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The Broligarchy
00:44:49
Monday, January 6th, 2025 Today, Congress will certify the 2024 election; Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House; Trump is complaining about the flags being flown at half staff during his inauguration; Apple CEO Tim Cook has donated a million dollars to Trump’s inaugural; Rudy took the stand last Friday in one of his many contempt hearings and it didn’t go well; the judicial conference has refused to refer Clarence Thomas to the Department of Justice; Judge Juan Merchan has denied Trump’s motion to throw out his 34 count felony conviction; a Utah county school board has voted to keep banned books in library shelves; and Allison and Dana delivers your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media thanks to Smalls for supporting the Daily Beans. Smalls cat food is made with protein packed recipes made with ingredients you'd find in your fridge, and it's delivered right to your door. To get 50% off your first order plus free shipping, go to smalls.com DailyBeans and use promo code DailyBeans at checkout.
- [00:32]
Dana Goldberg
Daily Beans. Daily Beans.
- [00:38]
Allison Gill
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, January 6, 2025. Today, Congress will certify the 2024 election. Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House on the first vote. Trump is complaining about the flags being flown at half staff during his inauguration. Apple CEO Tim Cook has donated a million dollars to Trump's inaugural. Rudy took the stand last Friday in one of his multiple contempt hearings and it did not go well. The Judicial conference has refused to refer Clarence Thomas to the Department of Justice. Judge Juan Merchan has denied Trump's motion to throw out his 34 count felony conviction. And a Utah county school board has voted to keep banned books in libraries. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:20]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:24]
Allison Gill
Hey, Dana, Happy Monday. How are you?
- [01:26]
Dana Goldberg
Happy Monday to you. I'm actually good. I am back in LA and feeling the sunshine and the open space and as much as I love both coasts, it just feels nice to be back in some warmth. So right now I'm good. It's January 6th, obviously a heavy day to remember in this country. So that's something that's weighing on me as we are listening to this recording the day before but powerful day. We'll see what happens with the certification of the election.
- [01:53]
Allison Gill
Yeah, and I had a good chat with Harry Dunn, you know, who's my co host on cleanup on all 45 this weekend for the bonus episode about, you know, his thoughts and there's a couple of pieces out there. I think he's going to be on MSNBC today. I know he's doing a lot of media so if you get a chance to catch him on, on tv, please do because, you know, he was there. And so it's, it's going to be a hard day for a lot of folks. It is, you know, the four year anniversary of the insurrection.
- [02:23]
Dana Goldberg
Four years. Holy.
- [02:26]
Allison Gill
Yeah, yeah. We've been doing this a while, my friend.
- [02:29]
Dana Goldberg
We've been doing this a while. But also, what the hell happened? All right, how come, how come the Biden four years went by so fast and the Trump four years feel like 40?
- [02:38]
Allison Gill
Because they're awful. Yep. Because they're torturous. I guess torture time goes by slower yeah.
- [02:44]
Dana Goldberg
Unhealthy, abusive relationships always seem to last a really long time. And then you have a great date and you're like, I feel like we were talking for 10 minutes. It's been 15 hours.
- [02:53]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Yep, yep. And some more. More. You know what? I'm just going to call it News Friday. Mike Johnson won. He actually won the speaker vote on the first ballot. He almost didn't.
- [03:06]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [03:07]
Allison Gill
Because three people voted for other people. But then apparently, like, Nancy Mace got on a speaker phone with Donald Trump and those three people, and Donald Trump was like, what are you doing? I won the swing states. You need to. You're up. You know, and so they changed their votes. And then the six abstentions, the people who were protesting the vote, like Chip Roy and those guys, they did register a vote for Mike Johnson. So he ended up winning 218 to 215. So it was the first vote. It felt like the second vote. Cause it took forever to get those votes flipped. But some deals were made, apparently, and they got it done. So Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House. So we don't have to worry about what would happen today, Monday, as you're listening to this, if there wasn't a Speaker, because we have one. And today, Vice President Kamala Harris, like I said, is going to certify the vote. We'll see if any Dems object. As I've said, it will be impossible for them to throw out any votes. Right. It's a losing battle, but it's a battle that I would appreciate them fighting. Nonetheless, I'd like them to object on constitutional grounds because I believe Trump is ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. If it's not for him, who's it for?
- [04:16]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. Yep.
