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Thursday, March 13th, 2025 Today, Judge Beryl Howell has granted the law firm Perkins Coie a temporary restraining order blocking challenge sections of Trump's executive order; MSW media has partnered with national security counselors to file a FOIA request for the USAID destroyed document logs; House Republicans have passed a bill to fund the government, but Senate Democrats are divided; the Trump administration is still refusing to produce the head of OPM to testify under oath in court; a judge has blocked Trump's efforts to defund teacher training; Trump's OPM spokesperson posted fashion influencer videos from her government office; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Allison Gill
MSW Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, March 13, 2025. Today, Judge Beryl Howell has granted the law firm Perkins Coie a temporary restraining order blocking challenged sections of Trump's executive order. MSW Media has partnered with National Security Councilors to file a FOIA request for the USAID destroyed document logs. House Republicans have passed a bill to fund the government. But Senate Democrats are divided. The Trump administration is still refusing to produce the head of OPM to testify under oath in court. A judge has blocked Trump's efforts to defund teacher training. And Trump's OPM spokesperson posted fashion influencer videos from her government office. I'm Allison Gill.
- [01:04]
Dana Goldberg
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
- [01:09]
Allison Gill
And that last one pisses me off in particular because I met. I got fired for hosting a podcast in my spare time.
- [01:22]
Dana Goldberg
Not even using your real name and.
- [01:24]
Allison Gill
Not ever mentioning what I, what agency or that I was representing an agency. And she's doing her fucking influencer shit from her office.
- [01:36]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, it's little banana pants.
- [01:38]
Allison Gill
Banana pants. I like that. They're like mandate pants but with bananas. So here we are, it's Thursday. The week is winding down, but the news is not. We have a ton to get to, including the good news. If you have any good news you want to submit to us, or photos of your pets or babies or, you know, anything like that, adoptable pets in your area, you can do that by going to DailyBeansPod.com and click on Contact. I know a lot of folks just listen to the news and then skip the good news part. I recommend you take a minute and check it out because it's seriously, really like an uplifting, community based thing that I, I really enjoy. And we'll also have some good trouble today. But first, we have some quick hits. All right, first up, hey, remember when Judge Alp required the head of opm, Acting Director Charles Ezell to come and testify about all the probationary people the Trump administration is firing because Azelle had filed a declaration with the court saying it wasn't us that fired all those people, it was the agencies. And then the judge said, no, dude, you still have to come testify because you filed that declaration and we want to ask you questions about it. Well, late last night, Trump withdrew that. The Trump administration, I should say, withdrew Charles Azell's declaration and said Azelle isn't coming to testify today.
- [02:53]
Dana Goldberg
Shocking.
- [02:53]
Allison Gill
Yeah. They say, though, hey, the only reason the court said Azell had to appear was to answer questions about his declaration, and we're withdrawing that declaration. So you don't have to bring them in to answer questions about it. And the threat that the judge was making if you don't produce a Zelle was that we wouldn't be able to use this declaration. And we're not using it now, so you shouldn't. We're not coming in. We're just going to go with the arguments that we have against the temporary restraining order.
- [03:19]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [03:20]
Allison Gill
So apparently his testimony is moot. We'll see what the judge says. He hasn't come back with anything. I'll keep checking throughout the show.
- [03:26]
Dana Goldberg
All right, thanks so much, Alison. This one's from the Hill. Senate Democrats say they will not vote for the House past six month government funding package which would boost defense spending and cut non defense programs unless they first get a vote on a 30 day funding stopgap to give bipartisan negotiators more time to reach a deal on the annual appropriations bills. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, he is obviously, as we know, the Democrat from New York announced on the floor that Democratic senators would not vote to advance the House bill, at least not now, and called for the Senate to Instead pass a 30 day quote, clean government funding stopgap. And I quote, Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from Congressional Democrats. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House cr. And that's the continuing resolution. That's what Chuck Schumer said. You ain't got the votes.
- [04:22]
Allison Gill
Well good, good for them. I mean this is kind of a middle of the road sort of compromise, kind of not a compromise with Republicans but a compromise with ourselves and the government. Because it was, you know, it seemed like it was either pass this bullshit crap that the Republicans put together in the House or don't pass anything and the government shuts down. So what they've decided is instead of passing this six month bullshit from, from Republicans in the House, they want a 30 day clean continuing resolution and that'll give them 30 days I guess to figure out what they're gonna do next.
