Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 Today, Kash Patel is suing the Atlantic for $250M over excessive drinking claims; a man facing divorce kills 8 children in a shooting rampage including 7 of his own; surveillance tech giant Palantir posts a dystopian manifesto on Twitter; a Pennsylvania court rules a Medicaid abortion ban is unconstitutional; the Supreme Court will hear a case about Catholic preschools allowing children of same sex couples to attend; the Onion signs a deal to take over Alex Jones’ Infowars; a pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine showed lasting results in an early study; and Allison delivers your Good News.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2026
Today, Kash Patel is suing the Atlantic for $250M over excessive drinking claims; a man facing divorce kills 8 children in a shooting rampage including 7 of his own; surveillance tech giant Palantir posts a dystopian manifesto on Twitter; a Pennsylvania court rules a Medicaid abortion ban is unconstitutional; the Supreme Court will hear a case about Catholic preschools allowing children of same sex couples to attend; the Onion signs a deal to take over Alex Jones’ Infowars; a pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine showed lasting results in an early study; and Allison delivers your Good News.
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The Latest Breakdown:
Former FBI Deputy Director Responds to Kash Patel's Alleged Drinking Problem
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Pennsylvania court rules Medicaid abortion coverage ban unconstitutional | WGAL
Supreme Court takes up Catholic objection to Colorado's preschool program | NBC News
8 children killed in Shreveport, Louisiana, shooting, police say | The Washington Post
The Onion Signs New Deal to Take Over Infowars | The New York Times
Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial | NBC News
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Today, Kash Patel is suing the Atlantic magazine for $250 million over excessive drinking claims. A man facing divorce has killed eight children in a shooting rampage, including seven of his own. Surveillance tech giant Palantir has posted a dystopian manifesto on Twitter. A Pennsylvania court has ruled a Medicaid abortion ban is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court will hear a case about Catholic preschools allowing children of same sex couples to attend. The Onion signs a deal to take over Alex Jones's infowars. And a pancreatic cancer MRNA vaccine is showing lasting results in an early study. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
And breaking. Lori Chavez Darimer is out as labor secretary.
Wow.
Yeah, it's all women so far. Well, good.
Maybe keep, her and her husband away from the staffers. Any sort of office, for real.
Brooke Rollins is still a woman in the cabinet. Kelly Loeffler is still there. I know I'm missing some others, but.
Caroline Levat. Although I don't know if that counts as a cabinet position.
No, but she's. But she's up there, right? In, like, a top position. Oh, Secretary, of Education. The wrestling lady.
Oh, God, McMahon.
Still there?
Is there still a Department of Education? What is she secretarying right now?
Yeah, nothing. But I think that's it for the women that are left. Tulsi Gabbard is.
Oh, that's right. That's right.
That's true. But, you know, could be Patel, could be Lutnick.
Who knows?
Could be Chris Wright after he told everybody on Fox News that gas prices were going to stay high for another year. That probably upset Donald. But, you know, I did. I did have Duramer on my bingo card as being out pretty soon. So there you go. What kind of weird prize do you get for that bingo? Nothing. Nothing good. Nothing good could come of it. Also, happy Lesbian Visibility Week. It is lesbian. Thank you very much.
I feel very seen. it's not usually. There's no weeks where I'm not super fucking visible, but it is a really wonderful week. There are thousands of events going on around the country, and Curve magazine is one of the main sponsors of a lot of these. There's a woman named Franco Stevens who started Curve years and years ago, and Franco has done a hell of a job of putting together Lesbian Visibility Week. The Curve Foundation.
Yeah.
So we get all week. Be as visible as you want. Lesbians.
And I think what's really interesting, something I learned many years ago from why they switched from GLBT to lgbt. My understanding was in honor of all of the lesbians who took so much care during the AIDS epidemic.
That's exactly why.
And, you know, I just think that that's something that, you know, might be important piece of knowledge to have as we, as we go through this week. Yeah.
The federal government. And as we know, I believe those were Reagan years. The federal government abandoned the gay men that were living and dying with aids, including Rock Hudson. I learned this the other day. Rock Hudson found out he had aids, obviously. And there was a doctor that he wanted to go see because he was told that they had a treatment that was far more advanced than anything that was already out there. And apparently he's had dinner with the Reagan's and a lot of other things, except Nancy and Ron were very, very homophobic. And even though their pal Rock Hudson sent a letter to Nancy Reagan saying, can you please get me in with this doctor? She said, no, sorry. And he ended up dying months later. Because they're comparing it to Caitlyn Jenner being so upset that her passport came back with a male gender marker on it and is like, I need the president to help me and no one's doing anything. And they're comparing it to that situation with Rock Hudson, who was dying of aids, going to after having dinner with Nancy and Ron saying, I need your help, and them saying, I'm sorry. No, it's the same thing. Them using Caitlyn Jenner as a transgender woman as a tool for their party. And then when she needs their help, them going, sorry, there's nothing we can do because you're still a transgender woman through and through, and that's how they will treat you.
Yeah. And I just want to do it like a gentle reminder here that although Caitlyn Jenner is a horrible, horrible person, Caitlyn Jenner is a woman, and I don't think she's dead. Naming her or misgendering her, that only allows or gives a permission structure for people to put conditions on someone's trans visibility.
Absolutely. I agree.
And being transgender, so just wanted to put that out there a little bit to, you know, just as a reminder. Now I want to kind of switch gears here because later today I'm going to be speaking. We're going to talk about corporate accountability. Right. I'm going to be speaking with the author of a book called Corporate Reckoning.
Okay.
Her name is Sarah Fetterman, and along those same Lines of corporate reckoning. I'll be talking to Indivisible co founder and co executive director Ezra levin about the May 1 economic blackout. And here at the Daily Beans, you will notice on May 1 that we are not gonna run any ads on this show in solidarity.
Wonderful.
With the May 1 economic blackout and to find out more creative ways to participate because not everybody can take off work, not everybody can take off school. But you know, there are other ways to participate. Like maybe you can have a small business Saturday in your local community the day after May 1st to make up for those small businesses who might have lost money participating in the economic blackout day on May Day. All that kind of information and where you can get more information will be in my interview with Ezra Lev later in the show.
Wonderful.
And tickets are going to be available for our, June 20th patron gala in Chicago. And you'll get an email with a link to buy those tickets. If you're a patron, you'll get an email with the email you signed up to be a patron. And you'll get that email this Saturday, April 25th at noon Pacific, 3 Eastern. It's a first come, first serve ticket sales thing. You can bring a plus one. And that plus one doesn't have to be a patron. So each patron can buy two tickets each time they go in to buy tickets. And if you're a patron, like I said, check your inbox. Sometimes our stuff goes into your junk and, you know, junk email. So we did send out emails this past Saturday over the weekend announcing our special guest.
Oh, nice, nice, nice.
That'll be joining us. And it's pretty cool. I'm really excited. And so I hope that, y' all are able to make it. If you're not a patron, you can become one. Patreon.com thedailybeans so I'm just so much looking forward to that, that whole event, Dana. It's going to be so much fun.
