Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 Today, the government failed to file its privilege log on time in the Abrego Garcia case prompting Judge Xinis to order them to file it; a trump appointed judge in Pennsylvania becomes the first to call Trumps invocation of the Alien Enemies Act lawful; the USDA reverses course and commits to restore purged climate webpages in response to a lawsuit brought by farmers; more than a dozen states slapped the Trump administration with two new lawsuits on Tuesday accusing it of withholding funding in retaliation for immigration policies; Chuck Schumer says he is placing a hold on Trump DOJ nominees amid questions on Qatar's luxury jet gift; the FBI has been ordered to prioritize immigration as DOJ scales back white collar cases; and a magistrate judge cautioned Trump’s DoJ on making public statements about the mayor of Newark; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Wednesday, May 14th, 2025
Today, the government failed to file its privilege log on time in the Abrego Garcia case prompting Judge Xinis to order them to file it; a trump appointed judge in Pennsylvania becomes the first to call Trumps invocation of the Alien Enemies Act lawful; the USDA reverses course and commits to restore purged climate webpages in response to a lawsuit brought by farmers; more than a dozen states slapped the Trump administration with two new lawsuits on Tuesday accusing it of withholding funding in retaliation for immigration policies; Chuck Schumer says he is placing a hold on Trump DOJ nominees amid questions on Qatar's luxury jet gift; the FBI has been ordered to prioritize immigration as DOJ scales back white collar cases; and a magistrate judge cautioned Trump’s DoJ on making public statements about the mayor of Newark; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Stories:
A New Jersey mayor’s arrest at ICE facility fires up Democrats from New York to Chicago | POLITICO
FBI ordered to prioritize immigration, as DOJ scales back white collar cases | Reuters
USDA Reverses Course, Commits to Restore Purged Climate Webpages in Response to Farmers’ Lawsuit | Earthjustice
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Um, MSW Media Media. Hello, and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Today, the government failed to file its privilege log on time in the Abrego Garcia case, prompting Judge Sinis to order them to file it immediately. A Trump appointed judge in Pennsylvania becomes the first to call Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies act lawful. The USDA reverses course and commits to restore purged climate web pages in response to a lawsuit brought by farmers. More than a dozen states have slapped the Trump administration with two new lawsuits on Tuesday accusing it of withholding funding in retaliation for immigration policies. Chuck Schumer says he's placing a hold on Trump DOJ nominees amid questions on Qatar's luxury jet gift. The FBI has been ordered to prioritize immigration as DOJ scales back white collar cases. And a magistrate judge cautioned Trump's Department of Justice on making public statements about the mayor of Newark. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg. And Happy Wednesday to you. Uh, man, I can't believe it's already the middle of May, to be honest with you. This year seems like it's flying by, which is crazy because it also feels like the longest four months of our life.
It's a slog, and yet it's flying by. I don't quite understand.
Yeah, it's bizarre.
I feel like I have cement shoes, but I'm flying. I don't. I don't. I don't get it. But you know what? If it goes by fast, if it feels like it's going. But I'll take it. Yeah, I will take it. Um, taint of the week, we're going to see which direction we're going to go. And we do have a couple of good news stories. And later in the show, I'm going to talk to Claudia Bracho from the Urban Peace Institute. These are awesome people. These are, on the ground people de. Escalating, like, violence before it happens.
Amazing.
And, uh, of course, funds and DOJ grants are being cut, and that's. That's negatively impacting the work that they're doing and building trust with communities. So very bad. And then, you know, when, like, I, and I brought this up to her, when you couple that with, like, immigration, you're going to get people in communities who don't want to report crimes or be witnesses to crimes because they're. They're in danger of being disappeared.
Yep, you're absolutely right.
It's just. It's awful. There was a whole story came out years ago about several women working at a janitorial company who were, like, constantly being sexually assaulted and abused because the people knew that they wouldn't, you know, risk deportation smiling. Right. My God, it's just awful. But, you know, there are things that we can do, and we're going to talk about that a little bit later in the show. And then, of course, if you have your good news, please send it into us. You can do that by going to DailyBeansPod.com and clicking on Contact. We have to microdose hope these days to get us through. I read something from the amazing Sherilyn Ifill where she's like, look, the second hundred days are going to be worse than the first.
But.
But we can get through this. Um, if we.
We're gonna get through it. Yes. We have survived every one of our worst days. He's not gonna take that away from us. We're gonna continue to find community and joy.
Yeah, absolutely. And so, in that vein, we really need your good news stories. Anything small, great big medium that's happened to you that you love. I went to a great comedy show last night. I went and saw Steve, uh, Hofstadter.
Nice.
Yeah. At, uh, Mic Drop. Ran, um, back to the green room, chatted with him for a little bit. He's, you know, he's been on the show before, and, uh, he does really, really great comedy, but it's also commentary.
Yeah.
Uh, not just on politics, but, like, on anxiety and how we deal with things. And I think, you know, it was great to get out and people for a minute. I'm not very good at peopling anymore.
Peopleing. And like, we tell all of our listeners, support live entertainment. And you are doing that. You are walking the walk.
Yeah, I will absolutely always continue to do that. And then tonight, Wednesday night, as you're hearing this show, I'm going to go see our good. Who composed the theme to this show, they Might Be Giants. They're going to be here at the Observatory in North park tonight and, uh, taking an entourage to see them. So I'm looking forward to that.
