The Daily Beans

Low Road Dems (feat. John Fugelsang)

Episode Summary

Friday, February 21st, 2025 Today, the Senate confirms Kash Patel as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Trump administration plans for sweeping Pentagon cuts; New York Governor Kathy Hochul will not remove Mayor Eric Adams at this time; a federal judge has barred the deportation of 8 asylum seekers; DOGE puts a $1 spending limit on government employee issued credit cards; an ICE prosecutor in Texas is found to be operating an anonymous white supremacist account on Twitter; over 6,000 IRS employees are expected to be fired by the end of the week; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.

Episode Notes

Friday, February 21st, 2025

Today, the Senate confirms Kash Patel as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Trump administration plans for sweeping Pentagon cuts; New York Governor Kathy Hochul will not remove Mayor Eric Adams at this time; a federal judge has barred the deportation of 8 asylum seekers; DOGE puts a $1 spending limit on government employee issued credit cards; an ICE prosecutor in Texas is found to be operating an anonymous white supremacist account on Twitter; over 6,000 IRS employees are expected to be fired by the end of the week; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.

Guest: John Fugelsang
Tell Me Everything — John Fugelsang
The John Fugelsang Podcast
SiriusXM Progress
The Sexy Liberal Save The World Comedy Tour
Sexy Liberal

Thank You PiqueLife
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Stories:
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account - STEVEN MONACELLI | Texas Observer

Judge bars immediate deportation of 8 asylum seekers fleeing torture, rape and other violence - YLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN | POLITICO

Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts - Hannah Natanson | Washington Post

Over 6,000 IRS employees expected to be terminated by end of week - Aaron Navarro | CBS News


Good Trouble:
Economic blackout dates!

February 28 Economic Protest #1 BUY NOTHING. Small independent businesses okay.

March 7-14 Amazon boycott BUY NOTHING FROM AMAZON. Along with any other Bezos owned businesses.

March 21-28 Nestle Boycott and ALL Nestle owned businesses. It’s a lot.

April 7-14 Walmart Boycott.

April 18 Economic Boycott # 2 BUY NOTHING.

Federal workers - feel free to email me at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you’re going to do, or just vent. I’m always here to listen. 
Check out muellershewrote.com for my interview with a systems security expert about the massive breach at opm.gov caused by Elon Musk

Check out other MSW Media podcasts
Shows - MSW Media
Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod
Subscribe for free to MuellerSheWrote on Substack
The Breakdown

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Allison Gill 
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Dana Goldberg
Twitter|@DGComedy, IG|dgcomedy, facebook|dgcomedy, IG|dgcomedy, danagoldberg.com, BlueSky|@dgcomedy


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The Daily Beans - Low Road Dems

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Episode Transcription

Um, MSW Media Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, February 21, 2025. Today, the Senate has confirmed Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Trump administration plans for sweeping Pentagon cuts. New York Governor Kathy Hochul will not remove Mayor Eric Adams at this time. A federal judge has barred the deportation of eight asylum seekers from the United States. Daji puts $1 spending limits on all government employee issued credit cards. An ICE prosecutor in Texas is found to be operating an anonymous white supremacist account on Twitter. And over 6,000 IRS employees are expected to be fired by the end of the week, right in the middle of filing season. I'm Alison Gill.

 

And I'm Dana Goldberg.

 

Dana, we made it past the taint of the week.

 

Uh, we did. We made it past the taint of the week. I don't even know what to say because there's not excitement on either end right now. Like you would think if you were at least at the be, you know, in front of the taint or behind the taint, maybe there'd be some pleasure in one of those spots, but not in this fucking timeline.

 

Not in this administration. No, ma'am. But it is Fugal sang Friday, so that's pretty cool.

 

Yeah, Becky with the good hair.

 

I. I talked about his hair feathered and lethal, uh, in this particular interview. So it's funny that you say that, but, yeah, he'll be joining us later. He's the host of tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127. I know, Dana. You appear a lot on that channel. So we're, um, excited to have him.

 

As do you.

 

As do I. Which in French is auduit. Also, we have to talk about this. Kash, uh, Patel.

 

I know. What the fuck, Kosh.

 

Dollar sign Patel was, uh, confirmed as FBI Director Andy McCabe, and I, you know, he's former acting director and former Deputy director of the FBI. We're going to talk about that on the Unjustified podcast, uh, this Sunday and what it means for. For the Bureau. Um, but there were two Republicans who voted no, along with all Democrats, and those were Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who apparently furrowed her brow just enough to squeeze out a no vote. Um, but Mitch McConnell somehow voted yes.

 

Uh, not surprising.

 

Yeah, well, I actually was a little, because he voted no on Gabbard and he voted no on Hegseth, and, you know, he's not running again. He's officially announced again. I mean, we knew like, a year ago that he wasn't going to, uh, seek reelection. Um, but what the fuck, Mitch?

 

I see, it's. I'm one of those people, and I know this isn't a good way to go about life, that I don't give a fuck what Mitch does anymore. He's fucked this country so bad with a judiciary, and he could have avoided this entire second term if he had just convicted and removed him. He could have gotten the votes. We're going to leave it up to the Department of Justice. Come on. So, yeah, I mean, listen, I don't. I don't wish anything ill upon the man, but he is one of the most evil people this country has ever seen, and he has fucked the judiciary for us. For the rest of my life.

 

For the rest of our lives. Yeah. And I'll tell you, um, and me and you, you know, not the youths, they might outlive it.

 

Yeah, perhaps.

 

But I heard somebody refer to him as democracy's gravedigger, uh, today. And I think that that's apropos, but Kash Patel. Okay. I mean, Kash Patel, I've written some jokes. You ready?

 

Yeah, let's do it.

 

Kash Patel is what happens when you accidentally swipe right on Tinder in Middletown, Ohio. Okay. Uh, Kash Patel is what happens when you put a cigarette out in a watered down vodka Red Bull. Kash Patel is when you accidentally spill your haggis into a bowl of Rocky Mountain oysters. Kash Patel is what happens when you cross Andrew Tate's camel toe with a bag of wet proboscis monkeys. Kosh Patel is what happens when you combine the gimp from Pulp Fiction with Ted Nugent's ball sack. And finally, Kash Patel is what happens when you put tight leather pants on a naked mole rat. Thank you. I'll be here all week.

 

Pause break. I don't know if we have any sort of a sound box that we can put in there.

 

Yeah, just. Probably just the badums, because those were all really terrible and why I am not a good Roast Battle comedian. But he's just a total. I mean, he's. He's dangerous for this country on a serious.

 

Well, I'll tell you what, you did a really good job of roasting without going racist at all. So I'm very proud of you. Not that that would be your default, but most people. With Kash Patel, it would be.

 

Yeah, no, I stuck most with the ball sacks and camel toes and things like that.

 

Yeah. As you should.

