Monday, March 17th, 2025 Today, Chuck Schumer caves on the continuing resolution and leaves House Democrats in the lurch; Trump and Marco Rubio have defied Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order barring the administration from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act; a second judge orders thousand of probationary employees to be reinstated; classified U.S. intelligence reports cast doubt on Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war against Ukraine; Newsmax has settled with Smartmatic for $40M; Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to end birthright citizenship; Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed links about black and female veterans; Trump and Netanyahu look to move Palestinians to Africa; Trump has shut down 7 agencies including Voice of America; a Long Island man is the first to be cured of sickle cell anemia; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Monday, March 17th, 2025
Today, Chuck Schumer caves on the continuing resolution and leaves House Democrats in the lurch; Trump and Marco Rubio have defied Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order barring the administration from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act; a second judge orders thousand of probationary employees to be reinstated; classified U.S. intelligence reports cast doubt on Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war against Ukraine; Newsmax has settled with Smartmatic for $40M; Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to end birthright citizenship; Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed links about black and female veterans; Trump and Netanyahu look to move Palestinians to Africa; Trump has shut down 7 agencies including Voice of America; a Long Island man is the first to be cured of sickle cell anemia; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Stories:
AP Exclusive: US and Israel look to Africa for moving Palestinians uprooted from Gaza | AP News
Putin still intends Ukraine domination, U.S. intelligence reports say - The Washington Post
Second judge orders thousands of probationary employees fired by Trump to be reinstated | NBC News
Trump asks Supreme Court to curb judges’ power to block policies nationwide - POLITICO
Long Island man is first in New York history to be cured of sickle cell anemia | CBS News
Chuck Schumer’s stumbles leave Democrats without a message | NBC News
Arlington Cemetery website removes links about Black, female veterans - The Washington Post
US deports hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members despite court order | BBC
Trump Orders Gutting of 7 Agencies, Including Voice of America’s Parent - The New York Times
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Um, MSW Media Media. Hello, and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, March 17, 2025. Today, Chuck Schumer caved on the continuing resolution and left House Democrats in the lurch. Trump and Marco Rubio have defied Judge Boasberg's temporary restraining order barring the administration from deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act. A second judge has ordered thousands of probationary employees to be reinstated. Classified US Intelligence reports cast doubt on Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the war against Ukraine. Newsmax has settled with Smartmatic for $40 million. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to allow him to end birthright citizenship. Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed links about black and female veterans. Trump and Netanyahu look to move Palestinians to Africa. Trump has shut down seven agencies, including the Voice of America. And a Long island man is the first to be cured of sickle cell anemia. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Hey there. Happy Monday, my friend.
Happ to you. Lots of shitty news. Some we're going to try and, you know, we'll give you the good news at the end like we always do. So, you know, please, listeners always send us these. They are palate cleansers. We need them more than ever. Uh, but we're going to keep bringing you all this garbage, um, mixed in with hopefully some good news from time to time.
But my goodness, yeah, we definitely need your amuz bouche of good news headed into the next day. So please, please, for the love of God, send us your good news. Dailybeanspod.com, click on contact. I think we'll just put in the dropdown menu. For the love of God, we should just put that in there, I think.
Perfect.
Uh, later in the show, I'm going to be talking to Felipe Torres Medina. He's a writer for Colbert. He's been, like, nominated for a bunch of Emmys. He has a new book out called America Let Me A, uh, Choose youe Own Immigration Story. And so that's going to be really good. And by the way, the good trouble today is going to be wrapped up in that interview. So your good trouble for today will be, uh, during that discussion. All right, we have, uh, as you heard at the top of the show, a ton of news to get to. So first we have some quick hits to make a long story short. All right, first up, from the Associated Press, the US And Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations. I'm putting destinations in air quotes for moving Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under Trump's proposed post war plan, which, uh, is a nice way of saying, get everybody out of Gaza, completely bulldoze it over, and build my hotels. This, uh, is. According to American and Israeli officials speaking to the Associated Press, the contacts with the three places, Sudan, Somalia, and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland, reflect the determination by the US And Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned, um, and raises serious legal and moral issues because all three places are, you know, in some cases, racked by violence. The proposal also casts doubt on Trump's stated goal of resettling Gaza's Palestinians in a, quote, unquote, beautiful area. It'll be beautiful. The best area ever. Officials from Sudan say they've rejected overtures from the United States, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told the Associated Press they weren't even aware that they had been contacted.
Thanks so much, Allison. And from the post, classified U.S. intelligence reports, including one earlier this month. Well, they cast doubt on Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the war against Ukraine. Shock, I know. Assessing that the Russian president has not veered from his maximalist goal of dominating his Western neighbor. One of the secret assessments distributed to the Trump administration's policymakers, dated March 6, says Putin remains determined to hold sway over Kiev. Okay, well, that seems pretty clear. Some current and former U.S. officials said that the Russian leader, even if he agreed to a temporary truce, would use it to rest and refit his troops. Allison and I said that was a possibility last week and was likely to break the terms of the deal by creating a provocation that he would blame on Ukraine.
Yep. Super shocked, um, that he's going to use it to, uh, rest and refit his troops. Um, you know, I mean, I don't work in foreign policy, but I don't know. I saw it coming. You saw it coming?
Yep.
You were like, yeah, he's just going to take a break, regather his strength and reset and get ready to go out there again. All right, Next up from NBC, Newsmax has agreed to pay Smartmatic $40 million as part of a settlement last year following the voting technology company's election defamation lawsuit against the right wing news outlet. That's according to a new regulatory filing. The settlement, which was reached in September and we covered back then, it included a cash payment and an option to purchase stock in Newsmax.
Thanks.
The media company said this in its filing. Newsmax said payments totaling 20 million have already been made, with the rest coming before July. After the settlement last year, Newsmax said in a Nov. 30 statement that it, quote, acknowledged that the court found that allegations regarding whether the 2020 election and its results were altered or manipulated somehow by smartmatic were factually false and untrue. So last September, we knew there was a settlement. We knew they had to make an apology statement, but we didn't know that amount until today. 40 million. Not as big as the 787.5 million to Fox News, But Newsmax is tiny, so.
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Allison. This one's from NBC. A federal judge Thursday night ordered that thousands of federal workers fired by the Trump administration be temporarily reinstated. Shocking. US District Judge James Bretter, uh, in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order against dozens of agencies, departments, and their leaderships across the federal government that had terminated workers as part of a, quote, reduction in force or a RIF effort. Judge Brater wrote, and I quote, in this case, the government conducted massive layoffs, but it gave no advance notice. It claims it wasn't required to because it says it dismissed each one of these thousands of probationary employees for, quote, performance or other individualized reasons. Now, that other individualized reasons is so vague because most of them was not performance. These were very highly qualified people that were kicking ass at their jobs.