- [04:58]
Dana Goldberg
Oh boy.
- [04:59]
Allison Gill
Cuz the Senate's working on their own appropriations bill.
- [05:03]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [05:03]
Allison Gill
So that's what's going on. But good. I'm glad the Democrats at least aren't going to vote for this bullshit. But the government closes down tomorrow at midnight if they don't get that clean resolution. And I hope they stand their ground on this.
- [05:15]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah, I do too. And I, you know, the Republicans are going, if the government shuts down, it's on the Democrats. Let me remind you, you have the advantage in all three areas, the presidency, the Senate, and the Congress. So maybe. Yeah, not the Democrats fault if you can't get this done.
- [05:30]
Allison Gill
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Nope. They really wish they could pass the buck on this one, but, yeah, they cannot. All right, we have more news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from the Hill, the U.S. agency for International Development, known as USAID. Those employees and outside groups are fighting an order from the agency's leadership to shred and burn its classified documents as well as personnel records. An email obtained by the Hill, sent by USAID's acting executive secretary, we talked about this yesterday. It instructed remaining employees at the dismantled agencies to, quote, shred as many documents as possible first and then reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break. The move alarmed those fighting to restore the agency, who stressed the destruction could run afoul of public records laws and hinder any efforts to rehire employees. If you destroy all the personnel records, you can't bring those people back. If the court orders you to bring those people back and you've destroyed their employee files, that could be difficult. It's also raised questions over whether it will impact the ability of the public to scrutinize the role of DOGE and the role they played at usaid. In two different lawsuits, an organization representing USAID employees, along with one representing contractors, asked judges for a restraining order to block the agency from destroying documents like make them stop destroying stuff, arguing it could impact ongoing litigation and violate their obligation to retain relevant evidence. Quote, this directive suggests a rapid destruction of agency records on a large scale that could not plausibly involve a reasoned assessment of the records retention obligations for the relevant documents under the Federal Records act or in relation to this ongoing litigation. That's what the afsa, American Foreign Service association, said in a lawsuit. The Personnel Services Contractor association in its lawsuit said the Department of Justice attorneys have, quote, not confirmed or denied or explained this order to destroy the documents. They also asked, quote, how and why burning and shredding is consistent with the preservation obligations in litigation, which documents are being destroyed and why, who authorized it, and what the Department of Justice is doing to stop it. In its suit with afsa, the Justice Department agreed to pause the shredding, but otherwise asked the court to deny requests for a restraining order. The filing said the AFSA accused the agency of an indiscriminate purge of documents based on out of one, out of Context Email Quote, Plaintiffs have seriously misapprehended the facts. Trained USAID staff sorted and removed classified documents in order to clear the space formerly occupied by USAID for its new tenant. That's what DOJ said in court filings. Quote, the removed classified documents had nothing to do with this litigation. They were copies of documents from other agencies or derivatively classified documents where the original classified document is retained by another agency and for which there's no need for USAID to retain a copy. The White house has said USAID's move out of the Ronald Reagan building spurred the need to destroy the records. USAID employees last month were given 15 minutes each to clear out their offices. But Kel McClanahan, National Security Law expert who has since filed a complaint with the National Archives about this, compared the process to how US Embassies handled records when they're facing an imminent attack. Quote, I think it's very telling that the protocols that they are employing are the protocols that embassies use when they're about to be overrun. And it's really kind of hilariously macabre that even the Doge people are treating themselves as an invading army into a US Facility, he said. Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, stressed that the documents in question have all been retained electronically. Quote, the USAID building will soon be occupied. The new tenant at USAID is Customs and Border Patrol. Yeah, that's what she wrote on Twitter. Quote this was sent roughly to three dozen employees. This email. The documents involved were old, mostly courtesy content, which is stuff from other agencies, and the originals all still exist on classified computer systems. But then Kel McClanahan noted several complexities of public records laws, including that multiple versions of a document sometimes have to be maintained, giving the example of a document that is separately signed by multiple individuals. While physical copies can be destroyed if electronically retained, multiple versions of a document have to be stored. He also faulted the White House for failing to comment on the destruction of personnel records. Right. Quote, they were destroying classified and personnel records. This is a quote from McClanahan. So why were the personnel records in a classified system? Well, they weren't. So that's why I think they were not doing what the law would allow them to do. I am entirely comfortable saying I might be wrong. This may have just been a poorly worded memo and a very poorly informed deputy press secretary, and it was actually all above board. But until they prove that, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt. McClanahan has also filed a public records request on behalf of podcast host Allison Gill.
