What A Day - Fighting Resumes In Israel-Hamas War

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

The weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas expired early Friday morning local time and combat operations resumed. Prior to that, Hamas released eight more hostages on Thursday for a total of more than 100. Israel that same day released another 30 Palestinians from Israeli prisons for a total of 240.Governors Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom took to the stage on Thursday for a primetime debate on Fox News. Under Sean Hannity’s moderation, the two debated everything from taxes to the economy to abortion policy and more.And in headlines: a New York appeals court reinstated a gag order against Donald Trump, nations at COP28 agreed to compensate countries hit by extreme weather caused by climate change, and WAD listeners share their thoughts on the word of the year.Show Notes:NYT: “Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago” – https://tinyurl.com/ypttur2jVox Media Union Layoff Relief – https://tinyurl.com/ykjqeol5What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, December 1st. I'm Traevel Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And this is What A Day, where Congress will vote today on whether to oust George Santos. Or as he called himself this week, the Mary Magdalene of Congress. I will never be over it. I'm sorry. It's the funniest thing that has ever happened.

Listen. I just can't. Mary Magdalene is somewhere in her grave rolling over like, how I get in it? Leave me out of it. On today's show, the highlights, but mostly the lowlights from yesterday's debate between Governors Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom. Plus, we hear from you, the WOD squad, about what you think should be the word of the year. But first, a quick update on the war in Gaza. As we told you yesterday, the truce between Israel and Hamas was extended for another 24 hours, meaning the fighting is set to resume today. But we're recording this shortly before the deadline of midnight eastern, and there is no deal to extend the pause in violence. And one hour before the truce expired,

Israel's military said it shot down a rocket launched from Gaza. We'll have more details as they come. Despite all this, though, the extension through yesterday meant the release of eight more Israeli hostages by Hamas and another 30 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons. Only civilian women and children have been released on either side thus far. Yeah, you mentioned that there were efforts to try and extend this pause once again. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and where it's ended up? Yeah, so negotiators from Qatar and Egypt since the Thursday extension were working over time, it seems, to try and make yet another extension to the truce happen, quote, in an effort to cease fire, release more prisoners and detainees, and bring more humanitarian and relief aid into the Gaza Strip. That's from a statement released by Egypt's State Information Service.

The plan was to see if the truce could last another two days. At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was back in the region. He actually had a meeting with Israel's war cabinet, during which reports say he was briefed on the next phase of Israel's plan. In a press conference after the meeting, he said that he reiterated to Prime Minister Netanyahu that if and when fighting resumes, Palestinian civilians must be protected. Take a listen. In my meetings today with the prime minister and senior Israeli officials, I made clear that before Israel resumes major military operations, it must put in place humanitarian

civilian protection plans that minimize further casualties of innocent Palestinians. But Israel has the most sophisticated, one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world. It is capable of neutralizing the threat posed by Hamas while minimizing harm to innocent men, women, and children. And it has an obligation to do so. The way Israel defends itself matters. It's imperative that Israel act in accordance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war. Yeah. I mean, I think that is a sentiment a lot of people share, but beyond the sentiment, it remains to be seen how they will be

holding Israel to that standard, you know, what will be achieved in there. I think a lot of people are waiting for that. Any other updates at this point that you have to share with us? Yeah. So yesterday evening, the New York Times published a report claiming that Israel actually knew about Hamas's plan to attack them more than a year before it actually happened. We'll include a link to the article in our show notes, but they've reviewed this 40-page document that apparently Israeli officials had that detailed point by point how Hamas intended to attack them. There was no date on the document for when it was supposed to happen, but still Israel dismissed it as too hard

or advanced for Hamas. They even called this document the Jericho Wall, which if you know anything about, you know, the biblical references, I think is very telling. But the group, Hamas, actually followed that blueprint, according to the Times, quote, with shocking precision. This, of course, is important because, for example, we've heard from Israelis, particularly the families of those killed or taken hostage, that Israel, with its sophisticated military, like we just heard Lincoln say, should have prevented the October 7th attack. And this report reveals that they perhaps could have if official after official had not ignored either this document or the multiple

flags that were raised by their own analysts since at least 2016. So we will have to wait and see how this story impacts things going forward, but I'm sure it won't be, you know, ignored. Thank you so much for that update, Trevelle. Obviously, a lot happening. We will continue to follow it. Switching gears now to something far more trivial. Last night, Florida governor and flailing Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis squared off against California's Democratic governor slash man who will apparently do anything to avoid doing his job, Gavin Newsom, in a primetime debate on Fox News. Are they facing each other in an election, you ask?

