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The Shallow State
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Friday, February 7th, 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 warned that Trump buyout offers could be canceled at any time; an aide to Elon Musk is now working at the VA and accessing its computer systems; and Dana delivers your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Dana Goldberg
MSW Media.
- [00:24]
John Fugelsang
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.
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Dana Goldberg
Hot notes.
- [02:51]
John Fugelsang
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.
- [26:45]
Dana Goldberg
Hey, everybody. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar. Start each day right with IQ Bar's brain and body boosting bars, hydration mixes and mushroom coffees. Their ultimate sampler pack includes all three. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our podcast listeners an exclusive deal. 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus get free shipping. Just text daily beans to 64,000. As you know, life can get very hectic. I'm always looking for ways to stay energized and focused without adding a bunch of weird habits to my routine. I like to keep it simple and I don't want to sacrifice quality. And that's why I'm right now, I'm obsessed with IQ Bar. Their products are not only delicious, but they're packed with clean, functional ingredients that keep me going all day. I love starting the day with I.Q. joe. This is their jitter free instant coffee. It's made with natural caffeine, magnesium. It's got lion's mane for focus and mood support. The vanilla spice flavor, absolute favorite right now. It's like a cozy hug in a cup. And when I need a quick snack, I reach for an IQ Bar protein bar. They're gluten free, dairy free, they have no artificial sweeteners, flavors, no artificial anything. The chocolate, sea salt and banana nut flavors are my top picks right now. They're satisfying, delicious, and they keep me full without the sugar crash, which I really, really appreciate. And when I need to recharge, I mix my IQ mix hydration stick into some water. It's got zero sugar, three times the electrolytes of sports drink, so it's really hydrating. And it's got lion's mane for mental clarity. Peach Mango right now is amazing. It's refreshing and perfect for staying hydrated on busy. And the best part? You can try everything, all of it with the Ultimate Sampler pack. It includes seven IQ Bars, four IQ Mix Sticks and four IQ Joe sticks so you can refuel smarter, hydrate harder, energize better. It's incredible. And right now IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products plus get free shipping. To get your 20% off, just text daily beans that's all one word to 64,000. Text daily beans to 64,000. That's daily beans to 64,000. Message and data rates apply. See Terms for details.
- [28:40]
John Fugelsang
All right everyone, welcome back and it is time for the Good trouble. Your mission today, if you choose to accept it, is to help us save the Army Women's Museum. Okay, this is from the Museum Association. Their discussion list the Army Museum the Army Women's Museum, which is a military owned museum in Virginia and the only museum that is entirely dedicated to educating about the history of women and trans stories in the military, is in danger of censorship, personnel cuts, and potentially more threats directed from the DOD and the center of Military History. The website is offline while, quote, undergoing additional content review. Their socials have been quiet and they have been removed from the listing of military museums. They're actively covering up interpretation on display in the galleries. Other military museums are not experiencing this level of control over their means of communication. Okay, this is very specific to this museum. So this is your good trouble. What you want to do. If you have the time, you're going to send an email to Francis Reynolds and let him know about your concern for the safety of the Army Women's Museum collections and educational resources. There's going to be a link in the show notes, but if you've got a minute and a pen. The email is Frances F R A N C I S.L. reynolds R E Y N O L D S.Civ C I V @Army Mil M I L Francis LReynolds CivArmy Mil Write an email, tell them how important the Army Women's Museum is, that you do not want censorship on this, that it's an important part of our history and you want it to be protected. That's the good trouble for today. You've got five assignments from the podcast this week. I know not everyone, nor should you have the energy to do every single one of these things. I have a friend of mine who literally bought 50 boxes of girl Scout Cookies from our girls, our trans girls at the scouts to support that good trouble. We've got people helping out with the initiative that Allison launched yesterday on the Patreon to help federal workers understand all of what they're doing. We've got this to protect the army. Women's musing. And it's been 55 days this week. I don't even remember what the first two ones were, but I know that they're in the show notes if you want to look back at the episodes. This is an incredible community, and even those of us who are exhausted are doing the goddess's work or whatever you believe in, whatever is up there, the higher power. And I hope that you all have something outside of yourself that you just look to to go, you know what? Can you help me out a little bit right now? So take a breath. Know that whatever that is has the wheel, and you can actually breathe for a little bit. Before I get to more good news in this story, we have an incredible segment with Alison and John Fugelsang talking about all kinds of things in the world, apparently from the high seas in the center of the ocean. So enjoy that interview and we'll be back with some good news.
