Transcript
Dana Goldberg (0:00)
MSW Media.
John Fugelsang (0:23)
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, February 7, 2025. Today, the Trump administration evicted a former Coast Guard leader from her house with a three hour notice. The FAA reverses course on meeting Prohibition, blaming a rogue employee. Education Department staff warn that Trump buyout offers could be canceled at any time. And an aide to Elon Musk is now working at the VA and accessing its computer systems. One last day without my maverick. I'm your host, Dana Goldberg. Hey, everyone. We did it. We did it. We made it to Friday. We might feel older and grayer and more exhausted, but you made it through another week of this absolute bullshit. And we're celebrating the small wins. That's all we can do right now. And since it's Friday, I don't know how she did this, but my co host managed to put some tin foil on the end of a TV antenna in the middle of the ocean. I don't know, but she got an interview with Becky with the good hair, otherwise known as John Fugelsang, because it is Fuglsang Fridays and I am going to do something a little different before I hit the five alarm fire that is the news. And I just want to read a nice comment that I got from one of the listeners. And the comment said, enjoying listening to you host the Daily Beans. Imagine, at times it's quite a challenge flying solo. However, you're in a steady flight and it's nice to get that. That is from my mother. That is from my mother, pronoun, she and her. And I just want to say this. I know it sounds maybe strange to start with some good news, but maybe we should start doing that instead of just ending with it. Sort of like when you have to write in corrections. You got do that sandwich. Anyway, I just want to say this. No matter how old you are and no matter how old your children are, if you are a parent of an adult child, please know that making them proud is still very important to them. Send them a text message, send them a little note that just says, you know what? You're doing a good job no matter what they're doing in the world. In fact, we should do that for everyone. You know what? Stop the podcast. Put it on pause. I want you to pick up your phone, I want you to text someone in your life and tell them they're doing a great job getting through this shit show, because they are. And you'd be surprised at how much that could just change someone's day. So we're starting off with a good Comment and then we're going to end with the good news. And in between all of that, I'm going to give you the story. So let's do this. Let's hit the hot notes.
Dana Goldberg (2:48)
Hot notes.
John Fugelsang (2:51)
All right, everyone. This first one is from Jonathan Allen and Courtney Cube at NBC News. President Donald Trump's administration. They evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with apparently a three hour notice on Tuesday. Not even enough time to gather her personal effects, according to two people familiar with the incident. He's just a thin skinned, petty old and he's old. Why? Why are we not talking about how old he is anymore? Jesus couldn't get one fucking day without talking about Biden. He's an old, thin skinned, petty man. Now, Fagan, a four star admiral by the way, and the first woman to lead a branch of the military, was removed from her post as Coast Guard's top officer on Trump's second day in office. Now, officials at the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Coast Guard, they cited border security issues and quote, an excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion among the reasons for her dismissal. To that I say all the way off. Fagan, who was named Commandant in 2022, made a convenient target for a new president who wanted to flex his muscle, which I've seen his arms. Listen, everyone, I actually have bigger biceps than the President of the United States right now, and mine are pretty small. The process for firing her, it was less complex than for dismissing chiefs of the four main branches of the military. More than that, the move allowed him to send signals about his anti DEI agenda and desire to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and goods into the United States. Well, throwing her out of her house on short notice, that went a step further than all this other bullshit. And this is what one Fagan ally said. It's a petty and it's personal. But a DHS official counter that it made sense for her to be moved out of the home at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling. I hope I'm saying that right. Anacostia Bolling. And this is a quote, she was terminated with cause two weeks ago today and she was living at the admiral's quarters. Again, this is from the official who obviously is backing Trump on this, confirming that Fagan had been told to leave. The official said they could not confirm or deny the three hour timeline. NBC News reached out to White House and the Coast Guard for comment. Coast Guard leaders had given Fagan a 60 day waiver to find new housing. That's according to one of the Sources. But on Tuesday, Homeland Security officials told the acting commandant, his name is Kevin Lundy, that he had to kick her out because, quote, the president wants her out of the quarters. All of the shit he's got in front of him, and this is what's important, by the way. This is just according to one of the people familiar with the incident. The DHS official was not able to immediately ascertain whether the directive had, in fact, come from Trump or whether his name had been invoked