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The Daily Beans
We Absolutely Can (feat. Steve Pierson, Jessica Craven)
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Monday, April 28th, 2025 Today, ICE arrests a Milwaukee county judge to bolster the regime’s anti-judiciary propaganda machine; a two year old baby has been illegally removed from the US without due process; the wife of a US Coast Guard member has been arrested by ICE; Trump Stasi Chief Ed Martin is changing his story about the man arrested for stealing Kristi Noem’s purse; more tea on Kegseth as we learn he used an unsecure dirty internet line at the Pentagon and how his personal phone number was made vulnerable by his use of Signal; prominent Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre has died by suicide; HHS has reversed course on canceling the Women’s Health Initiative; the 9th Circuit has denied Trump’s en banc petition to defund legal representation for immigrant children; nobody watched the Real White House Correspondents Dinner; Trump proclaimed he has made 200 tariff deals; Trump has the lowest 100 day approval rating in 80 years; Caitlyn Jenner is begging for money after the lega...
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, April 28, 2025. Today ICE arrests a Milwaukee county judge to bolster regime's anti judiciary propaganda machine. A two year old baby has been illegally removed from the US without due process. The wife of a US Coast Guard member has been arrested by ice. Trump Stasi chief Ed Martin is changing his story about the man arrested for stealing Kristi Noem's purse. More tea on Pete Kegseth as we learn he used an unsecured dirty Internet line at the Pentagon and how his personal phone number was made vulnerable by his use of signal. A prominent Epstein survivor, Virginia Giuffri has died by suicide. HHS has reversed course on canceling the Women's health initiative. The 9th Circuit has denied Trump's en banc petition to defund legal representation for immigrant children. Nobody watched the real White House Correspondents dinner. Trump proclaimed he has made 200 tariff deals. Trump has the lowest 100 day approval rating in 80 years, by the way. And Caitlyn Jenner is begging for money after the legal fallout over her meme coin. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey everybody, happy Monday. I know I promised Dana would be back, but she had something come up last minute. So I am your ride or die today, babies. So it's me. It's me and you. So let's do this. Also, MSW Media is launching msw.bluewave california.org today and I'm going to be talking with Steve and Jessica from the Practivist podcast later in the show about this. The Leguminati has raised over three quarters of a million bucks in past elections. So let's see what we can do this cycle to flip the house. All right, everybody, we have a lot of news to get to, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah dugan was charged April 25 with two felonies on allegations of trying to help an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom. According to a 13 page complaint, Dugan, who is 65, is accused of obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of six years and a $350,000 fine. But sentences and cases involving nonviolent offenses are typically much shorter. And that's if this case even gets off the ground. They still have to get a true bill. An indictment from a grand jury. Specifically, the complaint says Dugan assisted Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, that she helped him avoid being arrested by federal immigration officials at the Milwaukee County Courthouse after he appeared in her courtroom for a pre trial conference on April 18th. Quote, Hannes Dugan has committed herself to the rule of law and the principles of due process for her entire career as a lawyer and a judge. That's what an attorney for Dugan said in a statement and went on to say, Judge Dugan will defend herself vigorously and looks forward to being exonerated, according to the affidavit. Apparently, you know, I guess five officers showed up, two FBI, two DEA and an ICE officer, all working for dhs, by the way, and they came to arrest him after his hearing and they had, I guess, the wrong kind of warrant. And the judge apparently, apparently told Ruiz to exit out the side door through the private jury room into the public hallway, which they did. And then that's where the agents saw him and joined him on the elevator down and then arrested him afterwards. So I'm not quite sure how she quote and quote unquote, aided and abetted this person. But yeah, yeah, we'll see what a grand jury has to say about it. Now, of course, grand juries only need probable cause to indict, but as a prosecutor, you do actually have to have, per the justice manual, a reason to believe that you will secure beyond a reasonable doubt a conviction and that you'll be able to maintain it on appeal. So we'll see if they follow those rules, too. Next up from Rolling Stone. And a brief personal note on the use of the word deported here in this story, and a lot of stories. Deported is a legal term that includes due process. So I do not use the word deported to describe what's going on with people that are being unlawfully kidnapped, disappeared and removed from the United States. So I'm going to read this from the Rolling Stone, which does use the word deported, but I wanted to make clear that it's not the word I would choose to use as part of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Three US Citizen children were deported with their mothers by the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday morning. One of the children was undergoing cancer treatment and one of the mothers is pregnant. Both families have lived in the country for years and had ties to their communities, according to the ACLU of Louisiana, which warns that the circumstances of their sudden deportations. Again, there's that word I like. Disappearances raises grave due process concerns. The civil rights organization says that the first family was detained on Tuesday and the second family on Thursday. And that one of the mothers was given less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly dropped after her spouse attempted to provide a phone number for legal counsel. Among the children deported with their mothers, says the ACLU, are three US citizens aged 2, 4 and 7. One of the children is a four year old suffering from a rare form of metastatic cancer and was deported out of the country without medication or consultation with their treating physician, despite ICE being notified in advance of the child's medical needs. The civil rights organization says that the mother of the two year old is pregnant and she was deported without ensuring any continuity of prenatal care or proper medical care. So these are US Children. I'm not sure why they weren't able to stay in the country, but that they, you know, during the whole first Trump administration with the inhumane child separation policy and tender age facilities where unaccompanied minors were stashed. And, you know, we saw the horrific videos and we heard the terrible stories about that. So now Stephen Miller's like, all right, we'll just deport the whole family. That's, that's their solution to this. And again, deport is a stretch because there's no due process here. Next up from the Associated Press, the wife of an active duty Coast Guardsman was arrested earlier this week by federal immigration authorities inside the Family Residential section of the US Naval Air Station at Key West, Florida, after she was flagged in a routine security check. According to officials, quote, the spouse is not a member of the Coast Guard and was detained by Homeland Security investigations pursuant to a lawful removal order. That's what Coast Guard spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Steve Roth said in a statement confirming Thursday's on base arrest. Went on to say the Coast Guard worked closely with HSI and others to enforce federal laws, including on immigration. According to a US official, the woman's work visa expired in 2017 and she was marked for removal by the United States a few years later. She and the Coast Guardsman were married earlier this year. That's what the official said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss enforcement. And I don't understand if she was married to a Coast Guardsman, why she's not a green card