The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.14 Heartbreaking Naya Rivera & Grant Imahara News, The School Reopening Controversy, & More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastard. Hope you've had a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today is a situation that's still developing around schools and how districts around the country

Starting point is 00:00:14 are planning to reopen for this upcoming fall semester. You know, there's been this massive debate. Should schools reopen with in-person classes? If they do, how should they do it? Some here floating a hybrid in-person slash online model. Others questioning the need to social distance at all. All the while, you have the Trump administration making this hardline push to reopen full-time in-person classes. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos saying on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:00:38 American investment in education is a promise to students and their families. If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds. Then give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise. Right, and that there has been a big hitting point or what some would call a threat in the last week from the Trump administration, that if schools decide to not fully reopen, they could lose funding. Though we have also not seen the administration explain yet how they would actually do that. Also of note here, you also had DeVos saying that there would be exceptions to the rule and that quote, where there are little flare ups or hotspots that can be dealt with on a school by school

Starting point is 00:01:08 or a case by case basis. However, the situation right now is we're seeing flare ups all across the country. I mean, just yesterday we mentioned COVID-19 cases are rising in 39 states. That's why you also have a lot of people wondering, well, should that exception actually be the rule right now? For example, we look at Florida where on Sunday

Starting point is 00:01:22 they reported 15,000 new coronavirus cases just that day. That notably is the biggest daily record reported by a state so far. But even leading into that, as cases were increasing, we saw Florida's education commissioner issuing an emergency order that states, "'Upon reopening in August, all school boards "'and charter school governing boards

Starting point is 00:01:38 "'must open brick and mortar schools "'at least five days per week for all students.'" We also saw Florida governor Ron DeSantis say, "'I'm confident if you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools. I want our kids to be able to minimize this education gap that I think has developed.

Starting point is 00:01:58 But we also saw people pushing back against that, especially because so many schools are overcrowded. And part of the argument being that at a Home Depot, there's far more space. You can actually properly social distance. But how can you in a school, if you're not gonna even do the hybrid model? How can you make it where you're jamming 30 to 50 kids

Starting point is 00:02:11 into a classroom where they're normally sitting relatively close, sitting at their desks? How can you make that safe? Though I guess the slight give, if we can really call it that, because it still results in kids falling behind, is DeSantis has told parents that they do have the right to keep their children home and out of schools in the fall.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Also, one of the areas that this is an especially relevant concern is South Florida, particularly Miami. You know, it's becoming a new epicenter in the United States. And on top of the concern there, there's also confusion. You know, one, you have the education commissioner's orders, but also two, you have Miami Mayor Francis Suarez saying. I mean, our superintendent is the one that runs

Starting point is 00:02:41 our school systems, and he has indicated that he's not gonna put our children at risk I know that as you said You know the Education Commissioner of the state of Florida has mandated that schools be open But I'm not sure that our superintendent is is in agreement with that and certainly You know not if it poses a risk to our children or to the or to the parents who are teaching here the Miami-Dade Superintendent has said that the district will be guided by science, not politics. Also saying yesterday, if the conditions on August 24th are what they are today, it would be very difficult

Starting point is 00:03:09 for us to reopen schools. But ultimately what we are seeing right now is Miami-Dade does appear to be going with that five day a week in-person model, or at least in some cases, though it is also allowing parents to choose an online option for their kids if they want. Also while there's still a lot of confusion in Florida, yesterday we saw New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

Starting point is 00:03:25 outlining a specific reopening plan for schools in the state. There, schools can only reopen for in-person classes if the region is in phase four and the daily infection rate is below 5% over a 14-day average. And that is incredibly notable because as long as New York doesn't see

Starting point is 00:03:37 another swell in cases, that would actually include a large number of schools across the state. However, the big exception here is New York City itself, which isn't yet in phase four. Though, regarding New York City, last week we did see Mayor Bill de Blasio proposing a blended learning plan,

Starting point is 00:03:50 which would limit class size and contain a mix of remote and in-person learning. But as far as what classrooms would look like for schools that could potentially fully reopen, that plan includes face masks when social distancing is not possible, regular cleaning of classrooms, COVID-19 screenings, and contact tracing for anyone who gets infected.

Starting point is 00:04:05 With schools also set to shut down if the infection level rises to 9% or more before the day they reopen. Those schools have until the end of the month to submit their individual reopening plans, and the state education department will then decide in the first week of August whether or not to accept those plans.

