Refried Beans | Things To Do In DC When You’re Misled | 1/20/2026

Summary

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The Daily Beans: "Refried Beans | Things To Do In DC When You’re Misled"

Date: January 20, 2025 (rebroadcast as Refried Beans on January 25, 2026)
Hosts: Allison Gill (AG), Dana Goldberg (DG)
Podcast: The Daily Beans by MSW Media
Theme: A snarky, progressive look at the latest political and social justice news, with a focus on U.S. events around the 2025 Presidential Inauguration, MAGA political stunts, and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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Episode Overview

This episode, aired on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025 and replayed as a “Refried Beans” episode in 2026, breaks down the wild news cycle during a fraught political moment. The hosts discuss the legacy of MLK, chaos for MAGA supporters in D.C., political stunt strategies, Trump’s crypto “scam,” media capitulation, immigration crackdowns, Elon Musk’s and Vivek Ramaswamy’s government ambitions, and ends with some much-needed good news and community shoutouts.

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Main Discussion Segments

1. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Reflections & “MAGA in DC” (03:11–06:02)

• MLK Jr. Day:
  AG starts with gratitude for her co-host and the importance of MLK Day, reminding listeners of the ongoing struggle for equality, and recommends related programming:

  "John Fugal Sang will be having an entire show...dedicated to Martin Luther King Day. So give that a listen.” — Alison Gill [03:48]

• MAGA Supporters Stranded:
  Snarky tips for MAGA followers who traveled to D.C. for a non-existent or anti-climactic event:

  • Visit the MLK Jr. Monument, Black History Museum, Holocaust Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Library of Congress, National Archives—injecting biting commentary about learning history and the irony of protestors’ actions.
  • “...as it dawns on you that you’re not in the fucking club.” — Alison Gill [05:24]

2. The TikTok Political Farce (06:02–07:37)

• Trump’s Manufactured “Rescue”:
  • TikTok was banned and then theatrically “rescued” by Trump, despite earlier Republican efforts to destroy it.
  • The hosts criticize the media for falling for the charade.

  “They were shut out just so Trump could look like he saved it.” — Alison Gill [06:36]

3. Quick Hits: Major Political News (07:38–13:11)

a. SCOTUSblog Publisher Indicted

• Tom Goldstein faces indictment for tax evasion and covering gambling debts; noteworthy since he had publicly advocated for dropping Trump’s charges [07:38].

b. Biden’s Clemency Actions

• Biden commutes 2,500 nonviolent drug offenses and calls for the Equal Rights Amendment to become the 28th Amendment, though he hasn’t ordered the archivist to act, citing likely Supreme Court obstruction [08:16–09:57].

“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs.” — Joe Biden, quoted by Dana Goldberg [08:23]

c. Vivek Ramaswamy Eyes Ohio Governor Run

• Ramaswamy is urged by Trump to take a Senate seat but instead aims for Ohio governor. Hosts express concern, referencing his “piss poor” presidential bid [09:57–10:37].

d. Jim Acosta Gets "Midnighted" by CNN

• CNN moves Trump-critic Jim Acosta’s show to the middle of the night, seen as capitulation to Trump [10:37–11:20].

e. SpaceX Starship Explosion

• FAA grounds Starship after an explosion; AG snarks about Musk’s “rapid unscheduled disassembly” [11:20–12:21].

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4. Corporate Media Capitulates to Trump (13:11–16:25)

• Paramount & CBS Consider Settling with Trump:
  Trump sues CBS for $10B over supposed “election interference” in edited interviews. Paramount, seeking a major business merger, is rumored to be considering concessions to mollify Trump and his allies at the FCC.

  “What’s going on here is a lot of bluster to discipline the future operations of CBS.” — Andrew J. Schwartzman, quoted by Alison Gill [15:54]

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5. Immigration Crackdown Plans (16:25–19:20)

• Operation Safeguard:
  ICE and Trump’s incoming administration plan mass enforcement in Democratic-run cities like Chicago and San Diego, targeting immigrants in the days following the inauguration.
  • Illinois’ Governor Pritzker vows protection for migrants: “We have laws that protect people that are undocumented... I’m concerned that Trump administration and his lackeys aren’t going to follow that law.” [18:51]
  • “It’s frightening...San Diego too—which is another...target city. They’re calling it Operation Safeguard, which if you’re watching Silo, that’s especially frightening.” — Alison Gill [19:20]

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6. Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (19:20–22:25)

• Tech Billionaires Prep to Slash Federal Spending:
  • Musk and Ramaswamy, labeled as joint heads of a non-existent “Department of Government Efficiency” (DODGE/DOGE/DODGY), are sending aides into government agencies to seek budget cuts—another Trump-backed scheme.
  • Personnel are hired out of SpaceX offices; goals are vague, ambitious, and widely distrusted by career civil servants.

  “This is a non-governmental body ordered by Donald Trump to help realize his goal of radical government shakeup... which I would call dismantling the federal government, but okay.” — Alison Gill [19:51]

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7. Trump’s Meme Coin Grift (22:25–27:12)

• Trump Launches a Meme Coin:
  • Celebrates a crypto scheme that inflates his notional wealth and allows global, anonymous investment—raising huge ethical and corruption risks.

