Friday, May 9th, 2025 Today, Dr Robert Prevost of Chicago becomes the first American Pope in history; three former Memphis police officers have been acquitted of state charges by a jury for the murder of Tyre Nichols; Trump is pushing nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink; Some ‘Les Mis’ cast members plan to boycott Trump’s attendance at a Kennedy Center performance next month; MAGA friendly website Public Square backfires as people use it to learn what businesses to avoid; Ed Martin is out for US attorney in DC as Trump weighs Fox anchor Jeanine Pirro for the job; Senator Fetterman raises alarms after an outburst at meeting with union officials; Judge Boasberg orders briefing on discovery in the Alien Enemies Act case; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
Friday, May 9th, 2025
Today, Dr Robert Prevost of Chicago becomes the first American Pope in history; three former Memphis police officers have been acquitted of state charges by a jury for the murder of Tyre Nichols; Trump is pushing nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink; Some ‘Les Mis’ cast members plan to boycott Trump’s attendance at a Kennedy Center performance next month; MAGA friendly website Public Square backfires as people use it to learn what businesses to avoid; Ed Martin is out for US attorney in DC as Trump weighs Fox anchor Jeanine Pirro for the job; Senator Fetterman raises alarms after an outburst at meeting with union officials; Judge Boasberg orders briefing on discovery in the Alien Enemies Act case; and Allison and Dana deliver your Good News.
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Stories:
'Miscarriage of justice': Family 'devastated' after ex-officers acquitted in beating death | Raw Story
Exclusive: Some ‘Les Mis’ cast members plan to boycott Trump’s attendance at Kennedy Center performance next month | CNN Politics
Sen. John Fetterman raises alarms with outburst at meeting with union officials, AP sources say | AP News
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Um, MSW media. Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Friday, May 9, 2025. Today, Dr. Robert Prevost of Chicago has becomes the first Pope from the United States in history. Three former Memphis police officers have been acquitted of state charges by a jury for the murder of Tyre Nichols. Trump is pushing nations facing tariffs to approve Musk's Starlink. Some Les Mis cast members plan to boycott Trump's attendance at a Kennedy center performance next month. MAGA friendly website Public Square backfires as people use it to learn what businesses to avoid. Ed Martin is out for U.S. attorney in D.C. as Trump wa. Fox anchor Janine Pirro for the job. Senator Fetterman raises alarms after an outburst at a meeting with union officials. And Judge Boasberg orders briefing on discovery in the Alien Enemies act case. I'm Allison Gill.
And I'm Dana Goldberg.
Hoy. Janine Pirro.
I, uh, just realized I don't normally say anything during your introduction. I'm sure it got edited out, but I audibly said oy right after you said Jeanine Piro.
Man. Um, well, maybe we should all buy stock in boxed wine, um, and see how that goes.
But, you know, it seems like anyone that had any sort of, anyone that has any dirt on this guy seems like they are going to be up for something.
Yeah, right. And if they get fired, he moves them to a different job so he doesn't upset them. So, yeah, Ed Martin's out, thanks to Tom Tillis, Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that with John Fus later in the show because it's Fugal sang Fridays here on the Daily Beans. We're also going to talk. Yeah, we're also going to talk about the Pope because we have a woke Pope, woke Pope alert. Laura Loomer's mad.
Jack Maga. Maga's mad.
Mad. Yeah, they're all very pissed. Megyn Kelly is coping by rationalizing that the Pope's Twitter was run by some Marxist 20 year old instead of him. Um, but he's got posts from like 10 years ago, so I'm not sure that's accurate. This guy's, he's from, he's from Chicago. That's like Chicago.
I keep seeing these now memes. It just says Chicago Pope instead of Chicago Hope, which I think is hysterical.
The Pope, duh. Pope, right?
Yep. Even Kelly said to Pope, uh, his.
Brother, by the way, says he's a Sox fan, which makes sense because if he were a Cubs fan, he wouldn't have won hey. Oh, uh, but we're going to talk about that with Fugal Sang as well. Also, later in the show, I'm going to be talking to Rachel Feldman. She's a director whose professional career began at a time when only 1% of film and television production was directed by women. And her first feature film is called Lily. It's about Lily Ledbetter. So it's evident what drew this filmmaker to Lilly Ledbetter's story of, uh, tenacity. So I'm excited to speak to her about her new film. Uh, it's gonna be in short release, uh, in some theaters, and then it'll be available to stream, uh, a little bit later, and we'll give you the dates when I speak to her. Uh, also, um, we're going to be talking about the Pope today with Charlotte Clymer on my substack live at 6:30pm Eastern, 3:30 Pacific.
Literally, Charlotte was the first person I texted immediately because I trust Charlotte on all things Catholicism. Um, she's brilliant and really sort of put my concerns at ease. And I think one of the biggest takeaway, and definitely go to the substack for all of this, uh, at 6:30pm Eastern, um, with Allison and Charlotte. But any person that would have been put up for Pope is going to have some. They're not going to be fully LGBTQ supportive. They're just not. The church is still evolving. These people are still evolving. And I know there were some questionable comments back in 2012 from this guy, but we have to remember that people do evolve. Obama evolved. Joe Biden evolved and made Obama evolve because he opened his mouth. But those things happen. And Francis, he made him a cardinal. So I think we have to have at least a little bit of hope that this guy. A little hope for the Pope. That's all I'm asking. A little hope for the Pope when it comes to the LGBTQ community. And let him. At least let's hear what he has to say when he makes his. I know there's something more formal, but his opening remarks.
Right. It was either going to be somebody who is completely against the LGBTQ + community or somebody who is less against the LGBTQ community.
Well said.
Well, there's not. There's not really any other, like, not yet, you know, um, choices, uh, for Pope. So this is, um. He's. He's. The thing that gives me hope for the Pope is M. Cheney.
Vance.
Is that.
Yeah. How m. How many right wingers are pissed and that he doesn't like J.D. vance at all. So um, we'll, you know, we'll, we'll keep an eye, we'll keep an eye out. But, um, you know, this is pretty much another Francis, I think, and I hope so. Yeah, I look forward to.
But I'm looking forward to the conversation you have with Charlotte, for sure.
She knows it all. She is so well versed in this stuff. All right, we have a lot of news to get to. Let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right, first up, Trump was supposed to announce a bigly huge, massive trade deal with a very important country yesterday morning at 10am Eastern. But apparently it's just a concept of a deal. And they're still working out the details. Apparently it's with the United Kingdom. We'll see how that ends up going. And by the way, the Washington Post is reporting that a series of internal government messages obtained by the Post reveal how U.S. embassies in the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for US Satellite often mentioning Starlink, Elon Musk's Starlink by name. The documents do not show that Trump has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs, but that's what's going on. They indicate that Secretary of State Rubio has increasingly instructed officials to push for regulatory approvals for Musk's satellite firm. At a moment when the White House is calling for wide ranging talks on trade in India, government officials have sped through approvals of Starlink with the understanding that doing so could help them cement trade deals with the administration. That's according to two people familiar who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations.
All of this scares the shit out of me because that means Musk has the power to turn this shit on and off at will. He did it to Ukraine during this war. Um, I don't like any of this. And I will tell you right now, losing Tesla, he's not going to give a shit if he gets these Starlink contracts because the amount of money that will be coming from this was so much more. Yep, this is very scary. Um, this is, uh, not a good news story. Coming up next. This is from Raw Story. The family of Tyree Nichols is speaking out through their attorney following the acquittal of three former Memphis police officers on state charges. And I want you to know, State charges that they beat the 29 year old to death. Today's verdicts are a devastating miscarriage of justice. The world watched as Tyree Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve that brutal, inhumane assault it was captured on video. Yet the officers responsible were acquitted. Tyree's life was stolen and his family was denied the justice they so deeply deserve. We are outraged, and we know we are not alone. Okay, that's a quote from the story. Now, Keillor said the defendants, quote, were found not guilty of second degree murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated kidnapping. And this is what the point I wanted to make. They do still face the prospect of years in prison because they were convicted of federal charges last year. So that's why I made a point to say these are state charges. I hope they stay still, get put away and some sort of justice is served. But I am so sorry to Tyree Nichols family and. And anyone who's ever been a victim of police brutality watching these three guys get acquitted of state charges.
And I'm just hoping that the, you know, Pam bodies. Department of justice doesn't review the case.
Uh, federally.
