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The Daily Beans
Penchant For Drama (feat. John Fugelsang)
00:54:02
Friday, January 3rd, 2025 Today, Rudy Giuliani will Zoom in remotely to one of several contempt hearings; we have more information on both the New Orleans and Las Vegas Cybertruck attacks; a US appeals court has blocked the Biden Administration’s effort to restore net neutrality rules; Mike Johnson is feverishly working to shore up the votes he needs to remain speaker of the House; Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson for their work on the January 6th committee; and Allison and Dana delivers your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, January 3, 2025. Today, Rudy Giuliani will zoom in remotely to one of several contempt hearings. We have more information on the New Orleans attack and the Las Vegas cybertruck attack. The US Appeals court has blocked the Biden administration's effort to restore net neutrality rules. Mike Johnson is feverishly working the phones to shore up the votes he needs to remain speaker of the House. And Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Benny Thompson for their work on the January 6th select committee. I'm Alison Gill.
- [01:00]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:04]
Alison Gill
Hey, Dana. Happy Friday.
- [01:05]
Dana Goldberg
Happy Friday to you as well, my friend. Well, we got for through the first three days of the new year, so we're, we're. Right now we're batting a thousand on days we have survived of 2025.
- [01:16]
Alison Gill
Yeah. I keep thinking, though it probably doesn't really start till Monday, the 2025.
- [01:22]
Dana Goldberg
I was actually shocked at how empty the gym was because you know how New Year's resolutions, everyone's like, I'm gonn. The gym turns into madness for like a month. And then people are like, I'm done working out. It was still super quiet. So I think you're right. I think everyone's just saying that the. The new year begins Monday, although Congress.
- [01:39]
Alison Gill
Will be in session today trying to elect a speaker. And we'll talk a little bit about that. So get your popcorn ready. Although maybe, you know, Massie will fall in line and they'll elect a speaker. Or maybe they'll do a thing where they elect a temporary speaker so that they can get the January 6 certification done on Monday and work out rules before they have a big old speaker election fight. We'll see what happens. But they have a penchant for drama, do they?
- [02:07]
Dana Goldberg
No.
- [02:08]
Alison Gill
Yeah. So I can't imagine everything going smoothly, but we'll see and we'll let you know when we talk again on Monday. It's Friday, so it's. Fugal sang Fridays here on the Daily Bean. So I'll be joined by my friend John Fugal sang later in the show. Rudy has a hearing today. He wrote a letter saying he's too sick to show up to court in person. Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss were like, fine, zoom in. But you don't get to complain that you couldn't speak in your own defense if you don't show up. And. And you know, we don't want to hear it. Harry Dunn and I are going to discuss the outcome of that contempt hearing. And his response to Judge Baral, how in another contempt motion on next week's cleanup on L45 pod when we know the outcomes of those things. And a quick update, the driver behind the attack in New Orleans is an army veteran born in Texas. And the FBI says he acted alone and was inspired by isis. So a lone wolf, radicalized online veteran of the US Military. So we'll keep you posted on those details as they unfold. Of course, Donald Trump and the right wing noise machine was wrong when they said that this was a migrant. Either of these attacks, both US Citizens, one currently in the Army. We'll go over that in a minute. And one of a veteran of the.
- [03:22]
Dana Goldberg
Army and one very much a Trump supporter. And momentum mention that soon as well.
- [03:27]
Alison Gill
And the guy that was arrested with 150 pipe bombs, the most pipe bombs ever found in, in the history of the FBI in one place. Dudes out on bail.
- [03:36]
Dana Goldberg
This is bananas to me. Like, I don't even understand, like, they're just assuming this guy had all of his artillery and bombs in one place, first of all. Second of all, he's clearly a danger to society. And I would assume a flight, a flight risk. Like, what the.
- [03:51]
Alison Gill
I am flabbergasted that the FBI is like, we secured the biggest cache of, you know, explosive devices in the history of the FBI. Yet for some reason the judge allowed bail to happen. I know the DOJ opposed it. And I'm, I'm thinking, did we read through that when we first reported on this a couple days ago and just like flew past the fact that he was out on bail? Because it was pointed out to me later and I was like flabbergasted.
- [04:18]
Dana Goldberg
We definitely missed it. I think both of us would have been as flabbergasted reading it as we are right now.
- [04:24]
Alison Gill
It's just, and he's apparently like an Alex Jones kind of wing nut.
- [04:28]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, boy.
