Alison Gill (2:37)

Welcome to the 50s. They're the best. Sort of.

Dani Goldberg (2:41)

My liver's like, hello, it's 3:00am we're done doing our job. Please wake up.

Alison Gill (2:46)

Oh, my God.

Dani Goldberg (2:49)

But the no Kings.

Alison Gill (2:50)

Yeah, I was out.

Dani Goldberg (2:51)

Incredible.

Alison Gill (2:51)

Saturday at no Kings. Yelling, screaming, shouting, running, trying to find. I was trying to find the beginning of the march so that I could see how far the march was going. And I couldn't get to the beginning, but when we came down Broadway and looked across to the, they were already wrapping up around the top of it. So we had a mile long march route full of people.

Dani Goldberg (3:13)

That's extraordinary. Extraordinary or 8 million people? I mean, it's extraordinary.

Alison Gill (3:19)

Yeah. And that's pretty incredible. No Kings has come out with their next cause of action, which is going to be May 1st. It's going to be an economic blackout. No work, no school, no buying, no nothing. So that's the next step. Now that they've amassed, they've gone from, you know, 3 million to 5 million to 7 million to over 8 million. Now that we've got that huge coalition, they want to go for Mayday. And so we're going to be talking about that as the day approaches and looking forward to supporting that. Also later in the show, I'm going to be talking, talking with Scott McFarlane. We're going to discuss corporate media, why he left CBS for an independent news outlet. And it's a really great conversation I had with him over on substackmillershare.com I'm going to drop that audio into the daily beans today. But before we get to that, we have a ton of news. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security impacting TSA workers is now on day 45. That is the longest shutdown in history. And multiple things happened this weekend in that vein. First, from Politico on Friday, Senate Republicans accepted what Democrats have been offering for weeks, cash for all of DHS except ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Now Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the outcome unfortunate on Friday. Yeah, unfortunate for him and Republicans and Donald Trump. Yes, quote, the Dems wanted reforms. We tried to work with them on those reforms. They ended up getting no reforms. But you know, we're going to have to fight some of those battles. Enough another day, he said. So basically the Democrats didn't cave. We did because we felt like we needed to fund tsa. Now Thune says the House of Representatives is aware of the Senate's plan but did not know what the other chamber would do. He also said he spoke with President Donald Trump on Thursday, who was apparently cool with it. But then from the Times, House Republicans angrily rejected that bipartisan deal to reopen DHS and pushed through their own plan on late Friday, putting themselves on a collision course with the Senate and extending the agency shutdown. While law enforcement agencies like ICE and Border Patrol have been funded throughout the weeks long shutdown with money that Congress previously approved. And Trump signed an executive order to fund tsa. Lawmakers must still pass legislation to fund the rest of dhs, including fema, the cybersecurity agency, and civilian staff at the Coast Guard. Revolting over an agreement their own party struck with Senate Democrats to end the crisis, which had passed the Senate before dawn on Friday. House Republican leaders, with Trump's backing refused to take it up. So Trump talked to the Senate Republicans and they said, we're going to do this. And Trump said, cool. And then Mike Johnson talked to Trump and Trump says, don't do it. And instead, the House passed a stopgap measure to fully fund dhs, including more money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection on Friday. But as they said in the Times article there on Thursday, before any of that went down, Trump announced on Truth Social he would sign an order to pay TSA officers who have gone without paychecks during the funding lapse at dhs. He said on Truth Social he would instruct newly sworn in Homeland Security Secretary Marquane Mullen to, quote, immediately pay our TSA agents in order to address the emergency situation. Okay, I don't think that's legal, though. There is a provision in the big ugly bill that allows dhs, the president, and DHS to spend a pot, a big, giant pot of discretionary money on anything required to, quote, protect the border.

Dani Goldberg (6:55)

Okay.

Alison Gill (6:56)

Now if that's the provision Trump is relying on, first of all, that's a stretch.

Dani Goldberg (7:00)

Yeah.

Alison Gill (7:01)

But if that's what he's relying on, that means he could have paid TSA agents months ago from day one, all around a huge loss for Republicans.

Dani Goldberg (7:13)

