Amateur Hour

M.S.W. Media. Hello and welcome to the Daily Beans for Thursday, February 12th, 2026. Today, a federal grand jury refused to indict the six members of Congress for their video telling members of the military not to follow illegal orders. A Trump-appointed judge has rejected the Department of Justice's push for Michigan's voter rolls. House Republicans revolt against Trump's bid to take control of tariffs. The Pentagon shut down airspace over El Paso after shooting down a party balloon. And Trump has removed the pride flag from the Stonewall Monument. I'm Alison Gill. And I'm Dana Goldberg. And something else that happened today that I just, it was so hard to watch was this Pam Bondi hearing. Oh my God. You know, I rarely use this word, but it was justifiable and Allison and I actually agree. The only way you can describe her behavior today is Pam was being a cunt to every single person that was talking to her. And I'm sorry if that word offends people. It's one of my favorites and I think we should use it more. There's also a positive word for that. You know, in the queer community if someone's acting cunty. But this time, no, it was actually used as a noun. Horrible, horrible, horrible. I have my ideas of why she's behaving this way. She had a choice today. Charlotte Clymer said it best. You either go in there and you tell the truth or you choose to protect pedophiles and people that rape children. Those are your choices. You either go in and tell the truth and do something right or you protect them. She chose to protect them. Right. At the very least, the multiple times she was asked to acknowledge the existence of the survivors that were sitting behind her, she could have said, hey, yeah, give me all your information. I'll make sure you get a chance to talk to the Justice Department. Nothing. Or something. She wouldn't even look at them. She just kept turning to her burn book. And we're going to go over some of the standout clips over on Beanstalk today on our video podcast, which you can get at MSW Media's YouTube channel. But there was just all the laughing and smirking. Disgusting. While the survivors are right there, just right there, whose lives have been ruined, turned upside down. They've been threatened. It was very frustrating to watch. And that was by design, right? That was, she had an audience of one. I'm sorry I came in hot with the C word, everybody. No, she was. But other things have happened that have made me angry. The Trump administration has removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall monument. We're going to cover that in a bit. Today, both, and this makes me happy, for Black History Month, we are honoring Marsha P. Johnson. This is from Erin Reed at Erin in the Morning. Marsha was a prolific organizer and drag queen whose radiant joy and humor was a fixture of Manhattan's queer nightlife scene. She mobilized her community in the aftermath of the Stonewall uprising, along Sylvia Rivera and others. She founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, otherwise known as STAR. That was a group that waged direct actions against anti-trans violence and police brutality. More importantly, however, STAR established deep networks of mutual aid and care for the trans street kids and sex workers, either abandoned by the state or actively targeted by it. Marsha P. Johnson is incredible. Yeah, and here's a direct quote. We want to see all gay people have a chance, equal rights as straight people have in America. That's what Marcia said in an interview from 1970. 1970, folks. Our main goal is to see gay people liberated and free and have equal rights that other people have in America. We'd like to see our gay brothers and sisters out of jail and on the streets again. Yeah, the circumstances, by the way, around Marcia's death, they remain unclear. It's basically been an unsolved mystery. We only know that she was pulled from the Hudson River in 1992, and that's off the historic Christopher Street Piers. But her legacy lives on, and her name has become synonymous with the spark that ignited the LGBTQ liberation movement, as it's known today. A floral archway adorns the Marsha P. Johnson State Park in Brooklyn, and every pride, homages to Marsha, are plentiful. Indeed, her rally cry of for all of us, for all of us, is the theme of this year's Pride Parade in New York City. Yeah, and I'm glad we're honoring Marsha P. Johnson today because they've pulled the pride flag down off the Stonewall Monument. This was after they removed the word transgender. So we're going to talk about that story in a bit. But also today, I just wanted to note before we get to the hot notes that our hearts go out to Canada, British Columbia, the remote community specifically of Tumblr Ridge and the secondary school there where a shooter has killed nine and injured 25 in the third deadliest shooting in Canada's history. So this is a devastating tragedy. And we're