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The Daily Beans
Trump’s War On Wind
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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 Today, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s database of Americans’ Social Security numbers and citizenship status; Kier Starmer has resigned as UK Prime Minister; the Trump administration has announced it will phase out HIV funding for South Africa; a federal court has rejected the Justice Department’s demand for Maryland voter rolls; Trump has paid another $765M to shut down four more wind projects; Democratic turnout is up even in Republican districts; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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A
History is messy. It's weird, wild, and anything but boring. Rainy Day Rabbit Holes is a history podcast about unhinged stories that make you stop and ask, wait, is this real life?
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B
From crazy disasters and tasty scandals to enlightening and surprising, heartwarming tales, we explore the moments where people behave badly and sometimes beautifully.
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A
We've got naughty politicians, cultural chaos, and a deep love for the Pacific Northwest, including Bigfoot.
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B
It's thoughtful, irreverent, occasionally serious, and always entertaining. Let's fall down the rabbit hole.
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A
MSW Media. Msw media.
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B
Daily beans. Daily beans.
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A
Daily beans. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Today, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's database of American Social Security numbers and citizenship status. Keir Starmer has resigned as UK Prime Minister. The Trump administration has announced it will phase out HIV funding for for PEPFAR in South Africa. A federal court has rejected the Justice Department's demand for Maryland voter rolls. Trump has paid another 765 million to shut down four more wind projects. And Democratic turnout is up, even in Republican districts. I'm Alison Gill.
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B
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
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A
Hey, everybody. Happy Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, my friend.
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B
Thank you. And to you as well. There's a little good news in this stack today, which is wonderful.
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A
There is, and I'm glad that we have a little bit good news. Some more good news. We've raised thousands of dollars for the Trevor Project for our Pride Month campaign. And if you want to donate the beans, listeners have an exclusive link. Trevor project.org beans as you know, I donate my veterans benefits to communities that this administration has decided it wants to put in harm's way. So this month, and for Pride month, it's $10,000 to the Trevor Project. Help us match that. Help us double it again. Trevorproject.org beans Dana, some breaking news from Reuters. There are now two new reports from the Director of National Intelligence that are being blocked by the White House that show there was no vote flipping in voting machines. Remember when Tulsi Gabbard seized the voting machines in Puerto Rico?
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B
Yep.
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A
Yeah, they looked at those. They had Mojave Research look at them. And then they commissioned a second report, one from last year, one from this year. Both came back saying, nope, no voter fraud. And the White House is blocking the release of those reports. And oddly, Tulsi Gabbard's out of a job.
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B
Shocking.
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A
So weird.
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B
Well, you know, spend more time with her husband.
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A
Mm. Now, I have a likely excuse, but I've put a video, a quick Two minute video up on social media. It's on my Blue sky feed and other social media accounts, basically kind of describing that. But Andy McCabe and I are gonna go into more depth on this weekend's episode of Unjustified.
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B
All right, well, looking forward to that.
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A
Yeah, it's like now there's four because remember right after he lost in 2020, he paid $1.5 million for two separate companies called Simpatico and Berkeley Research to look for voter fraud. And they both came back with nothing. And he kept those reports a secret, too. But Jack Smith subpoenaed both of them. So anyway, that's where we are. Also, Trump is appealing the dismissal, of course, of the Abrego Garcia charges on vindictive prosecution grounds. And we'll keep you posted on that appeal when it drops.
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B
Fantastic.
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A
All right, we have a ton of news to get to today. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from Politico, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of what he considers to be eligible voters, millions of Americans, private information, including Social Security numbers and citizenship status, saying the administration has fed knowingly inaccurate data to states that are now actively and haphazardly purging purported non citizens from voter roll. If you are in a red state, check your voter registration. The federal government, quote, is knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote. That's U.S. district Judge Sparkle Souknonan. She wrote that in a 75 page ruling today. This court cannot stand idly by while that happens. Ruling in a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters and other advocacy groups, the Biden appointed judge said the Trump administration's new system, an updated version of the so called SAVE database operated by the Department of Homeland Security, combines citizenship data with information from the Social Security Administration to create a clearinghouse that Congress has expressly prohibited. So we're going to keep an eye on this. Again, this is the whole thing where they're creating these voter lists and they want voter rolls and they're going to, they have it under a non fedramp, non federal cloudflare commercial private account from the Airbnb guy where they're staging a vote.org thing so that they can use their own totally absent of oversight database to decide who gets to vote and tell the US Postal Service which people get ballots in the mail.
