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The Daily Beans
Refried | When Introverts Attack (feat. Leigh McGowan, Brian Tyler Cohen, & Sean Savett) | 10/31/2023
00:57:20
Tuesday October 31st, 2023 In the Hot Notes: Judge Chutkan has denied Trump’s bid to stay his limited gag order in the DC coup case; Republican Glenn Youngkin purged over 3400 voters from Virginia voter rolls and lied about it; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s fraud trial date is set for April 15th; George Santos has a trial date; federal agents are forced to tackle a 1/6 defendant after he’s remanded to jail for threatening agents and prosecutors; a former North Dakota state senator has been indicted on federal child pornography charges; the United Auto Workers have reached a deal with General Motors; Ivanka Trump helped her dad lie about his net worth; plus Allison delivers your Good News. Dana is out and about.
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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.
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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.
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Swearing. Daily beans.
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Daily Beans. Daily Beans. Daily Beans.
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Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, October 31, 2023. Today, Judge Chutkan has denied Trump's bid to stay his limited gag order in the D.C. coup case. Republican Glenn Youngkin purged over 3,400 voters from Virginia voter rolls and then lied about it. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's fraud trial date is set for April 15th. George Santos has a trial date to September 9th of next year. Federal agents are forced to tackle a 1-6- defendant after he's remanded to jail for threatening agents and prosecutors. A former North Dakota state senator has been indicted on federal child pornography charges. The United Auto Workers have reached a deal with General Motors. And Ivanka Trump helped her dad lie about his net worth. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody. Happy Halloween. Dana will be back tomorrow. I'm so happy. I miss her so much. Thanks for hanging in there with me all this time she's been gone. We have a big show today. I'll be speaking with Lee McGowan. You know her as a politics girl. And Brian Tyler Cohen. We're going to talk about their live podcast in Madison, Wisconsin, this Friday, November 3rd. And I'll also be speaking with White House National Security Deputy spokesperson Shawn Civet about funding our allies. We will have a patron happy hour on Friday, November 3, 4pm Pacific, 7 Eastern. And later in the week, we'll be talking to Harry Dunn. We're going to discuss his book, Standing My Ground. And of course, the host of Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM Progress, John Fugelsang will be here this Friday and every Friday going forward for Fugal Sang Fridays. Thank you so much, everyone for donating to the opponents of the Biden 18. That MSW media fund we set up raised over $50,000 over the weekend. You can chip in@swingleft.org fundraise how wewin 2024. Every dollar helps to flip the extreme MAGA House of Representatives. We must ensure they are not in power on January 6, 2025. All right, we got a couple of quick hits.
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C
And to make a long story short.
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First up, Judge Tanya Chutkan has reinstated her limited gag order on Donald Trump, preventing him from influencing witnesses or or attacking prosecutors, court staff or their families. This is in the federal D.C. coup case brought by Jack Smith. Trump has already violated his gag order in the New York attorney general civil fraud trial twice and has been fined a total of $15,000 which has been paid. Let's see how long he lasts under this limited gag order. And don't expect him to be thrown in jail if he violates it. She denied the Department of Justice's request to modify his bail conditions to include the terms of the gag order. Jail is a remedy, but that comes down the road after several levels of fin. I imagine that is what's going to happen if when he violates it. And Andy and I will discuss that on the next episode of Jack coming out next weekend. If you haven't listened to this week's episode, dude, it's funny. Andy is funny. All right, next up, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's state fraud trial has been set for April 15. It had been delayed by, among other things, his impeachment trial in which he was acquitted. April 15, he goes to trial. And George Santos has been arraigned on his superseding felonies and his trial date's been set for September of next year. Pete and I will go over that on tomorrow's episode of cleanup on aisle 45. And General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative agreement, they said on Monday, with its members winning record pay hikes to end six weeks of a coordinated strike against the Detroit three automakers. The accord follows deals reached in the last few days by the union with Ford Motor Company And Chrysler owned Stellantis in what amounts to significant victories for auto workers after years of stagnant wages and painful concessions made by the Union following the 2008 financial crisis. All right, that is long story short, let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, from Laura Vozella at the Post. Governor Glenn Youngkin's elections team has admitted in the run up to pivotal General assembly elections. It removed nearly 3,400 qualified voters, qualified voters from the state's rolls, far higher than the administration admitted, which was about 270 election officials under Youngkin acknowledged what it called the mistaken removal of about 3,400 voters in a news release Friday, five weeks after early voting began for November 7th General assembly elections. The outcome will determine the viability of Youngkin's last minute presidential prospects and the fate of his conservative legislative agenda, which includes banning most abortions. After 15 weeks, the news release claimed that local registrars had already reinstated all but about 100 of the voters, all of whom had been convicted of felonies, had their voting rights restored and then went on to violate the terms of their probation. The state's computer software had erroneously counted the probation violations as new felonies that disqualified them from voting. That's according to administration officials. Sure, administration officials were initially dismissive of the problem when public radio station VPM first identified it in September. But they announced in early October that there were about 270 voters that were mistakenly removed. Even that smaller number was enough to prompt Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia to seek a federal investigation. In a letter, they urged U.S. attorney General Merrick Garland to probe whether the administration's purge violated the Voting Rights act. Now, the 3400 figure has heightened those concerns. Although that number represents a tiny fraction of the state's nearly 6 million registered voters, control of the state House and Senate could come down to a handful of very tight races that in some cases are decided by a vote or two. More broadly, Democrats say the administration shifting accounts cast doubt on the intentions and competence of Youngkin, who won the governorship two years ago, promising to bring election integrity and business world management savvy to state government. Quote, I've been calling it weaponized incompetence. That's Aaron