Friday, December 19th, 2025 Today, the government added a charge in Trump’s fourth failed attempt to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James; Trump’s $1,776 bonus to members of the military comes from their already approved basic housing allowance; the parties delivered closing arguments in the case against Judge Hannah Dugan; Pam Bondi wants a bounty on people who support trans rights; Republican redistricting in North Carolina could backfire in the midterms; House Democrats release more photos from Epstein’s estate; and speaking of Alan Dershowitz - he told Trump that he might be able to run for a third term; Trump is going to rename the Kennedy Center to include his name; and Happy Epstein Files Day to all who celebrate! And Allison delivers your Good News.
Friday, December 19th, 2025
Today, the government added a charge in Trump’s fourth failed attempt to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James; Trump’s $1,776 bonus to members of the military comes from their already approved basic housing allowance; the parties delivered closing arguments in the case against Judge Hannah Dugan; Pam Bondi wants a bounty on people who support trans rights; Republican redistricting in North Carolina could backfire in the midterms; House Democrats release more photos from Epstein’s estate; and speaking of Alan Dershowitz - he told Trump that he might be able to run for a third term; Trump is going to rename the Kennedy Center to include his name; and Happy Epstein Files Day to all who celebrate! And Allison delivers your Good News.
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https://www.advocate.com/politics/pam-bondi-trans-equality-bounties
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Indivisible Groups, Colorado Partnership Teams, Aurora Unidos CSO and many other community organizations and individuals are protesting on Dec 20 against Key Lime Air's contract with ICE to transport detainees and with their contract with the University of Colorado to transport their athletic teams. Denver Air Connection is a subsidiary of Key Lime Air and we are protesting at numerous airports which serve Denver Air Connection. Y'all covered our efforts with Denver's City Council members voting down an expansion of Key Lime at Denver International Airport.
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. Today, the government added a third charge in Trump's fourth failed attempt to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump's $1,776 bonus to members of the military comes from their already approved basic housing allowance. The parties delivered closing arguments in the case against Judge Hannah Dugan today. Attorney General Pam Bondi wants a bounty on people who support trans rights. I guess that means me, too. Republican redistricting in North Carolina could backfire in the midterms. I'll give you that information. House Democrats. More photos from Epstein's estate. And speaking of Alan Dershowitz, he told Trump he might be able to run for a third term. Trump is going to rename the Kennedy center to include his name. And Happy Epstein Files day. To all who celebrate, I'm Allison Gill. Hey, everybody. Dana's still out. She's going to be out for, ah, about a week. So thank you again for hanging in with me solo. It's, not completely solo, though, because later in the show, I'm going to be talking to John Fugelsang, because it's Fuglsang Fridays here on the Daily Beans. Also, the jury is now deliberating in a government's case against Judge Hannah Dugan. She's the Milwaukee judge that they accused of obstructing ICE's efforts to arrest a guy named Flores Ruiz when she instructed him to go out a door 10ft from the main courtroom door rather than the main courtroom door, even though he walked right past a couple of agents sitting right there who didn't do anything. But that is happening. The jury is deliberating, and I'll be keeping my eye on the Internet and the Wire and All Rise News, Specifically, Adam Klassfeld reporting. I'm, going to keep my eye on that for updates as we go through the show today. And I'll check back here and there to see if we've got any updates. They've been deliberating for about three hours. They've returned two notes, and as we sit here recording, the judge is deliberating on the second note. So I'm going to continue coverage and tell you about those notes over on the Beans Talk video podcast, which I record right after this one. So be sure to check out Beans Talk if you haven't yet. Unless you really, really can't stand, like, looking at our faces, that's totally fine, but I'm really proud of it and I know Dana's proud of it, too. And you can get it for free over on the MSW Media Media YouTube channel. All right, everybody, it's time for the news. Let's hit the Hot notes. Hot notes, everybody. It's Epstein files day, December 19th, which is the deadline for Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files. And I'm going to be going over what she does or doesn't do on the Midas Touch network this Sunday, noon Pacific, 3pm Eastern. My bet is she'll illegally withhold a lot of it. So we'll see. Again, I'm gonna go over that on the Midas Touch this Sunday. But CNN reported Thursday that Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released more photos from Jeffrey Epstein's estate on Thursday. That's the latest in a series of intermittent disclosures that have fueled significant political intrigue in recent weeks about who may have been associated with the convicted sex offender. The photographs, released without additional context by members of the panel, include a Ukrainian passport with a female notation philosopher Noam Chomsky on a plane with Epstein Bill Gaetz posing for a photograph with a woman whose face is redacted by the Democrats on the panel. The images also include a screenshot of a snippet of text messages in a conversation in which a person is discussing sending girls, quote, I don't know, try to send someone else. I have a friend, Scout, she sent me some girls today, but she asks $1,000 per. I will send you girls now. Maybe someone will be good for j. The series of messages, that's what it reads, and the individual that sent the detailed Description, including name, 18 year old, height, measurements, weight, a note on the Shenzhen area of the departure city. Many of the details are redacted, though the age, a, check mark next to Shenzhen and Russia are all visible now. There's no context provided around the conversation. It's unclear who the participants in the text message exchange are. Another photograph shows a woman's foot with a quote from Lolita, the Vladimir Nabokov novel about a man's sexual obsession with a 12 year old girl written on it and the novel can be seen in the background. The Democrats initially released five images, but then made more than 50 public later on Thursday. Democrats noted the estate did not provide any context about the images shared with the committee and said they have publicized them as they were received. Aside from the redactions, Democrats have chosen which photos to release since the panel received more than 95,000 images from the estate last week that lawmakers are still combing through. And in today's attempt to distract us from the Epstein files. The Washington Post reports the board of the John F. Kennedy center for Performing Arts has voted to rename the storied arts institution the Trump Kennedy Center. That's according to White House press secretary Caroline Levitt on Twitter Thursday afternoon. She said the vote was unanimous. It wasn't. The Kennedy center confirmed the vote in an email to the Washington Post. It was unclear whether such a change is legal. Well, let me help you out. The Washington Post. It is illegal. The name is required by law in a law, but I doubt that it'll stop Donald Trump from giant gold letters that spell his name on the building. Law hasn't stopped him before, but it is