A (4:49)

All right, first up, snippets from an absolutely incredible piece from Jane Mayer at the New Yorker. And I highly, I'm just going to read a couple of snippets from this. I really recommend that you go to the New Yorker and, and read this entire story. And, and you're going to, if, you know, if you don't subscribe already, you're going to want to, because Jane Mayer puts out some really incredible investigative work over there at, at that magazine. So it's really just truly incredible reporting. So let's dive into a couple of parts here. Here's one part that says after the recent revelation that Pete Hegseth had secretly paid a financial settlement to a woman who had accused him of raping her in 2017, President elect Donald Trump stood by his choice of Hegseth to become the next Secretary of defense. Trump's communications director, Stephen Chung. Super. He's just a peach. Issued a statement noting that Hegseth, who has denied wrongdoing, was not charged with any crime. Quote, president Trump is nominating a high caliber and extremely qualified candidate to serve in his administration. That's what chung maintained. But Hegseth's record before becoming a full time Fox News TV host in 2017 raises additional questions about his suitability to run the world's largest and most lethal military force. A trail of documents corroborated by the accounts of former colleagues indicates that Hegseth was forced to step down by both of the two nonprofit advocacy groups that he ran, Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. And he did this in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct. A previously undisclosed whistleblower report on Hegseth's tenure as the president of Concerned Veterans for America from 2013 until 2016 describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization's events. The detailed seven page report, which was compiled by multiple former CVA employees and sent to the organization's senior management in February of 2015, states that at one point Hegseth had to be restrained while drunk from joining dancers on the stage of a Louisiana strip club where he had brought his team. The report also says that Hegseth, who was married at the time, and other members of his management team sexually pursued the organization's female staffers, whom they divided into two groups, the party girls and the not party girls. In addition, the report asserts that under Hegseth's leadership, the organization became a hostile workplace that ignored serious accusations of impropriety, including an allegation made by a female employee that another employee on Hegseth staff had attempted to sexually assault her at the Louisiana strip club. In a separate letter of complaint, which was sent to the organization in late 2015, a different former employee described Hegseth as being at a bar in the early morning hours of May 29, 2015, while on an official tour through Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, drunkenly chanting, kill all Muslims. Kill all Muslims. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, member of the Armed Services Committee on the Senate, described the report of Hegseth's drinking as alarming and disqualifying. In a phone interview, Blumenthal, who currently leads the Senate committee that will review Hegseth's nomination, told Jane Mayer, quote, much as we might be sympathetic to people with continuing alcohol problems, they shouldn't be at the top of our national security structure. It's dangerous. The Secretary of Defense is involved in every issue of national security. He's involved in the use of nuclear weapons. He's the one who approves sending troops into combat. He approves drone strikes that may involve civilian casualties. Literally, life and death issues are in the hands of the Secretary of Defense. And entrusting these kinds of issues to someone who might be incapacitated for any reason is a risk we cannot take. Blumenthal noted that an earlier nominee for secretary of defense, Senator John Tower, a Republican from Texas, was voted down by his Senate colleagues in 1989 because of concerns about his drinking and womanizing. It was the first time that the cabinet pick of a newly elected president, in this case George H.W. bush, was rejected by the Senate. John Tower, quote, went down for the same kind of issues, blumenthal said. I don't think this is a partisan issue. January 2016, Hegseth resigned from Concerned Veterans for America under pressure. An account in the Military Times said Hegseth had quietly resigned in a decision that was mutual with the organization amid, quote, rumors of a rift between the former CEO and the group's financial backers. Hegseth, who had no other job lined up at the time, gave no explanation for his departure other than saying, sometimes it just makes sense to make a transition to nothing. I added the to nothing part. Cva, for its part, released a statement saying that it thanked Hegseth for his many contributions, wished him well. But according to three knowledgeable sources, one of whom contributed to the whistleblower report, Hegseth was forced to step down from the organization in part because of concerns about his mismanagement and abuse of alcohol on the job. Quote, congratulations on removing Pete Hegseth is the subject line of an email obtained by the New Yorker that was sent to Hegseth's successor as president of the group, J. Pack, on January 15, 2016. The email, sent under a pseudonym by one of the whistleblowers, included a copy of the report and went on to say among the staff, the disgust for Pete was pretty high. Most veterans don't think he represents them nor their high standards of excellence. The email also stated that Hegseth, quote, had a history of alcohol abuse and he had, quote, treated the organization funds like they were a personal expense account for partying, drinking, and using CVA events as little more than opportunities to hook up with women on the road. The whistleblower report makes extensive allegations. It describes several top managers being involved in drunken episodes, including an altercation at a casino, at a hotel Christmas party at which food was thrown from the balcony. Hegseth, it says, was, quote, seen drunk at multiple CVA events between 2013 and 2015, a time when the organization was engaged in an ambitious nationwide effort to mobilize veterans to vote for conservative candidates and causes. Jane Mayer at the New Yorker says she spoke at length with two people who identified themselves as having contributed to the whistleblower report. One of them said of Hegseth, I've seen him drunk so many times. I've seen him dragged away not a few times, but multiple times. To have him at the Pentagon would be scary. When those of us who worked at CVA heard he was being considered for SecDef, it wasn't no. It was hell no. According to the complaint, at one such CVA event in Virginia beach on Memorial Day in 2014, Hegseth was, quote, totally sloshed and needed to be carried to his room because he was so intoxicated. The following month, during an event in Cleveland, Hagseth, who had gone with his team to a bar around the corner from the hotel, was described as, quote, completely drunk in a public place. According to the report, quote, several high profile people who attended the organization's event were very disappointed to see this kind of public behavior, though the report does not identify those people. In late November 2014, Hegseth and his team deployed to Louisiana for a U.S. senate runoff. This is when, according to the whistleblower complaint, Hegseth took the CVA team to the strip club where, quote, he was so drunk, he tried to get on the stage and dance with the strippers. A female CVA associate, the report says, quote, had to get him off the stage. She had to intervene with security to prevent him from getting thrown out. The whistleblower continued as if in disbelief. Quote, a Fox News contributor with the rank of captain in the National Guard and the CEO of a veterans organization was in a strip club trying to dance with strippers. In December 2014, the group held an office Christmas party at the Grand Hyatt in Washington. Once again, according to the report, Hegseth was, quote, noticeably intoxicated and had to be carried up to his room. The report stated his behavior was embarrassing in front of the team, but not surprising. People, quote, have simply come to expect Pete to get drunk at social events. In 2014, Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor, but then he also was the CEO of the Koch Brothers Concerned Veterans for America Group. But by 2016, Hegseth had been forced to step aside from the organization. Quote, there's a long pattern over more than a decade of malfeasance, financial mismanagement and sexual impropriety, hegseth's former associate told Jane Mayer. There's a fair dose of bullying and misinformation, too. In 2016, Justin Higgins, a former Republican opposition researcher, vetted Hegseth for undersecretary roles in the first Trump administration on behalf of the rnc. In a commentary for msnbc, Higgins wrote that although he believes that Hegseth is perhaps one of the least qualified picks for secretary of defense that we've seen, he thinks that Hegseth, quote, was likely chosen because he seems willing to say and do anything Trump wants. It hadn't hurt. Higgins added that Hegseth belittled some war crimes and that, quote, trump thinks he looks and sounds good on tv. Hagseth has also been a strident opponent of gender equality in the military, proclaiming women unfit for combat and calling the claim that diversity is strength garbage. In 2021, he was barred from participating in Biden's inauguration because a military officer was alarmed that Hegseth had tattoos of a crusader's cross and the motto Deus Vult insignias popular with far right militants, and had alerted superiors that Hegseth might constitute a, quote, insider threat.