holder. How is she not a citizen? Anyway, next up, NBC actually ran this story. The headline is man arrested in theft of DHS chief Kristi Noem's purse is in the US Illegally, official says. And what the headline doesn't tell you is the official who says that is none other than election denier. And January 6th apologist. Interim head of the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. ed Martin. No one else is confirming this story. Here's what NBC says. The suspect who was arrested Saturday in the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's purse was in the country illegally. That's According to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia in an interview with NBC News. Again, they forget to give you his name. But then they say. Ed Martin said a second suspect who's also in the country illegally, is being sought by law enforcement. No further information about the man's identity is available. A D.C. metropolitan Police spokesperson declined to comment. As DHS Secretary Nome received Secret Service protection. When asked for comment from the Secret Service and the Secret Service agent that was providing protection for Nome, Agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, For the safety of our agents and officers, we're not in a position to confirm or comment at this time. Oh, really? Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures. So they haven't even filed any charges, but they arrested him Saturday? A week ago. That's weird. And, like, what the fuck ever. Because a week ago, the Secret Service told CNN it reviewed the security camera footage in the restaurant or whatever and said that they saw a white male wearing a mask taking her purse. So let's pretend for a second that the thief here is an actual thief and not someone the Trump administration sent in themselves to lift her purse. Why are there no other details about the suspect being released right now? Why is the video not out there? Why are there no charges? And if there are, why is the spokesperson for the Secret Service saying that they'll give more information about this person when there are charges? No name, no video, no photographs. And why did Ed Martin wait a week after the Secret Service said it was a white dude to tell everyone this is an undocumented immigrant? Is it like an. A white undocumented immigrant? Did he think we'd forget? And finally, why the hell is the corporate media printing this bullshit as though it were fact? You know, recently, the Supreme Court. This Supreme Court stepped in in the middle of the night to block ICE planes from leaving the United States because they did not believe the Trump administration's contention that they weren't planning to fly anyone out of the country. This Supreme Court took that extraordinary step because even they do not take this administration at their word. So why is the corporate media doing so? It boggles my mind. All right, we have more tea on Whiskey Pete. I promised you it would be coming, and so far it's not stopping. Might not have been the best idea to walk your pals out of the Pentagon. Pete from the Times. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's personal phone number, the one used in a recent Signal chat, was easily accessible on the Internet and in public apps as recently as March, potentially exposing national security secrets to foreign adversaries. The phone number could be found in a variety of places, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and a fantasy sports betting site. It was the same number through which the defense secretary, using the Signal commercial messaging app, disclose flight data for American strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen. Cybersecurity analysts said an American defense secretary's communications device would usually be among the most protected national security assets. Quote, there's zero percent chance that someone hasn't tried to install Pegasus or some other spyware on this phone. That's what Mike Casey said, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security center in an interview. He went on to say he's one of the top five probably most targeted people in the world for espionage. His phone number was just out there. Also from the Associated Press, Hegseth had an Internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer. That's according to two people familiar. The existence of the unsecured Internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth's use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance. Known as a dirty Internet line by the IT industry, it connects directly to the public Internet where the user's information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon's secured connections maintain. Great. Fantastic. He is putting our troops at risk in a ton of ways. But this way especially. And I have some sad news with a content warning here for self harm. Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse, has died by suicide, according to her family. Giuffre was 41, died in near Gabby, Australia, where she'd been living for several years. Giuffre was one of the earliest and loudest voices calling for criminal charges against Epstein and his enablers. Other Epstein abuse survivors later credited her with giving them the courage to speak out. Quote, it is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia. That's what her family said in a statement to NBC. She lost her life to Suicide after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. May she rest in peace. All right, let's move on to some good news. Let's move on to the Schadenfreude section of today's show. All right, last week we told you the Trump regime was defunding one of the biggest women's health studies in history, the whi. And today we have this from npr. The Trump administration is restoring financial support for a landmark study of women's health, according to an official that said this on Thursday, reversing a defunding decision that shocked medical researchers. Quote, these studies represent critical contributions to our better understanding of women's health. That was a statement from Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. So pushback works, being loud works. Do not fuck with women or any of us, really. Next up. Okay, remember when we had Michael Lukens on from the Amica center for Immigration Rights? We had him on the beans and they were suing to restore funding for legal support of immigrant children. Then Trump appealed to the ninth Circuit and lost. So he went and appealed for an en banc rehearing. So instead of the three judge panel at the ninth Circuit, he wanted all the judges at the Ninth Circuit to take a look. Well, the ninth Circuit has denied him, too. They didn't even refer it to a vote. So the temporary restraining order barring Trump from defunding this program giving legal support to immigrant children is still blocked. That temporary restraining order is still in place thanks to the en banc 9th Circuit. So good job. Congratulations to Mike Lukens. Next, the real White House correspondents dinner was a dud. I saw zero clips on social media. And usually when the White House correspondence dinner happens, we see clips and clips and, you know, of all the speeches, but that didn't happen this time. This is from the Washington Post. This dinner is going to feel a little different than usual. White House Correspondents Association President Eugene Daniels told the roughly 2,500 people in the Washington Hilton Ballroom. There's no president. There's no comedian. It's just us. A banner above the head table read, celebrating the First Amendment. Was there anything to celebrate the fact that the mainstream media were huddled mostly by themselves without the president or a major presence? So far as we could tell from his administration, that can't be a good sign. Can it. The White House wouldn't participate even as a perfunctory nod to press freedom. It was nothing more you guys than this is me now. This is no longer the Washington Post, but it was a big circle jerk of corporate media personalities congratulating themselves on being special. But we held a not the White House correspondence dinner and had a blast. We got an amazing viewing audience. You can still watch ours by going to meathook dot live. Not Meathook is M e e T H o o K. It's Meathook live. Not so three cheers for independent media. Well done, everybody. Next up from ABC, Donald Trump has the lowest 100 day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years with public pushback on many of his policies and extensive economic discontent, including broad fears of a recession. And that's according to a new ABC News Washington Post Ipsos poll. 39% in this poll say they approve of how Trump is handling his job as president. That's down six points from February. 