illegal. The. The name is there by statute. So that's, you know, just so you know. Again, I don't think that, I don't think he cares what's illegal or what the law says, even though he is required to faithfully execute the laws. Next up from the Wall Street Journal. Trump on Tuesday received and discussed a draft copy of a book by Alan Dershowitz that studies whether Trump could constitutionally serve a third term as Commander in Chief, according to the veteran legal advisor. In an interview Wednesday with the Wall Street Journal, Dershowitz said he told Trump the Constitution isn't clear on the issue. Wow. In a meeting in the Oval Office, Dershowitz handed Trump a draft of the book titled could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term? He wrote a whole fucking book on this. It's set to be published next year. Dershowitz said the book lays out a host of scenarios in which an individual could serve a third term. Dershowitz said Trump told him that he planned to read the book and asked him about his conclusions on serving a third term. The Constitution bars anyone from being elected to the White House more than twice. I said it's not clear if a president can become a third term president, and it's not clear if it's permissible. That's what Dershowitz said, who previously served as a defense lawyer for the president during his first term when he was impeached the one time he was impeached twice. The president, according to Dershowitz, smiled and went on to other issues after the two discussed the focus of the book. Quote, he found it interesting as an intellectual issue. He said, do I think he's going to run for a third term? No, I don't think he'll run for a third term. Yeah, me neither, Alan. I think he'll just try to hold onto the White House without running now, trump told reporters in October. The Constitution says it's pretty clear that he's not allowed to run, but he says a lot of things. Next up from Defense One President Trump and his $1,776 checks for more than a million troops announced Wednesday come from congressionally allocated reconciliation funds intended to subsidize housing allowances for service members. That's according to a senior administration official. During a primetime TV address, Trump said he was proud to announce that 1.45 million military service members will receive a special warrior dividend before Christmas. He added that to honor the nation's founding, we're sending every soldier $1,776. Think of that, and the checks are already on the way, a warrior dividend. The senior administration official told Defense one in an emailed statement late Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Kegseth directed the Pentagon to disperse the $2.6 billion as a one time basic allowance for housing supplements to all eligible service members ranked.06 and below. Quote, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Department of War to supplement the basic allowance for housing entitlement with the one big beautiful bill. That's what the senior official said. Approximately 1.28 million active component military members and 174,000 reserve component military members will receive this supplement. It was appropriated from the basic housing allowance that they were going to get anyway. It's just Trump wants to send it in one fat check and put his name on it. So stupid. Next up from the Advocate Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the FBI to create a cash reward system for information leading to the arrest of leaders of domestic terrorist organizations, a category the Justice Department now says includes people in groups associated with what it calls radical gender ideology. That's according to a December 4th memorandum. The guidance operationalizes National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, issued by Trump in September by ordering federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to prioritize investigations and prosecutions tied to an expansive definition of domestic terrorism. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein first reported on the memo's existence on Tuesday after it was leaked. Among the ideologies flagged are, quote, adherence to radical gender ideology, along with positions favoring mass migration, anti capitalism, anti Christianity and hostility toward traditional views on family, religion and morality. While the directive does not explicitly name transgender people, advocates say the language effectively targets trans communities and those who support them. Given the administration's repeated use of gender ideology as a catch all for transgender identity, healthcare, education and civil rights advocacy for some culpable actors, such as certain antifa aligned extremists. Their animating principle is adhering to the types of extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology and anti American sentiment listed below, with a willingness to use violence against law abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs. That's what the memo says. The memo instructs prosecutors to consider a broad range of criminal statutes, including obstruction during civil disorders, conspiracy against rights, and providing material support for terrorism when pursuing cases connected to protests or advocacy linked to the newly defined threats. That bit about providing material support for terrorism is illegal to charge that unless you're providing material support for foreign terrorists. Now, Bondi's guidance also orders federal agencies to comb their files for intelligence related to antifa and antifa aligned groups and deliver that information to the FBI within two weeks. Within 30 days, the FBI is directed to compile a list of organizations whose actions may constitute domestic terrorism, issue intelligence bulletins on those groups and their structures and funding, and more prominently, publicize its domestic terrorism tip line, which I'm sure will flood for good trouble. More controversially, the memo directs the FBI to establish a cash reward system, a bounty for tips that lead to the identification and arrest of leaders of targeted organizations. Paired with the memo's ideological framing, the policy risk encouraging informants to report on peaceful activists, LGBTQ organizations, or healthcare providers based on politics rather than evidence of violence. Quote, the FBI shall establish a cash reward system for information that leads to the successful identification and arrest of individuals in the leadership of domestic terrorist organizations that conspire with others to commit violations of the provisions of law listed in section 2 of this guidance or other offenses against the United States. Basically, what this is, is it's a snitch letter. Snitch on your fellow Americans that are Democrats for all intents and purposes. Notably absent from the memo is any acknowledgment of the overwhelming body of research showing that the majority of domestic terrorist violence in the United States is linked to right wing extremism. That is the number one terror threat to the United States right now. White nationalism, right wing extremism. That's what ICE should be focused on because that's their charge. That's why they were created. That's why the Department of Homeland Security was created. So unless the Department of Homeland Security is going after right wing extremism and white supremacist domestic violent organizations, they should be disbanded. That's what I think. Next up from Politico. Federal prosecutors attempted to get a, grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia to add a third felony charge to a failed indictment. Of New York Attorney General Letitia James last week, while omitting earlier claims that she fraudulently converted a second home into rental property. So they figured they couldn't get the second home thing, so they're going on a third lying on documents thing. This third proposed charge, which hasn't been