What Plants Crave (feat. Wajahat Ali)

Summary

The Daily Beans: Episode Summary – "What Plants Crave" (feat. Wajahat Ali) | April 7, 2025

Overview

In this episode of The Daily Beans, hosts Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg delve into a multitude of pressing political and social issues, interwoven with their characteristic snark and progressive perspectives. Featuring a special guest appearance by political commentator Wajahat Ali, the episode navigates through significant protests, pivotal court rulings, governmental policy shifts, and high-profile legal cases. Additionally, the hosts engage with their community through the "Good News" segment, highlighting positive actions and stories from listeners.

Major News Stories Covered

1. Protests Against Elon Musk and Donald Trump

   The episode kicks off with a rundown of the massive protests that erupted over the weekend against the administrations of Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Alison Gill reports, "millions protested Musk and Trump over the weekend in 1300 hands off rallies in all 50 states, D.C., and abroad" (00:00). Dana Goldberg emphasizes the significance of these demonstrations, stating, "Them seeing those numbers should scare them. The country is pissed" (07:00). The protests, organized by over 150 groups including civil rights organizations and labor unions, spanned the United States and internationally, showcasing widespread discontent with government downsizing, economic policies, and human rights issues.

2. North Carolina Ballot Cure Order

   A critical legal development in North Carolina is discussed, where a court has ordered voters to "cure their ballots in the state Supreme Court race from last year" (00:00). Alison Gill elaborates on this ruling, highlighting the potential disenfranchisement of 60,000 voters unless they rectify their ballots within 15 days (16:00). The panel, comprising both Republican and Democratic judges, overturned a lower court's decision that had previously protected these ballots. Justice Riggs, the incumbent Democratic Justice, condemned the decision, calling it a "deeply misinformed" move that threatens to "disenfranchise more than 65,000 lawful voters" (16:00). Dana anticipates a robust volunteer effort to assist voters in rectifying their ballots, expressing optimism about grassroots mobilization (17:08).

3. Social Security Administration Job Cuts

   The Social Security Administration (SSA) is under scrutiny as reports emerge that it is "drafting plans to begin layoffs of potentially thousands more employees as soon as this week" (10:49). Alison Gill expresses her concern, particularly for elderly and middle-aged Americans reliant on Social Security, noting, "this is frightening" (12:02). Dana Goldberg urges listeners to counter the administration’s narrative that Social Security is merely a "handout," stressing that it is an "investment in our future" (12:14). The discussion underscores the broader implications of governmental austerity measures on vulnerable populations.

4. Reversals and Reinstatements by RFK Jr.

   RFK Jr.'s administration faces backlash as it walks back some of the program and employee cuts from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (00:00). Alison Gill criticizes the inefficiency and expense of these reversals, stating, "It's an expensive mistake" (18:39). The hosts discuss the broader impact of these administrative decisions, highlighting the removal of crucial programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s lead exposure monitoring (19:21). They express frustration with the lack of strategic planning in governmental cost-cutting measures, which inadvertently harm essential services and marginalized communities.

5. Legal Proceedings Against George Santos

   A significant legal development involves former Republican Congressman George Santos, who faces a hefty prison sentence. Alison Gill reports that federal prosecutors are "asking for 87 months in prison" for Santos's array of "unparalleled crimes," including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft (26:13). Dana Goldberg comments on the severity of the charges, suggesting that the judge may lean towards a four to eight-year sentence despite initial public speculation of more extended imprisonment (26:32). The hosts discuss the potential for a Trump pardon, questioning Santos's value to his former ally (27:35).

6. Russell Brand Charged with Sexual Assault

   The episode also covers the disturbing charges against comedian and activist Russell Brand. Dana Goldberg states, "the comedian and actor Russell Brand has been charged with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault" (28:06). Alison Gill underscores the gravity of these allegations, stressing, "He is a horrible human being" (28:07). The hosts discuss Brand's history of allegations and express a mix of relief and concern over the emergence of these charges after years of speculation.

In-Depth Discussions

1. Impact and Significance of the Protests

   Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg delve deeper into the implications of the widespread protests against Musk and Trump. Dana highlights the diversity of the protest groups, including LGBTQ advocates and veterans, illustrating a broad coalition united against the current administration's policies. She asserts, "It's not just Democrats and progressives and independents walking in these protests. There are a lot of Republicans that feel slighted by their own party and especially by this president" (07:00). The discussion emphasizes the potential for these large-scale demonstrations to influence political discourse and policy-making.

2. Legal and Electoral Concerns in North Carolina

   The hosts critically analyze the North Carolina court ruling that disenfranchises thousands of voters unless they correct their ballots. Alison Gill parallels this situation with previous instances where judges removed preliminary injunctions, leading to adverse outcomes for affected individuals (14:07). Dana Goldberg expresses skepticism about the administration's intentions, noting the lack of substantial evidence to justify the deportations and the subsequent appeal to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (16:00). The conversation highlights concerns about the erosion of voting rights and judicial impartiality.

3. Social Security Cuts and Their Broader Implications

   Discussing the SSA's ongoing and potential future layoffs, Alison and Dana voice deep concerns about the administration's approach to Social Security. Dana Goldberg stresses the importance of combating the narrative that frames Social Security as a mere handout, emphasizing its role as a critical safety net for millions of Americans (12:14). Alison shares personal anxieties about the impact on her own family, underscoring the human cost of bureaucratic inefficiencies and policy missteps (12:02).

4. Critique of RFK Jr.'s Policy Decisions

   Alison Gill criticizes RFK Jr.'s administration for its hasty and inefficient approach to reversing job cuts and program eliminations within HHS. She highlights the financial and administrative burdens of reinstating previously cut positions, questioning the overall strategy behind these decisions (18:39). Dana Goldberg echoes this sentiment, pointing out the inconsiderate and reckless nature of these policy reversals, which undermine the effectiveness of governmental operations (18:50).

5. Media's Role in Shaping Political Narratives

   A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing the media's influence on political narratives and public perception. This theme is further explored during the guest segment with Wajahat Ali, who offers a critical analysis of mainstream media's role in perpetuating right-wing disinformation and the challenges faced by progressive media outlets in countering these narratives.

Guest Segment: Wajahat Ali on Media and Messaging

Introduction of Wajahat Ali

At 30:51, Wajahat Ali joins the conversation, introducing himself as the author of The Left Hook, a Substack publication focusing on leftist perspectives and progressive activism. He critiques the current media landscape, arguing that corporate media has failed to adequately represent or support progressive causes, leaving independent voices to fend for themselves.

Media Dominance and Progressives' Struggles

Wajahat Ali emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between the media and political movements, stating, "Without the media, there's no Donald Trump. Without the media, there's no MAGA" (30:57). He critiques the Democrats for relying on "outdated, tired modes of corporate six to seven figure lobbyists" and failing to connect authentically with the electorate. Ali contrasts this with how right-wing media, including podcasts and comedians, have effectively disseminated disinformation and fueled the culture wars.

Challenges in Progressive Messaging

Ali discusses the messaging challenges faced by progressive movements, highlighting how the Democratic establishment often appears "inauthentic" and "too trained," which alienates potential supporters. He points out that progressive voices are often sidelined in favor of more curated and safe media spaces that do not reach the masses effectively. This, he argues, creates a disconnect between the establishment and grassroots movements.

Strategies for Effective Activism

Ali advocates for building independent media platforms to empower progressive voices, stating, "The left hook.sack.com was to be part and parcel of this community." He stresses the importance of reader-supported models to sustain independent journalism and activism. Additionally, Ali highlights the need for authentic, grassroots-driven communication strategies to effectively counteract right-wing narratives and misinformation.

Critique of Mainstream Media's Reporting

Ali critiques mainstream media's tendency to "parrot" right-wing talking points, especially regarding cultural and social issues like gender identity and union rights. He argues that this has allowed right-wing actors to mainstream their disinformation and conspiracy theories, making it challenging for progressive media to gain traction and influence public opinion.

Good News Segment

The "Good News" segment features listener submissions that highlight positive actions, community support, and personal stories of resilience and activism. The hosts encourage listeners to share their good news by sending photos or stories, which are then read on air.

1. Community Support in Western North Carolina

   Dana Goldberg shares a heartfelt submission from a listener named Sarah, who applauds her friends Beth and Mary for their efforts in aiding communities affected by Hurricane Hilmaline in Western North Carolina. The listeners commend their organization, Swannanoa Communities Together, for providing housing and essential support to those in need (69:02).

2. Supportive Messages and Pet Stories

   The hosts receive various personal stories and photos, including corrections about cat breeds, acknowledgments of missed protests due to personal injuries, and heartwarming tales of rescued pets. One notable submission is from Melanie K., who praises her friends for their activism and shares touching photos of her pets, emphasizing the blend of joy and resilience within the community (72:19).

3. Activism and Personal Courage

   Dana recounts a powerful moment from a recent cruise where she highlighted the service and sacrifice of Commander Emily Schilling, a transgender military officer facing administrative challenges. This story resonated deeply with the audience, resulting in a "two-minute standing ovation" and reinforcing the theme of solidarity and support for marginalized communities within the military (73:00).

In-Depth Discussion: Media, Messaging, and Progressive Strategies

Returning to the main discussion, Wajahat Ali and Alison Gill explore the pressing issue of media influence on political outcomes. Ali argues that corporate media has systematically marginalized progressive voices, allowing right-wing narratives to dominate public discourse through strategic use of culture wars and disinformation campaigns. He asserts, "They understand this really well, right? So you pick on a cultural issue, you attack it nonstop" (37:39).

Alison Gill echoes these concerns, highlighting the disconnect between mainstream media coverage and the reality of grassroots movements. She laments the lack of extensive media coverage for significant protests, attributing this to biased reporting and media complacency. Gill emphasizes the need for progressive media outlets to establish their own platforms to effectively communicate and mobilize support (42:11).

Strategies for Counteracting Media Bias

Both Gill and Ali advocate for the creation and support of independent media channels that prioritize authenticity and grassroots engagement over corporate interests. Ali suggests leveraging Substack and other independent platforms to bypass mainstream media gatekeepers and directly reach the progressive base. He underscores the importance of community-supported journalism, free from paywalls, to ensure accessibility and widespread dissemination of progressive ideas (34:59).