Yeah, federally. To try to undercut the charges or. Or put in a sentencing memo. That's far less than that would be required. Same kind of stuff Bill Barr did with, like, Mike Flynn and Roger Stone way back in the day. Um, but we'll keep an eye on it for you.
I mean, I have to wonder, and I mean, I don't mean to jump on this one, but we'll see what Pam Bondi does. The three police officers that beat him are black. And I think that would be a very different thing for Pam Bondi. And yes, I am saying something between the lines here. If the three police officers had been white. So I'm gonna. It'll be interesting to see what sort of favor she gives to these guys, uh, with these specific circumstances of the death.
Right. And her latest memo, she has been promising that, you know, all that pro bono work that the big law firms who bent the knee are giving to the Trump administration would be representing police officers like this. But. But you're right. We'll see what she does. And as promised yesterday, we have more info on Les Mis at the Kennedy Center. This is from cnn. When Trump descends on the Kennedy Performing Arts center next month for a high dollar fundraiser and a performance of Les Miserables, he won't be seeing the usual cast performing. At least 10 to 12 members in Les Mis are planning to sit out the show on June 11, the night that Trump attends the Kennedy Center. That's according to the sources. The cast was given the option to not perform the night that Trump will be in the audience. And both major cast members and members of the ensemble are among those sitting out In a statement to cnn, Rick Grenell, who identified himself as president of the Kennedy center, said he was unaware that some of the cast members planned to boycott the performance on the night of Trump's appearance and that the Kennedy center qu no longer fund Intolerance. Uh, any. That's Rick Grenell, though. I, I was doing a Trump voice because they're just all the same to.
Me, especially because they are literally now funding Intolerance.
But go ahead, quite quote, any performer who isn't professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won't be welcomed. That's what Grenell said. In fact, he went on, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn't hire and that the public knows which political litmus test to sit in the audience. The Kennedy center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for, but instead enjoys a performance together. Yeah, sure, maybe back when, like, I don't know, uh, I can't think of a good Republican president to, to plug in there, but these are Nazis.
No. And let's point out, and I, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. Grinnell's gay is correct. We're talking about the same guy. Correct. Yeah. So this gay motherfucker decided were going to get rid of all of the World Pride performances at the Kennedy center because they stand up and just, you know, fight for diversity, equity, inclusion in the LGBTQ community, which he belongs to. And then this has the audacity to say that these vapid and intolerant artists to insure producers who would. That they shouldn't hire, like, he's just a hypocritical jerk. Mhm.
Oh, 100%.
Oh, man, it just. That makes my blood boil. I'm sorry, Log Cabin Republicans. And it all goes down to white privilege. And it burns me, man. It burns me.
Yeah, it reminds me of when was it J.D. vance or somebody said, I bet we get all the regular gay guys to vote for us. Like, what the fuck is that? It's very sad. And so many people have resigned from the board there in protest, including our friend Ben Folds. And a lot of folks, um, that we've talked about, about have pulled their performances. Hamilton and Trump's. Like, I didn't like Hamilton. I didn't like it.
You know, I didn't understand it.
Yeah, there's too many words, too many Big words. Yeah.
There's been a couple of artists, though, that have had, like, shirts, um, ah, resistant shirts under their performance that at the end of it, have taken them off, um, and shown the resistance statement about the arts or standing up for diversity, equity, inclusion. So there's some people that are going, and then they're having their moment. But. But my, uh, hat goes off to the people that are boycotting their performance. And, hey, there's some understudies that are going to get their shot. So there's some good that comes from it.
Yeah, I agree. And it'll be interesting to see how that performance goes. This is a huge fundraiser for Trump and the Kennedy center, so.
Yeah, it's also a highly ironic performance.
Yeah. That, again, like I think we said yesterday, the irony is not lost on me that this is, um, Miz. But Trump used music from Les Mis during, like, a lot of his hate rallies, and the composers were objected to it.
Well, they also had that incredible performance by the. What is it, the orchestra that we saw when we went to the White House together perform Les Mis. I mean, it's just. They don't. Either they don't get it or they're trolling themselves. I just can't figure it out.
I think they're trying to troll us, but I don't think they're smart enough to understand.
Yeah.
So maybe not. Anyway. Yeah, again, I'm with you. Hats off to these performers.
Yeah. And this one is from the Associated Press. And the story, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. He was meeting last week with representatives from a teacher's union in his home state when things quickly devolved. Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why everybody is mad at me. Why does everyone hate me? What did I ever do? And slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on that occurrence. Now, at the meeting as it deterior, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the teachers, who were themselves rattled by Federman's behavior. And that's according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting. The teacher's union encounter. It adds to the questions being raised about Fetterman's mental health and behavior barely three years after he survived a stroke on the 2022 campaign trail that he said almost killed him. Uh, now that was followed by a bout with depression that landed him in Walter Reed National Medical center for six weeks. That was barely a month after he was sworn into the Senate. The scrutiny, it also comes at a time when Fetterman, now serving the third year of his term, is being criticized by many rank and file Democrats in his home state for being willing to cooperate with President Donald Trump amid Democrats growing alarm over Trump's actions and agenda. We talked about this a little bit on the Stephanie Miller show this morning. This is concerning. Yeah, Like, I feel very. I hope his family is taking care of him. It does sound like there's a mental health issue happening with this. And we've seen other brains that have been damaged, whether it's from concussions or strokes or other things like that have behavioral changes. And I really hope that Fetterman, if he is sick, gets the help that he needs, because this seems very out of character to the man that was elected three years ago. It truly does. Now, I'm not saying this man's perfect. This just seems to be escalated behavior from him.
Yeah, um, I think he should resign. I think that, um, Shapiro, he needs to take care of his health and his family and himself. Uh, and I think that, um, Shapiro, Governor Shapiro should appoint someone to take his place.
I agree with you. I agree with you. And I do wish Hm, him and his family the best, but I agree.
Same Next up, Judge Boasberg issued his written order, uh, about the hearing that I talked about yesterday, calling for a briefing on discovery in the Alien Enemies act case, the one brought by ACLU on behalf of the people still being unlawfully held seacoat in el Salvador. Andy McCabe and I are going to go over that in detail on this Sunday's Unjustified podcast. And Dana, Andy McCabe and I will be joined by Sky Perryman, the CEO of Democracy Forward, on Amazing, one of the organizations helping the plaintiffs in this case. Um, but yeah, Judge Boasberg didn't have some, didn't have kind words. He, he was like, look, are you saying that Kristi Noem lied when she said that there was a payment of $6 million to Bukele? Are you saying that Caroline Levitt lied when she said there was an agreement between the two countries? Uh, you know, this all goes toward constructive custody. And so I think that he's leaning toward allowing discovery. They're going to brief on discovery. I think he'll allow discovery. And I think he's going to find that, um, there are violations of the Alien Enemies act that Trump can't use, that it's unlawful like the other three judges have found. And he, in the hearing, he's like, do you Think these other three judges are lying. It wasn't a good hearing for the government, but there aren't a lot of good hearings for the government recently in these courts.
There are. And I know Trump's trying to use privilege over discovery. Um, so he's going to throw everything he can at the wall because if they do discovery, that's literally what's going to happen. They're going to discover exactly what they need to and there's probably some very unconstitutional, illegal shit that went down.
Mhm. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah. Thanks so much, Alison. All right, everyone, we've given you some news. Now it is time for some good trouble and some good news. This is a combo.
What are you guys doing?
All right, this one is from HuffPost. Here we go. A few years ago, Jeff was working for a California bank and that that bank asked him to look into getting it listed on a website called Public Square. The bank's leaders were big supporters of Donald Trump and Public Square was an ideal place to advertise it. Its website, which bills itself as, quote, the anti woke online marketplace, is a hub of tens of thousands of businesses. You can all see where this is going nationwide that want people to know they align with MAGA views and opposed so called, quote, progressive priorities like women's reproductive rights and uh, diversity initiatives. Now, in order to list your business on the website, you first have to confirm that you will, quote, respect the core values of Public Square and agree to not, quote, support causes that are in direct conflict with our core values. The company also acknowledges its purpose of letting people use their dollars as political and cultural leverage. Quote, Public Square is on a mission to restore the culture through the power of commerce. Its website says this under a section called Purpose with every purchase goes, this isn't about boycotts, it's about helping you switch to something better, end quote. Well, as a consumer, Public Square's website, it's easy to use. You just enter your zip code and it pulls up businesses near you that want to be publicly associated with Trump and his values. The company, which launched in 2022, has direct connections to Trump. Also its board of directors includes who Donald Trump Jr. Don Jr. Who is also an investor in the company. So fast forward to February of 2025 when Trump is back in the White House and destroying virtually everything he touches. He's tanking the global economy, he's hollowing out government. It is not hyperbole to say he is pushing American democracy to its breaking point.