  “It’s literally cashing in on the presidency, creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office.” — Adav Noti, quoted by Dana Goldberg [25:46]

  • Hosts recall prior Trump “grifts” (SneakerCon gold sneakers, "God Bless the USA" bibles, NFTs).
  • AG: “This is essential consulting on steroids... and now they don’t even have to say who they are.” [26:45]

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8. Good Trouble: Launching a Listener Social Platform

(27:12–30:24)

• A Progressive, Supporter-Driven Alternative to Traditional Social Media
  • AG announces the creation of a patron-funded, listener-moderated social platform for the community to escape oligarchy-owned Facebook and support independent media.

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Good News & Listener Community

(31:08–end)

• Listener Shoutouts:

  • Retiring early thanks to TRICARE, birthday wishes for AG, and the positive impact of government programs.
  • Adorable pod pet pictures (cats Zippy and Cheese, adoptable bulldog Carbon, rescue pups Koopa and Luma, and beloved cat Max).
  • Heartfelt submissions about marriage equality and gratitude for supportive family in the face of right-wing threats.
  • Calls to brave activism, connection to antiwar protests, and the spirit of community as things feel bleak.

• Host Encouragement & Self-Care

  • DG encourages listeners to share self-care stories from MLK Day/Inauguration: "Tell us what you did for self care... We would love some of these feel good stories." [42:58]
  • End on a hopeful, supportive note: “Please take care of yourselves, take care of one another, ... take care of your mental health and your family.” — Alison Gill [44:01]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• AG on MAGA DC Stunt:

  “...after you go visit the Lincoln Memorial... you can go think about how you’re not a billionaire while you stare longingly into the reflecting pool as it dawns on you that you’re not in the fucking club.” [05:24]

• Snark on Crypto Grift:

  “First of all, I don’t think he knows what a meme is, but whatever. This is truly dangerous. This is essential consulting on steroids.” — Alison Gill [26:31]

• DG on Immigration Crackdown:

  “More agents than needed have volunteered at this point, which makes my skin crawl and little hairs on the back raise.” [17:53]

• AG on Self-Care:

  “We would love to hear those positive uplifting stories about January 20th: National Cheese Day, my birthday, Martin Luther King [Jr. Day]…” [43:55]

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Notable Timestamps

• MLK Reflection & MAGA Stunt: 03:11–06:02
• TikTok Political Theater: 06:02–07:37
• Quick Hits (News Roundup): 07:38–13:11
• Media Capitulation: 13:11–16:25
• Immigration Enforcement Plans: 16:25–19:20
• Musk & Ramaswamy’s DODGY Agency: 19:20–22:25
• Trump Meme Coin / Crypto Corruption: 22:25–27:12
• Good Trouble (Listener Social Network): 27:12–30:24
• Good News & Listener Shoutouts: 31:08–end

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Summary & Tone

The tone remains resilient, sardonic, and hopeful in the face of anxieties around Trump’s return to power, corporate media’s quick surrender, and attacks on civil rights. The hosts blend sharp wit ("rapid unscheduled disassembly"), pointed analysis, and community warmth. Listeners are invited to support each other and remain brave—anchored by reminders of activism’s impact throughout history.

For progressive news and cathartic snark, The Daily Beans delivers both biting critiques and affirming community.

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Transcript

[Martin Sheen]

You can always count on Sunday to be the best day of the week. You can sleep in, go off your diet, spend the day in your pajamas and go on, have that second croissant. You know what else you can count on every Sunday? The Martin Sheen Podcast. Join me, your host, Martin Sheen for beautifully crafted 20 minute programs filled with never before heard stories of my life along with personal reflections and poetry that inspires and season two beginning begins Sunday, February 1st. The Martin Sheen Podcast is the perfect Sunday relaxing companion. A chance to put your feet up, take a deep breath and enjoy some stress free listening time from the comfort of your favorite easy chair and that second croissant that stays between us. There's no judgment here, so make my podcast your weekly moment of calm as we explore faith, hope, love and and what it means to be human. And rest assured, this journey is ever unfolding as I invite you to see what's next with me, Martin Sheen. So let's keep Sunday the best day of the week together and thank you for listening.

[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 as 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 Monday, January 20, 2025. Today, Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr's legacy and the struggle for freedom, equality and justice. A prominent leader in the modern civil rights movement, Dr. King was a tireless advocate for racial equality, working class and the oppressed around the world. TikTok is back online after a farce rescue from the man who originally wanted to ban it. Trump launches a crypto rug pull scam. Elon Musk is dispatching agents across government agencies. The Supreme Court blog publisher has been indicted on tax charges. CNN is moving Jim Acosta show to the middle of the night. President Biden makes a statement on the Equal Rights Amendment and commutes the sentences of 2,500 non violent drug offenders. The US grounds SpaceX Starship after another explosion, Vivek Ramaswamy will announce a run for Ohio governor. CBS kisses the ring by discussing a settlement with Trump in their defamation suit. And Chicago and San Diego brace for immigration enforcement operations. I'm Alison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Alison Gill]

So lots of stuff happened this weekend.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes. But what's important right now is that today is the day that Alison Gill was born. Happy birthday, my dear friend.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you. Born all the way back in 1998.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, that was a good year. 1998. Sure was.

[Alison Gill]

Yep. Actually, I was three years out of the military in 1998. Oh, fuck. Yes, it's also National Cheese Day.

[Dana Goldberg]

I mean, what else could possibly get better?