previously reported, was an additional count of making a false statement to a financial institution. The earlier indictment against James consisted of one such false statement count and one count of bank fraud. The additional charge in the failed indictment attempt could have exposed Tish James to more prison time because each count carries a potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine up to a million dollars. However, defendants are typically sentenced way under federal guidelines that result in sentences well below the maximum, especially those without prior criminal records. Prosecutors also asked a magistrate judge to keep records of the proposed indictment sealed and because they're embarrassed after grand jurors rejected all three alleged charges. But the judge declined that request. U.S. magistrate Judge William Porter wrote in an order on Monday that the Alexandria grand jury presented the rejected indictment, known as a no true bill, in open court. He added that the facts about the proceeding also leaked to news outlets and that Justice Department lawyers failed to move to seal the documents until the day after they were filed in the court's public docket. The court will not speculate why the grand jury disclosed the no bill in open court. That's what he wrote, the judge saying public disclosure serves the interest of transparency given the criminal allegations against James are already well publicized and the decision not to indict was publicly reported even before the foreperson appeared before the judge. Prosecutors had argued that sealing the court records, including the proposed indictment, would further the policies behind grand jury secrecy, protecting the grand jurors identities and the individual accused of a crime from the expense of standing trial where there was no probability of guilt. A Porter did not grant the prosecutor's request to pause his Monday ruling unsealing the documents so that the government would have time to appeal to a district court. But there's no indication in the case records that prosecutors have done so. So we'll keep an eye on that. Can't wait to see that. And from CBS North Carolina Republicans redrew the state's congressional maps this past fall in hopes of improving their chances at ousting a Democrat in one of the country's m most competitive districts. In doing so, they may have created a window for a Democrat to make what has been a reliably Republican neighboring seat more competitive. This is, I think, what happened in Texas. I think this is what happened in a lot of recent elections that we've seen. Trying to gerrymander to make one Republican district more Republican makes the neighboring district less Republican. Now, CBS News has learned that Allison Jaslo, an Iraq War veteran, plans to file Thursday for North Carolina's 3rd congressional district seat. The race in the south could become a key contest in Democrats quest to win back a majority next fall in the US House. Quote, I'm running for Congress because the people of North Carolina's 3rd congressional district deserve someone who will show up and fight for them. That's what she said in a campaign statement. Republican Representative Greg Murphy has held the seat since 2019 in a special election and won another term in 2024 with more than 77% of the vote. But the physician's political future became a bit more muddled this fall after Republican legislators in Raleigh changed the boundaries of his seat in an attempt to make The Democratic held 1st congressional district more favorable to Republicans. In part, the new map transferred a large swath of the eastern portion of Murphy's third Congressional District to the first District, which is held by Democrat Rep. Don Davis. Republican leaders made the move as similar efforts played out around the country to try to protect the party's narrow majority in the House. Murphy announced afterward he would run for another term in Congress and was soon endorsed by President Trump. While the first and third Districts are both viewed as Republican leaning areas, the impact brought about by redistricting isn't without political risk for Republicans. Murphy's district is now 43% Democratic, up from 39% before it was redrawn. Davis's seat went from being 48 to 44 Democratic, according to a CBS News analysis of the 2024 presidential election data. So they're playing with, you know, four points here on both the, sides, and we're winning elections by 16, 13, 18, 23 points. So, swings, not winning by, but those are the swings, quote, Greg knows the wisdom and courage required to defend our country, to support our brave military veterans and ensure peace through strength. That's what Trump said in an October social media post. Hefty political spending is already expected to head to the state for the next year's midterms, where former Democratic governor Roy Cooper represents his party's best chance at winning back the GOP held seat in the Senate. To have a reasonable shot at defeating Murphy, Democrats will likely need plenty to break their way, along with the typical political gravity of an incumbent president's, party struggling in the midterms. All right, everybody, those are the hot notes. We'll be right back with John Fugelsang for Fugal Sang Fridays followed by the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Nothing says holiday season like a roaring fire, a cozy sweater and a full glass of wine at the table. Naked Wines keeps my place stocked with crowd pleasing bottles so hosting for family and friends feels easy and we're always ready for a toast. Naked Wines is a service that directly connects you to the world's finest independent winemaker so you can get award winning wine delivered straight to your door. So let's thank Naked Wines for supporting our show. Head to nakedwines.com dailybeans use our code dailybeans for the code and the password and get their incredible deal of 6 bottles for just 30 dol. $39.99. I had some friends over recently and we opened a bottle of F. Stephen Miller Black Label Winter cabernet. It's a 2023. The winter cab is aged extra long so the dark fruit flavors and vanilla spice become more rich and more smooth. It was a perfect match for the occasion and exactly what I was looking for. Naked Wines resonates with me because it supports independent winemakers while making hosting easier. They've been doing this for over 15 years and they help fund over 90 independent winemakers. Plus there's no commitments or membership fees and the entire hassle free. They cut out the middleman so you can save massive money. So now's the time to join the Naked Wines community. Head to nakedwines.com Daily Beans click Enter Voucher and put in my code Daily Beans for the code and the password and you'll get six bottles of wine for just 39.99 with shipping included. That's a hundred dollars off your first six bottles at nakedwines.com DailyBeans and use the code and password DailyBeans for six bottles of wine for 39.99. You'll be glad you did. Hey everybody. Welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans, which means it's fegal saying Friday. So we're going to welcome my good friend New York Times bestselling author of the Separation of Church and Hate. I know he loves it every time.
I say that I do like it.
also he hosts Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127. That's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. It's an incredible show. You can call in, you can air your grievances. It is the season, so you definitely want to listen to that. And then, of course, there's the John Fugal Sang show podcast and the substack, and he's. He's here, he's there, he's every where. It's John Fugal saying hello.
Oh, thank you, Alison. And in the words of FBI Director Kash Patel, smash that, like, button, bro. thank you. It's so good to be here.
It's good to see you, my friend. I'm sorry that you're feeling a little bit under the weather.
