Patel Ousting Imminent? Support For Immigrants. And Free Buses In Iowa

Kash Patel may be on the way out at the FBI. Plus, people supporting immigrants in a year of ICE raids and a firing in the soup industry.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good News for Lefties and America. Hello and thanks for
joining this edition of Good News for Lefties. I'm Baable Rocklin,
your host, ready to help you swap out doom and
gloom for hope with uplifting stories for anyone who believes
in making America a better place for everyone. To help
us spread the positivity. If you enjoy the show, please

(00:29):
rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or your podcast
platform of choice. It helps more lefties like you hear
more good news stories and stay positive and motivated for
the days ahead. Now, let's get some good news headlines
designed to brighten your day. Donald Trump is considering removing
Cash Betel as FBI director in the coming months, as

(00:51):
he and his top aides have grown increasingly frustrated by
the unflattering headlines Patel has recently generated. According to three
people with knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity in
order to speak freely, Patel has come under scrutiny for
his stewardship of bureau resources, including his girlfriend's security detail

(01:14):
and the use of a government jet, and for his
squabbles with other Trump loyalists. Trump and White House aides
have confided to allies that the President is eyeing removing
Patel and is considering top FBI official Andrew Bailey as
the bureau's new director. According to three people, Patel is

(01:34):
described as being on thin ice, and his ouster appears
closer than ever with Bailey as the logical replacement. Two
sources with knowledge of the situation set that Trump could
change his mind in the weeks to come. Reports say
that US Attorney General Pam Bondi has been frustrated with
both Patel and Dan Bongino, in particular over Patel's untimely

(01:58):
social media posts boasting prematurely about case breakthroughs, which sometimes
threatened to jeopardize investigations. Both Bondie and Deputy Attorney General
Todd Blanche have been irritated by the continuing distraction of
news coverage of his questionable use of taxpayer resources. Multiple
sources have said Campbell's has dismissed an executive who allegedly

(02:23):
referred to the soup company's products as being made for
poor people and denigrated its Indian employees. Martin Bally, who
was the vice president of Campbell's information technology department, was
recorded making the alleged comments by another employee Campbell's made
quote highly processed food and quote shit for fucking poor people,

(02:49):
Bally reportedly said to a former employee, Robert Garza, according
to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Garza, Allegedly referring
to Campbell's employees of Indian has heritage, Bally said, fucking
Indians don't know a fucking thing like they couldn't think
for their fucking selves. Garza, who was a security analyst

(03:10):
at Campbell's, told a news outlet he recorded Bally when
he met with him to discuss his salary and felt
something was not right. He is now suing the company
for unfair dismissal and is alleging that Bally made racist remarks,
admitted to being under the influence of drugs at work,
and retaliated when Garza tried to make a complaint about him.

(03:33):
In a statement, Campbell said Bally had been dismissed, adding
this behavior does not reflect our values and the culture
of our company, and we will not tolerate that kind
of language under any circumstances. Before we get back to
the news, I want to tell you about an important
podcast called This Week Again, hosted by Suzan Posel. It

(03:54):
takes a humorous look at politics and current events one
week at a time. It's a funny, angry, progressive, sarcastic,
hilarious podcast that drops every Sunday and, in my opinion,
is the largest single repository of creatively insulting names for
Donald Trump. Mango Mussolini and Orange Julius Caesar are just

(04:15):
the beginning. So if you want to recap of the
week and you want a laugh into the bargain, listen
to This Week Again with Suzanne Posel on this platform
or wherever you listen to podcasts. That's This Week Again
with Suzanne Posel s U s A N N E
PO s E L This Week Again, Listen, Laugh, Repeat.

(04:40):
Eight months and two negotiations with West Contra cost A
Unified School District in California, an overwhelming majority of educators
are prepared to strike. Banners have been painted, posters printed,
buttons pressed, all with a similar message. Educators and other
professionals represented by the United Teachers of Richmond are ready

(05:01):
to fight for better pay, benefits, staffing levels, and services
for students. Educators are asking for a ten percent raise
over a two year period, one hundred percent employer paid
healthcare and improvements to class sizes, special education, and other areas.
The district has countered with a single two percent raise

(05:22):
and eighty five percent employer paid health care. The more
aligned we are, the more the community is here with us,
the faster our strike will be, the sooner it will end,
said Sandrine Demothu, a teacher at Nystrom Elementary School. Ninety
eight percent of union members voted to strike if necessary
after their contract lapsed June thirtieth. A tentative agreement has