- [10:33]
Dana Goldberg
What?
- [10:36]
Allison Gill
Noting that any records with detailed biographical data must be considered sensitive but unclassified, which actually requires agencies to maintain logs with details about what they destroyed. So, yes, it is true. We have filed, on behalf of the Daily Beans and MSW Media, Kal McClanahan has filed a FOIA request for those logs, a log of the destroyed documents.
- [10:58]
Dana Goldberg
Well done, my friend. All right, this one's from the Associated Press. A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's plans to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training, finding that cuts are already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. US District Judge Myong Jun sided with the eight states that had requested a temporary restraining order. The states argued the cuts were likely driven by efforts from President Donald Trump's administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump, a Republican, is. I don't know why they had to say that in the story, which is hilarious. I mean, because he didn't used to be. Has said he wants to dismantle the Education Department, and his administration has already started overhauling much of its work, including cutting dozens of contracts it dismissed as, quote, woke and wasteful. I really hate these people.
- [11:51]
Allison Gill
I know.
- [11:52]
Dana Goldberg
I know. God. The plaintiffs argued the federal Education Department abruptly ended two programs, the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development.
- [12:03]
Allison Gill
Yeah, fuck quality teachers and effective education. That's right.
- [12:06]
Dana Goldberg
Fuck them. They don't need funding. They got plenty of money to buy their own pencils and school supplies and everything else that they need without notice. In February, they said the two programs provided upwards of $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education. Those fucking woke math. Woke ass math. They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond 5. They also shortened PI to 3.14 and stopped it at that because apparently more numbers are too many numbers.
- [12:46]
Allison Gill
You don't need all that woke infinity shit. That's right.
- [12:49]
Dana Goldberg
That's some bullshit. Now, June, who was appointed by President Joe Biden and a Democrat, as they needed to point out in this article, found that the cancellations violated administrative law by failing to give a clear explanation and that the states are at risk of lasting harm because they've already had to cancel teacher training programs and lay people. Now, this is a quote from the story. The record shows that if I were to deny the TRO dozens of programs upon which public schools, public universities, students, teachers and faculty rely, they're going to be Gutted. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell called the order, quote, a victory for our students, teachers, and school districts, restoring funds to programs designed to address the ongoing teacher shortages in the commonwealth, including those serving vulnerable students with special needs. California is joined by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin. Adelaide Pagano, representing Massachusetts, argued the Education Department lacked the authority to cancel those grants and its move was not in accordance with the law. The form letters to grantees, she said, failed to provide a clear and reasonable explanation of the cancellations and wrongly changed the criteria in the middle of the grant process, something they could consider for future funding, but not money already allocated. Michael Fitzgerald, he's representing the government, insisted the Education Department was well within its authority to cancel the grants over the programs suspected of violating federal anti discrimination laws and no longer aligned with the department's priorities. I just want to put a little thing right here. Title 7 still stands in this country. So I don't know what he's talking about. That it aligns with anti discrimination. This.
- [14:36]
Allison Gill
That they say they think we're discriminating against white people.
- [14:39]
Dana Goldberg
Right. Okay. All right.
- [14:42]
Allison Gill
Okay.
- [14:44]
Dana Goldberg
And he also argued. I can't. He also argued that there was no need for immediate relief since grantees could recoup their frozen funds if they prevail in this lawsuit.
- [14:54]
Allison Gill
Oh, man.
- [14:55]
Dana Goldberg
If you win, don't worry.
- [14:57]
Allison Gill
What a bunch of dicks. You don't need the money now. Yeah, no, we do. We had the money. It was appropriated. It was spent on things that we all agreed to. It'd be like if I gave, you know, Donald Trump 500 bucks to teach a class on pie, and then after he got the 500 bucks, he shortened it to 3.14 without asking. Like, you just can't do that.
- [15:18]
Dana Goldberg
There's too many numbers. We don't need the extra numbers. We're trying to cut ways to fraud in pie. It's just 3.14. We're ending at 3.14. I don't throw around the word hate much, but really, there's so many people in this administration that I despise. It's even more than hate. I despise.