A (14:49)

So these are just snippets. This is a very long report, and I encourage you to read it. There's a lot more to it, so head over to the New Yorker. Read it all when you have a moment. All right, next up from the Associated Press, a police officer accused of leaking confidential information to the Proud Boys. National leader Enrique Tarrio became a double agent for the far right extremist group after its members burned a stolen Black Lives Matter banner in the nation's capital. A federal prosecutor said this Monday at the start of this officer's trial. We've reported on this before, but the trial is now underway. Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Shane Lamond was a Proud Boy sympathizer who warned Tario about his impending arrest for the banner's destruction and later lied to investigators about their communications. Quote, he knew the difference between right and wrong and he knew it was a crime to lie to law enforcement. Rothstein. That's Joshua Rothstein, a prosecutor said during opening statements for Lamond's trial. Lamond, who was arrested in May of 2023, is charged with one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. U.S. district Judge Amy Berman Jackson Love her, will decide the case after hearing testimony without a jury. It's a bench trial. Tario, who could be a key witness at this trial, is currently serving a 22 year prison sentence after a jury convicted him and other Proud Boys leaders of seditious conspiracy stemming from the attack on the Capitol. The judge said Tarrio was waiting for the outcome of last month's presidential election before deciding whether to testify at Lamond's trial. President Elect Donald Trump, who repeatedly has vowed to pardon people convicted of Capitol riot charges, suggested he would consider pardoning Tarrio. Tarrio was arrested in D.C. two days before Proud Boys members joined a mob's attack on the Capitol. The Miami resident wasn't at the Capitol when the mob of Trump supporters stormed the building and interrupted the congressional certification of Biden's victory. Tarrio was sentenced to more than five months in jail for burning the banner stolen from an historic black church in downtown Washington and for bringing two high capacity firearms magazines into the District. Lamond, whom this is a police officer who met Tario in 2019, had supervised the intelligence branch of the Police Department's Homeland Security Bureau. He was responsible for monitoring groups like the Proud Boys when they came to Washington. Lamond's name repeatedly came up during Tario's 2023 trial. The men exchanged hundreds of messages across several platforms with Lamond, frequently greeting Tario with the words hey brother. Rostein said. Lamond provided Tario with real time updates on the police investigation of the December 12, 2020 banner burning. Tario, in turn, shared the updates with other Proud Boys members. Quote, this play by play information allowed the Proud Boys to be one step ahead of law enforcement, the prosecutor said in a message to tario on Christmas 2020. Lamond said police investigators had asked him to identify Tario from a photograph. Lamond then warned Tario that police may be seeking a warrant for his arrest. And later on the day of his arrest, Tario posted a to other Proud Boys leaders, saying the warrant was just signed. Lamond's indictment accuses him of lying to and misleading federal investigators when they questioned him in June of 2021 about his contacts with Tarrio. Quote, the defendant knew the truth and he chose to lie anyway. That's what the prosecutor said. The indictment also says Tarrio and Lamond exchanged messages about the January 6 riot and discussed whether the Proud Boys members were in danger of being charged for the attack. Quote, of course I can't say it officially, but personally I support you all and don't want to see your group's name and reputation dragged through the mud, lamond wrote. Lamond, of Stafford, Virginia, was placed on administrative leave in February of 2022. The first government witness to testify at Le Mond's trial was Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Ashen Mufti, who investigated the banner burning and obtained a warrant for Tario's arrest. Mufti said Lamond didn't tell him that Tarrio had personally confessed to him that he burned the banner. Mufti said that would have helped his investigation, but Tarrio also publicly confessed to the crime on social media before his arrest. So there you go. On cross examination, Mufti said Lamond helped him identify Tarrio's image in a photograph and his voice on a podcast, quote, he was, in fact, quite helpful, defense attorney Mark Schamel asked. He was, mufti replied. All right, next I have a letter from Senator Warren and Senator Blumenthal to President Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. And this is quite interesting in light of what we just talked about regarding Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense nominee for the second Trump administration. So here's what the Senators wrote to Biden and Lloyd Austin, who's the Secretary of Defense currently. We write to urge you to issue a policy directive that prohibits the mobilization of active duty military or federalizing National Guard personnel to be deployed against their forces. Fellow Americans, unless specifically authorized. The Posse Comitatus act, quote, outlaws the willful use of any