← The Daily Beans
The Daily Beans
Whiplash (feat. Paula Poundstone)
01:13:12
Thursday, April 10th, 2025 Today, in a move that only everyone could have predicted; Trump has paused the tariffs for 90 days but says he’s raising tariffs on China to 125%; judges in New York and Texas issue temporary restraining orders in the Alien Enemies Act cases; a federal judge gave the Trump administration until Wednesday night to show any proof to justify the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil; the Supreme Court has stayed a lower court's order and have effectively re-re-fired Gwynn Wilcox and Cathy Harris; an ex-Facebook employee is set to tell Congress that Zuckerberg compromised National Security; the National Park Service has restored the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman web pages; the acting IRS Commissioner has resigned after a data sharing deal with immigration authorities; Abrego Garcia’s lawyers file a surreply with the Supreme Court emphasizing how wild it is that the DOJ is disavowing its own lawyers; an appeals court has cleared the way for Trump to fire pro...
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, April 10, 2025. Today, in a move that only everyone could have predicted, Trump has paused the tariffs for 90 days, but says he's raising tariffs on China to 125%. Judges in New York and Texas have issued temporary restraining orders in the Alien Enemies act cases. A federal judge gave the Trump administration until Wednesday night to show any proof to justify the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil. The Supreme Court has stayed the lower court's orders to have effectively re. Re fired Gwen Wilcox. And Kathy Harris. An ex Facebook employee is set to tell Congress that Mark Zuckerberg compromised national security. The National Park Service has restored the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman Web pages. The acting IRS commissioner has resigned in protest after data sharing agreements with immigration authorities. Abrego Garcia's lawyers have filed a sir reply with the Supreme Court, emphasizing how weird it is that the Department of Justice is disavowing its own lawyers. And an appeals court has cleared the way for to fire probationary employees again. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:30]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:36]
Allison Gill
You know, some days I'm like, maybe we should just wait until these court cases go all the way up and all the way back down again. Because you would think it's getting very, like, it's getting very confusing about re. Re firing people and whether they're blocking requests to stop something from not happening. Like, it's just. It gets very confusing.
- [02:00]
Dana Goldberg
I love stop. I. I love requests to block something from not happening that wasn't going to happen.
- [02:04]
Allison Gill
Yeah, that's my favorite. We try to give these updates as. As best we can because there are so many cases, like 150 at least. And, and they're going up and down the court ladder as we speak. And we'll do our best to, to keep you posted, but, man, it's like you whiplash. Almost like the stock market, which is up 3,000 points today because, you know, we'll go over this in the hot notes, but I'm not surprised. Are you surprised?
- [02:34]
Dana Goldberg
Not at all. Buy low, sell high. All these buddies are making a ton of money.
- [02:38]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And they brought that up in some congressional hearings today when one of the guys from the. From the Trade Commission was like, I didn't even know it was happening. He's like, why didn't you tell us that they were going to pause the tariffs in your opening statements as we sit here? Because, like, somebody had to come and tap the congressperson on the shoulder and be like, hey, tariffs are off again. And it Was just. It's just a.
- [02:56]
Dana Goldberg
Not to mention the president actually tweeted or true. Socialed or whatever the fuck he does. Now's a great time to buy.
- [03:03]
Allison Gill
Yeah.
- [03:04]
Dana Goldberg
Which is now an illegal tweet. It's insider trading.
- [03:08]
Allison Gill
It is. But, you know, there's no sec to look into it, so we.
- [03:14]
Dana Goldberg
We.
- [03:15]
Allison Gill
Dana, you and I got to talk to Paula Poundstone for a while today.
- [03:18]
Dana Goldberg
She was lovely. She was a typical Paula. She was Paula Poundstone. Oliver Glory. Someone I've respected and followed for years and years and years in my career. No, Allison, Same for you.
- [03:29]
Allison Gill
Yeah. If you get a chance to look up her bit about the woman who tore her face open on a lube rack at a gas station from the 80s. That bit, I have to tell you, it taught me everything I needed to know about crowd work.
- [03:45]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [03:45]
Allison Gill
She's just brilliant and I love her and I'm glad we got to talk to her today. We're going to talk about some news. She walks up and down Wilshire Boulevard every day holding a sign about the Trump administration and gets all kinds of different feedback. We talk about that also. Some late breaking Wednesday news. The Supreme Court has stayed the lower court's decision, but reaffirmed but not stayed the appellate court decision to rehire Kathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwen Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board. They. They consolidated those cases and it went up through the court system. They've stayed the decision to block their firing.
- [04:26]
Dana Goldberg
Okay. For the dumb people with their hand up. Can you say that in layman's terms?
- [04:30]
Allison Gill
Yeah.
- [04:31]
Dana Goldberg
Does she still have a job? Does she not have a job?
- [04:33]
Allison Gill
Not right now. Pending the outcome of the lower appeals. And they want to do the arguments. Trump wants to do the arguments in May after the term interesting is over. They should probably do those in April if they do them next term. But anyway, they don't have their jobs now, and that's going to be how it is until they hear the arguments on the merits.
- [04:54]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Just so you know, listeners, Allison keeps doing this to me. You're fired. You're not fired. You're fired. You're not fired. Am I recording today? Are we not recording today? I don't ever know.
- [05:03]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Like six times in a day. I'll go back and forth.
- [05:05]
Dana Goldberg
It's totally normal.
- [05:06]
Allison Gill
And the, the, you know, the job security is what's best.
- [05:11]
Dana Goldberg
She's never done this. By the way, please do not write in any angry emails is what makes it best.
- [05:17]
Allison Gill
Right. And that's what's. Honestly, people are like Yay. The stock market's back up. Nobody is going to move their business to the United States.
- [05:25]
Dana Goldberg
No.
- [05:26]
Allison Gill
When the volatility is like this. So let's, let's talk about that. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, Surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise. Trump has paused his tariffs for 90 days, even though yesterday he said he would never pause them. And Caroline Levitt said, we're dug in. We're not changing course. And now it's, you know, I mean, we're going to have big, beautiful deals. He. 75 countries have called me to tell me that they begging me to do a deal. It's. None of that is real.
- [06:00]
Dana Goldberg
No. And I'm so tired of these headlines that are like, Donald Trump blinked. Yeah, he blinked first. No, he didn't.
- [06:08]
Allison Gill
He didn't stop it long. So stocks up. Like, Dow's up 3,000 today. I mean, we're still 5,000 down. We're still down.
- [06:17]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [06:18]
Allison Gill
But it's back up again. And like you said, Dana, he put on Truth Social. Now's a good time to buy about, what, two or three hours before he put the pause.
- [06:26]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [06:27]
Allison Gill
Yeah. So when I tweeted or not tweeted, I don't tweet anymore. When I, when I blue skied, when I Biscayed, saying the best case, the best case scenario would be that this is stock market manipulation, a shorting scheme where he tanks the stocks and then the billionaires buy the dip, and then he tells his buddies when he's going to lift the tariffs next week. He did this in February. He did it in March. I. Although this time it really took a big hit. So everyone was like, you know, I hope he does what he's done the last two times. And he's. And this. I hope he's as full of as he's always been.
- [07:08]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [07:09]
Allison Gill
And it turns out that he is. So, of course.
- [07:12]
Dana Goldberg
All right, this one's from pbs. White House Press Secretary Caroline is. Did we decide it was leave it or Levitt?
- [07:18]
Allison Gill
I think it's Levitt.
- [07:19]
Dana Goldberg
Levitt. Caroline Levitt said Tuesday that the Trump administration is not sure that it's legal to deport US Citizens to El Salvador, but that President Donald Trump has, quote, simply floated the idea for the sake of transparency.
- [07:34]
Allison Gill
Just like he floated injecting bleach into your veins.
- [07:37]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, why not? I mean, what. What could possibly go wrong?
- [07:40]
Allison Gill
I just, I just say what's in my brain. It's a great organ. It's attached to the mouth. The brain is attached to the Mouth. Remember that?
- [07:49]
Dana Goldberg
Yes.