Yeah, it'll be a blast. And just some quick news from WGAL in Harrisburg. A, Pennsylvania Commonwealth court has ruled that the state's ban on Medicaid coverage for abortions is unconstitutional. In a 4 to 3 decision, the court determined that a Pennsylvania constitution includes a fundamental right to reproductive autonomy, making the ban on public funding for abortion unconstitutional. Now, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, that is Pennsylvania's appeals court, so this can be appealed to the state Supreme Court, because that has already been decided in the state of Pennsylvania. Mm.
All right, so we'll see what happens there. And a heavy Sigh. The Supreme Court has decided to take up a new religious rights case on Monday, agreeing to hear two Catholic parishes challenge to Colorado's mandate that they enroll children of same sex couples in their preschools to receive public funds. This case provides a pathway for the high court to Narrow A significant 1990 religious precedent next term. This is the latest Supreme Court case that contests anti discrimination measures in Colorado under the First Amendment. The conservative majority last month ruled Colorado's conversion therapy ban violated Christian counselors free speech rights. And in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the state couldn't require an evangelical Christian designer to provide same sex wedding websites. So I think we know where this might be headed. Yeah.
Ah, I will be shocked if it comes out any other way to be honest with you.
Yeah, same.
This one's from the Post. Eight children and I'm so sorry. There's a trigger warning on this story for violence, obviously. Eight children ranging in age from 1 to about 14, were killed on Sunday in a shooting that police described as a domestic disturbance. A spokesman for the Shreveport police, this is Chris Bordelon, he told reporter Sunday that seven of the children were believed to be descendants of the gunman and that two of their victims survived. And I quote, this is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen. That was Bordelon. Later Sunday, police identified the gunman as AH Shamar Elkins. Now, public records show that Elkins was a 31 year old Shreveport resident. Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August of 2013 until about August of 2020. This is according to an army statement. it's just a horrifying mass shooting and have so many kids lost and also, like, it's just hard to believe that seven of them were his descendants. That they were his children.
Yeah. And they have to now that because of that, they're calling it a domestic dispute and not a mass shooting. Right. Which I think is incorrect.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Everybody agreed? All right, everybody, we have more news to get to, but we have to take a quick break. Stick around.
We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Man, these people really do just want as much money as they possibly can over the next three years, don't M?
Mm, mm.
Now a spokeswoman for the Atlantic said Monday that the publication stood by its reporting. Quote, we will vigorously defend the Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit. In the complaint, Patel accused the defendants of, quote, publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel's reputation and drive him from office. He pushed back on allegations that he drinks to the point of obvious intoxication at places like the members only Club Ned's in Washington D.C. and the Poodle Room in Las Vegas. Quote, Director Patel does not drink to excess at these establishments or anywhere else. And this has not and has never been a source of concern across the government, the complaint said. Patel also said in the lawsuit that the Atlantic had published the article despite being expressly warned hours before publication that the central allegations were categorically false. Discovery is going to be lit AF if it gets to discovery. These ah, kinds of lawsuits tend to break, you know, be dismissed by the people who file them shortly before they have to be deposed under oath. And they're really only out there, first of all, to give red meat to the base, like we're tough on the fake news media. And probably also to be like, please Trump, don't fire me. But then also to just cost the Atlantic as much money as they possibly can.
Yeah, I can't wait till he's gone because you know they're going to get rid of him one day. This one's from the independent. The surveillance technology company Palantir posted a manifesto on Twitter outlining its position on everything from national service to the post second World War international order. The AI driven software giant best known for supplying analytics to the US army, the New York Police Department and ICE was co founded in 2003 by WHO Collective of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs including Peter Thiel and Alex Karp. Not all gay men are good. It's 1000 word post essentially summarizes 22 points raised in the 2025 book the technological Repub by Karp and Nicholas Zamiska. And as Engadget, I think that's a publication.
I'm not sure Engadget.
Engadget saw it and I quote reads like the ramblings of a comic book villain.
It's so creepy.
Yeah. Palantir's post opens by suggesting it has a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. Hailing the United States, championing of, and I quote, progressive values in comparison to other countries, and arguing that American power has made possible an extraordinary, extraordinarily long peace since the end of the Second world war in 1945, given no credit to NATO. In the same breath, he argues that the end, I quote, post war neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. What the fuck? Calling the defanguing of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan as part of that same peace process, an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price, which could, and I quote, shift the balance of power in Asia. This should have every hair on your neck standing up, everybody. It then argues for a return to compulsory national service to maintain American military might. Trust me, it's not gonna be the women they're looking for. Calling it, and I quote, a universal duty, while also appealing to challenge President Donald Trump's over the present conflict in Iran. So they're like, we should get back to a military draft. But we have a problem with the war, as we know, which has failed to consult Congress. Before commencing, there are more general pronouncements about the coming of artificial intelligence, including a declaration that the atomic age is over and the AI era has begun. Another that, and I quote, hard power is in this century will be built on software. And another that frames the prospect of warfare without the humanity as an inevitability. This is all terrifying to me. And this is a quote. The question is not whether AI weapons will be built. It is who will build them and for what purpose. This is from Palantir. This was what the company posits. Among the science fiction prophecies are some disapproving remarks about the ordinary citizens tendency to be too judgmental towards public figures. Oh, don't hate us so much, huh? And I quote, we should show far more grace towards those who have subjected themselves to public life. That's what the manifesto argues, adding that there is too much schadenfreude expressed when the misdeeds of famous people are revealed. And that lack of forgiveness and compassion, and I quote, may leave us with a cast of characters at the helm we will grow to regret. That could be the part that sounds like the evil comic book, if you ask me. there's also caution against the reactionary scorn sometimes expressed towards Elon Musk's far Flung ambitions like his dream of colonizing Mars. As well as some more grounded commercial pronouncements, including an insistence that Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime. And a questioning of whether Apple's iPhone continues to merit its market dominance, suggesting that the product could now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible.
So is that like a we're pro Robocop in Skynet?
All I know is it's. I'm sorry, we can't get your information from Apple and we're bugged about it now. Peter Thiel, Palantir's most prominent public face, is no stranger to odd public statements and last month delivered a four part lecture series in Rome attacking the woke Pope Leo and outlining his own idiosyncratic theories on the coming of the anarchists. These guys have done so much fucking drugs. I just feel like it's rewired their brains in some very strange ways.
Oh, the Antichrist. Okay, okay, I see. Wow, I didn't hear about that four part series. I'm glad I didn't. The woke Pope. Uh-huh. And the coming of the anti. Oh, man. Yeah. Okay. All right. So the dystopian future is upon us.
Yeah, they've lost their minds.
And by the way, make sure you're gonna vote for a candidate. Check to see they're not taking much of money from Palantir.
Seriously. All right.
