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The Daily Beans
Refried Beans | Court Pants (feat. Michael Harriot) | Sep 18, 2023
00:48:53
Tuesday, September 19th, 2023 In the Hot Notes: More obstruction of justice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case; Jeffrey Clark didn’t show up to his hearing today in his bid to remove his Fulton County case to federal court; House Democrats press for cameras in federal courts; Hunter Biden has filed a lawsuit against the IRS; Kenneth Chesebro has filed a motion to quash one of the Fulton County charges against him arguing that the fraudulent electors were duly elected and certified; Jann Wenner has been removed from his position on the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for racist and sexist statements; 7 Americans have returned home from being wrongfully imprisoned in Iran; Trump attacks liberal Jews on Rosh Hashanah; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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A
MSW Media. Hey, everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.
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B
Refried beans. I like refried beans. That's why I want to try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time.
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A
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, September 19, 2023. Today, more obstruction of justice in the Mar A Lago documents case. Jeffrey Clark didn't show up to his hearing today in his bid to remove his Fulton county case to federal court. House Democrats are pressing for cameras in federal courtrooms. Hunter Biden has filed a lawsuit against the irs. Kenneth Cheesebrough has filed a motion to quash one of the Fulton county charges against him, arguing that the fraudulent electors were actually duly elected and certified. Jan Wenner has been removed from his position on the board of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame for extremely racist and sexist statements. Five Americans have returned home from being wrongfully imprisoned in Iran and and Trump attacks liberal Jews on Rosh Hashanah. I'm Allison Gill, and I'm not surprised.
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C
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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A
I am not surprised either. The only thing surprised me is that he didn't do it on X with Elon.
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C
Like, oh, seriously, what a schmuck.
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A
Hello, my baby. Hello my honey. I'm antisemitic, too. Like, just a big thing to do. Fucking assholes. Today we have a really great show for you. I'm excited. I'm going to talk to author Michael Harriot. He has the new book coming out, Black History the unwhitewashed Story of America. He's also the host of a great podcast called Drapetomaniacs. And you're going to want to listen to all about that later in the show. Michael Herriot. True, Amazing. Just incredible. Incredible writer and host. I can't wait to talk to him. Also, we have some quick hits today. So listen, do it. Breaking news in the Mar A Lago documents case. When Trump found out that his aide, Molly Michael, she's known as Trump Employee 2 in the Mar A Lago indictment, by the way, when he found out she was going to talk to the FBI, Trump allegedly said to her, you don't know anything about the boxes. That seems like obstruction or witness intimidation, suborning perjury, something. Anyway, he also apparently wrote to do lists for her on the back of classified documents.
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C
Oh, my God.
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A
I was like, oh, well, maybe he's just recycling. Maybe he's very con. He's like worried about the planet and he wants to save paper. So he's just writing to do lists on the back of pick me up a diet hamburger, please, seven of them, along with a taco bowl, because I love the Mexicans. And also ignore what's on the other side of this paper. Like, what the fuck? Those documents were not seized during the FBI search. And she found them, like, just these notes to do lists and noticed that they had classified markings on them and was like, they just came looking for stuff like this. And she reached out to the FBI and said, here, you should probably have this stuff back. She handed them over as soon as she found them. By the way, she's the one Trump employee too, who provided she took the photos that we see in the indictment of like, the bathroom and the.
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C
Good for her.
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A
Yeah, yeah. And Andy and I are going to discuss all that on the next episode of the Jack podcast.
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C
All right, Ag. And Ken Cheesebrough, that old guy, he's filed a motion to dismiss one of the charges against him, claiming that the fraudulent electors. Get this. Were actually certified and duly elected. No, they fucking weren't. That's going to go absolutely nowhere fast.
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A
That's hilarious. No, Sorry, Cheese. Sorry, bro. Five Americans jailed for years in Iran. They were widely seen as hostages. They're on their way home to the United States thanks to the Biden administration. The last pieces in a controversial swap mediated by Qatar all fell into place when 6 billion of Iranian funds that have been held in South Korea reached banks in Doha. And I want to be clear here, the $6 billion is not cash that they can spend any way they want, although the Iranian government said that they're just saying that they can't. It's not actually cash. It's not coming from the United States. This is cash. Non sanctionable funds from Iranian oil sales that will arrive in the form of aid, food, medicine supplies, etc. It was held up in South Korea due to currency exchange issues and the Biden administration shook it loose. Those funds were always available to Tehran. They just for some reason were stuck. So try not to buy the GOP hype that we're getting $6 billion of your taxpayer money in cash to the Iranians so that they can do whatever they want with it. It's not exactly what's going on, but I'm so glad these, these hostages are home.
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C
I am as well. And Jeffrey Clark. Jeffrey Clark did not show up for his hearing today in federal court.
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A
Pants.
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C
Yeah, no pants. No pants to wear. He doesn't have his court pants.
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A
No court pants.
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C
No court pants. Yeah, he did not show up.
