Refried Beans | The Art Of The Kneel (feat. John Fugelsang) | 3/7/2025

Summary

The Daily Beans Podcast

Episode: "Refried Beans | The Art Of The Kneel"

Date: March 7, 2025
Host(s): Allison Gill (AG) & Dana Goldberg
Special Guest: John Fugelsang

Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode of The Daily Beans, titled "Refried Beans | The Art Of The Kneel," delivers trademark progressive political commentary through deep dives into recent news headlines, legal developments, and the ever-escalating antics of the Trump administration. Centered around accountability, the threats to American institutions, and the intersection of big-money influence and governance, the episode rides through current events with humor and righteous indignation. Comedian and commentator John Fugelsang joins for “Fugelsang Fridays,” adding sharp and passionate insights, particularly regarding threats to democracy and the role of opposition.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Major Political Headlines (01:30–14:24)

• News Recap (01:30)
  • Gavin Newsom breaks from progressives on trans athletes in sports
  • Trump holds Cabinet meeting to clarify actual leadership (not Musk)
  • Mike Lindell held in contempt in Smartmatic defamation case
  • Judges facing increased threats after attacks from Elon Musk
  • Select automakers exempted from tariffs
  • Musk suggests privatizing USPS, Amtrak
  • Small fraction (8%) of anti-vax discharged troops seek to return
  • Trump and Bondi loyalists make play for DC Bar
  • US suspends migrant deportation flights on military aircraft
  • Special counsel Hampton Dellinger resigns
  • Draft order seeks to dismantle Department of Education

On Newsom’s Anti-Trans Athlete Position (11:02–13:41)

• Newsom, rumored 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful, publicly opposes trans women in female sports on Charlie Kirk’s conservative podcast
  • Dana: “Not if I have anything to do with it… [His comments were] a disaster.”
  • AG: “Trans people, we support you 100%… giving up on 1/10 of 1% of rights will lead to 10%, then 100%.” (13:37)

Trump Administration Power Moves (04:39–10:06)

• Legal Retaliation & Grudge-holding:
  • Trump revokes security clearances from lawyers tied to Fusion GPS, Mark Zaid (retaliation for the “pee tape” ordeal)
  • AG: “He holds a grudge.” (04:41)
• Lindell Contempt:
  • Lindell fails to provide financial docs in Smartmatic defamation suit
  • AG: “His [finances are] as fuck... If defendants do not comply, Smartmatic is invited to bring another motion...” (04:42)
• Judicial Threats:
  • Threat levels against federal judges rise as Musk and Trump allies attack judiciary (05:35)
• Musk's Federal Influence:
  • Musk advocates privatizing government services for personal gain (07:14, 07:56)
  • Dana: “Imagine he’s going to privatize anything that he can get his hands on as long as it results in a contract for him.” (07:14)

On DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) Leadership Confusion (34:03–36:21)

• Ongoing chaos over who actually leads the de facto government-shrinking agency
• AG: “In court, DOJ lawyers are like, I don’t even know... probably because when they called [Amy Gleason] up, she was like, ‘I’m the what?’” (34:27)

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Hot Notes – Deep Dives Into Key Stories (15:15–32:34)

The Firing of Hampton Dellinger (15:15–19:08)

• Head of the Office of Special Counsel quits rather than fight Trump’s firing in the Supreme Court
• AG: “His battle mushroomed into a larger showdown... As he announced his decision, Dellinger stressed his independence: ‘I was going to follow and enforce the rules like an honest referee…’” (18:36)

Deportation Flights Halted (19:08–22:36)

• Trump stops using costly military flights for deportation, citing inefficiency
• Dana: “The last military deportation flight was March 1… it cost about $3 million each.” (21:15)
• “He wants to use big military toys to compensate for other things.” – AG (22:15)

Department of Education in Jeopardy (22:36–25:44)

• Trump’s draft order would set in motion the dismantling of the Department of Education, despite lack of Congressional authority
• AG: “Trying to abolish [the department] sends a message that the president doesn’t care about opportunity for all kids.” (24:56)

The “Transgender Mice” Debacle (25:44–32:34)

• Trump falsely claims government spent $8 million on “making mice transgender”—a distortion of scientific research using “transgenic” (not transgender) mice
• Dana: “The president’s anti-DEI forces simply flagged a random selection of material with the word trans in it… then rolled this all up into the dumbest, down-talking fucking point…” (28:30)
• AG: “Do you think Trans Ams are in trouble?... Anything with the word trans in it.” (30:30)

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Fugelsang Fridays: Extended Interview with John Fugelsang (33:23–52:32)

On DOGE, Elon Musk, and Social Security (36:21–41:03)

• John: “It’s corrupt, it’s illegal, it’s immoral… completely unqualified bureaucrats destroying careers. What’s in it for Elon [Musk] to destroy Social Security?” (36:21)
• “He wants to be the ultimate Bond villain…I don’t understand what’s in it for Elon to get rid of Social Security.” – John F. (39:04)

On Democratic Resistance and Al Green’s Protest (36:41–43:17)

• House censures Rep. Al Green for standing up to Trump in Congress; Democrats scolded for failing to show resistance
• John: “God bless Al Green. I want to see a Democrat with the guts of John Lewis…” (37:49)

On the Need for Greater Opposition (41:05–44:59)

• AG: “If you get up and make noise, you won’t get committee leadership… That’s why it happened.” (42:21)
• John: “Democrats voted to censure him, and those people, most of them, you’ll never know their names.” (44:59)

Zelensky, Ukraine, and the Art of the Kneel (46:39–49:59)

• John: “This is not negotiation. This is the art of the kneel. This is abandoning democracy…these motherfuckers don’t get to talk about freedom ever again.” (47:03)
• On right-wing embrace of appeasement: “Hitler wants peace, but Poland keeps fighting back… this is abandoning democracy.” (47:07)

The Shift to Class Warfare (51:32–52:02)

• AG shares that historian Timothy Snyder sees a growing focus on class war over culture war
• John: “We’re going to have to convince hard-working white people that the guy with the golden toilet doesn’t have your best interests at heart.” (51:52)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dana Goldberg (re: Trump): “He’s just a dick. I’m gonna keep saying it.” (04:20)
• AG (re: rights): “Giving up on 1/10 of 1% of rights will lead to 10% will lead to 100%...” (13:37)
• John Fugelsang (on Al Green): “God bless Al Green. I want to see a Democrat with the guts of John Lewis…to remind us all people are fighting for us.” (37:49)
• John Fugelsang (on privatization): “He wants to be the ultimate Bond villain...what’s in it for Elon to get rid of Social Security?” (39:04)
• John Fugelsang (on appeasement): “This is not negotiation. This is the art of the kneel. This is abandoning democracy…” (47:07)
• Dana (on government research): “You can rest easy knowing that the millions of taxpayer dollars were not frittered away on some ‘woke experiment’ to impose new gender identities on lab rodents.” (29:45)
• John Fugelsang (on history repeating): “The plantation owners will always sucker the hardworking white folks into fighting their own battles for them. It’s the oldest story in America.” (52:04)

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Timestamps for Significant Segments

• Intro & News Roll: 01:30–14:24
• Newsom’s trans athlete stance: 11:02–13:41
• Smartmatic v. Lindell: 04:42–05:35
• Judicial threats & Musk attacks: 05:35–06:24
• Tariffs, auto exemptions, Musk privatization push: 06:24–07:56
• Trump Cabinet v. Musk influence: 08:44–10:06
• DOGE power struggle discussion: 34:03–36:21
• Al Green censured / Dems resistance: 36:41–43:17
• The “transgender mice” talking point: 25:44–32:34
• Ukraine/Russia—"Art of the Kneel": 46:39–49:59
• Class war vs. culture war: 51:32–52:02
• Good News segment: 52:42–End

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Tone & Language

The episode is marked by biting wit, sarcasm, righteous anger, and solidarity, especially on issues of civil rights and democracy. AG, Dana, and John all balance incisive analysis with humor, memorable analogies, and moments of genuine frustration and hope.