- [07:50]
Allison Gill
I do have bigger crowds than Bruce Springsteen because my brain, mouth organ, like, it's unbelievable. But this is, he's, he's talking about sending green card holders to El Salvador to Seacoat.
- [08:05]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, absolutely. And this isn't just deporting people. This is sending people to a very abusive detention center prison with no due process, no access to the outside world. This is way past what he actually campaigned on and what he said he was going to do.
- [08:21]
Allison Gill
Yeah. And the Supreme Court is kind of helping him out, saying no Clash actions, not in D.C. it has to be habeas petitions on an individualized basis, at least on a jurisdiction basis. Right?
- [08:36]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [08:36]
Allison Gill
So the, the judges, I'll talk about this in a minute, but the judges, there's new, there's new lawsuits out there and new restraining orders in new cases that have been, that were habeas petitions have been filed now under the Supreme Court under their ruling. This next story is from cnn. Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Melanie Kraus informed her staff Tuesday she's leaving the agency amid internal chaos and the exodus of several senior IRS officials. That's according to two current IRS employees and one former IRS employee Kraus's decision to accept the agency's deferred resignation. She took the derp that comes on the heels of the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security finalizing an agreement Monday to betray decades of trust between the government and taxpaying immigrants to provide sensitive taxpayer data to federal immigration authorities to help the Trump administration locate and deport undocumented immigrants. Were like, come on, pay your taxes. We know you don't have representation. We know you can't get any benefits. We know you can't vote. Please pay your taxes, though. It would really help our economy. And they said, okay, but what if I get deported? And the IRS said, we're not going to deport you for paying your taxes. Well, now they are.
- [09:44]
Dana Goldberg
Now they are. It's horrible. And all these people that are walking around going, immigrants or freeloaders, well, if they're paying taxes, they must be working. So maybe we can stop that narrative right now. That'd be great. Yep. This one's from Politico. A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume firing thousands of probationary government employees, lifting a low court judge's ruling that order that had blocked most of the mass terminations.
- [10:11]
Allison Gill
This sounds like we, this is, didn't we do this story yesterday, Dana?
- [10:14]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. And fucking yo, yo.
- [10:16]
Allison Gill
I feel this is a different, this is a different judge.
- [10:19]
Dana Goldberg
There you go. A divided three judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Wednesday that the coalition, coalition of Democratic attorneys general who brought the case appeared to lack legal standing to challenge the firings. The appeals court's 2 to 1 ruling came one day after the Supreme Court lifted another judge's order blocking the dismissal of some of the same federal workers, also on standing grounds. That leaves no remaining legal impediment for now to the effort by Trump administration leaders, those leaders, to shrink the federal workforce by summarily firing large swaths of employees across nearly 20 major federal agencies. Judges Allison Rushing, and that is a Trump appointee, and Harvey Wilkinson, that's a Reagan appointee, Agreed that the Democratic attorneys general lacked standing. Judge DeAndrea Benjamin. That's a Biden appointee. Dissented. Look at that. Arguing that the ags had a legitimate basis to bring the lawsuit on behalf of their states.
- [11:18]
Allison Gill
And I agree with this one. Now I, you know, when they said that, like unions who were trying to sue the government on behalf of multiple federal workers, a lot of the judges were like, no, you don't have standing because you aren't directly harmed. The employees are and they can sue. But the, you know, the unions aren't. And the unions argument was, well, this is gonna, with the big firing of federal workers, our dues are going to go down, right? And there, and the judges and I think rightfully said, look, that's an indirect consequence. That isn't direct irreparable harm. It is to the employee, but not you, the union. But in this case, to say that the states aren't going to suffer irreparable harm directly by these firings because now they're going to come into their unemployment offices and they're, and they're going to come into, you know, state stuff. I think that, that this is a wrong ruling and that the Biden appointees dissent. Got it right. So this is, this is terrible. And every single one of these individual probationary employees should be able to sue.
- [12:25]
Dana Goldberg
I think, I think so, too.
- [12:27]
Allison Gill
I think they would have standing, just not these groups. Now, this could be appealed up to the Supreme Court, but fuck them. Next up, some more legal stuff. And this one has to do with the Maryland father, Abrego Garcia, who was deported to Seacoat. Lower courts stopped his deportation, but Trump filed with the Supreme Court. And now Abrego Garcia's lawyers have filed. Well, they didn't stop his deportation, but they said you have to bring him home. Now Abrego Garcia's lawyers have filed an additional briefing with scotus. So they filed. Well, no, the Trump. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court on this one saying, we shouldn't have to bring him home. And then the defendants, Abrego Garcia's lawyers filed a response saying, no, he has to come home. And then Trump filed another response. And then this is called a sir reply. This is the fourth, the fourth in the briefing. And they are arguing that the government should be held to its own now sidelined attorneys representations. These are the, these are the two attorneys that Trump benched. Oh, right, right, wrong stuff, right. Or stuff he didn't like the stuff they, the stuff that these lawyers said was right, but Trump didn't like it. So this sir reply is that they're saying, hey, Supreme Court, that you should, you should have to go by what the DOJ attorneys represented. And they contended that the government's vague Ms. 13 mutterings are forfeited garbage. This is what it says. Recognizing that the government's concession below, that it lacks a satisfactory answer as to why it can't bring Abrego Garcia back is case dispositive. The government's reply takes the extreme step of disavowing its own lawyers statements. Yet the government still has not supplied a satisfactory answer to that central question. It points to no evidence, only pure conjecture about El Salvador's general views on criminal enforcement. But Abrego Garcia left El Salvador as a teenager in 2011 and has not been charged with a crime there or here. The United States arranged his incarceration and surely can arrange his release. Nowhere in any of its briefs has the government stated that the United States is actually powerless to facilitate and effectuate Abrego Garcia's return. It can and it should. For the first time in reply, and perhaps for the first time in any government brief to this court, the government impugns its own lawyers, whose candor the district court commended for making admissions that it purportedly, quote, did not and do not reflect the positions of the United States. But the government, like any litigant, cannot disavow the concessions of its own lawyers, especially when it doesn't even contend that anything about them is factually untrue. So, so we don't like what the lawyers said, and we're not going to explain why and how they were wrong or, or give you any evidence. We just don't like it. Courts would cease to function if they could no longer rely on concessions by counsel at oral argument. There is no basis for the government to withdraw the good faith admissions of its experienced agent simply because it now finds them inconvenient. And of course, we'll bring you the Supreme Court decision on Abreco Garcia when we get it. No details of when we can expect it, though.
- [15:33]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you so much, Allison. All right, this one's from the Guardian. An immigration judge ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration has until 5pm on Wednesday to present evidence as to why Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, should be deported. She said that if evidence does not support deportation, she may rule on Friday on his release from immigration detention. Khalil is a green card holder and leader to the pro Palestinian protest at Columbia University last year was detained on March 8th of this year. The Trump administration claims that his presence has adverse foreign policy consequences, an argument decreed by his legal team as a blatant free speech violation. The government has not provided any evidence that he broke any law. That's a typical condition of revoking permanent residency. The Department of Homeland Security, the DHS can quote, either can provide sufficient evidence or not. That's what the judge, Jamie Cummins, said now after her courtroom in Jenna, Louisiana. That's where this is being held. And she went on to say, if he's not removable, I'm going to terminate this case on Friday. And anyone, regardless of what this person is saying on campuses, this is a free speech issue. If they can detain someone that has not broken a law because they are speaking out in opposition to something, that the government feels, they can do that to any of us.
