Friday, April 17th, 2026 Today, the Hennepin County DA has charged an ICE agent with two felonies for pointing his gun at motorists during Operation Metro Surge; House lawmakers have filed 5 impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth; Tulsi Gabbard has referred the Ukraine whistleblower and the IG at the time to the DOJ for criminal prosecution; a federal judge sets new limits on Trump’s ballroom construction; the Saudis are backing away from LIV Golf under mounting financial pressures; a jury has found Ticketmaster and Live Nation ran a monopoly over big concert venues; the Department of Labor is investigating text messages among the secretary’s family and staff; Maine lawmakers have passed the nation’s first statewide ban on data centers; the Montana Supreme Court rules that its constitution entirely protects trans citizens; and Allison delivers your Good News.
Friday, April 17th, 2026
Today, the Hennepin County DA has charged an ICE agent with two felonies for pointing his gun at motorists during Operation Metro Surge; House lawmakers have filed 5 impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth; Tulsi Gabbard has referred the Ukraine whistleblower and the IG at the time to the DOJ for criminal prosecution; a federal judge sets new limits on Trump’s ballroom construction; the Saudis are backing away from LIV Golf under mounting financial pressures; a jury has found Ticketmaster and Live Nation ran a monopoly over big concert venues; the Department of Labor is investigating text messages among the secretary’s family and staff; Maine lawmakers have passed the nation’s first statewide ban on data centers; the Montana Supreme Court rules that its constitution entirely protects trans citizens; and Allison delivers your Good News.
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ICE agent charged with assault, accused of pointing a gun at civilians in Minnesota | NBC News
Federal judge sets new limits on Trump ballroom construction | Washington Post
House Democrats file 5 impeachment articles against Hegseth | The Hill
Labor Department Investigates Texts Sent Among Staff, Secretary and Her Family | The New York Times
Maine lawmakers pass nation’s first statewide ban on large data centers | Washington Post
Jury Finds Live Nation Acts as a Monopoly in a Victory for States | NYT
Saudi Fund to Back Away From LIV Golf Under Mounting Financial Pressures - The New York Times
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, April 17, 2026. Today, the Hennepin County DA has charged an ICE agent with two felon for pointing a gun at motorists during Operation Metro Surge. House lawmakers have filed five impeachment articles against Pete Hegseth. Tulsi Gabbard has referred the Ukraine whistleblower and the inspector general at the time to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. A federal judge sets new limits on Trump's ballroom construction. The Saudis are backing away from the Liv golf tournament. Under mounting financial pressures, a jury has found Ticketmaster and Live Nation ran a monopoly over big concert venues. The Department of Labor is investigating text messages among the secretary's family and staff. Maine lawmakers have passed the nation's first statewide ban on data centers. And the Montana Supreme Court has ruled that its constitution entirely protects trans citizens. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey, everybody, Happy Friday. Because it's Friday, we get to talk to John Fugelsang today for Fuglsang Fridays on the Daily Beans. Dana's out, and you're gonna be hanging with me solo. She'll be back next week. And this Saturday, we'll be sending out info on our June 20th gala for patrons. So if you'd like to become a patron and get the show the Beans ad free and early, along with invites to our events, please sign up@patreon.com thedailybeans all right, we have a ton of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up from abc, an ICE agent who was part of the federal immigration surge in Minnesota earlier this year was charged with felony second degree assault with a dangerous weapon. That's according to, a Minnesota prosecutor. On Thursday, the agent, Gregory Donald Morgan Jr. Is accused of pointing a gun at the heads of two civilians in a vehicle. According to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, this is the first case of an ICE agent facing charges related to the Trump administration's Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which drew national outrage after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by law enforcement. Morgan was charged Thursday with two counts of second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, one count for each victim, and there is a warrant out for his arrest. The Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the charges, though if they did, they would probably say something fucking stupid like he tried to weaponize his vehicle against us. But anyway, I digress. The story goes on. Quote, a federal agent, our opinion is that illegally Driving on a shoulder, pulling up to a car, and pointing a gun at the heads of two community members who are not doing anything at the time is well beyond the scope of their authority. That's what she said. The prosecutor said it appeared Morgan was attempting to bypass slower traffic when the victim briefly moved their vehicle into the shoulder to slow him down. The agent then allegedly pulled up to the victim's vehicle before opening his window and pointing his duty weapon at the driver and the passenger. Minnesota State Patrol investigators interviewed Morgan the following day. Now, according to Moriarty, Morgan said he and his partner were driving to the Whipple Federal Building after their shift. He admitted that he drew his firearm after the victim's vehicle had already rejoined the normal flow of traffic, corroborating details from interviews with the victim, as well as video of the incident. That's what Moriarty said. She went on to say. Morgan's alleged behavior is extremely dangerous. Quote, driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who were in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident in a community that has already suffered too many. The Trump administration sent 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota at the end of November for the immigration enforcement operation dubbed Metro Surge. Amid the crackdown, as we know, immigration authorities shot and killed two US citizens, Renee Goode, 37, a mother of young children, and Alex Preddy, 37, an ICU nurse at the VA. Now, the killings, which were captured in videos from the scene, led to a groundswell of outrage and massive protests around the country. The deaths also drew stark criticism from both Democrats and some Republican lawmakers. In the weeks after those deaths, Trump border czar Tom Homan arrived to take over the operation from Gregory Bevino, who was relieved of duty and returned to his previous role as a sector chief in El Centro. That's in California, by the way. Homan in February announced the winding down of the effort, which he said had resulted in the arrest of thousands of people. Immigration arrests in and around Minneapolis have continued, though NBC News decision Desk polling from mid February showed that support for the Trump administration's immigration policies took a significant hit after the killings of Good and Preddy. Next up, from the Post. A federal judge set new limits on Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom, saying construction could proceed only on an underground portion of the project deemed necessary by the military and not the 90,000 square foot above ground. Additional that Trump has eyed to entertain VIP guests, quote, national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity. That's what U.S. district Judge Richard Leon wrote on Thursday. He said the Trump administration could also take steps to secure the construction site to make it safe for people on White House grounds. Leon, an appointee of G.W. bush, last month ordered a halt to Trump's planned $400 million project, ruling that it could not continue until the president obtains approval from Congress. But Leon permitted further construction to ensure, quote, the safety and security of the White