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Summary

“Refried Beans | The Art Of The Kneel” tackles the further erosion of Democratic norms under Trump, attacks on civil rights (especially trans rights), the corrupting influence of oligarchs like Elon Musk in governance, and the quiet dismantling of key government functions. Interviews, headlines, and listener contributions provide a sweeping look at how the slow grind of authoritarianism meets resistance and the desperate need for greater organized opposition—rendered with sharp humor and empathy for affected communities. Ending with the show’s signature Good News segment, the episode reminds listeners of both the stakes and the resilience in the ongoing fight.

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Transcript

[Dana Goldberg]

History is messy. It's weird, wild, and anything but boring.

[Allison Gill]

Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you

[Dana Goldberg]

stop and ask, wait, is this real life? From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully.

[Allison Gill]

We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and

[Dana Goldberg]

a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot. It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the rabbit hole.

[Allison Gill]

MSW Media. 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.

[John Fugal Sang]

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.

[Allison Gill]

Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, March 7, 2025. Today, Governor Gavin Newsom opposes trans athletes in women's sports. Trump held a Cabinet meeting today to clarify to his agency heads that they're in charge of ruining people's lives, not Elon Musk. A federal judge has held Mike Lindell in contempt for failure to comply with disclosure in the smartmatic defamation case. Judges face increased threats after being called out by Elon Musk. Trump has exempted some automakers from tariffs. Musk suggests the US should privatize the Postal Service. Only 8% of the troops kicked out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccine are interested in returning. Trump and Bondi loyalists are making a bid to take over the DC Bar. The US Suspends costly deportation flights using military aircraft. Special counsel Hampton Dellinger has quit rather than face the Supreme Court to keep his job. And a draft executive order is calling for the closure of of the Education Department. I'm Allison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Allison Gill]

Oh my God. It's what the Friday it sure the is.

[Dana Goldberg]

What do you bet McMahon still gets a paycheck if they get rid of the Department of Education?

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, just for getting rid of it. We're just going to pay you for

[Dana Goldberg]

pay you every month. Yep.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. This was in Project 2025 along with all this other we're going to talk about a lot of stuff later in the show with John Fugal sang because it's Fugal sang Fridays on the Daily Beans. He'll be here with his hair fe Feathered and lethal. Dana.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes.

[Allison Gill]

So I'm looking forward to talking.

[Dana Goldberg]

Let's also talk about the guy beneath the hair. John is just a great, He's a mensch. He's what the, the Jewish community would call a mensch. He's a good man.

[Allison Gill]

He really is. We have a wonderful time. Every time I get to see him, like meet him in person. I know we spent a lot of time together at the dnc and you know, when I ever, whenever I'm up in la, if I get to stop by the studios and he happens to be there because he travels, he is a traveling guy. He is doing, doing the good work of, of resisting and, and opposing what's going on in the country. So he'll be here later in the show. And he goes on, he goes on a tear. I've already recorded the interview, Dana. He's got some, she's got some to say today.

[Dana Goldberg]

Fantastic.

[Allison Gill]

So brand new, by the way. Brand new executive order out by Donald Trump. I just thought I'd bring this up. He is revoking the security clearance and access for lawyers at Perkins Coey because they teamed up with Fusion GPS and Hillary Clinton to get the dossier. So real mad about the P tape that apparently doesn't exist and wants to yank those security clearances from Perkins Coey. Wonderful. He already did this to Mark Zade and several other lawyers at high powered firms that work and represent a lot of Democrats. So just, I guess, you know, he holds a grudge.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, he sure does. He's just, he's just a. He's a dick. I'm gonna keep saying it.

[Allison Gill]

He's a dick and he's a mess. So every day we wake up and we talk about the news, and that's no different today because we have a ton of headlines, as you could tell by the intro. But before we get to the hot notes, we do have some quick.

[John Fugal Sang]

To make a long story short.

[Allison Gill]

All right, from ABC News, a federal judge in Minnesota has found MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell in contempt of court for failing to provide discovery and financial documents in the defamation case brought by voting machine company Smart Maddox. Smart Maddox sued Pillow man for defamation in 2022, alleging that he lied about the company's role in the 2020 presidential election for his own financial gain and also lied about his pillows being good enough. That not part of the suit, but it should be. In a filing on Thursday, Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan said Lindell failed to produce analytics data for his company's website and financial records to show Lindell's financial condition for the years of 2022 and 2023, which, let's be honest, his as fuck. If defendants do not comply, smartmatic is invited to bring another motion for an order to show cause or seek further relief, the judge said.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, this next One's from Reuters. U.S. marshals have warned federal judges of unusually high threat levels as tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump administration allies ramp up efforts to discredit judges who stand in the way of the White House's efforts to slash federal jobs and programs. This is several judges with knowledge of the warnings have said. Now. In recent weeks, Musk, congressional Republicans and other top allies of US President Donald Trump have called for the impeachment. Yep. Of several federal judges. Uhhuh. Or attack their integrity in response to court rulings that have slowed the Trump administration's moves to dismantle entire government agencies and fire tens of thousands of workers. So what they don't like is an equal branch of the government. That's what they don't like.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. Whether it's Congress or the judiciary, Trump doesn't like. Co. Equal branches of government. No. Also from Reuters, US President Donald Trump will exempt automakers from his punishing 25 tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with existing free trade rules. So he's basically reverting back to what the tariffs were.

[Dana Goldberg]

Art of the deal. Art of the deal.

[Allison Gill]

Hmm. This is what the White House said on Wednesday, a development that halted, at least for now, Wall Street's steepest skid in nearly three months. Trump is also open to hearing about other products that should be exempted from the tariffs, which took effect Tuesday. The White House said. This all just seems to me like a pump and dump scheme.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Stock market manipulation, anyway. Yeah. So no tariffs? I don't know.

[Dana Goldberg]

We'll find out. This one's from NBC. Trump adviser and tech mogul Elon Musk suggested Wednesday that the U.S. government should privatize, quote, as much as possible, and named Amtrak in the US Postal Service is two services ripe for privatization. That's according to a source in the room. During a virtual appearance at a Stanley Morgan technology conference, Musk told attendees about his experiences riding bullet trains abroad and said, and I quote, and we come back to America, like, Amtrak is a sad situation. So there's that. I imagine she's going to privatize anything that he can get his hands on as long as it results in a contract for him from the federal government. Right now.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what the Supreme Court does, particularly about the postal Service, which is got a carve out in the Constitution. Next up from the Associated Press. Roughly 650 Marines, army and soldiers who were forced out of the military for refusing to get the COVID 19 vaccine have so far expressed interest in returning to the force under an executive order from Trump. That number represents about 8% of the 8,200 troops who had been discharged. Let's look at it another way. 92% of the people kicked the out of the military do not want to go back. The total offices say confirms military leaders early view that many troops had moved on with their lives. They had been allowed to rejoin since 2023. And Trump's order of providing back pay may be a factor in spurring a bit more interest now.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, we'll see. This one's from Politico. Trump convened his cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message. You're in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. Apparently he doesn't like what he said in front of Congress two nights ago. Or was that last night? I can't remember anymore. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of the administration that Elon was empowered to make recommendations to the departments, but not issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Well, maybe he should stop fucking doing it then. Musk also was in the room. He was in the room. Musk joined the conversation. Of course he did. And indicated he was on board with Trump's directive, according to one person familiar with the meeting. Musk acknowledged that Doji had made some missteps, a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress. This seems to be in response to all the judges saying Doji doesn't have authority to fire federal workers en masse. Oh, we made some missteps, but, oh, I'm hacking the system and letting my Doji bros get a hold of everyone's Social Security number, routing numbers, bank information. That might have been a mistake, but it's already done.

[Allison Gill]

So Musk said. We had made some missteps, but I thought that Amy Gleon was the leader of Doge. No?

