A (3:00)

Yeah. And watching what they're going to do to the federal government where I worked for over a decade is going to be a lot like watching what happened to the Capitol on January 6th. It's going to be pretty difficult, but we're going to cover it all. Later in the show for some bright spots, for some good news, we're going to be joined by the executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Her name is Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo. And again, we're going to discuss some of the good things that happened in this election because as we've said, it is not a mandate. It is the smallest margin of victory of votes in a quarter century and it's nowhere near a landslide. So a lot of important things are getting done with ballot initiatives. So we'll talk about that.

B (3:38)

Good. Good.

A (3:39)

And then, of course, we'll have the good news. You can send your good news into us by going to DailyBeansPod.com and clicking on Contact. And again, welcome to all of our new listeners. We're so glad you're here. Thanks for listening. And might I recommend, you know, every morning just popping in earbuds and going on a walk while you listen to the beans. You will burn about as many calories as are in two or three glasses of wine. So you, you can there you go. You know, enjoy that later. And then, of course, you know, for our sober friends or folks who drink that, you can probably get like a good four mocktails in there. So that's what I recommend.

B (4:13)

Some juice and cookies, as we call it.

A (4:16)

All right. We have a lot of news to get to today, but first we have some quick hits.

B (4:21)

And to make a long story short.

A (4:22)

First up, Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he's going forego any kind of formalities like passing legislation. And he's just going to declare that transgender individuals will not be allowed in restroom facilities at the Capitol and House office buildings that do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. He announced this rule change about two weeks After Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware became the first openly transgender individual elected to Congress. So again, he's skipping the vote and just announcing it. What a piece of.

B (4:51)

Absolutely. And Sarah had a very classy response to that. But this whole thing just makes me furious. This one's from court documents, Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss say Rudy Giuliani should be held in contempt of court for repeating his false claims about them during recent podcast episodes. Moss and Freeman may want Rudy hauled back to D.C. where they say Judge Howell should consider an evidentiary hearing to determine the appropriate punishment for his defiance of court orders. Giuliani also used his recent podcast episode to attack Judge Howell herself, calling her a bloodthirsty sentencer of January 6th defendants and saying she denied him a fair trial.

A (5:32)

She's not the only judge sentencing January 6th defendants. There's a couple of Trump appointed judges doing the same thing.

B (5:39)

Yep.

A (5:40)

All right, next up from NBC, Senate Judiciary Democrats have officially requested the FBI evidentiary file of Matt Gaetz, quote, in order for the Senate to perform its constitutional duty, we must be able to thoroughly review all relevant materials that speak to the credibility of these serious alleg against Mr. Gates. And allow me to temper some expectations. This request will go to Christopher Ray, so don't expect much. Plus, grand jury material cannot be released by anyone, including Chris Ray. Just a judge can only release grand jury material and only for judicial proceedings and advice and consent of the Senate is not a judicial proceeding. Now that's according to the Rules of Federal Criminal Procedure, which were written by the courts, not the Department of Justice or the FBI. So just want to put that out there. It'll be great if he hands anything over, but don't get too excited.

B (6:30)

All righty.

A (6:30)