Good for you. I am going to see my couch after We. Actually, I have to pack. I've got a bunch of stuff coming up. Um, hosting a big conference, um, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then I'll be heading to New York. And on Monday, I will be telling some jokes and raising some money for jqi, which is the Jewish Queer Youth Organization in New York. So they're going to an incredible woman named Rachel Sussman, who is, um, they're calling their Icon award. Uh, she's a producer in Broadway. She's pretty phenomenal. So producer, writer, all kinds of things, actually. She's just a badass.
Fantastic. You get to meet all sorts of just incredible people. I do.
Yeah.
With the work you do, and they get to meet you.
So thank you very much.
It's a two way thing, and I love it. And, um, I can't wait to hear about it, uh, after it happens. So we will talk about that on future episodes. But today we have to get to the news, so let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, a couple of docket updates. First of all, the Abrego Garcia case. They're in the middle of discovery in the Abrego Garcia case, trying to discover what the government has done or not done to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia as the Supreme Court ordered. Now, in order to get to contempt proceedings, you got to go through discovery first.
Oh, okay.
And in order to get to discovery, you have to hash out what's called threshold issues, including privilege assertions. You have to do that first. So there's an order of operations in the court. Right. And so before you get to discover, before you get to contempt, you got to do discovery. Before you get to discovery, you got to hash out, like, if the government's like, we don't have to do discovery because we have butthole privilege or whatever, you know, they. They tend to claim. And so right now, we're stuck with this threshold issue of privilege because Trump and the administration have asserted state secrets privilege, you know, saying that even though they talk about all this stuff publicly all the time, if they put it on the court docket under oath under the penalty of perjury, by gosh, that will damage national security. So they've done that. And they also have a deliberative process privilege thing that's also a bunch of bs. And, uh, Abrego Garcia's lawyers have filed their opposition to that privilege, but that's where we're stuck. And the government, like I said, says it has privilege, but they failed to produce a privilege log. And generally, like, even John Eastman produced a privilege log when we were trying to get his emails from Chapman university in the January 6th stuff, he put together a privilege log because, you know, you got to do that. You got to say, here's what's privileged, here's why it's privileged, here's the privilege, and et cetera. Well, they failed to turn that in on Monday. So Tuesday, lawyers for Roberto Garcia were like, hey, hey, we still don't have a privilege log. And so Judge Sinis said, you have until 3pm on Tuesday. You have basically an hour to turn this in. And they did a little bit late, albeit. And then they also wanted to file it under seal. So they filed it under seal and then they filed for permission to file it under seal. So, anyway, this is all part of the process, sadly. Meanwhile, Abrego, uh, Garcia sits in prison.
Yeah.
And, um, that is the irreparable harm that he's facing. So we'll see what Judge Sinis says about whatever they filed under seal. The government. I bet. I'm willing to bet it's insufficient.
I would think so.
And a Trump appointed judge in Pennsylvania has become the first in the country to uphold Trump's Alien Enemies act proclamation, saying that Trump's description of Trende Aragua's incursion, and I'm putting incursion in air quotes, satisfies the definition of the Alien Enemies Act. It doesn't. Because if that were true, Trump could say, my Celtic dragon tattoo means I'm a member of an Irish gang and so I can be disappeared to a foreign prison without due process. It's a ridiculous ruling. I imagine it will be appealed and I imagine it will be overTurned. And Andy McCabe and I are gonna discuss all of this on this upcoming episode of the Unjustified podcast this weekend.
All right, sounds good. Thanks, Alison. This one is from Politico. Now, before the Newark Mayor, Ras Baraka was released from on Friday, a federal magistrate quickly determined he was not a flight risk and cautioned federal officials against making out of court statements about the mayor, who is also, by the way, running for New Jersey governor. And that's according to a newly released transcript of the extraordinary virtual hearing. And I quote, it doesn't take me much effort to assess the facts here and conclude that the mayor of the largest city in New Jersey poses no substantial flight risk or no flight risk at all and no danger to the community that must be protected against with any conditions. And this is from the US Magistrate, Andre Espinosa. That's what he said in his ruling. The same Judge cautioned Acting U.S. attorney Alina Haba. I can't believe she's the fucking acting U.S. attorney, by the way. Against continuing to comment publicly about an ongoing case her office is prosecuting.
Huh. Uh, who talked about this? Who said this? Who said this yesterday? I can't remember who it was. Yeah, it might have been you.
Now, after Baraka's attorney asked Judge Espinosa to warn Haba's office. The magistrate addressed the government's lawyers and said he would, quote, caution them to heed carefully to the rules of a professional conduct, which they have never done in their fucking lives, and boundaries of propriety for public comment related to an ongoing investigation and or prosecution. Now, Elena Hava would know this if she was any kind of a reputable lawyer, but she is not.
Yeah, I mean, it's right there in the rules. You can't comment publicly on an ongoing investigation, especially ascribing guilt to someone who. Yep. Um, Um. I feel like a broken record sometimes. Next up from Reuters. The FBI ordered agents on Monday to devote more time to immigration enforcement and scale back investigating Donald Trump. No. Investigating white collar crime. And that's according to four people familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters. As the Justice Department issues new guidance just recently on what white collar cases will be prioritized in a series of meetings, FBI agents were told by their field offices they would need to start devoting a third of their time to helping the Trump administration crack down on immigration. So now a full third of what the FBI's work is is immigration.
My God.
Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have also previously announced they'll scale back efforts to prosecute certain kinds of white collar offenses, including public corruption, foreign bribery, kleptocracy, and foreign influence. Gosh, who is guilty of all that shit?