- [15:37]
Allison Gill
My name is Marco Rubio, and I'm filing an amicus brief that PI should be extended to 3.141579. But end there. Thank you.
- [15:44]
Dana Goldberg
Because that's what Jesus would do.
- [15:48]
Allison Gill
Yeah, man. They seem to believe you can discriminate against white people, which just blows my mind.
- [15:53]
Dana Goldberg
Reverse racism is not a thing, and I wish people would stop saying it.
- [15:57]
Allison Gill
The Department of Education Actually just sent a letter to, like 60 universities telling them they're under investigation because they allowed pro Palestinian protests on campus. This is on the heels, obviously, of the wrongful detention and threatened deportation of a legal migrant from Columbia University. Mahmoud Khalil, that student we talked about yesterday. A brief update on that. The judge appears to believe that New York actually has jurisdiction, not Louisiana. So we'll keep you posted. But next up, Judge Barrel Howell has granted the Perkins Coey temporary restraining order, barring sections 1, 3, and 5 of Trump's executive order. He wrote a whole executive order about Perkins Coie, and he was like, they are terrible. They discriminate against me. They fixed the 2016 election when Hillary hired Fusion GPS to get the Steele dossier. The pee tape is not real. Perkins Coey. So this is. It's all about that, this whole thing. But Judge Barrel Howell handed them their ass in. In court. The Trump administration, she said during a hearing that this kind of clear retaliation chills the First Amendment. Section one of Trump's restraining order accuses Perkins Coey of engaging in racist divers, diversity, equity and inclusion, accusing them of discriminating against white people, while also accusing them, like I said, of 2016 election interference when they represented, like I said, the CEO of Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, two white guys. By the way, section three says to prevent the transfer of taxpayer dollars to federal contractors whose earnings subsidize racial discrimination against white people, falsified documents designed to weaponize the government against candidates for office, and anti. That's oppo research, by the way. It's totally legal. We've been doing it forever in this country. And the anti Democratic election changes that invite fraud and distrust. Government contracting agencies shall, to the extent permissible by law, require government contractors to disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie. So if you make blankets for the Navy in Terre Haute, Indiana, and you once had a friend who visited and delivered a sandwich to people at Perkins Coie, you're supposed to tell the administration about it.
- [18:02]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, my God.
- [18:04]
Allison Gill
It's just. They just looking for. They're looking for reasons to. To cut these contractors off so that they can give them to their friends. That's what this is. And. And also break the government so they can privatize everything. So that's section three that, you know, if you. If you are a contractor and you do any business with Perkins Coy, you have to report it to us. And that's been blocked. Section five says the heads of all agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide guidance limiting official access from the federal government buildings to employees of Perkins Coey once such access would threaten the national security or otherwise be inconsistent with the interests of the United states. So section 5 bar employees of Perkins Cooey from entering federal buildings. Okay, so what if they're representing somebody and they have to meet at the Department of Justice headquarters? Like they.
- [18:53]
Dana Goldberg
Seems like an allowed question. Yep. Not there. Can't do it there.
- [18:56]
Allison Gill
Yeah. All three of those sections are now blocked by this temporary restraining order pending a hearing for preliminary injunction. We're probably going to go over a lot of the language that's going to like. We're still waiting while we record this for Judge Barrel Howell's order, which apparently is going to be scathing, at least according to Adam Klassfeld, who was there at the hearing. He's. Everyone's like, we cannot wait to read this ruling. And we're going to cover that on Unjustified in more detail on Unjustified this weekend with Andy McCabe.
- [19:23]
Dana Goldberg
Thanks so much, Allison. Last in this section is from the Guardian. The chief spokesperson for the agency overseeing mass firings as Donald Trump and Elon Musk slashed the federal workforce, used her office to record fashion influencer videos even as thousands of workers were losing their jobs. I guess she just needed good lighting. I'm sure the lighting's fantastic in the office. McLarene pinover. I don't know if that's how I'm saying her name correctly, but I feel like that's what it be, Mick. Laureen Pinover, communications director at the U.S. office of Personnel Management. OPM, posted several Instagram videos during business hours in which she posted in different outfits. This is from CNN. One video was posted on February 13, the day OPM reportedly directed several agencies to lay off thousands of employees with probationary status, including about 20 people on her own team.