Mhm. Now Jeff, back to Jeff, who worked for the bank was Uh, a regular user of Reddit, and he started noticing people in San Diego posting messages, desperate for ways to fight back against Trump's recklessness. Some called for boycotting MAGA friendly businesses, but didn't know how to identify companies that support Trump's views. So Jeff, who had extensively researched Public Square at his previous bank job, tossed in a note. He said, MAGA has made it easy for all of us to avoid their businesses. He wrote under his Reddit name, uh, which is our abbreviations. 18. A couple years ago, they introduced a website, publicsq.com to promote MAGA businesses. We can use that same tool to make informed purchasing decisions. Well, his message took off. It went viral. It spreaded to Reddit threads, it spread to Reddit threads, spread. It spread it to Reddit threads all over the country by people eager to do something, anything, to reject Trump. Ironically, people began finding solace in the very thing Public Square offers its supporters. A chance to align your spending with your values. Except in this case, people are using Public Square to decide where not to spend. Trump critics also have been talking about Public Square on the other platforms like Threads and Facebook, where a group called the 50501 Movement, who we've talked about, organizes people around Trump, protests, rallies, and boycotts. And the group, which has 164,000 members, flagged public Square for its followers last month. Best part data, Public Square appears to make its money through fees paid by the businesses on their website.
We might be able to put a lot of people out of business, so.
These idiot Nazis are paying for the privilege of us knowing exactly who to avoid. So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to check out Public Square, find out which of your local businesses support the Trump regime. All right, everybody, we'll be right back with Rachel, uh, Feldman and John Fugelsang. And of course, the good news. Stick around. We'll be right back after these messages.
We'll be right back.
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Hey, everybody. Welcome back. I am really excited today to be joined by the director, co writer and producer of a film that's gonna be coming out May 9th as a limited release, a theatrical release, and video on demand June 10th. The movie is called Lilly. It's a biopic about Lilly Ledbetter. We all know Lilly Ledbetter. It's starring Patricia Clarkson as Lilly. And please, like I said, welcome the director, co writer and producer of Lily, Rachel Feldman. Hi, Rachel. How are you today?
I'm great. So nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
Uh, it's my honor to speak to you because this work is so important. Uh, I mean, how long have we been fighting for pay, inequality, and justice? And to be able to tell Lilly's story this way, I think is so important. And so, you know, history repeats, you know, it often rhymes. And we're in a Very dire time, uh, for women. And, uh, we've always been fighting back. So I really appreciate you coming on to speak today, talk about how you got involved in this project.
Well, I was watching television in 2008 with my husband on the couch. We were watching the, uh, Democratic National Convention, like millions of others, and excited to see what was going to happen between Hillary Clinton and President, um, Barack Obama, who was the nominee officially yet. And this Alabama grandma came on stage to talk about gender equity and fair pay. And I, uh. Something physiological happened to me in that moment. I grabbed my husband. I said, oh my God, this is a movie. I just knew it, uh, the whole thing sort of laid out for me. Even though I did, I didn't know that much about her at that moment. And, you know, to hear this woman talk about fair pay in front of millions of people on television, I just. I needed to reach out to her and find out more about her. So I actually did. I connected with her via telephone the very next day. And she directed me to her attorney, John Goldfarb, who had taken her all the way through and was still her attorney and her guiding light. Um, a very well known, prominent, brilliant, lovely man in Birmingham, Alabama. And he and I connected. And the wonderful thing about John is not only is he this fine attorney, but he had gone to film school and he was a film lover and he loved talking movies. And he had been an editor. Um, and we hit it off and it took another two or three years until I got the rights to her life because she was in the process of writing a book, which became a beautiful book co written with, ah, Lanier Scott Isom, called Grace and Grit, which I recommend anyone interested in Lily's story to read.
It's a beautiful book.
Book. So that's, um, how it all began. Three years later, I officially got the rights. I immediately wrote a screenplay. Um, and then the rest is a long journey that we can certainly talk about if you'd like to. It is an equal, uh, gender equity fight in Hollywood in a whole different kind of way.
Yeah. And we're seeing all sorts of gender equity fights. We thought. We thought we were at the tail end of it, and we've been thrust. Thrust back into the beginning. I love seeing the women, like people and like my mother, who are out there with signs saying, I can't believe I still have to protest this shit. And it's. It's so amazing to me that you were. You were just watching something and it struck, you know, that's not unlike what happened when I started the Mueller She Wrote podcast. I was watching some documentary on Nixon and Watergate, and, uh, Bob Mueller had just been appointed. I'm like, this is probably important, and I should start something with this.
Well, that's the creative process, isn't it? You know, one little instinctual fire gets us going, and then we take off.
Yeah. And the same is true for Lily, uh, herself, who was fighting for. For this equity. Uh, and, you know, we. We find ourselves today backsliding dramatically with this administration, ridding the government of. And punishing private interests and. And, uh, you know, for equity and inclusion and diversity and accessibility and, you know, removing women's stories from, you know, websites, removing the transgender from the lgbtq. Plus, uh, in the Stonewall Memorial, like, just absolutely under attack. And. And anything that talks about equity is somehow woke and a problem. Yeah, I mean, it was shocking talking.
To me that books about Jackie Robinson are being taken out of the library.
Yeah, yeah, we've got, uh, at the Naval Academy, they're leaving Mein Kampf on the shelves, but pulling Maya Angelou, um, it's devastating. And that's why I think it's so important that we remember Lily's story. So talk a little bit about the journey from 2008 until May 9th.
Yeah, yeah. That's a long journey, A great journey. Um, so I immediately wrote a screenplay, and, um, Adam Prince was my co writer on the first couple of drafts. As you can imagine, it's a very big story, because the book and her life, you know, I was really interested in her backstory. I was really interested in what makes a character have this kind of tenacity and resilience. Um, because all of us need to stand up for justice, but some of us. Us are more capable of it than others, and some have this innate determination. So I was very curious about her upbringing and what made her so tough, and she did have a very difficult upbringing. She. She was raised, uh. She was born in 1938, you know, in Jim Crow, Alabama. Uh, you know, at a time when women certainly didn't have a lot of rights and a lot of other people didn't have a lot of rights. And women's roles were very confined to motherhood. And she was a smart girl who, you know, grew up without electricity and running water. She stepped over snakes on the way to. Her mother was a cold woman. Her mother had her own issues, you know, so I wanted to sort of put that on the screenplay, but I couldn't. So, you know, when you tell a movie in an hour and a half, or two hours. You need to focus on that period of time. And we focused on the period of time from the moment that she found the note, um, that that proved to her that she was being unfairly paid, to the moment that the law was, was signed. And that was a 10 year period. And so when I started talking to Lily and about, uh, making this movie, she said to me, she was very prescient and she said, this is going to take you 10 years. I said, lily, you don't know Hollywood.
You don't know how things are going to be.
She goes, it took me 10 years. It is not an easy fight. It's going to take you 10 years. And, uh, it took a little more than 12. 10 years. Took about 12 or 13 years. But she was right. So when I, uh, immediately finished the screenplay, uh, I started winning some screenplay screenwriting awards. So I suspected I had something good. And then over the course of the next five years, I optioned it to, uh, several different, very well known, prominent, some Academy Award winning producers who were interested in making the movie. But they either couldn't get it off the ground, and a few of them didn't believe they could get it off the ground with me attached as the director. Even though I'm a veteran television director and I directed over 75 hours of television, they didn't believe that they could get a feature film made with me attached. So there were all kinds of variables. And after a five year period, and I had had sworn to Lily Ledbetter and sworn to John Goldfarb that I would get this movie made by hook or by crook, um, because there were other people who wanted the movie at the time that I did, who had power, who had money, who had clout. And I had none of those things, but I did have the will, um, and the determination and the resilience. And so I met someone who said, you know, I know how to raise money for independent films. And you know, as an independent filmmaker, certainly we all have friends who've gone down that road. And I thought, oh, oh, no, no, that's not me. I don't want to do that. That's just too hard. Uh, but it's what we did. We raised the money, we raised every penny of this budget. And, um, here we are with a beautiful finished film with, I have to say, I have an extraordinary team of, um, mostly women who have, uh, put the wind behind our wings and have landed us here. And we will open, as you say, on May 9th theatrically across the country.
