Wednesday, August 19, 2026 Today, DeSantis ally and Palm Beach County clerk Mike Caruso has been arrested on child sex abuse charges; the Justice Department is asking the court to reinstate the charges against Abrego Garcia; a San Diego Padres coach has been arrested by ICE in Texas; Trump votes by mail again in Florida; election denier Tina Peters has been hired in northern California; Paramount is asking states to bear the costs of their delayed buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery; the Minnesota Attorney General is suing to extradite an ICE officer from Texas; border construction in Big Bend is suspended after bipartisan pushback; Disney and ABC have sued the FCC to stop the early license renewal process; North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has vetoed a Republican voter suppression bill; the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals says age restrictions on mail voting in South Carolina are unconstitutional; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Today, DeSantis ally and Palm Beach County clerk Mike Caruso has been arrested on child sex abuse charges; the Justice Department is asking the court to reinstate the charges against Abrego Garcia; a San Diego Padres coach has been arrested by ICE in Texas; Trump votes by mail again in Florida; election denier Tina Peters has been hired in northern California; Paramount is asking states to bear the costs of their delayed buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery; the Minnesota Attorney General is suing to extradite an ICE officer from Texas; border construction in Big Bend is suspended after bipartisan pushback; Disney and ABC have sued the FCC to stop the early license renewal process; North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has vetoed a Republican voter suppression bill; the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals says age restrictions on mail voting in South Carolina are unconstitutional; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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DeSantis Ally In Florida Arrested On Child Sex-Abuse Charges | Forbes
Paramount Asks States to Shoulder Costs of Delaying Warner Bros. Deal | The New York Times
San Diego Padres staffer in ICE custody after arrest at Texas airport | CNN
Minnesota AG sues Texas gov to force the state to extradite ICE agent | POLITICO
Justice Department asks court to reinstate criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia | CBS News
Trump votes by mail again in his home state of Florida | POLITICO
Stein vetoes Republican-backed ‘anti-voter’ North Carolina elections bill | NC Newsline
Border Construction in Big Bend Is Halted After Drawing Criticism | The New York Times
Disney and ABC sue FCC, seeking to stop early license renewal process | NBC News
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Today, Ron DeSantis, Ally and Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Carus has been arrested on child sex abuse charges. The Justice Department is asking the court to reinstate the charges against Abrego Garcia, the San Diego Padres coach. One of them has been arrested by ICE In Texas. Trump has voted by mail again in Florida twice. Election denier Tina Peters has been hired in Northern California. Paramount is asking states to bear the cost of their delayed buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery. The Minnesota attorney General is suing to extradite an ICE officer from Texas. Border construction in Big Bend has been suspended after bipartisan pushback. Disney and ABC have sued the FCC to stop their early license renewal process. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has vetoed a Republican voter suppression bill. And the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals says age restrictions on mail voting in South Carolina are unconstitutional. I'm, Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Well, could we get some more news on a Tuesday? I see. Chandler Bing voice.
Should I be wearing any more clothes,
Mrs. Chenandler? Bong. Oh, I miss Matthew Perry.
Yeah.
Tuesdays are by far the busiest news days, and today is no exception. All of this and Florida, Wyoming and Alaska are headed to the polls today as we record this on Tuesday. We'll give you those results tomorrow on the beans. So that's happening. And later in the show, I'm going to talk to Julie K. She's the founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures, and what she and her legal team are doing to save abortion access in this country in the face of the Trump administration, the Dobbs decision, and Todd Blanche. So I'm looking forward to that interview.
Me, too. As we discussed briefly yesterday in Northern California county that has become a hotbed of activism for those who sow doubts about the reliability of voting machines, plans to hire Tina Peters. I don't understand how they call bad faith people activists. But fine. As we know, Tina is the prominent Colorado election denier, recently released from prison, and they hired her to work on elections. now, Clint Curtis, the top election official in Shasta county, told the Guardian he plans to hire Peters as a consultant to replace Brent Turner, his top deputy, who has been on medical leave.
So, fantastic. I'm sure that'll be just great and fine there in Shasta County. All right, as you could hear from the introduction, we have a ton of news to get to. We're going to do the lightning round, but we're going to call it the Hot Notes.
Hot.
Notes. All right, first up from Forbes and content warning for molestation. Michael Allen Caruso, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives and one of Ron DeSantis's staunchest allies in the state Legislature, was suspended from his role as Palm Beach County's clerk of Courts on Tuesday after he was arrested on charges of kidnapping and molesting a child. Caruso, who is 67, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail early Tuesday morning on suspicion of molestation, kidnapping, luring and enticing a child, lewd and lascivious exhibition, and child abuse. And that's according to the Miami Herald. Caruso is accused of sexually molesting a child on multiple occasions last year, according to the Herald, which cited anonymous sources in reporting that the victim was a boy younger than five when the child started acting out at home. His family reportedly started asking questions of the boy and then made a report to law enforcement. Caruso has faced allegations in the past of child sex abuse, which he denies, including from his first wife and mother of his seven children, and has been the subject of multiple reports to the Florida Department of children and families. DeSantis, who appointed Caruso to the position in August, suspended him from public office shortly after his arrest on Tuesday.