- [20:15]
Allison Gill
Classy. Keep it classy, Pinover.
- [20:18]
Dana Goldberg
That's right. Pinover had issued numerous statements backing moves to fire federal workers, including describing a controversial directive for all workers to list five things they achieved last week as a, quote, a commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce. And on her, she must have been like, I got 47 likes, 3 shares, and I went viral with one of my outfits. That's three.
- [20:42]
Allison Gill
Yeah. So she's doing fashion shows in her office on business hours and making people say five things they did last week as part of their job.
- [20:50]
Dana Goldberg
Yep.
- [20:50]
Allison Gill
Cnnover, Pineover, Pinove, whatever her fucking name.
- [20:53]
Dana Goldberg
CNN said Pinover did not respond to questions because she was busy filming, but she did delete her Instagram account minutes after being approached for comment. Oh, so I guess she knew that was fucking wrong. Pinover's LinkedIn page appeared to have been taken down as well.
- [21:08]
Allison Gill
Yeah, we call that consciousness of guilt.
- [21:11]
Dana Goldberg
Mm. Yeah. Videos published by CNN showed Pinover in her office showing herself wearing various clothing outfits and hashtags, including DC Style and DC Influe and the song Busy Woman by Sabrina Carpenter. I'm sure Sabrina Carpenter would be horrified.
- [21:26]
Allison Gill
I know, right?
- [21:27]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah. One post made on Tuesday, the day the Department of Education announced it was cutting half of its workforce, that's when that happened. Pinover may have benefited from affiliate links to buy clothes in her videos. This is what CNN said. Also violation, though it noted that she only had approximately 800 followers to her account.
- [21:48]
Allison Gill
Oh, girl.
- [21:49]
Dana Goldberg
One unnamed former. Maybe President Trump needs to come in and do a used car salesman ad for whatever company she's trying to sell clothes for. Oh, man, what an embarrassment. Thanks for pulling the curtain away so we could see that that's all Trump really is as a used car salesman. Thanks a lot, Elon Musk.
- [22:04]
Allison Gill
I can't drive. I don't understand the sun, but by Tesla.
- [22:08]
Dana Goldberg
That's right. One unnamed former staffer said, quote, I saw it. And I was like, are you kidding me? That's my office. She's the spokesperson for the agency and that is advocating for the firing based on performance and efficiency of the rest of the government workforce. And she's using government property as a backdrop for her videos. Jack Miller, Penn over his predecessor as OPM Communications director under Joe Biden, said, and I quote, your number one job as a leader is to protect and support your people. So instead of fighting tooth and nail to keep your team, you're posting fashion videos. It's absurd. Donald K. Sherman, chief counselor for the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told cnn, and I quote, it's highly problematic that while dedicating civil servants who wanted to work for the government, and those are being fired for all manner of dubious reasons or are being forced out of this administration, that someone at the agency leading that attack on civil service is using their government job for private gain. Which really describes the entire fucking admin.
- [23:15]
Allison Gill
You know, I waited one year after I was fired from the Department of Veterans affairs to even talk about what happened publicly because I didn't want there to be any question that I made a penny off of what happened.
- [23:32]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [23:33]
Allison Gill
And here she is just, well, 800 followers. I mean, that's. You're not going to probably give her a checker nine cents, right?
- [23:42]
Dana Goldberg
I have 800 followers on Instagram. So.
- [23:48]
Allison Gill
It'S just. It's so frustrating. It's just so frustrating.
- [23:52]
Dana Goldberg
Yeah.
- [23:52]
Allison Gill
You're fired. You're fired, and you're fired. My name is McClanahan McLean Pinover, and here are all my outfits. And you can't work here because you're inefficient. I just like. Off.
- [24:04]
Dana Goldberg
Oh, man.
- [24:06]
Allison Gill
I don't know what accent that was. I'm sorry. I don't know what the hell that was. It's just my generic model accent, I think. All right, we have more stuff that we have to get to. Let's do some. Let's do. Let's get into some good trouble. What are you guys doing? I guess that was my really bad Marie Antoinette impression.
- [24:25]
Dana Goldberg
It's all right.