very sorry for your loss to our friends in British Columbia. Yeah, definitely. That is not something that happens often there. And when it does, it is it's it's striking to the community. It really is. Yeah. As Mark Carney put it, it's it's devastating. It's yeah. People are still reeling up there. So our hearts go out to you. All right, everybody, we have a lot of news to get to today. So let's hit the hot notes. Hot notes. All right. First up from The Times, federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who made a video in the fall that enraged President Trump. simply by reminding active duty service members and intelligence community members that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders. It was remarkable that the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C., led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump's, authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation's spy agencies. But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in the federal district court in Washington forcefully rejected Mr. Trump's bid to label their expression of dissent as a criminal act warranting prosecution. And I'm sorry, but I think that's what you get when you hire a Fox News host to run your D.C. U.S. attorney's office. Yes, indeed. The move to charge the lawmakers, among them Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan, was by any measure an extraordinary attempt by Trump appointees to politicize the criminal justice system, even for a justice department that has repeatedly shattered norms of independence. So what the New York Times is saying here is, despite how fucked up the DOJ is, they fucked it up even more with this. Didn't think you could. Congratulations. Yeah. Didn't know you could go under the bar that has been lowered to Dante's seventh circle of hell. Before Trump's second term, it had been exceedingly rare for grand jurors to rebuff requests by prosecutors seeking indictments, but it's now happening with increased frequency as Trump appointees push ahead with questionable cases in an effort to appease him. Ginny Impero, by the way, is losing one in five in front of the grand jury, where they used to have a 99.6% success rate. They're now down at 71% or 70, somewhere between 70 and 80%. It's really low. On Tuesday, prosecutors presenting the case sought to persuade the grand jurors that the members of Congress had violated a statute that forbids interfering with loyalty, morale, or discipline of the U.S. armed forces. That's according to one person familiar. They sought to bring charges against Mr. Kelly, Ms. Slotkin, and their four colleagues in the House, Jason Crow, former Army Ranger, Maggie Goodlender, former Navy Reservist, Chrissy Houlihan, former Air Force officer, and Chris Deluzio, a Navy veteran. And also from Bloomberg, Dana, Washington's U.S. attorney, Janine Pirro, tapped a dance photographer who worked for her decades ago, was one of the prosecutors who tried and failed to convince the grand jury to indict the six Democratic lawmakers. Steve Vander Veldin maintained an active photography studio when presenting federal charges to the grand jury against the six members of Congress for creating that video. He's one of two Piro hires with minimal federal prosecution experience who got rejected by the grand jury in a case that's been widely criticized as politically motivated. Vander Veldin's presence in the federal courtroom Tuesday, along with another Piro-appointed special counsel named Carlton Davis, is one of multiple elements that former prosecutors considered highly unusual about the Justice Department's pursuit of criminal charges against these six lawmakers. Vander Veldin has no prior DOJ background before joining the office last year, while Davis had a brief stint as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2018. Thank you so much, Allison. This one is from MS Now. With a threat of additional tariffs looming over foreign countries and the 2026 midterms, House GOP leaders tried to adopt legislation Tuesday night that would prevent any lawmaker from forcing a vote on Donald Trump's tariffs until August. That effort failed However 2014 to 2017 after three Republicans joined all the Democrats to defeat the legislation a similar block narrowly adopted last September expired at the end of January But as Trump continues to threaten new tariffs some Republicans have grown weary and wary of surrendering Congress ability to effectively veto the president import taxes The failed vote comes as House Democrats are preparing to force a vote to terminate Trump's use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on Canada specifically. That resolution being led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, the Democrat in New York, is the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. and with the rule defeated, Democrats could now force a vote as soon as Wednesday on Trump's