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The Daily Beans
Refried Beans | States’ Rights to do What (feat. Moji Alawode-El) | Jun 23, 2023
00:51:56
Friday, June 23rd, 2023 In the Hot Notes: another Trump aide who helped coordinate the fraudulent elector scheme was seen headed into Jack Smith’s 1/6 grand jury today; the House of Representatives has censured Adam Schiff; the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been scheduled for September; more Supreme Court corruption; the sleeper legal strategy that could topple abortion bans; plus AG and Dana deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media. Hey, everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans, where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago, so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro. Refried beans. I like refried beans. That's why I want to try fried beans, because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, June 23, 2023. Today, another Trump aide who helped coordinate the fraudulent elector scheme was seen headed into Jack Smith's January 6th grand jury today. The House of Representatives has censured Adam Schiff. The impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been scheduled for September. More Supreme Court corruption and the sleeper legal strategy that could topple abortion bans. I'm Alison Gill.
- [01:13]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:17]
Alison Gill
Hello. Happy Friday, Dana.
- [01:18]
Dana Goldberg
To you as well, my friend. We got through another week of madness.
- [01:22]
Alison Gill
Oh, and you know, I mean, we record this on Thursday, so I'm afraid of tomorrow. Like what?
- [01:26]
Dana Goldberg
That's true. Usually shit goes down on Fridays. That's fair.
- [01:31]
Alison Gill
Yeah. It could be felony Friday. Who knows? I mean, there's just so much happening right now. Another Trump aide, Gary Michael Brown, his name is, but he's been seen headed into the January 6th Jack Smith grand jury in D.C. he was the Election Day Operations Deputy Director for the Trump campaign, and he was aware of and participated in efforts to promote unsupported allegations of voter fraud in the November 2020 presidential election and encouraged state legislators to to alter the outcome of the election by, among other things, appointing alternate slates of electors to send competing electoral votes to the United States Congress, per the January 6th committee subpoena. Yeah. Andy and I are going to discuss why he's testifying. Generally, targets don't testify. Usually flippy flippers testify. We're going to talk about that on this weekend's episode of the Jack Podcast. Maybe how close we are to indictments there. By the way, Jack podcast just reached 1.5 million downloads. Thanks.
- [02:30]
Dana Goldberg
Yes, congratulations, my friend. Well earned.
- [02:33]
Alison Gill
Thank you very much. And the Buzzkill Feminist podcast, which is part of the MSW Media family, has a big episode out today on the one year anniversary of the fall of Roe. And I'll be joined later by Moji Alawodeh to discuss it. So you don't want to miss that conversation. It's really, really good. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. And I mean a lot. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. First up from Luke Browdwater at the New York Times. Republican led House on Wednesday formally censured Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, over his role investigating the former guy. This is the first in what could be a series of votes seeking to punish those they have deemed the party's enemies. The censure passed by a vote of 213 to 209, with six voting present with the support of Speaker Kevin McCarthy after its lead sponsor, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, altered its language to remove the multimillion dollar fine some Republicans viewed as unconstitutional. Adam Schiff launched an all out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting US President. She said the censure accused him of engaging in falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuses of sensitive information as he sought to unearth connections between Mr. Trump and Russia. He. Yeah, I got 600 pages of connections right behind me in the Mueller report on my bookshelf.
- [03:56]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, I don't think Adam spent much time trying to unearth those. They were basically handed to him as he led an incredible impeachment against the former guy.
- [04:05]
Alison Gill
Mm. And that wasn't even for the Russia stuff. They impeached him for the Ukraine stuff and the attack on the Capitol. But okay, whatevs. I mean, facts, schmax.
- [04:12]
Dana Goldberg
Also for embarrassing them. I think that's why they censured him. For embarrassing every single one of them on the floor.
- [04:19]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And what's funny is somebody tweeted. I can't remember who it was. I think it might be Chris Hayes from msnbc. He's like, so are they going to, Is the DOJ going to investigate the Republicans in the House for giving a multimillion dollar in kind campaign contribution to Adam Schiff for Senate?
- [04:36]
Dana Goldberg
That's hilarious. Yeah.
- [04:38]
Alison Gill
It is rare for a member of Congress to be censured, a punishment that amounts to basically a public reprimand. The House has censured members just 24 times in the history of the chamber, and typically only after finding the findings of wrongdoing. Before Mr. Schiff, just two members of the House had been censured in the last four decades. Schiff, who is seeking a Senate seat and has cited the censure against him in a fundraising effort, has said that being made a target, he was just, you know, targeted because he stood up to Donald Trump. Now, Schiff led the first impeachment, as we know, and served on the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. You honor me with your enmity. That's what he said to Republicans on the House floor, pointing out that Trump had been indicted over charges that he mishandled classified documents. Quote, donald Trump is under indictment for actions that jeopardize our national security. And McCarthy would spend the nation's time on petty political payback, thinking he can censure or fine Trump's opposition into submission. But I will not yield. Not one inch, he said.
- [05:39]
Dana Goldberg
I love him.
- [05:40]
Alison Gill
The vote came at a time of rising Republican anger as hard right members of Congress increasingly agitate for the impeachment of Biden or members of his administration. Lauren Boebert, as we know, Republican of Colorado, leader of the House Freedom Caucus, is seeking to force a vote on impeaching Biden this week. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, who's been pushing to impeach the FBI director, Christopher Wray on Wednesday accused Boebert of copying her impeachment articles against Biden and call her a little bitch.
- [06:07]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, God, I'm sorry. I know it's embarrassing, but every time I hear that, I can't help but giggle.