That's so incredible. Let's talk for a minute about uh, that resilience. The resilience that comes through in the life of Lilly Ledbetter. Your resilience to put this film, uh, together and get it made and get it into theaters. Because that seems to be the foundation upon which this kind of resistance is built. The. Nevertheless, she persisted resilience. And that really shines through in her story. So, so talk a little bit. I mean were you as you're doing this, are you like, hey now, uh, you know, like aha, ah, moments like yeah, 10 years, 10,000 hours, all those, you know, things that it, that it takes us to, to get something done. And uh, and you're, and you're doing it. So talk, talk a little bit about that and, and, and the inspiration you found in Lily to make Lily.
Well, that's right. That's exactly right. The inspiration that I got from Lily. Uh, you know, Lily, she endured tremendous amounts of gender discrimination, sexual harassment. I mean if you read the book, if you see the film, you will see we outline in the movie she talks about all the incredible, um, uh, toxic behavior that happened in that factory. And she was willing to take it all. She was willing to because she wanted the best paycheck in Etowah county and she wanted her children not to grow up in poverty. She wanted those middle class things. She wanted a nice car, she wanted a house. She wanted her children to go to college and have decent food on the table. That's all she wanted was a middle class life. And she was willing to put up with shit, really egregious behaviors in order to get it. The men treated her so poorly. But it wasn't until she found out that they cheated her of um, money, the very, very reason why she was there that it was very crystal clear to her. She really, she had that moment when she thought, this is it. They have broken me. They can touch me, they can harass me, they can say mean things to me. They can cut the brakes to my car and break the windshield and you know, put tobacco juice all over my car. They can talk about my bra, ah, and my body and do all that crap to me, but when they are cheating me, you know, she'd been there for nearly 20 years and the young man that she had just trained was earning more than she was as a 20 year veteran of that job. So that's it, that's the thing that broke her. And she said, no, I'm not going to take this anymore. Uh, which by the way, is our theme song that we Have a song written in the I will not. And she, uh, decided that she was going to do whatever it took. And it was really through the advocacy of this beautiful man, John Goldfarb, and the support of her incredible husband, Charles Ledbetter, who said, I'm gonna stand behind you. And even though he had, you know, he has a beautiful arc in that when he's a young boy, also growing up in that same time and place when he thought that women should stay at home and raise children. And yet he had this ambitious young wife who was super smart. She was good at math, she was good at sports. She was not one of those flirty, silly girls who all they did was, you know, giggle when they talked to boys. And that's why he liked her. And then when she said, look, I want a job, I want to earn money, I want to, uh, you know, he, he, he has this beautiful transformation over the course of his life where he, where he, he sees the value of this woman. And when this moment came and he could have said, no, I don't want you to do this, he said, I am there, hook, line and sinker. I will support you. I will drive you back and forth to Birmingham. Because they lived an hour and a half away, um, in Jacksonville. And she just, it was 10 years. Ups and downs and hills and valleys and successes and failures. Um, and even when she knew she was not going to make a penny from this, there was no way she was ever going to get money out of this. She became a face and a voice for others. She became a true advocate and activist. And that's why she is the face and the voice of Fair Pay. Because it was no longer about her. It was about you and me and our daughters.
Um, that's so amazing. And I mean, we see it, it in all sorts of stories, um, women's stories. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Norma Ray Temple Grandin, facing these, uh, almost seemingly insurmountable odds. But, uh, let's, before I let you go, talk about the other half of the equation, or at least the third of the equation when it comes to women with will, the political will, because that also tends to throw up roadblocks when we have to all get behind the one side of the Overton window, to push it and keep pushing it and not let up. What is the. I think one of the central messages, or at least, uh, tell me what you think about this is to not give up. Right. And to find where that comes from within.
Well, you know, for me personally, I'm a second generation American My grandparents came from Ukraine, and they came without money, they came without language. But as soon as they landed here, they became very involved in the labor movement. They had been involved in the labor movement in their country, and they were involved in the labor movement here. Um, one very sweet story is when my mother passed away with almost no memory left, she would still sing songs that she had learned as a child that, in the lyrics of the song, told you the address of where to go to march. You know, that's how they used to disseminate information, through these jingles and through these songs. So I was. Was raised with that kind of consciousness. And I have seen in my own industry, in the Hollywood industry, and I have certainly seen in political, uh, history, that it's a long arc, takes a long time when. And things go back and things go forth. And, you know, I would like to as as frustrating and as maddening and as. As dispiriting as we are in this moment, things do change. And I've even seen it in my own career. When I first started working in Hollywood, less than 1% of film and television was directed by women. And now nearly 40% of the television that you see is directed by women. Now, in feature films, we're only at 8 or 9% and still not very good. But, um, things do change, and it's really gratifying, within the course of my own lifetime to have seen change. So we're in a dip. We're in an unfortunate moment. Fair pay is not a partisan issue. I did not set out to make a political film in any way. I set out to make a film about fair pay, and that should m not fall on either side of a line. We are 51% of the population. We are human beings. Uh, you know, equal pay for equal work. And that's all that we are saying. So, yes, while we are in this moment, we have to keep our head up. We have to know that we are right, um, that it is only right and fair and just for everyone who works the same to earn the same. So, um, that's what I have to say about that.
Yeah. No, beautifully put. Before we go tell everyone again, remind everyone where they can see this incredible film and when it's going, uh, to be released.
Thank you. So Lily will be in theaters on May 9th, um, uh, across the country. 35 cities I think we have right now. You can go to our website@lilymovie.com and see all the theaters and click on the schedules, which will be coming forthcoming in the next couple of days. And weeks as we get closer and closer. And, um, it will be Video on demand first, June 3rd, and then June 10th for everyone. Um, and, um, you can follow us. We would love you to follow us. Um, lilymovie on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Um, I am personally women callaction. Um, so people can follow me as well. And I'm so grateful for this opportunity, Alison, to talk to you about Lily. Thank you so much.
Well, it's an honor to talk to you, too. And I appreciate all the work you've done to bring this to everyone, to bring this to the people. People, everybody. Fill your soul. Gas your tank. Fuel your persistence and your resistance. May 9th in limited, uh, release in theaters. And then, of course, June 3rd, and then June 10th for video on Demand. Check all the times and theaters@lillymovie.com, and once. Uh, again, thank you so much, Rachel Feldman.
Thank you. And I would just like to add that the film is an entertainment, and it's a love story, and it's a heartbreaking roller coaster of emotion. So bring your hankies, guys. It's a great movie for Mother's Day.
Oh, perfect. Perfect timing.
Well put.
Thank you so much, Rachel. And, uh, everybody, stick around. We'll be right back with John Fugal saying, hey, everybody, welcome back. It's Friday on the Daily Beans. That means, you guessed it, it's Fugal saying Friday. So please welcome my good friend, host of Tell Me everything on Sirius XM progress channel, 127 weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific. And if you don't have serious, you can listen to them on the John Fugal Sang show show podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. Please welcome my good friend John Fugal saying, hey.
Hi. I just like to say that I. I did tell the Vatican I was willing to stop drinking if they'd make me pope, and it didn't work. I tried it. It's worked for other people, but it didn't work for me. Hello. It.
It didn't work, but we got an American pope for the first time in history, and, uh, he was a. He was a long shot, but I think he was like Papa Bile. I think he was. Was, uh, Pope Francis's, like, closest confidant, and he was and should have been considered one of the favorites.