Good lord. All right. From the Times. Paramount. Paramount has asked a federal judge on Monday to force the opponents of its act acquisition of Warner Brothers discovery to cover the costs of the delay created by their lawsuit seeking to block the deal.
No, no, no. You cannot have our state money to pay for your stupid, delayed takeover. Seriously, Warner Brothers and Discovery, the
Hollywood studio is seeking $1.88 billion bond from 12 states, led by California, along with the Writers Guild of America, which have sued to stop the company's deal to acquire Warner Brothers. Citing antitrust concerns, Paramount proposes that it would collect the proceeds from the bond if the states lost their case. As part of its deal with Warner Brothers, paramount must pay 650 million every quarter if the transaction has not been closed by October 1st. Paramount proposed the fee in an effort to win this support from shareholders who were also considering a rival bid from Netflix at the time. Because Paramount offered that fee, Judge Martinez Ogwin is unlikely to grant the company's request. That's what Bill Kovachik, a former Republican chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said.
Yeah, remember we talked about that ticking fee that they have to pay 25% per share per quarter? And that ended up about when I did back at the napkin math here on the beans, I was like, that's like $600 million a quarter. And now they're suggesting we put this, the whole thing off until sometime in 2027. And I was like, that's fine with me. They got to pay this $650 million a quarter. And now they're trying to get the states and the Writers Guild to pay it.
Got it?
No, no, no. I think, Bill K. Is that, is that what we decided?
I think he thinks so.
I think he's correct. The judges, he's like, you add, you offered the fee. You offered the ticking fee. Ellison. Anyway, next up from cnn, a player development staff member for the San Diego Padres was detained in Texas last week while traveling and is being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Oswaldo Perela, who's 34 and he works as a catching coordinator for the Padres organization. He was in El Paso, Texas to work with the Padres AAA affiliate this past week. His cousin Jorge Perela told CNN on Tuesday that Perela was detained by ICE at the airport on Monday morning at approximately 4 to 4:30am m Mountain Time while attempting to travel home to AR where he lives with his wife and two young daughters. His family confirmed the reports to CNN and arrest records show Perella is currently being held at the El Paso Processing Center. Now, according to his cousin, Jorge Perela, Oswaldo arrived in the United States from Venezuela in 2014 and filed for asylum. And according to his family, Perella is currently going through the EB2 visa process.
Of course they come in the right way. They are coming in the right way. You still have a problem.
All right. Next up from Politico, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday to force the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged with assault in connection with a non fatal shooting during an enforcement operation in May. Minnesota officials charged Christian Castro with four counts of second degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime, alleging that he fired a gun into the front door of a Minneapolis home, striking the leg of Julio Sosa Celes, who is a Venezuelan immigrant. Former acting ICE director Todd Lyons previously said Castro and another ICE agent lied when they claimed Sosacelles had attacked them with a shovel and a broom. Wow. An acting director of ICE told the truth. Amazing. Castro was arrested in Texas in May, but he was still not been extradited to Minnesota to face charges. That's what Ellison said on Tuesday, despite repe attempts from state officials to compel Abbott to greenlight his extradition. And this is a quote. Instead of promptly fulfilling his legal ministerial duty to execute the governor's rendition warrant for Castro. However, Governor Abbott has withheld the warrant and held up Castro's extradition for nearly three months. That's what Ellison told reporters in a press conference. Abbott and Minnesota Governor Tim Walls, Ellison said, had long aided each other's fugitive extradition requests until Abbott's office declined to comment. Wow.
Three months. So Todd Lyons admitted this guy lied, he's been charged, and the governor won't, send him.
I guess he'll aid in fugitive extradition. Unless it's an ICE officer.
Yeah, right.
Unless it's one of those fugitives.
Oh, right. Okay, I got it. M. That all makes sense now. All right. From cbs. The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the criminal charges against Kilmara Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, by reversing a lower court order that found them to be vindictive in nature. In May, a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed a criminal indictment against Abrego Garcia, who'd been accused by federal prosecutors of smuggling immigrants illegally in the United States. The judge found that the Justice Department prosecuted Abrego Garcia in retaliation for his efforts to challenge his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year. In a filing Monday before the U.S. court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the Justice Department denied that the prosecution was vindictive, arguing it had multiple legitimate bases to prosecute Abrego Garcia. Quote, the decision to seek an indictment against Abrego Garcia for human smuggling was made by career prosecutors based on the evidence, the law, and their firm belief that there's proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Abrego Garcia had committed the offenses charged. That's what the DOJ said in the news release. Andy and I are going to go over this in more detail on this weekend's episode of Unjustified. But your case was already dismissed, so they're fighting that dismissal.
Also, don't they have a guy who worked in the Justice Department said this was a botched arrest, it never should have happened? Don't they have that guy?
There were piles.
Yeah.
And piles of other evidence that this was in vindictive prosecution, which is why the judge dismissed it for vindictive prosecution.
Good fucking luck. Box of wine. All right, this is from Politico. President Donald Trump voted by mail again in Florida's Republican primary, according to local voting records, even as he continues to rail against mail in voting with wide ranging allegations of fraud. Voting records from Palm beach county show the president requested his ballot in late July and it was returned on August 13th. Now this is not the first time that Trump was voted by mail in his adopted home state. He voted by mail in a special election in Palm beach county earlier this year.