- [04:17]
Allison Gill
I don't get it. But we'll see what they do. Obviously, you know, we record this on Sunday, so we don't know yet, but it does now take a fifth of the chamber and both chambers, actually a fifth of the Senate and a fifth of the House to object to any single state's electors. It's not just one Rep and one Senator anymore. And that's because of the Electoral Count Reform act that we passed to make it harder for Trump to do what he did four years ago today. And I can't remember if I said this on the show. I think I did, because I remember you and me talking about Jimmy Carter and how we were glad that he was gonna get the proper sendoff. And I was like, they're gonna fly the flags at half mast. Know it's Staff on land. But it's a Navy thing to say half mast. So no matter what the flagpole is. So just, you know, bear with me. Remember I said, I think I said, I don't know if he's going to honor that.
- [05:04]
Dana Goldberg
30 days you did. And then there's this whiny post on truth Social. I mean, petulant child behavior.
- [05:12]
Allison Gill
Just what a dick is. Oh, the Democrats are gleeful that my inauguration will be marred. He didn't use those big words. I can't, I can't talk like he does, you know, because the, the flags will be at half mast.
- [05:25]
Dana Goldberg
No one wants to see this. No one wants to see that.
- [05:29]
Allison Gill
But you know what? I don't think he can do anything about it. I don't think he has the power to do anything about it until he's sworn in. So he'll be sworn in under a half mast flag.
- [05:40]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, I, I hope that that is the case. And what a beautiful parting gift Jimmy Carter gave the rest of us who believe in democracy, insanity to actually have that, have a double meaning of. We are mourning as a country for this, for the, for this inauguration and the swearing in of such a horrible human being. So I, I, I love that they're half mass. I'm sorry for the reason that they are. But I do love that the visual, what the visual shows, especially if, if you've got one behind Donald Trump when he gets, you know, his hand on that, what is it, the Constitution of the Bible? He hasn't read either of them, so.
- [06:14]
Allison Gill
He has both in one. So maybe he'll swear in on one of his, on one of his Lee Greenwood Bibles or whatever. The, it's just gonna be four years of ridiculousness. So buckle in. But Rudy, Rudy Giuliani was on the stand. He, you know, he wanted to zoom in because he was sick. And then the, he's, the judge was like, okay, but then you don't get to testify in your own defense. And he's like, okay, I'll be there. So he was there. He was on the stand and he was just being a fucking contemptuous asshole. He was just, I didn't say that. Oh, why didn't I turn over any emails? Well, because it said it asked for communications and they're like, well, you know, emails are communications. No, I don't think so. It was just like, oh, my God, like, question after question, just.
- [07:03]
Dana Goldberg
Is this a juried, Was this a juried room?
- [07:05]
Allison Gill
No, this is just a hearing, a contempt hearing in front of the judge.
- [07:08]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you.
- [07:09]
Allison Gill
The jury trial before this contempt hearing starts, I think in, let's see, 10 days.
- [07:14]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God.
- [07:15]
Allison Gill
So. And it's to. It's to determine whether or not the Florida condo is his primary residence because he thinks he won't have to give it up in bankruptcy if it is.
- [07:24]
Dana Goldberg
Ah.
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Allison Gill
But then, like the guy, the Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss's lawyer showed him, he. He applied to New Hampshire Credit union this past year. When he said it Florida was his primary residence. And he's like, is this your signature on this application for a credit union? Where? He's like, yeah, that's my signature. And he's like, does this with the box that you checked that you're a resident of New Hampshire? He's like, I don't recall. Like, it's just, you know, fuck you. The judge hasn't ruled yet because there's still 90 minutes, I think, of cross or direct or I think cross, actually, that's going to come up. So they had to extend the hearing. So there'll be another one and we'll cover that on the next cleanup on aisle 45. But it was. It was pretty ridiculous. All right, we have a lot of news to get to today, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, from Zoe Richards at NBC. As I predicted, a judicial organization that sets national policy for federal courts has rejected a request from two Democratic lawmakers to refer the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to the Department of Justice over free travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors that were largely omitted from his financial disclosure forms, a violation of federal law. The group, which is called the Judicial Conference, sent identical letters Thursday to Senator Whitehouse, who chairs the Judiciary Committee on Federal Courts, and Representative Hank Johnson, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee on Courts in the House, who asked in 2023 to refer. They asked the Judicial Conference to refer Thomas to the attorney General for an investigation following the ProPublica reporting on free travel and gifts to Thomas by Harlan Crow and others. Judicial Conference secretary Robert Conrad Jr. Said Thomas had filed amended financial disclosures that addressed several issues identified in your letter and argued that there is legal uncertainty over whether the Judicial Conference has the authority to refer complaints about Supreme Court justices. Who does? Quote, because the Judicial Conference does not superintend the Supreme Court and because any effort to grant the Conference such authority would raise serious constitutional questions. One would expect Congress, at a minimum, to state any such directive clearly, but no such express directive appears