All right, let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes first up from Jordan Carney at Politico. The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday did not agree to release the long anticipated report into Matt Gaetz, and the top Democrat on the panel said members had agreed to meet again on the matter next month. Quote, there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report. That's chair Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi, telling reporters after the meeting ended. Soon after, ranking member Susan Wilde, the Democrat, confirmed that the panel did not agree on releasing the report, but added, we did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on December 5 to further consider the matter. Republicans in recent days have insisted the report isn't finished yet, but two people familiar with the process who were granted anonymity to discuss said the report is actually done. Wild was clearly incensed with how Guest had characterized the private panel meeting. She told reporters that he, quote, betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee. In response to Wild's remarks, Guest told reporters that's her choice. If that's what she feels, and you can ask her if she would like to comment further. Again, I made the only brief statement that I intend to make on the meeting today, which was we did not reach agreement, unquote. Other members of the panel declined to comment immediately after the meeting. Gates abruptly resigned from Congress last week, hours after President Elect Donald Trump tapped him to be attorney general. The Florida firebrand told GOP leadership Nice. I'm okay, I'm going to re redo that sentence and take that word out. The Florida man told GOP leadership the abrupt resignation was meant to allow them to fill his seat more quickly, but that's bullshit. Several Republicans theorized it was actually to avoid the coming release of the Ethics Committee report. Duh. Typically, once a member resigns, they're no longer considered under the panel's jurisdiction, though the Ethics Committee has released reports on former members at least twice before. The investigation centered, as we know, on multiple allegations against Gaetz, including that he had sex with a minor. Sex trafficked a minor. He's denying it. The panel was under intense pressure heading into the vote. While multiple GOP senators said they would like to see the report as they consider Gates's nomination, Speaker M. Johnson told reporters last week that he would strongly urge the committee to not release the report. He softened that stance slightly this week, saying he wasn't trying to and couldn't dictate the committee's decision. Uh huh, yeah. Democrats have widely called for the report to be released. Many have speculated the report could be leaked to the media or a lawmaker could attempt to read it into the Congressional Record, which would give access to the public. That is what I want them to do. One Rank and file Democrat Sean Caston from Illinois said Wednesday he'd file a privileged revolution aimed a resolution revolution aimed at forcing a vote on the full House to release the report on Gates, a step that would maneuver around the cumbersome and slow committee process. I want to just caution you again, I don't if the the committee will bend the knee to Trump and Mike Johnson. I I think the full House would as well. Yeah, I know a lot of Republicans hate Matt Gaetz, but they they just have no spines. Wild was non committal about this tactic, saying any member can take make motion or privileged motion. She said go ahead, give it a shot. But Rep. Steve Cohen, Democrat from Tennessee, brought a privileged resolution to the floor Wednesday afternoon. He read aloud the resolution calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and publicly release records of the alleged violations of the House Code of Conduct and Federal Law by Matthew Lewis Gates of Florida. This is important to the integrity of the body. He said any lawmaker who disclosed the report could face immediate consequences like censure or expulsion. Fucking go for it, right?

B (10:10)

Go for it.

A (10:12)

While Gates allies in the House and some of his critics have said they don't believe the report should be released, that's not a universal position among Republicans. Many have called for the report to be published or at least shared with the Senate as the chamber considers his Attorney General nomination. Multiple Republican senators have said they want to see the report, as nearly a dozen have sidestepped questions about whether they would vote to confirm him.

B (10:34)

Marjorie Taylor Greene is threatening to basically out all the other sex offenders if they go after her friend. Which I'm like, I don't think that's the own. You think it is. You just admitted your covering up. Oh, my God. Do it.

A (10:47)

Bag of rats. Go.

B (10:49)

This is from Iram Salam at the Guardian. The state of Texas has offered thousands this fucking story. Sorry, everyone. The state of Texas has offered thousands of acres of land to Donald Trump to, quote, construct deportation facilities. Texas Land Commissioner Don Buckingham wrote in a letter to Trump that his, quote, office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the US Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in nation's history. In October, Buckingham's office, the Texas General land office called GLO, purchased 355,000 acres of land equivalent to half the size of Rhode island. Of this, 1400 acres has been offered to the federal government. The land sits on a ranch in Starr county in the Rio Grande Valley on the US Mexico border. Terms of purchase, they were not disclosed, but Buckingham writes in his letter that the land was purchased from a woman who previously refused to let state officials build a border wall on her property. I imagine she also doesn't want a fucking concentration camp there. Now the state plans to build 1.5 miles of the border wall where she wants denied. The rest of the 353,598 acres collectively known as Brewster Ranch, located near Big Bend national park, was purchased in October for roughly $245 million from billionaire and tobacco coon Brad Kelly, the state's largest private landowner. By the way, it was one of the most significant public purchases of land in the history of Texas. Such an offer to Trump comes in the wake of campaign where he promised immigration crackdowns. Trump confirmed on Monday that he plans to declare a national emergency and activate the US Military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The president elect has also appointed former ICE Director Tom Homan as his borders are, who has vowed to carry out, quote, the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen. When I say they ain't seen shit yet. Wait until 2025. This is, by the way, the Heritage foundation fellow and Project 2025 contributor. That's what they said before his official appointment. Ain't seen shit yet. When questioned about policies in the previous Trump administration that led to family separation, in an interview for CBS's 60 Minutes, Holman said there was a simple solution. Families can be deported together. Buckingham said he is, quote, committed to using every available means at my disposal to gain complete operational security of our borders. So this asshole, basically, if, let's say some nephew has broken the law, he'll take the whole fucking family so he doesn't separate grandma, parents. Anyone who's actually a law abiding citizen probably pays taxes. Unbelievable.

A (13:40)

And that child's probably born here.

B (13:43)

Yep, yep, yep.

