Lovett or Leave It - Insurrection: Exclusive Bonus Footage

Episode Date: February 13, 2021

The evidence is damning but the defendant got lucky on jury selection. The vaccine roll out continues. And Gina Carano can't act OR tweet. Akilah Hughes joins to break down the week's news. Dr. Atul Gawande discusses mask mandates and vexing variants. And, to mark Valentine's Day in a pandemic, several contestants compete for LOVE in speed dates with our writer Pallavi Gunalan.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/lovettorleaveit. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail].

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, Vaxxed to the Future. But I don't even remember What does it feel to be around people? We'll go back to the future But I don't even remember What does it feel to be a round people Thank you. That awesome theme song with, would you call it EDM vibes? I guess you would call it EDM vibes, but I really loved it. Hunter Smith, thank you so much. If you want to make a Vaxxed to the Future theme song, please send it to leaveitatcrooked.com. Leaveitatcrooked.com. They've been awesome.

I keep saying it. We're going to do it. We've got to upload. We've got to create a playlist with all of the Back in the Closet themes, with the Back in the Closet Elect themes, with the Vex of the Future themes because they're awesome. Before we get to the show, it's President's Day weekend. Three-day weekend, that's cool. Well, every weekend feels like the same, but whatever.

Now through Monday, take 15% off site-wide on the Crooked store. We have new merch from all of your favorite shows, so please visit crooked.com slash store to shop now. It's very cool stuff there. We put in some, you know, they're really cool designs. So you should check it out. Later in the show, I talked to Dr. Atul Gawande about the vaccine rollout. And one of our writers, Pallavi Gunalan, plays a speed dating game with our listeners that I'm very glad we did.

And I'll just say that. I'm very glad we did. And I'll just say that. I'm very glad we did it. Plus, we play a game about the way in which Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were treated quite differently by the media over the years. But first, she's a comedian and co-host of Crooked's daily news show, What A Day. Please welcome back, returning champion, Akilah Hughes. Hi. Hi, John. How you doing? I'm great, you know, just loving life. Yeah, things are going great. Before we get to the news, I understand you talked to Dr. Anthony Fauci today. Yes. For What A Day, and it came out on, you're hearing this on Saturday, you can check out the Friday episode.

I understand that Dr. Fauci met your new dog, Dr. Fauci. Yes, he did. He was very charmed. I imagine when you tell Fauci that you've named a dog after him, he kind of has a like, like he's honored and he takes the compliment. Yes. But he also tries to keep it at arm's length. Like there's a little bit of like, oh, you know, this is not why I'm in this game. Yeah, fully.

I didn't get in this game for naming myself after, having dogs named after me. Yeah. I appreciate it. I'm not the kind of person that can't take a compliment. I'm very assured in that sense. Right. But at the same time, I'm creating distance. Is that fair?

Is that what happened? I would say that's 100% accurate. You know, He's like, I'm just a humble NIH director. I'm just here trying to make sure people know how to wear masks, but not all heroes wear capes, and I'm flattered. Yeah, he did say that I have to live with that name now, and that there are lots of Dr. Fauci's. So, you know, maybe not as flattered as I expected him to be, but that's now, and that there are lots of Dr. Fauci's. So, you know, maybe not as flattered as I expected him to be, but that's okay, because my dog was so flattered to get to meet him. All right, let's get into it. What a week. Akilah, we like to start with the worst joke submitted. So here it is. Authorities confirmed that Bruce Springsteen was arrested for driving while intoxicated last year.

If I wanted to hear about a horrible boss, I'd check out a 2011 Jason Bateman movie. Yeah, that might be the worst one. I don't even know what the others are. Jesus. Or a Joss Whedon movie. What's going on there? A new report by the CDC found that masks work better when they fit properly. In a separate report, the CDC said dinner plates are more effective when food is placed on the upper surface rather than smeared on the side that touches the table.

I'm glad they're offering dinner guidance. I think that that's really great of them. Good looking out. More of a warning than a joke. New research suggests that the UK coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly across the US and could become the country's dominant strain by late March. And much like the first British invasion,

this also comes with terrible haircuts. The Beatles, remember? The mop tops. Yeah, yeah. You know, I thought that the second British invasion was The Office, the remake. But I stand corrected. That was part of a longer first invasion. Well, it's the kind of thing where, you know, in the full sweep of history, it becomes one invasion.

Right. It was kind of the one time. There's in the full sweep of history, it becomes one invasion. Right. It was kind of the one time. There's the Beatles. There's the Spice Girls. Yeah. That felt like a little bit of an invasion. I think Oasis wanted, but were like, nice. Okay.

Okay, Oasis. Yeah. They were on the Soft Rap channel before their time. The Oasis was like, aren't we an invasion? We're like, we're not comfortable with how important it is for you to be associated with this at the time. The OAS is like, aren't we an invasion? We're like, we're not comfortable with how important it is for you to be associated with this at the time. Yeah, like you all really, you're on the cover of Rolling Stone. We get it.

You're a thing. Pipe down. Pfizer said that it expects to cut its vaccine production time nearly in half from 110 days to an average of 60 days. This is truly incredible news from Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company that we now root for. We just root for them. We're in. Yeah, honestly, you know, I got in on the GameStocks and I also bought a little Pfizer. Did you actually get in on the GameStocks?

I did. Did you? How, when? What number? How low? Where'd you get in? Where'd you get out? Okay, so the truth is it wasn't that part of it i was more of the dogecoin second wave so did you make any money on the dogecoins i'm making money on doge i'm making money i am finally i am finally even on bitcoin you bought it at 50 000 i went in at exactly when you're supposed to the absolute peak a year ago. Perfect. Wonderful. Yep, that's what they say. You should buy it when it's high, right?

Sell it when it's low. Buy high, sell low. Lose some money. France will change its labor code to allow workers to eat at their desks. This is in response to COVID and making sure people are six feet apart when they take off their masks to eat. Not because France saw how fun it looks to shake dressing into a sad chopped salad at your desk. France, couple tips. Tuna sandwiches are like lawyers.

You love yours, but you hate everyone else's. Tip number two, mute your mic when you're chewing. And, you know, this is more of a, I wouldn't call this a tip so much as just sort of a lesson from past experience. Eating at your desk will seem strange at first. Like, is this my life? Is there no space for joy? That will fade. And if you like eating at your desk, you're going to love crying in the toilet. Oh, man. You do these? You know, I loved that one, actually. Do you miss eating at your desk? Because I kind of do.

I don't. There were plenty of, there's been plenty of meals eaten at my desk. But I do think of it, like, I remember when I was, like, working for Hillary Clinton in the Senate office. And I would often eat at my desk. And we're all in one room. And it just, it's the way it was done. But, oh, man, it just feels like a defeat. Because you've got to go somewhere else for a little bit.

Right. You can't even scroll the things you want to scroll because you're like, all right, people are looking at what I scroll on my free time. My desk faced like where everybody could see my screen, which was tough for me because I procrastinate. Hard. Same. Really hard. I also like have to eat snacks and talk to everyone. Hard. Same.

Really hard. I also have to eat snacks and talk to everyone. So I got to say, this has been really hard for me, a person who requires 17 snack breaks and several coffee runs. You're an extrovert, so this has been tough years for the extroverts. Some of the introverts, I've heard from a few too many of these introverts in my life that are like, honestly, I know I shouldn't say it, but I'm fine with this. I really have. This could go five more years. It's fine. I'm good. Working in my pajamas, no meetings, don't have shouldn't say it, but I'm fine with this. I really have. This could go five more years.

I'm good. I'm good. Working in my pajamas. No meetings. Don't have to talk to anybody I don't want to talk to. No parties. I'm good. I get takeout.

I'm not one of those people. All right. Yeah. I need a party. I mean, you know, the moment I get stabbed and everyone else is stabbed and we're all like a six foot distance party as possible. We're all going to stand feet away in my backyard and stare at each other. Fauci give you any hot tips on how to get some of that sweet, sweet Moderna?

No? Oh, he was real mum about it. I think that, you know, he's the kind of person where once you get it, you just like forget about us lowly people who don't have it. You just move on. Yeah. There is a bit of a divide now from the people who have it. It's like you don't know what it's like being us anymore.