House after Trump officials said work on an underground emergency bunker was necessary to protect the president, his family and his staff. From what? The Trump administration swiftly appealed Leon's ruling, and a three judge panel at the U.S. court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit last week asked Leon to clarify what parts of the project were paused before it rules on the case. That's what this is about. Trump has said the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, but the administration has declined to offer details about it. It has long been known that the area underneath the former East Wing contained secure facilities that the president and staff members could use in an emergency. Trump had argued that Leon's order allows him to keep building the ballroom, too, citing his plans to add bulletproof glass, bomb shelters and other security features to the building. What are you hiding from? Quote, this is positive for us. That's what Trump told reporters last month, insisting the work could continue after he got shut down by Judge Leon. No matter how much the defendants insist otherwise, the lack of massive ballroom on the White House grounds is not a national security emergency. That's what lawyers for the National Trust wrote in a filing on Tuesday. They noted that Trump continues to live at the White House and entertain foreign dignitaries despite the administration's claim that the current situation poses a security risk. The National Trust's lawyers also called attention to the Justice Department's shifting arguments over the scope of the project. The Trump administration initially maintained that the underground work was separate from the above ground ballroom, an argument that Leon considered when he declined to pause the project last year and allowed underground work to continue. All right, next up from the Hill House Democrats are going to introduce five articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of war crimes in connection with Iran, abuse of power and mishandling the Department of Defense, Rep. Yassamine Ansari, the first Iranian American Democrat in Congress, will introduce the impeachment resolution. That's according to Axios. Eight Democrats are co sponsoring the longshot resolution. Steve Cohen, Jasmine Crockett, nekimah Williams, Sarah McBride, Brittany Petterson, Dina Titus, Dave Min and Sri Thanader. Now Ansari announced last week she was filing articles of impeachment which are almost certain to go nowhere in the GOP controlled house. She accused Hegseth of being complicit in Trump's devastating illegal war in Iran. The first article accuses Hegseth of violating his oath of office and overseeing an unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endangerment of the United States service members. The resolution goes on to accuse the secretary of war crimes by targeting civilians and breaking the rules of armed conflict, followed by the alleged mishandling of sensitive information. The articles refer to the use of the signal app on his personal cell phone to discuss pending strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. The incident drew attention after the Atlantic editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the chat that included Hegseth and other administration officials. The Office of the Inspector General determined in a report that Hegseth jeopardized troop safety and violated department policy. The DoD stated the report was total exoneration for Hegseth. Of course they did. Ansari's resolution also accuses Hegseth of obstructing congressional oversight, including the alleged withholding of information regarding military actions in Venezuela and Iran, among other military theaters. It also claims the defense chief abused his power, quote, including targeting and launching bogus investigations against specific elected officials. Mark Kelly for the express purpose of political retribution. Again, they're going to go nowhere, but it's really nice to see them doing something. Next up from the Times, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez. De Reimer, who I think might be next to go, and her top aides and family members, routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members that are now under investigation by the Department's Inspector General. Ms. M. Chavez D? Reamer and her former deputy chief of staff sent texts asking employees to bring wine to them during trips for the department. Sometimes the request came in the middle of the workday. Ms. Chavez Daremer's husband exchanged text messages with young female staff members, as did her father. Some of the young women were instructed by Ms. Chavez D? Rimur and the former Deputy Chief of staff to pay attention to the men. That's according to people familiar with the investigation. The text messages have been reviewed by the New York Times. The messages were gathered as part of a months long investigation into Chavez Di Riemer's leadership in the department, which began with a complaint filed to the Inspector General's office claiming widespread misconduct. The inquiry has revealed deep frustration in the department with Chavez Darimer, who took office in March of 2025. Staff members across the political spectrum have described her as disconnected from the work of the department M the internal investigation is in its final stages. Four people have been forced out of their jobs, including Chavez D. Rimmer's former chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, her director of advance, and a member of the secretary's security detail with whom she was accused of having an affair. Three staff members have faced civil rights complaints against her and the department, describing a hostile work environment. So keep an eye on that. I don't think this Trump handpicked inspector general, although it might have been a career person who's temporarily there until he can fire them. But it seems like if any inspector general is investigating anybody in this administration, then it's probably okay with Donald Trump. But we'll see. Next up from CBS Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked the Justice Department to investigate two former government officials who played a central role in Trump's first impeachment inquiry. This is the shakedown of Zelensky and the perfect phone call. A spokesperson for Gabbard's office confirmed that she drafted criminal referrals for the whistleblower and a former intelligence community watchdog, but did not detail what specific crimes are alleged. And that's happening a lot in this administration, especially with wild subpoenas that oftentimes like Jerome Powells get quashed in court and thrown out. They don't mention what crimes that people are being investigated for on search warrants or subpoenas. Now, the referrals came after Gabbard criticized how former intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson handled the 2019 whistleblower complaint. She complained earlier this week and released a trove of documents linked to Atkinson. Mm, I'm worried they're gonna unmask this whistleblower who has to this day remained Anonymous. Now, Andy McCabe and I are gonna cover this in a lot more detail on this weekend's episode of Unjustified, because you'll remember just recently, Tulsi Gabbard had a whistleblower complaint against her for hiding intelligence intercepted by the NSA of two foreign officials discussing someone close to Trump about Iran. So she is also. She, didn't transmit that. The, Inspector general didn't transmit that for months and months and months. And Atkinson, back during the Ukraine stuff, got shit for taking three weeks to transmit the credible report to Congress. So this is very, very fishy. It's hugely corrupt. And like I said, Andy McCabe and I are going to talk about it this weekend. And we have a bunch of good news today. This is from the Post Legislators in Maine Tuesday passed the nation's first statewide ban on large data centers, part of a growing backlash to the energy intensive facilities that fueled the rise of artificial intelligence. The measure would block the creation of new data centers that draw more than 20 megawatts of power until fall of 2027 and establish a mechanism to study their impact on the electrical grid. Maine's moratorium was approved