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B
It's insane. It's absolutely insane. Thank you so much, Alison. This next one's from Elias Law Group. A federal court dismissed the Department of Justice's lawsuit seeking Maryland's complete statewide voter registration list by marking the latest defeat in the Trump administration's nationwide campaign to see sensitive voter data from states. The U.S. district Court of the District of Maryland granted defendants motions to dismiss, including a motion to dismiss filed by Elias Law Group attorneys on behalf of the Maryland DC alliance for Retired Americans.
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Excellent, Mark Elias is a hero.
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B
He's brilliant. In December 2025, President Trump's Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Maryland to turn over its full unredacted voter rolls, including registrants, full names, date of birth, residential addresses, and either driver's license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Not sure why they need that, because Elon Musk has all of those. Yep. The lawsuit was one of 30 nearly identical lawsuits the DOJ had filed against states and the District of Columbia. No court, no court has sided with the Department of Justice in any of these cases. Federal courts have now dismissed nine of the lawsuits, including eight cases in which voter and civic organizations represented by Elias Law Group served as intervener defendants. In a 10 page order granting the motion to dismiss, the US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher wrote that the Trump administration's interpretation of the Civil Rights act would produce an absurd result by effectively criminalizing the alteration of a state statewide voter registration list which states are required to alter under the National Voter Registration act and the Help America Vote Act. Fucking morons. And this is a quote from the story. This ruling is another resounding rejection of the Justice Department's attempt to vacuum up the private information of millions of voters. By the way, this is from the Elias Law Group partner Izoma Niquanta now and went on to say the court saw this demand for exactly what it is that a federal overreach with no basis in law dressed up as an effort to protect election integrity. We are proud to stand with the Maryland DC alliance for Retired Americans, and we will keep fighting these baseless demands wherever they're brought. We cannot allow the Trump administration to amass a nationwide voter database that can be used to disenfranchise voters and subvert free and fair elections. And that's all that this is being built for.
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A
Right? And so that's the voter roll. Thirty states and D.C. voter roll lawsuits. The DOJ is like nine to nothing. And one I was talking about earlier with Judge Sparkle Sukhnanan on blocking the thing to create these massive voter data registration lists on a national level. She said that the administration has shared the database with the states. But another quote from her story is she said, since then, states have run their voter rolls through the modified SAVE system, and some of the plaintiffs members have been wrongfully identified as non citizens by save, resulting in the cancellation of their voter registrations. So it's that they're using, they're feeding, they're taking these voter rolls, the ones that they can't get, they're using Social Security data and DHS data.
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B
Right.
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A
And, and the data that they're feeding into this massive federal voter registration database held on private servers, hidden away on private servers is full of inaccurate information. So I'm really glad that the courts are, are catching this and stopping it. Next up from Politico. This is tragic. The Trump administration has decided to start phasing out HIV funding for South Africa following the country's, quote, failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration. This is what the State Department told Politico on Thursday. South Africa's failing to make demonstrable progress on policy requests. The official who agreed to discuss the decision only if Politico did not use their name said the decision to initiate a phased drawdown of PEPFAR programming in South Africa is in line with President Trump's February 2025 executive order accusing South Africa of discriminating against its white Afrikaner minority and directing US Agencies to stop providing aid to the country unless it changes its policies. And I'm not surprised there's a whistleblower inside pepfar. PEPFAR was a Republican program created under Bush.
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C
Ah.
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I have a couple of close friends who helped initiate and stand up pepfar. They're all like old Reagan Republicans.
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C
Wow.
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That was. It was that important to G.W. bush to clean up what Reagan fucked up so badly?
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Oh, yeah. Terrible. Terrible. During the epidemic.
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A
Mm. Now, the South African government has rejected accusations of discriminating against Afrikaners. Afrikaners ruled South Africa for nearly half a century under an apartheid system of discrimination against black South Africans that ended in the early 1990s because of resistance from black South Africans and international sanctions. Some Afrikaners today say they're victims of discrimination stemming from affirmative action and land redistribution policies. Are you not able to get HIV care if you're white? I don't understand. The funding is from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, pepfar, of which South Africa has been a top beneficiary. The country has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world, around 7.8 million, according to the latest World Health Organization data. South Africa received some 456 million in HIV AIDS funding in 2024, according to U.S. government data. That dropped to 213 million in 2025, according to partial government data from that fiscal year. And then Trump abruptly cut billions of dollars in foreign aid after taking office. So far this year, South Africa has been allocated 25 million to fight HIV, according to the partial US government data. And the State Department official did not say when the phased drawdown is expected to be complete.
