What A Day - Aid In America

Episode Date: July 7, 2020

Emergency unemployment benefits included in the CARES Act are set to expire at the end of the month. With that deadline looming, and the health crisis raging, we look at what the next potential aid package might include.Some colleges and universities have announced their back-to-Zoom plans for classes in the fall. The faculty at Georgia Tech are currently pushing back against a plan to resume in-person classes, while Harvard will make all classes remote while charging full-price for tuition, and hosting some freshmen on campus.And in headlines: the Dakota Access Pipeline must be shut down during review, Uber eats Postmates, and Amy Cooper could be charged in New York.

It's Tuesday, July 7th. I'm Keela Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What The Day, where we are supporting Kanye West and his 2020 run for any job except president. Yeah, like I'd support him trying to be a good rapper again. Yeah, honestly, you know, go back to dropping out from college, sir. Right. dropping out from college, sir. On today's show, a variety of plans for going back to school in the fall, then some headlines, but first, the latest. I don't get it. I simply do not get it. It is literally the least you can do. And if anybody wants to build up an argument about doing the least they can do, I wouldn't

trust them with a driver's license. I mean, when you drive a car, you got to obey speed limits. You got to use your turn signal. You got to avoid hitting pedestrians. If you can't do those three things, then I get it. You shouldn't be driving a car. If you can't wear a mask and wash your hands and social distance, I got no respect for you, man. I don't buy your argument. Wow. That was Tom Hanks doing a spirited takedown of people who don't wear masks. Mr. Hanks, thank you for having our backs. We love you.

All right, though, in news, Congress is now on a two-week recess, and it comes just as emergency unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of the month, and some eviction protections throughout the country are already starting to fall away. The economic crisis and the public health crisis are far from over, so basically, when Congress comes back, they're going to have to do something pretty quickly to re-up coronavirus assistance before it all runs out. Congress has been staring at this deadline for a really long time, and now that we are getting closer, are we any closer to finding an actual plan? That would make logical sense, but we don't live in a logical world. There are some diverging plans. But here's the overall thing hanging over this. The pandemic has definitely been worsening since negotiations left off the last time they

were happening. And something is going to have to give before the real kicker here, the Congress's full month August recess. They give themselves this pressure by design to have to give before the real kicker here, the Congress's full month August recess. They give themselves this pressure by design to try to come up with something really quick and then say, well, this is all that we had the time for. When in reality, remember, back in May, Democrats in the House passed a $3 trillion coronavirus package called the HEROES Act. Now, that was supposed to extend and build on the CARES Act that was passed in March, which provided those unemployment benefits, those stimulus checks, the state and local funding. But Republicans then said they didn't want to hear it. Instead, they said they wanted to see how things went. It didn't go well. And now Republicans are acknowledging that there are still major public health and economic concerns, and they're talking about a bill, but they inexplicably want to keep the scope smaller.

So yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he wants the bill to include five years of liability protections for some businesses, including restaurants, if they are following health rules, something Democrats do not want. He's also supporting another more limited round of stimulus checks for people making around $40,000 or less per year. So that first round of stimulus checks were available to people making up to $99,000 a year. Trump has expressed support for more stimulus checks, but at the same time, he and other Republicans think that that $600 weekly in extra unemployment money is discouraging people from going back to work. And so they want to either let those expire or lower that amount of money or give people back to work money instead. So our Republicans say, oh yeah, don't worry, we'll get to this later. Shit is just getting extremely bad for a lot of people, or it's about to get extremely bad for a lot of people.

That's 100% right. And one of the most immediate concerns is evictions. So according to a Washington Post report, eviction moratoriums that were tied to the health crisis are ending in various cities and eviction cases are beginning to move through the court system. They cite a community group in Colorado called the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, which estimated that a full 20% of Americans who rent would be at risk of eviction by the end of September, with Black and Latinx renters expected to be the hardest hit. So experts look with concern at places like Milwaukee, cited in the story, where a statewide eviction moratorium was lifted towards the end of May. The result in that city? Nearly 1,300 eviction filings in June

with a majority happening in majority black neighborhoods. So you have a situation where people may be getting evicted while they're also being told to stay home and not have the resources or information to fight it. As part of the CARES Act, there is currently a federal eviction moratorium for federally subsidized housing units, but there can be confusion as to which buildings are covered by that. Sometimes landlords act like they don't even know. There's a proposal from Democratic senators, including