- [04:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah. 2025. Off to a great start. So we're going to keep an eye on all of these stories. And we, we also have an update on the the cyber truck explosion that happened out front of Trump's Las Vegas hotel. And that's coming up next right now in the Hot Notes. Hot Notes. All right, first up from the Associated Press content warning here for suicide, suicide ideation and just awful violent fires. The highly decorated army soldier inside a Tesla cybertruck packed with fireworks that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Vegas shot himself in the head just before detonation. That's according to authorities on Thursday. The explosion caused Minor injuries to seven people, but virtually no damage to the hotel. Clark County Sheriff Kevin McCahill said Matthew Livelsberger, a Green Beret, likely planned a more damaging attack, but the steel sided vehicle actually absorbed most of the force from the crudely built explosives. Damage from the blast was most likely limited to the interior of the truck because the explosion vented out and up and didn't hit the Trump Hotel doors just a few feet away. Quote the level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience. That's Kenny Cooper, a special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities are still working to determine motive. Quote it's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, that it's a Tesla vehicle, but we don't have any information at this point that definitely tells us our or suggests that it was because of this particular ideology. That's Spencer Evans, Las Vegas FBI special agent in charge. The Daily Beast is reporting that this suspect is a Trump supporter based on his social media posts or was until recently. A handgun was found at the feet of the man in the driver's seat who officials believe is LBER 37, of Colorado. And actually some more breaking news has come in to say that the DNA testing shows that this is who they thought it is. Livelsberger lberger I'm not sure how to pronounce his name. 37 of Colorado. The shot appeared to be self inflicted. Among other charred items found in the truck were a second firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, military id, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally. The remains were burned beyond recognition and investigators, it says here, have not definitively identified this person, but they have now. So that's a little bit out of date because you know we're getting updates minute by minute on this. Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan, serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and the Congo. He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with Valor, a valor device for courage under Fire, a combat infantry Badge and an Army Commendation medal with valor. McMahl says Livelsburger rented the Tesla electric vehicle in Denver on Saturday and the sheriff displayed a map showing that it was charged in the Colorado town of Monument near Colorado Springs on Monday. On New Year's Eve. It was charged in Trinidad, Colorado and three towns in New Mexico along the Interstate 40 corridor. The explosion of the truck, packed with fireworks, mortars and camp fuel canisters came hours after a 42 year old named Shamsu Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans famed French Quarter early on New Year's Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack. The FBI said Thursday they believe Jabbar acted alone, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others. Both Livelsberger and Jabbar spent time at Fort Bragg, the Army base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a huge army base in North Carolina that's home to multiple Army Special operations units. However, one of the officials who spoke to the AP said there's no overlap in their assignments at the base, so they didn't serve at the same time and that base is now called Fort Liberty. Chris Rea, FBI deputy assistant director, said Thursday that officials have found no definitive link between the New Orleans attack and the truck explosion in Las Vegas.
- [08:51]
Dana Goldberg
All right, thanks so much AG and this story is from Melissa Quinn at CBS News, Washington. President Biden announced Thursday that he is awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to Rep. Bennie Thompson and former Rep. Liz Cheney. Those are the two lawmakers who led the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol. Mr. Biden will deliver remarks and present the awards to Thompson, Cheney and more than a dozen other recipients during a ceremony at the later on Thursday. Quote, the Presidential Citizens Medal is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others. The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice. The White House said this in announcing those who they are going to honor. Thompson, who is a Mississippi Democrat, and Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, served as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the House panel that was tasked with examining the events leading up to January 6th. In the course of this probe, we know the committee held 10 public hearings, interviewing more than a thousand witnesses and compiled more than 1 million pages of material. Wow. Its work concluded in December of 2022 after an investigation that spanned 18 months. The committee voted to refer President Elect Donald Trump and conservative lawyer John Eastman for criminal prosecution because of their alleged effort to subvert the peaceful transfer of presidential power. On January 6th of 2021, Trump was charged with four federal crime counts stemming from his efforts to hold on to power after the 2020 presidential election. But the charges were dismissed following a request by Special Counsel Jack Smith. In November, after Trump was elected to a second term, the special counsel sought to end the prosecution because Justice Department policy forbids the prosecution of a sitting president. In its announcement of the recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal, the White House said that throughout Cheney's 20 year in public office, Cheney has raised her voice and reached across the aisle to defend our nation and the ideals we stand for, freedom, dignity and decency. Her integrity and intrepidness remind us all what is possible if we work together. Cheney became an ardent opponent of Trump following the 2020 election and endorsed Harris for president. The White House said of Thompson that he served, quote, at the forefront of defending the rule of law with unwavering integrity and steadfast commitment to truth. As chair of the January 6 committee, Mr. Biden's considering blanket preemptive pardons for prominent critics of Trump from both parties to protect them from possible retribution or legal prosecution by the incoming administration. Multiple people familiar with the ongoing discussions told that to CBS News earlier this month. Among those who are under consideration are Cheney, Senator Adam Schiff of California, who served on the January 6th elect committee while in the House, and retired General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has called Trump, quote, a fascist. In addition to Cheney and Thompson, Mr. Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to Mary Bonado, an attorney who argued the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized same sex marriage. Bill Bradley, he's a former NBA player and U.S. senator. And Diane Carlson Evans, who served as a nurse during the Vietnam War and founded the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation. Former senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and Ted Kaufman of Delaware, they're also going to be honored during the ceremony.
- [12:32]
Alison Gill
Thank you. Thank you for that story. Next up from Politico. With less than 24 hours left until the start of the 119th Congress, Mike Johnson doesn't have the votes to remain speaker.
- [12:43]
Dana Goldberg
And you ain't got the vote now.
