← The Daily Beans
The Daily Beans
The Big Ugly (feat. Randi Weingarten)
01:04:20
Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 Today, an insurrectionist has been given a cushy job at the Department of Justice in the weaponization task force; the Justice Department explores bringing criminal charges against state election officials; a federal judge has blocked Trump’s ban on asylum; Mr. Abrego has filed his amended complaint on Judge Xinis’ docket; the University of Pennsylvania has revoked a transgender swimmers records in a deal with the Trump Administration; CBS and Paramount have bent the knee and agreed to pay Trump $16M; the Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down the state's 1849 near-total abortion ban; the private sector lost 33,000 jobs - nearly 150K short of expectations; the new Senate provision in the Billionaire Bailout Bill would throw 17M americans off health insurance; and Allison delivers your Good News. Dana is out and about!
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Alison Gill
MSW Media hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, July 3, 2025. Today, an insurrectionist has been given a cushy job at the Department of Justice in the Weaponization Task Force. The Justice Department is exploring bringing criminal charges against state election officials. A federal judge has blocked Trump's ban on asylum. Mr. Abrego has filed his amended complaint on Judge Sinis docket. The University of Pennsylvania has revoked a transgender swimmer's records in a deal with the Trump administration. CBS and Paramount have bent the knee and agreed to pay Trump $16 million. The Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down the state's 1849 near total abortion ban. The private sector lost 33,000 jobs, nearly 150,000 short of expectations. And the new Senate provision in the billionaire bailout bill would throw 17 million Americans off health insurance. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey everybody. It is Thursday, day before the holiday. Thanks to all who listen to our interviews with Joshua Aaron, the founder of Ice Block yesterday, and John Moses from Mass Afghan Alliance. We had a record number of listeners yesterday. Welcome to you all. Thanks for being part of our little community here, our independent podcasting community. Dana Goldberg, the co host, is out. She will be back soon. She is out doing her thing, fundraising for communities who are need that money and need that, you know, need all that protection that they can get. So we love her, we support her work and she will be back soon, I promise. Later in the show, I'm going to be joined by the president of the American Federation of Teachers, someone I've looked up to for a very long time, Randy Weingarten. We are going to have an in depth half hour long conversation on the billionaire bailout bill, Democratic messaging and Democratic leadership. It's going to very interesting conversation you don't want to miss. And tomorrow I'll be talking to one of the bravest women I know, author E. Jean Carroll. So tune in for that from the headlines today, a former FBI agent who was charged with encouraging the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th to kill police officers has been named as an advisor to the Justice Department Weaponization Task Force. Now you can bet Harry Dunn and I are going to cover this as well as Andy McCabe and I wear be talking about that in depth on cleanup on L45 and the unjustified podcast, respectively. And speaking of weaponization, senior Justice Department officials are exploring whether they can bring criminal charges against state or local election officials if the Trump administration determines they have not sufficiently safeguarded their computer systems. And that's according to people familiar with the discussions now, the department's effort, which is still in its early stages and is not based on new evidence, data or legal authority, according to the people familiar speaking on the condition of anonymity. Instead, it's driven by the unsubstantiated argument made by many in the Trump administration that American elections are easy prey to voter fraud and foreign manipulation. Andy and I are going to be discussing that this weekend as well. Comes out Sunday Unjustified. So tune in for that. It's another free podcast we do here at MSW Media. Also, there's a new court filing in the Abrego case and it is hard to read. I've written it up@muellershirote.com but, you know, we've talked about one of the reasons the United states didn't want Mr. Abrego to come back was because then he would be a witness to what's happening at Seacote, the prison, the torture prison in El Salvador. And and in this amended complaint, alongside information from whistleblower protected whistleblower Arez Raveni's letter that we, you know, just have discussed here on this program and on the Unjustified podcast Alongside that, Mr. Abrego details the torture that he faced while at Seacote. And it is, like I said, very hard to read. But I think if you're able to, you should and you should share it. We're gonna again discuss it in depth on Unjustified. But I have written it up and linked to the full amended complaint@mulashierro.com it's free to read. And this is the amended complaint to his original complaint, the original complaint filed with Judge Sinis to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego to the United States. Now, this is the amended complaint. And I also go over in that article that I wrote on my substack what Mr. Abrego is asking from the court. So you can read all of that at Mueller. She wrote calm again, content warning for torture and abuse. All right, everybody, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. There's a lot of capitulation today. First up from the Washington Post. Ironically, the University of Pennsylvania will no longer allow transgender women to compete on its women's sports team under an agreement reached with the federal government. That's according to the Department of Education, which is run by pro wrestling magnate wife Linda McMahon. The voluntary deal comes about two months after the department found that Penn had violated Title 9, the federal statute prohibiting sex discrimination, when it allowed transgender athletes to compete on its women's sports team and used associated facilities. That is actually the opposite of what Title 9 says, but not according to Linda McMahon's reading. The government investigation centered on Leah Thomas, a transgender athlete who competed on the school's women's swim team during the 20212022 season. She became the first known transgender woman to win an NCAA Division 1 title and she graduated in 2022. The NCAA in February revised its policy for transgender athletes, limiting competition in women's sports to athletes assigned female at birth. As of March, Penn no longer had any transgender athletes competing on women's teams, so this wasn't even a thing. There was nothing to capitulate to. But on Tuesday, Penn updated its list of all time school records for women swimming and changed the record holder for three events, the 100, 200 and 500 meter freestyle. The list denotes that, quote, competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Thomas had set program records in those events during the seasons she swam. The university also had to send an apology letter to all affected swimmers and issue a public statement about its new policy. In a message to the