in final votes Tuesday by both houses of the state legislature, and the bill will now go to governor Janet Mills for signature Data centers house computer servers crucial to the Internet, cloud computing, but mostly AI. The average newly planned data center uses as much electricity as a city of 500,000 people. That's according to a Washington Post analysis. And some super sized facilities now under construction use far more. Congratulations, Maine. Next bit of good news is from the Associated Press. A jury found Wednesday that entertainment giant Live Nation, which hosts tens of thousands of concerts every year, and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big venues. The ruling and a lawsuit brought by dozens of states won't immediately bring relief for concert goers who've long complained about high ticket prices. But it could cost Live Nation hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps force the company to sell some of its concert venues when the judge hands out penalties later. Among other things, the jury found Ticketmaster's anti competitive practices led to people in 22 states paying an extra $1.72 a ticket, which the judge could order the companies to refund. A jury in New York deliberated for four days before reaching this decision. State attorneys general who sued Live Nation said the verdict could potentially lead to lower ticket prices for music fans. I hope they also lead to breaking up this monopoly. Next up from the Times, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is on the verge of announcing it's going to withdraw financial support from LIV Golf. That's the upstart golf circuit it launched four years ago with Donald Trump to compete with the PGA Tour. The Saudi league splashed into professional golf in 2022, attracting some of the sport's biggest stars with contracts that exceeded by tens of millions of dollars their career earnings with more established circuits like the American run PGA. The move comes as Saudi Arabia's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund announced a new five year strategy on Wednesday, with the fund's governor saying it would slow down some of its biggest projects as it focuses on increasing the efficiency of investments. Yeah, like you gonna give another 5 billion to Kushner. Fuck Trump and fuck all the players that joined this bribe scheme circuit. I hope you lose your Polo shirts. All right, next up from Aaron Reed at Erin in the Morning. On Monday, the Montana Supreme Court issued a landmark 5 to 2 ruling declaring that, quote, transgender discrimination is by its very nature sex discrimination and that transgender people constitute a suspect class under the state's equal protection clause. That's a good thing. The ruling in Kolarchuk v. State of Montana blocks a definition of sex law and related state policies that stripped all legal recognition from transgender people and barred them from obtaining accurate birth certificates and driver's licenses. The decision rests on Montana's Constitution, whose equal protection and individual dignity clause has been repeatedly interpreted to protect transgender people, and which the court made clear provides far greater protection than the federal constitution. Justices have now issued the clearest declaration ever that transgender people in the state will have enhanced protections of their rights, grounding the ruling in equal protection, sex discrimination and privacy principles with broad applicability in a state that has become a major battleground for anti trans legislation and the resistance to it. The ruling stems from a challenge to three interlocking state policies. Senate Bill 458, a law from 2023 that defines sex as strictly binary throughout the entire Montana code, a 2022 rule from the Department of Public Health and Human Services that restricted birth certificates, and an unpublished 2024 Motor Vehicle Division policy that barred transgender people from updating their driver's licenses. Together, the policies eliminated all pathways for transgender Montanans to obtain accurate identification documents. SB458 was particularly sweeping. It inserted a rigid binary definition of sex into section 11201 of the Montana Code, annotated the state's general definition statute, meaning the definition rippled through virtually every area of state law. Insurance regulations, employment protections, driver's licenses, birth and death certificates, equal pay provisions. Now, as Montana state Rep. Zoe Zephyr described the law's impact, it impacts trans people. Quote from the cradle to the grave in December 2024, Lewis and Clark County District Judge Mike Menahan blocked all three policies, finding the plaintiffs had a fundamental right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex under the Montana Constitution and that the state had failed to articulate any compelling interest in enforcing them. Now a 5:2 majority of the Montana Supreme Court has affirmed that ruling and gone further. Justice Laurie McKinnon, writing for the majority, declared government issued identification documents are necessary to access public life when they do not accurately reflect a person's sexual identity. The transgender Montana is prevented, based on their sex, from obtaining the same attributes of public life that a cisgender Montanan may obtain. Hence the inability of transgender Montanans to receive government issued identification documents accurately reflecting their gender identity is fundamentally about the nature of sex and suspect class discrimination under Article 2, Section 4, a clause that enshrines individual dignity, equal protection, and non discrimination. Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination. The court also went a step further. The Montana court separately declared that transgender people constitute a suspect class under the state's equal protection clause. Now, in legal terms, a suspect class is a group that has historically faced such severe discrimination that any law targeting them must meet the highest level of judicial scrutiny to survive. The same standard applied to laws that discriminate on the basis of race. The Montana court stated being transgender is also a suspect class under the equal protection clause of Article 2, Section 4, no person shall be denied equal protection of the law. The central premise of our state's equal protection guarantee is that persons similarly situated with respect to legitimate governmental purpose of the law must receive like treatment. The practical effect is sweeping. Any Montana law that singles out transgender people will now face strict scrutiny, meaning the state m must prove the law serves a very compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve it, a standard that laws almost never survive. The court's reasoning following this determination is straightforward. Under Montana's policies, if a cisgender woman's birth certificate incorrectly lists her as male, she can have it corrected to, say, female. But a transgender woman whose birth certificate also lists her as male and who also lives, presents, and is perceived as female is denied that same correction. Both women want the same document. One that says f one gets it, the other does not. The only difference is the sex they were assigned at birth. That, the court held is sex discrimination because the state tolerates certain traits in one sex that it condemns in another. The state argued its policies apply equally to everyone. But the court dismissed this finding that the state's position ignores that only transgender persons are discriminated against when they're not allowed to have identification documents that match their gender identity. Because sex is explicitly protected under Montana's constitution, that discrimination triggers strict scrutiny. Now, you can read more of this at Erin in the morning on substack. I highly recommend you subscribe. So many important updates. I get into my inbox because I subscribe to this substack. So thanks to Aaron for your dogged reporting on this and thanks to the, Montana supreme Court. Very good news. We have more good news to get to today, but first, we're going to talk to John Fugelsang for Fuglsang Fridays. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages,
we'll be right back.
