Thursday, October 15, 2026 Today, Musk once again throttles Starlink disrupting Ukrainian missions; Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with US fugitives and a woman who wasn’t his wife; Trump shut down an investigation into suspicious oil stock trades ahead of calling off an attack on Iran; the Harris County District Attorney says ICE intentionally hit an immigrant with their vehicle and then lied about it; Trump asks the court to postpone his deposition in his own lawsuit against the BBC; the administration weighs cancelling their firing squad livestream claiming Trump didn’t know Hasan was paralyzed and in a wheelchair; inflation jumps to 3.7% as wages continue to fall; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Today, Musk once again throttles Starlink disrupting Ukrainian missions; Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with US fugitives and a woman who wasn’t his wife; Trump shut down an investigation into suspicious oil stock trades ahead of calling off an attack on Iran; the Harris County District Attorney says ICE intentionally hit an immigrant with their vehicle and then lied about it; Trump asks the court to postpone his deposition in his own lawsuit against the BBC; the administration weighs cancelling their firing squad livestream claiming Trump didn’t know Hasan was paralyzed and in a wheelchair; inflation jumps to 3.7% as wages continue to fall; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Guest: Rep. Justin J. Pearson
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Thursday, October 15, 2026. Today. Today, Elon Musk once again throttles Starlink, disrupting Ukrainian missions. Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with US Fugitives and a woman who wasn't his wife. Trump shut down an investigation into suspicious oil stock trades ahead of calling off an attack on Iran. The Harris County District Attorney says ICE intentionally hit an immigrant with their vehicle and then lied about it. Trump is asking the court to postpone his deposition in his own lawsuit against the BBC. The administration is weighing canceling their firing squad livestream, claiming Trump didn't know Hasan was paralyzed and in a wheelchair. And inflation has jumped to 3.7% as wages continue to fall. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Hello. Hello. Quite a news day.
It is quite a news day. What a bizarre reason to be postponing. Thank God they're actually considering canceling this firing squad livestream. But because Trump didn't know Hasan was paralyzed and in a wheelchair, I don't think Trump would give a shit. You know what I mean? I'm actually sorry.
That's your red line, right?
No. Are you kidding me?
Jesus, what a weird. I don't know. okay, well, I have very good news. I'm gonna be talking with Justin J. Pearson, Democratic candidate for Tennessee's 9th congressional district. That's the new one right after the gerrymander where they cracked up Memphis into three different districts. He's running four points right now, but he's been catching up. And when I talked to Gloria Johnson, she was like, if anybody can paint this seat blue, it's Justin J. Pearson. So right on. We're gonna talk with him. Inflation went up. Just, you know, I think yesterday Trump was at a rally saying prices are going down, they're going down. but no, inflation's up to 3.7% year over year. We might be looking at another rate hike from the Fed reserve ahead of the midterm elections, which would really make them angry.
Yeah, What a mess. I mean, listen, everything's going to happen for the midterms, and we just have to strap in and see what he does because, you know, there's going to be some shenanigans. The October surprise that's not just for the presidential.
Yeah. Yep, yep. And, we've got some shenanigans, but mostly on the Republican side. And we'll talk about that in a little bit with good old Ken Paxton. Reminds me of when Jon Ossoff was talking about his opponent, Collins, and how he's like a scandal pinata.
Yep.
It's the same with Ken Paxton.
I don't think this is the first time he's been caught with this woman. Unless I'm mistaken that he's been with another one. A friend of mine literally ran into him in London with someone who was
not his wife on the 4th of July. I remember that. I don't know if this is the same. Not his wife. Woman.
But,
What is your name? Not my wife.
That's it.
I'm Ken Paxton. Who's this? Not my wife.
The other. Not my wife. This is today. And again, hey, I'm all for polycules, and I'm all for doing whatever you want in your life, but not when you're coming after everyone else for doing, you know, whatever you think is, you know, against your God law or whatever.
Yeah, no kidding. Agreed. agreed.