Yeah. Um, you know, we have to remember that Francis picked the overwhelming majority of the cardinals who made up this conclave over the last 14 years, 13 years, by the way, I said last week, I think I'm not convinced Francis didn't just Stage all this to get more of us to watch the movie Conclave. It's an excellent film, folks. Do yourself a favor. But, yeah, uh, you know, I'm going to measure right off the bat, uh, my enthusiasm for this Pope based on how rabidly disgusted MAGA is. Now, when. When Francis was appointed, it was weird for many, many reasons. Number one, Pope Benedict was still alive. He became Pope Emeritus, which hadn't happened in, like, 800 years. And it was all weird. Like, Benedict made Francis wear a trainee badge in the Vatican for, like, the first five years, I think. Um, but when he chose the name Francis on day one, I knew that this guy was going to be something different. When he. When he chose the name of the man who fought in the Crusades and then renounced war and. And walked unarmed through a war zone to try to bring peace between Christians and Muslims. Um, and that. The fact that he was. The fact that he was South American, and, I mean, he was Italian, you know, but he was really Latin American. And to go from the first Latin American Pope to the first North American Pope back to back, back. I mean, I would have been thrilled if it was someone from Africa. I don't know if I should be scared that they picked an American Pope. It certainly is a sign that they know that they're losing influence in North America. And it's way too soon to guess just yet what, um, Cardinal Prevost's ideology will be. But there's already a lot of clues out there, as there was for Cardinal berholio back in 2013. Um, and we'll be hearing a lot, lot about this American citizen who is also a Peruvian citizen, and he's had dual citizenship for 10 years in the U.S. and Peru. Uh, what we've heard so far, not the best on the gays. We already know he's not going to be the best on the women. But he is, like Francis, deeply devoted to fighting for the poor, because that was Jesus's number one issue. I mean, like, talking about the poor, that was like Jesus's Layla at his live gigs, you know, talking about the poor and kill the leper. Those are the two things you expected, um, from him. And will he be as compassionate towards migrants as Pope Francis? Well, only if he believes in the stuff Jesus talked about.
It seems like it, because he's retweeted a lot about. Uh, I know that. I noticed. Well, a lot for, I guess, for a cardinal, about, you know, going against what this particular administration, the Trump administration, is handling migration, uh, also. So he was uh, disappointed and disavowed, uh, people laughing at what was happening to Kilmara Brago Garcia.
That's right.
And he also told JD Vance flat out on Twitter, uh, that he was wrong about how we need to love our family more than we love our neighbors and that there's, like, levels of love for people.
And it was a great piece in National Catholic Reporter, which, by the way, is still. Was one of my dad's favorite newspapers. It's one of my favorite newspapers. But he said J.D. vance is wrong. Wrong. Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others because J.D. vance, being a, uh, a bigot who actually hates the things Jesus said, was coming out there trying to claim that Christians have a hierarchy of care, that, you know, God loves everyone, but some of us matter more and we should look out for our own before we look out for the stranger. This is his distortion, uh, of the belief of Ordo Amoris. Francis told him off, but Robert Prevost did a number of, uh, of tweets. You could look him up under Dr. Prevost and see, see what he had to say. But you're exactly right. He, he, he called it out and he reposted Cardinal Rocco Palmo's tweet about how Trump and Bukele of El Salvador were using the office for this illegal deportation of U.S. residents. Um, and just saying, do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? So, yeah, it's quite fascinating seeing how MAGA is already getting upset about the woke Pope. Pope. But again, they're going to say that about any pope who's not the exact opposite of Jesus, because that's all MAGA can do. They're about to come out, Alison, and prove once again that you can't possibly claim to be a follower of Jesus and a follower of Trump at the same time. Unless you've never read either of their books, and none of them have. But, yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be interesting. I mean, I'm sure he'll do plenty to piss us off, you know, and to me, the Catholic's number one concern is women in the priesthood. I'd like to think it'll happen in our lifetime, but, uh, they're going to need women a lot more than women are going to need this church. And I don't think this guy's going to be that revolutionary. We'll probably get to married priests before we get to, you know, women, because the Vatican's policy remains no knob, no job. And that's Got nothing to do with Jesus, who is the biggest feminist of the Bible. But it is very exciting. When I first heard an American, I thought, oh, God, they've probably picked an arch conservative American to try to shore up support back here. Uh, but it doesn't seem to be that way. He seems pretty moderate. I was kind of hoping it would be, uh, an African priest, to be honest, but, uh, or that guy from the Philippines.
I was. I liked him, too. Or.
Or just. But just to think that the Pope is from Chicago. I can't wait to see what happens.
Uh, yeah, it's going to be interesting.
He's from Chicago. He's probably had Giordano's pizza.
But, yeah, he does have the same, I, um, think outlook on the LGBTQ + community, women in the church. Church, um, and abuse as. As Francis did, which is a. Which is moderate at best.
Um, Francis was light years better than every Pope who came before him on those issues. Francis was particularly better on, uh, well, let's call it child rape. Um, but, you know, Francis really knew coming in and that excellent movie, the Two Popes, with Jonathan Price and Anthony Hopkins, which I recommend as much as I recommend Conclave, you know, that shows that coming in Francis. Francis top priority was the Vatican bank, because under Benedict, the Vatican was literally laundering Cosa Nostra money with the Vatican bank. They were literally cleaning murder money. And to me, that is like, that was the greatest scandal. Um, not to say that child abuse wasn't, but, uh, Francis spent a long time going after all of it and appointing a conclave of cardinals that are more devoted to the actual teachings of Jesus vis a, uh, vis caring for the poor, caring for the marginalized, caring for the less fortunate.
It.
Than what American Christianity think religion's supposed to be, which is cruelty to migrants, cruelty to gay people, cruelty to people who've had abortions, and replacing the teachings of Jesus with criminalizing abortion and forcing people to be pregnant against their will. None of which appears in the Bible, as you know.
Yeah, well, like you said, I think the greatest sign that we have that this is a better choice than not is, uh, you know, post Sabaic or whatever his name is, is Jack Poso on Twitter's freaking the fuck out about this. Laura Loomer, uh, is trying to Loomer him. I bet Trump will try to fire him at some point. The Pope. But do you know? Uh, yeah, they really. The Marxist Pope woke pope. They hate.
Yeah, just Google. Google the phrase woke Pope and look at a bunch of right wingers who, again, they Despise the New Testament. Like. Like, uh, I'm way past just asking the media to call these people out. These people. People hate the teachings of Jesus. He's a fucking prop for Maga. They despise the gospels. They despise the commandments of the Nazarene. It's all cosplay for them. So this guy's gonna shake it up. And look, I mean, if you're the Pope, your job is to stop the exodus of people leaving your church because they're so disgusted by the hypocrisy. And Francis did it. I mean, I thought, he's a nice guy, but he's not gonna stop. And he somewhat slowed the exodus of people from the pews views. He didn't change it. I mean, you go around this country and go to churches, nine, uh, times out of ten, you'll see churches full of very old people who are listening to a priest who is probably not born in America because the population is dwindling. And the only way you're gonna.
It makes me wonder.
Tell me.
Sorry to interrupt, but it makes me wonder why they didn't go for somebody more progressive, somebody who would welcome the LGBTQ community and women to the church. I mean, I understand that this is, uh, like, uh, progressiveness is relative. And inside the Catholic Church, this is a pretty progressive guy, but they got to split the difference, you know, for Overton Window. For the rest of the world, not so much.
The job is ultimately getting little old ladies to open up their purses and put money in a basket. You know, when I. When I was still kissing, uh, the ring, I went to church every Sunday, uh, when I was at NYU Catholic center, and it was a great church. They were always homeless in there. It was the first time. This is in the 80s. I saw priests blessing gay unions and welcoming gay couples. I brought my parents to mass in Greenwich Village. The ex nun and the ex Franciscan. They couldn't believe it that gay couples. This is the 80s. This is a height of AIDS crisis, and gay couples were welcomed and embraced. And I realized something. The priests and nuns we had there were assigned there because of that neighborhood. I'd go away to see my family down south, and it'd be right back to fire and brimstone priests in those churches. And I realized, oh, what the Vatican really does is casting. They send the right ideological priests to the right neighborhoods and parishes because the job is getting those old ladies in whatever zip code it is to open up their purses and give a lot of money to the church. So they're going to send the right wing priests to the red states, they're going to send the compassionate liberal priests to the blue states. It's marketing. It's what they've always done. The Catholic Church doesn't talk about abortion.
In political by nation.
Um, yeah, they don't talk about abortion in Europe because it's not a money getter for them. Only in this country. They'll talk about the death penalty, they'll talk about poverty, the plight of migrants over there. They stay away from it here. It's still a business at the end of the day. And my whole point is, you know what, if you're looking to get young people to join your club, fighting for the environment, fighting for people to have clean air and water, fighting for the dignity of the poor, fighting to treat migrants fleeing violence or climate disaster, and treating these migrants as humans, treating women as people, being kind to gay people, being kind to the poor. These are all ideas that are pure Jesus and are extremely fucking popular with young people. And a smart church will drop the fire in brimstone and the finger wagging and the pointing and all the sexual shame, none of which comes from Jesus. All that shit. St. Paul.
Ah.