I'm telling you, he's the fire starter. He wants to be the fireman. He does it every single time, every time. Art of the deal, and it's horrible. We're gonna shift gears a little bit and talk about Trump's illegal war. You know, that war of choice in Iran. This is from the Post. The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. This is from U.S. officials. As thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle east for what could become a very dangerous new phase of the war should Trump choose to escal. That's according to U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss obviously very highly sensitive military plans that could be put in a signal chat by the defense. I'm sorry, that could be. I'm sorry, excuse me. Sensitive military plans that have been in development for weeks. Such a mission could expose U.S. personnel to an array of threats, including Iranian drones and missiles, ground fire and improvised explosives. It was unclear Saturday whether Trump would approve all, some or none of the Pentagon's plans because they don't know what the fuck they're doing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in France, not in Spanish, on Friday after a gathering of US Allies anxious about the war's mounting economic toll, told reporters that it is, and I quote, not going to be a prolonged conflict. He repeated a frequent, if vague, administration assessment that the operation is ahead of schedule and said, the United States, and I quote, can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops. Then why are they there? Rubio's comments followed a report from Axios indicating that the Pentagon is preparing a final blow against Iran that could include both ground forces and a massive bombing campaign. Axios and Wall Street Journal also reported in recent days that the administration is considering deploying another 10,000 ground troops in the Middle East. And from CBS, 10 U.S. service members, they were injured in an attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. This is according to multiple US Officials. Two of the Americans were very seriously injured, eight were seriously injured, which is a different category of injury under the military's classification system. An NBC reports that Russia took satellite images of the US Air base in Saudi Arabia three times in the days before Iran attacked the site and wounded American troops, according to a summary of Ukrainian intelligence shared by NBC News. By President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I just, we're gonna have more Americans dying for this absolute bullshit of a war. And it's just really sad to see. And also, okay, so they're planning on more bombing, they're planning on troops. When are we actually, you know, making sure that the Iranian people have their freedom, that we're supposed to be liberating them from such a horrible regime? What are you doing to help the people in Iran instead of just trying to steal the oil and plundered? I just don't understand. I mean, I understand, but we've totally lost the plot.

Alison Gill (10:08)

No. Yeah, They've replaced the 76 year old Ayatollah Khamenei with the 56 year old Ayatollah Khamenei who most of his family have been killed by the United States and is a more hard line than the previous Ayatollah. And here we are and we don't have any way out of this. And now the main objective of the war that seems to have floated to the top here is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz which would not be closed had the war not started.

Dani Goldberg (10:33)

Right.

Alison Gill (10:33)

So the main objective of the war is to undo something that the war caused in the first place. And now we're talking about maybe taking and holding the Strait of Hormuz. I don't understand how you do that in a couple of months. That is something where you would just have to stay indefinitely.

Dani Goldberg (10:53)

Yeah.

Alison Gill (10:54)

And all it takes, if we take and hold the straight of Hormuz, is for one commercial tanker to go through and get hit by a drone, by an Iranian drone, for that to be a complete and total loss. So that's the end. And then you think of all the American lives, all the civilian lives, and we've gutted the Civilian Protection Unit that we talked about that helps prevent the loss of civilian life. That's probably why they, you know, that strike that killed all of those girls at that Iranian school? There was a really great, a lot of really great protests about that and that those girls should not have been hit with a US missile. So it's a big old mess and we're going to continue to cover it. But next up from the Times, Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four army officers to become one star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender. The answer is yes, they are.

Dani Goldberg (11:56)

Yes, they are.

Alison Gill (11:56)

He is a gutter racist and he is doing this because he practices gutter racism. Two of the officers targeted by Hegseth are black, two are women. They're on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men, Senior military officials said. Hegseth has been pressing senior army leaders, including Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, for months to remove these officers names, according to officials. But Driscoll, citing the officers decades long records of exemplary service, has repeatedly refused to strike their names. But earlier this month, Hegseth broke the logjam by unilaterally striking the officers names from the list. Though it's not clear he has the legal authority to do so, he does not. The list is currently being reviewed by the White House, which is expected to send it to the Senate for final approval. The frustrations with Hegseth's approach came to a boil last summer. We talked about this during a heated exchange between Ricky Buria, Hegseth's chief of staff, and Mr. Driscoll about a separate promotion. Burria chastised the Army Secretary for selecting Major General Antoinette R. Gant, a combat engineer who served in Iraq, in Afghanistan, to take command of the military district of Washington. That's according to three current and former defense administration officials. The command provides security and performs ceremonial duties in the nation's capital, and its commander often appears alongside the president at Arlington national cemetery. But Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a black female officer at military events.

Dani Goldberg (13:26)

Them with my full chest. Fuck them. God, it's so disgusting.

Alison Gill (13:33)

Okay, this is what happens.

Dani Goldberg (13:35)

Little hungover. Dana. I'm not really hungover.

Alison Gill (13:37)

I'm just dehydrated.

Dana Goldberg (13:38)

Okay.

Alison Gill (13:38)

It's the one cocktail at the age of 49 that doesn't.