- [17:00]
Allison Gill
Yes. And so I haven't seen any news. So hopefully we'll get that maybe tomorrow. But she said the judge said she wouldn't dismiss the case until she wouldn't terminate the case until Friday. So we might not have that final termination for you, but if we have any hints about it, we'll get that to you this week. And now that Judge Boasberg's Alien Enemies act restraining orders have been vacated by the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court ruled without argument or briefing or any consideration that the only remedy is habeas claims in the courts where the detainees are being held. The ACLU has filed suit again for the original five defendants. Two of them are being detained in New York. So that lawsuit came in New York, and three are being held in Texas. So that lawsuit was filed in Texas. And in both cases, the judges have already issued temporary restraining orders, but they've kept them very narrow, as I feared. You remember, Judge Boasberg expanded the class to say, you can't take anybody out of this country to El Salvador. That is subject to your Alien Enemies act proclamation. Well now because of the Supreme Court, they it's only the people in that little jurisdiction. So the ACLU wanted to block deportations of all migrants to El Salvador in these subsequent cases under the Alien Enemies Act. But again, thanks to the Supreme Court, these judges can only effectuate rulings pertaining to the affected migrants in their respective jurisdictions. And that is why, while many praised the Supreme Court decision because it offered some due process, I decried it saying that the due process is stupid and paper thin and not real. These migrants will have to bring habeas cases in individual jurisdictions with expensive lawyers all over the country instead. And we have to trust the Trump administration when they tell us who is deportable under the Alien Enemies act in any jurisdiction. And we have to do that instead of being able to block them all in one class action. It's heinous.
- [18:58]
Dana Goldberg
We're going to leave that story at that. This one is from NBC. Sarah Wynn Williams, a former Facebook employee who alleged misconduct and sexual harassment at the company. In a memoir published last month month, she's going to testify before Congress on Wednesday that Meta executives undermine US national security and brief Chinese officials on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. In her introductory statement obtained by NBC News, Wynn Williams will tell the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism that Meta executives quote, lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress and the American public. This is a big deal. And I quote, I saw Meta executives repeatedly undermine US national security and betray American values. This is what she's going to say. According to prepared remarks, she said they did these things in secret to win favor with Beijing and build an $18 billion business in China. Again, this is all from her statement referring to the China based advertisers. Quote, meta's dishonesty started with a betrayal of core American values. That's what she's going to say as she does this in front of Congress. According to advanced copies of her remarks, and I quote, Mark Zuckerberg pledged himself a free speech champion. Yet eyewitness Meta work hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party to construct and test custom built censorship tools that silenced and censored their critics. Again, this does not surprise me in any way, shape or form. No feel like the owner of Meta has been gone down a deep dark road for a very long time.
- [20:34]
Allison Gill
It definitely has. It definitely has. All right, back to some immigration issues. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS will begin considering aliens antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment, quote, unquote, of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. This will immediately affect migrants applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and migrants affiliated with educational institutions, institutions linked to, quote, anti Semitic activity. Meaning if you ever tried to stand up for what happened to the Palestinians in Gaza, you're not coming to the United States. Yeah, that's what this says.
- [21:18]
Dana Goldberg
And I mean, if they're going to test anti Semitic material, maybe they can check Mel Gibson's phone while they're at it. Because I have some United States citizens are probably not exactly on the snow bandwagon, if you will.
- [21:30]
Allison Gill
No, we're going to fire the pardon attorney for not giving him a. His guns back.
- [21:35]
Dana Goldberg
Yes. Again, this is just another story that really feels like it's violating human rights and there's nothing we can do about it. There's nothing we can do about it.
- [21:45]
Allison Gill
Yeah. No, I agree. And, you know, like you said earlier, it doesn't matter what your free speech is, whether I agree with it or you agree with it or not, it's that you don't have it anymore, and you can't come to the United States if you want to speak your mind about something.
- [22:02]
Dana Goldberg
Right. And I also have a real hard time that they're going to say that they're doing this to avoid anti Semitic activity, yet they're doing nothing about the Nazis marching through Ohio. You know, those are the hypocrisy. It blows my mind.
- [22:15]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Or pardoning the Nazis that attack the Capitol on January 6th.
- [22:19]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thanks, Allison. Some good news. Some good news from the post. The U.S. national Park Service on Monday appeared to restore its original web page on the history of the Underground Railroad after it was met with a lot of backlash for deleting a prominently featured photo of abolitionist and women's suffragist Harriet Tubman. They took it down. As well as segments of text describing the horrors of slavery. The changes were first reported by the Washington Post on Sunday. Trump issued an executive order late last month directing the Smithsonian Institute to eliminate, quote, diversity narratives, a move that spurred fears that his administration aimed to whitewash American history, which is exactly what they were trying to do. Trump has also broadly pushed to remove what he's called the tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion policies at US Schools, universities, and other institutions. So I sure hope there's some pushback, too, with them taking out Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson on the Stonewall riots, because the Park Service is in charge of that as well. So I'm not sure how the pushback was able to do this, and I'm glad it did, but maybe we can get something going with the other things so they can start reinstating all of these trans women who were part of the LGBTQ movement 50 years ago at Stonewall.
- [23:34]
Allison Gill
Agreed. Thank you for that. And again, it's just the tyranny of woke. Bring back woke. We didn't have any plane crashes, and the stock market was great, and everybody could call the Social Security office, and it's just all outlined in Project 2025. So I know none of us are surprised. It's just when the reality of it hits, it's terrifying to our communities and our friends. So, yeah. All right, everybody. In that vein, time for some good trouble. What are you guys doing? All right. Today you can sign a petition to save the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH grants support the building blocks of American civil society, helping to examine the human condition, promote civics education, understand our cultural heritage, foster mutual respect for diverse beliefs and cultures, and develop media and information literacy. Grants help to bring museum exhibitions to your town, strengthen teaching in your schools, create documentaries and podcasts, facilitate groundbreaking research, and preserve and expand access to cultural and historical artifacts. Millions of dollars in previously awarded federal grants intended for arts and culture programs and groups across the country are being canceled by the Trump administration. So to sign the petition to save the National Endowment for Humanities, you can text sign PRFKF to 50409. That's sign PRFKF to 50409. So that's how you sign the petition. All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with Paula Poundstone after these messages.
- [25:23]
Dana Goldberg
We'll be right back.
- [25:25]
Allison Gill
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. And as someone who takes coffee very seriously, I never imagined choosing an instant coffee over my carefully crafted pour over. But I.Q. joe completely changed my perspective here. Their premium blends, ranging from smooth classic black coffee to the indulgent like toasted hazelnut, they deliver a remarkably rich flavor that rivals specialty coffee shops. The 200 milligrams of clean caffeine provide sustained alertness without any jitters or afternoon crashes that I used to experience with regular coffee. You get that, you know, the forces of nap become strong with me at 3pm and what. What truly sets it apart are the cognitive enhancing ingredients like lion's mane mushroom for mental Clarity magnesium for improved focus. They all work together to help me maintain concentration through back to back meetings and interviews and podcasts. The purity of IQ Joe is equally impressive. It's completely gluten free, no sugar, and made with non GMO ingredients. Plus it carries both vegan and kosher certifications. That means no more worrying about hidden additives or artificial ingredients that often sneak into conventional coffee products. I've noticed a significant difference in my energy levels since switching. No more mid morning slumps. It's. It's awesome. And with more than 20,000 five star reviews from fellow coffee enthusiasts, it is evident that IQ Joe represents something far beyond your average cup of coffee. It's become my secret weapon for productivity, giving me both the ritual I love of drinking coffee and the functional benefits my busy life demands. So now it's how I feel every workday, whether I'm at home or traveling. And right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus you get free shipping. So to get your 20% off, text daily beans to 64,000. That's daily beans all one word to 64,000. Again, text daily beans to 64,001. Message and data rates apply. See terms for details. Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm super excited today for Dana and I both to speak with somebody who has been a comedic inspiration to me. Well, I mean, she's only like 27 years old, so it hasn't been that long. But I've been seriously, on, you know, serious note. I've been watching her comedy and, and, and trying to emulate the, the brilliant genius that, that is the host of Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone podcast. Paula Poundstone. Hi, Paula.
- [27:48]
Paula Poundstone
Hey, y'all. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really happy to, well, I would say be here, but you know, I.
- [27:55]
Dana Goldberg
Mean, at this point, I think any of us are happy to be anywhere that, that we actually have a place to be.
