Wednesday, September 2, 2026 Today, a USPS whistleblower tells Congress that the agency defied a court order and moved ahead with implementing vote by mail rules that could disenfranchise millions; the Commerce Department quietly cut language banning political interference from the department's scientific integrity policy; Tina Peters turned down a Shasta County registrar’s office job after Governor Newsom pledged to block any transfer of her parole supervision to California; a Haitian immigrant took his own life after ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor; ICE is planning to buy robot dogs to carry out immigration enforcement; the Forest Service chief is under scrutiny over logging industry ties as Trump plans to gut protections; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Today, a USPS whistleblower tells Congress that the agency defied a court order and moved ahead with implementing vote by mail rules that could disenfranchise millions; the Commerce Department quietly cut language banning political interference from the department's scientific integrity policy; Tina Peters turned down a Shasta County registrar’s office job after Governor Newsom pledged to block any transfer of her parole supervision to California; a Haitian immigrant took his own life after ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor; ICE is planning to buy robot dogs to carry out immigration enforcement; the Forest Service chief is under scrutiny over logging industry ties as Trump plans to gut protections; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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msw media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Today, a, USPS whistleblower told Congress that the AGENC defied a court order and moved ahead with implementing vote by mail rules that could disenfranchise millions. The Commerce Department quietly cut language banning political interference from the department's scientific integrity policy. Tina Peters turned down a Shasta County, California registrar's office job after Governor Newsom pledged to block any transfer of her parole, supervision and content warning for self harm. A Haitian immigrant took his own life after ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor. ICE is also planning to buy robot dogs to carry out immigration enforcement. And the Forest Service chief is under scrutiny over logging industry ties as Trump plans to gut protections. I'm Alison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Ah, hello, my friend. We've made it to the taint, of the week.
We have. But man, those headlines were a big pile of shit today, aren't they?
They really, really are. And that's why I'm really glad to be welcoming Santiago Mayer later in the show from he's the executive director and founder of Voters of Tomorrow and we're going to talk a little bit about what he's seeing in trends with Gen Z voters.
Wonderful.
Yeah. Also, we have a new episode of cleanup on, all 45 out today with Harry Dunn and me. It's free wherever you get your podcasts, so check that out. And we're going to go over this USPS whistleblower report today on the Beans. But I'll also be interviewing their legal team at Whistleblower Aid for this Sunday's episode of the Breakdown on the Midas Touch Network. So you can look for links to that interview on my substack and Blue sky on Sunday morning. You do not want to miss this interview. It's pretty big news. Also, we couldn't do any of this without our supporting members, so thank you so much to our patrons. If you want to become a patron and get these episodes ad free and early and be invited to things like our election night watch party, you can do that by going to patreon.com thedailybeans Dana, do you have any announcements?
I do, actually. I've got some fun shows coming up. I know a lot of you. Well, some, of you skipped the good news, so maybe you don't hear these announcements, but Chicago, September 23rd, there's still some tickets left for Chicago. The Southwest Funny Fest is selling very, very well in Albuquerque, but we still have tickets left for that on October 9th. And I just announced a really fun event in Seattle on November 7th. It's gay bingo, LGBTQ bingo, if you like. I'll be hosting. There'll be drag performances. It's just a lot of fun for an incredible organization in Seattle. You can get all of those and more, all of those tickets on my website, danagoldberg.com hit my tour schedule, and I would love to see you there. So, yeah, those are the announcements for now. Yeah.
And what's cool is also on danagoldberg.com, you can become a member of the Dugout, which is Dana's Patreon. And, you get all sorts of really cool, exclusive stuff by joining there and building that community from the ground up. It's been so fun to watch.
You're so sweet. Yeah. Allison and I do have separate Patreons. you get different things at different places. Mine, we're having our little Zoom this month tonight, actually, for patrons, and it's been small but mighty, but we're building it, and it's also a small group, so it's kind of. Everyone gets to know each other, and we talk about the roses and the thorns of the. Of the month. Since we've talked, we do some trivia. And also in the Dugout, you get early access to my shows, tickets to my shows, you get my monthly newsletter, photos for my trips, a little bit of back scenes from my career. So, Allison, thank you. If you want to go to danielgoldberg.com and go on the Patreon, you can start joining the club and be a dissenter.
Yeah, it's super fun. I've been on those calls, and they're amazing.
It's so great.
all right, everybody, as you heard at the top of the show, we have a lot of really serious news to get to today, so let's hit the hot notes.
Hot notes.