I think that would be them. Also interesting that they're going to scale back as they're appointing Judge Wine in a Box to be the head of the prosecutor in the. Was it New York? Which district? Is it D.C. d.C. Yeah. So none of this is surprising to me. It's all connected. Uh, this next one is from Courthouse News. More than a dozen states slapped the Trump administration with two new lawsuits on Tuesday accusing it of withholding funding for both emergency relief and transportation in retaliation for the state's immigration policies. The pair of lawsuits, both filed in Rhode Island's federal court, are the latest of several dozen state challenges to the administration's unprecedented cuts to federally approved funding for state aid. In these cases, two coalitions of states claim that the executive branch is unlawfully using those cuts to strong arm states into complying with Trump's mass deportation agenda and that that threatens to upend the state's emergency preparedness and vital transportation infrastructure. This is what they're claiming in these lawsuits. And this is a quote. By hanging a halt in this critical funding over states like a sword of democles, defendants impose immense harm on states, forcing them to choose between readiness for disasters and emergencies on one hand, and exercising their judgment about how to best use scarce resources to investigate and prosecute crimes on the other. This is what the states claim in a draft of one of the complaints reviewed Tuesday by Courthouse News. That lawsuit targets the Department of Homeland Security for what the states say are sweeping new requirements on federal grant programs that force states to reroute their own, uh, police resources to federal immigration enforcement, or they could risk losing billions of dollars in funding for disaster relief and emergency preparation. And let me, let me just, in my mind, pontificate if you have public knowledge that the funding is being rerouted from your police to federal immigration enforcement. If I was a criminal, I would think maybe this would be a good time to commit a crime in those states because they must not have the funding to do shit about it.
Mhm. And federally, it's a good time to commit white collar crimes because a third of the.
Because apparently they're not prosecuting. Exactly.
Yeah. And that's like, we're not going to give you the money Biden and Congress appropriated to fix your bridges so they could collapse unless you get out there and start disappearing people in dies detention facility.
It's really disgusting that they're doing.
It's awful. And, and, and by the way, the Trump administration is going to withhold that funding regardless of whether we cooperate with ice. I have a feeling. So, uh, yeah.
Especially if it's a blue state, he's going to do whatever the fuck he can.
So, like, if you get some sort of governor being like, okay, like Eric Adams maybe, who got off the hook. Uh-huh. Free of charge, it would be like, all right, I'm going to let ICE into Rikers, which he did. And, uh, and in return, we're going to get our bridge money. Right. And Trump's going to be like, no, no, we're going to withhold that anyway. I mean, you're, you're just going to. Yeah.
And those are the guys that are going to grovel, the ones that he's already done favor for by not prosecuting. Yep.
I mean, how, how much evidence do you need to learn that when you bend the knee, you still get screwed?
Yeah.
I don't.
Every single time.
It's like losing.
When you're in that position, I would assume it's easier to go in.
All right, next up from NBC, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he's placing a hold on all Trump Justice Department nominees as he seeks answers on the administration's plan to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One, quote. In light of the deeply troubling news of a possible cuttery funded Air Force One and the reports that the Attorney General personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal, I'm announcing a hold on all DOJ political nominees until we get more answers. I don't think this is going to do anything, and I kind of think like Ruben Gallego and Adam Schiff have already done the blocks on all appointees. But what do I know? Quote, President Trump has told the American people that this is a free jet. Does that mean the Qataris are delivering a ready on day one plane with all the security measures already built in? If so, who installed those security measures and how do we know they were properly installed? That's what Schumer asked. And he went on to say, if this is, as President Trump promises, a free jet, will the cutteries pay for those highly sensitive installations or will American taxpayers cover the cost? Now, Schumer can't actually block these nominees with his tactic. He can slow them down, though, uh, it's not really clear if the judicial nominees would have already been held for other reasons. And like I said, considering the vast majority of Trump nominees have already been held this way. The Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice prepared a memo declaring the acceptance of the plane was legal, according to a senior DOJ official who spoke to NBC News on Monday. The DOJ declined to release the memo, though, which Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was a paid foreign agent by Qatar, approved.
So this whole thing is just rife with problems like, okay, they give them this jet and like you said, what security measures are they going to pay to have them? I don't give a shit if they pay to have them installed. You know how many sensitive conversations happen on Air Force One? And now Cutter's going to have access or a bug in there that they don't sweep or just a. A through line directly with this information to them. I cannot believe they're letting this fucking happen. Like, I know we don't have the Department of Justice, but it's not like.
Trump wouldn't just give him the intel anyway.
That's true. Well, at least now he can look like he's not. We're just having a conversation. This maddens me so much that this is happening in this country, and I know that's not gonna help me at all to stay in this rage moment, but I'm having one. Okay, I'm having one, everyone.
That's okay.
Okay, we're gonna give you some good news. Uh, this is from Earthjustice. See, even the title makes you feel like you're just gonna ground yourself a little bit. Late last night, the Department of Agriculture reversed course and committed to restore climate focused webpages purged from its website after Earthjustice and the night First Amendment Institute of Columbia University filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Northeast Organic Farming association of New York, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group. This is good stuff. Resources purged from the USDA websites include information on climate smart farming, accessing federal loans, forest conservation and rural clean energy products. Now why would they have taken those off in the first place? Because I don't know, they don't want the farmers to have access to the things that would save their land so that they have to put it it up for auction and sell it for pennies on the dollar to the federal government. That's my beans. I will believe that until the day I die. Now, USDA erased uh, entire climate sections from the US Forest Service and National Resources Conservation Service sites, including information helping farmers access billions of dollars for critical conservation practices. It also disabled interactive tools such as the US Forest Service's quote Climate Risk Viewer as a one stop shop for climate geospatial data. With over 140 data layers quote the restoration of these web pages and tools, it marks a significant victory for the climate, the environment and farmers. This is from Anne Schlesinger. Uh, yeah, that sounds right. Schlesinger, which is uh, she's the Midwest Director for the Environmental Working Group and I quote, the Trump administration's reversal in response to this legal challenge highlights the critical importance of public interest advocates standing up for up in the name of transparency and government accountability. And also, I still believe this is the art of the fucking deal. Let's take it away from them and then when we bring it back, they think we're the good guys when they're the ones that were actually the farmers in the first place. I'm very annoyed.