- [12:46]
Alison Gill
This is Thursday. We record this Thursday. Who knows what the fuck could go down by the time you're hearing this? By the time you're hearing this show. The Louisiana Republican has been working diligently over the past few days to lock down the 218 votes he needs, even after spending the holidays working the phones and meeting with President elect Donald Trump. But even the incoming president's repeated endorsement earlier this week doesn't mean Johnson is guaranteed a victory. Roughly a dozen Republicans are still on the fence, and some of them try to get concessions on the rules or commitments from Johnson on spending. There are some positive signs for the speaker. In addition to Trump's restated backing, Johnson has managed to keep his official no votes to only one so far. That's Thomas Massie. We talked about him. And one notable holdout, Paul Gosar, is back in Johnson's camp. Plus, despite multiple conservatives expressing reservations about Johnson, there's not a clear alternative candidate who could get the votes. And Johnson's allies believe they're making progress in decreasing the number of Republicans who are outwardly opposed to him retaining the gavel. That's according to two Republicans Familiar said they're pretty soft holdouts. Still, the speaker's allies privately admit he may not be able to win on the first few ballots. Quote, I think we'll get it done. That's what Mike Johnson told Fox News Thursday about the speaker vote. I've talked to every single one of those friends and colleagues over the holidays, he said. In addition to Gosar, Warren Davidson of Ohio, a close ally of Jim Jordan, said on Thursday he's backing Johnson, noting that Trump wants Speaker Johnson. Incoming Rep. Brandon Gill, Republican from Texas, no relation, who is likely to join the Freedom Caucus, also pointed to Trump's endorsement, saying, Mike's the guy. Chip Roy of Texas made calls to other House Republicans over the holidays to vibe check Jordan and other potential candidates if Johnson can't get the votes now. Jordan, Scalise and Emmer all made bids for the gavel following McCarthy's ouster last year, but are now supporting Mike Johnson. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have also floated Rep. Byron Donalds, Republican from Florida, who brushed off any interest to reporters late last year. I remain undecided, as do a number of my colleagues, because we saw so many of the failures last year. That's what Roy told Fox Business. Right now, I don't believe he has the votes on Friday. And in a related story, the House's ethics watchdog, the Ethics Committee, the one that put out the report on Matt Gaetz, they found substantial reason to believe that two members may have violated campaign finance regulations. According to a pair of reports that were just released on Thursday, the Office of Congressional Ethics wrote Andy Ogles, big surprise. You know, we, we talked several times with Phil Williams from Fox 5 or, excuse me, Channel 5, Channel 5 News investigative reporting in Tennessee about Andy Ogles because he's a Republican from Tennessee and how he was just doing what George Santos did remember saying he borrowed a bunch of money and filtered it into his campaign so that he could reach the threshold to get national party money. Well, they found that he omitted or misrepresented required information in his financial disclosure statements or FEC candidate committee reports and that his campaign committee may have accepted excessive contributions that were reported as personal loans and contributions from the candidate. So I wanted to bring up Ogles. The other rep that they said had fishy campaign finance stuff was a Democrat. I would have to look, look her up because her name has fallen out of my head, as so many other things have in these pats since, since the beginning of the year.
- [16:22]
Dana Goldberg
Understandably. I'm sure there's someone listening that could quickly put it into a correction. So keep talking.
- [16:27]
Alison Gill
Yeah, and you know what? I'll, I'll tell you all about it on Monday. But I just, I had to bring up the Andy Ogles thing because we have, you and I, Dana, have been talking about Ogles forever about this investigation and, and the DOJ never brought any charges against him like they did with Santos.
- [16:44]
Dana Goldberg
Yep, yep, yep, yep. All right, this last one's from Reuters. A U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules. The decision's a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open Internet rules a priority. President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules. A three judge panel of the Cincinnati based 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC lacked authority to reinstate the rules initially implemented in 2015 by the agency under Democratic former President Barack Obama, but then repealed by the commission in 2017 under Republican former president who Donald Trump. Net neutrality rules require Internet service providers to treat Internet data and users equally, rather than restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain users. The rules also forbid special arrangements in which ISPs give improved network speeds or access to favored users. The court cited the Supreme Court's June decision in a case known as Loper bright to overturn 1984 precedent that has given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer. In the latest decision to curb the authority of federal agencies, quote, applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC's vacillations. This is what the court ruled. The decision leaves in place state neutrality rules adopted by California and other May end more than 20 years of efforts to give federal regulators sweeping oversight over the Internet. Incoming FCC chair Brandon Carr voted against the reinstatement last year and praised the decision to invalidate what he called Biden's quote, Internet power grab. I know he vowed to unwind additional regulations. FCC chair Jessica Rosenwarzel called on Congress to act after the decision. And this is a quote, Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an Internet that is fast, open and fair. With this decision, it's clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality and put open Internet principles to federal law. That's what she said in a statement. The Trump administration is unlikely to appeal the decision, but net neutrality advocates could seek review by the Supreme Court.
- [19:07]
Alison Gill
Yeah, but given Loper Bright, I imagine the Supreme Court will say, sorry, the experts at the FCC don't get to make decisions anymore. Just like the experts at the EPA or the DHS or, you know. Yeah. And we talked about how that the Loper Bright decision could actually help Democrats in litigation over the next four years for agencies like DHS and Health and Human Services run by absolute idiots to say, sal, I sorry, Supreme Court says you can't make those rules. You know, only the courts get to decide what, you know. That's what happens after they got rid of Chevron deference in Lopa Bright. So thank you for that story. And it's amazing to me that the Republicans are all, It's a Biden power grab because Biden wants to not let businesses throttle Internet for low paying users.
- [20:00]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [20:01]
Alison Gill
Yeah. So I guess it's a power grab for regular people to have good Internet. Just absolutely stunning. All right, everybody. Yeah. He wants freedom for his very rich friends who run these companies to be able to reward high paying customers and certain customers with fast, free, open Internet.
- [20:21]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. And I think it also keeps people in the rural areas that may not have access to this. I don't mean to say it like this, but dumbed down, they're not getting the information they need because they can't actually access it.
- [20:31]
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, right. I mean, that's kind of the whole point of a low voter information, low information electorate helps the oligarchs. All right, on that bright note, we have a lot of good news that we have to get to, but first we're going to talk to Fugelsang, Mr. John Fugelsang for Fuglesang Fridays right after this break. Stick around. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans, so if you're a new listener, that means it's Fugal Sang Fridays and we're here to talk to my good friend who hosts Tell Me everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127 weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And if you don't have Sirius, you can always catch him on the John Fugelsang show podcast. Please welcome my friend, John Fugelsang.
- [21:16]
John Fugelsang
Alison Gill. Happy New Year to you and all your listeners. My God, we made it. We. We. We lived longer than 2024. I'm so proud of us.
- [21:23]
Alison Gill
I'm still in March of 2020. Like, I never really left that month, I don't think. But that would mean, you know, we're right kind of back where we are. Oh, oh, oh, you meaning pandemic and Donald Trump is.