Yeah, you're out of touch. You go places fearless. Your mask is a little loose. Yeah. Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell dodged Dominion's legal team for weeks as it tried to serve her in a defamation lawsuit, forcing the company to hire private investigators and chase her across state lines. The last investigators saw her. She was clenching hands with Rudy Giuliani in a blue Thunderbird convertible

hurtling into the Grand Canyon. Okay, I give that one 10 points. That's excellent. You know, misdirection. Gina Davis, we stan. I don't think they should have driven off that cliff. You think they could have made it in jail? I don't know.

I don't think so. I haven't thought about it in a while, but I don't know why we celebrate that ending. Do you think they could have made it in jail? I don't know. I don't think so. I haven't thought about it in a while, but I don't know why we celebrate that ending. They didn't win. They lost. They lost big time. The car even. They held hands. That's an example of a movie that the ending changes if you extend it by about 10 seconds. Yeah, fully. Yeah, we'd all have been like, ooh. It's just like, you know, the crane pulling it out of the crane.

I'm so dark. Honestly, just deal with it. I'm so dark. Their hands fused together. That's what I wanted to say. Too dark. They just have to get the rigor mortis. We are, yeah, this is an uplifting Saturday morning podcast about women driving off the Grand Canyon in a film.

Just seems like, I don't know, turn around and take your chances. Yeah. That's what I think. Yeah. I think I'd send a bad message. Or back off the cliff. Why do you have to see your death? I'd rather be like, oh.

Or, you know, make it seem like you both went over the edge, but drop and roll. Yeah, that's a good point. There are options. I'm thinking about a sequel. Tokyo Drift, as you're about to go up. It starts with them like this. They're like, that was such a good plan, Gina.

Thanks, Susan. I don't remember their character's name. Remember how hot Brad Pitt was? Yeah, I couldn't. Can you believe he's kept abs this whole time? We've been hanging here for 30 years and he still has abs. It's bullshit. Do you think he's coming back?

For those listening at home, I am currently either Gina Davis or Susan Sarandon hanging off the edge of the cliff. I'm doing a worse job. Akilah is also hanging. Akilah is Gina Davis. I'm Susan Sarandon. I think that's more the vibe if we're being honest. That's fair. Yeah, I love it. Okay. You can be Susan Sarandon. I'm not going to fight you

on that one. Amazon paid $3,200 per day to an anti-union consultant in an attempt to undermine employee organizing at its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse. $3,200 might sound like a lot, but it's scale for the anti-union consultants union. That's what we're a thinker. Yeah.

Yep. Biden ordered sanctions against the military leaders who incited the coup in Myanmar. It's just nice to see the U.S. government holding insurrectionists accountable. You know, it's nice to see. Yeah. We can do it. We can do it. It's very rare, you know, only where the people are a little bit darker.

That's what they say. You know, as we approach paper bag color, it's a lot easier to remember laws and rules and order. Yeah, I guess. Mm-mm-mm. Yeah, a lot to think about there. A lot to think about. Pretty dark.

Speaking of- Pretty dark times. Unprecedented times. Aren't you glad we didn't commit suicide? Yeah, I am. Yeah, I'm glad I lived to see this. The black president part was pretty tight. Then some stuff got weird.

I'm sorry. He married John Voight's daughter. Oh, real. Oh, Rio. Oh, my eyes. Speaking of insurrections, on Tuesday, the second Senate impeachment trial of disgraced former president so-and-so began. The evidence is damning beyond all doubt

and chilling to the core. The case is undeniable, but we got pretty fucked on the jury. Yeah. The House managers played a good amount of previously unseen graphic footage of the insurrection, and it turns out the fans were Yeah. The house managers played a good amount of previously unseen graphic footage of the insurrection. And it turns out the fans were right. The Snyder cut is better.

True. I like this. I like this new director's cut. There's a lot more information. It's way longer, too, you know? Yeah. It's longer and you kind of understand, like, it's much more about the lore. Right.

As the riot unfolded, representatives were told that there were gas masks under their seats, but a bunch were missing, and there was a note from Steny Hoyer that said, sorry, we'll replace used for sex. I recoiled. I recoiled. I assumed, I guess, I guess Steny thought he'd have a chance to replace them

before they were needed, you know? Lesson there about it. Yeah, he was like, no one in here wants to wear a mask lately anyway. I'm just taking what's not used. And I just want everyone to understand that in the world of this joke, Steny Hoyer does weird sex stuff with a gas mask. Yeah. And you can use your imagination to like fill in those blanks.

Yeah. That's the thing about the imagination. You know, it's a little movie theater in your mind. Remember movie theaters? This is a movie theater you can still go to. Your imagination. I've given you the prompts. Everything is my imagination.

Steny Hoyer, longtime Democratic congressperson and member of the House leadership, Steny Hoyer, septuagenarian, gas mask, several, multiple, sex. Sex. Now make a movie. With somebody. Yeah.

That's all. Go with that. Yeah. Tell the story you want to tell. See what comes up. Dream a little. The first draft doesn't have to be the final draft. Woof.

All right. All right. Transitioning to the more serious part of the trial. Here we go. Jamie Raskin, the lead house manager, gave heartfelt testimony about bringing his daughter to the Capitol on the day of the attack. My youngest daughter, Tabitha, was there with me on Wednesday, January 6th. It was the day after we buried her brother, our son Tommy, the saddest day of our lives. I told her how sorry I was, and I promised her that it would not be like this again

the next time she came back to the Capitol with me. She said, Dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol. Of all the terrible, brutal things I saw and I heard on that day, and since then, that one hit me the hardest. That and watching someone use an American flagpole, the flag still on it, to spear and pummel one of our police officers ruthlessly, mercilessly, tortured by a pole with a flag on it that he was defending with his very life. People died that day. Officers ended up with brain damage. People's eyes were gouged.

An officer had a heart attack. An officer lost three fingers that day. Two officers have taken their own lives. This cannot be the future of America. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the Constitution of the United States. And then Trump's lawyers made this equally powerful argument. Before I begin, I want to comment on the outstanding presentation from our opponents. I'll be quite frank with you.

We changed what we were going to do on account that we thought that the House manager's presentation was well done. This is what happens, Akilah, when the only lawyer you can find willing to defend you is the guy that looked at Bill Cosby's record and said, I love the chocolate cake bit. No charges. It's so funny. Yeah. Cake is like breakfast. No charges. Yes.

He's like, we love jello jigglers. They're alive. Dr. Huxtable, no charges. Right? Fat Albert in this economy? Let him go. Hey, hey, hey, no charges. That character that's just a hat?

Come on. What was up with that? It was just a hat. No, no. What was the hat? I have no idea what he was hiding under there. I'm not sure what was going on. His eyes are through it.

Yeah, he's like a- Right? Yeah, like a McDonald's 90s character, like a chicken nugget in a costume. We just don't know. We don't know. Cake's got eggs. It's got sugar. It's got wheat.

No charges. No charges. Caster went on. Caster went on to say this. If my colleagues on this side of the chamber actually think that President Trump committed a criminal offense, after he's out of office, you go and arrest him. Okay, Bruce, we're in. Yeah.

We're in. Can anybody do it? Can I go? Can I bring some friends? Even if the former president is convicted, new data suggests that the Whiskey Dick Rebellion is hurting the GOP across 25 states. Almost 140,000 Republicans have left the party since January 6th. This is obviously good news for Democrats, but it's even better news for the QAnon News Mexican Party, who just got 140,000 new members. And before you get upset, Akilah, they're not brown shirts. They just wear brown shirts.

Too much? You're right. It's a coincidence. Just part of it. We're not brown shirts. We just wear brown shirts. So does UPS, say the right-wingers on Twitter. Are you accusing UPS of being Nazis? Of course

you're not. Double standards. Wokistan. Cancel culture. Trying to cancel UPS. Hey, Bundy. Trying to cancel UPS because they wear brown shirts? Yeah, sure.

The QAnon party wears brown shirts. It doesn't make them brown shirts. It's Brown History Month. Why can't they wear it? Also this week, and this is where I wanted to end, Disney fired Gina Carano, the MMA fighter turned person

who calls herself an actor. She was fired from The Mandalorian. She shared, apparently, over the past several months, some anti-trans stuff online, anti-mask stuff, anti-Black Lives Matter content. The final straw apparently was a strange post that compared Republicans to Jews in Nazi Germany.

Apparently, her garbage post also cost her a full spinoff show from The Mandalorian that they were set to announce. And I don't know about you, Akilah, I had no idea that she was just a right-wing dum-dum. I had no idea. But I'll tell you, I was so mad when I saw that they canceled that spinoff show and let me tell you why. Because she is the worst actor I have ever seen. A whole series? Yeah.