without his knowledge. And if we could not invoke his name three times, that would be fantastic because apparently he just shows up wherever the fuck he wants. Now, this is a quote from the story. It's a really strange power play. This is again from the Fagan ally pushing back against DHS officials taking pictures of the inside of the home. That's what they're saying they wanted to do. And I quote, I do not authorize them to come into my house whether I'm there or not. This is what Fagan told another Coast Guard official. Lunde relayed that back to Plinky's team, noting that an attempt to access the house would amount to trespassing. That's according to one of the sources. But Fagan did depart. She left the house with many, maybe all of her personal items and household goods still there. And this is from a former US Military official. She spent the night with friends that night. United States Transportation Command is now responsible for moving her personal effects out of the house. Quote, she was given a different place to stay. And the DHS official said, we're still providing her housing. The official was not able to say what form of housing. And the Fagan ally said that an alternative was not offered to her as part of the discussion of her vacating the premises. Is this really that fucking important, like everything that's going on? That's why I say he's just a petty guy. He is a petty, petulant child. We're going to move on to another story. This one is from Orianna Palak at Politico. The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday said employees can continue serving on safety advisory committees. That makes me happy. And explained that an earlier email prohibiting attendance was a, quote, unauthorized communications sent by one employee. Hmm. Wonder who that was. The earlier directive to employees obtained by Politico states that employees appointed to a variety of advisory committees, quote, should not attend in person or virtually until further notice. The directive came as the agency in the airline industry are reeling from last week's collision between that American Airlines jet and an army helicopter near Reagan International in D.C. that, as we know, that was the first fatal crash of a US Airline in almost two decades. On Tuesday evening, the FAA said in a statement that the directive was, quote, an unauthorized communication sent by an employee. FAA employees will continue to attend meetings and engage with stakeholders on safety related matters and will make sure that commitment is clear to anyone in the agency. These advisory committees are made up of government and industry representatives who meet regularly to find consensus on outstanding issues. Ongoing ones includes those related to pilot training, mental health, drones and other emerging technologies which we just stopped hearing about over New Jersey, which is weird. Airspace modernization and commercial space operations. So broadly speaking, they tackle ways to reduce risk across aviation system, taking guidance from airlines, union groups and even companies that make parts for aircraft. The initial email said, quote, it's not the intent to disrupt the committee's work. So meetings may continue with an industry co chair taking the lead. Responding to the initial email, a former FAA official granted anonymity because they were obviously not authorized to discuss the contents of the announcement. Said that a, quote, healthy aviation system depends on free and open exchange of ideas and expertise. It appears that safety is being forced to take a backseat due to a fear of retribution, which means we all lose. This is again from this person that wanted to be anonymous. Specifically, the directive sought to bar FAA employees from participating in advisory and rulemaking committees, aerospace rulemaking committees, or federal advisory committee, which is the fac. Those meetings, which includes subcommittees and other working groups, though vague, that could also affect most if not all ongoing advisory work. The FAA has multiple safety teams that conduct reviews and offer recommendations on how to boost safety across the industry. The day of the initial email, it wasn't clear whether some specific safety review teams like such as those studying near collision in the Runway, at least some of the United States busiest airports, would also have to stop their work. But the former FAA official said the broad wording of the order could apply to those as well. Well, the Trump administration, as we know, has taken aim at initiatives in recent weeks that have connection to diversity, equity and inclusion practices which some of these committees they've also studied. So for example, in 2021, the FAA recommended that a system to notify pilots hazards formerly called notice to airmen or notam n o t a m should be changed to notice to air missions to be gender neutral as a way of encouraging more women to enter the traditionally male dominated workforce. Fantastic. And a quote, in the last administration they were focused on oh off this, not safety, but they were focused on changing the name from cockpit to flight deck or notice to airmen. This is what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the new one, said over the weekend in an appearance on cnn, adding that these are things, quote, that don't matter in regard to safety. Now, last month, the Associated Press reported that Trump administration similarly disbanded an aviation safety committee, by the way, under the Department of Homeland Security, advising TSA to investigate safety