What A Day - Biden Said Shots, Make It A Double

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

Biden held the first press conference of his presidency, yesterday, discussing the state of the nation’s vaccination effort, his views on the filibuster, and more. States are opening up vaccine eligibility, but there's an early pattern emerging of Black and Hispanic people getting smaller shares of vaccinations. The LAPD evicted an unhoused community that had set up tents in the Echo Park neighborhood of LA, and the department did it against the CDC’s guidance to pause encampment sweeps during the pandemic. The district’s city councilmember framed the action as part of an effort to rehabilitate the park, but members of the community showed up to support the people from being forced out. Plus, Jason Concepcion, host of Takeline and All Caps NBA joins us for headlines: no Zoom at the Oscars, the latest on the boat blocking the Suez Canal, and Amazon’s failed attempt to clapback.Show Links:California, Florida and other states will soon offer vaccines to all adultshttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/us/california-florida-vaccine.htmlFollow What A Day on Instagram at instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday.

it's friday march 26th i'm akilah hughes and i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day a podcast no one is advised to listen to while operating a boat in the suez canal yeah for sure you know maybe just put on something more chill like smooth jazz or maybe just some boat directions i guess yeah but whatever you do, do not fall asleep. On today's show, a tense overnight standoff in Los Angeles between protesters and police over the clean out of a homeless encampment. Then some headlines. But first, the latest. We will, by my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million

shots in people's arms. So that was President Biden yesterday, who doubled his original vaccine target during the first press conference of his presidency. He touched on a lot of different things during questions and answers that went over an hour, from voting rights to the F word we use most often, the filibuster. So Gideon, let's start with that bit about vaccines, because it sounds like a huge success. But what should people know, especially if they're still waiting in line? Yeah, so first off here, you know, Biden has been really careful with his promises about normality, vaccines, etc. And this was another example, right? His original goal,

100 million shots in 100 days, super, super catchy. But it was actually underselling what the administration wanted and truly needed to do. Doing the math now, the CDC says that about 133 million shots are in people's arms so far. We are just over halfway into Biden's first 100 days, which basically means we were already on track to hit 200 million. So this was another example of Biden kind of trying not to overprom anything until it becomes clear to people, you can actually raise the expectations. But if you're out there still waiting to get even your first shot, the news is that the country is probably on track still for enough doses for all adults by the end of May. Oh, that sounds awesome. But also, it could be in just a few days, depending on where you are. So this week, governors from all over are like Oprah, there's like, you know, you get a vaccine,

you get a vaccine. Don't lie on my show, but get a vaccine. I'm just thinking of Oprah things. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what all the governors are saying. It's crazy, you knew word for word. But yeah, so May is at the latest for things opening. Remember, it's also gonna take some time to get to everyone once that happens.

We are at just 14% fully vaccinated at this point. Shots are already accessible to people 16 and older in places like Mississippi and Utah, but it was just announced that that same demo in Minnesota can get a vaccine by this coming Tuesday, while in California, it's April 15th. And there are a bunch more states that are opening up eligibility rolls too,

and we'll have a link in our show notes to all of that. But overall, yeah, it does appear that most states are gonna meet that goal for opening things up. Yeah. Then as the supply bumps up and up, the other hurdle is actually making sure people want the vaccine, helping them know where to get it and how. So, Gideon, how is the White House working through that part? It feels like it's going to be the question for the rest of the year, right? Especially as infections are ticking back up and we hit 30 million overall cases in the U.S.

So the answer for now seems to be tons of money. The administration is putting in $10 billion basically for the Department of Health and Human Services to reach underserved communities, communities of color, rural areas, and the like. And the hope is that this cash investment will help reverse some not-so-great news we've seen so far. There's an early pattern emerging of Black and Hispanic people getting smaller shares of vaccinations. That's according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. For instance, they point to California where just 21% of vaccinations have gone to Latinos, but that same group, they're 55% of cases, 46% of deaths, and 40% of the total population in the state. So ensuring that equity and access actually happens remains a challenge. Yeah. So Gideon, the news of those vaccines might have been one of the stars of Biden's

first press conference, maybe not the biggest star. You know, there was a lot about Trump for some reason, but not to be overshadowed, the filibuster. What did Biden say when pressed about the debate of whether to keep it or to kick it? He kind of went back and forth on it. It was a maybe. Here's part of what he said. It used to be you had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapsed. And guess what? People got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. Filibusters broke down and we were able to break the filibuster, get a Quorman vote. So I strongly support moving in that direction, in addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain things that are just elemental to the functioning

of our democracy. Yeah, so this is a bit of a winding answer, coincidentally, because Biden was getting at something he's mentioned before, this so-called talking filibuster, where you filibuster by talking and talking and perhaps collapsing, as he's describing there. But nowadays, you can just do it by sending an email. In the words of Joe Biden, that is literally not a joke, folks. That is real. And Biden was kind of driving it, maybe being open to further reforms and agreed with President Obama that it is a relic of the Jim Crow era. But he mostly placed specific emphasis on the need for voting rights legislation that Democrats are pushing in the Senate. He called efforts to limit voting, quote,

sick, end quote, un-American. He definitely dodged a direct answer on the filibuster rule, though, which is, of course, a major point of contention among Senate Democrats as they try to maneuver here with this 50-50 chamber. Ultimately, we'll see what the real President Joe Manchin ends up deciding. Haha, just kidding. Not entirely. That's an update from Biden's presser. But let's turn our attention to something more local in Los Angeles. Akilah, there was a tense conversation in a large park between police, unhoused people, and protesters.