You're not canceling the series even though she cannot act. Not even a little. You're canceling it because of tweets. They're bad tweets. Never should have gotten this far. Yeah i mean geez she's like a i don't understand you know does disney plus just have like quibby money just like make whatever they want i think yeah no one wants that do a baby yoda show that's just baby yoda but it's for kids she was so bad

in the mandalorian it took a like i really liked the mandalorian overall but i was so distracted by how bad she was as an actor and look i think john favreau the good john favreau did an excellent job yeah and i am always reluctant to like single out like a single performance because it feels mean i'm happy to lean in. No, look, different brands. But yeah, look, you're throwing matches out of that car window on a lot of bridges. Every time. They light my way. They light my way. But I tend not to do it just because it's negative and like, whatever.

I don't do it. Yeah, you might want to hire her to act in one of your projects. Yeah, I got many projects. Look, I got a lot of irons in the fire. Some of them may or may not have a place for Gina Carano. But no, but I did it. But it bothered me so much because it was like, it is such a bad performance. And I had no idea that she mocked trans people and spread voter misinformation.

I just thought she was a terrible actor. Two shout outs, Akilah. Two shout outs, Akilah. Two shout outs. Shout out number one, Pedro Pascal, who apparently after she made her pronouns beep boop bop. Really cool and funny. Super good. Cool. Real cool. Pedro Pascal talked to her and she said that she had a good conversation with him that helped her understand in some way. to her and she said that she had a good conversation with him that helps her understand in some way so way to go pedro yeah thank you pedro i like pedro pascal we love you all right yeah you put yourself out there all right second shout out all right and this look this may be news to you and to those listening a little bit of uh let's go to a walk down memory lane this is a shout out

to the actor la San Giacomo. You may remember from Pretty Woman, she was Julia Roberts' friend in that film. She was also on the show Just Shoot Me. Very successful actor. Oh, yeah. Great actor. In 2011, Steven Soderbergh released a movie starring Gina Carano called Haywire. Okay?

It's a fun little action movie. What is obvious in the film is that Gina Karano, who actually like crushes in the action scenes. She's so good in the action scenes. She was such an unbelievably bad actor that he clearly had to cut around her to figure out how to piece the movie together without showing too much of her terrible performance just to make the movie work. But it gets better because apparently after the movie together without showing too much of her terrible performance just to make the movie work but it gets better because apparently after the movie was shot gina carano's performance was so

bad that sodeberg brought in laura san giacomo from sex lies and videotape to dub over gina carano for the whole movie or at least whole swaths of the movie. We don't actually just, I don't want to get sued, but Gina Carano. I don't know how much of the movie Laura San Giacomo dubbed, because it's hard to tell because you- Not enough. Not enough. Could have been more is what I say. But that, but so Haywire in 2011 is a movie in which Laura San Giacomo is the person talking from the body of Gina Carano because her acting was that bad. Do you know how bad you have to be to redub the whole movie? This isn't like Mel Gibson's Australian accent in Mad Max. This is somebody doing the part as

intended and they had to dub over the whole thing. And what I want to understand, Akilah, is did nobody check Gina's references? No. Did they even see her self-tape? Can we get? She's kicking around and they were like, that looks cool. Look at her go. She's kicking.

Yeah. Oh, she's an idiot? She can barely read? She's saying the words like they're a surprise? Interesting. saying the words like they're a surprise interesting like can we get john favreau from swingers and steven sodeberg from movies with three endings on a text chain before we get to this point right you know what akilah i think you're right i think they saw the punching and the kicking all right and they stopped there because i look i will say all right? And they stop there. Because look, I will say, all right, nuance,

she's excellent at punching and kicking. It looks really cool. It's great. If there was a Punch and Kick Awards, she'd be up there. But here's what I think, all right? I believe that there are very talented women in this business who can punch and act. I believe that.

They could have gotten someone else to do the punching, is what I think, if they needed an actor for the film. You know, these are just my notes. What do I know? A person who watches films and reads scripts and things. So shout out to Pedro Pascal. And shout out to Laura San Giacomo. A real one.

And hopefully Gina Carano, who seems to have a lot of trouble understanding identity, will make a choice to stop identifying as a fucking actor. That would be ideal. Yes, please. Spot on, man. Akilah, it's always so good to see you. John, it's Spot on, man. Akilah, it's always so good to see you. John, it's great to see you. What a delight as always.

Yes. So happy you got a dog. My angel. So sad we're on opposite sides of the country, like Fievel and Fievel's sister in an American tale. We should sing somewhere out there. Underneath the same sky. Yeah. The moon won't be there. Underneath the same sky. Yeah.

The moon won't be out here for a few more hours. Oh, the sadness. Akilah Hughes, everybody. When we come back, we played a very funny speed dating game to mark Valentine's Day during a pandemic. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day,

which means COVID aerosols aren't the only thing in the air. Yes, we're talking about those good old-fashioned love aerosols. And just like COVID, these can really fuck with your heart. And because we are all starved for human interaction, we wanted to help one of you

to find love this week, specifically our writer, Pallavi Gunalan. So it's time for everyone's favorite segment, love it or leave her for someone else. Pallavi, I'm sorry. Hi. Oh, ominous. You're already setting me up to be cheated on. That is dark. Well, Pallavi, thank you so much for being here tell us about yourself and why you think you'd be a good romantic partner i we've never done a dating thing i'm i'm literally like i'm like am i chris harrison this is a nightmare tell us about yourself um okay i am a stand-up comedian and a biomedical engineer and i don't know i'm a good romance first

of all okay i'm in therapy that's got to be points right huge it's not i'm not just on twitter i'm doing the work okay i'm taking care of myself that's great mentally been single for very long practice that perfected it made a whole brand out of it, ready to dive into a real relationship, maybe touch someone for the second time in quarantine. That might be nice. That sounds cool. That sounds cool. I like that. I like the part about being in therapy because you're telling people, don't worry, I won't use you for therapy, which is what a lot of people do in their relationships. And I think that's really cool. Yeah, I have Twitter. I have therapy. I have

stand up for that. I don't need you. Right. I mean, but I would like you, you know, so let's not codependent, just dependent. This is like the worst version of Shark tank i'm just like pitching my pussy right now am i allowed to say that she is a comedy writer and comedian she is also a biomedical engineer all right do you know cool that is do you know cool it is to be with somebody that's one of those things she's both of those things she knows about medicine stuff, equipment, medical equipment, things that plug in, pump and things. Yeah. That's cool. I feel like you're like my parents at an Indian wedding pitching me to other aunties and uncles.

Put me in. She does stuff in the medical field. She's a neurosurgeon. That's what she does. So here's how this is going to work. All right. These are speed dates. You'll meet a handful of quote, carefully, unquote, screened, love it or leave it listeners. That's the screening you want. That's all you need. That does the work. They're listening to this. You're a catch. Yeah. You will ask a series of questions. I'll be here as your wingman.

All right. I'll step back. I'll come in. I'm here if you need me. I'm here if you don't. And then at the end of all of your dates, you will pick one winner. And if there are sparks, perhaps a second Zoom date will transpire. Are you also going to be on the second Zoom date?

I hope not. Oh, my God. Unchaperoned. For both of our sakes. Keep that door open. Three feet on the floor. Keep that door open three feet on the floor. I want to see three feet on the floor. All right. You will have three minutes with each date and we will edit it down to the parts that aren't so awkward. We decide love isn't worth it. Okay. So that's cool. That's nice for the listeners. Not for us. We'll be in it. I'll also black out during the parts that are awkward. So don't worry. That's perfect. Are you ready?

I'm ready. Let's do this. Travis, start the clock for the first date. Let's meet our first speed dater. Hi, Danielle. I would like you to meet Pallavi, all right, for your speed date. Thanks for being on the show. You have three minutes, all right, to make your impression.

Pallavi is going to hit you with some questions. Let's get started. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Hi, Danielle. Thank you for being here. Hi, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited you're here too. Okay. In a relationship, do you see yourself more as the chef or the rat who controls him? Oh my, I'm going to say the rat that controls them. Wow. Dom. Okay. All right. Love the energy. Love it. What do you do, Danielle? I'm currently in advertising, but I'm trying to make my way into politics. Vote Save America. I got the bug. So, okay. Can you give me like a Jon Hamm madman style pitch to date you?