Yeah. And even if, uh, some of them were poor performers, they didn't sit down 200,000 people and go over their performances.
No, they did not.
Yeah. Next up from Politico, President Trump is asking the Supreme Court, his good friends there, to eliminate a key tool that lower courts have used to block various aspects of his agenda. In an emergency appeal Thursday, Trump asked the justices to rein in or shelve three nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts, uh, against his bid to end birthright citizenship. But his request could have repercussions far beyond the debate over the controversial citizenship plan. Trump's Acting Solicitor General, Sarah Harris, argued to the Supreme Court that federal district judges have no authority to issue sweeping orders that block policies nationwide. Yes, they do. This is your Solicitor General, ladies and gentlemen. Instead, Harris suggested an injunction should apply only in the geographic district where the judge is located or only to the specific individuals or groups that sued. We could rewind and talk about all, all of the injunctions put in place during the last Trump administration and see if he's down for it. Just applying to where the judges are.
Yeah, I doubt that that would. Some good news. Thank God. This one's from cbs. A, um, patient on Long island is the first in New York to be cured of sickle cell anemia. This is what Doctors are saying they credit state of the art genetic treatment. For 21 years, Sebastian Buzil suffered chronic pain from debilitating sickle cell anemia. And I quote, sickle cell was like a blockade for me, but now it's just like a wall that I just jumped over. He is now making medical history in New York State. That is some good news to start off this episode with. And thank God medical advancements are still happening. And I'm just praying that they can continue to, even with all of these funding gaps, um, from the federal government.
So, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure Brain Worm is going to institute this nationwide any minute now.
Well, um, he's also going to take credit for it.
That would be outstanding. Right? Yeah. Okay, thanks, buddy.
Look what we did and you didn't do.
That toad's cool. All right, we have some more news to get to, but we have to take a quick break. Everybody stick around. We'll be right back after these messages. We'll be right back. Hey, everyone. This podcast is sponsored by Delete Me. Delete Me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online. At a time when surveillance and data breaches are pretty common. Common enough to make everyone vulnerable. It's shocking how easy it is to find personal information online. And a quick search can uncover details you might assume are private. And this data floating around the Internet can have real world consequences. Whether it's targeted harassment, spam calls, or even financial fraud, the stakes are really high. That is why I'm very grateful for today's sponsor, Delete Me. I love them. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. Right. I didn't realize how much of my personal info was out there until I started using Delete Me. 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Again, the only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.comDailyBeans and enter code DAILYBEANS at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com DailyBEANS code DailyBeans everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the hot notes. Hot, uh, notes. All right, first up from msnbc. The Senate voted on Friday afternoon to move forward with a Republican short term funding bill and avoid a federal government shutdown. Ten Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, voted in favor of cloture, limiting further debate and advancing the bill to final passage. The funding bill then passed in a 5446 vote, with two Democrats joining all but one Republican senator in support. And so forever when the Democrats in the Senate are like, we can't get rid of the filibuster. We're going to need it one day. We needed it one day. We needed it Friday and they didn't fucking use it. I'm so pissed about this. This was the culmination of a wild week that brought to a head a divide among Congressional Democrats on how to best counter Trump's agenda. Moreover, it has left Schumer a far cry from his past as once one of the party's most effective messengers. Now the caucus he leads thanks to his own missteps, appears too disjointed and out of sync to have a coherent message. The continuing resolution of the House approved Tuesday slashes funding for non defense spending over the next six months, but does so stealthily enough that swing district Republicans could support it. More significantly, the normally anti CR House Freedom Caucus jumped on board after Trump and JD Vance promised that the White House would simply cut whatever spending the resolution authorized that they didn't like. That alone should have been enough to make clear to Congressional Democrats that the language they were demanding to curtail Trump's illegal impoundment should be required for any support. In passing the bill, House Democrats were kind of all over the place in their reasoning for opposing the bill, but they all opposed it except for one dude, Jared, uh, Golden. They cited the reducted short term funding, longer term risk to Social Security and other, uh, entitlements, I don't like to call them entitlements, uh, and calling it as a free pass to let the Department of Government Efficiency continue its illegal downsizing of the government. But despite differing motives, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries made sure his caucus agreed on the results. All but one As I said, House Democrat voted against the bill. Given lawmakers and especially Democrats temptation to avoid blame for a shutdown, this was a major feat for Jeffries to get all these votes on board except for that one guy, and they really went out on a limb to do it. But even as House Democrats stuck together, it quickly became clear how unprepared Senate Democrats were for this moment. According to NBC News, quote Schumer didn't initiate a full caucus conversation about how to handle the House measure until Democrats met for lunch on Tuesday after the House bill already passed. Two days of closed door discussions did not lead to consensus among members on how to avoid a shutdown without appearing to capitulate to Trump. The resulting messaging from Senate Democrats was a mess. On Wednesday afternoon, Schumer announced that there weren't Democratic votes for the GOP bill and that the caucus was unified on a 30 day funding bill to allow for more negotiations. But getting that alternative to the floor would have required offering it as an amendment, which would have required at least eight Democrats to vote for cloture anyway. It would only be then that the Democrats could offer up their plan as amendment, which was guaranteed to fail given The Republicans have 53 seats. It and two other amendments, as predicted, failed to pass on Friday afternoon. The strategy seemed like an attempt to use the arcane procedures of the Senate to hoodwink Democratic voters into thinking the caucus had done everything in its power to stop the resolution. That feeling was justified the next day when Schumer turned around to say that he would vote in favor of advancing the bill rather than allowing a shutdown. Quote, I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option, he said in a floor speech. I will vote to keep the government open, not shut it down. To say that House Democrats were angry at Schumer's capitulation is quite the understatement. Their fury was compounded because, according to NBC News, Jeffrey's team had let Schumer know about their plan to unify against the bill and force the GOP back to the table, a plan that could only work if Senate Democrats held strong as well. Quote I think there's a deep sense of outrage and betrayal and this is not just progressive Democrats. This is across the board, the entire party. That's what AOC told reporters Thursday night. In this case, Schumer got what he wanted but managed to bring enough of his members with him to avoid a shutdown. But in the process, he has alienated the House and accelerated the growing conversation about the need for sitting senators to face primary challengers. Whether he leads the Senate Democratic caucus after the midterms is now in doubt. And in refusing to use every tool in his power to stop Trump's violation of the Constitution, Schumer has left an already demoralized Democratic base wondering when, if ever, the party's leaders are going to act like their campaign trail warnings about the threat Trump poses to the country and when it will be reflected in their actions. I think we need a new Senate minority leader, and I think everyone should call their Dem senators and tell them.