Economic and Policy Critiques

The hosts critique the Trump administration's economic policies, including unilateral tariffs that have strained international relationships and harmed domestic industries. They argue that these policies reflect a broader trend of reckless governance that disregards both economic stability and international cooperation. Alison Gill highlights the administration's inconsistent messaging and lack of strategic economic planning as key factors contributing to political disillusionment among voters (55:34).

Concluding Perspectives

As the episode draws to a close, Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg reinforce the importance of sustained activism and the creation of independent media platforms. They stress the need for progressive movements to maintain clear, consistent messaging that directly addresses current governmental policies and their impacts. The guest, Wajahat Ali, reaffirms his commitment to building supportive media ecosystems that empower progressive voices and counteract right-wing narratives.

Notable Quotes

• Dana Goldberg (07:00): "There are a lot of Republicans that feel slighted by their own party and especially by this president."

• Alison Gill (12:02): "This is frightening. And I'm worried about my mom."

• Wajahat Ali (30:57): "Without the media, there's no Donald Trump. Without the media, there's no MAGA."

• Dana Goldberg (12:14): "Make sure, with the messaging of that every time they say that you're like, this was not a handout to anybody. This is literally an investment in our future."

• Wajahat Ali (37:39): "If you pick on a cultural issue, you attack it nonstop... we have to create something on our own."

Conclusion

This episode of The Daily Beans offers a comprehensive examination of the intersection between politics, media, and social activism. By dissecting major news events, providing critical analysis of governmental policies, and fostering community engagement through the "Good News" segment, Alison Gill and Dana Goldberg provide listeners with both a sobering assessment of current challenges and a hopeful outlook on collective action and progressive change. The insightful contributions of Wajahat Ali further enrich the discussion, highlighting the essential role of independent media in shaping a more equitable and just society.

Transcript

[Alison Gill]

MSW media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, April 7, 2025. Today, millions protested Musk and Trump over the weekend in 1300 hands off rallies in all 50 states, D.C. and abroad. A court orders North Carolina voters to cure their ballots in the state Supreme Court race from last year. A federal judge rules that the Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador must be returned to the United States. Prosecutors are asking for 87 months in prison for Jorge Santos. The Supreme Court lets Trump suspend grants for teachers. The the South Korean court has upheld President Yun Suk Yeol's impeachment over his invocation of martial law. The Social Security administration is facing thousands more job cuts. RFK Jr is walking back some of the programs and employees cut from Health and Human Services. And Russell Brand has been charged with rape and sexual assault in London. I'm Alison Gill.

[Dana Goldberg]

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

[Alison Gill]

That's right. Like I promised, Dana Goldberg is back.

[Dana Goldberg]

I'm back, everyone. Thank you, Allison, for holding down the fort. And I have to say, well, welcome to all of the new Beans listeners that were on the cruise with me. And also to all the beans listeners that were already there. We had a really lovely group. We had a little meet and greet. There was a few Stephanie Millers mixed in. It's just there's so many people. And the thing is, the majority of people at this meet and greet. Allison, this won't surprise you. We're from Florida.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, wow.

[Dana Goldberg]

The crews left from Fort Lauderdale, so that makes sense. But I do think we've got a lot of listeners in red states that are looking to us for some reprieve and some sanity and some guidance on little things that we can do. So I'm glad that they are with us. Welcome to all the new listeners. And I told them to go back to January 5th and listen to charismatic megaplastics from 2021 just to, you know, get your little Daily Beans cherry popped.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, yeah, it is. I think it's an important episode. And. And that goes to all of our new listeners. If you have not yet gone back and listened to Charismatic megaplastics, which aired January 5, 2021. Definitely check that out. Dana, you were like, I don't know what the else he can do that's impeachable, but I' tomorrow's freaking me out. You're like, I don't. I don't know what else is on deck here. But like, holy.

[Dana Goldberg]

Then look what happened.

[Alison Gill]

We were just like, yeah. I mean, and I said, we can't imagine because we don't have cold, dead, blackened hearts.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

So we can't imagine what's going to happen in the next 15 days. You're like, how many more times can you be impeached in the next.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God. And then all hell broke loose. My God.

[Alison Gill]

Hell broke loose. But the reason you need to listen to charismatic megaplastics is in. Is in the good news.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Portion of that show. You will need to peel yourself up off the floor after having covered your device that you're listening on in. Whatever has come out of your nose that you were taking a step up.

[Dana Goldberg]

I still feel like I'm moving a little bit on a ship. So if something wonky goes today, I'm blaming it on that. I was actually standing in a building today, and I said to the people I was standing next to, does the floor slant down? Yeah. And they were like, no, it's really. Even. One of them had a level in his hand, and I was like, okay, it's definitely me. So just preempting that. That we already knew. I have pronunciation problems. There could be more chaos today. We're going to find out soon.

[Alison Gill]

Somebody had a level in their hand, like, just to. To show you that the room was level. Or was it. There were other.

[Dana Goldberg]

We were. We were. I was looking at an apartment. Oh.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, okay.

[Dana Goldberg]

Could you imagine? I was at my gynecologist office, and I was like, this does not look even. And they pulled out a level, and they were like, neither does this. Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

People just follow us around with a level just in case we get off kilter. Something could go wrong at any.

[Dana Goldberg]

Are about a quarter of an inch. The left one's higher. Thanks a lot.

[Alison Gill]

You have a tilted uterus, so not on the level. And now everyone knows. Welcome. Welcome to the Daily Beat.

[Dana Goldberg]

If this is your first episode, I'm Dana Goldberg. It's a pleasure to meet you. And for the rest of the listeners, no one's surprised.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, my gosh. And it was so great, too. Like, you said, you were. I was like, all right, send. Send photos of the beans listeners. I was thinking, like, three or four people. There were a ton.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. You were like, all of these are peace listeners. And that wasn't even the whole of them. Some of them never saw the Post. So it was just the people that actually saw the Post on the page. And it was lovely. We talked about some small things we can do, which I'll. I'll head into. Maybe we can start the good news block with that. But just some small points to really focus on of what we can do moving forward because there's something all of us are doing that I don't think we're realizing is actually causing a problem. And there's a teaser for you and we'll get back to it.

[Wajahat Ali]

All right.

[Alison Gill]

I'll put a pin in that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Please do.

[Alison Gill]

Later on in the show, I'm going to be joined by my good friend Wajahat Ali. He is the author of the Left Hook, which is a really, really great substack. You should all subscribe. It's free to subscribe. If you want to subscribe. We talk about that too, how we're terrible capitalists because all of our content is free now. His dad gets that true for leaving money on the table. And he's like, how I thought we were smarter. And I was like, watch, I have an mba. And he's like, what's wrong with you? We got a, we have a really great talk coming up. You're going to get to hear that later in the show. We have so much news to get to today, though. And again, I'm so glad you're back, my good friend Dana. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from CBS News, opponents of Trump and billionaire Elon Musk rallied across the United States on Saturday to protest the administration's actions on government downsizing the economy, human rights and a ton of other issues. More than 1200, almost 1300 hands off demonstrations were planned by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LGBTQ advocates, veterans, elections activists. 50501 Indivisible immobilize us. The protests were taking place at the national mall in D.C. state capitals and a ton of other locations in all 50 states. And I shared a thread on blue sky of photos and videos from just like, you know, Duluth and like small town in Alabama called like Flowers Mound or something like that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Like, excuse me.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I know, I know. But just everywhere Ruby red districts, people and of course in big cities got in New York, there were like a hundred thousand people. Just huge, huge rallies.

[Dana Goldberg]

I mean I, I saw a number that the, I mean I'm sure they put drones over these so they can like literally figure out the over 5 million people took to the streets.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, it's incredible.

[Dana Goldberg]

Huge. And it does give me hope. You know, one of the things is that we always say do not surrender in advance. Don't say it's not going to work. Don't say it's not going to matter if we protest. It matters. Them seeing those numbers should scare them. The country is pissed. And I guarantee it's not just Democrats and progressives and independents walking in these protests. There are a lot of Republicans that feel slighted by their own party and especially by this president. So continue to do it. Continue to make your voices heard.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, agreed. Agreed. I think Bernie Sanders gave a little speech on a video where he just went through all the terrible things Musk and Trump are doing, and he's like, but there's good news. There's good news. People are coming out. They're rallying. They are tired of the 1% that, you know, like, it's a pretty good.

[Dana Goldberg]

That's a pretty good Sanders.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you. I mean, you know, I ran to be a delegate in 2016. Even though I'm a shitlib, neocon, centrist fuckface or whatever the fuck people call.

[Dana Goldberg]

Me, I mean, that's just foreplay when they say those things to you.

[Alison Gill]

I know. It's pillow talk.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Anyway, you know, he's very excited. I'm very excited. Aoc, him hit the rallies and that whole thing, that whole JVL Bulwark article where I'm like, we. Where they said, we do these little rallies out in our little areas away from the Capitol. We get everybody's email addresses. We build momentum. We build the grassroots campaign. Bernie and AOC said that they're now hiring hundreds and hundreds of grassroots on the ground people to do that, to organize.

[Dana Goldberg]

Amazing.

[Alison Gill]

And to build on this so that when we go forward, when we come up on 20, 26, we can just abso. Absolutely. Kill it.

[Dana Goldberg]

In the midterms, I actually saw an amazing meme because everyone's like, bernie's too old. What is he doing? And listen, I've got opinions about the gentleman. However, comma, the meme said Bernie's not running so he can be president. I mean, Bernie's not doing this so he can run for presidency. He's doing it for. So anyone can run for the presidency. They're trying to lay the foundation and the framework so that when our candidate, whoever the candidate is in 28, actually has already a surplus of support and a base in there. So just remember that.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, 100%. Thanks.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely. And we've got some good news, actually, from the Times. A federal judge permanently barred the Trump administration on Friday from limiting funding from the National Institutes of Health and supports research at universities and academic medical centers, restoring billions of dollars in grant money, but setting up an almost certain appeal. Okay. The ruling by Judge Angel Kelly of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts made an earlier temporary order by her permanent and was one of the first final decisions and the barrage of lawsuits against the Trump administration. But it came about in an unusual way. The government asked the court to enter that, the very verdict earlier on Friday so it could move ahead with an appeal.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, they asked him to put that.