- [21:36]
John Fugelsang
You mean where the. The Christians elect Caligula and God sends a plague? Yes. Bird flu online, too. It's exactly happening all over again. But look, at least this way, 2024 ended with both Matt Gates and Tim Scott realizing that they had both married women for nothing. So find the smiles where you can find them, man. It's going to be a lot of comedy this year.
- [21:59]
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, that's what we have to do, right? Microdose hope and find joy in the little things. But 2025, off to an auspicious start. We have a mass shooting. We have an exploding cyber truck. We have a lone wolf, possible potential terrorists born and bred here in the United States, ramming into revelers in New.
- [22:18]
John Fugelsang
Orleans, in the French Quarter, both ex military. Both ex military.
- [22:22]
Alison Gill
One of them, the cybertruck guys, currently a Green Beret or was.
- [22:26]
John Fugelsang
Yes. Yeah, they believe to have been a suicide as well, the most recent reports I've heard. And then, yeah, the fellow in New Orleans got radicalized in the last couple of years. And again, this is what happens. Right wing religion. It doesn't matter what the right wing religion is. If you get radicalized by right wing religion, you will think that God wants you to kill people because somehow I. I don't know what it is. You get far enough right in any religion and you think that God wants people dead, but he doesn't have the ability to do it himself, so you have to do some smiting on Jehovah's behalf. It's the same on both sides.
- [23:01]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And it's especially interesting on the one side. We're now finding out from the Daily Beast that cybertruck guy was a Trump fan. And then we've got this fellow who was arrested on a farm outside of Norfolk with the most pipe bombs ever found, most explosive devices found in one place by the FBI in the FBI's history. And this guy is out on bail, $25,000 cash bail, which absolutely blows my mind. He had something in his freezer labeled dangerous. Some, apparently some sort of compound that slight changes in temperature that the friction caused by that would cause it to explode. So they arrested that fellow, but he's, he's out walking free as well. He seemed to be like an Alex Jones kind of of guy.
- [23:50]
John Fugelsang
So I think it's, it's great for non white people to know that you could have 150 pipe bombs in your house. Non white folks, that's what's been told to us here. And yeah, I mean I, I, the only question is how long until this guy gets his own hoarder show? Because 150. You know what I find, Allison? And maybe this is just Fox. After, after about 50 pipe bombs, I, I can, I can blow up most of my town. I really don't need more. It's amazing how I hit my limit so quickly with these. But, but yeah, and they found them all within coolers throughout the guy's house. The largest cachet of homemade explosives in history. And all I can say is get ready for lots and lots and lots more of this.
- [24:29]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I, I, again, it doesn't bode well for, I think Dana, my co host was like it's, it's day one. Can we chill out?
- [24:39]
John Fugelsang
Yeah, it's not even day one. Yet again, I saw that picture of a cyber truck by, by Tesla exploding in front of a Trump Hotel. And I thought, oh my God, 2025 is resting comfortably after an overdose of metaphor. Already it's begun. And we saw this happen with the MAGA Civil war. I mean they're not waiting.
- [24:58]
Alison Gill
Let's talk about that because we're about to, this is, you know, we air this on Friday, we recorded on Thursday. But they're gonna try to pick a speaker today, Friday when you're hearing this. And, and that's gonna be an interesting exercise considering no one can swear anybody in to the 119th Congress without a Speaker of the House. So we've got that, we've got the MAGA civil war about H1B visas. Lauren Boebert now going on Fox News saying she's very upset with Elon and Vivek Ramaswamy. But you know, I think we learned that earlier this year Tesla laid off 2,000American workers in favor of hiring people on H1B visas. So of course that was a deal that Elon Musk made with president to elect Trump. I'LL help you get elected if you make it so I don't have to keep reporting crashes and fires with Tesla cars. And if you make it so ding, ding. I can retain my H1B visas. Because you said you hated them at one point and now everybody's mad at Trump at least.
- [26:02]
John Fugelsang
No, they're not mad. They're not allowed to be. It's still a cult. And they're all using the power of the culture to try to weasel around disappointing the racists. This is what happens. These guys always make these pacts with the racists, be they Wall street ghouls or fake religious slime bags, or in this case now the new breed of Tech Bros and robber barons. They make these pacts with the racists to try to get power. And of course, usually you can, you know, bomb a third world nation of brown people and get the racist to be distracted from the fact that you're not serving them in any way. Again, anybody who's not a millionaire, who voted for this administration deserves everything they're going to get. But watching Elon Musk, this guy's like a commercial for not doing ketamine when you've got Ann Coulter call, you know, attacking them and being nakedly racist. I think it's exactly the kind of schism this movement needs. You're right. Donald Trump doesn't give a rat's ass about immigration and he never has. Illegal aliens from Poland built his tower to himself on Fifth Avenue back in the 80s. They were finding undocumented work workers at his Bedminster golf Club while he was serving as president. These Republicans don't give a rat's ass about immigration. We've discussed this so many times. They don't care about illegal immigration. Wall street really doesn't care about illegal immigration. This is what they use to get the rubes to vote for tax cuts for guys who don't need tax cuts. The hordes coming over the border. As we've discussed so many times, if Republicans wanted border crossings to stop, they would start locking up the white people who do all the hiring. They won't do it. Our underground economy props up all of this and there's a gigantic help wanted sign at our border. It's never coming down. So my wife works in tech in the hiring department. And yeah, H1B visas have been a big issue under Donald Trump's last administration. And we know that Trump's a big fan of hiring foreign workers. If he can save a buck paying a living wage to a US born worker. The flaws with the Democratic Party for not making this stick to him and not making everybody realize it. But now it's coming out. The civil war's begun. And you've got Vivek Ramaswamy, who's only wealthy because he and his family lied about an Alzheimer's drug, lecturing about how lazy American kids are. You've got Elon, you've got Prince Apartheid McBratface lecturing about how lazy Americans are. This MAGA civil war is going to blow up in the middle of all of it. You got Trump having his, his hostage taking about raising the debt ceiling. I mean, like imagine if you voted for Trump because you thought he'd cut spending and then watching him try to get the debt ceiling raised before he even takes office and realizing how colossally you've been played. They are not serious about cutting any kind of spending. It's all theater.