That I do not disagree. All right, next up from the post Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed information about prominent black, Hispanic and female service members and topics such as the Civil War from its website, part of a broader effort across the Defense Department to remove all references to what diversity, equity and inclusion from its online presence because they're a cemetery spokesperson confirmed Friday that it removed internal links directing users to web pages listing the dozens of, quote, notable graves of black, Hispanic and female veterans and their spouses. On these pages, users could read short biographies about the people buried in the cemetery, including General Colin Powell, the youngest and first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hector Santa Anna, a World War II B17 bomber pilot, Berlin airlift pilot and career military leader. Now members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the country's first black military airmen who accomplishments include completing more than 1800 missions during World War II and members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. That's the only all black, all female women's Army Corps unit to serve overseas during World War II. Now users could also read about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black person to sit on the high court, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is buried alongside her husband, Martin Ginsburg, an Army veteran. The biographies of notable black, Hispanic and female veterans and their spouses, they're still accessible through other internal links such as the U.S. supreme Court or prominent military figures. But the categories which are, uh, and I quote, African American history, Hispanic American history and women's history and I shit you not, they no longer appear prominently. Those landing pages can still be accessed via search or by copying and pasting the links into a search bar, but they're not readily available now. The removals were first reported by Civil War historian Kevin M M Levin on his substack quote civil War Memory and further reported by task and purpose now 11. A, uh, Boston author and former teacher said Friday that he had been tipped off about the website changes by a friend who was a teacher. Arlington's history. It's a powerful tool to teach about American history, and the website is an extension of that. This is all from Levin. He warned that restoring the lost information won't be simple. Among the people listed on the website's women's history landing page are Elizabeth Smith Friedman, and that's a leading cryptologist of the 20th century and one of the first women employed as a code breaker for the United States. There's also Captain Joy Bright Hancock, who has been credited in expanding women's opportunities in the military. And Major General Marcelite Jordan Harris, once the highest ranking female officer in the Air Force and the highest ranking black American woman in the Defense Department. The, quote, hispanic American history page lists Captain Maria Inez Ortiz, who served in the Iraq War, was the first army nurse killed in combat since the Vietnam War. Humbert Ro Versace, a, ah, Vietnam prisoner of war who received the first Medal of Honor for actions performed in Southeast Asia while in captivity, and the Borikaneers, members of the U.S. army's 65th Infantry Regiment who fought in the Korean War. The cemetery has completely removed educational materials on the Civil War and Medal of Honor recipients, among other topics. According to an archived version of the Civil War webpage, users could browse lesson plans, walking tours and other material. Now users can read only a brief overview of the cemetery's connection to the war at the top of the page. This is just embarrassing. All of this is going to be a stain on the history of this country. And I hope to God we can reverse these things. It's just, it's grotesque. It's grotesque.
Yeah, I, I, I remember seeing that one Medal of Honor recipient was labeled in the URL as DEI medal.
Oh, my God.
Um, which is just disgusting. Absolutely horrific. Ah, so we'll be keeping you up on what's going on over it. This is Arlington National Cemetery.
Makes me so sick.
We know Trump already just took a giant dump all over Arlington when he did that whole photo op thing there and had somebody rough up one of the workers.
That's probably one of the reasons why he's targeting them.
Yeah. Uh, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if the person who shoved the microphone in Trump's face was a Voice of America, uh, a journalist. Um, and we're going to talk about that in a minute. All right, next up from the BBC. Planes carrying more than 200 Venezuelans deported from America landed in El Salvador hours after a judge ordered the Trump administration not to do so. El Salvadorian President Naib Bukele wrote on social media that 238 members of the Venezuelan gang Trenda Aragua had arrived, along with 23 members of Ms. 13 on Sunday morning. Their arrival in the Central American nation comes after a federal judge blocked Trump from invoking a centuries old wartime law to justify the deportations without due process, something Bukele made fun of later in his post saying oopsie, too late. Lol. Now the move by the US to send alleged criminals from other countries to El Salvador was an arrangement that Marco Rubio previously called the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world. Bouquet Pele wrote that the detainees were immediately transferred to El Salvador's notorious mega jail, the Terrorism Confinement center or C cop for a period of one year, something that was renewable, suggesting they could be held there for longer. Quote, the United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us, he added. Rubio confirmed that the alleged gang members arrival in El Salvador he confirmed and then he thanked Bukele, calling him the strongest security leader in our region. Hours beforehand, On Saturday evening, U.S. district Judge James Boasberg ordered a halt to the deportations covered by Trump's proclamation, which invoked the Alien enemies Act of 1798, the same law, by the way, that the United States used to justify internment of Japanese Americans in World War II. The law allows the government to detain and deport people, threatening the country's safety with zero due process. It's unclear whether everyone deported to El Salvador has been convicted of a crime or is even a member of the gangs. Amnesty International wrote on Twitter that the deportations were yet another example of the Trump administration's racist targeting of Venezuelans based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation. Venezuela criticized invoking the wartime measure, saying it unjustly criminalizes Venezuelan migration and evokes the darkest episodes in the history of humanity, from slavery to the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. After hearing the planes with deportees had taken off, Judge Boasberg ordered them to turn back. That's according to the Washington Post and from the court hearing. Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that the deportations happened under the Alien Enemies act and made no mention of the judge's ruling. He said hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country. Their deportation despite the judge's ruling has raised legal questions. A lawyer from a rights Group involved in a lawsuit against the White House said she had asked the government on Sunday whether the court's order had been violated. Quote, we're waiting to hear, as well as trying to do our own investigation. That's what Lee Gelert said with the ACLU in a statement. The Department of Justice has appealed against the judge's ruling overnight, according to BBC's media partner CBS. The BBC has contacted DOJ for comment, hasn't received one. A video attached to one of Bukele's social media posts shows lines of people with their hands and feet shackled being escorted by armed officials from the planes. Some are placed in the back of armored vehicles, while others hunched over as officers push their heads down and they're forced into buses. The video also shows an aerial view of a long, winding police escort leading the buses into El Salvador's Secot Jail. The newly built Mac Security Jail is part of Bukele's effort to crack down on organized crime in his country. The facility, which can hold up to 40,000 people, has been criticized by human rights groups for maltreatment of inmates. The arrangement between the US And El Salvador is a sign of strengthening diplomatic ties between the two countries. Quote, thank you for your assistance and friendship. That's what Rubio said on Twitter on Sunday to Bukele after the order and after the planes landed. El Salvador was the second country Rubio visited after he was sworn in, by the way. And during that trip, which took place in February, Bukele made an initial offer to take U.S. deportees, saying it would help pay for the SEACOT facility. Now, um, some updated news is coming out from Axios reporting that the White House intentionally defied this court order, saying, well, we're going to take it to the Supreme Court and win anyhow. So even though the judge ordered, the judge came in. I made a couple of videos, put them on my sub stack, put them on blue, uh, sky. But the judge came in an emergency basis, Dana. He didn't even have his robes with him. He came in in, like, civilian clothes because this was so urgent, because he had caught wind that Trump was putting people on planes and deporting them without due process under the Alien Enemies act, without, you know, asking anybody if that was okay.