part of the armed forces to execute the law unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. As Department of Defense guidance makes clear, this includes restrictions on arrest, apprehension and stop and frisk, as well as surveillance or pursuit of individuals, vehicles, items, transactions or physical locations. An exception to the Posse Comitatus is the Insurrection act, which allows the President to deploy military personnel within the US Borders under narrow circumstances of insurrection, rebellion or extreme civil unrest. But even when the Insurrection act is invoked, commanders are required to, quote, strictly limit DoD actions to emergency needs and shall facilitate the re establishment of civil responsibility at the earliest time possible. Meaning you can't just leave it in place, right? We urge you to issue a policy directive that makes clear that the narrow application of the Insurrection act should be limited to instances when state or local authorities are so overwhelmed and that the chief executive of the state requests assistance or attacks against the US Government overwhelm the state or local authorities. In instances when federal forces are necessary to protect or prevent violations of individual civil liberties, Federal forces should only be authorized when state, local or federal civilian law enforcement personnel are unable, fail, or refuse to protect their rights. A policy directive should also clarify that any armed forces employed must operate under the Standing Rules for the Use of Force and cannot violate the Writ of Habeas corpus, federal law, or, where applicable, federal or state law. I love the Habeas corpus part. Finally, we urge you to clarify that the President must consult with Congress to the maximum extent practicable before exercising the authority, as well as transmit to the Federal Register the legal authorities. President Elect Trump's comments have indicated he could invoke the Insurrection act on his first day of office. He has called his political opponents the enemy from within and said they, quote, should very easily be handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary, by the military. When asked to clarify these remarks in late October, Vice President elect J.D. vance reiterated that President Elect Trump would use force against Americans. Former officials of his previous administration say he also seeks to deploy the military as domestic law enforcement. We are deeply concerned that during his previous term in office, President Elect Trump repeatedly sought to use the military to impede the First Amendment rights of Americans. As many of us wrote previously, quote, it is antithetical to what those in uniform have sworn to protect and defend and a serious threat to our democratic system to weaponize the military to advance the President's political interests. During his last administration in response to peaceful protests then, President Trump came so close to deploying troops against protesters that active duty troops got as close to Washington as nearby Fort Belvoir, Virginia and other installations on the outskirts of the city. The concerns about the use of force were so serious that after federal forces from the US Park Police and US Secret Service cleared peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he didn't want active duty forces available to the President. Esper sent them home without informing the White House because he, quote, couldn't trust they wouldn't reverse his decision. Your need to issue a policy directive is particularly urgent given questions raised by US Supreme Court Trump v. United States decision, which significantly expanded presidential immunity for official acts In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that whether described as presumptive or absolute, under the Supreme Court majority's rule, a president's use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution. She goes on to write that the decision, quote, effectively creates a law free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding if the President orders the Navy SEALs Team 6 to assassinate a political rival immune Organizes a military coup to hold onto power immune While the president may be immune, legal scholars have said this decision should not have any impact on service members obligation to reject unlawful orders if the underlying conduct the military member is expected to carry out violates the Constitution itself or a criminal statute like the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Even if it is an official act of the president, the military member must disobey it and cannot be prosecuted for that disobedience. Others have pointed out that the military is trained to follow orders, not to resist them. Given the disagreement among scholars on the serious implications of the recent Supreme Court decision, it's reasonable to assume that Service members, other DoD personnel, and the broader military community may not be aware of or fully understand their rights and responsibilities. If unaddressed. Any ambiguity on the lawful use of military force, coupled with President Elect Trump's demonstrated intent to utilize the military in such a dangerous and unprecedented way, may prove devastating. Signed yours Sincerely, Senator Warren and Senator Blumenthal. This is alarming.

A (25:13)

You know, this isn't conspiracy theory stuff to say that.

A (25:19)

