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Thursday, July 10th, 2025 Today, there’s another hearing in the Abrego case this morning after Judge Xinis ordered the government to produce at least one witness who knows what the hell is going on; Donald Trump tried and failed to use the 250 men in CECOT that he claims not to have custody over as bargaining chips in a prisoner swap with Venezuela; detainees in the Everglades concentration camp are subject to inhumane conditions; Congressional Democrats are pushing for a new watchdog to babysit the President; the Supreme Court *denies* Florida’s emergency request to let it implement a law barring undocumented immigrants from entering the state; the IRS says churches can endorse political candidates and maintain their tax exempt status; Linda Yaccarino quits Twitter; the Wisconsin Supreme Court clears the way to ban conversion therapy. Dana is out and about!
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, July 10, 2025. Today, there's another hearing in the Abrego case this morning after Jud ordered the government to produce at least one witness, any witness who knows what the hell is going on. Donald Trump tried and failed to use the 250 men in Seacoat that he claims to have no custody over as bargaining chips in a prisoner swap with Venezuela. Detainees in the Everglades concentration camp are subject to inhumane conditions, according to reports. Congressional Democrats are pushing for a new watchdog to babysit the president. The Supreme Court has denied Florida's emergency request to let it implement a law barring undocumented immigrants from entering the state. The IRS says churches can endorse political candidates and maintain their tax exempt status. Linda Yakarino has quit Twitter. And the Wisconsin Supreme Court clears the way to ban conversion therapy. I'm your host, Allison Gill. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Daily Beans, the new show that gives you all the news that seems to be flying under the radar. It is Thursday, which means it's almost Friday, which means it's almost Monday. And you know what happens on Monday? Dana comes back. That's right. DG will be back in your ears. We have missed her, and I can't thank you enough again for sticking with me these past two weeks. I really appreciate it. We've got a ton of new listeners, too, so welcome. You'll all get to see, meet and hear Dana on Monday. I'm very excited for you. Later in the show, I'll be joined by the founder and CEO of Red Wine and Blue, Katie Paris. Just an amazing woman and an amazing conversation. I can't wait for you to hear it. I feel energized and inspired now, so I'm looking forward to that. And there will be a hearing this morning in the Abrego case. This is a follow up to the hearing Judge Sinis held a couple days ago. And the government couldn't answer her questions about their plans to detain and deport Mr. Abrego, specifically whether they were going to disappear him to a third country he's never been to, and which country that would be, or when. Or whether they're going to try to overturn the 2019 order issued by a judge here barring the government from sending him to El Salvador, which they mistakenly did, and now admit it was a mistake, even though they fired the guy who said it was a mistake, and that guy is now a protected whistleblower. Just a shit show. Now, Judge Sinis ordered The government to produce someone, anyone, with any knowledge of anything. No, any knowledge to testify under oath today. Any knowledge of the. You know, what their plans are. Because on one hand, the government is saying, no, you can't let him out because we want to try him for his crimes. And on the other hand, they're saying, oh, but you know, we're going to deport him. And then the other hand is saying, we really want to try him for his crimes. And nobody can come up with their plan. It's the government. What's your plan, bro? What you going to do? And since the lawyer, Ms. Ohickey, couldn't tell the judge, and by the way, the judge was like, you can't or you won't tell me what you plan to do with him. Since she didn't have any answers, the judge was like, well, get him and find someone and put them in this chair. Make them raise their right hand, testify under oath under penalty of perjury as to what's going to happen. And if I were a betting woman, I'd say that whomever they bring in, if they bring anyone, will either not have any more information or will cite some kind of bullshit privilege or foreign affairs, national security shit to avoid having to divulge their plans. Oh, it's state secret privilege. Or we have deference. The Supreme Court says we have deference in foreign affairs. Either that or they'll say they don't have to answer those questions because they've fulfilled their obligation to return Mr. Abrego to the United States, even though their obligation was to return him and put him in the same spot he was before they disappeared him to Seacote. There's two parts to that. Return him and put him in the same situation he was in before he left. And they haven't done that second part. So they keep arguing, well, we brought him back. Yeah. No, it's not the same. This is about due process. Anyway, I'll let you know tomorrow whether I'd have won that bet. Now, we all know that the reason the government said for months that it couldn't return Mr. Abrego to the United States was because they don't have constructive custody over the men at Seacoat. And, well, you know, it's. It's a sovereign nation. We can't tell Bukele what to do. Courts can't tell Bukele what to do. We don't have control or custody. We don't have custody over them. And we know that Bukele has told the United nations that the US does have total control and custody over these men. And that appeared in a court filing on Judge Boasberg's docket. That's the current case. To return all the men in Seacoat to the United States. Lead plaintiffs on that case include the gay stylist that was disappeared there, Andre Hernandez. But get this, the New York Times is reporting that the Trump administration's top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was actually overseeing a deal to free several Americans and dozens of political prisoners held in Venezuela in exchange for sending them the 250 Venezuelan migrants that the US had deported to El Salvador. But the deal never happened. Part of the reason Trump's envoy to Venezuela was working on his own deal, one with terms that Venezuela deemed more attractive. In exchange for American prisoners, he was offering to allow Chevron to continue its oil operations in Venezuela, a vital source of revenue for its authoritarian government. The discussions, which included the release of about 80 Venezuelan political prisoners and the two different deals, were described by two US officials and two other people who were familiar with the talks and sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue. The State Department never sealed the deal, though the top U.S. officials did not appear to be communicating with each other and ended up at cross purposes. The approximately 250 people expelled from the United States that are still being held in the maximum security prison in El Salvador, those folks are still there. And it became clear that while Trump's White House once said that it