gaps at airports and airlines. The group was formed following the 1988 midair bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 259 passengers on Pan American Flight 103. On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, quote, its removal could violate the law and called for its members to be reinstated under the agency. With everything that is happening right now, the last thing I want is only their eyes and their ears in these meetings. And when I say there, you know, I'm talking about the Trump administration. It is so important that these employees are still allowed to attend these. And fuck off about the DEI hires. It is a pilot, for God's sake. Everyone has to take the same test and get the same certification. It doesn't matter. Matter. Race, creed, sexual orientation, color. Get the out of here with that. This guy is going to be so much trouble over the next four years, and I don't even know if he's going to last that long, to be honest with you. Okay, listen, people, I feel like I have, like an emotional support co host that isn't here. And so I sure hope there's some baby pics and animals in the good news. But we've got a couple stories before I get there. This next one's from Tyler Kincaid and David Ingram at NBC News. Top officials at the Education Department told staff members Wednesday that if they accept the administration's deferred resignation package, the education secretary may later cancel it and employees would not have any recourse, potentially leaving them without promised pay. Does this really surprise anyone that's listening to this podcast? This man is known for not paying his fucking debts to anyone, apparently, except Russia. The Office of Personnel Management sent notices last week to federal employees that if they resign by Thursday. We've covered this a little bit on the podcast. They could continue receiving pay and benefits until the end of September. The Trump administration hopes to get as much as 10% of the workforce to quit as part of a plan to shrink the federal bureaucracy. But three Education Department officials told NBC News that Rachel Oglesby, who's the department's new chief of staff, and Jacqueline Clay, its chief human capital officer, described significant caveats to those so called Quote, fork in the road offers that a lot of people are seeing in the federal government. In an all staff meeting held over Zoom on Wednesday, the officials did not want to be named for fear of retaliation. We are living in such a fucked up timeline right now. The Education Secretary would be allowed to rescind the agreement, or the government could just stop paying. And employees who took the deferred resignation package would waive all legal claims. This is what the three officials said that they were told in a meeting. The three employees said that they have seen only sample resignation agreements so far and would need to agree to resign by Thursday evening before they could see the actual terms of their separations. You have to say you're going to resign before you can see the terms. That's insane. And I quote, it sounds like a commercial for a used car dealership. Like, act now One day only, said a department official who attended the meeting. Spokespersons for the Education Department in the OPM said that was false, pointing to a memo that says the resignation offers, quote, assurances are binding on the government. Were the government to backtrack on its commitments, an employee would be entitled to request a rescission of his or her resignation. Are you. You can't tell me that they're buying any of this. Like, please, if you're a federal employee. One of the things we kicked off in the good news yesterday is just giving you some information from our podcast. Allison's going to be making sure federal employees know their rights and all of this bullshit. Now, the memo includes a sample agreement that includes a clause that agency heads retain the sole discretion to rescind the deals and that employees waive the right to challenge them before the Merit Systems Protection Board or any other forum. I hope people are reading the small print. A sample deferred resignation agreement specific for Education Department employees, includes similar language. And that's according to a copy that was obtained by NBC News. Now, this sort of blows my mind. More than 40,000 people have taken the buyout offer. That's so far. That's according to the White House officials. And there are 2 million in the federal workforce. But 40,000 people are probably about to get screwed out of a lot of money by this government. There is deep concern among federal workers that the Trump administration's buyout could turn out to be a bait and switch. You think? With the government potentially failing to hold up its end of the bargain, Education Department managers comments only worsened those concerns with the three employees. Now, this is a, quote, the morale is really bad. A second official said one of the managers I work with just said he hasn't seen any emails in the last four hours since the meeting ended because everybody just kind of had the life sucked out of them. A third employee described the tone of the call as angry, as workers put questions in a zoom chat box. But then no one responded. Many Democrats and some Republicans say that Trump and Musk are violating constitutional limits on the presidency in ways that are unlawful and that are precipitating a constitutional crisis. I think everyone listening would agree and anyone paying attention would see that some labor unions for federal