[Dana Goldberg]

Very verdict in place so that they could actually go, just fucking say it so that we can move on, because we're about to respond. Right.

[Alison Gill]

Remember when, like, Harris, I think it was Kathy Harris or was Dellinger or one of the people on a. That were being fired was like, it was Kathy Harris. She was like, can you meld together my preliminary injunction and the merits so that you can make a more permanent injunction? And the judge is like, yes. Well, that's what, that's what happened again here. Which is weird because you can appeal a preliminary injunction, but they got the permanent. They got the permanent one. So that is good news. Thanks for that. And I mean, the blocking grants from the National Institutes of Health, you know, I was talking to Dr. Halkitis, who is the dean of public health admissions at Rutgers, had him on the beans last week while you were gone. He went over all of the ways that this negatively, these blocked grants negatively impact marginalized communities.

[Dana Goldberg]

Good people need to hear it. They need to hear it when it's spelled out for people so they actually understand, man, you can change minds, that's for sure.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, Agreed. Thank you. Thank you for that news also. Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration, already reeling from plunging customer service following a rapid downsizing under Musk and Doge and Trump, they're actually drafting plans to begin layoffs of potentially thousands more employees as soon as this week. The cuts have been ordered by leaders of Elon Musk's cost cutting team. The Doge service. That's a fun way to say it. Which his cost cutting team, which reviewed the agency's plans to shrink its workforce last week, according to four agency officials familiar with the conversations, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the plans. And they also didn't want to end up like Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, probably. Doge determined that 7,000 jobs eliminated since February under Leland Dudic through early retirements, buyouts, resignations, and firings, were just simply not enough. So they're going to do more. And a lot of people are already not getting their checks. They're getting their checks late. A lot of this, The Hands Off 2025 was motivated by people, hands off my Social Security.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

So this is, this is frightening. And I'm worried about my, my, my mom. And this isn't just going to impact elderly people, as you know, it's going to impact middle aged people who are currently taking care of their aging parents.

[Dana Goldberg]

Absolutely. And we have to keep the messaging on this. Every time they're like, it's a handout. It's a handout. These things. This is our f, this is the money that we put in there. This is what the program was set up to do. So make sure, with the messaging of that every time they say that you're like, this was not a handout to anybody. This is literally an investment in our future. It's how it had worked for a very long time. So we just have to make sure we get our messaging together and hammer it in. Every time they try and do something like this, it's infuriating.

[Alison Gill]

It is. And I didn't get a $38 million handout contract from the federal government like Musk did.

[Dana Goldberg]

Correct.

[Alison Gill]

I don't get any corporate subsidies from the United States government. But, yeah, of course, it's the, it's my mom who makes 1800amonth that she's her, she's the problem.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. This one. Disappointing. Honestly, this, this ruling, to be, to be completely honest, I, I, I, we can talk about it. I'm not sure I understand, so maybe you can help me see it. The Supreme Court on Friday let the Trump administration tem. Suspend $65 million in teacher training grants that the government contends would promote, and I quote, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. That's an early victory for the administration in front of the scotus. You know, the court's orders, they was, it was unsigned, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The temporary pause is going to remain in effect while the case is appealed. Well, the decision, it was five, four, so it wasn't a six, three. And Roberts, we're going to talk about that in a minute. When. With the liberals. But it was five, four. As we know, the five of the court's conservatives, that's Coney, Barrett, Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Kavanaugh, they were all in the majority. Like I said, Roberts and the three liberal justices, they dissented. So I don't. Alison, do you have a read on this as to why you think that they would do that?

[Alison Gill]

This was a preliminary injunction, which is appealable. And I'm guessing that the Supreme Court thinks that the status quo is to allow what the Trump administration wants to do to happen while they try to appeal this. It's similar to why Hampton Dellinger pulled his lawsuit against his firing. It's because they had removed the preliminary injunction that kept him in his job so he would be out of his job for the pendency of the merits, which could take up to a year. And so that's my guess is that Amy Coney Barrett is kind of coming down on the side with the conservative justices saying, nope, status quo isn't how it was before Trump was in office. Status quo is what happened after Trump made these decisions. And we have to hold that while you appeal what happened. But there's no indication that that is the reason. It's just, it's just my guess.

[Dana Goldberg]

Got it. And putting these things on hold, this could take a really long time. That's $65 million in teacher training grants. That's not going reach who it needs to reach that. I don't understand how anyone at this point in any of these fields, federal government, teachers, any of these people could possibly support this administration anymore. I just, it's mind boggling to me.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I know. Especially canceling union bargaining, collective bargaining rights. Like, what the fuck? I remember that happened in, in 2018, 2017. I was in a meeting. I was the Department of Veterans Affairs. I was at Vaco Va Central office. We went twice a year. I was working remotely, but we went twice, twice a year for a, you know, planning meeting for the next year. And some guy from the union and said, hey, we're not allowed to collectively bargain anymore. Just a heads up. And we were like, what? Like, this is so. It's not new. We saw it coming, but that doesn't make it any less awful.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Alison Gill]

Here's something that is just. They're stealing elections. In this next story from Democracy docket, a three judge panel in North Carolina appeals court ruled Friday to disenfranchise 60,000 ISH voters in the state Supreme Court election unless they can cure their ballots. And they gave them 15 days to cure their ballots. 60,000 people. The panel, composed of two Republican judges and a Democratic judge, overturned a lower courts decision that protected the ballots and had dismissed challenges filed by Republicans and candidate Jefferson Griffin. Incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, whose victory Griffin challenged, said in a statement, she quote, will be promptly appealing this deeply misinformed decision that threatens to disenfranchise more than 65,000 lawful voters and sets a dangerous precedent allowing disappointed politicians to thwart the will of the people. So they will be appealing it to the North Carolina Supreme Court. But that is a pretty conservative court as well, but we'll keep an eye on it. And also please subscribe to and follow Democracy docket and Mark Elias.

[Dana Goldberg]

I think what's gonna happen, and just because I have faith in the good people of North Carolina, you're about to see one of the biggest volunteering things we've seen in a very long time time of people that are saying, I will help cure the ballots. We have 15 days. Let's do this. Let's go. Like, people are fired up. And if they're going to try and steal another seat, another seat in the Supreme Court, you know, I know this is a lower court, but it's the court of North Carolina. It. I think people are going to be pissed. And I would not be surprised if you see thousands of volunteers come out and say, give me some ballots. I'm on it.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I hope so.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, I hope so, too. This one's from ABC. And on the heels of terminating 10,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services this week, Secretary RFK Jr told ABC News some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut. Really? I'm sorry, did the worm in your brain cut them? And he was like, excuse me, worm, you did not consult with me first. He's like, I was talking to the whale head on your wall. We decided we were going to cut programs off the cuts, by the way, that were made. Sorry, it's. I don't know. I'm losing my mind. I really. These people drive me crazy.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Of the cuts that were made, Kennedy said some would be brought back because they were not the administrative roles that the Department of Government Efficiency run by, as we know, Musk. Whether they want to admit that or not, that they weren't aiming to eliminate those such as communications or human resource jobs, and that research, quote, or studies were also wrongly swept up in the mass layoffs. That's a big mistake. Research and studies at the Department of Health and Human Services.

[Alison Gill]

It's an expensive mistake, too, having to return all these employees, get them back in, get their computers, get their logins, get their badges, get them access. It's expensive. And this is not, not the way. This is why, you know, when we look at. For fraud, waste and abuse, we don't do it with a sledgehammer right.

[Dana Goldberg]

Now, of course, they asked RFK about it, and his. His comments were in response to a question about a branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that monitors lead exposure levels among children and manages prevention across the country. That program was gutted on Tuesday. And so I'm sure they're like, what? Yeah, seriously, you know, pro. Pro life. Pro life. Until they come out of the womb and then them all. Yep. Sorry.

[Alison Gill]

Lead in the pipes. It's toad school.

[Dana Goldberg]

Toad's cool. Water and flint, no problem.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. I think Utah just took the fluoride out of their water, so that should be fun for them.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God.

[Alison Gill]

Everything's based on conspiracy theories now. Absolutely everything. They're gonna. I'm waiting for Pam Bonnie to launch an investigation into whether or not we landed on the moon.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, actually, I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah. Whether it was a hoax.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Or we could put, you know, I don't know. Let's see Ben Shapiro in charge of Noah and have him see if the earth is flat. Like, this is what's gonna happen. I. It's disgusting. But he's reversed. This is. Remember when they, like, fired a bunch of people who watch the nuclear stockpile and they're like, oh, you should probably come back.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. No one's watching that. Anyone seen the football? Have you seen the football? Football?

[Alison Gill]

Have you seen the nuclear football?

[Dana Goldberg]

Has anyone seen the football?

[Alison Gill]

I haven't seen it before.

[Dana Goldberg]

Check Charlie Brown. He's got it totally.