From the New York Times. When Infowars, the website, was founded by the conspiracist Alex Jones, and it came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up. The Onion, a satirical news outlet who planned to convert the site into a parody of itself. Now, that sale was scuttled by a bankruptcy court, but now the Onion has reemerged with a new plan to license the website from Gregory Milligan, the court appointed manager of the site. On Monday, Milligan asked Maya Guerra Gamble, a judge in Texas's Travis County District Court overseeing the disposition of Infowars, to approve that licensing agreement in a court filing. Under the terms, the, Onion's parent company, Global tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com and its associated intellectual property, such as its name, for an initial six months, with an option to renew for another six months. The licensing deal has been agreed to by the Onion and the court appointed administrator, but it's not effective until Judge Gamble approves it and Mr. Jones. Alex Jones can appeal whatever ruling Gamble comes up with. That means the fate of Infowars remains in Limbo until the court rules, probably sometime in the next two weeks, Alex Jones continues to operate Infowars.com, and hosts its weekday program, the Alex Jones Show. The battle over Infowars has been long and fraught, and Mr. Jones, a notorious peddler of lies and invective, has used his bully pulpit for more than a year to crusade against the Onion's efforts to take over the platform. The site is in limbo because of a series of defamation lawsuits against Jones filed by the families of victims of the mass shooting in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School, which Mr. Jones falsely claimed was a hoax. And in 2018, the families of two Sandy Hook victims sued Mr. Jones for defamation in Texas, where Infowars is based. And relatives of another eight victims sued in Connecticut. In 2022, a jury in Texas awarded the parents of one victim $50 million. Mr. Jones declared bankruptcy. Later that year. A trial pitting him against the parents of a second victim was delayed indefinitely by that move. Later that year, a jury awarded the families and former law enforcement official who sued Mr. Jones in Connecticut a, total of 1.4. Now, to help satisfy Mr. Jones's debts to the Sandy Hook families, Judge Christopher Lopez of US Bankruptcy Court ordered in mid 2024 that a court appointed trustee sell off the equipment, the intellectual property, the website and other assets owned by Free speech systems. That's Infowars parent company. And in late 2024, a sealed bid silent auction drew only two contenders, the onions parent company and a company associated with Alex Jones. The trustee and the families chose the Onions bid despite its potential to yield less cash than the rival company's.
Mr. Jones love it.
So Mr. Jones, somebody associated with Alex Jones made a bid. The Onion made a really low bid and everybody picked the Onion.
I love it.
And Mr. Jones and his lawyers cried foul. And a judge intervened. Judge Lopez, saying that the process was opaque and that the Onion's bid was not obviously superior. He rejected plans for a do over of the auction, instead directing the families to seek liquidation through Judge Gamble's court in Texas, where the first defamation case was heard and won. And in August, Judge Gamble ruled that a court appointed administrator would take over and sell infowars assets, reopening the door to the Onion quote. We're working on it, said Ben, Collins, chief executive of Global Tetrahedron. That's what he wrote on social media the same day Judge Gamble's ruling came out. Now the Onion plans to turn Infowars into a comedy site with satirical echoes of the fringe conspiracy theories that Mr. Jones is known for. Tim Heidecker, one of the comedians behind Tim and Eric awesome show. Great job on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, has been hired to serve as the creative director of Infowars.
I love it.
He has said he initially plans to parody Mr. Jones's quote whole modus operandi. Mr. Heidecker has been working on his impression of Alex Jones, but eventually, when the joke gets old, Heidecker said that he hopes to turn Infowars into a destination for independent and experimental comedy. Quote, I just thought it would be a beautiful joke if we could take this pretty toxic, negative, destructive force of Infowars and rebrand it as a beautiful place for our creativity. That's what Heidecker said in an interview during a recent trip to Philadelphia. He traveled to the Liberty Bell to film a video in character as the new creative director of Infowars and the
I need to see that Dana.
The logo is Infowars in Infowars old font but the A in wars is the onion's onion and it's in pride colors.
Love it.
Rainbow. That's awesome. That's fantastic. You can see it@theunion.info Nice and we
have some good news. Thank God it's gonna start off as obviously not great news. Just stay with us on this now. This is from NBC. Less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer they live for more than five years making it one of the deadliest canc and there is no routine screening for pancreatic cancer such as a colonoscopy or a mammogram. You know things that catch it early and the symptoms typically don't show up until the disease is advanced. Now once detected, there are few options for treatment. Only about 20% of cases are operable, which is currently required for someone to be eligible to join a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial. The vaccines work as a type of so called immunotherapy, harnessing a person's immune system to fight cancer cells. The goal is not to eliminate existing tumors, but it's instead to stamp out lingering undetected cancer cells and later any new cells that form before they can cause a reoccurrence. Patients still have surgery to move tumors. After that, the MRNA M vaccines are personalized for each individual using genetic material taken from their unique tumor cells. In the clinical trial after getting the vaccine, the patients also received chemotherapy which is standard post op treatment for operable pancreat cancer. Now Balakaldran and his team, they published the results of a phase 1 clinical trial last year. At the time, the patients, all of whom had early stage disease before they joined the trial, had only been tracked for just over three years. And it was unclear whether the immune response would last and lead to the patients living longer. This is what he said.
Now.
New data collected during the trial's six year follow up period, it shows that it May. Less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer lived for more than five years, making it one of the deadliest cancers, as I said. But half of the 16 people that went to the phase one trial generated an immune response against tumors and seven are still alive after a six year follow up.
Wow.
Another team is working an off the shelf vaccine that targets a protein called Krasnohe that is present in as many as 90% of pancreatic cancers. In a small early trial, about 85% of the participants mounted an immune M response to the protein. Thank God. With everything that's going on with this fucking administration and all of their cuts to cancer research and science and all of these things, this is still moving forward and it's still happening. So there is some good news there.
Yeah. And I look forward to seeing more about the Kras, trial. But yeah, I mean that six year post trial, all of that took place under the Biden administration and seven out of 16 are still alive and normally only 13% survive after five years. That's incredible. MRNA is pretty astounding. And you said it was personalized based on the DNA from the individual patients. Isn't that wild cancer cells?
It's wild.
Wow. Incredible. Thank you for that bit of good news. We got more good news. But first we're gonna talk to Ezra, Levin from Indivisible. Then we're gonna talk to Sarah Federman about her book called Corporate Reckoning. And then we'll get to the good news. Stick around, we'll be right back. I have never been someone who wants a ten step skincare routine or a bathroom shelf full of products. I like simple. I like easy. I want something that fits into real life and actually feels worth doing. And that is why one skin caught my attention. This is a serious science in a routine that I can actually keep up with. And every time I use it, I feel like I'm giving my skin support where it matters the most, from barrier strength to collagen support. And what makes one skin stand out is that they were founded by longevity researchers and their work led to OS1, a proprietary peptide designed to target skin aging at the of start source instead of just covering it up. So we're loving Oneskin and we just want to thank them for sponsoring this episode. And we have a discount for you. Go to OneSkin Co DailyBeans and use code DAILYBEANS for 15% off. Now, what first caught my attention about Oneskin was that it was founded by a female PhD scientist and it's rooted in real research, not just marketing language that immediately made it feel different from a lot of skin care brands. What I like the most is how easy it is to use and how quickly it fit into my routine. The texture is amazing, it layers well, and my skin has felt smoother and more balanced since I started using it. Now, one surprise for me was how much I appreciated not needing a complicated lineup of products. I like simple. With extensive lab and clinical data behind it, plus four peer reviewed clinical studies, more than 10,000 five star reviews, and recent recognition from Bloomberg, Oneskid really stands apart. So born from over a decade of longevity research, oneskins os1 peptide is proven to target the visible signs of aging. Help you unlock your healthiest skin now. And as you age, for a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using code DAILYBEANS at Ah, OneSkin Co DailyBeans. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you honored. today to be joined by co founder, co executive director of Indivisible, who is organizing an economic blackout day called May Day this May 1st. It's coming up pretty quick here, so please welcome Ezra Levin. Hi, Ezra, how are you?