in the provision. That's what Conrad said. He rejected similar requests Thursday from Citizens for Renewing America President Russ Vaught, President Elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, who filed an ethics complaint against Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over allegations that she failed to disclose details about income from her husband's medical malpractice consulting. Conrad said both justices had amended their financial disclosures and that they have agreed to follow guidance issued to other federal judges. White House criticized Conrad's response, saying in a statement that it ultimately doesn't address the only real question the Judicial Conference should have been focused on for the nearly two years it spent on this matter. Is there reasonable cause to believe Justice Thomas willfully broke the disclosures law? By all appearances, the judicial branch is shirking its statutory duty to hold a Supreme Court justice accountable for ethics violations. That's what White House said. Johnson criticized the judicial conference, saying in a statement Friday that the letter, quote, in effect exempts Supreme Court justices from the financial reporting requirements that all other federal court judges are bound by law to follow. Johnson also pressed for the passage of the Supreme Court Ethics Recusal and Transparency act, which he said includes an enforcement mechanism and holds justices to the same rules followed by lower court judges. That legislation was blocked by Senate Republicans last year. Elliot Burke, an attorney for Clarence Thomas, said his client, quote, has fully complied with a new disclosure requirement after guidance issued in 2023 specified that a reporting exemption for personal hospitality gifts did not apply to gifts of transportation and at commercial properties. Rachel Cawley, a spokesperson for the Citizens for Renewing America, a conservative social welfare group, argued that the Judicial Conference's response that liberal justices were not following the ethics disclosure rules. She highlighted her group's effort to draw attention to the issue, saying in a statement that a think tank needs to file a complaint to get it covered and effect change. White House and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden made a direct plea to the Justice Department in July to criminally investigate whether Trump violated or, excuse me, Clarence Thomas, leave that in, because that is hysterical. It's always, it's always somebody violated federal ethics and tax laws. No such investigations were announced. The Supreme Court formally adopted a new ethics code in 2023, but more than a year later, questions have lingered over its enforcement and I knew the Judicial Conference was going to be a pile of because I went and I looked up who sits on the Judicial Conference, and it's all the former chief judges and the chief judges and other current chief judges. It's like 80%, 80% are conservative judges.
- [12:21]
Dana Goldberg
Wow.
- [12:22]
Allison Gill
So they are never going to do anything to hold this Supreme Court accountable?
- [12:26]
Dana Goldberg
Not at all. All right, A.J. thank you. This one's from Kelly Reisman at The independent Apple CEO Tim Cook, he plans to donate $1 million to President Elect Trump's inaugural committee. This is according to a report Cook's contribution first reported by Axios. It marks the latest deluge of cash from billionaires into Trump's inauguration January 20th. Just weeks before the reported donation, Cook dined with Trump at Mar a Lago. He frequently met with Trump during his first term and managed to build a personal relationship with him by calling and getting meals with then president. This is all from the Wall Street Journal. This is what they reported. The Apple CEO's donation is part of a trend of wealthy business leaders and tech companies contributing to Trump's second inaugural fund. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, he also intends to donate a million dollars. That's according to Bloomberg. Amazon, of course, that's Jeff Bezos's company is expected to donate 1 million. This is again the Wall Street Journal OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to make a personal donation of a million dollars while meta run by billionaire Mark Zuckerman, he donated the same amount to the inaugural fund. That's according to cnbc, car companies Toyota, Ford and General Motors. They're also each reportedly donating a million dollars to the fund. The inaugural committee is projected to raise more than $150 million, breaking the previous fundraising record of 107 million inauguration which was set at Trump's first inauguration in 2017. That's from ABC News. Quote, there is an absolute deluge of interest. Of course this is a Republican fundraiser. That's what he told the outlet. Trump, who according to Forbes boasts a net worth of roughly $6 billion, I don't believe that has surrounded himself with fellow billionaires as he is set to take office for a second time. Trump tapped Elon Musk, the world's richest man, to co head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or as we've been calling a dodgy or doggy. The pair have become close in recent months, literally as Trump's so called quote, first buddy has been staying at a cottage just several hundred feet from the main house of Mar a Lago for $2,000 a night. In addition to Musk, Trump's second White House will include biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, investment banker Howard Lupnick, wrestling magnate, that's what they're calling her. Linda McMahon and venture capitalist in North Dakota Governor Doug Bur. All of whom by the way are billionaires with a B. Their combined wealth exceeds $340 billion, larger than the gross domestic product of more than a dozen countries.
- [15:05]
Allison Gill
11 dozen. Sorry, 11.
- [15:07]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God.
- [15:08]
Allison Gill
11 dozen.
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Dana Goldberg
Holy shit. 11 dozen countries. Oh, my God.
- [15:12]
Allison Gill
That's.