55 say they disapprove. 16 points in the hole, 39% approval rating, worst in 80 years. The only one that's second place himself back in 2017. And this is fun. This is from the LGBTQ Nation. Reality TV star and former gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner is now begging her supporters to send her money to support her legal defense fund in response to a lawsuit against her for alleged financial malfeasance. Quote, I have been named a defendant in a lawsuit regarding the Jenner meme coins alleging securities violations. That's what she said on Twitter, linking to a crowdfunding campaign and said, let's all be freedom maximalist, whatever. Jenner was sued in November, months after she released her Jenner meme coin on Ethereum blockchain. Two people, Nazim Azad of the United Kingdom and Nihai Kalarusu of Romania. I hope I'm saying that right. No. Kalisuru alleged that they would not have bought the Meme Coin if not for generous actions, which included that she fraudulently solicited financially unsophisticated investors throughout the United States and abroad to purchase the unregistered securities. Now Jenner is posting to Twitter that she needs help paying her legal bills associated with the lawsuit. And so far, I'm happy to report, Leguminati, she has earned $7 from a total of two donors. I love it. And lastly, from the Daily Beast, Donald Trump sat down with Time magazine for an extensive interview to mark the first hundred days of his second term and delivered a series of White House whoppers. In the wide ranging interview, the President claimed, without providing any details, that he had locked in 200 deals. 200 deals as the global economy has been rocked by widespread tariffs and trade war fears. When Time magazine asked him why there haven't been any trade deals so far, Trump said, no, there's many deals. And if you follow me on Blue sky, you might have seen my breaking news video. I was handed the list of countries that have yet to come to the table to strike a deal with Donald Trump. In case you missed it, here's that important information.
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Dana Goldberg
Hey everybody, it's Allison Gill, host of the Daily Beans podcast.
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Alison Gill
You know me as Mueller, she wrote.
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Dana Goldberg
I was just handed a complete list.
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Alison Gill
Of every single country that has not.
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Dana Goldberg
Made a tariff deal with the Trump administration. The Trump administration has failed to make a tariff deal with the following United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic, Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador, two Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Guyana and still Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan, Paraguay, Uruguay, Serrano, Manfred, Guiana, Barbados and Guam There's Norway and Sweden and Iceland and Finland and Germany. Now in one piece, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Turkey and Greece, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania, Ireland, Russia, Oman, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq and Iran There's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, both Yemen's, Kuwait and Bahrain the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and Portugal, France, England, Denmark and Spain There's India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan Kampuchea, Malaysia, then Bangladesh, Asia and China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Laos and Tibet, Indonesia, the Philippine Islands, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand, then Borneo and Vietnam, Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia, Guinea, Algeria, Ghana, Burundi, Lesotho and Malawi Togo, the Spanish Sahara is gone Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Liberia Egypt, Benina, Gabon, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Mali Sierra Leone and Algiers Dahomey, Namibia, Senegal, Libya, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Bissau, Madagascar, Rwanda, Mohor and Cayman, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia, Crete, Mauritania, then Transylvania, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Malta and Palestine, Fiji, Australia, Sudan, Sudan and there you go. There's all the countries who Trump has.
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Alison Gill
Failed to make a tariff deal with. And big shout out there to let's see. I think it was Yakko Warner that did that. The Animaniacs 1993 that's why there's some countries in there that are no longer countries and why they said Germany all in one piece. So just in case you were wondering why Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were mentioned, that is why the song was written in 1993. But anyway, thank you so much for the great response on Blue sky to that new that big news reporting that I put out over the weekend. All right, everybody, it's time for some good trouble. What are you guys doing? All right. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to learn all that you can about the big, huge thing that we're putting out today with the Practivist pod and Swing Left about the California blue wave. MSW Media is once again partnering up with Swing Left and Steve Pearson, co host of the Practivist podcast. And we're going to tell you all about it with the hosts of that podcast right after this break. Stick around. We'll be right back with the Flip It Blue segment. We'll be right back. Hey everybody, it's ag. I used to think poor sleep was just part of adulthood or stress. No matter what I did, I'd find myself wide awake past midnight, staring at the ceiling. My brain wouldn't quiet down. It didn't seem to matter how tired that I felt. Falling asleep never came easy. I look sleepy all day, but then wide awake at night. I was venting about how burnt out I was and my friend told me about Helix. I ordered the mattress right away. First thing I noticed was how easy it was to relax. No more relentless, you know, thoughts in my mind. And I wasn't waking up throughout the night. I was falling asleep and I was staying asleep. And my mornings were better as well. I wasn't groggy or sore. I wasn't hitting the snooze button five times. I felt well rested for the first time in years. My mood, my energy levels, everything was better. And I noticed I was more patient and clear headed during the day. Even simple things like getting out of bed, making breakfast, focusing on work became EAS easier and more enjoyable. I felt like myself again. My Apple watch backed it up too, with actual data. More deep sleep, better recovery, fewer interruptions. It was all there, confirming what my body already knew. Helix improved more than my sleep. It gave me back the parts of my life that poor sleep had quietly stolen. And that has changed everything for me. Right now Helix is doing so much and they've done so much for me and I know they will do the same for you. So go to helixsleep.comdailybeans for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com dailybeans for 20 off site wide. Again, helixsleep.com dailybeans you'll be glad you did. Hey everybody, welcome back. It's time to Flip It Blue. And joining me today for the Flip It Blue segment, hosts of the Practivist Pod. I love it. Practical activists, right? Practivist. We're making words, we're mashing them up. This is an incredible podcast. It comes out every Thursday morning anywhere you get your pods. It's also on YouTube. And the hosts are joining me today. Jessica Craven, who's an activist and a content creator. She also runs the Chopwood Carry Water substack. And then Steve Pearson, executive director of Blue Wave California, which is what we're going to talk about today, and host of the podcast, former Candidate for California assembly and formerly of the How We Win podcast on MSW Media. Please welcome Jessica and Steve. Hi.