Mucher g. A voter protection director of the Democratic Party of Virginia. First they said it was not a problem at all. Then they said it was a small, very contained problem. Now we've learned it's a massive problem. I think it goes to the point that this administration can't be trusted with the voting rights of Virginians, unquote. Youngkin has asked the state's inspector general to investigate the removals as well as the administration's preliminary findings that an unknown number of people who'd had their rights restored may have been allowed to stay on the rolls in the past after subsequent felony convictions. Virginia is one of a handful of states that limits voting access after a felony conviction. The commonwealth permanently disenfranchises those guilty of violent or nonviolent felonies unless the governor restores their civil rights. Youngkin's three immediate predecessors, one Republican, two Democrats, took steps to automatically restore rights in at least some cases once their sentences were complete. Youngkin has reverted to a stricter policy requiring each person to file an application that the administration considers on a case by case basis with no publicly disclosed criteria. Youngkin's election team has drawn scrutiny for other problems, too, including major backlogs in processing motor voter registrations. In October of 2022, just ahead of the midterm congressional races, the elections department blatantly sent two batches of motor voter registration applications to local registrars for Last minute processing authority, 107,000 in the first batch and 149,000 in the second. The department blamed computer problems with the state's long troubled voter registration system, which is known as Veris v E R I s and dates back to about 2007. In May, Youngkin pulled Virginia out of the Electronic Registration Information Center, a data sharing group that red and blue states alike relied on for the past decade to keep voter rolls updated before election deniers made it the focus of criticism. Virginia has been a founding member of the group under Republican Governor Robert F. McDonnell. All right, sounds to me like that's the only way they can win. And you know I'm going to talk about that a little bit with Brian Tyler Cohen and Lee McGowan later in the show. All right, next up from Scott McFarlane at CBS A physical altercation broke out during a hearing Monday in the case of Vitaly Gostiankowski, a defendant convicted of several charges related to the January 6th attack on the capit, resulting in toppled tables and multiple federal agents subduing the defendant to the ground. Judge Paul Friedman at the U.S. district Court of the District of Columbia ordered Gos Jankowski jailed for a series of recent doxxing threats targeting federal agents. Moments later, Gos Jankowski stood and fought with agents who tried to handcuff him and take him into custody. Goss Jankowski, who appears to stand about 6 foot 3 inches tall and is exceptionally muscular, pushed, tugged and toppled the officers before careening into a nearby podium and tables. Agents from elsewhere in the courthouse ran to the courtroom to help four U.S. marshals and FBI staff corral Gosh Jankowski, who has a hearing disability. Gosh Jankowski was found guilty on several charges in his January 6 case earlier this year, including assaulting police officers. Prosecutors had asked a judge to jail him immediately ahead of sentencing due to a series of threatening Instagram posts in which Goss Jankowski allegedly targeted and released private information about FBI employees. Now, just before the outburst and the fracas by Goss Jankowski, Friedman ruled that the social media posts were extremely troubling and dangerous, echoing recent arguments over gag orders in former President Donald Trump's cases. The judge says it's rarely people in public life themselves who pose a threat to judges and agents, but rather their followers. Now, Friedman said the threatening posts are not protected by the First Amendment. He alluded to other federal judges in Washington who've been targeted recently and needed round the clock security. Gosh. Jankowski was eventually removed from court and taken to the D.C. jail. His sentencing date has not yet been set. I think he should face additional charges for resisting and From Jim Monk at KVRR Local news Raymond E. Holmberg, who was North Dakota's and one of the nation's longest serving state senators until he resigned last spring, has been indicted on federal child pornography charges. The charges, filed Oct. 26 and unsealed Monday, come two years after police and federal agents raided the 79 year old's home in Grand Forks after an investigation showed Holmberg had traded scores of text messages with another man who was jailed on child pornography charges. Mark Freese, a criminal defense attorney with the Vogel Law Firm in Fargo, is representing Holmberg. Assistant U.S. attorney for the District of North Dakota, Jennifer Puhle is prosecuting the case for the U.S. government. A federal grand jury charged Holmberg with two counts. The indictment against him claims Holmberg traveled to the Czech Republic for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor. That's the legal terminology, mind you and that he knowingly received child pornography. Court records show Holmberg's offenses took place between June of 2011 and November 2016. Now, Nichols Morgan Derozier, the man Holmberg was accused of communicating with while Derosier was in jail, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of possession and distribution of child porn in September. Besides the texts, there are a number of connections between derosier and Holmberg. In a previous evidentiary hearing in the case, it was revealed that derozier's former landscaping business partner had been killed in a worksite accident while the two were clearing snow at Holmberg's residence. Authorities said derozier was operating a front end loader that ran over his business partner multiple times. Months later, the North Dakota Attorney General's Division of Consumer Protection and Antitrust issued an order of injunction to prohibit Derosier's landscaping company from doing business, and Derosier was overheard by investigators on the phone with the AG's officer trying to arrange for a meeting in Bismarck at the time when Holmberg needed to be there so that they could ride there together. This is like really like Fargo level stuff. Holmberg was one of the Legislature's most powerful lawmakers for decades, serving as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee he chaired the Legislative Management Committee four times. The Republican legislator was first elected to his seat, serving Grand Forks in 1976. Holmberg has entered a not guilty plea to the two federal child porn charges, child sex tourism and receipt of child pornography. An initial trial date has been scheduled for December 5th of this year in US District Court for the District of North Dakota in Fargo. Holmberg was released and will be on electronic monitoring. If he's convicted of these charges, he could face up to 50 years in prison. And from Dan Alexander at Forbes, this is the journalist, by the way, that narked out Allen Weisselberg for lying on the stand in the New York Attorney general civil fraud trial about his involvement in the valuation and size of Trump's triplex apartment. So this story reads Ivanka Trump is expected to testify Friday. By the way, that's been changed to November 8th or 9th, depending on when Donald Trump is done. She's going to go after her dad in the $250 million fraud case that the New York attorney General is waging against her father and his associates. That's bad news