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Dana Goldberg
According to the Independence analysis in November. Since his reelection victory, Trump has met with a handful of billionaires in recent weeks at Mar a Lago, including Bezos and Zuckerberg. Did I call him Zuckerman earlier? I think you did, yeah.
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Allison Gill
Zuckerman's famous pig.
- [15:26]
Dana Goldberg
Throw in a correction, because I know it's Zuckerberg. I could make a joke there, but I'm not going to. And this is a quote. Everybody wants to be my friend. I know you think I made that up, people. That's what Trump actually boasted on Truth Social after dining with Bezos in mid December. Literally true, if that's what they're called in all caps. Everybody wants to be my friend.
- [15:49]
Allison Gill
I bet you think strippers like you, too.
- [15:52]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Last week, he appeared to be courting yet another. That's Bill Gates. In a bizarre True Social post that resembled a personal message to Musk, Trump suggested that the Microsoft co founder had asked to visit his Palm beach estate. Where are you? When are you coming to the, quote, center of the universe? Mar a Lago. That's what Trump posted. Bill Gates asked to come tonight. We miss you. And X New Year's Eve is going to be amazing. That's what Trump wrote. He signed it djt. So, wow, there's so much to unpack here. I don't even know if it's worth examining this person's brain after he's gone, because this is all very confusing, but, whew. There's a lot of DSM 5 diagnosis going on in that story alone. My goodness.
- [16:35]
Allison Gill
Uh huh. Uh huh, indeed. And this is what we're calling the broligarchy, right?
- [16:41]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, yeah.
- [16:42]
Allison Gill
All right. From Dara Gregorian and Tom Winters at NBC. The judge presiding over the hush money case, which I like to call the election interference case against President elect Donald Trump, on Friday denied Trump's bid to dismiss the case and said he will sentence Donald Trump on January 10, 10 days before his inauguration as the 47th president. Judge Juan Merchan said Trump can appear in person or virtually by zoom for the sentencing, if you like, and that he won't order Trump jailed. Quote, while this court, as a matter of law, must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and defendants opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of Incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction. But one the people, that's the da, Alvin Bragg, concede that they no longer view as practicable. That's what he wrote in his ruling. The reason it's not practicable is because it would definitely violate the Constitution to incarcerate a president. And even though he's not the president yet, what are you going to do? Put him in jail for nine days? That's.
- [17:48]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, I would be okay with that, by the way.
- [17:50]
Allison Gill
I would, I would, I would. He could. He still might do that. He says he's only inclined, but, I mean, obviously, I think he's just going to do the discharge.
- [17:58]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [17:59]
Allison Gill
Mershan said that a sentence of unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Trump to pursue his appellate options, because that's his right. Such a sentence would allow the conviction to stand, but without Trump being fined, locked up, or having to serve probation. The judge denied Trump's request to vacate the verdict.
- [18:18]
Dana Goldberg
I'm happy about that.
- [18:19]
Allison Gill
Yes. He said he denied all of Trump's requests. He made a Clayton motion. He wanted to have all 34 counts tossed out on immunity. He wanted to have the, the three pieces of evidence declared immune, official acts and throw out the case on that. He, he really wanted this conviction to go away. And the judge said no to all of it. He said here. 12 jurors unanimously found you guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records with the intent to defraud, which included an intent to commit or conceal a conspiracy to promote a presidential election by unlawful means. That's what he wrote. Trump was convicted, as we know, in May of all that, of all that jazz. It was, quote, the premeditated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world that is the graveman of this offense. That's what Judge Marchan wrote. To vacate this verdict on the grounds that the charges are insufficiently serious, given the position the defendant once held and is about to assume again, would constitute a disproportionate result and cause immeasurable damage to the citizenry's confidence in the rule of law. Trump lambasted the judge for the ruling and the case overall in posts on Truth Social Friday night flipped out. It's unclear whether Trump plans to appear for the sentencing or dial in virtually. The judge left open the possibility of sentencing him when his term in office is done, which is an alternative that had been suggested by the DA Alvin Bragg. But he said he found that option, quote, less than desirable than imposing sentence prior to January 20, 2025, he said. The reasons are obvious, however, if the court is unable to impose sentence before the defendant takes his oath of office, then this may become the only viable option. So we'll see what happens. The DA's office declined to comment. Harry and I are going to go over all the reasoning and precedent behind this judge's decision on this week's cleanup on L45. Oh, and by the way, he and I will be hosting like a Mega Zoom Q and A happy hour for patrons of both the Beans and cleanup on January 17th at 4pm Pacific. We'll also be celebrating my birthday. Yay.