had no control over the detainees in El Salvador, it was willing to use them as bargaining chips. Both US Plans, one managed by Rubio, the other led by Rick Grinnell, involved speaking with the same Venezuelan representative, Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela's National Assembly. And that's according to one of the U.S. officials and two other people. The conflicting diplomatic efforts signaled a months long divide over how to approach Venezuela and resembled the chaos that permeated Mr. Trump's first term when competing officials vied for influence with the president. But the lack of coordination left Venezuelan officials unclear about who spoke for Trump, and ultimately they left both American and Venezuelan detainees imprisoned. The offer to swap Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador for prisoners remains on the table, according to one of the officials. And the White House is not willing for now to extend Chevron's license in Venezuela. Sounds like Rick Grinnell was promising some shit that he couldn't deliver. Grinnell declined an interview request by the Times, but in an email used a profanity to denounce the Times account of the separate deals as false. Rick Grinnell, Trump administration official Envoy to Venezuela told the New York Times to fuck off. A person close to Grinnell who's familiar with the talks with Venezuela said Grinnell did not believe that a swap involving the Venezuelan migrants was going to happen because he believed Mr. Trump would never have authorized the release of accused gang members. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity. Really? Trump would never approve the release of gang members. Really? So first of all, Trump does have the power to authorize their release. Good to know. And he wouldn't release accused gang members? Didn't he just give asylum to 17 members of the Sinaloa cartel? Didn't he just dismiss the charges against a bunch of Ms. 13 leaders? Didn't he just offer asylum and commute the prison sentence of a triple felon five times deported guy in exchange for his testimony against Abrego? He's not willing to release gang members or even alleged gang. That's the thing. Most of these men in sea code, not gang members. The United States is paying the Salvadoran government millions of dollars to detain migrants whom the Trump administration claims are all members of a Venezuelan gang trend Aragua and who it said had come to the United States to commit crimes. But the Trump administration has provided little proof that the men or gang members and their lawyers argue that their detentions are illegal and took place without due process. Supreme Court agreed 90 that they needed to be given meaningful due process. The negotiations over the prisoner swap, which were led by the State Department and John McNamara, the Charles d' Affaires of the US Embassy in Bogota, who also oversees Venezuelan affairs, had advanced to the point where in May, Venezuela was set to send a plane to El Salvador to retrieve the men. Oh, in May you say we could release the men in El Salvador in C code in May when Trump was arguing that they didn't have constructive custody. It's fascinating. All of this is coming out in court documents. We'll keep an eye on it for you. All right, we have a lot of news to get to today. We're going to take a quick break, though, so everybody stick around. We'll be right back with the hot notes after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody. Eating right? Sounds simple. But staying on top of what's healthy or not can become overwhelming. I can. I kept finding myself asking, is this actually good for me? And also sometimes I just forget to eat. I'm so busy. There's just too much conflicting information and I didn't know who to believe. And that's when I turned to Fay Nutrition. This Podcast is sponsored by Fay. You can go to feynutrition.com dailybeans to qualify to see a registered dietitian for as little as $0. Faye connects you one on one with a registered dietitian who builds a personalized plan based on your body's unique needs. This isn't some one size fits all approach. I spoke with my Fae nutritionist for like an hour on Zoom and we came up with a plan that, you know, because I never eat breakfast or lunch, so, you know, she's like, you should have some. So now I have a couple of eggs for breakfast with a little protein. And then she introduced me to cold pressed juices which give me a bunch of vitamins and nutrients and vegetables which I have around lunchtime. And so it's just, it's, it's again, not one size fits all. It's personalized. And the best part, Faye takes insurance. I always assumed nutrition counseling like this would cost me a fortune, but I paid $0. You can even check your coverage before you sign up, so you're not surprised. So whether you're looking to lose weight, manage conditions like pcos or diabetes, fill the gaps in your nutrition like me, or just feel better in your day to day life, Fay is an incredible resource. I'm proud to have them as a sponsor. They believe nutrition guidance should be affordable and accessible to all. And that's a message I can get behind. So if you're ready to stop guessing and start truly fueling your body for better health, take control with personalized nutrition support from a registered dietitian through Fay because you deserve to feel energized, healthy, and confident in your health choices. Having a personalized nutritionist used to cost big bucks, but not anymore. With Fay, listeners of the Daily Beans can qualify to see a registered dietitian for as little as $0 by visiting Feynutrition.com DailyBeans that's f a y Faynutrition.com DailyBeans One last time, head to Feynutrition.comDailyBeans and make sure you use our URL so they know we sent you. All right, everybody, welcome back. It's time for the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from npr. In a break with decades of tradition, the IRS says it will allow houses of worship to endorse candidates for political office without losing their tax exempt status. The surprise announcement came in a court document filed on Monday. Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax exempt status if they participate in or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. The National Religious Broadcasters and several churches sued the IRS over the rule, arguing that it infringes on their First Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. The IRS rarely enforced the rule. During President Trump's first term, he promised to get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution. Now, in Monday's court filing, the IRS didn't quite go that far, but it did say that when a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services concerning electoral politics, viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither participates nor intervenes in a political campaign. Rather, the IRS compared religious institutions endorsements of candidates to a family discussion. My family's not tax exempt. Do people who have family discussions get tax exempt status? Now, is that a faith? Again, I think we need to start the Church of Democracy. Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted, unquote, state sanctioned religion. One of the whole fucking reasons we started our own country. And you know, taxation without representation. Oh, and no kings, but here we are taxed without representation kings. And apparently church and state are now married. All right, next up from cbs, Cuban reggaeton artist Liamsi La Figara, arrested last week in Miami Dade on assault charges, was transferred to South Florida's new immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades. And the singer confirmed this in a phone call. He and other detainees claimed they are enduring inhumane conditions at the site, including lack of access to water, inadequate food, and denial of religious rights. Now, the Everglades concentration camp was built in a matter of days on a rarely used municipal airport located about 50 miles west of Miami. The first group of detainees arrived at the center on 3 July, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeyer, who's been held in contempt of court. In a phone call from inside the facility, La Figuera described what he called horrific conditions. And if I'm pronouncing his name incorrectly, please send In a correction DailyBeansPod.com click on Contact quote We've been here at Alcatraz since Friday. There's over 400 people here. There's no water to take a bath. It's been four days since I've taken a bath, he said. He claimed the food at the immigration facility is scarce and unsanitary. They only brought me a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never turn off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants. Other detainees echoed his concerns, alleging violations of their basic rights. Quote, they're not respecting our human rights, one man said during the same call. We're human beings. We're not dogs. We're like rats in an experiment. I don't know their motive for doing this. It's a form of torture. A lot of us have our residency documents and we don't understand why we're here, he added. A third detainee, who said he's Colombian, described deteriorating mental health and lack of access to necessary medical care. I'm on the edge of losing my mind. I've gone three days without taking my medicine. It's impossible to sleep with this white light that's on all day. He also said his Bible was confiscated. They took the Bible I had and said here there is no right to religion, and my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith. And now I'm losing my faith. On Tuesday, state officials responded to the allegations, saying they're completely false. Quote, the reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order. That's what Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said. That's the group that's funding this. All right, next up from the Times, Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive of Twitter and a top lieutenant to its owner, Elon Musk, said Wednesday she's leaving the company two years after joining the social media platform. In a post on Twitter, Ms. Yaccarino, who's 61, said, When Elon Musk and I first spoke for his vision for Twitter, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I'm immensely grateful to him for entrusting me. She did not provide a reason for her departure. Now her exit caps a tumultuous period at Twitter that has been remade in Musk's image, by the way, since he bought the platform for $44 billion in 2022. Since then, Musk has shed three quarters of the company's employees, loosened speech restrictions on the platform, and wielded it as a political megaphone. Advertisers were at one point spooked by the changes and the social media company's ad business tanked. In March, Musk said he sold Twitter, which is a privately held company, to Xai, his artificial intelligence startup, in an unusual arrangement that showed the financial maneuvering inside his business empire. The all stock deal, they don't have to pay, they don't have to pay taxes on unrealized gains made by stock, but they can use it as collateral to buy stuff. Billionaires are awful. The all stock deal valued Xai at 80 billion and Twitter at 33 billion, Mr. Musk said. Since then, Xai has been in talks to raise new financing that could value it as much as 120 billion, probably backed by stocks that haven't been taxed. Iaccarino had discussed her plans to leave Twitter with employees earlier in the week before the incident with Grok, according to three people. Now, Twitter and Xai are largely separate, but Grok's responses are often widely cited and criticized across the platform. Yeah, he's called himself Mecca Hitler. I'm sure her departure has nothing to do with that. By the way, Musk announced he was going to make changes to Grok, saying it was too woke and he was going to tell it to not be politically correct. And that's when Grok turned full Nazi. And then apparently some eagle eyed coder went in and found it, I guess just today, yesterday or today, that that language, that reprogramming, that bit that said you don't have to be politically correct has been removed. So we'll see if Mecca Hitler continues. All right, Next up from CBS. All right, this is, this is six years, seven years too late by 2018. I started tweeting back in 2018. Donald Trump started saying, oh, I'll be president forever. We need permanent presidents. And I started tweeting up a storm saying, no, we need a permanent special counsel. We need a permanent Mueller. Right. We need a permanent somebody to watch over the president regardless of who's sitting in the seat. I've been saying this forever, but now Senate Democrats are planning to introduce legislation to create a new watchdog to monitor the conduct and actions of President Trump's White House and future administrations. The bill, which will be formally announced Wednesday by a group of congressional Democrats, requires an inspector general to oversee the executive office of the president. That's not the best. When the inspector general is appointed by the president, I'm assuming there'll be something in the bill that says the president can't hire or fire this person. And maybe Congress chooses, I don't know. It requires an inspector general. The legislation has Been attempted previously, but now it has urgency. Quote, inspectors general conduct important independent oversight throughout different agencies in the executive branch. But the same is not true when it comes to the president and the White House, where there's no inspector general. That's what Adam Schiff said. As we know, Senator from California, who's sponsoring the bill. That should change regardless of who's in office. Schiff said an inspector general overseeing the White House and the staff would ensure that no president or administration is above the law. But, Senator Schiff, they are. They are above the law because of the Supreme Court. Now, I suppose you could have somebody in there that would monitor whether or not the president was violating the law through means that weren't official acts. But the Supreme Court has said they get to decide on a case by case basis what are official acts. So, I mean, it's nice. It's a nice thought, but I don't know how much if it has any teeth, given the makeup of this Supreme Court. Now. Ethics and watchdog groups have long advocated for an inspector general to monitor the White House. Rosa DiLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who's also sponsoring the legislation, has promised a similar bill. Well, she did promise