for Ivanka, who tried to get out of taking the stand. But it might even be worse for news for her father, who employed Ivanka in his years long con to convince the world that he had more money than he actually did. The attorney general will have plenty of questions for Donald Trump's eldest daughter. Ivanka helped lead the acquisition of two assets at the center of the lawsuit, the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. and the Trump National Doral Golf Resort in Miami. She also lived in another property caught up in the proceedings, a condo building named Trump Park Avenue in New York City. But to fully understand Ivanka's evolvement in her father's deceit, it helps to get inside the room where the lying took place. That's exactly where three Forbes journalists were in September of 2015 when Donald Trump hosted them in Trump Tower as part of his quest to climb higher on the Forbes 400 list of America's richest people. Trump spouted off all sorts of nonsense that day, claiming his properties were more profitable, spacious and valuable than they actually were. And and in the middle of his pitch, the Republican frontrunner received a phone call. Ivanka, said Trump, my little Ivanka. Nine minutes later, she entered the room. Hi. I was on a construction call with the Doral folks. They're excited you're coming down. That's what Ivanka told her father. Forbes actually did a very nice profile on that project, she said. On Doral? Trump asked. Yeah, ivanka responded with that the two Trumps were tag teaming a pitch about how much the golf resort was worth. Forbes valued it at about 225 million before debt, which the Trumps deemed far too low. We'll make 75 million this year, Donald Trump said, even though the property would actually earn $14 million that year. Quote 150,000 square feet of meeting space, added Ivanka, opting to use a bigger figure than the ones listed in the Trump Org's own materials, which said the property included 90,000 square feet of meeting space and her not yet published book, which claimed 100,000 square feet of meeting space. Ivanka then noted that a different Forbes writer had said Doral's land alone was worth at least a billion dollars. That was pretty much true. Another journalist with a knack of golf coverage had indeed authored a feature in the lifestyle spinoff of Forbes that said the land at Doral was worth close to a billion dollars. But that reporter apparently fell for a classic trick of the Trumps, who had a habit of noting their per acre price of a smaller parcel and throwing out a puffed up number of acres, thus leaving the impression that the property must have been more valuable than it actually was. The three journalists inside Trump Tower that day, all specialists in investigating the fortunes of billionaires, were not about to fall for the same ruse. Trump had spent about $150 million in 2012 buying Doral, which is less than 700 acres, according to property records, not the 800 that Ivanka and her father liked to claim. Trump dumped more than $100 million into it, but his renovation didn't seem to boost performance much. By 2015, Doral was earning only 13% more than it had in 2012, according to lending records, justifying the preliminary estimate of 225 million that Forbes number crunchers had calculated after consulting more than half a dozen golf and leisure experts. We have like, no debt on it, ivanka said, ignoring the $125 million of Deutsche bank debt that encumbered the property. You guys have it valued. Her father started to say 119 million cut in Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer, rather than 225 million. That's a joke, ivanka sniffed now. Later in the conversation, one of the Forbes journalists pointed out that there was $106 million mortgage against the property, contradicting Ivanka's earlier claim. That might be right, her father conceded, failing to mention the fact that there was a second tranche of 19 million in debt that made the total liabilities against the property 125 million dol. Dollars, quote, you know what? We're paying interest on that mortgage. Donald Trump said 2%. Weisselberg chimed in less. Ivanka said, 1.75%. Her father said, yeah, 1.75%. And in fact, the mortgage rate on the property was 1.75 plus Libor. Libor is a benchmark that brought the total interest rate to 2.1% in 2015, according to a Trump Organization income statement later obtained by Forbes. Why twist such small details? Because real estate valuations are composed of a million tiny inputs, square footage, acreage, mortgage balances, et cetera, that collectively determine what someone like Donald Trump is worth. Ivanka Trump, a devoted daughter, surely knew her father cared to his core about how much money other people thought he had contacted for comment. A lawyer for Ivanka did not respond. An attorney for the Trump Organization did not provide answers to a list of questions. Now, Ivanka Trump will have to speak soon enough, though. Donald Trump's three oldest children are all expected to testify this week, with Donald Trump Jr. Slated to take the stand Wednesday, followed by Eric Trump Thursday. And it says here Ivanka on Friday. But again, she's been moved from Friday to next week. That weekend break. The case will resume Monday with Donald Trump himself. All right, everybody, stick around. Up next, Leigh McGowan, I am politics Girl. And Brian Tyler Cohen. We'll be followed by a discussion with the White House National Security Council deputy spokesperson, Shawn Civette. And then we'll close it out with the good news. So everybody stay with us. We'll be right back after these messages.
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We'll be right back.
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Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Thanks for hanging with me through the news while Dana is out. But I am so happy to be joined today by two of my very good friends. You know her as I Am Politics girl. It's Leigh McGowan. And of course, Brian Tyler Cohen. Hey, everybody.
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C
Hey, Alison. Thanks for having us.
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Hi, Al. How's it going? It's so good to see you, my friends. It is really, really good to see you. And the reason that I am talking to you today is because this Friday, November 3rd, there is an event that y' all are hosting called Justice Defended, and it is going to be in Wisconsin. Tell us. Let's start with you, Lee. Why are we doing this? What? What's this about? Why Wisconsin?
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Well, okay, Anyone who's been following what's been happening in Wisconsin knows that it is a perfect example that Republican extremists are willing to do pretty much anything to hold onto their power And I think that's why Brian and I are going out to Madison, because we want to join the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, because this party are just such superstars. And despite the complete uphill battle in that state, they have been so hard at work and fighting back, and they're just really the model for what happens when you have an electorate that's engaged and informed and a state party that's prepared and ahead of the game. This event we're doing is called Justice Defended Live. And it's the celebration of the work that the people of Wisconsin have already done, getting Janet Purdosaywitz elected and making sure that she's not impeached. But it's also giving us a real opportunity to mobilize support as they're kicking off what's called One year to Win. Because as they say, as goes Wisconsin, so goes the nation. And we really care about what happens to the nation.