- [20:23]
Dana Goldberg
Thanks Ag. And thank God some good news among all of this madness. This is from UPR in Utah. On December 19th, the Cachet Valley Board of Education decided to keep two challenged books on school library shelves after denying an appeal to have the books removed. The board held a vote following a public comment period where parents, teachers and students had the opportunity to voice their opinions on whether or not to remove Quote I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and what the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood from school libraries. The books were requested to be banned in the school district early in 2024, and two committees were formed to evaluate them. I know the committees ultimately determined that.
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Allison Gill
They'D not read the books.
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Dana Goldberg
I know the committees ultimately determined that the books did not meet the criteria to be removed, but that decision was quickly appealed. Parents who pushed for the appeal raised concerns during the public forum about explicit content, arguing the books weren't appropriate for students. They repeatedly referred to passages in the books as pornography, and multiple excerpts were read aloud from the books depicting graphic instances of rape and molestation. Hilary Puertas, a parent, said that this sort of content could not be nullified by any amount of good values and lessons taught within the rest of the book. Quote Exposing pornography to minors is no trivial thing. This is what she said. They are being violated spiritually, mentally and emotionally. It's violating their evolving beliefs, development and relationships in a similar way that physical abuse does. This is not education. This has been and always will be abuse. I I have to wonder who she voted for.
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Allison Gill
Yeah. Meanwhile, her kids are like on their phone watching porn. But Kathy, people don't go to their school libraries for porn, you guys. Okay? It's available literally everywhere. Like, I don't understand why they're like, it's in a book on a shelf. You have to use the card catalog to find it. That's where they're getting their card.
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Dana Goldberg
I think that's the only time the term literally fucking everywhere actually applies. Kathy Christensen, one of the board members, argued the context of these graphic passages, that they were important part of this decision. She said. I read the individual quotes from the books that were part of the challenge, she said. They were disturbing, I thought, but I wanted to read the context in which they were put. So I got the books, and when I read the sections, there wasn't anything erotic. There wasn't anything titillating. There wasn't anything sexually arousing. And so my viewpoint is that this is not pornography. During the forum, more than one student referenced the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray. Is it 451 or 451?
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Allison Gill
Yeah, but what's really funny about this is that that some. That somebody's referencing that and it's a student, because that's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's. That's amazing because, you know, Fahrenheit 451. Well, read the passage. It'll probably.
- [23:17]
Dana Goldberg
So the book, by the way, Fahrenheit 451, it's by Ray Bradbury. So the student sharing the lessons that they had learned about the negative impacts of censorship and the importance of intellectual freedom, that's what they got from this book. They stressed that difficult topics must continue to be discussed, otherwise the information's gonna be lost. Megan Miller, a former educator and parent of four, asked the board to honor the collective hundreds of hours spent by teachers, parents, librarians, and curriculum experts that these two books had already been read, reviewed, and ultimately retained by the committees. She spoke of both books, voicing her love for them and sharing the lessons she had learned from reading them. Quote, both books have difficult content, and neither book is for every reader, but both books are for some readers. This is what she said. If you fear the content of a book, talk to your own children about not reading that book, but don't remove it from students who may have experienced similar traumas or from students who may encounter people in their lifetimes that have experienced. Experience similar traumas. Let them learn. What a beautiful paragraph to explain that, isn't it?
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Allison Gill
Yeah.
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Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
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Allison Gill
I'm glad that kid brought up Ray Bradbury.
- [24:25]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
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Allison Gill
One of my favorite books, I think probably. I think most of Our listeners know 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which books burn.
- [24:34]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, yeah.
- [24:36]
Allison Gill
And hence the name. Thank you.
- [24:37]
Dana Goldberg
I had no idea. I wonder if anyone else listening right now was like, oh.
- [24:44]
Allison Gill
But it's. It's a really great. Ray Bradbury is one of my favorites. He's one of my favorite quotes. Like my, like, like my philosophy of life is a Ray Bradbury quote. It's. We have to jump off cliffs and build our wings on the way down. Kind of a really cool poetic way of I'm just flying by the seat of my pants and we're all faking it. Seriously, you know, like, let's just make the decision and then we'll figure it out on the way. I love that. It's kind of how I do things, so I appreciate it. Thanks so much for that story. That is really good news. In Cash or Cachet County, Utah it just reminds me of like that scene in Field of Dreams, you know, when they want to ban the books and she's like, shut up, you Nazi cow. Why you should be reading books, not burning them. It's just. It's so that. And that movie is from like fucking 40 years ago. Like, why are we still. Well, 30 years ago. A long. A long ass time ago. Anyway, we have a lot more good news to get to Listener submitted so send in your good news dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact and we'll be right back with it. Stick around after these messages. We'll be right back. This podcast is sponsored by Delete Me. Delete Me makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. As someone with an active online presence and an opinion, I've always been aware of how easy it is for personal information to end up in the wrong hands. The constant exposure made me feel vulnerable, especially knowing how easily this information could be misused. And that's why I started using Delete Me. And it's been a game changer. It's shocking how much of our personal stuff is available online. Home addresses, phone numbers, emails, email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses of your friends and family too. 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- [29:52]
Dana Goldberg
Were very excited by the way, when it happened.