Yeah. All right, we have so much news to get to today. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot, notes. All right, first up from NBC News, videos collected by local investigators make it, quote, pretty obvious that an ICE officer intentionally ran over Miguel Para Hernandez during an immigration stop on Saturday, which could lead to assault charges. That's what the district attorney said Tuesday. He said, quote, this was an intentional striking and running over of the person by the vehicle. And in that case, that is an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Texas. That's Harris County District Attorney Sean Tierre speaking to NBC News. Tierra said the federal government is not cooperating with the investigation conducted by his office. Of course not. And the Harris County Sheriff's Office. And he also said ICE may have allowed the erasure of critical data in the vehicle involved in striking Para, who was on foot. M. Tierra said that, And if I'm pronouncing that improperly, please write in and let us know dailybeanspod.com click on contact. Tierra said that in his seven years as Harris County Vehicular Crimes Division Chief, something he knows a little bit about. He has reviewed video from a number of other auto pedestrian collision cases, and he says the video his investigators have gathered, the evidence in Para's case goes way above the video that was posted online and obtained by NBC Affiliates KPRC of Houston. So he's got a bunch of stuff we haven't seen. Oh, 100%, quote, my viewing of it and many other investigators that have viewed it as, well, it's pretty obvious that this was an intentional striking and running over of this person by the vehicle. And in that case, as he said, that's aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Tierra, a Democrat, announced late Monday that his office had launched an independent investigation. We'll keep you posted on this, but this looks like it could lead to charges against ice.
Thank you so much, Allison. This one's from the Guardian. Ukraine's military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite Internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long range strikes on Russia's oil industry immediately. The terminals, which are produced by Elon Musk's SpaceX but managed by the US government. That sounds like a terrible combination. Are a key component of Ukraine's military operations. And the sudden restrictions on the terminals traveling at high speeds on Tuesday evening, they led to the failure of several combat missions. This is what an advisor on the military technology to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky said. The sudden outage came as Russia launched ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any evidence warning from the US For a second night. For years, the US has provided Ukraine with intelligence when strikes were about to take place. Ukraine did not receive any warning before Russia launched its first barrage of ballistic missiles on Tuesday evening. That's according to Cole Ury Enot, a spokesperson for the Air Force. But it did receive warnings from foreign partners about three subsequent barrages, leaving further confusion about whether or not the US Is intentionally withholding intelligence from Ukraine. This is fucking crazy. Musk said that Starlink is not licensed to clients who are using weapons and that the Ukrainian military was linked to a separate network called Star Shield, which is operated by the US Government. I don't know about that.
Yeah, let's be clear about this. Way back last year, year and a half ago, Musk did the same thing. He shut down Ukrainian satellites through Starlink. And that's when he said, we're going to build Star Shield because I am morally against weapons or some bullshit.
Bullshit.
And then put it in. Put the US Government in charge of it. And right now online, Elon Musk is blaming Donald Trump and the White House is blaming Elon Musk, saying, good, we don't control Star Shield. Elon Musk does. And Elon Musk says I don't control it. The US Government does. I have news for everyone. They both did this. Yeah.
This little cat fight that you're seeing. I don't know. I just think it's a ruse so people don't think they're in cahoots for the midterms.
Yeah, agreed. That's a very good point. When you think about it, the midterms,
they did it last time too. They broke up. Remember they got in a big fight and then all of a sudden Elon, they made up and he happened to win all of the swing states. I'm m telling need to watch this. We need the good guys out there somehow being able to block whatever Elon Musk does.
Yeah, and you know we're going to talk about this tomorrow because this is pretty fresh breaking news, but the Senate Democrats are sending people observers to more than 100 voting sites to observe stuff. This first time they've done anything like it. So, I'm glad they are hashtag doing something.
Me too.
Next up from Bloomberg. When Donald Trump backed away from threats to strike Iranian power plants back on March 23, it sparked a frenzy of buying and selling across oil equities and other markets. Traders had grown accustomed to prices lurching wildly on developments in the Middle East. But this time, some betters had timed it perfectly. Billions of dollars worth of contracts predicting oil would fall and the S&P 500 would rise. Those bets were placed about 15 minutes before the president announced his U turn in a post on Truth Social, fueling widespread speculation about whether someone had an unfair advant.
They did.
Responsibility M for looking into that incident fell to the U.S. commodity Futures Trading Commission. That's the CFTC. That's the federal derivatives regulator whose job and profile has soared with the advent of cryptocurrencies and prediction markets. There, a team of career forensic analysts embarked on their usual task of pulling together data on the day's winners and losers. Now, based on the timing of the trading they observed and who was behind it, the analysts from the agency's Division of Market Oversight filed a referral to the Division of Enforcement, which could decide whether to launch a full scale investigation into potential insider trading. And that's according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives from the two divisions also met and talked about how to best collaborate. And what happened next, they said, was highly unusual. Mel Gunawardina, a senior advisor to the agency's Trump appointed chairman Michael Selig, told a supervisor within the market oversight team to stop the investigation. Retract the referral.
they're just making so much fucking money. All right, this next story's from cnn. Trump and his advisors are debating whether to call off plans to livestream that firing squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter. With Donald having remarked privately that he did not initially know that Nidal Hassan was paralyzed from the waist down. This is two sources Familiar with the discussions is what they told cnn. What does that lessen the sport for you because he can't run? I mean, like, what the fuck?