Hey, Allison, how you doing?
as you said to me before we went live, you know, what was the phrase that you said?
Everything's great other than the fascism. Right. I feel like that's been true, really for the last 15, 16 months. I've been doing the kids are great, Leah is great, people are healthy, going to school, learning new things. Zeke and Lila are obsessed with unicorns now, which is lovely. And if it weren't for the fascism, it'd just really be idyllic on all fronts.
Yeah, if it weren't for the fascism. Everything's great, I think, and I think I said we should make sure. But tell us a little bit about May, first, because this feels like this has been building for a while. There was like a plan in place, right. We started with hands off. No Kings 1, no Kings 2, no Kings 3. We've got into community. We've created this giant coalition you, have at Indivisible to now kind of go forward with a, new kind of action. Talk a little bit about Mayday.
Well, so I think we should start about. Start where? Where do we think the world is right now? And where I think the world is, is we've got an authoritarian in the White House whose power is actually being scaled back by public opposition, by mass grassroots opposition. That's not just indivisible, that's not even just no kings. This is a broad pro democracy coalition that has come together to push back against it. As a result of that, Trump's approvals are in the toilet. He's losing every special election. He's Republican, coalition is fracturing in the Republican, in the Congress, he is weakening. And one thing we know about weakening authoritarians is they don't go quietly. They lash out, they do more damage. And I think that's what this year has been characterized by. I assume that what Trump is going to try to do is to sabotage the midterm elections. And I assume that because that's what authoritarians, the world worldwide, try to do when they're facing an electoral disaster. They try to pull some shenanigans, they try to do something. Maybe it's as far as canceling the election, although he doesn't have the power to do that. Maybe he tries to interfere in Republican led states where they have the election infrastructure. Maybe he just scales up voter suppression. Maybe he's sending ICE agents to airports as a dress rehearsal for what he plans to do to send them to the ballot boxes come November. But something. He's reading the polls the same as
we're reading the polls.
He's seeing the election outcomes the same. We're reading the election outcomes. But he knows if there's a Democratic House and Democratic Senate, he's going to face accountability. There are going to be prosecutions, there are going to be subpoenas, they're going to be investigations, things he does not want. He wants to maintain power. Therefore, we assume there is going to be some pushback against the midterms. So what do you do, Allison? What do you do if you know that this is coming at you seven months from now? We're going to be dealing with this, and the answer cannot be, well, we're all going to show up on a Saturday for no kings five or six or seven or whatever it might be by then, and have millions of people on the streets. And Trump will see those people in the streets and everybody will say, now democracy wins. And Trump declares defeat. That's not how that works. That's not how it works. What we know is that in that moment, we're going to have to do something more akin to what the folks in the Twin Cities showed us. the day of Truth in action came, 24, 48 hours before Alex Preddy was murdered, and several days before the regime more or less announced defeat in the Twin Cities. They did everything they could to subjugate those towns, and they failed because of organized opposition. And it wasn't just organized opposition in the form of protest on a Saturday. It was flexing of economic mind. The day of Truth in Action was where sub zero temperatures all throughout the state. And you had thousands of faith leaders and nurses and teachers and community members coming out, linking arms, saying, okay, we're not going to school, we're not going to work, we're not shopping. We are raising the alarm and saying, do not go along with this. And it's a different kind of tactic. It is an escalation, is what I would say from something like a Saturday protest. As much as I love no Kings, as much as I'm proud of what we've accomplished with no Kings, it's not enough, Alison. And so the point of Mayday, which again, it's not an indivisible thing, it's not a no Kings thing. This is led by the folks in the labor movement. Maydaystrong.org, highly recommend folks go there. We're trying to do our part to be supportive of our union brothers and sisters in this, but this should be nationwide. You don't have to be part of a union to participate in this. You don't have to be part of indivisible to participate in this. But we should be trying to show what does it look like when this pro democracy movement, flexes its economic muscle? Because that's where you're actually able to force institutions and leaders to respond to you in real time. And I believe that's what's going to be necessary when he tries, whatever he tries to do come the midterm elections.
Yeah, I mean, he just tried to get 20, 24 election ballots from places in Detroit. Right. Probably in an effort to say that there's bad things there. And we're going to have to send ICE agents or seize your voting tabulators or, and watch while you count or, you know, whatever it is to physically interfere in the midterms on top of everything else that he, could and should and, or not should, but will pull out, you know, be planning to do. We saw it play out in Dallas county during their primary elections. So talk, a little bit about how people can participate and get creative. because a lot of folks maybe can't afford to take off work. and I've seen some concerned people, you know, when I post about this and share this, they're like, well, you know, I can't necessarily afford to miss a day of work, or, you know, they, they'll reduce my hours, et cetera, et cetera. But there's more creative ways to participate in this.
Oh, absolutely. And look, not everybody is going to be able to do everything. That's okay, Alison. I am. I, I think you can feel bad in this moment. And in fact, authoritarians make you feel bad just about every day because they are doing damage and it makes you feel like the whole world is on your back. And yet you can't do everything. And you shouldn't think of yourself as being responsible for do everything. But everybody can do something. Everybody can do something. Some people can skip work. Great. Some people can walk out of their schools. Great. Some people can support those people who are doing those things. Some people can put together a protest. Some people have to go to work that day. Some people have to go and engage in the economy that day. And if that's the reality for you, that's the reality for you. But the number one thing I would recommend to people who want to be operating in solidarity with those folks who are, who are generating public backlash on this mayday is to refuse to be alone. Do not allow yourself to be isolated and alienated by this regime. So if you've got to go to work that day, if you got to go to school that day, find where is the local protest in your community. Find where the local 50, 51 group or indivisible group or local immigrant, defense organizing group is and plug into that community because they're going to have ways for you to participate in this. You can provide support to other folks who are volunteering. You can provide digital support. You can write out beds. You can pull together a weekend after, after mayday event, like a small business Saturdays, businesses that are closing down on that day to provide them additional support this weekend, there's something for everybody to do. I don't want people to think, well, if I can't be striking out in the street, then therefore I shouldn't participate. The way that a pro democracy movement succeeds is by finding a place for everybody. And different people have different skill sets and different constraints. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't participate. And so if you find yourself being bummed out that you can't be one of those folks in the street that day, plug into the community that is showing up in the streets that day and say, hey, what can I do to help this weekend and next week?