[Alison Gill]

Next up from Politico, and this is a huge story. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring a Maryland man back to the United States by midnight Monday after concluding that he was unlawfully deported to his home country of El Salvador despite an immigration court order from 2019 that said. Said that prevented him from being shipped out to El Salvador. U. S. District Judge Paula Sinis. I hope I'm saying that correctly. It's X I n I S. Could be. Hennis issued the order on Friday requiring the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia following an extraordinary hearing during which the government flatly admitted that he was deported in violation of federal law. Not just accidentally, not just because of a paperwork error, not just because he had a tattoo that we pulled off of a white guy named Pete from the UK in 2016, but because he. But that he was actually deported in violation of federal law. Yeah. Levitt. Caroline Levitt earlier this week called Abrego Garcia a member of the brutal and vicious MS.13 gang and said he will not be returning to our country. But Sinis, the Obama appointee, the judge said Friday that the government had shown her nothing to back up the claims of gang membership. Quote, that's just chatter in my view. I haven't been given any evidence. That's what she said in a court of law. When someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding that has robust processes so we can assess the facts, unquote. The Justice Department immediately appealed Sinis's decision to the Richmond, Virginia based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. A concession from the administration that it can bring Abrego Garcia back could be leveraged in other legal cases as evidence that the US has the power to return more than 130 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador last month. And Boasberg kind of referenced this case in a hearing that happened last week. In a rare courtroom exchange at Friday's hearing, the lawyer defending the government in the case expressed exasperation with the Trump regime's approach and its refusal to respond to his questions. He said, quote, I'm also frustrated that I have no answer for you on a lot of these questions. That's Arez Reuveni, that's an assistant director in the Justice Department's Office of Immigration Litigation, went on to say, quote, the government made a choice here to produce no evidence. That's the lawyer argument for the government brutal. Raveni has been put on administrative leave, by the way, by the Trump administration for failing to zealously argue on behalf of their illegal bullshit. But in her ruling, the judge said that the Trump administration clings to the stunning proposition that they can forcibly remove any person, migrant and US Citizen alike, to prisons outside the United States and then baldly asserts that they have no way to effectuate return. And you know, we have, we've had in the Venezuela case, in the Alien Enemies act case, we had like more than a dozen people that were returned because they didn't take women at the prison or they were not Venezuela or Ven, Venezuelan or El Salvadoran, but Salvadoran. I'm not sure if they're the. You use the O when you talk about people from El Salvador, but this is bizarre. And the Trump administration, by the way, we're recording on Sunday, demanded that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals give them a ruling by 5:00pm Eastern time. And as of this recording, I'm just double checking right now. I'm looking at the docket circuit. Did it dock it? Yeah. No, still nothing. They still, the Fourth Circuit has ignored Trump's demand that they rule on this by 5pm Eastern.

[Dana Goldberg]

It'd be really interesting. And I say this, I don't like to go down conspiracy wormholes, but I hope this person, when they are brought back is protected. They've been in a place where People don't have communication. No one can talk about what's going on in the prisons. He's been there. He knows what's going on. He knows if there's any going on with his transfers and everything else. And we already know there is. I just really hope they protect this man when they bring him back.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, me too.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. This one's from NBC. South Korean court upheld impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, officially throwing him out of office over his botched imposition of martial law and setting the stage for a new presidential election. The eight judges on the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously against you. And he's 64 years old. Yep. Finding him guilty on all counts. Look at that. Justice the decision.

[Alison Gill]

Jealous of the court.

[Dana Goldberg]

We have. Supreme Court's jealousy.

[Alison Gill]

Court envy.

[Dana Goldberg]

The decision, which was broadcast live, by the way, to cheering and despairing crowds, and cannot be appealed. It can't be appealed. Allison, no.

[Alison Gill]

That's their highest court.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. It means an election for Yoon's successor. It has to be held within 60 days. Why the fuck does every other country, it seems, know how to get this done? Not every. Because, you know, there's Russia and Israel's questionable with Netanyahu. But, yeah, people are actually making decisions here, which is beautiful.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Their Supreme Court's like, yeah, no, you're guilty on all these counts. You're out. You're owt. Yesterday's news. Bell bottoms, get the fuck out. And our Supreme Court's like, we love you, you're so handsome. And you're immune from. Here's a crown for you and a little robe. I place you under my protection.

[Dana Goldberg]

Like.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, yeah, I'm with you. Court envy. All right, next up from the Times, federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of more than seven years for George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose career unraveled after much of his resume was revealed to be the product of a stunning series of lies. And what did we say? People were like, oh, he's facing for 40, 50, 60 years in prison. I'm like, it's probably like four to eight years. Years.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. And here Qatar is going to serve a couple, though, too, I think.

[Alison Gill]

Okay. Yeah, I'm fine with that. And in a court filing on Friday, prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York asked for a sentence of 87 months to reflect the seriousness of his unparalleled crimes. Unparalleled. Except for Andy.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, my God. This would be amazing. Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Seriously, you know, in 2023, he was charged with 23 felony counts while he was still a representative in Congress. He pled guilty in August after his expulsion from the House to two of the charges. He pled guilty wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and admitted to an array of other deceits. Lies.

[Dana Goldberg]

Otherwise known as lies.

[Alison Gill]

Put it lightly, right. Mr. Santos, 36. Dudes, 36. Is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25th. Guidelines. Remember, it was. It was postponed because he was like, I have a podcast now and I can make money. Was that him? I can't even remember.

[Dana Goldberg]

I can't remember either.

[Alison Gill]

There's so many guidelines call for a sentence of six or seven years in prison, though the judge in the case will make the final decision. And again, this is after a guilty plea. Okay. This isn't. You know, they don't have to prove this.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah, right.

[Alison Gill]

This isn't Trump's DOJ being like, we're gonna take him to the cleaners. This is, you know, we'll see. Will Trump pardon him? Is he have. Does he have any value to Donald Trump?

[Dana Goldberg]

Right.

[Alison Gill]

That's the question.

[Dana Goldberg]

Also, are any of. Were there any estates crimes in New York that he was actually charged with? Because those are not pardonable.

[Alison Gill]

Right. And no, because it was all federal. Did it? Yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Got it. Damn it.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I know.

[Dana Goldberg]

I mean, if we dig deep enough, I'm sure there's going to be some states crimes that were committed. He's. I can't.

[Alison Gill]

It's.

[Dana Goldberg]

There's so many of them. And it's so. It's amazing because when this. Democrats make these dumb decisions, too, all of us are like, lot. Put. Do it.

[Alison Gill]

Serve your time.

[Dana Goldberg]

Serve your time. Yep, yep, yep, yep. All right. I just want to do a sexual assault trigger warning on this story because this piece of. We already knew this, so file this under. No, of course we already knew this. It's from the Guardian. The comedian and actor Russell Brand has been charged with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault. He is a horrible human being. I don't give a. If you think you found Jesus. Brand will appear in court in London on 2 May, according to the Metropolitan Police, which began investigating him in September of 2023 after a range of allegations. Of course, he said all of them were untrue, so hopefully there's some libel there with other civil cases. The force said the allegations related to four separate women. Four separate women. Those are just the ones that came forward, by the way, as it appealed for anyone affected by the case to come forward. So they're waiting to see if anyone else is out there. It's alleged that Brand raped a woman in 1999 in the Burnmouth area. I. I don't know if I'm. Someone. Please send in a correction. I believe that's probably in London somewhere. The Bournemouth area. Indecently assaulted a woman in 2001 in the Westminster area of London. Oh, God, I'm so sorry. Another trigger here.

[Wajahat Ali]

Just.

[Dana Goldberg]

I just hate the way this even sounds. Orally raped and sexually assaulted a woman in 2004 in Westminster and sexually assaulted a woman in Westminster between 2004 and 2005. This guy's a piece of shit. We'd have known this, you know, his whole I found God and I'm going to preach and all this ethereal stuff. We knew so many people already knew this about Russell, and now people are finally believing. And he's been charged. Thank God.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Especially in the industry. And, yeah, I'm glad he's been charged. We'll keep an eye on that, man. That investigation took a couple years, about a year and a half. Wow. To get these charges. So, yeah, we'll follow that trial. It'll be in. In the UK and. Good. I'm glad that he's faced. He didn't just do an interview with, like, Don Jr. Or something. I think he was just, like, just here. Like, I wouldn't.

[Dana Goldberg]

I wouldn't be surprised. Well, I think he came, didn't. I mean, he was super proud that the Tate brothers were here. I think was part of it. Like, he's one of those douchebags. I don't know. He probably did do an interview with Junior.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I think he did.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

I think there's a photo of him, like, looking super. You know what? Looks aside, they're just a couple of up dudes. Yeah. Put it that way. All right, everybody, let's get into some good trouble.

[Wajahat Ali]

What are you guys doing?

[Alison Gill]

All right, today's good trouble comes from Elizabeth Booker Houston. Let's listen to what she has to say. Stitch incoming.

[Wajahat Ali]

JD Vance just now tweeted out, if a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the Attorney General on how to use her discretion, that would be illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.

[D]

J.D. vance, you are sofa stupid. Is this you? Is that you with your attorney's license with the Kentucky Bar Association? Is this where we file complaints against attorneys for violating ethics, including, I don't know, denying the separation of Powers, which is like Law 101. I think so. And I know people are like, are you really going to send a bunch of complaints to the Kentucky Bar association against the Vice President? Yes, yes, the I am. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Because every bit of time and bit of money we can take from these people as they fight against lawsuits, complaints, investigations, what have you. Well, worth it. Okay. They said we couldn't have gender identity, so I chose to identify as a problem. They can suck it.

[Alison Gill]

Everyone. We will have a link with instructions to file a complaint with the Kentucky bar against J.D. vance. And we'll do. We'll have that link for you in the show notes. There's instructions, everything. It's super clear. So feel free to complain away to the Kentucky Bar Association.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love it.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. All right, everybody, we'll be right back with Wajahat Ali and then we'll have the good news. Stick around after these messages.

[Wajahat Ali]

We'll be right back.

[Alison Gill]

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[Wajahat Ali]

Thank you so much. And you made me look cool with all my nerdy friends. I had Allison on, and then Pete are like, oh, you know her? We'll subscribe. You might get some, like, Honda Odyssey minivan drivers to subscribe to your podcast. Or like, oh, you have Warbelot. Is that his name? Warbalat Ali. Okay, we'll give this Allison a try.

[Alison Gill]

I got so many new followers to the breakdown on Substack from appearing on yours, so I want to start doing that. I want to start doing discussions on Substack. It seems like a really great kind of, I don't know, digital venue, whatever.

[Wajahat Ali]

Among the 9,000 other shows you host, you should add this one, because who needs sleep? No sleep for the people who, unfortunately, you know, it's like, it's our curse. We're like the Cassandras. We're like, you know, this will be a bad authoritarian regime and life isn't perfect. But you should always choose a lesser of two. That's what I believe. If you have two alleged evils, the lesser of two evils is exactly that. The lesser evil, less people get harmed. But, you know, America had, well, plurality of American voters. Voters just decided to just punch themselves in the face, Alison. And not just punch themselves in the face, as we're witnessing now punching the most vulnerable, you know, students, immigrants, women, people of color, and now the world, including our allies. And I don't know, Allison, if people have said this to you the last two weeks, I've gotten this. A lot of the folks are like, trump will be fine. He won't be that bad. The courts will hold him in place. There'll be checks and balances. I'M sure you heard all this list in the last two weeks, they've come to me and said, okay, you're right, it's bad. The world's worse. I told you so. I don't feel good about it at all.