- [06:13]
Alison Gill
Yep. But Mr. McCarthy on Wednesday sought to impose a sense of strategy upon his fractious conference. The speaker used a closed door meeting of Republicans to argue against a quick impeachment of Biden. According to a person familiar, McCarthy argued Republicans would look inconsistent if they pressured to censure Schiff for what Republicans believe was a politicized impeachment process and then turn around and impeach Biden before the House committee is investigating the Biden administration. Well, you would just look dumb. Mr. McCarthy told members he was not opposed to eventually carrying out impeachment proceedings against Biden or one of his cabinet members, but he believed a proper investigation must be conducted first. What, are you going to get the Weaponization Committee to do it? Yeah, with all your cool whistleblowers that don't exist. The last member censured in the House was Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona. He was censored in 2021 because he posted that manipulated video on social media depicting himself kill AOC and also attacking Mr. Biden.
- [07:10]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, he's a. He's a fine, upstanding guy, isn't he? Yeah, he's special. Yeah, he really is. And this one's from Sardoff at Law and Crime. The state senator, wife of Texas Attorney general who is currently facing abuse and misconduct allegations, some linked to his alleged affair with a woman who was reportedly on a wealthy donor's payroll. Well, she will not be allowed to vote in her husband's upcoming impeachment trial. And I have to wonder, is she not allowed because they're afraid she's going to impeach him or. Or because she's not going to impeach him right now? Texas Senator Angela Paxton, she's the longtime wife of AG Ken Paxton, also a piece of shit, will be required to observe the impeachment trial against her husband. But she's barred from voting due to a conflict of interest, which is, I think quite clear. That's according to the rules approved Wednesday by the state's Republican controlled Senate. And this is a quote, a member of the court who is the spouse of a party to the court of impeachment is considered to have a conflict pursuant to the the Texas Constitution. That's what the rules say. And it went on to say, such member of the court shall be seated in the court of impeachment. However, such member of the court shall not be eligible to vote on any matter, motion or question or participate in closed sessions or deliberations. In other words, the state Senate has determined that Angela Paxton must be there for her husband's impeachment proceedings, which I find hilarious. But she's not allowed to have a say in the outcome. Probably the same way she feels about his alleged affair. State senators, according to the impeachment rules, are members of the impeachment court for voting purposes and they will deliberate over the impeachment trial in closed sessions. A two thirds majority of the 31 member Senate may vote to suspend the rules. Okay, well, Ken Paxton, he was hit with nearly two dozen articles of impeachment in May after years of alleged wrongdoing from his own party, by the way. The Texas House of Representatives alleged that the three term Attorney General engaged in at least 20 separate abuses of power, including taking bribes, obstructing justice in a criminal case pending against him, issuing improper grand jury subpoenas, and violating state whistleblower laws by firing employees who reported his misconduct. He has been suspended pending trial. The Texas Senate set the start of Ken Packton's impeachment trial for September 5th. Now if he's convicted, he would be removed from office and barred from holding future office in Texas. That is a big deal. Whether he actually gets impeached by the whole Senate is yet to be seen. But I'm glad, at least for whatever reason they're holding him accountable, that they finally are.
- [09:50]
Alison Gill
September 5th. If it's later, I love it. Especially if it's later in the summer. All right, from Cole and Ash at cnn. That's cool. Cole and Ash. Yeah, this is a pretty shitty story. On the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, concerns about ethics and transparency at the Supreme Court have been reignited this week after Justice Samuel Alito acknowledged attending a luxury fishing trip on the private jet of a conservative hedge fund manager. We talked about that. ProPublica detailed the 2008 trip with Paul Singer. Alito, the report said, did not report the trip or the flight that he took on a private jet to Alaska on his financial disclosure forms and also didn't recuse himself from all the cases before the court involving Singer's hedge fund. Alito denied any wrongdoing and basically like one of the big ones was as he was like suing a foreign country.
- [10:35]
Dana Goldberg
And I think it was Argentina.
- [10:37]
Alison Gill
Argentina. Supreme Court said no, and then he did it again. And then after the trip, a year later, they took the trip and then all of a sudden it went through and he got $2.4 billion in that. So that was a $2.4 billion seat on that private jet. While much of the recent criticism about the Supreme Court ethics and activities of justices has been leveled at Justice Thomas for failing to disclose luxury travel and gifts from the GOP mega donor Harlan Crow and a 2014 real estate deal he made with the billionaires real estate magnate or Crow's reported tuition payments for Thomas's grandnephew. Besides all that, other justices have also come under scrutiny. Last July, Alito was defeated in Rome by Notre Dame's Religious Liberty Initiative, which has in recent years joined the growing ranks of conservative legal activists who are finding new favor at the Supreme Court and forging ties with the justices. The group's legal clinic has filed a series of friend of the court briefs, amicus briefs in religious liberty cases before the Supreme Court since its founding in 2020. Now, after the high court overturned Roe last year, that group paid for Alito's trip to Rome to deliver a keynote address at a gala hosted at a palace in the heart of the city. It was his first known public appearance after that decision. At the start of his speech, he thanked the group for the warm hospitality that they provided to him and his wife, which he later said included a stay at a hotel that looks out over the Roman Forum. Oh, it's got a weird feel to it. During various parts of the address, he gleefully mocked critics of his ruling overturning Roe. What really wounded him, the conservative justice said, was when Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, addressed the United nations and seemed to compare the decision whose name may not be spoken with the Russian attack on the Ukraine. And I don't know why he said the Ukraine, but I'm quoting Just so you know, Prince Harry Justices are often known for usually maintaining a low profile, and the court's public information office in recent years has been less forthcoming about their public appearances. But the court's ruling last year in the abortion case propelled the nine jurists and their rulings to new heights and fueled new questions about the justice's behavior both on and off the bench. Alito joined the majority in ruling in favor of the Religious Liberty Initiative's position in several cases for which it submitted briefs, including the one that reversed Roe, which he authored, and a 2022 decision that said a high school football coach had the right to pray on the 50 yard line. Remember that? Yes, I