- [29:54]
Allison Gill
Yeah, we were. We still talk about it right now as a matter of fact, that's how excited we were. And if you don't have a pod pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can help find him a forever home. And if you don't have an adoptable pet available near you, just any photo of any animal will do. We love all animals, especially baby animals. And speaking of babies, if you don't have any animal photos, you can send us your baby pictures as your tax as well. So again, send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact and we are still having issues with Portico Share. We've gotten people saying that there's no at the end of port. They are saying Port Cochere and people who say there's no that there isn't and some that there is. So you know, we're just going to say driveway, maybe drive away, I don't know. But port is it Port, Port, Port Cochere, Portico, you know what the driveway. So thank you though for all of your corrections. Feel free to send more either way.
- [31:01]
Dana Goldberg
Can we get back to the point that this is what Eric fucking Trump wrote in a true social post instead of whatever. I understand that's what it's called now in Vegas, but I just, I'm just shocked that he used that term. Yeah, obviously it's the right term. I understand. I'll respect that that's what you call it in Vegas. But you know, it's still Eric fucking Trump.
- [31:22]
Allison Gill
It seems to indicate that he's done some kind of work and I just don't believe that that's happening.
- [31:27]
Dana Goldberg
Well, he actually poured the cement in the port cashier.
- [31:30]
Allison Gill
Oh right, Forgot. Yeah, he made the drive away. He dug the Hole with the shovel. It was a little tiny plastic red shovel that you get it take to the beach. But he did it take a long time.
- [31:41]
Dana Goldberg
All right, this one's from Patrick. Pronouns, he and him. Oh, wow. Ave Regina.
- [31:46]
Allison Gill
Oh. Ave reginae leguminum. That's Latin.
- [31:50]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you for that.
- [31:51]
Allison Gill
I feel fancy.
- [31:52]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, I'm not even gonna repeat it. The beans has been essential in helping to keep me sane. Allison and Dana both will always have a special place in my heart because of the kindness that model on the pod. Thank you for reminding us that kind does not always mean nice and that being kind demonstrates strength. I do have a slight correction. As a nerd, the description of a net neutrality raised my hackles a bit. Net neutrality isn't as much about Internet speeds to subscribers as is about delivering content at consistent speeds. For example, consider Comcast. Under net neutrality, Comcast Xfinity would have to deliver content from Disney plus and Hulu at the same speed that it delivers content from Peacock, which it owns. It cannot favor one or the other. Oh. They cannot offer tiers of service where some content is delivered faster than others. They cannot block some content and not other content. And they cannot make business deals with services where content is delivered faster in exchange for payment.
- [32:53]
Allison Gill
Ah, so like, it means that, like, prime can't come in and give you a bunch of money to make their content stream faster.
- [33:01]
Dana Goldberg
Got it.
- [33:02]
Allison Gill
I see.
- [33:02]
Dana Goldberg
All that makes sense. Thank you, by the way, for this, Patrick. He went on to say, I loved your advice to find something to do outside of the world of news and politics. And I took it to heart. I've gotten into a whole lot of nerd shit. Making my home network needlessly overpowered for a one bedroom apartment and running four servers on it with ISP and enterprise grade networking equipment. In my rack. I'm building up quite the nice rack, actually, which I know Dana will appreciate. I bet Allison likes a nice rack, too. Let's be honest, my gay male friends like a rack almost more than I do.
- [33:34]
Allison Gill
Everybody, right? Everybody loves boobies.
- [33:36]
Dana Goldberg
Big time especially. It's bizarre. Since that project isn't quite complete, I've included a picture of a different type of nice rack that Dana should be able to appreciate. And this is a really beautiful rack. It looks a bit painful. If you get hit by this rack, there would be no motorboating this rack. But it is a beautiful buck. I'm assuming this is a buck.
- [33:56]
Allison Gill
Yeah, it looks like a ten pointer. That's.
- [33:59]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, that's what I was gonna say.
- [34:00]
Allison Gill
I think. Think I think that. I think that's how you do it. You count the antlers, and that's how many points really is. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I heard that once I asked somebody, and they said it with confidence, so I just believed it. I'll Google it later. Remember, like, before Google, I'm sitting here counting points.