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C
And we have. We have big things to look forward to in 2024. Obviously, Tammy Baldwin is up for reelection in the Senate in a Senate map that is increasingly difficult for Democrats. We're defending seats in some not so easy terrain, like Montana, West Virginia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio. So that's important, obviously, hanging onto the Senate, hanging onto all of our Senate seats that we currently hold. And also, as Lee alluded to before, I mean, Wisconsin for the presidential election is the tipping point state every election. And so it's always important to make sure that we win Wisconsin. WS Dems has been amazing at doing that. WS Dems has overseen 12 out of 15 wins in the last 15 statewide elections. And more broadly, I guess it's just more important or it's especially important to invest early. So that's why we're going out and going to a live show in Wisconsin in what I would, I guess say is close to the winter. So a little bit masochistic here, but if anything shows our commitment to whether folks over at Wisdoms are doing, it's that. But this just kind of hopefully offers something of, I guess, a signal to other state parties that the way we win isn't by waiting until October or November of an election year, but rather if you want to do something a full year out so that we can set the stage and get the process going so that we can win elections next year, then let's go. Let's do this right now and let's start raising money, let's start raising awareness and set the stage to. To win these important elections in 24.
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A
Yeah. And I've often said Wisconsin, you could be like Michigan, right? You could have that blue triumvirate redraw your maps to be fair. And Wisconsin responded, Wisdoms responded and elected. Janet Protosiewicz. Talk a little bit, Lee, about what the Republicans in Wisconsin are trying to do to not only undermine, but I think impeach somebody who was duly elected for the specific purpose of making the elections free and fair.
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D
The thing that I would say is, is that people need to remember that a state like Wisconsin is kind of the ultimate swing state, because when you look at the voting records in that state, it's actually a clean split, if not Democratic leaning. But those numbers are not at all reflected in their state politics or their policy. And that's because of their 4 to 3 far right supreme Court and the legislature. That was a Republican legislature. They've had it for years. So it's that four, three far right Supreme Court that drew the district maps. Right. So the state has six of the eight congressional districts went to Republicans. Despite the progressive leading of the state, it's that court that allowed almost every and all form of voter suppression for Wisconsin people. So the Republicans ended up with control of 65% of the state House despite only having at best 50% of the vote. Wisconsin is ranked 47th in the nation when it comes to ease of voting. So it's like a very hard state to vote in. And then you have an organization like Wisdoms that says, you know what, even though this is a giant uphill battle, we can make a difference. We can roll this back. And I think that's the kind of stuff we have to remember. If we catch this stuff early enough, if we see the cheating early enough, we can stop it. And for a long time we weren't paying attention. And that's one of the things that we have to remember that just kind of like not paying attention to politics doesn't mean politics doesn't affect you. It means you can affect it. Right. That's why we are going out and celebrating the organization and the work that was done in Wisconsin, because the Wisconsin Republicans were making the exact same move the North Carolina Republicans made to completely disenfranchise their voters. Right. The GOP has a majority in both legislative houses, but they wanted the courts too, and they lost that chance. And now this court, this new court with Janet Protestewitz on it, is going to rule on their blatant gerrymandered maps, and it's not going to go in their favor. And so we're actually going to have fair maps going into the Next election. And I'm sure everyone heard about the Republicans plan to impeach this new justice. So she couldn't rule on the new maps. And she was like, I'm not stepping down. I'm going to rule on them. So they were like, oh, well, we'll impeach you then. We'll do this. This will be our next thing. And, you know, you can't just impeach someone for the crime of, like, not letting you blindly take over your state. Right. So they backed down. And they backed down because of the work that was done to draw attention to what they were trying to do. They stepped away from this plan because people were actually outraged. They were paying attention and they could see that the voters weren't going to let them just get away with it. And I think that's what we to do all over the country. And it's one of the reasons Brian and I are going to go out to Wisconsin to say, these guys are doing it right, let's do it everywhere.
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C
It also helps too, that, you know, in terms of them backing off of this plan, it was a completely baseless, unconstitutional effort to do that. I mean, so that we're clear, it is not illegal for her to have gone out on the campaign trail and spoken about the general issues that were, you know, the dangers of gerrymandering. That's not illegal. It's never has been illegal. When you have judges who are gonna be elected in states which certain states allow, Wisconsin being one of them, they're expected, not just allowed to, but expected to talk about issues. And Wisconsin's blatantly gerrymandered maps is one of the issues that's obviously a major issue that's present in politics today. So, no, it is not illegal by any stretch of the imagination. These Republicans knew that. They wouldn't have gone forward to Lee's point had there not been this massive pressure campaign. So I think that's what helped. And hopefully other states can see what happened in Wisconsin and kind of take those cues.
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A
And Brian, let's talk about another issue too, because we know that gerrymandered maps was one, but so. So is access to reproductive health care. Talk about what wisdoms are doing with regard to that.
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Yeah, so. So that's a great question. I think very importantly, as of this past September, I know There was an 1849 law on the books that had banned abortion statewide. As of September, reproductive health care has resumed in the state, at least in Madison and Milwaukee. And so I think more importantly, I mean, look, in terms of the work that Wisdoms has done. Tony Evers is the governor of Wisconsin and he's made sure that, you know, abortion protections and women's reproductive healthcare can have, like, a home in Wisconsin. And so because we have these blocks to Republican efforts to stop this stuff from moving forward, that's why we're seeing abortion protections and women's reproductive rights move in the right direction in Wisconsin as opposed to these other states where Republicans are taking control. And obviously those protections are getting whittled away.
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A
Yeah, the Dems in Wisconsin, one of the most impactful and successful endeavors that I've seen in politics in a very long time, and it's worth celebrating.
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D
What Brian was saying just reminded me that, you know, we have the upcoming election in both Virginia and Ohio where abortion rights are on the ballot in both of those states. And it's just essential.
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A
The tricks, man, I know all the.
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D
Tricks that are happening. And so people have to know, even if you're not from Wisconsin, if you're in Ohio right now and you can vote, if you're in Virginia right now and you can vote, get out and vote. Because the Republicans are being very, very clear from the House all the way down that they're going to take every right women have to their own bodies and just take it right off the table. We are going to be beholden to our states and we won't have any access to our own health care. And so you can vote right now in those two states to uphold this right to your own body.