Yeah.
And that's when the aclu, uh, sued. And so Boseberg rushed in and said, yeah, no, I'm first of all expanding the class beyond the five Venezuelans represented in this lawsuit to anyone Trump is trying to deport under the Alien Enemies Act. And two, you're Blocked. And if there are planes in the air right now, which I suspect there are, they have to turn around and come back. And the Trump administration is saying, uh, no, uh, your written order came out after the planes had already landed, even though he made a verbal order to turn the planes around. And I, uh, haven't seen what Judge Boasberg, if he's ordered another hearing on this, but I have a feeling he's going to be pretty pissed off. This is a pretty big blatant violation of a direct court order.
And I think he's going to continue to violate these, to be honest with you, because of the Supreme Court ruling about immunity. If it's an official presidential act, like, I really think he's going to tell as many courts as he wants to fuck off. And that's, it's, it's awful. But the Supreme Court set this defiance up. They set it up with that ruling.
Yeah, that. And I mean, even if, uh, he, I mean, that would be. If they tried to arrest him for it, when nobody's going to try to arrest him for it, he would be immune from criminal liability.
True.
But you still can't defy a court order. Even if the court order is wrong and the Supreme Court eventually decides it's wrong, you have to follow the court order and appeal.
Right.
You can't just defy, uh, a court order, which they did blatantly and then joked about it on social media, laughing, and it's harrowing. Can you imagine being in the air and having that judge have to come in and make that decision before you land and you're put in a detention, uh, center for a year, um, without any due process. And now for them to be like, we don't care, and, you know, like, a lot of folks are like, well, what does the deportation of Venezuelans have to do with me? They're coming for you next.
Yeah.
This is a trial. They're, they're going to be like, well, if we want to deport protesters, which.
See how far we can push it.
Yep. And if we, it just American citizens who are Democrats, we consider them a terrorist threat to national security. So we're going to deport them to this Gitmo or ccon, uh, you know, under the Alien Enemies act or whatever, it's good. It's dangerous. It's a dangerous slope.
Yeah. Thanks, Allison. This one's from the Times. Um, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday seeking to dismantle seven additional federal agencies, including the one that oversees Voice of America and other government funded media outlets around the world. Mr. Trump directed the heads of the agencies, which address issues like labor mediation and homelessness prevention, to eliminate all functions that are not statutorily mandated. The leader should also, quote, reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law. That's what the order said. Like many of the President's moves in his wide ranging effort to shrink the government, the order appears to test the bounds of his authority. Of course it does. Voice of America's parent, that's the US Agency of Global Media, for example, is congressionally chartered as an independent agency. And Congress passed a law in 2020 intended to limit the power of the agency's presidentially appointed chief executive. In addition to Voice of America, the Agency for Global Media funds Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. The organization, with a budget of roughly $270 million and more than 2,000 employees, broadcasts in 49 languages. It has a weekly estimated audience of more than 361 million people. This is a really good way to get information out that clearly they're trying to stop. By Saturday morning, many journalists and other employees at Voice of America were informed that they were being placed on administrative leave. That's according to an email reviewed by the New York Times. Journalists said that the cuts were so widespread that they would effectively shut down the international broadcaster. And I'm telling you, this is so people in places in other countries aren't getting the information of what's really fucking happening. They want to be able to control these airwaves.
Yep, yep. Going after the free Press, uh, we knew would happen. All right, thanks for that story. After this break, you'll hear my interview with Felipe Torres Medina about his new book called America Let Me In A Choose youe Own Immigration Story. And your good trouble today will be part of that discussion. So stick around. We'll be right back. This podcast is sponsored by Peak. Peak's Radiant Skin Duo combines Sun Goddess Matcha and BT Fountain electrolytes for the ultimate in beauty and wellness. This powerful duo supports glowing, hydrated skin while boosting energy, gut health and Overall Vitality. Get 20% off the Radiant Skin Duo plus a free starter kit at peaklife.com DailyBeans I have always wanted glowing, plump, healthy, dewy skin. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to get there. And that's I discovered the Radiant Skin Duo from Peak Life and it's completely transformed my whole routine. The Sun Goddess Matcha and BT Fountain combo is my go to for glowing skin and Lasting energy. Sun Goddess Matcha delivers sustained energy without jitters or crashes thanks to L Theanine for calm focus and EGCG antioxidants that firm and brighten my skin. It also supports gut health which helps me feel less bloated and more confident. BT Fountain electrolytes hydrates me on a cellular level with clinically proven ceramides to reduce fine lines and wrinkles so my skin stays soft, supple and free from redness. And it's all vegan, no added sugar, no artificial anything. Together they are a powerhouse. They protect my skin. They strengthen its barrier and keep it deeply hydrated for that lit from within glow. They're made with pure premium ingredients, globally sourced and rigorously tested for efficacy, purity and bioavailability too. So this duo is a game changer. The pre measured sachets make it easy just dissolve in hot or cold water. Sun Goddess Matcha is quadruple toxin screen shaded, 35% longer and ceremonial grade with a creamy umami flavor. And BT Fountain is pure clean hydration. So if you're looking for a simple way to elevate your skin and energy and gut health, the Radiance skin duo is it. It is the ultimate glow up secret. So ready to transform your routine? Right now you can get 20% off the radiant skin duo plus a free starter kit which includes a rechargeable frother and a glass beaker. With my exclusive link, it's peaklife.comdailybeans that's P I Q U E life.com dailybeans don't miss out. Glow naturally into 2025 while supplies last. You'll be glad you did. Hey everybody. Welcome back. Honored today to be joined by Peabody and Writers Guild of America award winning writer from Bogota, Colombia. His writing for the Late show with Stephen Colbert has earned him five Emmy nominations and he has a new book called America Let me in A, uh, Choose youe Own immigration story. Please welcome Felipe Torres Medina.