[Alison Gill]

I'll be celebrating National Cheese Day by working on my night cheese, as Liz Lemon likes to say.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice.

[Alison Gill]

And of course, it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So just want to remind everyone that John Fugal sang will be having an entire show, entire program tonight on Sirius XM channel, progress channel 127. That's at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. His entire show will be dedicated to Martin Luther King Day. So give that a listen. Also, I wrote a little thing on my substack for all of the MAGA folks who are now stranded, who paid thousands of dollars even though the price of eggs was so high, to go to D.C. to witness some sort of ceremony that's happening there today. They're all stranded. They aren't even putting the jumbotrons out so they can watch it out in the freezing cold. There's nothing for them and they're all very mad. So I've written a substack with a lot of great suggestions about what stranded MAGA cult members can do with their time While they're in D.C. one of those recommendations is to go see the amazing Martin Luther King Jr. Monument that's there.

[Dana Goldberg]

You know, I would even say go to the Black History Museum if it is indeed open.

[Alison Gill]

Yep. Or the Holocaust Memorial if you don't have bone spurs. You can trot on down to the Vietnam Memorial and see people who didn't get five deferments from their dad's rich dad's doctor.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, you could go to the Library of Congress to go see books that haven't been banned.

[Alison Gill]

You can also, I think I put in there, go to the archives and see our founding documents, maybe find out what well regulated means. Or check out the 14th amendment.

[Dana Goldberg]

There you go.

[Alison Gill]

Stuff like that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Well done. That's very helpful.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you. I think, though, that my favorite part of the whole thing was, you know, after you go visit the Lincoln Memorial where the I have a dream marker is where Martin Luther King stood as he gave his famous speech in 1963, then you can go think about how you're not a billionaire while you stare longingly into the reflecting pool as it Dawns on you that you're not in the fucking club. Yeah, thought that was something else. But there's a lot of really great tips and tricks in there if you're in D.C. stranded, so. So make sure to, to check those out. Muellershuerote.com Also, TikTok bowed to Donald Trump.

[Dana Goldberg]

This whole thing, this, I mean, such it. It's all theatrics. It's all drama. It's all a farce.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, it's fake. So Trump wanted to ban TikTok way back in 2021. Republicans in Congress banned it. Republicans on the Supreme Court upheld the ban. Biden said he would not enforce the ban on TikTok. But TikTok shut down anyhow more than a day early. Right? They said they shut down on Saturday. They didn't have to until Sunday at midnight. They did that so Trump could save it. You know, even the little message says, thanks to President Trump, you can get back on TikTok.

[Dana Goldberg]

Now.

[Alison Gill]

The media fell for it and now Trump is suggesting the US buy half of TikTok. So state run media, which is kind of probably the goal that and the, the other 50 stake owners would be, of course, the oligarchs themselves. So that was a just a big giant shit show. And I feel so bad for people who rely on tick tock for, for their income and marketing and stuff like that. They were shut out just so Trump could look like he saved it. So anyway, I would go and delete my TikTok account, but they. Somebody took it over a while ago and locked me out and I haven't been able to get back in.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh dear. Yeah, got it.

[Alison Gill]

So don't know who that was. But anyway, it's not controlled by me anymore. So I think it's like some. It's somebody selling pants or something. So, you know, it's not me, but they took down all my videos, interestingly. All right, we have a lot of news to get to today, so let's do some quick hits.

[Dana Goldberg]

And to make a long story short. Too late.

[Alison Gill]

First up from Politico, the SCOTUS blog writer was indicted Thursday in a multimillion dollar scheme to evade federal income taxes and use money from his law firm to cover gambling debts from high stakes poker games. SCOTUS blog publisher Tom Goldstein, who also has argued 44 cases before the Supreme Court, took part in poker games in Beverly Hills, Asia and elsewhere involving millions of dollars, hid his winnings, concealed his losses, and misrepresented expenses. And that's According to a 22 count indictment filed in federal court in Maryland. Now, keep in mind, this is the same Goldstein that wrote an op ed about how Trump's charges should be dismissed.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, boy. Thank you. AG President Joe Biden announced Friday that he was commuting the sentences of almost 2500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, using his final days in office on a flurry of clemency actions meant to nullify prison terms he deemed that were too harsh. Biden said in a statement, quote, today's clemency actions provides relief for individuals who receive lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes. This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars. And I also hope that they one day we get to a place where they don't have to talk about those trying to get a job application, since we now have a convicted felon as the President of the United States.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And thank you, President Biden. He had. He had commuted 1500 federal drug crime sentences, but there were still about 2,500 left, and he got the rest of them this weekend. He also put out a statement on Friday about the Equal Rights Amendment, saying it should be the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, but he has not ordered the archivist to publish the amendment. So so far as I know, this was Biden simply stating his opinion that it should be the 28th Amendment. Now, in the past, the archivist has said she would not publish the amendment, though she would have probably had to if Biden ordered her to. But that would be challenged in court, and I guarantee you this Supreme Court would nullify it because of the arbitrary expiration dates Republicans have imposed on the ERA in the past. So I expect to see some litigation on this, and we'll cover it here.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thanks, Alison. This is a terrifying story. The Cincinnati Inquirer is reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy will announce a bid for Ohio governor shortly. This is what a close source to Ramaswamy had confirmed. President elect Donald Trump has urged Rahm Swami, 39, to consider replacing Trump's running mate, J.D. vance, in the U.S. senate. However, Gov. Mike DeWine chose Lt. Gov. John Husted for the position on Friday. So I am hoping he loses his ass in Ohio. But all of this is very scary.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I'm hoping so, too. He didn't do very well, actually. He did piss poorly in the presidential election.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And CNN has told anchor Jim Acosta that they want to move him from his morning show to the middle of the night. And yet another move to capitulate to Donald Trump. As we know, during Trump's first administration, Acosta was one of the most recognizable journalists on the beat as CNN's chief White House correspondent. The president, irate over Acosta and the network's coverage, often got into testy exchanges with him or berated him at press conferences and other events. And at one point, the White House Donald Trump sought to revoke Acosta's hard pass. But the network challenged the move in court, and a federal judge sided with CNN and Acosta and ordered the administration to return the pass. So this is a real bummer. One of the greats left over there at cnn. They're trying to shove him in the midnight hour.