All right, first up, from the New York Times, a US Postal Service official, a whistleblower, has alleged that the agency is moving forward with a secretive, rushed effort to carry out Trump's order exerting federal control over mail voting, despite a court order blocking those plans. The official filed a whistleblower report published on Tuesday morning by the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, asserting that the, quote, risky and haphazard implementation of Mr. Trump's order could lead to a catastrophic failure in the mail ballot system right ahead of this year's midterm elections. The report says the agency had planned to complete the new digital system overseeing mail ballots by September 1, potentially millions of American voters may not receive their mail in ballot this election cycle in a timely manner or at all. That's what the officials said. The whistleblower in the report, which was prepared with the assistance of our friends at Whistleblower Aid. I know the beans. You know, the Leguminati has long supported whistleblower aid@whistlebloweraid.org beans incredible organization. And that's who this whistleblower is going through. It's a nonprofit group that represents people seeking to expose potential law breaking in the agencies now. Speaking to reporters by phone Monday, Mr. Blumenthal said of the report that, quote, the main takeaway for me is that the Postal Service has designed a system to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One third of all Americans cast their ballots by mail and the USPS puts all of their votes at risk. The whistleblower report provided specific details of the Postal Service's effort to rapidly put into place a new digital system for mail ballots, even as federal appeals courts have blocked the plan before the Supreme Court intervened. Work has also continued on the system even after Judge Talwani ordered the plan halted last week. The official at the Postal Service raised grave concerns in the report that the verification process in the system could reject Dana tens of thousands of ballots in bulk mailing batches if even one barcode on one single ballot fails to properly scan. and that the rushed slap dash development of the system would significantly increase those chances of errors and other failures in the verification process. Again, I'll be interviewing the whistleblowers attorneys at Whistleblower Aid to go over this report in more detail on this Sunday's episode of the Breakdown at Noon Pacific on the Midas Touch Network. You can look for links to the show Sunday morning at muellershirote.com and on my Blue Sky. And if you subscribe to my substack@muellershirote.com, which you can do for free, you'll get a notification to join the conversation.
All right. Thank you so much, Alison. This is from npr. The reliability of Census Bureau information during the Trump administration. It's coming under question. Really? Again? Uh-huh. NPR has learned that this month the bureau's parent agency, the Commerce Department, quietly cut language banning political interference from the department's scientific integrity policy. The removal was part of an unannounced policy revision dated August 19, the day after the bureau issued a highly unusual report with claims about non US Citizens voting from a team that, as NPR previously reported, has ties to a think Tank founded by officials from President Trump's first administration. The revised scientific integrity policy applies to all agencies under the Commerce Department, including the weather data providing national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Economic Analysis that's known for tracking the country's gross domestic product. The Commerce Department under the Biden administration updated its policy for promoting and I quote, culture of scientific integrity in January of 2025, just days before Trump's second inauguration. The 2025 version included bans on attempts to shape or interfere in data collection, statistical analysis and other scientific activities, quote, against well accepted scientific methods and theories or without scientific justification. The Department's policy, the 2025 version said, involves ensuring scientific findings at its agencies are not suppressed, laid, or altered for political purposes and are not subjected to inappropriate influence, as well as making sure there's independent review of facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity. Seems pretty fucking legit to me. That language is now missing. It's just missing in the Trump administration's revision of the policy, according to npr, their analysis of text that was posted on the Commerce Department's website. Thank God people are still investigating this stuff. And while the revision adopts a definition for scientific integrity that is similar to the previous version, it no longer says that, and I quote, protection from inappropriate influence is among the hallmarks of scientific integrity. The revised scientific integrity policy has heightened concerns among former Census Bureau officials and other data experts that the Trump administration is making moves to weaponize the statistical agency. For former Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, a Biden nominee, a close timing of the policy revision and the Bureau's release of an unauthored report with claims about noncitizen voting is striking. And this is a quote. It's entirely possible that this was done to reconcile the Department of Commerce and the administration's own actions by publishing an external partisan document about voting on the Census Bureau website. Again, that's from Santos. And he went on to say the publishing exemplifies inappropriate influence. It's not transparent, and it didn't even include career staff experts.
Yeah. Yep.
So, these next couple elections are crucial, as they always are, though. I mean, we all, you know, they
have been for the last 10 years or so now.