Yeah.
The president was not aware that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was announcing last week that the administration planned to let the public watch the execution. This is what sources said and was not sure what to make of it at first. Trump was, however, firmly behind the decision to execute Hasan via firing squad. This is what multiple officials told cnn, and he's often defended it in public. And even after Hegseth posted on Twitter on Thursday confirming that the Pentagon planned to livestream the execution, Trump polled several of his advisors and allies about how to proceed. It was during those conversations that Donald learned Hassan was paralyzed from the waist down. He was shot in the back by law enforcement during the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, and that he now uses a wheelchair. This is what the sources said, which made showing the execution publicly less palatable to the President. What?
I mean, I, I, I can't get past the public execution part.
No
M m. All right, next up from the Wall Street Journal. As President Trump wade endorsing Ken Paxton over incumbent senior Senator John Cornyn of Texas this past spring, he was told that damaging revelations were likely to surface about Paxton. That's according to people familiar with the conversations. Trump was dismissive and said there would be more negative stuff about James Talarico. Now Trump plowed ahead and endorsed the scandal plagued Texas Attorney general, helping him win the Republican primary runoff in May, much to the delight of many of us who are rooting for Talarico. Months later, that decision is looking like Trump's biggest gamble of the midterms. Despite efforts by Paxton to paint his opponent as a far left zealot, Talarico consistently holds a narrow lead in polls, raising a once unthinkable possibility a Democrat could win statewide office in Texas for the first time since 1994. Meanwhile, damaging revelations about Paxton continue to emerge. A new scene that could join the list. A, previously unreported New Year's Eve 2024 celebration where Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives from the United States justice system and a woman who wasn't his wife. Among those at the event with Texas's top law enforcement official were these two fugitives. Two Americans who had been indicted months earlier on federal health care fraud charges
that tracks but failed to return
to the United States. Anash Ahmed and Samir Suhail. And that's according to the court records and people familiar with the matter. Ahmed, a healthcare executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton. Campaign finance records show that $25,000 days after he himself was indicted.
So, oh, my God.
Another great scandal for good old Ken Paxton.
Good, they bury him. All right, this is from Politico. President Donald Trump was set to be deposed Friday in a defamation lawsuit that he filed against the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC. But his lawyers recently canceled the session and said he is unavailable through the least mid December, according to a court filing. And I quote, the President is no longer available for his deposition on October 16 due to other matters of national importance. That's what Trump's attorneys told lawyers for the BBC late last month. The network's attorney said in a motion Tuesday, the BBC is asking a judge to force Donald to set a firm date to submit to questioning in the case. And I quote, nearly eight months into discovery, after seven depositions of BBC witnesses and with only two months of discovery remaining, the BBC still has not been able to depose and does not even have a schedule to depose the most central figure in this case, the plaintiff himself. This is what BBC lawyer Charles Tobin wrote. There is hardly a more crucial and relevant piece of discovery and a defamation lawsuit than the deposition of the plaintiff. And this is the. I'm not surprised by this at all. I'm sure this is going to get dropped because he never thinks it's going to go this far. You know, discovery is a horrible. Exactly. Nothing good comes out of discovery with anything Donald Trump has done. Now. Tobin said Donald's attorneys agreed to the October 16 date in July, subject to an agreement to keep the location and other details under wraps for security reasons. Trump's lawyers advised on September 28 that the October 16 date was no longer feasible and recently proposed rescheduling the deposition for January. According to the new filing, the BBC's attorneys asked U.S. magistrate Judge Angelique Let to add the issue to the agenda for a hearing she has scheduled next week to address other matters in the case. And last quote, plaintiff chose to file this lawsuit, and in doing so, he accepted the obligations of civil litigation. This is from Tobin.
Yeah. Every single time. Remember when Matt Gaetz was about to be deposed in his buddy's lawsuit and the whole thing got dropped just right before m. And they scheduled this pre midterm and last, minute, he's trying to push it back to January.
Yep.