A (13:45)

All right. From Spencer Huss at the Post. A federal judge appointed by Trump criticized his broad promise to pardon January 6th riot defendants at the start of his second term, saying that anything approaching wholesale pardons would be, quote, beyond frustrating and disappointing. U.S. district Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump in 2017 after serving as a Justice Department official under G.W. bush, spoke Tuesday during a hearing in which he reluctantly postponed a trial for riot defendant Edward Jake Lang until after Inauguration Day. Lang pled not guilty to charges of beating police officers with a baseball bat during a lengthy assault at the Capitol on January 6th. Quote, Blanket pardons for all January 6th defendants or anything close would be beyond frustrating and disappointing. But that's not my call, he said. That's according to a court transcript. At least five people died during or in the immediate aftermath of the violence, which included assaults on 140 officers, caused $3 million in damages, and forced lawmakers to flee as they were meeting to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election. Now, of the more than 1550 people charged, most of them with misdemeanors, 1220 have pled guilty or been found guilty to date. It's rare for federal judges to comment about presidential grants of clemency. Federal courts have recognized the Constitution gives presidents broad discretion to issue grants under the separation of powers. Lang, who's 28, a former Pennsylvania high school wrestler, was charged with. That's an interesting credit. Former high school wrestler. What have you been doing for the last 10 years Lang. He was charged with some of the most extreme and repeated violence against police. On January 6, video shows him repeatedly punching, pushing and kicking officers, slammed a door against an officer's head, and struck others with stolen riot shields and bats. Lang attempted to organize an armed militant group while detained in in prison pending trial. He tried to get another group together and he refused to adhere to jail rules. And he left the court, quote, no basis to conclude that he poses anything but a continuing danger to the public. That's what Nichols wrote. In June, Nichols Postponed Lang's scheduled Dec. 2 trial until February, while noting he would have said it before November 5, the election, had he known then, quote, what I know now about my own schedule and with a little bit more information about these matters discussed under seal. Still, Nichols said he factored in the possibility that the time and expense of a jury trial could become unnecessary if the case were dropped. Nichols said there are also costs associated with delays to prosecutors, witnesses, victims and to the public, which has an interest in determination of guilt or innocence in a case that has been pending so long as this one. He also acknowledged the price paid by Lang, who has been held pending trial since his arrest January 16th of 2021, and who will remain detained if there is delay for additional months through trial and then thereafter. Obviously, quote, many Americans have moved on. This is Assistant U.S. attorney Catherine Rosi. She said that in a Tuesday hearing at a sentencing of a cooperating oath keeper member who pled guilty to seditious conspiracy rather than a refutation of the legal system's work. Rosi said it was a hallmark of the rule of law, arguing that the reason Americans have been able to move on holding a free and fair election this month instead of descending into chaos was because there was swift and massive efforts to hold accountable those who participated in the attack on the Capitol. Except the person who orchestrated it.

B (17:18)

Absolutely. Thanks, ag. All right. Last in this section is from the Arizona Mirror. The Biden administration has finalized a $6.6 billion award for the Taiwan semiconductor giant that is building massive factories in Phoenix amid concerns President elect Donald Trump will derail subsidies aimed at fostering the domestic chip industry. Quote, this is a gigantic announcement. This is the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo. That's what she told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement early Friday. This is 10 days after Trump's election, by the way, quote, this is one of the most important investments that we make as a country to advance our economic and national security. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plans to invest $65 billion on three state of the art fabrication plants or fabs, that mean thousands of jobs in Arizona. Semiconductors are used in chips that make computers that make computers work, along with cell phones, fighter jets, self driving cars, artificial intelligence, and even ovens. US Officials alluded to Trump's election to explain the timing of the award. Quote. For the next two months, you'll continue to see Commerce finalizing more awards. Ensuring progress made to date will carry forward through the end of the decade. This is Lael Bernard, director of the National Economic Council, and told reporters Thursday two months and a week before Trump will be sworn in. In April, the Biden administration promised 6.6 billion in grants to TSMC to build the Phoenix Fabs, plus up to 5 billion in loans. The funds come from one of Biden's signature legislative achievements. That's the Chips and Science act, which set aside 52.7 billion for chip research, manufacturing and workforce development in the United States. TSMC is one of the largest companies makes chips for leading technology and artificial intelligence developers including Apple, Nvidia and amd. Amdi. I'm not sure if that's AMD or not. Last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who I could not hate more at this point, voted against the CHIPS act and said he would work to repeal law if Trump was elected. He quickly backtracked when fellow Republicans reminded him of the jobs on the line in their districts.

A (19:30)

Yeah, and it wasn't in an abstract way. He was at a fundraiser for a Republican congressman running for his seat and he said, yeah, we're going to repeal the CHIPS Act. And the guy's like, no, ixnay on the repeal range.

B (19:41)

Yeah.