do, stephanie Barclay, the Religious Liberty Initiative's director, confirmed to CNN the group paid for Alito's trip to Rome last year. The majority of the justices met a deadline in early June to release their annual financial disclosure forms. That majority seven to two, Alito and Thomas got an extension, meaning more details about Alito's 2022 travels will likely not be seen until after the end of the current suprem term. Alito's decision not to disclose the 2008 trip with singer on his annual financial forums at the time and the decision to not recuse himself from cases concerning that billionaire's hedge fund has generated new controversy for the jurist. Yeah, huh? There are personal connections between the Religious Liberty Initiative and the high court as well. A few months after Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in in 2020, leaving her appellate court judgeship and job as Notre Dame law professor, she sold her private residence to a recently hired professor who was taking on a leadership position at the Liberty Initiative. Accountable Us, a left leaning nonprofit group, discovered the home sale. Neither Barrett's real estate deal nor Alito's appearance in Italy appear to violate any of the court's ethics rules, according to several experts interviewed by cnn. But it raises questions, they say. Not so much of corruption, but whether disclosures, our current system of disclosures is adequate to the task. That's Kathleen Clark, Washington University in St. Louis Law School professor who specializes in government ethics accountability, US President Kyle Herig said in a statement. Every federal judge is bound by an ethics code requiring them to avoid behavior that so much as looks improper. Except for Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice John Roberts Buck stops with him. He has the power to change that, but so far he hasn't shown the courage if he fails to do his job, Congress must do theirs. I don't know what he means by Congress must do theirs. The sale of Barrett, South Bend, Indiana, home to Brendan Wilson, a Washington, D.C. attorney who was moving to the state to work for the law school and serve on the Liberty Initiative's leadership team, sold it for $905,000. It was not required to be disclosed on an annual financial form at the court. Federal regulators exempt sales of the personal residence of the filer and the filer's spouse, so they don't have to report those, I guess. The home sold in May 2021, and Wilson started at Notre Dame that August. In a news release from late 2021 announcing he and two others had joined the group, Wilson is quoted as saying, when we were presented with the opportunity to move back to South Bend and to work with the Religious Liberty Initiative, we both felt it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit, prompting the Holy spirit to give $905,000 to one of the new Supreme Court justices. But given Wilson's role at the initiative and the work its legal clinic is involved in, some experts say the sale is yet another reason why some rules at the Supreme Court should be changed. Yeah, I agree. Quote, the court, frankly, it faces a kind of legitimacy crisis because of the really dire weaknesses of its ethics. Clark said it has the opportunity to address that legitimacy crisis by, you know, stepping up its ethics game, imposing on itself, and then abiding by additional disclosure operations.
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Dana Goldberg
At the very least, you would think so.
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Alison Gill
At the court, even the slightest appearance raises red flags. The slightest appearance of impropriety with Democratic lawmakers and watchdog groups. Good. It should. Barrett's home sale to Wilson makes her the third member of the Supreme Court who's made money from property transactions with influential conservative figures or people with close connections to legal advocacy groups before the nation's highest court. Barrett. She didn't respond to requests for comment. After Thomas's deal with Crow was revealed, Politico reported that Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a vacation home in 2017 he co owned to the chief executive of a major law firm that has argued cases before the court and didn't name the buyer in his disclosure forms. I mean, it's just so fucked up.
- [16:47]
Dana Goldberg
They're so fucking corrupt. My God. All right, this is from Alice Miranda Olsteen at Politico. Reverend Jan Barnes. Okay, this is actually an amazing story. Reverend Jan Barnes and Reverend Krista Taves have logged hundreds of hours standing outside abortion clinics across Missouri and Illinois going back to the mid-1980s. But unlike other clergy, and this is not what you would expect, unlike the other clergy members around the country, they never pleaded with patients to turn back. The sight of two women in clerical collars holding up messages of love and support for people terminating a pregnancy, quote, so infuriated the anti abortion protesters that they would heap abuse on us and it drew the abuse away from the women, recalled Taves. And Taves is a minister at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, Missouri. And she sat on a couch at Barnes Stately Church in this quiet suburb of St. Louis is where she gave this account. She went on to say, I thought, whoa, these people really are not messing around. But then I thought, well, I'm not messing around either. So when Missouri's abortion ban took effect, after what we just spoke about, the Supreme Court overturning Roe last year, Barnes and Taves decided to fight back. Along with rabbis and ministers across several denominations, they joined a first of its kind lawsuit arguing Missouri blurred the lines between church and state, imposed a particular Christian idea of when life begins over the beliefs of other denominations, and threatened their ability to practice their religion. Now, the Missouri case is one of nearly a dozen challenges to abortion restrictions filed by clergy members and practitioners of everything from Judaism to Satanism, by the way, that are now making their way through state and federal courts, a strategy that aims to restore access to procedure and chip away at the assumption that all religious people oppose abortion and they do not. In Indiana, a group of Jewish, Muslim and other religious plaintiffs, they sued over the state's near total abortion ban. Their argument that it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration act signed into law in 2015 by then Governor Mike Pence. By the way, a lower court, and I would love that this got fucking overturned because something Mike Pence signed for religious freedom, by the way, a lower court judge sided with them in December and blocked the state's ban from taking effect. That's the most significant win the religious challengers have notched so far. Note so far. Then earlier this month, the Indiana judge granted the challenger's class action status, meaning a win for them. Yeah, this is a win for them and could apply to anyone in a state whose religion supports abortion access in cases prohibited by state law. Now, even if religious freedom law was intended by Mike Pence to discriminate against people, we thought, and this is a quote, let's use this for good instead. And that was from Amelia Schiffris, and Amelia is a leader for Hoosier Jews for Choice, one of the Indiana plaintiffs, by the way, and went on to Say, it brings me joy to think how much this must upset him. I love Amelia.
- [19:54]
Alison Gill
I know.