workers, they've sued to stop the deferred resignation programs, arguing that the Trump administration doesn't even have legal authority to offer these buyouts. Federal government labor unions and Democratic state attorneys general. They've warned federal workers that they may never receive the promised resignation benefits and characterize the offers as an attempt to intimidate them into quitting. Now, Trump has nominated, as we know, Linda McMahon, and if you've seen the videos, my gosh, that former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO who does these things where she lets her son fake slap her on camera and she hits them back. It's bizarre. It's all bizarre over there. Anyway, she's also the head of a small business administration and in his first term, that's what she actually did in his first term. He moved her up to be Secretary of Education. Now, no confirmation hearing is scheduled yet, and that's probably because they may actually get rid of the whole fucking Education Department. Other staffing changes coming to the Education Department may arrive before McMahon even does. The department expects to conduct layoffs known as reductions in force or riffs. The three department officials said that they were told Wednesday during a meeting that that is possible to happen. Now. Oglesby, the chief of staff, and Clay, the human capital officer, they didn't say when those will take place or which offices will be hit hardest. The meetings now, Education Department staff members, they're also need to go into the office daily by February 24th. So that's another one of the things that they're implementing. Clay told staff members that department leaders are working to find another federal building for remote employees to work from there within 50 miles of their homes. Do you imagine having to commute 50 miles each way every day because of this bullshit, when you are working just fine remotely and being incredibly productive? Now, Trump has said he wants to eliminate the education, as I said, which would fulfill a long time dream of the Republican base, which is bizarre, but it's supposed to take an act of Congress to achieve The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the White House is weighing executive action that could dismantle the department in a piecemeal fashion, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. So we talked about this before. Getting rid of the Department of Education would be catastrophic for Title ix. First of all, in protecting women and girls in schools and so many other things, all of the programs that the Department of make sure are implemented in our school systems. It's one of those things, though, that right now as a, you know, a voter, we don't have much control over. So we're going to see what happens. But it seems that everything Trump has done, and I was talking about this on Stephanie Miller this morning, when he does things that are unconstitutional and illegal and people push back and he loses, all that's doing is making him look more and more weak and more and more unstable, not just here but also abroad. So just remember that there's some good things that are happening where people are actually pushing back and they're going to fight. You're going to hear more about that when Allison talks to John Fugal, saying in the break. But before we get to that, I've got one more story in the Hot Notes, and this one comes from Patricia Clymilitary.com well, representative from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency apparently now works at the Department of Veterans Affairs. They have been given access to contracting systems as well as information on VA operations and information technology systems. This should scare anyone, even the ones that voted for him, because no one voted for Elon Musk. I'm telling you, this was the way that he was going to get around the birthright citizenship of the presidency. That meaning you have to be a citizen of the United States, one for president, and this guy's fucking getting around it. Rumors began circulating Tuesday that dodgy representatives visited the VA on Tuesday with an intent to mine data on disability compensation and benefits. In response to questions from Military.com over Doji, the activities at the VA, a VA spokesperson said the department has a single doggy employee who is, quote, specifically focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department's IT projects. The Doji employee will be solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency and will not have access to veterans or VA beneficiaries data. That's from press secretary Pete Kasparowitz. We're going to go with that one since I don't have Allison, even though I know she would know how to pronounce that. PETE kasparowitz that's what he said in an email. Now, over the weekend, Doji representatives and billionaire Elon Musk access Treasury Department systems that are used to make US Government payments and hold Social Security numbers for nearly every American, including military personnel and veterans. And this is why I don't care what they say this guy is tasked with at this new va. Well, not new, but at the va, this new position. I don't fucking trust them. There's no reason we should. The unfettered access to sensitive personal data has alarmed privacy advocates and cybersecurity experts who question the legality of allowing non departmental personnel to enter the financial information now, bank accounts and more. This is, this is, this isn't rocket science. Senator Richard Blumenthal of of