a similar bill in 2017 during Mr. Trump's first term. Okay, all right. So that was before I started asking for one. Cool. I stand corrected. Dallaro said this is a vital check on executive power that's long overdue. Why didn't we do it before? I mean, it would need 60 votes in the Senate, and I'm sure no Republican would have voted for that, but maybe they would have during the Biden administration. I guess it kind of depends on who gets to pick who that watchdog is and who that watchdog reports to. You know, because I have four cats, and one of my cats is the police of all the other four cats, but they report to the cats. I have no control. I have no power there. So to have a president appoint a watchdog to watch himself, he'll put Emil Bovey's brother in there or whatever. I don't know if he has a brother, but you catch my drift. Congressional Democrats have criticized Trump for years over alleged conflicts between his business interests and his role as president, a charge the Trump administration has long denied, saying his assets are managed by his children. The bill faces long odds in a Republican controlled House and Senate, and Republican leadership is unlikely to bring the bill to a vote. DeLauer's 2017 bill didn't advance beyond the House Oversight Committee. And this latest Democratic effort to subject the White House to greater outside inspection and scrutiny is bound to be seen by this administration and its supporters as a partisan political move. That's why he should have done it under the Biden White House. And when we get that fucking White House back and we flip Congress, let's do it then when we're in charge. All right, some better news from the Guardian the US Supreme Court maintained on Wednesday a judicial block on the Republican crafted Florida law that makes it a crime for undocumented immigrants in the United States to enter the state. The justices denied a request by state officials to lift an order by The Florida based U.S. district Judge Kathleen Williams that barred the state from carrying out arrests and prosecutions under the law. While a legal challenge plays out in lower courts, Williams ruled that Florida's law conflicted with the federal government's authority over immigration policy. All right, good to know that some things can be relied upon that the federal government is in charge of immigration. Didn't really happen that way in the courts with the Biden administration, but I'm glad to see it here. So I guess my praise for reliability is kind of flawed since since it's not been real consistent. But regardless, I really hope that when any of these voting rights cases get up to the Supreme Court that the Supreme Court will recognize that the states administer elections, not the federal government. All right, here's some great news from tnr. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has cleared the way for a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy, deciding that a Republican controlled legislative committee rule blocking bans on the practice was unconstitutional. The court ruled 4 to 3 on Tuesday that the powers granted to the Joint Committee for Review and Administration rules had violated the state Constitution. At the heart of the case brought by Governor Tony Evers was the committee's decision to block a 2020 rule by the state administration that listed conversion therapy, which is the practice of forcibly convincing LGBTQ people that they're straight, as unprofessional conduct. The committee decided the rule was arbitrary and capricious and failed to comply with legislative intent. Republicans, in support of the committee's decision, insisted that that the issue wasn't the conversion therapy policy, but whether the state licensing board had the authority to ban the practice. State Supreme Court decision effectively blasted a hole in the issue, stripping the committee of its ability to independently impede the executive branch and the decision will have long lasting implications for Wisconsin far beyond the scope of conversion therapy. The court's ruling has effectively upended several other attempts by the committee to block Evers agenda, including blocks on new environmental regulations, updates to Commercial building codes, vaccine requirements, and public health policy. All right, everybody, that's the news. Stick around for my chat with the CEO and founder of Red Wine and Blue, Katy Paris. And it's going to double as our good trouble today. You don't want to miss it. Stick around. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I'm really excited today because I have been following this group's work for so long and admiring it. And now I'm finally going to get to talk to the founder and CEO of Red Wine and Blue. Please welcome Katie Paris. Hi, Katie.
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Katie Paris
Hey, Allison. And hey, everybody. I'm super excited to be here with you all.
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Allison Gill
I am very excited to talk to you too, because I, you know, I've been watching your stuff and relying on the information that you guys put out. And then also in the community that's been created by Red Wine and Blue, which I am a part of because I am a patriot and I enjoy Wine and perimenopause is happening. So I feel like I'm, I'm in, I'm in the group. And so it's just, it's wonderful to feel like you're not alone.
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Katie Paris
Yeah.
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Allison Gill
And I think that that's something that resonates very powerfully with Red Wine and Blue. So this started back, let's just give a little brief history on Red Wine and Blue. Started back in 2019.
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Katie Paris
Yep. So I have worked in politics for really my whole career. So that's going back, I don't know, 25 years or so now. Allison and I used to work in more traditional politics. I worked on campaigns in my baby, 20 years, you know, when I was in my 20s, as a baby on senate and presidential races and governor's races. And I lived in D.C. for about a dozen years and I helped start a number of organizations that are still based there, like Media Matters. I know that you have, you know, very well. And so I have always felt that it was really important to be able to build infrastructure so that we don't just have campaigns that come in for, you know, three months of the year every other year to engage with people. And so I loved being a part of things like media matters in D.C. that built this sort of year round infrastructure to support the learning and knowledge and communications and messages, messaging that we need as a movement. But I also have to admit that I always felt that it was pretty disconnected from the real world, like the DC bubble is a real thing. And so I moved to Ohio, which is where I live now. I'm actually talking with you from North Carolina, because that's where I mostly grew up. I'm at my mom's house, but normally I am at my home with my husband and my two little boys in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Allison Gill
I was born in Akron.
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Katie Paris
Hello, neighbor.
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Allison Gill
Hello.