- [31:46]
Dana Goldberg
Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans. That means it's fugal sang Friday. So joining me today to talk about the news of the week. Yes, I am on vacation technically, but as you know, you know how it goes with me. I think at one point, John, I actually recorded a segment from an airplane bathroom so as not to disturb my neighbors in their seats. But John Fugelsang, host of Tell Me everything. That's a SiriusXM progress channel, 127. It's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And of course, the host of the John Fugelsang show podcast, my friend, John Fugelsang. What is up?
- [32:20]
C
Ahoy, Dr. Gill, you have a very, very different definition of vacation than the rest of us. I wanna begin with that. And I was once interviewed in a public men's room in an airport. At least that's what the guy called it.
- [32:32]
Dana Goldberg
But, yeah, I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom. No, that's somebody else. I'm sorry, that wasn't me.
- [32:38]
C
You're insane. You should be enjoying, you know, all the hot male flesh on the Comic Con cruise, but instead, you're here.
- [32:44]
Dana Goldberg
I enjoy. I enjoy our talks, John. And that's why I wanted to do this this week, as you know.
- [32:50]
C
Wow. Wait, you were on the Comic Con cruise when The Fantastic Four trailer dropped. I can't imagine. It must have been like an explosion on sea.
- [32:58]
Dana Goldberg
It was a party. I've got my finger to my ear right now. Reporting live from the Comic Con cruise.
- [33:06]
C
I felt incredible disturbance in the force, as if so many nerds orgasmed in unison and then suddenly silence. It's just amazing. Yeah, well, thank you for doing this.
- [33:14]
Dana Goldberg
And then later that night, they had a blacklight party, and I was like, that's probably not a good idea on the day that that TR gets released. But anyway, so I wanted to talk to you. Everybody knows I'm a former federal employee. The reason I'm a former federal employee is because I was surreptitiously removed from my service during the first Trump administration. I'm also a disabled Navy veteran. And so this is very personal to me, all of these lawsuits that are happening. And of course, my very amazing co host Harry Dunn on clean up on all 45. Before that, Pete Strzok, FBI career official. And Andy McCabe, who was just so crestfallen when we were breaking the news live on this latest episode of the Unjustified podcast about FBI agents being walked out of the Washington field office because of their participation in January 6th prosecutions. And now we've got lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit, and it seems like it's working. So. And if we've, we've long discussed if Trump was ever elected, our last and final bit of guardrail is the courts and the law. And we seem to be holding the line a little bit against all this onslaught of terribleness. But I was really interested because you and I had talked previously about the fact that we really wish Dems started standing up, especially on the Hill. And it seems like they got off the mat this week. They showed up at USAID offices, they showed up at the Treasury. Chris Murphy, Max Frost, aoc, I can't name them all, but I felt, felt really encouraged by their response to what's going on with Doji and Musk this week. What are your thoughts?