What happened? So as of last night at 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific, here is what we know. On Wednesday night and into yesterday, the Los Angeles Police Department moved to evict and fence up part of an unhoused community that had set up tents in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. This, of course, goes against the CDC's pandemic guidance. There was a huge standoff that turned violent against protesters and the unhoused. Echo Park! Rise up! Echo Park! Rise up! Echo Park! Rise up! So the goal behind forcing people out, according to city councilman Mitch O'Farrell, who represents the area, was to, quote, rehabilitate the park, a piece of land. So officials moved to clear out the encampment, which had been there for a while, but only grew since the start of the pandemic. Akilah, how did officials go about achieving that, quote unquote, goal?

Well, park rangers and LAPD officers started closing off the area around 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday, and they directed people living in the park to clear out their belongings, including this woman who was filmed by the unhoused advocacy organization Street Watch LA. All we are here is surviving. We are a community. We help everybody. We've got rules. No violence. Nothing. And we're out here and just living. That is it. And we are being harassed and treated like criminals. So people like the woman we just heard were in the midst of community members, about 200, who came to support the people being forced out. But they weren't alone. Let's listen. So that's the sound of their standoff with police. The local community news org Knock LA reported that protesters were kept at bay by about twice as many police officers. So, Akilah, where does it stand right now? So as of Thursday night, the park has been mostly cleared of people with cleanup crews taking care of lost items and the LAPD erecting a perimeter wall. But about that councilman who said the purpose was to, quote, rehabilitate the park, it's pretty unconscionable when LA still has one of the biggest unhoused populations in the nation, and that, you know, still needs to be addressed. Los Angeles has seen a steady increase

of homelessness, and experts say that it's gotten worse in the past year. This event is the culmination of decades of bad policy and the community that showed up for each other being treated as an afterthought. Right. And so how this most recent event went down is really drawing some criticism, right? Totally. The plan was reportedly devised in secret, with local outlets struggling to get details from Councilman O'Farrell before it even happened. The official department that coordinates outreach services for the unhoused in L.A. city and county wasn't pleased. The head of the L.A. Homeless Services Authority told the L.A. Times, quote, it facilitates fear, chaos, and it breaks the trust we built. It seems like it didn't need to happen this way. Some residents of Echo Park Lake put out their own statement as well, saying

in part, quote, without the constant LAPD and city harassment in our lives, we've been able to grow, to come together as a community, not just unhoused, but housed as well, and work together for the mutual aid and benefit of each other. The story is still developing, and it may seem hyper-local since it's occurring down the street from me, but we wanted to highlight it because events like this, or even on a smaller scale, have been happening across the nation because of an untenable housing crisis compounded by the pandemic and the economic fallout because of it. And in a time with so much economic uncertainty and talk of getting back to normal, we should also prioritize what parts of normal are worth bringing back. Militarized police forces many times the size of those at the insurrection to throw away the belongings and further displace the most vulnerable among us should be a thing of the past.

So that's the latest. Stay safe and we'll be back after some ads with a special Headlines guest. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Today, we have got a great guest, Jason Concepcion, the host of Crooked's new hit podcast, Take Line, the all caps YouTube series, and a guy with really funny sports takes on Twitter. Jason, thank you so much for being on our show. It's a delight to be here. Thank you so much. You are the delight, sir. This is great.

Well, let's do some headlines. So no one gets to receive an Oscar in front of all their impressive books. The Academy Awards plans to ban Zoom acceptance speeches, and they're already getting backlash from people experiencing something called a pandemic. Going to the ceremony in person struck many as a bad idea, and it might not even be possible for nominees who live abroad unless they come here through some secret network of tunnels

that's only open to huge celebrities. That exists. Yeah, it's crazy. At least nine nominees live in the UK, which plans to ban non-essential international trips next week. Variety says there's been a push to let the nominees pre-record their speeches, boo, before they know they won, which the Geneva Convention considers actor torture. Meetings with Academy officials to discuss these hurdles this week were abruptly canceled. Yikes.

Well, Active Network of Tunnels. Can't they do some like Harry Potter thing for the UK people? Like, uh, like touch an old boot and then just like appear here, like through a portal. Yes. That would be ideal. Something. They don't have technology. They've had a year to figure it out. They need better agents, frankly, you know, like that, this is a sign that the agents are lacking during the pandemic. I'm just going to say it. Nobody's talking about it. I'm on a boat.