 

And vodka Red Bull. Vodka drink vodka. Vodka cranberry and vodka Red Bull. And I'm a producer, just that douche at the club, you know, uh, which is a Nick Kroll, I think, character. But anyway, um, really disappointed. Also disappointed. Although I know a lot of people aren't. But I would have rather seen the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, actually open those hearings for, uh, the removal of Eric Adams. She has decided not to do that and I guess she isn't going to tell us specifically why outside of some canned diplomatic responses. But, uh, if there's a good reason, share it with us. You know, I'd love to know.

 

I mean, this is necessarily my voting state, but I would love to know. This affects the entire country.

 

It does, because of what it's going to do to this judiciary. But like, I mean, if there's a valid, like maybe it would cost New Yorkers a ton in tax money and she doesn't think it's frugal, considering it would take longer than the election of the governor in November. Maybe that's the reason.

 

Could be. I know New York is trying to save money and they were doing that with this little toll in the, you know, mid city that Trump decided he's going to get rid of and Long live the king. It was actually doing good things for the state. It was doing good things for the city.

 

Yeah, everybody was behind congestion pricing. I know they've sued, I think in uh, court to get it back going again because, uh, of all the good that it was doing. And also Doge has placed a 1 limit, a $1 limit on government employee credit cards and I've got a lot of verification from employees about that today. And uh, I recommend everybody take, take your government issued credit card, buy one 96 cent Pentel pen, everyone do it all at once. I think that would be a great. And then, you know, maybe order them from Amazon and force Bezos to spend $6 to ship that 96 cent pen to you.

 

There you go.

 

Anyway, a little bit of good trouble. Uh, that's not the official good trouble though.

 

No, no, we've got something better for you.

 

We do have something better for you. But first we have the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from Steven Monticelli at the Texas Observer. Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids began to spread the day after President Trump was inaugurated. Posts on social media and Reddit claimed that ICE had already been spotted in the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, where Latino immigrants began to settle in large numbers in the 70s and have, have profoundly shaped the culture of that vibrant community. That same Tuesday morning, a Twitter account with over 17,000 followers named glomarresponder made an ominous post saying, quote, yeah, I'm in a courthouse waiting on warrants. Turns out there's a lot of bitch work to be done to make mass deportations happen. One day prior, Glomar Responder on Twitter posted that he, quote, can confirm all of those regarding a list of cities where ICE was expected to begin deportation operations the next day. Continuing, quote, may have a betting pool to see who can guess which one I'm at on any particular day based on the news now, these were but the latest posts that Glomar Responder has made over the years that suggest the operator of the account is an ICE employee. Glomarresponder has also routinely expressed blatantly racist and anti immigration views through an extensive review of Glomar Responder's Twitter posts, publicly available documents and other social media profiles and posts. The Texas observer has identified the operator of Glomar Responder as James Jim Joseph Rodden, a 44 year old who works as an assistant chief counsel for ICE in the Dallas, Texas area. Rodden represents the agency in immigration court hearings where judges decide whether an individual is removed from the country. Since Glomar Responder was First created in 2012, the account has posted hateful, xenophobic and pro fascist content and please content warning for what I'm about to read to you from this person's account. Quote, america is a white nation founded by whites. Our country should favor us. That's Glomar responder last month. Also quote, all blacks are foreign to my people, dumb fuck. That's what the account posted in September of last year. Another freedom of association hasn't existed in this country since 1964 at the absolute latest. Also, that was four months prior. Further clarifying, the post was referring to the Civil Rights Act. In a reply to a comment, quote, I'm not a commie, I'm a fascist. That's what he posted a couple weeks later. And fascists solve communist problems. Get your insults right. Uh, R word. I can't even say it. Sorry.

 

Don't apologize. I'm glad you didn't.

 

Yeah. In August, Glomar Responder posted, migrants are all criminals. Two months later, he shared an image that reads, it is our holy duty to guard against the foreign hordes. Some Glomar Responder posts even invoke anti immigrant violence. For example, nobody is proposing feeding migrants into tree shredders. That's what the account posted in March of last year. Yet give it a few more weeks. At this level of invasion and that will be the moderate position. And in January, quote, my World War II vet grandfather didn't get a chance to kill Asians so he volunteered for Korea. He'd be asking for a short term job with ice, kicking doors and swinging a baton, unquote.

 

Hoo boy, what a piece of shit.

 

Sorry guys. The evidence that Rodin operates the Glomar Responder account includes an overwhelming number of biographical details that Glomar Responder has shared over the years that align with information about Radden, including employment history, locations, lived characteristics of a spouse, involvement in a lawsuit against the federal government, height and fashion preferences, pensions for specific phrasing, and a variety of specific interests and hobbies. The observer confirmed these details about Rodin through other social media profiles, public records, private data broker sites, open source investigative tools, interviews and attendance of court hearings in which Rodden was representing ice. So Texas observer went all out on this. For example, on January 21st of this year, the same day Glomar Responder claimed to be waiting for warrants at a courthouse, Rodin was scheduled to be at an immigration courthouse in downtown Dallas, according to a weekly scheduled document from ice. Later that week, the observer witnessed Radden working at a deportation hearing where he was representing the government agency. At this hearing and another hearing in early February, Radden wore a three piece suit, cufflinks and a watch, items that the Glomar Responder on Twitter posted about wearing and appeared to be approximately 6 foot 2, corresponding to the height that Glomar Responder has disclosed in his posts on Twitter. He also maintained a cleanly shaved head, something that Glomar Responder has recommended as wisdom to men who are going bald. During the January court hearing, the observer attended the Texas observer, that is Rodin repeatedly used his phone at moments that corresponded to times that Glomar Responder made posts on Twitter. At the February hearing, the observer saw Rodden scrolling through the Twitter app on his phone and drafting A post at 1:14pm the profile photo that appeared while Rodin drafted the post resembled that of Glomar Responder, which Then posted at 1:15pm so there's a lot more to this story, but hats off to the Texas observer for catching this and finding this. This is a person who currently works for ICE representing the government. You are paying his salary and you can learn more@texasobserver.org we might have to.

 

Include something on Good Trouble on this guy in one of these episodes. This one's from Cheney and Gerstein at Politico. A federal judge has barred the Trump Admin. From quickly deporting eight foreign nationals who say they are likely to be persecuted or killed if they're returned to their home countries, including a family of four fleeing the Taliban. However, the Justice Department indicated Thursday that one of the prospective asylum seekers, identified only as NS in public court filings, may already be en route back to Ecuador, where she says her husband. And just a content warning here, a police officer who she says has raped her, beat her, and held her at gunpoint and might kill her. Lawyers for the asylum seeker say the Trump administration has flagrantly ignored federal laws that require people who have, quote, credible fear of persecution and violence in their home countries to be given a chance to legally seek shelter in the United States. U.S. district Judge Randolph Moss, an appointee of Barack Obama, agreed to block deportation of the 8th through noon on Monday by issuing a administrative stay, freezing the status quo until the court can receive more information on the situation. And I quote, we are all a little bit in the dark. This is what Moss said. And he said another hearing on the issue for 9am Monday. The judge said he believes the threat that the asylum seekers may be immediately deported warranted his emergency block since they have, quote, a substantial likelihood of succeeding in their claims. In addition to NS and the family of four who say they fear persecution by the Taliban because of their political views and perceived support for the United States, the asylum seekers include one claiming to flee a cartel in Ecuador, one claiming to flee domestic violence in Brazil, and one who claims he was jailed and tortured in Egypt over political views. Moss noted that the key details about the circumstances of all eight asylum seekers, they're unknown and emphasized they are significant legal limits on district court judges roles in reviewing removal decisions by the administration. Justice Department attorney Brian Ward contended that federal district courts under immigration laws have been largely barred from playing a role in stopping removal proceedings. Ward argued that Moss had no authority to intervene at all and even to issue his brief stay. Moss asked the Justice Department to provide him with more details about the eight asylum seekers by Friday at midnight. The emergency request was made in connection with a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed earlier this month that asked the court to put a broader block on Trump's asylum policy. The Department of Justice, of course, has moved to dismiss the suit, but Moss hasn't yet ruled on that request.