[Dana Goldberg]

Of course they are. And the US has grounded SpaceX's giant Starship rocket while an investigation is carried out as to why one exploded during its last test flight. The rocket's upper stage dramatically broke up and disintegrated over the Caribbean after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights to alter course to avoid falling. Deb the Federal Aviation Administration, as we know, the FAA, said it was working with SpaceX and other authorities to confirm reports of property damage on Turks and Caicos Island. There are no reports of injuries. Elon Musk Co. Had been told to carry out a mishap investigation by the regulator, which will review the findings before deciding if starship can return to flight. I saw a video that someone got from the Turks and Caicos resort that I had worked at a few months ago. And this thing's falling from the sky was crazy. It looked like meteors that were. That they kept their tail. Yeah, you could see all of the chemtrail through the entire sky. It was bizarre.

[Alison Gill]

Yep. Rapid unscheduled disassembly, they're calling it. Yep. All right, we have a lot more news to get to, but we have to take a quick break. Everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages will derive back.

[Rainy Day Rabbit Holes Host]

History is messy. It's weird, wild, and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you 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. We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and 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.

[Alison Gill]

MSW Media. Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's time for hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, in another instance of corporate media bending the knee, this one is worse than the bowing down from Stephanopoulos and ABC and Disney, by the way. Paramount Global executives have held internal discussions about settling a lawsuit filed by Trump over a CBS News interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. And that's according to people familiar with the situation, a sign of larger efforts to dial down tensions with the incoming president. That's a nice way to put it. Paramount, owner of cbs. Paramount, which owns cbs, its namesake studio, and several cable channels, has a major piece of business in front of the Trump administration, its planned merger with Skydance Media. It's become clear to executives at both companies that Trump's dissatisfaction with CBS News will make the review tougher than they anticipated, and they'll likely need to offer concessions to win approval, according to people familiar with the situation. Incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr gave Paramount executives a warning to that effect at a reception late last year following the taping of the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington. That's according to people familiar with the exchange. And and he has echoed that message in public remarks. The FCC has the authority over the transaction because it would involve the transfer of broadcast TV licenses held by local CBS owned stations. Trump's lawsuit against CBS, which seeks $10 billion in damages, alleges that the network committed election interference by editing portions of an interview with Harris favoring her campaign for president. Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on 60 Minutes and another version on its show Face the Nation, each containing different answers about Israel. CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris's interview on 60 Minutes. There was no indication that Paramount had approached Trump's team about a settlement, but executives at the company were gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration. Quote, what's going on here is a lot of bluster to discipline the future operations of cbs. That's Andrew J. Schwartzman, a longtime public interest attorney and senior counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, went on to say, my guess is that this is just to kind of soften them up and a warning to others, unquote. Paramount and Skydance executives have considered a number of possible changes to the company that they could make to shore up CBS News editorial operations while reassuring Trump's camp, including adding new processes around programming and possibly releasing the transcript of its 60 Minutes interview with Harris. Skydance is run by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co founder Larry Ellison, who has a very good relationship with Donald. Under the terms of the deal, Skydance and its investors agreed to spend more than $8 billion to acquire control of Paramount from media heiress Sherry Redstone and merge it with Skydance. A person close to Skydance said David Ellison would support measures to promote, quote, unbiased journalism.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thanks, Alison. This one's from Julia Ainslie at NBC. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials they're planning a major enforcement operation that's going to target immigrants for several days following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president, according to a document reviewed by NBC News. And a person familiar with the planning, the person who of course requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation, said multiple locations across Chicago will be targeted. According to the document, the operations expected to start as early as Tuesday and end by the following Monday, but the dates could change. ICE officials referred NBC News to the Trump transition team for comment, and the transition team did not respond. In an exclusive interview with NBC News's Kristen Welker on Saturday, Trump declined to describe any details of the operation, but said mass deportations would begin very, very, very quickly. A briefing for agents who plan to participate in the operation, called Operation Safeguard, was scheduled for Friday afternoon in Chicago. It's according to documents. It also says the operation will involve agents who were asked to volunteer, that more agents than needed have volunteered at this point, which makes my skin crawl and little hairs on the back raise. Operations in other cities are also possible. Before NBC News reviewed the document, several sources familiar with the planning said major metropolitan areas that could see early enforcement actions include Washington, D.C. philadelphia, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. ICE currently has a $230 million budget shortfall and does not have the funding to carry out Trump's plans on a prolonged and widespread scale. Congress must first appropriate additional funds for enforcement operations and detention facilities after arrests. Migrants are held in detention before they are deported. According to Isa's website, there are currently no beds available in his detention facilities in Chicago. Tom Holman, Trump's incoming border czar is what they're calling him, has said he would like to at least another 100,000 detention beds across the U.S. currently, the U.S. has approximately 34,000 and the highest number of people deported in a single year during Trump's first term was 267,000 people in fiscal 2019. Trump's apparent plans to target Democratic run cities will also likely be met with political pushback. Responding to reports the new administration could start deportation operations in Chicago. Illinois Governor J.B. pritzker was fucking pissed. Now, I'm adding that, but I guarantee he was. He said Friday that he will protect migrants if they are arrested unlawfully. And we quote, we have laws that protect people that are undocumented. This is what Pritzker said. And he went on to say, I'm going to make sure to follow that law. I'm concerned that Trump administration and his lackeys aren't going to follow that law.