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I have a love note for you from television's Martin Sheen, but that's a whole other conversation.
He's so great.
Yeah. they're fans of you. They came over the other day to do a taping for my show and they. They are fans of the beans, let me tell you.
Oh, I love that so much. He's such a cool guy. Yeah. we have, we have his Martin Sheen podcast on the way.
I was m gushing over.
I'm obsessed with it.
He's so good in that format. I've been, I've been begging him to like, do a one man show just doing storytelling for years. He's such a racontour and it plays to all of his strengths.
He's.
Who would have thought at age 85 he'd be the best rookie broadcaster in the business?
He's so, so very good. But by the way, if you don't have SiriusXM, you can always check out the John Fugal Sang show podcast. Welcome, John Fuglsang. That was an interesting introduction. How are you, my friend?
Thanks. Thanks for letting me hijack it.
so, where to begin, doctor? I had a shirt in high school that my mom kept stealing and hiding from me and I kept finding hidden in her drawer and wearing again. And it was a picture of Pope John Paul II with a big joint in his mouth. And it said, I like the Pope. The Pope smokes dope. And I think I wore it to, like, a Bad Religion concert. And then my mom wanted to ask me what bad religion was about, and I was like, don't worry about it because, you know, I was part of the Catholic Church at that time. But this feud between the Pope, who's very weak on crime. He's weak on crime.
Weak on crime. Pope. Wait till he hears about Jesus.
And talk to me about this, because J.D. vance this week came out and lectured the Pope on Catholic theology.
Oh, yeah, oh, Mike Johnson as well. They're all, they're all Pope explaining to the man all week long. And it's really funny. I'll tell you, if you would have told me 10 years ago at the peak of the Catholic Church's scandals, that one day we would have politicians who were so grotesque they would make the Catholic bishops look like the good guys again. In my lifetime, I wouldn't have believed it. But Trump is furious because the Pope won't endorse a war. Right? That's what this is all about. And it's amazing because historically, popes have made a lot of mistakes, but, not being pro war enough is not the kind of mistakes people usually complain about with popes. And this Pope follows Jesus, who quite famously had a problem with emperors demanding loyalty. And it's really not that controversial. Pope Leo walks up to a mic and pretty much Dr. Gil gives a, A, greatest hits of Jesus, like he's a cover band at the state fair. love your Enemies. Blessed are the peacemakers. Put away your sword. For those who live by the sword will die by this really basic stuff like Jesus 101, like, wash your hands.
Where have I read that? Where have I read that? Besides the Bible somewhere. Oh, separation of church and hate.
Oh, that would be it, yes. So Donald Trump, you know, celebrated Easter by threatening to wipe out a whole civilization by dinner time. And that was confusing to me because I grew up thinking Easter was about a guy coming back from the dead and not sending lots of people there. But the Pope comes out and says, no, this is not Christianity. You're supposed to. You're not supposed to do this. So he's called him weak on crime, terrible at foreign policy, and a, ah, liberal. Because don't bomb children makes you a liberal now. And, I don't want a Pope who criticizes the president because I guess the Pope job description is regional manager for your ego. But literally, one man is quoting Jesus and the other man's arguing with Jesus. And that's what's amazing to me about all of this. Because being mad that a Pope won't endorse your war is like being angry that your doctor won't endorse your cocaine habit, you know? And so Leo's out here saying, don't worship power, don't worship money, don't worship violence. And Trump responds with, oh, that's good. Hey, here's a picture of me as God. I mean, the AI Allison, I've been dying to get your thoughts on this picture of him as a messiah at a halftime show with a NASCAR resurrection. It looks like a monster energy drink getting baptized, the whole AI thing. But is this the thing that's going to finally make the Christians cut this guy loose? This form of AI blasphemy they seem upset about?
Now, when I see that, just like when I saw him post the AI of him as the Pope, I was like, this is blasphemy in any, definition. And anyone who's a man of the church or claims to be, at least, would understand at least the first commandment, you would think. So my initial thoughts were blasphemy. And then, you know, if you're going to hang that, want to hang the Ten Commandments in classrooms, you know, maybe follow them. But also, I was really interested in a theory that when Caroline Levitt said that the photo was doctored, was that. Did Trump misunderstand that and say, it's me as a doctor, it's me as a doctor.
That's how doctors dress in white. White Tunics with red sashes and glowing lights coming from our hands as we go to a hospital bed to heal one of the Oak Ridge Boys. That's. That's how it works. I don't know who that was, but this is, this is a guy who sells gold sneakers portraying a man who told the rich to give everything away. You know what I'm saying? Like, this is amazing.