Oh, I wonder if he voted for that guy who molested the children. No, he was appointed.
He was appointed. I'm sure he also voted for, that is appointed his appointment. Yes.
I'm sure he applauded it at the very least. And in a related story from Democracy Docket, a South Carolina law that lets anyone 65 years and above vote by mail but requires younger people to provide an excuse to cast absentee ballots. The court says that violates the Constitution's prohibition on abridging voting rights based on age. That's according to the fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. President Trump has repeatedly demanded an end to mail voting and the 4th Circuit's decision creates a split with a 5th and 7th Circuit it decision. But two of those decisions, which previously upheld similar age restrictions for mail in ballots and that could invite the Supreme Court to weigh in. Yay. Yay. The three judge panel, one Barack Obama appointee, one Donald Trump appointee and one G.W. bush appointee unanimously held that preventing younger voters from enjoying the same range of ballot casting options afforded to older voters runs a foul of the 26th Amendment. So good job Democracy docket.
Yeah, no kidding. All right. From North Carolina Newsline, North Carolina Democratic Governor Josh Stein has vetoed a very controversial elections law bill on Monday, saying the veto was necessary to defend voting rights. House Bill 958 includes provisions that would reduce early voting periods during primaries and special elections, requires State Auditor David Bolek to conduct post election audits of county election systems and use federal databases with known problems to identify people who have died but remain on the voter rolls. Republicans said the changes would make elections more secure and more efficient, but Democrats called it a power grab because it was and a quote, our right to vote is precious. It's the fundamental right that underpins every other right that we possess. That's what Stein said during a ceremony of the executive mansion flanked by Democratic state lawmakers. He said, that's why I will always protect you and your right to vote. And that's why I am vetoing this anti voter law today. House Republicans plan to try and override the veto. According to Rep. Hugh Blackwell, who's a Republican in Burke. He's also the chair of the House Election Law Committee. In both chambers of the Legislature, only Republicans voted to pass H AH958 Republicans happen to hold a 3/5 supermajority in the Senate, allowing them to override a gubernatorial veto along party lines. But they don't have a supermajority in the House. So signs veto. It could withstand a legislative challenge unless Democrats or unaffiliated lawmakers vote with GOP lawmakers. And I just don't see that happening.
Yeah, I don't if it just passed just on party lines, you know, the thought is, is that if some Democrat wanted this or some unaffiliated legislator wanted this, they would have voted for it. And they didn't. All right, next up from the Times, border security construction at Big Bend national park has been temporarily halted. That's what the U.S. customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said on Monday, pending a visit this week to West Texas to assess the project. It's because he got so much blowback that he's like, oh, I'm just going to go down there and check it out now. Contractors had been building a new patrol road and vehicle barriers along the border with Mexico, carving a path with bulldozers excavators through some of the beloved park's major natural attractions. On Monday, opponents of the construction who've been monitoring its progress said the pause appears to be in effect. Mr. Scott said in a video on social media on Monday that he had paused the construction activity in the park Sunday night and is going to travel to the Big Bend area. The pause would last until he could, quote, do a personal evaluation and speak with local officials, including law enforcement. So this is a self pause. There's multiple lawsuits out there against this, but this is the guy who's kind of in charge of it, who's like, all right, stop. I'll come down and talk to some people.
God. This next story is from NBC. The Walt Disney Company on Tuesday sued the Federal Communications Commission, arguing out the agency's decision to review ABC's broadcast television licenses earlier than usual amounts to an attack on free speech by the Trump administration. I would not fuck with Abigail Disney. I don't know if she has anything to do with this. But I'm just saying the lawsuit is one of the most muscular legal challenges a media corporation has mounted against the second Trump administration. In late April, the FCC ordered Disney's eight owned and operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule. The directive. It came amid a probe into ABC's the View program as well as a long running investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Disney, blah, blah, blah, and to quote, acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason. It disapproves of what ABC broadcasts. That's what the suit states. It says that campaign began in this administration's earliest days and has only intensified since. In September 2025, Disney pulled Kimmel off the air briefly after pressure from FCC chairman Brendan Carr. And then they lost, like, 4 billion fucking dollars. Kimmel had made a comment about the motivations of the man who authorities say fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel also criticized Republicans for how they responded to Kirk's killing. Actually, that's not what happened. In the lawsuit, Disney describes the FCC action as an, existential threat. The lawsuit requests that the U.S. district Court of the District of Columbia immediately stops the FCC and I quote, from taking, or threatening to take action any action against Disney and ABC stations in relation to the early license renewal applications. ABC also requested a speedy hearing from the court and asked for a temporary restraining order. So we're going to see what happens there. But I am glad that they are fighting back.
Yeah.
Who do you think has better lawyers? Disney and ABC or Brendan Carr and Trump?
I would say Disney and abc.
Good luck. That's all we gotta say to you. All right, we're going to be back in a moment, and I'm going to be talking to Julie K. She's the founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures. And we're going to talk about what her group, what her organization is doing to protect access to abortion in this environment. Where we have Dobbs, where we have Todd Blanche, we have the Trump administration. And their work is pretty incredible. And I, think that once, you hear what she has to say, you're gonna feel better that folks like her are on our side. So we're gonna talk with her and then we'll have the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Hi. Good, thanks Alison. Good to be here.