Hi. Thank you for having me.
I am so happy to talk to you. This is like. This book is incredible. It's like a prequel to my friend Wajahat Ali's book Go Back to Where you Came from. Which is also a very, very well written book. And I think it's so important to use humor to kind of point these things out. But this is based, this book is based on the choose your own adventure books that I grew up on. I remember reading the one about the scary western guy who ends up killing you at the end no matter which way you go. And no matter which way you choose. But basically, the concept is, right, you. If you want to do this, go to page 12. If you want to do this, go to page 14. Right. So talk a little bit about what prompted you to write this book as far as choosing your own immigration story.
Well, I chose this kind of interactive format which, um, I want to say that choose your own adventure books did not invent, uh, no matter how much they want to claim that they did. It's actually following a big literary tradition and in Latin America, because Julio, uh, Cortazar wrote a novel in the 60s called hopscotch that does that kind of like, turn to page whatever, um, which I read when I was a teenager. But choosing this, um, model for me or in this. This, um, format was a way for me to create a layer between the themes and the subject matter of the book, which is usually seen in America. Something so heavy, so loaded. You know, immigration is such a. Oh, my God, you just kind of suck out the air, out of the room when you even utter the word immigration. Um, so I wanted to find a way to create a layer between the subject matter and the reader so that it could. The comedy could come in. Because I'm a comedian first and foremost, more than, you know, a scholar of immigration. So I thought this would be a really good way to not only involve the reader in a way that I think immigration books don't involve readers ever by making them the main characters, but it was also a way for me to tell a bunch of immigration stories because I was not interested in writing, um, my story exclusively, because I thought my story was fine and, you know, moderately interesting, in the same way that any immigrant story is moderately interesting. What, uh, what I was interested in is, like, all the ways and all the pitfalls, uh, and quote, unquote, dangers that are in the legal immigration system, even, you know. And so I chose to find a way to tell all these stories while using humor and while adding a layer of play. You know, it's playful. It's a playful book. It's a funny book about a serious thing. And so by adding that format, I was able to just include all the things that I wanted this book to be, which was a book about immigration, but also a book that is funny and a book that tells a lot of stories, not just one.
Yeah.
And I think it's also about putting yourself in somebody else's shoes, you know, quite a bit to sort of understand the process or, and. Or lack thereof of trying to navigate our immigration system. And that's before, you know, Donald Trump came in and, you know, just today decided that, uh, he can circumvent the courts in due process to violate the law and the Constitution. I mean, we already know he's got birthright citizenship things going on in court. He's got this deportation, uh, of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies act, which he is trying to use illegally, like I said, to circumvent due process. And, um, I think it's important that everybody understand. I'm sure there's a bunch of people like, well, what does the deportation of 200 Venezuelans have to do with me? Well, if you don't think that you're next, I have some a bridge to sell you, because once there are no consequences for circumventing due process, it can get pretty dangerous. But even before all of that, even before all of that, our immigration system, you know, I think what a lot of people noted, especially during the elections, was people were like, well, they broke the law. It's like, well, then we should make it so that they're not breaking the law. Right.
Well, we should. I think that the argument has always been is they should come the right way. Right, exactly. To talk about immigration. And this book in particular only talks about legal immigration. There's a few excerpts in the end where I discuss the matter of, um, irregular immigration, uh, from a very, like, you know, removed way, because I have only the experience of legal immigration. And also, I don't think those stories should be told in a humor book. You know, that's a very different perspective and a very different, um, subject matter. Um, but what I wanted to kind of show with the book is that the right way is, first of all, there's many right ways, and they're all impossibly difficult and horribly, uh, hard and terrifyingly expensive. You know, so it requires a certain amount of privilege and a certain amount of courage. Uh, and I think people tend to make the argument of like, oh, well, immigrants should come the right way, like my grandparents or great grandparents did. And that way doesn't exist anymore. And that was part of the reason why I wanted to write this book is, um, this is not just people on the right side of the aisle. You know, this is. This ignorance toward the immigration system is bipartisan. I lived in New York in my 20s. I still live in New York, but when I was in my 20s, I just moved to New York, having graduated with a master's degree. And, um, this. My friends who are all like, liberal Bernie Bros, you know, would be like, oh, well, you went to School here, you graduated, you're good, right? And I'm like, no. Every day I'm in fear of not getting my job before the 90 days of my opt being done. Or should I apply for an H1B or do I try and get an O1? And all of a sudden you're just like shouting terms at them that sound like you're listing Star wars robots. And uh, they have no idea. And why would they. And I think that that's another thing I want to mention is like, why would you have to know all these things unless you have to go through them? And now that immigration has become this big issue that everyone has opinions on, I was like, well, I want to write a book that kind of explains that these right ways, first of all, aren't as easy as you think. And second of all, are so many and so confounding.
Mhm.
Yeah.
And that's like, that's what I love about this. Choose your own adventure format. Because one of the first things you say is to come to America the easy way, uh, turn to this page and um, you know what happens when you turn to that page?
It says incorrect. There is no easy way to move to the United States. Please start again.
Yeah, you're right. Now what happens when we layer all of these illegal, uh, moves by this particular administration to, uh, quote, unquote, crack down on immigration that I mean, seemingly make it even harder than the hardest way to avoid being in the crosshairs of something like this? I mean, the stress of it all, I think of the dreamers who are just in limbo half the time at least, wondering if they're going to be deported to a country whose language they don't even speak sometimes. Um, and you know, what's going to happen to them and will they get due process? And it's starting to play out that, um, there might not even be due process here and the due process is already difficult enough. So what's kind of, what's going on there?
Well, I mean, I mean, to me, the Trump administration's actions, even when they were first in power and now they're obviously very bad. But to me, they're a symptom of immigration, uh, being treated as this hot potato that no one wants to deal with, rather than, I mean, perhaps they are the most nefarious symptom or the worst symptom. But to me it's, it's. You mentioned dreamers. We haven't had comprehensive immigration reform in this country since Bill Clinton was in office. That is terrible. That is crazy. And so immigration has become this thing where we don't actually address it. It's just this political bomb that both parties and both sides have been using to their advantage, however they want to use it. And offering any sort of solutions or fixes to the system is actually not in the benefit of either party, clearly. And so they've been just letting it slide. And all of a sudden it's a system that is full of flaws, even the legal system, you know, and in comes a, uh, wild card who says, well, I'm actually going to remove EB1 investor visas and replace them with a 5 million dollar gold card.