A (19:42)

He's like whispered right in his ear. And then Mike Johnson goes back like, oh no, you know, CHIPS act is great.

B (19:48)

You know, God, he's such a fucking. What do you call him? Chode. That's it. Biden signed the Chips act, by the way, in August of 2022, and the company announced a second fab in December that year, with production expected to start by 2028. The company announced its third fab in April when Biden announced a preliminary agreement to provide the federal subsidies. To receive funding under the CHIPS act, the company must hit certain construction, production and other milestones. TSMC has met enough milestones to receive at least a billion by the end of the year. We'll receive the rest of the project as the project progresses. This is from Michael Schmidt. He's the director of CHIP's program office at the Commerce Department. And I quote, it's a binding contract. Added Ryan Harper, he's the White House chip's implementation coordinator and went on to say the company, as long as it meets its milestones, has a contractual binding agreement from the government to move forward early. Production yields at TSMC's first fab in Arizona are at least as good as the similar factories in Taiwan. This is from Bloomberg. That's what they reported last month. Raimondo called the progress unbelievable. Quote, even though it has never been done before in the US it's being done now. She said to all the naysayers, I say it's happening. The proof is in the pudding. TSMC's plants in Arizona represent the biggest such foreign investment in U.S. history. And this is from the White House. Once the first TSMC Fab is fully operational in a few months, Biden said, quote, for the first time in decades, an American manufacturing plant will be producing the leading edge chips used in our most advanced technologies. And hopefully it stays that way in the next administration.

A (21:27)

Well, I can't imagine it wouldn't. Right. These are binding contracts. They'll be sued if he tries to pull them out from under him. But also, Trump is going to get all those glory for these amazing jobs. And, and that's the kind of President Joe Biden is. He wants to lock this stuff in and he knows he's not going to get credit for this because we're not going to see the amazing benefits for, for another year or two. And Trump will get all the credit and he will take all the credit and we will be out there saying, you should get none of the credit. Mike Johnson will be taking the credit. We said you remind people that you voted against this and that you wanted to repeal it. Here's the tape. Run the tape. But that's the kind of, that's the kind of President Joe Biden is, is, is. He wants to make sure the American people are taken care of. Doesn't matter to him who gets credit for it. And I love it.

B (22:14)

I agree.

A (22:15)

All right, everybody, we have a great interview coming up next and then, of course, the good news. But we have to take a quick break, so stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I'm really happy today to be joined by the executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Please welcome Chris Melody Fields. Figueredo. Hi, Chris.

B (22:36)

How are you?

C (22:37)

I am making it through.

B (22:40)

Making it through.

C (22:42)

Glad to be here, though.

A (22:43)

That's all we can do right now. Right. And that's kind of why I wanted to bring you in to talk today because you have some really great and important bright spots in, in this past election. And you know, we first need to start out by saying 1.6% and less than 50% of the vote is not, not a mandate, it's not a landslide. And so starting from that point, I mean that's, you know, I'm going to push back whenever I hear anybody say oh this is my mandate, I'm a landslide. No, no, no. It's the smallest victory margin in a quarter of a century. Yep, nearly a quarter of a century. So before we get into that, tell us a little bit about what you do. What is the ballot initiative strategy Center?

C (23:30)

Yeah, so at the big like thinking big broadly, we are a movement building infrastructure organization that uses or leverages ballot measures to strengthen our democracy and build state based people centered power. What all that means is really you can think of us like a special teams. Right. We are supporting the leaders and organizations in the states to use ballot measures to bring their sort of dreams into reality. We do that by providing resources like research, just getting on the phone and talking through big questions people have. We do trainings, we develop tools, we help with coalition meetings, we track the entire country and try to understand what the trends are and what that can potentially mean. You know, we are defending the process itself because we have been successful for several years now on winning on progressive issues when we put them before the voters. And so that means anti Democratic attacks are happening to try to take this tool away from the people. So we're sort of that utility player that special teams that, that helps amazing, incredible leaders across the country do phenomenal work and really deliver to change material conditions for people's lives.