Good times. Yeah, you're totally right. Every time he files a lawsuit, he gets to discovery, gets to deposition is like, never mind, I already won. I'm Great. I'm the greatest. Please dismiss. All right, everybody. Coming up next, Justin J. Pearson, running in Tennessee's ninth. We're going to try to make it blue because this is a brand new gerrymandered Republican district, so we can't keep it blue or flip it blue. We just got to paint it blue. So everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Hey there, Alison. So glad to be with you.
Oh, man, it's so, so great to talk to you. I've been following your career from the beginning. I know, many of our listeners have as well. I was just recently in conversation with a colleague of yours, Gloria, and she said, boy, if anybody can make this district blue, this new 9th district in Tennessee blue, it's Justin J. Pearson. So we're very happy to speak to you today. Can you talk a little bit about this new 9th district? What happened with the gerrymander?
Absolutely. So immediately after the Cali decision, the Tennessee House of Representatives, Tennessee Senate, and the governor in cahoots with the President of the United States, decided to break up the district that represented Memphis and Shelby county, District nine, into three, because they wanted to take it from a majority black, African American district to a majority white districts. And so they've stretched District nine two, hundred miles to outside of Williamson County. there's a District five now that is partially Memphis, and it stretches the exact opposite direction to Williamson county up north. And then the middle of those two is where District 8 is. But this was all an attempt to try and dilute black political voting power. and we have decided that we're not going to let that stop us. And I've traveled to all 15 counties, met people in all the counties, fundraised in all the counties, rallied in all the counties. And the issues that we are dealing with in Memphis and Shelby county when I was running just for this, district, are very similar to the ones that we're hearing in other parts of the state as well.
Yeah. And let's talk about some of those issues that are facing voters. And I think maybe one of the reasons why, you know, my co host here on the Daily Beans, Dana Goldberg, is always saying, I think that this gerrymander, that these redistricting attempts in places like Tennessee, in places like Texas, could really backfire on Republicans because of the issues right now. And I know. Let's start with one of your number one things that you've been really focusing on, and that's data centers. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yes. I mean, Elon Musk built a data center three miles away from my wife and I's home. It's the largest, one of the largest data centers in the world. He now has four data centers in Memphis and Shelby County. He's used 35 illegal gas turbines pumping nitrogen oxide formaldehyde into the air. He's got 59 illegal gas turbines in North Mississippi doing the same things right now as we speak. And this has really shown a big divide in our country, not between Republicans and Democrats or conservatives and liberals, but has shown the divide between the billionaire class and the rest of us. And what I think we have in this moment in time, to build is a coalition that looks very different than what anyone expected or anticipated. And it's a working class people, white folks, black folks, Latino folks, Asian folks, rural people, suburban and urban people, urban communities that don't actually want to see billionaires profiting, off of the pain that they're causing in our community without our input. No one's begging to have hyperscale data centers. And the president's out here saying, if you don't want it, you're going to have a terrible community. And my response is very simple. Build it at Mar a Lago. Build, and then let's start building it other places. But they won't do that.
No, no, of course they won't. We've always, We've long said that. And, you know, also, you talk a lot about, you know, basically piggybacking on that. This is not a left versus right issue. And neither is affordability, neither is healthcare. It's, a. It's a top versus bottom issue. And I think more and more people are starting to realize that now that we're seeing, for example, rural healthcare facilities being closed because of the massive Medicaid and Medicare cuts that were enacted in the one Big Beautiful Bill act or whatever, they decided to, trick us with that name. Can you talk a little bit more about affordability, health care, jobs, things like that, Things that are impacting communities directly?
The most important issues that I'm hearing on the campaign trail have to do with people not being able to afford to live. That is too hard. That the system has been rigged. And we've been told for a long time that that was because of black people or immigrants or women. that was because of the Democrats. But, the truth of the matter is they've always had us fighting each other so that we never look up and recognize that it's the systems, it's the corporations, it's the billionaires who are on top who are creating the conditions that we are suffering under. And so, as we have traveled across these 15 counties, what we talk about is increasing the minimum wage, making sure billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, investing billions into small, small businesses rather than building bombs that kill people halfway across the world. We need affordable health care in our country. That's why we have to pass Medicare for all, because we should be, horrified that in this country, someone like Amy, who lives in Bedford county, her husband is sick with cancer, and she, said all we can do is wait and see because we can't afford the medical care.
Yeah, I hear this from people all over. I also hear it from veterans. I know you've got a lot of veterans in your state that are being left behind as well, right?