- [34:50]
C
I agree with you. I think we're playing a long game here. And by the way, so is karma. And in, you know, we're only in the first round. I mean, this is the round where Rocky gets his head beaten in and we think, how can this guy go 15? This is where we're at right now. So it's very early in the process. And we also know there's only US News nerds paying attention. Apathy is still leading in terms of the most popular political movement in the country. I'VE said since Election Day that by Valentine's Day, most people will be off the couch and more invested. But this is another episode of a reality show I call they have no damn Mandate. I mean, imagine buying Twitter and firing everybody and then trying the same thing with the American government. I mean, this private citizen with deep ties to the Chinese government who, like the president, has been paid by China. We don't talk enough about how Trump had a secret Chinese bank account and was on a Chinese payroll while serving as president. And they are invading our government and illegally shutting down government departments and trying to cancel congressionally apportioned spending based on his mood that day. And, you know, you'd think Trump would already remember he, he got impeached for this once before for money that Congress had already approved for Ukraine that he tried to stop, but, you know, he doesn't enjoy learning lessons. These 18 year olds have taken over at the treasury computers. This unelected billionaire with many foreign debts, presumably and motives is going through the largest data theft in history. I don't fault the Democrats for taking a minute to get their footing and getting a sense of what's going on here. And fortunately, they've been such incredible comic book villains. I mean, just the, the lamest of Bond villains in this timeline. And people are waking up slowly. Last week, more Americans searched the word tariffs than search Taylor Swift. But what happened? He backed down right away, just like he backed down on birthright citizenship. We're learning already in the second week of this that when you punch the bully back in the face, the bully backs down. And Trump is already caving so hard there are minors trapped inside of him. At this point, we can't do anything to Trump because he has superpowers and he can never go to J murdering people. But Elon Musk, we can go after. We're in a constitutional crisis here. This president cannot shut down or defund or cripple these giant agencies. But he'll claim he can because of the aristocratic Supreme Court immunity ruling. So they're trying to end usaid. We've already seen a really heroic pushback on that. And look for our Christian friends to be some of the unsung, hidden, hidden heroes in the struggle. When the amount of aid that George W. Bush yelled at us liberals and said, I don't care what you say, we're gonna give this aid away through churches. Well, that's going away now. And a lot of churches have received their aid money from our government for quite a while. That's gone. So we and The Christians are gonna be on the same side in unexpected ways. They fired all the terrorists of January 6, trying to stop all government funding. Froze the grants, tried to freeze the grants. They deferred resignations, which might be the craziest part of all of this. Got rid of all the independent watchdogs. The executive order about TikTok. After trying to ban TikTok and then his little ethnic cleansing idea. Because, I mean, this Gaza thing, Allison, like, we need more terrorism directed at us, right? He finally found a way to make Hamas stop attacking Israel by making them attack America. I never thought the two state solution would be Israel and us, but Trump pitched it. So what have we seen? This second federal judge blocked the birthright citizenship order. We've seen the American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees Union sued the Treasury Department for sharing confidential data with Musk. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit to stop the firing of the federal workers. The Democrats have been fantastic on usaid. They've been showing up and making a lot of noise about it. Hakeem Jeffries has already said, Screw y'all. March 14th is the Federal funding deadline, and we are going to leverage that to protect the programs we care about. So forget what you're trying to do right now if you want to have a budget. Democracy Forward filed a suit saying that Doge is a shadow operation led by unelected billionaires. The National Security Councilors filed a suit that Doge meets the requirements to be a federal advisory committee, which means they're legally required to have balanced representation, keep minutes of meetings, and allow public access to meetings. Eighteen state attorneys general and all these immigrant rights groups are suing about the birthright and citizenship. The ACLU is going against the ban on asylum claims. Glad Law and National center for Lesbian Rights have sued to stop Trump's ban on the trans people. Rep. Mark Pocan, who I love, who does my show all the time, is introducing the Elon Musk act to stop guys like him from getting richer while pilfering tax dollars. Chris Coons. And they're all backing away from the immigration package, saying, no way, no more bipartisan immigration plan if you guys are supporting this. Ruben Gallego has turned his back on that. And Al Green just became the first, first of many Democrats this year to file impeachment plans. And I think they should file impeachment articles every week. Show the world you're doing something. Consolidate the base, make it a rally, fundraise off of it, and put on the official record that we object to violating the emoluments clause this week, trying to get rid of birthright citizenship the next week, and letting this technocrat, apartheid McBrad faced douchebag take over my grandma's Social Security the week after that.
- [40:18]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. And we had three transgender prisoners sue.
- [40:21]
C
Yes.