A (25:03)

Yeah. And that is extremely important, especially now with this particular Supreme Court that is bent on stripping federal protections like by overturning the Chevron doctrine or affecting climate change or getting rid of affirmative action or gutting the Voting Rights Act. It's so important now, especially with, with Dobbs decision and overturning Roe, that we really dig in and put these laws in place in the states. Now I know the Supreme Court is like, well, states rights, we'll send it back to the states and then they only kind of do that when they feel like it. But that is why these ballot measures are so very important and are going to become hugely important over the next four years. So I really thank you for the work that you're doing. And you know, for example, something that, you know, we talk about all the concerns about what went wrong in this election and, you know, I noticed that in 2020, it was really easy to vote, and that's why more there was a bigger voter turnout. And people, it's kind of counterintuitive. You would think it was harder to vote during a pandemic, but yeah, 33 or more states expanded their absentee ballots to full on mail in voting. And. And we should be getting full on statewide mail in voting on the ballot in every state we can so that we can increase our turnout by increasing the vote, by making it easier to vote for everyone. So thank you for the work that you're doing. Now, let's talk a little bit about now. We've covered on the beans all of the abortion ballot initiatives that were super important 7 out of 10 states. But I want to talk about some other bright spots that happened in this election because we could really, I think if we focus on these. We've been using the term we need to microdose hope right now. Yeah. And so talk about some of the things that stand out to you as bright spots from this past election.

C (26:52)

Listen. We raise the minimum wage for people in states like Alaska and Missouri. We delivered paid sick leave in Alaska, Nebraska and Missouri. We protected public education and making sure that our public schools in states like Colorado, Nebraska, and Kentucky will have the money that they need in order to educate our children. We protected marriage equality. You spoke about the Supreme Court a couple of seconds ago. And when that Dobbs decision came down in 2022, overturning Roe versus Wade, if you read the full text of the opinion. Right. They kind of pointed at the things that might come next. And marriage equality is one of those items. And we have been working with our friends in the LGBTQ rights community to be proactive, to take outdated language out of state constitutions because that may be under a threat in the future. And we did that in Colorado, California, and in Hawaii. You know, you talked about the reforms that were, you know, so critical in 2020. Connecticut, you know, pass the state, expand opportunities to vote through mail ballots. So that's a lot of really important progress that we made this year that is for going to fundamentally help people in their lives. And those things can't be forgotten because the reality is, in 2016, when Trump was elected, the first time, we started this wave of winning on important progressive issues like raising the minimum wage. And we've been able to continue to do that because people do want to be hopeful. They do know what they want for their communities, and they're willing to fight for it. And now battle measures are offering this opportunity for them to take power and agency into their own hands. And that I think is a path forward for us in these troubling times of how and what it is going to take to get people excited and being participatory in our democracy. And also going back and trying to understand why also some of those same voters voted for politicians that may not follow through on those promises.

A (29:43)

That was going to be my next question. I actually just wrote it down because we used to get these ballot measures on the ballot to bring out more blue voters to help in other races at the top of the ticket. But a lot of these states who voted for, for example, to preserve the right to choose in their constitution or to overturn draconian abortion laws in their state voted for Trump at the top of the ticket. And so, you know, I think of Missouri especially, they voted for minimum wage. They voted for, you know, for their bodily autonomy, but they picked Trump. Kansas, we know back in 2023, voted shocked the world. Ohio also went for Trump. So it's not, it doesn't seem like, it seems like the old tried and true, well, let's put weed on the ballot and we'll bring out all the Democrats. Doesn't might not be working anymore. But now I think we should shift our focus to this is about protecting ourselves and our states and our communities within our states about the actual work and less about getting more voter turnout to, you know, get the top of the ticket fixed.

C (30:50)

Yeah, I mean, the reality is the purpose of ballot measures is not to elect candidates or help boost turnout out for Democratic or Republican candidates. And you know, there has been talk over the years about, you know, you know, if you remember back to, to the Bush years, you know, don't make me. No, they were putting anti marriage, gay marriage issues on the ballot to boost turnout. There's been a lot of research done that actually it didn't boost turnout for Republicans and, and the same has been for marijuana. It actually doesn't necessarily boost turnout for people to vote for Democrats because voters look at those issues very differently than they do for candidates. So it may be correlational, but it's not the causation of why turnout might increase. And what we've also been able to see, especially in the last, last, you know, four election cycles, well, 2016, I can't do math right now. Anyways, the last several election cycles is in many states they are higher vote getters than actual candidates themselves. And so I think that's a question for all of us to investigate. Is what are candidates not saying? Right. Or talking about, whether it's on the campaign trail or whether they're in communities, is that people are just saying, yeah, I'm not going to vote at the top of the ticket or maybe for a federal candidate. We've seen that happen time and time again, especially over the last couple years. I think it has to do with trust and the level of trust people have in institutions right now. And we've seen that global. That's global, absolutely. Because. Because in many ways across the globe you have not seen government actually follow through on promises. And so there's a lot of distrust right now. And I think for us, the curiosity we have not to shame those voters, but actually have really in depth conversations and our partners are actually already doing that after the election results to try to understand the mindset of voters and, you know, what is getting them to these issues.