Next up from the Post, and again, content warning here for self harm. This is just a tragic, tragic story. A Haitian immigrant who had grown increasingly distraught after losing his protection from deportation and being outfitted with an ankle monitor was run over and killed Monday in what his family believes was suicide. Pierre Demas Bell, 20 years old a college student, Dana, parked on the shoulder of i70 in Springfield, Ohio, sometime before 8:45am he got out of his vehicle and he walked into westbound traffic. That's according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. He was hit by a tractor trailer and pronounced dead at the scene. Like an estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants, Bell had recently lost temporary protected status, which was given to people fleeing nations experiencing disaster. He had a pending asylum claim, but had been summoned to an ICE office after the Supreme Court allowed Trump to proceed with canceling the status for Haitian recipients. Federal immigration agents placed an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, which is the one way the agency tracks immigrants it is seeking to remove from the country. Haitian leaders in Springfield and beyond say that Bell's death is symptomatic of the extreme stress many immigrants are under as they fear being detained and sent back to the country that our State Department says do not travel to because it's so dangerous. Quote, these policies are what caused his untimely death. That's Gwerlene Joseph of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non profit that provides legal and humanitarian aid to migrants.
Thank you so much, Allison. This next story is from NBC. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement plans to spend as much as $2 million to purchase robot dogs. They might be fucking. They might be not, but they're fucking robot dogs. That the agency would use in immigration enforcement operations, according to a government funding document reviewed by NBC News. I imagine there will be some robot dogs that might be getting kicked by people. I'm just. That's really what I'm envisioning right now. Yeah, I do. A senior Department of Homeland Security official confirmed ICE is planning to purchase the robots. They would be used in situations where it may be unsafe for an officer to go into a building or area. I'm so tired of this. Because it's completely subjective and up to the ICE agents definition of what that means. The dog like robots are equipped with cameras and sensors that can detect chemicals. They can relay information to officers about whether it is safe to enter. This is what the office said. The dogs will not be used to make arrests. Okay. The company that makes the robots, Boston Dynamics, I'd love someone to do a deep dive on that. Said that they can open doors and walk upstairs. ICE could spend between one and two million dollars on the robots, according to the funding document. It says the robots could be used for inspection, situational awareness and hazard assessment in environments that may pose risk to personnel. The Robotics center of Silicon Valley says the base cost per dog per Robot dog is $75,000. Costs can increase with customization. Boston Dynamics disclosed the cost of the robot it calls spot, which was shown in a video from the company doing a triple backflip. The this is why you can't have health care, by the way, everyone, because we've got to spend $75,000 on back flipping dogs.
Yeah, I wonder if they have warrants when they go into people's houses.
It's a really great fucking question.
And you know, I'm working on getting that memo that justifies warrantless entry for ICE into houses. I've got my FOIA request going through, through the courts right now, so we'll
keep you updated on that. That's terrifying.
So shock gloves and robot dogs, huh? Huh? Yep. Cool. Is there a rash of ice, agents being in danger without their robot dogs Chemicals?
Yeah. Haven't heard anything.
Okay, next up from the Guardian, Donald Trump this month announced plans to rescind a landmark rule. We've talked about this. That protects old growth forests in the United States for 25 years. If finalized, the rollback is expected to benefit the companies that Tom Schultz, the chief of the U.S. forest Service, represented in his previous roles as a timber industry lobbyist and executive. Trump put a timber industry lobbyist and executive in charge of the Forest Service. And that's according to research by consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was more commonly known as the roadless rule. It was adopted 25 years ago, 2001, to limit development and roughly 45 million acres of national forest. Because, you know, we talked about this building roads through national forests.
It's a fire hazard. As a matter of fact, industry interests and Republican representatives have long lobbied for the rules rescission to, you know, repeal it, which would open up those swaths of untouched land to road construction, drilling and, oh, logging. Schultz is the first ever Forest Service chief who did not previously work within the agency itself. First time ever. Before Trump tapped him for the job, he served as president of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, a trade association represent companies that purchase timber from the federal government, and was also vice President of resources and government affairs at Idaho Forest Group, a major lumber manufacturer. Now, of course, he's one of dozens of former extractive industry insiders that Trump has placed in key environmental positions. We have Chris Wright, Energy Secretary. He was the CEO of a fracking company, Liberty Energy, while Interior office official Tyler Hassan was an oil executive working for the Department of the Interior. 43 former fossil fuel employees and 29 former corporate executives held administration positions as October analysis concludes from Public Citizen. And a corporate watchdog called Revolving Door Project found that's what they found. Schultz, now the logger, has long been critical of the roadless rule because he wanted to chop up the forests and sell the lumber as it was being considered in 2000, the year 2000. He said it's going to be very difficult to actually generate revenue from state trust lands that could be encompassed with a roadless designation, though he did not call to overturn the policy. Specifically, he advocated allowing states to manage more Forest Service timber sales, expanding exemptions from environmental review processes, and changing stewardship contracting rules to support logging and wood processing infrastructure. The Trump administration has since adopted or advanced each of these proposals. That's what Parshley found in a report earlier this year. And Shultz has directly helped implement them. For instance, In December, in 2025, he personally signed an agreement with Idaho's governor to double federal timber sales from the state's national forest.