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A
He got his legal briefs, but he doesn't have court pants.
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C
All right, enough. Dad Jones. Get her out of here, people.
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A
I'm here all week.
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C
Yeah, actually, she will be. Try the veal. Or don't. It's bad for the environment.
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A
Yeah, don't do that federal court your weight stuff.
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C
Yeah, he. He. He didn't show up for his hearing on whether or not he can remove his Fulton county case to federal court, which is bad for him, by the way, because the burden is on him to prove his case. And if he doesn't show up, it's real fucking hard to do that. The judge also wouldn't accept Edwin Meese's full declaration. So no decision yet, but we're going to keep you posted on that little hot hit.
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A
It's not looking good, and it never did. I mean, like we said, if Meadows couldn't get his case moved to federal court, no one can. Certainly not Jeffrey Clark. Go find an oil spill, as they say. All right, those are the quick hits. We have more news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. From Karis Cannell. Hunter Biden has sued the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, alleging its agents illegally released his tax and that the agency failed to protect his private records. It's totally true. They did that. President Joe Biden's son alleges the IRS unlawfully disclosed his tax return information and did not establish safeguards to ensure the confidentiality of his records. He's seeking, among other things, all documents involving the disclosure of the tax information. And he's not looking to get rich here. He only wants $1,000 each for all the unauthorized disclosures and attorney's fees, plus attorney's fees. And there were only 15. So it's only 15 grand. He's not here to make money. He's here for discovery. And that's what I'm fucking here for. The lawsuit, which was filed in Federal court in D.C. does not name the two IRS agents turned whistleblowers as defendants. But the lawsuit is centered on disclosures made by the agents, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. Those statements were made in a Jim Jordan hoedown. I mean, sorry, Judiciary Committee hearing. And I love a good hoedown, though. I love the hayride.
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C
I am keeping my mouth shut on that one. Keep it going. Keep it moving.
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A
Didn't even. It just came right out of my mouth. Okay. And don't comment on that either.
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C
Yep.
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B
Okay.
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A
Let's keep going. It's time to move on. Otherwise, I'm just gonna dig myself into a bigger hole. Okay. And their lawyers in public statements, also congressional testimony and interviews. So this is Shapley and Zigler. These are the two irs, quote, unquote whistleblowers. The one that Sobasinski, by the way, whose testimony he just blew holes in. We talk about that on tomorrow's episode of Clean up on Top.
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C
Okay, I'm done.
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A
We talk about that tomorrow. And clean up on aisle 45. Judge Tim Kelly, a Donald Trump appointee, has been assigned to the case. This is Timothy Kelly. This is a guy who's been giving super low sentences to proud boys. But anyway, it's being filed. Amid a swirl of other legal issues facing Hunter Biden. He's indicted by special counsel David Weiss on three felony gun charges last week. It's actually not three felony gun charges. It's one felony gun charge and two falsifications statements, you know, lying on the gun forms. He's potentially facing additional tax charges by Weiss. And I think those tax charges might come and this lawsuit might be a preemptive way to kind of cut that off at the pass. Now, quote, despite clear warnings from Congress that they were prohibited from disclosing the contents of their testimony, of their testimony to the public in another forum, Mr. Shapley and Mr. Zigler's testimony only emboldened their media campaign against Mr. Biden. And finally, since their public testimony before the House of Representatives on July 19, 2023, the agents have become regular guests on national media outlets and have made all new allegations and public statements regarding Mr. Biden's confidential tax return, information that were not previously included in their transcripts before the Committee on Ways and Means. Specifically, Hunter Biden's attorneys pointed to details Shapley shared in an interview with CBS News that aired in late June. During the interview, he alleged that Biden took certain personal expenses as business expenses, including prostitutes, sex club memberships, hotel rooms for drug dealers, etc. And that Biden owed 2.2 million in unpaid taxes. That's what this lawsuit alleges. Shapley's attorneys called the lawsuit a frivolous smear and said the agents only discussed information allowed under the statute. Ziegler's attorney said that the lawsuit is an effort to distract from the ever growing evidence that supports the Testimony of the two IRS whistleblowers. Every single piece of evidence and other testimony discredit. That's their testimony. By the way, the IRS says it won't comment and it's not going to. This is pending litigation. If the suit makes it to trial, this is going to be really bad for any future tax charges against Hunter from David Weiss and it's going to be bad for House Republicans because discovery could show improper leaks and improper communication and improper handling of information from the Department of Justice. And I'm not talking the Merrick Garr, I'm talking David Weiss. Right. This Trump appointed holdover special counsel or, you know, communications between the Trump administration and the IRS about this investigation.
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C
I sure hope it does. Yep.
