B (2:29)

Yeah.

A (2:30)

Well, there's a lot of propaganda out there and I've been trying to explain to everybody that the Republicans can change the rule to lower the 60 vote threshold anytime they want without going nuclear. They just did it. Yeah.

B (2:43)

They did it so they could put a bunch of judges through all at.

A (2:45)

The same time or just appointees in general. Yeah.

B (2:48)

Yeah. Thank you.

A (2:49)

Yeah. Because I don't think judges anymore require a 60 vote threshold because of Harry Reid, a Democrat who poked a hole in that many years ago.

B (3:00)

Ah, okay.

A (3:01)

Yeah. And we were like, yay, I don't think there should be any filibuster. But you know, that's, you know, Democrats are like, maybe we shouldn't until we can get our maps right because, you know, but the Senate doesn't require maps. So I'm not sure, I'm not sure why when we had control of the Senate and the House, we didn't get rid of the filibuster. But here we are.

B (3:24)

I don't know either.

A (3:27)

Oh, well, that's in the past. We can't go back in a time machine. We're here now and the government is shut down and tons of people are gonna suffer from this. And it's unfortunate, but it's what Donald Trump wants. And so we're gonna go over all that. But there's a lot of other news that's happening too. So I don't wanna do wall to wall shutdown coverage. We're gonna get to that in the hot notes. But we do have a lot of quick hits.

B (3:48)

And to make a long story short, too late.

A (3:50)

First up from NBC, U.S. companies shed 32,000 jobs in September. The job numbers for September, Dana, negative 32,000.

B (3:57)

Woof.

A (3:58)

That's according to the payroll processing company ADP. And that's a surprising decline that adds to the growing concerns about the rapidly weakening labor market. Now adp, which released its monthly private sector employment report Wednesday, was expected by Wall Street Journal to report job growth of plus 45,000 jobs. Nope. And ADP might be the only jobs data reported this week. The government shutdown, which began Wednesday, means the Bureau of Labor Statistics is closed and unable to publish the official government jobs report on Friday. Not that we would trust anything that came out of there any way. Companies with fewer than 50 employees were among those hit the hardest in September. Small businesses firms employing 20 to 49 employees shed about 21,000 jobs and those employing fewer than 19, they lost 19,000 jobs. Now, ADP said the negative number was due in part to Donald Trump sucking butts. Well, no, that's not what they said. They said it was due in part to recently revised BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics data, but the trend was unchanged. Job creation continued to lose momentum across most sectors. I'd like to remind everyone that Joe Biden had job growth in every single month that he was in office. Additionally, ADP says pay gains for job changers slowed to 6.6 from 7.1 in August. And ADP also revised down August's employment's growth. August, they said 54,000 jobs. It was actually negative 3,000.

B (5:22)

I also have to wonder if these ice rates, these just horrible ice rates that are just wrapping people up, whether it's a car dealership or anything else that they're taking a hundred percent, these have to be contributing to the job losses.

A (5:38)

It is. That's really, really astute of you because construction lost a ton of jobs this month.

B (5:44)

That's exactly what it is. And a lot of these people, they probably didn't lose their job. They're probably afraid to go to work because of these assholes that are just doing sweeps for people that haven't even committed crimes.

A (5:54)

Yeah.

B (5:54)

Ugh. I, if I was this company man, I would be louder than ever about this stuff.

A (5:59)

You would think that the billionaires would be loud. But nope.

B (6:04)

There's related story. This one's from cnn. The White House has sent paperwork to the Senate to withdraw the nomination of E.J. antony as the head of Bureau of Labor Statistics. What we've just been talking about, this is from three sources. What they told cnn.

A (6:17)

So wait, so the guy they fired because he was lying. He's lying bigly about the job numbers. They're better than ever. He's lying. I have my own guy. So they're withdra. That guy?

B (6:27)

Yeah.

A (6:27)

Okay.

B (6:28)

The guy that he's like, this is my guy. He's gonna lie for me. Maybe not. The withdrawals actually comes after CNN's K File reported earlier this month that Anthony operated a since deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories, and crude insults aimed at critics of President Donald Trump. You would think that would have got him promoted, not demoted.