Did you ever think in your lifetime that the, that the audiobook of separation of Church and hate would be playing out between Trump and the Pope?
That. But, but it's true. I mean, and the Pope, by the way, like, because there's Jesus of Nazareth, right? And then there's action movie Jesus. This time it's personal. The one Pete Hegseth believes in. That doesn't appear in the Bible.
I kept thinking of the, uhf, Gandhi. He's back and he's pissed, remember?
Yes, but I gotta hand it to this Pope, man. He plays it like Jesus. Because he didn't get in a fight. Leo did not take the bait once. He didn't escalate. He didn't put pictures of him like bench pressing apostles. Leo just was very calm and unbothered and just said, I have no fear. I'm not afraid of him. That's all. He didn't take the fight. Just said, I'm not afraid of him. I'm going to keep on quoting Jesus directly. And this freaked out all of the Marvel super villains in our government.
Yeah, it sure did. Now, educate me. What is the Just War Doctrine?
Well, that's what Mike Johnson pulled this week because, you know, he, he thinks that the Pope is a little too Jesusy about it. And, so he's Bible explaining Christianity. And I love how Johnson said the Pope waded into politics, you know, because famously, Jesus never talked about violence or power or empire. You know, Jesus did. He did. TED talks about carpentry. That was about it. And now they think the Pope is getting too political. Right wing Christianity has waded into politics in this country to justify slavery and to keep women from getting the vote and to justify labor exploitation and to justify killing Indians and to justify segregation and invading Iraq and banning abortion. So, you know, there's a long history of wading into politics. These guys are terrified. This is the core of Christian nationalism. He has. Mike Johnson has no comment when Trump is talking about obliterating nations or when they're committing genocide in Gaza. This is about using Jesus however the hell you want, not about following him. So he brings up the Just War Doctrine. Right. This is Christianity's great escape hatch from Jesus. And you'll always hear right wing when guys bring this up. This came out 2000 years ago, right after Rome took over Jesus's operation. And St. Augustine developed the just war theory, arguing that violence could be morally justified for Christians under very certain conditions if it was fought for a just cause, if it was intended to restore peace, if all peaceful diplomatic options had been exhausted. That's the fight.
Like World War II.
Exactly. So this has shaped Christian attitudes towards wars for almost 2,000 years. And it's also fake Christian bullshit, because what it essentially is, is man made rules to get around Jesus. I mean, Jesus very clear on the Sermon on the Mount. Turn the other cheek. You don't get to hate anybody. No more violence. You have to abandon loving your enemies for it. But you know, Jesus said what he said, and the church invented these loopholes. So they always try to do this and bring up just war theory. The problem is it meets none of the criteria for just war theory. And Mike Johnson knows it, and Mike Johnson knows Republican voters don't know it. They're really betting hard on people who were promised no war for four years being okay with having a promise broken. They're really betting hard on these Christians being dumb enough as Tucker and Candace Owen abandoned ship.
Yeah, and I, you know, I think of, I think of James Talarico when he has his arguments about the separation of church and state, saying, yes, it's good for democracy, but it's also good for the church because the church shouldn't and doesn't want to be associated with rich, corrupt assholes. Basically. I'm paraphrasing. of course, he says it much more eloquently than I, but it's always corrupt. The separation of church and state is good for the church, and this is a perfect example of why. And you know, I feel like you need to, first of all, send the Pope a copy of Separation of Church and Hate. Maybe he can, you can get a blurb, your second book.
I'll get him to give me a deep dish Eucharist too. I like Chicago Pope. He's awesome. But you're right.
But I want to ask you about this week. First of all, we could talk about the problems of Hegseth doing a prayer event at the Pentagon, but during that event, he says, pray with me. And then he says, says 2517, but then goes on to quote Samuel Jackson's Ezekiel 25:17 from Pulp Fiction, which is not a Bible quote. We all looked it up. In 1995.
Yeah, and he rewrote it, too. He. He rewrote Ezekiel and Quentin Tarantino. This blaspheming.
He took away charity and goodwill and. And put in camaraderie and duty instead. Because we don't want to uplift charity and goodwill in our fake prayers that we get from Pulp Fiction. It was astounding.
It's perfect. The metaphor is perfect. That's master race Christianity. Anything but Jesus. They can't quote him. You'll never see these guys fight to put a Jesus quote on the side of a building. Because Jesus is unambiguously anti war. I mean, put away your sword, for he who lives by the sword will die by the sword. There's no asterisk on this Jesus. A whole game is, breaking the cycles of violence, breaking the ancient cycles of revenge. That's why Turn the Other Cheek is so powerful, because he's saying, even if the rat bastard deserves stops now, I'm bringing a new covenant, and you don't get revenge anymore. Donald Trump's entire second campaign modeled on revenge was a complete rejection of everything the Sermon on the Mount's about. These people aren't Christian. That's why it's so important to call them out as fakes. Because if we don't call them out as fakes, then we're putting Martin Luther King and the KKK in the same basket. Okay? These are fake freaking Christians. And we have to name it, we have to spot the patterns, and we have to call it out. I mean, Pete Hegseth would have been fake just if he had quoted actual Ezekiel and not Quentin Tarantino. And Roger Avery. Roger Avery co wrote the script. He got the Oscar, too. Let's give him credit.
Yes. Sorry, Roger Avery.