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B
Thanks, Allison. This one's from the Times. The Interior Department said on Wednesday that it would pay the energy developer Invenergy hundreds of millions of dollars to abandon plans to build wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific in the third such deal struck by Trump administration to cancel offshore wind leases. This all happened during the Biden administration, from what I understand. Now, under the agreement, Invenergy will voluntarily surrender for leases in federal waters for wind farms that would have been located in the New York Bight, off the central coast of California and in the Gulf of Maine. All of those projects were in the early development stages and had little chance of moving forward under the Trump administration, which has halted all federal permitting for offshore wind. They'd like to save that for drilling. The government then will reimburse Invenergy $765 million, or somewhat less than what the company had paid for the leases under the Biden administration in exchange, and Benerji said it would put that money toward the development of at least five new natural gas fire powered plants in the Midwest, as well as into geothermal projects in the western United States. Now, the agreement is similar to deals that the Trump administration had struck since March with other companies, including that French energy giant Total Energies to abandon wind farms off California, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina in exchange for investing in fossil fuel. Now, the announcement means that government has so far spent ready $2.5 billion to get companies to terminate their offshore wind leases. Know what that means? That means companies that are in fossil fuels stand to make far more than 2.5 billion. Because I have a feeling those donations are going back somehow to Donald. That's the only reason, is you've got these donors making billions of dollars that I'm sure he has invested in their companies.
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A
And meanwhile, the global economy comes to a halt because poopy pants shuts down the straight of Hormuz with his rocket games.
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B
Yep.
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A
And then, oh, well, oh, gosh, how can the world survive without oil from the Gulf? Well, through wind farms? And I fucking call it so frustrating.
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B
Yeah. Trump administration officials indicated that more such agreements are probably going to happen. And I quote, the Department of Justice looks forward to continued cooperation from companies that are reevaluating their energy investments. This is from Stanley Woodward and Associate Attorney General. Yep. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that offshore wind projects made more financial sense under the Biden administration, which offered lucrative tax credits for wind turbines, solar panels, electric cars and other green technologies. The Republican controlled Congress eliminated those incentives last summer. And I quote, the offshore wind leases are sold under the assumptions that taxpayers would indefinitely subsidize costly, unreliable projects.
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A
That was Mr. Burgum, not what that was about.
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C
Yep.
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B
He also repeated his claim that offshore wind projects pose national security risks.
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A
What?
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B
I know. Last year the Interior Department cited national security concerns in ordering a halt to construction of the five offshore wind projects on the East Coast. But the agency hasn't detailed those concerns in public. And earlier this year, federal judges said that they were unconvinced by the administration's arguments. Of course they were unconvinced because there's no fucking proof.
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A
And also, relying on fossil fuels is a national security risk because hello, Strait of Hormuz.
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B
Yes. Makes you susceptible to bribing this motherfucker.
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A
How. How are wind farms offshore? National security? Well, they could. They could fly their planes in low and people might think they're windmills and we'll never see them. Like, what are you even talking about?
- [15:29]
C
What?
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A
I can't even imagine what the argument.
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B
Remember they used to cause cancer?
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A
I don't. Oh, yeah. All the birds. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. National security risk to not be reliant on foreign oil.
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B
I know.
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A
It's just ridiculous. Next up from the Associated Press. British Prime Minister K. Starmer said Monday he's stepping down as the leader of the governing Labor Party and will leave office within weeks. Scarcely two years after being elected in a landslide. The Starmer says he will remain caretaker prime minister until a new Labour leader is chosen by the party. Starmer is the sixth prime minister in a decade to announce a premature departure. Starmer made the announcement after facing growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try to revive the government's flagging fortunes. He led labor to a landslide election victory in July of 2024, but since then, his popularity and that of the party have plummeted. The formal contest to replace Starmer will begin in early July and could end in a matter of days. Starmer said Monday that nominations will open on July 9 and close when Parliament breaks up for its summer recess, which is scheduled to begin July 16th. The contest will be open to members of Parliament from the ruling Labour Party. Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham confirmed Monday he will run to succeed Keir Starmer's Labour leader and prime minister.