Connecticut. He's the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. He said Tuesday that Musk, Musk's everyone. I'm just getting through the week. Musk's access to Treasury Department databases gives him access to information that includes addresses, bank accounts and disability benefits. And this is a quote, veterans risked their lives to defend this country. They deserve more than to have unaccountable billionaires playing with the benefits they earned and rely on blooming Fall wrote that in a statement on Monday. Members of Congress on Tuesday began raising concerns that Musk or his representatives at DOJI visited the VA with the intent to access all data from the VA to discern disability ratings and payments to veterans. Diagnostic codes for health conditions and a lot of other things. The Veterans Health Administration oversees the medical treatment of veterans and the Veterans Benefits administration is the VA's compensation arm. Senator Patty Murray, she's a Democrat from Washington, issued a press release Wednesday saying she had heard that Doji quote, may have barged into the VA today. Quote, Musk and his associates already have the personal financial information of every veteran receiving disability or education benefits because of their illegal data mining at the Department of Treasury. Will they now look at private health records of veterans? What else will they do that put the health and safety of our veterans at risk? This is from Murray again. And she is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations committee. Murray joined 22 other Democrats Tuesday in voting against nominations of VA Secretary Doug Collins. Collins one handedly, unfortunately, because I am really fucking pissed that the Democrats aren't just stonewalling these votes. Like whether you support this person or not at this point, like make a stand. If they're going to get confirmed anyway on a tie vote or they're going to have a couple senators on Republicans, they're going to put it over. Just take a fucking stand. And I'm going to take a stand off of my soapbox. Collins was confirmed by 77 to 23 vote. Murray, former chairwoman the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said she would not vote for him while President Donald Trump, quote, dismantles government and breaks the law. Trump signed an executive order January 20th remaking a small government body that was charged with improving and streamlining federal websites, the U.S. digital Service, into Doji. That's where that came from. Now, obviously, Doji's trying to stop your tax dollars from being stolen for waste and fraud. This is what Musk wrote on Twitter Tuesday. We all know not to believe anything he's saying. He is, as the article is calling him, the world's richest man, as we know. And he was a key funder of Trump's, you know, political campaign and basically has been given unprecedented and potentially illegal access to sensitive systems in the federal government. Now, neither Trump nor Musk has the authority to dismantle agencies funded and created by Congress. Okay, so Musk and his Doji team, they already took control of the U.S. agency for International Development, or as we know it, as usaid, because they'd shut the workers out. They literally locked them out, freezing funding and removing leadership, depriving millions of people around the world of sometimes life saving aid. Now, on Monday, the White House told the New York Times that Musk's team that access to the Treasury Department system is read only, meaning they cannot change changes or stop payments themselves. I don't necessarily know if I believe that with the amount of power and technology that Elon Musk and his team has. Alan Butler, executive director and president of the nonprofit advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information center, told Military.com that nonetheless the access is concerning. And he said this is still a massive invasion of privacy, first of all, and still imposes significant ongoing risks. Again, this is from Butler and went on to say because Reid in quotes includes the ability to exfiltrate data, all of this just exponentially increases the odds that this data gets breached, that people's private information is breached, that national security is breached. The VA maintains that DOJI will not have access to veterans personal data and the department will help streamline the va. And I quote, VA looks forward to working with Doji to improve services to veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. Again, that's from Kasparowitz. That's with instead in a statement. Now, I know there's a lot of bad news coming in from all over the place. This has been a very long week of just absorbing this. And I got a message in my, you know, one of my forms that people can reach me, me at, just thanking me for reminding people to take a breath and that this fire hose of information and this chaos is intentional. They're trying to flood the zone. That's why he's saying this crazy bullshit about like a Middle East Riviera. There are so many things that are going to make this almost impossible, but if we focus on that and we don't focus on the fact that Musk is dismantling the federal government, then we are going to lose sight of what's important. So try and take a breath and remember what you can control, okay? Walks outside, dinners with friends, self care, anything you can do. Because while all those people are out there making bad trouble, we're going to do our best to make some good trouble. After these messages, we'll be right back.