Dani Goldberg (13:41)

I'm so angry. Yeah. From the Wall Street Journal. The US Federal judge on Thursday halted the Trump administration's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk, issuing a ruling that the government trampled free speech protections when it classified the artificial intelligence company as a security threat and barred government use of its models. Judge Rita F. Lynn of the Northern District of California, in her decision, ordered the Trump administration to desist from applying the president's directive that federal agencies stop using Anthropic's technology and from implementing its designation of the company as a risk to the national security supply chain. She also required the government to provide a report by April 6 detailing how it has complied with her ruling. I made a ruling. Show me how you're following it. The ruling hands off Anthropic, an early victory in its legal fight with the Pentagon, which stems from a dispute over company, imposed limitations on its AI tools in a military setting. Anthropic has argued that the government flouted due process in labeling it a supply chain risk, a status that previously had only been applied to foreign adversaries and. And was acting in retribution against a company with which it had political disagreements rather than pursuit of legitimate national security concerns. In her ruling, Lyn wrote that the government's actions, and I quote, do not appear to be directed at the government's stated national security interests. If the concern is the integrity of the operational chain of command, the Department of War could just stop using Claude. That's Anthropic's large language model. And she went on to say, instead, these measures appear designed to punish Anthropic, and they are. The judge concluded that records supplied to the Defense Department, which calls itself the Department of War. I love that. Not that it's the Department of War. That's how they identify, show it, and I quote, designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk because of its hostile Manner through the press. Lynn described the act as classic illegal First Amendment retaliation. Anthropic said in a statement that it was grateful for the swift decision in its favor. They said, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe, reliable AI. And I love that. I love that not all these companies are bending the knee because this is a dangerous thing. It's an incredible thing that's been invented. But when it gets in the wrong hands, we know what can be done. And so at least we have one company that says, go fuck yourself. I'm not letting you use my tool to damage the American people.

Dana Goldberg (16:14)

Yeah.

Alison Gill (16:14)

And here in this case, you'll remember, Dana, you and I had reported on this before. The language in Anthropic's Pentagon contract that the Pentagon took issue with is that Anthropic AI would not be used for autonomous lethal weapons, nor would it be used to surveil American citizens. Hegseth pitched a fit and said we should be able to use Claude for however we want. And when they wouldn't back down, he declared them a supply chain risk which can really damage your business. So the judge is right here and we were kind of assuming that this would be a pretty swift preliminary injunction. And we'll keep following this for you. And by the way, in the aftermath of that, ChatGPT was okay with that language, that Hegseth wanted to take that language out of the contract. And so the the Pentagon signed with ChatGPT instead. All right, everybody, we've got a great interview with Scott McFarlane next, followed by a bunch of good news. But we have to take a quick break, so stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack and hydration sponsor. IQ Bar is the better for you. Plant protein based snack made with brain boosting nutrients to refuel, nourish and satisfy hunger without the sugar crash. And right now, IQ Bar is offering you an exclusive deal. 20% off all IQ Bar products plus you get free shipping. Just text daily beans to 64,000. IQ Bar stands out to me because it's not just one product trying to do everything. It's a lineup built for real Life. With over 20,000 5 star reviews and counting, more people than ever are relying on IQ Bar's hydration mixes, mushroom coffees and amazing snacks to keep up with their busy schedule. Now their ultimate sampler pack is the best place to start because you get nine IQ Bars, eight IQ Mix sticks and four IQ Joestics, which let you try all three categories and figure out what best works for you. Now I think their choice of ingredients is a big part of what makes the brand appealing. Everything is clean, label certified. It's free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, and artificial ingredients. The bars are made with plant protein and fiber and skip the added sugar, which makes them feel like a more thoughtful snack option. And across the lineup you're getting ingredients like magnesium, which is so important. Lion's mane. All of that helps take them to the next level. And for me, the biggest selling point is how useful their products are. This weekend for no Kings, I put up a couple IQ bars and a couple IQ mix sticks in my bag to take with me to keep me hydrated and keep me fueled. And then also had some IQ Joe in the morning to give me that 200 milligrams of natural caffeine. It was amazing. And so I love these products, especially when you need something quick that still feels like a good choice. And right now, IQ Bar is offering special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the Ultimate Sampler Pack, plus free shipping. So to get your 20% off, text Daily Beans all one word to 64,000. That's Daily Beans to 64,000. One more time Daily Beans to 64. Message and data rates may apply. See Terms for details.

Amanda Sturgill (19:16)

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

Alison Gill (19:24)

But don't let them fool you.

Amanda Sturgill (19:26)

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

Dana Goldberg (19:55)

Welcome to the Breakdown. I'm Alison Gill, and independent media just got a little bigger. Just got a little brighter with the addition of former CBS News correspondent Washington correspondent. It's Scott McFarland, who has joined the Midas Touch Network, and he's here with me on the Breakdown to talk a little bit about that. I've been in the independent media space for gosh since 2017, and I'm so grateful for your Reporting and so excited that you're bringing that and all of your expertise and all of your sources and all of your contacts over to the independent media sphere. Can you talk a little bit about what made you make this decision to finally leave CBS where you've had a home for a very long time?