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A
You remember when Trump didn't at all, you know, pressure. He totally pressured the IRS to do audits on like Andy McCabe and Jim Comey. The article goes on to say the lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden's protected tax return information. Outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law. The suit adds, these agents putative whistleblower status cannot and does not shield them from their wrongful conduct in making unauthorized public disclosures that are not permitted by the whistleblower process. In fact, a whistleblower is supposed to uncover government misconduct, not the details of that employee's opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private citizen. The lawsuit alleges Shapley and Ziglar went beyond confirming the investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes and provided specific allegations. The amount of deductions taken and the liabilities owed for tax years.
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C
I love to see it. I'm so glad he's punching back. I really am. All right. This is from CBS News. House Democrats are pressing for cameras in federal court as the Trump trials in Supreme Court session loom. Now, this is a quote. You try to read their body language, you watch them their reactions closely is an art, not a science. This is from Glenn Ivey. This is what he recalled. When you're in a jury trial, the last thing on your mind is anything other than the judge and the jury. Even a television camera would be ignored. This is what Ivy is saying. Now, Ivy's a first term Democrat, Democratic member of Congress from Maryland. He spent decades, he has spent decade as a state and federal prosecutor before winning a seat in the House. He's now one of a growing number of House Democrats urging support for a new law or new rules allowing television cameras inside United States federal courts. Ivey insisted the cameras wouldn't impact the tone or outcome of a criminal trial, but would instead give Americans an unbiased, unfiltered view of the justice system. I happen to agree, he went on to say. There's no substitute for people seeing proceedings for themselves and drawing their own conclusion. Now there will be cameras in at least one of Trump's trials, okay? In Georgia, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that all related hearings, all of them, and trials in that specific case are going to be televised. State law there allows for televised proceedings as long as cameras do not disrupt the proceedings. Now mix in some, which just means Trump's not going to be able to. He's going to like directly address the cameras. You know, that's what's going to happen if he's doing this and knows there's cameras in the court. Now if you mix in some high stakes Supreme Court arguments and the ongoing electoral impact of the landmark 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, and some members of Congress sense an opportunity to end the federal government's prohibition on cameras in federal courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. There have been multiple pieces of legislation formally introduced in Congress in recent years to allow cameras into the nearly 100 federal criminal court systems nationwide. Some Democrats are now increasing their advocacy for a bipartisan bill that is sponsored in March by Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. Well, this bill was introduced before it was known that Trump would be charged, by the way, in federal criminal courts. So this isn't just so we can see the clown show. They've been wanting this for a while. The senators had championed their proposal at the time by saying, and I quote, the judicial branch has a massive impact on our daily lives and the lives of generations to come. Yet few Americans ever get a chance to see inside the legal process. Speaking with CBS News, multiple House Democrats are now encouraging support for such proposals, citing the importance of ensuring any Trump trial is shown on television for Americans to watch. They're leveraging Republican claims of witch hunts against Trump as part of their arguments. Rep. Gerald Nadler of New York, who is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, he told CBS News, I'm sure that Republicans are going to try and say that this case is somehow a put up job, that it's a railroading. If the American public can see what's going on, they'll be much more confident in our justice system. End quote. Now IV says cameras in federal court criminal courts would prevent perceptions of bias in news coverage of the Trump trials. I agree with. And he said, I think it's the only antidote to the acrimonious theater that you're going to get otherwise. And he went on to say, you don't have many news sources that are viewed as independent anymore, rightly or wrongly. Now, in a separate effort, a coalition of three dozen House Democrats has written a letter to the Judicial Conference, which oversees federal court procedures, seeking a narrower change of policy to allow for televised proceedings of any Trump federal trial. Citing increased interest in the issue, the Congressional Research Service has published a memo detailing options for Congress to consider. The memo, issued in August and reviewed by CBS News as well, said the federal prohibition on cameras in federal courts can only be overturned through a decision by the Judicial Conference of the United States, which administers the federal court system or through congressional legislation. And a quote from this ending it is debate regarding whether to expand video broadcasting in the federal courts often weigh an interest in providing public information about proceedings against preserving the integrity of the legal process and due process rights of parties. And that is from the memo. So we'll see what happens with that.
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A
Yeah, I don't know. The Judicial Conference is made up of like 80% conservative judges. I don't think Trump is going to want these televised, even if he says he wants these televised, because he will want that, that information vacuum that he can fill with.
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C
Absolutely.
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A
We'll see what happens, but I don't have much hope here. Next up from Mariana Alfaro at the Post. On the final day of the Jewish New Year celebration, former President Trump shared a flyer on social media accusing, quote, liberal Jews who didn't support him of having voted to destroy America and Israel. In a post Sunday on Truth Social, his social media platform, the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner added a flyer created by the organization Jegsit. That's a group that seeks to draw Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party. The text featured in the flyer appears on the group's Facebook and Instagram pages. It says, let's hope you learn from your mistake and make better choices moving forward. Happy New Year. Trump's post amid a celebration of Rosh Hashanah drew strong rebuke with Amy Spittlenick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public affairs, calling it anti Semitic. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti Defamation League, said it was dangerous and wrong to suggest an entire segment of the Jewish population voted to destroy America and Israel. Whether or not it's intentional, President Trump is playing into a conspiracy theory about dual loyalty here. That's what he said in a statement to the Washington Post. Even worse, as it's happening on one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, Jewish people have historically voted for Democrats in far greater numbers than for Republicans, and Trump has a lengthy history of attacking Jewish voters who don't support him. The flyer Trump shared on Truth Social listed the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem and the 2019 US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the disputed territory of Golan Heights as proof that the former president is not an anti Semit.