- [28:01]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah, it's like, you know, I've said for years that anytime anybody types LOL into the phone, they're lying because just you don't laugh out loud while you're by yourself or while you're looking at your email. You just don't. You may acknowledge in your head that it's funny. You may even go like, huh. But you know, LOL is an exaggeration. But in the same way that at this point, anybody who uses the word happy is either talking about a long time ago, just plain lying.
- [28:31]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, I stopped asking people, how are you? And just said, hey, what's good. Give me something. Give me some. There's got to be one good thing, because we all. If you were paying any bit of attention to what's happening, no one should be good. You know what I mean? No one should be happy with what's happening right now. But there's got to be one bright side. Like nothing in Paul Poundstone's world. No bright sides.
- [28:52]
Paula Poundstone
No, there isn't. I mean, I don't care about sports at all, particularly professional. Let me put it that way. I don't care about professional sports because it's.
- [29:01]
Dana Goldberg
I was gonna say you've done a lot of things to lose your lesbian card, but that was at the top. Now. That was at the top of it.
- [29:07]
Paula Poundstone
A whole ton of money paid to a whole ton of people to play for cities that are not even from. I don't find that. But. Okay, but the Dodgers, why. Why would they go to the White House? Why? Los Angeles is where Trump doesn't want to help. Right. Even after the fires. Right. He can't get enough of telling us that he's not going to help us with anything. Why would they go there? Did they forget what the LA on their jerseys stood for?
- [29:39]
Dana Goldberg
I think it's a great question. I don't love the decision. He's such a petulant child. Even when he was speaking, he was like, there's two senators here from California, but I don't really like them, so I'm not going to introduce them. He's just a petulant child. He's. It's gross. And I agree with you. There's also several people on the team that if he could deport, he'd do it. Do it.
- [29:57]
Allison Gill
Yeah, maybe that'd be interesting. If he, if he invites ICE to the White House when the Dodgers are there, I'd be like, oh, I had no idea any of this was good, was gonna happen. Maybe find them using Social Security or IRS tax payments. I mean, what a. What a horrible betrayal. We've told immigrants for, like, decades, like, please pay your taxes. We won't come after you. We promise. And now they're actually going to use the irs. And, you know, and. And recently they've started using child welfare checks as a reason to. To. To snatch kids. And it's just, it's. I mean, unsurprising. I mean, who among us here in this virtual studio didn't see this coming?
- [30:40]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah, right. You're right. The promise and the broken promise are so, you know, not that I ever thought, like, oh, the Statue of Liberty and you know, I mean, every group that's ever come over has been, you know, exploited horribly. It's treated off, you know, you know, the Irish, the. Well, you know, the Africans didn't exactly come over, but of their own fruition. Yeah, but every group has been, you know, sort of. It's like a hazing, you know, it's like they. They're forced to go through some sort of God awful, you know, prejudicial bad behavior, even on the part of the government. But somewhere along the way, life for many becomes better. Anyways, I did believe that.
- [31:26]
Allison Gill
Yeah. It's like being an American freshman, like way we were freshmen once and got screwed with, but now it's our turn to screw with you.
- [31:32]
Paula Poundstone
Well, that is, by the way, a very American concept. But even as people, even as groups from other countries assimilate, there is this thing where they vote against a new immigration. And I've always said it's like that thing, it's like as soon as you get through the gate, you go, shut it, shut it, lock it now. Right. I'm the last one. Right. And everybody else, somehow, I don't know if that's consistent across the board, but certainly there's evidence of that, you know, with people voting against, you know, voting for the wall and all that, all that crap, you could say shit.
- [32:12]
Allison Gill
Here.
- [32:13]
Paula Poundstone
Oh, thank you. But the. Such a relief. I can't even tell you. Fuck, that feels good. But lately, now this, this, this broken American promise thing is like chiseling a hole in my heart.
- [32:30]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [32:31]
Paula Poundstone
You know the Afghanis on the airplane, weren't they already on their way? Weren't they on the plane? And they were told they couldn't come. Am I correct about that, Allison?
- [32:44]
Allison Gill
Yes, but the Venezuelans on the plane on the way out couldn't be brought back.
- [32:48]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah. And by the way, oh, we can't get them out. How about that heinous fucking Cruella deville trollop that was standing in front of them while they're in prison? And am I correct or did I just fall for a Twitter thing that she had them take their shirts off? The prisoners? The Venezuelans in El Salvador.
- [33:11]
Allison Gill
I don't know the answer to that.
- [33:12]
Dana Goldberg
I don't either. Are we who now which crew Elseville, are we talking about? We're talking about the killer, Kristi Noem. Yeah, the one that was holding a rifle at the guy's head next to her because she doesn't know how to hold a gun. That one.
- [33:25]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Outdoors woman. Christine Cosplay.
- [33:29]
Dana Goldberg
Indeed.
- [33:30]
Allison Gill
Cosplayer extraordinaire. And then, then we've got people like. And this pertains to your latest podcast episode, Paula. We've got like RFK Jr. Who is getting rid of the HIV AIDS office, getting rid of the vaccine office, telling people that the best way to prevent measles is vaccines, but then showing up to an 8 year old girl's funeral and taking pictures with doctors who think that steroids and antibiotics are the cure for measles. But your episode, I love this. You said, yes, raw milk seems like a regressive, terrible idea, but is it? Yes. And we have expert Madeline. And so you had this really great episode. So let's talk about that episode. Let's talk about RFK Jr. Who, by the way, some Democrats voted to confirm.
- [34:20]
Paula Poundstone
First of all, why do we have confirmation hearings anymore?
- [34:24]
Allison Gill
Good question.
- [34:25]
Paula Poundstone
It's like an hour of make believe for people. They lie and they lie and they lie and they lie. And our people, the Democratic senators appear to be believing the lies. Maybe, I don't know, it's just such a stupid. It's like a junior high play, that thing. And I don't know why they do it. Just pick who you fucking want and put them in there. Because we can't do anything about.
- [34:52]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, it, it does feel that way sometimes. I'm really disappointed at some of the Democrats who actually voted to put Stonewall this shit. I don't care if they have the majority or not. Go ahead, Allison.
- [35:02]
Allison Gill
Yeah, let me correct myself. Every single Democrat voted against RFK Jr. I was thinking of Marco Rubio. Yes, yes, let me claw that back.
- [35:11]
Dana Goldberg
We'll get corrections on this podcast, as you know. So a bunch of people already took to their computers and said, oh, let me tell you the truth.
- [35:17]
Allison Gill
We're weird. We like to be accurate, Paula. It's weird.
- [35:19]
Paula Poundstone
Well, you know, okay, one of the. I don't think they played this. I don't know if anybody referred to it during those hearings, but there is an interview with RFK Jr wherein he actually says, you know, like, it's a good thing. He says he wasn't a good student when he was young until he started doing heroin. And. And then he said he could focus and read after that and his grades went up. And, you know, I have something in common with him, which is that I was a terrible student, horrible student, but I didn't do heroin. And that's on me.
- [36:00]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely. I feel like there was a ball drop there.
- [36:03]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah, yeah, you know what? I made a choice and I have to live with that you also didn't.
- [36:08]
Allison Gill
Get a brain worm that I know of.
- [36:11]
Dana Goldberg
But let's. On TR and honesty, like full transparency, is there any type of roadkill that you absolutely would eat right off the street, Paula? I mean, maybe not a bear, but if you think you were like, that's my. That's my appetizer.
- [36:27]
Paula Poundstone
You know, I can say from recent experience, I've been. I've been. Well, a couple. A couple of different nights now. I have made a sign that says, stand up to Trump on one side, and on the other side it says, stop the cuts. Tax the rich. And I hold it over my head and walk up Wilshire boulevard to the 405 entrance and back again. It's about a two hour walk. And I do it, you know, during a heavily trafficked time of day. And I was doing this on Monday night, and I walked past a squished rat, and there was a moment my mouth watered, I'll be honest.
- [37:11]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely watered.
- [37:13]
Paula Poundstone
But I, you know, I'm like, if I stop and eat now, I'll never get home.