campus community on Tuesday, Penn President J. Larry Jameson said he was pleased to have made the deal with federal officials, adding that if the investigation had gone unresolved, it, quote, could have had significant and lasting implications. Yeah, but not for why you think, Larry. He added that when Penn allowed Thomas to compete on its women's swim team, the university was complying with Title IX and NCAA rules as then interpreted. Oh, you know what? Fuck you, Larry and fuck you Penn. If you were thinking about attending school there, I would take your money and your mind elsewhere. Next up in capitulation Thursday, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsu by Donald Trump during last year's presidential campaign, a decision that is likely to spur both internal and external backlash. Yeah, you bet. I've already canceled my Paramount Plus. The agreement announced late Tuesday, comes after months of negotiations to find an amount that both parties would accept. Trump sued the network in US District Court in Texas in late October, alleging that his electoral chances were harmed after the network aired two separate versions of an answer given by then Vice President Kamala Harris during an interview on 60min. As part of the settlement, Paramount agreed to release all future transcripts and interviews that 60 Minutes conducts with U.S. presidential candidates, quote, after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns. The settlement will also resolve, quote, a threatened defamation action concerning a separate 60 Minutes report. And that's what the company said without providing any further details. Sherry Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder, supported the settlement even as she formally recused herself from the negotiations. The settlement could also ease the process of gaining government approval for Paramount's merger with Skydance Media, which is pending review from the FCC and its Trump picked chairman, Brandon Carr. That's why this is happening. So I've canceled my Paramount plus subscription if you have too. We have a wonderful patron program here at the Daily beans. It's just $3 a month. You can add free episodes, invites to our monthly Zoom happy Hour with special guests where you can ask us questions and talk to us. And you get the episodes early and you get some swag. We got like mugs and totes and shirts and stuff. Three bucks a month, way cheaper than Paramount plus and you'll be supporting independent media. You can sign up@patreon.com Mullershiro all right, next up from CNN, the US private sector lost jobs in June, the first negative month in more than two years, according to new data Wednesday from payroll provider ADP. U.S. employers lost an estimated 33,000 jobs, according to ADP's monthly National Employment Report. Economists were expecting ADP's report to show a net gain of 115,000 jobs. Oops. Now, this is private sector jobs. This doesn't include the hundreds of thousands fired from the federal government, nor will it, I assume, in any time in the future. I don't think Donald Trump's Department of Labor is going to report those job losses when the latest employment snapshot from the Department of Labor is released today at 8:30am Eastern, one day early due to the July 4 holiday. Economists expect it will show that 115,000 jobs were added in June. That's a pullback from the 140,000 initially estimated for May. They also expect the unemployment rate to increase by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3%, which would be the highest jobless rate since October 2021. All right, time for some better news. This is from Reuters. A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Trump's asylum ban at the US Mexico border, saying Trump exceeded his authority when he issued a proclamation declaring illegal immigration an emergency and setting aside existing legal processes. U.S. district Judge Randolph Moss said in 128 page opinion that Trump's January 20th proclamation blocking all migrants, quote, engaged in the invasion across the southern border from claiming asylum or other humanitarian protections went beyond his executive power. The ruling is a setback for Trump, who recaptured the White House, promising vast Immigration crackdowns Since Trump took office, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has plummeted. The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge to Trump's asylum ban back in February on behalf of three advocacy groups and migrants denied access to asylum, arguing the broad ban violated US Laws and international treaties. Trump's border restrictions went beyond a similar ban put in place by former President Joe Biden in 2020. Four key parts of the Biden ban were blocked by a separate judge in May. In a lawsuit also led by the aclu, Judge Moss said he would stay the effective date of a related order for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal, which I'm sure they will. The decision applies to migrants who were subject to Trump's ban or could be in the future part of a certified class in the litigation. Such class certifications remain unaffected. But by last week's Supreme Court decision reining in nationwide injunctions, Moss ruled that neither federal immigration law nor the US Constitution gives Trump the authority to disregard existing laws and regulations governing the asylum process, even if stopping illegal immigration presented enormous challenges. Quote, nothing in the ina, the Immigration and Nationality act or the Constitution grants the president or his delegates the sweeping authority asserted in the proclamation and implementing guidance. That's what the judge wrote, who is a Obama appointee, and went on to say an appeal to necessity cannot fill that void. All right, now some great news. The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday formally struck down an abortion ban from 1849. There's gold in them thar hills. That year, this law had technically retaken effect after the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in the in the Dobbs decision. Now, this decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a 4:3 decision. It came down along ideological lines. The court's liberal majority affirmed a lower court ruling that overturned the 176-year-old ban and left in place a more recent law in Wisconsin allowing most abortions until the 20th week of pregnancy. Quote, we conclude that comprehensive legislation enacted over the last 50 years regulating in detail who, what, when, where and how when it comes to abortion, so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was meant as a substitute for the 19th century near total ban. Liberal Justice Rebecca Dalit wrote that in the majority opinion. Accordingly, we hold that the legislature impliedly repealed the 1849 ban to abortion and that the law therefore does not ban abortion in the state of Wisconsin. So all that legislation you've done in the past 50 years or so that impliedly repealed the 1849 ban. The ruling is a win for abortion rights activists in the battleground state where Democrats had put the issue at the forefront of many elections, including two races in 2023 and 2025 that recalibrated the state Supreme Court's ideological balance in the years since the U.S. supreme Court overturned Roe. The state's 1849 law, enacted the year after Wisconsin was granted statehood, banned abortion in almost all cases by making performing the procedure a felony. Under the law, doctors who