[Dana Goldberg]

Maybe that was a misstep. One of the missteps was saying that Amy Gleason is the leader of Doge.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. And from national security counselors Trump and Bondi loyalists are currently making a bid to take over the D.C. bar. Her brother, Pam Bondi's brother, is running for president. And Alicia Long, who I believe is U.S. attorney Ed Martin's chief Deputy right now is running for Treasurer. The Bar has a big role in licensing and discipline, so very worth paying attention to. And if you have never thought about D.C. bar elections before, this might be the year to cast your vote or tell a friend. Voting opens April 15. Here's what the website says. The 2025 DC Bar General and Communities Elections will run from April 15 to June 4. Voting is exclusively online. Eligible voters are all active DC Bar members in good standing as of February 28 will receive an email link to the general election ballot as well as to the ballots for their D.C. bar communities from Direct Vote via Survey and Ballot Systems, an independent vendor administrating the 2025 D.C. bar elections.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. In this one, Alison and I were talking about this before we hit record. Both of us are very pissed off about this next story. This is from the Associated Press. California Governor Gavin Newsom, and he's a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. And I Not if I have anything

[Allison Gill]

to do with it.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nope. Neither of us. It would be a disaster. And he's done some good things for the state. This is not one of them. He used his inaugural episode of his new podcast to break from Progressives by speaking out against allowing transgender women and girls to compete in female sports. And last I checked, California is a fucking sanctuary state. Unless I made that up. You guys can correct me if you would like. I might be wrong on that. Newsom made his declaration in an extended conversation with conservative activist Charlie Kirk to 31 year old who built the influential Turning Point USA organization that helped President Trump increase his support last fall among the youngest generation of voters. Kirk, like Trump, has been a vocal opponent of allowing transgender women and girls to participate. Quote, I think it's an issue of fairness. Again, this is Newsom. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair. That's what Newsom told Kirk on. Quote, this is Gavin Newsom. Why the would he have Charlie Kirk as one of his first guests? And he went on to say, I'm not wrestling with the fairness issue, continued Newsom, who played varsity baseball as a college student. And he said, I totally agree with you. I revere sports. So the issue of fairness is completely legit.

[Allison Gill]

I'm just so mad.

[Dana Goldberg]

I am too. I. I really am. I. I don't. I don't. The backlash has been swift from the community. Very.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, boy.

[Dana Goldberg]

He.

[Allison Gill]

He needs to. I don't even know for me, for me. I don't even know if he can dig himself out of this hole in order to have me support him in any election.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, no, I, I, I agree with you. I mean, I don't even want to pontificate on the fact that, God forbid, he's the actual nominee. Of course, if he's up against, you know, J.D. vance's eyeliner, I'm going to vote for Newsom, but I just, I can't. I'm just so mad about this. Yeah, there's no reason, there's no reason to abandon this. Nope. You've got the full support of California, knowing that trans people are protected in the state more than most states, and they.

[Allison Gill]

Which means I think he's running for president.

[Dana Goldberg]

I just, I, I can't.

[Allison Gill]

I know. Me neither.

[Dana Goldberg]

Anyway.

[Allison Gill]

All right. Just not. That needs to be said. But trans people, we support you 100%. Giving up on 1/10 of 1% of rights will lead to 10% will lead to 100%. And for anybody who tells you that playing sports isn't a right, just show them to title nine for me.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I mean, let's be honest, anyone who dated Kimberly Guilfoyle, there's definitely something deeply wrong with them. Even if they seem like a good guy.

[Allison Gill]

At least she kind of. You know what? We're not going to talk about her looks. We're not going to do it. No, I'm not going to be baited.

[Dana Goldberg]

I just think she's a little bit crazy.

[Allison Gill]

She's changed a little. We'll just say that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, she has changed a little. There you go.

[Allison Gill]

All right, we have a lot more news to get to. We have to hit the hot notes, but first, we're going to take a quick break, so stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. Hi, I'm Francis Collier.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Angela V. Shelton.

[Allison Gill]

And we're Frangela.

[Dana Goldberg]

You know what, you mean in your life, the Final Word podcast.

[Allison Gill]

Yes, you do.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's right. It is the final word on all things political and pop cultural, where we

[Allison Gill]

make real news, real funny, where we

[Dana Goldberg]

inspire you so you can resist.

[Allison Gill]

Subscribe and get a new episode of the Final Word podcast each week.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's the news we think you need to hear. That's right. We think you need to hear it. Okay. Yeah. It's what we say, so. That's right. And because all we do is give. Every Thursday, you can listen to our hysterical podcast, Idiot of the Week. We round up the stupid. Because you know what? Somebody has to.

[Allison Gill]

Okay? All we do is give. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for Hot Notes. Hot notes all right, first up from Gerstein at Politico, A federal watchdog for government workers is thrown in the towel in his legal fight against President Trump and his attempt to fire him. A day after federal appeals court's panel allowed Trump to proceed with his plan to remove special counsel Hampton Dellinger, Dellinger issued a statement saying he's dropping his lawsuit challenging his dismissal, quote, I think my odds of ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court are long, he said. Dellinger was appointed by former President Joe Biden, was in the midst of serving a five year term as the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which is an independent agency in the executive branch that investigates whistleblower complaints and alleged violations of civil service laws. His battle to hold onto his post mushroomed into a larger showdown in recent days as he petitioned a civil service board to block the Trump administration's efforts to fire 5,000 federal workers who are in probationary status. On Wednesday, Dellinger won an order reinstating more than 5,000 fired agricultural department workers for at least 45 days. He appeared to be moving to seek similar relief for tens of thousands of other fired employees at other federal agencies when the U.S. court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit issued a ruling Wednesday night that allowed Trump's firing for Dillinger to take effect temporarily. But before the D.C. circuit's ruling, Dillinger had won a series of orders from U.S. district Judge Amy Berman Jackson allowing him to remain in his post after Trump first tried to fire him February 7th. Jackson concluded that Trump violated federal law that limits his ability to fire the special counsel without cause. The Trump administration fought one of those orders all the way to the Supreme Court, which turned down the Justice Department's request for relief at the early stage, but did not weigh in on the broader legal issue, the president's power to fire all executive branch officials for any reason, even those who are protected by law from arbitrary termination. Some legal experts said Dellinger's case might be a weaker vehicle to challenge Trump's firing powers than those involving some other executive branch officials whom Trump has tried to fire. And that's because Dellinger was the singular head of the Office of Special Counsel, while some of the other officials are members of multi member panels like the Merit Systems Protection Board, right? Or the National Labor Relations Board. Nlrb, Right. Courts have traditionally found Congress has more power to shield the heads of multi member agencies from presidential control. In his statement Thursday, Dellinger took aim at the D.C. circuit's decision. He said, I think the circuit judges erred badly because their willingness to sign off on my ouster, even if presented as possibly temporary, immediately erases the independence that Congress provided for my position, a vital protection that has been accepted as lawful for nearly 50 years, Dellinger said. As the legal fight over Dellinger continues, or continued, I should say past tense, DOJ lawyers seized on his advocacy for the fired workers as evidence that he was undermining Trump's agenda. No, he was protecting the law. As he announced his decision to drop his legal fight, Dellinger stressed his independence and said he'd warned Biden and the Biden administration officials before taking the job that he would take a nonpartisan approach. Quote, I posed one question before saying yes, you know I can't and won't swallow my whistle, right? That's what Dellinger said. My point was that I was going to follow and enforce the rules like an honest referee would, even if some might perceive it as against the interests of certain individuals, including the president. So we're going to go over this in more depth on next week's cleanup on all 45. But I'm bummed, but I think he's what he's trying to say, Dana, is I think the NLRB cases and the Merit Systems Protection Board cases have a better chance with this Supreme Court because they aren't the head of their agency.

[Dana Goldberg]

Understood. Thank you for that. This one is from the Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration has stopped using military aircraft to fly migrants who entered the US Illegally to Guantanamo Bay or other countries. This is what the defense officials said. President Trump has made a crackdown on illegal immigration, a focus of his second term. But using military aircraft to transport some migran to their home countries or to a military base at Guantanamo Bay has proved expensive and inefficient. This is what the Wall Street Journal has reported. The last military deportation flight was March 1. The Pentagon said Tuesday that no flights were scheduled for the next 48 hours. A flight scheduled for Thursday was canceled. A defense official said the pause on such flights could be extended or made permanent. Soon after Trump took office in January, his administration began using military aircraft for flights traditionally handled by the Department of Homeland Security to transfer some migrants to other countries and to US Military facilities at Guantanamo Bay. The administration wanted the military flights to send a message about its intent to get tough on immigrants in the country illegally. Now this is a quote, the message is clear. If you break the law, if you are a criminal, you'll find your way to Guantanamo Bay. I wonder if Trump's on his way soon since he has 34 fucking felony counts anyway. That's what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week after watching migrants arrive on a C130 aircraft during a visit to Guantanamo Bay. He said, you don't want to be at Guantanamo Bay. That's what Kegseth said. The Trump administration has conducted roughly 30 migrant flights using C17 aircraft and about a dozen on the C130s. That's according to flight tracking data. Destinations included India, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Panama, and Guantanamo Bay. But the military flights have taken longer routes and transported fewer migrants at a high cost to taxpayers than the government's typical deportation flights on civilian aircraft. Three deportation flights into India cost about $3 million each.