- [40:21]
Dana Goldberg
To block their movement. And they got the block there. We had six transgender active duty service members suing for the transgender ban, which is what you were also bringing up.
- [40:30]
C
People are fighting back, which is incredible. People are fighting back.
- [40:33]
Dana Goldberg
And, you know, we were having kind of some discussions a couple weeks ago about coming forward and pushing our Democratic reps to do better and not to bash the Democrats. And I wouldn't do it right before an election, but I certainly would do it right after an election because timing is important, and it's working. It is working. They are listening. We're calling them, we're writing to them, and it's working. So thank you, everybody who spoke up. And we have other unlikely heroes. The Drizz Saint Driz over at the FBI who refused to give over the names of. Of FBI agents that worked on January 6th cases. He said, fuck off. And everyone's, like, putting out memes now. St. Driz and really unlikely hero. And you know, of course, you have the Emil Beauvais at the Department of Justice forcing Driscoll to send out notifications to FBI agents, telling them that he did hand over their information, but he put a caveat in there, saying, I didn't give them any names. I gave them unique employee identifier numbers.
- [41:36]
C
Exactly.
- [41:37]
Dana Goldberg
And then Emil Beauvais said it was Driscoll's insubordination. That is why we now have to ask for lists of all these names. And Driscoll's, like, just sent the email and he's like, here's what they're saying. I'm supposed to send this to you. Stay safe.
- [41:51]
C
They really think that our FBI is full of a bunch of masochist cucks who can't wait to have a brat like Kash Patel come in and piss on their legacies and the legacies of the men and women who train them. They really think our FBI are a bunch of suckers who can't wait to be put in their place, don't they? My God, the things these men poke at with sticks, Alison. The church, the clergy. I mean, now the Pentagon, the FBI. They really think that all Americans are gonna put up with this trifling nonsense.
- [42:20]
Dana Goldberg
No. Yeah. And we're not. And neither are judges who uphold the rule of law. And these judges that are doing all of this are coming from the nominees from all different walks, all the way back from Reagan up to Biden. And so it's really heartening to see. It's also very thankful and very glad that President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and our Democrats in the Senate were able to nominate and confirm a record number of judges, and not just a record number of judges, but the most diverse bench, most diverse number of judges that we've ever seen. And that's gonna make a lot of difference in the next four years. And thinking and relying on the fact that Reagan judges, Bush judges, Clinton judges, Obama judges, other Bush judges, and Biden judges, all of them, against however many, the 250, whatever that Trump appointed are gonna make a difference. They're going to make a difference and they're gonna help hold the line. And seeing everybody push back and seeing these wins, these blocks being put into place place, it's heartening and fascinating. Amidst all of this dismantling of the federal government and DEI programs and outreach programs and US Aid programs and pepfar, I've got a friend who works over at pepfar, and they brought it back online after a lot of pushback, but not after some really irrevocable damage was done to that program, a George Bush program, by the way.
- [43:48]
C
That's right.
- [43:48]
Dana Goldberg
Anyway, it's fascinating to watch.
- [43:51]
C
Just earlier the day we're recording this, another federal judge just blocked, blocked the White House from putting in their plan to call the federal workforce until Monday. So again, they're, they're, they're fighting back. And, you know, these guys are messy. They're not good at this. They're really, they're really.
- [44:07]
Dana Goldberg
Talk about that, talk about why it matters that they're messy.