performed the procedure technically faced up to six years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. The law included an exception for abortion care only to save the life of a woman, but not for her health or for rape or incest, as was the case in many states with similar old laws or newer so called trigger laws. The ban technically snapped back into effect almost immediately after the Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe in 2022. Now, in short order, the decision prompted Planned Parenthood's Wisconsin operations to suspend abortion services in the state. But a series of legal developments then put the question of the law's future before the Supreme Court in the state, the state Supreme Court shortly after Roe. That decision, governor Tony Evers and attorney Josh Call, both Democrats, filed a suit arguing that the law had been effectively deemed inval by more recent, more lenient abortion restriction legislation in the state. Evers and Call said at the time in 2022 that they wouldn't enforce the law. Both won reelection later that year, and they've maintained their promise. But a state judge in July 2023 declared that the 1849 law did not apply to consensual medical abortions. A judge found that the original law intended to outlaw attacks on women that were intended as attempts to kill her unborn child, prompting abortion providers to resume care in the state. And In September of 2023, the District Attorney of conservative leaning Sheboygan County, Joel Urmansky, backed by abortion opponents and other Republican attorneys, appealed that ruling, arguing the 1849 ban should remain the law of the land, eventually elevating the case to the state Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in a separate case, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin sued in February, asking the state Supreme Court to decide whether a constitutional right to abortion care exists in the state. Arguments have not been scheduled for that yet, but part of Wednesday's decision could well forecast how judges decide on that case. So congratulations, everybody who voted in Wisconsin in those very important Supreme Court races. Now lastly from the Washington Post, the Senate version of the billionaire bailout bill would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, and it would result in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage. Every time a Republican touches this fucking piece of shit bill, the number of Americans kicked off health insurance goes up. The bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and now heads back to the House, where it's on hold, by the way, because of some holdouts who want to rip more care and benefits away from poor people and working class people. It would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do, unwind many of the key components of the Affordable Care act, which, by the way, dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance. The Republican bill, if enacted, would mark the biggest cut to Medicaid in The program's nearly 60 year history, history in history, and the biggest reduction in federal funding for the social safety net since at least the 1990s. The Senate version would cut 1.1 trillion of federal spending for Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA marketplaces, with Medicaid accounting for more than 1 trillion of the cuts. Yet even with all of those cuts to our earned benefits, it would still put a $4 trillion hole in the deficit. And we're going to talk more about the billionaire bailout bill, how to message it, and leadership in the Democratic Party with the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randy Weingarten, right after this quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey everybody, you know what comes with big, wonderful, fluffy cats? Big, fluffy problems. I got my cats because they needed love, not because I wanted a house full of allergens. But here we are. But thankfully, packagen has entered my life just in time. This podcast is sponsored by packagen. Owning a cat doesn't have to mean endless itching and sneezing. Yet almost 20% of people suffer from cat allergies, and three in four people aren't happy with their current allergy solutions. Packagen's Cat Allergen Neutralizing Spray targets the allergens around your home that trigger your cat allergies and breaks them down so that you and your family and friends can live and breathe in peace. 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But you want to breathe like a free person again, packagen is the right choice for you. Your pets aren't just pets, they're family. So get the relief you need with packagen. Head to packagin.com dailybeans for an extra 25% off your order and an exclusive gift for listeners at checkout. That's Packagen. P-A-C-A-G-E-N.com Dailybeans for an extra 25% off your order and an exclusive gift one last time. That's packaging.com dailybeans for an extra 25% off and an exclusive gift auto applied at checkout. You'll be glad you did. Hey everybody. Welcome back. I am truly honored to be joined today by someone whose footsteps I've tried to follow in when it comes to political leadership. Please welcome president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randy Weingarten. Hi, Randy. How are you?
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Randy Weingarten
I'm good. How are you?
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Alison Gill
Well, you know, I mean, not so.
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Randy Weingarten
Good about the news in Washington, but good personally.
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Alison Gill
Right. I remember interviewing Mary Trump a long time ago and she's like, just stop asking me how I'm doing. We all can kind of assume how everything is going. And as you and I are recording this right now, I think everyone's kind of walking out of the chamber in the house because there are some holdouts on the billionaire bailout bill, the big ugly bill that we're all going to die anyway bill, whatever you want to, whatever you want to call it. Because obviously these holdouts want more cuts.
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Randy Weingarten
Yeah, the, the, the, they'll get over it bill. Right.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. Right. And, and, and I think these holdouts who are currently meeting with the president and vice president Vance and other folks and Mike Johnson and there's all these huddles and scrums. I think what they're actually take more away from us to help pay for their billionaire tax cuts. And I have to ask you because it's blowing my mind that even, I mean, we can look at the hypocrisy going back with the arguments about the debt ceiling over and over again. But it blows my mind that these representatives are willing to abandon their constituents to follow this one person or this one idea just to line their pockets and their donors pockets. I think this probably has a lot to do with it. I'm sure they'll pass it after, you know, vociferously not liking it, so that they can, you know, maybe make show a clip to their voters that said that they really hated it, even though they voted for it anyways. But kind of explain what we're in the middle of and we'll, we'll, you know, we'll drill it down to how it impacts the Department of Education and all that because it's awful. But just in general, what, what are the thoughts there where you are?