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Katie Paris
Yes, I like you even more. Yeah. So Northeast Ohio women. So I moved to Ohio almost 13 years ago, and at the time, I was still doing my DC gig, like, telecommuting back and such. And then the 2018 elections happened, and that was the year that Democrats flipped 43 seats in the U.S. house of Representatives. And fun fact, 38 of those 43 seats were suburban districts. And a big reason attributed to a lot of those flips that year was women becoming politically activated and self organizing in new ways that we'd never seen before, doing this for the first time. So when I saw that, I just became really activated and intrigued and inspired, interested in, like, what is going on with these women. And also it seemed like everything in D.C. just kind of went into black and white and everything going out, going on, you know, in communities like my own, just was like in hyper color. And I was. I wanted to know more. And so I. I got in my car and I started meeting with these women, and they didn't look like normal politics. They didn't sound like normal politics. And I was like, holy shit, we got to keep this going. And the punditry class, of course, was saying, like, oh, these women just didn't like Trump's tweets. They're probably just going to go back to their knitting, which, you know, is super, like, disrespectful and misogynistic and everything. But I also know from my career that sustainability requires infrastructure. And these women, as smart as they were, as, you know, as much as they were engaging in politics in new ways and being so much more creative than the old ways. They didn't know about each other, like, one suburb over. You know, they have no idea that groups of women were also meeting. And they also really wanted to make sure they were using their time wisely, being strategic, being effective, and they weren't sure that they were. So, you know, here I come in as this political veteran who was intrigued by them, wanted to take them seriously, help them be effective, connect them together. And here I was saying to them, wow, you know, all DC does is talk about trying to figure out what you think, but you know, what you think. And they're also obsessed with trying to figure out how to tap into your networks, you know, and talk to the people in your communities. All These women had been president of the pto, you know, at the middle school and the high school. They know everybody. And those are those non political, less political networks we've got to be able to tap to talk to people. So I was just, I was kind of all in. And I didn't like have one big vision all at once for what red, white and blue would become. I thought I was going to do something much more local and that still is. So the heart of who we are is working locally even though we've become a national organization. I don't know, it's 6, 700,000 women now, but that's always been the heart of it. Women's networks, women's get women getting shit done, being effective, not being afraid to have a good time together or take ourselves too seriously as we do serious work.
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Allison Gill
You know, this is, this is the practical magic, activating the phone tree of politics.
- [32:54]
Katie Paris
Oh hell yes.
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Allison Gill
Do you know what I mean?
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Katie Paris
I know exactly what you mean.
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Allison Gill
Ladies, hide your husbands.
- [33:03]
Katie Paris
I mean that's how we get everything done. You know, it's like the practical magic of in the feng tree, you know, and tapping into, okay, who do I know who knows this, who can do this, who has this skill? It's the same thing whether you are dealing with, you know, an issue that went down on the playground yesterday or you know, taking over your school board if necessary.
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Allison Gill
Yeah. And we got that, that 700,000 women, we got, you know, half a million women over here in MSW media land. We got to get all these women together, right? Not like all like all in one place, but like that would be fun, right? We could do that. We could all go get like Marie Callender's pies after or whatever. But to think about just first of all, the community, the community is so important. The community that we've built here at the, at the Daily Beans and MSW media is means like the world to me. The fact that it's there means I never feel afraid and that I know there's always somebody who is like minded, that has my back and that I have theirs too. And I know that that's the feeling that y' all are experiencing as well. And I, I want to talk a little bit about this idea of local community and getting best practices from your surrounding communities or people who are across the country in a similar sister district, for example, and how that, what that looks like practically on the ground because you know, we've got yesterday or the day before, I can't remember, could have been last year. I had the co founder of Indivisible on and we're Talking about the 1 million rising and training a million people on how to activate your local communities. And so when all of this stuff, I feel like it's getting there, it's chugging along and it's all going to come together into this big, amazing explosion of awesomeness. And I think along the way there's a lot to pay attention to. So talk a lot, a little bit about what you mean by when you say when they go low, we go local.
- [35:10]
Katie Paris
Well, that is at the heart of our community. And thanks for what you said about the importance of community. I see it as the foundation for everything you can talk about, like, oh, let's build a successful program. And we have this metric to measure our outcomes and these are our outputs. But if you do that on the foundation of community, whatever you're trying to accomplish is going to be accomplished more quickly, more efficiently, more effectively, because people are going to feel a part of something. You know, I say sometimes, you know, it's like when you go to work at a new job, you're excited about, it's probably because of the mission of the organization or the company and you're excited about being part of that. But you stay for the people. That's why you stay. I love my team, I love my boss, et cetera. And so it's the same when joining a movement. People want to feel a part of something where they like the people. And so what we're trying to do at Red, White and Blue is make doing politics feel more like friendship and way less like arguing on cable news tv, you know, and it is such a powerful way to build connection with one another. You know, just getting shit done together and being effective and figuring out, oh, she can do that and she can do that and she can do that. And so we really see foundation, community building as the foundation to everything. And the other thing that's super strategic about it is it is truly the antidote to extremism or authoritarianism. Vertarianism breeds on isolation and a sense of aloneness. And so the more we are connected together, whether that is organizing around a local election or just feeling a sense of connection with our neighbors that I'm comfortable asking for a cup of sugar like that is poison to authoritarianism because they need us polarized, divided and alone in order.