[John Fugal Sang]

Wow.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. Some flights carried a dozen people to Guantanamo at a cost of at least $20,000 for a migrant. That's what the Journal's analysis showed. A standard U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement flight cost $8,500 per flight hour. And that's according to government webpage. Former ICE officials told the Journal the figure is closer to 17,000 per flight hour for international trips.

[Allison Gill]

I can fly there for, like, 800 bucks.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, well, you know, it's a mystery. It cost about 28, 500 per hour to fly a C17, which is designed to carry heavy cargo and troops. And that's according to U. S Transportation Comm. Which provided the aircraft for this. So, yeah, I mean, also he had this, you know, deportation president. He has deported less immigrants that are coming into this country illegally than the Biden administration did in the first two months of his term.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, but, you know, like, he wants to use big military toys, of course, to compensate for other things.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure you. Well, that. And we know that. I'm sure there's, you know, people that are going to benefit from his. The contracts, whoever the contracts are with the military to use the military planes.

[Allison Gill]

But we're cutting costs. We're cutting fraud, waste, and abuse. It's. You'll have tears in your eyes like it's never been seen. Yeah, that's just ridiculous. So they're stopping that. Okay. Next up from the post, President Trump is set to issue an executive order directing his newly confirmed education Secretary to work to close the department. She now leads. A draft of the executive order that circulated Wednesday recognizes that the president does not have the power to shutter the Education Department. It would actually take an act of Congress and 60 yes votes in the Senate, which is unlikely given that Republicans hold only 53 seats. Rather, the draft calls on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to, quote, take all the necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law. Officials including McMahon have suggested that might include trying to shift some of the agency's functions to other parts of the government, though that would also face legal hurdles because the agency's major programs are assigned by law to the Education Department. More likely is a continuation of what's already begun at the agency deep cuts to staff programs and grants. The department has already warned of a very significant reduction in force. The draft was labeled pre decisional. One person familiar with the matter confirmed that the draft was legitimate, but cautioned that its details could change before it is issued. The White House declined to comment. And usually when things are labeled pre decisional, they label them that way so that they don't have to respond to FOIA requests. People familiar with the situation expected Trump to sign the order as early as Thursday. But on Thursday, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said on Twitter that the signing was not happening that day. It was unclear when Trump would sign the order. The department administers federal grant programs, including $18.4 billion Title 1 programs that provide supplemental funding to high poverty K12 schools, as well as $15.5 billion that helps cover the cost of education for students with disabilities. The department also oversees the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program and sets rules for what colleges must do to participate. The aspiration to close the Education Department is no surprise. Trump campaigned on closing the agency, and hours before being confirmed by the Senate on Monday, McMahon emailed staff about their final mission, a clear reference to the end of the department. Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation for Teachers, denounced the entire approach to the department, quote, trying to abolish it, which, by the way, only Congress can do, sends a message that the president doesn't care about opportunity for all kids. That's what she said in a statement Wednesday night, and went on to say no one likes bureaucracy and everyone's in favor favor of more efficiency, so let's find a way to accomplish that. I like bureaucracy anyway. In her confirmation hearing, McMahon agreed with Democrats that the administration can't close the agency on its own. But she suggested some of the agency's functions could move elsewhere to the government. However, like I said, even those moves would require congressional action. The 1979 law that established the department specifies that the agency shall include many of its major responsibilities, including an office for Civil Rights and an office of elementary and Secondary Education. You can't just move those out. If Congress says that you can't.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God. All right, last I'm gonna get so overwhelmed with all this. You guys know, okay, last, last in the segment. This is the last one in this Billion story episode is from Rolling Stone. Even among the many lies and distortions in President Donald Trump's never ending address to Congress on Tuesday evening, there was one claim that stood out. The chief executive of the United States told the country that the so called Department Government Efficiency Dogi had uncovered an outrageous expenditure authorized by the previous administration. This is what I was talking about before. A whopping $8 million for making mice transgender. The number like so many offered by the oligarchy, Lon Musk's government gutting pet project was essentially pulled out of thin air. Now Doji has been forced to delete many receipts of the supposed billions in wasteful spending it has identified because of absurd errors in its reporting. Like last, for instance, it touted the cancellation of an $8 billion contract that was in fact worth 8 million with an M, not a B. Now as for the quote unquote transgender mice, it's possible that the Trump regime's sweeping efforts to root out language associated with diversity, equity and inclusion led them to health studies that involved transgenic mice. Lab research mice that have been genetically altered to better model human disease response. They have been called, quote, a revolutionary resource for medical advancements. Yet the White House fucking doubled down today on Trump's line, sharing a government webpage that declared in a slightly more nuanced phrasing quote, yes, Biden spent millions on transgender animal experiments. As is typical of Dochi, the page tallies up spending in a completely misleading way in order to arrive at an arbitrary number. One line item for more than $3 million was research examining how, quote, sex specific inflammatory mechanisms controlled by Horm may contribute to asthma and whether estrogens account for a higher prevalence of the chronic lung disease in women. A different hormone study priced at $1.2 million indeed used transgenic, not transgender mice. About $2.5 million went to a fertility study. Another project looked at how gender hormones affect the gut microbium of mice of the higher related research that does address transgender health. There's a $300,000 analysis of breast cancer risk for female to male trans individuals taking testosterone. Again, the mice used for clinical purposes did not undergo gender transition. I love that this is what the story keeps restating. Now, it certainly appears okay that the president's anti DEI forces simply flagged a random selection of national institutions of the health material that included some combination of hormones, mice gender and words with prefix quot unquote trans. Then rolled this all up into the dumbest, down talking fucking point that Trump used on Tuesday night right after he said it. And. And people, some people laughed and the audience was like, what? He goes, it's true. This is true. It's happening now. Asked if they could substantiate his comment, the White House referred back to the same cobbled together list of studies. So you can rest easy knowing that the millions of taxpayer dollars were not frittered away on some quote, unquote, woke experiment to impose new gender identities on lab rodents. All of the spending cited was, of course, in the interest of improving human health, because that's what medical researchers do.

[Allison Gill]

All right, so transgenic. Now he thinks we're.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes.

[Allison Gill]

Transitioning mice. Right.

[Dana Goldberg]

He thought asylum seekers.

[Allison Gill]

Asylum seekers came from insane asylums.

[Dana Goldberg]

Visa.

[Allison Gill]

The visas. Yep. The credit. Yeah. Credit cards. They were giving credit cards to immigrants. It's disgraceful. Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I can't figure out, there's two things happening here. Either they keep doing this because the base believes it, and they're like, oh, my God, transgender mice. Ba, ba, ba. Or, and I think this is probably more the case here, someone else wrote a speech. Several people looked over the speech and they knew he was going to say this out loud. And they're fucking laughing at him. He is their useful idiot. There's smart people around that. Man. Man. He's not one of them.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I think it was, you know, search. Do a critical word search for anything that has the word trans in it. Now, guess what, though? Do you think Trans Ams are in trouble? Do you think Smokey from Smokey and the Bandit or the Bandit, excuse me,

[Dana Goldberg]

is I bet you the Trans Siberian Orchestra is not paying it. Playing at the, you know, the place in Washington, that's for sure.

[Allison Gill]

Yep. Yep. And how are we going to do about this?

[Dana Goldberg]

Hold on, Allison.

[Allison Gill]

Transatlantic flag.