Jesus.
Quote, that directly benefits his former employer, the Idaho Forest Group.
You think?
gross.
All right, this next one and this short one is from the Hill. Former Mesa County, Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters turned down a job offer to oversee elections in a conservative California county north of Sacramento. This is from the Los Angeles Times reporting. And I quote, she declined the offer because she's running around the country right now trying to secure the elections. That's Shasta County, California Registrar of Voters, Clint Curtis. That's what he told the outlet. Shasta county lost out. Yeah, I don't think that's why she turned down the job. Governor Gavin Newsom actually wrote on social media Monday, and this is a quote, I'm directing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to make every effort to block any transfer of her parole supervision into California.
Oh, that's right. She's on parole. And she would need to transfer her parole supervision to California. And guess who's in charge of that. That's creative. That's. That's creative. Governor. Thank you for that, Dana. I do have some breaking news from C Span. The US House of Representatives just narrowly approved a rule for four bills scheduled for debate this week, including a resolution condemning socialism and enacting the Save America Act. In a 210 to 208 vote, two Democrats joined Republicans to vote for this rule. Jared golden in Maine and Gluzenkamp Perez from Washington. And blindsided Jeffries and Democratic leadership by defecting to vote with Republicans. now this is just the rule approving opening of debate. So everybody call Jared Goldin and call Gluzen, Camp Perez and tell them when the actual vote comes up, not the rule vote, but you know, to actually pass the bills, that they better not vote for it.
Unbelievable.
yeah, absolutely. Disgusting. Disgusting. We got those, you know, the same seven to 12 Democrats that keep voting with Republicans on stuff in the House because they're in, you know, really red districts. And it's like, what are you even doing calling? You're putting a D next to your name. I don't even.
Well, now you, you. It's a capital D or a lower D. Yeah.
Right. So, and you know, there's no mechanism to kick somebody out of the party. You can't tell somebody not to run as a Democrat.
So. Right.
That's just, ah, the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. But we'll keep an eye on that, everybody. Gleason Camp Perez and Jared Golden Column. Column today.
All right, we have an interview with the amazing executive director and founder of
Voters of Tomorrow, Santiago mayor after this, followed by the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. Happy to be joined by my friend who I haven't seen in ages, but we talk a lot over social media. He is the executive director and founder of Voters of Tomorrow. Please welcome Santiago Mayer. Hi, Santiago. How are you?
Hi. Thank you for having me. I am good. How about you?
I'm good. And I remember when I first met you, you were so young and raring to go and you know, working on the 2020 cycle and the Biden campaign and you know, because you moved from Mexico in 2017 and you have been solely laser focused on the youth vote and turning out young voters and
talk a little bit about, first of
all, your organization for those who aren't
familiar with Voters of Tomorrow.
Yeah, for sure. So Voters of Tomorrow is the country's largest gen C led voter engagement organization. We have over 11,000 members, chapters in 26 states. And Elson, like you mentioned, I started right after moving from Mexico. I had obviously followed sort of ultra Trump campaign everything he was saying about Mexican immigrants. And once I moved to the US and realized that if young people had voted in high enough numbers, we would have been able to avoid all of it. I decided to try and fix low voter turnout rates amongst young people. And I think there's still a lot of work to be done, but we are slowly making progress. We're seeing those trends continue to rise up and we're building infrastructure that is entirely youth led, which is the best way to mobilize young people.
Yeah, I completely agree. And you know, we had that as soon as like right after you got here. We had that massive blue wave in 2018. We could be set to see something like that again in 2026 midterms. But now we're up against so much voter suppression, even more than normal. I mean, we've dealt with voter suppression forever, going back to reconstruction. But, you know, now we're seeing them
use the levers of power in the government to try to suppress the vote
as much as they can. And especially the young vote, who Donald
Trump has lost considerable support from, from
basically lying to their faces in the 2024 cycle. And I guess it's easier to get out from that cult when you're younger and you're like, well, that was oh well, move on to something else as opposed to those who've been steeped in it since 2015, 2016.