- [24:15]
Jessica Craven
Hey, how's it going? Great to see you, Allison.
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Alison Gill
It is really good to see the both of you. And by the way, thanks for having me on the Practivist Pod last week. Was that last week? I can't. Where was it two years ago?
- [24:26]
Jessica Craven
It was. It's still sitting there for someone to find and listen to your episode until ours comes out on Thursday. So, yeah, it was great episode. Thanks for being there.
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Alison Gill
So it was awesome. Thank you. I always enjoy talking to you. So, first of all, let's talk about the Practivist Pod. What, what made you start it, what it's about, and then we'll segue into this new initiative that we're all working on together.
- [24:50]
Steve Pearson
Steve, you tell. Because you. This is really Steve's brainchild, the Practivist. It's really his baby.
- [24:55]
Jessica Craven
All right. I was.
- [24:56]
Steve Pearson
Well, now it's our baby. We had a baby together. But you started the baby.
- [24:59]
Jessica Craven
We did have a baby together. Don't tell, you know, don't tell our spouses. But yeah. So your listeners may know me from the Howie Win podcast. Our friend how has now officially retired and, you know, after doing that show for five years and really, you know, getting our asses handed to us in this recent election, it wasn't the right tone. And, and I wanted to think about this in a different way, about not just living and dying over each election cycle, over each win or loss, but how we sustain this movement and how we sustain our work as activists. And Jessica had been a co host on How We Win for a while and is a great friend of mine from the LA area, and she does amazing work with her Chopwood Carry Water newsletter, which I'll let her speak to. But it was just a really great chance to collaborate with her and give folks something meaningful to do every week and build resilience in this movement too, because it's a marathon, it's not a sprint, as you said, it's a made up word, but it's the practice of activism made practical. So it's kind of a riff on practical activism, but also on the practice of that, making it part of your daily life. Because that's our work as citizens. It's certainly our work in defending democracy and the struggle to build a better future. You know, it's our life's work. So.
- [26:34]
Alison Gill
Yeah, yeah. And I think it's so, like, if you're looking for like our Good Trouble segment as an entire show, that's what the practivist POD is. And Jessica, talk a little bit about your work and Chop would carry water so.
- [26:48]
Steve Pearson
Well, I've been doing this newsletter since Trump was elected the first time. You know, I was one of the people who sort of got real activated by that. But I do a newsletter that gives people like five to seven minutes worth of easy actions to take because I find that for a lot of people, they want to do something, but they do not have the time to figure out what that thing is. They don't want to spend, you know, eight hours a day reading, which for some reason I don't mind, I like to do, you know, so they, they just want to be fed a couple of things. And I find that if you do give people easy actions to take, they'll take them. So that's what I'm more of like a curator or a bundler. Like, I just put together a little package of activism every day that people can do. And it also, it's so, it's effective and it also sort of lifts people's spirits a little bit, I've found.
- [27:36]
Alison Gill
Yeah, it really does.
- [27:38]
Steve Pearson
It does. It makes all the difference because things.
- [27:40]
Alison Gill
Can get done right. Like our, our listeners helped effectively shut down the DHS tip line. We helped shut down the anti Christian reporting at the VA by flooding that inbox with 54,000 fake reports that they had to manually go. So we love those practical things. And that's why I love, I absolutely love the name Chop Wood Carry Water. Because right after the election I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what the way forward was. I wasn't planning to lose. And so we, I wasn't planning that we would lose. And so all I did was like, well, let me just get up and read the news and just keep doing that. And the path will reveal itself at some point. And, and it has, and it is, and it will continue to do that. But talk a little bit about the importance of not just maintaining our grassroots activism and our community organizing, but building on it. Right. That's also incredibly important as we go into 2026.
- [28:39]
Steve Pearson
Yeah, well, I think this minute, particularly more than ever before, when we're seeing all of these red lines crossed, it's real important to, you know, I think Americans either go, well, what can I do? Or they just start sinking into despair and disconnecting. And I think it's really important that we sort of reach out a hand to people who are very aware that things are bad, but absolutely unclear how they can be part of the solution and just sort of reach out a hand and say, hey, come with me to this Tesla takedown, or come with me to this town hall or whatever. Because our movement does need to grow beyond even the sort of Trump, you know, 1.0 coalition to, like, a much bigger coalition if we're going to shut this, you know, fascism down, and I believe we will. But it does require a certain, you know what they say, 3.5% of the population. But we need more people. We need a bigger. A bigger boat, as they say on Jaws, you know, we need more boat, for sure.