 

Thanks for that story. Um, just terrifying, harrowing. These folks trying to escape political persecution in their home countries, only to be, you know, in one case, sent back to Ecuador. Next up from Hannah Natenson et al at the Post Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the US military to develop plans for cutting 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years. And that's according to a memo obtained by the Washington Post and officials familiar with the matter. This is a striking proposal certain to face internal resistance and strident bipartisan opposition in Congress. Yeah, we'll see. Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Monday, according to the memo, which is dated Tuesday, and includes a list of 17 categories that the Trump administration wants exempted. Among those exemptions, operations at the southern U.S. border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, even though they accidentally fired the people who do that and then had to rehire them, and acquisition of submarines one way, attack drones and other munitions. Robert G. Solesis, a, uh, senior Pentagon official, said in a statement that the money saved could be realigned to pay for new priorities in the Trump administration, including the Iron Dome for America. Which is the dumbest fucking thing. Um, this is me now, not the Post. The dumbest fucking thing, because it is for defense against short range ballistic missiles or short range missiles, and we don't have any coming from Canada or Mexico. We just don't. So it's so fucking stupid. But anyway, President Donald Trump's catchphrase for an expansive missile defense system, that sum could amount to about $50 billion of your money in next year's budget. The Pentagon budget for 2025 is about 850 billion, with broad consensus on Capitol Hill that extensive spending is necessary to deter threats posed by China and Russia in particular. If adopted in full, the cuts would include tens of billions of dollars in each of the next five years. So they want to cut Pentagon spending. The one thing, you know, we've been trying to rein in as Democrats for a really long time.

 

Mhm.

 

But this is to cut that spending to enrich themselves.

 

Always.

 

It's just unbelievable. Uh, no, I'm sorry. It's totally believable. The budget directive follows a separate order from the Trump administration seeking lists of thousands of probationary Defense Department employees expected to be fired this week. That effort is being overseen by billionaire Elon Musk's US Dodgy service as part of his broader dismantling of the federal bureaucracy. I would say democracy there. Combined, the two efforts amount to a striking assault on the government's largest department, which has more than 900,000 civilian employees, many of them military veterans. Probationary employment in the Defense Department can last from one to three years, depending on the position. And it can include employees who have shifted from one job to another. The Pentagon also oversees about 1.3 million active duty service members and nearly 800,000 others who are in the National Guard and Reserves. But the Trump administration has exempted service members from its sweeping cuts for now, so just the civilian employees that support them. Hegseth, in his Tuesday memo, sought to cast the proposed cuts as an extension of Trump's peace through strength policies, despite a reversal from the president's past practice of expanding military spending and touting those efforts. Republicans, including Hegseth, have spent years criticizing Democrats as not spending enough on national defense. The memo, first reported by the Post, was labeled CUI controlled Unclassified Information. It was sent to the senior Pentagon officials, top military commanders, and the directors of numerous defense agencies. Bloomberg News reported Friday about Hegseth's intended cuts before the memo was distributed to Pentagon officials. And in the memo, Hegseth said the request for proposed cuts constitutes a relook at the Pentagon budget. Good word, Kegseth. The branches of service, he wrote, should fund what they need for a wartime tempo and offset that financially by cutting low impact items such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and climate change studies. Really great. Can't wait for your military base to end up under the fucking water. Also, did you see today that Tuberville said, uh, that he, he's, he loves this and he wants to turn the Pentagon into a trigon. Get rid of two of the sides and turn it into a trigon. Apparently not knowing the word for triangle.

 

What the fuck? No, I did not.

 

Yeah, I'm sorry to put that in your brain.

 

No, I appreciate that. I mean, he's just a putz. He's a putz.

 

He is. Now this memo is notable too, for what it omits. While it explicitly endorses support agency funding for Indo Pacific Command and Northern Command, which oversees homeland defense US Border it does not extend similar significance to several other major geographic commands, including the European Command, which has a major role in overseeing U.S. support for Ukraine during its three year war with Russia the Central Command, CENTCOM, which manages operations across the Middle east and Africa Command, which directs a force of Several thousands of U.S. troops spread across that continent. The snubbing of the European Command is sure to capture attention overseas, where Hegseth last week repeatedly called for NATO allies to do more to maintain their own defense. Echoing Trump, he said European countries should be spending 5% of their gross domestic product on defense. During the trip, he declined to answer directly when asked whether the United States should do the same because we don't Initial reaction to the budget cut proposal included both caution and alarm on Wall Street. Stocks for Palantir, Lockheed Martin and several other major defense contractors tumbled after the Post published news about hegcess directive.

 