Okay. I'm not on the creative side of advertising just as a heads up, but I just buy the ad space. But I'm fun. I love outdoors. I come from a fun Jewish family with lots of food. And I love dogs. So you can't not love dogs. Perfect. That's my pitch. Great pitch.

Not very Jon Hamm of you. I did not see any sexism in that pitch, but I appreciate it. Okay. I would hope not. A mysterious stranger presents you with a box. On the box, there's a button. If you push the button, you'll get a million dollars. But somewhere, someone who is a stranger to you will die. Do you push the button? Oh, I hate these questions. No, I wouldn't push the button. You know what you could do with a million dollars? You could save a lot of lives with a million dollars. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, Danielle. That was a great answer. Sorry to intercede. Were you at all haunted by how long it took her to decide not to murder

someone for money? A little bit, yeah. But I feel like... Something to think about. Maybe. I don't know. But she wants little bit, yeah. But I feel like... Something to think about. Maybe. I don't know. But she wants to get into politics. So I feel like that hesitation might suit her well in that field. That's a really good point. Who else is in that person's lives?

I don't know. You want to know more about this? It's a stranger, Danielle. I know. Well, that's why I can't push the button. Okay, okay, good. Pallavi, final question. Final question for Danielle. we are out of time

oh okay final question um which Joker is the most fuckable oh uh Heath Ledger I feel like I would go with the animated one I don't know why but I have no idea Paula V that is correct Danielle thank you so much we're going to discuss the day you had I think you did a great job obviously the correct answer is Mark Hamill in the animated version or Cesar Romero but thank you so much. We're going to discuss the date you had. I think you did a great job. Obviously, the correct answer is Mark Hamill in the animated version or Cesar Romero. But thank you so much for playing. We'll let you know how you did shortly. Thanks for having me. Say bye to Harry.

So good to see you. I like the outfit. I will. Thank you. Thank you. It's huge to Maris to anyone that does not mention the wings and tiara. So I appreciate that. Or what do you call this?

A flower thing. What do you call this thing? What is it? It's very midsummer. It is. Yeah, I found it in the basement. Or Coachella-ish. It's an ancient child's costume and I found it in the basement here. Bye, Danielle. That was great. Any reactions, Pallavi, to Danielle? I feel like we gave her a

lot of difficult questions and I feel like she was pretty good under pressure. Still worried about the hesitation of killing someone, though. Still worried about that. And then her follow up was, tell me more about this person. Like, what information are you going to learn that gets you to push the button? You know what I mean? This actually ties to the Joker question with the being on the two boats trying to push the button in the Dark Knight. But yeah, it makes me wonder what information she would need. And also, it makes me wonder about her future political career and the decisions she'll make there. Look, we need some people that are willing to make the

hard choices. Push the button. Push the button. Listen, we got a lot of Democrats who won't push the button. A couple that'll push the button. Republicans, they'll push the button. They'll be like, if you press this button, someone dies. Pressed it. And you'll get a million dollars. You didn't even let me get to the part where I tell you that you get money. They're united in pushing the button. You sickos. Why don't I push the button? Then you tell me what it's for. Yeah. Should we do the next one? Let's do it. Oh my goodness. We have James. Hey. James, meet Pallavi. Hi, James. Hi, how are you? Good. Nice to meet you. Thank you for doing this. Three minutes. The speed date has begun. Ready? We're at a party, right? We bump into an ex of

yours. When you're introducing me to them, how do you pronounce my name? Pallavi. We're going to have to work on that. It's, it's probably, and you're James. Yes. Okay. See, I'm already, I'm killing it as a partner. So much better. Okay. What's your ideal first date? Ideal first date usually be coffee. And it's super basic, but I drink way too much coffee. And so it actually calms me down more than it does actually hide me up. And so on a first date, I would be really nervous.

And this actually would like settle my heart a little bit. What are you nervous about on your first date? I'm always nervous meeting new people. Just anybody. Even low stakes settings, always nervous. I have a lot of nervous energy. What would your ideal last date be? That's a really tough one.

Definitely would be in a public place i think most people don't want to yell and scream this man is about to break up with me in my favorite restaurant no it would definitely not be a favorite restaurant but it'd definitely be in a place where you might see someone you know or work with and so maybe you know reduce the potential for a big scene so you have to keep me calm as a woman. You have to tame me. I have a follow-up. I have a follow-up. James, so someone finding out

that you don't want to see them anymore is going to be so devastating and difficult to take that you think they're going to lose their mind. You think Pallavi is going to go absolutely apeshit bananas that you need to do it in a public place because you don't think she can handle it

to hear this information that you're through. Apparently, on your 18th cup of coffee just bouncing off the fucking walls i know i was like he's gonna have so much coffee no that's definitely not it i think it would be more of a black communication coming out of nowhere i think we're right to fail so you plan to blindside yeah that typically is what happens. Wow. You have 30 seconds left. 30 seconds left. Okay. Fuck Mary, nominate to transportation secretary. Warren, Bernie, Mayor Pete. Ooh, gotta marry Warren. Gotta fuck Bernie. And Mayor Pete, get in transportation again. Dang. You said Bernie's got protection on his hands. All right. Thank you. Great job, James. Thanks, James. We'll let you know how you did. How are you feeling about that date?

I don't know. He said he was nervous in the calmest way possible. So I don't know how good he is at gauging himself. You know, I don't know. We'll see. He was a handsome man. We'll see how this goes. It's about chemistry. I didn't see it. He was a handsome man. We'll see how this goes. It's about chemistry. I didn't see it. Let's just face it. Let's face it. Okay.

Let's face it. I would think about cutting back on the coffee. Next date. I know. Oh no, my dog threw up. Oh no. Are you okay? I think she's okay.

We're going to have to clean that up later, I guess. Hi, Carrie. Hello. Welcome to the show. Thanks for being part of our Valentine's Day speed dating game show. I'd like you to meet Pallavi. All right. She is for whom you are competing to win the affections. You have three minutes.

She's going to pose some questions for this date. I'm just here. Then I'm here. Then I'm not here. Then sometimes I'm here. That's how it works. questions for this date. I'm just here. Then I'm here. Then I'm not here. Then sometimes I'm here. That's how it works. You're a chaperone. For sure.

Exactly. Cupid. That's the vibe. It's sort of a Cupid thing. That's what I'm getting. Yeah. Let the date begin. Let the date begin.

Hi. Hi, Carrie. In 30 seconds or less, what's your whole deal? Yeah, that's a good question. or less, what's your whole deal? Yeah, that's a good question. Well, so I, uh, am bad at talking to other human beings is my whole deal. Um, except that it's like low key, my profession. Um, I teach here at the university in Austin. I don't know like what my whole deal is. Like, I'm just a nice person who's trying to like not have a bad time. I empathize with that strongly. You're in Austin? Yeah. How are you keeping Austin weird? No, thanks.

I love her. This is great. It's not weird here. It's, you know, I'm just trying. Here I am with all of my embroidery and weird lighting. I don't know. All right. I have a question.

Now that I know you're in Austin, favorite barbecue place in Austin? That's just something I need to know. It's in Lexington, Texas. There's actually not good barbecue in this city because most of it is overrated. Fun fact, I also used to work for a food organization here. I need to know. It's in Lexington, Texas. There's actually not good barbecue in this city. Most of it is overrated. Fun fact, I also used to work for a food organization here that documents the stories of Texas food. So I'm actually would consider myself an expert on this. It's Snow's Barbecue in Lexington, Texas that you should go to. Also one of the few barbecue places in the

state that's run by a woman, Toie dominance cool i'm blown away um now would you recommend a vegetarian place for me oh yeah so barbecue is super not vegetarian um there's actually a huge gaffe carrie you blew it you blew it you asked me about barbecue bro this is bad trick question trick question no there's room to recover there's room to recover um there's a lot of good vegetarian places there's a lot of good vegetarian places. There's a lot of good vegan places. I don't know if that's your vibe. There's like a cute little trailer park over on Cesar Chavez. That's got a couple of little places. It's got a vegan burrito place that I really like and a vegan soft serve place. That's really good. And there's also a food truck that

serves only turmeric related concepts. Interesting. So they're keeping Austin weird, I guess. Do you have a pet in the background there? I do. This is Pisco. He's an old man. He's very dumb.

He's very lovely. Did you have a little friend that I saw there? Yes. Her name is Compass. I just adopted her in the beginning of January. Oh my gosh. She's an angel. How old is she? She's seven.

Oh. Yes. It's always cute to adopt like older dogs. That's my favorite. Yeah. The last one I had was I adopted him at 14. So this is a youngster. Okay.

