald Trump returning early from the G7 and what's going on with the escalation between Israel and Iran. And I know you sit on the Armed Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee, and I know you're gonna be busy in the coming days with this, but what are your top line thoughts about what's happening with, with that conflict?
- [38:52]
Sarah Jacobs
Yeah, so, you know, my family lives in Tel Aviv. They've been sending me selfies from their bomb shelter. And, you know, my, my bottom line here is that we need to de escalate. This isn't good for Israel and this isn't good for Iran. And the last thing we want is the US to get drawn into another war in the Middle East. Right. As we were. Have just barely been able to get our folks out of there. And it's really important that we get to a diplomatic solution that we de escalate, because the fact of the matter is there is no military end to this. There is no real military way to solve. To solve whatever the Israelis think they're solving, because the Iranians can just rebuild a nuclear, you know, their nuclear effort if they want to. And like most estimates say about three months. And if you're really trying to topple the regime, which, you know, sometimes Prime Minister Netanyahu says he is, like, that's just going to create chaos in one of the biggest countries in the Middle east, like none of this is gonna go well. What we need is to de escalate and to bring the tensions down and to have a real diplomatic solution.
- [40:01]
Allison Gill
Yeah, I just don't see Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump de escalating anything.
- [40:06]
Sarah Jacobs
I mean, fair enough. Although, you know, he did run on saying he wanted to be the peace president and that he doesn't want any more wars and he doesn't to send our troops overseas. So I'm hoping that that part of him is what prevails here.
- [40:19]
Allison Gill
Well, that's what we have to hold him to. Right. Because he may try to spin it as peace through strength, you know, which has kind of been the theme from him on Truth Social today. And so I'm hoping that cooler heads prevail, especially in Congress. Or what are you guys doing to make sure that Congress has to approve, don't they, any kind of action like this or any kind of major escalation.
- [40:45]
Sarah Jacobs
Yep. So we're, we're having those conversations right now. Per the War Powers act of 1973, Congress would have to approve this. Also per the Constitution, Congress is who declares war. We've seen presidents from both parties try and say that they have inherent Article 2 authority to declare, to do these acts in self defense. But we're working in a bipartisan way in Congress to try and push back and say that, that you would need congressional authorization to do this. So we should have more on that soon.
- [41:16]
Allison Gill
Great. I hope we can have you back on soon to discuss that. And thank you again so much for coming on today. It was great to see you on Saturday. It was incredible to see all the, just the huge diversity of all the faces and like from babies up to. I think I met a woman in her 90s. Just an incredible show of opposition from, from San Diego. And so I'm, I was, I was proud to be able to see you there. And, and thanks for, for being out there with us.
- [41:45]
Sarah Jacobs
Of course. It, it was the, the energy I needed to get through the rest of the week, that's for sure. It was awesome.
- [41:52]
Allison Gill
Agreed. Well, take care of your voice and we will see you soon.
- [41:56]
Sarah Jacobs
Thanks. Sounds good, everybody.
- [41:57]
Allison Gill
Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Likes good news everyone. Then good news everyone. And if you have any good news stories you would like to send us, if you want to send us your photos or stuff about the no Kings rallies and marches that maybe you participated in over the weekend or some of your favorite signs that you've seen on the Internet, we would love to hear about it. If you have a shout out for a loved one, a spouse, a family member, a great small business in your area that could use a boost or small business, you can send that to us. We love self shout outs as well. If you have a shout out to a government program that's made a difference in your life or the life of a loved one, we want to hear about that too. Whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, WIC, SNAP, Head Start, Section 8, anything federal, whether it's municipal, state benefits that you've received that you love, student debt relief, great VA health care. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. And to get your submission read on the air, all you gotta do is pay your POD pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. If you want us to guess the breeds in your shelter pet, we can try. I got, I got one right the other day. You and me, Dana, we got one right about like a year ago.
- [43:21]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, probably was a year ago.