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Randy Weingarten
So, you know, I'm, I want to take it from two perspectives. There's the kind of social studies teacher in me that is watching complete Washington dysfunction where basically Donald Trump is not going to do anything in his first two years through a regular process of the executive working with the Congress, which is basically the most important branch of government to actually do the people's bidding. He's basically not done any of that. He's done a whole bunch of executive orders, but they can't do by executive order the continuation of the tax cuts that he did in 2017. So their urgency of this bill was simply to continue the tax cuts so that while he was president, while they were, while there was a 2026 election going on, there wasn't a tax increase to the billionaire class. That was their urgency in trying to get this done. Now is this how do you help people have better housing, better jobs, better retirement security, keep America safe, have peace in the rest of the world, do what we need to do in terms of climate, help people in terms of healthcare, all those things that he kind of promised that he was going to help people do. None of that is on the agenda. The only thing that's on the agenda, which is why he's probably going to get it through, is, is that January 2026 taxes go up for billionaires if he doesn't do something to extend his tax cuts. So that's why the urgency of this now. This is what's so craven about everything. And this is not my social studies hat on it. This is me, the labor leader, the teacher, the people person representing 1.8 million people and healthcare workers and Teachers and paraprofessionals and other public employees who every single day make a difference in the lives of someone else. This bill is a huge betrayal of regular people. What it does is it ravages health care for people. It could be 14 to 16 million people. Plus all the things about people who are in nursing homes, what's going to happen to them? Rural hospitals, what's going to happen? Kids with disabilities, what's going to happen? So we're not talking about just any 16 million people. We're talking about people who really need health care. It completely changes everything that we've done on nutrition for years. So there's millions of kids that are going to get affected. It cuts jobs, all these new jobs in terms of green energy in states like North Carolina. It cuts those jobs. It defunds schools. It makes schools a piggy bank for the wealthy. It targets immigrants. It is terrible in every single way that the social safety net has been there for regular folks. And then on top of it, it balloons the deficit. And why does it do all this? It's not just saying, keep his tax cuts from 2017. It's giving more to the billionaire class. So it's a huge, the worst, grossest, maybe biggest wealth transfer from the poor to the rich, reverse Robin Hood that we've ever had. Worse than the Gilded Age. That's what they're passing.
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Alison Gill
Yeah, that's what they're doing.
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Randy Weingarten
And it hurts the people who voted for him as much as it hurts the people who didn't vote for him. It's crazy what they're doing. And so completely contrary to what he said he was going to do. That's why I call it the Big ugly. And that's why it's a total betrayal. And that's when, last thing I'll say, why these senators couldn't say anything other than get over it or we're all going to die anyway. How do you represent people and say that?
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Alison Gill
It's like they don't care.
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Randy Weingarten
They do not care.
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Alison Gill
And that's what I can't wrap my head around. All of the infrastructure during the Biden years, all the infrastructure, the inflation Reduction act, the biggest climate action we've ever taken in the history of the United States. All of that spending was still less than half of just these First Trump, the 2017 Trump tax cuts for billionaires. And now that's what I can't get my. Well, I can get my head around it if I do some back of the envelope math, but cutting $1.1 trillion in healthcare and SNAP benefits and climate projects and you still end up with a 4 or 5 trillion dollars bill, a debt or deficit. That's how much they're giving themselves.
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Randy Weingarten
Exactly.
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Alison Gill
The only holdouts are that, well, we don't want deficits and debt, so we have to cut more from the American families and American workers and people so that we can pay for this huge transfer, massive transfer of wealth, like you said, biggest in history. And looking more closely at how this.
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Randy Weingarten
Well, the only, I mean, this is where it's clear about how elections matter.
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Alison Gill
Right?
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Randy Weingarten
Because so many of the people who, I mean, take what Lisa Murkowski said yesterday when she voted for the bill, you know, because of the carve outs that she got for Alaska and others, and then immediately said afterwards that she, she hopes this bill never sees the light of day. I mean, think about the pressure that instead of serving their constituents, they are under such pressure from Donald Trump to fall in line. It is contrary to the way in which anyone in elected office should act. And you see, I mean, look at Hawley. Medicaid. Medicaid, really important. We can't do this to workers. He caves look at, I mean, it's just Thom Tillis. His state is going to get hugely hurt by all these cuts to jobs because North Carolina was very smart about using the credits of the Inflation Reduction act to actually create this solar economy in this green economy. That's going to be good, that was going to be good for the climate long term for all of us. And the president basically said, if you don't go with me, I'm going to challenge you in a primary. So it's thuggish behavior. It's not behavior about the people. And look what he does. Anyone who opposes him, you know, he says he's going to deport them or he's going to primary them as opposed to listening to what the voters are saying to these representatives. So I think this is where elections really matter and where, you know, that, I mean, I've been a member of the Democratic Party for a long time. This is not the antics of the Democratic Party, not the modern Democratic Party.
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Alison Gill
Right.
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Randy Weingarten
You know, this is, you know, people, people vote their conscience most of the time in the Democratic Party. They vote for their, what their constituents need, not basically falling in line.
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Alison Gill
Right. We can look at Bernie Sanders who, you know, had an F from the NRA all those years because his constituents in Vermont are generally gun owners. But, you know, so we can see that. And our representatives represent the people. These folks kind of don't seem to care anymore about what their constituents get. Now we also, I wanted to talk to you about this because it's not just a transfer of wealth in that they're getting tax breaks. They're also transferring public funds from public organizations and agencies and institutions to private institutions so that they can make money for profit off of things like education. And I know that this is your wheelhouse. So I want to talk about, we've long talked about this on the daily beans that the Republicans have been trying to privatize everything from Social Security, Medicare, the post office, the police force, the va. They've been trying to privatize everything forever so that their rich buddies can make money off of the privatization prison systems. Now we're seeing, you know, 100 plus billion dollars going into ICE detention and mass deportation and these basically concentration camps. But with respect to education, the school voucher thing that's going on in this bill, tell people about that because I don't hear a lot of people talking about it.