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Dana Goldberg
Now. A Penn spokesperson characterized the lawsuit as a pursuit to legalize abortion up to and even after birth. I really hate these people. And they. Because that's not a thing they added. It will probably strike Americans as pretty tasteless to call the latest iteration of their abortion crusade as a cause, quote, for good and a source of, quote, joy, end quote on that statement. With oral arguments and rulings in several of the cases expected this summer and fall, legal experts say there's a solid chance the challengers can pursue courts to grant religious exemptions to abortion bans, if not strike them down altogether. I love this name, Shlomo C. Pill. Thank you very much for that. A lecturer at the Emory University School of Law who specializes in religious rights said the lawsuits have, end quote, a strong basis and should be successful, particularly after a series of COVID 19 related cases paved the way for more religious exemptions. Pill pointed to multiple Supreme Court decisions during the pandemic that said whenever states create secular exemptions to laws like indoor gathering restrictions or vaccine mandates, they have to justify not offering religious exemptions as well. This is a quote. This is from Shlomo went on to say, so the fact that secularly motivated exemptions to abortion bans exist, such as for rape and incest, means the legislature could also have to offer similar exemptions for people with religious objections. That's from our Shlomo friend in Missouri. The plaintiffs argue that because lawmakers put religious language in the text of the abortion ban itself and made explicit religious appeals when voting on it, they violated the establishment clause. Uh huh. And I quote, it took real chutzpah. I love these people. These Jews are making me very happy. By the way, it took real chutzpah for legislatures to voice their own religious motivations, to wantonly and shamelessly purport to know what God wants or doesn't want and to enshrine that into law. This is from Rabbi James Bennett of Congregation Shar Emeth in St. Louis. And they're another plaintiff in the Missouri lawsuit. And the rabbi went on to say they're entitled to their interpretation of when life begins, but they're not entitled to have the exclusive.
- [22:10]
Alison Gill
One great quote.
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Dana Goldberg
So good legal experts see the state level religious challenges as one of the best chances abortion rights advocates have to chip away at bans on the procedure. And this is a quote from the story. The arguments are quite powerful for creating religious exemptions in the reproductive context under First Amendment doctrine. And under state laws for free exercise. And that's from Micah Schwartzman, director of Karsh center for Law and Democracy at the University of Virginia Law School and closed with what judges do with them. That's another story. And I just really love, I don't know from what I read in these articles, like in the Jewish religion, if the mother's life is in danger, it's almost, I don't want to say required, but they're required sort of to step in and save her. And that often constitutes reproductive health and.
- [23:00]
Alison Gill
An abortion and even further, life begins at birth.
- [23:04]
Dana Goldberg
Yes.
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Alison Gill
And so you can't impose your religious views on somebody else. And the fact that in Indiana, at least in the Indiana lawsuit, that that's Mike Pence's rule that could have that overturned is fantastic.
- [23:14]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God.
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Alison Gill
And they got class action status.
- [23:17]
Dana Goldberg
I had the funniest comment from Hannah Gatsby. If anyone follows them and listens to their comedy, they're a brilliant human being. But we were talking about abortion and you know, this whole thing about aborting after birth. And Hannah goes, they must be pissed because God aborted Jesus when he was 33.
- [23:32]
Alison Gill
Oh God.
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Dana Goldberg
Oh, yeah. They have a very dark, just biting sense of humor, but it makes me very happy.
- [23:42]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I love them. I used to have a joke about postnatal abortion because that's not a thing, that's just murder.
- [23:49]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, yeah, that's no. Postnatal abortion and murder, we all agree should be illegal, by the way.
- [23:55]
Alison Gill
Yes, hello? Yes. Yep, yep, yep. All right. Anybody? I'm excited to talk to our next guest after this quick break because she's co host of the Feminist Buzz Kills PODC podcast which is on MSW Media on our network and they have their huge one year Dobbs anniversary episode out today. Her name is Moji Alawode and I'm going to talk to her right after this break. Stick around, we'll be right back. Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm really happy to be joined today by co host of the Feminist Buzz Kills podcast. They're coming up on their one year anniversary of the Dobbs Pod, the release of the DoB decision, you know, not sure but that, that's the leak that we got from who I think is, is Judge Alito or the, the official. But it's been a year and she's absolutely amazing. She's going to be with us at Netroots Nation in Chicago July 13th through the 15th. Please welcome Moji Alawode. Hi, Moji, how are you?
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Moji Alawode
Hello. I'm Great. Yeah, we're really excited and not excited to talk about the one year of the Dobbs.
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Alison Gill
It's.
- [25:03]
Moji Alawode
Yeah, we're counting from the final decision, not the leak, but yeah, the bleeding started a month before.
- [25:08]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I remember I wrote this big op ed for the Washington Post about how it would negatively impact national security and the military. And you guys really have done so much work, you know, with abortion Access front and abortion AF and feminist buzz kills. And I wanted to bring you on because I wanted to talk about this huge episode that's coming out this Friday, June 23rd. So tell us a little bit about what's in store for us.
- [25:34]
Moji Alawode
Yeah, it's really, I'm really excited about our pod. It's going to be pretty incredible because it's been a year from this time that we as an organization saw coming, but it just kind of hurt a little more when it finally came. So we're going to talk to an abortion provider. We're going to talk to an activist from Georgia, and we're just going to try to take a long view of the landscape of how abortion has changed in this country, the impact that it's had on people, the impact it's had on providers and the impact it's had on activists, especially people in the South. Our activists from the Amplified Georgia Collaborative, and they are in Georgia, which is a terrible place for abortion right now. And we're just going to do, I think, you know, the coverage of abortion for the last couple of actually forever, but definitely since DOPS has been really spotty because everything changes day to day, hour to hour. Some states, it's like they have access, then they don't. And they have access, then they don't. And so we were just trying to do broad trends and kind of what's happened in, you know, an hour plus of like where we are one year later.
- [26:38]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And where we're going and what we need to do, especially for 2024. And you guys have been really good on covering all that. I remember when I talked to Liz from your pod Feminist Buzz kills a year ago, and I said, there's going to be so many people and things and groups and communities that are going to be negatively impacted by this that we haven't even thought of yet. And I was wondering what sort of what have you seen in the last year? I mean, we've heard individual anecdotes and stories from women with, you know, ectopic pregnancies and who were forced to have, you know, get sicker in order to get the Help and the healthcare they need. What else have we noticed over the past year? I mean, where do you think we are in general?