Scott McFarland (20:40)

Everybody who's getting into the independent media sphere is really following your footsteps. We're watching the trail you blaze and try to kind of follow the little dirt road that you've left behind you. I had a moment on January 24th that kind of sealed this for me. On January 24th, I was called on the anchor the CBS Evening News, the person who normally does it on Saturday nights was off. And I said, sure, I'll come up and let's do this. And I'm anchor the CBS Evening News. You go into this, you know, this huge studio the size of an airplane hangar, and you have these technicians and editors and writers who are top of their class and you have this really this army at your disposal. And that was the day, if you lived on the east coast, you'll remember this. That was the day the storm from hell hit everywhere from Charlotte to Providence, it just wrecked the East Coast. And so we were preparing this big newscast to go from all the of parts, parts of the country, but how the winter storm was hitting and then Alex Preddy was killed late in the morning. And we had to figure out how much of this 22 minute newscast are we going to put towards Alex Preddy's murder and the fallout from it, and how much are we going to put towards a really impactful storm. And oh, by the way, there was stuff going on in the Middle East. And oh, by the way, there's a college basketball game on before the newscast that's running into overtime. So that 20 minute newscast is now 12 minutes. And we, we, we did justice by whatever we could, but we had to cut things. We had to cut back our coverage of Alex Preddy, we had to cut back our coverage of the storm and this shrinking platform of that night. Allison was like such a metaphor for what's really happening with legacy media. We have a shrinking platform. They have fewer viewers, they have smaller real estate, they have less time and less bandwidth, less people to cover things. Just didn't feel like the right direction. And I went home unsatisfied by what I'd done that day. And that's never a good dynamic. That never makes you want to stay on a job.

Dana Goldberg (22:37)

No, Right. And I often compare it to the shrinking platform of corporate media and kind of their both sides style coverage to what happened with major record labels back in the 90s and early aughts, right? All the independents started to come out and say, we're not going to do

Alison Gill (22:57)

this, we're not going to stand for this.

Dana Goldberg (22:58)

You're not going to be able to hold our music hostage. And rather than adapt, the record labels dug in their heels and eventually went

Alison Gill (23:08)

the way of the dodo.

Dana Goldberg (23:09)

So I felt that that was happening with legacy media. And I know I've spoken to you about this before, but I often compared a lot of my favorite journalists and investigative reporters like you at CBS to more of a. It went less from rooting for a specific team like CBS or NBC or ABC to having a fantasy football style team of reporters that I believe in and whose sources I know are legit and who gets the scoops and cares about getting the truth out to the people and speaking truth to power, regardless of the power. So a couple of journalists at Politico, a few journalists here, a few journalists there, certain journalists at the Times at the Post who aren't there anymore. And then of course, Scott McFarland. So I had my whole little fantasy team of journalists that I followed. And it stands to reason that eventually these corporate media conglomerates who just keep eating each other up and becoming mega corporations are going to go the way of the record labels that did in the aughts in the 90s and the aughts, and we're going to be left with our fantasy teams out in independent media. So talk about your decision to go with Midas. I've got a show over on Midas. I partner with them Incredible Independent News Network constantly and consistently, number one, beating others like Joe Rogan or certain other newscasts that we could mention. But we won't talk about your journey to get over to Midas.

Scott McFarland (24:46)

You've been mentoring me for a while now and you being at Midas was a big appeal. When we're out there on the playing field figuring out which team to join, that felt like a good team to join, to be unfiltered, to be independent, but to still have a network to help you, to help you find your footing, but also to help expand your reach. So it was a natural fit. And Midas and I have had such similar interest areas in terms of what stories are important, what news should be the top news of the day, what are the types of sources we want to look into and use. We've been in concentric circles for years now. So it was a natural marriage and a really, really easy one. And by the way, I thank Sherry Mabry for saying that she, she does miss cbs. And seeing me on cbs, there's incred incredible people there, you know, friends for life and remarkably talented folks I left behind. And that was hard. That was the hard part of this, was leaving behind such talented people. I think though, Allison, your analogy is perfect of fantasy football. If you can draft a couple people to cover, to follow to read news. You want to read about the legal system, people you want to follow to read news about politics, about the Senate or the House, people who, who follow Trump, who follow the midterm elections. They're specialists covering certain beats. And you can really assemble and curate your own team of people. And not just people who are out there and becoming expert on certain topics, but people who you trust, who you know. Are you using the actual, you know, tools reporters are to use, Finding context, fact checking, ensuring all sides are heard, ensuring a diversity of sources, and speaking to you in a way that resonates. And I've been covering some pretty poisonous stuff. I had to cover January 6th from soup to nuts. I covered 1500 plus criminal prosecutions and a denialism about the election and a denialism about the reality of the insurrection. That is an ugly playing field to be on. You get menaced, you get threats, you get harassed. You get half of America, less than half of America that doesn't believe what you're reporting because they've been in this silo of fiction for so long. It's tough. And I hope if I'm following the right leads here, Alison, I hope I can stand out by being in a poisonous field but still being respectful, not engaging in this awful, awful name calling that has been existing over the last 14 months here in Washington, that people being called piggy, people being called stupid, people being dunked on on social media by official government accounts. We need to summon our better angels and talk to each other with respect, no matter if we agree with a viewpoint or don't agree with the viewpoint. I think people are starving for that and that's drawing them to independent media too.