Oh boy. Thanks Alison. This one is from Aaron Navarro at CBS. Over 6,000 Internal Revenue Service employees expected to be terminated by the end of the week. That's according to a source familiar with the agency's plans. More than half of These employees, over 3,500, are expected to be from just one division of the irs. That's according to text from an email obtained by CBS News and shared by the IRS employee. The email was sent to managers of the IRS Small Business Self Employed Division Wednesday and it says that the affected SBSE employees will be notified Thursday by the IRS Human Capital Officer. The email, signed by SBSE the Commissioner Leo Colbert, and SBSE Deputy Commissioner Maha Williams said that and I quote, while details are still developing, we understand that over 3,500 SBSE probationary hires will be terminated by the end of this week. According to the email, the probationary workers who are expected to be fired were not deemed as critical to filing season. The layoffs are expected to take place a couple of weeks before the tax filing season reaches peak activity in mid March through mid April. The New York Times was first to report that 6,000 IRS employees are expected to be cut. The IRS will be carrying out some of the highest numbers of mass terminations known so far. The department or agency, and these figures represent only a single department within the irs. Managers in the IRS Large Business and International Division. They also received an email that asked them to come into the office Thursday and Friday, quote, to support offboarding activities. It did not specify a number of employees that could be terminated. The anticipated layoffs are taking place after the Trump administration in the Office of Personnel Management issued a directive to cut probationary workers across federal agencies. The federal government's probationary workers are those who are still in a trial period that typically extends for one to two years of employment in that specific position. This past weekend, an IRS employee affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency requested access to an internal data system within the IRS that houses Americans individual personal tax information. An executive order signed by Trump in early February instructed agency heads to work with Doji and initiate, quote, large scale reductions in force. The Wednesday email to SBSE those managers goes on to say that later Wednesday they could receive a list of the employees who are going to be terminated after telling managers to instruct employees to be in the office at the End of the week. The email also asked SBSE managers to be in the office for the rest of the week. The SBSE division makes sure small business owners comply with their tax obligations like filing their taxes, and it offers help with debt resolution. It serves more than 57 million small business owners and entrepreneurs with less than $10 million in assets. That's according to the website at the IRS. And I quote, it will be available to help secure equipment. If it is not available, managers will secure equipment, the email to SBSE managers reads. It adds that there will be a guide and a frequently asked question guide. Quote, to help guide managers through the difficult process. Some LB&I employees were also called and emailed Wednesday to be summoned to the office later this week were told to bring any government issued equipment with them, like access cards and paper case files. Quote. Under an executive order, IRS has been directed to terminate probationary employees who were not deemed as critical to file filing season. We don't have many details that we are permitted to share, but this is all tied to compliance with the executive order. That's according to the text of emails shared by CBS News. And I'm going to say something and I know I may be jumping the shark, but I don't think so. These little douchebags that are trying to get access to all of our personal IRS and tax information, they're not auditors, they have no training in this. But what you can see in personal tax filings are donations. They're donations to nonprofits. Whether they are nonprofits, uh, that support dei, the trans community, LGBTQ community, abortion access. They can see those things if they are claimed. And I wonder if those are the people that these motherfuckers are going to start targeting for audits.

 

Right?

 

I have to wonder.

 

No, right? No, you're right. It's all frightening. It's all very frightening. And you know, as a small business with less than 10 million in assets, that means I won't have the help that I need.

 

Mhm.

 

You know, and that's probably by design. Yeah. You know, or he's gonna. Elon Musk will have a big shiny new AI contract to have AI help small businesses with their taxes.

 

Yeah.

 

All right, everybody. Um, with that we have some good trouble. What are you guys doing? All right, everybody. This good trouble is brought to you today by the economic blackout dates from Kathy D. Pronoun. She and her. Hello, could you help a 72 year old out? I put this on my social media, but knowing your massive reach, we need to get it to go further Definitely grassroots push, but whatever you can do is greatly appreciated. February 28th, everybody mark your calendars. February 28th, economic protest number one, buy nothing for 24 hours. Small independent independent businesses are okay from March 7th through the 14th. That's a one week Amazon boycott. Buy nothing from Amazon along with any other Bezos owned business from March 21st through the 28th. That week is Nestle boycott week. So boycott all Nestle owned businesses. It's a lot more than you think. April 7th through 14th, that week, big Walmart boycott happening. And April 18th, the single day economic buyout number two for buying nothing from anyone for 24 hours except for small independent businesses when, when necessary. So thank you for that information on the economic boycott plan blackout that's happening for, you know, from now through spring. So kind of cool. Thanks for sending that in.

 

I think it's very cool and it works. Target has lost a lot of money because the black community said, all right, we're not spending our money there anymore. Billions of dollars. And not just the black community, obviously, other people that, uh, support diversity, equity and inclusion. Billions of dollars they've lost. It matters. Hit them where it matters. That's their wallet.

 

Yes, good. All right, everybody, thanks so much. We have good news to get to, but we have to take a quick break and we're going to talk to John Fugelsang first. But stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. 

 

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Welcome back. It is Friday on the Daily Beans. That means it's Fugal Sang Friday. So I'm joined by my good friend. He hosts the Tell Me everything show on SiriusXM progress channel 127 weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific, and of course, the John Fugelsang show podcast. Please welcome, welcome, John Fugal. Saying, hey, John.

 

Hello, Alison. Thanks for having me back.

 

Thank you for bringing yourself to the show and your fantastic hair. It's feathered and lethal Cop.

 

It's me on vacation for a week. And, uh, this is what I look like in my complete. I need to be deloused at this point. But yes, it's been, um, very nice to really take a substantial break from the news for the last week and then destroy my nervous system by diving back in with you right now.

 

Uh, well, at least news with swearing makes the jump into the pool a little bit, doesn't it?

 

So true. By the way, Chuck Schumer's got a great new strategy to reach out to young voters. He's releasing his own diss track about Drake. So that's going to work. I can't wait until. Yeah, he's really got a plan.

 

Well, maybe he'll get the halftime show next year.

 

And then I think the halftime show next year is going to be pretty much between, uh, Lee Greenwood and Kid Rock. What do you think?

 

Oh, God, man. Please, no, please. They won't be.

 

They won't be. Can you imagine millions of dollars? Imagine what this backlash is going to look like 11 months from now? It's going to be amazing. I don't know how this guy can carry on. I don't know how he's going to stay in this job. And it's not just going to break because he's making way too many enemies who voted for him. It's going to be a, it's a very good time to be a decent person. That's what I'm learning.

 

Yeah. Well, we just found out today, and as we've kind of been learning over the last week or so, that, uh, Musk and his doge bags are going around and canceling all government contracts, um, and for businesses and small businesses and you know, I wrote a little post for all small business owners and business owners that were, you know, that voted for Trump, that, hey, congratulations on losing all your contracts because he's gonna, you could have had $50,000 in capital and a robust small Business association to help you out, but instead.

 

She was black, Alison, she was black. Come on now.

 

But instead, he's canceling all of your contracts, all your government contracts so he can have them for himself, by the way, or replace you with AI.

 

Gee, I, I, I can't understand how voting for a selfish, aristocratic, narcissist prick didn't work out for me. I don't get it.

 

Well, you know, I guess lessons learned.

 

This is the refrain we're going to have to be used to because it's going to be so hard for all of us to not give in to all of those smug liberal I told you so's. As we watch all these people around us, our relatives and our co workers and our neighbors suddenly begin to realize what? I didn't mind when you were hurting other people, but when you start to hurt me, then it's personal. I mean, my guy.

 

Well, that's how we've kind of been in this country for the last 20 or 30 years.

 

No. Or 200.

 

Yeah, there are 200. If it doesn't impact me personally, it's none of my business.

 

This is what I call one degree of empathy. And it's one of the areas where I think, uh, I will generalize and say this is the difference between liberals and conservatives. Grotesque generalization. But liberals, by and large are really able to care about people they don't know. And for our conservative brothers and sisters, it's gotta happen to somebody I know. Someone I know has got to get shot before I care about gun violence. Someone I know has got to have bird flu before. I mean, look at Rob Portman, the, uh, senator from Ohio, wrote Defense of Marriage Act Homophobe. His Whole life. Then his son came out as gay and he realized, oh, my God, I don't hate these people. I love these people. And he renounced his own homophobia. I wish his son would have come out as poor. But this is what we're dealing with with these guys until it hurts someone they care about. They don't care about other Americans.