Absolutely. And this new District 9, half a billion dollars. Half a billion. That's how much money and pension and compensation that should be going to veterans that isn't going to our veterans. We have 52,000 in one county, in Shelby county in particular, who are just being denied access to the resources that they deserve, having served our country. And so I think when we really look at the multiplicity of issues, and you see me from fighting people like Elon Musk in Memphis and Shelby county for his data centers, but in Savannah, Tennessee, or in Smyrna, those farmers, they're getting beat by John Deere and Cargill and Monsanto, they are getting hurt by the beef prices. They're being hurt by the illegal Iran war. And having a district that encompasses so many different perspectives and issues has actually allowed me the opportunity to see what I have believed all along, that the systems are hurting all of us, whether we, have. Whether we're a farmer, a factory working, the uaw who just endorsed us, whether we're a teacher like my mom. Like, we are struggling all across this state and all across this country.
Yeah. And let's talk a little bit, too, about accountability, because that's something else that I think people are really interested in. You know, the fact that Elon Musk, for example, owns all these government contracts and controls so much of the United States government on our dime, and there's seemingly nothing we can do about the fact that, you know, oh, maybe he just wants to build a data center three miles from you and your wife's home or other families in Tennessee, or that he just wants to shut down Starlink over in, Ukraine in the middle of that. He did it last year, too, and admitted to it. What can we do? What can you do when you get to Congress? Because we'll still have Donald Trump in the White House. But what can you do to start the accountability ball rolling?
Absolutely. I mean, we have two really big priorities on the first day. One, we have to do everything we can to lower cost, such as ending this Iran war and stopping any of our taxpayer money from being used to continue to allow Trump to put the soldiers, and service members of their families in the line of danger and killing people indiscriminately, as happened the first day of this war, where we believe Elon Musk, Xai Grok, his chatbot, was used, and they killed 100 schoolgirls. that's what is being powered in our backyard and in our neighborhood. Neighborhood. And so, one, we need to stop this war, but then it is like, truly, they need to be held accountable for the actions, the killing of innocent American, citizens, by ICE agents, the separation and the deportations that have happened without any accountability whatsoever. And so I'm hoping one of the committees that I get to serve on is oversight, because we should have a government that functions on behalf of the people, not attacks it. And what we are witnessing right now in the United States of America is the tyranny of government. This is what the founders of the country always feared. And right now we have a president who's operating as a unitary executive. Congress works for him, the Supreme Court works for him. And so he's just doing whatever he wants, including giving contracts and sweetheart deals to people like Elon Musk, who then use the money that they get from these contracts to spend $366 million in elections during this general election season. So they get government contracts in the tune of billions of dollars, they take their profits to elect and select who they want to be in Congress so they can continue this will. That's the corruption that people are sick and tired of. And that's what I'm hearing from people across the political spectrum is why I have confidence that we're going to be able to win this.
Thank you. And let's end on, civil rights, criminal justice reform. The Republicans have already shown their whole ass with their pack and crack BS down in Memphis. So we already have that view of what they think about voters and diluting the black vote, particularly in your new district. But also civil rights to protect, women, LGBTQ community, trans kids, gender affirming care. Can you talk a little bit about where you stand on that?
Absolutely. In the Tennessee State House of Representatives, I have always fought against legislation that targeted and attacked women and LGBTQIA plus folks and immigrants. Because here's what I know. When you have legislation that oppresses people, if you start voting for that legislation, the next piece of legislation is going to have your name on it. Oppressors don't get exhausted, right? They're indefatigable in the worst ways because they're always looking for ways to other, to dehumanize, to ostracize, to create more denigration as it relates to human beings. Because then we start not paying attention, we start not caring, we start not showing up for one another, another. And in this very difficult time that we are in, in our country, I think it's our responsibility to realize one really important thing that we have to get through this together and, and, and, and the otherism and the division this politics that they are trying to force on us and have honestly been pretty effective at doing over these last few years, we have to decide now. We have to decide that we Care enough about our neighbor. And in my faith tradition, that's what we talk a lot about. You're supposed to love thy neighbor. You don't get to choose who that neighbor is. Which is why we fight for everybody. I'm fighting for everybody to get an increase of minimum wage, whether they wear a red hat or not. I'm fighting for everyone to get access to healthcare, whether they vote for me or not. I'm fighting to make sure all of our communities are safe and protected and all children can grow up into the person that they're supposed to be as beloved children of God, no matter what. And that actually should be the vision we want to have. And what we have consistently been given and been told by this, president, by this Republican regime, is that we are supposed to hate each other and find as many differences as we possibly can instead of realizing, wait, there's beauty in the diversity of who we are, and celebrate it.