So what, what is voter like?
Because you're massive mobilization and organization,
skills that you're doing through voters of tomorrow.
Are there things you're specifically focusing on to overcome some of these issues? The USPS whistleblower talking about this new
rule about lists of voters, the fact
that Texas is going to try to close 92 polling places, things like that.
How are you integrating this new huge onslaught of voter suppression that we're seeing from, this administration?
Yeah. And you didn't even mention the fact that the Republicans in North Carolina are removing polling places on campus. This right there is this movement to try and make sure that young people don't get ballot because Republicans know that young people are going to vote against them. I think, thankfully we are ready for it. We have been preparing for it and I think all of us have been preparing for whatever other things they come up with in the next few weeks as we approach the election to transgress the vote. the main thing obviously is voter education. We are convening events, we are trying to make sort of community focused events that are broadly appealing to bring young people in, not necessarily because of the politics, but because they want to make some friends, have a good time, maybe get a few drinks. and we are using those spaces as a way to educate people about, like, what are the requirements to actually submit a mail invalid? Right. How do you, when, when is the absolute last day that you are able to send it in to make sure that they don't fuck with it on the postal Service? How are we actually turning out all of these young people to polling places that may very well be patrolled by ICE officers? Right. Like, we need to make sure that people understand what their rights are. We need to make sure that people understand who to call if something goes wrong. And we're going to be working through election Day and Election week honestly and making sure that young people know that they can come to us. We will have, the same Services we have provided in the past through a chapter network where we'll be sending food to long lines, we'll be sending music, we'll be sending ponchos if it rains. But it will also be in communication with lawyers and with the entire sort of community that is built to ensure that young people and people at large are able to cast their ballot.
Amazing. Talk to me a little bit about some of the trends you're seeing in young voters, what sort of platform issues they're looking at, what's important to young voters. I know writ large. We look nationally and people from all generations are against, AI data centers, they're against flock cameras.
What are you seeing with the youth vote?
Yeah, I think it's been remarkably consistent, honestly. I think, listen, in 2024, there was a billion dollar effort to convince young people that Donald Trump would bring prices down. And many of them bought that. Many of them actually believed they were so desperate and feeling so failed by the system that they believed that Donald Trump would actually deliver on that. And now they are seeing that things are more expensive than ever. That a gallon of gas is, I think like five bucks bucks that eggs are still six dollars. Right?
If they're safe to eat.
Yeah, if they're safe to eat. That's the other thing. We are seeing housing continue to be out of reach for the vast majority of our generation. And young people are not only feeling betrayed, but they're feeling use. They're feeling like Republicans told them what they wanted to hear so they could net out a few additional votes and get into power. And now they are very, very angry. And I think that's sort of the underlying issue across all of these is they are angry about feeling used. They are angry about the rising costs, they are angry about AI coming for their jobs, about data centers affecting their communities. They are angry about the fact that we are now involved in another war. The few years of the Biden admin were the only years in Gen Z's entire lives where we weren't in a war. And now we're back. Right. People are angry and they want to take it out. Someone, unfortunately for Republicans, this November is going to be that.
Yeah.
And, that's okay with me. I remember when, you know, of course we were all extremely depressed and concerned
and worried and just.
Well, you know, after the 2024 election, it started to, dawn, I think, on the Republicans. Oh boy, we're the dog that caught the car. We control every arm of the government now. So anything that's Bad is our fault. And you don't have to be a high information voter to know that and to, to, to want to change it. But the education piece that you guys are doing, what sort of things I know that you mentioned, like how to do mail in voting, to have a voting plan and, and stuff like that. What about other kinds of outreach to individual young people's communities so that they can bring more people into the fold and educate more people, like training the trainers kind of stuff?
Yeah, I think I, touched on this briefly earlier, but one of the things that I, that we have failed to do, I think in Democratic politics at large is really build the community aspect of things. I think we're really good at screaming at people and telling them that they're wrong and we're right and we know better than them. We're really not good at sort of bringing them in and making them want to stay. Not because they agree with us, but because they're having a good time. And a lot of what we're doing right now is hosting a lot of those community focused events. We are doing film festivals where high schoolers can submit a short film, talk about issues affecting their community. And people are coming in, we're providing popcorn, we're providing soda. Right. Like they are having a good time. We're doing happy hours where people are coming in, they're talking, they're meeting people who agree with them, we're giving a few drink tickets to them, they're having a great time and they are coming back to follow up events because they're no longer coming just because they agree with us on the politics. They're coming because it's a fun space for them to be in and they're bringing their friends. Friends, right. And I think a lot of our work has been not just in designing these events in a way where we can still integrate a political message, but in actually providing the resources to our attendees to sort of spread the word and continue to grow them. Whether that is having them talk in the event itself about an issue affecting them or whether that is literally just giving them the flyers and information for them to come back. I think it is incredibly important that we continue doing this. And I can say Voters Tomorrow is absolutely going to continue because it has just been so successful for us.