[Alison Gill]

Well, and here's what we have to fix, right? Going forward with the dumb leadership that we have versus the dumb leadership that we want. Trump's very. His policies are excruciatingly unpopular. People saying, you know, like you said, I didn't vote for this. What's going on? The Dow dropped, you know, four grand and the. In two days. Like, it's, it's, it's. And people are like, well, that happened before, but it was because of COVID And I'm like, are you trying to say that it's, it's cool? Like, now it's dropping this much and we don't have a global pandemic? Like, that should be a clue to you that this is a problem. But Trump's popularity or his approval rating remains high while his policies remain low. And this is the, what you and I have been talking about since I can't even remember for how long. The messaging problem, the media problem, the fact that the media is like, oh, everything's great. Trump is great. Everything that Trump is doing is great. Totally siloed separate and apart from all of the horrible things that are going on directly because of his actions or inaction. And so that is the messaging that Democrats weren't able to get out to people before the 2024 election. So for some reason, and it's the messaging that, you know, they're getting from their Fox News hold hole, you know, which is, you know, Donald Trump is amazing. Oh, yeah. Terrible things are going on. We're going to report on that, but we're not going to connect it to Donald Trump. So what do we do, you know, going forward with our leadership to get the people to understand that these bad things are a direct result of what this regime is doing?

[Wajahat Ali]

Yeah. You know, I'm glad you mentioned that. I was talking to someone yesterday about the how it's media. And I was just talking to them. I said, without the media, there's no Donald Trump. Without the media, there's no MAGA. And about 10 years ago, Steve Bannon said the media is the enemy. Forget the Democrats. And Breitbart, who was his evil Palpatine like master before he died. Right. He said politics is downstream from culture. Now, he's not the only one who say that, but his quote is the type of quote, that has been informing maga's politics. They understand this really well, right? So you pick on a cultural issue, you attack it non stop. In this year's election was trans. Trans athletes, right? You spend over $200 million on those ads. You go through YouTube, you do podcasts, right? I remember, I'm old enough to remember, Alison, when Obama and The Democrats in 2008 were the ones who were savvy, right? But you have these Democrats who still rely upon this outdated, tired Mode of corporate six to seven figure lobbyists right here in D.C. virginia, where I am, who still play by an ossified play by book and who, who, like, they test every message and even their testing is wrong, right? So what Democrats come off as is inauthentic, as like too trained, as not being sincere, right? And then you got Theo Vaughn and Joe Rogan who just shoot off the cuff, right? And are essentially platforming and mainstreaming all these right wing nuts. And the right wing media realizes, oh, okay, if we actually, if you will act as a parasite and take over the podcast of comedians and UFC commentators and pranksters. Oh, we can now disseminate disinformation. We can now disseminate the culture war, which is what they did, folks. You know, these young men, right, they follow these athletes, they follow these pranksters, they follow these comedians. And you know, I have, I spend way too much time time, Me and Maidi joke about this Mehdi Hassan. It's like we're like these masochists who can trace certain talking points. And then like when our friends in the suburbs tell us that, like they don't realize they're echoing and parroting a manufactured right wing talking point. But because me and Maidi and you are in this, we're like, ah, you got that without realizing it from Rogan and that one guest who came, right? So it's like this vehicle, the media becomes this messaging vehicle to mainstream both fictitious narratives and BS and conspiracy theories. And the rest of us, as you know, Alison, we don't have the funding. We don't have right wing billionaires, right? We don't have the infrastructure. And worst of all, the Democratic establishment class, the establishment class tells us, shut the F up, get in line, bend the knee. Oh, and you're not bending the knee. We're gonna punish you. You're not gonna get the senator on your show. You're not gonna get like, you know, the influencer. We're gonna go instead to like our very curated safe space that unfortunately does not go to the masses. Sorry, for my rant. But that's what we're dealing with and people haven't connected the dots. And until we really get a foothold on messaging, listen, it's like peewee versus Mike Tyson. And right now we're peewee.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Although I will say I think the numbers are over. Between 4 and 5 million people showed up for the Hands Off 2025 rallies, over a thousand of them across 20 the United States. I was, I was doing whatever the opposite of doom scrolling was on Saturday to look at all these photos and videos because, because you know, as a segue talking about media, I only saw a few seconds of it. I'm sure Mattow will do a big block on it on Monday. But as it was happening, just a couple of mentions here and there on mainstream media instead of that shit being out there all day in the news cycle 24 7. But I mean, I guess it's a weekend in their home and they, you know, they have the B team coming in on the weekends or whatever the fuck. Like it was just I wanted to be able to turn on CNN and just see nonstop wall to wall live coverage of these rallies. And I didn't. And that, that makes me mad for a bunch of reasons. But also if you think about all of these people over like abroad or our neighbors in Canada, our friends in Mexico, our friends in the EU who, who are looking to Americans to do like, why are you just sitting there? Oh my God. And we aren't. But they aren't seeing that we are actually out in the streets mobilizing. And that's just frustrating.

[Wajahat Ali]

It's even worse. And you're not wrong in the New York Times, I don't know if you saw yesterday these protests which are really inspiring. Right. Like I was, I was saying, I'm like, oh man, I hope folks show up. And they did. I mean in we in Salt Lake City, Utah folks, okay. In red counties in Wyoming, Wyoming, in rural Virginia. And you know who else showed up? White folks. Old white folks. Now why do I mention this? When it's people of color, when it's black people, when it's women. What are we dismissed as the woke? Oh, the angry poc. Oh, you know, yada, yada. But this country, it reacts differently when a blonde white girl goes missing, say compared to like a black girl, right. When a white police officer. Officer accidentally kills a black person because she went into her, you know, she thought she entered the wrong apartment. Right. She gets a hug, you know, so when there's white people out there and Old white people who are in red counties. You would think, Allison, this country that values the, quote, unquote, suburban rust belt, real voter, all synonyms for white, would show up in the New York Times on Saturday. This was below the fold. You know what they had above the fold? This article, folks, that said we interview seven Americans about how Trump's tariffs will affect them. I'm like, oh, so seven random Trump Americans who were probably, let's be honest, MAGA voters have more weight than what you just said was. Was that 4 million, 4 or 5 million, I think Americans coming out mobilized mostly by a progressive of, you know, organizations. There you go. It's the same thing as for the last 10 years, right? We're going to go to the Rust Belt and interview an independent, undecided voter wearing a MAGA hat to ask them their feelings about, you know, their sadness about Trump losing in 2020. And I've said this for the last 10 years. I've just thrown it out there. Here you go. I'm going to throw it out there again for any editor. Here's an idea for, oh, I don't know, a magazine feature. Feature. How about you ask a Trump voter to go to an urban diner and ask a Biden or Kamala voter how they feel in this moment? I'm still waiting for that magazine feature. If you have seen it, Alison, let me know.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, no, we're not. We've been asking for that since, you know, 2015, I think, and even before. Even before, like during, like in previous elections, everyone wants to go to the diner and talk to the Republican voters in rural America, but nobody wants to talk to anybody else. It's pretty fascinating. Something else that's not getting a lot of coverage. It is in print media and on a lot of podcasts. And I know Steve Vladek is writing a lot about this. Friedman's writing a lot about this. Is the deportation. What is illegal. What I say is illegal deportation without due process of people to. To se cot, which is a torture prison in El Salvador. We're paying for this. Our tax dollars are. Are paying for the privilege to. To deport people without due process. And the Trump administration has just put a Department of justice lawyer on administrative leave for things that he said in the courtroom about one of the people who's been deported, Abrego Garcia. That's separate from. From the three or 400, I think, on the plains that were of Venezuela and Trenda Aragua. This person is being accused of being an MS.13 member, which makes him a target in this prison in El Salvador. But we are literally the government's position is to be able to sweep non citizens and US citizens up off the street and send them out to El Salvador where we are paying for that to happen. And I'm just not seeing, seeing a lot of really robust coverage of this in my news feeds.

[Wajahat Ali]

No, it should be leading coverage, but because there's so many crises, including a manufactured potential recession at the hands of Donald Trump and the Boligarchy, it keeps being shoved off. Right. Same thing with Signalgate. Signalgate. If going back to the media, bring it full circle. But her emails was nonstop for two years. And Kevin McCarthy, remember Kevin McCarthy? Oh yes.

[Alison Gill]

Quaint.

[Wajahat Ali]

Yeah. Remember Eric Cantor? Oh, yes, yes. Remember Paul Ryan world Sean Boehner?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, yeah.

[Wajahat Ali]

In 2015, if you recall, Kevin McCarthy openly said they deliberately did Benghazi an email gate to weaken Hillary ahead of the 2016 elections. He admitted it and guess what? They were successful. But her emails, but her emails in New York Times and other mainstream media, they keep bending the knee to bad faith right wing actors and they launder these bad faith manufactured conspiracies. And just for the sake of both sides, you know, a thousand of Donald's sins became butter emails. Signalgate is butter emails times a thousand. And then the second biggest scandal was that Laura Loomer of all people is the one that Donald Trump relied upon with the 30 minute conference and he fired all the wrong people. Didn't fire Waltz and Hecseth. Right. And then on top of that, like you said, Tom Homan, who's like the modern incarnation of Luca Brasi, or if it's like concrete became a human being. If concrete could talk, it'd be Tom Holman who openly said, folks, you know, before the election on 60 Minutes. Well, are you gonna, are you gonna deport children and citizen children? We're not, we're not gonna separate families. We're gonna deport the kids with the parents. And they have, they have deported a 10 year old citizen girl who is a brain cancer survivor with her parents. There is a Filipina American woman who's been in this country for 50 years, Alison, on a green card.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, I saw that.