Yeah, maybe organize a small business Saturday, here at MSW Media Media, you know, we deliver the news every day. Obviously, we can't stop doing that, but we've got a little creative, over here. What we're going to be doing is running all of our shows ad free. We're not going to, make a penny. And we're encouraging our other friends in independent, media, to do the same if they're able. Right. This is all about doing what you're able to do. Something else I hear quite a bit, is one day isn't enough. One day of economic. We need a sustained general strike, et cetera. but you and I talked a little bit offline about this. Tell me your thoughts on that.
I agree. I agree, Alison. And here's what I would say. It does not matter how wildly successful we are on that Friday, on May 1st, Trump is not gonna announce defeat. He's not gonna resign. He's not gonna say, oh, now, I'm pro democracy, and I'm not gonna engage. That is not in the card. So if people think that's the measure of success, I'm sorry, not happening. What Mayday is in our minds is what the labor movement will often refer to as a structure test. This is a test of what is our economic muscle capacity right now. When we flex it, when we say nationwide, we are doing this, when there are hundreds of these protests across the country planned on that day, what are we actually able to accomplish? What barriers do we run into? What aren't we able to accomplish? Because we've got six to seven months between now and the midterm elections. And I do not want the first test of this movement, economic strength, to be a dry run, to be the first time that we're coming up against this regime. We're trying to do nationwide an economic boycott, a strike of some sort, some sort of no business as usual. And we've never tried this before. We've got to figure out where we're strong, where we're weak, and then spend the next six and a half months building up that capacity. So come the midterms, we know where we're strong, we know where we've got to work on more capacity, and we do the work to build that up. So I expect to see a lot of action, on May 1st. I also expect to learn a lot, Alison, because we've got to learn, we've got to grow. I will be the first one to say we're not big enough now. We've got to develop more capacity. We've got to welcome more people in. Because when the shit really hits the fan in November, it's not just going to be the same old, same old. We're all going to have to come together with the depth of organizing that we've seen in the Twin Cities and the breadth of organizing that we've seen during no Kings. That's how you actually repel an assault on our democracy that we worry is coming now. It's possible we'll experience what the Hungarians just experienced, which is a lot of fear of election sabotage for the months leading up to the election. And then we just utterly crush the regime so thoroughly that they can't even steal the election that they will. I want to live in that world, Allison. I'm desperate to live in that world. I'm hoping for that world. And I don't think we can count on that world. It is possible this election is closed. It's possible control of the Senate or the House comes down to a handful of states where Republicans control the election infrastructure. And Donald Trump is individually pushing those election administrators to find him a few extra votes or to stop the count of the votes that have occurred. If that happens, are we ready for it? Do we know how to use the tools that we've got in that moment? I think May 1st is going to help us learn a lot about that.
Yeah, I have to agree with you on that. It's not like, Hungary just all of a sudden woke up. They've been coalescing coalition building for quite some time. And the person who ended up beating Viktor Rabanne actually is a conservative. But they all worked together to decide that this was going to be the best, swiftest, and most resounding way to do it. And they did it through these steps, small steps of action to build that coalition of people from far left to conservative, not maga, tyranny guys, but the right wing, to build that huge coalition, together. and it, and it took multiple steps and multiple tests and a lot of learning, best practices. And that's kind of where I see this fitting in.
That's right. And it also took local organizing. We've been learning from the Hungarian pro democracy advocates and organizers for a while now. And one of the Main lessons that came out of this massive win last weekend was organize, organize, organize. Being online digitally, it's all well and good, good knowing the right things because you scroll through the right things in your feed. Look, we all can enjoy that. And a good doom scroll once in a while might make us feel bad in a good kind of way. That's not organizing though. That's not going to stop the authoritarians. If you actually want to do that, you got to find your community, wherever that is, because that's where the rubber really hits the road, where the ballot box are going to be stolen, where the ice, the ice goons are going to show up at a, like, at pulling locations. That's where we've got to have actual infrastructure on the ground ready to show up and defend our democracy. And that happens in the real world. That doesn't just happen online. And so this is why a first step with Mayday, it's not just Everybody going to D.C. or to the city centers. These are happening all over the country. So in an ideal world, if you are not yet connected to that community, you're fine in that community because you're going to have to build with them, to engage in election protection come November.
so remind everybody where they can get information, maybe on how to set up their own event if they are, you know, not able to take work off that particular day. Maybe do a small business Saturday. Where can people get more information and get more ideas about how to connect to their community and participate in Mayday?
Well, I want to shine a lot of light on our Mayday, strong allies who are really leading this because as much as I'm proud to be part of it, we're not driving this bus and we're trying to be as good allies to these folks as possible. So maydaystrong.org has a lot of information, including training, national trainings that we've partnered on with Mayday Strong. And if you want to get connected to your local indivisible group or see some of the materials we have, we have toolkits for how do I put an event together? What should I think about when recruiting people? How do I message this? What are some tactics I can use? Go to Indivisible.org, you'll find all that on the front page of our website. But the bottom line is, don't just exist online. Find those folks locally, Find that community who is building. Because you're smart, you're paying attention to this, you can figure it out. It's not rocket science, but it does mean doing work to connect with people in your community and identify where do you have leverage and where do you have opportunity and where can you actually do good? That's where the power really actually gets created. And that's how we wield that power when we create it.
Well, awesome. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today on the Breakdown. Ezra Levin, co founder, co Executive Director of Indivisible. I appreciate your time today as always.
Thanks, Alison.
Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm super happy today to be joined by associate professor of of Conflict Resolution at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace Studies right here in my backyard. She's the author of award winning books like Transformative Negotiation, the Last Train to Auschwitz, as well as two co authored Introduction to Conflict Resolution and Narratives of mass atrocity. In 2022, this author testified before Congress concerning the responsibility of US banks to respond to their slavery ties. And she has a new book out today called Corporate Reckoning How Business Can Address Historical Wrongs. it's available wherever you get your books. And I thought that this was a very important discussion and I think it's a crucial book considering all of the ways right now we are fighting back against certain things in our government, certain things in politics through corporate reckoning. And that's what this book focuses on. Please welcome Sarah Fetterman. Hi Sarah, how are you today?
Hi.
Thanks for having me.
No, it's so good to see you again. I just want to tell everybody I got to meet you in person. Thank you. At Warwick's Books in La Jolla, when we did that book talk with Sasha Abramsky, who we've had her on the show a couple of times and this book is so important right now. So many people are trying to find ways, like all of us trying to find ways to use our wallets and to talk about corporate responsibility. But also corporations are trying to find ways to be better servant leaders in their communities. And that is so, important right now, especially in this political landscape. So, so I wanted to talk to you about your book again. It's out today. It's called Corporate How Business Can Address Historical Wrongs. So can you just define for us what is corporate accountability?