A (6:53)

Right. That's what in this administration, hire anybody in this administration.

B (6:56)

Bizarre. That's the reason they get hired. A person that's actually familiar with all this, said the GOP Senator Susan Collins. Elisa Murkowski had declined to meet with Antony, potentially raising concerns that his nomination was in trouble. CNN has reached out to White House and Antony. Now Antony must have done, done something crazy because I think they both met with Kavanaugh. And you know, we're like, I, I spoke to him and he convinced me. So they've met with bad people. So what did Anthony do?

A (7:26)

And it's interesting that this is the first time hearing that Collins and Murkowski are doing something right.

B (7:32)

Not just writing strongly worded emails of concern.

A (7:35)

Exactly. Or, you know, voting for RFK Jr. Or whatever. All right, next up from CBS, YouTube has agreed to pay 24 and a half million dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump, who sued the platform and its chief executive for temporarily suspending Trump's account after the insurre action. That's according to court papers filed on Monday. The bulk of the money is going to the White House ballroom. The settlement filed in U S District Court in Northern California ends a four year legal battle between the company and Trump, who has also recently settled with Meta and Twitter after suing those big tech firms on similar suspensions. Mr. Trump's accounts on Meta and Twitter were restored in 2022 and his YouTube account was restored in 2023. They settled Meta and Twitter and. And YouTube would have won in court because they restored his frigging account. Yep, he was made whole. But they're capitulating with more money.

B (8:28)

Crazy. This one's from Spectrum News. I'm assuming it was just news and then it started taking Tylenol. But this is from Spectrum. New York joined. That was a very funny joke. New York joined coalition of 11 other states suing to stop the U.S. department of Homeland Security from cutting counterterrorism funding from the state. Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James. This is what they said on Tuesday. According to the governor's office, the DHS is reducing New York's allocation by 86% from 187 million to 30 million and when divided estimates to be a projected 100 million cut to the NYPD and 15 million cut to the FDNY. A 13 million cut to Joint Task Force Empire Shield and millions of dollars in cuts that directly support counties, those sheriffs and police departments. And this is a, quote, a Republican administration literally defunding the police is the height of hypocrisy and walking away from the fight against terrorism and the number one terrorist target in America. It's utterly shocking. This is from Hochul. So she said in a statement, any New York House Republican who doesn't immediately act to get this funding restored is complicit in making their constituents less safe. Yes, they are. And there was another threat from the president that if people vote for Mom Donnie, he's going to defund the state of New York.

A (9:48)

Yeah. So they're defunding the police?

B (9:51)

They sure are.

A (9:52)

Okay, just checking.

B (9:54)

I know. Makes your head spin.

A (9:56)

Next up from the post. And you know what else too? When they talk about defunding the Medicaid. Right. When Mike Johnson, I think was on with Dana Bash and and she was like, yeah, but you're doing all these Medicaid cuts. And he's like, no, no, no, no, no, it's Medicaid reform. And she's like, okay, less spending, whatever you want to call it. So when we want to reform the police, they call it defunding the police, but then when they want to defund Medicaid, they call it reforming it. Like, come on, you guys. All right. This is from the Post. The Supreme Court Wednesday. This is good news. Ruled that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her job for now and announced it will take up the high stakes case over Trump's attempt to remove her from the central bank. They're going to take it up and they're going to hear arguments in January and its temporary ruling will last at least until then. Lower courts allowed Cook to keep her position. The Trump administration had asked the high court to overturn those decisions and allow Trump to remove Cook immediately. That means she'll be voting on rate cuts in the next couple of meetings at least, though if Trump keeps murdering jobs and increasing inflation, he'll get the rate cuts he wants just by tanking the economy like he is. And I want to tell you, I've been certain because of a ruling in Wilcox and Harris, those are members that were fired from the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board. They put in the conservative justice has put in their concurrence that the Fed board is different and they're the only ones that can, you know, be protected from the president firing them. I been certain, and I continue to be certain that the Supreme Court will allow her to keep her job unless they, you know, unless they find cause, unless they find that right. Her mortgage thing, which is not real, is somehow cause. Or if Trump just says, well, I just don't have faith in her and that's the cause or whatever it is.