Yeah, and I think that community piece is so important. I think that a lot of the young candidates are really able to kind of understand that with like, for example, Mamdani, you know, bringing people in, finding out what they want instead of telling them what he thinks they want, which is something that, you know, Democrats, wonk, Democrats are pretty used to doing. But now he's putting these parks back together, fixing the hoops, putting up soccer fields, giving away tickets to the US Open that's affordable. Building this big affordable housing tower where there used to be a parking lot garage that not too many people were using. Those kinds of things I think really bring people together.
And he's visible in all of these things. I think that's the other thing that a lot of people miss is not only is he doing all of these great policy initiatives that really build community, but he's also hosting community events himself. He's hosting a soccer match, they did a scavenger hunt. All of these things are places where his, constituents can see him as a person, not as a politician. And I think that matters so much because not only is he providing this community where people can have a good time and meet new friends, they are also getting to experience who he is as a person. And they are having conversations about, playing soccer, about having fun and finding these clues that he put around the city. And all of that just really provides sort of a three dimens third dimension to who he is as a candidate and really brings just people in to support him as in his campaign.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, you work a lot with your, you know, your resources and stuff to point out these young candidates that are challenging these incumbents.
And it seems to be, it seems to be working.
I feel like young people are very excited about, you know, picking up the baton and carrying it forward.
It's, I think young people are more than ready to lead. And again, I think it comes back to what we were talking about, before. A lot of young people feel, really just feel abandoned by the system. And I think what a lot of these candidates have had in common is recognizing the fact that the system isn't working for young people. That many young people feel like the rug was pulled out from under them, that they were told that if they only got a college degree they would have a job guaranteed. And now not only can they not afford college, which they also don't even have the job guarantee because the AI is coming for these jobs. Right. I think it is so important that candidates really, regardless of age, but especially young candidates, lean into that, emphasize that they can relate to that experience and that they understand what young people are going through. Because that is the fundamental, I think, reality of our current political system. That failure to accurately address the, the issues that affecting young people's lives.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, I know there's a ton of people who are excited to get involved and help and roll up their sleeve and help with the work. Can you tell people where they can
find more information to do that?
Absolutely. You can go to votersoftomorrow.org if you're a student. You can just add students there and find a chapter near you to get involved. Or if you're wonderful, our older allies. You can sign up to volunteer and you can also donate, whether that's five, ten, or fifteen bucks. We are an entirely grassroots, supported movement, so we really depend upon, especially our older allies, chipping in and continuing to support this mission and providing the resources not just to people attending the events, but to all of our organizers and fellows and chapters who are doing critical work to ensure we win in November.
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Everybody. Make sure that you follow Santiago, mayor and voters of tomorrow on whatever socials you use. And, we'll check in again later to see how things are going around the midterms.
Let's do it. Thank you for having me.
All right, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with the good news. Everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news.
Who likes good news?
Everyone. Then good news, everyone.