It's so good to speak to you. And you know, in the introduction there I said, you know, briefly, you're working on expanding shield laws. Talk about reproductive futures. What prompted you to be a founder of it and what that kind of work looks like on the ground?
Yeah, well, Reproductive Futures was set up in reaction to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. And our, our focus is really on supporting direct access to care through telemedicine, abortion and for access in emergency rooms when patients show up they are needing either miscarriage management or post abortion care. and you know, my experience, working in Ireland, during a time when they had a complete ban on abortion, really showed me, two things. First was that travel, the Irish solution to the Irish problem, what happened in Ireland was that women were, would get on a plane or a boat and would go to England for abortion services because they couldn't get anything in their own country. And I knew when Dobbs came about and Roe fell and there was this great push to get women to travel from Florida to New York, from Mississippi M to Illinois, that that wasn't going to be the only solution for everybody. So I really focused on telemedicine abortion, both within states as well as nationwide. And the other thing I saw in Ireland and what we've seen worldwide is that when abortion is criminalized, it doesn't go away, it goes underground. And what happens is that women's health and lives are put at risk. And so that led to our emergency program work, where we really look at what happens when somebody shows up. When a woman shows up in an emergency room and she needs care and her healthcare providers don't know what to do because they fear losing their license or going to jail if they treat somebody who's in the middle of miscarrying or who has taken, you know, medication and is concerned or just has a pregnancy that she wants to move forward with, and it's having complications. So our organization, we're lawyers, through and through, we are very dedicated to using the law to expand reproductive rights as a human right and doing all that we can to make abortion care safe, effective, legal and affordable.
Yeah, well, it's really interesting to hear that travel portion of this. When Dobbs was leaked back in 2022, I immediately thought of all of the women who are stationed as active duty service members in states that have trigger laws. I immediately wrote an op, ed for the Washington Post, asking President Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, like, we can't just travel when we're in the military. And of course, a lot of people can't anyway because it's just, you know, cost prohibitive and there's so many problems with that, and it actually disproportionately impacts, you know, more marginalized people. But, you know, I said you, you have to make a thing where people can get leave and travel without having any, questions asked. Because you can't. Like I said, you can't just travel out of state when you're in the military. And within four months, they made that rule that they wouldn't, ask about leave for that kind of thing, and that it was approved unconditionally and they would actually pay for it. And so that was a really huge step, I thought. And then, of course, now we're here and we've got Todd Blanch, the newly minted Attorney General, saying things like, I'm going to make Dobbs permanent in every state. Can you talk a little bit about how he's going to do that? What does he mean, how can he make Dobbs permanent in every state? What's his plan?
Yeah, well, first of all, I want to say that you touch upon something with veterans in this country and with, women in active duty that doesn't get the attention it should. And we've seen this happen globally, even when Roe was the law of the land, that, you know, pregnancy is part of life and you, you know, if you are in a situation where you need access to abortion, whether you're in a state or a country or an area where abortion is either banned or criminalized or simply unavailable, we're asking our military to do a lot for us and we need to make sure that they can have access to the full range of reproductive health care instead. What has always been part of what the antis do is try to really cut off all access for some of the most marginalized or inaccessible groups. So we've seen the ban on military, we've seen the ban on abortion access in the Peace Corps, obviously for Medicaid and things. So one of the things that telemedicine has done has really increased access to care, whether it's somebody who can't travel or simply doesn't want to travel because they have work responsibilities, they don't own a car, gas is getting more and more expensive, they have childcare responsibilities. Telemedicine allows pregnant people to access the exact same medication from their mailbox. They get screened by a provider, they send, the medication within three to five days if a patient is within the first trimester of pregnancy and doesn't have any contraindications, all for about $150 to $250. So it's not the solution for everybody. But it has been growing and growing in popularity and what the shield laws allowed. Eight states passed these shield laws in the past couple of years. They said in these abortion friendly states, everything from New York to California, Colorado and five others have said, we're going to allow licensed practitioners in our state using best medical practice to send medication abortion, whether it's across the state, whether it's to another abortion friendly state, or whether it's somewhere where abortion is not available, at all. And we're going to protect, protect them. We're going to make sure that they don't suffer adverse licensing or civil consequences or criminal consequences as long as they're following our law. It's regardless of Patient location. I always say that's kind of the abracadabra of these shield laws is regardless of patient location. So that has been enormously effective. That means that right now 30 to 40% of all abortion patients are using telemedicine. They're using it within state, they're using it from state to state. and it's something that's really gotten the attention of the anti abortion movement because it's so safe and effective and because it's really working. I don't think that the abortion rights supporters know enough about it. If you're listening to this and you've already heard about it, tell a friend. If you're listening to it and you're like, why haven't I heard about this? As my little cousin said to me, it's because we need to get the word out more. Unfortunately, Todd Blanch has heard about telemedicine abortion and its success. And you know, no longer, you know, can anti abortion, the anti abortion movement say that they're going to harass women who are going into abortion clinics because they're not having to show up to abortion clinics if they can get the same medication at home in their mailboxes. Instead, you know, the anti abortion movement and the Trump appointed justices managed to take away the federal constitutional right to, to abortion. The Supreme Court said they were going to leave it to the states to determine. We didn't buy that and we still don't. But the reality is now that the federal government is trying to kind of reach up and squelch what these states are doing, what abortion friendly states are doing for, you know, women and pregnant people who are traveling or who are using telemedicine and they're really coming after mifepristone, which is the key medication in medication abortion. And it's been in this country for over two decades now. Those who are old enough to remember. Are you 46? The French abortion pill, it's the same one, it's gotten tested and proven worldwide and they know it's a risk because it allows women to have an option that is readily available no matter what the antis are trying to do.