B (11:48)

Or if Thomas is like, I know what I said in the last case, but cases are not precedent and precedent is not law.

A (11:55)

It's a monkey driving a train. That's literally what he said about stare decisis and precedent, which is what allows him to be married to his wife. I'm just, I can't.

B (12:05)

Nope, your head's gonna explode. Don't even try. Don't even try.

A (12:09)

I will not. But it's just bonkers that they are going to the Supreme Court. Will, I'm pretty sure, overturn Humphrey's executor and allow the President to fire any member of a multi member board except the Federal Reserve Board. So I think Lisa Cook is gonna keep her job unless Trump can find a reason, a cause to fire her.

B (12:28)

All right, this next one's from the Post. The Pentagon plans to impose strict non disclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials. This is according to two people familiar with the prop proposal and documents that were obtained by the Washington Post. Escalating. Defense Secretary Pete Keg says war on leakers and internal dissent. I know all military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the Defense Secretary and the Joint Staff, estimated to be more than 5,000 personnel, would be required to sign an NDA agreement that, and I quote, prohibits the release of non public information without approval or through a defined process which he's fucking done over and over, over and over. That's according to a draft memo from Deputy Defense Secretary. Yeah, what about signal chats, huh? This is from a memo from Steve Feinberg.

A (13:23)

Okay. Deputy Secretary. So the biggest liars on the planet are giving polygraphs to the most honorable dudes on the planet.

B (13:29)

That's exactly it.

A (13:30)

I got that right. And women people, not just.

B (13:33)

I'm telling you, some, some of these top brass are going to go tell them to go fuck themselves in this.

A (13:37)

Country and I don't want them to leave, like stay in, help us, protect us. And the most out of shape and drunk guys are telling them they need to be more fit. Okay, okay. Black is white, up is down.

B (13:51)

It's all madness.

A (13:52)

Defund the police. I mean, you know, if I had a nickel for every time we pointed out a hypocrisy in the Republican Party.

B (14:02)

We could retire with receipts to back it up.

A (14:05)

We would be in the tax bracket protected by, you know, Trump's that's true tax plan. That's how rich we are.

B (14:11)

1%, baby. 1%.

A (14:13)

All right, we're gonna go over everything shut down after this quick break and we're gonna tell you what remains open, how long it remains open, possibly what gets shut down. And I don't think any of it's gonna be very surprising to you and I don't think it's going to change your mind about how Trump does want this shut down because it really, it's, it's all of the stuff he's ever dreamed of. So we're gonna talk about that after this quick break. Stick around, we'll be right back after these messages. We back. Welcome back. It's time for the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. Like I said, I don't have to tell you who's responsible for this shutdown. So let's go over what the Trump shutdown means. This is from Politico. The whole staff over there put this together and it's pretty good. The government shutdown that began Wednesday is set to furlough food inspectors, park rangers and millions of other federal workers in Washington and across the nation. Some are only heading to their offices for a few hours to undertake orderly shutdown activities. The federal courts and some government agencies, like the IRS, have enough money to run for a short time, burning through their reserves of taxpayer funds until the hourglass drains their cash completely. But others have already shuttered for everyone not deemed essential by their agencies. While Social Security checks, mail, student loan bills and funds for Ukraine will still be delivered, millions of workers are set to suffer financial hardship, at least among those who still have jobs after months of deep staffing cuts and deferred resignation programs. Federal workers traditionally get back pay when the shutdown ends, but contractors and others whose businesses depend on the federal government do not get back pay. Overall, the economic consequences of a shutdown will rest on how long the standoff lasts. So I also want to kind of make it clear that if you're furloughed, you're working for free and you can't get unemployment insurance because you have a job, right? So it's horrible for a lot of families and individuals. So for travel, if you're making plans to visit the magnificent national parks you can get in, just don't expect to see any staff clearing trails or cleaning toilets. The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is keeping park roads, lookouts, trails and open air memorials open during a shutdown, according to the agency's latest contingency plan. But it's also furloughing 64% of the national park staff while the funding impasse persists. For those willing to take a chance and fly to a national park, take a deep breath. The FAA is by far the Transportation Department's largest division and on a normal day houses more than 80% of the agency's employees. A quarter of them are expected to be furloughed, according to a plan released Tuesday. Around 33,500 FAA employees will stay on the job during a shutdown because their work is necessary to protect life and property, and their salaries are paid from accounts not funded with appropriations or that are otherwise needed to comply with the law. The academy that trains new air traffic controllers will continue, as will much needed hiring and field training, but air traffic controllers are working without pay through the shutdown since they're deemed essential, so that'll help with morale. The same goes for TSA baggage screeners.