Canadian tariffs. Any effort to block tariffs would still need to pass both the House and the Senate. Democrats are eager to start with Canada, in part because the Senate has previously voted to terminate tariffs on Canadian imports, according to House Democratic aides. Of course, they feel like they'd have their support in the Senate. The failed vote Tuesday night may be a reflection of the political situation for many GOP lawmakers as Trump's popularity continues to plummet, plummet. Some Republicans seem to be looking for ways to distance themselves from the president and some of his most controversial policies. Oh, who was it a few months back, maybe last year, who said there's going to be a reckoning pretty soon when Republicans who have to get reelected distance themselves from Donald Trump, who doesn't? Now we're seeing it. All right, from CBS, the unexpected but brief airspace closure in the Texas border city of El Paso stemmed from disagreements between the FAA, Trump's FAA, and Pentagon officials, Trump's Pentagon, over drone-related tests, according to multiple news sources who spoke to CBS. The Pentagon had undertaken extensive planning on the use of military technology near Fort Bliss, that's a base that abuts the El Paso International Airport, to practice taking down drones. Two sources identified the technology as a high-energy laser. Now, earlier this week, the anti-drone technology was launched near the southern border to shoot down what appeared to the Pentagon to be foreign drones. The flying material turned out to be a party balloon. Oh, boy. One balloon was shot down, several sources said. And they were like, we're closing the airspace for 10 days. I'm sorry, We're closing the airspace for 15 minutes. I'm sorry. Billy, come get your fucking balloon. Man, man. I know. They were saying there were Mexican drug cartel drones and it was a party balloon. Oh, my God. Well, maybe it was Don Jr.'s party balloon. And in that case, it probably had cocaine in it. This one's from NBC. A Trump appointed judge Tuesday shut down the Justice Department's efforts to obtain personal voter information from elections officials in Michigan. The third time a court has tossed a lawsuit by the Trump administration in its efforts to obtain voter registration lists from the states. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbu, the chief judge for U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, granted a request from Michigan officials, including Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who's fucking awesome, to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit. Federal judges in Oregon and California recently dismissed Justice Department lawsuits seeking to force those states to hand over their voter rolls. In a letter to Michigan officials in July, the Justice Department requested the full names, birth dates, addresses, and driver's license numbers for all the state's voters, as well as partial Social Security numbers. Michigan officials said that they would turn over only data that is public, not detailed, sensitive personal information. The Justice Department then sued Michigan, trying to get the full voter rolls. Michigan is one of 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, that the Justice Department has sued trying to access their voter rolls. arguing that it needs the records to make sure states are maintaining accurate voter rolls and that fraud is not taking place in the federal elections. What do you bet? All 23 of those states in the District of Columbia are blue. Weird. At least most of them. I really want one of these cases to get to the Supreme Court, something where the Supreme Court has to decide that the president doesn't have any role in elections. Absolutely. Absolutely. We still haven't seen that yet. Been waiting for that. All right. from Politico, President Trump has directed a top U.S. spy agency, no multiple top U.S. spy agencies, to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with his former campaign lawyer, known for pushing debunked theories of electoral fraud. And that's according to four people with knowledge. The intelligence that top U.S. spy agencies are furnishing to Kurt Olson, now a temporary government employee in the White House, is meant to support a probe he's leading into whether Joe Biden's 2020 election win was a result of fraud. That's according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Two of the people familiar with Olson's work specified that he has at least reviewed some sensitive compartmented intelligence programs. That's frightening. Which are among the most highly classified materials stored by U.S. spy agencies. One of the people said he leans on Trump when he needs something, including access to highly classified intelligence reporting from different spy agencies. Quote, every time he hits a roadblock, He just calls POTUS. That's what one person said who's familiar with Olson's