 

No, they only, um, furrow their brows. Um, and speaking of, Susan Collins has said today she is not going to vote for Kash Patel. So we're going to do the dance again where we get a couple of Republicans, uh, in more purple areas that won't vote, but not enough to block his nomination. So Mitch, who's, uh, again announced his retirement, he did this last year, too.

 

Yep.

 

Uh, he'll vote no, Collins will vote no. Maybe we'll get a Murkowski who will vote no. But they'll still wind up with enough votes even if, if good old J.D. vance, if he can drag himself out of a basement, podcast with Joe Fuckface or whatever for five minutes to cast the tie breaking vote. I'm afraid we're, we're on a collision course to have Kash Patel head the FBI.

 

History has shown us that by the time Susan Collins gets around to announcing she won't vote for a Republican nominee, it generally means they already have the votes and it's safe for her to come out and announce that. And who knows with Republican darling John Fetterman how this could go either way. But, uh, you know what this is? This is what it's going to be. Uh, they're going to turn the FBI over to this adolescent douchebag who despises the FBI. Let me just say, um, I can't wait. I know it's not really politically correct to talk this way, but I can't wait to see what happens to these brats as they piss off and offend and violate every spy and FBI agent in the country. Especially billionaires who might have shit in their past they want to keep hidden. It's going to be a bloody couple of years and it's going to be a very special kind of civil war. We're going to witness Confederate versus Confederate. Get ready. It's coming.

 

Yeah, and M, when they piss off our five eyes.

 

Right?

 

I, um, mean, we've already got NATO regrouping without us, so, like, you know, I can't imagine the intelligence community isn't far behind. Although a judge did block firings from the intelligence community with a temporary restraining order this week. We also had a lot of stuff uh, go, uh, down in immigration. Uh, this week, we've got Mayor Eric Adams agreeing to implement the policies from the Trump administration that would be illegal in New York in exchange for leniency and a dismissal of his charges. There was a hearing with Judge Dale Ho, a Biden appointee whose hands are really tied here because the court does have limited capabilities, uh, to stop this from happening. Uh, although we did get a pretty robust litigation with the Flynn decision. So much so that, that. That it forced Donald, uh, Trump to pardon Mike Flynn.

 

But we've also got Mike Flynn, who admitted in court that he lied under oath to the FBI and openly begged God for forgiveness to set him on the right way. That Mike Flynn.

 

That's the one, yeah.

 

Boy, have you ever seen so many racist right wingers work so hard to make Andrew Cuomo the mayor of New York? Because that's the only story right here. Me, too, I guess, is he's dead and gone in the new fascism, because that's all this is going to do. Eric Adams is going to flip parties because he really thinks that Donald Trump endorsement is going to help him get reelected as mayor of New York. They are just greasing the skids for Andrew Cuomo to come into Gracie Mansion. That's all this story is about. I mean, New Yorkers are not going to go for this. And it seems like they're bringing Kathy Hogle to life, which should be interesting.

 

Yeah, it will be interesting to see what she does. She. She met with, uh, some top officials at, uh, City hall to discuss the potential removal of Eric Adams. Though we know that that process, uh, is pretty long and can be dragged out. Uh, but I say do it. Start the process. Drag it out.

 

Start the process.

 

Make it public.

 

Start it. Yep. Impeachments every week.

 

It might not be finished by the time you have a new governor. And Cuomo is way ahead in the polls. Uh, so, you know, we'll see what ends up happening there.

 

The real story for me on Eric Adams is just these heroic Republicans and the DOJ who are resigning left and over. Uh, Emile Beauvais, whatever his name is. I mean, this woman, uh, uh, Sassone, uh, my God, like, she used a clerk for Scalia. She's in the Federalist Society. These are not liberals who are quitting in protest. And the New York Times thinking that Adams is going to switch parties to run as a Republican. I mean, this whole thing is dirtier than Chris Christie's hamper. And it's going to blow up in their faces because Eric Adams is so deeply disliked by his own party. And the Republicans are not going to have the mojo to get. You really think Republicans are going to go to the mat for this guy in New York City?

 

Please.

 

This is going to blow up in everybody's face. And now Pam Bondi is going to replace Sassoon with someone who will do her bidding. But look at these senior US Attorneys in New York refusing to dismiss this case because Eric Adams accomplices, they're all going to jail. They're still going to trial like he hasn't been found innocent of anything. He's just, that's. They're bribing a crook to further Donald Trump's criminal enterprise.

 

Oh, no. Um, 100%. And I really liked Hagan Scotten's letter where he's like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm sure at some point you will find someone fool enough or cowardice. Cowardly enough to, to dismiss your charges, but it was never going to be me.

 

Yeah.

 

And, yeah, that's a Kavanaugh John Roberts clerk. Uh, so, yeah, super deep state Marxist, hardcore radical leftists there, they're burning through people.

 

I mean, they, they lost the head to the Public Integrity section. Section, the criminal division all resigned. Yes, it is the point. They're gonna try and replace all of them with absolute obedient incompetence, and then they expect the system to run well.

 

It's gonna be difficult. Right, Because I remember how hard it was for Trump to get a lawyer and there's only like 19 of these guys running around. Rudy can't do it anymore. He's been disbarred. But actually, I don't think you have to be a member of the bar to work at the Southern District. What, what do you think, uh, the chances are of Rudy getting back into the Southern District?

 

I don't see that happening at all. Rudy's got to make some money and not get a job. And he's 89,000 years old as well.

 

You do actually have to, have to be barred, though, to be a prosecutor. So it'll be.

 

Yeah, listen, I mean, that would imply that Trump cared about Rudy and wanted to help him. He does not care about anybody. He uses these people and dumps them like their wives. And a lot of MAGA folks who haven't really figured this out about evil billionaires yet get to figure it out now. Know it's going to be a mess, but you have to take a step back and pre soak in the satisfaction of realizing they're not going to be able to blame their incompetent stoogery on anybody when they, huh, fire all the competent Republicans. Fire anybody to the left of Newt Gingrich to run our government. And it's all a bunch of selfish schmucks. So hard not to swear this week. I'm sorry. I'm so trying not to call Donald Trump Putin's jizz rack every time I open my mouth, but it's going to go so badly. Guys, don't forget to stop and smell the train wreck. These guys are not competent. And they're messy and they lie like they believe we're all trophy wives who are in a position where we have to pretend to believe them. My God, they're going to tear the whole thing down. It's going to be a mess. A lot of good, innocent people are going to get hurt, but these guys aren't going to suddenly become competent, Allison. We. We gotta look out for each other.

 

It's gonna be called jizz rags. Uh, Brittany socks in my house.

 

There you go.

 

Yeah, it's a little less, uh, harsh on the ear.

 

I'm sorry. I'll try. I'll work.

 

But, yeah, no, they're going to break it, and then they're going to blame the government itself. Yes, and then Joe Biden. Can we privatize the Department of Justice? Maybe bring in Covington Burling or Covington Burlington? I can't remember their names. Fleam and Mog and Chrome or whatever their flam. I can't remember. I flom. That's it.

 

Wait till Donald Trump gets his own personal presidential security force, like, of course, DeSantis does. I mean. I mean, listen again.