Right.
And that's even like the least on uh, constitutional, um, of his actions or of the actions of this administration. And it sounds silly and it is silly, but Also, well, the EB5 system is flawed in and of itself. So replacing it with something is actually not a bad idea. Replacing it with a 5 million dollar gold card. I don't think it's going to work. You know, I don't think it's going to achieve, uh, what they say that it's going to achieve. But to me what this all means is that really like this is a symptom of a bigger problem, which is that we've decided that immigration is just something we talk about, not something we explore, investigate or actually address in the benefit of the people, both Americans and uh, people who either want to become Americans or just want to come here for whatever reason, school, um, work or whatever.
Yeah. And I'm really hoping that this kind of format, this sort of putting everyone in the shoes of an immigrant. Choose your own immigration story. And using humor, do you think, or do you hope that that will crack through the collective amnesia we have that we're actually all immigrants unless we're indigenous?
Um, I hope so. I mean, I think that that's part of the idea of this book. I think I want this book to. I didn't write this book to appeal to liberals or conservatives. I wrote this book because, um, as an immigrant I would have liked this book to exist in the world and have existed when I was going through my visas and all that stuff. But also because I think it'll hopefully remind people of the, not only our immigrant past as a nation, you know, but also of the um, universality of immigrant stories. You know, um, these things can happen to anyone in any country and I'm just exposing them here in the book through humor so that you can maybe be like, oh wait, well if I were in this situation, I would maybe try to do this or that or blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, no, I think, you know, it's so incredibly important to use the tools that we have at our disposal, use our strengths. Right. Like, the best way to, uh, be in opposition to a dictatorship is to have a focused kind of resistance instead of just a broad brushstroke. So I think that, um, using your talents as a writer and a humorist and, you know, based on, uh, the books that you read in Columbia as a kid, you know. Cause we didn't invent them with choose your own Adventure, I think really puts it in a different perspective. And I'm glad that this book isn't geared toward any specific group or any specific age and that it can really apply to anyone. And I encourage, uh, everyone to pick up this book. And, uh, it's gonna make a great gift. I know it's only March, but, like, starting, uh, early in the year, Felipe. I start buying books that I love over the year and just keep them all in a closet. And then at Christmas time or over the holidays, I just start wrapping them up and handing them out like a little library.
But also, it's a good Fourth of July present. You know, people don't really give out 4th of July presents, but maybe. Maybe it's a new tradition, you know, if you don't want to save it for Christmas, it's a good Fourth of July. Flag Day. You know, let's start Flag day presents.
Yeah. Well, by the 4th of July, I still haven't even taken down my Easter decorations. I'm that kind of person. No, I'm just kidding. But this is also a great book. And this is my little. This is my Good Trouble. For today, we're mixing the Good Trouble assignment in with the interview. So the Good Trouble today, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to buy a bunch of copies of this book. It's available now wherever you get them, and go and put them in all the little libraries around your neighborhood. I think this is an excellent book for little libraries.
Oh, that's so nice. That's a great idea. I really. First of all, I really appreciate you saying that everyone should buy copies of this book. But also. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a, uh. I love the idea of little libraries. We have here. Right by my coffee shop here in Harlem, we have one. And I think that the whole point of this book is to remind ourselves of. Well, first of all, to laugh, but second of all, to remind ourselves of, like, all these communities that we live in are at any point, we were all immigrants, you know, whether it's me coming here at 21 years old and doing what I did or, you know, the guys who are on the mayflower. Unless you're 100% Native American, you know.
Or if you were brought here, uh, under circumstances that weren't of your choosing.
Right, exactly. Like, so we're all like, this is the nation of immigrants. And so. And I will, like, I will defend that. You know, I think we must defend and embrace that identity as a nation of immigrants, as this melting pot of kookiness, because it's not just, like, the inspiring stuff. It's also kooky and silly, and it creates disparities. But that gives us some of our best stuff. Like, I don't know, I live in New York, and I love of, like, Jewish American cuisine, like deli cuisine. You know, that stuff was born through immigration.
Yeah. Well, everything here, uh, you know, unless, like you said, indigenous, is and was. Um, and I also think that I hope a great unintended consequence of this book is to get people to find out about their own how they got here stories, not just folks who are immigrants or first generation or second generation, but going, like you said, all the way back to the Mayflower. What is your immigration story? Uh, uh, what is your actual immigration story? We've put you through the choose your own adventure story, but what's yours? I think a lot of people will be encouraged to try to find that out and realize that, like you said, we're a nation of immigrants.
Yeah.
Well, anyway, so that's your good trouble today. That's your homework. Go buy a bunch of copies of this book, put them around in little libraries, give them out as fourth of July gifts. Um, it's called America. Let me a, uh, choose your own immigration story, and it's written by Felipe Torres Medina. Felipe, it's been great to speak to you today. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for having me. This was lovely.
Yeah, 100%. And by the way, once we're offline, I'm going to ask you all sorts of insider questions about working for Colbert. I just. Because that sounds like a really rad job. Anyway, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news, everyone. M. And if you have any good news confessions, corrections, you want to play any animal guessing game we have. What the mutt? Find a cat opine on the bovine. What the heck? Wine. What the hell's in that shell? What's the model of your axolotl? We have all sorts of animal guessing games we can play. Or, you know, uh, if you want to give a shout out to yourself or a loved one or a government program that's helped you or a loved one, uh, shout out to a local business or your small business or your big business. Maybe you're a corporate person. You want to tell us about what you're doing, let us know. And of course, um, if you have any student debt relief, uh, or other government programs that have helped you out, like I said, please include that. All you need to do to get your good news story in or your shout out in is to attach a photo of your pet. We call it paying your pod pet tax. If you don't have a pet, you can send, uh, us an adoptable pet in your area. If you don't have that, you can also send us bird watching photos, which is, could be a photo of an actual bird or you and your family and friends flipping off Trump and Musk properties with their we love them Tesla takedown. Um, uh, protests in like all 50 states right now. It's been D.C. it's pretty awesome. And uh, of course if you don't have that, you can send your baby pictures in. We love your baby pictures. So send it all to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. All right, uh, let's start with a, um, submission from anonymous Pronouns he and him. A poem to help us all remember the names of the ten Democratic senators who voted to fund this government. Uh, it's called Pulsing Dirge. Um, here's a list. So you all know Fetterman, Durbin, Cortez, Masto. They had their reasons to do this thing. Schumer, Peters, Gillibrand, King. But I can't get past what this will mean. How could you? Hassan, Schatz and Shaheen. So there's a poem to help you remember the 10 Democratic senators who turned their backs on Dems in the house. And all of us, frankly.