- [34:17]
Dana Goldberg
I'm like, this looks like a sixteen pointer.
- [34:21]
Allison Gill
Do you. Do you remember, like, before Google, people would just be like, yeah, totally. Richard Gere had a gerbil in his butt. And people will be like, are you sure about that? And they're like, yeah, swear to God. And you're like, okay, well, I mean, I guess it has to be true.
- [34:35]
Dana Goldberg
Wait, didn't Richard Gere actually have a gerbil in his butt, though?
- [34:38]
Allison Gill
I don't know. Or that Marilyn Manson had a rib removed so he could give himself for Janet Jackson? Yeah, you know, it was just. Everyone was just like, yeah, swear. That's what I heard. That's. That's all we had. I remember talking to my friend Joel about how, you know, we're sitting in a bar in the 90s, and they have one of those old, like, game consoles sitting on the bar, where you, like, find the differences in pictures or play Mahjong or whatever. And I'm like, you know what would be really cool is if they had something like a. Like a computer where you could look stuff up in a bar so that people for bar bets. And now we all have one.
- [35:24]
Dana Goldberg
So just so everyone knows, I did Google, it was talking. Gerbiling is a myth, by the way, which gained popularity in the 80s propelled by the Richard Gere rumors. There's no such evidence that Richard Gere was ever in Cedars Sinai Hospital, period. And gerbling itself is likely mythical. There's never been one confirmed case of a person being hospitalized for partaking in it.
- [35:48]
Allison Gill
Okay, so, you know what's really funny is I thought you Googled how to count the points on it.
- [35:51]
Dana Goldberg
No, I want to know if the German story was real.
- [35:55]
Allison Gill
So I'm waiting for the.
- [35:59]
Dana Goldberg
Why would I waste my time on finding out how to describe a buck when I can find out if there was actually a gerbil up Richard Gear's ass?
- [36:09]
Allison Gill
Okay. All right, next up, from Allison Pronoun. She. They. I want to give you a shout out. Thank you, Beans Crew, for putting such wonderful content out for us. I recently discovered your podcast on Blue sky, and you've quickly become part of my daily life. Dana, we have Gotten so many new listeners from blue sky, I stopped watching and listening and reading mainstream media. And I crave actual news. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep up the amazing work. For my pet tax, I added a photo of me trying to get into bed with just four of my crew of six. And I think I need a bigger bed looking.
- [36:42]
Dana Goldberg
I would think you do too.
- [36:43]
Allison Gill
I got two cats and a dog. And then I think that's a. Another little dog in that burrito. Yeah.
- [36:50]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [36:50]
Allison Gill
But that's. That's adorable. Yes, I think you do need a bigger bad Allison. And thanks for the kind words.
- [36:55]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. This one's from Laura, pronounced she and her hello, beans Queens. I've been listening to you since about last year. After being a loyal early adopter of the Jack podcast, I needed more Allison. In my day, I made my 120th student.
- [37:09]
Allison Gill
Nobody's ever said that of my life. It's usually like, I need a little less Allison today.
- [37:16]
Dana Goldberg
But no, we all need more. All right, this person goes on to say, I made my hunches 120th student loan payment the other day, and I quickly proceeded to file my application for forgiveness. Thank you, Biden. I'm a local government lawyer and use loans for law school. I have paid over 60,000 and over $200,000 will be forgiven. And of course, I will never make up for my low salary being in local government. But I love my job, and without loan forgiveness, I don't know how I would have done it. It for my pod pet tags. Here's my family. Drake the Hound mix supporting. Excuse me. Sporting. Let me put that word together. Sporting some pride from a sunlight reflection. Oh, Stormy, the shih Tzu mix. And Milo, my tabby gray cat. Thank you for all you do, both of you. Please keep it up and know we are fighting the good fight. This is an impressive actual rainbow on the. On the reflection on the side of.
- [38:11]
Allison Gill
Of.
- [38:12]
Dana Goldberg
Of Drake. Oh, my God, this dog.
- [38:17]
Allison Gill
Is that a static? It's gotta be.
- [38:20]
Dana Goldberg
I love so much.
- [38:22]
Allison Gill
They're so great. But, Dana, like, how up is that that you could work as a lawyer for the government and never be able to pay off your student loans?
- [38:30]
Dana Goldberg
I know that's up.
- [38:32]
Allison Gill
A broken system. For sure it's broke. And the Republicans don't care. They love the interest. Their rich friends get the interest. So. And they get like, you know, big donations from the banks who make all this money off of the backs of the working class. It's fucked up. All right, next up from Marie. No pronouns. Dear beans Queens. I'm A new ish listener early 2024 what hooked me was your humanity. Today's episode with Dana Dana's emotional reading of the Sarah McBride story reminded me of a story read about a young man with downs who only votes for Democrats because the Republicans don't like people like him.