[Alison Gill]

It's frightening, especially here in San Diego, too, which is another. Yeah. Target city. They're calling it Operation Safeguard, which if you're watching, if you're watching Silo, that's especially frightening. We need to cap the pipe on level 14. Silo fans. You know what I'm talking about. All right, next up from Robert Tate at the Guardian, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have already dispatched emissaries across the US Government ahead of their mission to slash public spending as joint heads of dodgy, the so called Department of Government Efficiency, which isn't a real thing, but they're dispatching people. This is a nongovernmental body ordered by Donald Trump to help realize his goal of radical government shakeup, which I would call dismantling the federal government, but okay. Two tech billionaires, they have already sent AIDS to more than a dozen agencies as they look to identify possible cuts, according to the Post. This is, I'm reading from the Guardian here. This was originally published by the Washington Post, but since I don't subscribe to the Washington Post anymore, I've decided to pull this story from the Guardian. The agencies include the Treasury Department, the irs, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans affairs, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Hiring for Dodgy is already underway, according to the Post, with more than 50 staffers already working out of the offices of SpaceX, Musk's rocket building enterprise, which should be his rocket exploding enterprise. But that's just me. The eventual hiring goal is 100 workers by the time of Trump's inauguration. Dodgy will not have the status of an official government agency despite its lofty goals. And the pair have reportedly been encountering suspicion and resistance among career workers at government departments, partly fueled by critical comments that they have previously made about the civil service. Some are said to regard the men as naive and arrogant about the complexities of reducing public spending and regulatory red tape. While Musk has previously set a target of 2 trillion in spending cuts, he's walked that back recently, saying that that's probably not attainable. Despite Musk's near ubiquitous recent presence as part of Trump's inner circle, the limits of his ability to affect spending appeared to be demonstrated shortly before Christmas when Congress amended a short term spending bill that he had criticized but still included many of the specific expenditures that he publicly complained about. Musk, who contributed about $275 million of his vast wealth to Trump's election, claims to have been deluged by applicants since advertising for super high IQ small government revolutionaries willing to work 80 plus hours a week on Twitter, the social media platform that he owns. Some have applied by sending him direct messages on occasion, including their IQs.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God.

[Alison Gill]

The crowdsource recruitment drive has been followed by a more structured attempt to fill specific roles. After Christmas, Dodgy announced it was seeking full time staff for salaried positions in the fields of information technology, HR and finance. I know.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thanks, Alison. Some of these stories, just reporting them, we're just trying to bring them to you, but they make us want to vomit. All right, this is from Ruth Murray. Is it Marie or Mariah? Do you know?

[Alison Gill]

I'm not sure. I've only read her name. I've never heard it spoken.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, we're going to go with Ruth Marai and if it's incorrect, someone definitely correct me. And she's at Mother Jones. On Friday night, just days before the inauguration, President elect Donald Trump, he took to Twitter to celebrate the launch of his new meme coin. Quote. It's time to celebrate everything we stand for, he wrote. Winning It's a move that at least on paper, seemed to inflate Trump's personal wealth by billions, ahead of ushering in the most crypto friendly administration in history. With this launch, Trump joins the ranks of celebrities like Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jenner. I love how they're calling Caitlyn sorry. And more recently, Hayley Welch, better known as the Hawk to a girl. Why are they calling these fucking celebrities all whom have launched their own meme coins in the last year? Wired describes these currencies as quote type of cryptocurrency that generally has no utility beyond financial speculation. Trump's coin has recently reached a market capitalization of $5.2 billion and fully DIL valuation of 26 billion, referring to the theoretical value if all possible coins were in circulation. Trump's new pal, Elon Musk is known for being a big proponent of one of the most famous meme coins and that's Dogecoin, named after the name meme that inspired the newly created department of government efficiency. Though the website for the coin states that, quote, it's not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency. They have to say that otherwise there's a problem. Some critics argue that they are serious ethical concerns. There are, and this is a quote, unlike traditional Trump branded ventures, cryptocurrency's pseudonymous nature means anyone globally can invest without identity checks, potentially creating concerns about undue influence on a sitting president. This is from Boyos Sobrato. He's a fintech analyst. He wrote in Bat in Forbes ADAV Noti, the executive director of Campaign Legal center, noted in the New York Times that quote, quote, it's literally cashing in on the presidency, creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president's family in connection with his office. Quote, we now have a president elect who the weekend before inauguration is launching new businesses along the promises to deregulate. This is Jordan Leibowitz. He's the vice president for communications at the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. That's what he told Politico, Trump's own former spokesperson who's now a staunch critic. That's Scaramucci posted that Trump with a dollar sign in front is quote, eaty amine level corruption and mocks the industry we are working so hard to build. The meme coin is just the latest in a bizarre line of grifty, super weird takes on, quote, merch. Last February, Trump showed off those gold never surrender high tops for $399 at SneakerCon, which had Fox News applauding his appeal to black voters. In March, he began endorsing the 59.99 God Bless the USA Bible, which which includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and handwritten lyrics to the chorus of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the usa. And by the way, Trump's inaugural committee, it's confirmed that he will not be using one of these Bibles to swear the presidential oath of office on Monday. In August, Trump released a new round of his baseball card. NFTs quote, these cards show me dancing and even holding some bitcoins. That's what Trump explained in a video on True Social. Maybe in the next round he's going to be holding his own meme coins. I don't know. This is all just the biggest grift we've ever seen. It's going to be a smash and grab on the United States and just buckle in. And we already know this. Like, think about this. How much did he collect for this Inauguration. Millions upon millions, probably $100 million. And then he's like, it's too cold. We're going to put this inside. You think he's giving that money back? No.