No, they are not. Is there a human alive that asked for this to happen? Also, no. Nevertheless, for 90 minutes, they debated everything from taxes to the economy to abortion policy under the masterful moderation of one Sean Hannity. For those of you asking why, I will be honest with you, I do not have an answer. But I can share the how this debate came together after Hannity asked both

governors in separate on-air interviews over the summer if they would be willing to debate each other. Obviously, neither of them were willing to let go of the bit for long enough, and so we all ended up here. It aired on Fox last night with the tagline, The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate. Yeah, it wasn't that great. No. From my vantage point, at least. But for those of us who had better things to do last night, hopefully all of our wonderful listeners tell them what they missed.

Yes. So from the beginning, Governor Newsom made one thing very clear. Sean, there are profound differences tonight and I look forward to engaging them. But there's one thing in closing that we have in common is neither of us will be the nominee

for our party in 2024. I mean, it's a little brutal for Ron, no doubt. But if we're fact-checking this debate, it's a little brutal for Ron, no doubt. But if we're fact checking this debate, it doesn't look like a lie. This debate in general was billed as Florida versus California. And I mean, it was for the most part. But Newsom made it clear at times that he was not just there to talk about his state, but also the state of our country under the Biden-Harris administration. One instance that stood out in particular was this back and forth on the economy and Bidenomics under President Biden. Obviously, DeSantis was very critical, but Newsom rattled off several stats of the economy's

successes under Biden and noted that DeSantis had benefited from their policies as well. Take a listen. People flee to be able to save money to get out of California. And you have working class people that move to these other states. Their dollars go much further. But here's the thing. They want to take this Bidenomics and they want to double down on this for the next four years. 3.9 percent unemployment, the lowest black unemployment in American history, the lowest unemployment for Hispanics in American history, the lowest unemployment for women in 70 years, the lowest black poverty rates in history. That's this administration's agenda. And by the way,

as you smile and smirk over there, you should know this, the American people. Here's a guy who celebrated Bidenomics just this week, celebrating $28 million that came into your state because of the Chips and Science Act, one of the most significant economic plans since FDR. I'm proud of the work Biden and Harris have done. I love when any politician actually cites like actual statistics and like calls people out on their foolishness and their, you know, double speak that a lot of these Republicans and conservatives often do. I mean, the Democrats do it too, but the Republicans and conservatives. So shout out to Newsom, at least in that clip. Yes, I will say like DeSantis really tried to make it about California and all the talking

points that Republicans have about, you know, all the reasons they don't like the state. But Newsom was quite effective at certain points in turning it around and making it a conversation about what Democrats want nationally and defending the administration, their policies. He was effective at points in time in doing that and was very impassioned in doing that as well. Sean Hannity, who was moderator here, spent much of the debate saying that he didn't want to be a hall monitor and that he wanted to let the debate breathe like it was a bottle of wine. Had quite an exhaustive list of topics for these two to run through over the course of this debate. Another very hot button one that came up was immigration.

And Newsom used the opportunity to hit DeSantis hard for his actions in that area. Your immigration policy can best be described as a governor from the state of Florida going into another state, the state of Texas, lying to migrants, promising them jobs and housing, sending them to an island, Martha's Vineyard, and then sending them to a parking lot in Sacramento, California. It just underscores the cruelty. I mean, we have covered it extensively on this show of Ron DeSantis and people like him who use these people and their lives just as like a political pawn to make a point. And it is cruel.

It's disgusting. I'm glad he underscored it because it's not like he's offering policy solutions. It just is like trying to own the libs in ruining these people's lives. Yeah, I just hope that whoever is watching, you know, this Fox News debate isn't somehow infatuated or pleased with DeSantis's, you know, horrible responses and his horrible policies. Because when you watch it, you literally can tell that like the Republican Party and these folks who are, you know, like Newsom said earlier, not going to be the nominee. It's just really interesting to be witnessing all of this unfold right now. I don't know if I would say it's reassuring or not, but his poll numbers would indicate that people are not infatuated. At least we can hold that in our hearts.