Or take away these grants and make you come and beg for them.
Absolutely.
It's what Republicans have been doing to veterans forever. And I can attest to this. That's true. You put in your claim and they're like no. And then you appeal it and they're like we need more information. And then you appeal it and they're like no, still. And then you. And they just hope you give up.
Yeah, absolutely.
So I'm glad they didn't give up.
There is a little bit of a timeline on this. They're saying they have about two weeks to restore the pages. But, um, we've at the Daily Beans have checked, and many of them are already back up.
So that's good. They're listening. All right, um, thank you for that. Uh, so, okay, we. We have a. We have instances of the Trump administration following court orders. So we're actually just doing this to avoid being ordered to do it, it seems like, is the way that they went this time. All right, everybody, it's time for some good trouble. What are you guys doing? All right, Dana, get this. RFK Jr. Just tweeted the following message. If you know a, ah, regulation that's making our health system worse, not better, tell us. Submit your ideas at, uh, regulations.gov/deregulation. We're listening. In order to make America healthy again, providers and caretakers must have the critical opportunity to focus on preventing and treating chronic diseases. Their time and talent should not be spent doing unnecessary or burdensome paperwork. Oh, what, like keeping health records? What the. So please everyone, head to regulations.govderegulation and let them know what parts of the Trump government you think, uh, should be shit canned. I, uh, can't wait for RFK Jr to read all of your responses. The last time we did this with, uh, the DHS snitch line, I think we had 54,000 people.
That's incredible. Oh, my God.
So let's see if we can. Let's see if we can bump that up and get that done here. That is your good trouble, should you choose to accept it. Once again, that website, regulations.gov/deregulation. all right, everybody, I have a great interview with Claudia Bracho from the Urban Peace Peace Institute right after this, followed by the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back.
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Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I'm excited. Today we get to talk to the community Violence Intervention Specialist with the Urban Peace Institute, also known as upi. UPI is working to create safety in Los Angeles communities. So please welcome Claudia Bracho. Hi.
Hello. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you because this project is huge. It's incredible. The work is amazing. And, um, let's start there. Tell us a little bit about what the community Violence Intervention Specialist does and what UPI is.
So community violence intervention work is led by community people that are indigenous in our communities who've had lived experience, who've then now transformed their lives. And they live close proximity to violence. They live in violence impacted communities throughout Los Angeles, and they provide safety and reduce violence by intervening on violence by stopping retaliatory shootings. Um, right. We are all under the umbrella of public safety, but we are not law enforcement. We need something else besides, we are trusted members of the community that we know when the violence is about to erupt. We can stop, we can intervene, we can mediate, and we help people also that are involved in violence, that are highly impacted by it, transform their lives.
That's so important.
But we send out trained, trained community violence intervention specialists. We train people to be trained in the work and outreach work. We need proper training. In order for us to be safe and for communities to remain safe.
Yeah. And it's so important to have this kind of work because, you know, when cops come in with tactical gear and SWAT gear, they just. They kind of escalate the violence. And this is designed to reduce it and mitigate it. And talk a little bit about the importance of the members being indigenous to the community, because I think that that is a cornerstone, that is a linchpin of building the trust with the community.
Exactly that. Right. So if you're somebody, if you've grown up in this community, besides that, you have a deep connection to the community. Right. You have love for your community, and you want to see your community thrive and to be healthy. And so if you have that own personal investment and your whole community, you know, has trust in you. Right. We're credible into that community. We call it license to oper. Right. We are indigenous to that. We have love for that community. And then we've built those relationships so that people come to us. Right. They're going to come to us before they hit law enforcement. Obviously, that's the way communities were. Mostly communities that are impacted by violence, that have all the struggles that those communities do. Right. Marginalized poverty, institutional racism, all those things that, you know, low education, all of those things that happen in these type of communities. Like. Right. We've grown up in that, so we understand that and we feel it. We want. Right. We want our communities to be healthy and, um, you know, less trauma. Right. And so, yeah, police provide and do other things that we do not do.
Yeah. And we're here because the Trump administration has made massive cuts to Department of Justice grants, for example, to fight gun violence, despite the fact that safety was a top five issue for Republican voters. And initiatives like those are overseen by groups like the Urban Peace Institute. And you have proven to be effective in lowering gun violence. So what do these kinds of budget cuts do to the work that you are trying to. To implement the trust you're trying to build in your communities?
Well, I mean, that. What happens is that our peacemakers, they lose. They lose work, they lose jobs. If we cannot, you know, we. So we partner with partner agencies that are doing the work on the ground.
Right.
And we are the funnel for the. For the monies, right. From. We got DOJ money. So, you know, the Trump administrative cut a total of $811 million from total grants. That's including, like, victims of violent crime, all those things. Right. But the way it impacted community violence. Intervention work is $9 million were cut from life saving programs in South LA, Long Beach, Watts and beyond. So you imagine that, right? Um, we are an industry that has worked tirelessly and effortlessly with low amounts of money, but now we're cutting jobs. And so what does that mean? That means less peacemakers on the front line being able to do this work.