 

They'll bring in the three presenters and the January 6th guys, and we're only.

 

A couple of months away from Donald Trump and his sons wearing full military regalia. I mean, that's gonna. I can't wait for it. Look, our grandparents had to live through tough times. We didn't have to live through a civil war. We didn't have to live through. Through World War II and the Holocaust and the atom bomb. This is the time we have to live through. And it's awful, and no one's ready for it. Two hundred years ago, the biggest thing that happened in our brains would be getting a letter in the mail. We, uh, Homo sapiens are not designed for this many what the fucks? To enter our brain every day. It's so easy to get burned out that we have to remember these people are stupid. These people are bad. These people are not good at their job. These people will fail. We just have to sit around and stay strong and look out for each other and pick up the pieces when it's done and hope that it fails hard enough that we can slam the door shut on authoritarianism and Christian nationalism for another generation.

 

That's the hope. And we have to be ready with the messaging, uh, and a network to get it out to the people who need to hear it.

 

I mean, it's one thing to be Neville Chamberlain, but Neville Chamberlain never gave Hitler a fucking pedicure. And that's what we're witnessing right now. Neville Chamberlain is on his knees performing oral sex on Hitler, uh, and it's unimaginable, uh, that he's doing these stupid lies to the world, not just to Republicans, not just to his wives and fans, but saying that, that, that Ukraine started this war. And two plus two is five. Like, I'm, uh, sorry, man, I don't want to see violence come. But you're going to see Americans voting for Luigi Manjone if this continues. I mean, it's going to get very ugly. I don't think we'll ever have another civil war because red states aren't going to secede from welfare, but it's going to be sectarian violence left and right.

 

Tell me, my, my friend and I were talking about this. We can't really have another civilization. Back in the Civil War, the government had muskets and the, um, people against them had muskets. Yeah, we now are a little bit, there's a little bit of a dearth there, uh, between our, our fighting capabilities. So I, you know, I don't really see that as a possibility. So like I'm, we've been wondering what would this civil war even look like? And I'm thinking small groups, you know.

 

Drones, maybe terrorist violence, cyber terrorist violence.

 

Yeah, cyber stuff. Something more modern, like more modern day warfare.

 

These red states will not secede from their federal welfare dollars. We're not going to have a civil war like we've read about in the history books. We're just going to have more acts of violence. But what scares me is it's going to start coming from the left soon too. And I don't want to see it happen. But man, they are going to keep making things worse around the world. And the treat, I mean, can you imagine if he actually was able to succeed in this trail of tears for the Palestinians? Can you imagine? They finally found a way to make Hamas stop attacking Israel by attacking Americans. Like it's just sheer Madness. None of it's workable. Ukraine is not going to say, oh, okay, well, uh, it's okay. You invaded us and we'll stop fighting back now because some fat landlord in New York said so. Ukraine's not going to give up this fight. It's going to continue, and it's not going to look good for these awful men. They're not going to do anything to become more popular outside of MAGA in the weeks and months to come. It's never been easier to stay hopeful than it is right now because they're so goddamn bad at this. Alison.

 

Well, here's my long term secession plan. Ready, please. Uh, everybody from New York and California over the next five years, move to Texas, because under the Constitution, Texas is the only state that can secede from the Union, uh, for a deal they made after the Civil War. So we all move to Texas, kick all the MAGA out and secede. It's just a thought.

 

Um, and then we can build that wall.

 

Yeah, but on the northern border of Texas.

 

Build that wall on the northern border of Texas. And when their economy collapses, they can go over and, you know, seek some foreign aid from Mexico. Mexico, uh, will say, sorry, illegals, we don't have any.

 

Oh, my gosh. Uh, anyway, um, speaking of one last story, I thought that, uh, you know, that seems like a little bit of a bright spot here. A judge today blocked the deportation from us, uh, from the United States of eight asylum seekers. This is Judge Randolph Moss, who's an Obama appointee. He, uh, according to Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, he entered an administrative stay as a legal basis for the deportation because the deportation. It's not clear the legal basis for the deportation, because it's not. Uh, but unfortunately, one woman of the eight may be gone already. She may have already been sent back to her country, where she fled to seek asylum because her husband, who is a police officer, beats her and rapes her and will kill her, held her.

 

At gunpoint as well. We're forcing this woman to go back to her abusive husband. That is the Republican Party. I'm not gonna call this Trump anymore, Alison. We have to call it Republicanism because just giving Trump the blame, we made that mistake with Bush and Cheney, and all those evil motherfuckers stayed in D.C. this is Republican Party policies of sending these legal migrants illegally, sending them back to meet a certain death. And I think I understand right now, uh, Kristi Noem's new job is going to be taking a dime to the Statue of Liberty and scratching off the words of the Emma Lazarus poem. Because these guys hate everything America's ever stood for. And this is all part of their shitty white supremacist plot to make the year 2045 come a little later. That's all it is. They know we're going to be a minority in 20 years, and they're trying anything they can do. Even though we'll still have control of the whole country for many years after we become a minority, they're doing everything to make sure that white supremacy reigns for just a few years longer. That's. That's it.

 

Well, you joke about the poem on the Statue of Liberty, but Ken Cuccinelli actually did want to change that poem.

 

Yeah, I know he did. Yeah. The legendary Ken Cuccinelli.

 

Give me your poor. You're tired and you're hungry, but not too poor, I think was the message that he said. Um, his words, not mine.

 

Ken Cuccinelli tried to ban sodomy between consenting heterosexual couples. That's how his grasp of reality is. That's why I say if.

 

Really? Did he have a bill? Did he have, like, 2013?

 

2013. That's why I say if you like sodomy, keep away from the cooch. Uh, he's not a good guy.

 

Sodomy, remember?

 

Yeah, yeah. I mean, but what my fear is that for now, this, these, this judges let them stay for a few days, but, you know, this administration has just ignored all federal laws that require us to keep people who have a credible fear of persecution here to legally seek shelter. This is what our whole country's always been about out. This is that the flag waivers always brag about. And you can't really send migrants from Afghanistan, Iran and China down to live in Panamanian hotels because you're threatening to blow up their country. This is not going to last. It's not going to sustain something. Uh, whether it's violence, whether it's Republican revolution, or whether it's. The plaque around Donald Trump's heart is going to have to break this because it's getting really scary. And you remember how the. The Washington Post had their running list of Trump's lies in his first term. I really want someone to start having a running death count for Trump and Musk. All the people we can point to who have died because of their policies and their cuts, both here and abroad. I will subscribe and support any media entity that begins compiling an accurate list, as they did of his lies in the last term. I think now we're able to move up to his victims and people who are dead because of choices of this administration voted in by less than 50% of the American population who showed up to vote yes.

 

We are under minority rule.

 

Always. All right, my friend.

 

Exactly, oddly. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. Everybody make sure you check out Tell me everything on SiriusXM progress channel 127. Again, that's weeknights at 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And if you don't have Sirius, you can always listen to the John Fugal Sang show podcast for free. Wherever you get your podcasts. My good friend and his hair.