[Alison Gill]

And what's weird is these aren't NFTs. These are actually fungible meme coins. First of all, I don't think he knows what a meme is, but whatever. This is truly dangerous. This is essential consulting on steroids.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

If you remember Essential Consulting, that was Michael Cohen's. It's essential was what I decided their slogan should be. It's just a business that he set up where people would give millions of dollars for, for him to consult on like aerospace and hedge fund management and, and telecommunications. Just like shit. He knows nothing about. But it was really just to buy favor with the, with the Trump administration. But that's this. And now they don't even have to say who they are like they did with Essential Concerns.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's ridiculous.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, it's very frightening. All right, everybody, it's time for some good trouble. Hey, we're getting into trouble. Yes. All right. For today's good trouble, I am launching a new social media platform wholly owned and wholly funded by you, our contributing listeners. Not by billionaires, not by oligarchs, not by people who are going to be sitting on the dais today with a would be dictator. It's us. It's for us and by us. So one of the perks of being a supporting member of the Daily Beans is that you get access to our private social media group on Facebook. But since that platform is now in the hands of the oligarchy, it allows hate speech now against our friends. And since they took away fact checking, I decided to do something. So I partnered with my web developer, bestie, and we're creating our very own social media platform where we can continue to have our own discussion and moderate ourselves. It's not much, but I think it's an important step in the right direction. So if you want to be part of it and become a contributing member of the Daily Beans, please do [e-mail] millershirote you can also do it on Supercast. Not only will you be supporting independent media, but you'll get access to our listener funded and listener moderated social media group that I was just talking about. Plus all the other perks that you get, like ad free episodes. You get the episodes early the night before the public gets them. You'll get access to and invited to meet and greets during traveling, Zoom Q and A'S and happy hours with the hosts of our podcasts. You get pre sale tickets for live events, all of that for as little as three bucks a month. It's pretty rare I ask for money. And all of our podcasts are always free to all. But we do rely on our patrons to keep the lights on. So thank you to our patrons. I'm excited about this new social media platform. So if you're able, and only if you're able, we would love it if you'd become a contributing member. It would mean so much to us. It allows us to pay extraordinarily high wages, which we love to do. I am a break even company which means anything that's in the black gets spent out in bonuses to the employees or spent on our patrons at the end of the year. It allows us to match 401k benefits. It allows us to provide healthcare to our little staff here. So we really, really appreciate your contributions. It's just like npr, right? All this stuff is free, but you can contribute if you want to support us. And now we've got this new social media platform so we don't have to stay on Facebook if we don't want to. So thank you very much to our current patrons. We look forward to our new patrons coming to join us. And I think at the five dollar level, if I'm not mistaken, you actually get the same access to the Daily Beans and the Jack podcast, which starting next Sunday is going to be called Unjustified. It'll be me and Andy McCabe covering Trump's justice Department. Somebody needs to keep an eye on what's going on over there and that's what we're going to do. So thank you again so much. That is your good trouble for today. There will be more tomorrow and for every day of this administration. We appreciate you listening, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news.

[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.

[Alison Gill]

But don't let them fool you.

[Amanda Sturgill]

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.

[Alison Gill]

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

[Dana Goldberg]

Everyone?

[Alison Gill]