- [27:20]
Moji Alawode
Well, we knew that some, that a lot of the states that passed bans had sort of trigger bans on the books and we're just kind of waiting in the wings for the opportunity to ban abortion. But I think, I don't know, just personally, I don't think we thought it would happen so fast and so broadly. So we knew some people were going to have to travel, but the stories of travel are really heartbreaking because if you're in Texas, you have to basically traverse the whole country to get to care. Almost all of the states around have limited care in a really significant, profound way. I think that what the anti abortion people did expect is for us to all care about people who are stuck carrying like mid, mid, mid miscarriage or carrying an ectopic pregnancy and trying to get to care or just. I don't think they expected for doctors to be so perplexed by these poorly written bans that they don't even know where the line is where they can help a person stay alive or get healthy. And this idea of literally being a doctor and watching a person have to get sicker and sicker and sicker and sicker, I think I am surprised by how heartbreaking that's been for doctors.
- [28:31]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I mean, when you go, you know, with the Hippocratic oath, do no harm. Right, exactly. It's. The idea wasn't to draw clear lines about what you could do and what you couldn't do. The idea was to chill all abortions to make people afraid of stepping over any line which will just reduce access.
- [28:50]
Moji Alawode
Yeah.
- [28:50]
Alison Gill
The idea that the Republican healthcare plan is to reduce access to care, whether it's transgender confirmation care or, you know, abortion care or women's health care, whatever the care is that your healthcare plan is to reduce access to healthcare in this country. Except, you know, we don't wanna ban guns, we just want more mental healthcare. But of course we're not going to give it to you. It just blows my mind that that is a policy point for the Republican party.
- [29:19]
Moji Alawode
It's also wild and I love that you brought guns. Of course we don't address that in our podcast, in this particular episode of the podcast. But what's really interesting about the guns thing is that they say like, oh, it's one lone person, they need mental health care. And then in the states that push hardest for less gun, gun reform or gun control, they also continue to defund mental Health care. It's almost like the, the solution that they want to talk about. They just don't want it to actually be implemented.
- [29:47]
Alison Gill
No. And that goes across the board. That honestly goes across the board. If they truly wanted to reduce the number of abortions, they would increase education and sex education and reproductive education, they would increase birth control education and fund Planned Parenthood and other organizations who help people, you know, control their own reproductive destinies. So it just obviously what they say they want is not what they actually want.
- [30:15]
Moji Alawode
They hate Planned Parenthood. Like just Planned Parenthood writ large. So profoundly you'd think that they weren't giving people pap smears and trying to prevent cancer for people. Right? You would, you would, you'd think that like all they're doing is, is just going out there and like killing people. Like, you know, like it's wild how profoundly they hate Planned Parenthood.
- [30:38]
Alison Gill
It doesn't fit in with their Christo fascist Gilead view.
- [30:41]
Moji Alawode
And it's also unfortunately, Planned Parenthood is the face of abortion, even though it's actually not the reality of abortion care in this country. But it's the face of. And I think they love a boogeyman, you know, And I think that's pretty much what it is. They kind of thrive on rhetoric and not necessarily on facts. And that's the other thing you see is that especially in states that have abortion bans, they as best they can try to push non fact based, non evidence based health care. And I remember even before Dobbs fell, right, this is two, three years ago, we were reading a thing and it might have been the Federal Society had a whole article about how you can reimplant an ectopic pregnancy that is medically impossible. And this was published.
- [31:29]
Alison Gill
They think I pee from my vagina. So I'm not really listen to what they have to say about medical.
- [31:35]
Moji Alawode
I really do think we just have two holes down there.
- [31:42]
Alison Gill
Somebody, yeah, that's the Republican actually said that. Or you know, hey, if it's legitimate rape. Well, first of all, I don't know what legitimate rape means. Then the body just shuts that down like we're ducks with the corkscrew vagina that can, you know, the, the decoy.
- [31:58]
Moji Alawode
The decoy coming with the classics from the anti abortion trifecta that is.
- [32:03]
Alison Gill
And they've been doing it forever. They have these fake abortion clinics and family planning clinics where you walk in and it's all the opposite is heaped upon you. I don't know how that's not illegal.
- [32:15]
Moji Alawode
Not only should it be illegal. But in our, not even our research, what we're also finding in these anti states is not only are these clinics proliferating in places like Texas, legislatures are like, let's give them more money. Let's give them more money. That's the crazy thing. People are dying. You're. You're being sued by like women in your state because they had to suffer a miscarriage. And instead of trying to in any way fund real care, they're like, let's give these fake Christian organizations more money. For what?
- [32:47]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And in California, if you say you're organic and you're not, you get in a shitload of trouble and you get fined a bunch of money, but yet you can put up a clinic that says that you're. A family planning clinic. That and then bait and switch once the person gets inside. Okay, you know, I guess state regulations versus federal regulations. But they only use the states rights argument when it benefits them, don't they?
- [33:09]
Moji Alawode
The states rights argument I think we can all find, especially as we see this rapidly accelerating attack on trans rights. The states rights argument has only been used to oppress people. Right. It was used to keep black people from getting any sort of reparations during Reconstruction, any sort of right to vote during reconstruction and after. And states rights is basically a way for states to say what we're not going to do is treat people we don't like like people.
- [33:35]
Alison Gill
And a great comeback. If you have somebody that's MAGA in your family, if somebody says states rights to you, whatever the issue is, whether it's the Civil War or whether it's reproductive rights or whether it's trans rights, and they say states rights to you, you can say states right to do what? That is my favorite question to ask them. Get. Drill them down on it.
- [33:55]
Moji Alawode
I find it's really, really nice to get people to say exactly what they're thinking. I'm so sorry if you have MAGA family, so sorry to this man. But people try to use the states right argument. They use it to basically deny people the rights that they need to be human. And I think it's a red flag, right? If I bet someone and they start talking about states rights, I immediately know that I have nothing or not a whole lot more to say to them. An easy end to most questions I would have with a person. Oh, you believe in states rights? States rights to do what?