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A
Yeah. And check your voter roll, check your voter registration. Because we've had, we've heard from Ohio. They were, they quietly removed thousands of people from the voter rolls. Same things are going on in Virginia, North Carolina, like, check your voter registration. Hey, Brian, talk about some of the things that you're going to go over this Friday in Wisconsin, like what does this look like? I'm so excited for this.
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C
Yeah. So this is Lee and I's first live show, I believe. Is that right, Lee? Yes, first live show for people who are otherwise have made a career for themselves by sitting in a quiet room alone and just staring into a lonely teleprompter, a lonely camera. But. Well, you know, we'll be going over the importance of kind of, well, focusing first of all on the importance of having stayed engaged and involved. And to Lee's earlier point, Wisconsin and Wisdoms is what happens when you have an electorate that's engaged and informed and how that's kind of benefited the state in terms of protecting their supreme Court judge, who, again, is gonna have massive downstream impacts on the maps and on abortion rights and any other cases that come before the court. We'll also be speaking about what we're going to do moving forward and just the importance of investing, investing this time and energy and money in. In this election, you know, as we head into 2024. So, Lee, is there anything else that I'm missing here?
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A
No.
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D
The goal is, you know, we're just. We are. We're drawing attention to the idea that we can't allow people who can't win to continue to rig the game. And we have to be vigilant and we have to do what the Wisconsin Democrats have done. We have to organize and strategize and inspire people and then have people come out, like, en masse to vote against this kind of corruption because it just cannot continue. And even though Brian and I are introverts that work by ourselves all day long, we're going to come out and have some fun with people and remind ourselves that we are humans in the world, and we're going to do something more fun when we are actually kind of serious people sometimes. And at the end of the day, like, this is. The Republicans plan to win not through votes, but by rigging the game. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm not having it. Wisdoms isn't having it. And especially when the Republican leadership comes down to the loss of women's rights and the criminalization of LGBTQ people and apparently Christian nationalism and everything that comes with that, from bigotry to book bans. And so I would say, like, because we're on news with swearing, like, no fucking thank you. I'm not having it.
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A
Appreciate that.
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C
And also, they're not afraid of broadcasting it either. I mean, if you look at who they just elected as the speaker of the House all the way up to the second in line to the presidency, these people are openly, like, embracing the Christo fascist nationalism and this, you know, wholesale denial of women's rights, this wholesale denial of anybody who, you know, basically isn't a Christian Republican in this country. And so I think it's important to kind of, as long as they want to elevate these people into positions of power, as long as they want to embrace the election denialism and the abject outright fascism, then you'll have, you know, folks like Wisdoms and us to the extent that we can help and. And you and everybody else in our ecosystem kind of continuing to push forward and from a grassroots level and making sure that this stuff is rebuked every step of the way. And just like they got rebuked in 2020 and then in midterms in 2022. And now as we head into 2024, we'll just keep doing it as they want to continue embracing all of like the kind of anti democratic measures that they've been embracing.
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A
All right, so. Madison, Wisconsin Friday, November 3rd 7:00pm local time, Central time. Lee, how can people go to this event if they would like to?
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D
I think the easiest way to join us either online or in person is to go to wisdoms.org you can buy tickets and get the details there. If you want to attend in person, you'll receive a confirmation email that just acts as the ticket for the event. If you want to join the live stream, then you just RSVP by donating whatever you can a $1000 whatever you want. And you can get a confirmation email with the link to the livestream page. And then on the page you enter your name, you enter your email, you're in, and you'll join us and you'll watch as introverts attack.
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A
When introverts attack.
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D
When introverts attack.
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A
Amazing. I look forward to watching this and cheering you on and cheering on Wisdoms. Just what an incredible organization. And thank you for doing it. Lee McGowan, Brian Tyler Cohen, thank you so much for speaking with me today.
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C
Thanks for having us.
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D
Thanks for having us, Al.
- [32:19]
A
All right, everybody, stick around. I have a great conversation with the deputy spokesperson for the White House National Security Council about funding Ukraine right after this break, Mr. Sean Civet. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
- [32:31]
B
We'll be right back.
- [32:38]
A
Hey, everybody, welcome back. I'm honored today to be joined by the deputy spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, Sean Civette. Hi, Sean, how are you?
- [32:46]
B
Hey, Alison. I'm good. Thank you so much for having me on. It's great to be on the podcast.
- [32:50]
A
I appreciate you coming on and talking to us about this because I want everybody to kind of be clear about the series of events that unfolded over the past couple of weeks. You know, we've been trying to fund Ukraine and we're talking about the 24 billion or even bumping it up to 60 billion to cover them for a year. And then that was packaged in a bill that was proposed to Congress by the President. He announced it in his primetime Oval Office address. Can you talk a little bit about what President Biden proposed to Congress?