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C
Oh, for God's sake.
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A
Greenblack of the Excuse me. Greenblatt of the ADL noted that even though his organization, quote, supported many of these policy decisions, the ADL does not believe that our community needs to be lectured about how to vote.
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C
I would agree. All right, and this part portion, this is from Ben Cesario at the Times. And maybe a content warning here for out of control sexism and racism. Racism, if you will. Yeah. Jan Wenner, the co founder of Rolling Stone magazine, has been removed from the board of the Hard Rock, excuse me, of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame foundation, which he also helped found, by the way. This is one day after an interview with him was published in the New York Times in which he made comments that were widely criticized as sexist and racist because they were sexist and racist. Now, the foundation, which inducts artists into the hall of Fame and was the organization behind the creation of its affiliated museum in Cleveland, they made the announcement in a brief statement released Saturday, and this is what that was. Jan Wenner has been removed from the board of directors of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame Foundation. And that's from Joel Parisman, the president, by the way, and chief executive of the foundation. He did decline to comment further when he was reached by phone. But the dismissal of Mr. Wenner comes after an interview with the New York Times published Friday in time to publication of his new book called the Masters, which collects his decades of interviews with rock legends like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, all of them, by the way, white and male. Regarding women, Mr. Wenner said, and I quote, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level and remarked that Joni Mitchell was not a philosopher of rock and roll. What a dick. Yeah.
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A
And by the way, the sentence just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level. He's the least articulate of anyone.
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C
Yeah. Now his answer about artists of color was less direct and he said, a black artist, you know, Stevie Wonder, Genius, right? That's what he said. And he went on to say, I suppose when you use a word as broad as masters, the fault is using the word. Maybe Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield. I mean, they just didn't articulate at that level. Fuck off now. Mr. Wenner's comments drew an immediate reaction, by the way, with his quotes mocked on social media and past criticisms unearthed of Rolling Stones coverage of female artists under his tenure. Mr. Wenner's now Joe Hagan, who in 2017 wrote a harshly critical biography of Mr. Wenner called Sticky Fingers. He cited a comment by the feminist critic Ellen Willis, who in 1970 called the magazine viciously anti woman. In a statement issued late Saturday by representative for Little, Brown and Company excuse me, Little, Brown and Company, the publisher of his book. By the way, Mr. Wenner said, in my interview with the New York Times, I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of black and women artists. And I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks. All right, and this is another quote. The Masters is a collection of interviews I've done over the years, he continued, that seemed to me to be the best represent an idea of rock and roll's impact on my world. They were not meant to represent the whole of music and its diverse and important originators, but to reflect the high points of my career. And interviews I felt illustrated the breadth and experience in that career. They don't reflect my appreciation and admiration for myriad totemic, world changing artists whose music and ideas I revere and will celebrate and promote as long as I live. I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences. Good Lord. Now, Mr. Wenner founded Rolling Stone in 1967 with the music critic Ralph Gleason and made it the preeminent music magazine of its time, with deep coverage of rock music as well as politics and current events. Much of it was written by stars of the new journalism movement of the 1960s and 70s, like Hunter Thompson. Mr. Gleason died, by the way, in 1975. Now the rock hall has been criticized for the relatively few women and minority artists who have been inducted over the years. According to one scholar, by 2019, just 7.7% of the individual in the hall were women, not even 10%. But some critics have applauded recent changes, and the newest class of inductees includes Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, along with George Michael, Willie Nelson, Raids against the Machine and the Spinners. So yeah, he's a dick. The Apology, I think is bullshit and the excuse, but he's getting every, every piece of flack that he, he deserves on social media and abroad.
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A
Yeah, I, I don't understand the follow up explanation. That's what your answer should have been when you were first asked the question.
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C
Yeah.
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A
So that seems very contrived to me. All right, well, everybody, we have a lot of good news to get to. But before that, you're going to want to stick around because I'm going to be talking to the host of the Drape of Maniacs podcast, author of the new book Black Black AF History, the unwhitewashed Story of America. His name is Michael Harriot. You're going to want to stick around for this. We'll be right back after these messages.
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B
We'll be right back.
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A
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I am honored to be joined today by historian, journalist, Emmy nominated writer, celebrated YP apologist, dean of Black Twitter, and author of Black AF History, the Unwhitewashed Story of America. It comes out September 19th. And he's also the creator of the Drapedomaniacs podcast. Please welcome Michael Harriot.