B (17:28)

Okay, get to the airports early. Student loan bills, by the way, they are going to go out even with government shutdown, of course, they're still going to be collecting. The Education Department's contingency plan confirms that borrowers will still be required to make their payments. The department will also continue to disperse federal Direct Loans, the Pell Grant and process the federal student aid form. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid launched a week early, by the way, and this is ahead of the October 1st launch date.

A (17:57)

FAFSA got it. More than a million people serving in the military are working without pay now. The Pentagon also can't award new contracts or start new programs. And while commissaries overseas will stay open, they and other services on bases in the US Will close or are operating on a limited basis. Elective surgeries and procedures in military medical and dental facilities, that'll all be postponed. It's possible that lawmakers pass legislation to ensure active duty troops and Pentagon employees continue to get paid during the shutdown. But troops will miss a paycheck if the shutdown isn't resolved before October 15th. One area not being interrupted? Operation Atlantic Resolve, the massive military operation that conducts exercises in Europe and supports the movement of equipment to Ukraine.

B (18:40)

And the IRS is keeping all of its employees on the job, at least for now. A shutdown plan released Monday said the IRS would be able to use special funding that Democrats enacted in 2022 Yes, I know.

A (18:51)

To avoid us weren't I know.

B (18:54)

And that's going to help avoid furloughing any of its almost 75,000 employees for the first five business days after a funding lapse. Now, what happens if a shutdown stretches beyond that? Not clear yet.

A (19:06)

Of course it's not clear. Federal employees supporting Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory health payments keep working unabated. So will HHS employees who respond to public health and natural emergencies. But overall, the Department of Health and Human Services is furloughing about 40% of its employees just a few months after weathering particularly deep staffing cuts under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. NIH, National Institutes of Health, the planet's biggest public funder of biomedical research, is furloughing three quarters of its staff.

B (19:36)

Okay, good news in medical, if we can call it that. Clinical trials, they are still on, but basic research, unfortunately conducted by NIH scientists, if there are any left, some veterinary services and scientific equipment services, they're going to cease. Remaining staff include Those needed to care for clinical center patients and protect experiments. So I guess that's good. Roughly 2/3 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffs, they're being furloughed.

A (20:05)

Oh, my God.

B (20:05)

Yeah. Coordination with state and local health departments on opioid overdose prevention, HIV prevention and diabetes prevention has ceased. Has ceased, according to the agency's plans. And while staff can continue to gather data about rates of infectious diseases, analysis of that information, that's not happening. But much of the Food and drug administration staff, 86% of the agency employees, they're actually going to continue to report to work, including those managing recalls.

A (20:34)

And the Department of Veterans affairs is not being hit like many other agencies because of appropriations. We are funded two years at a time. We like, I'm still there. Benefits and checks will continue to be processed. Medical appointments at the VA Health centers won't be interrupted. But officials are shuttering several support phone services, including the GI Bill hotline, until the funding impasse is resolved. Regional VA benefits offices, those are going to be closed. Public affairs outreach efforts, that's going to end. Career counseling and transition assistance programs, those are also halted. Burials will continue at veterans cemeteries, but department workers will not permanently place headstones or maintain the grounds at our very sacred veteran cemeteries.

B (21:17)

Oh, boy. While the Interior Department is slashing two thirds of the staff from the National Park Service and the secretary's office, workers tasked with processing oil and natural gas drilling permits and coal mining operations. Not surprising, honestly, are still going to work.

A (21:34)

Of course.