- [28:50]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And now the debt ceiling. They don't have any debt ceiling hostages to take other than themselves at this point. So we're going to see that. And you know, during every Republican administration, or I should say when Republicans are controlling Congress, they quietly raise the debt ceiling without, without, you know, without any fanfare. But when it's us who wants to, you know, spend money on, on working families and working poor and, and the needy, the meek who are supposed to inherit the earth, then all of a sudden the debt ceiling becomes a huge problem. Even though I think 25% of our national debt occurred under Donald Trump's last 25 administration.
- [29:29]
John Fugelsang
In 248 years, 25% of all the debt happened in those four years. Now let's be honest, a big chunk of that was Covid spending. So we get it, we supported all that. But yeah, giving a massive tax cut away to the people who need a massive tax cut the least. This is the endless suckers game of trickle down economics. There is no group easier to seduce than conservative white people. You just talk about babies and flags and brown hoards and Bibles and they will sign up to privilege the aristocrats all day long. It's just, we've watched this racket play out our entire life, Alison. They play on the prejudices to make the aristocracy stronger.
- [30:07]
Alison Gill
They did it this weekend when Donald Trump and Trump Jr. And Eric and a lot of other people right from the right wing noise machine took to their, you know, flagrantly Nazi social media spaces and, and made the determination that the attacks like in New Orleans or the cybertruck were because of the open border. And they tried to blame Joe Biden and then we find out within hours that these are, you know, born and bred Americans veterans and a current Green.
- [30:39]
John Fugelsang
Beret Americans trained to kill by America.
- [30:44]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And so trying once again to get the, the anti immigration message out there when they themselves employ immigrants to, to save money.
- [30:55]
John Fugelsang
You got, you nailed it. And I wanted to say, you know, next time these bigots get you down, which will probably happen a lot this year, just remember that when these MAGA races are old, the senior care workers who will one day be dressing and feeding and changing them are probably all going to be immigrants. So just let that keep you warm at night. They will grow old.
- [31:14]
Alison Gill
See, I just think of the janitor in Breakfast Club when, when the, when the principal was like, you know, the thing that keeps me up at night, or these kids are going to be taking care of us when we're old. He's like, you sure about that? Yeah. You think it's, it's very Fight Club.
- [31:31]
John Fugelsang
But I mean, again, they lost abortion, Alison. So, you know, scaring white people over the Christian refugees at our border, scaring white people over the undocumented labor force upon whom our low prices depend. I mean, the great failure of the Democrats in the media that most Americans don't know we are Recovering better from COVID 19 inflation better than any other capitalist allies. And one of the dirty reasons we're doing better is because we have this underground labor force that Democrats and Republicans will never do anything about. We all know it. Our produce prices, our meatpacking plants. It's because of this underground workforce that our prices are so much lower than other capitalist countries. And it's a dirty hypocrisy we're all a part of.
- [32:18]
Alison Gill
Yeah. But also, you know, even if we tried to get the message out, which I think the, you know, the Harris campaign and Democrats did their level best to do, which you know, the message that we are recovering faster than anyone.
- [32:31]
John Fugelsang
Else on the planet, that yes, it.
- [32:34]
Alison Gill
Does sort of let fall by the wayside the people who don't feel like we've recovered who are having difficult times, which, you know, President Biden would have got. Like, I know things are bad and they need to get better. Harris said it like, we need to turn the page and move forward and, you know, help the American middle class.
- [32:56]
John Fugelsang
Yes. And, and Barack Obama had the same problem, a recovery on paper that seemed like it was only on paper, but not in the real world. But again, the, the great step in.
- [33:06]
Alison Gill
The right wing noise machine and the Joe Rogans of the world who speak to disillusioned young men who feel left out and stepped on and they give them a home. I'll never forget what happened in 2024 reminded me of the monologue that Ed Norton gave in American History X talking to the young men he wanted to recruit into the Hammerskins and the Nazis and the white supremacist groups giving saying, you know, you've been shit on and you've been this and you've been lied to and I we are here to, to give you a place, a home. And that's kind of all they were looking for. And so when you have a, a vacuum of reaching out to those folks, they're going to find these groups of people who, you know, these young men may have been bullied or whatever. I've seen a few young men speak on this. This isn't like me, a 50 year old woman talking about this saying who got out of the cult? Saying I got dragged in because I was a 19 year old kid who didn't have anyone or anywhere else to go. I was bullied. It turns them into mass shooters, it turns them into lone wolves. It turns them into finding the fashy party to cope with because they blame others. They're all about othering. And that I think is where. But like how do we find leaders that can speak to both of these groups of people, right, like liberals and progressives, but also these, these would be fascists who are also disillusioned. I mean obviously we all need to come together and realize that it's a, it's a class war and not a culture war. But how do we even do that? You know, it just, I don't.