Yeah. And when you have, you know, fewer peacemakers on the ground doing the work, you kind of lose that trust in the community because it then solely kind of falls on law enforcement which is becoming more militarized. And then when you couple in these immigration policies by this administration, you have many people in these communities who are afraid and no longer willing to testify against violent criminals or to even call in and say that they've been a victim of a crime because they fear, you know, deportation and ICE and be getting wrapped up in that. And that I think all snowballs into an increase in, in violence, doesn't it?
We are there to really reduce the violence and to step and mitigate things that are happening before they, you know, we know before, you know, things have circulate in the community, rumors and all those things. And yeah, you have communities that are fearful now. Right. We have communities that are undocumented people that are feeling like if they can come outside. Right. That they were going, they're going, or go to work or whatever that is because ICE pulls up. So. But we have, have intervention workers in those communities that can provide those resources because those families still need resources, but they're less apt to go out and get them now because there's this whole level of fear kind of invading our communities.
Yeah. And when you remove peacemakers from the equation or when you have fewer peacemakers in those situations, the kinds of very well trained people like that UPI has, you're basically, uh, like I said, you're eroding the trust in the community when you take those, those folks away because they're so well trained at preventing violence from happening in the first place.
Right. But I think we should speak a little to how these community members are trained, because that is one thing that Urban Peace Institute does. We have a comprehensive 144 hour training called Los Angeles Violence Intervention Training Academy that we partner with the city to provide for outreach workers. Right. We have, um, over 22 different, uh, partner agencies that send their outreach workers to be trained. So we take them through the personal and professional development. So these are people that are just, just, you know, we're pulling people from the community. They're just doing the work. They're trained through conflict Mediation, conflict resolution. They're trained through trauma, trauma informed care. They're also taken to this personal journey of the trauma that they've encountered so that they can then heal and have that component. So when they're going out, they're effective in the work that they do. Right. Because then they're not triggered by that. So it's this whole professionalization of, um, community outreach workers. So it isn't just that have, you know, street dudes just coming in here to do the work. We are trained. Right. And we don't have vests and we don't have, we don't have both progress. We don't have guns. We don't go into communities like that. So our lives are at risk. So if you're not at risk, if you're not properly trained, it's unsafe for you and it's unsafe for community members as well.
Yeah. And it's also cheaper and more effective because like cvi. Let's talk about some of the successes here. We've seen a 45% drop, drop in gang related homicides since 2023. 56% drop since 2022. 48% fewer people being shot in gang related conflicts. And this is because of the incredible training and the mitigation techniques used by peace officers.
And a cost like benefit evaluation estimated that there was a citywide savings of $51 million. That's a whole lot of money right there. $51 million. Right? It is, it's cost effective.
So yeah.
And we don't even have the level of resources that, you know, law enforcement has. We don't, we don't have like counselors when we go through, you know, showing up at a scene. We don't have any of those things. But the work thrives and drives from really wanting, you know, our children to be able to go to school and be safe. You know, our safe passage programs that we have, um, implemented around schools and in communities for events that are happening just to make sure that our families are safe.
Yeah. And this is a nationwide effort too. I mean you work there in the communities of Los Angeles, but this is, these kinds of cuts impact other peacemaking initiatives nationwide.
Definitely. I mean we do, we do, we train outside like I just talked about earlier. We just came back from omaha doing a 40 hour certification training for outreach workers. You think Omaha. Right, but they have violence, they have issues there. We were in Memphis, we were in Oakland, we're Chicago, we're in all these places. The national uh, thing that is happening and we know that peacemaking Work works, right?
Yeah. And you would like to think that, you know, I understand that maybe some people on certain sides of political arguments don't care as much about the lives, but they should at least care about the money that it costs to, to. To take these folks off the streets and, you know, reduce the trust in the community. Because trust takes decades. The work that y' all have been doing takes a really long time to build that trust, but it can be dashed pretty quickly. And then it takes another long time to build it up. And that's why these cuts are so detrimental. Oh, definitely budget cuts that reduce the number of UPI folks. And that costs money, but it costs trust. And like I said, that trust is easily lost when you remove these peacemakers. But it does take a long time. I mean, you all have been doing this for a really long time, building a lot of trust in communities. And it's going to take, Take one. So these cut. If these cuts go through and it keeps this, this administration keeps damaging the work that you're doing. It takes a long time to build that back.
It takes a long time just to just. Yeah, right. To build the, uh. It's like building resources. Right. We don't have investment. Right. And we don't have properly trained outreach workers. And if we're not pouring into these communities. Yeah. Violence is going to continue to occur. That's it. Violence doesn't, you know, it's, uh, it's not static. Right. It's ever flowing thing that you have to be. Have an understanding of. And that's what. That's exactly. Community violence intervention workers, do they understand the ebbs and flow of violence? So when things peak, we're there. Right. If we know that, you know, Sundays have less violence or Sundays have more violence, if we can look on, look at data and see when things occur and look at the areas where it occurs, we can concentrate ourselves and be there to make sure that we're, you know, grabbing, you know, people and dropping seeds and mentoring, having mentorship and really pulling in the community because it's a community effort. Right. We don't say that peacemakers are alone in this work. Right. We thrive and we grow and we reduce violence by having the whole community involved.
Yeah. And I hate that this administration puts that at risk through these budget cuts and grant cuts, because again, I, uh, I don't. This shortsightedness to cut these programs because of the money that it costs, the lives that it impacts. It's incomprehensible to me why they would, why they would Want to do that, that other than just, you know, the cruelty is the point type of a situation. But talk a little bit about what people can do to help support initiatives like UPI and to keep these programs going where they live.