- [29:35]
Alison Gill
Steve, you and I, I know in. In 2020 and 2020, 2020 especially, and then again in 2022, had put together kind of a. It was. I don't know what you would call it. It was fundraising. Because all of this stuff, by the way, community organizing costs money. It's great to go to a Tesla takedown rally, but in order, you have to be able to get people's emails and get people's information and invite them to the next one. So it gets bigger and bigger and bigger as we get to 2026 and canvas and knock doors and text bank and phone bank and do postcards. And so we put together, Steve, you and I, and with the help of Swing Left, a fund where we were able to raise, I think, a quarter of a million dollars to live shows and everything in 2022. And to our credit, yes, we lost the House, but it wasn't a red wave that everyone was predicting.
- [30:26]
Jessica Craven
That's right.
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Alison Gill
And we kind of knew that we probably weren't going to do well in the Senate because the map was so horrible. But it was because of that kind of practical and practice and activism that we were, I think, able to really just completely stymie their dreams of getting 40 seats in the House like we did in 2018, which I hope we do again in 2026. And to that end, Tell us about this project, the Blue Wave California project, and that's what we're teaming up on this year.
- [30:53]
Jessica Craven
Yeah, I'm excited. And you combine the two fundraisers that we did for the midterms, and then last cycle, also, we raised close to half a million dollars. And, you know, really, that is because of your listeners and everyone who chipped in. This is all grassroots donations that went directly to the candidates. And so we're doing that again. And I'm so grateful to you for partnering with me on it. I now have a new job running Blue Wave California, and we have our victory fund, which features the magnificent seven districts that we need to flip the House right here in California. And that's four districts that we just won in the last election that we need to hold on to, and three flippable districts that we need to flip. And as you know, as your listeners know, if they don't, you know, it's only three seats that we need.
- [31:48]
Alison Gill
Three to win. We had swing left on to talk about three to win. And, you know, as you and I have said a million times, successful resistance is focused resistance. We have three flippable seats here in California, and that's where we are focusing our energy. Right. To flip the House.
- [32:05]
Jessica Craven
But I'll say importantly, too, and what's great about this, you know, bundled fund, like we did last time, is it includes these freshmen incumbents who just won and they didn't win by much. Like, Adam Gray is still in an R +1 seat. He won by 187 votes. So it's going to take a lot of work to keep him in that seat. And, you know, just because of how we are as humans, we like a flip. Like, we like to go on offense. And we got a hold, too. Yeah, we don't. Yeah, exactly. We don't always get excited about just holding on and playing defense, but we have to do both. So that's why this fund is great. And California, I know you have listeners all over the place. California is playing an outsized role in this election. We have the most opportunities to make an impact on the midterms. And also importantly, I'll say California gets treated like an ATM a lot of the time because we are a blue state and people come to us for money, but they don't invest in our state the way that we really need to in this election. So I'm thrilled to get this fund out there and. And all of this money is going directly to these candidates.
- [33:10]
Alison Gill
Yeah. Talk a little bit about that, Jessica, about how it Sort of works.
- [33:13]
Steve Pearson
Well, I was just going to add. I'll just add to that first. The funny thing is, too, is that people, even in California, you know, I know lots and lots of people who want to give money. Where should I give money? Tell me which races to donate to, and then they start donating to races all over the country. But when you ask them to give to the district right next door, they're like, oh, I don't know. It's just, that's like, I don't know what it is, but it's, it's very, very important that we invest in our own backyard. So I'll let Steve talk more to the details of, you know, how this money will get used. But I just want to encourage people. It's not always. Doesn't feel like the sexiest thing to give to, like a, you know, holding a seat in California, but, man, it's like the seat, a seat is a seat. And it's very sexy to flip the House and hold seats that we already have. So, so sexy.
- [33:59]
Alison Gill
And we have to kind of remember, you know, every single seat in the House is up for reelection every two years. Yes, every single seat. So, you know, and that's the great thing, Steve, about these funds that you and I partner on. They kind of take the guesswork out of where the money is best spent and how much bang you get for each dollar that you're able to donate. Right.
- [34:23]
Jessica Craven
That's exactly right. I know for all of us talking right now, we have people coming to us constantly, like, where should I donate? You know, just, just said it, you know, where, where can I make the biggest impact? So being able to bundle these races together is like, here you go. Here's one place where you can make a huge impact. And I will speak to the districts that we want to flip because there's three of them, and we're not getting involved in the primary, which is an important note on this. We have district funds for those three races, and we'll hold the money in escrow and then give it to whoever makes it through the primary. This is really important because as we know, primaries can be very expensive and you have multiple candidates, multiple Democrats who are beaten up on each other, spending a lot of money, and then they're heading into the general election against incumbents, Republican incumbents with massive war chests, and the oligarchs funding their campaigns from the very beginning. So being able to have this, this check to hand to them right when they're getting started in the general will have a huge Impact on those races as well.
- [35:26]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I agree. And you know, DNC also is staying out of primaries, which I think is a good idea. Like, let the people choose the candidate. Right. Like, don't influence that. The voters choose their candidates. And then once we have those candidates, bam, we send them this check. And I think that that's the best way to go, honestly, because, you know, I've. In 2020, I was a Warren Democrat.
- [35:53]
Jessica Craven
Me too. Warren. Elizabeth Warren retweeted my or re. Skeeted my blue sky skeet a couple days ago. I was very excited. Sorry to digress.
- [36:04]
Alison Gill
She was fun. She was fun to meet. And whenever I talk to her, we talk about really wonky policy stuff, like how she got it so that anyone who got student debt forgiveness, we didn't have to pay taxes on that loan forgiveness. And that's a little, little known thing that she, she got done. Otherwise, anyone who had that student loan forgiveness would actually have to pay taxes on that, on that debt forgiveness that she, she, she made that happen. Just these little things that go on behind the scenes. She was my candidate in 2020. She didn't win the primary then, hey, all right, I'm all in for Uncle Joe. And we, you know, we raised half a million dollars for him and, and Kamala Harris. Then, you know, same thing. In 2016, I ran to be a Bernie delegate. I didn't win, but, you know, once we had our candidate, I was all in for the candidate. And that's where this money is focused and best spent when we're trying to flip the House. And like you said, those three districts, just really briefly, where are they? Who are they? Who are we supporting?