Well, it's a long, sordid history of trying to divide the opposition. That's what they do because they don't have any ideas to carry themselves forward and. Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking about the actual teachings of Jesus Christ? Feed thy neighbor, love thy neighbor, feed the hungry, heal the sick. That what you. Is that what you're talking about?
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, come on.
Instead of me, I'm just like.
You know what I tell people, I'm
just like, so in my Bible that my mom got me when I was 8 years old, Jesus's words are in red. And I'm just like, these people can't read the red letters. They can't read the red letters.
That must be it. So in a recent rally, you talked about your campaign right now working to reach voters in these final weeks. Because we are, you know, a lot of people think the midterms are on November 3rd. We're in the midterms right now. In fact, early voting, I think, began yesterday as this show airs and it goes through October 29th. Can you talk a little bit about what you're doing to get the vote out?
Yeah. We are knocking every door we possibly can, making hundreds of thousands of phone calls. We are raising money to make sure that we can stay on TV and be on social media and meet people wherever we find them. Because this is it. We are in election season. and we need people out there and helping us as much as they possibly can. You can go to votejustinjay.com to see some of the places and ways that you can help but anywhere in the country or world, you can phone, bank. But, if you want to come to Memphis, you can come. Door, knock. because we know this is going to be about turnout. And maps don't vote. People do. So if we can turn out more people, especially in Memphis and Shelby county, we can win this election. Hands now.
I agree. I agree, my friend. Thank you so much. That's VoteJustinJ.com if you want to help volunteer, donate whatever we can to make this new Republican gerrymandered 9th District in Tennessee blue again. That's VoteJustinjay.com. i'm so grateful that you came and spoke to us today. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Congressman, thank you so much.
Soon to be. I appreciate you. Let's keep fighting.
I'm always thinking positive.
That's another faith tradition. Speaking as though it were.
Yeah.
Dress for the job you want. Thank you so much, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news, And we are just full steam ahead to the end of the midterm season, November 3rd. So please flood the zone with sunshine. Send us all your good news, please. Big or little, from yesterday or 40 years ago. Your favorite street joke, misheard song lyrics, shout outs to loved ones or small businesses, nonprofits, self shout outs, government programs that have helped you or a loved one. Just anything that'll bring a smile to our faces, please send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. And all you got to do to get your stuff through is pay your pod pet tax. That means attach a photo of your pet or literally anything else.
Give us a picture, please.
Okay, you can send cute, random animals from the Internet. You can send a sunset. You can send a scarf that you've knitted. You can send waterfalls, eggs that you've got. Rainbows, waterfalls, Niagara Falls, goats, chickens, kitchen chicken. We met her at the Equality New Mexico Funny Fest, as a matter of fact, whatever it is, pictures of the Equality, New Mexico Funny Fest. You got them?
Them.
Let's see them. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. First up is your good trouble. All right, good trouble today. Grab your 5 calls app and oppose harmful changes to the census. The deadline for public comment has been extended to November 2nd. And here's a quote. A fair and accurate U.S. census is both a constitutional mandate and an imperative to a functioning democracy. The data collected determines apportionment counts, including the electoral college. It supports redistricting efforts. It informs policymakers at local, state, and federal levels. The data is also critical to the annual distribution of more than $1.5 trillion through hundreds of federal programs on the proposed changes. First, it would change the residence criteria by calling for an unprecedented exclusion of non citizens who are not green card holders. This is unconstitutional. The Pew Research center estimates that this represents a staggering 16 million individuals in total. Second, it would eliminate questions about race and ethnicity from the census. Without these critical data points, it would be far more difficult to track disparities in everything from healthcare to the environment, making it nearly impossible to enforce civil rights laws. It would also skew the distribution of federal funding away from communities that need it more and from programs that were designed to protect vulnerable people. So call and demand, using five Calls, demand that your representative speak out against the proposed census rule change and then leave a public comment opposing the change. And then, of course, vote. please vote.
Absolutely.
We'll have a link to that Federal Register comment period thing in the show notes along with a link to the 5Carks app on this particular issue.