[Wajahat Ali]

Detained. And you still don't know why. There are students who were kidnapped literally by ICE agents and just whisked away. Rumesa Austerk, the Tufts graduate student who in broad daylight while walking to Iftar, which is, you know, when we break the fast during Ramadan last month, we have the video of these four men, one of them with a gun can you imagine? Just imagine folks listening to this. You're fasting all day. You're Tufts University, you're a grad student, student, you know, minding your own business. Zero criminal charges, zero convictions. And you're walking to Iftar to open your fast and four men with bandanas on their faces come and just kidnap you. And next thing you know, next night you're allegedly, we think allegedly, because we still don't know Alison. You're thousands of miles away in Louisiana and then you're like, well, what's my crime? And this administration says your crime was that you co wrote an op ed dead in the Tufts Daily and now you're going to deport you. Now imagine you're right here where I am, close by in Alexandria, Virginia, right? But you're in Roslyn and you're a postdoc and you're Indian American. Excuse me, you're an Indian student at Georgetown here, legally married to a Palestinian American woman who's a citizen. And you get abducted, all right, and you get whisked away thousands of miles and then you say, what was my crime time? Oh, your wife's dad, we think he was Hamas. And then you say, okay, well, right here in Maryland now, close by, you're a father of a five year old girl who's a citizen with disabilities. You're married for five years to an American citizen. The judge in 2019 gave you withholding of removal, which means I was once an attorney, still licensed that you can apply. It's not asylum, but essentially it's like you're allowed to stay here legally because you're a part of a persecuted class. And you've proven your case that if you are returned to your country of origin, in this case El Salvador, you risk harm. So a judge heard all the facts and said, I'm going to give you withholding of removal. You have zero criminal charges. You have not committed any crimes. There was one person who was picked up along with you in 2019 and pointed at you and said, I think he's part of a gang that operates in New York. Guess what? You've never been to New York. The judge hears all these facts and says, eh, I'm still going to give you withholding of removal. And now you are in El Salvador. The country folks that you escaped from most likely being tortured in a prison by Bukele. Who's this crypto bro who got $6 million of our taxpayer dollars, Daughters to house. Oh, I'm sorry, Imprison, torture, three planeloads of Alleged Venezuelan gang members. Two people whom we know for a fact are this father who's innocent, and an innocent barber who's gay, who simply had a rose tattoo. And we also know that soccer coach who had a Real Madrid tattoo. So think about this, folks. Innocent people picked up without due process, kidnapped, flown to another country where that crypto bro wannabe dictator is take $6 million of our money. And now the judge is saying, clearly, you effed up Trump administration. Bring this guy back. And the Trump administration is saying, oh, we don't have jurisdiction. Make us sorry for my little rant.

[Alison Gill]

No, no. And you know, we should also mention that the photos of the tattoos that ICE put in their points scoring document to determine whether someone's Trenda Aragua or not. The tattoos that ICE put in that document as examples of Trender Aragua tattoos were actually pulled from tattoo artists in the UK off of, like, a white dude named Steve in 2016. The clock one specifically is the one I'm thinking of. These came off. These were pulled off Instagram. We know how to reverse Google search ice. So thank you for your document, document. But you could. You could earn the eight points necessary for a trip to seacot simply by having a tattoo, a Real Madrid tattoo.

[Wajahat Ali]

Because these people are so stupid that they can't tell the difference between a Real Madrid tattoo or a rose tattoo versus, you know, allegedly gang member. And also, folks, they say, well, you know, this is the right wing. I don't know if you heard this, Allison, do you. Are you for Venezuelan gang members? Like, you know, anyone who. They're like, no, no. And this is the thing that I want. Like, if we had a robust media.

[Alison Gill]

Well, the judge was very clear about this too. He was like, am I trying to get these people released back into the United States? No. Am I trying to say that you can't deport people that you have given due process to? No. Am I saying, you know, because that is the right wing talking point. They think that this judge wants to turn the planes around and release everybody back into the United States. It's like, no, we want them to have hearings to determine whether they've committed a crime or are here illegally or are a member of Trend or Nicaragua not using the point system and Real Madrid tattoos.

[Wajahat Ali]

And also, what, what, what. In addition to that, what. What I say and what they can't say, and this is what. How I get back to them is like, oh, no, maybe they should be violent insurrectionists who wore a MAGA hat and beat up cops and smeared in the US Capitol and tried to overthrow the election and then they'd be pardoned, released. Even though some of them have violent criminal records. One of those individuals has already beaten up the cops again or tried to fight the cops. Some of them were charged and convicted on seditious conspiracy. And now Donald Trump wants to compensate them. So I guess that's what they should do. If you want to be a gang member, just wear a MAGA hat and you too will be pardoned and compensated. And this is why you need a robust media to punch back. Because once you remind people that people go, oh yeah, what standing do you have to claim that we are pro crime when you are literally supporting a guy who pardoned violent insurrectionists hosts, don't you need a host to just bring that up, Alison? Like, you know, confronting these people, but they don't do it right. Even with the friggin, you know, this last week where the trade war I knew was going to be bad. Alison, the tariff, it's not reciprocal trades, folks. It's unilateral. This is another thing where the media failed by simply parroting Trump's bad faith language. It's not reciprocal. It's pure unilateral terror tariffs, which has now forced our allies to respond. I knew it would be bad, but this administration is so stupid that when I saw their beer menu of tariffs that they were like putting this, some DOGE member came up with some dumbass formula, I'm not making this up, folks. And they copy pasted that formula onto every single country, which is why you have Madagascar with like 49 tariffs and like Vietnam and two islands with no humans. I'm not making this up. There's two islands with no humans. Payments are also getting the 10 tariffs. It's become so bad that when they interviewed Donald on Air Force One, I don't know if you heard those questions, softball questions, as people are freaking about their 401ks and they let Donald use the media to hawk his $5 million golden Visa card.

[Alison Gill]

I saw that. I saw that. Yeah. I mean, he held it up. It's got his face on it real big.

[Wajahat Ali]

Alice is not making this up. He literally held up a quote unquote golden Visa which has his giant face on it. And then being the idiot that he is and a liar, he's a citizen. He goes, I'm the first one to purchase it. Like, word, you just spent $5 million purchasing a golden Visa even though you're a citizen. Wonderful. So it's a pay for play that golden Visa card. If you pay me $5 million and get this card, you could stay in America.

[Alison Gill]

America? Oh, yeah. That's a giant slush fund money laundering operation if I've ever seen one. He used to have to sell mansions at half price and then have him resold in order to get this done. Now he's just. He's got a card with his face on it and people just directly pay for it. It's fantastic.

[Wajahat Ali]

It's. It's like. It's like idiocy. You know, we always keep saying it's idiocracy and don't look up. It's like if. It's like if stupid people wrote idiocracy.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, idiocracy was fun. Fun.

[Wajahat Ali]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And funny. Right there. There was. It made sense. Like there was. There were some connections there. And I loved Harry Crews. So, you know, I. I was. It was.

[Wajahat Ali]

For those who don't know, our excellent antiquated reference in idiocracy, a porn star slash wrestler in blonde hair in a bad blonde wig. Terry Crews becomes the president of future America because the dumbest people pop, reproduce, and the smart people, like, don't. And then the world's most mediocre average intelligence guy, Luke Wilson, is frozen, accidentally wakes up and becomes the genius who ends up saving humanity by figuring out that, you know, water. Plants need water, not Gatorade.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, Brondo Rondo.

[Wajahat Ali]

It has electrolytes.

[Alison Gill]

Plants crave it. And if you get in trouble with the government, there's this like Roman style arena monster truck battle that you have to be part of.

[Wajahat Ali]

You have to engage in to survive.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. And then the commercial break comes on for a show called Ow, my balls. It's like, you know, there was actually a joke on 30 Rock a while back where they had a reality show called MILF island and it became an actual reality show.

[Wajahat Ali]

Oh, my God.

[Alison Gill]

And I'm. I. It's just. It's all coming true. Like, the things we used to joke about are all. Are all coming true. Well, I appreciate you coming on today. We're going to keep talking. We're just going to keep screaming at the top of our lungs as loud as we can. To who? Any. Anybody who within the sound of our voices. But I appreciate all you're doing and I really encourage everybody to take a look at left hook. Tell us, tell everybody why you started left hook.

[Wajahat Ali]

Yeah, I started, like just less than a year ago precisely because I was sick and tired of the right wing dominating the media landscape. And I realized we have to create something on our own. And I realized realize they're people doing the good work like you, Mary, and so many others. Right. So I was like, okay, let me join this ecosystem and then let's create our own hub and empower ourselves from the grassroots because the billionaires aren't coming and mainstream media isn't coming. And I just had a feeling that when it came to establishing media and corporate media, that they would keep failing. And once Trump won, I thought enough Americans would join, you know, be the do the right thing thing. But they didn't. And, and so I think you're going to see the downfall of corporate media and the establishment media because they're missing the moment and misreading the moment. And so the left hook.sack.com was to be part and parcel of this community. And, you know, I'm really, I'm a simple man, but it's, I'm really happy we crossed 55,000 subscribers. I have no paywalls. I think information should be free for people as they fight fascist for people who pay. It's reader supported. I've kept it super cheap, like $4 a month. And people have been really kind and supporting me. And then I also co host Democracy Ish podcast with Daniel Moody. It's on Monday and Friday at 12pm Eastern time under Daniel Moody. YouTube, same thing, no paywalls. And we're covering the first hundred days of Trump's administration over at Zateo. And me and Francesca Fiorentini, who was fired by Tyt. Good for her for, you know, because Tyt, I don't know if you followed as veered to the right like Gavin Newsom.

[Alison Gill]

I'm super shocked. I mean I've always been like super skeptical of, of, of the Young Turks. And everyone's like, no, they're great. You got to listen to Sank. You got to listen to this. And I'm like, no, I don't, I don't have to. And, and well, sure enough, it was kind of like they were sort of on the same road with Tulsi Gabbard.

[Wajahat Ali]

It's, it's very Gavin Tulsi. And so Francesca was a host there, co hosted there, and she kept her principles and Cenk had a temper tantrum, fired her last week. But a lot of those folks are coming over and seeing us at America Unhinged, which is a live show every Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm on Zateo. So thank you for letting me promote that. I'm trying to get better. I'm a child of immigrants. Usually I'm like, just you know, if you can, please. I realize we, if we don't tell our own story, Allison, who will, right?