- [44:11]
C
I mean, looking, I, I always find it helps to take a step back from all of this. It makes it much more bearable. We talked about that a lot at the election. You know, I, I took a step back and saw that in my lifetime, this is America, and we only elect Democrats of the White House after Republicans have burned the House down. Jimmy Carter got in because of Watergate, and Clinton got in because of 12 years trickle down collapsing. Obama got in because Bush was the worst ever and Biden got in for the same reason we don't elect Democrats. When things are going well, there's things that are comforting if you take a step back and if you take a step back from the insane WTF fatigue we've been living the past three weeks or so. People of the future, smart people of the future, are going to look back on this and see how stupid and corrupt Donald Trump and Elon Musk were. Dumb people of the future aren't going to know because dumb people don't study history. That's why Trump and Musk are in power right now, because of our dumb people in this timeline. Yeah, so it's not going to. There's no scenario where this all goes well and Elon Musk is revealed to be this figure of astonishing altruism who did all of this to help the least among us and not benefit himself in any way. We can't go after Donald Trump. He can murder a person. He can. He can send. He can send Seal Team six to murder Democrats in the Senate and say it's part of his job. That's how corrupt. The right wing, the fake Christians, the Fox News demographic, the Christian nationalists, that's what they reduced us to. But we can go after Elon Musk with every legal means at our disposal because him and his douche bros, they've got it coming. This is not going to go well for them either. There's no scenario where this looks good in the future. And again, America will live longer than these guys and they will not stay in power forever. If there's one thing we know about these conservative white guys that are so easy to manipulate, it's also that they don't really have a lot of loyalty. They pretend they don't even know George W. Bush now and they will turn on Donald Trump as soon as he wrongs them. It's going to happen. We have to be strong. We have to model decency and intelligence and belief in and ethical governance and basic democracy. We have to honor the founders and, and for. If you're a believer, you have to honor what's in the New Testament because Republicans will not honor the Constitution or the Bible. So I'm grateful for all the good people. There's more of us than there are of them. If this was a mandate, I'd be more scared. But these guys have eyes too big for their stomach. They are not popular enough to pull this off. 1.4% of the popular vote is only a mandate if you're a guy lies about size. So it's not going to go as easily for them as they think it will. And it's the Democrats job right now. If you can't stop it, you can slow it down. You can obstruct it in many, many ways. And take a look at how Tesla sales are doing, particularly in Germany after Elon endorsed the Nazi Party. Not going well for the shareholders.
- [46:58]
Dana Goldberg
I don't think he cares because he's going to make zillions of dollars off of whatever he robs from the treasury.
- [47:03]
C
But are already beginning to turn on this. Musk is not a popular figure in the US Or Europe.
- [47:09]
Dana Goldberg
No. And I'm wondering if there might be some, you know, more independent rule of law, FBI agents and federal frontline prosecutors who might act on this. Obviously, it'll be dismissed by Pam Bondi or whatever, but make the evidence come out.
- [47:24]
C
Let her do that. Have the evidence come out. Federal agents mad because they're flagrant. Tap their cells on the phone in the basement. I just wrote that right now. Now, you know, but I.
- [47:32]
Dana Goldberg
Nice. And we'll see a lot of that stuff come out in discovery.
- [47:35]
C
If I was a guy like Trump.
- [47:36]
Dana Goldberg
You know, hey, do what Garland did. Send the post office. Remember that.
- [47:41]
C
I hope Eric Garland is enjoying not doing anything about fascism in the private sector. Boy, oh boy. I know, I know. I'm not trying to poke a stick here, but wow.
- [47:49]
Dana Goldberg
Nope, nope. I wish he would have dropped that appeal in the 11th Circuit.
- [47:53]
C
I wish. But think about this. If you were a guy with as much to hide in your, your personal and business career as Donald Trump, would you want to outrage all the spies at the same time? I mean, do you understand how angry the Saudi Arabian government is at Donald Trump right now for what he tried to pull this week? Like, it's not going to go well for this guy, folks. He's an amateur. He's in over his head. And when you're surrounded by yes men, you know what you get? Star Wars Episode 1, and that's about it. If you're surrounded by yes men who won't tell you, no, it's not going to go well for these guys. We have to be stronger than them and outlast them, and we will, but it's going to be bad.
- [48:29]
Dana Goldberg
Well, thanks for reporting on it.
- [48:31]
C
Yeah.
- [48:31]
Dana Goldberg
And I look forward to listening to Tell Me Everything this coming week, which, by the way, you can do on Sirius XM progress channel 127, weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, or the John Fugal Sang show podcast. I appreciate you talking to me today, my friend. I just happened to be cruising by my cabin, so I figured I might as well jump on with John and do Fuglsang Friday. So I thank you for taking this.