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Randy Weingarten
Well, it's two things that. So let me take one step back and maybe it's because I've just spent the last year writing a book that's going to be out in September. It's called why Fascists Fear Teachers. I have a galley. Wonderful. So, but, so I spent a lot of time on this question about the why, like why are they doing this? So one is, you know, privatization. Go after, you know, government. And look, let me be clear. Government could be a lot more efficient and we should all want government to be more efficient and we should all want, you know, it to use our taxpayer dollars, our taxes, in an efficient and effective way. But getting evisceration is not efficiency. And getting rid of Social Security or getting rid of Medicare or getting rid of public schools, that's not efficiency, that's evisceration. So part of it is that their buddies make money. But part of it is also the attack on pluralism and the attack on broad based opportunity. And some of us really believe when it comes to education, we believe in opportunity for not only our own kids, but for other people's children. We believe in everyone having opportunity and that when all kids do well, then everyone in America does well. And sometimes you got to pay more to create a ladder of opportunity. You got to equalize, you got to level the playing field. And so what's happened here is that this finality on vouchers in particular is about fragmenting society. It's about not having the resources for other people's children. And it's about basically Fragmenting pluralism and not having the public space, not having public schools as a space for everyone to actually get to know each other and actually have a sense that we all have value to and for each other. So when it comes to public education, it is both the money issues, meaning the privateers helping their friends, but it's also undermining the very thing that makes America America, both opportunity for all and pluralism. So those two things are really important. And that's why you see this single minded focus on trying to fragment. So in this regard, when you look at the voucher proposal, it is basically trying to defund public schools. It's basically using the public schools and public school funding as a piggy bank to reward people who are rich enough that they can then get more credits off, more tax credits, more deductions. And so they basically get a twofer. They basically get to take money from the public fiscal and they get credit for it on their taxes.
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Alison Gill
So, yeah, so it's not their, it's.
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Randy Weingarten
Not their, just their money. It's taking money from the public fiscal.
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Alison Gill
Yes, but of course I can't.
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Randy Weingarten
So it's a twofer.
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Alison Gill
I can't double dip though, right? With my pension and disability. Right. I can't double dip like that, but they certainly can. And I didn't think about that. The isolationism, you know, that, that's such an important point, that, that's, that's an autocratic playbook, is to isolate us from one another.
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Randy Weingarten
And it's the fragmentation. Because if you are in a school that's a community and you happen to go be in a classroom with, you know, I used to talk about this like kids reading a book about both Ruby Bridges and a book about Anne Frank. Think about what that would mean in terms of learning about different identities, learning about different struggles. But if you're basically fragmented and you don't have schools as diverse, inclusive places, and you never actually see somebody who's different than yourself, how are you going to embody or learn the habits of tolerance, of understanding? And if you then defund it and just create this fragmentation, how do you have a pluralistic society that comes together anywhere? So it's really both.
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Alison Gill
Right. And you also don't have your peers, you don't see other people having the same questions as you and the same concerns as you, and so you feel alone and you're just more able to be gaslit that way.
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Randy Weingarten
Exactly. So it's the opportunity for all. It's pluralism for all. It's understanding for all. You know, we're big believers in the for all. And you need money for that. You need resources for that.
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Alison Gill
Yeah. Yeah, you do. Okay. Before I let you go, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about leadership. I know that we have a lot of listeners who feel like we're sort of leading the people, the communities. You know, we saw it in the no Kings rally. And we're sort of looking to our leadership for more proactive leadership rather than reactive leadership. And I want to bring this in kind of under the umbrella of this bill that's about to pass, because we need to hang this around their necks like the albatross that it is in the coming years. Because I'm assuming it will pass. There'll be, you know, drama on the Hill or whatever, but I'm assuming they're gonna pass this. They'll all cave eventually. So how do we do that?
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Randy Weingarten
I mean, the pressure on, you know, the pressure on all of them to cave is so intense because that's who Donald Trump is. He's a bully. I mean, that's who he is. That's how he's run his businesses. That's how he runs the presidency. He's a bully.
- [37:49]
Alison Gill
Yeah, he is. And so we see some of our Democrats in Congress and on the Hill and outside of the body politic, but that's work with the Democratic Party standing up, fighting, getting in the ring, willing to take a black eye even if they're gonna lose. We love that. We'd love to see more of it is what can we do to help push our leaders to be the leaders that we want them to be? And also while we hang this around their neck like the albatross that it is.
- [38:15]
Randy Weingarten
So let me just say a couple of things about leadership from. Look, I've been in the ring for a very long time, and sometimes I wonder if I've been in the ring for too long. But what happens is when you are the head of a union, you and a union that has 3,500 basically branches around the country, we're the fastest growing union in the country. We have 1.8 million people. We grew about 100,000 people last year. And this and next year are going to be tough years, but we're holding strong.
- [38:53]
Alison Gill
You're like 110 years old or something, right?
- [38:55]
Randy Weingarten
Yeah, we're 110 years old. But what you learn when you are the leader of a union is that collective action and we the people are really, really, really important that you as a leader, you're only as Good as what you and the people you represent do together. And so there. It's a different kind of leadership learning that than thinking that I alone can fix it. Autocrats think I alone can fix it. And frankly, a lot of us, and this is some of the toughest jobs that we learn as leaders, think that when you get to a leadership position, you're barking orders, you're leading the charge, you're the general. But if the general doesn't have troops, if the troops don't really feel part of it, if they don't feel like they are together with it, then you're not going to be successful. And I think that the American public has hoped for a long time that its leaders will save it. And look, Barack Obama, very charismatic president. People look at the hopes that people put into him and immediately got disappointed that he alone could not do anything. Donald Trump actually markets himself as he alone can do it. So, number one, about leadership. Leadership means being able to ensure that people have a voice and people actually have the agency and the empowerment to do what they need to do. Number two, in a democracy, it really is we the people. It really is all of us. Nobody's going to save us. It's all of us. Number three, we all have to kind of understand that none of us can do everything, but we can all do something. And we may not see everything done, and it may not be tied up in a nice knot, but we can all do something. So what I would actually urge every one of your listeners to do is that there are a lot of us that understand that we got to get people out in the streets, safe, nonviolent, in the streets. We have to also make sure that we do this contrast and we do it in community, meaning we don't do it alone. We do it in community. And so the leaders that we have in the Senate and in the House, they have to do their jobs, which they're doing right now, fighting like the senator did. I really respected what Chuck Schumer and his Senate colleagues did in the last four days. They fought on every issue, two, three, four days in a row. And they helped people understand what was at stake. The House did the same thing. Now we as the people have to do the same thing on the outside. We have to talk to our neighbors. We have to be out on the streets. We have to do the contrast. And so it's harder because we have an adversary who doesn't believe in democracy, who doesn't believe in we the people, who doesn't actually even do what the People who voted for him, asked him to do. And so that's what I think leadership is today, which is trying to keep people safe, trying to keep people in community, and trying to keep people focused on the issues that people really care about. That's what. That's what I'm trying to do.