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B
Thank you so much, Alison. This one is also from the Post. Americans are voting this year for Democrats at 5 higher numbers in primaries and special elections compared with previous contests, suggesting that voters are unusually motivated heading into November. Democratic anger has been well documented, but the results from these early elections, they offer a more detailed look at the staggering scale and shape of the enthusiasm gap between the two parties. Turnout is rising in Democratic primaries even when they aren't hotly contested and the nominee has little chance of winning in the general election. That's according to the Washington Post review of 990 races over three cycles in 25 states. In more than 90% of Democratic House primaries held this year, voters cast more ballots than during 2022 when Republicans flipped the House. So far this year, people cast 12.6 million ballots in Democratic House primaries, compared to 8.6 million in GOP primaries.
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A
Wow.
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B
That's wild. 33%. Yep. Now, Democrats have also been making big plans in special elections since Trump began his second term. Election experts caution that trends in primary and special elections, that trends do not always predict results in the general election. But still, the increased votes, combined with polls showing voter discontent with the GOP controlled Washington, those of all, fueled Democratic hopes that they can retake the control of Congress. Turnout has already increased in nearly 93% of the 121 Democratic House primaries that were also contested in 2022, compared with 57% of the contested Republican primaries. I know the primaries that saw the largest increase in turnout, they all skewed heavily Democratic. Democratic primary turnout's also surging in Republican strongholds. Republicans are still likely to win most of these contests in the general election, but it's another sign that Democrats are motivated and eager for upsets. It's also another fucking sign that we may take back the Senate. We're talking about congressional seats. When you've got more people voting statewide, those affect statewide elections. Yep. For example, Democratic voters increased 70%.
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A
What?
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B
Since 2022 in the primary of Georgia's deep red 10th congressional district. Yeah. These efforts matter more in Georgia, which has an open primary system that allows voters to pick which races to vote
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A
in, but also, like you said, it matters in those statewide races.
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B
Yep. More than 50% of voters in the May primary selected Democratic ballots. That was the largest advantage in a midterm primary since 1998, when Democrats held power in the state. The median turnout for Democrats in contested House primary races has soared, far outpacing turnout in Republican races. The trend for people participating more in Democratic primaries, that holds regardless of the competitiveness of the district. Turnout increased in more than 8 in 10 of the 82 Democratic primaries. The House primaries that they were not competitive in 2022 and, by the way, aren't this year, but people are still turning out in higher numbers. Of the 86 uncompetitive Republican House primaries, however, only 58% saw higher turnout. Now, Republicans, at Trump's urging, tried to mitigate some of the traditional midterm partisan backlash by launching a national redistricting war or gerrymandering the shit out of everything that has left them with an advantage in 10 additional districts. But even in districts redrawn to favor Republicans, Democrats are showing up to vote in greater numbers. I'm telling you, I said this at our gallery. Absolutely. I think they fucked themselves in some of these areas. They watered them down so badly that they're going to lose. Democrats received a majority of votes in the primaries for three of the five districts redrawn in Texas to benefit Republicans. The share of ballots cast for Republicans in primaries grew in two of them.
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A
Oh, my God. So three of the five new red districts in Texas had more Democrats turn out to vote.
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B
Yep.
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A
And. And that's the. Honestly, that's the backlash of this gerrymandering bullshit.
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B
100%.
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A
Oh, my goodness. Oh, dude. Talarico, come on, man.
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B
Let's go.
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A
Three out of the five. You got more Democrats turning out in these House races. Imagine what. How that translates to statewide races.
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B
I know.
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A
All right, everybody, we have a lot more news to get to, but it's all good news, so you can take a deep breath and relax. We're going to talk about it after this quick break. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
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B
We'll be right back.