[Dana Goldberg]

Could you imagine if he accidentally actually canceled the Trans Siberian Orchestra if they were going to play? What? What did he take over? He's the board of the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center. If the Trans Siberian Orchestra was going to perform at the Kennedy center and they pulled the concert because of the name, I could totally see this happening.

[Allison Gill]

Yep, yep. Anything with the word trans in it. Trans fats. We can't study those anymore.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nope, nope, nope.

[Allison Gill]

For sure. Well, I want to think so. Hey, for before your good news, we're going to get to the good news after I talk to John Fugal saying, send in all the trans things that you think are going to get banned over the next couple of months. We'd love to hear from you.

[Dana Goldberg]

And you know what? Also, please, if there's someone in the community that is identifies as such and feels like this is offensive in any way, give us a gentle correction and say, hey, maybe not do this, because Alice and I might have a blind spot on this, but please know that we are are making fun of the other side's ignorance.

[Allison Gill]

This is just so ridiculous. Yeah, and, and, and there is a really dangerous issue at the core of it. Yeah, right. Going through to pull out anything that is diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility, including anything that has to do with transgender people. Because, I mean, you know, yes, the, these transgenic rodent studies were ceased, but I'm sure any other actual, really important research on transge has stopped.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, exactly.

[Allison Gill]

And, and so I, yeah, I, I, we should be clear. We want to recognize the seriousness of this, but just the absolute idiocy of, of either purposefully going after anything that has trans in the title or not understanding that transgenic doesn't have anything to do with transgender people. It's just, it's, whatever it is, it's both evil and idiotic. And as per usual, as we say. All right, we have John Fugal saying up next, followed by the good news. Again, send your good news to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. We'll be right back after these messages.

[John Fugal Sang]

We'll be right back.

[Amanda Sturgill]

It's no surprise that newsmakers try to manipulate the audience. They want you to believe that they are the one holding the line, and they'll use any trick they can to get you there. But don't let them fool you. Get unspun. I'm Amanda Sturgill. I've been a reporter, and today I teach future reporters to cut the spin and think critically about what newsmakers say. My podcast, unspun, shows you how to know when you're being manipulated by the news. Learn to spot the tricks, and how to make up your own mind about what's true. So if you're tired of being fooled by the news, subscribe to UNSPUN today. Unspun because you deserve the truth.

[John Fugal Sang]

Foreign.

[Allison Gill]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans, which means it's fugal saying Fridays. You have a whole day named after you on this show, my friend. You can hear them on Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127. It's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, and of course, if you don't have Sirius, you can always catch them on the John Fugal saying show podcast. My good friend John Fugal saying, hey, hey.

[John Fugal Sang]

I'm such an alliteration whore. You nailed it. I've got like five Fs in alliteration in my book title. Yes, I will take the mantle of Feeble Sang Friday and try to do it justice. Hello, Dr. Gill. Hello, everyone out there. My God, I'm glad you're all still here.

[Allison Gill]

Sir. You don't have to call me doctor. Only Republican white men have to call me Doctor.

[John Fugal Sang]

So

[Allison Gill]

you could just call me Allison or Ag. But I'm really excited to talk to you today because four weeks, for weeks now, in lawsuits, in court, on the Internet, we've been trying to figure out who's in charge of Doge, the so called Department of Government Efficiency. We call it Dodgy or Douche Doge Bags. We have all sorts of names for it.

[John Fugal Sang]

Incel Clown Posse. Don't forget that one. Incel Clown Posse. Continue, please.

[Allison Gill]

The Incel Clown Posse is good. I remember when Rudy and Parnas and Fruman were hanging out with Firtash, trying to frame the Bidens in Ukraine and we called them the Ukraine Clown Posse.

[John Fugal Sang]

Nice, nice.

[Allison Gill]

With the shadow government, they are trying to get rid of Masha Yovanovitch and all that. But anyway, weeks we've been trying to figure out who's running up, who's heading up Doge. And then because in court, the Department of Justice lawyers are like, I don't even know. I don't know. I don't know, man. I think it's because they don't want to lie to the court. They don't want to lose their credibility with the court, and nobody can quite figure it out. And then Nosferatu, AKA Pee Wee German, also known as Stephen Miller, goes on Fox News and says, no, no, no, no, no. Musk works as an advisor in the White House and isn't in charge of Doge. And then they come up with, I don't know how, but this lady named Amy Gleason is in charge at Doge. She's the acting administrator. And you don't need an acting administrator at Doge because you don't have to have them Senate confirmed. So I'm not quite sure why they went from, oh, she's the director to she's the acting director, probably because when they called her up when she was on vacation in Mexico, she was like, I'm the what?

[John Fugal Sang]

Exactly.

[Allison Gill]

So now, at the address, state of the whatever or Congress thing, Trump says that Musk is in charge of Doge. But today he gathered all of his Cabinet members today to tell them, no, no, no, no, no. You're in charge of ruining people's lives, not Elon Musk. So I think this is just a response to all of the court battles. Judge Alp saying that the, you know, OPM can't fire people. DOGE can't fire people. Only people in an agency can fire people. So now that we have these rogue DOGE people in each agency, and they're the ones responsible for all the rifts and mass layoffs and illegal terminations. So what are your thoughts on this? Because Musk was in that Cabinet meeting today when Trump was like, he's not in charge.

[John Fugal Sang]

Well, you know, you're right. I mean, it's corrupt, it's illegal, it's immoral. We're seeing these completely unqualified bureaucrats who nobody voted for, firing people and destroying careers recklessly. And this is why it's so important that Congressman Al Green be held responsible for his disgraceful behavior during Donald Trump's campaign.

[Allison Gill]

I'm so glad they censured him today.

[John Fugal Sang]

I'm so glad 10 Democrats had the guts to stand up to a guy who had the guts to stand up to the guy they should be standing up to.

[Allison Gill]

Every single one of them should have done what Al Green did. Make them, make them file 216 or 215 censures.

[John Fugal Sang]

I listen, I'm not going to defend his behavior. I'm going to defend how it made people feel in their hearts. This is what we want to see. Let's point out that Joe Wilson can stand up during a State of the Union Union and yell, you lie at the black guy and faces no repercussions. Let's not forget Byron Donalds and the gruesome twosome of Marge and Boebert berating Joe Biden. And let's not also forget that old Joe Biden held a master class at handling hecklers the last time he was doing that very speech. But, man, baby, oh, we gotta throw out an old man with a cane. We have to call the Sergeant at arms and have him removed from the room. This is how weak they are. This is how weak they are. And. And they backed down like he backed down with Matt Gaetz. So they're scared. Look at the town halls. They're running and they're scared. So I didn't mean to get off track, but what Al Green did was what we all wanted to see when they were in the treasury going through your parents records and we saw these helpless, impotent Democrats outside, dozens of them with one skinny bald schmuck standing as security guard, keeping them from entering the building. Building. And these dozens and dozens of Democrats were helpless to get into the people's treasury because this one dude, I wanted to see one goddamn Democrat push his way through and get punched in the face. I wanna see a Democrat with the guts of John Lewis who was willing to get punched in the face just to remind us all that people are out there fighting for us. So God bless Al Green. I don't understand what's up with Moskowitz and these Democrats who are more angry at him than they are at Trump or they are with Musk and, and with the Musk thing. I mean, to me the biggest question is, wasn't it for Elon to destroy Social Security? I get the rest of it. I get that he's trying to get rid of his competitors, he wants to tank NASA. I get that everyone who's investigating him, he wants off his back. He wants no competition, no regulation, no oversight. He wants to be the ultimate Bond villain. I don't understand what's in it for Elon to get rid of Social Security because it really seems like he's helping Trump do what the Republican Party has tried to do since 1935. For 90 years, 90 years we've had this safety net. And for 90 years the Republican Party has been at war. They've been coming for your retirement money. As George Carlin said In the beginning, 90 years ago, when FDR did it, they called it socialism. They said it would lead to doomsday. Then you had Reagan putting out a record in the 60s, saying that it would lead to total government control of citizens lives. You had Barry Goldwater saying it should be voluntary. George W. Bush's greatest failure was that he tried to privatize it. That was the one thing Bush did not get away with pulling off. And now Trump has Elon Musk helping him to make up fraud. Which high school students are on TikTok proving that there's not 300 year old people getting checks out there. And they found a new way. Donald Trump really is the third fucking Bush presidency and Elon Musk is helping them do this. So it doesn't really matter, right, what his rank is, his title is oligarchy. That's it. The mask is off now. And if anything good comes of this, it's going to be that a lot of hard working white people are going to finally learn that word.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. And you know, we, we, we saw this coming. We. Anybody who read Project 20, 25, we know the end goal. The end goal is to break government apart, privatize it, give the contracts to the oligarchs so that they can make money and try to balance the budget on the backs of our entitlements and. Yeah, so that they can have tax breaks, more tax breaks, by eating up all of the money that we pay into these programs. That's it. It's always been that way. They've never wanted anyone to do well. They want to keep the 98% down. And this is, you know, they might have finally found a way to do it by buying an election and installing autocracy.