It was a rough week. I, you know, I got very sick this week and, and I had to go on cnn. so I tried not to breathe too much on Scott Jennings. so, you know, hopefully, hopefully I didn't infect anyone in the building.
Most people try not to breathe near Scott Jennings anyhow, but, you know.
They sat me right next to Mr. Jennings as we got to sit side by side this week. Normally they have us sit across from the table. They put us together. They're looking for trouble at that place.
Yeah, kind of. I won't have him on my show. Not that if I invited him, he would even think about coming on here, but, we appreciate you being here, my friend.
Oh, I know. I've invited him on mine and he has his complete contempt, but I'll keep doing it and smiling.
Yeah, right, Exactly. That's what we do. So let's talk a little bit about some of the bigger stories that came out this week that might or might not be distractions from the fact that it's Epstein Files day here at the Daily Beans and across the country. First of all, this big, huge article that took 11 sit down interviews with a journalist with a tape recorder. Although somehow Susie Wiles was very surprised that, they would publish anything that they spoke about.
She even, oh, I'm sure she was shocked.
She even told the New York Times, hey, I didn't say that. And then they played the tape back and she did. But this in my mind and tell me what you think this was all on purpose. This was all deliberate. She's not an idiot. She's probably the smartest person in that White House, which, it's a low bar, but she's probably the smartest person in the White House. And to come out and say, yeah, Trump's all over the Epstein files, but he was a young playboy, like to try to sort of, I don't know, prep us for what may or may not come out today.
That seems like, oh, I don't think she was thinking about today when she gave those interviews, but go on.
But you know, I think that that was one of the main goals was to sort of draw the sting out of, you know, the young playboy dude was 50 back in the 1900s. So I'm not sure that that moniker, is appropriate. But tell me what you think about, first of all, the content of this two part series in Vanity Fair. And then we'll talk about the photogr.
Well, again, it was 11 different interviews that, that Whipple did with her. So I don't think that was all done with this one date in mind over the course of a year. Again, she began these interviews long before, we the people, demanded these files be released, long before Donald Trump's own caucus disobeyed him and demanded that these files be released as Trump promised. And by the way, all you MAGA guys, Ghislaine Maxwell now wants the charges against her dismissed. The convicted child rapist. So I, I hope you're ready, MAGA friends to start fighting for a convicted child rapist to get more special treatment because Donald Trump is pretty sure he can get you there. I agreed with everything you said, Alison, except I don't think Susie Wiles was looking to defend Donald Trump here at all. I think Susie Wiles would like to have some form of employment after this ends. I think that, you know, Trump does not hire competent people because competent people will tell him you can't do that. So that's why you get the Pam Bondies and that's why you get the Kash Patels and the Hagsets, because he needs flunkies who he can blame and cut loose when he needs to. Susie Wiles has always been kind of a mystery to me, the first female chief of staff. And I have found her fascinating, wondering, like, what is it about her, her qualities that makes Trump obey whatever it is. I don't think she cares what happens to this guy because from the interview I read, I think she know this thing ends like the last scene of Scarface. And I just want to say I did not have Susie Wiles checking off every square of my bingo card on my bingo card. this, most people leak anonymously. Susie went for the Costco sized giant box of truth. This was not off the record. This was off the rails. And I was on CNN the other night sitting next to Michael Whipple, who did the interview over 11 sittings. And he said, we recorded every second this White House. And Susie Wiles have not denied a single specific statement there. So it's all true, none of it's made up. And you, know, Donald Trump has said he's fine with it, most likely because she told him it was fake news, because he's not going to read it, because it was printed in sentences and that's a bit long for him. Sentences. So, you know, I mean, next you'll want him to read paragraphs. Alison, imagine any other president whose chief of staff will just casually confirm, yes, he appears extensively in the child sex trapping documents. I mean, what I think Susie Wiles is doing here is not so much creating plausible deniability, but just putting the space between herself and Trump where she, in the future, when this is over, can always point to this and say, look, I was in front of it. I was telling the truth back then. I tried my best to control him and I couldn't do it. This was for a White House that is exclusively about selfish people, for selfish voters who want selfish policies that only help their selfish cliques. A room full of corrosive narcissists we saw with Trump and Elon Musk. It doesn't work. Eventually they'll all turn on each other. And Susie Wells is much smarter than these obedient little winged monkeys Trump has around him, because I think she's putting the space there. And I think we should be looking for lots of Republicans to start doing exactly what Susie Wiles did in some form between now and the midterms in 11 months. The bit with the January 6th, don't pardon the violent ones. She urged him not to pardon the violent rioters and he heard pardon them louder, you know, like he ignored it the way he ignores briefings and marriage vows. But she included that for a reason. To say that I told him no, but he wouldn't listen to me. I mean, she openly admits that the prosecutions are fueled by personal vengeance. Right?
Like particularly Letitia James. Right?
Yeah, it's just this petty taxpayer funded revenge fantasy. I mean, when there's an opportunity, he will go for it. Like that's, that's not leadership, that's mob boss shit. Nixon tried to hide this. Trump does it in all caps again. She's letting us know what happened and she said, let's, let's stop the score settling after 90 days. She's including that she tried to negotiate a petty revenge expiration date. Like it's all self serving. The J.D. vance stuff. I mean, calling him a conspiracy theorist for a decade, that used to be an insult for Republicans. Now that's, that's a Resume line. You know, Elon Musk, you know, avowed ketamine user and talking about how when the richest man alive dismantled usaid, all these godless motherfuckers were having a cake to celebrate the brown people dying. Like she's sharing details of how evil they are. Pam Bondi. She cut Pam Bondi loose with the Epstein files. The binders full of nothingness, the deportation stories, the tariffs. I mean, she says huge disagreement, which is Washington speak for. Trump wouldn't listen when she said that he believes there is nothing he can't do. What kind of White House chief of staff admits that if it's true?
Right, Especially, especially using the words an alcoholic's personality.