Dana Goldberg (27:34)

That's what I kept trying to tell the large corporations, like, hey, you gotta partner with independent media. This is the way this is. It's, this is how it's going forward and just so many doors shut in my face. But I also wanted to talk to

Alison Gill (27:48)

you a little bit about how things get reported.

Dana Goldberg (27:51)

There are old school newsroom rules, right? For words. You can say how you have to say alleged before you say something, how you have to kind of frame something. Oftentimes people don't even write their own headlines. You just write your story and an editor from the corporate media outlet will write the headline for you. But I noticed this a lot when Katie Fang left and became independent too. I noticed it just when I first started talking to you today, when you said the murder of Alex Preddy, something that you probably. A way that you probably wouldn't be able to frame it if you were in corporate media. Like the shooting, the killing of, you know, being able to say that somebody's lying about something instead of, oh, they're obfuscating the fact, you know, like kind of this weird sort of dance around things that are obvious to you and I. It's kind of the, you know, open a window, is it raining? Say it's raining. There doesn't have to be. Others say it's not raining, it's allegedly raining. We're not sure if you know that kind of thing. What can you tell me about how you're going to ease into that ability to be able to present the news in a straightforward, honest way that doesn't have to capitulate to some other unforeseen side in the name of fairness? Do you know what I mean?

Scott McFarland (29:14)

Oh, I do. And I think one of the reasons independent media thrives is independent media has the discretion, has the latitude not to platform lies, not to whitewash history, not to engage or to disseminate conspiracy theories. We don't have to do that. If somebody in the federal government is going to go up there in front of a microphone and say the 2020 election was rigged, we don't have to give that voice to the public. You know, if you watch it on cable news, they'll. They'll check it at the end. And saying there's been no verifiable proof of election fraud. Courts have knocked that down. And then that's the right thing to do. But how about we just don't communicate that crap in the first place? I bet we don't platform that when we don't have to platform that because all it does is sow seeds of doubt ahead of the 2026 elections. And that could be dangerous, cancerous stuff. And you saw proof of that on January 6, 2021. So there's no need to platform lies, platform conspiracy theories, or allow for the whitewashing of history. And we've certainly seen that the whitewashing is pervasive and media tries to push back on it. But maybe not platforming it in the first place is A decent start if it's at all possible. Now, there are some best practices of journalism that we all learn in school and we learn through the school of hard knocks professionally.

Dana Goldberg (30:34)

Yeah.

Scott McFarland (30:34)

You say alleged murderer if you're talking about an individual until a jury of his or her peers has decided on it. Yes. You say you're accused of a crime because Lord knows there have been people accused of crimes falsely in the past and you don't want to convict them before they've had a chance to prove their, their case and argue their case and ensure that a jury of their peers hears it. So there are best practices I'll take with me. And we are diligent in our reporting to avoid risk, to avoid maligning anybody, to avoid lawyers calling us up. These are all things that stick with us. But you don't have to, you don't have to get platform lies.

Alison Gill (31:11)

Yeah, yeah.

Dana Goldberg (31:12)

And like headlines Monday morning, Trump in talks with Iran to end conflict without any indication that these are claims that Trump is making. You know, and we've seen this movie before. It's that kind of thing.

Dani Goldberg (31:28)

Right.

Dana Goldberg (31:29)

It's like, let's be honest with ourselves. Why do we have to put it out like it's real when it's something that a known liar is telling you? And whoa, look, the price of oil went down for a minute. I mean, it seems obvious to the rest of us. And I think that that's another true benefit of this. We've got so many things going on right now, so many things coming up. I know you're filing your reports. Everybody can follow you here on Substack to get those reports. And then also you have a new YouTube channel, like I said, in conjunction with the Midas Touch Network. And man, you hit 75,000 subscribers in like a minute. Congratulations on that. And that just keeps going up and up and up. Talk a little bit about what's coming up because I know the Senate, just actually a huge win for Senate Democrats, just reached a deal to fund a tsa, something that could have been done all along in hopes that maybe they'll be able to bring a budget reconciliation bill that includes aspects of the SAVE act, which I don't see happening getting past parliamentarian. But I know you're covering that. I know you're covering the January 6th plaque lawsuit with my co host, Harry Dunn, for who we co host the cleanup on aisle 45 together. That that lawsuit isn't over because they still aren't following the law even though they've put a plaque up. Talk about Some of the things that you've got coming up that you're going to be talking about on your channels and on your, you know, your network.

Scott McFarland (32:57)

Let's start with the shutdown mess. This knucklehead enterprise that has unfolded before America over the last few weeks and has exacted real pain on people, federal workers, people, you know, trying to fly for spring break with their kids. They felt the pain and this got everybody nowhere. There was this, you know, overnight early Friday morning deal in the Senate to finally, finally fund the TSA and most of Homeland Security. The U. S. House is all tied up in knots figuring out what to do with it because there's all kinds of cross pressures and the margin for error is near zero. They'll be tied up with that for a while. But then the President's move, I think, was the most important yesterday on Thursday when he said that he was just going to unilaterally figure something out to move money around and pay the tsa. We'll leave aside the legality of doing that or what mechanism he's using. So I'm not sure what mechanism he's

Dana Goldberg (33:46)

using, but he just might be some discretionary funding in the big, big ugly bill that can possibly cover that. But yeah, continue.