- [48:52]
C
You are so devoted to the cause. I thank you for all you're doing and exposing the incredibly not deep, shallow state. I. I really do thank you because it's.
- [49:00]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you so much.
- [49:01]
C
Billionaires, they come to the surface. It's not a deep state anymore, folks. They're out in the open now.
- [49:05]
Dana Goldberg
Shallow state. You're going to have to let me if you've got time to come on, tell me everything and talk about the fund, the legal defense fund that I've set up. Nonprofit tax deductible.
- [49:16]
C
How I book you as soon as we pretend to say goodbye to each other right now on your show.
- [49:20]
Dana Goldberg
It sounds good.
- [49:21]
John Fugelsang
Thank you.
- [49:22]
C
Thanks, guys.
- [49:22]
Dana Goldberg
Buddy. Thanks, Alison.
- [49:24]
C
Good seeing you.
- [49:24]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you, John.
- [49:25]
John Fugelsang
Good to see you.
- [49:26]
Dana Goldberg
Hey, hey. Real bye forever, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the Good news.
- [49:31]
John Fugelsang
All right, everyone, welcome back. It's time for the Good News. Who likes good news? Everyone?
- [49:36]
C
Then good news, everyone.
- [49:51]
Dana Goldberg
Good news.
- [49:52]
John Fugelsang
Okay, if you got good news Confessions Corrections what the mutt find the cat will be Stories Happy places Misheard lyrics if you want to give a shout out to a loved one, to me, to Allison, to yourself, please do it. We just Anything. Anything. Corrections Be gentle, be gentle. You've all been so gentle with me this week, and I really do appreciate it. But if you have anything to submit to the Good news, go to dailybeanspod.com, hit the dropdown menu, click on the Good News and submit it. All right, this one's from Anonymous. Pronoun she and her I work at a food bank in rural Colorado and I felt amazing camaraderie in defiance of the government funding Freeze slash not freeze because we don't really know. It makes me feel some hope in the darkness. I encourage all listeners to give to their community when able, and to community organizations that do the things our government has failed at, such as food and housing. Know that if you're struggling, there are probably people out there in your community to help you, no matter your background. We'll get through this together. Anonymous that was a fantastic way to start the Good News. Thank you for the reminder. This next one is also from Anonymous. No pronouns given. I'm an active duty medic enlisted in the U.S. army. Thank you so much for your service. Anonymous Though I must be careful of what opinions I express on record in the office, I firmly believe in the rule of law and the need to stand against despots. Many in the company, even the firmly conservative and libertarian, express dismay at the fury of executive orders and policy changes. None of us are happy with President Musk. The threat against our fellow civilian workers is especially egregious. There are no superfluous roles in the federal government. The Civilian workers prepare our food, clean our offices, process our paperwork and guard the gate. Most of the employees in our base clinics and hospitals are civilians. If a large number of them leave us medics, we're going to share the responsibility of covering their tasks as well as our regular missions. I have no pet, so I'm sharing a picture of my bird. Our first oath is to the Constitution fight the good fight. Now I'm just going to tell you what this picture is because there's a couple things and we don't know how to get in touch with the person if there's metadata on this since they are active duty right now, a medic, I want to make sure that we keep them safe. But there is a beautiful picture of the burr being flipped off at the stupidest presidential portrait I've ever seen, by the way, next to a picture of Pete Headseth. But this person has their military fatigues on and there's something very powerful about a bird flipping off the President with a military fatigue on. So Anonymous thank you for your service. Truly thank you for your service. All right everyone, this next one is from Haiti and that is how the Senegalese name is pronounced. Pronouns she and her hello beans. Oh no. Hello Queens of the Beans. I'm a brand new listener. Welcome to the family Heide and could not be happier to have found my foul mouth tribe. Yeah, thanks for all you guys are doing to keep me informed. So happy I found you. I listened to you on my daily evening walk to do a surf check around my beautifully dirty, chaotic, filled with life fabulous neighborhood in Dakar Synagogue Senegal. Dakar. I hope I'm saying Dakar right? Dakar, Senegal. My husband is a 28 year military veteran and we have spent the majority of his career overseas, the last years working in embassies and raising three amazing children who have grown up to be be fabulous humans. Both he and I work alongside