Starting point is 00:04:18 Also, notably when announcing his plan, we saw Cuomo hit back at Trump's goal to fully reopen most schools across the country. You don't hold your finger up and feel the wind. You don't have an inspiration. You don't have a dream. You don't have an emotion. Look at the data.

Starting point is 00:04:33 We test more. We have more data than any state. Look at the data. If you have the virus under control, reopen. If you don't have the virus under control, then you can't reopen, right? We're not going to use our children as a litmus test, and we're not going to put our children in a place where their health is endangered. It's that simple. Common sense and intelligence can still determine what we do, even in this crazy environment. We're not going to use our children as guinea pigs.

Starting point is 00:05:15 Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, in California, school districts in Los Angeles and San Diego announced yesterday that they're not going to be offering in-person classes at all for the upcoming semester. Instead, they'll resume using online classes like they did in spring with the Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent saying, science was our guide then and it will continue to be.

Starting point is 00:05:31 And this news coming as California like Florida is seeing just a staggering rise in daily cases. I mean, hell, just yesterday because of those numbers, we saw Governor Gavin Newsom closing back down most of the state. However, the thing I wanna hit on here is while you do have schools like these taking very strict precautions,

Starting point is 00:05:44 you also have situations like the one we saw yesterday with the Orange County Board of Education voting to reopen schools without masks or social distancing. And there, the board noted that school districts can craft their own reopening plans. However, it also called last semester's remote learning an utter failure, even suggesting allowing parents to send their kids to another school district

Starting point is 00:06:00 or a charter school if their district doesn't reopen. Also, in other massive school districts like Chicago, we're seeing the teachers union negotiating with the school system on a reopening plan. This coming as the city's health commissioner said that schools could have some capacity for in-person instruction if the city keeps its cases under control. Then in Clark County, Nevada which includes Las Vegas, officials are currently considering a two-day in-person three-day online hybrid plan. Though online only classes there are not completely off the table. Now with all that said obviously while while we're talking about a domestic issue, this is something that we're seeing handled internationally. Right there, I mean one of the main arguments we've seen from President Trump and Betsy DeVos is that other countries have been able to open schools safely. And while I 100% think it's important to look at what other countries have done, right, what is the impact those things have had,

Starting point is 00:06:39 it's also important to remember that it's not a complete one-to-one comparison because the United States in some places is seeing more than 10,000 cases a day and you're trying to compare that to countries that are seeing just hundreds of cases a day. Though even there it is important to look at the results there because they have been mixed. Some places have been able to hold school because of low infection rates and because they've been making kids wear masks and practice social distancing. Things like health workers disinfecting schools in hazmat suits, students are being sprayed in disinfection chambers and having their temperatures checked, others having outside classes. But even then, in some places like Hong Kong, we've seen schools reopening and now shutting back down because of a new wave of infections. And also what was notable there is those schools

Starting point is 00:07:13 hadn't even reported any infections. It was all because of what was happening outside of them. Right, so to kind of bring everything that we've talked about together, it is important to remember that what we're talking about today with schools is just one small piece of a much larger, complicated puzzle. Ultimately, that is where we are with this story.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And the question I wanna pass off to you isn't just, do you think that schools should reopen? Yes, in person, full time, hybrid, no, not at all. I'd also love to know what you are personally experiencing, whether you're someone going to high school or college right now, or you have a friend who is, or you have a kid who is. I was really fascinated to hear about those experiences

Starting point is 00:07:44 because I think that's the thing that's missing from a lot of stories, the human element. A lot of time when we're talking about something in the news, it's kind of just like, this is the data, these are the facts, but there are people living through this and feeling this in real time, and I think that's important to remember. And then, let's talk about the completely

Starting point is 00:07:58 non-controversial topic that people probably don't even have an opinion on, capital punishment. And the reason we're talking about this is, this morning, the Trump administration carried out the first federal execution in 17 years. And that was the execution of a 47 year old man by the name of Daniel Lewis Lee,

Starting point is 00:08:12 who was convicted back in 1999 on three counts of murder in aid of racketeering. And that after he and another man killed a family of three, including a child in Arkansas as part of a broader plan to create a white supremacist community in the Pacific Northwest. While he was convicted, he has also maintained his innocence. Now, all of that said, this death is incredibly significant