work. Olson is, by the way, the guy who's in charge of the investigation where they went down and got all the ballots from Georgia with Tulsi Gabbard in tow. He was also subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee for his election fraud lies and Jack Smith. The decision to provide some of the government's most sensitive spy material to Olson is unusual. That's putting it lightly. given that he has no known experience working with the U.S. spy community and only joined the Trump administration as a short-term special government employee in October of last year. Special government employees are supposed to work no more than 130 days during any period of 365 days, suggesting his time at the White House could end soon. The first person said that Olson has passed a background check and a polygraph. It's not clear how close Olson is to completing his report on the 2020 elections, but I'm sure it'll be a bunch of bullshit. Now, intelligence analysis is supposed to be nonpartisan, but it appears Olson's views on electoral fraud in prior U.S. elections are so deeply held that even some people close to the president question his ability to evaluate the material that's being shared with him. Quote, this guy has no background in intelligence, said a second person, a close Trump ally. Olson, quote, will find some super classified report, say it's evidence of fraud, but really it's just completely out of context. And also you'll note, Dana, that if it's highly classified, they won't be able to share it with the rest of us to prove their allegations about the fraud. Olson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Thanks so much, Allison. And this is the story I was talking about earlier in the show. This is from the Times. A large pride flag. It was quietly removed from the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan after a directive from the federal government. This is the latest step in the Trump administration's nationwide assault on diversity initiatives and the second time in less than a year that it's targeted the Greenwich Village site, which commemorates the birth of the LGBTQ rights movement. The flags removal came weeks after the Department of the Interior issued federal guidance on displaying non-agency flags in the National Park System, which includes a very small park in front of the Stonewall Inn. That's the bar for which the federal monument is named. Elected officials and bar employees said they realized the rainbow flag was gone on Monday morning. On Tuesday, a bear flagpole stood on the monument's grounds as steely clouds hung overhead. Stacey Lentz, my dear friend and incredible, incredible person. She's also the owner. She's the part owner of that bar, the Stonewall Bar. She said its owners had been surprised by the removal, especially since a year had passed since the administration removed references to transgender people from the monument's website and other materials. She said to think you can go to Stonewall and just take down the pride flag. That's telling of the time we are living in. That's what Ms. Lentz said. It's unbelievable. the flag is not just an abstract symbol. It tells LGBTQ people, especially younger ones, that their history will not be sidelined again. On Tuesday, Mayor Zoran Mamdani said he was outraged by the flag's removal. He said, New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ plus rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change or silence that history. He said, our city has a duty not just to honor the legacy, but to live up to it. Local officials, they are pledging to restore the flag. In fact, tomorrow, and as you're listening to this on Thursday, they're putting another flag up at noon. So I think it's at noon. I need to check that actually, and I'll be happy to after the break and make a correction, but they're putting another flag back up. Not the government. Stonewall Inn. I mean, that's fucking dystopian. You go to work at the Stonewall Inn and the big giant pride flag is just gone. Yep. It's just gone. remember the Pulse Nightclub Rainbow Sidewalk and then there was a local business that said come and do your art in our private parking lot and I imagine that the resilient people of Stonewall Inn are going to put that flag back up and they're going to take this shit. And if you're in New York and you're listening to this earlier in the day at 4 p.m. on Thursday, February 12th, that is hopefully when a lot of you are hearing this, they are going to re-raise the pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument. It's down in Gretich Village. It's right across from Stonewall Bar. I believe it's Christopher Street Park is what it is, Christopher Park. If you want to go, that's a good place to cause some good trouble. Go support the community. Amazing. Thank you so much for that info. All right, everybody. We definitely need some good news. So we going to read listener submitted good