Roger Avery. But, I knew his sister, you know? But, like, this whole thing is exactly what they're about. They don't follow Jesus. They use him. And they count on the fact that most nice conservative Christians don't read the damn Bible. This is how the empires have done it since Rome took over. You get your warlord, and you get some guy next to him wearing a funny hat and a dress who will say some sacred words and bless the war, and they sanctify violence. This has been the permission structure Hitler used. This is what we use to ethnically cleanse the land and enslave people. You can do anything that's anti Jesus. If you get a clergyman who's horny for proximity to power, to stand next to the ruler and say, I hereby bless this. That's the con. That's the racket. And Leo, head of this, the greatest empire of all time, spiritually, the only part of the evil Roman Empire that's still alive is the Vatican. And this guy's doing what Francis did, giving a finger to the entire institutional history that brought him there, to bring it back to the basics. No, you don't get to kill people. Jesus doesn't give you a permission slip for death. Ever. Stop pretending you're Christian. And the media is not going to call them out. I wish more Democrats would call them out, but, it's up to the rest of us because that's what they do. And it's no different than what radical right wing Islam does. You know, you got people who are, who are disadvantaged and impoverished or struggling, and you get a charismatic right wing religious fundamentalist telling you who to blame and quick violent solutions for institutional systems and problems. That's how we got Al Qaeda. That's the way of the fundamentalists. That's the way of Pete Hegseth and Trump. And it's anti Jesus bullshit and has to be called out.
Yeah. So we have Netanyahu. It's the way of, I mean, any, anybody. And you know, let's do a, let's do a good news lightning round. 30 seconds to respond or bond.
Wow. How exciting was this? Right? He didn't lose because of a messaging failure. He lost because after 16 years, even his right wing fans noticed that the same people kept getting richer and the same politicians kept getting louder and nothing got better. We got to learn a couple things in this. Number one, Magyar is not a liberal. He's a conservative. And it took a coalition of liberals, moderates and conservatives to elect a conservative to knock out the right wing fascists. That's really bad news for our leftist friends, but that's how they did it. That's how they pulled this off. And this kind of authoritarian model was very effective for many years. But I, mean, for all of its flaws, democracy has a great feature. It lets people change their mind. See you.
Yeah. Yep. Very good. All right. LIV golf tournament. The Saudis look like they're backing out of LIV because they think they don't want to spend their money there. Right now I think they're probably hurting from the Hormuz closure, but, they're backing out of the live golf tournament.
Yeah. I wanted to ask you about this. I don't really understand the logic behind it because it's all about bribes with this president anyway. And it tells me that maybe the Saudis are reading the tea leaves here and can see beyond their next lunch and realize that they've gotten all the value out of this clown they're going to get.
I can't really keep putting their money on Kushner instead.
Yeah, I mean, and there's Kushner refusing to talk about his own personal dealings as he's over there. These two real estate jerk offs trying to negotiate a peace treaty along with Vice President Eyeliner. I mean, there's a reason why they send these incompetent boobs to talk peace. Netanyahu doesn't want peace. They want this conflict to go on.
Yeah. All right, next up, Ticketmaster. Live Nation found liable for being a monopoly.
If there was anything that could happen this week that would make me happier than the CJD Vance Heckle in an empty Turning Point Arena. it's Ticketmaster. I don't know how you feel about this, and, it's too soon to get too excited, but a federal jury looked at Ticketmaster, and Live Nation was like, you know, yeah, you guys are just a racket. You're just. You're just a middleman Website. I mean, buying tickets in America for concerts shouldn't be like, an emotional hazing ritual. And Joe Biden's administration brought this case against Dickenmaster, and Trump and his Department of Justice tried to make it go away and slap him on the wrist. So all these state attorneys general brought this suit, and now a federal jury has confirmed what every concert fan already knows, that Ticketmaster is a monopoly with a cover charge and a service charge and a processing charge. And, here's a charge for another charge we haven't thought of yet. Charge. And it's amazing to see a jury calling this out. This is the kind of culture of calling out the billionaires that Magyar did in, in, in Hungary that we got to do here. Ticketmaster and Live Nation pretend to be totally separate entities, right? Oh, no. He sells the tickets. I own the venues. We have nothing to do with each other. It's a monopoly. And it's not capitalism. It's like, corrupt cronyism as a capitalist cover band. And people are tired of paying 47 bucks to print their ticket at home. So this is incredible. And it's. I can't wait to see how they try to appeal it and take it to the Supreme Court. But this is exactly the kind of thing that can get young people engaged in politics and can get folks to understand how the billionaire class is systemically ripping us all off yeah.
And trying to take control of how we consume art and media and everything.
And it's like religion, you know, I mean, it's like, it's just like, it's just like really, it's a bunch of middlemen trying to get in between you and the person you came to see.
And the truth, it's not you buying
a ticket from an artist, it's you having to go through all these middlemen with their fees to get to sit down and, you know, watch Taylor Swift from behind a column for 900 bucks.
All right, next up, speaking of COVID charges, I love this Mamdani. Taxing out of staters who own homes in New York that are over $5 million.
It's great. Great. You know what? It's. I think it's fantastic. I mean, we, we have a housing shortage, so come on, douchebags. Like, if you don't actually live here and you're never here, it's. I mean, and a lot of buildings in New York already, a lot of like, co ops in New York already have Pedar rules where you can't do that. But this isn't targeting people who, you know, might have multiple homes because they live on the road or whatever. This is going after really rich people who just keep a place here and they don't want to pay taxes for it. So. Great. They can either fund the city or, they can be penalized for, for not doing it. Yeah, I mean, we have.
I said don't call it a tax. Call it a VIP club charge and people will line up to pay it.
Well, it's brilliant. And again, it's like, it's not going after working people. It's going after the super rich who aren't paying their fair share. This is part of the problem. It's not hating the rich. It's. It's saying, hey, these guys can afford to pay the taxes or the rest of us can afford to breathe. This guy is only going to get more popular.
Yeah, I agree. And finally, Abigail Spanberger.
Oh, my favorite story of the week.
Yeah. Signing a bunch of bills that include taking away tax breaks for old Confederate groups like the Daughters of Confederacy, and boy, are they mad.