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A
Hey, everybody. Summer changes the pace of everything, and there's a lot going on with more happening from one day to the next. And it can be difficult to keep structure involved. And the best way I've found to stick to a routine is AG1. It's just one scoop in eight ounces of water. Just 30 quick seconds at the top of the day. And I know everything's gonna stay on schedule. So please join us in welcoming AG1 back to our show. Visit drinkag1.comdailybeans to get a free morning person hat And a free AG1 flavor sampler in your welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription AG1 works because it cuts through excuses and distractions. It's one scoop eight ounces of water. That's it. One and done. You get the daily health drink with a multivitamin pre and probiotics, superfoods and antioxidants without turning your morning into a whole production. The next gen formula includes over 75 ingredients and it's backed by four clinical trials and it's been clinically shown to support gut health Fill common nutrient gaps, which is so important for me in menopause, and it improves key nutrient levels within three months. Ag1 holds up even when life gets messy. Summer weekends, travel, spontaneous plans, galas, whatever you're doing. None of that changes the fact that I can still start the day with AG1 and it gives me one easy habit I know I can rely on. Instead of a medicine cabinet full of supplements, it keeps me consistent. And that consistency matters more than the perfection ever will. So visit drinkag1.com dailybeans to get a free morning person hat and a free AG1 flavor sampler in your welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription an $82 value. That's drink ag1.com dailybeans hello, Martin Sheen
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C
here, and it seems to me that no day of the week is without its endless barrage of bad news. Even on Sunday for God's sa. Let's change that. What do you say? Together, let's make Sunday immune to bad news. Available now every Sunday, Season three of the Martin Sheen Podcast with yours truly, Martin sheen has begun. Yeah, 10 brand new episodes are already underway, so join me, Martin sheen, for a 20 minute journey as I share my personal stories, a bit of poetry, and insightful reflections that will encourage you to take a deep breath and enjoy a relaxing moment. Of course, it's important to know and understand what's happening in the world, but I also believe there's nothing wrong with taking a step back to find strength and clarity. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever. A moment of thoughtfulness and calm may be rare these days, but it doesn't have to be. So what do you say? You want to take back your Sundays? So do I. And guess what? I've already done it with the Martin Sheen Podcast, Season three. Available now. Don't mess with my Sunday and thank you for listening everybody.
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B
Welcome back.
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A
It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
- [24:27]
C
Everyone?
- [24:28]
A
Then good news everyone. And if you have any good news, if you have good trouble suggestions, maybe you have a shout out to a loved one or a Non profit or some great community organizing you want us to know about or a self shout out. And your good news can be big, it can be small. It can just be like writing in to say hello. And maybe you just want to show us a picture of your cat. Whatever it is you can send us to. Send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And again, all you got to do to get your stuff right on the air is attach a photo. It can be your pet, like I said, or an adoptable pet in your area. See if we can find him a home in the Lagunati, which is the best of all homes that you could possibly have as a, as a shelter puppy.
- [25:19]
B
It's true.
- [25:20]
A
Or you can and then. Yeah, and then we'll get pictures of that shelter pup from someone else. It.
- [25:25]
C
It's.
- [25:25]
A
It's never ending awesomeness. You can just send a random photo of an animal on the Internet, bird watching photos of you flipping the bird to Trump Tower, where in whatever city you might be in. It can be a sunset, it can be a funny meme. It can be family photos, baby pictures, random baby photos from the Internet, awkward family photos, Halloween costumes. We don't care anything at all that brings a smile to our face. We want a microdose in your hope. Send it to us daily and click on contact. First up is your Good Trouble. Good Trouble. Today we're rerunning this Good Trouble after a listener sent this in. Please talk about what's happening at the National Institutes of Health with the new OMB registry filing. Public comments again are ending on July 13th. Love your show and love you both. I'm a daily listener. I wasn't sure how to get this message to you, so I'm sending a picture of my loved ones and a favorite activity. The dog Blank is. One is a blank and one's a blank mix. One's a blue heeler and one's a pity mix.
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B
That seems pretty right to me.
- [26:28]
A
All right, let's see. One's a cattle dog and one's a boxer coonhound mix. All right. Okay, we have a furry spotty and a smooth brown is what I'm calling them.
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B
Oh, my gosh. I got more Good Trouble for you. Roz Vought, OMB posted rules changes and I quote, regulation for federal financial assistance. And surprise, it's really bad.
- [26:52]
A
Yeah.
- [26:52]
B
Elizabeth Genexi, a former NIH program official for 22 years, broke down every aspect of the rules change in her substack. And here we go. Senior political appointees rather than career scientists or program officers, would now be required to conduct a pre insurance review of every discretionary grant before it was awarded. These appointees are explicitly forbidden from deferring to peer reviewers or routinely ratifying their recommendations. The criteria they must apply include blocking awards that touch on denial of the sex binary in humans, illegal immigration, or anything deemed and I quote, to promote anti American values. The rule also requires that discretionary awards must, and I quote, demonstrably advance the President's policy priorities. Fuck off. In practice, these gives political appointees a veto over any science that conflicts with the current administration's ideology. So we're going to have a link to this substack so you can read the whole thing. Now, the comment period, it ends July 13, so we've got almost a month to do this and you can submit a comment and read comments here. There's going to be a link in the show notes and just a note, there are currently around 37,600 comments, which is considered a large and significant volume. Just so you know. So add to that, public input is critical. Scientists, educators, researchers, nonprofits, conservation groups, public health experts, government agencies, advocates and community members should all submit comments outlining the potential effects these rule changes may have on their work, the people they serve, and the public good.