And I get that. And I get that because look, I mean, yeah, he's no impulse control, denial, deranged grandiosity, but no hangover. So yeah, I mean with the nothing he can't do to me, that's the constitutional crisis. When a president's chief of staff admits in print that the president doesn't think laws apply to him, that's the Constitution. We can start impeachment for that. The Constitution assumes presidents believes in limits. Trump thinks limits are for other people. And when a president thinks nothing constrains him, democracy is optional. And this is his chief of staff saying it. Now, it doesn't let her off the hook. She is not a brake, she's a power steering system. And the interview revealed that, you know, she manages chaos but she won't stop it. She'll clean up afterwards and pretend that's a discipline. But I mean, this was the most self serving interview I've ever seen. That might still help save a lot of lives because this old white lady is cutting this douchebag loose. Maybe she's mad about how he treated her old boss, Ron DeSantis, but I respect that she can handle him and can control him in ways they couldn't in the first administration because I'm sorry, I think anybody else in the entire cabinet said half of this stuff they'd be fired by the end of the week.
M. Yeah, and we'll see what happens. But you know, like you said, he didn't, probably won't read it. He won't read it.
But don't be surprised, don't be surprised if we hear that Susie is declaring victory and leaving the job around the one year mark after this.
No. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all. And her telling, you know, coming up with the fake news pushback, which she coordinated with all the entire cabinet by the way, you're right.
All the right wing pundits, she's playing.
All of them is so that she can separate herself from this administration, but also preserve her pardon should she need one.
That's it. She's playing all of them.
Yeah, she's playing both sides of the, fence there. And, you know, like, it reminded me of when Stephen Miller went on CNN and had the deer in the headlights moment when he said the President has plenary power, unreviewable power. Yeah, it's the same kind of situation. And there has been a more recent rift between Stephen Miller and Donald Trump as well. Probably because Stephen Miller's mass deportation is making Trump look bad in the polls. And that's why Fox News and the Department of Homeland Security said a few days ago that we're going to pivot back to going after the worst of the worst, basically admitting that they weren't in the first place. And then we also found that to be bullshit because of things that have happened, with continuing, going after US Citizens and non criminals in their more recent operations in the last day or two. So, yeah, it seems like there's this.
Dance and Trump will fire him. Trump will cut him all loose when they make him look bad when, when PTXF makes Trump look bad, he will cut him loose. Until then, these flunkies draw fire away from Trump.
Yeah, they absolutely do. They're lightning rods, Idiot. Lightning rods, but lightning rods nonetheless. And so I actually think that we're gonna see m. More sort of posturing. I think that Susie Wiles is gonna set an example for a lot of, of Republicans to say, oh, this is the way to distance myself. But also not. But then we also have, a third discharge petition against Johnson's smallest caucus in history, which he admitted yesterday while running away, like, look, I've got the smallest margin in history. but meanwhile, out of the other side of his mouth saying that they were elected in a mandate in a landslide. So it's landslide when we have issues with what they do, but when he gets called to the carpet, it's the smallest caucus. It's Johnson's smallest caucus in history. There's the joke in there somewhere, but.
I gotta go see what noted truth, teller Marjorie Taylor Greene has to say about this. Because, I think you're right. And I think when Marge comes out and says that Johnson may lose the speaker's gavel before the midterms, and she's not the only Republican to say that that Punchbowl article last week had so many Republicans validating that. I mean, I think there's a very good chance that gavel's going to fly like Thor's hammer into Hakeem Jeffrey's hands and it could happen before we even get there. I mean, I think there's an even better chance that Mike Johnson leaves the speakership more despised than Kevin McCarthy, because at the end of the day, who really is impressed by a 4 foot, 11, creepy youth pastor who irons his shoelaces? I mean, this guy is useless other than being an obedient flunky to Trump. Right at the moment his party and his little tiny, limp, flaccid caucus is realizing this man's not going to help them 11 months from now. There's really not a lot this man's going to do to help them keep their jobs in November of 2026.
Well, what was it 10 months ago? I posted on Blue, Sky and have been saying ever since. There will come a reckoning when Republicans in Congress who actually have to get reelected again, will have to decide between pleasing Trump and pleasing their constituents. That's it. Now, we saw Mike Johnson just run away this week on, extending the Affordable Care act subsidies. He's going to shut, shut it down, send everybody home early for Christmas break because he doesn't want to have to answer questions today when the Epstein files are supposed to be released.
Oh, what a shock.
And, all the while, our subsidy, our premiums are going to skyrocket come January 1st. Even though there was a defection and a discharge petition. There's a seven day hold on that, and that comes in the middle of the break. So it's not going to be voted on until next year. I'm assuming if it is voted on, it didn't pass the Senate. But if it is voted on and there's enough pushback and it is that they'll have to reopen the enrollment period so that people can actually get their subsidies back or just do it automatically. It's going to be a giant mess of their own creation. But yet Trump goes on television that says Biden's fault.
Alison, two words. Biden's fault. Biden's fault, 2027.
The Democrats are somehow not extending the Affordable Care act credits even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House.
Yeah, and the fate of the nation may depend on how loyal racists are to their grand venereal wizard, when their healthcare premiums are going up. The fate of the republic may depend on how the stupidest, most evil people in this society react to their leader lying to them Again. The rest of the world knows what this man is. 32% of the population are keeping this guy in power. 32% of our country impose this on the rest of Earth. And the healthcare premiums are going up. And we know the Democrats care, and we know there's a few Republicans who care because they know it's going to hurt white people. The problem is that. But, you know, I didn't like calling the Affordable Care Act Obamacare. I thought, if you're going to do that, let's call Social Security Medicare, let's call Social Security FDR Care, and let's call Medicare LBJ Care. but so many of these plans don't use the word Obamacare. And so a lot of our red state brothers and sisters have no idea it is Barack Obama's care or whatever.
Yeah, they name it after their state because of, the Medicare expansion.
So they don't even know. They just hear, get rid of them Obamacare roof. Obamacare subsidies means poor black people getting my money so their kids don't die. Right. they're gonna find out, and we'll see what matters more to them, their wallet or their racism.