news after this quick break Stick around We be right back After these messages we be right back Wild Grain is the original Bake from Frozen subscription box for artisan breads seasonal pastries, and fresh pasta with everything ready in 25 minutes or less. They stick to simple ingredients that you can pronounce, and they use a slow fermentation process that's gentler on your stomach, and it boosts nutrients and antioxidants. No preservatives, no cutting corners. Each box is customizable, including varieties, gluten-free, vegan, and the new protein box. This episode of The Daily Beans is brought to you by Wild Grain, so check this deal out. Right now, Wild Grain is offering you $30 off your first box, plus free croissants in every box when you go to wildgrain.com slash dailybeans to start your subscription, or you can use promo code dailybeans at checkout. During the cold, cold winter months, I make sure to keep Wild Grain Harvest Sourdough in my freezer because it turns cold nights into comfort fast. My last delivery had two sourdough loaves, spinach ravioli, and chocolate croissants. And the sourdough was my favorite. Everything bakes from frozen in under 25 minutes, so dinner feels homemade even when I'm wiped out and do not feel like I have the time. Dana eats gluten-free, and she was really happy with her delivery. She said the gluten-free bread tasted amazing, the box was easy to customize, and it fit her routine without stress. It is perfect for easy dinners, cozy weekend brunches, warming up the whole kitchen, and filling your house with the delicious smell of baking stuff. so there's nothing like having an artisan bakery in your freezer to chase away the winter chill and now is the best time to stay in and enjoy comforting homemade meals with wild grain i highly recommend giving wild grain a try right now wild grain is offering our listeners 30 off your first box plus free croissants for life when you go to wildgrain.com daily beans to start your subscription today that's 30 off your first box and free croissants for life when you visit wildgrain.com daily beans or you can use promo code daily beans at checkout you'll be glad you did hey everybody welcome back it's time for the good news who likes good news everyone then good news everyone and if you have any good news confessions corrections especially pronunciation corrections please send those in. If you have any good trouble suggestions or maybe a shout out to a loved one or a small business or a nonprofit or yourself, we love self shout outs or a government program, maybe your favorite joke, your favorite comedian, your favorite Monty Python line, whatever it is, it'll bring a smile to our face. We all need to microdose that hope. So send in your good news story. And if you've been thinking about it, like I want to send it in, go ahead, do it. Open your computer, send it in, go to dailybeanspod.com and click on contact. And all you got to do to get your submission read on the air is pay your pod pet tariff, which means attach a photo of your pet. And if you don't have a pet, send an adoptable pet in your area. We'll see if we can find them a home. If you don't have that, just grab a random photo of a cute animal off the internet. That is fine. Any photo will do. You can send us a meme. You can send us pictures of your family, your baby photos. Awkward family pictures are always fun. Photos of rallies, maybe some of your favorite protest signs you've seen. What you're making or creating, what you're growing in your garden. Maybe you've got some laying chickens you want to share. Maybe you've got some goats you like to milk. Anything, anything at all, send it to us. DailyBeanSpot.com and click on contact. And today we're going to start with your good trouble. And your good trouble comes from Scott Galloway, who I love. Resist and unsubscribe, he says. Americans are feeling powerless to thwart the Trump administration's assault on our nation's values. Praised by tech CEOs, surrounded by sycophants and enriched by his return to the White House, The president's actions march on unchecked. Americans, however, have a powerful weapon that has been hiding in plain sight. First, we must recognize that the president is unfazed by citizen outrage, the courts or the media. He responds to one thing, the market. The most potent weapon to resist the administration is targeted month-long national economic strike, a coordinated campaign that attacks tech companies and firms enabling ICE to inflict maximum damage with minimal impact on consumers. In sum, the shortest path to change without hurting consumers is an economic strike targeted at the companies driving the markets and enabling our president. So Resist and Unsubscribe, they track the subscription-based tech companies that it believes wields significant influence over the U.S. economy and the presidency, providing direct links for you to each company's cancellation or unsubscribe