- [42:40]
Alison Gill
Now, how do we hear about that? I mean, I've been talking about, for example, leadership in the Senate and Democrats and the staffers burning the candle at both ends to give everything a bird bath and pull as many horrible things out of this bill as we possibly can. Because we don't, you know, we're in the minority. The. That's the best thing we can do is to try to, you know, pull some of these provisions out of the bill. But nobody knows about that. Nobody hears about that work. All they see is kind of nothing happening. And, you know, part of that, corporate media, sure. They don't. They don't kind of COVID those things. So, you know, I'm telling everyone, pick up a microphone and tell people about it. Let's. Let's do that ourselves if they won't do it for us. But is there anything else that you think that they could be doing differently that they aren't doing? I know that. You know, I've heard. I've talked to a lot of folks who say that some of the members kind of look down their nose at this idea of digital media and viral moments, kind of the way AOC uses the Internet, and Jasmine Crockett, Max Frost, these kind of people who really get people, you know, in community.
- [43:39]
Randy Weingarten
Thorin Mondami.
- [43:40]
Alison Gill
Yes. Oh, my gosh. Fantastic.
- [43:43]
Randy Weingarten
Look at what he did. Yeah.
- [43:44]
Alison Gill
And whether, you know, whether you agree with his politics or not, I think that shows kind of how we showed we could beat Elon's $20 million in Wisconsin for that Supreme Court race by 10 points. Points. It's people power that makes the difference.
- [43:55]
Randy Weingarten
Exactly.
- [43:56]
Alison Gill
And that's the lesson I want people.
- [43:57]
Randy Weingarten
To go away with.
- [43:58]
Alison Gill
But people are still there. A lot of people are very, you know, upset that. That they just aren't hearing and seeing what's happening.
- [44:07]
Randy Weingarten
So, you know, this is one. And I appreciate that we didn't fixate on my leaving the Democratic National Committee. I very much appreciate that.
- [44:18]
Alison Gill
I mean, you shared your letter. You wrote your letter.
- [44:21]
Randy Weingarten
Yeah. I mean, this is what I think. You know, I think the Democratic National Committee has to do a better job at being the House, being a communication agent. I mean, one of the reasons that Ken Martin won, the guy who's the head of the DNC is because he had a relationship with all the 50 or 55 state parties, if you include the territories. So there's times when they have to all be out there every single day and making this case. And because media is different. And it is. I mean, you talk about the fragmentation of schooling that's already happened in the media, which is why you can't get a message out there universally, except if you're Donald Trump, because the media isn't equipped to do it anymore. Like, there's not a Walter Cronkite every night who people basically trust. And, you know, and so what you can see is, frankly, you know, I mean, I'll just use this example. You are wearing a headset. I can see that you're wearing a headset. Say, you know, on some other podcast, oh, no, she wasn't wearing a headset. Yes, she was wearing a headset. You can see it in the picture. Somebody in the middle manipulates a picture. There's misinformation, there's disinformation. You're talking about the disinformation and the misinformation as. And you've now lost, you know, you've now lost the story. So there's so much diversion and distraction that what you need is to do this over and over and over again on the core issues, like Mondavi did on affordability in New York City. Anyone who was in New York City the last few weeks could tell you whether they agreed or not. Mondami wanted to make sure we lowered grocery prices, had free buses, and lowered the rent. And that was his affordability agenda. This bill is a wealth, is a transfer of wealth from people who are trying to make it paycheck to paycheck to the wealthy. And they do it in any number of ways, all of which are cruel, whether it's cutting health care, cutting food, cutting jobs, cutting public schools, targeting immigrants and exploding the debt. And we are going to have to say that not just Ken Martin, not just Chuck Schumer, not just your congressperson, but all of us who care about other people, we're going to have to say that over and over again. And then when we're in these big, hopefully these big protests like no kings, we're going to be have to be out there saying that. And when there's more and more people out there doing that and saying that, then other people see, oh, we're not alone.
- [47:20]
Alison Gill
Right?
- [47:21]
Randy Weingarten
So it really is community by community on a message of who is standing up for whom and using the facts that this bill is terrible for regular people.
- [47:37]
Alison Gill
Agree.
- [47:38]
Randy Weingarten
And we're just gonna have to take on. So it's you, it's me, it's the labor movement. It's indivisible. It's many of the not for profits. It's gonna be we the people.
- [47:49]
Alison Gill
Yeah. It has to be. Lessons learned from the Mueller investigation and the investigation into Donald Trump on January 6, that there's no magic bullet. There's no one single guardrail that we are actually the biggest check on the government. So I thank you.
- [48:04]
Randy Weingarten
And the one silver bullet there will be, though, is if we can get to. If we can use the courts to slow down the autocratic direction of Donald Trump and others. Voting. Voting really matters. Voting in Wisconsin really mattered for the Supreme Court. Voting this November will really matter in a lot of local elections, including in the gubernatorial of New Jersey and Virginia. And voting in November 2026 will really matter because that can then provide the check and balance that we will need to create enough power to have under our constitutional form of government, some check and balance.
- [48:56]
Alison Gill
Well, I appreciate you going over that. And maybe there's something that we all can do to urge leadership to improve its messaging. Is there anything you could maybe just contact? Just phone calls and letters or petitions or, you know, because no kings. We all got out there and, you know, put our bodies out there, and I think that that's the way forward.