Yeah, so Corporate reckoning is about that I'm talking about historically is how did businesses, let's say, participated in the Holocaust or another genocide or any kind of mass atrocity that humans inflicted? How do they address that, that past, because it comes back to haunt them.
Often.
And this work also makes us look around and say, oh, where are companies doing things that the next generation is going to be judging them pretty harshly because, you know, legally there is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity. So what I'm interested in in this book, which always leads to the great conversation about today, is what do you do if you inherit a company or you take over a company that has these past. How do you respond to them? You didn't do it, but that history is now inherited. And so I talk you through, what do you do and what are some examples who've done it well and who's kind of been struggling and so on.
Yeah, the first thing that comes into my head is Volkswagen as an historic example. But you give several in the book talk about some of these examples, and not just examples of corporations who've had to come to a reckoning, but some who have done it well and some who have done it not so well.
Yeah, yeah, we did have, you know, when, the Cold War ended, there was a lot of Holocaust restitution conversations came up. You know, that's where it came out about IBM and Ford and Volkswagen and Mercedes. And there were a lot. And the Swiss banks and the French banks. Right. That was a big reckoning period that a lot of maybe listeners live through and remember. and, you know, one of the Swiss banks was literally like shredding documents. Like they had a guy find them, like, hide. Still hide them. Right. So even though maybe they weren't the ones who did it, they were then complicit. So I would say shredding your documents, not a good move. just to be clear, you know, I don't know.
I feel like sunlight is always the best answer. Right. Like we found this and even more. And that we need to come to terms with this. Facing things head on is kind of the lesson I'm getting from. From what you've written.
well, there are ways to. To do it. So I actually think one of the ones who's doing it really well is the Guardian, and that's a newspaper owned by Scott's Trust in the uk and they realized that their money, that their original founders were slaveholders. And so they actually made a restorative team. They sent journalists and historians to go study where those plantations were. And they've made a plan of actually how they're going to integrate that into their, Yeah, they're like doing reporting in these islands where the plantations were. They're creating a scholarship for black community journalists. And, you know, they're doing a bunch of things related to the past, so I actually think they've done it pretty well. It's not as surprising that a newspaper might do it well because they have commitments to truth. Right. But in a different way, the financial services is where it gets a little more interesting.
Right. They're not journalists, so, yeah, we don't promise trans.
I mean, they promise like integrity and trust, but like transparency and everything. And digging into the past is not usually what they promise. So there have been really big differences in how they've handled their past. So Lloyds of London has done it very well. Like they've actually written on their website, they've done some research. What did we do? What was our role? How does today's company feel about that? What are we doing to address some of the legacies? So some of those go, really have gone well. The French National Railways, although it's a national company, is still partially private. They've done a good job, but only because they were dragged into it and they were dragged, dragged, dragged. But they did. They, like made statements, they've released their history, they've opened their archives, they've made donations, they've, like, they've supported some commemorative sites. So there are companies that have done it. Well, I think where you really see it obviously not going well is when you go to a company timeline and you know they're involved in slavery but they just like skip it. They just sort of go like. It goes like 1794 than 1865 and we helped rebuild the South. So if people want to go poke and have fun with this, if you go look at the BBH Brown Brothers Harriman, how they talk about their history versus Alex Dot Brown, even though they're from the same family, they treat their history on their website very differently.
Yeah. And I'm also wondering something else that you touch on rebranding, Right. Renaming. Some people want to hang on to these brands because they've been a brand for, for so very long. But how much does that damage you? And that's where we get into our short memories. Right. Our kind of collective historical amnesia that benefits a lot of these corporations, allowing them to keep their brand and just hoping people forget over time.
Oh, we're really, we're seeing that now, especially with Epstein files coming out and different executives being affiliated with them and how that is affecting their brand and they're real hoping that it will go away. we do see that these things are latent for a while and then there's like certain political Moments when they become really important, like George Floyd's murder. Right. That became really important. You know, ICE roundups. All of a sudden people are paying a lot of attention to who's doing what. Like, things happen that make people pay attention. but there are grand challenges like Brown University, the Brown family, different from the Alexander Brown I was talking about. But they were huge in slavery. And that's the name of the university. Right. but then they've done a lot of work around it and like, they've actually made some shifts and so has Yale and some of the others.
Yeah. And now we're seeing corporate accountability in real time. I'm thinking of, you know, Project Saltbox, certain things surrounding ice. Trying to buy these giant warehouses and other companies helping them out, or ICE flights by Global X and Omni Air and, you know, getting involved. Delta even transporting 5 year old Liam Ramos to concentration camp down in Texas, but then bringing him home and trying to be like, we brought Delta, brought Liam home. And it's like Delta took Liam there. And so we're seeing a lot of folks really interested in digging into the corporations that are behind tearing down the east wing of the White House, things like that, and bringing them out into the light and trying to hold them accountable. And it's going to be, we're seeing it now and in the future it's going to be a very interesting corporate reckoning with a lot of these companies that are. And you know, that's more indirect as opposed to like direct, like CBS or New York Times or certain universities capitulating or big law firms that are capitulating to this administration. But I think that the difference between, you know, direct, direct involvement and sort of indirect involvement being brought to light by certain people is really an interesting study in how these corporations contend with being outed. As an airline that, you know, is helping ICE deportations, for example, that is,
that one is like so near and dear to me because I studied so much the role of the trains and the Holocaust. Like, did they say no? Did they ever resist? And at the time, like, remember they were occupied, like they were afraid of getting shot. No one is going to shoot a Delta employee for not taking. Yeah, right, right, right. But for right now, that's not an active fear like it was. And so we look back at the Holocaust and we analyze these companies and we're like, oh my God, they were such cowards. Like, why didn't they stop? And then you think, well, today, you know, there's far less risk at the moment or even suggestion of it, and people still capitulate. So. So there really is choice. And I think consumers are pushing for companies to make better choices. We saw that CEOs, a number of CEOs in Minneapolis all write that letter, the target CEO, and step up and say, this is not right. We're not for this. I mean, some people thought the letter wasn't strong enough, but they said something. They didn't say, oh, we're business. It's not, you know, we're not into politics. So they actually took a stand.
Yeah, but where's the tipping point? Right. Because when Target dashed its DEI and its sales tanked and their CEO had to resign, I think a letter saying, we're not for this, when Minneapolis was raided kind of came too little, too late. So I think, you discuss the importance of doing it quickly when these certain things happen. But then, of course, historically, when you're talking about these long timelines like slavery and the Holocaust, that's where time in between can make a difference. You know, I have no. Like, I mean, we could talk about Target, for example, and Costco. Like, the battle of Target and Costco. Right.
Giants going at it. Like, what? I did talk a little bit about, with the press about the Target move. The new. The new CEO is from Minneapolis. Like, he's there. He's got a family or, like, in that area, so he's got some clout. And so my advice to them was, yes, take this moment and then fix your DEI problem. Like, you've got internal stuff going on that you've got to deal with. So make the statement. But no matter what the statement is making some sort of moral declaration, you then have to back it, you know, with what you're thinking. Yeah. And this could be an amazing opportunity, after making that statement, to, like, have Target do some of that internal shifting. Costco is in a totally different place. I mean, they're taking their board members to the Legacy of Slavery Museum or whatever. Like, they're. They're in a very, very different. Very different frame. Yeah.