- [24:26]
Allison Gill
I think Marie Antoinette would probably have maybe 800 Instagram followers. I think that's probably right. All right, here's your good trouble. U.S. representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data that have been obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency and Elon Musk. The U.S. district Court for the District of Columbia has issued an injunction commanding DOGE to comply with citizen requests under the Freedom of Information Act. This law encompasses the Federal Privacy act of 1974, which entitles any citizen to access personal information held in any US Government record system. Please find a fillable Privacy act request form. You'll see a link in our Show Notes. Citizens need only fill out the form and mail it to doge. This newly recognized federal agency, which has been systematically accessing government computer data systems, now has an obligation to respond to specific information demands from any of the 340 million US citizens who exercise their legal right to defend their privacy and establish the security of their private information. Once you have mailed the Privacy act request to doge, you can fill out another form to to Jamie Raskin so they can stay in touch with you about additional details and updates as they become available. We're gonna have both links in the Show Notes. Well, a link to the page that has both links in the Show Notes for you to fill out. By law, your right to request what information of yours is being held by Doge and Elon Musk. I love this. Thank you to our Representative, Jamie Raskin.
- [25:57]
Dana Goldberg
Thank you indeed. And thank you all the people out there who continue to do the good trouble. I mean, there's so many of you that are like, I'm overwhelmed. I don't know where to start. What can I do? Something small. And every time I give it to you, hundreds, probably thousands of you are actually doing this. And it's a beautiful thing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
- [26:14]
Allison Gill
I love it. I love it. You know, it's not. Perhaps the real treasure is the good trouble we make along the way.
- [26:21]
Dana Goldberg
Go.
- [26:22]
Allison Gill
So I'm excited. Thanks so much, everybody. We'll be right back with the good news. Hey, everybody. It's almost springtime and I'm excited to refresh my wellness routine. And AG1 has been a total game changer for me. And it can be for you too. It is one simple habit that delivers foundational nutrition, helping me stay balanced and energized. Whether I'm heading out for a hike or just soaking up longer days or working my patootie off, AG1 keeps me feeling my best. It's the perfect way to kick off spring. And you know, everything I do is about efficiency and affordability. And that's why I love AG1. It's not just a quick fix, it's a habit that sticks because you can feel the difference. And it's such an easy habit to, to, to take up. I started drinking AG1 years ago. I have noticed the long term benefits like more energy and focus and better gut health. And it's become an essential part of my daily routine. So as spring arrives, I'm looking for more travel. Hiking weekend adventures and AG1's travel packs make it easy to stay consistent no matter where I am. Whether I'm out on the trail or exploring a new city, doing a live show, I'm giving my body the support it needs is what I'm saying. And I love it. And what I love most about AG1 is the trust and transparency behind it. Unlike other supplements that make big old claims, AG1 is backed by actual science and nutrition wellness. It's NSF certified for sport, meaning it's been independently tested for quality and safety. And it has 75 vitamins, minerals and whole food sourced ingredients with no artificial junk. It is gluten free, dairy free, vegan friendly. It makes a great fit for any lifestyle. So when it comes to my health, I want something I can trust. And that's why I choose AG1. With science backed ingredients and real benefits, I can feel AG1 makes it easy to support overall wellness every day. That's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long. And AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift when you sign up. So you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2 and five free travel packs in your first box, so make sure to check out drinkag1.com DailyBeans to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com DailyBeANS to start your new year on a healthier note. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone? Then good news everyone. Good news. Good news. And if you have any good news submissions you want to send to us, you want to talk about your happy place? You want to tell about Talk to us about a vacation you went on. You want to give a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area or your small business. Let us know what you're making or creating a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved one or a friend. You know, it could be anything from WIC and head start section 8, snap up to affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and of course student debt relief. We have a lot of that going around now, so please send all of that to us. And to get your submission in, all you got to do is pay your pod pet tax, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, you can send us an adoptable pet in your area. We can help find them a forever home. If you don't have that. Really any rent random animal will do. I really enjoy secretary birds and frogs and I also like capybaras and pygmy marmosets. Dana, what are your favorites?
- [29:41]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my gosh. You know, I love like animals or just otters. Like otters. I'm obsessed with them.
- [29:47]
Allison Gill
That's right. Especially the kinds when you see otters like mamas and babies holding hands so they don't float away.