Yeah. And so I'm not surprised that the tiny caucus split. And, you know, they have to get reelected. Republicans in Congress have to get reelected. Unless they're retiring, of course.
But, but the problem is this tiny caucus is a diseased, infected little caucus. It doesn't really work right. Anymore. If it ever. It never really did work right. They know how to pump it drugs and make it look bigger than it really is. But it's always been weak, it's always been flaccid, and it's always been revolting to women. So I'll keep on going with this metaphor as long as you want to milk it for me.
They did pass the National Defense Authorization act, which included some requirements or requests to release some of these boat strike videos, specifically the double tap strike on September 2, because they were all about releasing it. And Trump said, I'm happy to release it. And then Hegseth says, of course we're not going to release it. What are you crazy? You know, just in another, attempt to gaslight everybody. But, you know, I think it's interesting. A $900 billion defense bill, and there were a lot of amendments that wanted, to be added that weren't. But then, you know, Donald Trump decided last night that he would announce $1,776 to every member of the Military saying that it's coming from magical tariffs, when in fact he's taking the basic housing allowance and just sending it out in a check instead of sending it out in the bha. He just wants to put his name on money that they were already going to get. So it's trickery. It's smoke and mirrors. but they did pass the NDAA to get an almost trillion dollar defense budget.
Yeah, and it's all going to be forgotten ancient history by the time we get to the midterms. It will not help him by the time we get to the midterms. And I could be wrong, Dr. Gill, but I have a feeling that, this is not going to make anybody forget the Epstein files. I don't know. I don't. I don't feel distracted.
He might not make it to the midterms.
I don't think he will. I think there's a very good chance there's stuff in my fridge that'll last longer than him. And I think more Republicans realize this than are letting on.
Might also be part of Susie Wiles, like, well, he's not going to be around long enough to read these things anyway. So.
I mean, at this point they're measuring his cholesterol with a dipstick. Like, the guy's not healthy. And we know he's not healthy. I mean, I mean, good God, his ankles look like he's smuggling, Eric. And you know, again, when we're talking about this, it means we're not talking about the fact that we are murdering people in boats with no evidence in foreign waters. And like, this is Pete Hegseth just being like, you totally agree with us if you saw the video, which you never will. M. Right. That's the argument, right? Like, no, bro, it was totally legal, totally ethical, totally necessary. And that's why it has a privacy setting on the video. You can't see it. It was so legal, we can't possibly show it. Everyone's talking about the eyes will fall.
Out of your head because it was so legal.
Oh, dude, it's so legal. You can't. We did everything right. And that's why you are not allowed to ever see it. Okay? And Hegseth is talking about how like the. The committees will see the video, but not most of Congress, not the press, not we, the people paying for it. These people believe in transparency like vampires believe in sunlight. If Obama had done this, Fox News would be selling DVDs of the, Fox News would be selling VHS tapes because a lot of their Audience still uses that. But, this was murdering survivors. And when Marco Rubio says terrorist organizations like Lies Alone can rebrand fishing boats into freaking ISIS, we talk about these two men they murdered on September 2nd, we gotta start talking about the two men they didn't murder on October 16th. Remember that strike? They hit what they said was a narco submarine. That was back when they were claiming that these boats were bringing fentanyl into our country. Of course, fentanyl doesn't come from Venezuela. I know you know this, John.
That was after they double tapped those two guys. And then probably Admiral Halsey was like, that's really, really illegal. And so they all sat down and had meetings about what to do that maybe was less illegal. And so.
Oh, well, what did they do?
Rendered them to. Yeah, two men survived to their home countries.
Yeah, Yeah, M. Two men died. Two men survived. And so those two men were taken into custody aboard a naval vessel like you normally do if you're going to be sending the US Navy to do cop work. And they sat on a naval vessel for a couple of days, and then they were repatriated to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador. Why aren't Democrats.
The reason being they wouldn't send them to Gitmo and they wouldn't put him in the US Court system because that would force this administration to admit to what they're doing in discovery and they would have to answer to the crimes that they're committing in the US Courts. That's why they avoided that altogether.
The question that Democrats should be hammering and, I like the media hammer, is they sent these two guys home, which means either they know we're murdering innocent people, or we are letting dangerous narco terrorists go free. Those are the two options from the bullshit they presented us.
Yep, that is exactly right. before I let you go, there's been a lot of talk and viral posts about these, photos from the Vanity Fair article and the, photographer himself. This is how he works, by the way. This shouldn't have come to us as a surprise to anybody in the White House that's got a Google machine close by to them. But I find these photos, a lot of people are like, oh, you shouldn't make fun of people's looks. You shouldn't do this. I don't think that that's what this is. I think that it's news. I think it's art. I think it's photojournalism. It shows them very close up and raw, and then it shows them far away and isolated and Powerless, but with a, pretense of having some sort of fake power. I think they were masterfully done. And I think that, you know, even the photographer said in an interview, he said that Stephen Miller was the most worried about how these photos would come out and wondered if he should smile or not. And then said to the photographer on his way out, after shaking his hand, you know how you have a lot of power on how you treat people. And the photographer looked at him and said, you know, you do, too.
Yeah. And then Stephen Miller didn't get it and just went out to feed on orphans like he does when the moon is full. I know. look, these people, I'm sorry, they don't like how they, appear. But these are people who have human beings kidnapped, chained, caged, and renditioned to other countries because of their physical appearance. I mean, there's thousands of undocumented Irish, thousands of undocumented Russians in this country. They ain't sending those white illegals down to alligator Alcatraz. These people are having folks tortured because of their appearance. So I really, really, Wow. I feel for them thoughts and prayers that they thought the photos were unflattering. These people are unflattering. And that was photojournalism by a photographer who knows exactly how this is going to end, as much of the world does. And as I think most of the billionaires know, after that little speech last night in the Oval Office where I thought we were going to be getting a declaration of war, and instead all we got was Donald Trump berating us for not liking his crimes. I mean, this guy's losing it. And you should be ready in the new year for more and more Republicans to put more and more space between them and this guy. Let's not let them do it gracefully.