And you know, make it a movement. Make it a movement about love and caring for each other and it won't matter that it's religion. But I don't think they're going to be that brave. They're going to try and split the difference and have them be just conservative enough to keep those folks donating and just liberal enough to slow the hemorrhage of people leaving this church.
Yeah, he's the Merrick Garland of popes.
Oh, I wouldn't tell that joke on your show, but you can.
Sorry.
Oh, no, you people can't tell the Merrick Garland jokes. Alison Gill can tell the Merrick Garland.
Oh, come on. Yeah, um, I can tell those jokes because I have a microphone.
Let's, you know, just. I'll say the same thing about Francis. Just look and see who's outraged about him. Look and see who's attacking this man. Yeah, that'll tell you all you need to know.
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Let's talk about the right wing, not jobs, because, uh, Ed Martin out, but possibly Janine Pirro in for US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Uh, if you can unshackle her from her box of wine long enough. No shade to wine boxes.
Honestly, I. I almost hope it happens. I would love to see that happen. As much of a disgrace to Jersey.
I think she's Less dangerous, right?
She's less dangerous and she's a greater embarrassment. I mean, I've, I've been on her show. I've hung out with her in her office. I have been in her office having conversations with her in the past. I brought my mother in law to her show one time. Time. And, um, how'd that go? She's not a serious person. I mean, the entire time I was on her show, she wanted to fight me about Obamacare and about liberals. And here's my Judge Sheen story. The whole time I'm on the show, she just kept saying, why don't you admit you're a liberal, Admit you're a liberal. You're a liberal. And I was like, I, I aspire to be more liberal. But I, I don't pretend. I. Why don't you just say you're a liberal? I'm like, well, you mean liberal like the, the, the dictionary definition or the, the Fox News? You're a liberal. I said, I'll tell you what, Josh Judge, I'll admit I'm a liberal if you'll admit to your audience that you live in New York City and have liberal friends. And she never had me back. She never had me back on the show. So that's, that's Judge Janine. I think she's the perfect representative for Donald Trump's party. And honestly, uh, I'm gonna go say what you want about the stock market. I'm gonna go invest in boxed wine right now. But Ed Martin's a very special case. I. The Ed Martin case is crazy to me because Trump wanted to make this guy the top federal prosecutor in all of D.C. if Steve Bannon and Russian State News had a baby, and then you dropped the baby on the floor on its head about 20 times, that would be Ed Ah, Martin. This guy, this guy practically lives in the RT America green room. He's the one who went on RT nine days before Russia attacked Ukraine and said there was no evidence of a Russian military buildup and that US Officials under Biden are warmongers for saying so. He said under oath that he hadn't seen photos of that pardoned insurrectionist dressing.
Up pale Cusinelli, right?
Who he gave, uh, this dude wears a fucking Hitler mustache to work at a naval weapons station. Ed Martin praises him as an extraordinary man, gives him an award at Trump's golf club, says he's. And then, oh, I didn't know he was a Hitler fan on. Except when I said he wore the Hitler mustache to work. This is not A red flag. This is a Nazi parade float. He talked about it in his own podcast. He lied under oath. This guy fired the January 6th prosecutors because he's been on the job interim style. He threatened Wikipedia, threatened a medical journal. Forgot about his 150 Russian media appearances. He makes Roy Cohn look like Mr. Rogers with a law degree. So I'm glad he's gone. But the real kicker is, is Allison, it was Thom Tillis who did it. It was Tom Tillis who stood up and said, nope, I'm out. And, like, I'd rather be locked in a Waffle House with Lauren Boebert than vote for this guy. Because, uh, Tillis is on the Judiciary Committee, and if one Republican defects, he's done. Now, Mag is going crazy about this, but I don't see any Republican senators attacking Thom Tillis for killing Donald Trump's dream nomination. I mean, it's like the Republicans in the Senate want Ed Martin gone, but they're all too cowardly to say it out loud, so they drew straws. Even Chuck Grassley is like, well, if they don't have the votes, we're not bringing it up. Which is like saying, please, God, don't make me have to defend this lunatic douchebag on C Span. So that's it. I mean, he's out, and then now maybe he and Steve Bannon can start a podcast. But the real story here, it's not even Thom Tillis. It's that this is the Republican Senate telling this man no. And Thom Tillis was willing to take the heat for it. But I didn't hear John Thin voicing any objections. This is how the cowardly Republican Senate tells Babyman No.
Yeah. And, um, first time or second time? I mean, like, you know, this didn't happen with Hegseth or, uh, anybody. Like, it's weird where their lines in the sand are. It's really. It's odd.
It happened with Gaetz. Happened with Gaetz.
It happened with Gaetz. Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just. It's interesting where their lines are.
Oh, my God.
But, yeah, I think that a puro. Uh, less dangerous, more comedy.
So this is the first time I'm hearing this from you. I didn't even know. Wow. This means there might be an opening at Fox News. I got to get my pitch ready.
It's being considered. She's strongly favored to be the nom.
They're not gonna.
They're not gonna. Yeah. Might be somebody else.
She. She doesn't. She doesn't help him at all. You know, like, the. The people who are going to like him for hiring her are already in the cult. It's not going to help help him.
Yeah, no, I tend to.
Right now we've got two nuclear armed nations, both of whom we're arming lobbing rockets at each other over Kashmir. And we're turning to the man who asked if we could nuke hurricanes. Like, like, it's just this is how scary it is right now. The world is on fire and, and nothing soothes a soul like a calm, measured wisdom of an old man saying, uh, oh, they've been at war for hundreds of years. They've been countries for 78 years. They've been liberated for 78. Hundreds of centuries. Centuries. Professor dementia tells us so, you know, Ed Martin is, ah, it's a fun story. It's not the scariest thing in the world right now.
No. Uh, but we do have another example of the Trump administration sitting at the tables that Jesus flipped. He is now sending all people in student loan default to collections and going to garnish their wages and tax refunds and, um, government, uh, assistance that started, I believe May 7th. And after 30 days in, uh, the beginning of June, people will be in collections that, uh, aren't able to start repaying their student debt. And had Kamala Harris won, those people would be in line, uh, to have their debts, uh, forgiven.
And again at midnight, you're back on the hook. As of midnight the other night, millions of Americans who borrowed student loans, loans and didn't realize when they borrowed them that they'd be paying the interest for many years after the actual loan had been paid off. It's like this financial version of Cinderella, but instead of a ball at midnight, it's a bill. And so now they're going to garnish wages, they're going to hijack tax refunds, and you're going to see a lot of, uh, sinister people saying, well, you borrowed it, you pay it back. Fans of Donald Trump who really want you to own up to your deals and pay your debt. You know, I also borrowed the belief that higher ed was a pathway out of poverty, not a trap door into it. Um, where's the refund for that? So now they're going to garnish your paycheck. But Elon Musk can still write off Twitter like it was a tax deductible midlife crisis, uh, but you can't write off your degree that your job required. We, ah, live in a country where these billionaires, as you talk about all the time, get the yachts and the Loopholes and broke college grads get collection notices and emotional traumas. Donald Trump defaulted on his debts six times and became president. You default on student loans that we know of. Yeah, that we know of. They're treating students like they just kicked a bald eagle. And again, why can't student loans be discharged in bankruptcy like every other kind of debt in America? Because the one group you're never allowed to default on in this country is the Department of Education. Because they're a vengeful guy. God, the system is rigged and it's rigged so poor people stay scared, middle class stay squeezed, and the billionaires remain billionaires. And again, that whole budget that he released last Friday, I mean, budget. I mean, it's a love letter to Lockheed Martin. Did you see this thing? It's a trillion dollars for defense. A trillion. That's like a Raytheon onlyfans and it's like a snuff film for public services. And like, you know, this is not, not defense. This is Empire cosplay for a guy who dodged the draft with bone spurs. And the Democratic Party needs to really step up on the student loan part of this whole equation and remind people most of these folks paid their degrees off a long time ago. Elizabeth Warren tried. Elizabeth Warren tried to have a bill where student loan borrowers would pay the same three quarters of a percentage point on their student loans that we let the banks who ripped us off in 2008 pay. And Mitch M. McConnell wouldn't even allow it to come to a vote. The fact that more Americans don't know this and the fact that more Americans think this is people who want free education, their education has been paid for. It's the goddamn interest. You can't climb the economic ladder when you have a 400 pound student loan weight around your neck.
What does Jesus say about interest?