In your near boy days like these, we really need your good news. And there are many more these days to come. So please send us all your good news, big or small, yesterday or from 40 years ago. Maybe a fun story you like to share. Anything we can, like microdose on, hope, like we need it. So send it to us. You can even give a shout out maybe to a loved one or a spouse or yourself or a nonprofit, a government program that's helped you or a loved one. We would love to hear about them. Also send your good trouble suggestions to us. And also attach a photo. That's all you got to do. You can maybe, I think you can even attach to and it can just be a photo of anything that'll bring a smile to our face. Your pets. We can try to guess your breeds and your shelter pup. Adoptable pets, random animals on the Internet, Bird watching photos, which can be birds or you flipping the bird to a Trump building. We love those. maybe anything that you're making or creating a nice sunset. A funny meme. Literally anything at all. Send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. First up is your good trouble. Good trouble today comes from Susan. Pronouns. She and her hi beans Queens. Thank you for your amazing coverage of the news each day. You make it so much easier to digest. Our local Indivisible group is hosting a soiree on September 26 to raise money for election protection. If you're in the San Francisco Bay area, please join us San Carlos Soiree for Election Protection and we will have the Mid Peninsula Indivisible link in the show notes for that event. If you're anywhere else, check out Indivisible's Hands Off Our Vote Toolkit. We'll also have a link in the show notes from now until the election. By the way. And here's a short rundown of what's in the toolkit. We know that Trump and his big Lie cronies are plotting to do everything they can to undermine our elections in 2026. Whether it's trying to end mail in voting, targeting registration programs, blocking vote counting, even trying to ban states from encouraging people to vote, it's going to be no holds barred from them this year as they desperately try to block free democratic elections. The toolkit has information and resources for four key help pre bunk voting misinformation and and be a trusted local messenger. Track local and state attacks on voting rights and how to respond. Participate in national calls to action and be ready for rapid response moments and get trained and ready for election support and mass mobilization this fall. There'll be training sessions this fall if Trump and his allies seek to deny the election, like seizing ballot boxes or refusing to seat the election winners, Hands off our vote and partners across the country will be ready to mobilize for large scale protests. Susan's Tacks in addition to volunteering with Indivisible and listening to the Beans, our three cats, Leo, Dorian and Buddy keep us sane and happy. The other day I was singing the Daily Beans theme song in the shower and my husband changed the words to Fuzzy Cats, Fuzzy Cats and I took it as a sign that I needed to submit their photos. Thanks again for bringing levity and humanity to these times. These cats are great, by the way.
They're so cute.
And the cool thing about having three cats is they're always forming a triangle.
Yeah, always. All right, next up from Firebird, Shelley Pronoun. She and her hello Beans ladies and Beans behind the scenes. I know it's a small thing, but it made me feel good. Today I went to Google Maps and told them to fix Lake Ontario. If you open Google Maps right click on the location of Lake Ontario currently showing up America, you can report a data problem. It wouldn't Let me fix the information. So I sent the following feedback back. Your interface will not allow me to fix the name of Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario has been named as such since before the US or Canada existed. Named by the Iroquois, the name has been in use since at least 1639. The temper tantrum of a petulant man in the White House does not change the name of the lake. And Google's capitulation to said toddler is just another example of the spinelessness of corporations. I am moving my business and personal work away from Google as quickly as possible. Sending pics of my recent Michigan vacay. Enjoy the sunrise over Lake Huron. And the bird we took a lot of time identifying. We thought it was a hawk, but it's actually a falcon. A Merlin. Check out what it's eating. Thank you for all you do. I appreciate you so much.
What is it eating?
I am really afraid to double click on this.
It looks like a dragonfly.
Has a lot of legs.
It's got a lot of legs. I know how you feel about legs.
It's got a lot of long legs. Al Soon.
I can't m. Well, thank you for
that information, Firebird Shelley. and that's a really great template to. To write into Google. I'm, sorry you won't let me fix the name of Lake Ontario. It's fantastic.
Next.
Marie from Down Under. Hi, AG and dg. I wanted to say thank you both for informing this Aussie about US news and for reassuring me that there are empathetic, intelligent and funny people capable of standing up for decency and democracy. I'm hoping that TDS will be replaced with TES Trump Enragement Syndrome in the midterms. For the sake of the world. I've been listening to the daily beans for what seems like decades, but recently discovered beans talk. My 10 year old blank insisted I tell you she loved the kitten moxie moment, though.
The tiny.
The tiny hat. The tiny hard hat. Here's a photo of her glued to the tv. Oh, what sort of dog do you suppose this is?
That looks like a. From the back it looks like a shepherd, but a German shepherd, but I don't think that's what it is. That'd be too easy.
Yeah, the ears are too floppy. I don't know. Let's see what it is. Oh, it's an Australian kelpie. Then you're in Australia. That makes sense.
All right, there you go.
Thank you.
Next up for man pronouns, she and they. I have good news about my chickens. I noticed a hole in the ground near their house and was worried it was a rat. I placed a camera to see if if I could capture a picture of a rat at a hole by the chicken house. I did. Then a few days later, I put it out again. That is when I got super lucky. I was very lucky that the placement of the camera was aimed in the perfect place to catch the path of an owl as it took off with the rat in his grasp. This rat is now owl food. The last time I had rats, they were so many and they chewed multiple holes in the house. I was so lucky then to have a mink show up and all the rats were gone. Gone. I did not know they had gone right away, but when I found some dead chickens and used the camera to capture the mink in the house, I felt it was a small price to pay to get rid of the rats. And it taught me I needed to patch all rat sized holes as the mink could also get into those. Unfortunately, the last few years I have not seen my mink. but now I have an owl friend and a few new bantam hens.