U.S. government personnel, Foreign Service officers, U.S. aid employees and locally employed staff. But we essentially are quote on our own. He does work for a great company who's doing their best to help us. We don't live in government housing. We pay our own rent, pay our own electricity and much needed security along with so many other things. I'm mentioning this because US Government employees overseas do not they just take just a lot of the little things that are adding stress to being here and not working. I also want to highlight that it's not only USA Direct hire staff that are getting the shaft, it's locally employed staff. It's contractors like us as well. It's the foreign aid workers funded by USAID grants and projects. It's companies who do work with the US government who hire locals. It's also the housekeepers, the nannies who have allowed spouses and partners to work while overseas, the drivers, the gardeners, et cetera, who will also lose their livelihoods because USA Direct Hires and countless other personnel service contractors are being forced to stop work. All the goodwill is gone, just gone. And it makes me sad and mad. The number of people who are going to suffer because of this is beyond the USA Direct hires. In the meantime, we're kind of stuck, but in ways it gives me time to find homes for my stray cats and dogs that I feed and have spayed and neutered. I thought I had found a home for one of the cats, but the person bailed the last minute. I've got three rescue cats that live indoor, outdoor, four street cats that I feed and have no clue what to do with. I don't know where we will end up. I don't know how we're going to manage. I don't know when, what or why. But I want to do my best to make sure these poor animals find homes. If anyone out there is listening and wants to adopt an African cat or knows of any shelters that would take them in the US as shelters don't even exist here and animals are not treated very well here, I beg you, let me know how to keep them safe or get them to a loving home. I also have a couple street dogs out that I feed, but I think the security guard across the street can make sure he is safe. I'm beside myself right now, sad that my life has come crashing down and I have no way to help those poor kitties. Here's a picture of some of the gang coming for dinner. Thanks again ladies for keeping us sane. If you have any ideas for these kitties or you know how to get them to an American shelter, you can send an email to hello Mueller. She wrote with the subject line African Cats. If you have any ideas okay. On how you can contact with how you can make contact with Haiti. I know it sounds like she would very much appreciate it. Thank you for all the work you're doing overseas and I am so sorry that you and other federal workers are being treated this way. Just disposable you are not. Thank you for all you have done for me as a civilian. I cannot. I cannot thank you enough. Oh man, I could use my partner right now. It's just tiring reading all there's so much bad, even in the good even in the good news. But we're gonna keep going. This one's from Anonymous Pronouns They Them Dear Dana, thank you for taking over the beans this week and allowing Allison to have a break. I know she's a badass and a force of nature, but I worry about her. She never stops and everyone needs to rest and reset sometimes. I thought you might appreciate an update on a story about the horrifying post by Jerry Coyne from the Freedom From Religion Foundation's blog. It being Biology that there are only two sexes and other Lies, it seems that a few dinosaur atheists have been busily coasting on their reputations in the atheist community and spreading anti trans bigotry for a while now. When the blog post in question blew up and was removed from the blog, three of the worst Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, and Steven Pinker they all withdrew themselves from an honorary board of the ffrf. Good riddance. Anyway, the upshot is that all major atheist organizations have now released a joint statement in support of the trans community and the LGBTQIA community in general. I've included a link to the statement by American Atheists that include the formal statement and there's going to be a link to this in the show notes. On a personal note, I want to thank you. Dear Dana, As a non binary asexual, I often feel like a member of one of the smallest and most easily overlooked minorities. It doesn't bother me most of the time, but I deeply appreciate the way you always choose inclusiveness and recognition of every part of the rainbow of humanity. Sorry the frustration, the tears or the choking in the voice is just feeling like I've done so much and I can't stop a lot of what's happening and I know I'm not helpless but sometimes you feel that way. Day I'm not hopeless because of all of these stories that are coming through, but I am mad and I'm going to continue to fight all of this. So