- [34:52]
John Fugelsang
Well, it's so many on so many levels. I mean on the one, you know, my big thing is taking away these people's veneer of religious spiritual piety. That is their armor, that's their camouflage. They hide behind the Bible so that they can pretend they're virtuous. And I'm waiting for the Democratic. My book is coming out this summer. It's all about this. I'm waiting for the Democratic Party to take their camouflage away and let them stop getting away with this pious drag act they're doing. But also a lot of it's about media as well. I mean how many folks have you talked to who haven't watched corporate media since the election and they don't really know if they're going to go back. I think a lot of folks will after man baby sworn in. But this is this media culture that's driven by ratings owned by corporations that want more tax cuts and want more deregulation. And they don't want American consumers to realize that Bidenomics helped because putting working people in the middle class first cuts into the profits of the 1%. So it's very in the interest of corporations that own this media to get Biden and his policies out of there and get the other guy back in because he's better for ratings and better for their profits.
- [35:55]
Alison Gill
It's all about the privatization of anything. The wealthy wanting to privatize VA health care. Wealthy wanting to privatize healthcare writ large. Wanting to privatize schools with bullshit voucher programs.
- [36:08]
John Fugelsang
That's right.
- [36:08]
Alison Gill
Wanting to privatize the pharmaceutical companies. Wanting to privatize Medicare and Medicaid and Tricare for our active duty service members and their benefits. Wanting to privatize prisons and police.
- [36:22]
John Fugelsang
They're doing it. They're doing it.
- [36:24]
Alison Gill
And the media, the privatization of the media is, is.
- [36:27]
John Fugelsang
Well, the airwaves of the airwaves post office.
- [36:29]
Alison Gill
Like it's all about that give. Getting money and profit over people and then also giving massive tax breaks. There you go, people. It's.
- [36:41]
John Fugelsang
I mean it's.
- [36:42]
Alison Gill
I don't understand why everybody can't see this.
- [36:44]
John Fugelsang
Because it, because we're not taught to see this. You know that we are not taught to connect the dots. We're taught to be good consumers, not critical thinkers in a democracy of pluralism and freedom. And so people aren't encouraged to connect these dots because then it gets scary. And then you're called a communist. And everybody who's ever fought for civil rights has been called a communist. Everybody who fought against slavery was called an atheist and everyone who fought against segregation was called a communist. I mean, this is what they always do. So a big part of it is just using nonviolence and ridicule to put these fascists back in their place and shame them. But I mean, you're right. And look at the guy who owns the party now. Imagine buying Twitter and firing everybody and then trying to do the exact same thing with the Republican party. This MAGA civil war that began over the holiday break is not going to have a detente anytime soon. We've said this for a long time. When you have a bunch of people whose creed is that selfishness is a virtue, that's their trickle down. That's their gospel. That's what they preach. And you put a bunch of narcissists like this in the same room, they're not going to work together. You think Donald Trump and Elon Musk are capable of working together with people. It's going to be me, me, me with a side of, not you. And you should get very used to seeing these people turn on each other in increasingly dramatic ways. I mean, look at how Rudy is one of the few who didn't get away with it. There'll be more. Don't be too smug, liberals, because you're going to be proven right dramatically every single day.
- [38:15]
Alison Gill
Yep. And, and thanks to you and, and folks like you and the new media and the independent media that keep an eye on this stuff and call it out when we see it. Thank you for the work that you do. And we're going to be doing it a lot together, especially on Fugal Sang Fridays here on the Daily Beans.
- [38:30]
John Fugelsang
Thank you.
- [38:31]
Alison Gill
But you can also hear John Fugal saying on the Tell Me Everything show on Sirius XM progress channel 127. That's every weeknight, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, and of course, the John Fugal Sang show podcast. Free wherever you get them. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here? Our first meeting of the new year.
- [38:47]
John Fugelsang
So good to see you. You know, I went to see Coretta Scott King speak at NYU when I was a teenager and she said something I never forgot. She said she always believed that if Jimmy Carter had been re elected, race relations would be substantially better in this country today. And I just want to remind everybody that he created more jobs per year than Reagan and George W. Bush combined because the media is not going to be telling you that.
- [39:11]
Alison Gill
And he lost because of misinformation. And he went around everybody's backs to prolong the hostage crisis so he could.
- [39:21]
John Fugelsang
He lost because a right wing celebrity colluded with a foreign government to hurt him. That's exactly why he lost. Jimmy Carter established fema. He established the Department of Energy, the Department of Education. He supported civil rights. Jimmy Carter appointed, I think, 41 of the 46 women then serving as federal judges. You know, he, he just, we have, I mean, won the Nobel Prize, didn't dodge military service, work with his hands, served the poor, went into a nuclear reactor for 89 seconds to save the lives of people he didn't even know. Top 10% of his class at Annapolis. And the right wing has smeared this profoundly decent man for 45 dreary, boring years. I hope Jimmy Carter really gets now some of the appreciation he deserves. So much when he was still with us.
- [40:10]
Alison Gill
Yeah, appreciate that. And appreciate you, my friend. We will see you next Friday, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Good news everyone. Then good news everyone. And if you have a good news story or a, like a, a shout out to a government program or a self shout out or a confession or a correction, you want to tell me who that other representative is that the ethics committee found was acting fishy, send it all to us. All you got to do is go to dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. And once you know, once you do that, you just attach your pod pet tax to that kind of buys you entry into the submission. And if you don't have a pod pet, send us an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, any animal photo will do. And of course if you don't have that, any baby photo will do. So send in all of your amazing pictures and stories. And especially if you've if you've gotten some student debt forgiveness, we want to hear about that. And we're doing a special, we're running a special in 2025 called Bird Watching where if you and some loved ones have flipped off a Trump property and taken photo of it, we would love to see it, share it with us. It brings us joy. All right, first up, a correction from Annette. This is my main form of news lately. Thank you. So thank you, Annette. I've been on the fire department in Las Vegas for 23 years. I also had to learn this the hard way and now it's a naturally occurring vocabulary word for me. The hotel carport is called the Porta Porticosier. I used the phrase recently with some friends from Texas and they made me promise never to say it again. It is really pompous. And the Sheriff's name is McMahell. I only correct because it's hilarious and I figured you'd want to know. I think you're all are great. You work hard to give us the facts with real commentary and a current application. Please keep up the amazing work and we've got a couple of links in the show notes for you, how to say port a cachet and the Simpsons car hole episode. So I hope you enjoy that. Very funny and thanks to our producers for for including those links.