Yeah, this is a short one and I actually love this. This is from Eric B. Pronouns he and him. Hi Allison. And Dana was visiting family in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day weekend and I have to confess, saluted this building's namesake. Forgive me. Don't need to. He deserves it. Eric. I love that they turn the river green. I know there's a lot of people that are like why they do this. Unless I'm wrong and someone correct me. They do it with a very non toxic dye. Uh, not a dye they do it with a non toxic coloring. I think it's pretty cool and I think it looks really cool from above. But let me know if you're in the team that does not that the river should be dyed green. And I'll take it into consideration. Uh, this one is from Norm. Pronouns he and him. Good news in a world where there are evil people seemingly all around. I ran into a wonderful stranger the other night. I was at the hospital while my wife was in the er. She's fine, but at the time, all I knew was she didn't have a heart attack and I was stressed. Literally five minutes before the hospital cafeteria was to close, I got there starving and needed to eat. They were already closing up, but the one woman got me some warm food and checked me out, but she wouldn't let me pay, saying that she took care of it. The friendliness helped a lot during that time of stress.
I love people look for the helpers.
Oh, my God. I know. It's so cute. This is hysterical. Photos is of, um, two of the llamas. Spirit, uh, is white. Cece is Brown. Back in 2017 when we had a visitor. The llamas have since both passed away, but I thought this might bring you some joy and appreciate what you're doing. And this is, uh, at the time where everyone was photoshopping that picture of Bernie Sanders and his mittens and his mask. Um, and he is photoshopped in with the llamas.
Uh, okay, first of all, these are beautiful. I love llamas and alpacas. They're like some of my favorite animals, and they're super soft and amazing. I'm sorry you've lost your llama babies spirit and cc, but I love this. Norm, if you have any other, please, uh, continue to send in your animal photos because this is fantastic and Bernie with the llamas is a hundred times better. All right, next up from Margot, the best news of the past few weeks are Judge William Alsop's unrestrained opinions. I'm sure he's holding back some swears putting Doge and company in their place. Boyfriend reminded me that Judge Alsop was a clerk for the Supreme Court. Justice William O. Douglas, a favorite of ours, who wrote the famous dissent in the 1972 case Sierra Club v. Morton, advocating that trees and other natural objects deserve standing in environmental litigation. Judge Alsop cited the majority in Sierra Club frequently in his rulings on standing in the first order, and his clerkship with Douglas coincided with that case. I also found out that our library includes Judge Alsop's book one over reflections of a federal judge on his journey from Jim Crow, Mississippi. A total side note from producer Kanai William O. Douglas was appointed by, uh, F.R.D. in 19. Is it FDR? I think in 1939. He was on the bench until November 1975. 36 years might be too long even for a good one.
Oh, yeah, that's fair.
Anyway, that's pretty rad. Um, Margo, thank you for that little history of Judge Alsop and his former, uh, you know, clerk clerkship with Justice Douglas.
Love, um, that. All right. This is from MK M in Albuquerque, my hometown pronoun. She and her my 55 plus neighborhood democratic group is organizing a quote, take back our flag operation. We're sickened by the co opting of the flag by MAGA and are offering to order flags, poles and brackets for our democratic neighbors. We will also offer help to install the brackets. We will then have coordinated days to fly our flag in mass. We will also provide vetted sources of neighbors to order additional flags to support Pride, Allyship, Ukraine, etc. The vetting will ensure the sources don't also sell MAGA product.
Cool.
We refuse to support a business making money on that propaganda. For my POD pet tax, I'm attached a picture of my daughter's sweet Toby. She adopted him 10 years ago and just celebrated his unofficial 18th birthday with a doggo froyo. He's the best boy, but tends to look like a grumpy cow. So he's pictured here with his inner animal. Oh, look how cute he is.
That's an adorable pup. But I'm really interested in this cow painting.
Uh, it's fantastic.
MK in a bq and I think.
Maybe it's a bull because it's got horns, but either way, I don't want to ruin the story for that, but this painting is fast and is fantastic.
Yeah, all of them to me are just moocows. They're just moocows. Amazing. Um, adorable pup. Thank you so much. All right, next up from Danielle Pronoun. She and they. Hello, beans queens. I've recently discovered you and I'm telling all of my fam because listening to people deliver the news the way we actually talk about it in real life is so refreshing. I live in a bit of a liberal bubble and I'm even seeing divides amongst activists here as the secret transphobes expose themselves. Right, Right, Danielle. It's been frightening to me. Yeah, I just lost an LGB friend yesterday, quote, lgb, who, uh, took it upon themselves to Speak at a state assembly meeting in support of making it illegal to provide gender affirming care to trans kids. When people you assume are on your side want to mess with the lives of children, times are devastating. To lift us up, I'm writing to shout out my art. I'm vending in a multi artist pop up tomorrow night. So I've been very busy churning out new pieces. One of the media I enjoy is art dolls. I decided to channel some of my frustration about the current into my dollies and I feel like the Leguminati would appreciate it. Danielle, you are very right. I am sharing posts of photos of legs. Rain, Blow Rain, uh, blow Impaler and Bulldike Dozer of the Transgender Nazi Terminators League or tnt.
Nice.
I definitely want to make more recruits. If I figure out how to make them actually robotic. Even better. Maybe a comic. Who knows by Podpet Tax is my sweet, sassy tuxedo boy Sirloin. Oh my God. Your cat's name is Sirloin. Thank you so much for everything you do. Keep fighting the good fight, Danielle. Welcome to the Laguminati. And you can check out Danielle's art on Insta at biomadart. That's. That's B I O M M A D D underscore art.
These are so cool. It's like steampunk meets Barbies.
And by the way, Biomad stands for Blame it on my add.
Oh my God, that's fantastic.
I love it. Oh, these are cool, Danielle.
These are really awesome.
It's like weird Barbie to the with.
I also love that they sort of look.
I uh, don't.
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like they're very diverse in the sense of. Of.
But they're glam too.