[John Fugal Sang]

Oh, no, no. Donald Trump said, elon doesn't have to be doing this. He's doing this because he cares so much, much about government waste. He cares. He spent his whole life wanting to do something about government waste and fraud

[Allison Gill]

and now he spent his whole life wanting to come in and cancel all the NASA stuff and cancel.

[John Fugal Sang]

All he wanted to do was he hated. He spent all that, all that time growing up as an apartheid millionaire brat just caring about American government waste. I mean, it's like Gandhi, if Gandhi had hair plugs and chin surgery.

[Allison Gill]

But it's, you know, and Dana and I talked yesterday about the Democratic response to the joint session speech rally or whatever. State of the.

[John Fugal Sang]

State of the. State of the Kremlin.

[Allison Gill]

State of the oligarchy.

[John Fugal Sang]

State of the Kremlin.

[Allison Gill]

State of the Kremlin. You know, they wore pink and held up signs. And that's not the energy we need, the Al Green energy.

[John Fugal Sang]

It's all of the above. I like the signs. All of the above all.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, I didn't. They're better than no signs.

[John Fugal Sang]

And by the way, if they're all going to walk out, God bless you, Maxwell Frost and Bernie and Jasmine and everyone who walked out. But if the camera's on, on you, your statement means nothing. So you're allowed to make some noise on the way out.

[Allison Gill]

Right? Well, here's the problem. It's the leadership told everybody, sit in your seat. Decorum is important. Don't, you know, be a Boebert. Don't be a mtg. And when leadership tells you to do that, and if you defy that leadership, that prevents you from getting committee ships, leadership positions from advancing anywhere.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah, but that prevents you from being

[Allison Gill]

great, then that's how. Then that's why and how it happened.

[John Fugal Sang]

Stay cautious. Stay cautious, Democrats. That's what we need right now. Yeah, look out for yourself.

[Allison Gill]

But I mean, that's, you know, that's why, you know, if you. We. We learned a really big lesson when AOC did not get her committee, you know, ranking member.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

For oversight.

[John Fugal Sang]

Stupid.

[Allison Gill]

Because she was defying what leadership wanted. And so they. They're walking this tightrope where, well, if I get up and make noise, I won't be able to be on a powerful committee to do good things. Because I kept out of that. By the old guard. That. And when I say old guard, I don't mean age. I mean ID ideology. Yeah, yeah, that. That doesn't like performance, doesn't like viral moments. But the. The one moment that came out of that whole thing was Al Green's moment. That picture of him with the hammer is just. It's one that'll be in the history books. And if you want to get in the history books, you got to do stuff like that.

[John Fugal Sang]

When your party is controlling, told by wealthy consultants who prefer private jet travel on their donor salaries, they're not going to rock the boat. They're not going to reward the people who inspire. The consultants who control this party are there to put forth the least objectionable characters for the cameras and take their checks and leave. Mark Penn is not about winning elections for Democrats. He was about getting paid. AOC is a person that inspires people to want to get out and vote. These are people, you know, like. And I think Pelosi knew how to work with AOC better than any Democratic president or Secretary Clinton knew how to work with Bernie. You know, I'll say Bernie. Bernie made so many appearances for Hillary Clinton. But like AOC and Nancy, Pelosi really had a thing going where they knew when they would deliberately butt heads for the good of the party, because you want to show that. And when they present a unified front. I think a lot of us want to see that from the Democratic Party. What we don't want to see is the skittishness. And the skittishness is understandable. Right. I mean, it's. No one knows what's going on yet. It's a scary time. But you've got a majority of Americans who didn't vote for this and are horrified and appalled and need to be inspired. So I'm not going to fault them for sanctioning Al Green. Who gives a damn? I mean, I'm glad he did it. If it's wrong, then he'll take his punishment. Punishment. That's it. Democrats. He got sanctioned and he said he. And he did it. And they wag their fingers at him and look what happened. He got CENSURED that's it. That's it. And he's a hero to millions. And Democrats voted to censor him. And those people, most of them will never know their names. No, Democrats who serve for years and you never know who they are.

[Allison Gill]

I'd be like, oh, no, I've been censured. Like, okay, next, Like, I don't know.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah, but that's where we're at. Donald Trump know, Allison, we did something on, on SiriusXM the other night. I, I said, I went to my bosses and they said, what do you want to do for this? You want to have comedians or have a panel afterwards? I said, no, I want to do live fact checking. I, I, I want to do what I wish TV news would do. TV news can do it with graphics and not have to talk, but it's radio. We had to. So I brought on Max Burns from the Hill of Newsweek, and he and I fact checked the fuck out of that speech in real time. We talked over Trump when we could. We waited for one of the applause breaks to catch people up on all the lies, but we didn't wait, wait. And we're a couple of mooks. If we can do this on the radio, cable news can do it with graphics and not speak, step over the content. But what we have instead is the system where Donald Trump can just give out lie after lie, this angry, petulant, sneering campaign speech packed with lies. He said nothing of value worth quoting. He unveiled no new policies. And yet the guy who told the truth, the guy who stand up and said, you don't have a mandate state, that's the guy who was punished. And the lies got lengthy applause breaks. This is some bullshit. And I want Democrats to start fighting back harder, nonviolent resistance. Because I'm at a place now where I'm afraid Luigi Mangione is going to become a verb. And I don't want to see the left resort to violence because they've given up on their leadership fighting.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, yeah, but there are some, some really great opposition party folks out there, and global bubbly, too. I mean, I'm thinking of Zelensky standing up for himself in the Oval Office last week. I don't know if we talked about that the last time you and I talked.

[John Fugal Sang]

That happened on Friday.

[Allison Gill]

So that happened on Friday, but that was a pretty remarkable moment.

[John Fugal Sang]

I mean, the mask's off, right? I'm really ready for the media to stop using the words peace treaty or peace agreement. It's not, not, it's a surrender agreement. That's all.

[Allison Gill]

The only peace agreement would be to. For Russia to get out of Ukraine.

[John Fugal Sang]

That's it. The only way you have peace is when Vladimir Putin gets what my grandma used to call the out of the country you have no business being in. That's the only way the violence ends. And Donald Trump, because he is an unmanly supplicant, is not able to say these things. And Marco Rubio, who is an unmanly supplicant, has not been able to say these things since January 20th of this year. I expect it from Lindsey Graham. He's always, when it comes to being spineless, stood tall wherever the wind blows. But this is the Ronald Reagan Republican Party that raised me, and I remember that they hated me because I didn't hate Russian people. And now they hate me because I don't like what the Russian leaders are doing. And it's catastrophic. It is surrender and to have these people on the right. And your listeners will have this experience with the trolls. They're all now trying to say, oh, you liberals, you say you hate war, but you. But look, you just want war to keep going on. Liberals. Trump's got a peace deal. You know, it's like Hitler wants peace, but Poland keeps fighting back. Hitler's. Hitler's got a peace deal. Poland won't stop. And that's what this is. Ten years ago, these people didn't understand what appeasement was. We're actually witnessing it right now with Trump. Hitler and I had a wonderful talk. Basically, Treaty of Versailles, terrible deal. Sudetenland was basically a sanctuary city. Anyway, this is all sleepy Churchill's fault, because only losers fight back. This is not negotiation. This is the art of the kneel. This is turning our back on an ally, turning our back on a treaty we signed in 1994, along with the UK and Russia, promising that if Ukraine gave up their nukes, we'd always protect them. Russia violated it, and now we're violating it, too. And this is abandoning democracy and it's abandoning freedom. Alison, these motherfuckers don't get to talk about freedom ever again. They are on the side of Vladimir Putin's slaughter and rape. They are on the side of pulling these poor bastards out of North Korean prisons to be cannon fodder on the front lines. They're on the side of all of this destruction and death of children, and they've got a dick to accuse liberals of being pro war. No, liberals have always been consistent. We opposed Bush's illegal, amoral war against a smaller country that Never attacked. Attacked him. And we oppose Putin's illegal immoral war against a smaller country than never attacked them. Completely consistent. And the right wing supported it when Bush did it. They supported when Putin did it. Try this with your trolls. Get them to say what Putin did is wrong. They can't do it. I mean, these people are in a cult, and you know it better than me. I ask them all the time, can you write this sentence? If Donald Trump or his kids knowingly broke the law, they deserve to be punished. Can you write that sentence? They can't do it. We're up against the cult right now. And I think that's why people are so. And again, Democrats are fighting back. I know they have no power. It's all going to come down to the budget deal. And I'm terrified, Alison, that they don't have it in them to play chicken on this.