- [49:20]
Randy Weingarten
Yeah, look, I'm hopeful. I mean, I'm not going to be able to influence the DNC to do that, but I am hopeful that with the work that the labor movement is doing and others, we have to have simpler messages about that, really connect to people. It's like, stop explaining in paragraphs and start talking in sentences. I mean, I'll go back to something I learned as a school teacher. It's not what's said, it's what's heard and what's felt, and we're gonna have to do that. And I think your podcast does that extraordinarily well. And I am really honored to be here.
- [50:00]
Alison Gill
Well, thank you so much. As I used to say back in the day, we can't fit the Mueller report on a bumper sticker. We tried. Anyway, thank you so much for joining us today. Will you tell everyone where they can find and follow you and get more information about the. The American Federation of Teachers, if they need it, and what is in this big, ugly bill?
- [50:18]
Randy Weingarten
Okay, number one, we have a website that anybody can be on. It's called aft.org so you can find it easily. Number two, if you want to be active within our union, we have. Whether you're a member or not, we have what we call E activists, where people get, you know, missives from us all the time about what to do and, you know, or, you know, asking what to do. And so you can sign up on, you know, kind of as a friend of aft. You can sign up for that on our website. Number three, in terms of social media, what we do is I actually do a podcast every couple of weeks, you know, just about what you know is going on in terms of education or health care. We last week we unpacked this bill, the Medicaid. You know, how bad the Medicaid part of this bill is with nurses from Connecticut and from Alaska. So really hearing my podcast is very much about hearing from people in the field in real time, but on social media itself. I'm still on X at R. Weingarten. I'm on bluesky, which I adore, at R. Weingarten. And I am on Facebook as well. I use that more personally, but I'm on Facebook as well, AS is the AFT under AFT or AFT.org or AFT Union. And we really do try to use my Blue sky account. I try. I do it all the time. It's my account. I try to actually curate the big issues of the day so that people can see it. And last, I do a column in the New York Times every month so that we just do some of the work that we are doing. So those are the ways people want to follow me. I would be very appreciative, but those are the ways I try to, you know, communicate with people.
- [52:12]
Alison Gill
And you have a book coming out in September.
- [52:14]
Randy Weingarten
Oh, yes.
- [52:15]
Alison Gill
We'll have to have you back on to talk about this book, if that's okay.
- [52:18]
Randy Weingarten
Now I have a book coming out which is really about a love story to teachers. You know, many people that no one knows. But I tell a lot of stories about how teachers, what teachers are doing, and as a result, why fascists fear them. I'll give you one hint. Just like the founders wanted, the founders wanted public education. They understood that critical thinking was absolutely essential for a democracy. And every single day, what teachers do is to try to teach critical thinking.
- [52:50]
Alison Gill
Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thanks for all your service. Thanks for all the work you do and your leadership. Thank you. It's been really great talking to you. We will have you back on before your book comes out. We're going to talk about this book in depth. I can't wait. And I really do appreciate your time today.
- [53:04]
Randy Weingarten
Thank you.
- [53:05]
Alison Gill
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone. Then, good news, everyone in or near. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections, you want to, I don't know, give a shout out to your spouse or your kids or your parents or yourself or a small business in your community that could use a boost or your small business, let us know what you're making and creating. If you want to give a shout out to a wonderful nonprofit that's doing great work, something going on in your community, some activism that you really love, maybe you're going to run for something. We want to know about that. Maybe you have a shout out for a government program that's helped you or a loved one, something that might be on the chopping block in the billionaire bailout bill. Tell us about it. And all you got to do to get your good news read on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet if you have a shelter pup. We are happy to try to guess the breeds in there. We're not very good at it, although we got, we have gotten two. Right. I think in the past five years. You could send it to us and we'll see if we can figure it out. If you don't have a pet, send an adoptable pet in your area. See if we can find them a forever home. If you don't have that, really just grab any photo of any animal off the Internet. We especially love baby animals. I like pygmy marmosets. They're just so cute. Other favorite animals, red pandas, secretary birds. By the way, I did eventually watch Flow. It was fantastic. I know everybody was recommending that to me because I love cats and capybaras and secretary birds. It was amazing. Thank you for sharing that movie with me. Also, if you don't have any of those, you can just send a family picture or a photo of yourself or some great signs you've seen at at your latest rally or protest or a picture of your happy place. Maybe a nice sunset, something wonderful, something that we can all just sort of, you know, find a little microdose hope with. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. First up from Betsy Pronouns she and her hi Framley thought it wouldn't be entirely anonymous like ice block. Oh, though it wouldn't be entirely anonymous like ice block. I did want to share an idea for Android users that I saw a couple of months ago. Or was it weeks? I don't know. Since the last five months and 12 days feel like a hundred years. Same Betsy in Waze. That's W a Z e. You can report icy roads to indicate ice sightings. Sounds like good trouble to me. I also want to second the request. I heard in today's good news that the Daily Beans rainbow background live on. And not just for July, but until we come out the other side of this shit show. Clusterfuck. Assholery. Betsy, your wish is granted. I am keeping the rainbow at Mueller, she wrote on social media. We're keeping it at the Daily Bean social media and we're going to keep it on the show as the show art. I think that the rainbow says more than just LGBTQIA friendly now. I think it's more of an indicator that all are welcome here and in this time that I can't even begin to be taken for granted that they're seen as humans. People really need to keep seeing those little signs of humanity and acceptance. As my Paw Pat tariff, here are my favorite candid pics of our cats. Nix the tabby. Smudge the gray. I'm also including a picture of an Indian giant squirrel because it's absolutely fabulous. Think squirrel drag queen. Oh my God. This squirrel is cool as fuck. I've never seen this squirrel before. I'm so okay. I have a new favorite animal, the Indian giant squirrel. The cats are great. Mid yawn. Thank you for