 

Oh, stop. Dr. Gill, thank you. And by the way, everybody check out Walmart stock. See how well those tariffs are working.

 

Target as well. Uh, let's see how that, ah, canceling DEI goes for you.

 

It's amazing. A bunch of stupid idiots controlled by a foreign adversary with bad ideas and it's not working out. Who knew?

 

How weird. I can't put my finger on why that would be. Anyway, my friend, we'll talk next week. Thank you so much. I'm glad you got a vacation.

 

Thank you.

 

And, uh, that's a good message to everyone, uh, listening, everyone in earshot right now. If you have time that you can take off and, uh, rest and, uh, end up having to be deloused by the end of it, like our good friend John Feedal saying.

 

I went a couple of times, I went a couple of days without having to read the word Hegseth that it was good for me. Trust me.

 

We've been calling him Kegseth.

 

Ooh, yeah, uh, that's a good one. I call him Secretary of Jagermeister.

 

That's a good one as well, because it's got that German flair.

 

We'll have a few months while he still has the job to come up with more before.

 

No, he's about to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

 

Uh, just think about what he's going to be fired for. Just imagine why they're going to fire him. Because it's going to happen. And Donald Trump will say what a punk he was all along, like everybody else. You got to remember.

 

I knew it. I knew it. I didn't want him, but. But Mitch M. McConnell did.

 

When Trump's policies go belly up, he will fire the unmanly supplicants who prop them up for him and blame them for his own shitty policies. Get ready. It's going to be fun.

 

Well, that's his plan all along. That's why he always only wants acting, uh, people in positions. Because Putin taught him that. That's the best way to have it.

 

The day will come where he blames Eric on Ivana. It's coming.

 

Oh, yeah, that'll be fun. Anyway, thanks, my friend. We'll talk to you next time. Hey, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone. Then, good news, everyone. Good news. And if you have any good news confessions corrections, especially pronunciation corrections, or if you have a shout out to a loved one, a spouse, a significant other, a kid, uh, a parent, uh, somebody in your community doing amazing work or the amazing work you are doing and you want to shout yourself out, we want to hear that too. Or if you have a small business in your area that could use a boost or your small business, I know we have tons of makers and creators in the Leguminati community, so send that to us. Uh, also, if you have a shout out for a government program, whether it's, you know, that's helped out you or your family or a family member or a loved one, it can be something small like WIC or Snap Head Start, um, Section eight. It can be some of the bigs like Social Security, unemployment, uh, um, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care act subsidies, great VA health care you've received, and of course student debt forgiveness. We want to hear those uh, stories as well. Those are always really uplifting. And to get your good news submitted, all you gotta do do is attach your pod pet photo, pay your pod pet tax. Just attach a photo of your pet. If you want us to guess what breeds are in your shelter pet, we would be happy to try to do that. We're terrible at it, but we love doing it anyway. And then of course if you don't have a pet, you can um, include an adoptable pet in your area and we'll see if we can find them a forever home. If you don't have that, any animal photo will do. Just grab one off the Internet. And of course, if you don't have that bird watching photos of actual birds or you and your friends and family flipping the bird at Trump musk joints and properties or even JD vans, whatever, send your bird watching photos. We love them. And then of course, uh, if you don't have any of that baby photos, we really love baby photos, send them all to us by going to DailyBeansPod.com and click on contact. Some good news. Our low road Dems shirt are in the dailybeanspod.com shop now. So if you want to get your low road Dems because you know, when they go low, uh, we are also going to go low. So we're calling ourselves Low Road Dems here on the Daily Beast. Beans. Um, so you can get those@dailybeanspod.com and uh, clicking on Shop I think. Anyway, first up from Anonymous pronoun she and her hello my ever so awesome goddesses of the Luminati. This is a little bit of a rant and a little bit of good news. Oh, these are my favorite. I work in the healthcare industry and my office is in Orange County, California and I have to shout myself out real quick for having enough restraint to keep myself employed and out of trouble. The shit I have to listen to daily is infuriating, especially as a disabled queer woman of color. These barely literate, intellectually lazy. No, not ableist as intellectual laziness is. Willful morons go on about how the Tangerine fucking wank maggot is doing all these great things. Every fucking thing they're so gleefully talking about is meant to hurt the marginalized. For example, this woman who looks like the long lost deville triplet Rugrats cartoon was blathering on to my equally moronic coworker about how Trump finally signed the thing about the two genders. Thankfully my bosses are not maga. In fact, they find it fascinating how selective these comically ignorant folks are about the truths that they share. Especially because most of the things Yam Tits Mussolini and his weird roach alien from Men in Black cohort will negatively impact their Medicare directly. But I digress. Anyway, I'm sending you all a lot of love. Things are hard and shit sucks, but we've got each other. Here's a few photos. One of is me when I was 6. Then there's my mom's little chihuahua and some Irish cows. First of all, great photo of you when you were six.

 

Oh cutie.

 

Irish cows are adorable. Dog in a sweater also. Ah, fucking adorable.

 

Yep, all the above for that. All right, this one's from Anonymous. No pronouns given. Hi, AG and dg. Thanks for keeping my head from exploding in these most insane times. Bird watching me flipping the bird to the old post office tower when it was a drump hotel. I used drump because that was the original family name of the Orange Menace. Please notice the sign I'm holding which says Rex was right. Remember when Rex Tillerson said drump was a fucking moron?

 

I do.

 

Yep. Uh, here's my pot pet tax. My grandparents dog Bella with a pillow bearing her own image. I already have an older sister so when my parents adopted Bella, I became the middle sister. I like to joke that I'm Jan Brady without the crazy wig. AG will understand that reference, I'm sure. Yes, thanks for being in our ears every day.

 

I do understand that reference. Look at this dog with this lip stuck on the tooth.

 

No Little snaggle. Little snaggle.

 

Yeah. And the bulk, by the way Anonymous the bulk of my bird watching photos are also the old post office Trump Tower because I was just in D.C. way more than I was anywhere else. But I do have a fifth Avenue one, uh, in New York and I do have a Chicago one. So next up. Oh and I think I have a Vegas one too. That is an ugly fucking building that one in Vegas. Next up from our pronouns she and her hi ladies. I'm a fairly new listener in Northern Colorado. Welcome, welcome. I have a mixed bag of good news and bird adjacent watching. I'm the mom of two NICU graduates and my oldest has had Medicare since birth. Since he developed significant feeding issues and had to give have to have a G tube placed to ensure his survival and overall health. I have private health insurance through my employer, however it does not cover the majority of his therapies, supplies and needs. Medicare has filled this gap and ensured that my son has been able to grow and thrive. I'm sharing a photo of him as a newborn, an infant post tube replacement, and a recent photo of him today to show how far he has come. Um, please do not post the photos of him online. These are just for you so everyone you won't be able to see these. Medicare has saved both our sons lives and is vital. Full stop in bird adjacent watching. Our town is now unfortunately home to the horrendous Trump worshipping, theater violating Lauren Boebert. You're in college and you're in. Is it three or four? It's one of those. I generally try to refrain from cursing in front of my young children as a rule. They aren't bad words, just words to use once you're a grown up and can pay bills. I do however, condone, nay encourage them to flip off the house Boebert rents in our town whenever we pass by it. It gives my heart a little joy in these dark days to see children under 10 flip the bird at this trash heap and know why. Raising him right I think. Keep up the humor in the dark days.