- [36:57]
Jessica Craven
California, 22nd, 40th and 41st. So that's David Valadao, Young Kim and Ken Calvert. And, you know, all of those races are within a couple of points. They're like R +1, R +2 districts. And, you know, we've been knocking on the door of these races and getting closer and closer every cycle. And if you look at the prevailing winds we have right now, and I, and I really do feel like we can sustain it coming off of the win we had in Wisconsin, the swing we even had in those Florida special elections, you know, it gives me a lot of hope. So again, it's so important to start early. That's, that's the biggest point. You know, people like thinking, November 2026, why are we talking about this now? Elon Musk put $26 million into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, and the oligarchs are pouring so much money, we're already getting outspent by these Republicans. But we have the power of the people, and grassroots organizing and fundraising can really make up a lot, so.
- [38:01]
Alison Gill
Well, that's the problem, right, Jessica, is when you're trying to battle Olig, They. They. They're the ones with all the money, right?
- [38:06]
Steve Pearson
Yeah, they are. They are the ones with all the money. And it's really discouraging. But I also, you know, as anyone who has followed me for any period of time knows, I often say the many are more powerful than the money. And we've seen that play out over and over again. Wisconsin in 2023, we had. I mean, they continually pour, you know, view line, bro, whoever, like, you know, they pour their millions of dollars in. And I'm not saying it's not powerful. It's very powerful. And we do need to counteract it on the other side, but we absolutely can. We can raise competitive amounts of money, and we will from the grassroots, because people like the people listening to this podcast. I know. I have faith that they will give and then they will follow that up with also volunteering and being passionate about helping with these races. And that's why we win, because we bring money from the grassroots and we bring energy, and they can't really match our energy on the other side because all they have are oligarchs and, you know.
- [38:58]
Jessica Craven
Yeah.
- [38:59]
Alison Gill
And they have to pay people to go out and knock doors. Right.
- [39:03]
Jessica Craven
We get the people power.
- [39:04]
Alison Gill
Yeah, we do. And there's no better feeling than defeating a super rich person with your people power. It's just the best feeling. And it's super awful when it goes the other way. But when we won Wisconsin, after facing down all of that money that was poured into that race, which is couch change for Elon Musk, but to us, that's like, more than the three of us would ever make if we lived for another 500 years. So.
- [39:32]
Jessica Craven
And that was a close race. Not to interrupt you, but that was a very close race for Biden, and we won that by 10 points. So we didn't just squeak by facing that fundraising deficit. We won by. By a lot. By 10 points. So you know that.
- [39:47]
Alison Gill
Oh, right, you're saying it was closer to Biden, but for the. For the judgeship, we won. We won by 10 points.
- [39:52]
Jessica Craven
Right, sorry. Yes.
- [39:53]
Alison Gill
The.
- [39:54]
Jessica Craven
The presidential was very tight, and. And even though we were facing that fund deficit of mammoth proportions, we still won by 10 points.
- [40:03]
Alison Gill
So we smashed it.
- [40:04]
Jessica Craven
Good job, us.
- [40:05]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And we talked about, you know, you mentioned Florida, we made like 22 point, 15 point swings in extremely ruby red districts.
- [40:12]
Steve Pearson
Yep.
- [40:12]
Alison Gill
And when you make a 15 or 22 point swing, it really makes these one or two point districts in California seem that much more achievable. And so what we've done, like we've done every election cycle for in recent memory is we've teamed up, right. And we've created a special link just for MSW media listeners and the Leguminati so that we can specifically track how. Yeah, the Leguminati, that's what the listeners have decided to call themselves, which I love. There's logos and everything. It's fantastic. Wow. It's like a pyramid with a bean in it that has rays coming out. It's fantastic. But you know, we were able to clock that we raised half a million in 2020. We raised close to 250,000 in 2022. And now we're going to be able to see what the, what the MSW listeners can do going into 2026 and specifically with this, you know, the California Fund. So talk a little bit about where people can to do this because we're releasing this today. We're kicking it off today, right?
- [41:23]
Jessica Craven
Yep, we're kicking it off today. Msw.bluewavecalifornia.org is the link and I'm sure it'll be in the show notes and we'll post it all over social. And you know, we're, you know, stay tuned because we have some live shows that we're going to cook up too. We're going to have some fun and get out there and you know, it's really just an excuse to get up on stage and act dumb together. But if we can raise some money, that's also a bonus.
- [41:52]
Alison Gill
Yeah, it really is. And maybe we can get print out QR code cards for everyone who's having empty chair town halls to hand out and other practical things that people can do in order to get this fund out to the people.
- [42:10]
Jessica Craven
Yeah, I'll speak to that too.
- [42:12]
Alison Gill
Because it's not just what the listeners can do, but if the listeners can get 10 people that they know to donate, and they can all get 10 people that they know to donate a buck, 2, 4 bucks, 10 bucks, whatever, to this victory fund, we should have zero problem flipping the house.
- [42:29]
Jessica Craven
That's right. And, and so we are also are launching blue wave house parties all over California. And you can do them anywhere, you know, because you know that as, as we said, California happens to be in the position of having an oversized influence on who takes the house in the midterms. So but go to bluewavecalifornia.org and sign up right there. Just send us an email right. There's a link on the site and we can get you set up to do a little house party or and we'll do some online stuff too so everyone can get involved. But really appreciate your and don't listen to James Carville.