And I've noticed that the corporations who stay on the right side, and I'm talking universal morality, right side, have done better. They've fared better in this climate. You know, the whole go woke, go broke. I think that that is incorrect. And I think that those who are willing to stand up from the beginning, are the ones who are benefiting the most. But let's talk a little bit more about the people's role, not the CEO's role. How do we demand corporate Reckoning effectively. We've seen the boycott, we've seen the Target boycott. We've seen not just not spending your dollars in one place, but choosing to spend your dollars in another with, like, with Costco, Target. What are some other ways?
Yeah, so with the boycotts, if you want to boycott a company, tell them that you're doing it because they don't know why you canceled your subscription or didn't buy bananas that month. Like, they don't know. So, yeah, okay, maybe like with Spotify, we saw a lot of cancellations after the ICE recruitment ads. There was a lot of Disney cancellations right after Jimmy Kimmel. Like, but for the most part, if you do decide, definitely take boycott or to reduce, use it. You have to tell them. So just write them and very simple, like, tell them what you care about, why you care about it, what you want them to do, and that you're really eager to come back once they do it right. So you can actually say, like, I'd love to come back and buy your whatever again. So that's one. The other is even with companies that you work with that you want them to do better, write them and tell them you're a loyal customer and you really want to encourage them to do more. So some of it, sometimes it's positive, like news, like, oh, I did this with Everlane, which is a clothing brand, and they m. Have ethical commitments. But I said, hey, I'd love to say, I'd love to know if you're a B Corps, are, you signed on to B Corps? And they're like, oh, we're working on it. I was like, great. Because I like to tell, you know, tell my students about, about you. So it was, you know, it can be positive too. If a company is trying to do reckoning work and they're like, not doing it well, or you think they really botched it, acknowledge them for doing it, but then help them do it better. Because I do worry that if we just punish them for. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't, then there's no win. So with Target, for example, so glad they made that statement. And it seems to be you have some other in house challenges, right? Yeah.
And I know that a lot of folks, at least when we had our Good Trouble segment on it, to cancel Disney over the, Jimmy Kimmel suspension, I said, make sure you tell them it's because of Jimmy Kimmel. And. And that worked, didn't it? Jimmy Kimmel was back on the air, not just, in General, but at the affiliates as well. And I really wanted, before I let you go, talk about that positive reinforcement, mechanism that you mentioned briefly. Because we know how to boycott, we know how to do negative reinforcement, like, I'm not giving you my dollars. But what do you do then to show that corporation that they've done the right thing? You do you. Because there's, you know, if you're un. Canceling something, they don't ask for a reason.
Right.
You know, so how does that look?
Yeah, so I definitely like, want to say if they do something right, tell them also. So if you're going to write angry emails, also write the thank you emails. And the other thing is, if there's any connection you have, like, like, I'd be happy to help or I, you know, I, have a community that cares about this or like, like join in. Like, I'd love to share on social media when you make this change. I'm looking forward to doing that. You know, I look forward to saying, you know, I have this many followers or, you know, there are ways to say it. I think the reason I wrote the book is I was thinking that a lot of executives just didn't actually know what to do and so they were just burying it or hiding it or avoiding it. so we do need to like encourage coach train support. Otherwise they just wall themselves off. Like, it's just too scary out there. Why would they listen to anything if everybody's yelling at them?
Yeah. So very true. One last thing. Was there anything, that kind of shocked you or took you by surprise when you were doing research for this project? Would you share that with us?
Yeah. One of them was just the case of Montpelier, which is James Madison's estate. They for decades have had their descendants being James Madison, the descendants of the slaves that James Madison had have been part of sort of talking about how that institution should be run. but then there was a big fight over splitting the board chair, like how many board seats would the descendants get versus the other people? And the kind of blow up of power sharing when it became real was unbelievable. Like, I was shocked. Sort of there were people who got off the board because they didn't want descendants with them. And so, I mean, there was real sort of present day racism happening live. But I thought it was really interesting to see when the power sharing got in there, sort of how messy it got. but I think they're on the right path now. They've redone it. They went through hell. yeah, but I was just very shocked to see the drama that went on in this little estate. James Madison.
Wow. Yeah. Well, my letter to Montpelier, if you have board members who don't want to sit with descendants, then that board member should probably get the boot tempted.
And now the majority of board members are descendants elect.
Excellent. Thank you so much for all of these insights. I think that this, like I said, book is so important right now. Whether you're a consumer of corporate goods or you work in corporate America to understand the blowback, how to fix it, maybe how to stop it before it starts. I, ah, think is so, so important. A book comes out today, everyone. You can get it wherever you get your books. Me personally, I like to order them from local independent bookstores and I like to order 10 copies and then I like to put in the little free libraries around my neighborhood. But the book is called Corporate How Business Can Address Historical Wrongs. And I think it would be especially great if you did not particularly order this book from Amazon. But that's just my little bit of corporate reckoning. Sarah Fetterman, it's been awesome to talk to you. Thanks for joining us. Thank you everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news.
Good news everyone.
Then good news everyone.
And if you have any good news or good trouble suggestions, maybe you want to give a shout out to a loved one or a small business in your area that could use a boost. maybe you want to let us know about a non profit that you think, is pretty amazing. Maybe you have a self shout out, we love those. Or a shout out to a government program. We want to hear any and all good news. You have big small yesterday, 30 years ago. Whatever it is, send it to us if it'll bring a smile to our face. We want to microdose your hope, please. And then all you got to do to get your stuff read on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of anything really. It can be your pet, an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find him a home. It can be you flipping the bird to Trump buildings, which is we call bird watching. it can be photos of your favorite signs at the latest no Kings rally. Maybe let us know what you're doing, on May 1st for May Day for the economic blackout, how you're gonna, you know, hop in and see how you can stand in solidarity with everybody. It can be family photos, random animals from the Internet. It really whatever it is, just as long as it'll make us smile. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble today for UK and North America Monday 20th of April through Sunday the 26th April the theme for Lesbian Visibility Week is health and well being. Quote Lesbian Visibility Week in North America Powered by the Curve foundation returns April 20th to 26th with more than 80 events across the United States and Canada reaching hundreds of thousands through civic celebrations, cultural events, wellness programming and sports gatherings. Lesbian Visibility Week is an annual international movement that celebrates lesbians, queer women and non binary individuals. Founded in 2020 by Linda Riley of the Diva Charitable Trust, LVW works to ensure lesbians lives, culture and communities are visible across public social and cultural spaces. Lesbian Visibility Week centers, community connection and diverse leadership. Lesbian Visibility Week is Powered by the Curve foundation in North America. You can download the community toolkit now and we'll have a link in our show notes to that PDF and you can also go to lesbianvisibility.org for more information. There's also virtual and in person events calendar. We'll have a link to that and an official Instagram post. And we'll give you all of those links in the show notes for lesbian visibility week 26.