- [33:24]
B
Sure. So it's a really important proposal to advance our national security interests as the. Take a step back for a moment just to remind your viewers, over the past year and a half, under President Biden's leadership, we've rallied the world to respond to Putin's invasion of Ukraine and to respond to all the brutality, the atrocities, the war crimes that we've seen Russian forces commit. And we've created this broad global coalition. And Ukraine's now at this really critical juncture where, as you all know, they won the battle for Kyiv. They've won the battles for Kharkiv and for Kherson and the eastern part of Ukraine, and they're now in a real fight to try to take back some more of their sovereign territory. And at the same time, we're seeing Russia launch renewed defenses in the northeast of Ukraine. And it's clear that Putin still wants to take over Ukraine. And if we let him do it, then question of will he stop there? I mean, we know that he's long wanted to recreate the Soviet Union, and we have a lot of NATO allies, the border Ukraine and the border Russia that we certainly don't want to see Putin try to attack. And so that was the context of the address that President Biden delivered. And especially it also came several days after we saw Hamas just commit this utterly appalling and atrocious terrorist attack that claimed the lives of more than 1400 people, including, I believe it's now 34Americans. And they've also taken more than 230 people hostage, potentially including 10Americans as well. And this is just, you know, the images that we all saw and broadcast on TV and Radevad just really, really hit, I think, so many of us hard. And so, you know, we've seen while these two conflicts are very different, there's a lot of commonalities there. I mean, both Putin and Hamas, they want to annihilate neighboring democracies, and we just can't let them do that. It's incredibly important for our national security. And if you want to look at from a cost perspective, you know, the cost of doing nothing and letting a dictator in Europe try to conquer and carve off his neighbor's territory or letting a terrorist group win and, you know, terrorize democracy in the Middle east, especially a very close ally, it's just not something that the United States should stand for. And so that was what President Biden spoke to the nation about in that primetime address. He spoke about why this matters to the American people. Even though these conflicts are, you know, halfway around the world, they, you know, they're incredibly important to our daily lives. And so he put forward this, you know, the supplemental funding request for Congress that as they, with a new speaker of the House, now look forward to funding the government for the rest of the year and preventing a government shutdown, which is possibility in a couple of weeks. We want to make sure that we also are continuing to invest in the American industrial base and continue to create jobs by producing weapons here that can go to Ukraine that are being used on the front lines for freedom, that we are helping Ukraine defend against Putin's invasion, that we're also providing humanitarian assistance to people who've been displaced the millions by this war in Europe, but also to the several million people in Gaza right now, many of whom have absolutely no affiliation with Hamas whatsoever and are really suffering as a result of this conflict. And so we want to make sure that Israel can continue to defend itself, replenishing their Iron Dome to protect their people from these rocket attacks we're seeing launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups. We also want to make sure that we can continue to support our allies in Indo Pacific as we face with the rising China. And so these are some of the many really important national security priorities that President Biden laid out and certainly are hoping for Congress's support.
- [37:12]
A
Yeah, and I mean, they're all fundamentally connected, particularly to our national security. Russia just, Putin just hosted leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah. There's a lot of partnership there with Iran. We've got North Korea partnering. And then of course, China's got its eye on what happens in Ukraine with its own eyes on Taiwan. And so, I mean, all of these things are connected. And I've long said that funding Ukraine is funding Israel. And I was just out there. We did a, a press conference with some members of Congress at the Capitol with Vote Vets, which is an organization that I absolutely love and support. And, you know, the point, the talking point there was, hey, this is less than 5% of our defense budget will go to help defeat our biggest enemy and the enemy, biggest enemy to democracy. I think this, this sort of axis of evil that's, that's starting to take take shape. And, you know, I mean, if, what's our defense budget for? If not, like, I'd be happy spending half our defense budget to boot an American boot on the ground and help Ukraine defeat terrorism and autocracy. So talk a little bit about the national security implications of separating these out, because we know recently Mike Johnson, speaker of the House, now Speaker of the House, met with POTUS met with the president, and apparently I didn't really hear how that meeting went, but it sounds like Mike Johnson now wants to separate all these out.
- [38:47]
B
Yeah, and you make a number of really important points there, Alison. And I just would say immediately, you're exactly right, that the world is watching what happens in Ukraine, they're watching what happens in Israel, and they're taking note that I certainly don't think Vladimir Putin ever thought that the United States was gonna rally this global coalition and build more than 50 countries to come together to support Ukraine. He thought he'd be able to carve up Ukraine in a number of days, in a couple of weeks, and the world would sit back and do nothing. And President Biden and the people of America showed him wrong. And it's critical that we continue to prove him wrong in this case and. And prove to Putin that he's made another terrible assumption and that he should just pick up his things and pick up his troops and withdraw to Ukraine. And the world is watching then what happens there. Because you're right, as we look at the Indo Pacific and we look at China and the possibility of tensions with the Taiwan Strait, China's paying attention to what happens in Ukraine. Other would be dictators and tyrants and conquerors are certainly paying attention to see if the world will falter and let Putin take over Ukraine, or, you know, will they have the green light then potentially try to take over their own neighbors? This is absolutely a fundamentally important question that we're faced with. And that's why, you know, the reason President Biden proposed grouping these several key national security priorities together is because they are key national security priorities. And, yes, we absolutely need funding to support the people of Israel right now as they're faced with a terrorist threat and as they root out Hamas. But we also need to make sure that we are not dropping humanitarian aid from that bill, which is something that the President proposed, but we're hearing Congressional Republicans may not include in their proposal. And that would be a terrible, terrible shame considering, you know, you have millions of people in Gaza who are suffering, again, through no fault of their own, who have no affiliation with Hamas. And we need to make sure that humanitarian aid continues to reach them, which is something that Prime Minister Netanyahu has committed to President Biden, that President Sisi of Egypt is committed to, to making sure that we can continue to reopen that border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to get humanitarian aid flowing. That's a really important priority that this bill would fund. And then, you know, obviously, Ukraine, we've talked at length about. We also have border security provisions in there. We have funding requests in there to provide countries in the developing world with an alternative to these Kuwait course of loans that the People's Republic of China is putting out with us. This Dalton Road initiative, which I know President Biden has called the Debt and Noose initiative, which will they offer these loans to developing countries with very high interest rates. And it's really coercive financing. And the key part of our soft power is America is to be able to build allies and to make friends. And one way to do that is to offer these low costs, low cost loans that will not saddle them with debt well, but will help increase global prosperity for economic growth. That helps us here at home as well. And we see the benefits of what allies are for when we have priorities here like supporting Ukraine again. And we can ask countries around the world to come to Ukraine's aid because it's incredibly important for our national security and because they view being allied with the US As a good thing, they will come to Ukraine's aid as well. Those are, those are really important things. And to separate them off would just, you know, it really would risk, you know, weakening those national security priorities and leaving some critical things behind. So we're asking Congress to move forward with a, you know, with a vote that passes them all. This is something that I know many Republicans in the, in the Senate and have voiced support for and that there are many Republican members of the House as well that continue to voice their support for Ukraine. So we, we certainly do not want to see this bill get stripped down and only some of it pass and the rest of our critical priorities be left behind.