He'Ll invoke the Insurrection act and send the military after his political enemies. I was particularly happy about the habeas corpus part, hearing that they want to talk about that because that's how you detain people without due process is by suspending the writ of habeas corpus. So anyway, I wanted to share that letter with you. I think it's important that we know that at least these two senators are concerned about this possibility. All right, our last story is more of a feel good story comes from the Associated Press. The creator of the widely debunked film 2000 Mules has issued a statement saying inaccurate information was provided to him about ballot box surveillance videos featured in the film and apologized to a Georgia man in one of those videos who was falsely accused of ballot fraud during the 2020 election. Filmmaker and pundit Dinesh D' Souza said in the statement that the film and the book of the same name were based on cell phone geolocation data collected by True the Vote, the Texas Based Nonprofit also provided him with Dropbox surveillance footage. And d' Souza said his team had been assured that the surveillance videos had been linked to geolocation cell phone data, such that each video depicted an individual who had made at least 10 visits to dropboxes. Gwinnett county resident Mark Andrews is seen in one of these videos. His face is blurred putting five ballots in a drop box in Lawrenceville, an Atlanta suburb. As d' Souza says, what you are seeing is a crime. These are fraudulent votes. But a state investigation found that Andrews was dropping off ballots for himself, his wife and their three adult children, who all lived at the same address, which is legal in Georgia. And an investigator said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Andrews. The film suggests that ballot mules aligned with Democrats were paid to illegally collect and deliver ballots in Georgia and four other closely watched states. An Associated Press analysis found that it is based on faulty assumptions, anonymous accounts and improper analysis of cell phone location data. D' Souza and his statement says interviews in the film make clear that True the Vote was correlating the videos to the data. But, he wrote, we recently learned that surveillance videos used in the film may not have actually been correlated with the geolocation data. He also acknowledged that the film and the book, quote, create the impression that these individuals were mules that had been identified as suspected ballot harvesters based on their geo tracked cell phone data, though their faces were blurred. Andrews has publicly come forth and sued over the use of this image. And d' Souza says he owes Andrews an apology. He said the surveillance videos in the film, quote, were characterized on the basis of inaccurate information provided to me and my team and that if he'd known they weren't linked to geolocation data, quote, I would have clarified this and produced and edited the film differently. Whatever, punk. That book was recalled and had to be reprinted because of fucking lies. Just lies. But d' Souza says he continues to have confidence in True the votes work. So he blames them, threw them under the bus for everything. But he has confidence in them and in the basic message of the film. He has confidence in that. That basically the 2020 election was not secure and there was systematic election fraud to call the outcome into question. No, every. No, no, zero evidence. State and federal authorities have said there's no evidence of widespread fraud in that election. True. The Vote issued a clarification Monday on the d' Souza statement. It says the central premise of the film remains accurate, but says it had no editorial control and didn't select the videos or graphics used. Andrews was not part of the geospatial study. True, the Vote did, a fact that was communicated to Mr. Desaza's team. Despite this, D' Souza's team included a blurred video of the individual. In their 2000 Mules Movie and Book Productions, Andrews filed a federal lawsuit October 2022 against D'. Souza. True, the Vote and Salem Media Group. Salem Media Group is the publisher of 2000 Mules. They issued a statement in May apologizing to Andrews. So if this sounds familiar, that's what that is. Saying it had removed the films from its platforms, would not further distribute the film or the book. A few days later, Andrews dismissed his claim against Salem. D' Souza said his apology to Andrews was not made under the terms of a settlement agreement or other duress, but because it's the thing to do given what we have now learned. What we've now learned since 2022.

A (29:55)

Lawyers for Andrews did not immediately respond to requests for comment. So. All right, well, schadenfreude for you around. Find out. Dinesh. Oh, it was their fault, but they're great. But the premise is still right. There was fraud, but we just don't have any. Everything was a lie off. Anyway, we're going to be right back. We have to take a quick break. And after the break, we're going to have the good news. But before that, I'm going to talk to my good friend, author of the book Go Back to Where youe Came from and author and editor of the substack called Left Hook, which you really should check out. His name is Wajahat Ali. So stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.

B (30:33)

We'll be right back.

A (30:37)

Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm honored to be joined today by my good friend, author of the book Go Back to Where youe Came From. You must get this for everyone on your holiday list and make sure you order it from a small bookstore and get it in time for the holidays. That's how I like to do it. And he's also the editor of the Left Hook on Substack, which is a really, really great newsletter to subscribe to. Please welcome Wajahad Ali. Hi. Hi Waj. How are you?

B (31:00)

Alison, Great to finally see you and talk to you. It's the first time we're actually meeting in person or via the Riverside ever since this disastrous election where half of America lost its mind and decided it wants to be a masochist for the next four years.

A (31:15)

Yeah, well, you know, leave it to us.

A (31:18)

How many times do we have to Scream, like, stop waiting for someone to save you. We have to save ourselves. And then what do we do? We tank ourselves. That's just, you know, just. I talked to Mary Trump about this during COVID Covid sort of robbed us of our futures. And I had so many plans on November 4th for where we were going to go, and now it's like.

A (31:40)

All of us together have to figure out another way to go. But today I wanted to bring you on to talk about the pardon of Hunter Biden. My initial reaction was to jump up and clap and be like, I was so starved for good news. And this is an incredible thing, and I'm so glad he did this. Separate and apart from, you know, you don't have to compare it to Trump's absolutely corrupt BS pardons in order for it to stand alone. Be, I think, a reasonable pardon. Because talk about your reasons why you support this idea.

B (32:11)