- [43:05]
Alison Gill
He kind of took a shit all over the huge blue tsunami that we did back in 2018 because California takes so long to count its votes. But we had an extreme win for the house in California in 2018 and, and work, I hope. I think we're going to be able to see it again with you with Yalls help here in 2026. You know, remember that Jessica, where car was like, well where's this Blue Wave everybody's talking about? We're like, it's coming. We're counting our votes. We're California.
- [43:34]
Steve Pearson
We take a long time here in California. I think they're actually trying to move some legislation to, to fix that a little bit. It's a little too slow. But I try not to listen to much of anything James Carville says. Sorry if that's not, if that's not a popular opinion, but that's just me. But yeah, no, we, we will bring the goods. We did in 2018. It was amazing. That was what got us Katie Porter and so many other great lawmakers, although we then lost her. But, you know, yeah, that was a good year. And this is going to be a good, a good, a good election for us too. I feel it.
- [44:03]
Alison Gill
Well, Jessica, thank you, Steve. Thank you. One last time. Steve, first of all, tell everyone where they can find and follow you all. Where they can find and follow the practivist pod and where they get cracking on our, on our Blue Wave California fund.
- [44:17]
Jessica Craven
Oh my gosh, lots of links. Practivispod.com is where you can find the show. And then Jess and I's link trees are on there too. Chop wood, carry water on substack is Jess's substack. And again BlueWaveCalifornia.org is where you can find Blue Wave.
- [44:36]
Alison Gill
And Your specifically is msw.bluewavecalifornia.org right?
- [44:42]
Steve Pearson
That's right.
- [44:42]
Jessica Craven
Yes. That's our, that's our collab. That's our special link for all of your Illuminati listeners.
- [44:50]
Alison Gill
Leguminati don't just donate like a regular person, donate like a Leguminati.
- [44:55]
Jessica Craven
I said it wrong.
- [44:56]
Alison Gill
Msw.bluewavecalifornia.org I stepped all over that.
- [45:00]
Jessica Craven
You can't edit it. It's out there for perpetuity. Now.
- [45:06]
Alison Gill
Let everybody check out the Practivous pod. If you want an entire podcast dedicated to good trouble that you can get into easily, it's. It's the best place to go. Thank you both so much for being here. I appreciate you.
- [45:16]
Steve Pearson
Thanks, Allison.
- [45:17]
Jessica Craven
Thanks, buddy.
- [45:18]
Alison Gill
Yeah, no problem, Steve. Everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Hey, everybody. Creating the perfect yard has never been easier, thanks to Fast Growing Trees. As the largest online nursery in the United States, they offer thousands of plants, from fruit trees to privacy shrubs and indoor plants. I got a couple too, and those are really great for people with limited outdoor space. With over 2 million happy customers, it's no wonder they're a very trusted name in gardening. What sets them apart, really is their commitment to quality and convenience. Each plant goes through a 14 point quality checklist to ensure it's healthy when it arrives and thrives. You can skip the hassle of driving to nurseries and waiting in long lines. Just order online. Your plants will be delivered to your door in a couple of days. And if you're not sure where to start, their plant experts are available to help you choose the right plants and provide care tips. I was very excited when I got my, my second, my second avocado tree. Because avocado trees need a buddy, right? A little over a year ago, we got our guacamole garden going, me and my, my bff because we're neighbors. And so we got lemons, limes, and avocados. And then they, they were like, oh, get your avocado treat a friend and it will thrive even more. So we just got that, we put that in. Can't wait. We've already got lemons and limes and a couple of avocados on the first tree. So it's been really, really amazing. Their website made it easy to find plants suited for my grow zone. The tree and the couple of indoor plants I got arrived in perfect condition. Now I'm enjoying, you know, lemons and limes and stuff from my backyard, all without the stress of a weekend nursery trip. With 2 million happy customers, it's clear Fast Growing Trees is doing it right. They've made gardening accessible and enjoyable, even for a brown thumber like myself. This spring, they have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to this show get a 15% discount off their first purchase when using the code DailyBeans all one word at checkout. That's an additional 15% off at fast growingtrees.com using the code DailyBeans at checkout again fastgrowingtrees.com code DailyBeans now is the perfect time to plant Use daily beans to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Good news everyone. Then good news everyone. Good news, Good news. And if you have any good news or confessions or some corrections, like if we got a story wrong or we pronounce something wrong, you can send that in. Send in your good news shout outs. Whether it's to a loved one or a neighbor or somebody doing great community activism or organizing in your area. We love to hear about that. Send us your photos and pictures of you at Tesla takedown rallies or any of the 50501 or Hands off rallies or indivisible rallies. We'd love to hear about that. That's always good news. Also, shout outs to a small business in your area, or your small business, or yourself, or a government program that's helped you or a loved one. Whether it's, you know, wic, Snap, Head Start, Section eight is always good. Helps out so many the Affordable Care act and the subsidies there, student debt relief. Send it all to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. All you got to do to get your submission read on the air is pay your POD pet tariffs, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, find a random animal photo on the Internet. We like otters, frogs, red pandas, black and white pandas. Birds. If you wanted to send any bird watching photos, which can include an actual bird, or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to Trump and Musk Properties. We love that too. And if you don't have any of those animal photos, you can send baby photos. We also love those. So send it all to us again. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. This is from Cactus Jim. No pronouns given. Pissed off Arizona mothers have launched a recall against four state representatives. Matt Gress of LD4, that's Legislative District 4, David Livingston of LD28, Steve Montenegro of LD29 and Michael Carbone of LD25. Arizona has a program of training and paying parents as caregivers of severely disabled children. Originally it was federally funded by Biden due to Covid. But federal funding is running out. It saves money and in practice, there are no providers available to provide that level of care. Republicans wanted to severely curtail this program, limiting paid hours to 20 per week. This fight has been going on since January and they've dug in their heels. They finally made the deal this week after Governor Hobbs said she would not sign any bills of any kind unless they passed it. And the frustrated and disgusted mothers had formed a PAC and filed recall petitions against four of the worst of them. The recall is going forward. It will be very hard to get the thousands of signatures necessary by August, but we're putting them on notice. You are our representatives, not our rulers. Pictured is organizer and pissed off mommy Maria Ortega with Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. You will likely see Maria on the ballot next year. Yeah, Rule one of politics don't piss off mommies. I love this photo. I love Adrian Fontes. We've had him on the beans before. He is fantastic. Cactus Jim. Thanks for this everybody in Arizona. Get out there and try to work with the Democrats to get these signatures for this recall. Next up from Anonymous. I want to give a shout out to my amazing workplace as a Buddhist. I work at a United Methodist church in the Western United States that truly lives by the spirit of open minds, open hearts, open doors. This church is a home not just to its own congregation, but to a Buddhist community, a Jewish community, and a Muslim prayer group. It also serves as a private but deeply welcoming community center, hosting groups like Narcotics Anonymous, Parkinson's exercise classes, a grief support group, a mom's group, an interfaith discussion discussion group, a community group Standing against discrimination, and many, many more. Here, everyone respects and supports one another, even attending shared services and celebrations from time to time. It's a place where real connection thrives and to me, it embodies how spiritual communities should interact. Despite looking, I haven't found many other examples like it. It's a true joy to work there, helping coordinate the use of this sacred space intentionally designed for community sharing. It is a privilege and a joy to witness it in action. My pod pet tariff is a picture of my rescue dog Hank. Great name. He was a lover with such joy for life. We lost him a few years back, but he never wasted a day. Hank is fantastic. Okay, guess his breed. Oh my gosh, looks like a cattle dog, but I don't know, maybe a little pity. It's a beautiful pupper. Let's see Anonymous, what do we have here? DNA showed Australian cattle dog Woohoo and Chinese Crested. Okay, I Don't see any Chinese Crested in there, but fantastic. Beautiful. I love this dog. Thank you so much. I'm interested to know how a Chinese Crested got romantically involved with an Australian cattle dog. But here we are. And anyway, next up from Anonymous. Pronouns they and them. Bird watching this weekend at the local Tesla takedown. I'm Anonymous for fear of retaliation. Although someone retaliating against me for Honk if you hate Nazis. Needs to reassess their priorities like the administration. Great sign. Great flipping the bird to the Tesla dealership. Honk if you hate Nazis sign. Wonderful. Thank you, Anonymous. Next up, Wayne S. Non toxic mail. Yay. First time listener here. Heard y'all on TME with John. Oh, that's Tell Me everything with John Fugal saying, loved your show. Looking forward to future episodes. My tariff tax shall henceforth be paid with contributions from Lily Bean, my road dog, as I am an over the road driver. I love this, Wayne. I love your dog. This dog is beautiful. I'm assuming a Roddy did you say? I don't know. But she's gorgeous anyway, so thank you for that and welcome, welcome. We're glad to have you here. Next up, cat pronoun, she and her. We finally tracked Darrell Issa down in Santee. That's California. When I asked him when he was going to hold a town hall, he replied never. When I asked him why, he said, because you're Democrats. He couldn't care less that we're his constituents. Kat, I'm sorry he treated you that way. What a piece of shit. I really hope there's enough to just get him out of Congress for good. Next up, Frankie in Australia. Hi, AG and dg. A good news story to warm our hearts about a little dachshund named Valerie who's been found after 529 days on the run, living wild on a South Australian island. Oh, if only she could talk. Everybody, we're going to have a link to this story. It's called worked perfectly how wildlife team finally caught Valerie the dachshund after 529 days on the lamb. That brings me hope because my Bruce Willis, my cat's been missing for over a little over two years now. So thank you for this, Frankie. Next up, Carrie, bird watching photo. Oh, I love the smiles here. Hi, Beautiful beans, Queens. Here's a photo of my son and me giving the triple bird to the stupid Tesla cybertruck we always see whenever we go out to coffee together. First of all, it's so great that you all go out to coffee together. I Truly do not understand why someone would spend 100 grand on something this hideous. Thank you for all you do to brighten our days in this authoritarian nightmare we find ourselves trying to survive. We will. We will survive this. Carrie, thank you so much for this photo. Look it. Yeah, I love it. I love it. And Kate, I love. I just. I still can't get over that you go and you have coffee with them. So great. Carrie, thanks for that submission. Next up, from Peggy. She her a shout out to sunflower seed initiative for offering free sunflower seeds to plant in your garden. My tax is one of my favorite trees, a shore pine that flips the bird every spring. I'm really enjoying seeing it flip off the Trump musk properties this year. Yeah, okay. I've seen these trees. They do look like they're flipping you off a million times. This is fantastic. Thank you so much for this, Peggy. Then finally, we have a submission from Eva. Pronouns she and her. Thank you for your daily Swears news show. I appreciate getting the highlights of the lowlifes that are everything up for everyone everywhere. And I really appreciate hearing all the good news, too. I just wanted to share this sign at the April 19th protest in Chico, Chico, California. Please accept this photo as my tariff. The sign says I should be at home smoking weed and cleaning my house, but these goddamn Nazis are ruining my weekend. Nazis. That's a great sign. Thank you, Eva, and thanks to everybody for sending in your good news. Please send in your good news to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact if you're new. If you're a new listener to beans means let us know how it's going. Send in your good news. Just tell us, hey, I'm a new listener. And all you got to do is attach an animal photo or a bird photo or, or, you know, anything like that and, well, baby photos. Send your baby photos because Dana will be back tomorrow and she loves baby pictures. And yes, she is coming back tomorrow. I promise. We will see you. We will see you on the morrow. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by 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 msw media.com com msw media.