(05:44):
been reached between the district and Teamsters that, if ratified,
we give members a single three percent race, two percent
of which would be retroactive beginning July first, twenty twenty five.
The additional one percent would begin January first, twenty twenty six.
Members will vote on whether to accept the contract terms
on December first and second. As for unified Teachers of Richmond,

(06:10):
members are less confident the gap between what they're demanding
and what the district is offering will be close enough
to prevent a strike. Francisco Ortiz, current union president, said
a strike could begin as soon as December third, when
Jose Gambrano and Jennifer Rodriguez and their seven year old
son Leon fled Ecuador. They sought asylum in New York

(06:32):
City with hope for brighter, safer future. There, with a
hotel roof over their heads and money trickling in from
day gigs, Zambrano and Rodriguez could finally breathe easy enough
to talk about getting married. That's when Rodriguez went to
Little Shop of Kindness, a nonprofit that collects donated clothes
for migrant families, to find a wedding dress. She had

(06:56):
no idea she would walk away with a wedding plan.
As she scared through the racks, Rodriguez struck up a
conversation with shop volunteer at Val Coleman, saying she planned
to get married at City Hall. I told him that
I was a licensed deficient and that I would be
willing to do it for free, Coleman said. She also
suggested they swap out City Hall for Carl Schur's Park,

(07:17):
a beautiful tree line park in Manhattan. In the last year,
Coleman has officiated four weddings for migrant families, with more
to come. She works with a translator to get the
paperwork filled out and tries to personalize the ceremony. In
small ways. I always ask what they love about each
other and asked to write down their own vows, Coleman

(07:38):
said after ceremonies in Carl Shur's Park, Ilza Thielman, founder
of the Little Shop of Kindness, fills the boutique with
flower arrangements, twinkling lights, and slices of cake to transform
it into a reception space. We are helping them in
a wide variety of ways, Fielman said, not just feeding
and clothing them. We are giving them dignity and respect,

(07:59):
and finess and warmth, a soft place to land. Up next,
a listener suggested story back in a minute, and now.
A listener suggested story from Elena in Springfield, Illinois. Since
Donald Trump won a second term. Sandra we and the
creators of the story are only using Sandra's first name

(08:22):
to protect her identity, has been prepping the ten families
at are home based daycare in Chicago, including some who
lack permanent status, for the possibility that they may be detained.
She's worked with families to get temporary guardianship papers sorted,
and put a plan in place in case they were
detained and the kids were left behind. She even had

(08:44):
a psychologist come and speak to the families about the
events that had been unfolding across the country, to help
the children understand that there are certain situations their parents
can't control and give them the opportunity to talk through
their fears that one day mama and Papa might not
be there to pick them up. And for two elementary
school students that day did come. Sandra met them outside

(09:07):
the school. When they saw me, they knew something wasn't right.
Sandra said in Spanish, Are we never going to see
our mom again? They asked for all her planning, She
was speechless. One prepares for these things, but still doesn't
have the words on what to say, Sandra said. After
that day, Sandra worked with the mother's sister to get

(09:27):
the girls situated to fly to Texas, where their mother,
who had full custody of them, was being detained. In
this year of immigration raids, childcare providers have stepped up
to keep families unified amid incredible uncertainty. Some are agreeing
to be temporary guardians for kids should something happen to
their parents. A loose network of resistance has emerged, with

(09:50):
detailed protection plans, ice lookout patrols, and signal or WhatsApp chats.
Home based providers like Sandra have been especially involved in
that effort because their work often means their lives are
more intertwined with the families they care for. All the
families we have in our program, I consider them family.
We arrive in this country and we don't have family,

(10:12):
and when we get support, advice, or the simple act
of caring for kids as childcare providers, we are essential
in many of these families, even more in these times,
said Sandra, who has been caring for children in the
United States for twenty five years. All the families she
cares for are Latino seventy percent without permanent legal status.

(10:33):
Thanks for that story, Elena. If you have thoughts, ideas,
or more good news to share, we'd love to hear
from you. Call or message us at two zero two
six five six six two seven to one, drop us
a line at beowulf at two squared Media Productions dot com,
or send it to us at good News for Lefties
on Facebook, Instagram, or blue Sky. Iowa City eliminated bus

(10:57):
fares at August twenty twenty three with the goal of
lowering emissions from cars and encouraging people to take public transit.
The two year pilot program proved so popular that the
city council voted this summer to extend it another year,
paying for it with a one percent increase in utility
taxes and by doubling most public parking rates from two