So how legally is he going to stop this from happening? If California says we're not going to punish our doctors that do this and our doctors are allowed to mail it out, is it like another state like Texas suing to not let them give it to people in their state and then having him, you know, Todd Blanch make some sort of a decision or go to the Supreme Court? Or something like that. Like what does it look like and how are you fighting it?
Yeah, so we're look, we've seen two major kind of pathways that the antis have been pushing at, and neither one is surprising. both are, I think, kind of demoralizing in a way, are hard to see. But the first is that the Comstock Law from 1873, we've seen, Justice Thomas and Justice Alito kind of drop that in as a buzzword in their opinions. it is a law that was, passed by a Postmaster General just after the Civil War to kind of limit, access to lewd and lascivious materials. It has been stretched and pulled to try to say that it would stop preventing any kind of medical apparatus, that could be used in an abortion. So that would mean that you can't ship a cannula through the mail. You can't, you know, it's so broad and so ridiculous. but the threat remains. And the Biden administration, did write a memo saying this is ridiculous and it shouldn't be used for this purpose. conceivably the Trump administration could repeal that. They could have the Postmaster General, the Department of justice go after different providers. And so, so what we've done at Reproductive Futures is try to look at the model and think about how can we make sure that patient privacy is enforced, how do we make sure that providers who are providing care have what they need to keep themselves safe and protected and continue to provide care? and how do we get public attention to the Comstock Act? It's not what we want. we being the 70 plus percent of Americans who support, support abortion access. So that's one pathway. We've seen a lot of huffing and puffing about it. I think it would be so disruptive to commerce, I think it would be so disruptive to healthcare that it's something nobody wants. And I think frankly you look a little silly trying to enforce a law from 1873 for lewd and lascivious behavior, to try to stop safe and legal abortion. The other path, we've all seen a lot more about the FDA than we ever thought we would in this lifetime. It used to be a very boring, stayed in scientific organization. thanks to RFK Jr. We're learning about raw milk and cold plunges. But with all seriousness, we're also wearing away at the scientific integrity that so many Americans rely upon. And so what we have seen sort of hints of, from, the State of Louisiana, through litigation, through, Senator Hawley and others is that they want to push back against the proven science. And this goes back to the medication, mifepristone, which I was talking about earlier. It is safe. It is, you know, effective. Millions of women worldwide have used it. They are now trying to slander it, call it chemical abortion, say it's not safe, all these things. But whether they'll be able to erase science, whether they'll be able to put restrictions in through litigation and other tactics saying that women have to go pick up these same pills in person remains to be seen. And, you know, it's politicizing healthcare in a way that is really harmful. Yeah.
So what can we do? Because, you know, RFK junior's out here saying vaccines cause autism and this medication works for the ivermectin, works for the flu or, you know, whatever he's doing and putting together a panelist of, you know, what he calls experts to agree with him at the fda. And so obviously that's, you know, I think a huge concern is that they'll say they'll declare that it's unsafe and Todd Blanche will run with that and Trump will go into the Postmaster General and say, you can't ship it anywhere. And then we'll have lawsuits that will eventually have to get back up to the Supreme Court again. And that's kind of like the stuff that you look at your legal teams and how to defeat that. I mean, first of all, it's insane that we have to jump through all these hoops just to get health care, that we need in order to keep us alive.
Part of healthcare that has lawyers and, you know, everybody in your face so much. I mean, you could go get a kidney taken out and nobody's gonna be, you know, making have a waiting period or think about it and things. So we've been swimming in these waters of being a full time reproductive rights lawyer. Has been a job for decades now, ever since, you know, the mid-90s when planned permit versus Casey kind of came out, if not before then. what we can do, I think, first of all, a couple of things first is, is, staying informed. you know, science, I think, needs to be supported too, and good evidence and, you know, we have the evidence that these medications are safe and needed. We also know that even if, mifepristone is, you know, put locked up in a cage, there are other medications. The second medication that's used in medication, abortion is called misoprostol. And I think it's important to know that, that as well, as other medications can be used by themselves for an abortion, it's not as pleasant a patient as experience. There's more cramping, there's more vomiting, there are all kinds of side effects that nobody wants, but they're not going to take our medication away. We also know that underground networks will continue to thrive, but that's not ideal, for women and pregnant people. They deserve to have dignity and be above board and have somebody, you know, the white coat and a stethoscope, if they still use stethoscopes. and so I think staying informed is a big part of it. And look, elections matter. Everything from, you know, the presidential elections, Congress, Senate attorneys general in the states matter, governor's matter. We've seen ballot initiatives, that Republicans have put forward trying to kind of trick folks into voting in ways that would allow them to pass anti abortion measures. That was struck down in Kansas, most recently in the Wisconsin, state Supreme Court. Ballot initiative was another important one. So the more we know, the safer our rights, rights are. And I think that's really important. And you know, we are, we're out there doing the work, spreading the word and, and we rely on a lot of different folks to do that and to know, you know, what's going on and how. we're also really, in addition to the legal piece of it, working very closely on the practical end of what, how can virtual clinics stay in business? What kind of, how can we use our legal tools not just in courtrooms, but in all sorts of places to help these businesses survive and thrive?