Thank you so much, my friend. Up next are mo pronouns she and her. I loved hearing confused unicorns. Good news on Wednesday. Beans. I also live in Lucas County, Ohio, and I'm proud to say that myself and my 89 year old aunt are two of the 6,000 early votes that have been counted. Over 10,000 as of Wednesday morning. My aunt and I voted on the second day of early voting and I was so happy to share the experience with her. We both voted blue. I want to thank AG&DG for all that you do and for helping us all maintain some semblance of sanity. You are the best. Attach your pictures of my I voted sticker from that day in a pic of our monthly crew. Trudy, Sunny and Hank. Trudy is on the left and quite easy to guess her breed. Sunny is our girl in the back and Hank is the handsome boy on the right. Enjoy guessing their breeds. All right, well, Trudy looks like a Golden.
Yeah. and then Hank on the right.
Heeler for sure. And that face.
The face and the ears. I don't know.
That's hysterical.
St. Bernard pickup, propeller hat. I know, I know.
Maybe it does look like there's some Saint Bernard in there for sure.
Yeah. And then the baby in the back. I don't know. American bulldog. Pity. Staffy type Labrador situation. Let's see.
Oh my God.
Trudy is a golden retriever. Sunny is a husky German shorthair pointer. American pitbull. Got one. Well done Hank. German Shepherd. Great Pyrenees. Oh, I was so close with St. Bernard.
Wow.
But the ears.
I know.
It's so fun. Thank you so much for that. Next up, Erica O Pronoun. She and her Happy Fall. Finally AG and dg. Thank you, Allison, for reminding us that it's currently voting season and the last day of the season is November 3rd. That framing has helped me get people get their ballots in sooner rather than later. Related I would like to shout out David of the Alpine Eatery food truck. You can see them@alpine eatery.com in Denver [Riggleman, he threw a, ballots and beers party on September 30th in order to talk about the state issues on our gigantic ballot. He and his crew gathered people who were involved with each issue to talk to voters about the meaning and ramifications of the ballot measures. They expected a few hundred people, but got 3,000 plus a bunch of online requests to take the show on the road. So he did.
Wow.
he's going to cities all around the state and he's added a voter guide link on his website for those who can't attend one of his parties. Up until recently, he was just a regular guy doing good stuff in his community, and now he's a voter awareness advocate for the whole state. I suspect he's going to need a long nap on November 4th because this has been exhausting. You can follow him on Instagram @alpineatery food truck. For my tax, I'm submitting pictures of fall, which has come to Colorado as of this week. Back in the day, it would have snowed by now and everything would be dead and brown. But that's no longer the case. And while I'm happy to make use of the warm weather, it upsets me because our drought is awful and all the critters are confused as to why they're still awake and active this time of year. If we only knew what was causing this sarcasm font. Right?
Yeah.
well, thank you so much for that.
Yeah.
Erica. Oh, I think we're in our second false fall here in Southern California.
Yep.
it will be summer again in a couple of weeks. and then maybe fall until it's summer again.
All right, next up from Anonymous pronoun. She and her. I've been waiting for years to share this good news. My kids have always called me Mother. Help me out, M. I'm getting tongue tied.
Motherner.
Mother. Thank you, mother. Rhymes with governor. Thank you, mother. Last week, they started calling me Dr. Motherner. My doctorate is in higher education. What a time to be a higher education scholar with McMahon at the helm of the Department of Education, My dissertation explored the role of transfer credit analysts. The people who decide whether your transfer credits are acceptable and how they apply, and how transfer credit analysts define and experience fairness in their work. This is very cool. Spoiler alert. They are tasked with ensuring fairness, but the structures of higher education often prevent them from delivering it. Yeah, I'm grateful for a dissertation committee made up of entirely women and for a special cohort of women who helped me get through this journey. We called ourselves the bbuiff. BB stood for Big Brains, among other big things, and UIFF stood for Unified Interfaith Freedom Fighters. The bbu. Uiff. It's one of those wonderful, weird names that evolved over the course of our doctoral journey. Speaking of women, a shout out to a local nonprofit, 6000 Moms. This group of women and a few men in the suburbs of Chicago adopts immigrant families and provides wraparound support from ESL classes and childcare to job skills, housing and legal assistance. Because there's no love like Mom's love, these families gain a whole community of moms and a few dads in their corner. Founder Suzanne describes the mission in a way that has really struck me, and I quote, if it's not good enough for your own kids, it's not good enough for these families either. That's kind of caring community for a family. Seeking asylum is a lifeline like no other. So if you're so inclined, Please consider supporting 6000 Moms and its mission. We'll have a link in the show Notes pretty easy. It's 6000 with the numbers 6000moms.org and for now, my pod pet tax. I present the goodest writing partner, our dog, Mirabel. Her breed should be obvious. She's so cute. We adopt her from the Second City Canine Rescue after she was abandoned alongside her sister when the breeder was just done using her for puppies. Today, she's living her very best life in the suburbs, where she gets all the love she deserves. She is a blank. Her color is called apricot by the vet and she's very judgmental and loves Japanese curry. She looks like a labradoodle.