Well, uh, I'm glad you asked because the one, one of the things. Look, Jesus overturns a lot of Old Testament laws, right? Divorce, death penalty, Sabbath observance in some cases. Uh, but one thing that's consistent in the Old Testament and the New is, uh, usury. God and his son despise charging interest on people, especially poor people. Throughout the Old Testament, God forbids you to charge interest on people, especially those who are struggling. And when Jesus has his whole, you know, freak out in the temple, it's because you had to exchange the, your currency for the temple currency, and then you would then use the temple currency to go buy your animals for sacrifice like we used to do with grandma at the holidays. You remember? So they had surge pricing in the temple back then, and they would jack up the price. So poor people were coming to get their animals to sacrifice to God, and suddenly the price got raised. And Jesus was angry because the poor were being exploited. That's what that was about. And he flipped out in front of the temple and in front of the Romans, and, you know, three nights later he got arrested. And the rest of the story is pretty well known, but it's all about interest on people who are struggling. And I just kind of feel like forcing people to be hobbled by incredible student loan debt is going to keep them from being able to enjoy home mortgage debt. Allison, these people should be out buying houses right now, and they can't because they're still paying off an education they got years ago. Uh, it's helping no one.
No, it's. It's just. It's hurting. Like you said, the working class squeezing the middle class and lining the pockets of billionaires.
That's it. That's the game.
I'm pretty sure that's, um, the super Christian way.
But look this. Look at the whole budget. These cuts to education, cuts to public health, housing, science, research. This is all a very small price to pay for wealthy people to get another tax cut they don't need. If Democrats can't make this message clear, then shame on them, because this budget is very serious about destroying the Republican Party in 2026. I don't get this budget. This budget's a big middle finger to red states and working people. And I really don't understand these Republicans right now.
Well, I think the people are making the message clear, and I hope the Democrats get on board. I know a lot of them have, but, uh, we'll see how it ends up. We have a year before we get into full swing election season. So. Anyway, my friend, it's always good to see you, uh, and I, uh, appreciate your candor. We'll see you, uh, you know, actually, weeknights, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, for Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM Progress 127. Love your show. Mean it. Uh, and if you don't have that, of course you can listen to the John Fuelsang show podcast. Yeah.
Thanks for all you do. And thanks to your deeply sexually attractive audience. Thank you.
Way to butter him up, John. We'll see you next week, everybody. Stick around for the charming sociopath.
That's all I am.
We'll be right back, everybody. Welcome back. It's time for the good news. Who likes good news?
Everyone. Then good news.
Everyone good. And if you have good news, confessions, corrections, you want to give a shout out to a loved one or yourself or a small business in your area, or some great community activism happening near you or your small business, or a shout out to a government program that has helped you or a loved one, like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care act, the subsidies that the Affordable Care act offers, or SNAP, WIC, Head Start, Section 8, any government program. Great VA health care you've received, student debt relief. Send it all to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact to get your submission read on the air. You just have to pay your POD pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. If you don't have a pet, you can send an adoptable pet in your area. And if you don't have that, that really any animal photo will do. We do have our favorites, right? Like otters and oxalotl and capybaras. I like secretary birds. Um, pandas. All. All kinds of pandas.
Yes, please.
Uh, and if, you know, speaking of birds, if you want, you can attach a photo of a bird or you and your family and friends flipping the bird to Trump and Musk Properties. We always accept bird watching photos. Uh, and so anyway, yeah, send it all to us. Dailybeanspod.com, click on Contact. First up from David from Ohio. Pronouns, he and him. Dad joke. From yesterday on my dad joke calendar, I tried to eat a waffle on the beach in Southern California. It was a San Diego. Okay, thanks, David. And from Lynn, with a slight correction, it's not keg stand. Pretty sure it's Secretary Kegsbreath. Okay, love you, Lynn. Thank you very much, Lynn. Uh, and thank you very much, David.
Thanks for both of you. All right, this is from Sage. Pronouns they, them. Hey, AG and DG. My good news is that I'm turning 40 on May 10th. I genuinely didn't think I would make it to this point in my life. I was a queer teen and a young adult living in rural South Carolina and Georgia in the late 90s and early 2000s, and if I had a dollar for every time my life was threatened, I could actually afford two dozen eggs. I only laugh because of the joke, by the way. I wish I could go back and assure that insecure, weird kid that they would have to wait a bit, but that their dreams would come true. Now I'm living. Oh, uh, man. Now I'm living in an affirming community. I have an amazing wife and three great kids, a good job and Supportive friends. The best part is I didn't have to compromise my identity or sacrifice my authenticity to get here. I'm still the same weird, no more divergent, awkward and creative person I was back then. And it's so freeing to have the universe heap blessings on me just as I am.
Um, am.
I mean, the universe owes me. After that they put me through for my pod pet tariff, I'm sending a watercolor I made of my granny in me. She was my biggest cheerleader and source of unconditional love, and I lost her this past year at the age of 102. Sage, my goodness. I'm so grateful I had her for as long as I did and that my kids got to know her and love her. Keep up the. Oh, my God. This piece of art. Keep up the amazing work. I love the show and listen. Every morning on my drive to work, I listen at one and a half speed usually. And this morning, for some reason, the speed was set to one. And at first I thought y' all and they might be giants were super drunk. Well, that would have been a funny episode. Sage, my God, this watercolor is absolutely incredible. You have a gift. This, obviously, this entire submission got me in my field. Um, I'm just so happy for you. I'm so happy you're still here. I'm so happy for you and the life that you are living. And this talent is unbelievable. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Sage, good to hear from you. My goodness. Next up, Courtney Pronoun. She and her Good morning beans Queens. My family just moved to rural red. I think MI is Missouri last fall. Is it mi? M is M M I Missouri.
I think Michigan's, but I thought two. But maybe Missouri is mo.
That's right. All right, so there is a rural red Michigan. For some reason, I thought it was just all kind of blue. We immediately got involved with our local den party and proudly displayed our Harris walls signs along with signs for down ballot candidates out by the road. I guess our neighbors across the street were offended because shortly after we put up our signs, they put up a huge homemade Trump banner that directly faced our house.
House.
After the election, we took our signs down, but they of course kept theirs up. That is, until a couple of weeks ago. We were hanging out on the deck when this sweet gray doggo ah with no tag showed up. I posted on our local Facebook page and it turned out she belonged to those neighbors. They came and got her and we chatted a bit about our dogs. We didn't chat long and we definitely didn't talk politics. But that night, the Trump banner came down.
Wow.
I don't know if their politics changed or if they decided we liberals can't be that bad if we took care of a strange dog. But I'll take it for my pod pet tariff. I'm sharing our dogs. Luigi. Yes, he's named after that. Luigi and Suku, just for the heck of it. Want to guess their breeds? I'll put the answers below. Love all that you do. Keep up the good trouble. That's such good news, Courtney.
Oh, my God. Is this, um, a dachshund, like, boxer mix or.
Um.
Uh, it looks long.
Long legs for sure.
It's almost like a. It's almost like a. What am I, a dachshund Rottweiler?
Right, right. Or a dachshund Doberman.
Yeah. And then this is an Akita mix, it looks like on the bottom.
Yeah, that's definitely a Doge. Um, not. Not the Elon musk kind, but, you know, the meme kind. Uh, maybe a chow chow in there. Let's see. Oh, wait, no. Uh, what's the barkless dodge? Shiba inu is what this looks. Anyway. Let's see. No cheating, Luigi. Black brown Chihuahua Beagle, we call him.
She's cute.
Six months old, and Suku is a shiba inu. Ahaha. I thought it was a mix, but that is 100% Shiba Inu and a beautiful pupper. Thank you so much for that very good news about your neighbor, Courtney. I'm glad they took down their Trump flag.
And I cannot be the only one when we were reading this, that immediately thought that dog definitely ran away. Okay, all right, maybe just me. Okay, this one's from Anne Pronoun. She and her. Hey, awesome ladies. Allison, earlier in the year you mentioned doing something for yourself over the next four years to help you get through the insanity. I believe you were going to do Pilates. How's that going? Anyway, here's what I chose. Flute lessons.
Yep.
This 62 year old is taking flute lessons and I am loving it. I have played flute all my life and I just want to improve my skills. It's been super fun. I actually played in a recital last weekend along with a bunch of 17 year olds. Since January, I've completely nerded out on flute playing. I'm, um, registered to attend the National Flute association annual conference in August. And I can't wait. I highly recommend to everyone that it's never too late to develop and or follow your passions. Don't stop dreaming. Here's a beautiful picture of my beautiful flute.