Yeah, and Reproductive Futures is spearheading this work. There's so much that you're doing. Massive legal teams with decades and decades of experience tell everyone how they can support Reproductive Futures because it is a tax deductible donation. It is a 501. And I think that the work is hugely important. It's like, I can vote, but I don't have the legal expertise to do all the stuff that you're doing. And so to support you, tell us how, how we can do that.
Thank you, Allison. I'd be a bad, CEO of my organization if I didn't do that. But we are reproductive, Futures. so ReproductiveFutures.org is our webpage and we do gleefully accept donations of support and we guarantee to put money to good use in these times. you also could follow us and like us on social media. We're at Reproductive Futures on Instagram, I have made us have a Facebook presence as well as LinkedIn and that's where we post kind of our latest news and telling people and spreading the word and just using the word telemedicine in a sentence. I think it's so important that we get it out there that this is an available option. And we're really doing the work to make sure that medication abortion is safe and available and affordable and that when, women show up at emergency rooms, the clinicians that want to treat them are able to treat them and can do so with clarity and without fear. And in this times of post dobbs and a lot of huffing and puffing by the anti abortion movement, it's so important that we all speak out and follow the science.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of it is to just chill people from even seeking the kind of care that they are legally able to obtain, so.
Absolutely.
I mean, shame is a big thing around, you know, reproductive health care. And you started talking about in the military. I mean, if you, you know, broke your arm or your leg, there'd be no question that you would go and need health care. And you know, pregnancy is a full body experience. And we need to acknowledge that, you know, reproductive health care generally, you know, really can have a strong impact on a person's life. And we need to be standing up and protecting everybody, everybody's right to access care as a human right.
Yeah. And there's a mental health care aspect to it as well. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Everybody, please, if you're able, head to reproductivefutures.org, it's 501C3. Your donation is tax deductible. And I appreciate your time. Today, founder and CEO of Reproductive Futures, Julie Kaye. It's been an honor.
Thank you, Alison. Great to talk with you.
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. All right everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news,
everyone.
And if you have any little bit of good news, big small from yesterday, from 50 years ago, we want to hear about it. We need to microdose in your hope. Send us any little bit of good news. You can even just write in and say hello or give a shout out to a spouse or you know, any family member. A self shout out, a shout out to a small business in your area or a nonprofit. You want us to know about a government program that's helped you or a loved one. you can send in your good trouble suggestions or you know, anything. Misheard song lyrics, something you learned today. You know, I try to make it a point to learn something new every day. And then sometimes I'm surprised that I didn't know it already. Kind of embarrassed. And I think that's funny. Maybe you have misheard song lyrics. really, Anything at all. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All you gotta do is attach a photo which can be your pet. We can try to guess the breeds in your shelter pup can be an adoptable pet, a random animal on the Internet, what you're making or creating family pictures, baby pictures, photos of no kings, rallies, or some cool protest signs that you've seen. it can be what you're growing in your garden. It can be a nice sunset, maybe your favorite meme. Anything that'll bring a smile to our face. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble comes from Dana today. Pronouns she and her hey, gndg HHS is proposing many changes to Head Start. There's an open comment period on regulations.gov until October 6th. We're going to have a link in the show notes for you. Dana says as a special education teacher. Oh, thank you for your service. Three things jumped out at me. One, elimination of current teacher student ratios. One of the benefits of Head Start is the small class size, which provides more individualized attention to disadvantaged kids. Number two, all instruction must be provided in English when a quarter of current students come from homes that don't speak English or English and other languages. The only exception would be programs located on tribal lands. And number three, programs would still be required to provide screenings for potential special education and disability support. But they're proposing removing the rules and structures of how they're supposed to do that. The 19th has a good breakdown on some of the other changes and we'll have a link to that. Ah, story from the 19th in the show notes. Thanks for the opportunity to spread the word about this, Dana. Absolutely. And again, thank you for your work as a special education teacher.
Yes, thank you indeed. All right, next up from Kiki S. I love that no pronouns given. I think this is more good trouble and less good news. But Project Jupiter, It's a massive data center and would eat up all of the water and energy in New Mexico. Maybe I'm being hyperbolic, but we do have very little water here already. It's on its way to being pushed through by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. The people of Ona county don't want it. The people of New Mexico do not want this. As a Fellow New Mexican, I'm sure Dana understands. I absolutely fucking do. There's so many people against this. As far as good trouble goes, I'm not sure what to do except to reach out to the governor of New Mexico and we're going to have a link so you can and tell her to stop this bullshit. Reach out to Senators Heinrich and Lujan and our three congressional representatives and tell them to pressure the governor not to push this bullshit through on social media. You can see all sorts of people in Ona county freaking out at ah, county commissioners. I think recently some people were arrested and because of the chaos that happened in the commissioner room, people do not want this data center. We do not want data centers in New Mexico where we already have limited water. So contact the governor. We'll have a link for you to do that. There's a news article, by the way, from last week. We're going to have a link to that so you can read up on it for pet tariff. Introducing Sir Sherberton de Orange. Oh, my God. Hilarious. Do you know how to say this? Alison Duhm. What's that?