- [37:18]
Dana Goldberg
So I didn't just pick up the rat and place it under one of those zip bikes that the little scooters are on every corner, like, just in, you know, right by the freeway and be like, I don't know what happened. It got hit by one of those scooters. I wasn't gonna put this in my car while I was walking down the street and eat it.
- [37:32]
Paula Poundstone
Oh, I thought you were suggesting that I hide it there until I got back.
- [37:36]
Dana Goldberg
And I was, there's gonna be another rat. Trust me, you'll have opportunity.
- [37:41]
Allison Gill
How would you mark the hiding place? I'm curious.
- [37:44]
Paula Poundstone
I thought the same about the zip bike. I thought, my gosh, that's like when the guy, you know, marched out in the snow in Fargo to bury.
- [37:51]
Allison Gill
That's what I was just. That's what I was thinking of when I was like, how are you gonna mark it? That's what I was thinking in my head.
- [37:57]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. Ice scraper. Just an ice scraper.
- [37:59]
Paula Poundstone
What? I mean, the amount of those damned things and nobody with a helmet on, because who walks out of the house with their helmet when the, you know, when they're walking and they decide impromptu, to take one of those. Death. Yeah. Anyways, I did walk past the rat and I.
- [38:20]
Dana Goldberg
You had a moment.
- [38:21]
Allison Gill
Yeah, that's a good point. If you see somebody on one of those scooters with a helmet, that was premeditated.
- [38:26]
Paula Poundstone
It was premeditated scooter riding. Yeah. But mostly people. Not only do you see people without helmets on the things? And I mean, the only reason I do, the only reason I would never do that is I don't look that good in a diaper. And you can't.
- [38:45]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, can we put that up for public debate? Is that a personal decision? We don't have any say a vote in this.
- [38:50]
Paula Poundstone
Okay. What? I did wear a diaper.
- [38:54]
Dana Goldberg
I don't know.
- [38:56]
Paula Poundstone
I don't know if this fits in to the genre of your podcast, but during the stay at home order, when the feds had gone into Portland in the Black Lives Matter protests, I was like, I love Portland. And I was like, those motherfuckers know what? So I decide on a day when I can jump in my car and drive to Portland to join in the protest. And a friend of mine that I spoke with on the phone said that they weren't letting you use the restroom on the side of the road, you know, like at the. At the rest stops because of COVID And so I'm like, well, I'll just get fucking depends. And I did. And so I slap on a Depends. But the thing is, I mean, not on the exterior, you know, it was on the interior. And. And I Drive. It's 15 hour drive, and partway through, I get tired, I pull over, I sleep in a parking lot, and I. And I, meanwhile, I drink. I used to drink 16 diet sodas a day. I cut back during this trip because I, you know, I didn't really want to use the diaper. But in the morning when I wake up, like, you know, from sleeping in the parking lot, I realize that. And I still have the diaper on, but I just haven't used it. And I realized I have like, I don't know, five gallons of beverage in me. Like, you could hear me swash when I. And then I'm thinking, okay, well, I could use a diaper. And then, no, I realized, okay, you know the commercials you see for diapers where they take the little cup of the blue liquid and they pour it in? It's so absorbent. Isn't that fantastic? And then I realized, okay, but they don't have five gallons of gushing pee.
- [40:40]
Allison Gill
Maybe it's. Maybe that blue liquid is fluoride. Can we talk about now can we.
- [40:46]
Dana Goldberg
Talk about your activism? That you were upset about something that happened in Portland, Oregon, and that you put your ass in a car and it depends. And drove 15 hours to try and do something good in the world. How many people could actually say they would go through that sort of effort Your activism. And I don't know if this is a new thing. I feel like you've always been pretty outspoken, but it seems like it's been a lot more lately that you have no fucks left to give.
- [41:10]
Paula Poundstone
You know what? I'll tell you something. A, so the first night that I was walking by myself in on Wilshire Boulevard with my sign, I got a lot of. A surprising amount given that I live in Santa Monica. And so I'm going Santa Monica to Los Angeles is where I was walking. I got a lot of people going to the trouble of rolling their windows down, which in LA is a big deal. People rolling their windows down to go, you know, fuck you. I love Trump. Like, right. I got a surprising amount of that for where I live. And I was thinking, you know, I would never do that even if it was a Trumper. Right. That I saw on the street with a sign. I just wouldn't go to the trouble of personalizing it. For one thing, I wouldn't yell fuck you with somebody. I just wouldn't. And what that person isn't understanding is that I'm marching for. For safeguards and protections for them.
- [42:16]
Dana Goldberg
Absolutely.
- [42:16]
Paula Poundstone
As well as for me. But having said that, I have a family member that cannot survive without Social Security and Medi Cal. And so there are times where I have a hard time breathing during the day. I'm so scared. And, and the callousness with which. Right. He does. Trump doesn't like disabled people. Well, isn't that too fucking bad? You know, so. So anyways, that's part of why I just feel like I have to. And the fact that there's nobody. When I was there a couple nights ago, I did, there was a lot of people that were honking and waving and saying, you know, we're with you, which was, you know, nice. But I don't know what the next step is. Like, they say there's another protest on the 19th. Have you heard that? Yeah, but I went on hands off 2025 last night, and I don't know if they're the ones doing that protest, but all I saw was old stuff about the one we just had.
- [43:26]
Allison Gill
Right. And so, yeah, it's, it's kind, It's. It's the 50501 folks which were part of the large hands off 50501. Yeah. Like 50 states, 50 protests. One. Yeah.
- [43:41]
Paula Poundstone
Wait, let me, let me let you say that uninterrupted, which I've never done before, but kind of a new thing. Okay, tell me where I would go to look up where I can protest on the 19th.
- [43:55]
Allison Gill
Well, let's see. It's the 50:51. So it looks like it's 50:50 spelled out F I F T Y F I F T Y dot one. And that's where you would go. 50 protests, 50 states, one movement, 50, 51. So I say 50501. But that's where you go that. It's 5050 spelled out dot one spelled out O N E. And that's, that's where you get the information on the April 19th action. And, and, and I think the bulwark put out a really great, like, what's next, how this works? Sort of. They laid it out. JVL did this on. On the bulwarks substack. And it's all of these actions and rallies and Tesla takedowns and hands off and 50, 50 ones out away from the capital, around the country. And when we're there, we get everybody's email address and we build a coalition. And we keep building it, and we keep having these actions, grassroots. And we build and build until we get to the summer of 2026, right before the midterms, where we get everybody we've been building for the last year and a half up to D.C. and have a big massive protest during which hopefully the Insurrection act won't be invoked if it's not invoked here in a week and a half.
- [45:15]
Dana Goldberg
Seriously.
- [45:16]
Allison Gill
Because, you know, Donald Trump told the Pentagon and good old Pete Keg stand to to put together a commission to determine whether it was appropriate to invoke the Insurrection Act.
- [45:27]
Paula Poundstone
I have no doubt in my mind that at some point they're gonna. I was thinking of marketing little targets that you could just wear on your jeans, you know, because he wants to shoot people in the legs. That's his big. I believe that it will come to dire action on the part of the government because that's what we're trying to stop. That's the direction they're headed in. And if they can grab one person off the street in their masks with their unmarked vehicle and not identify that if they can grab with with no due process, then they can do it to any one of us.
- [46:05]
Allison Gill
Well, I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, wondering if he's going to institute more emergency powers like the Insurrection Act. He already has. He instituted an emergency to circumvent Congress on raising taxes on Americans with his tariffs. And he also invoked the Alien Enemies act, which he has used to deport alleged Trend Naragua Gang members To ceco, which is, as we know, a torture camp, prison, slave prison, over, you know, outside of, outside of the country. And the Supreme Court just said, no, those people need. They get, they get due process, but it's really shitty. It's stupid due process. It's like all the government has to do is tell you they're going to deport you and you have like a week to find a very expensive lawyer and file a habeas petition in the district where you're being detained. And so they're, they're starting to file those habeas suits. But it can't be class action now, right? It can't be because the SCOTUS screwed it up. It can't be, like anyone deported under the Alien Enemies Act. It has to be you, Bob, in Texas. And we have to file a whole separate thing and a lawsuit just for these couple of people.