- [42:27]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, here's another one. This is from Lisa in Las Vegas Pronouns she, they two clarifications on the story yesterday. Yes, we do often call the valet area portico here.
- [42:36]
Alison Gill
Portico Port a cachet.
- [42:39]
Dana Goldberg
Port a cachet she says. Sorry. I am all for making fun of Eric though. And the trump Hotel in Las Vegas is well off the Strip. Despite what the story implied, not accidentally, there's no gambling at the Trump Hotel because as I've said so many times over the last 10 years, Trump could not get a gambling license. A gaming license in Nevada? Too shady, even for Vegas.
- [43:03]
Alison Gill
Fuck, dude. If De Niro can get one in casino. Well, actually, I don't think he got one, but we're talking the same kind of person.
- [43:10]
Dana Goldberg
So I will say my story of how I went to Trump Hotel to train their staff on how to recognize and prevent sexual assault after they facilitated a multiple SA at that location.
- [43:22]
Alison Gill
Wow.
- [43:23]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. Here. Well, not surprising. Here's a picture of my boy Archie in his new cardigan. He is the Mr. Rogers of dogs and he is so cute.
- [43:33]
Alison Gill
He's amazing. Archie and your new cardigan. And Lisa, I'm gonna need the story of how you had to go to the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and train their staff. I'm gonna need that story, but thanks for that submission. Next up, from Linnea. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Hello, Beans, Queens. Did you know the new iPhone update has a pet identifier feature? Just take a picture and locate the small circle icon at the bottom of the photo with a dog in the center of the circle. Do that when it's on a picture of your pet and Google will do its best to identify the breed. Sharing a picture of my daughter's dog, Joe, short for Jolene, which my phone says is an Australian kelpie. But in another photo, Google says German pincher. So Joe is essentially a product of a very global lineage. Oh, I start my day every day with the beans and appreciate you keeping the audience informed and laughing. Thanks for all you do, Linnea. Beautiful pupper. Thank you.
- [44:31]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my goodness. Super cutie. Super cutie. All right, this is from Sarah. No pronouns given for Sarah. Thanks for talking about the effect of fireworks on her furry friends and people. I saw an ad for a noise reduced pet house on IG and I thought this was a great idea for pets. Thank you for. For being you, for being on air, for advocating for sanity in this crazy era of our country and planet. Pet tax is my blind pup, Dottie, 12 years young. She's a sweetie pie. She's nearly deaf. So fireworks are not as big a problem as they used to be.
- [45:02]
Alison Gill
Oh, little baby by the Christmas tree. How adorable. Gorgeous baby. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. The noise reducing pet house on Instagram. So if you, if you're in the market for Something to calm your pets down on crazy fireworks nights. You can check that out. Next up, Cindy W. Pronoun. She and her dearest AG and dg. First off, thank you for all the work you do fighting the good fight. Listening to this show always helps me remember there's a big community of like minded people out there and it keeps me hopeful. I live on 15 acres in the mountains of southern Vermont and my husband and seven year old son, seven dogs, seven cats, three turkeys and 40 or so chickens. As an animal lover and certified dog behavior consultant, I work professionally with complex and often severe behavior issues such as trauma, aggression and reactivity. I wanted to give a shout out to my small business, Incredible Canines. I offer in person, phone and virtual behavior support consultations and I'm dedicated to ethical, humane, scientifically informed methodologies. This is my way of doing good work in the world. I'm sharing pictures of some of my crew. The little white dog is Siri, a six year old rescue from Louisiana. Can you guess her breeds? There are two. Well, beagle, right?
- [46:26]
Dana Goldberg
I would think so. And Chihuahua.
- [46:29]
Alison Gill
There's no answers. So we are correct?
- [46:31]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely we are. Thank you very much.
- [46:33]
Alison Gill
Look at this. Look at this whole crew. Wow. Seven year old son, seven dogs, seven cats, three turkeys and 40 chickens. And a partridge and a pear tree. Thank you so much. Okay. The small business is called Incredible Canines. Thank you so much Cindy W. Absolutely.
- [46:50]
Dana Goldberg
This one's from Lily. Pronouns she and her. Hi, AG and dg. When I heard AG used to have a car named Falcor, I had to write in because my car's name is Falcor.
- [46:59]
Alison Gill
What?
- [47:00]
Dana Goldberg
He's a 9 year old sparkly red Mazda 3 and he's the best. When I can't remember where I left my car in a garage or parking lot, I shout out Falco. Just making the movie. I also wanted to include a shout out to the Media and Democracy Project, an all volunteer grassroots civic membership organization fighting for a more informative and pro democracy media operating in the public interest. They encourage folks to support local and independent media like the Daily Beans. They list some action items you can all take at the end of each monthly zoom meeting. And in December, they suggested we start referring to corporate media outlets with their corporate ownership as a way of highlighting the financial incentives that motivate much of mainstream media coverage. For example, instead of saying the Washington Post or ABC News, we should say Bezos's Washington Post or Disney's ABC News.
- [47:52]
Alison Gill
Nice.
- [47:52]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. I think this is a great way to be more transparent about the influences behind a lot of the media we consume for podpet tax. Here's a picture of F enjoying the view of Mount Rainier National Park. Thanks for your tireless efforts to keep us informed and uplifted. And Lily, this is a really beautiful picture of Mount Rainier. It's not always this clear and outstanding.