Yeah. So this is me playing the world's smallest violin for all the bad faith, MAGA outrage and hypocrisy, and to quote the back of Melania Trump's jacket, I really don't care, do you? And I don't care because like you, Allison, you know, God bless Michelle Obama when she said this, but I disagree. Disagreed with her then and now she even disagrees with herself. When they go low, we go high. No, when they go low, I put them in a knee bar, which is a perfectly legal UFC move, and I take them out. I couldn't care less. President Biden is a father. I'm a father. He's 82 years old. Hunter Biden is his son who has suffered from addiction. There was a malicious, malicious witch hunt against Hunter Biden for the past four years to punish President Biden to hurt him and his presidency and to distract from Donald Trump's numerous crimes. They could not find anything. So what they found was a bullshit gun charge that is rarely to never investigated or indicted. It would set a terrible precedent. He, you know, fill out the form wrong when he was like, you know, probably high, never fired the gun. If he actually used the gun in a violent insurrection along with MAGA freaks who took a shit in our Capitol, maybe he'd be part of Trump's cabinet too soon. And then the tax evasion, you know, nonsense. He tried to pay back the taxes. They went after him nonetheless. And the reason why, you know, to be fair, President Biden went back on his word. Okay, you can call him out on that. He said, no, no, I won't pardon. And he did. So why did he pardon? Two things. Number one, he's a father. He's deeply concerned about his son. I get it. But number two, connected to the first part is he knows that Donald Trump is a uniquely vindictive piece of shit. In the last month leading up to the election, Donald Trump said he will unleash the National Guard and the military against US Citizens, whom he called the enemy from within. Kash Patel, who has been tapped to head the FBI, even though he mocks the FBI, has no law enforcement experience, spreads. QAnon has openly said on Steve Bannon show, I will go after critics, Trump's critics, the media and political rivals. So Joe Biden's probably like, if this was any normal Republican like Mitt Romney or John McCain, you know what, slap on the wrist. You know, Republicans and Democrats give political pardons. I don't have to worry about my son. They're going to be done. They're going to move on. They're going to try to govern the country and f up because they always f up. But this is Donald Trump who has promised, you know, retribution, who literally just last week could not be a normal human being, Alison. And wish the country happy Thanksgiving. He was just a vindictive piece of shit, even in his, like, he's a 79 year old man. Have you learned something? Learn nothing. And so Joe Biden's probably like, okay, I'm a, you know, dying old man. I'm 82. I'm going to protect my son who's probably been dragged through the mud because of me. And if I may continue my rant real quick, the reason why I don't care is I refuse to be lectured by hypocrites who have no problem electing a criminal, who literally committed fraud through Trump Organization, who was held liable for sexually assaulting a woman, who has pardoned the Mose Eisley, a hub of villainy and scum, his co conspirators who just literally gave a plum appointment to another man. He pardoned Charles Kushner as the ambassador of France, who, by the way, pardoned a war criminal, Eddie Gallagher, who Greg Abbott, right, following his lead, pardoned another murderer. And these people celebrate it. So spare me your outrage, spare me your morality, spare me your finger wagging. Good. And I want Democrats to now play hardball. Alison. All these Democrats were coming in civility. I'm like, shut the f up. You need to be fired into the sun. I need people to play hardball. And if I may, sorry, I'm going to continue my rant. I'll end it you cannot keep playing by this rigged system. I don't know about your listeners. I refuse to participate in a rigged game. If Lucy is always moving the. You know, Thanksgiving was around the corner. If Lucy is always moving the football and Charlie Brown says, now, Lucy, you're going to move the football or not? And Lucy snickers and keeps doing it, you're a fool. Democrats are Charlie Brown. I'm not Charlie Brown. I'm gonna find a way to kick the football and then throw the football at Lucy to make sure she never does it again. Sorry for my rant.

A (36:15)

No, no. That's why I have you. That's why I wanted to invite you on the show in the first place. And I first of all, encourage everybody to go follow you on our new echo chamber, where we just don't like to listen to Nazis and bigots. Blue sky, because I'm sure you're gonna be posting clips of you taking Piers Morgan to task on a lot of stuff. So everybody make sure you do that. But let's talk a little bit about some of the Democrats that are pushing back and clutching their pearls about this pardon, because one argument I hear, and I'd like to hear your response to it, is, well, maybe it shouldn't have been so broad. Maybe it shouldn't have been for anything in the last decade, and maybe it should have just been a narrower pardon for these, you know, for these particular gun and tax charges that no one else would have been charged with if. But for his name not being Biden. But, you know, like you said, Kash Patel has gone on shows and said, I'm gonna go back, you know, as far as I need to go back. And they have. They have an indicted FBI informant that was their key witness in the House who was indicted for lying to the FBI about a $5 million bribe paid to the Bidens from Burisma. And when the plea deal fell apart for Hunter Biden because he realized that he. That they were still considering charges under the Foreign Agents Registration act for him. Those are the kinds of things that, you know, where I'm like, yeah, pardon him always and forever. And I don't. I don't give a shit either. So what's your particular response to not just the MAGA who are. Who are freaking out over this because I don't give a shit about them, but within our own party.

B (37:52)

So two things that some of these Democrats, spineless Democrats, have said, and I want to push back on, and I really believe that these Democrats need to be fired. The sun or they need to be primaried or they need to be voted out. Just whatever. Because we are up against an authoritarian threat, Alison, that you and I have talked about and warned about. And we need fighters, and we need fighters who are willing to fight and who understand what we're dealing with. And it's a media ecosystem that has a double standard against the rest of us and allows Donald Trump to literally get away with crimes. Right. Number one, the reason why he went back 10 years is because he knew that they're gonna try anything and everything to try to get something to stick at the walls and go after Hunter. Case in point, they spent four years, they couldn't find anything. All they found out was this gun possession charge. And they found, like, you know, this tax evasion charge with Kash Patel and an AG who is loyal to Trump and is a vindictive nature. They're gonna spend the next four years going after any and every type of critic that they want because they can. So they're gonna throw anything at the wall and they're gonna make sure it sticks. That's what happens when you have cronies in an authoritarian system. Look at the Supreme Court that gave Donald Trump absolute immunity. They didn't give President Biden absolute immunity. That ruling in the summer was for Donald Trump to escape all accountability. Number two, I've heard this bullshit narrative. While this will give Trump an excuse to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists. If you think Donald Trump would not have pardoned or abused his power, but for this Joe Biden pardon of Hunter Biden, I have a wall to sell you that will be paid by Mexico. And you probably also believe Haitian immigrants eat pets. Please stop being a rube. Please open your eyes. Please learn with, you know, about who you're dealing with. You have nine years of experience. It's not 2016. If you haven't learned, you deserve to literally be primaried. What are you doing as a Democratic official? Be fired into the sun. Donald Trump is going to pardon the January six insurrectionists whom he calls hostages and patriots. He's gonna do whatever he wants. And if you fall for the bad faith bullshit and instead of calling it out, you allow yourself to be spun by it, then you deserve to lose. Allison, I don't know what else to say. Like, fool me once, fool me twice, fool me three times. If you're still willing to be conned by a con man, you're a rube.