[Allison Gill]

Same.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah, but Zelensky showed how it's done. And that little brat, that little brat J.D. vance, that thirsty little bitch. Gandhi would knock the eyeliner off his pudgy face. Gandhi would smack him.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, it was hard to watch. Especially Marco Rubio sinking into the couch.

[John Fugal Sang]

Oh, he sank so far into the couch. I thought JD might be.

[Allison Gill]

JD was gonna fuck him. Right? Yeah, I think we shared that joke.

[John Fugal Sang]

What did you call Stephen Miller, by the way? You had a Nosferatu. What did you call him?

[Allison Gill]

Peewee German.

[John Fugal Sang]

Peewee German. That's nice. I call him the Gerbil Gerbils. But I think I like yours.

[Allison Gill]

That's good.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah, there we go. It's good to have these things.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. You always got to have these names in your back pocket. Because ridicule is one of the best tools we can use against this regime. Yeah, man. I don't know. Know what next week is going to look like. These massive rifts are coming down. 45,000 IRS employees. 83,000 Department of Veterans affairs employees. It used to be a third rail.

[John Fugal Sang]

You believe it. And again, 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. Veterans.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah. So it's. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

[John Fugal Sang]

I was all for hurting people I didn't care about, but now you're hurting people that look like me.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[John Fugal Sang]

This is what it is. And it's going to have to get worse before it gets better.

[Allison Gill]

Timothy Snider is saying that he. He think. And he's an expert on tyranny, as we know. He wrote on tyranny, thinks that there's a shift happening where we're kind of taking our eyes off the culture war and putting it more on the class war where it belongs.

[John Fugal Sang]

Yeah, it has to happen.

[Allison Gill]

These billionaires, we'll see how that turns out for Trump. But see, if he pulls the postal service up under the Department of Commerce and takes control of it, then we're gonna, he's gonna screw up mail in voting and that's gonna make our elections that much more difficult and it's gonna put more vets.

[John Fugal Sang]

Well, I'm sorry, but it's true. We're gonna have to get to a place where we just gotta convince hardworking white people that the guy with the golden toilet doesn't have your best interests at heart. But this is the historical struggle.

[Allison Gill]

I mean it has to happen to them before.

[John Fugal Sang]

The plantation owners will always sucker the hard working white folks into fighting their own battles for them. It's the oldest story in America.

[Allison Gill]

Yes, speaking to George Carlin, he talked about that frequently. Thank you my friend. I hope everybody tunes in to tell me everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127 weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific, and of course the John Fegal Sang show podcast. Always good to talk to you my friend. We will see you next week on Fel Sang Fridays. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good

[Dana Goldberg]

news after these messages.

[John Fugal Sang]

We'll be right back.

[Allison Gill]

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

[John Fugal Sang]

Everyone? Then good news everyone.

[Allison Gill]

Good news, good news. And if you have any good news confessions corrections, you want to give a shout out to somebody, whether it's a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or some great community activism or some good trouble you want to send to us, please do. If you have any shout outs to government programs that have helped you or a loved one, whether it's some great VA health care, we're about to lose 83,000 VA employees. A third of them them are veterans themselves. Or if you've had any great experience with anything like WIC or snap, Medicaid, Medicare, Affordable Care act, student debt forgiveness, send that all to us. And all you got to do to get your good news submission in is attach a photo of your pod pet, pay your pod pet tax, and if you don't have a pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We can try to find him a forever home. If you don't have that, any animal photo will do. We're also doing bird watching for the foreseeable future, which is either a photo of an actual bird or a photo of you and your family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk properties. And if you don't have any of that baby pictures. We always, always, always welcome baby pictures. Whether you as a baby or your babies as babies or just random babies. Send them. Send them to us Daily Beanspot. Com Yep. Babies babies babies 24 hour babies non stop babies dailybeanspot.com click on contact. First up, Amy Pronoun she and her this photo is like a Hallmark card card. First of all, she says hello my favorite bean Beanie Babies. I hope you're well and taking good care of yourselves. We need you. I took the Heritage foundation survey and was proud to use the name Yura. Seeing the thank you Ura at the end made my day for pet tax. Here are a couple photos of the kittens I found in a ditch just before Halloween. In the awkward family photo, we have Chloe looking very put upon. Vander and Jinx all lounging beneath my father's prize dogs playing poker tap Tapestry. Vander is very sweet with a dark side and Jinx is just nuts. Thanks for helping me start my day in a better mood. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm permanently cranky. Love you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, this is crazy. Kitties, kitties, kitties, kitties. Oh, the last one. That's so.

[Allison Gill]

These are very serious kitties.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. Cuddling kitties.

[Allison Gill]

Cute.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. This is from Nick. Pronouns he and him. Good day, Allison and Dana. Today I'm riding into Shout out out the pip squeakery. Is that right? The pip squeakery. I think I got that right. They're an animal rescue based in Bloomington, Indiana who does a lot of good work helping our fuzzy little friends. They recently helped rescue well over 200 rats from a bad situation. And that's not. Sorry. And that's. Yeah, I don't. I don't. I don't even know what's the bad situation. I don't know. I know they probably Indiana Jones movie. What happened Possibly. That's not even the first triple digit rodent rescue they've done this year. Oh my God. They don't just take pet either. They rehabilitate both wildlife and domestic animals such as squirrels, goats, possums, groundhogs and beavers. I also rehabilitate beavers Countdown. Because that says countdown to Dana's joke. It didn't even take a three, two, one. It took a half a second. Among other animals, one such beaver. Yes. Let's continue with this. Named Agnes has recently become an ambassador to the public for the Pipsqueakeries mission and gets to live the high life riding around in a stroll ruler. I'm not really in a place to be able to donate to this valuable operation right now, but after seeing about the rats, I thought I should light the bean signal to alert the Legumiverse to these wonderful people and their efforts to help animals. You can learn more about [e-mail] Pipsqueakery.org

[Allison Gill]

I think it's the.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes, it's the Pipsqueakery. Make sure you put the in there. We're gonna have a link to this in the show notes anyway. And. Or once you've given John Oliver your RA erotica, follow them on Facebook. There's going to be a link to that as well. Now, on a completely different note, I'd like to explain sovereign immunity. Okay. It essentially is quote king language, as Allison put it in that it's a legal doctrine that holds that the state itself is immune from suit, except in cases where the state has waived that immunity. While it sounds like bullshit speaking as someone with a degree in said bull, it definitely has a good reason to exist, at least to a degree. If it didn't, cranks would constantly be filing nuance. Excuse me, new nuisance suits against the federal and state governments and nothing would ever get done. Right, that makes sense. As pet tax, I first include Agnes the Spokes beaver from the pics the Pip squeaker.

[Allison Gill]

Okay, the second sentence. Agnes the spokes beaver from the Pip squeakery.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep, that's right.