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B
Thanks for having me on.
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A
I am really excited to talk to you today for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I think that learning the hard history is where we are failing our young people and our old people, me included. And I wanted to talk to you about this incredible book that comes out again. It comes out September 19th. Can you tell us a little bit about black AF history?
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B
So it is a story. It is a book about the history of America. It's not necessarily a black history book. It's the history of America viewed through the eyes of black people. And I think that's important because, you know, there are books about the history of black people in America, and then there are, there are books about America, right, Like the history that we all know. But this book is specifically, it specifically looks at America through the eyes of black people and tells those stories through those eyes. So we do focus on the history of America. It starts in the 1400s and ends basically yesterday. And what we talk about are not just the black people throughout history, but how black people viewed America, because I think that's important. One of the things that I talk about in the book is how, for instance, we'll talk about the French settlers and the English settlers who came here to build the country, and then the pilgrims who came because of religious persecution. And then we just lump all the black people together as Africans, right, With no religious background, no political background. And those are the things that kind of we turn upside down in Black AF history with, you know, And I think it's funny and it's biting, but I think it's still interesting to read. And we do it not in the verbiage of the usual historians, but in a way that is engaging with the audience.
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A
That is so important. And I want to talk a little bit more about that, about bringing humor into things. It's more relatable. You know, when I started the Mueller podcast, the Mueller Report, it's a snoozer, man. It's, like, really boring. But, you know, you have to infuse it through the lens of your lived experiences. And that's why I think the democratization of our voices in this new media sort of empire that's coming up is so important, because there is a through line here of whitewashing history from the 1400s leading all the way up to January 6th and the great Replacement Theory. And you hit those points and you hit those targets. And I think it's very important for people to understand sort of how we got here. We didn't just spring up all of a sudden with white supremacists in this country trying to overthrow the government and not teach black history in schools and come up with boogeymans like CRT and all these things. It didn't just happen overnight. This is generational. And I think that that's one of the most important aspects of your book and how relatable it is through the lens of your lived experience.
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B
Yeah, I think that is important to kind of marry the two things together and to kind of tell. In essence, it's a storytelling exercise. Right. I think if you. Instead of giving people a bunch of dates and numbers and geographical maps, if you just tell the story, the true story of America. And I think not only does it gives us a view of the past, but we get a better understanding of why things are the way they are right now. Something I always say is history is not something that happened. It is something that is happening. And the only way we can understand what is happening is. Is through the lens of history.
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A
And there's a lot of meticulous research behind this book as well. So it's not just sort of with my feeling about this particular event in history. This is all sourced. And I have brought up asking my friends and people that I speak to, what did you learn that the Civil War was about? What did you learn about these particular things? And I hear the same answers over and over again. Oh, it was about states rights. Right. And, you know, then we can talk about states rights to do what? But we've all seemed to have grown up in this sort of context with blinders on to protect the status quo. And so that is why, I think, first of all, why I love this book. It's truly relatable. But the hard history is important. So talk a little bit about some of the research that went into this book.
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B
Well, what we did was usually use primary sources. And I engaged with historians. One of the main historians kind of who gave me a template or a curriculum for this book, Blair Kelly, has a book out now called Black Folks about the history of working class America. And so we engaged with these sources and these historians to see not just, like, what happened, but what were black people thinking at the time that this event happened. What were they talking about? So instead of pulling articles from the New York Times, we'd go and research articles from the black newspapers at the time, from journals, from diaries, from. One of the great resources was during the New Deal, there was this slave project that went and interviewed people who were still living, that experienced enslavement. And so we use those things to kind of give people a view of how black people saw America at the time. And, you know, so there was a lot of research. And it's funny because, you know, you found two things. Right. One was that a lot of the stuff that we thought was lost to history really wasn't lost to history. Right. And the other was that a lot of. Like, for instance, we'd go to look for a black newspaper. We knew that there was a black newspaper that existed in this city at the time, that this event was happening in the city or the state at the time. And I kept coming across this, the same two sentences, no surviving copies exist. Burned by a white mob. Right. Which was the fate of a lot of black newspapers. We don't talk about that. Right. And so those kinds of not even stumbling blocks, but realizations that we learned during the research process, they all were included in this book.
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A
Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned that you interviewed people who were actually there. And I think that that kind of hits home in the concept that this is recent history that we're talking about. And yet we seem to blame short memories when there was actually an overt, and has been for hundreds of years, purposeful and deliberate effort to make our memories short on this. And I think that that's why pushing through with this kind of research and this point of view on history is so important, because you bring up Such a. A good point. And you do this in the book as well. I just shared a thread on Twitter that you wrote about the cookout, and I want you to talk a little bit about that. You talk about it in your podcast as well. In fact, you have a podcast episode about it that I encourage everybody to listen to. It came out on September 5th. It's wherever you get your podcasts, and it's called Drape Domaniacs. But talk about the consequences of that kind of just overt, deliberate whitewashing and how it impacts us. And then, of course, we just sit around and go, oh, it's because we have short attention spans.