Yeah, agreed, my friend. It's always really good to see you. The next time we're scheduled to talk is actually Christmas Day, isn't it? Day?
Yeah.
I don't know if you're working that day. I will be.
So I'm looking to get away from family anytime I can over the holiday. So if you want to go ahead and do this for baby Jesus, let's come together and have a very special Christmas.
All right. Yeah. We can call it the War on Christmas, and we can just mention the word Christmas a hundred times.
Nice.
I think that that would probably be good. My friend, it's always good to see you. I hope you feel better. I hope you get back to 100%. I know that everybody listening is going to Be sending you positive, healing vibes because that's how we do here at the Daily Beans. But I really appreciate seeing you.
Oh, you're the best. I want to thank all of your, listeners in your deeply attractive audience, Alison, for all the kind words, they've shared with me all year for my book, and, all the nice things people wrote, about the Reiners, who, I loved very much. Both of them were very good to me for many years. Rob was on my show many times and joined us on stage like you did for many of our live shows. And, the best gift we can give to be positive and move forward with this is to keep fighting for the decency and love that Rob and Michelle fought for. Donald Trump went ahead and proved them completely right. It took less than 24 hours for him to prove that Rob Reiner was right about everything he said about Trump and just channel that grief into positive action and love, because these people are decomposing before our eyes. So let's be sure to stop and smell the train wreck in the new year, and keep the pressure on. Thank you for all you do, and thank you for inspiring me so much during such a crap year.
well, we'll see you on Christmas Day, my friend. Everybody, please get your copy of the Separation of Church and Hate. It's an incredible book. It's so well written. thank you. It's hard to put down. And then also, you know, check out Tell Me everything on Sirius XM progress channel 127. Again, that's weeknights at 9:00pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And you can also subscribe to John Fugelsang substack and listen to the John Fugelsang show podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, my friend, it's always good to see you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and we'll see you on Christmas, us.
You too. To you and yours. See you then.
Everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
Everyone? Then, good news, everyone.
Good news. And if you have any little bit of good news, it could be small, it could be big, it could be a great story that you just want to share with the rest of us to put a smile on our faces. We would love that. We would love to microdose hope right now. We definitely need to. And it can be something from yesterday or 20 years ago. Send it to us. Also, if you have a good trouble recommendation, we would love to hear from you as well. And plus, you can also send shout outs to loved ones or yourself because you you yourself, you are a loved one or a small business in your area, maybe a nonprofit that you think could use a boost, a food pantry that's doing some great work for the holidays, a shout out to a government program that's helped you or a loved. You can send it all to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on Contact. And all you got to do to get your submission read on the air is it's really just submit a picture of anything. We started with POD pet tariffs, which means a photo of your pet. And we can try to guess the breeds in your shelter pup or your pet. We're not very good at it, but we like to try anyway. If you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, just grab a random photo of an animal on the Internet or a human. You can send family photos, awkward family photos, random people on the Internet, photos from the last rally you went to, some of your favorite signs that you've seen. Maybe you can show us what you dressed up for for Halloween or what your holiday decorations look like or your happy place like your garden. What are you growing in your garden? What are you making? What are you creating? Send us your quilting and your crocheting and knitting and you know, if you have chickens that lay. We love to see photos of chickens. I know that's something they're making and creating and not you. But but still, we would love to see anything that makes you happy because it makes us happy. And I like to feel happy these days. Send it all to us@dailybeanspot.com and click on Contact. First up is a is a reminder from the good trouble from yesterday. We have something happening Saturday, December 20th, and I wanted to remind you of it. Mass protests will be held at multiple airports in Colorado, Denver [Riggleman, Centennial, Pueblo, Alamosa and Cortez. There's one in Tennessee in Jackson. There's one in Minneapolis, Minnesota, targeting Denver [Riggleman Air Connection and opposing Key Lime Air's contract with ICE to transport detainees. Again, we'll have a link in the show notes to those protests that are happening this Saturday, December 20th. All right, the good news from Pronouns she and her follow up on Poppy, the little red curly guy. Poppy is a moyen medium en francais. I hope I'm pronouncing that right and probably not. And then the breed is redacted. He's standard DNA but is a more manageable size. He stands at 18 inches high, weighs around 28 pounds. I must compliment you, Allison, on the very excellent pronunciation of my name. Marilees. P.S. the pic of me across from Trump Tower, New York City, was taken in September of 2024. I was showing two young Italian friends around the Big Apple. I'm not throwing the bird, but in his face with my Harris Waltz tea. Thank you so much, Marilees. And let's see. I thought it was a poodle Irish setter because of the ready brown, red color and the tail. But let's see. It's just a poodle. Oh, my goodness. A medium poodle. Oh, poppy is adorable. Thank you for that. Thank you so much. Next up, from Lana. No pronouns given. I just want to give a digital high five for the anticipated patient. Rocky Horror Picture show reference. I feel seen you and Dana have started my day with me for so long. I'll listen for as long as you two keep the brain brekkie coming. Xoxoxo. This isn't particularly a read on the air comment, but I threw in a couple of container kitty pictures anyway. She really likes the thermal bag because it's toasty. Oh, my goodness, how adorable. Cats in baskets, cats in bags, cats in boxes. They love it. Lana, thank you. I'm glad somebody picked up on my anticipation. Rocky Horror Picture show reference. Thank you so much for, for picking up on that. Everyone else just must have thought I was nuts. Next up from D.C. near D.C. hi. The good news is that my kids are home from college. One of many, many blessings. They are the greatest. Attached apropos of nothing are pics I took 100 years ago of two of, South Africa's most colorful birds. The Lilac Breasted Roller and the Malachite Kingfisher. And now a joke. What do you call Batman if he sneaks out of church services during communion? Space filling. Text inserted to increase the tension. What do you call Batman if he sneaks out of church services during communion? I