- [43:23]
Allison Gill
That's about how good we are. But it's totally fine. Send us a photo of your pet. If you don't have a pet, send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll try to find him a home. If you don't have that, really, just grab a photo of an animal off the Internet. We love all animals, especially baby animals. And if you don't have that, baby pictures works. And we're also doing bird watching for the foreseeable future, which can be an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to Trump and Musk Properties. So send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. First up, Stephanie M. Pronoun she and her hello, I've been listening to you since 2022 when someone mentioned I should listen to Stephanie Miller because we share names and then found you. Every time I listen to the good news, I want to write in, but I've been feeling so down since November. I'm a precinct chair in a very, very red area of Texas. 88% of my precinct voted for the Republican regime. My husband 88%. Wow.
- [44:16]
Dana Goldberg
Jesus.
- [44:17]
Allison Gill
My husband and I have talked about moving. Is California good enough? Should we leave the country? But this weekend my son, who is nine and I attended a no Kings rally and my hope is restored. Thank you both for providing such pertinent information. News gets lost amongst propaganda and I feel prepared for conversations after listening to the beans Every day. Even my nine year asked me to turn up the sound while listening to you.
- [44:41]
Dana Goldberg
Jesus.
- [44:42]
Allison Gill
I know. I think I. I feel a little bit of pressure.
- [44:46]
Dana Goldberg
The Jesus part you have to know everyone isn't that a 9 year old is listening is the amount that I say on here. And the nine year olds are paying attention.
- [44:53]
Allison Gill
Right. For we're molding. Molding young minds. Oh, I miss Allison says rad. And Dana says I'm sharing a picture of G man and me protesting last weekend and M lady helping me back in November outside the poles.
- [45:09]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, those babies. Okay, first of all, I can't.
- [45:16]
Allison Gill
These are just beautiful children.
- [45:18]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [45:19]
Allison Gill
Protect black and brown rights. Look at that sign.
- [45:22]
Dana Goldberg
That's fantastic.
- [45:24]
Allison Gill
And then this baby with the pink bow. Oh, and the flowers.
- [45:28]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [45:29]
Allison Gill
Adorable. Thank you so much, Stephanie.
- [45:32]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. This one's from Auntie Phoenix. That's kind of brilliant. I almost said antifa. Antifo. I bet they make great faux antifa. Very funny. No pronouns. Giving Shantae my divalicious beans. Queens, longtime listener since the Fantasy Indictment League days. Can we bring that back?
- [45:50]
Allison Gill
I wish.
- [45:51]
Dana Goldberg
I went bird watching last weekend during the no Kings protest in Chicago and thought I would share a video as we marched by who he shall not be named Tower. Thanks for making my daily commute bearable. I've been sharing Gay of the Day with all my friends. You better work, Dana Goldberg. Keep up the good fight. Antifa. This is an awesome submission. I'm glad you're enjoying Gay of the Day. Thank you for sharing it with your people. That's the biggest thing when you all share it. It helps me out tremendously.
- [46:17]
Allison Gill
Yes. Oh, this is great too. Look at that. All in front of Trump Tower in Chicago. Love it. How many birds? How many?
- [46:24]
Dana Goldberg
So many birds. It was a flock.
- [46:25]
Allison Gill
Middle finger salutes went up during the passing of the Trump Tower in Chicago. Awesome. Thank you for that. Next. Owned by the void pronoun. She and her Hi Ag dg. Hello. First, Dana, I'm loving the Gay of the Day videos.
- [46:42]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you very much.