Then good news everyone. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections, especially pronunciation corrections or you want to give a shout out to somebody like a loved one, spouse, parent, kid, small business in your area, your small business, a self shout out, a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one, whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care act, snap, wic, Head Start, basically anything that's going to probably be cut in the first budget reconciliation bill by by Republicans. But if that, if anything like that has helped you out, especially and including student debt forgiveness, you can send that to us as well. And the way that you get your good news is in is you have to pay your pod pet tax, which just means to include a photo of your pet. And if you want us to guess the breeds in your shelter pup, we can do that too. And if you don't have a pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find him a forever home. And if you don't have that, any animal photo will do. An absent an animal photo you can send in bird watching photos which is you and your loved ones flipping off Trump properties. And absent all that, you can send in baby photos. And you can actually also send all those kinds of photos and doesn't have to be just one. We love photos. So send them to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, first up from Becky Pronouns. She and her hi Ag and DG happy if you can manage it. Upcoming birthday to Ag. I also have a birthday on that same very unfortunate day and I've been thinking this is just about the worst birthday present in the history of anything. I plan on staying away from the TV that day and joining our very small local group of Democrats for brunch and a chance to ignore, just for the day, what's happening in this country. This whole thing makes me very sad and worried. I want to give a shout out to myself. I'm retiring at the end of the month and I'm able to do it before I'm 65. I can do this in part because I've been a good little saver and also because of TRICARE. My husband was in the Navy for 22 years and because I'm on his benefits, I'm able to retire before Medicare kicks in. I'm Hoping the next four years doesn't do anything that will destroy that safety net for me. I have a rare, incurable lung disease. Okay, I'm going to try to pronounce this. Lymphangioliomatosis, or lam for short. Lympha. Lymphangeoli mitosis. I hope I get that right. Also known as lam. And tricare has been my savior. It is covered with very little effort from me. Everything that I've needed to mitigate this disease for my podpat tax, I submit zippy, jalapeno and cheese. Zippy is 18. Cheese is 17. Cheese is the one perched on the edge of the table. They live together under an uneasy truce most of the time. Although Cheese is half half his size, occasionally senses weakness and tries to beat the crap out of him. He squeals and runs away. Typical. Thanks so much for the daily beans. It's made my commute to work much less painful. Becky, thank you. And thank you for your service. And thank you for your husband's service. And I'm so glad Tricare is helping y'. All. Look at this baby.

[Dana Goldberg]

So sweet.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, and the other one on the pillow. These are beautiful babies.

[Dana Goldberg]

They are. They are. Thanks, Ag. This one's from Buffy Pronoun. She and her. Ahoy Beanie. Ladies.

[Alison Gill]

This dog. I know.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you for covering the chaos shenanigans that is the Minnesota state legislature. I have a correction for you. Shakopee is pronounced Shakopee. You ladies are keeping me sane, so please keep on doing what you do. For my pod pet tax, I leave you a photo of an adoptable bundle of bulldog love named Carbon. He's a Texas implant up to Minnesota who is available for adoption through Underdog Rescue and has nothing but affection to give.

[Alison Gill]

Look at this.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God. If you're in the area, you should have this dog. You need this dog. We all need this dog.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, what a sweetheart. Shakopee. I knew that it was like Willamette. I kept calling it Willamette, but it's. Damn it, Willamette.

[Dana Goldberg]

Shakopee.

[Alison Gill]

Shakopee and Willamette. I'll get. I swear to God, I'll get one of these days. Thank you so much. And everybody, if you want to adopt this bulldog. Underdog Rescue in Minnesota. Next up, Elaine G. Pronoun. She and her. Hello, AG and dg. As we go through this horrific living nightmare, I wanted to thank you both for helping to keep the insanity at bay. You are loved and appreciated more than you know. Currently, I'm in Vegas visiting my 99 year old grandmother who amazingly still lives on her own. I wanted to share my bird watching photo from the People's March on January 18th. Elaine, thank you. Thank you for going to the People's March and thank you for this lovely bird watching photo.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep, yep. All right. This is from Anonymous in Kansas. Pronoun she and her hello AG and dg. I watched an American Experience episode on PBS entitled the Movement and the Madman about how the anti war protest caused President Nixon to cancel his madman plans for massive escalation of the US War in Vietnam. I wanted to share a couple of takeaways that we can apply to our incoming president. First, being brave can lead to others being brave. It was individualized citizens being brave that led to elected officials being brave that led to the massive anti war movement. Secondly, at the time, anti war protesters thought that their efforts weren't having an effect because the war raged on. What they didn't find out until years later was that Nixon was planning a massive escalation of the war and had even ordered a military exercise with nuclear weapons. He ultimately canceled his plans because he understood that the country wouldn't tolerate the escalation. Let us be brave and never give up on fighting for what is right. For my pod pet tax, I'm sharing photos of my two rescue dogs, Koopa and Luma. Luma is an Australian cattle dog. We were Luma's third home and although she can be a handful, we love her to pieces and we'll never part with her. We've had Koopa since she was a puppy. Her lineage is not as clear and thought you might enjoy playing. What the mutt?

[Alison Gill]

Okay, okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

There's a husky tail in that dog.

[Alison Gill]

Is that the Australian cattle dog or is the brown one?

[Dana Goldberg]

I think we're guessing the brown one.

[Alison Gill]

The dark brown one.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. Okay, so we've got like shepherd and husky mix.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

I don't know if there's any Ridgeback in that dog. I don't know what's going on in.

[Alison Gill]

The hair there, Ridgeback. It's almost a Pyrenees tail.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, it could be.

[Alison Gill]

All right, let's see. Husky, shepherd.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice Pyrenees. Okay.

[Alison Gill]

Bull terrier. Didn't get that one.

[Dana Goldberg]

Wait, did we get three out of four?

[Alison Gill]

We got three out of four.

[Dana Goldberg]

Look at us. And corgi.

[Alison Gill]

Ah, assumed it was a corgi because her rescue said her mama was a corgi. I could see that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Your mama was a corgi. Is that the new insult?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Dana Goldberg]

You got short legs. Your mama was a corgi.

[Alison Gill]

Was so short. She was a corgi, but she's got a nice butt.