- [34:27]
Alison Gill
States rights to not have a federal abortion ban. Because now that's the conversation they're going to go back on their states rights argument. For this very specific purpose of putting a federal abortion ban in place. There are Republicans who want to do that, which goes right against their whole states rights thing.
- [34:44]
Moji Alawode
I'm sorry, Alison, are you looking for consistency in the Republican Party?
- [34:48]
Alison Gill
I'm.
- [34:48]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [34:48]
Alison Gill
I'm sorry.
- [34:49]
Moji Alawode
Wow, that's fun.
- [34:53]
Alison Gill
Stupid. Yeah. You're like, how droll.
- [35:00]
Moji Alawode
I mean, we know that's what they're going to do. And again, they still don't have the steam for that. But we are at the precipice of maybe having a federal ban on the abortion pill, which is wild because 97% of abortions in this country right now are done through these pills. And pills were a way to get around some of these bans in states. Right. So, like, they're looking at the promised land, and they're like, no way. You're getting there.
- [35:22]
Alison Gill
Yeah. No, they'll. They'll gatekeep us at every turn. And they do that to limit.
- [35:27]
Moji Alawode
At what point do you look at a federal drug that's been on the market for 20 years and be like, oh, maybe it's not safe?
- [35:33]
Alison Gill
Oh, well, there was a new study that said it was still safe, but it was new in 2016. So we have to now reconsider our. Whatever. It's just the dumbest. And. And here's the sad part. Aside from it being the dumbest here, it's just also so dangerous to so many people in the country having our civil rights stripped away and being forced to carry these pregnancies. Tommy Tuberville's in the Senate right now saying he won't promote any military officers unless Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin takes back his promise to allow medical leave for people to seek reproductive care. And that's what my op ed was about. I said, please. I said, please. This was May of last year. I was like, look, I was a rape survivor in the military. I was in Florida. I was stationed in Florida. You don't get to choose where you're stationed when you're in the military. And if there was the abortion ban in effect, I wouldn't have been able to walk out the gates and seek abortion care. I would have been forced to carry my rapist's baby to term. That is horrendous for national security. Please, Secretary Lloyd Austin, please, President Biden, make it so that all leave is approved without question, so that we can get the care that we need. And four months later, Secretary Austin made that change. And now Tuberville says you have to. Nope. If you don't make take that back, I Want, I guess, military people to be forced to carry their rapist babies to term. Take it back. Or I'm not going to promote any of these majorly important leaders in the military. And I'm going to put all of everybody's national security at risk until you stop paying for. Not just not paying for abortions, just paying for the travel.
- [37:04]
Moji Alawode
It's wild also how this party of, like, personal responsibility and the party of individual rights wants to trample on everyone else's rights. And also that's par for the course for them. They believe a person who's suffered rape, who's experienced rape, be they 10 in the military, a married person, a person walking down the street, abortion after rape for them, for many of them is a bigger harm to a person than having to carry your rapist babies to term. It's wild.
- [37:36]
Alison Gill
Yeah, that's forced labor. That seems like 8th amendment shit to me. But, you know, we could talk, you and I, all day.
- [37:45]
Moji Alawode
I could talk about abortion stuff all day. I feel like Brits have to shut me down. They're like, moji, can we talk about the Real Housewives of anything? And I'm like, oh, I haven't watched it. But you know what? I read this article and this is what's happening with abortion in Nebraska. And they're like, I really don't care.
- [38:02]
Alison Gill
No, I get it.
- [38:03]
Moji Alawode
Stop being my friend.
- [38:04]
Alison Gill
We want to save it for. Also for this big Friday episode, the Dobbs anniversary episode, a feminist buzz kills podcast. And I'm looking forward to it. It's Friday, June 23rd. I want everybody to listen and let everybody know where they can find and follow you as well.
- [38:19]
Moji Alawode
Absolutely. Okay. I personally can be followed at mojilocks M O J I L O C K s on all of the socials. You can follow my org that I work for, Abortion Access Front at Abortionfront Everywhere. We're on TikTok. We have fun TikToks. We're on Twitter. We're on Instagram. You wanna know what we're doing? Oh, I think we're even on Facebook. Yeah, we're on Facebook still.
- [38:40]
Alison Gill
Might even be on Facebook with the olds MySpace. Do you have an Angelfire website? My chat. I'm kidding. I have a Facebook too.
- [38:50]
Moji Alawode
I actually might have a MySpace. I'm not gonna talk about it. Also, you can follow the.org@aafront.org, which is our website, and you can hear about our live show that's coming up in Atlanta. And you can hear about all the ways you can actually be involved we have this activist calendar that lets people who want to be in any way involved in supporting people in getting to abortions or supporting orgs that help people do that. We have a monthly calendar of all the ways you can get involved. If you're like just fuming at the mouth and don't know what else to do with yourself, it's a great place to go to find out.
- [39:21]
Alison Gill
Yes, I loved being an escort for doing that for a while. It was truly, truly an honor to be able to do that work. So thank you very much again, everybody. Feminist buzz kills this Friday. Moji. Thanks for your time.
- [39:33]
Moji Alawode
Thank you so much, everybody.
- [39:35]
Alison Gill
Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news after these messages. We'll be right back. FOREIGN welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news, everyone? Then good news, everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news confessions, if you have a correction, if I mess something up or I mispronounce something, I want to know about it. Send it in to us. If you have a shout out to a loved one or an adoptable pet in your area, if you can't pay pod pet tax or baby pictures or frog orgies, or you have a story about cleaning up the riverbanks and finding a giant double ended dildo, whatever you want to send to us, yes, please. And by the way, if you're new.
- [40:26]
Dana Goldberg
Oh God, you gotta go listen.
- [40:29]
Alison Gill
And we've got, we've, we've doubled our listenership here in the last few months. So if you're new and you haven't listened to the January 5, 2021 day before the Insurrection episode called Charismatic Megaplastics, go give it a, give it a spin. I highly recommend it, but anything you want to Send to us, dailybeanspot.com, click on Contact. First up, Kirsten in PA1. That's, that's Pennsylvania, first district. Hi, Leguminati. This is not a correction, but an expansion.