A (40:09)

Yeah. And let's talk a little bit about how, you know, I've. I've not really turned On a lot of cable news, I watch my friends on clips or if, you know, I want to tune into Katie Fang or the weekend show or, you know, people that I know and trust, that's a different story. But I've kind of just been off. I usually, you know, forever. I have that on in the background 24 7. But I just haven't recently. What. What's the mainstream media, what's the corporate media saying about this pardon? Are they wringing their hands too, or are they kind of all for it? Because to me, it's a. It's a champagne popping moment. I would like to see more of it. I would like to see him pardon the dreamers. I would like to see him absolutely pardon. I learned from Mary Hassan today that because, you know, a couple years ago, Joe Biden pardoned cannabis possession and use, but not possession with intent to distribute. There's still like 3,000 people federally in prison for that. He should pardon those people. Like, I want him to keep going, not to stop. And of course, this doesn't give permission to Trump to do anything. That's. That's ridiculous.

B (41:12)

Yeah, I sort of. The people who are the fighters who are being relegated to the sidelines by the Democratic establishment, people like Jasmine Crockett echoed what you and I said. The establishment and the establishment headlines are sane washing it and, you know, leading with, oh, but he pardoned and, oh, my God, he lied. Right. And completely ignoring the fact that a criminal is about to enter the White House and is about to pardon January 6th insurrectionist who incited a violent insurrection against our free and fair election. Right. I agree with you. What does Biden have to lose? He's 82 years old. The Supreme Court has given him absolute immunity. By him, I mean the president. What does he have to lose? Go for it. Go ham. Go ham on Your parents proactively protect and pardon people, you know, and then also let Republicans complain. They'll always complain. They're like the Incredible Hulk. Remember there was that scene at the end of the first Avengers where Captain America tells Bruce Banner in his human form, all right, Bruce become angry. And Bruce turns around, he goes, I'm always angry. They're always angry, Alison, So do it. Do the right thing. And if Trump was smart, he'd take credit for it. I would, you know, I would pardon all these individuals who are in death penalty. I would pardon the people who are in there for drug use with intent to distribute. I would pardon Leonard Peltier. I would pardon, like, go through a progressive wish list, pardon all These people, we incarcerate more people than any other country on earth. If I was you, cancel student debt. See if you can get away with it. Why not just go ham, you know, protect the dreamers, See if you can get away with it. Why not? Who cares? Let Trump figure it out, if he can ever figure out, and then let him claim that, you know, let him politically go against these popular policies and let him be punished for it.

A (42:54)

Yeah.

B (42:54)

What do you got to lose, Alison? Democrats, what have you got to lose? For the love of God?

A (42:59)

Yeah, we need to stop talking about norms. There are none anymore. So it's, and, and it, I think it's very frustrating for a lot of us. Now, the one last thing I do notice a lot of people saying, Biden, use the immunity that the Supreme Court gave you. I just want to sort of make two points on that and I'm interested in your thoughts. First of all, you have to break the law in order to receive immunity.

B (43:25)

Right.

A (43:25)

And second of all, the Supreme Court didn't grant immunity to everyone. They granted immunity to Donald Trump. They gave everyone else presumed immunity. But you have to come and ask us permission and we'll judge it on a case by case basis whether you're immune for what you did or not. That's right. And I don't think this particular Supreme Court would be as generous to President Biden as they were to President Trump when it comes to immunity. So I can't think of any laws I want him to break, but I'm all for the, well, you know, slap down some executive orders and make him overturn him, you know what I mean?

B (43:57)

Yeah, and make him overturn them. And make the unpopular Supreme Court that is increasingly seen as corrupt and populated by a right wing hacks be the ones who are complicit with Donald Trump and overturning what are very popular policies. This is just smart politics. Force the Republicans to go against, you know, canceling student debt or helping the dreamers or, you know, freeing up all these poor people who are there for like non violent charges. Right. Force them to say, I want to lock these people up. Okay, go for it. And then their family members and their community members will blame them for their families being destroyed. Because as I know and I've talked about on your show, I've written in my book, you know, the prison industrial complex is like Galactus. It's the destroyer of worlds, of families, of communities, of generations. Right, Right. So what is President Bide have to lose, Allison? Right. The care that he showed for his son showed for the rest of Americans, you have nothing left to lose. Do it. Do it. You know, and go out with a fighter's punch and then inspire the Democrats who are on the ground and remaining to fight. And if they fight, guess what? All the Democrats who stayed at home might actually be inspired to vote in 2026 and 2028, if indeed we still have free and fair elections left.

A (45:09)

Yeah. Be the. Be the grandpa and Little Miss Sunshine. Right? Like, just shoot heroin and be like, I'm old heroin.

B (45:14)

Look at porn. Like, say what's on your mind. Be blunt. Give. And in his bluntness, he gave uncomfortable truths and love.

A (45:20)

That's. Yeah. And I loved his statement about it, too. All right, my friend, I really appreciate your time today. Everybody, go follow him on Blue Sky. And I mean, you're. I think you're in everybody's starter pack. So you can look for. Look for him either that way or just look for Wajaha Ali. And of course, you got to get. Go back to where you came from. It's seriously one of the funniest, most poignant books I've read in a really long time. And I think, personally, it would make a great holiday gift. But subscribe to the Left Hook on Substack. It's got so much good and important information in it. And I'm so thankful that you came and talked to me today about this, because you and I had the same instant reaction. And when Jasmine Crockett came on from her little thing in the plane and said, way to go, Joe.