- [37:03]
Allison Gill
And, and something like no kings, you know, because that happened when this regime says to us, there's more of us than you and we are bigger and more powerful, we actually have something that we can point to that is an experience of knowledge that. No, you're not. Yeah, we are. We are massive and there are tons of us. And we're also seeing the philosophy, the red wine and blue philosophy play out in these elections, the community, the people power. We see in New York City, for example, in the mayoral race, people power really overcame the money machine, the traditional punditry, the traditional politics, traditional campaigns. We saw it in Wisconsin in the Supreme Court race, when Elon Musk came in on a pale horse and dropped tens of millions of dollars and the people beat him by double digits. And we're starting to learn and see the effect because sometimes you question the strength of your movement, but once you see it and you see results like no kings, like Wisconsin, like we. You start giving a permission structure for other people to. To join the community.
- [38:15]
Katie Paris
Yeah. And those are some of the most visible at the national level examples. But, you know, I don't know how many people are aware that there are over 100,000 local elections with open seats this year in 2025, you know, that was more than there was in 2024. These odd years, there are actually pretty much every Tuesday there are elections and sometimes on Saturdays. And so there already have been thousands of additional examples behind those more prominent ones you just named of extremists getting knocked out of office at a hyperlocal level. And you asked about, when they go low, we go local. And the reason why we see that is so important is why going local is the most effective, effective way to fight back is because it is. Okay, so like, just take, just. But just take an example. Like, we have all these federal threats coming at us, right? Think about if you're. Let's take immigration. If you have a neighbor who is concerned about ICE raids and their impact on their family and your community, what is going to make them feel like you are more there for them? Hey, neighbor. I called our senator and that's important. I'm not saying it's not, but in terms of, like, that's more of a federal, national, you know, action to take, or are they going to feel more supported by saying, I am working with our school principal and the school board and I'm showing up at our next meeting to make sure that there is a rock solid policy in place. So when ICE comes to our school, your kid's going to be protected because they know their rights at the school and the teachers know what to do. You know what I mean? Like, what can you do actually locally? And how empowering is that to be a part of something. And you also just have so much more leverage at the local level. You know, unfortunately, we know and this has been studied at the congressional level. It is very hard to influence those votes because of the amount of money, because of the special interests. There is a tiny, very wealthy percent of the population that is influencing most of what's happening at that level. But your voice in your local school district and your local state legislative district, if those, if your state rep gets like more than five calls about something, like they're lighting their hair on fire, like, that means that you have so, so much power. So that is why that is our mantra for 2025. And I, I think it'll extend beyond that. You know, Michelle Obama said, when they go low, we go high. We're going local because we want to be effective. And so building that sense of local community. Red, White and Blue has about 850 local groups across the country. Like, go to our website and find yours and if it doesn't exist yet, we'll help you start one and we'll connect you with other people in our network who live near you who are also craving that because all of this stuff can feel hard if you're on your own, but it can actually feel really fun, actually, you know, if you do it with others.
- [41:12]
Allison Gill
Well, we should totally like partner up and do you know, MSW Beans listeners in an area who also are red wine and blue, like all like join the forces, like wonder twin powers. Right? I think that would be, I think that would be fantastic. We should, we should look into that. But you're right, like locally, like we, we recalled a bunch of Moms Against Liberty jerks and the Temecula School Board, they, Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln, Nebraska just had a ton of wins.
- [41:38]
Katie Paris
Yes.
- [41:38]
Allison Gill
In, in Nebraska, we got San Antonio, we got Omaha, we got, you know, like these small local people working with the people in their community to do the things that matter. And like you said, I have to tell you before I got active politically and I was just more on the sidelines talking about what, what, you know, we should do this, we should do that. When I started to actually do it, that feeling is bigger than the action. Like the, the feeling that you get from that. Like you said, like, tell your neighbor, hey, I'm going to the school. I'm gonna make sure we got a rock solid policy that the principal protects our school and your kids from ice. Just that spending a day doing that, like, just, it fuels me for like six months.
- [42:26]
Katie Paris
I mean, at least Winning is fun. And, like, having a moral high ground is a good feeling. You know, like, we are so starved to be able to actually feel like, to cut through the noise and actually feel like we can accomplish something. And all of this is an invitation to do just that. You know, this reminds me, there's. There's this whole conversation, I think, going on right now, which is a good one, which is like, how do I engage in politics and protect my mental health? And it's seen as a binary. Like, oh, well, if I'm going to engage at all in anything political, then I better go and do some self care to make up for it or, you know, fuel myself or how do I ever. How can I possibly do both? I want to take care of myself. And yes, you need to take care of yourself. It's so important. But what you just said is why I reject the binary of this. Because what you just described and the feeling you just got was self care, too. Like, community care can be self care. If you do it in a way where you are engaging with others, you're doing it at the local level. You can touch and feel your impact. Like that is. Is good for the mind, body and soul.
- [43:35]
Allison Gill
Yeah. It's the end of the movie Scrooged. Okay, so I brought up practical magic, and now I'm going to bring up Scrooge. Like, if you like that feeling and you want it, you're gonna crave it and you're gonna go out every day to get it. I feel it. It's gonna happen for me now. Like. Like, that's. That's it. That's exactly what it is. Every time I watch that, I'm like, yeah, and then I enjoy watching Carol Kane hit it with the toaster. But these things are tropes because they're true.
- [43:59]
Katie Paris
Yeah.
- [44:00]
Allison Gill
You know, 100.
- [44:01]
Katie Paris
Yeah, exactly. I think. And we need to do. Look, politics has been very, like, political engagement. Like most Americans, most people just are like, oh, I'm not political. I'm not.
- [44:12]
Allison Gill
Yuck.