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B
Yeah. So we know. And we talk about this in the book. Right. So we know that a lot of the history that we have lost or has been whitewashed. It wasn't kind of a game of telephone where it was misinterpreted through the years. Right. So we know that after the Civil War, when we were building schools, there was a group of women, white women, called the Daughters of the Confederacy, who engaged in a campaign, who created the campaign to change history books. It was called the Lost Cause, and they were basically the authority through which all of the history books, the textbook manufacturers and the publishers had to go through to get their history books approved. So if the Daughters of the Confederacy didn't approve of, couldn't be adopted by a state, well, they intentionally wanted us to believe that, for instance, slavery wasn't that bad, that the Confederacy was about, as you mentioned earlier, state rights. And they had this whole definition in this view of America that became part of the American education system. It wasn't like misinterpretation. It was an intentional effort to rebrand America as this benevolent society that was never racist. It was just the consequences of a bunch of things. And so that whitewashing still goes on today, when you think about it. I did an article a couple of years ago where when this whole CRT thing started, and I looked at the politicians who objected to this real history, and what I did is, instead of seeing what they thought about it, I just went back to their schools and dug up the textbooks that they used when they were learning. So a lot of the perpetuation of this nonsense is because the people in charge don't know they are subjects and victims of this whitewashed history, too. So they think they know the truth when they really don't.
- [33:39]
A
It's harrowing that your description of this. These Daughters of the Confederacy and their curriculum are mirror images of what's going on in States like Florida right now, it's, you know, Prageru. Writing all of the curriculum for. For certain schools and. And how that negatively, it just. It just shows that this is an intentional effort. Let's talk about what we can do about this. I mean, obviously, we're putting out books, we're reading books, we're sharing stories, et cetera, which is, I think, the number one best thing we can do. Democratize the media and get everybody's voices out there and have the stories told in a relatable way through the lenses of our lived experience. But what else can everybody else do who maybe doesn't have a microphone or can't sell a book?
- [34:24]
B
Well, of course, they could buy this book. But the other thing that they can.
- [34:28]
A
Do, it's a very important part. That's a very important part of this, is to just learn the shit. Right?
- [34:31]
B
Right. Because, I mean, and I say that as a joke, but it's also true that when, you know that all the things that I learned was wrong, Right? Like, you know, we know the moon isn't made of cheese. Right. We know that the earth isn't flat. So when someone teaches your child that the earth is flat, you'd say, oh, no, no, no, no, this is wrong. Right. And the other part of that is that the more that the truth becomes normalized. I was talking to someone the other day about climate change and how, like a few years ago, there was this big debate about climate change, and there wasn't really a big propaganda effort or a big effort to educate people. Right. We just put the science out there, and there's more science or more truth got into the public sphere. Now we are at a point where like three quarters of the country believes that climate change is caused by human beings. And we know that, and we understand that now just because we put the truth out there. So putting the truth out there is an important first step. And learning the truth is an important first step. But I think I say it as a joke also. But it is also true that we can attack it the same way that they attack black history, the same way that they attack lgbtq. I a rights in that tell them that. For instance, in states where they outlaw history, that makes children feel uncomfortable. Well, my children feel uncomfortable about learning about Thomas Jefferson, Right? Like, about valorizing a man who was essentially a rapist. My children feel uncomfortable about learning about English and French and Spanish settlers and not about the indigenous people who lived here, not about the history of the people who they brought here. Why does that history get Elevated and the other history gets erased. Well, that makes my children uncomfortable. So if we put them on the playing field that we've been on, I think it turned those tables. I think that's an important step also.
- [36:47]
A
Yeah. And I think that that starts locally.
- [36:49]
C
Right.
- [36:50]
A
With our school boards. I know that they are under attack and we have to make sure that we defend our kids education and I say ours collectively as a country. Before I let you go, I really want to talk a little bit about drape domainiacs. What is drape domania? Because I listened to the episode explaining it. I would like you to give everybody the rundown of what drapetomania is.
- [37:13]
B
So in 1852, doctor named Samuel Adolphus Cartwright came up with a religious diagnosis, I mean, an actual medical diagnosis for what made black people enslaved, people want to be free. He said it was a mental illness called drapetomania, from the root word, the Greek word draptos, which is slavery, and mania, which is of course a mania, a mental illness. And so this idea was in, this diagnosis, was in medical books until like the 1930s. And so what we did is we took that idea, that nonsensical idea, and applied it to black history. Who were the drapetomaniacs? Who were these people who we thought were so crazy because they had these ideas of freedom in their head? So we each episode focuses on that and it uses comedy and music and sound design to tell these stories. And we also have celebrities, black celebrities. Joy Reid, Roland Martin Charlemagne, Tha God, Yvette Nicole Brown playing these characters from history to tell these stories.