[Alison Gill]

No, it's very true. And, you know, you basically told that in Go back to where you came from, which is an incredible book. Anyone who's putting together a little library, you need to buy a bunch of copies and just go, go, go. Pepper the little libraries in your neighborhood with Waj's book. It's called Go back to where you came from.

[Wajahat Ali]

And Allison was kind enough to really promote it. And I've been trying for the past year and a half to convince Alison to write and publish her book.

[Alison Gill]

Well, you know, like you were talking about the media. I've been yelling at the media for years now. If you do not not adapt, you will perish. The media is the first thing to go in an autocracy. You think that by kissing his ass, he's going to give you some sort of a pass? He is not. He's kicking you out of the Pentagon. He's kicking you out of the newsroom. He's. He's yanking your comedians from the White House Correspondence association dinner. He does not give a shit about you. And I've been saying this, and I pitched a book, but because it was critical of the mainstream media, no big publisher wanted it because it wouldn't be promoted on the mainstream media. But I've been saying for a very long time, you are going to go the way it's going to look exactly like how it looked when the big record labels took a shit, took a dive because of independent musicians.

[Wajahat Ali]

And look what the White House press did. Correspondents dinner. Amber Ruffin. They bent the knee and they kicked out comedian Amber Ruffin. And you and me, Allison, are old enough to remember that those comedians at the stupid White House Correspondents dinner used to roast them. Bill Clinton got.

[Alison Gill]

It's the best part, huh? It's the best part of the whole dinner.

[Wajahat Ali]

That's the only reason why people, Bill Clinton, folks, can you like. Bill Clinton was a gold mine for the liberal woke comedians. Folks, you and I are old enough to remember, right? Like Monica Linsky. For years they destroyed him. And George W. Bush, they destroyed him. But this fickle, weak authoritarian with weak knees and a weaker jaw can't take it. And they whined and they bent the knee. So was it worth it? No. But where they collapsed, lapse due to cowardice. Allison, hopefully you succeed and others succeed. So even though they punted on your book, you know, people need to support you and all the great podcasts and work that you're doing.

[Alison Gill]

I'm releasing chapters for free on Substack.

[Wajahat Ali]

We're terrible capitalists.

[Alison Gill]

We're awful. We're like, yeah, I'm. I'm with you. All my content is free. Everything. Everything is free. If you want to kick in money and pledge H, thanks. Hell, yeah, you make this stuff go. But, like, yeah, I'm with you.

[Wajahat Ali]

So my dad. My immigrant father, like, every day. So if I may just give you 30 seconds. My father's like, you know, he just. My mom and dad are, like, researching Substack. So my dad, like, every day goes better, which means, son, please, please, like, just charge Subtech. I'm like, I don't know if I feel comforted that my mom got on the phone two days ago. She goes, but I was reading New York Times. This article came out. She goes, have you read this New York Times article about something? Substack and Joy Reid and Don Lemon and Jim Acosta. They're bigger than you. They have more money than you, and even they're charging. What's your problem? And I'm like, I just feel people needed. The times are tough. People need information. You could just hear, like, a sigh of disappointment in my immigrant parents. Like, fine. What can we do, Alison? We're built differently, unfortunately. Fortunately, who knows?

[Alison Gill]

I don't know. I just think it's a good idea to keep all the information free and if people can afford to kick money and that's the best way to do it.

[Dana Goldberg]

Just.

[Alison Gill]

I don't know. Maybe. Maybe we're wrong. I'm sure your parents would yell at me, too, for leaving a bunch of money on the table.

[Wajahat Ali]

We're like the anti. You know, the worst part is we know how to be good capitalists. That makes it even worse for my father.

[Alison Gill]

It's like, I have an MBA.

[Wajahat Ali]

Yeah. So Allison. It's unforgivable. And Allison has an MBA. I'm an English major who took. Who took Econ 101 and Biz AD 10 and UC Berkeley. I got an A in Econ 101. But Allison is worse. She went to school for it, got trained, and she goes, I will rock in the opposite direction.

[Alison Gill]

That's all I could say. It's so good to see you, my friend. I really appreciate it. Again, everybody, the left hook. Everything that he just said, just rewind, pause, and just go listen to and watch. Everything that that was just talked about, there was. There's just so many credits because neither of us sleep. I appreciate your time, and I look forward to Seeing you again soon, my friend.

[Wajahat Ali]

Thank you, Alison. Thank you. Take care everyone.

[Alison Gill]

All right everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar. IQ Joe is the instant mushroom coffee from IQ Bar with bold flavors that's loaded with functional brain nutrients and 200mg of caffeine for jitter free energy. As someone who depends on coffee to power through my mornings, I was genuinely curious when I first tried IQ Joe. Like many of my coffee lovers, I'll admit I was initially doubtful about instant coffee. But after just one sip, I was completely convinced. Convinced. Unlike my usual drive thru order that leaves me crashing by midday, IQ Joe delivers that rich coffee shop flavor experience without any of the sugar crash. Each serving contains 200 milligrams of clean jitter free caffeine that gives me steady energy without the unpleasant side effects I used to get from regular coffee. And what truly makes IQ Joe special are the brain boosting functional ingredients like lion's mane mushroom for cognitive support and magnesium for mental clarity. These help me stay laser focused throughout my morning, morning and without. You know, I don't experience that dreaded afternoon slump that happens around 3pm where the forces of nap are strong. None of that. The convenience factor is unbeatable too. Just add hot water. I've got a premium coffee experience anywhere, anytime. Plus it checks all the boxes for clean ingredients free from gluten, soy and GMOs. And the fact that it's both vegan and kosher certified gives me extra confidence. I'm putting only the highest quality ingredients in my body. With over 20,000 5 star reviews from satisfied customers customers, it's clear I'm not the only one who's become a devoted fan now. I always keep a stash of IQ Joe in my desk drawer for those rushed mornings when I do a quick yet high quality brew. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ bar products. Plus you get free shipping. To get your 20% off, text daily beans all one word to 64,000. Again, text daily beans to 64,000. That's daily beans to 64,000. Message and data rates apply. See terms for details. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news everyone then. Good news everyone. Good news, good news. And if you have any good news confessions corrections, especially pronunciation corrections like Bournemouth or or however that's pronounced in the uk, let us you look ver. It looks like Bourne, like Jason Bourne. So maybe it's Bournemouth. Bourne mouth. I don't know but let us know because I I do not know and we want to make sure we get it right.

[Dana Goldberg]

I bet it's muth.

[Alison Gill]

Muth probably Muth yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Born.

[Alison Gill]

If you have any shout outs to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or some great activism that you're seeing, or if you have a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one, send it all to us. And all you have to do to get your submission read on the air is pay your pod pet tax. Which just means just include a photo of your pet. If you want us to gu the breeds in your shelter pet we can try. We're not very good but we'll we're happy to give it a shot. If you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, you can attach a photo of any animal really. We love otters, frogs, yes, pandas, pandas, red pandas please for me. Secretary birds, frog orgies. And if you don't have that, you can send a bird watching photo which is can be an actual bird or you and family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk properties. And if you don't have that baby photos, please send your baby photos. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, first up, non catty cat correction from she her. Just a gentle correction about the difference between calicos and torties. Calicos can be up to 75% white, but torties don't have any white fur at all. The cat in Friday's Good News would be a calico. Torties are more rare. Sharing my cat's pumpkin and Sophie, my older cat. Sophie is the calico. Love your podcast and everything you do do and have. Recommended it to all my friends. Thank you. Anonymous I had to miss the march on Saturday due to recovery from a fall where I broke seven ribs and cracked five vertebrae. Oh my goodness. It's been a long recovery but my husband, daughter and granddaughter will be representing the family. I'm positive there will be future marches to come.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh yes there will.

[Alison Gill]

You are correct. Thank you for that. Non catty cat correct.

[Dana Goldberg]

I was giggling to myself when I read this when I first got it about the calicos and the torties. I was like Allison was hitting the hard hitting news while I was gone talking about the calicos and the tortoise.

[Alison Gill]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God. This next one's from Sarah. Pronouns she and her hi Beanie Babes. I would like to give a big shout out to my friend Beth and her sister Mary. We are here in beautiful wnc, which is western North Carolina, where people are still dealing with the aftermath of hurricane home lean. Beth and Mary have been working from day one to make sure that people are safe and have what they need, including a place to live. They have founded an organization called okay, here we go. Swannanoa Communities Together, which raises funds to directly aid people who are still having housing troubles. You wouldn't believe the number of people still living in their cars after their homes were destroyed and government aid has been inconsistent. Beth and Mary are the best sort of example of people stepping up to do what they need to fill in the gaps. There's going to be a link, by the way, to their Facebook page into an article about what they've been doing in the show Notes. You'll have be able to click on that and read for pod Pet Tax. I couldn't decide whether to give you pets or babies, so I decided to give you both. Our dog Sadie has been there for my first daughter, literally since the first moments of her life. Kiddo was born at home. So was I, by the way.

[Alison Gill]

Interesting.

[Dana Goldberg]

And my sister. Yep. They've been best buds for 11 years, almost 12 now. And it's the sweetest thing you can imagine. I have more fabulous pictures of them over the years years than I could possibly send and had a hard time narrowing it down, so I just sent some of the early ones. Thank you for all you do. Because of you, I'm both more informed and more hopeful these days, even though those two things often seem at odds. Well said. Look at these babies and these dog pictures.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dana Goldberg]

This is a fantastic combination of joy. Sarah. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Alison Gill]

The dog and the red vest is just with the baby in the red.

[Dana Goldberg]

Both of them, Both of them are like, can I take this off?