Elizabeth Warren, to expand and extend the federal eviction moratorium until next March, and housing advocates say that there needs to be just a larger scale rental assistance program. Yeah, it's just a series of overlapping crises for black and Latinx Americans in this pandemic. Evictions are hitting harder, job losses are hitting harder, and the health threat from COVID-19 is hitting harder as well. We got some new CDC data on that

in the past couple of days. Yeah, so the New York Times had to actually sue via a FOIA to get this data. Couldn't have just given it out. But it tells us in some greater detail something that we knew was happening. So this data set covers about 640,000 infections across almost 1,000 counties in the U.S. And overall, it shows that Latino and African American residents have been three times as likely to get infected as their white neighbors and nearly twice as likely

to die from COVID-19. And the data is far from complete with race and ethnicity missing from more than half the cases included, as well as some information about how these people actually got infected. And CDC officials attributed the lack of some of those specifics to the fact that local authorities are responsible for the info, and they get overwhelmed, and there are all those problems there. But overall, systemic racism that is embedded in housing, public health, and everything else, combined with the fact that many people in these communities can't work remotely or even space out within a home, are definitely contributing factors. Okay, so that's a little bit on the state of relief from Congress and the absolutely dire need for it across the country. But let's shift gears a little bit and talk about schools, which have been a focal point for any sort of economic recovery, as parents have had to do double duty at home

for months. Yeah, that's right. So back to school season might be back to Zoom season in America, as COVID-19, which some president told me would go away with the higher temperatures, is actually out of control this summer. Yesterday, we got some more announcements from colleges and universities, though, about their plans for the fall semester. Georgia Tech is going to have students return for classes in person, but the administration is fighting about a plan for the fall semester that lacks any sort of mask mandate. The faculty is pushing back hard. Okay, so in a signed letter signed by more than 800 of their 1,100 staff members, they say the decision isn't based in science and puts students and faculty at risk.

Georgia, you know, for what it's worth, has seen a massive rise in cases lately, averaging 2,600 new cases daily just last week. So, you know, it seems like the faculty really has a lot they're up against. Yes. At Princeton University, the tuition will be slashed by 10%, which is the same discount I got working at Forever 21 back in 2007, but I digress. And no more than half of their undergraduates will be allowed to learn on campus. Meanwhile, at Harvard, 40% of their undergrads will be permitted back, but mostly freshmen. And all of their classes are going to be remote, though, and there's no discount on tuition there at all. Yeah, I just don't understand paying for Ivy League education when you're on Zoom. But you know, that's that's what it is.

There was also an update, though, on exchange and international students yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE announced that students on visas must leave the United States if their school and or course load goes online only, which seems like a really roundabout way of saying if you don't risk your life to get sick at school in a way that U.S. citizens absolutely don't have to, you gotta go. For what it's literally worth, enrollment of international students has been declining in the Trump years, down 10% this past school year from the year prior. Also, international students contributed nearly $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018,

but hey, who's counting? And regarding K-12 schools, there have been endless plans and guidelines presented depending on state and local school districts. Yesterday, Florida's education commissioner signed an order to reopen schools across the state in August, though local health officials can override that. So lots more to come on this issue. We'll be tracking it. But for now, that's the latest. It's Tuesday, WOD Squad. And today, as we check our temps, we're going to discuss the legacy of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, who passed away yesterday in Rome at 91.

Morricone scored some 500 movies and was especially famous for his work on spaghetti westerns. Yeah, he did the song that's like... Yeah, yeah, I know that one. All right, so Giddy, you're an Ineosuper fan. What are your favorite scores of his? That one's obviously a great one, Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, absolutely rules. All those spaghetti Western things are like, the second you hear them, you just visualize the movie.

But it might have been one of his last ones that he won an Oscar for was Hateful Eight, which was not a great Tarantino movie. I mean, I haven't seen it. Not one of my favorites, but the score is just awesome. And it's very much like that similar Western menacing vibe. So that was pretty sick. Love Ennio.

That's lovely. I mean, I guess I could listen to the soundcheck without watching the movie. I'm not like opposed. It's just everyone says it's not Tarantino's best. So, you know. Yes, it's definitely like towards the bottom of the top nine or ten that he's made, but, you know, I'm going to get Tarantino people yelling at me for that, but whatever. You know what? You're allowed to have an opinion.

Yes, it's true. It is very true. But what about you? Are there other go-to film soundtracks that you really like, scores? Oh, yeah. I mean, I sound probably very corny when I say that Disney has really great scores but I can tell you that listening to Tarzan or The Lion King at any point in any day slaps. It's great.