But anyways, at one point, Newsom did manage to call DeSantis unserious, which if you've been listening to this program, you know is a personal favorite insult of ours. So relish in that moment. But at the end of the day, this debate, let's be honest, it was a spectacle. If you are sitting there listening to this show, let's be honest, it was a spectacle. If you are sitting

there listening to this show, you actually care about winning elections in 2024 and beyond, enacting progressive policies, making our country a better place. Don't let things like this be the distraction that they are. Now is the time to get engaged, to mobilize, to do the work. Vote Save America is here to help you do just that, to help you make the biggest impact possible. So get involved now at votesaveamerica.com. We have no time to waste as we head into 2024. Obviously, we will continue to cover the primaries and the elections as we head into them, but that is the latest for now. Donald Trump is once again being told to STFU. A New York appeals court yesterday reinstated a gag order that bars the former president from commenting on courtroom staff in his New York civil fraud trial. The order was first imposed by trial judge

Arthur Ingeron back in October after Trump took to social media to attack the judge's law clerk, Alison Greenfield. He baselessly called her Schumer's girlfriend because she's in a photo next to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and he accused her of running the case against him. In the weeks following that order, Trump violated it twice and was fined a total of $15,000. But it didn't stop Trump's lawyers from commenting on the judge's law clerk, and eventually Judge Ingeron expanded the gag order to include them as well. Then earlier this month, the gag order was suspended and Trump was once again free to speak as he so wished. And he did, of course. Just this

Wednesday, Trump posted about the clerk on social media again, calling her, quote, disturbed and angry. And in a sworn statement last week, a court security captain said Greenfield received hundreds of threatening and harassing voicemails that when transcribed take up 275 single spaced pages. The single spaced here is important, y'all. Oh, yeah. Judge Ingaran said yesterday that he planned to enforce the reinstated order, quote, rigorously and vigorously. So we will see if that keeps Trump quiet for now. I doubt it does. Yeah, best of luck in that endeavor. I do not envy that job. Right. And as promised, we have got some updates from COP28. Nations at the UN Climate Conference just took a big step by agreeing to compensate countries hit by extreme weather caused by

climate change. It's called the Loss and Damage Fund. We told you a bit about this in yesterday's episode with Navina Sadassavam. It is seen as this huge opening day breakthrough and some countries even started contributing money right away, including $245 million from the European Union and an additional $100 million from the United Arab Emirates, which is the conference's host.

We also discussed the specific language about either phasing out or phasing down fossil fuels. And it does seem that this global deal on phasing them out, which is the stronger and more effective solution, is in trouble. Unsurprisingly, major polluters in the oil-rich host country signal that they were not on board with this phrasing. Russia and Saudi Arabia also stiffly oppose the phase-out language, but it's still early days in this conference. Obviously, we will keep you updated as things unfold. And sticking with the environment, but back in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new restrictions yesterday that require most U.S. cities to replace lead water pipes within 10 years. The proposal under the

Biden administration would affect all of the roughly 9 million lead pipes across the country, and it would impose the strongest limits on lead in more than three decades. And it's all in an effort to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises like the one in Flint, Michigan. But it's no small feat. The EPA estimates that replacing all those pipes could come with a hefty price tag of $20 to $30 billion over the course of 10 years. The EPA also said that it wants to lower the lead action level, aka the level at which utilities have to inform the public, and take action to reduce the exposure to lead. Lead can leach into drinking water through lead pipes,

and exposure to it can cause some serious health effects. For infants and children, it can lead to lower IQs, impair cognitive development, and can result in behavioral disorders. Yeah, we have seen just how devastating this kind of exposure can be for people, for cities in the U.S. I think it is absolutely important and critical work that the EPA is trying to do here. I hope that they can be successful for all of our sake.

We don't deserve to be living with this kind of exposure in our water. That is just vital for us to even survive. The journalism world saw another round of layoffs on Thursday, this time at Condé Nast, which is the parent company of publications like The New Yorker, Vogue, and GQ, as well as Vox Media. Condé Nast announced last month that the company plans to downsize in order to cut costs, and it seems that the company made good on that

promise by letting go of roughly 300 employees yesterday. It's unclear exactly which Condé publications were most impacted, just that the layoffs make up about 5% of the company's workforce. Meanwhile, about 4% of Vox Media's staff was let go. This is the second time that Vox has cut jobs this year, citing troubles with advertising in a quote-unquote dynamic industry. The last time the publication laid off workers was in January when it cut 130 jobs. The Vox Media Union, which is represented by the Writers Guild of America East, released a statement on Thursday saying that many of the people who lost their jobs were reporters and video production members who worked tirelessly to cover important topics like climate change, technology, and policy. The union wrote that the layoffs are, quote, especially devastating in the midst of the holiday season, and we are furious that management has short sightedly opted to eliminate these essential roles. We'll add a link in our show notes to the union's relief fund for those who have been laid off.