I mean, you know, call your local council districts, call Congress. You know, we've. We just had a national outreach day came and we had people come out in front of city hall and demand, right, that we, uh, restore the budget cuts that we able and also to give, to allow our peacemakers to get the salaries, um, that they deserve. Right. They're working on. We pushed it to get 60,000, but who could live in 60,000 in Los Angeles? You can't. Right. And m. These are people that have been doing this work for decades. Right. We just want a living, uh, wage to be able to live. And these budget cuts are just taking away, not just for peacemakers from families, from community. Like you said, it's just this triple effect, right? It is, it's like this is what this, this is what this administration is doing. Right. It's impacting people of color. It's um, filling up prisons because, you know, it's deporting people. All these things that are, that are not conducive to reducing violence.
Right. They tear apart communities and they cost. End up costing more money in the long run. If, if money is your concern, it's not mine. My concern is with the lives and the people and the communities. But if money is your main concern, it ends up costing you more money in the long run than to pay the peace workers, ah, a livable wage. These types of grants and funds need to be increased, not decreased. And now we're seeing that decrease and it's going to impact everything negatively, in my opinion.
Yeah. People can use their voice, right, to say protect CVI and fund peacemakers and call into these, uh, you know, philanthropists and people that are really looking from their heart, you know, that have that ability to be able to um, donate to like our, our partners and, and to really though, demand from the government to not to, you know, not cut our funds and restore the funds that we had previously. Because now we are hit. Those cuts are coming and those hits are being impacted.
Yeah. And, and we might need to start relying on our city funding, city councils and, and state legislatures and state assemblies to, to pick up the slack where this funding is being cut from the federal government. So if everybody would just contact your city council, contact your state, uh, representatives, whether it's your state senators or your state assembly members or house members. To make sure that this budget is not just being made up, that these cuts from the federal government aren't just being restored, but that they should actually be increased. So that's something that everybody can do, right?
Yeah. And then even like, for this, for your, you know, this, this podcast in itself that's giving us a platform m to be able to let people know and have awareness about what communities violence intervention workers do. Right. So we're always hearing about, you know, public safety and we hear about law enforcement, but we don't really know about community violence intervention. And so when we speak of stopping retaliatory shootings, how many people's lives are saved in that? Right. And that shooting, Right. We're talking about, we don't know if it's one, if it's 20 or however many is, but we are able to do that. Uh, sometimes hard to quantify that data, but that happens, right?
Yeah. And it's one. One's enough. Like that's all you need.
One is more, right? Yeah, exactly. But it, but from the way the work works is that it's more than one, that we save lives. Right. And then you also, beyond saving lives, you transform lives because, you know, with programming and from all our partners, uh, that do this work on the ground and they have, they provide services for the individuals that are involved or highly affected by violence and their families. Right. You have leadership courses, you have counseling, you have one on ones, you have social events, you have all these things that provide some pro. Social activities for young people that their communities don't have those resources. And intervention agencies bring that to the communities.
Yeah. And we know right now community is more important than ever. We don't want to feel isolated and we don't want to live in fear. So we appreciate all the work that you do. Thank you so much for taking time to speak to us. Is there, um, a website or anything that you want to tell people about where they can go and get more information and help out?
UrbanPeaceInstitute.org Wonderful.
Everybody check it out. And, uh, make sure you support these kinds of community. This is community activism. And I think it's important to promote community safety. All right, everybody, we're going to, uh, take a quick break, but I just wanted to thank you so much, Claudia Bracho, for joining me today.
Thank you for having me. Push peace.
Push piece. Everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back for the good news.
Did you know Fast Growing Trees is the largest online nursery in the country with over 2 million happy customers? Whether you're planning a backyard orchard, looking to boost privacy with hedges, adding some pops of color, some indoor plants, or doing what I did, which was grow a um, guacamole garden. All of those ready to plant options are just a few clicks away and what sets them apart is that each plant is carefully inspected through a 14 point quality process. It ships straight to your door in just a few days. Their alive and thrive guarantee ensure your plants arrive healthy and ready to grow so you can say goodbye to crowded garden centers and wilted, overpriced greenery. Plus, their plant experts are always on hand to guide you toward the best choices for your location and your soil. When my lemon tree arrived alongside my lime tree and my avocado tree, I was blown away. After struggling with big box nursery plants for years, this was pristine, well packaged, came with clear instructions and within just a few months m it was in full blossom. They were all like making like fruiting and it was like the first time I'd had success with any citrus, uh, or any tree, let alone a plant from indoors. I've always had a brown thumb but they made it super easy. With over 6,000 plants to choose from and tools like zone finder, fast growing trees helps even first time gardeners like me get it right. So whether you're upgrading your patio, transforming your yard or building a guacamole garden, yeah, they, they just take the guesswork out of it. So bring your outdoor space to life with fast growing trees this spring. They have the best deals for your yard up to half off on select plants and other deals and listeners to this show get 15% off their first purchase when using code dailybeans at checkout. That's an additional 15% off at fastgrowingtrees.com using the code dailybeans at checkout again fast growingtrees.com code dailybeans now is the perfect time to plant. Use dailybeans to save today. Offers valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply.
Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news? Everyone. Then good news everyone. Good news. And we really need your good news right now. Whether it's good news confessions corrections like pronunciation corrections. If you have a shout out to a loved one or some community members doing great activism or a small business in your area or your small business. We love self shout outs. Toot your own horn. Let us know how awesome you are. We want to hear about that. Shout outs to government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, SNAP, WIC, Section 8 great VA health care you've received or student debt relief that you've received. Send it all to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. All you got to do to get your submission read on the air is pay your POD pet tariff. And if you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area that'll cover your tariffs. If you don't have that, any animal photo, really, just grab one off the Internet. If you don't have that everybody has a baby photo. Just send us a baby photo. And we're also doing bird watching for the foreseeable future, which is, you know, a photo of an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk properties. So send that to us dailybeanspot.com click on contact first up from Nicole Pronouns she and her hello, Ag and DG I've thought about submitting comments probably a hundred times, so today I'm finally going for it. Awesome. I listen to the pod here and there before the 2024 election. I've been a regular Daily listener since I got my hubby listening too. Hey Hubs, side note, I actually go back and occasionally listen to the podcast from the day after the election. Dana's raw emotions remind me of how heartbreaking the results were and how difficult normal daily life was for a brief moment while we grieved. It reminds me of why we can't quit fighting the good fight.
Mhm.
I love that. Anyway, what finally got me to submit a minor correction. Yeah, that usually gets people up off the couch to tell us that we got something wrong in Friday's comments about Michigan being a blue state. I live in Michigan and in one of the, unfortunately Ruby Red counties. Despite Dem support in Detroit and the uaw, and definitely in part because of gerrymandering, the GOP had a trifecta in Michigan for decades. It wasn't until 2018 in the midterms that Michigan gained control of the State House, the State Senate, and the Governorship. And man, did our Dems get a lot done here since then. Unfortunately, the Tangerine Turd won Michigan in 2024. Senator Slotkin won by an extremely small margin in and we lost control of the State House again. My fellow Dems here in our great state are going to have to fight harder than ever to hold our seats and win back the state house in 2026 and beyond. I plan on doing whatever I can to help make that happen. My POD pet tariff includes pictures of our two fur babies, Molly the White And Shelby the black. And yes, Molly has purple on her head and tail. My 15 year old daughter went crazy with some color wash. I think Molly likes it it. I also included a picture of a shirt I made for myself to wear to local protests and marches. I figured the swearing news ladies might appreciate it. Okay. The purple wash on the dog is adorable. So is the Happy New Year crown on the other.
I love this shirt.
This shirt. Okay? It says I descent. And the U ing is Ruth Bader Ginsburg's descent caller.
Yeah.
That's lovely. Oh, Molly is a standard golden doodle. And Shelby's a golden mountain doodle. A golden mountain doodle.
That's fun.
That sounds like I should be playing the banjo. When I say, which is a mix of a Bernie Do, a, uh, Berna doodle and a golden doodle. Oh, my goodness. That's like a double doodle. I can't emphasize how much I love your show. It helps keep me sane and motivated. It feels good knowing there are others out there that swear as much as I do. Yeah. Oh, man. Thank you so, so much, Nicole.
Love it. All right, this is from J9Pronoun. She and her good Day beans. Ladies. A, uh, listener wrote in on Monday's show and brought up the subject of modern protest music. I immediately thought of a few of my go to songs that get me fired up. 1. Depeche Mode's where's the Revolution and Going Backwards. When people think of DM Depeche Mode, I know they're often dismissed as simply brooding electronica, when in fact their socially conscious lyrics go as far back as the early 80s when they were formed. Of course, there's 1984's People Are People, but so many other songs such as New Dress shouldn't have done that little 15 and everything counts. By the way, Everything Counts is one of my favorite fucking songs ever. Give voices to issues ranging from political and social apathy to child abuse and corporate greed. Yes, they do. A, uh, shout out to this wonderful band whose dedication to social responsibility includes sharing profits from ticket sales, products and events to give the organizations that support global initiatives to eliminate pollution, provide clean water to communities in need, refugee support fighting cancer, among others. I urge everyone to add them to their protest playlist when they need to light that fire. J9. I fucking love this submission. For my pod pet tax, I've included some pictures of my niece Abigail's cat, Puppy. I love someone named their cat Puppy. Oh, who sadly passed away two years ago. Puppy was the definition of oh, Lord, he's Coming thick as the day is long and just as cuddly. Even more than hearing the dinner bell, this handsome chonker loved getting dressed up. The first pick is Puppy dressed in a pizza slice. Uh, not shockingly his favorite outfit. In the second pick, he sports his grandpa's Big Al's pizza hat. And as the pics caption states, he's, quote, ready to deliver your dreams. Third pick is just a glamour shot to showcase his striking good looks. Sending a ton of love and hugs to you gals and thank you for everything you do. You matter so much to so many in need of light in the darkness right now.
Oh.
J9. This is awesome. I love Depeche Mode. I've loved them for a very long time. And yeah, I agree with you. Their lyrics, way ahead of their time in the sense of the protest stuff. And also just covering really hard subjects.
Yeah, they were one of my favorite bands. Still are. My best friend in high school, Julie, she absolutely loved Depeche Mode. We went to see Depeche Mode with, um, Knightsareb, I think, for the Violator tour. And she actually had it. Her bedroom door was covered with posters of Dave Gahn. Yeah.
Ah.
And Martin Gore. She really, really loved Martin Gore. In fact, so many posters on her door, we called it her Martin door. And like, when she would get in trouble, like if we snuck out at night to go to Denny's, because that's the wild that we would sneak out to do when we were in high school, she would lose her door. Her mom, that was her punishment. Her mom would take her door off the hinges and we'd be like, no, not the Martin door.
Uh, one of my all time favorite Depeche Mode songs is just called Somebody. And if you're romantic and you don't like being a romantic, it's basically the song for you. It's really good. If you've never heard it, you should listen to it. It's a sweet one. It's a ballad.