I have another question for you. Given the choice of anyone in the world, living or dead, who would you want to prank call? Molly Ivins. Who? So Molly Ivins was a Texas political journalist who was known for being just like very, very vulgar and drunk most of the time. That's awesome. She was real funny. She was a good time. But unfortunately not with us anymore.

So you want to talk to her ghost? Yeah. Ghost Molly Ivan sounds great. Always down for a party. Who parties better than ghosts? Nobody famously. Final question, Paula V for Carrie. Okay. I heard you did embroidery, but what skill have you learned in the pandemic to cope that you think will impress me? I can pick locks. You can pick locks? Yeah. Are you in like lock picking competition? I've heard a lot about that.

I didn't know there were competitions and I'm definitely not that good. But I'm learning how to pick locks. I already know how to break into cars. There was a time before I was a professor. You're preparing for the future I love this I love this so much also I've heard with lockpicking you gotta be good with your fingers

that's what I've heard it's all about dexterity it's more of an art than a science Carrie I have loved meeting you I have loved seeing you exist and that has been very fun we will let you know how you did on this date

I'm going to consult with Paula V about how this date went but I have to say I think it went pretty well first thoughts I'm a little scared of her that's my reaction how are you feeling? I love that I love that you're scared of her and I love I love her the energy of when I said

how are you keeping Austin weird and she responded no no, thank you. I love that energy. Should we go to the next date? Let's go to the next date. We got Steve. Hi, Steve. Hey, John.

I'm John. This is Pallavi. You're about to go on a speed date. All right. All right. Most important three minutes of your whole fucking life. All right. So get your head in the game.

All right? Get yourself ready. Pallavi, over to you. Steve, can you actually play the guitars in the background of your Zoom screen? Absolutely, I can. Okay. You're attending a party. Do you enter with the guitar or do you pick it up later?

Oh, I wouldn't play a guitar at a party. I'm not one of those guys. I'm not going to play Wonderwall for you or anything. That's really smart. That's really good. He's playing chess. He's playing chess. Are you playing chess at parties? I mean, I could. It seems like not so much of a fun party if people are sitting around playing chess. What's your ideal party, Steve? Unless it's a chess party, I guess. Gotcha there. I don't know. People having drinks, maybe a movie on or something. Some drinking games. Okay. Lots of drinking. I'm hearing. Okay. Did you get the vaccine yet? Because I'll look over the drinking problem. If you got the vaccine, I don't give a shit.

I'll look over the drinking problem. If you got the vaccine, I don't give a shit. Not yet. I set up an appointment for my dad at the end of the month and I plan on going with them just to see if maybe they have an extra one line around. Just like nepotism. You're into nepotism, right? To get the vaccine. No, his appointment's at the end of the day. And I know, you know, those vials are only good for so long. So if they have to come down to giving me one or throwing one out, might as well just hang around, you know? You got to get in there. No, I agree. It's like going to a bakery and trying to get like the free pastries at the end of the day.

Where are they going to give them? You know, like you got to get yours. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. How could a benevolent, all-knowing, all-powerful God permit so much suffering? Oh, maybe there's not a God. I'm not sure.

You know, to test people, I guess, and to see people's will and see how strong they are to get through trying times. That's pretty good. I feel like that gives me a purpose. All right. I feel like that gives me a purpose. All right. In a relationship... I'm sorry to interrupt. So it's some kind of a gauntlet, some kind of a trial for us to perform in. Is that what you're saying?

That's what you think life is? You think life is something where we're given punishment or horrible things just to see what we'll do, a little experiment, like rats in a maze? Is that what you think, Steve? That's what you think God does? Well, I'm more of an atheist, but if you do believe, then I...

Blasphemy, blasphemy, blasphemy. Pallavi, back to you. Sorry to interrupt. I'm also an atheist. I'm an atheist, but I do believe in little woodland creatures yelling blasphemy in the middle of my days. Okay. I introduce you to my mom and she immediately insults your appearance, but in kind of like a cute auntie

way that is still somehow socially acceptable yet deeply personally cutting. What do you assume she insults you about and how do you respond? I'm not sure about my appearance. Maybe my glasses or something making fun of me for being a nerd or something like it's big, bloody holly glasses. But that's not offensive to me. I'd probably laugh it off and maybe try to think of a clip back and kind of poke fun at them. What would you make fun of my mother for? I don't know. I haven't met her yet. You're going to make fun of Pallavi's mother, Steve? You're going to go at your meeting, you're meeting Pallavi's mother for the first time you going to go out, you're meeting Pallavi's mother

for the first time, you walk in the house, you start insulting people? Well, if she's insulting me, I think it's only fair to give a little bit back in a playful manner, right? This guy's a godless horse shit.

Great job, Steve. Thanks, John. It did not seem like he could hear me for most of that date, which might be indicative of how the relationship could go. I don't know. I don't know why, but I really did have an urge to bully him. I know. I saw that. I saw you.

You were getting amped up. And I think you should like maybe reflect on your high school years or something. Was there a man named Steve who bothered you? Let's do the last date. Hi, Maggie. Hi. Thanks for being here. Welcome to our Valentine's Day speed dating competition.

Yeah. All right. I'm about to introduce you to Pallavi. All right. She is a biomedical engineer. She is a comedian. She's got it all. Over to you, Pallavi.

Let's start. We got three minutes on the clock. Hi, Maggie. Thank you got it all. Over to you, Paula V. Let's start. We got three minutes on the clock. Hi, Maggie. Thank you for being here. Hi. Which Joker is the most fuckable? There is a right answer. Oh, like you have to say Heath Ledger, right?

Oh, interesting. He's the scariest one, but like under the makeup, he's Heath Ledger still at the end of the day. At the end of the day. At the end of the day, he's stillath ledger still at the end of the day at the end of the day at the at the end of the day he's still heath ledger um but the correct answer was of course uh batman the animated series joker mark hamill okay um incredibly fuckable uh if you don't know well now you do okay did you get the vaccine yet because i I will overlook that answer. If you got the vaccine, I have not gotten the vaccine. Okay. Are you excited to get the vaccine? I am. Are you vaccinated in other ways? Yes. Okay. And do you wear a mask? Yes. But like in the bedroom

or no, I'm kidding. Okay. Absolutely. All times. All right. It stays on me at all times. I'm always ready to go. Oh, wow. All right. Here we go. A mysterious stranger presents you with a box on the box. There is a button. If you push the button, you will get $1 million, but somewhere, someone who was a stranger to you will die. Do you push the button? Do I ever have to know who the stranger is no i'm gonna say i'm gonna say no i don't because i know i'm not supposed to oh well wait if you weren't being recorded would you have said yes no i

wouldn't have said yes i couldn't do that okay it would haunt me forever oh man that was that really took me off. And honestly, honestly, Pallavi, I believe her. I just want to step in and say that I believe her because I think while she had a little moment, a little flight of fancy, I think looking at Maggie, looking at how she's responding now, if given the opportunity, no cameras, no one watching, I don't think she could do it. I don't think she's pressing the button. I don't know. I feel like her apartment is very tarpable. Like it's, you could just throw a tarp up in the back. There's not much, you know what I mean? This is not my apartment. It's my cousin's house. I don't live here and I can't put tarps up.

So I wouldn't. You can't put, you're not allowed to put tarps up. Your cousin said you can't. I haven't asked, but I don't think so. Pallavi, we have time for one more question. Okay. If we could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you take me? I would take you to Austin because that's where I like want to live. And so I could have all these like dream dates that I want to happen there. Okay, wait, I have a follow up question. Yes. What's your favorite barbecue place in Austin? And what's your favorite vegetarian place? I don't have an answer for either of those. I'm so sorry. So we'll have to discover it together. Yeah, it would be an adventure. Oh, okay okay that's sweet

I like that that was very sweet Maggie Maggie very sweet person all right that came through even though you did briefly flirt with murder for money I'm sorry I insinuated you would murder someone in your cousin's home I wouldn't do it I wouldn't do it okay yeah I mean now you feel like you're protesting a little too much it feels like feels like she keeps saying how she wouldn't do it, but her eyes have blood in them. Maggie, thank you so much. We're going to go and discuss this date, all right? And we'll come back and let you know how it went.

So thank you so much. Yeah. Thanks, Maggie. She was sweet. She was a sweet person. She was very sweet. We did give her a lot of shit. Particularly in the murder arena for no reason.