- [47:14]
Paula Poundstone
You know, I'm a big Perry Mason watcher, but I really didn't want to know as much about the law as we've had to inform.
- [47:24]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, absolutely.
- [47:25]
Allison Gill
Or economics.
- [47:28]
Paula Poundstone
How about all those Republicans? Because I, I cannot believe in my heart that every one of the Republicans in Congress really think this is. I just can't believe it. I mean, I wish I knew what it was he had on them or what he had done to them or how he, how he sucked them into. I don't know. But, you know, the ones who keep going, like, for example, over the tariffs, they'll say, well, just trust Trump. He knows what he's doing, right? And here's the fucking Vincent Price fly in that ointment. Trump lies. He lies about everything. There's nothing he doesn't lie about. He's a liar. He does not tell the truth. If it is, he says it isn't. If he didn't, he says he did. He lies. So this idea that we're supposed to just trust him with anything, he, you know, he burned that bridge a long, long time ago. Apparently his mother didn't tell him the story about the wolf.
- [48:26]
Allison Gill
Well, breaking news as we're sitting here. Trump has paused tariffs for 90 days.
- [48:31]
Dana Goldberg
Of course he has.
- [48:32]
Allison Gill
Who could have predicted that?
- [48:34]
Paula Poundstone
All of us shot right up again.
- [48:37]
Allison Gill
Yeah, it was. I think it's a stock market scheme. And that's why the Republicans in Congress aren't all mad about it, is because they're buying the dip and making a ton of money. That's exactly what Taylor Greene invested in. $750,000 worth of bonds right before he announced the tariffs. Like, stuff like that. So that's. That's why I. This is. I think this is just a. Another way to move a bunch of wealth from the middle class to the ultra wealthy.
- [48:59]
Paula Poundstone
I'll tell you how they're gonna. In my opinion. I listened to Molly White. She has a podcast called Citation Needed, and she talks about crypto, and she's brilliant. And that's what he's going to do in the end. It's going to be some fuckery involving crypto where they, you know, where they convert, you know, the nation to some sort of crypto, blah, blah, blah. Part of the reason that that would work efficiently for him is because most of us, myself included, I mean, I listen to Molly White, but I'm not telling you I understand Molly White. I just. And sometimes I listen to the same episode over and over again, trying to understand it, but so many of us know nothing about that that it's an easy way to go in and steal. And that seems to be his. His strength is stealing. Do you think. Don't you find yourself on a daily basis trying to figure out how we got. Like. I don't just mean how we got here. Like, what were the steps in terms of laws and like, the immunity. What. The presidential immunity and all that stuff, or. Or Citizens United. I know that those were, you know, foundational pieces in the mess that we're in. But. But don't you wonder how mentally we got here, like, how so to buy into this? And I've begun to wonder. I don't know, I just. All day long, I'm alone a lot, and I think, could it be the paper towel things in a public restroom where you put your hands under and the. And it makes the paper towel come out?
- [50:46]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [50:46]
Paula Poundstone
And thank you. Are there scientists that listen to this program? Could you write into these guys and let us know? Do you think that could have anything to with it? And by the way, we're sorry.
- [50:58]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [51:00]
Allison Gill
There's a really good book coming out in May by Brandy Scalache called the Intermediaries, where she goes over the history of the late 19th century, leading up to Nazi Germany and a sexuality clinic and people starting to go after the LGBTQ community, going after trans people and how that divided people. And then that is a really. A way to go after women. And then, you know, maybe this whole alpha male thing, I mean, it is a mirror image of what's happening right now. And I think that it's a really. When that book comes out, it's a really great explainer for the, you know, the mental Part, not the law, the legal part of us, like the Supreme Court validating him to win another election and, you know, legally putting him back in power, but more of, like, how we first learn to hate. And we've seen it before in history, and they always start with the trans community, the LGBTQ community, trying to divide them and then divide them from women and then divide them from people of color, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I look forward to that book.
- [52:08]
Paula Poundstone
Are you, in your own way, suggesting that it's not those towel things that you put your hands under?
- [52:15]
Allison Gill
I know, I know.
- [52:18]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah. Wow. Boy. Why not just say, I don't think it is?
- [52:23]
Dana Goldberg
I mean, why beat around the bush?
- [52:24]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah. Honest to God. Boy, that was smooth, Allison.
- [52:27]
Dana Goldberg
Those little fuckers in the bathroom, though, you'll put your hand around nothing. You walk away, and accidentally part of your jacket swipes it. All of a sudden, the paper towels start coming out. It doesn't matter how hard you try and do it intentionally.
- [52:38]
Allison Gill
They fight you.
- [52:38]
Dana Goldberg
It's someone laughing. It's just someone in there just laughing, watching this whole thing happen.
- [52:42]
Paula Poundstone
Oh, there are people in there. That goes without saying. No, I think Chicago was the first place that I'm aware of anyways. The Chicago airport that had the faucets that you put your hands under, and then the water comes out and it responds to some sort of light. I'm not exact. And I always wore a dark jacket.
- [53:08]
Allison Gill
I wear black, and they never work for me.
- [53:10]
Paula Poundstone
Right. And it took me a long time to figure that out. It used to just hurt my feelings because I felt like, well, it's not counting me as a human being somehow.
- [53:18]
Dana Goldberg
I just Learned this on April 9th at 2:32pm, if anyone's listening. I did not know those were light activated. It depends what color clothing you're wearing.
- [53:26]
Allison Gill
You're not gothic, like. Like Paula and I. You don't know.
- [53:29]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah, I work.
- [53:30]
Allison Gill
Speaking of airports, though, Paula, you're going to, what, Maine this weekend and then California next week. You're. You're. You're still out there. And I. By the way, I love following your social media. Everybody needs to follow Paula, because you always just post a picture of the chair in the green room that you just got out of. And I think that is. I don't know why, but that. Like, I love that in my soul.
- [53:52]
Paula Poundstone
Well, thank you. You know, I started. People always do this thing where they'll write to me. They go, could I come backstage? And, you know, backstage is just a dungeon.
- [54:02]
Allison Gill
It sucks.
- [54:03]
Paula Poundstone
Why do you Want to come backstage? Backstage is not even. If I was a band, maybe there'd be a lot of excitement or if I was a play, right? People scurrying around, getting their costum, tuning up their instruments. Maybe they're bee sync some excitement. It's really just me in a center. And so I started taking a picture of the chair to sort of show people that there's, there's no glamour back here. It's better on your side of the curtain than it is on mine. I was just gonna ask you something and I forget what the fuck it was. That's stress, by the way.
- [54:36]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, well, I think we all, I mean, I, mine, mine is menopause brain and mine. So I'm like, I don't remember what the hell I just said. Yeah.
- [54:43]
Paula Poundstone
Really now that have anything to do with your eggs?
- [54:47]
Allison Gill
Hormones, huh?
- [54:50]
Paula Poundstone
There's so much about science that I don't understand. Not as much as Trump, but a lot that I don't understand.
- [54:57]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Now that eggs are really expensive. I don't have any figures.
- [55:01]
Paula Poundstone
Just go. Yeah. So I forget where I'm. Is that where I'm going this weekend? I know that is.
- [55:08]
Allison Gill
I know you're going to Maine. Gardner, Maine, on Saturday, April tw. You'll be at Concord, New Hampshire on Friday, April 11th.
- [55:19]
Paula Poundstone
Sure. At the Capitol center for the Arts. I think it's Johnson Hall. I believe it's all coming together now.
- [55:26]
Allison Gill
It is. And then heldsburg, California, you'll be there April 18th.
- [55:32]
Paula Poundstone
So he's the home of the Basket Museum.
- [55:38]
Allison Gill
Oh, well, now I have to go.
- [55:40]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah.
- [55:41]
Allison Gill
I mean, I don't know why you.
- [55:42]
Dana Goldberg
Don'T lead with that. Why would you bury that lead?