- [29:52]
Dana Goldberg
She yeah, they keep them on their chest, keep them safe. And then a couple otter. Otter couples. They hold hands at night so they don't drift apart in the, in the, in the water.
- [30:03]
Allison Gill
Oh, that's so darling.
- [30:04]
Dana Goldberg
I know.
- [30:05]
Allison Gill
So that. Or if you don't have any animal photos, you can send baby photos. We also love baby photos. Whether it's you as a baby or a random baby on the Internet, we don't care. Just sending the baby photos. And we're also accepting bird watching photos, which could be an actual photo of a bird or you and your family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk property. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact first up from anonymous no pronouns Potential good trouble suggestion if Fort Liberty has been renamed to Fort Bragg but a different Bragg. Why not start a petition to rename Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington to BLM Plaza in honor of all the fine folks who serve at the Bureau of Land Management?
- [30:45]
Dana Goldberg
There you go.
- [30:50]
Allison Gill
I've been a listener in Canada since the Kitchen Table days. I'm so sorry to our Canadian friends in the North. Seriously, and I've always wanted to say thank you for making American political news fun, as fun as it can be. Thanks, Anonymous. And I'll grab this next one too. It's pretty short the Joyful Foot Care Nurse hello beautiful podcasters and sources of sanity during this massive clusterfuck, you often ask for good news at the end of your podcast. So here we go. During the worst of the pandemic, a group of my friends formed a Zoom Ladies Save the World group. I live In Minnesota, about 60 miles from the Twin Cities, and some group members are more isolated. We've been there for each other during the good and the bad. In a perverse way, the pandemic offered us many good things, like making Zoom meetings common and remote, learning and working a reality. Please keep doing what you do. Thank you, Foot Care Nurse, and thank you, Anonymous. I appreciate these submissions.
- [31:42]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God, I do love our listeners. This one's from Kate Pronouns, she and her Dear Ladies of the Beans, thank you so much for your hard work. The Daily Beans keeps me informed and sane. Knowing others out there are also shocked. Shocked and dumbfounded by the chaos that is the orange menace. I wanted to shout out my husband, who I won't name as he's a federal worker. I've watched him weather the storm that has been Project 2025 and still keep showing up. It's been so draining. But as you remind us, that's the point. This is compounded by family who still seem to feel this is all business as usual, or worse, a positive for the country. I've seen how hard he's worked to make his department what it is today, and his team loves him for it. We don't know what tomorrow bring, but I'm so proud of him and how far he's come in his role and how much he built it up. As with all the others, it will be a massive loss for the government to lose so much knowledge and dedication as podpet tax. Here are our two cats, Fry and Leela. They bring a different, more wholesome chaos into our lives that we wouldn't trade for anything. Fry is the void and Leela the Gray Lady. Thank you for all that you do and sharing these amazing stories of good news at the end of each episode. It always brings me joy. And if you want to catch song about Axolotls, may I suggest this one? And there's going to be a link in the show notes to some sort of catchy Axolotl tune.
- [33:05]
Allison Gill
Excellent. Look at these cute kitties. Hello hello babies. Let's see Fry and Layla. Oh so great. All right, next up from Holly Pronoun. She and her hi AG and dg. You two are the best and I love listening to deliver the news that I need to hear. Thank you so much for saving my sanity these last several years. I've told so many people here out in our little blue dot in Texas about your podcast and I know you've got a lot of new listeners here in Gillespie County. Hello hello. Shout out to Gillespie County. I have a self shout out. My husband and I run a glassblowing studio in an art gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas and we've been open for more than two years. We're getting ready to reopen this week for glassblowing experiences and free demonstrations. Along with selling the work of 20 local artists who create quilt art, pottery, fused glass, found object art, garden art, woodworking and photography, we also sell our work. My husband is the glassblower and I'm the weaver of clothing. We would love to welcome the Leguminati to our Enchanted Fredericksburg Ranch and hope that the listeners will visit us while they're in Fredericksburg enjoying 80 plus wineries. The Hill country is the Napa of Texas. There's historic sites and Enchanted Rock State Park. We're only about 10 minutes from Main Street. It's a beautiful drive, especially when the spring wildflowers are in bloom, which will hopefully happen soon. Our website is enchanted fredericksburg ranch.com if listeners want more info to book a glassblowing experience or find out what our hours are and upcoming events, we will have a link in the show notes for you.