- [48:16]
Alison Gill
Yeah, and we have a link here for mediaanddemocracyproject.org that's fantastic. And I love the idea of saying stuff like Bezos is Washington Post.
- [48:26]
Dana Goldberg
Me too.
- [48:28]
Alison Gill
Because like, for real, you gotta talk about the corporate overlords who own this stuff. So anyway, thank you so much for that submission and I'm glad you have a car named Falcor too. Grandpa Joe is next Pronouns he and him hello Illuminati leaders. I've been listening for a while and I always wondered what MSW media stood for. I never bothered to look it up and wondered if it stood for Many Smart women or Marry Sexy warriors. I was recently reading your substack and saw Mueller. She wrote and had the aha moment. I have two Republican siblings and two informed siblings.
- [49:03]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, that's hysterical.
- [49:04]
Alison Gill
But recently one of my Republican siblings confessed that they did not vote in the last election. That feels like progress from someone who once had a Palin for President bumper sticker. Grandpa Joe, I concur. My bod pet tax is Trixie. I'm sure you'll guess her breed easily, but I took her to a local dog show once and no one I talked to knew her breed. We named her Trixie before we learned that her mother was called Savannah's Trixie, so I guess we got the name right. I jokingly wanted to call her Prozac because I couldn't look at her without smiling. Trixie tolerated the cat, but if I ever discipline the cat, she would come running from the farthest corner of the house and get the cat up against the wall while barking her very gentle little bark. And then she'd look at me as if to say, did I do good dad? She was such a delight sharing her baby picture and her coming of age picture. Thanks for keeping me sane in these crazy times. And I immediately recognized that as a Pekingese because oh look, I had a Pekingese baby. Fore.
- [50:03]
Dana Goldberg
So sweet.
- [50:04]
Alison Gill
Look at that adorable face. They're so soft. That's wonderful. Thank you so much for that submission.
- [50:11]
Dana Goldberg
I'm gonna tease a good news story that may turn into an actual story, but ag I just saw this. I don't know if you know this, but Nancy Mace's Capitol Hill bathroom ban, which was targeting Sarah McBride. It didn't make it into the Capitol to the Congress's annual House rules proposal.
- [50:26]
Alison Gill
Oh, good.
- [50:26]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. So when the US House of Representatives convenes on January 3, which is when you're listening to this, its members are going to vote on a suite of new proposed by Republicans. However, Ma's proposal is conspicuously absent from the GOP's day one agenda, even though she told HuffPost in November that Mike Johnson would assure her that it would be in there. So big back fight. We're going to see what happens with this.
- [50:50]
Alison Gill
What if she doesn't vote for Johnson because he didn't put her bathroom in the thing?
- [50:54]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, that would be amazing.
- [50:56]
Alison Gill
Oh, I feel like I want to call her up and be like, like, girl, you should totally vote against Mike Johnson for speaker. He dissed you in the rules or whatever.
- [51:05]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God. You should vote the office. Jen your ground. Nancy Mace. Anyway, I thought that was some good news to end the good news block. And if there's more on that story, you better believe we're going to put it into one of the Daily Beans episodes.
- [51:20]
Alison Gill
So you know it. Thank you so much to my good friend John Fugal sang for showing up for Fugal Sang Fridays. You can check him out weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, on what is it? Sirius XM progress channel 127. It's called Tell Me Everything and the Steph Miller show is on there too. You can listen to it that as well. It's all on the same channel. Channel progress127. And there's also the John Fugle Sign podcast if you, if you don't have serious. But it's been a hell of a week.
- [51:49]
Dana Goldberg
It's been a hell of a year, Sophie. Is it over? No.
- [51:51]
Alison Gill
Okay. No. Yeah. Like just do you know those things where you can go into detox and be put in a coma until you're done? Yeah, I want that.
- [52:02]
Dana Goldberg
Coma for four years.
- [52:05]
Alison Gill
But then I wouldn't be here to with you to, to give everybody the news and keep everybody informed.
- [52:09]
Dana Goldberg
I often think about people that have been in a coma for like 10 years and they wake up and they're like now, like now. They wake up now and they're like, oh my God, just sedate me again. Just put me back under.
- [52:21]
Alison Gill
Put me back in. Yeah, I, I, I can't imagine Now.
- [52:27]
Dana Goldberg
I want to hear from any listener that may have had a family member that was in a coma for a prolonged period. Of time that woke up. Like, I. I really want to hear stories like that.
- [52:35]
Alison Gill
Had to wake up to a post Trump world.
- [52:37]
Dana Goldberg
That would be horrifying, actually.
- [52:39]
Alison Gill
Jesus, I can't fucking imagine, man.
- [52:41]
Dana Goldberg
You'd be like, remember that guy? He was on the Apprentice and he was also on the Simpsons. They showed him coming down. Escalate. Yeah. He's the President of the United States now for the second time.
- [52:52]
Alison Gill
Terrifying to have to come to grips with that all at once. We've had eight years and I'm still not.
- [52:57]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. No.
- [52:57]
Alison Gill
Two grips.
- [52:58]
Dana Goldberg
Nope. Anyway, about that.
- [53:02]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Ungripped. So thank you everybody so much for listening this week. Welcome to all of our new listeners. You are welcome. Welcome to this community. It's a big, beautiful, bright, amazing, talented community of incredible people. You will always be supported and we always have your back. So any final thoughts before we get out of here today, my friend?
- [53:20]
Dana Goldberg
Nah, I think we covered it.
- [53:22]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I think we did, everybody. We'll be back in your ears Monday. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and 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.