Scott McFarland (33:56)

And, and that, and that may be so. And one would think that's the best place to get it, Allison. But he has just grasped with both hands ownership of future shutdowns. If he's going to to summon the power to find ways to keep things open when the government shut down, the next time it shuts down on his watch, he's going to get blamed for not using those powers again to reopen the Social Security office, to get you your VA benefit, to ensure the IRS get your tax refund to you, to make sure the TSA is still working. He has absorbed this responsibility. Now, if the President's going to try to expand the powers of the executive branch, there can be a downside to that, and this is one of them. I wonder if Democrats aren't more keen on having future standoffs if they can see the president taking it on the chin more. That, to me is the bigger story moving forward, but the other story moving forward. And I've been really focused on this on my YouTube channel. We're at 125,000 subscriptions. I invite you to join because every report has enterprise reporting in it. Everything we post has something. It hasn't been reported somewhere else yet. I'm really focused on the Democrats efforts in the midterms. Not enough attention being Paid to the fact that There are now 44 Republican U.S. house seats Democrats are targeting. And the chair of the Democratic Committee told me today that number could go up. They're still looking for prospects and they think the winds are really blowing in their direction. And these races are everywhere, Allison. I mean, they're in Iowa, they're in Michigan, they're in California, they're in New York, they're in Pennsylvania, they're in the Southeast. They're everywhere. And a wave is a wave. And I think we need to spend more of our bandwidth not following everything Trump says this hour, everything Trump posts this minute. Enough people doing that already. Let's look at the things people aren't looking at. Why, for example, Allison, are there four seats in Pennsylvania now? Democrats think it can flip with one switch in November. Let's, let's spend our time on that because that's going to have a bigger impact on the next two years than Trump's truth. Social of the moment.

Dana Goldberg (35:55)

Yeah, I agree. It used to be we would go and target seats where there was, you know, within a three point range. And now with all these, you know, these 30 special elections to zero that we've won by 10, 20, 23, 28, 31 point flips, that really has to, has to expand the number of seats that the party's looking to flip.

Scott McFarland (36:16)

Let me interject for one, mom, because Jonathan Campbell brings up a good point in the chat. What happens when they steal 2026? I talked at length last night with Denver Riggleman, who was an investigator for the House January 6th committee who investigated attempts to steal an election. He was also a Republican congressman in Virginia's Fifth District. And he says he's very worried about the 45 days after the midterm elections because he's seeing the same seeds sprouting from the ground that he saw in 2020, a certain ecosphere of social media that is already peddling doubts about voter integrity and voter fraud. They're trying to get voter rolls from states all across the country in the administration. And Allison, whether they get those voter rolls or not, they have something to play with. If there's legal challenges after the election, whether the denial of voter rolls or they can find something in the voter rolls that they can flag, it really could see some more effective legal challenges. There is concern among experts and election security experts with no ties to either party about what's going on so far.

Dana Goldberg (37:15)

Yeah, agreed. And we see some of the election day shenanigans like we saw in Dallas county in the primary. There where people were going to the wrong polling places. The website hadn't been updated for the precincts. Then they went somewhere else and it wasn't where they were. They got the polls extended for two hours. Then Ken Paxton came in and had the Texas Supreme Court get rid of that. I mean, those are the kinds of things that we're all gonna be facing in the midterm elections. And like you said, those are the things that need to be covered, not what Trump said yesterday on the golf course. And I think you bring up a really good point about the shutdown where it's not just this battle that's impacted. When Donald Trump comes in and says, oh, I can. I'll just fund it. It's every subsequent shutdown battle, which only happens when the Republicans are in charge.

Scott McFarland (38:03)

Oddly, if you follow, if you follow me on Substack, follow me on YouTube and IG, I don't see the need to tell you what Trump said today. Everybody's got that covered. This, this, that lane is full. There's lots of lanes that are running empty despite all the reporters here in Washington. Let's spend some time on other people and other things that aren't Trump's Thoughts of the hour.

Alison Gill (38:23)

Yeah.

Dana Goldberg (38:23)

Well, thank you so much. I'm so excited for you. I know everybody's going to be following and watching to see what you accomplish in partnership with Midas Touch and mtn. I think it's fantastic. I've got a show coming up this Sunday at noon. Well, I'll be breaking some exclusive news on the Midas Touch Network on the breakdown. And I really encourage everybody to subscribe to Scott McFarland's substack and to just go, click, subscribe over on his YouTube channel. Not just because you're going to get amazing news, but I think it's important that we show these corporate media overlords the power of independent media. It's incredible. It's strong, it's growing. It is the future. And I'm so glad to have you over as a Midas Touch partner. It's going to be really amazing to watch.