Yeah. In fact, Somebody and Question of Lust are usually on every single mixtape I always made.
Yep. Yep.
Back to back.
I want somebody to share.
Share the rest of my m life Know my innermost thoughts. Share my intimate details.
We could do the whole thing. So good.
Yep. And then it's a question of trust. It's a question of not letting what we've built up crumble to dust.
It may have been the worst we've ever sung on this podcast. Usually we're pretty good.
I've a frog in my throat these days. I've been singing.
We're both singing different words, and I know the m right ones. It was perfect.
Uh, thank you so much for that trip down memory lane from J9. Next up, Star B pronoun. She and her greetings Beans Queens. On Monday, the reader submitted a story about Ellie the dachshund brought tears to my eyes. The request to offer a libation to Ellie struck a chord. So when I got to the shop, the House of Black Cat Magic, that morning, I added Ellie's name to the memorial section of our altar. Each year, on October 31st, we do a formal reading of the names of loved ones. Furry, feathered, human, or any being to remember and honor them within pagan circles. Quote what is remembered lives is often used to commemorate those loved ones who have left us. Times are still a little rough here in western North Carolina, and while many of us have little to contribute in the way of resources, honoring a beloved family member with a remembrance on our wall is something we're always happy and able to do. Thank you both, uh, to you and your team for continuing to keep us all informed and provide us with good news, even if it makes us tear up like Ellie's story did. I couldn't get through that story. For the pet tariff, I've included two pictures of Ellie's name on our altar. Anyone else who's interested in a black cat rescue or magical practices can learn more about us@houseofblackcatmagic.com that's so cool. Look at this Wall of Rememories.
Oh, very sweet.
And Ellie the dachshund right there. For the listener who wrote in about Ellie. Aw, so wonderful. Thank you for that.
I got a good community. All right, this one's from Emily. Pronouns she and her. Allison and Dana, thanks for the fantastic podcasting. I've been enjoying you for several years now. Yesterday's good news included a story of teacher taking good advantage of a teachable moment. As for boosting our educators, I'm 100% on board. My oldest child teaches middle schoolers, and my sister has recently retired from a long teaching career. My youngest was in second grade. He and his sisters watched the movie Frankenweenie. You know what? That Tim Burton work. A satirical homage to Frankenstein where a boy brings his dead dog back to life. And after being inspired by a school science experiment involving a pith frog. Next day at school, my son's teacher reads the class a book. It's called Frog and Toad Are Friends.
I love that book.
A wholesome tale of amphibian friendship. His teacher Asked the class, who can tell me something about frogs? And my son speaks up. If you touch a dead frog with an electrode, it twitches.
The human head weighed eight pounds, right?
This is not the only time I called. I got called in for a chat with the principal. This time, I tried to keep a straight face so as to reassure her that our family was not reanimating the dead in our attic. We later ascertained that this kid is on the spectrum and mainstream school was not his best setting. Today at ah, 33, he's my protest buddy. Here's a pic of him wearing the shirt he embellished himself. Said, ah, quote, woke. Just means you care. Nice. The two of us are at a Tesla takedown near Baltimore. From my pod pet tariff a photo of my husband watching TV while covered with our three rescue kitties, Bainey, Jack, and Nin. Between me and my son, we've adopted six cats from a group that saves pets from the streets of Kuwait.
Oh, very cool.
I love that you got a protest buddy.
Look at this, Evie. Good fascism bad. Go somewhere else.
Oh, my God. Your husband with these giant. And I mean, oh, my God. Giant cats and one medium cat.
Oh, my goodness. Those are big babies. Are these rag dolls? Are these Siberians? I see. I mean, I see most of them.
Fur, but my goodness, they are the calico there.
It was funny when you were reading the good news submission, he's like, for my podbet tariff, a photo of my husband watching tv. I was like, that doesn't count. But, oh, covered with three cover.
I just realized I called aunt. Is. Does cat have fur or hair? I know this is a weird.
Okay.
I got caught on it. When I said fur, I was like, is that right? I don't ever say I got cat fur in my mouth. I always say I got cut hair in my mouth.
Yeah, either works or they. They cough up hairballs. So.
Yeah.
Yeah, it could be either hair.
Okay. Either way.
Yeah, I think either works.
All right.
Look at this awesome shirt. Yeah. Good talk. Moving, moving along. Powerful.
Uh, way to end the episode.
Oh, that was the last submission. I'm, like, scrolling down, like, for the next.
You're like, no, no, that was it. Super.
Next.
You're ready. You're welcome.
Up next, the awkward ending of a show. Of all awkward endings of a show. Thank you.
Do cats have hair or fur?
Discuss. Oh, my goodness. Uh, anyway, thank you all so much for submitting, um, all of your photos. And by the way, Emily, if, though, let us. Let. I want to know if those cats, the the Biggins. At least the fur baby. The fur furry fluffy ones. If they're like Siberians or rag dolls, they're just beautiful. But that little calico girl is so cute. All right, everybody. Again, thanks for your good news. Send it all to us. We need it. We need it in large amounts, like Depeche Mode said. Mhm. So send it to us dailybeanspod.com click on Contact. Any final thoughts for today, my friend?
No, ma' am.
All right, we'll be back in your ears tomorrow. Today there is a new episode of cleanup on aisle 45. Out with me and Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who is the best and coolest, most amazing friend that you could ever have. So you want to check that out. And, uh, we'll be back in your ears for the beans tomorrow. 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 family. I've been ag and them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned popular podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information, Please visit msw media.com msw media.