So we had five dates. All right. We had James, who loves a cup of coffee. Love Danielle. She hesitated a little bit on the murder button. She did. She did. I think what we learned here today is that a lot of people would very much consider murdering a stranger for a million dollars.

Yeah. today is that a lot of people would very much consider murdering a stranger for a million dollars. Yeah. We had Carrie, who is not interested in keeping Austin weird. We had Steve, who is afraid that your mother will bully him over his glasses. And we had Maggie. I would like to take you to Austin. It was very sweet, by the way. It was. You said, where in the world would you go? And she said, the city I want to live in. That's so sweet. I like that too. It was very sweet. And now look, it's the time for choosing. All right. We're going to pick one person. We have James, we have Danielle, we have Carrie, we have Steve, we have Maggie. Is there anyone from this group that you'd be interested in seeing again over Zoom? I am deeply fascinated with Carrie. I need to know all about all of that political lady she wanted to call who's vulgar and drunk.

Molly Ivins, the ghost of Molly Ivins. Yes. Even if it may not be a romantic thing, I feel like I would learn a lot. You know? Here's what I appreciate the most about Carrie. All right. She comes in with a take. Yeah.

All right. She came to this date with takes. Yeah. All right. She knows herself. All right. She comes in with a take. Yeah. All right. She came to this date with takes. Yeah. All right. She knows herself. All right. And her old dog. Yeah.

She doesn't need me to tell her to not push the button. You know, I feel like she would know if she was going to push the button or not. Be confident in it. Yeah. I think she's either. That's the one thing.

I think another reason that you should go on that next Zoom coffee. Well, not coffee. James drank all you should go on that next Zoom coffee, well, not coffee. James drank all the coffee. But the next Zoom event, because the thing is, we know she'd act quickly. But right now, Pallavi, you don't know if she'd press that button or not. I need to know if she's going to press a button.

I have to know. And I have to know all the reasons she would and she wouldn't. I feel like she would have a lot. I feel like this is something she's thought out. So Pallavi has chosen Carrie as the winner of this speed dating game. We're going to connect them and see if they want to get together over Zoom. If that's something you're interested in, Pallavi, see where this goes. I look forward to continuing to be unable to touch the person I'm interested in over Zoom in this pandemic. I'm excited. But I am I am excited. I am. I am very excited for Carrie. I think she's going to be very interesting. Thank you, John. Thank you. You know what?

What a success. John, I'm going to tell my parents that you helped arrange my relationship. And if the wedding happens, you're invited. Nice. Nice. Pallavi, that was so much fun. Thank you so much. If you don't follow Pallavi on social media, you're making a huge mistake. All right. When we come back, I had a great conversation with Atul Gawande about the vaccine rollout and what he learned when a small town considered a mask mandate. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. He is a professor, public health expert, and he served in Joe Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board during the presidential transition. Please welcome Dr. Atul Gawande. So good to see you. Thanks for doing this. Happy to be here. Thanks

for having me on. You have a piece out in The New Yorker called Don't Tell Me What to Do. The focus isn't on hospital systems. It's not on these big structural challenges. It's about a city council meeting in Minot, North Dakota, with 48,000 people. Why did you focus on Minot? And what can the story of that town tell us about the country's response to the coronavirus? I was fascinated by Minot, North Dakota, because North Dakota in the fall had the highest rate of COVID in the United States. And we continue to have the highest rate of COVID in the world. They had more hospitalizations and more deaths than anywhere in the country. And Minot, North Dakota was in the county with the highest rate in North Dakota. And my question was, does democracy work? Can democracy work to enable us to take on this crisis? So I zeroed in on the city council meeting. The state had not been willing to adopt a mask mandate. People had not been taking the basic preventive measures. And this city council meeting had a woman named Carrie Evans,

who has multiple sclerosis and a lot of fear about what was happening around her, and said, you know, darn it, I'm going to propose that we have a mask mandate in our town. And then they had the debate, they had the vote, and it went from there. And I just thought this could tell us something about whether democracy could work. So what did you learn about people's resistance to a mask mandate or to wearing masks more broadly? What is the motivation? What's the mentality? On the other side of this debate was Tom Ross, who was another city council member, was strongly against masks. He was a Obama voter who voted for Obama

twice, then voted for Trump twice. It wasn't like he didn't see suffering. He knew the first person who died of COVID in Minot, North Dakota, personally. He is afraid for his mother. He himself would get sick and spend days in the basement fearing that they may be his last days. And yet what he felt was that the cost of all of the restrictions were too much. And he wasn't hearing us public health experts speaking to that when he was coming out against masks. He just wanted to get back to normal. They voted it out. His side lost. As he got sick and experienced what he did, he saw the value of masks, but it didn't change his view on his vote. And he subsequently voted again against maintaining the mask mandate there. It's just frustrating is obviously, you know, there's been a political

identity connection between mask wearing, social distancing. But the masks are the means of getting kids back to school. They are the means of getting kids back to school. They are the means of reopening the economy. What happens when you sort of challenge that connection? Like, OK, you want to get back to life. We all want to get back to life. Masks help us do that. And it's a very minor sacrifice. I start to have these arguments. They aren't believing their local doctors on what they say about this. Why are they going to believe me on the other side? And it's been muddied by leadership at the very top, Trump as president, questioning the data and not believing the public health science. But I think the larger thing to me was to accept that we're

not going to get consensus. The remarkable part of the story in North Dakota is democracy's frayed, we are at each other's throats. And yet, step by step, the city council did back the mask mandate. As people came face to face with the virus, they started wearing their masks. So you saw use go from negligible to by the end of November, they were at 89% wearing masks most or all of the time. You saw a plummeting in the cases followed by an 80% reduction in the hospitalizations, a massive drop in the deaths. You have the people who were set in their ways, and this was an identity issue or an issue where they did not agree that the trade-offs were worth it.

People had their say, they voted, and they confronted the crisis and actually have been on their way to solving it. Now, can they keep their foot on the pedal? That's another question. So I'm curious how that applies as we think about this incredible achievement of these vaccines rolling out so quickly. We've seen a lot of skepticism around vaccines, and yet we're seeing every day the number of people vaccinating going up. Today, it. We're seeing every day the number of people vaccinating going up today. Dr. Fauci, Anthony Fauci, Tony said that he thinks that, well, by April, we'll be opening it up to everybody, even if it'll take a long time to get there. What are the lessons from what you saw in this small town in how we move people from vaccine skepticism to the kind of adoption we need

to get to herd immunity? It's been the pattern over and over again. It doesn't matter, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. We as human beings don't take it seriously until it's in our face. People watched Wuhan and then didn't do anything about it in Italy. Bergamo, Italy were overrun and Spain didn't do anything about it. Spain got overrun and New York and Boston didn't do anything about it. It's not until it's on top of us that we seem ready to say, oh my God, this thing's for real and it matters to me. I think part of the story of the vaccination is now that the country, for the most part, has experienced this virus, you have very high rates of willingness among the early adopters to get

out there and give it a try. Healthcare workers, first responders have taken it. And many of us very quickly knew someone who had been vaccinated. We crossed the 35 million people vaccinated arc. And at that point, you start realizing there might be memes out there about it injecting 5G internet capacity into you so the government can monitor you or that you're going to die. I'd love 5G. I would love to have 5G. That'd be so great. And then you discovered that, lo and behold, these people were fine.

We're not seeing a rare disease that's cropping out of it. And so people are becoming much more confident in their willingness to undergo vaccination. And if anything, I lead a healthcare organization called CIC Health that's running vaccine sites at Fenway Park, at Gillette Stadium, at Reggie Lewis Track and Field. And what I'm experiencing is an incredible amount of clamoring. Please get me in. Please get me in. Yes, we will have some serious pockets of fear that we have to overcome, but the confidence is growing and the clamor is what we have to address. In terms of access and equity, what are some of the steps that you see working to help

alleviate some of the racial inequities in terms of access? And I'll just tell you anecdotally, I have heard of so many rich white people driving to places where they think they can get a standby shot because they are relying on a lack of adoption and a lack of access in poor parts of Los Angeles and more rural parts and other parts of the country where they don't see the adoption happening as quickly. We've heard about Black churches that open up vaccination and then, lo and behold, the online scheduling is filled by people coming from other parts of the community and all the white folks end up taking all of the slots. The racial inequity is a serious problem in that it's a fraction of the population that have been able to access the vaccination, and it's well below the prevalence rate of the virus.