Scott McFarland (39:17)

We'll do it again, Allison. But nobody is going to be surprised when I say this, but Allison's a mentor to a lot of people. She won't take credit. She won't put that as a billboard on her program. But trust me, she's somebody who's been a North Star for a lot of us.

Dana Goldberg (39:31)

That's so very kind of you to say. I really appreciate it.

Scott McFarland (39:34)

Thanks, Alison.

Dana Goldberg (39:35)

Everybody, thanks so much for watching we'll see you next time on the Breakdown.

Martin Sheen (39:39)

Filming the Way on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela was one of the most important and rewarding experiences of my life, and it was by far the most satisfying role of my career. The Way was filmed in 2009 over an eight week schedule and followed the pilgrimage route from St Jean Pierre deport in the French Pyrenees, across northern Spain to Santiago and then on to Mucia for the final scene. And the entire production was a family affair. Those are the opening lines of a story I share and they reflect the very heart of my podcast. And through sharing autobiographical stories and inspired poetry and personal reflections, that is the theme I find myself exploring again and again. But I do so in the hope that it sparks listeners to see how it relates to their own lives and their own story of discovery. So please join me each Sunday for a beautifully crafted 20 minute journey of personal exploration. I'm proud to announce the Martin Sheen Podcast Season two. I've often said if it's not personal, it's impersonal and that is how I choose to approach my podcast. With all its contents from storytelling to poetry and book book selections, each unique episode is a journey we will share together. I think it's important you know that I have no intention of leaving who I am at the door with this podcast. Anyone who knows me knows I cannot tell a personal story that doesn't have at least some social justice connection at its core. I have my convictions and issues that draw on my empathy and compassion. Frankly, that's what drives and informs my conscience and makes me who I am. How could I bring any less to this endeavor? So tune in Sundays as I invite you to follow, subscribe and receive notifications about what's next for me, Martin Sheen. Oh and for more information please visit themartensheenpodcast.com and thank you again everybody.

Alison Gill (41:47)

Welcome back.

Dana Goldberg (41:47)

It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone? Then Good news everyone.

Alison Gill (42:06)

Good news. And if you have any good news good trouble suggestions you want to send in all of your no Kings photos, we want to see those and hear from you. You can also give a shout out to a loved one or a small business or a non profit or government program that's helped you or a loved one, share your favorite joke, anything that's you know that's made you smile big or small from yesterday or 20 years ago, send it to us. We want to microdose in your hope so you know all you gotta do. By the way to get your submission Read on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which just means attach a photo of anything.

Dana Goldberg (42:37)

Really.

Alison Gill (42:37)

Like I said, send in your no Kings photos, send in pet photos, random animal on the Internet, adoptable pet in your area. Show us what you're making and creating. Anything at all to pay your pod pet tariff. Just head over to DailyBeansPod.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble, and this is just a celebratory good trouble. Y' all turned out no kings. 3, 300 events, 8 million people, not a single incident. Just incredible. Biggest single day protest in the history of the United States. So well done. Everybody love to see it.

Dani Goldberg (43:15)

And we're gonna see a lot of those signs right now. So hopefully you're a patron because they're gonna be in your special. What is your special patron link?

Alison Gill (43:22)

Yeah, that's exactly it.

Dani Goldberg (43:25)

All right, this is from Max. Pronouns he and him. Hello, Queens of the Beans. Thanks for Stand up for Science. I was able to join the virtual no Kings rally even though I live in Europe. I didn't even think about that. Of course, for people overseas, not just people that can't get out in the United States. I was just adding to this. That's so smart. Shout out to Colette Delawalla for founding Stand up for Science. Here's a Monty Python quote. Oh, but you can't expect wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you. Keep up the good fight. Screenshots of Colette Delawalla during virtual no Kings.

Alison Gill (44:04)

So cool. Look, if I went round saying I wielded supreme power because some. Some more watery tart hurled a scimitar at me, they'd lock me up. That's a good one, Max. Thank you so much. That's a wonderful photo, by the way. And what a cool event. All right, next up from anonymous pronoun, she and her hello Beans queens just sharing pics in O Kings 3 in Times Square. What an awesome event. Managed to get to the front of the protest with Letitia James and Al Sharpton before Robert De Niro showed up. It was friendly, powerful and huge. Thanks for all you do to encourage us to participate in our democracy each and every day onwards. Look at these amazing photos. Yeah, there she is. Tish James. There's the rev. Brilliant.

Dani Goldberg (44:52)

New York's a special place for protests, man. I know they're big all over the place, but there's something about just a flood of people going down, you know, whether it's Fifth Avenue or anyone else. And it just Takes up the entire, you know, going into Times Square. It's just an extraordinary. It's an extraordinary scene. All right, this is from Holly Pronouns she and her. Yesterday we showed up in my Dora, Florida for no Kings. We had several people shooting us the bird, but many less than last time. We yelled at them have the day you deserve. And gave them a peace sign. I have included pictures of me and my husband who always supports me with these protests. Thank you for all you do.