Les Duhem.
Les Duhm. Bert the Crusher for short. That's his wrestling name. Amazing. He adopted me last fall at about maybe two or three years old is what the BET said. But he has made his home here and is so cute and such a little dorky nerdy kitty. I mean, all kitties are. They're the best. Introducing Sir Sherberton de Orange ii, or Bert for short.
My God, he's adorable. Oh, that's a good man. Cat face too. Kiki, thank you so much. Thanks for letting us know about that. And, yeah, again we're going to have a link in the show notes so you can reach out. All right, next up, Mike from Arlington, Massachusetts. Love your show and listen daily. And I particularly appreciate the F bombs when you're completely exasperated. I'm right there with you. My question, what are the first words of your program's theme music? I'm reluctant to share what I think they are. For my pod tacks, I submit a couple of pics from this year's bean parade that's part of the lead up to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. As you can see, the creativity using beans to make costumes is extraordinary and it's great fun. Okay, this is incredible. It's an Albert Einstein with a mind blown with nuclear mushroom clouds. And it says beans and it's all made out of beans.
Yeah, look at the next one.
Beans too. Oh, it's a girl. With the pearl earring. But it says the girl with the beanie.
This is so impressive.
Whoa.
All right, Mike. the song is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the lyrics are News with swearing. Daily beans. Daily beans. That's.
I cannot wait to know what Mike thought it was.
I know there have been a lot of interpretations. People think it's news. Liz Waring. And that my name is as Liz Waring when I was going by a pseudonym.
But no, that's funny.
News was wearing. Thank you, Mike.
All right, next one from Jamie Pronoun. She and her. Hello, ladies. The beans. As with everyone, life has been hard and increasingly stressful. I unfortunately have discovered I have high blood pressure in my mid-30s, most likely made worse due to the shitstorm this Cheeto in chief has caused. However, in searching for a non pill solution to reduce my blood pressure, I've discovered a hidden talent for drawing. I've never straight up drawn anything before and decided just give it a shot. After picking up a how to draw book for 12 bucks at my local Barnes and Noble. Not only did I completely surprise myself and my partner, who still cannot believe this is coming out of my hand, but my blood pressure has dropped 40 points since starting this hobby. I'm in a normal blood pressure range now and exploring more ways to expand my talent. My pot pet. By the way, these drawings I just saw them, are ridiculously good. Yes, Yep, yep. For my pot pet tacks, I've attached my finished portraits of my three fur babies and another photo of them for some quality guesses on their breeds. The little One, Romeo, is 15 this year and he's a blank. His girlfriend is 13 years old, black and white old girl Ruthie, who is a blank. And the big fat faced girl is our eight year old lady, Lydia, who is a blank, which is a blank blank. Thank you both for being the light in the darkness of Daily News. Your commentary gets me started with every morning, keeps me sane. Jamie, Jamie, listen, I too draw and I've never taken a class. The fact that you drew like this from a book, this gift was inside you and you just got a key to open it up. And this is absolutely fantastic. I also want to say I had, ah, really bad childhood asthma as a kid and when I would start drawing when my inhaler wasn't working, and I'm not telling everyone to do this because sometimes an asthma attack gets past the point where now you need to go, you know, get medical assistance or you know, a rescue inhaler. But when My rescue inhaler wasn't working the way I needed to. My mom would put a coloring book in front of me, or I would start drawing. What happened to be, Why can't I think of the. The. The tiger. Hobbes.
Oh, Calvin.
Thank you, Calvin. I used to draw Calvin and Hobbes. I used to look at a book, and then I would recreate it in pencil. So I love that you found this in the fact that it has helped your health and dropped your blood pressure 40 points. Incredible. So let's see what we have here. I definitely think there's a couple of Chihuahuas.
One of those.
Not a Chihuahua.
There's a Chihuahua and then a Chihuahua mix, and then the fat face girl. I don't know. It looks like a pug meets a Frenchie or a Boston or something. I don't know.
Let's see.
Let's see what we got. All right, Romeo. The littlest one is a full Chihuahua toy. Ruthie is Chihuahua dachshund.
That's what it is.
And the big flat faced girl is a Frenchton. A Frenchie in a Boston. Okay. All right. I got. I thought there was also something else in there, but. Sweet, sweet.
Nice. I'm. Seriously, Jamie, these are awesome. Congratulations.
How fun to discover that you're, like, super good at something.
I know.
Beautiful.
Absolutely. I love that your partner's like, what the fuck? I know.
You should draw people's pets for them. And the flowers are beautiful as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Moving along. Karma C. writes, I heard Dana mention Roller King, and I almost spit my drink out. I'm from Albuquerque, too.