- [34:34]
Dana Goldberg
It sounds amazing and I love glassblowing. I'm obsessed with it.
- [34:38]
Allison Gill
Textiles are like this is so great. This is so amazing. Podpet tax is photo of our Dickens who will be 18 this summer. He's blind from cataracts. Cat is in quotes but a love bug who loves pets, especially if you press really hard on the top of his head toward his back. For Dana, I'm including a baby picture of me from 1963. I was bald until I was 3 so mom taped a bow on my head. We didn't have fancy headbands in the 60s. Keep up the amazing work. You're both doing.
- [35:14]
Dana Goldberg
Look how cute you were.
- [35:16]
Allison Gill
This is a beautiful 18 year old baby. And look at the the cat and but look at the tiny little bab me for I know so sweet tape on my head.
- [35:27]
Dana Goldberg
Oh my God. So good. So good. All right, this one's from Katherine. Pronouns she and her Dear Beans Queens, I'm riding to applaud Allison for attending the Empty Seat Town hall in Escondido next week. My uncle and cousins live in that area and have been vocal Republican supporters and contributors for decades, including our current president. They are devout Christians, yet cannot see the hypocrisy of supporting him. They post climate change denying things despite never having had a conversation about it with my father, an internationally known climate researcher. I know I'm very curious how this summer will go for their dairy farms and almond orchards with Trump's release of water from the reservoirs. Yet it's heartbreaking to have families so divided. Keep up the good work for calling out the presidency and the Republican sycophants for my podpet tax. I'm including our English shepherd Quincy, patiently waiting for his humans to come home on the school bus. He can see the bus go by from his perch and then races with dancing and whining to find me to open the door so he can meet them and herd them into the house. And that is the sweetest visual I know.
- [36:34]
Allison Gill
Oh, I love that idea. I could have heard the babies back in the house. Open the door. Open the door. Yeah. So cute. Thank you, Catherine. Thanks for the kind words. Next up, Anonymous Dear Beans Queens, I wanted to share my bird watching photo from Saturday during the Tesla takedown in Kansas City. My selfie skills are pretty poor, so I had to settle for just the hand. I understand these protests will continue every Saturday from 12 to 2 in front of the Tesla Service center, just in case any beans listeners are in the area and wish to join again. This is Kansas City for Pet Tax. Here's my gray tuxedo, Matthew. Matthew is a great name for a cat trying on his Halloween costume a couple years ago. Yes, he's a big cat, around 16 pounds. I'm a longtime loyal listener. I haven't found a better source to keep me informed. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. Anonymous thank you. This ca looks real pleased, real pissed. Real pleased with this hat. I'm sure he's very, very happy about this. Is he the cat in the hat? Is that what he I love this. And that's a great bird too. To the Tesla Service Center. Oh my God, that's good. Do you, when you flip people off, do you, do you pull all the fingers down or do you do kind of the flick, like with the fingers up?
- [37:51]
Dana Goldberg
I'm looking at my hand right now while I do it. I do it. All of my. Let's see, my pointer, my ring and my pinky are sort of at a 90 degree angle. And my fingers up.
- [38:00]
Allison Gill
Yeah, I used to do this, but I'm kind of a fan of this old school.
- [38:04]
Dana Goldberg
No, I can't do. I can't do that. Mine's definitely the fingers crunched. Not the fingers rolled.
- [38:13]
Allison Gill
Not the ball.
- [38:14]
Dana Goldberg
Not the ball. 90°. I like geometry in my birds.
- [38:18]
Allison Gill
I gotcha. We're flipping each other off, by the way, on camera right now, virtually from where we are. Thank you so much for your good news. Please send us your good news, all of it. We want to Hear from you DailyBeansPod.com click on Contact. Any final thoughts, my friend?
- [38:32]
Dana Goldberg
Not today. Not today.
- [38:33]
Allison Gill
All right, well, hey everybody, if you didn't get a chance to listen to the Beans yesterday, please do. I have a great conversation with Congressman Jake Auchincloss. You don't want to miss it. And we'll be back in your ears tomorrow with frugal saying Fridays and of course, unjustified over the weekend and all the bonuses and and whatnot. No rest for the wicked. So until tomorrow, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health 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 Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, Please visit msw media.com msw media.