- [42:39]
A
Yeah, And I can see patterns sometimes and way long, long time ago. 2016, Donald Trump pressured Manafort to change the Republican platform language to kind of go easy on Ukraine and giving weapons to Ukraine. Change that language. Right. And a lot of Republicans kind of pushed back on that, but it ended up happening. Then he violated the Impoundment Control act by withholding aid to Ukraine in order to shake down President Zelensky to get him to say he was investigating his political opponent. Then he had that whole shadow policy group. We called him the Clown Posse, but the Ukraine Clown Posse, I think was the nickname that we gave them. But Rudy Giuliani and everybody trying to run their own shadow policy, kicking Lt. Col. Vindman off of being the Ukraine expert there and disinviting him to these trips. And now he's the architect of getting this speaker elected who wants to defund Ukraine. And he gave a speech today that said if he were president when he's president, when he wins in 2024, that he's not going to defend NATO. And so I don't know. Is there any indication that the chaos in the House and this particular election for speakers was a feature and not a bug? It seems like it's part of a larger attempt not to just only defund Ukraine, but to get a lot of the policy they want passed or blocked. But that seems like a longtime goal of this particular party.
- [44:13]
B
Sure. Well, I have to be careful not to talk about 2024 because of the Hatch Act. But I will say that we've seen one of the priorities for President Biden has been expanding and strengthening NATO alliance. And that alliance is critical for America's national security and it's critical for European security and the world's security. And we've thanks in those fall part to the president's leadership, but also to the changing security environment in Europe. We've had one new member of Finland with a very capable, strong military join joined NATO. We're on the verge of having a second member of Sweden be welcomed in. And those would be really important gains that would strengthen America's security, giving us two critical partners. And your listeners. I know you know, Allison, but your listeners may remember also that after nine, 11 NATO allies came to our aid. They fought with us in Afghanistan. And if the United States were attacked again, we have treaty alliances where we would expect our NATO allies to come to our aid just like we are treaty bound to come to theirs. That's an incredibly important commitment that as President Biden says is ironclad and that's not something we can walk away from. That would sacrifice America's credibility in the world, our leadership role and that that so many decades of American policy have worked to build. And that pays real dividends to the United States people too. It keeps us safe and secure. And so I'll just say that speaking for the Biden administration, our policy is absolutely to strengthen NATO and it's work to expand it rather than try to walk back these critical gains that have kept us secure for so long.
- [45:50]
A
Yeah, it's critical that we are a trustworthy partner in these treaties that we are part of. One last thing. Matt Gaetz put out a tweet today that said Israel is a land with a 4,000 year connection to our faith. Ukraine is a former Soviet state. These are not the same thing and should be considered separately. Besides just being factually incorrect, what's your response to that kind of message.
- [46:18]
B
Yeah, I mean it misses the mark in so many ways. Race is a nation with tens of millions of people's sovereignty, their sense of independence. You know, you talk to any Ukrainian and you ask them do they identify as a former member of the Soviet Union or do they identify as a Ukrainian. And you know, I think you might be careful for the type of reaction you'll get there because you know, I never met a Ukrainian who identifies anything other than a proud Ukrainian national. And so just to try to erase it in other countries independence like that, just like Vladimir Putin is trying to do, is really, really just wrong headed. And we've got to pass Ukraine funding, we've got to pass Israel funding, we've got to pass humanitarian aid. This is incredibly important for our national security and again it's also important for our economy because the weapons that are being used in Ukraine right now on the front lines of this fight for freedom and independence and these values that matter to so many Americans, those are weapons, many of them that are being made in America, that are being produced by companies that support American jobs. That because of the work we've been doing to support Ukraine, we've been restarting production lines here, we've been bringing people back to work, we've been producing more ammunition and we've been. I know there's actually a point that leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate like to talk about where Ukraine funding actually supports jobs in 38 states. And that's a very important thing too when we talk about the economic impact of it. So when we're asking for more funding to, to help Ukraine, what we're actually asking for is more funding to support American jobs that will create American made weapons that then can be used on the front lines of Ukraine as they defend their independence and they defend their freedom against Russian brutality and aggression. Because we just have to send the message in the 21st century, in 2023, we cannot allow a brutal dictator to try to carve up or conquer their neighbor's territory. That is just not who we are as Americans and that is not the message we want to send to the world right now at this perilous moment.
- [48:16]
A
Okay, and last word, are you optimistic that we'll get Ukraine funding or Indo Pacific or border funding passed? Because I mean if they put to put forth, I guess an Israel only bill, the Democrats aren't going to be allowed to oppose that. So if we pass just that, what are your, do you think that we have the votes to pass Ukraine funding?
- [48:41]
B
Well, I know the votes are there? Absolutely. I mean, there is strong bipartisan support overwhelmingly in the Senate and there is a strong bipartisan majority in the House that supports Ukraine funding and it supports each of the individual pieces of funding that the president proposed. I don't want to get too far ahead with predictions because it's still early. We're waiting to see exactly what the speaker, with the new speaker's move will be, you know, what his first bill will be. But even then, that's likely to be some type of opening, opening bet or opening gambit that will then go through negotiations with both parties, will go through negotiations in the back and forth with the Senate. And so we'll see where things end up. But we know what's critically important and we believe that if they were to put this supplemental vote package for a vote up, it would pass. And so we certainly want them to do just that.
- [49:25]
A
All right, well, everybody write and call your representative and senator and tell them you want all of this to be passed. Thank you for explaining the national security implications for us. Deputy spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, Sean Civette. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today.
- [49:39]
B
Thank you for having me on. It was a pleasure and hope to be back again.
- [49:42]
A
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news.
- [49:57]
C
Everyone.