She looks like a Labradoodle.
Oh my God, that second picture.
She's very judging. She's very judging.
Oh my goodness.
Yes she is. Mirabel is a labradoodle. Well done, my friend. Well done. Next up is a submission. Ah, from Mini Jenny. No pronouns given. Hello to my podcast heroes. It's that time of year again. Last year we Were in New York City for the marathon. I submitted my bird picture at that time and, well, this year we made it to Chicago for the marathon to watch our son run again. It wouldn't be complete without me flipping the bird at Trump tower. We had such a good time. We lived in the Chicago area 30 years ago. We had a wonderful visit with several old friends. The best reunion was with our old friends that we transferred around the country with when my husband worked for the fdic. Oh, thank you for your service, sir. We were overjoyed to learn that we are like minded and equally active in the party calling, protesting, and all the good things. See my attached bird pic and my beautiful son with his newest marathon medal. Great pictures, Great pictures. That hardware that you get from running a 5k, 10k half marathon Marathon or whatever. Yeah, love, that stuff.
Love it. I need more. I wish I had more. I'm not a great runner, but I wish I was anyway.
Yeah, I only have like four, but I'm very proud of them.
I would be, too. This is from Beth. Pronouns she and her hello, Beans Queens. I wanted to share my completely unscientific and obviously biased poll about the senate race. I have time in my day to listen to a lot of YouTube in South Carolina, especially beans talk. I've noticed a lot of ads for senator darling Graham. Like, a lot, a lot. Like, I hear more ads for her than I hear ads for boner pills. The GOP is spending money to defend a seat held by a Republican since Strom Thurmond became Republican. Graham might still win even though she can't find Taiwan on a map of Taiwan, but this drains resources away from other races. My pot pet pic is a cattle egret flying over a field. Ooh, it's gorgeous.
Oh, and our producer says, here's what they look like from the front. Very handsome bird.
I knew. Beautiful.
Hello, sir. Thanks for watching beans talk, Beth. And thanks for that info. That anecdotal stuff is always very interesting. I was very pleased that Dr. Annie Andrews went after her for changing her name after decades, in the last debate that they had. But yeah, more ads for her than ads for boner pills. Very good. I'm glad. Next up, Dusty the lesbian pronoun. She and her dear queens. Early voting has started in Georgia and ends October 30th. My granddaughter sent me proof that she voted this morning before she headed back to college. Apparently, Georgia has the nerve to use their I secured my vote stickers again this year. What nerve. I voted for you wonderful women Last week. Thank you, everybody. This is the final day to vote for us for the Signal Award. There's a link in the show notes. I'll be voting blue all the way down the ballot. And I'll be carrying my birth certificate and proof of marriage, just in case we have a chance to remove McCormick. He was made famous as the first repug to be booed relentlessly at the town hall in 2025. I remember we played video of that. In the spirit of the season, I'm enclosing a photo of my first great grandchild. Congratulations, Dusty the lesbian. Look at this baby in a pumpkin suit.
it's amazing.
Thanks for all you do, Dusty. Look at this sweet baby.
Perfect. He's perfect.
I need that outfit.
I know. Seriously, right?
Right? Seriously, right? Oh, my goodness. Everyone, please flood the zone with sunshine. Send us all your good news dailybeanspod.com. click on Contact. As I said, it is the final day to cast your vote for the Daily Beans, for the Signal People's Choice Award for best news and politics podcast. We thank you so much for your votes. It's been kind of overwhelming how awesome your response has been, so thank you. Thank you.
Absolutely. I second all of that. And those are my final thoughts.
Good to cut me off at the pass before I even ask. We'll see you over on, Beans Talk. it's a little tough over there today because we're going to show you some of that video evidence that the district attorney in Harris county is talking about about ice, the vehicular manslaughter, an assault with a deadly weapon, so you can see for yourself and judge for yourself, because they're trying to take away our understanding of what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears and always let it happen.
Always.
So we'll see you there. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, take care of your family.
Vote blue over Q and take everyone
you know with you and vote down ballot blue all the way. Thanks again to Justin J. Pearson for joining us today. He, I think, can take this district. Everybody. I've been ag. 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 Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants, and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit mswmedia.com msw media.