Hans Zimmer's genius. I don't really. Was it Phil Collins that did the full soundtrack for Tarzan? Oh yeah. Pretty solid. What's that Marvel movie with Chris Pratt? Oh Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah. That one's like, it's a soundtrack. It's not really a score that I'm talking

about, but it's got some hits. It's worth visiting. Oh, it's awesome. Yeah, and it's also used in a cool way, too, where he's hitting the tape shit that he's got. I love it. Honestly, I'm like, you know, Marvel deserves all that money they have. Yes, yeah. It's all

the rights. That's one of the ones where you're like, oh, I want to remember this song from the 70s that a football team would come out to, but I don't remember what it is, so I'm going to search Guardians of the Galaxy playlist. Wow, that's actually so spot on. And guess what? Just like that, we've checked our temps.

We will check in with you all again tomorrow. But yeah, check out some of Morricone's music. It's really great. And now for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. for some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Hong Kong's controversial new national security law was used to prosecute someone for the first time yesterday. 23-year-old Tong Ying Kit was charged under the new law after being accused of injuring officers during a protest last week.

He was denied any bail. Critics of the law continue to say that it is a blatant attempt by mainland China to criminalize dissent and infringe on basic civil liberties. After the law was imposed last week, people could be punished for things like holding banners and chanting quotes related to the pro democracy protests. So far, 10 people total have been arrested under the law. Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter announced that they will stop sharing information on their users with Hong Kong's government until they can thoroughly review the new law. A district court decided that the Dakota Access Pipeline must be shut down while it undergoes environmental review. That means the pipeline must be completely emptied of oil by August 5th. For the past three years, the controversial

pipeline has been the subject of protests and lawsuits from environmental and indigenous groups as it has transported hundreds of thousands of barrels each day. The ruling is seen as a big win for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been fighting the pipeline for years out of concern that it would pollute their water sources and so much more. The chairman of the tribe said, quote, this pipeline should never have been built here. We told them that from the beginning. I mean, they did. Yeah. The company behind the pipeline says it plans to appeal the decision, which is their way of saying, are we 100% sure we need to start treating everyone good?

Lord have mercy. Even a pandemic won't stop the apps from merging. Uber announced yesterday that they had acquired food delivery company Postmates in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal. Postmates, if you had just been a little bit more patient, I would have spent that much on burrito bowl delivery in the next two weeks alone. Uber's own food delivery service, Uber Eats, has been their saving grace during COVID-19, as rideshare demand dropped essentially all the way. Earlier this year, Uber tried and failed to

acquire Grubhub, or the hub that got away as we call it. And taking over a different company in the food delivery space will help Uber narrow the field and cement their position as another tech company that we don't like but still use all the time. Oh, God. All right, well, the white woman who called the police and falsely accused a black man of threatening her, Amy Cooper, could face criminal charges in New York. Birdwatcher Chris Cooper had asked Amy to put her dog on a leash.

That was the last thing she heard before the Karen inside her took over and led her to invoke a potentially lethal response by calling the cops. Amy Cooper's offense is a misdemeanor punishable with up to a year in jail. So, yes, let's dismantle the criminal justice system, but wait until Amy's trial is over to do it. Two pro-Trump conservatives in Martinez, California could also see some exciting police work up close. They're now wanted for vandalism after being seen painting over a Black Lives Matter mural in a viral video this weekend. They showed up with fresh paint and rollers less than an hour after the mural was finished. If they could channel this enthusiasm into arts and crafts that aren't racist, I think they'd do okay on Etsy. Yeah, or at least like, you know, we could paint

over them or something. And those are the headlines. Okay, quick announcement before we go from Crooked's podcast, Wind of Change, the investigative series all about the Cold War and whether the CIA secretly wrote rock songs to take down the Soviet Union. There's a new bonus episode. It dropped yesterday exclusively on Spotify. And in it, host Patrick Radden Keefe talks to Joanna Stingray, the daughter of an anti-communist that smuggled music in and out of the Soviet Union. This bonus episode has it all, an international

love triangle, high fashion, and a tragic explosive ending. So make sure to check it out on Spotify. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, visit our anti-racist Etsy store, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just lists of weird and inscrutable Postmates charges like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And don't let that hub get away. It's my favorite hub. The grub one. The best of all hubs, filled with grub to the brim.

What a Day is a Crooked Media production. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard andashaka.