A (33:22)

What do you want? Tell me what you want.

B (33:25)

Exactly.

C (33:25)

And we do, I think it's really important to emphasize that we approach that from a place of curiosity because we know if we shame people, they're going to shut down and that's not how we're going to bring them into our movements.

A (33:41)

And we're talking about disaffected, moderate, middle of the road or, or more progressive, younger. We're not talking about like actual Nazis. Like. Yes, nobody's trying to talk to Nazis.

C (33:51)

No, I mean, I always think of, you know, James Baldwin. Right. We can agree some. We can agree. But if your dissent or your disagreement has to do with my oppression, that's vastly different.

A (34:03)

Right.

C (34:03)

We're talking people where we may disagree about a couple of things, but I think ultimately we are trying to get to the same goal here and think we. Like what, that.

A (34:13)

Yeah. What is it about our federal government that you don't trust? What is.

C (34:16)

Exactly.

A (34:16)

And, and because, I mean, we just look at, you know, look at North Carolina, it blew all the way up and down.

C (34:23)

Absolutely.

A (34:24)

At the top of the ticket. And so was it due to people just not checking a box at the top of the ticket? I think probably that's it. And then that's. That's what we have to find out. We have to find out what can we do to better, you know, what can our politicians do, our leaders do to better assuage your concerns? Because obviously you have some. What are they? And as you know, I talked to Andrea Pitzer yesterday, who is an amazing scholar. She's like, yeah, I'm not saying to reach out and talk to Nazis. What I'm saying is let's reach out and talk to people before they become that.

C (35:00)

Exactly.

A (35:01)

That's important.

C (35:02)

And you said at the top is like this actually isn't a mandate. 10 million people did not that voted last, last presidential didn't vote this time. A third of the country continues to still not vote at all. Those are the big, those are really big questions for us. And you know, so much talk this year was about Trump's threat to our democracy, which you and I, and I imagine many of your viewers understand that. But I think for most people you can't eat democracy. Right. And we have to do a better job of connecting the dots for people of what's participating in our democracy can mean and what does it mean to be an active participant? Voting is just one part of a larger ladders of engagement in our democracy. And the reality is people are hurting. That just is the, that that is true. We still haven't covered, recovered from the, the, the pandemic. I think in many, in many ways we still haven't grieved the loss of the last, you know, of what happened during the pandemic. People are still, you know, in many ways unhoused or the cost of housing is so expensive in groceries. We've had all these threats around abortion. Like it's a lot for people to hold. And so, you know, that's why I keep coming back to this. Let's approach this from a place of curiosity. And we already can see through these bright spots and they are bright spots with ballot measures that people are with us on these progressive issues and values. Yeah, that's a really good place to start from.

B (36:52)

It is.

A (36:52)

And I've long said like, I think the problem is, is that hate and fear motivates people to get up out of their house and go vote. More than protecting democracy or a brighter future or whatever. But looking at these ballot measures, it does give us an indication that people are willing to get out and vote for things that matter to them. Where the rubber meets the road in practical matters. So I think that the work that you're gonna be doing over the next four years, which is gonna be endless and, and like pushing a giant rock up the hill. So you should change your name to the Sisyphus Foundation.

C (37:23)

But I use that metaphor or that analogy a lot. It is, yeah, it's true.

A (37:29)

It's gonna be a lot of hard work. But I think that when it all comes down to it, understanding what drives voters out to vote for ballot initiatives as opposed to top of ticket candidates is gonna be very Very valuable. So I thank you again for all the work you're doing. Can you tell everybody where to find and follow you?

C (37:47)

Well, we are trying to make it easy for all of you. We are. Our website is ballot.org on all the social medias. You can find us at Ballot Strategy. We just opened our Blue sky accounts this week, like many others are doing a post election. So ballot.org we have a ballot measure hub if you want to nerd out and learn more about ballot measures, please, that's a resource for you. And then on social media we are at Ballot Strategy.

A (38:21)

Well, thank you so much for your time today. Appreciate it.

B (38:24)

Everybody.

A (38:24)

Go to ballot.org, check it out. Executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Chris Melody Fields Figueiredo. Thank you so much for joining me today.

C (38:32)

Thank you everybody.

A (38:33)

Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news, everybody.

B (38:36)

Welcome back.