Now, understand how we got here. Early on, there was a lot of discussion about getting it right from an equity point of view. And then when there were doses on shelves, no planning had been done. Then it was all about speed. Of course, you can't leave doses on shelves. And every shot in an arm is a victory. And so these large vaccination centers, which I'm involved with some of them, were ramping up because that was the fastest way to get shots into arms.

And now that we're past a million and a half doses a day and growing, and you see how stark the inability to get the transportation to these big centers, to get signed up online, all of those things, that has laid bare that we have an inequitable system. Now, what are the approaches and solutions here? Number one is the states that have managed to get centralized scheduling do a better job. If it takes hunting around and making 100 phone calls and trying to have five different screens open while you're trying to surf the Internet to get access to the schedules, well, you know, it's going to be the people who know how to work the system who get their nose up front in line and open these up. open these up. Ironically, it's also like the people who need it most are the people that are working all day and can't, who are doing the jobs that need to be done, who can't spend their time hunting or texting friends about what the best place is to get the vaccine. Right. Or don't have, you know, they're over 75 years old, but they've got three kids watching Facebook all day to see when the 15 minutes opens with slots in your county, right? Right. What has happened is an

immense amount of ingenuity that I'm seeing and that I find really, really interesting. And we're using a ton of it. So step one is start reserving some of those slots for people in those specific zip codes and areas. The vaccine centers are located in these areas and you make them available first to the people in those zip codes. Now, a lot of people can't get access to the online scheduling. And you see more places opening up centralized call centers. Massachusetts, now you dial 211, and you can get scheduled in any of the locations that

are around. Then recognize, you know what? People aren't necessarily going to get on the phone and wait and call in that way. So you also can reserve blocks of schedule to community health workers, to care coordinators, social workers and others who are close to the populations-year-olds, and only 200,000 of the 430,000 75-year-olds were getting vaccinated. Instead of just saying, well, now 65-year-olds can come in, he ordered that people who bring a 75-year-old in can get vaccinated. And it's genius, right? You now have people looking for those 75-year-olds and older who hadn't gotten vaccinated. Suddenly, you're your new best friend with your grandmother, with your neighbor, and you're helping them get

in because, my God, that's going to get me a vaccination too. We got swamped with people who are now turning up at the door, ignoring our instructions that you have to make sure you've scheduled yourself and not just grabbed a 75-year-old off the street and brought them in. Do you need to know them? And do they need to be willing? In other words, can I just sort of bag one? I'm just south of the border here.

I could just find a 75-year-old. I, you know, some sort of a net. You can pick them up at the grocery store, just claim to be offering them a ride. And then if you've got them scheduled already. You wrote, along with other members of the advisory board, there will probably be another surge in March due to more contagious variants that may partially evade the protective effects of at least some of the current vaccines. The current vaccines are effective for now,

but we should not assume that this will remain the case as the virus mutates. How concerned are you that these vaccines will kind of fall below the 50% threshold that was set at the very beginning and that was so far exceeded by Moderna and Pfizer and these other great vaccines? And do you see any evidence now that any of these variants that are spreading in the U.S. are below that threshold? I am very worried about the variants and what they're going to do. I'm less worried about our ability to have vaccines to address them.

The vaccines, number one, the U.K. variant is the one that's spreading here. It is a much more contagious variant. And so while the main variants that have been circulating in the U.S. are falling rapidly as we get our masks on and do some of the basic distancing things, these strains are climbing. So Florida is now at 5% of all of the cases are the U.K. variant. That climb means that there is likely to be a surge unless we can keep our foot on the pedal and keep on going with our measures. And there's some signs, you know, 10 million people having Super Bowl parties is a problem. That is what

has me worried. The vaccine does work against the UK variant. It is weaker against the South African and Brazilian variant. So far from what data we see, however, the vaccines are protecting against severe illness, and that's what matters. Are you going to get hospitalized? Are you going to die from the infection? And we now have five vaccines, two approved, one submitted to the FDA, and the other two going to be submitted to the FDA. All have shown a very high level, nearly 100% effectiveness, at least what they're reporting, I want to see all the data, against hospitalization and death. And that's what matters. So the other reason I'm

hopeful is that you can update these vaccines. If there are new genetic alterations, you can build those into the mRNA vaccines and offer the booster shots if necessary. What I'm much more worried about is that vaccines are clearly not going to be enough. Our trials still have barely started to show whether kids can take these vaccines. So we're going to have a large population who are going to be exposed to these strains. No vaccine is able to stop infection entirely. So there's going to be continued circulation even among the vaccinated. There are going to be people who are offered the vaccines and still don't take it. So we need other measures.

We need better treatments. These strains are evading the monoclonal antibodies like what was once the experimental drug that Trump got when he got sick. That's now available. But those drugs aren't effective against these strains. We have to have a crash program in developing some new antivirals. And then we have to do a better job of explaining to people how to make your masks protect you more effectively. CDC just yesterday came out with great, very practical

information about how wearing a surgical mask over your cloth mask creates a better fit. There are a few things you can do if you have a surgical mask to tighten it up. Those things make a big difference in protecting against the new strains coming. How are we still, how are we almost a year into this? Well, beyond a year in terms of the beginnings. And we still don't have N95s for everybody. It seems like that's something that we should have surmounted, like cloth masks. We have technology that is incredibly effective. Seems like we should be manufacturing and sending to everybody. Is there any hope of that happening?

It just seems like it's the kind of thing where everyone says they wish they had done it a month ago, but that seems to me to make it today a great day to do it. Exactly. I think there actually is a lot of hope. First of all, the KN95s, which are the Asian manufactured versions, do fit better and are very protective. And they're available in large quantities. You can order them.

The hospital-grade N95s are also available. There's a domestic manufacturer that has 30 million N95s that are not being distributed and bought and instead has sought permission from the government to go ahead and sell them abroad. Instead, the government should be buying them and deploying them. I do worry that the hospitals haven't been purchasing the N95s and distributing them to staff, continuing to say that they don't have access to it. But what we see from distributors is they have N95s, they're piling up and they're about to sell them abroad. Like that's crazy.

It's time to buy them up and tell them we're gonna buy a lot more. I've been a bit confused just as a lay person when I read about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Like when I think about what people are worried about with COVID, they're obviously, nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to have severe illness. No one wants to end up in the hospital. But there's also this fear about long COVID.

And it's hard to parse when you read these studies. Do we know how effective the vaccines are in preventing long COVID, long haul COVID? Like when you say it's extremely good at preventing severe illness, does that include that? Or are there people that will take the vaccine and may still end up with these long haul symptoms? On the one level, it's too early to know. Here's why I'm fairly optimistic. Number one,

the vaccines like the mRNA vaccines were 95% effective against even mild or moderate symptom disease. So for all of those folks, you know, having virtually no symptoms, that's going to knock out your long COVID. For a vaccine that might mean you have some mild disease, that's going to knock out your long COVID. For a vaccine that might mean you have some mild disease, it's going to be much less likely that they're going to have long-term sickness, I think. First of all, it's many fewer people who will be sicker, have sickness of any kind. Those that have some mild illness, might they have a lingering form of it? It's possible, but I would be confident that compared to, you know, we have still in the range of 100,000 people infected per day in the country, which means that there's actively circulating hundreds

of thousands of contagious people. So your choice, do I want the COVID that is out there or the vaccine? It's no question. You're going to be much less likely to have long COVID under any circumstance. Is there going to be some people still left who might have long COVID? Possibly. One last question, and thank you so much for your time. In Being Mortal, you talk about our culture's difficulty in being honest about mortality, of confronting it. We've been in this pandemic. We've been confronted in grim ways with our own mortality and what we'll do to protect our communities, protect our families, protect ourselves. What lessons have you taken from this period in terms of how we think about the fact that we have bodies and we get sick and it comes for all of us.

We're a generation, and it's been a couple of generations now, who got to live largely without fear that we could die from something random happening to us outside of a shooting or a car accident until you're past the age of 65. Chronic illness is the concern. And that has changed. It's more like a century ago where in the pre-antibiotic era, you had infectious diseases that could hit you at any time and claim your life. From the age of 25 up right now, we have seen an increase in the mortality and a decrease in the life expectancy of every age group above the age of 25. That hasn't happened before. And I've seen how it's changing the way people live. You see people deciding to change their jobs, deciding to move, deciding to downshift.