- [40:57]
Dana Goldberg
Ooh.
- [40:58]
Alison Gill
When I saw the reporting on Alito taking luxury jet rides from GOP donor bajillionaire, the name of the donor sounded familiar. Paul Singer. Yes, this is going to be a great expansion because I already know where she's going. It finally bothered me to Google it and figure out why my postmenopausal brain was half telling me, ah, yes, Kirsten. Then I found it. Paul Singer runs a pro gay. His wording, not mine. GOP SuperPAC called American Unity PAC. They put their money into putting up rainbow signs for moderate GOP candidates. In communities with large LGBTQ populations. At least that's what they did with PA1 in support of Brian Fitzpatrick in past cycles. Fitzpatrick. It caused a huge fracas in New Hope, Pennsylvania, during the 2018 congressional cycle. Eventually, the sign came down after a lot of community uproar. Rainbow signs for a guy who just voted to demonize trans kids who want to play sports in school. Makes me sick. So first, Brian Fitzpatrick was caught taking donations from Harlan Crow. Now another shady SCOTUS influencer, Paul Singer. Today's gop. All the best people, right? I've included some pet tacks from our honey. Taking a nap on my bed to act as some eye bleach after exposing you to all that Fitzpatrick signage from Paul Singer. And some forewarning. We just put in a DNA swab for her in honor of her third Gotcha day so you can get a head start on a future. What the mutt? Okay, we can bone up a little. Keep up all your amazing work. You bring daily brightness into my life. AG and dg. Oh, yeah, look at this fucking. Yeah, that's Paul Singer.
- [42:25]
Dana Goldberg
Happened in Florida too. There was a candidate, and if anyone's listening to Florida, you probably know the name. I can't think of it offhand, but the sort of the same thing. He ran as this like, like pro LGBTQ candidate and blah, blah, blah, and then proceeded to vote against every single right and against trans health and against everything else, and went to go march in the pride parade and was getting flipped off by like 85 year old grandmothers that were like, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself.
- [42:53]
Alison Gill
Excellent.
- [42:54]
Dana Goldberg
But that's scary to me that they can get that in and that these guys and these people. And I say guys because Paul Singer, that they know they can put the sign up and it doesn't mean jack, but it gets someone's attention and they see a rainbow flag and they're like, I'm voting for that person. They're going to protect us. And then they don't.
- [43:10]
Alison Gill
Yeah, it's like when I was talking to Moji a few minutes ago about the. The fake family planning clinics that are Christian, like. Yeah. And. Or they're a little fake. You know, like you said down in Florida. They're a little like false third party straw candidates that have names that are almost identical to the Democrat and they actually spend money sending out flyers saying, this person's a Democrat and it's not.
- [43:34]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, not. Look at this pup in this blue sweater.
- [43:37]
Alison Gill
Oh, you're gonna take the next two, by the way.
- [43:39]
Dana Goldberg
Okay, I'll take them.
- [43:41]
Alison Gill
But look at this. I know. Okay, so this is a future. What? The mutt.
- [43:44]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, okay, here we go.
- [43:47]
Alison Gill
So we'll have to start thinking about that. But whatever this dog is, looks very soft and silky.
- [43:51]
Dana Goldberg
Okay, this one's from Dawn. First, her pronouns are she and her. Good morning, Bean Queensland. I want to share photos of my pandemic pup, Zoe. I'm assuming Zoe. It might be Zoe, but I think it's Zoe. At the time, my 14 year old retriever mix was not doing well and was grieving her companion who passed from cancer. A lap dog was just what we needed. I had her DNA tested. Can you guess what the mutt.
- [44:13]
Alison Gill
Lap dog. Huh? So this is a small dog.
- [44:16]
Dana Goldberg
I'd say there's some Chihuahua. That's. And there's Pomeranian and just Pomeranian.
- [44:23]
Alison Gill
Something floofy. Yeah, I was gonna say like pom.
- [44:25]
Dana Goldberg
Or chow and maybe a.
- [44:28]
Alison Gill
And it looks like I need a little.
- [44:30]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, like a healer.
- [44:31]
Alison Gill
Like a. Some sort of cattle dog, right?
- [44:33]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, maybe. I don't know how long it is, but maybe a little wiener. Oh, here's another one.
- [44:38]
Alison Gill
Oh.
- [44:38]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, she's so cute. Oh, here we go.
- [44:41]
Alison Gill
We got wiener. Oh, cattle. Pomeranian and Chihuahua and dachshund. Okay, let's see what we got. Yeah, we have Pomeranian Yorkie. We missed that. Austrian shepherd. Okay. All right.
- [44:58]
Dana Goldberg
Husky.
- [44:59]
Alison Gill
Husky, Dachshund. There you go.
- [45:01]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [45:02]
Alison Gill
Basset hound, Boston Terrier. 20% unknown.
- [45:06]
Dana Goldberg
Could you imagine? We don't know who your dad is.
- [45:11]
Alison Gill
You are not the father. Checkers. These results came from the Dog Aging Project, a university driven scientific research project. The goal of the project is to understand how genes, lifestyle and environment influence aging. We want to share that information to help pets and people increase health span the period of life spent free from disease. And a dog pet owner can nominate their dog to be a part of the project. Dog Aging Project, everyone, if you want.
- [45:38]
Dana Goldberg
All right. And the second short one is from Hans. Pronouns he and him. Is this kayfabe news?
- [45:44]
Alison Gill
I guess.
- [45:45]
Dana Goldberg
All right, no pronouns on that. I listened to Allison and Dana laughing about the recent beef between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. I have to say their dust ups seem staged to me. They remind me of the fake feuds they have in professional wrestling. Please continue to mock these representatives as they. And that's in quotes as they do their little play acting. Cooper shown with some major static electricity happening. Can you tell what he is? Oh, my God.