- [38:24]
A
It's absolutely fantastic. I recommend everybody listen to it. You can also now pre order the book Black AF the unwhitewashed Story of America, wherever you get your books. And please listen to Drape Domaniacs Unshackled History, wherever you get your podcast. I've appreciated talking to you today. It's an incredible book and I love what you're doing and I really do appreciate it and I just. I can't. I can't. Thank you. I can't express how grateful I am for. For your voice. So thank you.
- [38:51]
B
Thank you for having me and telling us what to read.
- [38:55]
A
It's my pleasure. It's such a good book, everybody. Michael Harriot, stick around. We'll be right back with the good.
- [39:01]
C
News after these messages.
- [39:03]
B
We'll be right back.
- [39:11]
A
Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
- [39:14]
B
Everyone. Then good news, everyone.
- [39:24]
C
Good news. Good news.
- [39:25]
A
And if you have any good news, Corrections Confessions what the mutt? What the heck? Wine Find the cat if you want to do misheard song lyrics if you want to share a story about your favorite blankie or wooby or that of someone that you know and love, or if you want to give a shout out to somebody you love or a shout out to yourself, tell me what you're doing. Or a shout out to a small business in your area, or your small business or your big business. Whatever you're doing, I want to hear about it. Baby pictures, Frog orgies? Anything you want to send to us adoptable pets in your area, go to DailyBeansPod.com and click on Contact and send it in now. First up from Elizabeth Pronouns she and her thank you for both being a funny spot on my drive every morning. I wanted to share some of my good news and hopefully give Dana some encouragement and solidarity.
- [40:08]
C
Thank you.
- [40:09]
A
I am a giant nerd and started making tabletop role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons Dice and have finally gotten all my sets up on Etsy and I've had sales locally. I'm super proud of myself and I want to offer encouragement to anyone who doesn't think their art is good enough to share. Take a chance on yourself. You might be surprised. Dana, on Friday last you expressed embarrassment that we listeners might think ill of you for mispronouncing words. I want to tell you, I for one absolutely do not. I am famous in my friend group for mispronunciations. I tried saying orangutan one night and it came out orangutan. That's great.
- [40:47]
C
There you have it.
- [40:47]
A
And then I couldn't say it correctly for years because my brain decided that's just how it's going to be pronounced from now on. Agoraphobic became angorophobic. The list goes on. So all that to say. Please, no need to get embarrassed. I am right there with you. Thanks again to both of you. And I've included podpet tax. Here's my two girls, Siggy Yellow and Freya Black. I remember Siggy and Freya, but the pictures for some reason did not come through Elizabeth.
- [41:11]
C
So yes, I'm famous for putting the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. So that also messes up some of the words. It happens. I'm telling you. Brilliant people can't spell either, it's been proven. But also there are some brilliant people that can spell, so who knows if that's true. All right, this is for Michael Pronouns he and him. Correction to a correction. Okay, on Friday's show, Alan F. Corrected Dana's identification of Jack Reed as a Republican senator from Long island, somewhat more correctly identifying him as a Democratic senator from the state of Rhode island and Providence Plantations, perhaps lost to you amid the other good News in the 2020 general election was the fact that Rhode island voters, on their third crack at this particular question, finally decided to remove and Providence Plantations from the official state name. While traditionalists tried to argue that the term plantations as the title had no connection to Southern plantations and its associations with enslavement, enough voters recognized either that A, in fact there was no essential difference in the way the word was used throughout the original colonies, or B, even an unintended echo of a term associated with the slave based economy, was painful and anachronistic. And an anachronistic. See, there's one there. Anachronistic.
- [42:27]
A
Anachronistic.
- [42:29]
C
Yeah, there you go.
- [42:30]
A
Now, out of step with the times.
- [42:33]
C
Yes.
- [42:34]
A
Like if you saw a fork at medieval times.
- [42:37]
C
Oh, it'd be anachronistic. Got it. Or that. That what was at the end of Game of Thrones? The Starbucks coffee someone forgot to edit out of the. There you go. From Hot Pet Tax. Please see the attached photos of my and my husband's four rescues. Duncan, Bianca, Cirrus, and Calista in the photo on the sun deck. Bianca, Calista, Duncan, Cirrus in the photo of them staring down at me from the top of the basement steps. They're all mongrels, so it would be fun for you to play what the mutt with them. But I'll save that for upcoming submissions. Thanks for keeping me and all your listeners both better informed and sane. Your positivity and good humor help brighten even the bleakest news day. Michael, thank you so much. And you and your husband's dogs are adorable.
- [43:21]
A
Look at these. Look at the steps. 1. Look at the little guy.
- [43:24]
C
Oh, he's like, what? What? Well, you got a problem.
- [43:28]
A
Come at me, bro.
- [43:29]
C
What are you doing, bro? So cute.