Right on.
I actually knew Dana or of DANA Roughly. Late 90s, early 2000s. I used to work the front desk at Defined Fitness, and Dana was a member.
This is true, everybody.
She was also super nice to the staff, and she was funny. I, too, am 50 like Dana. What a trip. I cannot believe it. My Defined Fitness days seemed like just yesterday. Glad to see and hear her friendly voice. And yours too, Allison. I love this podcast. And then we've got a Roller King.
I'm telling you, man, it was the place to be.
Oh, m. My God.
That's so amazing.
Birthday at your gym.
I, love it.
That's amazing.
All, right, next up from kitchentable Days, Lorna Ag. Check it out. There was news coverage on CBS Sunday Morning about the candle pin bowling alley in my hometown of Ellsworth, Maine. What a good news story. It is. I helped one of the previous owners with their bookkeeping years ago, so I'm familiar with how hard it is to turn this business around because of this young woman. It looks like it's going to be around for many more years. And we've got a little link in the show notes if you want to read about rescuing a candle pin bowling owl alley oh my God.
Helping bolster the main community. That's incredible. Kitchen table days Lorna and then you can Also check out ellsworthcandlepinally.com and here's some pod pet photos of some beautiful doggos in the snow.
Hi babies.
All right, just Susan pronoun she and her Dear beans Queens My Red State Indiana is so heavily gerrymandered that many people assume the die is cast before they even get to the polls, and it's no surprise that our voter turnout usually falls near the bottom of the list of states. But there's a bright spot and it's inspired me to act in the upcoming elections. Someone is challenging the seated officials in all of the Indiana Senate races and almost all of the Indiana House races. That's nearly unheard of. It's a very big deal. I think if enough of us actually headed to the polls and voted for these challengers, we could finally break free of our Republican supermajority. And so at 50 something, I just made my very first zine, which I hope will let folks in Indiana know about the contested races and how important it is that we all go to the polls and bring everyone we know with us. My hope is that your listeners who live across Indiana will download this zine, print it 11 by 17, fold it, and give it to their friends, families, neighbors, put it on car windshields, et cetera, or discreetly leave it around for others to find.
Find.
You can find the high res printable PDF or JPEG file here. We'll have a link in the show notes as well as what the zine should look like when it's all folded up. I've been passing the zines out to as many people as I can, including grocery store checkout lady hiker I met while mushroom hunting in my favorite woods today. I even left some in a colonoscopy waiting room. There's a joke in there.
There's a joke.
There's a joke in there somewhere. The grocery store lady got super excited and asked if I had any more. A good sign. I think there's an appetite to break free and flip Indiana blue. When I went to the copy store to get copies made, they crumpled up the bill and whispered no charge. Another good sign I truly believe if Hoosiers get out and vote in overwhelming numbers, we really could change our collective future. Oh, and there's a little section in the zine about flipping Indiana's representatives at the federal level. If we all work together here, we can do it for podpet tariff. A small sample of the zine. Here's a small photo of my dog, Little Bean, soaking up some springtime sunshine. When I adopted her, all the shelter said was the breed was blank. So you probably can't go wrong with whatever your guess might be. She's a glorious and much loved mystery, and I'm grateful for her. Also grateful for you, Ag and Dana. You both helped me and probably lots of other red state dwellers to feel a little less alone. Okay, this zine is amazing. We'll have a link where you all can print it out, get out to folks in, in Indiana. Okay. What do you think of this dog? What do you think here?
I mean, I feel like I see like a Chihuahua terrier, something. It, look. Because it looks. It looks like it's a big dog, but if you look at it, you realize it's a little dog.
It's a little dog. So maybe Jack Russell or something like a. With a lab. Maybe a lab watch.
It literally looks like a lab watch.
You're like if a greyhound watch. What? What are you talking about? So funny. All right, what do we got here?
Here?
the breed, they said at the shelter was a terrier mix.
All right.
Okay.
All right, there you have it.
We got it. We got 100% on this dog. So thank you everybody, for your good news and thank you. I know it was a long. It was a lot of news today. So, high five yourself for. For listening to all of us.
Hanging in there with us.
Yeah, for real. And thanks to Julie K, of course, for joining us as well. Any final thoughts before we get out of here, my friend?
Not today day.
All right, we'll see you over on Beans Talk. What are we talking about today on Beans Talk? Oh, we're talking about Natalie Harp and John Ossof, you know, because we mentioned her on the show on Beans Talk, like last week, and now all of a sudden the shit's blown up and. Yep, because oof. Just mentioned her in a throwaway comment in a rally. So we're going to cover what's going on with that over on Beans Talk today, and we'll see you tomorrow here. 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.
Oh, wow.
What?
I just left you right out.
No, don't edit it. Do not edit that. I want everyone to hear what just happened.
Wow.
I. I feel like that was a hate crime.
That was awful. That was awful. I'm so ashamed.
That's so funny. What happened.
I just. I forgot where I was.
You know how sometimes she's human?
You know how sometimes the words.
You just.
I'm just going, oh, my God.
So funny. I love you, my friend.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
I've been ag.
I've been tg and that'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 Studio 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 Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, please visit mswmedia. Com. MSW Media Media.