- [46:12]
Alison Gill
Is this a maltipoo?
- [46:13]
Dana Goldberg
I would say maltipoo for sure.
- [46:16]
Alison Gill
A bichon shih tzu. So a shih. Sean, look how adorable.
- [46:26]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God. So cute.
- [46:28]
Alison Gill
The static electricity dog. Static electricity dog.
- [46:31]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, please do. Rubbing their head around on the carpet and then looking up for the picture. What?
- [46:35]
Moji Alawode
But.
- [46:35]
Alison Gill
Go get a balloon, blow it up, rub it on the dog, take a photo, send it in. All right, next up from Kathleen. She and her hello to the queens of the beans. I've been stuck in bed. Oh. Recovering from two unplanned emergent knee surgeries in under eight weeks. Oh, Kathleen. And your daily dose of news with the perfect amount of swearing has been my favorite part of every morning. And the good news at the end is the icing on my morning news cake. Oh, I love that. My good news is it's a long time in coming, but it's so good. My 21 year old daughter was diagnosed as being blind when she was seven weeks old. We were shocked and devastated, but moved forward to make her the most successful human she could possibly be. We found out that her blindness was the result of three significant brain malformations. Her eye anatomy was perfect, but the brain cells responsible for processing vision never developed. When she was 15 months old, she started playing peekaboo with me one day. And we'd never played it before because now you don't see me. Now you don't see me. Oh wait, you still don't see me.
- [47:32]
Dana Goldberg
Oh boy.
- [47:33]
Alison Gill
Never really a fun game at our house. I immediately started screaming and made her cry. But this perfect little child had vision. She didn't have a meaningful vision for another year, but it was a start. We named her Grace before she knew she had any vision or neurological challenges. And she is now our amazing Grace because she was once blind, but now she sees.
- [47:53]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God.
- [47:56]
Alison Gill
The Dr. Ben Carson was her physician for many years and explained that our brain cells are multiplastic and just took a long time for other brain cells to take over the job of vision. He's a wondrous physician but should have retired and enjoyed retirement rather than follow the orange dipshit idiot.
- [48:12]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, I agree, shittiot.
- [48:14]
Alison Gill
She never had surgery, but her type of malformation needed regular follow ups. Hence the neurosurgeon. Even better news. Raising her has been a joy. Absolute joy. She loves everyone. She's a warrior for justice and inclusion. She fosters kittens dote our dogs. She loves chatting with senior citizens and volunteers at the senior center. She is a saint. She has finally found a job that appreciates her for what she can do and is patient with the areas that take her a little Bit longer to pick up on parents of kids with special needs. Start off wishing for a magic ball so we know what to expect in the future. I never could have imagined such a perfect future for my amazing Grace. We went from saving for long term care to saving for her to take college classes.
- [48:52]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God. The submission is just fantastic.
- [48:55]
Alison Gill
While working, she's taking a class at a time to get an associate's degree. This is the happy ending we never could have imagined. But here we are. Grace loves to tell her story and she's proud of how hard she worked to jump hurdle after hurdle to get where she is today. Thank you for your daily dose of hard truth followed by Rays of Sunshine. Grace is my most amazing ray of sunshine and she wanted to share her story with our favorite beans community.
- [49:16]
Dana Goldberg
Kathleen and Grace.
- [49:18]
Alison Gill
I'm so, so first of all, proud of you for sharing your story because the number one thing, and take it from me, the number one thing that you can do to help other people is to make them feel like they're not alone.
- [49:33]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. Oh, my God, her two baby pictures. You know how much joy this brings me. But she's also, I mean, she's a beautiful child and that dog is so cute. That relationship, you can tell, is very special.
- [49:45]
Alison Gill
Look at the baby. Oh, my gosh. Adorable Grace. Rock on. Fucking rock on, dude.
- [49:54]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [49:56]
Alison Gill
Kathleen, thank you so much for sending this in. What an amazing good news submission, everybody. Whatever you want to send to us, you can do it by going to DailyBeansPod.com and clicking on Contact. And just thanks to everybody for sending in all this good news to send us into the weekend. There'll be an episode of Jack this weekend. There'll be a bonus for cleanup this weekend if you're a Patreon on cleanup on aisle 45. Aisle 45. Pod. I can say the names of my own podcasts. There'll be a weekly, totally unedited, raw and unscripted weekly Beans Wrap up, if you're a beans patron. So I just look forward to seeing you this weekend. Are you gonna be back with us Monday, Dana?
- [50:34]
Dana Goldberg
I will indeed.
- [50:35]
Alison Gill
Do you have any last minute thoughts or final things or talking about Rochester maybe?
- [50:39]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, yeah, I'll mention Rochester again just in case anyone's missed the podcast where I've announced it and I know some people don't listen all the way through. And I wish you would because the news is always so good. July 28, a small room at about 100 seats. We're already half sold, which is wonderful. Tickets are super reasonable. I'm going to be doing a one night show in Rochester, New York, and at the Carlson Comedy Club, which is really fantastic. The guy who runs is a good guy and so I hope to see you there. You can get tickets on my website. It's danagoldberg.com and you'll go to appearances. Second one down. Just click on it. It'll take you right to the page. It's as easy as that. Purchase tickets. I'll see you there. I know we've got some beans listeners that already bought. We've got some Stephanie Miller fans going and then HRC and the rest of the LGBTQ community and our allies. And it's gonna be a fun night to blow off some steam and get some laughter. So I hope to see you there.
- [51:27]
Alison Gill
It's gonna be so good. Thank you so much. We'll be back in your ears on Monday. And thanks to Moji too, and the Feminist Buzzkills podcast. I'm gonna be with them and so many other incredible people at Netroots Nation July 13th through the 15th. I hope you guys can make it out. So we'll talk to you Monday. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health.
- [51:46]
Dana Goldberg
Vote blue over Q and take everyone with you.
- [51:49]
Alison Gill
Everybody. I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the beans. Refried beans. I like refried beans.