that high tiefs. Thank you so much, Betsy. I appreciate that. And yeah, we're gonna leave the rainbow up because it's awesome and for all the reasons you said too. All right, next up from Anonymous. He him. Hi, Beans fam. This is a shout out to Allison from a Kitchen Day listener. Oh, it's been so long. I'm writing this just after hearing you discuss your 2012 documentary. Your openness 1 million percent encourages others to speak up, reach out, and take action. Thank you so much for sharing sharing your story. You are not alone and you are heard. Thank you, Anonymous. I often reference the starfish on the beach analogy you read once on the pod. It's become sort of a guiding light for me. I can never even make it through the story without shedding a happy tear for myself. Me neither. Every time I tell the starfish story, I'm gonna make a difference for that one. It's the same, same, samesies. I just wanted to know you're appreciated. Nobody speaks more truth to power. Please keep leading us in this fight. For democracy, for pod tacks. I share my kitty cats. Iri the Black and White fluffy is a 12 year old who only speaks when demanding treats Right this moment. Our boy, the one year old orange guy is named Marino of course after Dan. Oh God damn Marino. Quarterback from what was it, the Dolphins. Thanks again and happy 4th everyone. As a bonus bird watching photo of the Orange Turds house in Palm beach taken on January 20th of this year, I will consider that a birthday present. Oh look at these babies. Orange cats are the best. Great bird watching by the way. Thank you so much. Anonymous thank you for the kind words. I really, really appreciate it. Okay, next up from Chalice, rhymes with palace pronoun, she and her hi Queenies of the Beanies this last Saturday my husband and I bumped into the former Democratic candidate for Utah's Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Cummings at a Salt Lake City Pride festival. We were in the elevator of the parking structure with her and I commented that it was a bummer she had to come to work on a Saturday since she was wearing work clothes. She was actually there to give a seminar on public service and as well a speech later on that day. She was so friendly, a delight to talk to. She's a public librarian, mother of three, and director of Digital Media Services at the University of Utah Library. I told her all about your podcast, how awesome it is, and about the Flip It Blue segment. Utah is a hella red state, but our local Democrats are fierce. You have to be when you are the perpetual underdogs. Yeah Diana, for real. For podbet Tax, I give you my delightfully sweet but not very helpful girl, Smokey. She decided that I did not need to be working on my quilting project, but I should be giving her loves instead. Just so you know, she is a void with a big white spot on her belly. That is only a trap about 10% of the time. Ah Chalice. That's not bad. 10% means 90% not a trap. That's a pretty good deal. I think the risk is worth the reward on that, so thank you very much for that good news. Also from Casey pronouns she and her hi AG and dg. I've been meaning to write in for weeks, but the ADHD keeps winning. I know that feeling. I did finally transfer over all of my healthcare to the VA and the James Haley VA hospital and the clinic near me have been absolutely amazing. So shout out to the VA hospital and clinics in the Tampa area. They are really good. Casey they are. In other news, Axel and I graduated from service dog training last month so he's now able to go everywhere with me as a PTSD service dog. The organization that we trained with is called Canine Partners for Patriots. They're a wonderful nonprofit organization in Brooksville, Florida that trains veterans and service dogs specifically for vets with ptsd. Not only are they helping to save veterans, but they rescue shelter dogs and match them with a vet to train together, saving two lives, all at no cost to the veteran. I've included a link to their website. It's the letter k, the number 9k9partnersforpatriots.com and photos from our graduation. Casey oh, wow. That is a beautiful dog. Thank you so much. What a lovely couple of photos. I really appreciate that. Congratulations. What a great program. All right, next up from Meryl Pronoun. She and her thanks for the energy and love you and Dana and your team share in so many places. Here's a shout out to my friend Gretchen Stabler, a prolific writer, photographer and lover of nature. She recently published a one of a kind caregiver's memoir, Motherlode Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver. Mother Load Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver. This was came out in 2022. I'm totally going to read this. Meryl. Thank you. Thank you for this shout out. Next up from Brian, Pronouns, he, him, ag and dg. My good news is that I'm married to a superhero. In addition to being the director of psychology at a pediatric gender clinic, making sure trans kids and their families can access the gender affirming care they need, she's now also an author saying the wrong Thing, how to speak up in difficult, controversial or emotionally charged conversations. This book is available for pre order. Oh, I'm totally getting this. She was lucky enough to be able to write this with two of our best friends. They worked weekends and during vacation trips together to get this thing done and I couldn't be prouder of them. I've been a listener since the Kitchen Table days. I really value this podcast and the sense of community it fosters. Dana and Andy and yourself all signed our marriage certificate at that live show. Okay, I remember you, Brian. So thank you for everything you and your team over at MSW do included as a promo for the book and our pod pet tariff or cat Khaleesi staring down at a Thai basil plant like it owes her money. Can we get a Dana Fuck yeah. Soundbite. It's our favorite. I don't know, we could probably dig one of those up. Producers. Do we have that?
- [62:36]
Randy Weingarten
Fuck yeah.
- [62:37]
Alison Gill
And maybe, maybe a laugh too.
- [62:40]
Randy Weingarten
Those are Always the best.
- [62:42]
Alison Gill
Okay, look at this kitty. So very beautiful. And look at this. Saying the wrong thing. I'm so glad somebody wrote this book. I'm totally going to order this. I need to know how to say the wrong thing. I can pretty good at doing it all on my own. But I appreciate you so much. I appreciate everybody for writing in seriously. Please send us all your good news whenever you can. However, you can send it to us@dailybeanspod.com Click on Contact, include whatever picture you want and we'll read your submission on the air. We really need that good news. And this was a really, really great batch. This and that Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling giving me life today among all the other, you know, clusterfuck shit show. So thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you so much to Brandi Weingarten for taking the time to speak to us here on the Daily Beans. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow with Eugene Carroll and John Fugelsang for Fugal Sang Fridays. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag and 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 mswmedia.com msw media.