And I just want to apologize in a small correction I said at the top of the show that it was Franco Stevens that founded the Diva Charitable Trust. Franco founded Curve magazine, was one of the founders. So Linda Riley, yes. Who is a phenomenal human being, is the founder of Diva Charitable Trust which is the foundation.
Roger that.
Yes indeed. All right, this is from Amanda. No pronouns given. Hello ladies. Lovely ladies indeed. I am writing with good news from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The 2023 the Brave alliance, our area's first LGBTQ youth drop in center open to provide a safe space and essential services like gender affirming, clothes closet, group sessions, food and personal care items and simply a space to exist without having to spend money. Funding for this wonderful organization was yanked when Trump retook office and they have had a pretty tumultuous year trying to keep the doors open. I'm happy to announce that through local donations and some restructuring they were able to move and just had their reopening celebration last weekend. You can see the good work that they are doing@bravefortwayne.org atbravefortwain.org, we'll have a link in the show notes of course. And from my pet tax I'm sharing a picture of my fur baby Demi Cat Astray we adopted right before the 2020 election. And my daughter at a local protest. Keep up the good work and thank you for keeping us sane.
Okay, that's a very gentlemanly scarf.
It is very indeed demi cat.
I love it. And look at this beautiful sign and this beautiful angel holding it.
I love it.
I shouldn't be smarter than my president. That is. It's true.
It is true.
That's so true. Oh, my goodness. Wonderful, sign. Thank you so much for that. All right, next up from Breezy. Oh, my God, this picture. Good morning, AG and dg. I want to give a shout out to both of you for all the good you do in the world, you shine a light on topics that are times overlooked. I'm a grandmother to two adults. One is trans, the other is non binary, and I couldn't be more proud of them as they navigate an uneasy world. I do, however, worry for their safety. But my other shout out is to the Hungarian people who proved to the world the power of the ballot. This country should take a lesson from them. The power of the people is greater than the people in power. Well said. For my pod pet tax. I hate the word tariff. I submit a picture of my cat days after she was spayed. She was too small for the cone of shame, so the vet put her in a onesie. Every time I look at this photo, I can't help but smile. Love you both. Aw, I love that. By the way, I had to go get a onesie for my cat after we had his tumor. He had a big tumor removed. He lived for like several years after that, but this was a 30 pack, so I had to get him like a onesie for a two year old.
Oh, my God.
But he looks so great in it. I got him a Dumbledore one and a Star wars one. It's pretty good. So cute.
All right. This is from Beverly. Pronouns, she and her Heidi. Hi, de Ho Beans, Queens. Here's my youngest rescue Zara Pandemonium, who was born in a car engine block in la. She was the perfect addition to my chaos crew. Oh, my God, these pictures. Whenever the flood of bad news gets too much, my cats can always jolly me out of it with their crazy antics. I, listen to you every weekday and I see the resistance continuing to grow. No kings. Justice is coming for the enablers. From your mouth to whoever's up there's ears.
Okay. I had to zoom in to see the cat's head. It's like right side up, then totally upside down and then completely the Other direction.
It's hysterical. These pictures are so fun.
Oh my goodness. What a cool looking cat too. All right. This dog's giving me some side eye. This comes from Anonymous. No pronouns. Hi, Ag and dg. I'd like to give a shout out to one of the driving forces of our local eastern Iowa resisters group. Lizbeth introduced me to Daily Beans and also the fantastic group of resisters that she keeps well informed of events as well as bringing enough energy for the dozens of monthly meeting attendees. Enclosed is a photo of my Glo G who crossed the rainbow bridge last year.
Glow is adorable. Oh sure.
Sure is the baby. I'm gonna go ahead and read this next one cause it's super short from Portia. This is my dog, Cat who stole kale from the kitchen counter while I was listening this morning. That is all. A dog named Cat and her kale with the daily beans. Oh look, there we are in the background. I love it. This beautiful collie, I think, right?
Oh my goodness.
Oh, maybe a Shetland. I'm not sure. Adorable dog. Either way, so cute.
All right, this is Ramesh. Misha pronoun. She and her could be Mishka, right? In a correction if I'm saying it wrong, but I'm saying it both ways. Misha or Mishka. So let me know. Hello lovely ladies of the legumes. My good news is our new pupper, Lucy. The shelter said she came in as a stray, so we really don't know what her breeds are. We have some ideas, but I thought you two could give it a go. She is a very good girl and we're so happy to be her forever home. She has brought us fresh purpose and lots of joy. My pet tariff are a couple of pics of Lucy front and back. So you can see the fur squiggled back. Oh, yep, squiggled down her back. it's neat. I'm also in love with the little white spot on the back of her neck. We love her so much. If I had to guess, this is a Pitty Ridgeback.
Yeah. Or a Pitty Ridgeback with some Weimaraner to get that gray and those eyes right.
True, true, true, true. Yeah.
And since there's no answers, we're 100% correct. So Pitti Weimaraner Ridgeback, you let us know if you get a DNA test. Misha. Absolutely beautiful doggo. Next up from Angela Pronoun. She and her dearest Queens Beans. I would like to give a shout out to my expressive writing class and the Cancer House for putting in a poetry reading. The members of our group, led by the amazing Iranya, opened our hearts and souls with very personal poems created while processing our cancer diagnoses. I was incredibly lucky to have family and friends attend this event, the first ever where I shared my poetry. It was an amazing experience and one we all hope to repeat for other audiences. Please find a pic of me in the middle of wearing a wig for the first time with my two amazing friends from the last job I had. My comfort cat, Hobbs, is my best bud. He's quite fluffy, AKA fat, but adorable. Thanks for making me laugh instead of cry at the crazy world we inhabit, Rabbit. That is a beautiful kiddo. And look at this lovely photo.
So, so sweet.
Just some beautiful, strong women right there. Can I get a fuck cancer? Fuck cancer.
Fuck cancer.
Love it.
All right, for, your analyst. No pronouns given. Saw this on Robert Hubble's newsletter from April 8th of 2026 and thought of y' all and the other podcast. I wanted you to see the photo. Love y' all since the kitchen table days.
Well, if somebody's got to clean up on aisle, 47, yeah, they do. This is great War makes no sense. And it's a cent sign. Like a dollar sign, but a cent sign. That's really, actually really clever. Thank you everyone, so much for your good news. Please continue to send it into us dailybeanspod.com click on contact. We're going to hop off here. Go record Beans Talk, which you can watch on the MSW Media Media YouTube channel. You can also hear. I think we drop. Drop the audio for Beans Talk into our Beans feed on Fridays if you want to give it a listen instead of a watch. And, I think you can also catch the audio on its own feed if you go to wherever you get your podcasts and search Beans Talk. I think we just have an audio feed for it by itself anyway, that's all. Do you have anything, to add, my friend?
No, I'm good.
All right, we'll see everybody tomorrow. 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 friends, family. 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 Media.