- [28:33]
A
All right, so everybody got that? We have a double good trouble for this July 13th NIH comment period ending. Again, we'll have links in the show notes, links to the substack of all the bad things that are going to happen if this goes into effect. 37,600 is significant, but I bet we can do better. And also, don't forget, if you want to help for Pride Month, the Trevor Project, your good trouble is to donate tax deductible donation to match our $10,000 donation. Or we'll match yours up to $10,000. We can put it that way. Trevorproject.org all right, first up from Sean, Allison and Dana. The week of June 16, 2025 was the start of the most difficult time in my life. Found my mom in her house in medical distress and then I lost her last July. I've now just started to turn my life around and the timing of the MSW Media Gala could not have been better. The opportunity to hang out and share some laughs with fellow members of the Leguminati is exactly what I needed. And flipping off the Trump Hotel and Tower was certainly a cathartic experience. It was great to see you again, Allison. And it was great to meet you, Dana and Kenai. And here's a photo of us.
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B
Sean, it was wonderful to meet you as well. I love these photos. I hope more people from the gala send these in. They make me very happy.
- [29:51]
A
Me too. And I'm going to grab this next one because it's pretty short from Donna Pronoun. She and her the question of why presidents are referred to as Mr. Oh was answered by someone on NPR a few years ago. It is their convention to refer to the President as President Whoever. The first time the name is referenced, after that it's Mr. Whoever. Hopefully soon it'll be Mrs. Whoever or Ms. Whoever. The pick is a couple of my daughter and son in law's rescues. Love your show. Okay, the cat on the left looks like me all day yesterday.
- [30:23]
B
Today after traveling. Oh my God, that's so funny.
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A
What a cute couple of babies. Thank you so much for that information. All right, so the first time in an article they'll say President Whoever and then after that they call him Mr. Got it?
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B
All right, now we've got Liz Pronoun. She and her hello ladies of the Leguminati. Thank you for everything that you do. The beans has been a daily listen since the kitchen table days. This year has been fucking stupid in so many ways. And you and Dana keep me grounded through the year of utter fucking madness.
- [30:51]
A
Yes girl.
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B
Yeah. I recently got back into playing Dungeons and Dragons a couple of years ago after a 20 year break and it's been so much fun. Play is so important for adults. Currently my sister and I have a group that we run Monday nights and another group we play with on Saturdays. Monday is our night to tell a story of fantasy and horror. While Saturdays we get to play with Chuck DMs. I'd like to give a shout out to my buddy Chuck for publishing your first novel.
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C
Woo.
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B
It's a fun read for those who enjoy sci fi androids and thriller mysteries. The book is called the Other Human by Charles Fox Fanucci. Great name and it's available on Amazon. We've got a link to that in the show. Notes for Pod Pet tags. I've included pics of my kitty, Milosh. Oh Milosh. Who has crossed the rainbow bridge. He was a Norwegian forest cat, mixed 16 pounds 34 inches from tip of nose to tip of tail. He was such a good boy. For reference, I'm 57 and my dog 0 is 60 pounds.
- [31:54]
C
My God.
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B
Thank you ladies for always encouraging us to take. Oh my God. This is amazing. To take care of ourselves and each other and to take care of our mental health. Thank you for the community that you built. Love you both and everyone behind the scenes.
- [32:07]
A
Liz okay. Love your house Liz.
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B
Seriously great photo.
- [32:11]
A
Love your pets. I am also 57 and my my giant rag doll is about that size but is not really a shoulder cat. But look at these beautiful puppers too. So cute. Incredible. Thank you so much Liz. I really appreciate you writing in. All right, next up is Will Quote Hey Alison, I know you have been a New York Knicks supporter and you're rightly excited for their win over my favorite team, the San Antonio Spurs. While the spurs are from a red state, they represent a blue dot in the state and a wonderful diverse city. One of our players is Harrison Barnes and he and his wife spent Juneteenth in Mexico dedicating two basketball courts for public use in the town of Saltillo. Harrison does a ton of great work through his foundation in South Texas and now Northern Mexico and I wanted to give him a shout out on your great podcast, Will. Thank you. So we're going to have a link in the show Notes to a Yahoo Sports story about Harrison and Brittany Barnes unveiling the Saltillo, Mexico courts for my podpet tax. I leave the picture of the spurs coyote. Thank you so much. Yeah, and hey, shout out to spurs fans too, right?