I just will say Vox has done just such amazing, such critical work due in large part to so many of these people who lost their jobs today. It's really unfortunate. Absolutely. On to some good news. Michigan Democrats scored a huge win for voting rights yesterday. Governor Gretchen Whitmer officially signed an election bills package, which includes allowing 16-year-olds to register before they can legally vote at age 18 and adding more protections for election officials.

And the thing that we are super excited about is that the legislation will automatically register individuals to vote when they're released from incarceration. It's a really big deal. Michigan is the first state in the nation to implement this kind of legislation. And obviously, we are on the eve of this huge presidential election year that might, once again, depend on the three states crucial to Biden's 2020 win, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Governor Whitmer also signed bills to regulate political ads that use artificial intelligence and another to tighten the election certification process, which President Trump threw an insurrectionist temper tantrum about, you might remember.

Long story short, the mitten state isn't messing around when it comes to voting rights, and the rest of the country, I hope, is taking some notes. Yes, please. And finally, for some piping hot British tea. After two years of speculation, the royal family members who made racist remarks about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's firstborn son have allegedly been identified. That is according to multiple reports that emerged yesterday. The revelation stems from a version of British journalist Omid Scobie's new book, Endgame, that allegedly names the two

so-called royal racists as King Charles and Kate Middleton. For those of you who do not know the lore, Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, famously gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey back in 2020, discussing her experience leaving the royal family. Markle, who is half black, talked about the racism that she faced when she married Prince Harry. And she shocked the world when she said that one of her royal in-laws raised, quote unquote, concerns about what her firstborn son, Archie, would look like and how dark his skin would be before he was even born. Take a listen. Hold up, hold up. There's several conversations about it. There's a conversation with you?

With Harry. About how dark your baby is going to be? Potentially, and what that would mean or look like. Ooh. Markle and Harry refused to reveal which member of the royal family said it, and it seems now we might know. Scobie and his publishers claim this new revelation was all just a mistranslation. In the English version of his book, Scobie mentions the conversation without naming any names,

but a Dutch translation of Endgame identifies Charles and Kate by name. He also told ITV that he, quote, never submitted a book that had their names in it. The Dutch version of Endgame has been pulled off the shelves, and Buckingham Palace has yet to comment. But I suspect they'll have some concerns to raise about the subject very, very soon. I bet they will. Now, I just have a quick thought here on this story. As somebody who has published a book or two,

I just find it interesting that this international version, this Dutch translation has the names, but the English version does not. Something's fishy there, Priyanka. Something is fishy. We don't know what happened, how this happened. All we know is that it didn't just end up there out of nowhere. So someone inserted it, whether it was the author.

The author also notably did not deny that it was these two. Just denied including the names. So I don't know. It's not looking great for these two. It is not. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to hear what you, the WOD Squad, thought was the word of the year. It's Friday, WOD Squad.

We're going to wrap up the week by once again hearing directly from you all. This time, we got your thoughts on the words that defined 2023. Early this week, we told you that Merriam-Webster's word of the year was authentic. The country's oldest dictionary attributed the word's popularity to the rise of artificial intelligence, the spread of misinformation on social media, and the generally blurry lines between what is real

and what is fake in 2023. But we asked you, our listeners, what your word of the year was, and happy to say you all answered. Yes, one of them caught our eye specifically because I think it is how many of us feel. Catherine said that her word of the year was exhaustion. Any thoughts on that, Trayvon? I deeply identify with exhaustion as just like a prevailing feeling, experience, state of being that I have been in since February of 2023. So love that for me. Yeah. I got to say, I feel like authentic.

We're a few years behind on that one. I get like that it applies to, you know, AI. And that was the big thing this year in many ways, but authentic just feels a little, a little late for me. We'll be brainstorming. Maybe we'll come back with better options for you shortly. Continue the conversation on discord and tell us what your word of the year is, or talk about whatever you hear on the show with other fans and us. And if you're not already in our server, go to crooked.com slash friends to

jump in. One more thing before we go over on hysteria this week, Aaron and Alyssa cover the recent sexual assault charges against Diddy, Trump, Russell Brand, and unfortunately many others. Then Naomi Ekperigen and Megan Gailey joined to talk about overconsumption in light of the holiday season shopping bonanza. You can listen to this episode now and make sure you subscribe to Hysteria if you haven't already. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. We are smitten with the mitten state and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just the latest book that names

racist royals like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And you're no Mary Santos. Enjoy your last day in Congress, sir. Enjoy it.

How do you even think of Mary Magdalene's name when you got all of this stuff going on? Okay? I just, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know. I don't know, but hopefully we do not have to think about this man very much longer. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer, it's Itsy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. And our showrunner is Leo Duran. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Thank you.