page. So you can find this list at resistandunsubscribe.com. We'll have a link in the show notes. Awesome. Thank you so much, Allison. This one is from Anonymous, pronounced she and her. Good day, ladies, and the fellow Brood Awakening Brigade. I am writing to answer your question regarding two national nonprofits that helps people attain their real ID, VoteRiders, and Spread the Vote. VoteRiders, as we talked about, helps people from every state get their ID and anything else they might need to prove they're eligible to vote. They offer free help getting voter ID, including paying for underlying documents like birth certificates, arranging appointments, and helping with transportation. Now we're going to have the link. I think we had it yesterday. We'll put it again. Spread the vote. They work so that people can get their paperwork and ID to vote. Get a job, a home, benefits their life. Currently and formerly incarcerated citizens and their families have special needs when it comes to IDs and voting. They also work trying to restore rights to people who have been incarcerated. That is spreadthevote.org. On a separate note, I did want to share that I once sat on a jury where we had to no bill a charge against peace officer. I hated it because an innocent person died. However, the evidence in front of us, it didn't show intent. So we could no bill a first degree murder charge. Years later, that case always haunted me. One day I happened to hear on the radio the family did receive a civil judgment. It doesn't undo the loss of the family member, but I'm glad there were some consequences. As I watch all of the horrible, atrocious behavior happening by the people in charge right now, I remind myself of the case I heard, and I, with hope in my heart, know with everything I have that one day, not tomorrow or the next, they too will find consequences. For my paw attacks, I give you Callie guarding my meds, And a picture I took a couple years ago of an army of frogs at the Sydney Zoo. Want to guess what type? I mean, green tree frogs. Yeah, I was going to say some kind of tree frog. They're adorable. Also known as? How about yellow spotted green tree frogs? All right, there you go. Also known as blank. Oh, they're just magnificent tree frogs. Oh, I thought so too. Splendid, if you will. Splendid tree frogs. These large nocturnal Australian amphibians are also known for several unique features, including the poisonous glands on the back of their heads, which are poisonous to birds and snakes, but not us. They actually live in caves and rocks despite their name. Very cool. I learned so much. Tree frogs that live in caves. And the kitty is adorable, by the way, guarding the pills. All right. Next up from Rachel Pronouns She and Her. Hi, Allison and Dana. I wrote back in October to shout out Merrimack Valley Food Bank, the MVFB.org, and share my efforts to support the important work that they do in the community. Knitting is one thing I do to keep myself sane. I make cozy, chunky blankets and sometimes sell a few at Sleepy Cat Knits. That's sleepycatknits.myshopify.com. This past fall, when SNAP benefits were affected by the government shutdown, I decided to donate all my profits to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank. We were able to donate the equivalent of 700 meals by the end of 2025. I'm so incredibly grateful, and I'm going to keep this up as long as I can. Rachel, you must be so proud that you're knitting fed 700 people meals. That's amazing. I wanted to share more about the program that the food bank runs called Operation Nourish. This program provides in-school food pantries and take-home groceries for students. School lunches are already free for the students here in Massachusetts. This program serves students in my city's 36 public schools and provides 1,450 bags of groceries biweekly. A donation of $500 covers the cost of stocking an in-school food pantry for a month. I'm making it my mission to make this happen. I plan to keep knitting until my arms fall off. I've attached a photo of the blanket that I made for myself for my birthday and my two kitties who did not hesitate to claim it as their own. They do that. Thanks for being who you are. The beans community is a bright spot every day. That blankie, I want one. I love the color. It's chunky. It looks soft. The kitties are amazing. But that's so cool that what you knit, you can turn into food for people. That's incredible. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. This is from Kendra Pronouns She and Her. I discovered your podcast recently and I'm in love. Perfect amount of snark, facts, and heart. Truly feel spoiled when we get one each day. Thank you so much for continuing to cover Minneapolis. It is still so bad here and watching the world move on is scary. ICE has switched to blitz attacks, making it harder to record and assert legal rights. Jesus Christ. I heard that ICE agents are circling little Liam's house the day he came home. Obviously, this is a rumor, but come from a state senator as caucus night last week. I just needed to share my outrage with someone. Luckily, he wasn't staying there. Whew Much love from my beautiful occupied Minneapolis Kendra we are sending you so much love too And I said it yesterday on the pod nothing has changed there Just the eyes of the public and the media have somehow shifted and we need to shift it back Yeah. And Kendra brings up a really good point that they're changing their tactics to avoid observation. Yeah. You know, I've been reading Minneapolis Star Tribune. I've been reading a lot from local and independent news sources on the ground that they're targeting people who are bringing food. They're like finding people by following people who are bringing food to people who are afraid to leave their homes. It's awful. Some were posing, some ICE agents were posing as food deliverers. Like just absolutely disgusting. Your pod pet tariff here with your ICE out bear is fantastic, by the way. Yeah, it is. that's a bear dressed in a matador outfit. It's just ice out. All right. Next up from BG, like A-G and D-G, pronouns she and her. Hello, badass beans. A-G, I have to tell you that the place you sprouted up from is kicking ass. 350 Akron area people showed up for ice training to prepare for their arrival because we all know they're coming to our city sooner or later. We have a large population where 17 different languages are spoken in one area. I helped repair homes on two refugee families who spent time in Burmese concentration camps and one family 11 years. They've been through enough, God damn it. Wow. Attached are two picks for my tax. Five members from Rubber City Resistance. I love that name. We're at the training. You'll find us on an Akron overpass bridge every week, even in below zero temperatures. The second pick is honoring Akron's best damn bakery, Sweet Mary's. They recently were bombarded by a conservative hate group, but to fight back, our community sold them out of everything. They bought everything but a bagel and they donated $1,000 to an immigration group. That's awesome. Fuck. Yeah. So they left one bagel in there. Okay. Akron says, go home. Trump is a cunt. See, we're going to start with cunt and we're going to end with cunt, people. Hey, it's a cunt sandwich here today on Daily Beans. Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh, BG. I love that Akron is stepping up. I mean, you know, the Midwest is just full of amazing people. And I love that they're called the Rubber City Resistance because that's what Akron is. I know. All right. This is from Anonymous, pronounced she and her. Hi, Beans team. I'm a fairly recent listener, just the past couple of months, and this is my first time reaching out. I wanted to say thank you. The show helps me feel genuinely informed and exposes stories I don't see elsewhere without leaving me stuck in fear or hopelessness. There's something grounding about analysis that acknowledges reality while still leaving room for agency and optimism. Wow, that is such a great sentence. Thank you for that, Anonymous. The reason I'm writing is to share some good news. I recently moved a couple of counties away to live with my future wife and start the next chapter of our lives together. I had hoped to land a local job before moving, but when that didn't happen, I spent those two plus months commuting nearly three hours a day round trip. Weekdays became a blur of podcasts, highway miles, gas station stops. After submitting around 70 applications and sitting through half a dozen interviews, I finally landed a new job. Today is my first day and it's only 15 minutes from home. In a rough economy with a brutal job market where 5% unemployment, and there's a quote there, feels wildly detached from lived reality. This wind feels enormous. FYI, if you include gig workers into the unemployment numbers, It's closer to 15 to 20%. Most gig workers I know do it out of necessity, not choice. But as my old statistics professor used to joke, 76% of statistics are made up anyway. I'm really grateful to be able to send some good news back into space that's given me so many smiles and moments of clarity. To anyone listening, you are worthy. You are worth it. You are enough. And the darkness that those in power often cast, communities like this still manage to light the way forward. For my pod pet tariff, I submit a photo of my baby girl, Molly, when she was a little bean herself. Mommy misses you and we'll see you soon. Much love, Kaylee. Look at this bean. Outstanding submission. Totally. And I want to rub the belly. Look at the spots on the belly. Yeah. Of this sweet baby. Yeah. That first pair, man, anonymous, like, you know, some days I'm like, what am I doing? I'm just talking into a microphone. And then somebody sends in something like this and I'm like, yeah, thank you so much. You know? Yep. That's really