- [55:44]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah. It's beloved in Healdsburg, by the way. I'm sure when the audience first told me about it, I just goddamn roared with. I, I think I said to somebody in the audience, what do you do for a living? And they were like, well, you know, I, I'm the, you know, curator or whatever at the, at that Basket Museum. And my mouth dropped open. The whole crowd like applauded. They were like, the Basket Museum Museum.
- [56:08]
Allison Gill
Yeah, they love their Basket Museum. And now you have an additional reason to go see Paula in Healdsburg, California. But if you do get a chance, I really encourage you to buy tickets when Paula comes to your town. Laugh for a minute. Be among like minded people. Know that you're not alone. It's just, it's really healing. Same with, same with Dana, where whenever she does shows and HRC galas and Olivia Cruises. It's just. It's so important that we all find community and get a moment to laugh together. So check that out. And you also have to check out Nobody listens to Paula Poundstone.
- [56:46]
Dana Goldberg
Yes.
- [56:46]
Allison Gill
Wherever you get your podcast.
- [56:48]
Dana Goldberg
Because I am nobody. I am nobody. Because I listen to Paula Poundstone.
- [56:51]
Allison Gill
I am also nobody.
- [56:53]
Paula Poundstone
Thank you. It's really. It's fun to do. And, you know, Alison, you're absolutely right, though. Live performing experiences and, you know, do I want people to come see me? Yes, I do. And wouldn't that be wonderful? But, you know, any. Anytime you can go out and be with a group and have that group response to something I think just reinforces our humanity. And when I do it, it's sort of like any other thing that I sort of think is good for me, like exercise or whatever. And there is that moment where I think, oh, why did I book that? Oh, geez. I really.
- [57:34]
Dana Goldberg
I think we've all been there.
- [57:36]
Paula Poundstone
Yeah. Yep. Oh, when you do it and you're like, oh, my God, I can't believe how much better I feel.
- [57:43]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. So, yeah, it's cathartic for us, just like it is for them.
- [57:47]
Paula Poundstone
Absolutely.
- [57:48]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. One of my favorite moments with you in the last couple of years is when we had dinner at Stephanie Miller's house, and Lily Tomlin was there, and Stephanie said to Lily Tomlin, didn't you just get the Mark Twain Comedy Award? And you said, yes, and Mark Twain gave it to her.
- [58:00]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Did I?
- [58:04]
Paula Poundstone
Lily Tomlin.
- [58:05]
Dana Goldberg
To Lily Tomlin. I mean, it was such a beautiful. I mean, just to be amongst you all at this dinner was just. It was mind blowing. I'm to have you next to Lily. And then Frangela was there and Stephanie Miller. It was just a lovely night. And the. The camaraderie you have with your colleagues that you've been performing with and have known for years is such a beautiful friendship. There's history there amongst the female comedians in this country, because it was a different path. It was a different path that you all paved. And I'm standing on your shoulders, and I could not be more thankful.
- [58:36]
Allison Gill
Same. I wouldn't have even been able to start a podcast if I didn't get into comedy, which wouldn't have happened if it weren't for amazing, amazing people like yourself, Paul. And to be able to sit down at a Stephanie Miller party and talk to you and Mark Hamill for an hour and a half was just one of the coolest experiences of my life. So I wanted just to thank you so much. For joining us today.
- [58:57]
Paula Poundstone
Sat down where you couldn't tell us apart. Me and Mark Hamill. Was there a second that.
- [59:06]
Allison Gill
Thank you so much for joining us everybody. Again. Pick up tickets to go see Paul the Poundstone Live if you get a chance. It's one of the coolest things you'll ever do and listen to. Nobody listens to Paul. Paula Poundstone become a nobody with us. I really appreciate your time today, Paula. It's been an honor.
- [59:20]
Paula Poundstone
Thank you, you guys. This was really fun.
- [59:21]
Dana Goldberg
Thanks so much and thank you.
- [59:23]
Allison Gill
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news.
- [59:28]
Paula Poundstone
Who likes good news? Everyone?
- [59:31]
Allison Gill
Then good news everyone. And if you have any good news you'd like to share with us or confessions or pronunciation corrections or story corrections, if you have a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or your small business, we have so many amazing makers and creators and entrepreneurs that listen to the daily beans. Send that to us if your business could use a boost. Also, shout outs to government programs, whether they've helped you or a family member or somebody that you know. And it can be anything from like WIC and SNAP and Section 8 to PACT act benefits at the VA or Great VA Healthcare you've received or the big ones like the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Send them all to us@dailybeanspod.com Click on Contact and all you got to do to get your submission read on the air is to pay your pod pet tax. And that means attach a photo of your pet. And if you want us to guess the breeds of your shelter pet, we'll try to do that. We aren't good at it, but it's still fun. If you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll try to find him a forever home. If you don't have that any animal photo, really just grab one off the Internet. We're great with that, especially baby animals.
- [60:46]
Dana Goldberg
We're not going to do it. We're not going to reverse check the animal, see if it's yours or not. Don't worry.
- [60:50]
Allison Gill
Yeah, we're going to Google image search and say you got that off. I know where you got that. And then yeah, you're catfishing us with your, with your dog photo. You're literally catfishing us with your with your pet photos. Bird watching photos. So it can be an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping off trump and musk properties. Flipping the bird that also counts as bird watching. And also baby photos I'll just send in. Even if it's just a baby photo with no words attached, we're fine with that. We love it. Dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. That's where you send your good news in. First up from M pronouns she and her hi bean besties. Thanks for helping us wade through the bullshit that we're living through day after day. After My husband is currently a federal employee. I'll thank him for his service for me. M He and I are both Navy veterans. Thank you both for your service again and despite over 25 years of federal service between us, we greet every morning not knowing if he will still have a job by the end of the day. But this is supposed to be about good news. Despite that, I wanted to send a shout out to good old Medicare. Last week my mother underwent life saving heart surgery and was fortunate enough to be treated by one of the leading surgeons in the country for this specific procedure. I'm happy to say she's recovering in leaps and bounds and will be back on her feet chasing her grandkids in no time. I can't tell you how grateful I am that she wasn't held back from receiving the care she needed. Thank you for saving my mom Medicare. My pet Pick is of the world's luckiest street cat, David David. He joined our family in the summer of 2020 as a kitten the size of my palm but now fully lives up to his breed name Aphrodite. Giant Shorthair Bro is huge and while he may look like a distinguished gentleman here, don't let the business attire fool you. He's 100 menace. His favorite hobbies include pooping in the bathtub, eating dog food and jump scaring you as you walk by unawares. By the way, I love your writing. I love this orange and white raccoon so much and we will fight anyone to defend his honor. Love everything you're doing. Keep up the good fight.
- [62:52]
Dana Goldberg
Look at this giant Boy this is fantastic. M and very dapper. Very demure in the second picture.
- [62:59]
Allison Gill
Ye God, look how tall this cat is. Yeah, that cat is halfway up that Christmas tree. And that's a big ass tree. Yep, the business tie. This is the hardest working cat in the cat business.
- [63:12]
Dana Goldberg
It's adorable. Adorable. All right. This one's from Anonymous. Pronouns she and her hello AG and dg. I'm a professor and I wanted to report that I did my homework late, but I did get extra credit. I filled out the Heritage foundation survey 20 times. I know I came up with a new name each time. Thanks for giving me something to do. I hope that enough people mess with the survey to render it useless. Just as a side note, the examples they are using for government waste are ridiculous. They are mentioning good government programs. I direct a federal TRIO program that supports first generation low income students. Note TRIO is not an acronym. At my community college I serve STEM students and over 90% of those who transfer to four year universities are graduating with their bachelor's degree. Our student population is 95 Hispanic. At this point, enough Republican senators favor trio because their states are getting a lot of money. So I hope we won't be defunded anytime soon in the fall with that. Thank you for all. You do keep me smiling. During the shit show I added pictures of my Shih Tzu Logan. He liked. I just added that in emphasis. He liked to be pulled in a sled rather than walk.
- [64:27]
Allison Gill
Oh my God.
- [64:28]
Dana Goldberg
And the lassa mix pepper in her car seat. They're both in heaven now, but they are still in my heart.