Starting point is 00:08:29 because it is the first time that the federal government has used the death penalty since Attorney General Bill Barr announced that the Trump administration would resume the federal executions last summer. But it also comes after just a ton of legal whiplash, and a lot of this is centered around the fact that when Barr decided that he would resume federal executions, he also mandated that all the deaths

Starting point is 00:08:44 be conducted via a single drug lethal injection known as pentobarbital. And with that, the Justice Department was initially set to execute the man who was killed today, as well as four others back in December and January, but that was blocked by US District Judge Tanya Chutkin of the District of Columbia, who argued that using a single procedure for all federal executions

Starting point is 00:08:59 violated the Federal Death Penalty Act, which requires federal executions to be carried out in a way prescribed by the state where the prisoner was convicted, or another state if that state does not have the death penalty. Right, and our argument there was that while lethal injection is the primary execution method

Starting point is 00:09:12 in the United States, the type and number of drugs used vary by state. But what we ended up seeing happen is that in April, the D.C. Appeals Court struck down Chutkan's ruling, and then the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, thus allowing the executions to go forward. And so with that, the execution was rescheduled, it was set for yesterday, but that same day,

Starting point is 00:09:28 Chutkan files another injunction, seeking to block his execution, as well as three others planned for this week. And there, arguing that before the inmates could be executed, legal challenges need to play out in court. This is to determine if pentobarbital injections amount to cruel and unusual punishment, and thus violate the Constitution.

Starting point is 00:09:41 With Chutkan explaining in her ruling that people injected with this risk experiencing a flash pulmonary edema, which is the rapid buildup of fluid in the lungs that causes the feeling of drowning or asphyxiation resulting in extreme pain, terror, and panic. With Chutkin also writing that the scientific evidence provided to the court overwhelmingly indicates

Starting point is 00:09:56 that it is very likely to cause plaintiffs extreme pain and needless suffering during their execution. With her also going on to say that the evidence submitted by the inmates' experts showed that the majority of inmates executed in this manner suffered flash pulmonary edema during the procedure. Right, and so with this, the Justice Department quickly responds to the injunction,

Starting point is 00:10:11 appealing both to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, arguing that the preparations were already underway and the Chetkins order served to quote, scramble those plans with a meritless injunction. And so we ended up seeing it around 2 a.m. this morning, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned five to four opinion, rejecting the last minute legal bid and siding with the DOJ. And in that order, the court said that the

Starting point is 00:10:30 four inmates on death row had virtually no chance in winning their argument that pentobarbital injections were a cruel and unusual punishment with the court also claiming it had been used in over 100 executions without incident and that its use had been upheld by the Supreme court last year. Going on to say that the inmates have not made the showing required to justify last minute intervention by a federal court.

Starting point is 00:10:47 But on the other side of this, you had the court's four liberal justices opposing the decision in two separate dissenting opinions. In the first, led by Justice Stephen Breyer, he raised broader questions about the constitutionality of capital punishment, arguing that the death penalty is often imposed arbitrarily, and noting that the other man involved in the murders,

Starting point is 00:11:02 who was considered more culpable, actually just received a life sentence. And in the other dissent, you had Justice Sonia Sotomayor condemning the rush to execute this man, writing, "'The Court forever deprives respondents "'of their ability to press a constitutional challenge "'to their lethal injections, "'and prevents lower courts from reviewing that challenge.'"

Starting point is 00:11:16 Also adding, "'In its hurry to resolve the government's emergency motions, "'I fear the Court has overlooked not only its prior ruling, "'but also its role in safeguarding "'robust federal judicial review. But ultimately, that is where we are with this story right now. The other three men are still scheduled

Starting point is 00:11:29 to be executed later this week. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens there, see if more lawsuits are filed. And with this story, I do wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on the death penalty, right? What are your thoughts on capital punishment? And also, have they changed over the past 10 to 15 years? And I ask that not only because of my own personal struggle

Starting point is 00:11:46 on this topic over the last 15 years, but also as the Washington Post explained, "'Since the Justice Department last carried out "'an execution in 2003, the landscape around "'capital punishment has also shifted. "'Executions and death sentences "'have both declined significantly. "'Public support for capital punishment has fallen

Starting point is 00:12:01 "'and more states have abolished the practice entirely. "'Also noting that states have struggled to obtain drugs with pharmaceutical firms opposing the use of their products to carry out death sentences, in some cases going to court to fight against it. And so yeah, I would really love to know your thoughts on this topic. And finally, the last thing that I want to talk about today

Starting point is 00:12:16 are the deaths of Grant Imahara and Naya Rivera. Last night, the news broke that at the age of 49, Grant died from a brain aneurysm. The news very sudden, shocking, unexpected. It of course led to an outpouring of love and grief. People sharing their stories that among other things, Grant inspired them from either his work on Mythbusters or the White Rabbit Project.