B (45:57)

Yeah. You and me, I mean, we didn't know Jasmine said that.

A (45:59)

I said it.

B (46:00)

And then I saw that you said it, and then you retreated me or you re blue skyed me? I blue skyed you. And then we saw Jasmine Crockett. I'm like, oh, I'm not alone.

A (46:07)

Yeah.

B (46:07)

So that made me feel really good.

A (46:08)

It did. It made me feel good, too. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate your time. Take care, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news after these messages.

B (46:18)

We'll be right back.

A (46:25)

Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?

B (46:29)

Everyone. Then, good news, everyone.

A (46:37)

Good news. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections. You want to play what the mutt Find the cat Opine on the bovine. What the heck? Wine? What the hell's in that shell? What's the model of your axolotl? Any animal guessing game. Send us a photo of your pod pet to pay your pod pet tax. Or any animal to pay your near POD pet tax. And if you don't have a pod pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll try to find him a forever home. And if if all that fails. If all. When all else fails, send us your baby photos. Send them to us please. We love the baby photos and then we have shout outs, right? You can give a shout out to a loved one, a family member, a spouse, a partner, a business partner, a small business in your area that could use a boost. Your small business. We love those self shout outs. They're really important right now. Tell us what you've done that you are very proud of. We want to hear it. And of course shout outs to government programs for while we have them, we want to hear about that. Whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care act, which remind your MAGA relatives is the same as Obamacare. What other government programs? VA Healthcare. Some great VA Healthcare you've received. SNAP, WIC, Head Start, Section 8, anything, anything at all. Especially student debt forgiveness. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And that's how you get in touch with us. All right, here we go. First up from Tammy, pronouns she and her hello ladies. Congratulations on the White House Christmas party invitation. Well deserved. I hope we get pictures and stories. Oh you will, Tammy, you will. I have a gentle correction. Heather Cox Richardson did change the pronunciation of Doge. It was on her politics chat, live Facebook last week. She didn't pronounce it doggie. She pronounced it doggy like the doggy in the window. She also dropped shade on Mitch McConnell saying he was 600 something years old. One of the people in the chat said, well, turtles live a long time. She almost lost it. I highly recommend that folks watch that chat. As a native Kentuckian. Trust me, he's a creep. Anyway, please keep up the fantastic work. My pod pet tax is a picture of my two babies, Andy and Opie, catching the last rays of sunshine on a late fall day. I love when kitties chase the sunbeams. I really do. And that sounds really Pollyanna. I am like a old school punk rocker and the goth chick, but. But I do love it when kittens chase sunbeams. I actually just watched Scrooge the other night, one of the most underrated Christmas movies of all times where she's like, close your eyes and think of rainbows and snow drops and whiskers and kittens and oh my gosh. And then she hits him with a toaster. Anyway, love that Movie. If you haven't seen Scrooged, check it out for your holiday viewing pleasure. Next up, Melissa W. She her. Hi beans Queens. I just thought I would spread some holiday cheer. My dad put up the Christmas lights in the small yard that my parents have in front of the townhouse that I'm currently living in at the moment with my parents on Thursday afternoon. Even though things seem gloomy, my maternal grandmother is fond of saying that behind every silver lining is a dark cloud. Happiness can be found in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. Oh, this is gorgeous. Love the decorations. Love the two deer. Okay, I have a. I have a front yard deer holiday decoration story. So I go oftentimes when I go home for Christmas to where my family is. We will usually have Christmas at my mom's sister's house, my aunt's house, right? And so I. We go to. We go to my aunt's house and a couple of doors down there are two deer. Like the big light up kind, like almost life size, maybe smaller, but big, you know. And so I and my sister, we think it's hilarious. We thought it would be just a. Just hilarious if we put one. We mounted one of the deer on the back of the other. So they were humping, right? So we did this. We're heing. We run into the kitchen. My aunt is there. She goes, what is so funny? What's so funny, you guys? And I was like, you're going to love this because my aunt loves doing pranks, right? And she's got a great sense of humor. I mean, you're loveless. Your neighbor. We made. We made their deer's hump. And she was like, no, you guys. Fuck. She was so mad. She was like, no, no, no. Oh, why did you do that? I was like, what? We thought you would love that. That's your kind of thing. She's like, yeah, I know. They caught me doing it a week ago and they're going to think it was me again. So. So that was. That was fun. Did we go over and apologize? No, we sure didn't. But anyway, thank you for this photo. Anonymous. No pronouns given. Thank you for creating a Friday episode. I spent Thanksgiving alone and I didn't have much food due to disability and living in a rural area where it's hard to get to the store. I will ultimately be fine. But my Thanksgiving felt pretty damn isolating. I got to be thankful for a fresh episode of the Daily Beans and John Fugal saying, so please tell him thank you for Those little one off episodes, they really do factor into people's lives when otherwise their entire holiday weekend alone when everything is just closed can feel so empty. Anonymous Sending you big massive hugs. I'm glad that episode found you and brought you some company. And we love you. Thanks for writing in. Next up, Mike from Jersey. He him. I heard you're collecting birds, so here's some old birds, but birds nonetheless. This is my stepfather. Oh by the way, the birds we're collecting are people flipping off Trump properties. This is my stepfather or faux pas.