Oh, look at the chickens.
That's wild old.
Yeah, man.
Farm life. Or at least chicken coop having life.
Like, I got a camera and there
was a rat and an owl came and saved my chickens. Like, damn, that's. That's badass. Next up from Jen Pronoun. She and her I love the daily beans and the wonderful community y' all have created. Thank you for being awesome. On August 28th, House Republicans advanced a bill to block federal heat rules on water shade and breaks for outside workers,
because of course, they did.
I live in north Texas, which got rid of those restrictions back in 2023. I'm a delivery driver, and since Texas got rid of the mandatory breaks, my company averages one to two heat related deaths in my area. I don't know if there's a way to stop this from advancing, but I would like to ask this community, because everyone here is amazing, to check your delivery drivers and letter carriers. Check on them. Sometimes just making sure we're okay or giving us a cold bottle of water could mean the difference between finishing our route or heading to the hospital. Included is a picture of one of my cats. Not sure if she's recharging or trying to perform her magic, but. Oh, he. He broke my lampshade for his own shenanigans.
Oh, that's great.
and yeah, that's such a good thing. Check on your delivery drivers. Check on your mail carriers.
Yes, indeed. All right. From Linda. No pronouns given. Morning beans, Queens. A meme resonated with me. We should call the reflecting pool Lake Trump. Until it's fixed, it's over budget. Broken algae filled. A perfect reflection of Trump. In honor of Dolly, I asked for Seaside, California to set our city hall lights to pink Rainworks. This is a link. Makes a spray that only reveals itself when it's wet. It repels the water. Showing any artwork you create. Wow. The cement or wood shows nothing when dry. It's removable. Oh, my God. Some of our listeners are about to make some good trouble. It's removable and fades in in a few months. Most cities consider it like chalk. So not like spray paint. I'll be putting a rainy day messages all over the sidewalk and drive. Love you all. There is more of us and we hold the moral high ground. I saw a friend of mine doing this and I think she had a stencil that was pretty. Like, fuck Donald Trump. Something like that. And you cannot see it until it rains. It's wild.
That's amazing.
Oh, man, Phoenix is bummed out. They all get rain like once a year. this is incredible. Look, they lit it up pink. City hall on Seaside. Well done.
Okay. Oh, my God.
This picture. This is from Lex. Meet Lunatic. After five years of mourning the loss of my Penny, I have lost my mind and got a puppy. 21 years since Penny was a puppy up. Now I have to plan on living many more years as her servant. Look at this little baby.
Oh, my goodness.
And then next, from J Pronoun, she and her dear ladies Illuminati, I come bearing Popeye trivia for ag. A fellow movie buff. When you mentioned the Popeye movie last week, I had to laugh because on my first European cruise this past May, we stopped in Valletta, Malta. And for the life of me, I couldn't understand why Popeye was everywhere. Keychains, dolls, magnets, Etc Quick Google search informed me that Robin Williams movie was filmed in Malta and the set is still there as the Popeye Village theme park. Unfortunately, I discovered this toward the end of our port day and had no time to visit. For my pod pet tax, I've included two pictures from our day, including one overlooking the beautiful grand harbor and its cannons. Love the podcast and all you do to keep us informed and sane. Keep up the great work. There it is. Malta.
Gorgeous.
Fantastic.
Gorgeous. Gorgeous.
Thank you so much.
I am taking off everyone, for another week. Allison's gonna hold down the fort. I am going on a work trip and I know it's gonna sound like I'm bragging and I'm not because they are exhausting. But I'll be headed out to Tahiti, for a week. And so if you are one of my Patreon members, you'll be seeing photos in my Patreon account of my adventures. That's where I share with the people that are close to me and the dis. but. So Allison's gonna hold down the fort, but I look forward to be back with you all in about a week. Yes, ma'. Am.
And, I have the watch, my friends.
You do.
and, then you'll have the
watch when I go away in January, February. So I'm looking forward to that.
Everybody will be well.
I'll be back tomorrow, but we will see you over on Beans Talk in just a few minutes. Thank you so much for listening. Until tomorrow, please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, take care of the planet, take care of your mental health health and take care of your framily. I've been ag.
I've been dg.
And them's the beans.
The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Allison Gill with additional research and reporting by Dana Goldberg. Sound design and editing is by Desiree McFarlane with art and web design by Joelle Reader with Moxie Design Studios. Music for the Daily Beans is written and performed by they Might Be 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.