- [33:20]
B
Totally. All right, next up is an anonymous person pronoun she and her I'm a Minnesota woman living in a very red part of Wisconsin and this is a little self congratulatory. Good news story. A year ago, my life completely fell apart. After 20 years of marriage, I discovered my spouse had been cheating on me. I literally found footage of it on our home security camera. Within two weeks, I packed up my life, grabbed my cats, moved into an apartment. I was devastated and convinced that my life as I knew it was over. Then something unexpected happened. About a month after moving out, I reconnected with someone I had worked with 24 years earlier. He's a wonderful man. Kind, thoughtful, incredibly shy. We ran into each other at our dojo during a martial arts seminar and he actually came over to say hello, which was remarkable considering how shy he is. The we started chatting on messenger and eventually he asked me out to pizza on the farm. We became so engrossed in our conversation that neither of us noticed three hours had passed and everyone else had gone home.
- [34:24]
A
I love those.
- [34:27]
B
Yep, they were closing and stacking chairs before we realized how absorbed we were in each other. We've been inseparable ever since. He's the most respectful, loving person I've ever known and he has shown Me that genuine love really can exist, not just somewhere in the world, but in my own life. We've moved in together in two months and are excitedly planning our future. Since my world turned upside down in 2025, I've changed careers, sold my dream car because of the financial realities, lost one of my beloved cats, Spike, to asthma and cancer, watched my mother get diagnosed with severe dementia and enter hospice care and finalize my divorce just days ago. And yet, this is not the end of my story. It's the beginning. I'm healing from the past 20 years of my life. I found peace, happiness, and what I truly believe is my soulmate. Life has been incredibly hard, but I've discovered that I'm stronger than I ever knew. I wanted to share this because sometimes trauma can be the catalyst for a change we never knew we needed. Attached are my two loves, Chester and Spike. Spike is the one resting his head on Chester's head. He always loved to flop onto his brother and fall asleep that way. Six weeks ago, I helped Spike cross the rainbow bridge in my living room with my soulmate by my side and my dear veterinarian friend helping him on his journey. Both boys are Siamese mixes, and Spike is deeply missed by us every day. Thank you for being a friendly voice when people need it most. Your show has been a source of comfort, laughter, and hope through one of the most challenging years of my Life. Thank you, AG&DG and MSW Media for being light during such darkness.
- [36:04]
A
Oh, man.
- [36:06]
B
Anonymous. What a beautiful submission. I love every single line of it.
- [36:13]
A
These cats are beautiful, too. I love those kind of cats that have, like, the eyeliner around their nose.
- [36:18]
B
Totally.
- [36:18]
A
You know what I mean?
- [36:19]
B
Yep.
- [36:20]
A
Just beautiful, sweet babies. Oh, wow. That's so inspirational. I had. I've had that year, so. I know. I know that year, Dana. I know you know that year.
- [36:32]
B
Oh, boy. I do.
- [36:34]
A
So. So just thank you so much there. I bet there are so many, so many people out there listening who can totally relate to this. So thank you for sending that in. Next up from Laura Pronoun. She and her good news from Ohio. Really? There's good news from Ohio? I didn't know that could happen. I'm kidding. Ohio's 12th. I'm from there. That's why I kid. Ohio's 12th congressional district is working hard to elect candidates who care about people and communities. To that end, a grassroots effort has established a series of music festivals, food trucks, candidates, and great music for a better Ohio. All of this is a result of a small group of citizens Coming together to volunteer for an initiative to bring people together. If you are in Ohio, please look up the Common Good Coalition to find an event. There is hope for Ohio and we'll have common good coalition oh.org a link in the show notes. Laura, the communities in Ohio are just so cool, man. They really, really are. And they know how to party in a neighborhood setting with food trucks, believe me. Ohio's Congressional District 12 is currently controlled by one political party beholden to the corporate elites and the current regime. We have a wonderful congressional candidate, Jared Christian, who just did an amazing interview worth checking out. We'll have a link to that for YouTube in the show notes. My pod tax is a photo of grandbaby number two, who can obviously tell the world is upside down. Thanks to the daily beans for doing the good work every day. And Laura, I gotta tell you, Sherrod Brown, I mean, you're talking about Jared Christian, but Sherrod Brown, I'm very excited about that race. And I'm also excited about your governor's race.