And all of those things I think are related to that sense of fragility and vulnerability that this pandemic has brought. When that happens, you tend to focus on those who are closest to you. And you tend to also make sure you have meaning and some joy in your life. And people are making those moves. I see it happening all over. And I think that may be a lasting and healthy consequence of all of this. Dr. Atul Gawande, thank you so much for being on the show. Good to talk to you. Great to be here, John.

Let's see you again soon. When we come back, we'll play a game with a listener about Britney Spears. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Travis is insisting that I introduce this in the following way, and so I will oblige. Here we go. Oh, baby, baby, how was I supposed to know that someone would be talking about the new Britney Spears documentary on Hulu framing Britney Spears?

It made me crazy. I just can't sleep. I'm so excited. I'm in too deep. It made me crazy. I just can't sleep. I'm so excited. I'm in too deep. If you're not familiar, the New York Times released a documentary this week about how Britney has been trapped in a rigid financial and personal conservatorship, usually reserved for the most elderly or incapacitated. They walk us through her backstory and how the media obsession over Britney losing her mind started out as sexism and eventually became a self-fulfilling

prophecy. Now she's trapped in a destructive legal limbo. You can almost say she's a slave for U.S. law. But most of all, this documentary got us thinking there's never in a destructive legal limbo. You can almost say she's a slave for U.S. law. But most of all, this documentary got us thinking there's never been a more extreme disparity in public relations around a celebrity breakup than there was between Britney and Justin. In fact, these differences are so stark and extreme, we want to highlight them in a game we're calling I'm Addicted to You, Don't You Know That You're Toxic Masculinity. Here to play the game, we have Hannah. Hi, Hannah. Hi, how are you? Nice to meet you. What part of the country are you in? Where are you're toxic masculinity? Here to play the game, we have Hana. Hi, Hana. Hi, how are you? Nice to meet you.

What part of the country are you in? Where are you in the world? I'm in outside Boston. Outside Boston, outside Boston. Can I ask you a question? How was it decided that you'd be a Hana and not a Hannah? I think my parents were trying to do something different. And then I guess my Hebrew name is Hana,

so it's the same thing. Wow, the ha really came through. Yeah. I like that. I like that. Okay. That makes sense. That's why I asked Hana. So in this game, Hana, I'm going to read a set of facts. All right. And you have to decide if it's about Justin, about Brittany or about neither. Okay. And you'll answer by saying Justin, Britney, or neither. Did you see the documentary? I have not. Okay. Okay. You're familiar with

Justin Timberlake? Yeah, I'm familiar with the whole drama, though. You are familiar with the drama? Okay, good. Okay, good. Look, before we get into this, because there's going to be

some harsh words here. All right. Cry Me a River was a great song. It was a good song. It just was. All right. And, you know, everything else aside.

Here we go. At the end of the game, you're going to decide which singer deserves our loyalty more. Here we go. While accepting a Golden Globe on behalf of Prince, this singer stooped lower to accept it, poking fun at Prince's height of 5'2". Justin. Correct. In 2012, this singer hosted Walmart's annual shareholders meeting saying,

I buy a lot at Walmart. Neither. Justin. Posted a notes app apology after telling Howard Stern that they'd been subject to reverse racism in the music industry. Neither. Correct. After Justin and Britney broke up in 2002, this one got saddled with infidelity rumors. Britney.

Correct. After their breakup, this singer was asked on a radio show if they fucked, to which the singer laughed and happily bragged, oh yeah, I did it. Justin. Correct. Regarding that very same breakup, Diane Sawyer asked this singer, you caused so much pain, so much suffering. What did you do?

Britney. Correct. After their breakup, this singer made a music video with a lookalike of their old partner showing them cheating and fueling the public blame game. I think that was Justin. It was.

I think that might be Cry Me A River. I think that might be Crimey River. I think that might be the Crimey River video. I'm almost sure it is. And honestly, it's a cool looking video. But you know what? That was like the lookalike in that video. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. Thanked Elvis Presley for inventing jazz. Neither. Correct. In 2004, Kendall Ehrlich, then first lady of Maryland, said if she had an opportunity to shoot this singer, she would. Britney. Correct. In 2004, Kendall Ehrlich, then first lady of Maryland, said if she had an opportunity to shoot this singer, she would. Britney. Correct. In 2008, Family Feud featured a question about what the singer had lost in the preceding year. Survey's answers included respect slash dignity, their mind, marriage, children, and fans.

Britney. Correct. In an interview, Jay Leno told this singer that in three years they'd be knocking around a trailer somewhere. Britney. This singer collaborated with Woody Allen. Neither. Justin. Justin. Yeah.

Yeah. Tried to name their 2018 album ISIS and had to be told it was the name of the terrorist organization. I really hope that's neither. It's neither. An interviewer asked the singer if they like their own voice. Britney. Correct. Shortly after appearing in the social network, this singer decided to buy MySpace. Justin. Correct. When this singer was asked by MTV News if it was fair that they pushed blame onto Janet Jackson for a Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction, they responded, we still haven't found the WMDs. Justin. That's right.

Hana, in Hebrew, Hana, you won the game. Thank you. You won the game. All right. And I think we've all come to learn that we should leave Brittany alone. I agree. People made fun of that video. It was prescient.

I think a lot's coming out about her now, and I respect her a lot more for it. Yeah, exactly. Hana, thank you so much for being here. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Because we need it this week, here it is, the high note.

Hi, I'm like Katie Risk. I live in Denver, Colorado. I'm 12 years old. I'm a seventh grader. And my high note for this week is I got to go back in person for the first time since March 20th last year. And it's just been super exciting because I get to see all of my teachers, all of my friends. And it's just awesome being back in the school building. Another thing is listening to your pod because I'm a young person in the LGBTQ community and you're just a super huge inspiration to me and every time I listen to you I get a little more confident about

who I am so thank you I hope you have a good week as well hi John my name is Abby I'm calling from Cincinnati I'm a medical student so I'm in school to become a doctor, and that's been a pretty crazy time this year, but my high note this week is that I got to deliver a baby for the first time. I feel really lucky to have been part of that experience, and seeing people so excited to build their families despite all the chaos in the world made me a little more hopeful for the future. Thanks for all that you guys do. Have a great week. Hi, Love It. This is Sean from Fayetteville, Arkansas. And my high note is twofold. This week, I got my undergrad diploma in the mail, which was a huge accomplishment as I worked full-time

as well as being a full-time student. And I got my LSAT score back, and it's high enough for me to go into my first choice law school, which means that hopefully I get to be a part of fixing our broken legal system. So thank you for everything you do, and I'm excited to be part of the positive change that you and the guys at Crooked Media are part of as well. Thank you. Hi, Lovett. My name is Leah. I live in Denver, Colorado, but I'm originally from upstate New York and all of my family is still there. In April of 2020, I had a beautiful baby girl and because of COVID and the fact that we live so far away, she hasn't met any of my family yet.

And to spend almost a full year FaceTiming with my mom, who my daughter actually happens to be named after, and to watch her cry on FaceTime as all of those first-year milestones pass, sitting up and crawling and first steps, to watch all that pass by without my mom being able to meet her or hold her or hug her has been just heartbreaking to watch, like beyond words. But my high note is that my mom just got her second dose of the COVID vaccine, and she booked a flight to come here in two weeks and finally meet her granddaughter. And I know that the pandemic isn't over yet. We still have a ways to go. But after a really, really hard year of being quarantined, working from home with a toddler and an infant and no help because we don't have any family here, this feels like a really distant light at the end of the tunnel.

And honestly, I can't wait to see her. I haven't seen her since December of 2019. And I can't wait even more for the day that we feel like it's safe enough to get my daughters on a plane and take them to spend time with all of their cousins and their aunts and their uncles in New York. I know we're not there yet, but for now, I'm hoping this little win is enough to keep me hanging on until the end. So that's my high note. Thanks for everything you guys do. Thank you, as always, to everybody who submitted those high notes. If you want to leave us a

message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at 323-521-9455. Thank you to Akilah Hughes, Atul Gawande, Pallavi Gunalan, all of her speed dating contestants, and everybody who called in. There are 633 days until the 2022 midterm elections. Have a great weekend. Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Lee Eisenberg, our head writer and the person whose gender reveal party started the fire,

Travis Helwig. Jocelyn Kaufman, Pallavi Gunalan, and Peter Miller are the writers. Our assistant producer is Sydney Rapp. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McLean and Jamie Skeel for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast, and to our

digital producers Nar Melkonian and Milo Kim for filming and editing video each week so you can.