Starting point is 00:12:35 Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage tweeting, "'I'm at a loss. No words. "'I've been part of two big families with Grant Imahara "'over the last 22 years. "'Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, "'artist and performer, but also such a generous, easygoing, and gentle person. In that news, coming in the wake of police saying

Starting point is 00:12:50 they are confident they have found 33-year-old Naya Rivera's body and that she has tragically died. You know, we talked last week about how she was reported missing after her four-year-old son, Josie, was found asleep in a rented boat. That boat was just drifting along Lake Piru

Starting point is 00:13:01 when someone came upon it. That resulted in a massive search effort, then later becoming a recovery mission, with authorities saying they believed her to be dead. And yesterday we saw the sheriff saying, Today our search teams have recovered a body in the lake. Based on the location where the body was found, physical characteristics of the body, clothing found on the body, and the physical condition of the body, as well as the absence of any other persons reported missing in the area, we are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera. With Aventura County Sheriff going on to say that there is no evidence of foul play

Starting point is 00:13:36 or that this was a suicide. And as far as what happened in what's believed to be the last moments we heard. We know from speaking with her son that he and Naya swam in the lake together at some point during their journey. It was during that time that her son described being helped into the boat by Naya, who boosted him onto the deck from behind. He told investigators that he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water. With him going on to say that he believes that she may have mustered up enough strength to get

Starting point is 00:14:08 her son back into the boat, but not enough to save herself. And I mean, it's just a heartbreaking story. As far as reaction, I mean, we've seen fans, friends, just past co-workers expressing their grief. People praising Naya Bolth for the story where she made sure that her child was safe over her own safety. But also people looking back upon her career, noting that through her work, she entertained, uplifted, made people feel less alone, whether it be from performance or furthering representation on TV. I do also wanna note here though,

Starting point is 00:14:33 one thing that did bother me as far as public reactions, you saw some of Naya's Glee co-stars facing backlash because they weren't publicly saying things on Twitter. And here, what I'll say is I very much agree with Amber Patrice Riley who tweeted out on the 12th. Show some respect. All our energy is going toward helping find Naya and praying for her safe return and for her family.

Starting point is 00:14:52 And I think this is the key sentence here. No one owes anyone online a performance of grief. This is very real and devastating. Focus on Naya and her family, not us. We don't matter right now. I have that sentence. No one owes anyone online a performance of grief. I think that's important to keep in mind here

Starting point is 00:15:06 and also in future stories. After a tragedy, people can have a public reaction, but they do not owe one. They are not obligated to give one. If I were to lose a friend, my first thought would be to actually contact friends or family, not tweet out something. And I hope this for me comes off as more of like

Starting point is 00:15:21 an educational moment rather than me kind of swinging at someone because I understand that grief can turn into something ugly. When we're hurting and we're sad, it's very easy and at times maybe even more simple and comforting to turn that into anger at something. That's also just kind of incredibly destructive and most likely not what the person who passed away would want. But you know, the note that I want to end on with this story is whether you were a fan of either of these two or you were just kind of aware, and all of a sudden now you are sad,

Starting point is 00:15:47 you're feeling genuine grief, please know that that is okay. That is just you being a human being. If anything, I recommend you take the time to feel that and process it. There are a number of reasons as to why you're feeling that way, but know that the pain that you are feeling

Starting point is 00:16:01 is completely valid. You experiencing this is not a sign of weakness and anyone that would call it weak is weak. And then yeah, unfortunately, of course, as always with a story like this, it is a reminder of love who you have while you have them and let them know you love them. It's truly amazing the impact a few words can have.

Starting point is 00:16:18 But that is where I'm gonna end this. Of course, as always, thank you for being a part of this. Thank you for watching, doing all this stuff. Also, if you're new here, you wanna join the family, hit that subscribe button, tap that bell to turn on notifications. But that is where I'm gonna end today's show. And of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.

Starting point is 00:16:31 You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you liked the video. Subscribe if you like it.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 7.14 Heartbreaking Naya Rivera & Grant Imahara News, The School Reopening Controversy, & More

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