Oh, I love this story so much. I wrote a substack about this. This is like, because, you know, this for over a hundred years, like, we've treated the Confederacy like it's, you know, the defeated trader loyalty program. And all of these groups, like the Daughters of Confederacy have had years and decades of this tax exempt status, which means real modern Diverse Americans in this century are footing the bill for what's essentially, you know, a slavery fan club with, with nicer stationery. And Virginia has finally said under this governor, if you want to celebrate a failed rebellion to keep people as pets, you can have the decency to venmo that on your own, pay for your own racism. And. And they say, oh, it's about history. It's about, you know, I mean. I mean, Germans don't say that. Don't say, welcome to Hitler Hall. It's all about history, not hate. I mean, it's about history the way. The way, the way a concentration camp is about architecture. This is all about slavery and not taking it seriously. And most civilized countries don't turn their greatest moral failings into commemorative license plates. So, I, know some of these groups do charity, and I respect that and I respect the things that they have. A bake sale, food drive. That's. That's great. God bless you. But if your whole philanthropy is tied to this brand built on white supremacy and owning people, the problem's not the tax code. The problem is your shitty brand. So, this is the greatest story of the week, and so many people didn't even know about it. I'm so grateful you asked about it. I'm thrilled that governor Spanberger has done it. I'm sorry. There's so much great stuff about white southern culture to be proud of. Guys, come on. Leonard Skynyrd, peach cobbler, William Faulkner, make a flag out of those things. But we don't need to worship inferior ancestors anymore. I love it.
Yeah. One of my favorite, comedians a long time ago said, you don't see me making a flag out of all my losing lottery tickets. What? What are you doing?
And again, look at Germany. You could argue more people died under slavery than the holocaust. It was. It went on for 400, 300 years here. Germans, don't go around flying Nazi flags in general because they know it's wrong and evil and they're ashamed of that part of their history. You know what that means? Their favorite singer is David Hasselhoff, and they still have better taste than us. That's what that means.
They're really big into alf also. Anyway, thank you so much, my friend.
Thank you so much.
The cat eater from Melmec. They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. They came from Melmac. Appreciate you.
You're the best. Thank you so much.
And, it's always good to talk to you. Everybody check out. Tell me everything. On Sirius XM progress channel 127. As you know, it's weeknights, 9:00pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And of course, you gotta check out Separation of Church and Hate. If you don't already have your copy, go to your local bookstore, order a bunch, put them in your little free libraries. If you don't have a little free library, build one and fill it with amazing books that you hear about here on the Daily Beans. Thank you so much.
By the way, I'm also selling some, Swalwell for Governor merchandise at a steep discount I picked up two weeks ago. so if anybody needs it. Yeah, yeah.
All right. Boy, we're over. We're we. Somebody kicked our beehive in California. We're trying to figure out who our next top candidate is now.
Oh, I'm a California voter. I'm actually enjoying this. And I'm really.
Oh, I'm telling you, we are so glad that we found this out.
Like seven weeks well before tell. You know, it's not a Republican hit job because they would have waited till the week before Halloween after he got the nomination. This is just like John Edwards. besides the person's conduct in private, it's a candidate who was willing to get the nomination and then hand the whole election over as soon as this came out to the Republicans. That's, that's the, you know, the due process is one thing. This is a, this is a political situation now.
Yeah, I agree. Thank you. Thank you, my friend. And we'll, we'll see you next week, everybody. Stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Peace, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
Everyone. Then, good news, everyone.
Good news, Good news. And if you have any good news, confessions, corrections, maybe some good trouble, suggestions, Perhaps you have a shout out to a loved one or a government program that's helped you. Maybe a, self shout out. We love that. A small business in your area that could use a boost. A nonprofit you want us to know about. Really? Anything at all you want to send us. It can be big, it can be small, as long as it brings a smile to our faces. That's what we need to do. We need to microdose hope right now. So send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And all you gotta do to get your stuff read on the air is pay your podbet tariff, which means attach a photo, anything, really anything. It could be your pet, an adoptable pet in your area. Random animal from the Internet, photos of rallies and your favorite signs at no Kings Overhead pass protests. It can be baby pictures, awkward family photos. Seriously, anything at all. Bird watching photos, which can be a bird or you flipping the bird to a Trump building. We love those too. Send it all to us dailybeanspot.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble today. Democrats have filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth. We went over this earlier in the show. The resolution, led by Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, lists. Actually, we're up to six impeachment articles now. Unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endangerment of US Service members. Number two, violations of the law of armed conflict and targeting of civilians. Number three, negligence and reckless handling of sensitive military information. Signal chat. Number four, obstruction of congressional oversight. Number five, abuse of power and politicization of the armed forces. And number six, conduct bringing disrepute upon the United States and its armed forces. That's what the Department of Defense is now. It's a house of ill repute. So let your representatives know that you support this effort. You can do it with your five Calls app. You, can find your representative by clicking the link in the show notes. And we have the entire resolution. Impeachment articles also linked in the show notes. So that's your good trouble today. Call them up. Tell them to support this. All right. First up from Diane Pronouns. She and her Good morning Laguna beings of the morning. Catching up on news as I start my day and I found this first line to be wondrous. Quote, a Fairhope municipal judge on Wednesday acquitted an Oct. 18 no Kings protester who was arrested for wearing a giant inflatable penis costume. Happy to read that Reina was acquitted. And that's good news. And I'm wondering how many more sales of inflatable penis costumes there will be before the next protests. Does Trump