[Allison Gill]

Is going to go down in history as one of the coolest things I've ever said.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love it. I want to hug her. I also sometimes want to hug beavers, which is entirely possible because in case you haven't seen one in person, beavers are much bigger than they look in picture.

[Allison Gill]

Stop it.

[Dana Goldberg]

I mean, you guys send dick pics. Why not? I also, of course, include my innocent orange angel Megan in the bonus Find the cat. He managed to look less than majestic for once when I caught him in a blip. The cat you were looking for is of course not our big orange boy, but our small void Baby Girl. Oh, girl. Actually, the group. I'm sorry. The cat's name is Baby Void Girl. Baby. Hold on. The void girl ever the cat's name is Baby. I feel drunk. Keep up the good work and once again, thanks for all that you do. I. You know what's funny is I don't lose my during the news because it's so sad, but I have no problem losing my shit during the good news. And then yeah, this person ends with that goes for not just you, but the rest of the Leguma verse as well. So it says keep up the good work and this is awesome. The cat does fit. The black cat fits right in on that black blanket.

[Allison Gill]

Oh my God, the beaver.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God. Okay, I'm not sure I knew that's what a beaver's face was look like up close. And get the n. Get the load of the nails on that thing.

[Allison Gill]

Yeah, look at the claws.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my balls.

[Allison Gill]

Adorable. Agnes. The spokes beaver from the Pip Squeakery. The royal ginger. Very handsome. And the void is looks very soft. Thank you so much. What a great submission, Nick. I appreciate that so much. Everybody, Pip squeakery links in the notes. Next up, Anonymous. No pronouns. Shout out to Quincy mountain, who in 2020 was the first openly trans athlete to race the Iditarod. He's racing again this year, everybody. There'll be a link in the show notes for more information on that. Thank you Anonymous for that. And from Nancy Pronoun. She and her hi beans Queens. I wish I thought of this earlier than today, but better late than never. There's a science protest happening in multiple places across the country. Tomorrow, Friday. And I'm sure you're promoting it will help it get more attention. Attention. Lots of speakers like Bill Nye. I think the biggest will probably be in dc. I've included the website below. We'll have a link in the show notes. I have no pets and no kids. Kids don't cooperate for photos. But I've added a photo of my gnome shelf from work, including my flying spaghetti monster. May you be touched by his noodly appendage. Okay, so see the top right, Dana? Huh? That's the flying spaghetti.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God, that's so good.

[Allison Gill]

I have one hanging from my rear view mirror.

[Dana Goldberg]

These are the cutest gnomes. They are adorable.

[Allison Gill]

Did you make these gnomes, Nancy? Because I love them.

[Dana Goldberg]

Me too. Love. All right, this one's from Daphne Starbright Jones. That's amazing. Name pronoun. She and her. Hello, fabulous ladies. I'm an autistic trans woman. RFK Jr with a bag full of rent dicks.

[Allison Gill]

Rent dicks.

[Dana Goldberg]

For the better part of the last 18 years, I've been driving a semi truck between. Between Minneapolis and Long island and all the places in between. So shout out to the Libby app where you can get digital books and audio books from the local library. It's a great alternative to Audible, which is Amazon owned. Yep. Also a shout out to Joe Biden and the Democrats for getting the infrastructure deal done as I drive by at least four major bridges. Being a weekly basis. Thanks. On the weekly basis thanks to that legislation. The other day you guys were talking about how beautiful the Minnesota capital Capitol was, and I thought I would write in and tell you it was designed by the renowned architect Cass Gilbert, who's better known for designing the Woolworth Building in New York. Wow. Along with the Supreme Court building in Washington. Unfortunately, he became a fan of Mussolini and included carvings of fascist fast. Fascists. Fascists on the Supreme Court building. No, that. This is a word I don't know. Do you know this word?

[Allison Gill]

Fascist Fasces. Yeah, it's like a stuff sticks.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, okay. Fassies on the Supreme Court building.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, there you go.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep, there you go. Fasces. Look. Oh, thank you. Fasies look like a bundle of sticks with an axe. They were the symbol of the Italian fascist government and were the equivalent. Oh. Of a swastika. Thank you. I just learned something new. The Supreme Court isn't the only building to have them carved on it. The Justice Department headquarters also has them, along with many other buildings built in the 2000-30s before World War II too. Here's a link to an article about it from 10 years ago. We'll have that in the show notes so you all can learn as well. When I was exploring the Minnesota capital a year ago, I came across a bonds a bronze plaque with a quote from the architect that stuck with me for many years. And the quote is, public buildings best serve the public by being beautiful. That was Cass Gilbert. Senator John Past. Is it pastor or Pastor?

[Allison Gill]

I'm not, not sure we're going to go with.

[Dana Goldberg]

Pastor, is there anything connected with the hopes of this accelerator that in any way involves the security of the country? And then we've got physicist Robert Rathburn Wilson. No, sir, I don't believe so. Pastor says nothing at all. Wilson. Nothing at all. Pastor. It has no value in that respect, Wilson. It has only to do with the respect with which we regard one one another. The dignity of man, our love of culture. It has to do with are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean, all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do with directly with defending our country, except to make it worth defending. That's from the testimony of Robert Rathburn Wilson before the Congressional Joint Committee on atomic Energy in 1969. What a great thing to share with us. These two quotations have been some of my all time favorites and they really helped me Evolve from a red pill idiot that would listen to Sean Hannity every day. I'm not exactly proud of that time in my life, but I am proud that I educated myself and evolved from a self hating idiot. I don't know who you are. I love you. Whoever this person is, I love you. More recently, this quote by Charlotte Clymer. Yes, one of my dear friends in Allison's has met along. To me, this is what Charlotte said. Every transphobic argument can basically be boiled down to this quote. I actually don't know the science at all or have a good argument here, but trans people challenge my long held view of the world and it's very uncomfortable and everyone should be expected to move around my discomfort. And that's exactly what it is. I've been a listener for many years and I used to skip the good news part, but since the election, it's the only part of my day that I look forward to including included as a picture of my daughter when she was one and. And three cats. Bill Murray is the Maine coon, Thumbs to the black and white. Sorry, Thumbs is the black and white. And the late great Suki is the gray one with CRO who crossed the rainbow bridge some years back. Okay, bye.

[Allison Gill]

Best submissions ever.

[Dana Goldberg]

Daphne Starbright Jones, you're fantastic. This is a fantastic submission.

[Allison Gill]

Thank you for the education of rent dicks.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you so much for the education too. Oh, this baby and the kitties.

[Allison Gill]

I can't. Like, this is the best picture you could send into us. It's got Christmas, it's got cats, it's got babies. It is the hottest club in New York right now.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my.

[Allison Gill]

I love this picture. Thank you so much for sending this in and thank you for that wonderful submission. I didn't. I. I've just learned so much that I didn't already know.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

And I also now know what a beaver looks like.

[Dana Goldberg]

Well, Alice and I could have told you what a beaver. I had no idea that. I don't think I've ever seen a beaver's face. If anyone is like, now all of a sudden, like, tuning in, somehow they skipped the whole part. First part of the podcast. I just, you know, you've seen a beaver and you see the tail and you see it building dams, but I don't think I've ever seen a beaver's face up close like that.

[Allison Gill]

Right. Just looking right at you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Allison Gill]

Oh, my gosh. Agnes. Yes. What a beautiful name for that beaver, I must say. Winona had a big brown beaver and she showed it off to all of her friends. So says Primus. All right, everybody, thanks for the good news. We really needed that laugh today. I. I really did. So I appreciate that. I'm off to watch Severance try to make sense of that show.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Allison Gill]

But I. We really do appreciate all your good news. Please send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. Thanks to our friend John Fugal saying for being such a mensch, we appreciate coming onto the show. Do you have any final thoughts before we get out of here for the weekend?

[Dana Goldberg]

No, just wishing everyone a fantastic weekend. Do something nice for yourself. Get outside, touch grass. Just find some joy. Find some joy.

[Allison Gill]

Yes. And when you do find that joy, take a picture, send us your happy place. We'd love to see it here in the good news. Everybody will be back in your ears on Monday. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been dg. And them's the beans.

[John Fugal Sang]

Refried beans.

[Allison Gill]

I like refried beans.