[Dana Goldberg]

What?

[Alison Gill]

What? I had the dumbest day and I had the dumbest bit in my comedy set a long time ago. Instead of yo mama jokes, I did yo yo ma jokes.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God. That's really funny, actually.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, yeah, those were the days. Good old comedy days. Next up, Bruce put out the flag at half mast. When Trump claimed that nobody wants to see a flag at half mast in his inauguration, I said I want to be nobody. And I went out, bought a new flag and I've been displaying it at half mast to honor President Carter on inauguration day. I will display it at Half Master upside down for Pop BET tax. I include our dearly departed Max, AKA Handsome Boy, AKA Puppycat, AKA Maxwell Blue. Thank you, Bruce, for flying your flag a half mast. Look at the beautiful cat.

[Dana Goldberg]

Beautiful indeed.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, sweet. Thank you so much.

[Dana Goldberg]

Thank you. All right, this is from Anonymous. Pronouns she and her hello daily beans goddesses. Love your pod and how you deliver the truth of our situation now that the tangerine with bad hair is back in charge. Charge. I'm trying not to panic too much in our daily delivery of the news as calming tones is so helpful. Keep it up, please. I want to give a shout out to a local cat shelter in my area, Furball Farms Cat Sanctuary, that's in Faribault, Minnesota. They take in stray and feral cats. They currently house over 400. They give them medical care and a safe place to live. They also do adoptions of the ones that are adoptable. Here is our sweetie, Mia. Could be Maya, but I think it's Mia that we adopted. They are a 501C3 nonprofit as well. So Furball Farm Cat Sanctuary. We'll have a link in the show notes to this fabulous organization.

[Alison Gill]

Look at this cat.

[Dana Goldberg]

How did.

[Alison Gill]

How does she have her hands up behind her head like that?

[Dana Goldberg]

I don't know. It's amazing though, when she's fast asleep, just chilling.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you, Furball Farm Cat Sanctuary, Faribault, Minnesota. Next up, anonymous pronoun she and her hello, beans queens. Relatively new listener here. I was in and out of the beans orbit before the election since my amazing mom recommended it. But when the other daily news podcast I listened to got too depressing, I became a regular Leguminati. I want to write in on this gloomy inauguration day with some good news to lift everybody up before things get even darker than they already are. This past Friday, my fiance and I went down to our county courthouse to officially tie the knot before the Supreme Court has a chance to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, which as a lesbian couple protects our rights to marriage. We started dating in 2023 and quickly fell absurdly and completely in love and realized we couldn't imagine our futures without anyone else. And we're so incredibly lucky and grateful to also have the support of our parents. My mom is a regular listener as well and I want to give her a special shout out. Mom, you are the bravest, strongest, kindest mother I could have ever asked for. You jumped into the unknown with both feet when I came out, pushed herself to understand the LGBT community and have become not only my biggest advocate, but an advocate for our entire community as well. I also can't express how grateful I am for the love and embrace you've extended your brand new daughter in law, my wife. I still can't believe it. We will always cherish the fact that you and dad were there for us on our wedding day, even if the big celebration is later on for our pod pet tax. Our sweet boy Sven. Take a peek at him and his Donald Duck bath towel all cuddled up with my wife. His paw was wrapped because he split his dew claw, but he's feeling all better now. He originally belonged to my wife, but now that we're married, he's my adopted son now too. He's curled up fast asleep on my lap right now as I finish this. Thanks for all you do. Love this and keep fighting the good fight. We're always behind you.

[Dana Goldberg]

Anonymous Congratulations. This tribute and a shout out to your mom also makes my heart explode. I feel the same way about mine and the love love she has for me and my and my love. I just is beautiful. I'm just beautiful. And the dog's adorable. And your wife is adorable taking care of the dog.

[Alison Gill]

Oh. Oh, what a great submission. Thank you. Anonymous. Thanks everybody. So much for your good news. We need all the good news we can get. Please send it to [e-mail] and click on contact. So I got a little choked up there at the end.

[Dana Goldberg]

No, don't be sorry.

[Alison Gill]

Love your heart with the mom stuff. All right. And the love and the, you know, the mom and love stuff. Okay. Anyway, we will be back in your ears tomorrow again. Please check out John Fugal Sang's MLK Junior show tonight. It's on SiriusXM Progress Channel 1, 27, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. Do you have any final thoughts?

[Dana Goldberg]

Well, not really a thought. It's more of something I didn't run past you first but I think it would be good. But listeners tell us what you did for self care on the day of this January 20th on Martin Luther King Day. What did you do to take care of yourself knowing what else was going on in this country. We would love some of these feel good stories. I'm gonna get together with friends and probably watch some women's basketball, spend some time with my love and you know just stay off social media for the day and avoid it. You know other than our podcast, I hope that you are also doing the same and getting outside. Enjoy enjoying friends, family, food yourself in any way you would like to just do something some self care today.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And let us know, let us know how it goes. We would love to hear those positive uplifting stories about January 20th National Cheese Day. My birthday, Martin Luther King.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes indeed. And again, happy birthday my dear friend. I hope you've had a wonderful day by the time this is everyone's ears.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you so so very much. Everybody will be back in your ears tomorrow. Also there's a new episode of the Jack podcast out. Don't forget, forget to check that out wherever you get your pods and we'll see you then. Until, until tomorrow. 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. Refried beans. I like refried beans.