have some birthday party coming up? Pod Pet contribution. Sweet Athena. Oh, look at Athena. She's so pretty. Hi, Kitty Void Kitty. Yes, that is very good news, Diane. And I'm going to go over this and some other dildo news on beans, talk. So make sure to watch Beans Talk today. Next up, Erica Kopp. Like Kopp. Hello, beautiful beans Queens. I've been listening to y' all since just after the Velveeta Voldemort took office last year. Thank you both and the beans behind the scenes for keeping me sane through this fascist fuckery. I'm writing with a good trouble reminder for all my fellow Virginians. This Saturday, April 18th is the last day to vote early in the redistricting referendum with the last in person day to vote on election day, Tuesday, April 21. Info on times and polling places can be found@elections.virginia.gov I took my hubby and sister with me to vote last Saturday, April 11, where we cast three more yes votes. I'm sending a picture of the three of us after voting, as well as me with a sign from no Kings 3 here in RVA. I'm running for Congress to unseat Rob Whitman in VA's first. The other side of my sign said impeach, convict, remove, prosecute, repeat. Hell yeah. Much love to the beans team Erica Kopp. Thank you. What a fantastic photo. Oh my gosh. Okay, so your Progressive Trans Pride, flag cape is outstanding and the sign says Virginians, I'm running for Congress. Please sign my petition today. Dun dun, dun dun. Very wonderful. And I love your braids too. Thank you very much. All right, next up, Amy Pronoun. She and her I live in Lancaster, California. We have amazing local news. First, our local city council just had their election. The two Dems are in front for the only two open seats. This is unheard of here in what has always been a red zone in a blue state. Then the news hit that the feds raided our current city hall and vice mayor's homes. And at least one Republican who is just trailing the Dems. My understanding is the FBI raid is about corruption. Well, that's what happens when the whole council has been one political party with no morals left. We can do this as long as we have elections. No one thought the Dems would ever have representation here, and they may have taken both empty seats. The winners of the race will be certified in 13 days. A local Democrat election activist is very hopeful because historically, our late and absentee ballots skew Democrat. Awesome, Amy. The photos are not that good, but I love the doggies in them. We have Izzy in our backyard. Wildflowers. The one inside is Bingo. He's an elderly rescue. We have no idea what kind of dogs they are. We call them Lancaster Mutts. Oh, my gosh. They're so adorable though. That's such good news, Amy. I love local elections so much. It's so important. All right, next up from anonymous pronoun, she and her hello Queens of the beans. Thank you for keeping me sane through the dark age of MAGA ism. I'm listening to your wise words every day and you let me believe there's hope for this beaten country. My Shout out goes to Dan, who started a protest group in Oakland, California, when Trump rose to power a second time. His protests take place every Tuesday afternoon on a busy intersection, and it's grown from him and his wife to about 50 regulars, me included. Dan shows up every Tuesday, rain or shine, sitting on a folded chair on the median and holding his sign that says resist to oncoming traffic. Dan is turning 95 this year. Resistance knows no age. For my podcast tribute, I'm attaching a photo of my rescued kitty bunch. No need to guess the breeds, as I myself don't know. Their names are Luna, Findus, and Abraxas. I'm also fostering a very sweet blank mix girl called Freya. Okay, the cats are adorable. Freya. Oh, my gosh, that's some kind of terrier with the wired hair, but she's beautiful. let's see what's behind the blank. Yep, Terrier mixed girl. She's adorable. She's given me like, she's looking at me like I'm very sus, though, which is pretty great also. All right, next up from Beverly, pronouns, she and her hi, Beans Queens. I was inspired by your beans talk to create a special meme. As much as I want team justice, the best that I can hope for is team Death. And thank you, thank you, thank you for using one of my all time favorite Eddie Izzard skits every weekday. The first podcast I listen to is yours that I can try to keep up on the daily chaos. I have faith we will ultimately. But first we have to get through the now, which really blows chunks. The first picture is the meme, which hopefully you'll see the whole thing. And the second picture is my newest rescue, Gideon, a nine year old kitty who had been living on the streets in Southeast Portland for at least a few years after being dumped. He is very happy to have a home. If you read this on air, super rad. But if not, enjoy the meme. Leguminati rules. I love it. Okay, so you know the one where it's the guy sweating and it's one button or the other button. Team Death, Team Justice. I love it. And if you don't know what we're talking about because you didn't watch that Beans Talk episode Dana made a video about. You know, everyone's talking about it's going to happen to Donald Trump. But I don't know if I want justice. More like I want her to go to trial. I want him to be found guilty, and I want him to go to jail, and I responded, you know, I'm Team Death. I don't know. First of all, I don't know if I have it in me to do a whole other podcast. We did the Mueller podcast, we did the Jack podcast, and I don't know if he's got enough time to get through it and get done. And justice is never what you want it to be, and it's really slow. And this Supreme Court also sucks and will probably let him off the hook. So I'm like, team Death. So then I said, why don't we get shirts? Let's say Team Death, Team Justice. and that's where that whole story comes from. And by the way, Beverly the kitty is adorable. Congratulations on your new nine year old baby and thank you all so much for listening. This week I'm going to run over to the YouTube channel, MSW Media Media YouTube channel, and Record some Beans talk for you and then we'll be back in your ears on Monday. don't forget this weekend, on Sunday there'll be an episode of the Breakdown, which is me talking stuff over on the Midas Touch Network that's free to watch. Comes out at noon Pacific on the Midas Touch Network. And then also on Sunday there'll be a new episode of Unjustified. So everybody please take some time this weekend for yourself, do something nice for yourself, have a little rest, recharge. So we're all ready to go next week and so Virginians are ready to vote on Tuesday, the 21st, which is the last day of voting. You can still vote this weekend on Saturday and early voting. so everybody have a great weekend. We'll see you Monday. 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'm Zabee. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be Giants and the show is a proud member of the MSW Media Media Network, a collection of creator owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics and justice. For more information please visit msw media.com msw media.