- [46:43]
Allison Gill
And I'm learning tons about the inspiring people you're highlighting. With all the efforts to erase publicly available information, this will have a huge impact. Next. Here's another no Kings rally from my hometown, State College, Pennsylvania. It was raining and gross all day, but look how many people showed up. All of my pics have blurry bits where water hit my lens. So here's a local news article. We'll have a link in the show. Notes. They're saying hundreds, which is true, but it was also the largest rally I've ever seen in our area. There was such a diverse group of folks, young and old, first time and well seasoned protesters and people protesting all sorts of critical issues and all in the rain. I'm so energized. We didn't have any counter protesters except one guy driving by flipping us off and one who drove by with a thumbs down. Most people drove by and honked. My favorite was a car windows down with gold balloons hanging out. I thought thought that the very small person in the back seat would be a child, but it turned out to be an old woman who was barely tall enough to see out the window, waving and grinning as they drove by. I'll be honest, that one made me cry for my POD Pet tariff. In addition to a couple of signs when they were dry, I have a pick of our newest addition, Ms. Purrs. She was my mother in law's cat and came to us when the nursing home became necessary and is staying with us as a forever home now to live her best life. She's 18 years old and just full sweetheart. She also has zero interest in integrating with our void cat Jinx shown in my previous submissions. I'll let you guess Ms. Purrs breeds even though it'll be an easy one. Thank you so much for being you. Your genuineness really helps me handle the good and the bad and your support in helping us all find our good trouble is unparalleled. Can't wait to see what's next. Look at this Tuxy Cutie no Faux King way. Love it. Kings Unite Against Tyranny.
- [48:36]
Dana Goldberg
Nice.
- [48:37]
Allison Gill
And miss Purse is a Tuxi.
- [48:38]
Sarah Jacobs
Yay.
- [48:39]
Allison Gill
Look at that.
- [48:40]
Dana Goldberg
All right, this is from Kathy T. Pronouns she and her hello heroes. At risk of saying the obvious, the success of the no Kings protest would have not happened without the organizers. I'd like to shout out to all those who lead indivisible groups for making thousands of protests successful. In particular, I'd like to recognize Deb Martin. Deb is the leader of indivisible Winnebago county in Wiscons who organized the protest rally of 1500 people in Oshkosh, home of Senator Ron Johnson, aka Voldemort's twin brother by another mother. Deb is also the person who first told me about the daily beans when we met at an earlier rally. Well, well done Deb. For my POD Pet tax, I'm showing you my two cats relaxing together on my bed. They are frenemies, so if they can get along, perhaps peace is possible in the rest of the world.
- [49:29]
Allison Gill
Oh.
- [49:31]
Dana Goldberg
Nice.
- [49:31]
Allison Gill
Look at this guy with his little goatee. Oh, that's adorable. Awesome. Thank you so much for that big shout out to Deb. Next up from anonymous pronoun she and her hello Queens of the beans. I'm officially done with my PhD in educational leadership and Policy as of this month, and fittingly for Pride Month. My dissertation is entitled Sustaining Queerness A Phenomenological. A Phenomenological. Yeah, I got it right. Study of Colorado Educators. I am proud of this work, but it was definitely a strange experience doing interviews and recruitment during the first half of this year. I'm still trying to figure out what the next right thing is, but in the meantime, I've included my podpet tags. This is Yampa. Or Yampa. She's beautiful and chaotic. The third picture illustrates why my partner and I refer to her as the Zoolander Dog. I need to emphasize that the door to the kennel is open, she is tall enough to reach the top of the outside, and that she was not in there when I threw the ball. Thanks for all you do.
- [50:33]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, look at the eyes.
- [50:36]
Allison Gill
Yeah, blue steel all the way. Now I get at the Zoolander dog.
- [50:39]
Dana Goldberg
The last picture is like, she's pretty but not smart.
- [50:45]
Allison Gill
Amazing and adorable. Congratulations. Sustaining A Phenomenological Study of of Colorado Educators. Fantastic. Congratulations, doctor. And thanks to everyone for sending in your good news. Which reminds me again, if you want to tell us your dissertation or theses title, we would love to hear about it. That's kind of a self shout out in my opinion.
- [51:08]
Dana Goldberg
I love it.
- [51:09]
Allison Gill
All right, once again, send your good news dailybeanspod.com click on contact. Thank you to the amazing Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs from California's 51st, and to Phil Williams for joining me today. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here today?
- [51:23]
Dana Goldberg
Not today, my friend.
- [51:24]
Allison Gill
All right. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow. 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. I've been DG and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studio. 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 mswmedia.com msw media.