Alison Gill (45:31)

Fantastic.

Dani Goldberg (45:31)

Unpaid, peaceful protester. That's what I'm talking about.

Alison Gill (45:34)

There you go. I saw a sign that says, flip us off if you love pedophiles.

Dani Goldberg (45:39)

Oh, my God, that's funny.

Alison Gill (45:42)

Good job, everybody. Next up, Anonymous pronoun she and her. I'm a relatively new listener after being told about your podcast by my friend and coworker Angie. Shout out to Angie about a month

Dana Goldberg (45:51)

and a half ago.

Alison Gill (45:52)

Listening to your podcast has filled this introvert with incredible knowledge and inspiration to become a Patreon member. Buy FDT merch and today I attended my first protest with my daughter. Their first protest too, in St. Louis, Missouri. As I stood with all of the other protesters, I was moved by the moment of realizing I was finally doing something and I wasn't alone. Thank you for all you do to share knowledge and inspire listeners to stand up for something.

Dani Goldberg (46:19)

Aw.

Alison Gill (46:20)

Anonymous thank you so much for my podpet tax. I'm submitting a picture of my daughter and I today with our protest signs and a picture of Fern and Bird, two of my three dogs who are in a bad girl gang that you would definitely get with 100% accuracy. Oh, look at them baby poodles. They're so good.

Dani Goldberg (46:40)

They're so sweet. Thank you very much.

Alison Gill (46:42)

We've got a sign, by the way. I'm sorry to interrupt, but.

Dani Goldberg (46:45)

No, don't be.

Alison Gill (46:46)

Things are so bad. The introverts are here.

Dani Goldberg (46:49)

I love it. Every time I see that, it makes me so happy. Yeah. All right. This is from Laura. Madrid. No pronouns given. Hello beans. Queens finally became a patron. Was riding the free train for so long. We went to no tyrants protest in Madrid, Spain. We have a king. So on the inske co organized by democrats abroad and indivisible a Reuters photog was there photographer was there Lots of good signs on top of all the other insanity those of us living overseas face losing our votes together. I'm submitting a photo of the gathering before it started, taken from a cafe above Puerto de Sol. The crowd almost doubled by half an hour later for my pod pet tax I give you Nika looking suspicious. After 15 years with us, she's now chasing lizards in the great beyond. Thank you for digging into the details.

Alison Gill (47:41)

Wow, what a great, great photo. And thank you so much. And that's a good reminder because I

Dana Goldberg (47:47)

think today is the last day you

Alison Gill (47:49)

can get in as a patron at the $3 a month level before we bump it up to $5. So if you want to lock in that $3 a month for however long you want it to be a patron of this show, the Daily Beans, you can do it at patreon.com mullershirote so thanks for joining us, Laura. Next up, from Katie, pronouns, she and they. Hello, friends. I'm sending you photos of my paper mache turd on a stick who has now been through his second Chicago no Kings march. He gets a lot of attention, which can be kind of exhausting as an introvert, but my absolute favorite thing is hearing the howls of laughter from other protesters when they see him.

Brian Caram (48:28)

Him.

Alison Gill (48:28)

Fascists hate joy. So it's more important than ever to spread laughter and smiles where we can. Oh, that's such a good point, Katie. I kind of want to build a bigger one with more sculptural details, but I'm hoping that cholesterol does its job before the next march and it won't be needed. No cat tack, since I can only attach two photos. And I wanted to show you the turd King in action. Maybe next time. Oh, my God. Look at this.

Dani Goldberg (48:52)

I know. This is amazing.

Dana Goldberg (48:54)

Oh, it's so good.

Alison Gill (48:56)

That's multimedia, I'm telling you.

Dani Goldberg (48:58)

The creativity of people and just the joy. I mean, the joy of protesting, truly, but also like making signs and things that are really just telling this government what we think about them through comedy and telling you comedy reaches people. That's one of the reasons why I'm good at my job. Allison's great at her job. Comedy reaches people.

Alison Gill (49:17)

Absolutely. And I'll tell you what. We're gonna share some of our favorite signs that we saw. And whether, you know, we saw them at the rallies themselves or just on the Internet afterwards. Words over on the Beans Talk, which is a video podcast that you can. You can get over at the MSW Media YouTube channel. So check it out if you want to see some of my, my and Dana's favorite signs. There's some really good ones out there this weekend, and we really appreciate you sending them to us. Send them all@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact for our good news and we'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Do you have any final thoughts for today, my friend?

Dani Goldberg (49:48)

I do not.

Alison Gill (49:49)

All right, until tomorrow, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health health and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been DG and them's the Beans.

Desiree McFarlane (49:58)

The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Alison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit msw wmedia.

Alison Gill (50:21)

Com MSW Media.