The boat blocking the Suez Canal continues to go full stubborn dog who's tired of its walk. It just wants to lie there, and it stopped being funny a while ago. The boat is called the Ever Given, and by one estimate, it's holding up $400 million an hour in global trade. That's so much. That's quite a lot. Delays could soon result across the world, and prospects of the ship suddenly deciding to move again are dim. Weighing in around 200,000 metric tons and measuring one empire state building, the Ever Given is what experts call, quote, a beefcake.

It could take days or even weeks to dislodge one industry professional referred to it as a quote very heavy beached whale which frankly is judgy and just a little bit rude stop commenting on the whale's weight and just put it back in the water i don't think that whales get beached because they're fat i think they get beached because they're beached. So let's focus on the problem, you know. As of yesterday, there were 238 ships waiting outside the canal to enter. As the ever-given nervously shouted out, someone's in here.

I got to say, I love that, you know, this is the Suez Canal, one of the most vital and densely trafficked waterways in the world. And it appears that the effort to free the ship is like one guy in a backhoe and no one else. Yeah. They had one spare digger. Just one. It's like the amount of effort put into like putting that fake mulch on a playground. Like that's the amount of resources going into this. There's not even like one other person around.

That man, how much is he getting paid to do that? Yeah, and he needs to take a break every once in a while, which really slowing it down. I know, right? He eats lunch. That's another hundred million dollars, which is wasting. Amazon is trying out a new union busting strategy called Le Epic Clapback. As Amazon's Bessemer plant did its historic unionization vote, Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan tweeted that the company overworked its employees

to the point where they had to pee in bottles to reach quotas. In a tone mostly reserved for fast food company Twitter accounts dragging each other's chicken sandwiches, Amazon replied, quote, You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. We do love when a rat is sarcastic. That is our favorite kind of behavior. The problem with Amazon's tweet is that workers peeing in bottles

has been documented extensively and is so common that it's a meme among delivery drivers. Today, Amazon workers in Alabama will meet with the Charlie's Angels of supporting unions, Killer Mike, Danny Glover, and Bernie Sanders. Wow. I love the idea that people have so much choice in where they would work that they would then choose to not work at Amazon who is giving them a job because of a reason like this.

Come on, guys. Yeah, like people aren't just desperate for work at this point. Also, like it's really cool that they want us to support Amazon, but they're like, we don't believe the people who work for us. You're really telling me that when they said they peed in bottles, you believe them? We really value them, but we don't believe them. Maybe it's that they don't believe in human bodily functions.

It's actually a much broader conspiracy. They're like, you think people can even pee in bottles? Right, come on. That's not possible. They're like, Jeff has never peed. We just don't understand. Literally. Right, Jeff does not excrete any

longer. No. And he definitely doesn't have a bottle. We wouldn't allow that in the factory. No, of course not. The legal community has finally read the terms and conditions of the Krispy Kreme's Donuts for Vaccines promotion, and they've made some startling discoveries.

The big news is that crispy cream isn't just giving away pastries to people who got their shot they also included a special anti-vax clause so as not to exclude individuals of the newsmax mindset specifically crispy cream says if you make the quote highly personal decision to battle COVID on ultra hard mode. You can still get free donuts for nine Mondays between March and May. Line up folks. Not too close or, you know,

but that's your choice. Also immunized people can get donuts every day this year. So they've got a leg up in the official Krispy Kreme cavities and tooth decay contest. The big question is why are they so anxious to give these donuts away? Yeah, they're like, anybody. Anybody wants one, including the people who are making the

personal decision, which also is not a personal decision. It's a pandemic. It's the opposite of a personal decision. It's a very public decision. I think Krispy Kreme also has a shrimp tail problem. I think that that's there's something, some overlap that's happening here.

You know, they got to get a little crunchy. You know what it is? Well, I like, I like to shout out Krispy Kremes for, for honoring the highly personal decision of the virus to move where it wants to. If it would like some Krispy Kremes,

the door's open. Well, Jason, thank you so much for stopping by. It's always a dream. But we've been wanting to have you on the show for a while. So is there anything else you'd like to plug? Just listen to Take Line every Tuesdays wherever you get your podcasts and all caps NBA on the Take Line YouTube channel every Friday.

Follow, subscribe, give us the five star ratings or we will burn your house. Not really, but like kind of. Yeah, just like smash that notification bell. Please! Do all those things. Buy five devices and sign up on all of them. That's what I did. Yes, I love it.

Do it up. And those are the headlines. One last thing before we go. This week on Rubicon, Brian Boitler talks to the Roosevelt Institute's Mike Konzel about President Biden's $3 trillion economic relief package and whether it warrants comparisons to FDR's new deal. Listen and subscribe to Rubicon on Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to your shows. That is all for today.

If you like this show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, get free donuts for the right reasons, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just tweets where brands talk like teens like me, what it is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And hurry up, ever given.

Just unlodge yourself. How hard is it? Listen, I've been stuck in worse and I've gotten out. All it takes is a little gumption. And hurry up, Ever Given. Just unlodge yourself. How hard is it? Listen, I've been stuck in worse, and I've gotten out. All it takes is a little gumption. Exactly, or butter or something. Butter, elbow grease, gumption. You got it.

It's a good recipe. Ever Gumption. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.