Anonymous thank you for that. Obviously it really hit me in the chest and I appreciate you. Podpet Tax actually not pet tax this is just Pod tax is a picture of me shortly after coming home from the hospital. The blue cast seems to be what happens to Kodachrome slide film Kodako Slide Chrome Excuse me Koda I had it right the first time. Kodachrome slide film after 63 years. I hope you enjoy it. Anyway, my love to all the Leguminati Nation. Anonymous this is beautiful. You are a perfect little human and you are a perfect adult in all that you are. Thank you so much for your bravery and being yourself in this world. And thank you for the baby picture. All right, this is from Jessica. Pronouns she and her. I wanted to share that government programs because I'm disabled, like ssd, Medicaid, and Head Start for my four kids have been a lifesaver. Most of my kids are now grown and I now have grandkids and I'm terrified of the world we're leaving them. It gives me reassurance that there are other members of the Leguminati out there fighting the good fight. I'm sharing baby recent pictures of my surprise twins who just had their 16th birthday at the end of January and my grandbaby girl at her first ballet recital. She'll be six this month. Thank you for all you do, girls. I love surprise twins because in my head I'm like, did you not know they were twins? Or did you not know that you were pregnant at all? Because the twins just like, oh, look, I've got two babies. I imagine is that you knew you were pregnant, you just didn't know there was another one coming. These babies are so cute. Oh, and your little ballerina. I love this. I love this so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, we've got another anonymous submission. Pronouns she and her. A few weeks ago, a listener submitted the Good News that they were going to start a quilt based on how they felt about the current regime. That inspired me and my niece. Both of us are quilters. We're each making a quilt block every week that is based on the chaos in our beautiful country. These quilts will each have 208 blocks, one for each week of the four years we have ahead of us. My quilt will be named Snark and my niece is called Administration Therapy. That's fantastic. Your listener sparked an idea for the wonderful coping mechanism for my niece and me. I really appreciate your podcast, your good humor and sensitivity. Thank you for being here for us. The little doggie is my Hershey. It is his birthday today, which is also good news. This is adorable. And I'm assuming Hershey's a poodle. I think if I had to guess what the mod, I would have been 100% correct. Okay, we've got more. This is another anonymous submission pronoun she and they. I've always been nervous to call my representatives due to anxiety and being unsure what to say. But on your show you talked about an app called Five Calls and I just made my first calls to my Republican senators. I left a voicemail for the first Lindsey Graham, but spoke to someone at Tim Scott's office. I read out the script and the woman asked if she could ask me a question. I said sure, and she asks, where's everyone getting this script? I couldn't help but laugh. Busted. And I told her the name of the app. She thanked me and said it had been strange getting so many calls saying almost the exact same thing. And she finally had to ask. And that filled me with joy because that means more and more people like me are getting involved in this app, even here in South Carolina. Thanks so much for telling me all about it. For my pet tax, I've included one of my five cats, Junpei. I love that name. Junpei proudly showing off his belly to the world. He is the snuggliest boy and often helps me get through the hard days. Junpei looks like the belly is not a trap, but that he is a little unsure of who's about to pet him. There's some very white eyes and if you're a patron of the show, you'll be able to see this adorable picture of June. Pay y'all. Thank you so much for the good news. Thank you for hanging with us this week. Thank you for listening in even when Allison is gone. I mean, I know you listen to her when I'm gone too, but I know sometimes people are like, she's my girl. I'll be back in a week. Thanks for hanging out with me. It's a pleasure to co host this podcast with Allison and my friend. I know you're listening. I miss you when you're gone. Get back safely from the high seas so we can do this again next week. Okay? And everyone, you did it. You got through the week. We're going to be back in your ears on Monday morning. And until then, take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, take care of your family. And let's welcome Allison when she gets back from vacation. I've been your host, DG and them's the Beans.
- [62:56]
Dana Goldberg
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 Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Johnny Science 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.