A (38:36)

It's time for the good news everyone. Then, good news everyone. And if you have any good news confessions or corrections, especially pronunciation corrections, you want to send your good news to us, you can do it@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All you got to do is pay your pod pet tax. And if you don't have a pod pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have one of those, you can send us a so any animal photo. And then of course, if you want us to guess something about the animal, that's always fun. And if you don't have any of that, send in your baby pictures. We love the baby photos. And then of course we have shout outs, whether it's to a loved one, spouse, partner, business partner, small business in your area that's doing great things and needs a boost. Some activist organizers, community organizers in your area that are doing good work. We want to hear about that because community is so important right now. And then of course, you know, shout outs to federal government programs, whether it's the Affordable Care act, chips, maybe you're in Arizona, you get one of those jobs, let us know about it. Some great union things that are happening. Perhaps we're gonna talk about that while we still have unions. So send that in. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, snap. Right, Because I know the Republicans want to make that go away. But we want to talk about the good times while we have them. And we wanna really get the good information about the government programs out there so we can all share the share in the goodness. And also student debt relief. Send student debt relief stories, all of it. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, first up from Katherine Pronoun she and her I have a double shout out. First, my sister, Rebecca. Rebecca. Rebecca is a developmentally disabled adult who recently celebrated 25 years living on her own. She takes great pride in taking good care of her home and enjoys living independently in a home she chooses instead of with me. She does receive Supported Living Assistance, a program I wish more caregivers of DD adults knew about. Many I run across worry how their family members with DeeDee will survive after their passing. So a second shout out to this service made available in Florida with the Medicaid waiver process and we'll have a link in the show Notes to APD Supported Living. Here's a picture of Rebecca with the Supported Living coach Sue, a case manager Ava, both of which she has had for several years. Permission from all pictured no? Oh, wonderful. Takes a village, right?

B (41:16)

It sure does. It's fantastic.

A (41:18)

I love this community. Thank you so much, Kathryn.

B (41:20)

Me too. This is from Anonymous. No pronouns given. You asked for ways to engage in positive activity. In the past, I always retreated to needlework to deal with traumatic times in my life. When my younger brother died in 2017, here's what I designed to relieve my broken heart. It is time to renew my craft to deal with the unbelievable environment we will deal with for the next four years. Thank you for your daily positive posts and my goodness, you are a very talented needlework artist and I love that you are returning to this and I'm so sorry you lost your brother, dear.

A (41:52)

This is beautiful. That detail is exceptional.

B (41:56)

Yeah, very impressive.

A (41:58)

Thank you Anonymous. All right, next up from Sheri. Your podcasts have helped this timid 72 year old to remember what's important and find something to be thankful for each day. Your strength and compassion are inspiring. Plus I love your appropriate swearing. Yeah, my role in life. That was me, not Sherry. My role in life seems to be caregiver with a developmentally disabled son and having cared for both my wonderful parents. We live in frightening times, but we have the blessing of living in a multi generational household and I have the joy of helping with my 5 year old grandson. Awesome. This beautiful 2ish rescue baby is icing on the cake. Balou is chatty and hilarious and our favorite activity is riding the back of a swivel chair like a merry go round.

B (42:43)

My guess is she's a links point.

A (42:45)

Balinese Cat's Cradle Rescue in Oregon is highly recommended and thanks for all you do. She Is beautiful.

B (42:51)

Oh, look at that. Matching the the blanket. Her eyes.

A (42:55)

That's awesome. And Sherry, big shout out to your family. That's incredible.

B (43:00)

This one is from Emily. Pronouns she and her beans. Queens. I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for continuing to provide the what the to this news. I took a complete News break since October 6th. I used to listen to nothing but news podcasts every morning during work when I decided to start listening to something again just so I can kind of keep aware, but not so deep that I get more depressed. You are my first pot I thought of because I would respond the same way. And it's so important for us to have community that are just as pissed and flabbergasted and sad. Thank you for being my dose of news. That's just enough to keep me in the loop without being so depressed that I can't function. I'm a queer disabled woman and good Lord, I am scared. Thank you. Love y'. All. Here's a picture of my orange boy, Lionel. He's normally a chaos demon. He's definitely chaotic. Chaotic evil as his alignment. Especially when he's not in control of the brain cell. So this is a very rare session of this little cuddle bug.

A (43:57)

Yes, orange cats have one brain cell. Just so everybody knows.

B (44:01)

My God, so good.

A (44:02)

There's a whole accounts of like orange cats doing orange cat things. So beautiful. And I feel you, Emily. I really do. So thanks for sending that note in. Next up from Anonymous. She and her. I'm one of the new listeners you mentioned. Sent here while searching threads for women led podcasts. I fell in love instantly. Thanks for what you do. You're my microdose of hope right now. Oh, my good news is, my kid, she's 13, she's in eighth grade, and she was named student of the month for her work each day with students in the special needs classroom.