- [44:12]
Katie Paris
Ick. You know, And I do not blame them because the way it's been branded by so many of our political leaders, by the conversation that we see on the news, the failings of the mainstream media in covering the news and politics. Like, yeah, I. I get that, but we need to. I mean, just like what you said with the. With the assist of practical magic and Scrooge, like, we got to sell this thing better. You know, it can feel good, but you got to do it right. You got to do it in community. You Got to get your squad. You got to go local.
- [44:46]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Less Scott Jennings, more Katie Paris. That's what I always say. Thank you so much. It's been amazing to talk to you. I hope we have you back on. We should try to make a thing where, you know, my people call your people and we all get together in, in local cities.
- [45:02]
Katie Paris
It's just a big ass phone tree.
- [45:03]
Allison Gill
Is what it is. It will activate the phone tree. It's going to be that. The fact that's going to be the title of this episode is practical magic. So I've decided, so. And then, you know, at the end we can jump off the roof and with umbrellas. It'll be great. And, and land safely with our beautiful witch shoes. It'll be fantastic. I'd like to have a glass of wine anyway. Thank you so much. Tell everybody where they can find, follow, get involved, join these local groups with Red Wine and Blue and meet the people where they live.
- [45:29]
Katie Paris
Yes. And another thing I want to make sure that people know about because I think like the question on everyone's lips, Allison, I know, I hear all the time is like, okay, but yeah, like, what do I do? You know, it's like I went to a protest or I called my member of Congress. But like, what else can I do? You know, it's just people have this feeling of helplessness and we wanted to answer that. And so Red, White and Blue has just released what we are calling 160 Ways to Change the world without losing your shit again. Because you can change the world and maintain a sense of peace of mind. And anyway, so I just really want to plug that because I can see your audience being down for many of those 160 ways and using this guide as they connect with others in their community to figure out what they want to do. Because you don't have to do it all, but do something. We have 160 options. So anyway, go to Redwine Blue. Go to the Trouble Nation page on our website. Go to 160 Ways Guide on our website to check that out. Of course, we are on all the platforms owned by the tech billionaires. Find those at Red Wine Blue usa. And we are putting out content every day showing the beautiful faces of the women in our community. And we hope you'll come find us.
- [46:44]
Allison Gill
Fantastic. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. I can now check it off my bucket list that I've talked to the founder and CEO of Red Wine and Blue, Katie Paris. I appreciate you. And we'll have. Let's get let's do this again soon, in the future. Sound good?
- [46:59]
Katie Paris
Sounds great.
- [47:00]
Allison Gill
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone. Then good news, everyone. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections, you want to play any animal guessing game when you attach your pod pet tariff, we can try to guess whatever the breed or style of or whatever of the animal is. We're very bad at it, but it's fun anyway. All you got to do is send in your good news stories and no matter how small, anything at all. Seriously, one good thing that happened to you this week, Send it to us. You can give us a shout out to your spouse or a kid or a parent or a best friend or a loved one. You can give a shout out to yourself or a small business in your area or a government program that's helped you or a family member. Whether it's a federal government program or a municipal, local, state government program that's helped you out in the past, we would love to hear about that. We would love to hear about people helping people. And you can send it to us@dailybeanspod.com just click on contact. And then again, like I said, to get your submission read on the air, all you got to do is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have that, an adoptable pet in your area will work. If you don't have that, just grab any photo of any animal. Off the Internet. We have some favorites. Frogs, axolotls, red pandas. Dana likes black and white pandas, and she loves baby photos, whether they're people or animals. You can also send bird watching pictures, which can be an actual bird, or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to trump and musk properties. And of course, maybe a photo of your happy place or a sunset or your last vacation that you loved. Something that makes you happy and brings you peace. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All right, first up, Catherine in Colorado. Pronoun she and her om. Gosh, I so remember pizza counting as a vegetable. As I remember, it's because Congress decided that tomato sauce counts as a vegetable. My young affected self wondered, have none of these congresspeople gone to high school biology or middle school life science class? Because science tells us that tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable. And everything else on that pizza slice the school is serving is also not a vegetable. I was More in the Catherine. I was more in the camp of ha ha, look mom, I'm eating vegetables. While I was eating pizza, I kind of used it to my. To my advantage. Alas, we still need more scientists in Congress. That's very true. We shouldn't be relying on, you know, me, an eight year old saying, yeah, it's totally a vegetable. Anyway, I do have some good news for today. My very good dog, Ms. Wilma practiced her loose leash walking and focus on her human skills at the Independence Day celebrations last week. Here's a few photos of her being a very good girl in a highly chaotic and stimulating environment. Those are the best places to practice. Those, if any of the Leguminati are in the Fort Collins, Colorado area. We practice at the K9 Learning Center. They've been around for more than 30 years and have built a beautiful and supportive community. For the record, the Dems got way more cheers than the other guys in our local parade, which included our very awesome representative, Joe. Nicky's. I love Joe. I love him in the hearings. He's so good. He's so succinct and he just tears into him. Thank you to the entire Beans team for being here. You make this world a better place. Thank you. No, this dog makes the world a better place. This is a gorgeous dog. Is it like a Saint Bernard Akita mix? You didn't tell us. You have to tell us. Catherine, thank you for these wonderful pictures. This is amazing. All right, next up, hello wonderful empresses of all things. Legume Fada here. This is Fata. He's always on our zoom calls. If you are a patron and you join us for our Zoom Q and A Happy hours. I, like everyone else, have watched in horror as the death