- [38:06]
B
Look at this baby butt. I know. I started giggling in the middle and I was like, oh, not sure about the timing of that.
- [38:12]
A
Oh, my goodness sake. So adorable. Thank you so much. Yes. Okay, Grandbaby number two, the rolls on the legs. Dana.
- [38:22]
B
I know.
- [38:22]
A
One of my favorite things I know in the world.
- [38:25]
B
All right, next up from Ria, pronouns they and them. Please remember to contact your local libraries and bookstores to feature bell hooks predominantly. Yes, and prominently this summer, hopefully to drown out Vance's book of the same name, communion. Also remember that you and most people you know probably don't know nearly enough about her. And by all means, consult that big search engine as well as the ones of your choice when you have your spare moments. The picture of rhea chick with his dad.
- [38:54]
A
Oh, oh, look it.
- [38:56]
B
A Rhea chick. Rhea.
- [38:58]
A
Rhea. Rhea.
- [39:00]
B
This chick was one of the first four hats to captivity. And the first time dad did a great job.
- [39:06]
A
Was he dead before or.
- [39:08]
B
Oh, my God. Seriously?
- [39:10]
A
Oh, oh. The first time dad, like, first time.
- [39:14]
B
That's hysterical.
- [39:18]
A
Did a good job.
- [39:19]
B
Yeah. Way to go, ostrich. Now he builds the nest and he decorates it with pretty things. And then he dances to attract ladybirds. After they mate and they lay an egg, he chases them off and does the rest, taking care of the eggs and subsequently the chicks.
- [39:35]
A
I'm in.
- [39:35]
B
And protecting them even from their mothers. I don't think much is known about what the females do. Probably restore their calcium. This is wild. Thank you for the education.
- [39:48]
A
That's How I should just find like a soul mate, just walk around my neighborhoods and see if there's anybody outside of their house dancing.
- [39:55]
B
There you go.
- [39:55]
A
You know, and then I can just, you know, stop by, say hi and then peace out, restore my calcium for the rest. There you go. Totally down with that kind of life. Raya, thank you so much. What a great, fabulous picture. That chick is so very cute. Everybody. Excellent, good news session today. Really, really appreciate you. Send all your good news to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. Also, if you feel like, if you fancy another trip to Chicago, Dana.
- [40:25]
B
Yeah, I would love to see you. It's going to be September 23rd. I'll be doing my full hour. We'll have a wonderful opener. It's going to be at the Den theater, 300 seats, really lovely comedy venue. And you can get tickets@danagoldberg.com hit my tour schedule and see you on September 23rd.
- [40:42]
A
It's going to be amazing. And September in Chicago is absolutely beautiful.
- [40:46]
B
It's the best.
- [40:47]
A
Also, we're going to go, we're going to, you know, stop recording this show in a minute and go record the Beans Talk video podcast. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you haven't, even if, to be honest, even if you don't intend on watching, just go subscribe. It really like helps us get in front of more eyes. We would love it if you did that. Considered a gift, considered a gift to us. And I do want to tell everybody that. But tonight's episode of Beans Talk is going to be the last one for the next week because we've got multiple people going on vacation and so we're going to take a week long break from Beans Talk. So head over, watch Beans Talk. If you haven't been watching Beans Talk, you can watch some older ones that look like they might appeal to you in the absence of the ones that are going to not happen for the next seven days. But we'll be back July 1st. Thank you so much, everybody for listening. We will be back on your ears tomorrow here on the Daily Beans audio podcast. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag, I've been dg, and that's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Alison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit mswmedia.com MSW Media.
- [42:20]
B
It's no surprise that newsmakers try to manipulate the audience. They want you to believe that they are the one holding the line and they'll use any trick they can to get you there.
- [42:28]
A
But don't let them fool you.
- [42:30]
B
Get Unspun I'm Amanda Sturgel. I've been a reporter and today I teach future reporters to cut the spin and think critically about what newsmakers say. My podcast, unspun shows you how to know when you're being manipulated by the news, learn to spot the tricks, and how to make up your own mind about what's true. So if you're tired of being fooled by the news, subscribe to UNSPUN today. Unspun because you deserve the truth.