[Alison Gill]

Yeah. Are we done? Can we go now? Oh, my gosh. So adorable. And thank you for that. Thank you to Beth and Mary for all the work you're doing in the wnc. That's incredible. And again, like you said, Dana will have links to the Facebook page and to an article about what they've been doing. Thank you so much. Much. All right, next up, Karen S. Pronoun. She and her. Here's another Flipping the bird to Trump. My husband and I are in Florence, Italy. Oh, and right around the corner from the Duomo, we see a store full of ducks. And then we see this Monstrosity. Even amongst all this majesty, beauty and history, majestic beauty and history, there's seemingly no escape from him. I must say, sadly, it's embarrassing these days being in Europe and admitting that you're from America. America. It's clearly evident that Europeans are not too happy with us. Most people we've met think Americans who voted for Trump probably regret it now, but I'm not so sure. The Europeans do seem to appreciate when we say that we didn't vote for him. Sending love to you both from Italy. P S for pet Tax. This is my 14 year old baby, Cali, who is home in America, loving her time with my son who's caring for her. Yes. She's a big girl and there's no shame.

[Dana Goldberg]

She's a chunker and she's beautiful.

[Alison Gill]

She is a chomper. Look at these ducks slipping off the Donald Ducks.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh, yeah.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, amazing. Thank you for that, Karen.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right. This is from Mariah Pro9.

[Alison Gill]

She and her.

[Dana Goldberg]

I know I don't. This is a. What the mud. I'm gonna fail it. I was so excited the other day. Maybe a schnauzer of some sort. I was so excited the other day when I heard there are more patrons who are Scottish. Oh, it's a Scottish terrier. Scottish terrier owners. Scotties and I love them. I've just never seen a black one. I don't think are rare breeds. I think Hammy McBacon Fat, who you all may remember is the OG Scotty, though.

[Alison Gill]

Oh.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. Here's a recent picture of our old man. He's going to be 13 this summer.

[Alison Gill]

He's very dignified with his beard.

[Dana Goldberg]

He's so cute. He's so cute. I think I'm confusing Westies, actually with Scotties, so.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dana Goldberg]

Scottish ones there are clearly black breeds.

[Alison Gill]

They're very, very adorable. Mariah, thank you for that Melissa pronoun. She and her. About a week ago, the good news mentioned Chaos care kits and it inspired me to make some for the hands off protest tomorrow.

[Dana Goldberg]

Nice.

[Alison Gill]

I even added the bubbles as you suggested. So thank you for the double inspiration of the kits as well as the addition of bubbles. To bring the magic, I also added a know your protest rights information card from the aclu. While we protest tomorrow, I hope these little bags bring some comfort, some joy and some levity to the deep ring rage we've all been feeling at this asinine regime. Thanks for all you do every day.

[Dana Goldberg]

All right, Melissa, this is so cool.

[Alison Gill]

What's in the Chaos care kit?

[Dana Goldberg]

We Got a pen and a card to remember your why Chocolate for stress relief. Lifesavers for obvious reasons like we talked about. Mints to keep your cool. Gum to get out of sticky situations. Tissues to get it all out when you need to. Bubbles that I suggested to bring the magic. I love this. And hand sanitizer to wipe your hands of all of it. These are fantastic.

[Alison Gill]

And look, printed up the ACLU know your rights card that we did for good trouble on Friday.

[Dana Goldberg]

I love us.

[Alison Gill]

Ah, you guys are so great. All of y'all. Next up, Melanie K. Pronoun. She and her. Hey friends. In your interview the other day, I heard you use this phrase and it stuck with me. So when I decided that I will take my 14 year old trans kid and my 16 year old ASD kid, that's an autism spectrum disorder kid, to the protest today, I thought it would make for a great sign. I'm terrified of what might happen to my kids during this shitstorm. I believe it is my duty as a mother to teach them about their rights and their civic duty. I do love this country. It makes me so sad to think of what we're leaving for them. I just hope that this gives them insight and knowledge that we can change things if we just. Microdose hope.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes.

[Alison Gill]

Also attached are our, as we call them, littles. Tookie is our oldest cat we saved from the 2017 fires and Sonoma County. And Rabbit was rescued from a local resident who had to surrender him when they entered a treatment program. We'll listen to the beans each day on the way to school here in Lawrence, Kansas. Thanks for all you do and keep on keeping on sisters. Look at these kitties. And then look at the microdose hope sign with all the little mushrooms on it.

[Dana Goldberg]

Oh my God, how cute.

[Alison Gill]

Oh, I love this.

[Dana Goldberg]

I do too.

[Alison Gill]

Well done. Very beautiful letter ring. Gorgeous mushrooms. I love those metallic paint pens. Remember we had those in junior high and we would write on everything?

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep. I'm sorry, what do you mean in junior high? I still have metallic paint pens.

[Alison Gill]

Put them all.

[Dana Goldberg]

I gotta use something to autograph DVDs and stuff like that. You know when people used to have DVDs and CDs a long time ago.

[Alison Gill]

Right behind me on my shelf, I have an album that I put out in like 2002.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Alison Gill]

That I have signed in a metallic, metallic paint pen.

[Dana Goldberg]

We do it.

[Alison Gill]

We do it, everybody. Thank you so much for your good news. Keep sending it to us. You can send it to [e-mail] and click on contact, it can be literally anything, Anything small. Remember microdose. Hope that's the deal.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

And Dana, I'm so happy that you're back. I missed you so much, my friend.

[Dana Goldberg]

I miss you too. And I do have a final thought because this friend of mine who was very high up in the military gave me a few talking points just to give the listeners. And one of the things, and this is not really a good trouble, but it's a little action thing we can offer do. I think unconsciously we are repeating MAGA talking points and it is causing us a disservice. So, for instance, when the text chain came out with the war plans, everyone started tweeting and skying all of this. But her emails. The moment we said, but her emails, it brought Hillary Clinton back into the dialogue. Instead of focusing it on Pete Hegseth, whether we like it or not, subconsciously we did that. We brought Hillary back in. So then all of a sudden, her name's circulating again and they get to focus on that. So what we have do is stay messaging, try not to repeat the MAGA talking points, even if we're making fun of going, oh, but her emails, no, that text exchange, that line of text. Everyone should have been fired. There should have been a joint message from every Democrat in the world that said every single one of these people needs to be fired. Because whether or not Hillary had ever done anything wrong is irrelevant. This was a fireable offense, and that's what we need to focus on. So my final thought is try, if you can, to stay in the present and to stay on. On the horrible atrocities that this administration is doing. And try not to compare it even sarcastically to what they were saying were problems in the past.

[Alison Gill]

Yeah, they don't give a shit about hypocrisy at all. No, at all.

[Dana Goldberg]

It's not going to help. It's not going to help.

[Alison Gill]

Now, you had parked something from the very beginning of the show about something about the cruise and that you said you were going to talk about it later in the good news.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yes. So the good news, I was on the cruise and my first show was one of those magical shows, Alison, you know, where everything just fucking goes. Right? It just felt magical. And the night before, I had dinner with a commander in the Navy and her fiance, and she is one of the lawsuits, the three lawsuits that. Suing the Trump administration directly, Schilling versus Trump. She's one of the three lawsuits about the ban. So during my show, I was talking about how that text exchange put our military in danger. That's what it did put our military in danger when they added Goldberg to it. And so what I transitioned from there is that this trans military ban is one of the most disgraceful things that Trump has done with his executive orders. These are people that are fighting for our rights and defending our country, which they are part of. And I tried to show the audience the patriotism of a group of people that are still willing to put their lives on the line to fight for the rights that are not even being afforded to them. Think about that patriotism. And then I said, you know, she had two tours, one in Iraq and Afghanistan, 60 combat missions. She was a pilot. She's been medal. She has been there for 19 and a half years. Her retirement would have been in September. And they are threatening if she doesn't take a buyout to take away everything. And possibly because there's nothing across the board saying what they're going to do, it could be a dishonorable discharge if she doesn't take an early retirement from them. And so I said, with the audience, I said, you know, when the country's coming for us, wouldn't you just like to thank these people for their service? And you see a bunch of nods, a bunch of nods. And I stopped the show and I said, well, you can, can do that because she's on the cruise with us this week. And the room exploded. And I just looked over and I said, commander Schilling, will you please stand? And Commander Emily Shilling stood. And there was a two minute standing ovation for this person who is fighting for every, every military person, not just trans people, because if they come from one community, they're going to find another one they want to get rid of because they don't think they're what, whatever, you know, they're, they're talking points I'm not even going to repeat. But I said after that, please be careful about how you speak about the trans and non binary community because you're cheering them on when it comes to this. But when you dehumanize them in another aspect of their life, you give people permission to dehumanize them however they want in every aspect, in every aspect of their life. So please, as a community, no matter how you feel about certain subjects, subjects, be careful how you're talking about our trans non binary family because you're giving other people permission to disrespect them if you are not honoring them in spaces.

[Alison Gill]

So such such a good point that, you know, they are fighting for a country that is abandoning them.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah. And they still want to fight. They still want to put their lives on the line.

[Alison Gill]

The same was true for black active duty service members. Then it was women.

[Dana Goldberg]

Then it was the gays and lesbian service members. Members.

[Alison Gill]

Yep, yep. Yeah. And I, I think that I had posted, you know, when Donald Trump wanted to appeal quickly this ruling that was blocking the, the ban of transgender service members, I said these transgender service members signed up to potentially die for your freedom to make this appeal.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yep.

[Alison Gill]

In. In court for your, your due process rights.

[Dana Goldberg]

Yeah.

[Alison Gill]

So, wow. What an incredible moment. What an incredible moment.

[Dana Goldberg]

It was. It was magical. She and her fiance are just phenome and her fiance is also in the military, and it was just so wonderful to have them there. And I think it was also really good to, like, for the audience to understand that we were also in a very female space and she was no threat to us. She belongs there with her fiance just like the rest of us. She just has a different adjective in front of woman. She's a trans woman. I'm a Jewish woman. You're a black woman and Asian woman. It was an incredible experience.

[Alison Gill]

Heroes among us.

[Dana Goldberg]

Heroes among us, indeed. And she's phenomenal, and I'm grateful to call her friends. So thank you for letting me tell that story. As my final thought.

[Alison Gill]

Thank you so much, everybody. Send us your good news and we'll be back in your ears tomorrow. There's a new episode of Unjustified Out. Andy and I go over the Eric Adams dismissal. I don't like it. Andy likes it. We talk about it, and I think you'll enjoy the discussion. But Dana and I will be back in your ears tomorrow with the beans. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family. I've been AG and I've been dg and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarland with art and web design by Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, Please visit msw media.com msw media.