A (52:21)

And me on the left. Back in 2018 we were saluting Trump with the highest of low regard. This is the same salute I use for Tesla Deploran trucks since there is no excuse for purchasing them. Old folks like me remember Phyllis Schlafly and her decades of regressive propaganda quite well and pronounce her married surname Shafly with a shafly like a short a Schlafly in the first syllable. Shaft like gaff. Love you. So is it Schlaf or Schaff? Anyway, love the beans. You guys rock. Here they are flipping off Trump Tower. I want to hug you both. Next up, Seneca pronouns he and him Hello. Lovely Leguminati. I was just sitting here with my coffee and daily beans as I have since the kitchen table days And I heard AG's call for birds. Thus I knew my time had come to write in. Yes, this is the bat signal that I send out. Send me your motherfuckers. All of it. That's what I ask for. Attached Please find expressions of my displeasure from D.C. chicago and Waikiki since the D.C. trump sign came down off that lovely building a few years after I gave it the old one finger salute. I'm still living in hope that maybe with enough of us joining in the effort, we can improve on this 1 in 3 record. It may be not the most vital to goal to have, but I'm holding onto it anyway. Happy holidays to everyone listening and I hope that wherever possible you find joy and love in your everyday life. Every one of you deserve nothing less. Seneca, beautiful post. Thank you. Excellent One finger salute. There is Chicago. Yeah, I hate that building. You know that building kills hundreds of fish every day. It's got a scoop into the Chicago river that scoops up water for to cool the building and it kills all the fish. But he's out there like windmills. Kill the birds. It's a bird graveyard. They want to take your cows. Whatever. But he's killing all the wildlife in the Chicago River. What a dick. Anyway, thank you for the one finger salutes. Next up, Ben he him. Hi, Allison. Hi Dana. Hi. The behind the scenes beans. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Across on the other side of the Atlantic, we are merely mildly confused about why there are so many memes about Christmas dinner in November. Good news out of bad. Here in Britain we had an absolutely horrific incident in July. Three children were murdered and several other people were wounded during the knife attack at the Taylor Swift themed yoga dance class in a coastal town called Southport. This was then followed by right wing riots. Part of my job is working as part of a team on air ambulances. This normally involves drinking a lot of tea. However, we were on duty that day and although we normally cover a different area, we attended as mutual aid, given the number of casualties. As part of our response, we airlifted one casualty to another city as the nearest children's trauma hospital was overloaded by this incident. We are delighted to report that our patient has made an excellent recovery. They survived horrific injuries and they and their parents have made it to their mission to make the world a better place. They've raised thousands of pounds so far for worthy charities, local food banks, a place where parents can stay when their children are being treated at a specialist children's hospital, as well as our air ambulance charity. In the uk, health care is free when you need it. There are no ambulance bills. However, this means that air ambulances in England rely on charity. Our patient and their family visited our base recently and met the crew. I'm amazed at the strength of this person. She's amazing. She was glad to meet Taylor Swift herself on her UK tour. The Means community helped me out. I asked advice on how a group of balding middle aged men could have helped a massive Swifty feel welcome and you came through in droves. She loved the wristbands that we got her. Oh my God, my heart. Here's a picture that our patient drew for us alongside a partially redacted one of her in front of the heli itself for pod pet tax. You've seen my doggos a few times already. So in hex that hex that hog. Here's our nocturnal visitor to our garden who is now hibernating for winter. I have no idea if there are multiple species of hedgehog, so you are correct on its breed, until one of the listeners, who is a hedgehog expert, sends something in as a correction, in which case I'll listen with extreme interest. You know we have hedgehog experts that listen to the show between the listeners of this show, we know everything ever in the history of the universe and can probably also tell the future. That's why I love this community so much. Oh, look at this. There's the heli crew. There's a hedgehog. Hi, buddy. Oh, and here's the picture. Thank you for saving me. Oh, my heart.

A (57:03)

Oh, my goodness. I can't be more grateful. You're a miracle. You saved me. You're amazing. Congratulations on the work you do, fellas, and thanks for sending that in. And I'm so glad that.

A (57:21)

The Beans team came through for you on how to make a Taylor Swift fan smile. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, everybody, thank you for sending in your good news. If you have anything to send to us. Did any of this spark any? If you have you pictures of you flipping off Trump properties, let's send them in. Let's. I know you all do send them, send them in. You don't even have to attach any good news to it. Just like, here they are, here's the birds.

A (57:50)

We want to see them. And I appreciate you and thanks for listening and thanks to all of our new listeners for listening as well. Do me a favor. If you get a chance, especially if you're on Blue sky, if you're not, go make an account and follow us. But if you are, share the daily Beans podcast with your followers. I want to get the word out. I want to let people know that there's a safe place that you can listen to the news so you don't have to go back to corporate media.

A (58:16)

Spread the word. I would really appreciate it. I want to get. I want to help as many people as I can to stay informed. All right, I'll be back in your ears tomorrow again. Don't forget tomorrow. New episode of cleanup on aisle 45 with Woo Woo. Harry Dunn. I'm so excited to have him as the new co host. I will. I do stay in touch with Pete so you know he'll be coming on the show and I'll keep you posted on how Pete's doing and then you can hear all of our jokes about how you know big shoes to fill considering that Harry Dunn is 6 foot 7. So anyway, I hope you listen to and enjoy that episode and check out if you're. If you've got a minute. It's free to subscribe to my newsletter. It's called the breakdown. It's@muellershirote.com I've been releasing one by one chapters of a book that didn't get picked up for publishing. About a year ago, I wrote a book about how mainstream media is failing us, and it could be detrimental. They could help elect Donald Trump. And everybody said, we don't want to hear about Trump. We don't want to hear about the media. And so the book didn't sell, but I've decided to release it on my substack, chapter by chapter. And these are sample chapters. They haven't been edited. They're just what I've written. But anyway, I hope you take a look at smolisherote. Com. I'll be back on your ears tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been ag and them's the beans.

B (59:42)

Refried beans.

A (59:43)

I like refried beans.