 

Look at the sweet babies.

 

Look at him.

 

Ah, he's doing great.

 

He got humongous. He was so tiny. Look at the finger and the hand of the of The NICU baby. Oh, my goodness. Thank you for this. This fills my heart with joy.

 

It really does. Is it beautiful? I think this is from our rider. No pronouns given woke beans.

 

Oh, I see. It's. It's a Reddit thread called Am I the asshole? Oh, this is a, A, I, T, A, H. Am I the asshole?

 

Okay, got it. Uh, narrator not highlighted and pink anti woke cousin in green. Uh, do you want to read this with me? Uh, I can be pink, you can be green.

 

Yeah, sure. Sounds good.

 

Here we go. I'm, uh, am I the asshole for pretending to think beans and chili are woke to prank my cousin, who is obsessed with being anti woke and who loves chili. My cousin is known for making chili, and he's good at it. He makes his own chili flakes from his secret combination of various dried chilies. It has a very nice kick. It's like the perfect amount of spice. It's hot, but not too hot. He also adds kidney beans. Not canned beans either. Anyway, for the past two or three years, my cousin had been obsessed, become obsessed with all the bullshit about what is or isn't woke and how woke things are the end of the world. He's always been a good dude, so I don't know what his bag is, but he is completely obsessed. It's annoying. So the other weekend, I was at his place and he was making his famous chili. So I got the idea for a prank. And this is this person?

 

Yeah, I was like this. Okay, so this is him. Uh, and. And I play the chili woke guy.

 

Yeah, you're the douche. Okay, well, he might not be a douche. Okay. I was like, I'm surprised you still put beans in your chili.

 

What? Why?

 

Beans and chili are so woke. Everyone is saying, so.

 

Wait, what do you mean?

 

And he was, like, genuinely concerned, as if there was something seriously I said. So I said something like, yeah, beans and chili are woke. The original conservative Texans who made chili only use meat in chili. San Francisco liberals started adding beans to chili in the 60s because so many hippies were vegetarians. Now all the woke scientists are saying beans are a better protein source than meat. He didn't say anything to that. I just kind of assumed he'd know I was fucking with him and get the joke. We have always fucked around with each other and jokes about all of that, but he was quiet at dinner. Just yesterday, I was back again at his place, and he was making his chili again, and there were no beans in it. I was. It was a totally different chili. This guy has Been making his chili with beans for, like, 15 years. And I was like, what's up? Where's the beans?

 

Oh, I don't fuck with that woke shit.

 

What?

 

Beans and chili are woke. Even you know that.

 

Everyone else was like, what? Because what? I was like, dude, I was just with you. He got really angry. He dumped the chili in the sink and told everyone to go home. I thought he was pranking me back or. Or something, but he was totally serious. The dude totally lost it. He texted me later and said this exact thing.

 

Uh, I researched this online, and it turns out you really were lying to me. Beans are not woke. How could you do this?

 

So we went back and forth for a bit on his position, even though we have historically pranked each other, was.

 

Dude, you went too far. You betrayed me. You made me question my chili.

 

I tried to ask him if this all made him think he cared too much about woke. Like, what if beans in his chili was woke? So what? Yeah, of course he ignored that and demanded I apologize. Did I take this too far? No, you didn't fucking take this too far. No. I'm sorry, but your friend is a douche.

 

No. And I hope if this person is listening that submitted this on Reddit, um, show him the Daily Beans podcast. And, um, tell them, and I apologize for.

 

I apologize for calling your friend a douche. We might even take that out. But it just sounds like this guy.

 

Oh, no, no. The person who submitted this, um, to us isn't.

 

Is great. Who wrote it, Right? Oh, got it. No one else involved in this. Okay, got it.

 

Right, right. They just.

 

All right, well, then I go back. This woke guy sounds like a douche. The guy who thinks he's think beans are woke.

 

I love that. That was quick thinking. Like, oh, yeah, no, the old Texans, you just use meat. And then it was the. The woke San Franciscans who thought about putting beans in it because they were all vegetarians. Like, that's funny. Uh, and that this guy really believed that beans and chili was woke and dumped his chili into the sink and made everybody leave cracks.

 

Oh, man. So no Reddit. Reddit person. You did not go too far.

 

No, you are not the asshole. And thanks to whatever Leguminati shared that with us. Because it's really funny. Um, yeah. And I say if that Reddit person knows or somebody go respond and say, hey, tell them that the daily Beans say that beans in Chile are, in fact, woke, and we are the beans authority.

 

So I also love the reason and that this person was like, they started putting Beans and chili in San Francisco in the 60s. Right, in the 60s because of all the vegetarians. Oh my God, brilliant. It.

 

That is the best part. All right everybody, that's the good news for today. Um, thank you so much John Fugal sang for joining us here on Fugal Sang Fridays. We got a big, pretty big busy, ah, weekend coming up. We're going to have the Daily Beans weekly wrap up for patrons of the Daily Beans. If you want to become a patron, you can do so@patreon.com Muller she wrote. We're going to have. Harry Dunn and I are going to have a Zoom happy hour Q and A, um, tonight, Friday, 7:00pm Eastern, uh, 4:00pm Pacific. That's for Daily Beans patrons, uh, and cleanup on aisle 45 patrons. So I hope. I look forward to that. We love those. On, uh, Saturday, I'm doing a Fed Oath podcast update for the people who are donating monthly to the Fed Oath to help federal workers pay their legal defense funds and their legal fees and, uh, provide resources for them. And then also, uh, we've got Unjustified on Sunday with Andy McCabe. So it's a busy weekend here at MSW Media Media. Dana and I will be back in your ears on Monday. Um, Dana, do you have any final thoughts?

 

No, I do not.

 

All right, everybody, um, one thing I'd like to ask you to do. There was this really great, amazing, um, person named Jason Poe who sent in, ah, an email that he had sent to Lee Zeldin who's the administrator of the epa. And um, Jason Poe is an epa, uh, worker. He's a federal worker, uh, there at the epa, uh, cleaning up the Oak Ridge site. And so he wrote this amazing, incredibly brave letter. He sent it to me and said, make it public, Put my name out there, I don't care. Um, I'm not standing for this. And so you can read his letter. It's truly incredible. Really well written over, uh, @muellershiroad.com so do me a favor, check that out. It's free to do. All the content on Muller She Wrote is always free. So, um, thank you so much everybody and I hope, um, you get some rest this weekend. Take a break. Love yourself, love your loved ones, love your fram. Um, and of course it's all in my sign off. So why don't we just do that until Monday. Please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health and take care of your family. I've been ag and I've been DG 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 Giant Dance and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please Visit mswmedia.com MSW Media UM Media.