don't know. What do you call him? Christian Bale. Uh-huh. I see what you did there, Batman. okay. Thank you so much for that. Oh, these birds are beautiful. DC thank you for sending these South Africa's colorful the Lilac Breasted Roller and the Malachite Kingfisher. I'm guessing the Lilac breasted is the one with the purple chest making the other one the Malachite Kingfisher with the little cool little feathers on his head and his big giant bright orange beak. He's so cute. Thank you for those photos. Next up from Julia Pronoun. She and her hello Beans Ladies. I love your work and listen to it fiercely and often from Austria. All right, today I have great news. Yesterday the European Parliament passed a resolution from Citizens Initiative My Voice, My Choice for safe and accessible abortions in all of Europe. They have an Instagram page under that name too. I shared it below. That is simply fantastic news for all women and deeply needed good news. So keep up the good fight. P.S. the photo of my Spanish special needs dog, Duke. He was so loved and lived happily, I hope, until we had to let him go in 2023 at 17. He must have had a really bad experience in his first life in Spain, which made him distrustful of people when he first came to our house. But it got better. Oh, he's adorable. Thank you for that. And we'll have the myvoicemychoice. Org Instagram link in the show notes Julia. That is really truly great news. Thank you for sharing. Next up, from Angelica Beans Queens Angelica here writing back about our dog Ozzy. I have two attached photos daughter for scale. We tried to take a picture of him with the banana but he kept trying to attack it and the photos were blurry. He's about £20 now and shouldn't be more than £25 fully grown. So he's small but not micro like a teacup. He is still a puppy chewing on anything he can get his paws on. He does bark a lot and sometimes talks to us, which is entertaining. He loves car rides and just being wherever we are. Thank you for reading my last entry on the air. The kids loved it. Hey kids, they both asked if we are famous now. Yes you are Angelica and Angelica's kids. You are very famous. I also wanted to share that I just finished reading Separation of Church and Hate and now my husband is reading it. Our daughter is next in line. It was so good I'm about to buy a couple of copies for little Libraries. I grew up in one of those churches John talks about, which caused some religious trauma and John's book has helped me tremendously. It is hard to see my old Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders being so hateful toward anyone and everyone who isn't a Christian. What brings me hope are the kids that I went to church with now, adults with their own children who are accepting, loving and pushing back against Christian nationalism. I hope you and your families have a joyful and restful holiday and thanks for all you do. Ozzy is a, redacted and hoo boy that is a lot of redaction space. So let's see. £20. poodle cocker, black lab. He's adorable is what he is. And there's got to be some chow, chow or chihuahua in there. Let's see what we got. He's a micro bernadoodle. Micro bernadoodles are mostly poodle. His dad was a small poodle and mom was a small bernadoodle. I didn't know they made small bernadoodles. I guess when you breed him with tiny poodles. Anyway, he's gorgeous and fantastic. I hope he gets out of his puppy phase pretty soon. Stops chewing on stuff. But thank you for sending that in. I love it. And I love that you're going to put some separation of church and hate in the little libraries. Next up from Anonymous Pronoun she and her producer Note in late November, the Department of the Interior unveiled a controversial new design for the America the Beautiful National Parks Pass, the annual season pass for America's 433 national park sites. The credit card size pass traditionally features artwork or photography that honors the parks. But for 2026, some of the passes will feature a visage of US President Donald Trump alongside George Washington. Now a Boulder, Colorado artist has designed national park pass decals. Three options to cover the new design. In case you'd rather continue with animals and landscapes rather than the Tangerine Tyrant for the 2026 passes, this is the best good trouble. we're going to have links in the show notes where you can get these decals to put over his face on your national park pass. It's the sage. Let's see. The Sageleaf Studio.com is where you can get them. And we're going to have a link in the show notes to the park pass stickers. That's incredible. I absolutely love that. What a bunch of good trouble. Thank you, Anonymous. Next up from K she and her hello Beans team. My good news. Despite a very late start, it looks like I'm gonna finish my Christmas preparations before Christmas Eve. Congratulations. I wasn't sure there for a while, but I powered through rewriting my favorite Christmas carols. And since I want to hear Allison singing again, I'm submitting my favorite so far. Sing this to the tune of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I bless my fellow Americans who let nothing ye dissuade to vote for our democracy upon election day. I have this really hard thing where I could want to go alto to vote for our democracy upon election day. Like I sang alto for so long to save Us all from right wing hate where magas led astray O tidings of comfort, joy, Comfort and joy oh, tidings of comfort and joy. See, the alto just comes back. I can't stop it. Ah. thank you for that walk down memory lane and the new lyrics, K. I love them. thanks for keeping us informed and laughing past the tears. Celebrate the good stuff. There's no pic attached. You forgot to pay your pod pet tariff, but that's okay. You sent in a song. So really appreciate you, K. And thanks to everybody for sending in your good news. Please flood us with your good news this holiday season@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. all right, so we've got a lot going on with the Hannah Dugan jury deliberations, and I'm going to talk about that because we don't really have huge updates other than some decisions on a jury. Note that that judge, Dugan won and what these jury notes said. And I'm going to go over all that over on the Beans Talk. That's our new video podcast. Of course, it's just me because Dana's out, but check it out. It's at MSW Media on the. On the YouTube channel there. You can actually just Google MSW Media Media beans talk. It'll take you right to the channel and right to the playlist, and you can watch them and you'll see the most recent one is up at the top. So thank you all so very much. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I will see you Sunday on the Midas Touch Network at noon. I'll see you Sunday morning with Andy McCabe, a, real deputy director of the FBI. We could talk about Dan Bongino chickening out. and we're going to be doing that on the Unjustified podcast, and we're going to talk about Jack Smith and his testimony and all sorts of other things that happened with the Trump Justice Department, over the past week. And then I'll be back in your ears on the Beans on Monday. Until then, please, everyone 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 podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit mswmedia.com commsw media.