I love this. It reminds me of when Lizzo played that crystal flute. Yep. Uh, that was so good. And that's great. Pilates is going great. I love it. Thank you for asking. I should be strong enough, uh, to punch Nazis, so.
Indeed.
Thank you, Ann. Next up, vote down ballot blues pronouns he and him. It was great to hear Dana mention Diffa. Fun story. I met my wife at a Diffa Gallery in 1988 starring Peter Allen, Bette Midler and Robin Williams.
Oh, my God. I would have died.
We were NYU drama students and we did the backstage work for the event.
Oh my God.
Now, if you read the New York Times article, I've included in the link the scrim they talk about as decoration. Yeah. Almost killed my wife. She was hanging it and it came very close to knocking over the work platform she was on 30ft above the stage. God, we were young. I was so naive. I was new to New York City. I had no idea what was going on. Just followed some of my friends to a gig and ended up at a seminal event headlined by the most amazing stars of our generation at the height of the AIDS epidemic that would claim so many of our friends. And I'm a silly 19 year old kid from North Carolina hanging out backstage as pod pic tariff. I'll include some baby pictures of my twins. Oh, they're, uh, now grown up and 16 years old, about to take over the world. We were just telling them recently that Diffa is part of their origin story. Oh, I want to hear more about that.
Oh my God. Anonymous. And I know that you are. I'm going to call you vdbb. Um, this is an awesome story. I love this so much. I'm going to click on this as soon as we're done recording and read this article. Thank you so much.
Tell us about Diffa real quick. So for people who don't know.
Yeah, so Diffa is where I was at last weekend. It's called a design and fashion fighting age. And the first half of the event and I'm not sure if it was the same back in 1988, but it talks about what they do. There's some community awards. It gave a big award to incredible global designer that was actually given to her by Erykah Badu at this, at this specific event. Um, and then I come on, tell some jokes and I raise as much money as I possibly can. Very proud to say I raised over $260,000 for them last Saturday.
Wow.
Um, and then they take a Little break. And then they put on a fashion show. And every year they have a different theme for this incredible show. I don't know what it was back in 1988, but, my God, last year it was this, like, incredible jungle theme. And all of the designers, uh, are in the room. They have all these models. And this year they have a lot of these jackets. It's sort of what they're known for, at least in Dallas. May not be the same in New York, but there's two. There's many chapters. But, um, they have these jackets that are designed. And this year, the high school kids for Booker T. Washington High School were the models on stage. When I tell you these teenagers rock this fucking Runway, I was blown away. So DIFF is a great organization, especially with all the funding that's being cut to continue to support those who are living and thriving with HIV and aids. And so if you do want to give to an organization that specifically speaks to your heart and it happens to be an AIDS organization, uh, this is a good one.
Yeah. Especially since, I mean, cutting all the funding and we're just almost there to completely eradicating it, and now they're cutting the funding. So thanks for.
Yeah. And DIFF is wonderful because it funds a lot of things. Like, it helps people navigate the healthcare system. It gives them rides to their doctor's appointments, helps them find housing. It's not just for medication and the cocktails. It's literally a holistic support for people that happen to have the disease. So, um, yeah. All right. This is from Carrie. Pronouns she and her. Dear queens of the beans, thank you so much for doing what you do. Your sweary awesomeness is just what I need to get myself this side of a whole of wholly depressed. I appreciate that. I'm American and I've lived abroad. I don't have a good news to share necessarily, but I am flying to the States as you read this. And if any border bastards check my phone for anti Trump posts, they're going to want to grab a coffee, a cozy blanket, and settle in. There's a lot. Part of me is hoping they pull some kind of shenanigans just so I can expose this. If anything, that might finally get some of my family members, uh, to see what Trump really is for my pod pet tariff. Enjoy the bird watching pick. I found Musk's stupid book in a secondhand store here.
Somebody. Somebody dropped it off at a secondhand store.
It's really funny. Also attached, cute. Just for cuteness are my two kitties Rumor and Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix loves being held like a baby. And of course, I couldn't, uh, help but comply. They are both incredibly sweet little loves. We rescued them when they were four months old, when my son was not yet three. Now 16, he's incredibly bonded with Rumor. He's super chill and has let him manhandle him from the get go. But she is not the brightest crayon in the box, bless her heart. I love how many of our listeners have really beautiful pets that are dumb as rock rocks. Y' all keep being awesome. Your diligence is so appreciated. I tell everyone about your podcast and will continue to do so. Be safe and keep up the fight. This is such a beautiful picture of a teenager with his cat.
Look at that baby. And then the other baby being hugged.
I have to tell you, it's the party flip off. I love this so much.
This. This reminds me of God. Probably 15, maybe 20 years ago, I was in a bookstore with a friend of mine, and we were just browsing around, and I saw a. I saw a book called have Sex like you just met. And, uh, you know, it's seemingly a book about how to rekindle, uh, romance with your partner that you've been with for a long time. Right?
Like, right.
Pretend like you just, like, have sex like you just met again. Right, Right. But the way I read it at first was that everyone should just have sex with strangers. And so it's me holding this book, making this exact same face like, hey, have sex like you just met. I used to carry that book around with me to bars, and, uh, when. When, you know, I just walk up to dudes and be like, oh, my God, hey, have you read have Sex like you just.
I mean, it's quite the opening pickup line. Did you get any?
No, not from that.
Not from that. Dana.
Uh, it's just one of those, like, performative jokes. Like, my dad used to do stuff like that. Like, he would. He would let, like, Jehovah's Witnesses in the house and, like, call the whole family in, and he would listen to their whole spiel for, like, an hour. And, like, the rest of the family's looking around like, what the hell is he doing? And then finally, the guy would be getting up to leave and. And be handing my dad a bunch of literature. And. And, like, I remember dad, like, he. The guy left, and dad's closing the door, and we're like, what? No joke? We thought for sure that this was a big, long setup for a joke. And then sure enough, my dad opened the door and said, hey, hang on a second, I have one question. And the guy's like, what? And he's like, so you only let 144,000 people into heaven? And the guy's like, yeah, that's what we believe. And my dad goes, well, you realize that by recruiting me, you're lowering your chances. And then he just shut the door. And so these kind of performative, terrible jokes. Uh, I used to carry a microphone around with me, uh, to, to, like, go to a bar and just walk up to people and ask them questions and then put the microphone in their face. I was a weird. I was a weird kid.
I sort of love that, though. You turned out to be a standup comic and now an incredible podcast investor. Come on, you were training, I guess.
Anyway, this is. This picture with the Elon Musk book reminds me of that. Thank you for this. And thank you, everybody, for your good news on a Friday. We needed it. If you have any good news, please send it to us dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And if you've thought about becoming a patron and you can swing it, please do. We really need your support. Patreon.com mullershirote you get these episodes ad free. You get them the night before the public gets them. And, uh, you get access to all sorts of other cool stuff too. Uh, so again, patreon.com mueller she wrote. Any final thoughts today, my friend?
I do, and this one just comes from a personal experience because I have a mother who identifies as such. Sunday is when they call, quote, unquote, Mother's Day. But I also want to be very, very aware that not everyone still has their mom. And I also want to be very aware that not everyone listening to this podcast that has children who may be female identifying or, uh, non binary would identify and call themselves mother. They're just a parent.
So.
So on Saturday, celebrate those people in your life that have been good parents to you, um, that you love and adore. And for some reason, one of your parents is no longer with you. Just know that we are holding you close. Um, and for those of you that have complicated relationships with your parents, um, do something good for yourself. Make sure you, you know, they did bring you into this life and they've, hopefully it is a good life. Um, so they did at least, at least one thing right. Um, but do something lovely for yourself. But I do want to wish my mother specifically, a very happy Mother's Day. I'm very grateful for you and everything that you've given me through life.
What a wonderful message. I second all that. Hear, hear. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, Dana and everybody. Are you out next week? I can't remember.
Not the whole week. I just won't be here on Sunday because I will be with my mother. I'm taking her to a concert in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That is right. What concert are you going to?
She wanted to go watch a doo wop band at Pope Joy hall. So it's my mom. It's a band that apparently does cover songs and plays some really great music. It looks like a really lovely mix of, um, a diverse artist and so ask and you shall receive. You want to go to the concert? I'll go with you to the concert.
That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, well, I'll be in your ears Monday, and, uh, Dana will be back on Tuesday. Until then, everybody, 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, uh, been AG and I've been dg and them's the Beans. The Daily Beans is written and executive produced by Alison 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.