- [50:04]
A
Good news, good news. And if you have good news, confessions, corrections what the mutt. O pine on the bovine. What the heck, Wine. Find the cat. Whatever you want to send to us, I will. Guess your animals breed. I love that. I even did a turtle one time. I got the red eared slider right. That's fun. I don't know what the name for that game is. We'll come up with one. If you have a shout out to a loved one or yourself, like if you want to tell me what's something great that you did this week, I want to hear about your theses and dissertation titles. Podpet Tax. If you don't have pod Pet tax, you can send an adoptable pet in your area, shout out to a small business in your area or your small business want to know what you're making or creating or you know, your happy place. We could frog orgies, baby pictures. Whatever you want to send to us, please send it in. We need your good news in the next couple of weeks. You can send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, first up from Dana Pronoun. She and her bug Swallowing story A few years ago, I decided to attend a friend's wedding even though there was a chance I might run into the nightmare that is my ex boyfriend. The story has a happy ending though. On the last day of the weekend, he was in the gas station and had the audacity to come over and start talking to me like we were old friends and not that he was verbally and physically abusive for two years. As I opened my mouth to air his ass out, a bug flew into my mouth which caused me to start gagging and coughing. My husband had finished paying for our gas and turned to see what was happening. I guess the combination of my emotions and gagging from the bug made me puke right on my ex boyfriend's shoes. And what makes it funnier is that he's the type of dude who loves his shoes and cars more than his significant other. He stormed off looking like he might cry and the employees were staring with confused looks. I yell in the middle of the aisle, holy shit. I just puked on my ex's new Js. They cheered and clapped for me. That's fucking fantastic, Dana. Thank you for that. Next up for anonymous pronoun she and her oh, there's puppers. Last year, I had to say goodbye to my sweet girl Sloane. Listening to you ag be so open about the loss of your beloved cat really helped me process this difficult time with our fur babies. So thank you. I've decided the best way to honor my girl is to foster. I met Penny, but she's not the right fit. I'm hoping someone listening might be the right foster or adopter. She's in the north suburbs of Chicago at Orphans of the Storm. Please feel free to play what the mutt? But you win because I don't know. Okay, this is easy. American bulldog with a little pity and some dalmatian. And that's what I declare. What a beautiful baby. Everybody get that. North Chicago suburbs Orphans of the Storm. Beautiful, beautiful dog. Available for adoption. Next up is Susan. It's bittersweet season for gardeners just trying to tidy up before the Minnesota snow blankets us all. For months after I dismantled my flower boxes and a few pots of beautiful plants, I went to the nearby city compost site this afternoon. It was jam packed with cooperative gardeners making their autumnal sacrificial contributions to a massive pile of leaves and whatnot. It felt pretty groovy to me to and took the sting away from having to leave my plants in that pile. That is pretty great, Susan. Oh, look at the moocows and the beautiful flowers. Oh, lovely. Thank you for sharing that. These are beautiful photos. Oh, there's some snow with a doggo. Yeah, man, I moved out of the snow a long time ago. I don't know how y' all do it. All right, next up, from Adriano, from Wild oh, Wild Peccaries. You gave my shop, Wild Peccaries on Etsy a shout out when my mom wrote to you. The response was stunning. I want to let you know that my shop is having a cyber sale, 30% off. Lots of new inventory and great gifts and lots of music. My mom listens to you every day and we're so glad that you're standing against the destruction of our democracy. So thank you. We have a link in the show Notes to the etsy shop and etsy.com shop wildpeckeries P E C C A R I E S I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Thank you so much for that. I'm so glad and continued luck throughout the holiday season. Next up, Adam pronouns he and him hey AG I was motivated to write after your story about Kentucky's governor Andy Beshear and his brilliant school voucher debate. Today marks one year to the day since I stopped teaching. It's been a hell of a year. Your argument against vouchers as privatizing education was made with such a fine point. More of my fellow Hoosiers need to understand exactly how toxic vouchers have been on the school system here in Indiana. This malicious action by our own lawmakers is a huge part of my exit from the profession. Besides that, I wanted to just put out a word of encouragement to your listeners. My exit from teaching happened on a Tuesday when I couldn't get out of bed. I saw the path my life was heading down, and a friend's close brush with that same darkness showed me I had to make a change. It's been a year of journaling, therapy and couples counseling. It's been a year that has stressed me and my very supportive wife and my chosen family to the brink. These days, I find myself working at a nonprofit that supports one of the largest parks in the country. I get to work with people. And you're damn right that my eight and a half years of physics teaching translates to marketing and program coordinator just fine. It's been a year where I have found so much joy. Today, to celebrate this trip around the sun, I went for a walk by myself without listening to a podcast or music. I just admired the enormous 300-year-old trees in my neighborhood. I felt so comfortable being alone with myself in a way I never have before. I just want your listeners to know that it's worth it to start putting yourself first and to take care of yourself. For Pet Tax our boys, Earl and Brad. Brad's a great name. Brad sitting up and Earl laying down. I've also included a photo I took on my I call it the Uncanny Valley ag. Thank you for being a huge part of the last year. Wow. Excellent. Adam. Thank you for that post. And you're so right. It's sometimes really hard to just sit with yourself, but after a while, you really get good at letting those negative thoughts just float right by. Oh, beautiful tabby. I had a cat that looked like that named Ned. He had. He's just exactly like that, except he had a black freckle on his nose. Oh, there's the other one. Hey, sweetie. So cute. Oh, great photo. I love watching the leaves change. We don't really get that much out here in California, but all my friends sending me photos of the changing leaves all across the Midwest and back East. I just love that. I love looking at that. Thank you everybody so much for sending these in. I really, really need these. And I know that I've gotten so many letters and messages from listeners from members of the Leguminati who are like, the good news is so important. Thank you for having it. So please keep sending in your good news stories. You can do it@dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. Thanks to Leigh McGowan, Brian Tyler Cohen, and Shawn Savet for joining me today. We've got a lot more beans this week, so hang in there. Dana will be back tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, take care of your family. Vote blue over Q and bring someone with you. I've been ag and them's the beans.
- [57:18]
B
Refried beans.
- [57:19]
A
I like refried beans.