Yeah. Abilities of these, of these, of these art. Of this art.
Yes, that's. This is cool, Danielle. So thank you so much. You can check out Danielle. Like I said, you can check them out at Biomad. B I O M A D D underscore art on Insta. This is so great. And your tuxedo is so awesome.
Very cute. Thank you for sharing that with us. This one's from Janelle Pronoun. She and her hello Queens of the beans and team wanted to share my good news, my good trouble. Excuse me. From this weekend. It truly made me feel less helpless in this shitstorm of fuckery. I went old school and I mailed my FOIA request to those dickheads at Doge. I added a bonus. Fuck those guys. By using my HRC membership gift Address label and sealing the envelope with rainbow heart and Love is love stickers. Next. I attended my first protest march with Burke's Dems. Uh, we had a great turnout and a wonderful support the double barrel birds and fuck you. We're heavily outnumbered by the honks, thumbs ups and fist bumps. I can't wait to do this again for the hands off mass mobilization. That's April 5th. Hands off mass mobilization April 5th. I'm sharing a pick from the March and pod tax is an oldie but favorite from when I could still enjoy time with my now MAGA infected brother in law. The Pagoda is a Reading, Pennsylvania icon and looks over the city from Mount Penn. It's always a thrill to see the looks of surprise when visitors see horses emerge from the trail. As always, thanks for all you do.
Yeah, look at that.
This is fantastic.
Doge has a target on your Social Security and Medicare. Excellent sign, excellent protest. I love that you added. Fuck those guys. Uh, HRC membership gift, address labels and rainbow hearts and Love is love St. That's awesome.
So, so, so good.
And congrats to the Burke stems there. All right, hands off is the mass mobilization on April 5th. Thanks to you. Thanks to everybody who sent in all their good news and good trouble and POD pet tax and photos and llamas. We appreciate you. Always good when you have that extra Bernie with Mittens in your photo.
So cute.
So if you want to download the Fonto app and just include him in any of your POD pet tax photos, we'll be happy to accept. Uh, anyway, thank you so much everybody. I know it's ah, been a tough weekend, uh, for news, especially with Schumer. Um, I, ah, know that myself, uh, and a lot of my friends are working on, uh, getting letters signed to withhold our donations until Democrats, um, have a new election and elect a new minority Senate leader. Um, I really do think it's time for him to go. Whether or not you agree with the shutdown or not, he left House Dems hanging out in the wind.
Yeah, he sure did.
Uh, I disagree with what, you know, with the, the quote unquote merits of what he did. But even if you agree that he should have averted a shutdown to, to hang out his fellow Dems like that in the House, um, that's not good. That is not good at all. And to wait last minute to do it like that and now he's on a book tour this week. It's like.
I'm sorry.
Come on, man.
Yeah, I've read. Yeah, I don't Want to get into too much. But I've read articles about Schumer being, um, a little bit beholden to some, um, tech bros and making some money off of all of that and voting, not voting stuff down that he should have or, you know, on the floor, just letting it die instead of taking a stand, so.
Well, I've been writing him angry letters since 2022 when he decided not to put the Military Justice Improvement act on the floor of the senate. It had 66 sponsors and it was going to take the decision, uh, to prosecute rape in the military out of the hands of the military and put it into a civilian M group. And, uh, he had 66. They had 66 votes. He wouldn't bring it to the floor. Instead, him and Jack Reed sent it to the committee and watered it down and folded it into the NDAA. It was really, really upsetting. Yeah. 60. Ah, six. When in the fuck have you ever had 66 votes for something in the Senate?
It seriously like. And to have that happen.
Yeah, it's just really was a huge betrayal. So I've been after him since then. But this, uh, you know, straw that broke the camel's back because I usually support our Democratic leadership.
100%.
Yep.
100% usually support.
Yeah.
Not. I don't 100% support him. You know, there's obviously rumors that, you know, some people are asking AOC to primary him and we'll see what happens. But, uh, I think that people need to stop thinking that their, their seats are safe just because they've got tenure.
Yeah. And bridge too far. And by the way, I do not want to leave the Democratic Party. This is my party. I've been here for 33 fucking years. That's just voting. Uh, before that, I was still a Democrat. I just couldn't vote. And if you don't want to share in Democratic values, you get out. I'm staying. I, uh, want to fix this party. Um, there's so much good about it. I don't think it's a good idea to throw the baby out with the bathwater in this particular case. Um, we should push our leaders, uh, to get better leadership in the Democratic Party and, um, make it what we want it to be. That's just my two cents.
I agree with you.
Uh, but, but, you know, I know there are a lot of people who are like, want to make another party want to be like a Tea Party for the left and push the Dems to do the right thing. You know, I'm not going to condemn anybody for whatever their ideas are. Just sharing my two cents about. I'm very. I'm very possessive of my party. I love it.
I've been. I just want it to be better. We want to push it to be better.
100, which, I mean, haven't we been doing that for the last 30, 50, 80 years?
I sure thought we were pushing our.
Parties to be better. And we have. We've gotten better. We moved that Overton window. We've been doing the right things. When, you know, when Biden was like, uh, you know, I support gay marriage, and Obama was like, ixnay on the marriage, may. You know, and he's like, nope, I do it. And we moved everything. We didn't want to do the Affordable Care act, trying to push toward universal health care, and a lot of Democrats didn't want to do it. We're moving. We move that.
True.
Very true.
About our party.
Yeah. Ah, that's in. Yep. So I'll say this right now. That's why you do not abandon the trans community. Never push people to understand and educate, because years from now, those people that turn their back on, Even if it's 1% of our population, they're gonna. It's gonna be a stain. It's gonna be a stain on this country. So stop doing it. Stop doing it.
And that's always kind of been the rhetoric, right? Well, it's just the African Americans, they're not a very large voting block. We don't have to support them or it's just gay marriage. It's not a lot of people that do that. We don't that. Oh, it's just abortion rights. It's not a lot of people. We don't need to support that. You got to do what's right. You have. If you can't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. Right? Yeah. All right, my friends, thank you so much. Um, and welcome to our new listeners. Uh, and, uh, thanks to, um, Felipe. What a great book that is. You guys need to check it out. Buy them. That's your good trouble. Buy them. And stock your local little libraries with that book, and everybody will be back in your ears tomorrow. Do you have any final thoughts?
I do not that.
All right, we'll see you then. Until then, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health, and take care of your family.
I've been AG and I've been Gigi.
And them's the beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with Additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joel Reeder with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts tests dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information Please visit msw media.com msw media.