B (21:35)

Yep. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees millions of acres of federal land, has designated those employees as essential. That's according to two people familiar with the plan. This includes anyone processing applications for permits to drill, rights of way for fossil fuel projects, and working on critical minerals or coal issues. This is from what they said. And they were all, of course, granted anonymity because they're not authorized to talk about this to the media.

A (21:59)

Of course they're not. Agriculture Department food safety inspectors stationed at the nation's meat and poultry slaughterhouses. They're going to remain on the job, but without a paycheck. The FDA, which oversees about 80% of the US food supply, will have to triage its preventive food safety work. That's scary. A key food assistance program is set to run out within days. This is snap, Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as wic. Supplies access to fruits and vegetables, infant formula breastfeeding assistance for 7 million low income pregnant and postpartum recipients. That's gone.

B (22:34)

Yeah. Not that one doesn't surprise me a bit.

A (22:36)

But $150 million contingency fund for it is only expected to last a week in the event of a shutdown. That's according to the National WIC Association, a group representing public nutrition service agencies. Even though some states are expected to tap their own accounts to shore up the program, many will be forced to turn participants away.

B (22:54)

And it looks like the nation's top cyber defense agency is getting emptied out during the shutdown. We are so vulnerable right now. According to a contingency plan compiled in mid September by the Department of Homeland security, less than 900 of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agencies, around 2,500 personnel, are exempt from furloughs.

A (23:15)

Okay. Now, Trump's multimillion dollar White House ballroom, expected to be larger than the White House itself, will continue as planned during the shutdown. And that's according to officials who confirmed that to ABC on Wednesday. So ballroom, yes. Breastfeeding help?

B (23:32)

No.

A (23:33)

Fruits and vegetables for low income kids. No, no.

B (23:37)

And moving over to the courts on this one. Despite a federal government shutdown that began today, October 1st. As we're reading this, the judiciary remains open and will continue paid operations through Friday, October 17th by using court fee balances and other funds not dependent on new appropriation. If the shutdown continues, though, after judiciary funds are exhausted, the courts will then operate under the terms of the Anti Deficiency act, which allows work to continue during a lapse in appropriations if it's necessary to support the exercise of Article 3 judicial powers.

A (24:14)

Yep. And the U.S. district Court in D.C. on Wednesday pumped the brakes on lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies amid the shutdown, citing its own need to preserve resources while the funding impasse persists. The chief judge, James Boasberg, issued a standing hoarder extending upcoming deadlines in litigation involving the federal government past the shutdown's end. That includes my FOIA for the Epstein files. The order does not extend to instances where the challenger is seeking emergency relief. So that's good. So if we've got Trump trying to put people on a plane to Uganda and there's an emergency temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction filed, that work continues, doesn't.

B (24:54)

That also affect Portland, where they're trying to get an emergency ruling to get make sure that ICE facilities can stay open.

A (25:03)

They're trying to get a restraining order to stop Trump from activating the National Guard.

B (25:07)

Right, right, right.

A (25:08)

And yeah, that emergency hearing is day after tomorrow, so that's emergency relief. Now, prior to Boasberg's order, the Trump administration had moved to halt several cases across the country, the Justice Department shutdown plan exempts 89% of employees from furlough for the first five days. While criminal prosecutions will continue without interruption, civil litigation must be curtailed when possible. So, okay.

B (25:34)

And on Wednesday, DOJ lawyer cited the shutdown in asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt all deadlines and mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia's challenge to the government's renewed effort to deport him. Abrego Garcia opposed the request, according to the court filing. In a lawsuit challenging cuts to domestic violence victim programs, DOJ lawyers told a federal judge in Rhode island that the shutdown, and I quote, effectively eliminated the ability of counsel who have worked on and are familiar with this case to handle the litigation. The Justice Department also moved to stay several recently filed lawsuits seeking voter registration data from the states. DOJ lawyers said they greatly regret any disruption to the court or other litigants.