(11:19):
dollars to one dollar. Ridership has surpassed pre pandemic levels
by eighteen percent. Bus drivers say they're navigating less congested streets.
People drove one point eight million fewer miles on city streets,
according to government calculations, and emissions dropped by seven hundred

(11:39):
seventy eight metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. That's
the equivalent of taking one hundred sixty seven vehicles off
the roads. Free city buses are relatively rare in the
United States. The idea has been getting a new look
recently after Zoran Mamdani won New York City's mayoral race
with a promise to make buses free. In twenty twenty one,

(12:02):
the city started running more buses, streamlining routes, and seriously
considering waiving the one dollar fares. In twenty twenty three,
the Iowa City City Council voted to pay for a
two year fair free pilot with COVID nineteen relief funds.
Ridership eventually grew to one hundred eighteen percent of pre

(12:23):
pandemic levels, compared to the average national transit ridership recovery
levels of eighty five percent. There were early concerns that
fair free travel would heap extra burdens on bus drivers,
drawing homeless people or anything goes behavior. Yet several drivers
said that not having to ask passengers for payment or
transfers has led to less friction with riders. It also

(12:46):
speeds up travel, they said, because no one was delaying
things by rummaging for money. According to the City on
Time arrivals have increased by thirteen percent. That's a wrap
for today's edition of Good News for Lefty. For more
on today's stories, please follow the links in today's notes
for the episode, and if these stories brighten your outlook,

(13:08):
please help us spread the word by rating and reviewing
us on Apple Podcasts or your podcast platform of choice.
A big thanks to our production team roosabelt Hein, Aaron Watson,
and Gillian Cunningham for making all this possible behind the scenes.
I'm bea wolf Rockland weird name. Good News for lefties

(13:29):
and America.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Here's what you've been missing on the Stephanie Miller Happy
Hour podcast from MS Pharma. Virginia Jeffres ghostwriter just dropped
a bombshell in which she's saying every single name from
the Epstein files, plus private recordings back it all up
in France. Apparently he has copies of everything.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Like the country of Frances.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yes, yeah, I means they're saying a lot of foreign
intelligence agencies probably have this, which makes me feel better
that they're not going to be able to real He's
obviously scrubbed.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Of course, Russia's real.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yes, why do you think Trump's been getting dog locked
by net and Yahoo and putin for how many years?

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Russia? Russia? Russia?

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yes, yes, yes, yeah, she's saying, Oh, she's sitting on
every single name from the Epstein file. I'm sorry, Virginia
Jeffries ghostwriter, plus private recordings to back it all up.
So yeah, between that private intelligence, I wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Be surprised if there was like a watergeight style break
into the ghostwriter's house to steal all of this information. Right,
That's what Nixon did.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Right, By the way, you know, how you really know
when someone is completely full of oh is when there's
too many words, you know, wordy, wordy talkie talkie.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, this night that how trop that he sent out.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
So when he signed the thing because he had to,
I'm telling you, Pamboni's his last you know, it's the
last chamber around the Titan.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
I don't think he's the single peer.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
This is I can't do the whole statement from the basenet.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh god, it was crazy when I saw that. Jeffrey Emsteen.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
He was charged by the Trump Justice Department in twenty nineteen.
Not the Democrats was a lifelong Democrats donated thousands dollars
to Democrat but addicitions with Dbate associated with many well
known Democrats. This latest hoax well backfire for the Democrats,
just as all the rest of them have.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Thank you for your attention to this matter, making America
cred agains okay.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
So and in between their words words, words, wordy, wordy words, words, words, words,
more words.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
The occasional all caps yeah it's okay, with the scribblings
of a crazy person.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yes, yes, And in case you missed it, here's this
good news headline. Democrats in Duchess County in New York
were the big winners in the election this month, including
keeping the comptroller seat, defeating and incumbent re Publican County

(16:00):
court judge, and flipping the county legislature from red to blue.
Incumbent Democratic Comptroller dan Aimar Blair received three hundred and
fifty eight votes to fend off a challenge from Legislature
Chairman Will Truett, who received thirty two, nine hundred and
ninety seven votes in one of the county's most contested races.

(16:23):
Democrat Kara Jerry, a senior assistant public defender for Duchess County,
captured nine hundred and sixty four votes to topple incumbent
Republican Duchess County Court Judge Edward ned McLoughlin, who received
thirty two thousand, two hundred and nine votes. Democrats took
control of the legislature in the county for the first

(16:45):
time since two thousand and eight. The Republicans currently have
the majority with fifteen members, while Democrats have ten seats.
This will now flip. A collection of political newcomers running
on the Democratic line saw wins, while the income Democrats
outperformed their GOP challengers.