important. And by the way, Dana, what you do in your comedy is brilliant. It's resistance. And I just wanted to say that because we should tell people what we think more often. Thank you so much, Allison. All right. From Kelly Pronoun, she and her, hi, AG and DG. First, I want to thank you for being a beacon of hope and for delivering all the shitty news in a way that I can digest without stooping into a pit of despair. I am a middle-aged queer woman of trans experience living in Ohio, and the last two and a half years have been a living hell. I live in Cincinnati, and we have a wonderful nonprofit here called Transform. They work with trans youth to help get them connected with resources. In addition to providing gender-affirming clothing for youth and young adults who are in early transition, they also provide a safe space for trans youth and adults with weekly gender-affirming social programming that is sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQ plus and neurodiverse people. Transform just relocated to their forever home. It's a larger space with better parking access, better access to public transportation, and a large yard with a covered porch. It's going to be a wonderful upgrade for this much needed organization. And they're asking for financial support to secure rent and operating costs for the near future. You can help out at transformcinsi.org. We'll have a link in the show notes. For my pod pet tariff, I'm attaching a photo of my favorite mouse killer, Foggy. Foggy came into my life after the unexpected death of my last cat, David. That's a great name for a cat and has been one of the only sources of comfort I felt over the last two years. What a sweet baby. Sweet baby indeed. Kelly, I don't know if you're happened to go to the human rights campaign gala in Cincinnati on March 21st, but I will be there. And if you happen to be there, please come say hello to me. I'd love to thank you for what you're doing. Yeah. There's some good organizations out there. That is for sure. Yeah. And that's one of the things we encourage folks to do for the good news is to send in your good news and spotlight a nonprofit that you think needs to be highlighted for the amazing work that they do. Whether you work for the nonprofit or you just know about it or it's helped you, doesn't matter. Just let us know. And you can send all your good news into us at dailybeanspod.com and just click on contact there and you'll see the form. Thank you so much. I really needed that today. There was some good news today with the judges blocking tariff shit and the stupid Janine Pirro falling on her face, sober, falling on her face, but there was some bad news in there too. And so this really, really brought my spirits up. So thank you. Good, good. Also, you guys have to go have to go to instagram dg comedy so i'm texting dana earlier today we were just like steaming about this pam bondy bullshit and i was like she's such a cunt and then she sends me this video she just made on instagram and she just says great minds think alike so go watch it it's just mad just lost it today share it far and wide um sarah jessica parker just started following me i don't know if it's from that video or something else but i was like what yeah so that was fun yeah also if you all are in the mood for some comedy and you happen to live in nashville tennessee my tickets for march 11th let me check the calendar before i lie to you march go ahead and check your calendar 11th at zanys yep at zanys they just went on sale yep they just went on sale got a great guy named Sean Flanagan opening for me. So if you're in Nashville, those tickets just went on sale. You can get them on my website, danagoldberg.com. Hit the tour. All tickets for Nashville, Dallas, the Villages, I think are about to go on sale. And that's fast. That's on March 19th. So if you're in the Villages. And then we also have Rochester, New York. Did I say Rochester, New York? No, you hadn't said that one yet. That's in May. And those also went on sale before. It was just a notify me button. All of those are on sale now. That's a big tour, dude. Yeah, we've got four or five cities already. And that is just in addition to all of my gala work. So I've got galas in Cincinnati, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Rochester, New York. There's a lot going on between now and June. So come play with me on the road. Amazing. All right, my friend, thank you. And everybody listening, thank you so much. We'll be back in your ears tomorrow with John Fuglesang for Fuglesang Fridays. Until then, please take care of yourselves take care of each other take care of the planet take care of your mental health and take care of your family I've been A.G. I've been D.G. 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 Network a collection of creator-owned podcasts dedicated to news, politics, and justice For more information, please visit mswmedia.com. M-S-W-Media.