- [64:35]
Allison Gill
And they had sleds and car seats.
- [64:37]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God. Look at the second photo.
- [64:40]
Allison Gill
That photo is an award winning photo.
- [64:42]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, that is beautiful.
- [64:44]
Allison Gill
I mean they're both great, but look at.
- [64:46]
Dana Goldberg
I know, I know. That little face. The little. The face.
- [64:50]
Allison Gill
The dog on the sled all bundled up. Oh my. I can't put my arms down. That's what I think of.
- [64:56]
Dana Goldberg
It's a little Ralphie.
- [64:57]
Allison Gill
Yeah. Oh totally. Thank you so much for that submission. That's wonderful. And thank you for your service doing that heritage survey 20 times. Anonymous Next up, space beans. Pronouns he and him. Hi. Love the show. By the way, if you're a new listener, space beans is is when I put my tinfoil hat on and make wild predictions, but all of them have come true. So that's called putting super space beans on something. Hi. Love the show. My submission is a reflection on Putin's clear long term goal to occupy Scandinavian countries. Hence their battle readying and Trump's desire to occupy both Canada and Greenland. What's the link? Put the North Pole at the center of your map. They both know that by burning enough gas, oil and coal, the Arctic Ocean will become inhabitable, navigable, and maybe even pleasant one day. And if the rest of us are struggling with drought and burning temperatures, they'll basically rule the planet. Just a thought. I'm including a photo of Baco, Bacchus, God of wine. In English, Baco by way of your cat tariff. Okay. So yeah, that's right. They're. They're pet tariffs now instead of pet tax.
- [66:07]
Dana Goldberg
Wow, this map is really interesting.
- [66:11]
Allison Gill
Yep. They would rule that whole beautiful uninhabited ocean.
- [66:18]
Dana Goldberg
Wow.
- [66:19]
Allison Gill
Oh, kitty.
- [66:22]
Dana Goldberg
So sweet. All right, this one is from Christine R. Pronounce she and her hello, beans Queens. Long time listener, first time writing in I'm a New Mexican what, what? 505. I am Native American and I'm proud of my state. I am listening to Dana proudly read about the new turquoise act that we passed and I am in tears. I am so proud of our state for passing such an important bill for n Americans. Governor mlg, which is Michelle Lujan Grishan, for those that don't know, has done some amazing things for our state, such as supporting early childhood education and being a staunch advocate for our environment. This particular bill brings so much emotion to me because someone is finally casting light on an almost forgotten community of people. Thank you for sharing this wonderful news about our state with the rest of the country. I leave you with the curiosity, cute pet tacks of my fur babies. Biscuit, brown doggy, mazikeen and Ella. Gray cat and white cat. And Ari is the white doggie.
- [67:19]
Allison Gill
Oh, Christine, thanks for sending.
- [67:23]
Dana Goldberg
Yes.
- [67:24]
Allison Gill
Oh, the brood. They are so. Look at that last one. That's like a chihuahua on the head of a, like, Labrador.
- [67:32]
Dana Goldberg
That's actually. Yeah, that does look photoshopped.
- [67:35]
Allison Gill
That's a tall ass dog with a ton. I love these dogs. They're so adorable. Oh, my gosh. And the whiskers and the eyebrows on Ari. Very cute. Thank you so much for that, Christine. Next up, from Janelle Pronoun. She and her hello Queens of the beans and team. On today's Beans, you asked for pics of our favorite signs from Saturday. My mixed news is that due to a snafu with the bus, we missed going to DC but regrouped and went to our local rally in Reading, Pennsylvania. Yet there were a lot more people there than I expected. And it was a fantastic crowd. I saw folks from age 7 to 90, gay, straight, hippies, clergy, shout out to my friend Steph for making our signs for both rallies we attended and for getting in good trouble with me. We're ready for the next gathering, which I think is in Harrisburg on April 19th. Thank you for all you do. Look at that sign.
- [68:30]
Dana Goldberg
So good and horrifying, but so good.
- [68:33]
Allison Gill
And yeah, get your small hands off my.
- [68:35]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God.
- [68:37]
Allison Gill
Fantastic, Janelle. Thank you.
- [68:40]
Dana Goldberg
All right, this one's from Len, pronouncing him hello, beanie babes. First, Allison, congratulations on your excellent sub stack. Live with Waj. Amazing. Yep, Informative, entertaining. And your hair looks great.
- [68:54]
Allison Gill
Well, thank you.
- [68:55]
Dana Goldberg
I know there's lots of clever names for the current squatter at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Orange Cheeto, Mango Mussolini, Diaper Don. But after all these years, there's no one more vile, evil, disgusting, revolting, repulsive, sickening, nauseating, foul, nasty, obnoxious thing you can call him than simply Trump. Just plain Trump.
- [69:16]
Allison Gill
So true.
- [69:17]
Dana Goldberg
Now for the birds. My wife was driving me home a couple of weeks ago on Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago. It is possible to catch a glimpse of a certain tower from there, although it's hard from a moving car. Still snapped a couple. I never understood why the bird is considered such a rude gesture until I looked at the result. I'm sharing one example for your consideration. Then the other day I was driving on Grand Avenue just west of downtown, and I remember that there was a Tesla dealership on that route. I used to love to drive by there and see the cars I once lusted after. Must has since cured me of that desire and I planned ahead so that I could pull over and shoot some more birds. It was therefore with mixed emotions that I discovered the store was gone. But there was pleasure in saluting its absence. Keep on fighting the good fight. Look at this baby.
- [70:07]
Allison Gill
Oh my God, that dog. Oh, yeah, you got some good snaps there. We got great bird watching photos from Len for both a Tesla dealership and the Trump Tower Chicago. And yeah, that looks kind of cool with the letters and the signs taken. Taken off the building and it's all abandoned. Bye. Ah, Tesla takedown. You love to see it. Everybody. Thank you so much for your good news submissions. These were wonderful. Please continue to send in your good news. Make it. Make it rain. Make it rain. Good news on the daily beans. Send it into. Send it to us all your photos. Even if it's just something as simple as a picture of your garden and saying, I had a nice 20 minutes of silence today without any news and I wanted to share it with you. Whatever your good news is, we have to microdose that hope. And we love getting your good news stories. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. Thank you to the inimitable Paula Poundstone. I just love her so much.
- [71:04]
Dana Goldberg
I do too. She's phenomenal. You could. There's a few dates you can see her live, so make sure you go to her website. And my final thought for today for you and for those of you still listening, I'VE got a live show in Los Angeles, California on April 19th. So if you are listening to this still on the good news. I know not everybody does and you're in driving distance of la. I'm going to be opening for the incredible comedian Gina Yashere. Gina's a dear friend of mine. She also lost her house in the Altadena fires. So if for some reason you're in the LA area, you want to come. It's going to help support Gina. It's going to help support me because I get a new audience and it'll be a full house. There's about 90 tickets left in this theater. That's it. It's at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles and you can get tickets by going to my website. It's danagoldberg.com and it is the first date on there. You'll click on that, it'll take you to Ticketmaster and you can get some tickets left for this show. So get them before they're gone. I would love to see you in the audience.
- [71:57]
Allison Gill
Oh, that would be so wonderful. And yeah, if you're, if you're Leguminati and you happen to see Dana wandering around after the show, she loves hugs and photos. So I do say hi.
- [72:07]
Dana Goldberg
I do indeed.
- [72:08]
Allison Gill
And I, I'm not just that. She told me that I didn't just put that out there.
- [72:13]
Dana Goldberg
Everyone's like, that's really rude, Allison.
- [72:15]
Allison Gill
Yeah, go up and just smack her right in the face. She loves it. Everybody just totally into it. She's not, don't.
- [72:20]
Dana Goldberg
That last part was a lie. Thank you.
- [72:21]
Allison Gill
That was a lie. I think you could distinguish the lies from the truth here on the Beans. Anyway, thank you so much. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have some follow ups on some of these Supreme Court decisions we're waiting to hear about. 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 McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle 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 mswmedia.com msw media.