- [43:32]
A
Well, I'm a producer. I like vodka, cranberries. That's what he's saying to me right now. Oh. All right, next up from Dare Darius. Excuse me. Thank you for the pronunciation key. Darius pronouns he and him. Hi. I'm about to be a first time dad and I'm going to be the stay at home parent because my partner is a PhD while I'm a small business owner. In fact, I just launched my first product website, alaspice.com. that's o l l a spice.com for a spice blend that I've been making for my coffee and I wanted to share it with others. I listen to your podcast while I do the little things that must be done and try to keep things humming along. And I so enjoy hearing your take on what's brewing in the news day to day. Thanks so much for the hard work that you put in to keep up with the deluge that we as Americans face every day. It's so damn much, but I'm sure that we can get through it together. Ah yes, Darius, that's kind of the whole point of this and this whole community. So thank you so much for that. Also included a picture of my old man buddy, the best kitty person. Best kitty person. The best kitty a person could ever have as a companion. So Everybody check out Allah Spice O L L A spice.com for a delicious blend that you can put in your coffee. And look at the blep on the kitty.
- [44:50]
C
Oh.
- [44:53]
A
He'S a derpy. I love him, but I want to pet him.
- [44:56]
C
But it is good. All right, this one's from Jen. No pronouns given from Jen. Good morning, the Guma ladies. A while back I wrote to you about our small business idea to provide employment for adults with autism in our bakery. We are inspired by our daughter Zoe, an autistic adult. We ran into permanent issues with the shop we were building, so we're thinking outside the box. We hired a professional baker and an assistant baker on the spectrum. We're renting space in a commissary kitchen and renting a storefront while our bakery is completed. So check us out. It's Zoes Desserts with z's instead of S's. So it's Z O E S D E z z e r-t s.com zoesdeserts.com I love it. I do, too.
- [45:42]
A
I love these colors, too. The blue, the lime green. That pink. That's excellent. Those desserts. Love it so much. Thank you. Next up from Anonymous. She and her good news. My right airpod survived a trip through the washer and dryer, and now it's clean. My pod pet tax. That's it. That's the submission.
- [46:04]
C
I love it.
- [46:06]
A
My podbet. When I tell you anything, any bit of good news, send it. My pod pet tax is a find. The frog this spring and summer was one of the rainiest in Colorado's history, and we've had an explosion in the frog population. Let's see. Oh, there he is.
- [46:23]
C
Yep, there's two of them, actually. There's a big old one on the right and a tiny one on the Left. And if you give them enough time, maybe you're gonna get your orgy.
- [46:31]
A
Yeah, they just need that.
- [46:32]
C
That's.
- [46:33]
A
Whatever that's floating in the water. Just needs to float closer. Pangea.
- [46:37]
C
Let's do it. Oh, my God, I love it. All right, this is from Katie. Pronouns she and her. Hello, Beans. Queens, I've been a listener for a few years now and I absolutely love the two of you and the service you're doing to cover important politics, political topics daily. Now, this isn't exactly good news, but I wanted to share my sweet kitty, Ollie, who I always called Ollie Bean. Ollie passed unexpectedly last week. I miss him dearly, but I will forever sing. Your theme song is Ollie Bean Ol. I used to sing it to my fluffy boy on occasion. I attached a few photos. One is when he was just a baby bean. Anyway, keep up the good work. Much love to you both. Katie, I'm so sorry that you lost your baby.
- [47:16]
A
Oh, he's beautiful too.
- [47:18]
C
Oh, gorgeous. Look at that second picture. And the kitten. Yeah, I know.
- [47:23]
A
The baby bean.
- [47:24]
C
Such thing as an ugly kitten.
- [47:26]
A
No, and he's just lovely. I'm so sorry. It's hard. That leaves a hole in your heart when a pet has to leave.
- [47:36]
C
Now.
- [47:37]
A
Baby pet pictures. So not, you know, baby pictures. Baby humans for Dana. Baby kitties.
- [47:44]
C
Yes, please. I'll take baby anything. Baby animals, baby babies. Baby plants are adorable.
- [47:51]
A
Yes. And thank you for that submission. It's a lovely remembrance for Ollie, Ollie Beam and the frogs. Thank you. And the bakeries. Those desserts. Thank you. And the derpy derpy kitty from Darius and all a spice. O l l a spice. Everybody. Check that out. The four dogs from Michael. Thank you and Elizabeth, appreciate you. And I'm going to look for your for Siggy and Freya, although I think I've seen them before but would love to see them again. All right, everyone, send in your good news dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. We will be back in your ears tomorrow. And don't forget, tomorrow, a new episode of Clean up on aisle 45 comes out. It is chock full of stuff and Pete is hilarious as always. You don't want to miss it. Any final thoughts before we get out of here, Dana?
- [48:36]
C
No final thoughts for today.
- [48:38]
A
All right, everybody, we'll be back tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health. Vote blue over Q and take everyone.
- [48:46]
C
And their parents with you.
- [48:47]
A
I benit g I've been DG and them Sabines.
- [48:51]
B
Refried beans.
- [48:52]
A
I like refried beans.