B (44:32)

Nice.

A (44:33)

She joined me the last few years as we fought for our local library. Look up H E P L in Fishers, Indiana. If you want the whole story. It's long, but long story short, we won. She helped me work to pass our local public school referendum and stood with me this year as I cast my ballot for Kamala Harris. She's also first chair trombone. Fucking cool. A straight A student and my absolute ride or die. Being 13 can be dicey. But she really loves me right now, and I love every minute. She has the strongest sense of self I've ever encountered. She cares so much about local and federal issues, people helping the LGBTQIA plus community and the truth. How is she even mine? I don't know but holy I love this kid. She reminds me of what we are fighting for and also to have hope in the future. My tax is a pic of us as a teeny tiny baby and one at our city's first pride held this year. For your eyes only. I didn't ask her about this shout out because I wanted to surprise her. Isn't she gorgeous?

B (45:36)

She is. You both are.

A (45:39)

And we won't include these two pictures in the show notes unless we get a permission. But look at the baby.

B (45:43)

Oh my goodness.

A (45:46)

And I'll tell you why she's awesome. Anonymous because you're awesome. That's how it works, right? 13. 8th grade trombone okay, you have to listen to one of my favorite bands. They're called Bonorama. It's all trombones. It's fantastic.

B (46:00)

That's hilarious.

A (46:01)

Thank you.

B (46:02)

All right, this is from it looks like Arlington, Massachusetts. Pronouns He Him Ollington, Mass. Hello illustrious Leguminati. I've been saving this quarantine confession for a time that calls for a chuckle. I can't think of a better time than now. So I offer you the story for what I hope will provide some momentary levity for you and your listeners. And I should preface the story by mentioning that I had the habit at the time of stirring a spoonful of chia seeds into my morning coffee. The story goes back into the early days of the pandemic summer of 2020, when social distancing was the norm.

A (46:36)

I'm sorry, I thought said cheese.

B (46:38)

Oh, nope. Chia seeds. And hopefully everyone else at home heard that too.

A (46:43)

Got it.

B (46:44)

And LinkedIn goes on to say, as you will recall, many formerly in person presentations migrated online, and many of us needed to learn how to do these presentations from our home computers. So it was one morning that I sat in front of my computer in my cluttered room with my coffee cup perched nearby my desk, preparing to present a PowerPoint talk talk on Zoom for the first time. I connected my computer up to the organization hosting my talk, and it was in the process of getting everything to work. My audio, my video sharing, my screen to make my presentation, etc. I did this with some trepidation, it being my first time, but things seemed to be going okay. Then, however, a clumsy move on my part knocked my coffee cup over and its content spilled all over the floor. My presentation was going live in just a few minutes though, so I didn't have time to clean the spill up properly. All I could manage to do was to Grab a nearby dirty sock on the floor, mop up the spill with that, and then chuck the sock into the laundry hamper in the closet. Then I proceeded to give the online talk, which went fine, I'm happy to say. I forgot all about my pre talk mishap until several weeks later when it was time to do a load of laundry. It was then I discovered to my horror, the amusement and the damp sock I had tossed into my hamper several weeks earlier had morphed into a ch. Ch. Sock puppet. All the seeds had sprouted. What the. Sorry, no photos. I didn't think of taking one before I cleaned the sock off in the bathroom sink. That is so gross and so amazing at the same time. I mean, listen, I don't know if you have a teenage son, but trust me, you could have found worse socks in the hamper.

A (48:28)

Chia sock. Now. I want to grow one now.

B (48:33)

Oh, my God. With coffee. Coffee. Oh, my God.

A (48:39)

That's amazing. Oh, thank you. I needed that laugh. Thank you so much, Arlington. Man. Man, that's good. And hey, good job getting through that, the, you know, the online presentation.

B (48:53)

Well done. Oh, my goodness.

A (48:55)

All right, thanks, everybody, for sending in your good news. Please send your good news to us. And, you know, it doesn't have to within the four corners of the things I mentioned at the top of the good news, it can really be anything, you know, within reason. But we accept all good news and shout outs or rants. You know, some. Some really great rants have come in across our desk here. So send it to us dailybeanspod.com, click on Contact. And we really, really appreciate you. And thanks again. Welcome to our new listeners. We love that you're here. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here?

B (49:25)

Not today day.

A (49:26)

All right, everybody, we'll be back tomorrow in your ears in the morning. First thing tonight, actually, if you're a patron. So 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.

B (49:39)

I've been AG and I've been dg.

A (49:41)

And them's the beans.

B (49:42)

Refried beans.

A (49:43)

I like refried beans.