- [39:06]
Dana Goldberg
I remember reading this too.
- [39:08]
Allison Gill
After that emotional reading, which I played a couple of times, I became a regular listener. My good news would be the aca. Because of Biden era enhanced subsidies, I was able to retire early with my husband. He's on Medicare and without the enhanced subsidy I wouldn't qualify. Private insurance is prohibitively expensive. I don't know what will happen at the end of the year when the subsidies expire because of the uncertainty of another Trump administration. I work really hard with my local indivisible group and Democrats of the Red Rocks to get Democrats elected in Arizona and nationally. It was bittersweet that Arizona elected Ruben Gallego, supported Prop 139, and said yes to the Yeti. My pod tax is these two sibling kittens that we adopted last week. We named them Mo's and Allison for a favorite jazz musician. I can't help think of Allison as my little beans queen. She's tiny but mighty. If you're not familiar with Mo's Allison, check out Monsters of the id. So prescient. Thanks for all you do for your listeners, Marie. I'm very familiar with Mo's Allison. In fact, my processional music for my wedding. My most recent one was Allison by the Pixies, which is a song about Mo's Allison, not me. But you know, I still used it as a processional song, so that's wonderful. But yeah, it should definitely check out Monsters of the id. We'll have a link in the show Notes. Look at that baby sweetness. Little gingers. And one of them's a floof. A floofy ginger.
- [40:42]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you, thank you. This is from Wendy. No pronouns given 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of Marin Safe Routes to Schools 1999. My friend Deb Hubsmith and I brainstormed ideas of how to lessen people's dependence on driving. We recognize that it would be tough to convince adults to change their ways, but maybe we could get the kids before they develop their habits. The idea was to teach the kids about biking and walking while making the streets around the school safer. Turns out someone else had that idea in Europe already, so we all had to do was adapt that program. Here we were able to get a state and federal grant to get started. We Were one of two pilot programs in this country. When we started the schools, they were hesitant to let us in. And the public works wanted only to make the roads faster for cars. But Deb's motto was never take no for an answer. Fast forward 25 years and the schools call us to schedule our classes. And public works now prioritize bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Over half the kids take a green way to school. In our middle schools, it's over 60 to 70%. Once we got off the ground, I started training others around the country on the program that Deb launched in the Safe Routes to schools national partnership. There are now safe routes programs in every state across the country. Wendy, this is fucking awesome that you all were the pioneers for this. Here in Marin, we facilitated over a hundred million dollars in new infrastructure. And we see adults and kids riding everywhere. A teacher who led one of our first bike trains is now the superintendent of schools. And one of the first parent volunteers is our county supervisor. Some of the kids who went through the program, they came back as parent volunteers. Deb, unfortunately, didn't live to celebrate our 25 years of success. She sadly succumbed to leukemia in 2014. But our work lives on, and even Republican fund cutting has not stopped the momentum of this program. Here's a picture of Deb at international walk to school day in 2011. And for my pod pet tax, Maya, who likes to get under the covers with Tigger. Oh, my God, look at Deb. She's beautiful too. Wendy, this is so fucking cool.
- [42:55]
Allison Gill
What a great program. I mean, you know, when I went to elementary school, in junior high, I took a bike to school.
- [43:04]
Dana Goldberg
I walked.
- [43:04]
Allison Gill
I always rode my bike. We had big giant bike racks. Remember the big bike racks in the cage with the thing? And you just go and you lock your bike up. And there's like a million bikes in there. So this is fantastic and making it safe and wonderful. And congratulations on 25 years. I hope it doesn't slow down. I hope it keeps growing and growing. So thank you for that, that, and. And again, anybody doing some awesome stuff like this, send it to us. Or if you have a correction, if you want to weigh in on porticochet.
- [43:33]
Dana Goldberg
Or if you know how you identify bucks by their antlers or.
- [43:37]
Allison Gill
Yeah, we didn't Google that.
- [43:40]
Dana Goldberg
No one needs to say anything about that.
- [43:42]
Allison Gill
Or port. Port, cashier, you know, what driveways. Anyway, thanks so much. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. We will be back in your ears tomorrow. Do you have any final thoughts today, my friend?
- [43:53]
Dana Goldberg
I am good, my dear. I am good.
- [43:55]
Allison Gill
All right. I just wanted to send out virtual hugs to everybody. January 6th. It's a hard day. It's a day of national trauma and we see you and we love you and we're here for you. If you have any thoughts, rants, ideas, questions again, just Write into us DailyBeansPod.com and click on contact. We will be back tomorrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been DG and them's the baby. 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.