toll near Kerrville in Texas has risen due to the flood. Particularly the young girls and counselors at the camp where the flood hit. Such horrific loss that could have been prevented if the orange diaper stain and musk had not done such a huge riff at the National Weather Service and noaa. I wonder what could be done. So I reached out to a musician and spoken word artist who's a friend of mine, Chris Chandler. You can find them@chrischandler.org who plays often at the yearly Kerrville Folks Festival. The Kerrville Folks Festival, which has Also a website, KerrvilleFolkFestival.org is a yearly gathering of musicians from all over to celebrate and play folk in its various forms for very appreciative crowds. Chris, let me know that the Kerrville Folk Festival has a relief effort going on to which Friends of the Beans can donate. Also sharing a link to volunteer and help displaced flood victims. If you're near Kerrville, Texas or heading there, we'll have a link to that in the show notes. Also, if you get a chance, check out Chris's music and spoken word. I think you'll find his words, demeanor and politics right in keeping with MSW Media and the Daily Beans For Podpet Tax. I once again present you with Tabor and Riley, my two sourdough starters that I maintain which are in fact colonies of living beings. Though very microscopic, they have made many a great loaf of bread for me and I have none of the usual pets as my apartment is too small for little beings like that. I continue to be grateful for all you do in getting us the real news with appropriate swearing. This is amazing. This bread looks delicious. There they are. Tabor and Riley. Let's see. Both from April 2025. Well done sir. I cannot bake bread. I can't bake really. Actually just keep me out of the kitchen. It's probably the best idea for everyone. All right, next up from Elizabeth H. We adopted a 10 year old cat from TC Paws. The foster mom was wonderful and Malia is settling in to join our family. She's not afraid of our adopted greyhound former racer Livey. I hope I'm saying that right now. We have a seven pound bundle of happiness joining our 78 pounds of goofy long legs joy every day with these two. Love the daily Beans. Thanks for being there with the truth. Oh thank you so much for the kind words Elizabeth. The kitty is gorgeous. I do not see the doggo perhaps in the background a little bit but welcome home. Welcome home Malia. All right, next up from Renee Pronoun. She and her oh the baby picture. Hello. I'm excited. Also worried and anxious that I'll be a voting precinct chief judge this fall. I started working with elections in my county in 2017 in response to the election of you know who. Working my way up from assistant to judge and now to chief judge at a new precinct. Cool. Renee, congrats. While we are all concerned that our elections are free and fair, most people don't know that any registered voter can work for your community as an election assistant. You need to receive some training. Of course bonus election workers in my state are paid. This is North Carolina, which is nice for us elders and the others who take that day off from regular work. We're looking for November's helpers now so you can be trained in September off year elections are a good time to start. They're not as crazy as the midterms or the presidential years. People should check with their local board of elections for more information. For podpet tax Here are my three darling great nephews, born October, November, December of 2024. We have two more great nephews on the way. So many boys. Renee these babies are amazing. Oh my God, look at this baby. They're so beautiful. He's grabbing his little toes. He's got the squiggy haircut. I love it. Oh my gosh, they're just adorable. Thank you. Oh, I needed that. Thank you. I'm sharing this with Dana, by the way. Next up, active duty Medicine Pronouns They I can confirm that most of us currently serving don't want another pointless Middle east war. Most of us still recognize that diversity is our strength, that immigrants and refugees benefit our country, and that racist traitors should not be glorified by having bases named after them. After an executive order banning the display of non US Flags on federal property, I placed this bumper sticker on my vehicle, the trans flag overlaid with the words queer. Afraid my bumper sticker is permitted on personal vehicles on base. I thought it might inspire hope in some who didn't feel seen or represented anymore. Today I was getting in my vehicle at the dining facility and was told by a passing lower enlisted that they liked it and they asked if they could take a picture of it. Please tell Dana if she isn't in, thanks for all you do. Microdose Hope Active duty medic thank you. I will send this along. Next up, Anonymous oh, it's the white squirrel. Anonymous Pronouns he and him I work at a university that recently banned drag performances on campus. I also graduated from this university, so to see my alma mater turn its back on marginalized students is incredibly disheartening. Shortly after the announcement was made, I was driving and Pink Pony Club came on. I fucking started bawling. Man, that song is so beautiful, about finding your people and where you belong. The thought of us denying that to our students broke my heart. Especially at a time in your life when you're supposed to be finding yourself. I played it on repeat and started shouting the lyrics, imagining screaming it in the face of the administrators who made this cowardly decision. The refrain of I'm going to keep on dancing always makes me think of the quote that AG has mentioned a few times, the dance is why we fight. It's a joyous protest song, in my opinion. Thank you for what you do and keep dancing, y'. All. Pink Pony Club by the way, Chapel Roan Podpet Tariff meet Lucky the albino squirrel. If you see him on campus before an exam, you're practically guaranteed to ace it. Oh, do people go out looking for this squirrel? Are there, are there drunken like campus crawls the night before? Maybe hopefully catching a glance of him the night before finals? He's beautiful. Anonymous thank you and thanks to everyone. Thanks to all of you. Just also amazing, just incredible people. I'm so proud to know you and I really appreciate you. Please send your good news to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. I'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Let's see who's coming in for tomorrow. Oh yes, we have John Fugl saying tomorrow because it is Fugal sang Fridays. I'm also going to be this morning morning if you hear this early enough. I'm going to be on Steph Miller on the Thursday morning. This morning if you're listening to this on Thursday at 8am Pacific. So I'll be there and I'll see you there and I'll also be back in your ears tomorrow on the Beans. 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 that's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written in 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 Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.