A (26:20)

Yeah, and we're going to hear that a lot. The shutdown effectively eliminated the ability of counsel who work on or familiar with the case to handle litigation. We've seen it dozens of times already in filings to stop these cases against the Trump administration. Our final story about the shutdown comes from wired magazine. At 9:35am Wednesday, the first morning of the U.S. government shutdown, employees at the SBA Small Business Administration received a template from Human Resources for their suggested out of office email. They were advised to blame the Democrats, quote, I'm out of office for the foreseeable future because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal spending bill leading to a government shutdown that is preventing the U.S. small Business Administration from blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, this kind of propaganda, I can confirm this, by the way. As you know, I'm in touch with tons of federal workers, current and former, and I've received dozens and dozens and dozens of messages from government employees receiving the exact same language to either use as an out of office reply or to inform them about furloughs. They all say the Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal spending bill leading to a government shutdown. And I'm sure everyone saw the message up on the Housing and Urban Development website. I believe we talked about that yesterday, also blaming the Democrats. So there's a lot of propaganda out there about the fact that this is somehow the Democrats fault when Republicans have the power to end the shutdown whenever they want without a single Democratic vote. Anyway, I wish we had more control.

B (27:53)

Over this, but man, they are good at their messaging.

A (27:56)

They are very good at their messaging. I keep screaming. I, you know, hopefully maybe a bunch of people will hear it.

B (28:03)

They're saying, yeah, but tell everybody, you.

A (28:06)

Know, everyone who's listening. If anyone says the Democrats say no, Republicans can end it anytime they want. They have the majority. They only need 51 votes to change the rule. They just did it two weeks ago so that they could pass massive amounts of Trump appointees at once. So they know anyway. All right, we've got some good trouble, but that's going to come first up in the good news. All that is going to happen after this quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?

B (28:33)

Everyone?

A (28:34)

Then good news, everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news confessions corrections, you want to send in a picture of your pod pet and have us guess what breeds are in the dog. We call it what the mutt. We also play find the cat. We also will guess horse breeds or cows in opine on the bovine and what the heck wine. We have any animal guessing game. You can send that into us. A shout out to a government program or a loved one or yourself or maybe a great nonprofit you want bring some attention to a small business in your area that could use a boost. We love that too. Maybe you have a great story about student debt relief. Any good thing that's happened to you today or 20 years ago, no matter how big or how small, we would love to microdose on your hopes. So please, please send it to us@dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. We also take bird watching photos for your pod pet tariff because that's you needed. You know you have to pay your tariff by attaching a photo to get your stuff read on the air. And you can really just attach a Grab a random animal off the Internet and send that in or show us what you're making and creating. I know we have tons of amazing makers and creators that listen to this show. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact first up is our good trouble. This comes from anonymous consumer While there may not be any truly ethical consumption except maybe the beans, PBS and they might be giants. Some spending is definitely more ethical. So if you're having trouble figuring out what to boycott or where to spend your money, try checking out unionlabel.org you can find lists of where to buy and where not to buy. So again we'll have both of those links in the show notes. Check with your local unions as well to see if their buy don't buy lists are up and available as well. So good luck and thank you for that Good Trouble very much. We appreciate it.

B (30:38)

Yes. This next one is a bit of a correction. Anonymous pronouns he and him Leaders of the Legion of the Leguminati. Thank you for reading the vote. Yes 836 good news, good trouble combo. Truly appreciate all that you do. Attribution is important and I want to give credit due to who it's due. I want to let you know that it was not me in the photo. Oh, the guy in the Uncle Sam outfit is a retired vet named Steve Hagar. Steve shows up for a lot of our political and community events and his wife Lori. He and his wife Lori are community treasures. I couldn't find any pictures of this, but Steve also does a quality Abraham Lincoln and as an alter ego, Hagar the Viking. I can see all of that.

A (31:20)

I love this guy.

B (31:22)

Yeah, right. I know.

A (31:24)

That's amazing. Thank you for that. All right, next up from Kelly pronouns she and her saluting the hardest working women in my orbit. Thank you for doing the work that you do. I feel like the good News segment is becoming more and more crucial to my sanity as the alarms all around us are growing louder by the day. Hear, hear. Kelly I recently returned from a month long trip through Scandinavia. I know Amsterdam isn't Scandinavia, but that's where we started. Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen followed with a side trip to Tallinn and Estonia. I know we're fortunate. My spouse wasn't born in the USA but has been a citizen for 10 years. Also he works at Harvard, so we had a gnawing worry that we may have some issues at customs upon our return. But fortunately everything went smoothly. Whew. Everywhere we went we were met with warmth and kindness and sometimes sympathy. Trains and buses are all electric, so virtually silent and always, always right on time. Simply remarkable. They have widespread transportation grids so you can get anywhere easily. Bicycles rule the road and wide bike lanes at rush hour especially were a wonder to behold. Elders, LGBTQ people of all colors were all part of the cultural soup and respect was everywhere. Public art is abundant and inspiring. Well, now I'm just going to move to Seriously, Public art is abundant. Inspiring. Green spaces and parks were everywhere and well tended and the people living and working there were outside enjoying the fresh air, hiking, biking, swimming, and of course using the many public saunas. It was simply remarkable. I love my city of Boston, but I got to admit coming home I had a bit of anxiety in the noir and the steady barrage of horrifying news was going to be an adjustment, and it was. But for one extraordinary month this year, I got to see a different way of letting cities be cities and people be people. All living under governments that prioritize people, including babies and children, public services and personal freedom. And yes, I do love my current hometown of Boston despite the noise. I think that's what a bit of anxiety about the noise. Not noir. I think there was an E missing from that earlier. I thought it was French, but I think it's a typo noise. So I do love Boston despite the noise. This town has it all. Which brings me to my podpet tax. I have a friend visiting today from my old hometown in Madison, Wisconsin, and the only must do on her list is to visit a shop called Good Taste Records. I never heard of it, but we'll be heading there this afternoon and I'm sure it'll be a gas when I open the map to find out how to get there. A 21 minute walk into the celebrated North End. Think Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church. I was delighted to find a reminder of my daily beans. I submit for you consideration a photo of those map and you'll see very nearby Good Taste Records is a site labeled Axolotl for Sale. I may have to insist we visit there on our walk today and if I do, I'll have photos for you both. Thank you again for your invaluable delivery of sanity and swearing for the overstressed masses. This is really funny Norwegian for thank you. Look at this.

B (34:29)

It literally says Axolotl for Sale on the map. It does.

A (34:34)

I can't wait for photos, Kelly. So please send them. And now. Now I just would just move to. Just move to Stockholm. Yep.

B (34:43)

All right. This is from Joe Pronoun. She and her hi y'.

A (34:46)

All.

B (34:46)

I was sitting on my ass this afternoon knitting and listening to your convo with Simon Rosenberg. I was all in. So refreshing to choke some Hopium. So when he told me to get up and go vote early, I thought why not? And I shucked my sweatpants, donned a pair of jeans and ventured into the rain to get it done. Right that second cast my vote for Abigail Spanberger in my progress flag T shirt and the red as fuck Shenandoah Valley. In the red as fuck Shenandoah Valley. Now I'm back on the couch, back in my sweats, gearing up for the next three days of 12 hour shifts starting tomorrow. Bright spot. Good news. My employer is planning to have a booth at a Local pride event on Saturday, which I plan to help out with. Proud to be a part of this healthcare system. Pushing back in a red part of our state. Rainbow Hearts, Rainbow Flag Pet Tax. My canine besties Jasper Black Wiener Doodle and Super Muds Lou Yellow Fluff and Rico White and Brown Fuzz. They are objectively poorly behaved chaos agents, but just look at them. Oh my God, they are so the last one. I can't.

A (35:53)

I know. Oh, these babies are adorable. A black wiener doodle. What a great Joe. Thank you for that. Thanks for voting early. Thanks for listening to Simon Rosenberg. He's pretty, pretty rad. Next up from Jill L. I just called the White House comment line this morning and there's a recorded message stating the shutdown of the federal government is the Democrats fault because they want to fund health care for illegal immigrants. The recording went on with a bunch of other nonsense and ended with President Trump saying, president Trump will always fight for you. God bless you. I couldn't believe it. It. That's it. That's the whole submission.

B (36:32)

That's awesome.

A (36:33)

Look at the puppers. Oh, see, I told you, Jill. It's all this propaganda. They're lying. They're so full of.

B (36:41)

You want to keep on going with that short one?

A (36:43)

I'll grab this one. This is our final one for Stacy. There's a bunch of cute kitties at the end of this. This is pronouns she and her for Stacy. Thank you, my fellow feminine fighters. For bonafide news. I commend and thank you for your ability to sift through the fire hose of news, mostly disinformation to help keep us informed. And I hope that you're taking time to give yourself some mental health breaks, although I'm not sure when because you never seem to get a chance to unplug. Thanks to the mango Mussolini who never stops shaking the snow globe of chaos that has turned our country into. My good news is to offer a ray of hope for helping to bring down the temperature during this divided time in our country. The day after Charlie Kirk's death, I was on Facebook, which I am only ever on to check my daughter's volleyball boosters updates, and was dismayed by the people that I know to be good humans talking so aggressively, bordering on violently about the liberal menace and losing their minds over this whole thing. I normally don't engage, but felt the need with a calm and respectful tone to challenge the narrative and speak neighbor to neighbor. How can one say these things and then look at their neighbor in the eye and carry heinous behavior out. My friend, who is a retired Special Forces veteran, was one such person. I couldn't let it go, so I calmly challenged his reactive rhetoric and he commented back a few hours later, less aggressively but still on the free speech spectrum, I again gently responded with of course you have free speech and I'll never challenge that right? But if I, as a lifelong childhood school friend, can't challenge the tone and assert that the only ones that will truly bring down the temperature during this time are us, then who else can? I further went on to say that we're being led down a dangerous path of divisiveness against one another and that only we at the personal level can counteract it. A day later, and to my shock, he called me after talking for about an hour with him, apologizing, sharing some stories, and him telling me I was right to call him out and that the respectful and unwavering tone I took and held onto was what snapped him out of it. Just for the record, I can be super reactive, typically, but this wasn't the time. For some reason, he also went on Facebook and profusely apologized for his post and thanked me for being there to stand up to him the bullshit that he was spewing. I will not say that any other post I took on made any headway, but that one did, and I sat and cried once I processed it all. Friends, we can, one at a time, bring change in what feels like small, inconsequential ways, but when put together, we build a mountain of logic and truth that will be a beacon to others. I don't know who else witnessed that interaction, but I hope it caused more people to think it encouraged me so much. I wanted to encourage the rest of us to keep fighting the good fight of logic and reasonableness with love and respect. It can be so very hard, but it's truly worth it. For potpat tax, I submit our litter of kitties. They're so snuggly and their purring brings calmness that helps soothe the soul. Thank you for all you're doing and know that your podcast has been on some days the only one I can handle. Look at this litter of kitties are these rag dolls. And there's a calico. Oh my God, they're so cute.

B (39:45)

God, I love. I really do love kittens. They're. I wish they stayed that song.

A (39:49)

Yeah, you get one of those little munchkin kitties, but like group.

B (39:53)

But maturity grew up like they weren't doing their like, you know, summer Olympics at night while you're trying to sleep, like just, you know, they still get sleepy. They want to be on your lap, but they just stay cute little cuddly like that.

A (40:04)

They're adorable. Thank you for that. What a great post. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes you can change a mind, especially if they know you and you know that person, you know, and I know all this can feel real overwhelming. And it is, you know, everything that's going on is really, really, I mean, there's just so much. And somebody had said that yesterday, like, I don't know if we can unfuck everything. It just seems like too much. And I think I responded. I said, think of it as an episode of Hoarders. It is overwhelming, but just pick a corner and start cleaning, you know?

B (40:38)

Yeah, yeah. Just one thing at a time.

A (40:41)

So pick a corner. The best resistance is focused. Start small.

B (40:45)

Well sad, my friend.

A (40:47)

All right, we'll be back in your ears tomorrow for fugal saying Fridays. Do you have any thoughts, my friend, before we get out of here?

B (40:54)

Nope, I think I'm good.

A (40:56)

All right, well, we'll see you all tomorrow. Until then, please, please take care of yourselves, Take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and of. Take care. Take care of your family. I've been ag. I've been dg and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, Please visit msw media.com msw media.