What A Day - Fiona Leaves Puerto Rico In The Dark

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

The entire island of Puerto Rico is without power after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Sunday. More than 3 million people are in the dark, nearly five years to the day that Hurricane Maria struck.State officials in Alabama said they are not ready to use “nitrogen hypoxia” to execute people on death row – for now. They had planned to execute an inmate this week using the new and untested method, but will instead opt for lethal injection.And in headlines: world leaders arrive in London for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, Virginia put out new school guidelines targeting trans students, and a federal judge appointed a special master to review the documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago.Show Notes:Bad Bunny: El Apagón - Aquí Vive Gente (Official Video) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TCX_Aqzoo4The Atlantic: "Dead to Rights: What did the state of Alabama do to Joe Nathan James in the three hours before his execution?" – https://tinyurl.com/mr3x2dshVote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked 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/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday 

It's Monday, September 19th. I'm Travelle Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice, and this is What A Day, recorded very quietly today from the far back row of the Queen of England's funeral. You know, at Black funerals, they have food afterwards. I don't know if this one has any fried chicken, but it would be very useful right about now. I actually asked the Queen before she died what food we would be having. What did she say? Beans on toast. On today's show, world leaders gather in London to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Plus, Virginia reverses course on protections

for trans students. But first, as of our recording Sunday night, the entire island of Puerto Rico is without power. After Hurricane Fiona, a Category 1 storm made landfall yesterday afternoon. That's left over 3 million people literally in the dark. And in response, President Biden declared a state of emergency on the island. It's really devastating to see what's happening already. And obviously more things will happen over the next couple of days. And we knew this storm would have major impacts. to see what's happening already. And obviously more things will happen over the next couple of days. And we knew this storm would have major impacts.

The National Hurricane Center said it could trigger life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides. In addition to the power being out, what else are people in Puerto Rico experiencing? Yeah, so I should say first that it's not just people in Puerto Rico who've been impacted by Hurricane Fiona, right? Other parts of the Caribbean

are dealing with the impact of the storm. For example, in the Dominican Republic, where some areas might see up to 12 inches of rain, there was a landslide at an apartment complex Saturday night. As of now, there are no reports of injuries, thankfully. And then in Guadalupe, for those who've never heard of Guadalupe, it is a collection of islands controlled by France in the Atlantic Ocean. In Guadalupe. It is a collection of islands controlled by France in, you know, the Atlantic Ocean. In Guadalupe, at least one person has died as a result of the hurricane. But we're focusing on Puerto Rico right now, not just because of the island-wide power outage,

because of which, by the way, schools and government buildings are closed today. We're zeroing in on Puerto Rico because this week, Tuesday to be exact, marks the five year anniversary of Hurricane Maria. I can't believe it's been five years. For those who don't remember, over 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria back in 2017. The storm was the deadliest natural disaster on U.S. territory in 100 years. And most of those deaths were attributed to the massive power outage that interrupted medical care and other services. Absolutely. You know, Hurricane Maria,

it triggered the world's second longest blackout. In addition to those deaths that you mentioned, the storm caused more than $90 billion in damage, much of which has not yet been rebuilt. In fact, the government has completed only 21% of the nearly 6,000 official post-hurricane repair projects. And in a handful of the island's almost 80 municipalities, not a single project has begun. And so, as you might imagine, Josie, even though Hurricane Fiona is a significantly less powerful storm than Maria was, Puerto Rico's functional but fragile power grid was and is a persisting point of vulnerability for the island. And I didn't even mention the economic and socio-political issues the territory is navigating post-Maria. Side note here, if you are interested in knowing

more about what life is like for Puerto Ricans on the island, Bad Bunny, yes, we all know who Bad Bunny is, that one. He's got something for you. Late last week, he released a music video for his song El Apagón, which means the blackout. Attached to the video is a short documentary called Aquí Vive Gente, or People Live Here, that kind of sheds light on the everyday reality

for folks there, including the fragile power grid. We'll put a link to that in our show notes. Yeah, and I feel like it's important to reiterate something that you said, Travelle, which is this is a less powerful storm than Maria. But once something like Maria hits infrastructure, it makes everything that come after it so much worse, right? And so we're seeing that in Puerto Rico, and we're going to see that more and

more, you know, over the next few years as this becomes more common. Absolutely. We should also note that, you know, Puerto Rico is a, you know, territory of the United States, you know, that is part of our country. I know some folks, public school education might not have gotten to that point of the geography lesson, but it is part of the U.S. and they don't have voting rights. They cannot participate in our elections, which might have something to do with the fact that, you know, the infrastructure still isn't rebuilt after Maria.

But, you know, we could do a whole separate episode on that. In the meantime, we will keep following the story of Hurricane Fiona. It's currently forecast to become even worse, unfortunately, perhaps a category three or higher in a day or two as it moves. Some other news that we're following. The state of Alabama has concluded they are not ready to use what they call nitrogen hypoxia as a way of executing people on death row, at least for now. They plan to execute death row inmate Alan Miller this week using the new and untested method, but will instead opt for lethal injection. Nitrogen hypoxia. Sounds bad. But Josie, let's start with what exactly is nitrogen hypoxia?

Nitrogen hypoxia is like a fancy scientific way of describing what is basically a method of killing a person by suffocation. It replaces the air that a condemned inmate breathes with 100% nitrogen. So no more oxygen, 100% nitrogen. So they basically die because they can't breathe. Their organs shut down, etc. And they essentially suffocate to death. Yikes. That sounds painful.

We're talking about Alabama here. Has Alabama or any other state, for that matter, ever executed anyone this way? No, they have not. Okay. All right. We love a simple answer. Okay. So answer this for me.

Is this process legal? Yeah. So it is legal. In fact, it's been legal in Alabama for some time, and it's also legal in Mississippi and Oklahoma. But it's only now becoming a possibility because of the continued controversy surrounding lethal injection. Okay, right. So now I know we talked about this on the show before, but could you remind us a bit of what's going on there? Yeah. So basically lethal injection requires a drug cocktail, and that drug cocktail includes drugs that states are having a harder and harder time getting. There are a few reasons for that. Primarily, though, drug companies

recognize that selling these drugs to states so that they could kill people wasn't great for the image, so they stopped. And there's just been more pushback against lethal injection as a, quote, humane method of execution, including increasing pushback against the idea that it's painless. Studies have shown that it, in fact, can be extraordinarily painful and often leads to a drawn out, excruciating death for people on death row. There was an incredible, incredible piece about this by Liz Brunick in The Atlantic recently, where she actually went to the autopsy for Joe Nathan James Jr., who was executed by the state of Alabama in July.

That execution was reportedly the longest in the 40-year history of the modern death penalty in America. It reportedly took about three hours for him to die, even though the state has been less than forthcoming about what happened there. Brunig called it, quote, lengthy and painful. And one doctor who also attended the autopsy said Alabama executioners were quote, unqualified for the task in a most dramatic way. Oh my God, that sounds absolutely horrible. Three hours? Are you kidding me? Three hours. Yes. Wow. Unbelievable. So as states have

found it harder and harder to get these drugs, they've turned to other methods of execution. In some states, they've gone back to the electric chair. In South Carolina, they've turned to other methods of execution. In some states, they've gone back to the electric chair. In South Carolina, they've talked about bringing back the firing squad. And in Alabama, they now want to essentially suffocate a person to death. Okay, so I'm going to need South Carolina to calm it down. Okay. Yeah. Somebody call up Lindsey Graham and the rest of them and tell them to sit down real quick. Okay, the firing squad?

Come on now. Yeah, the firing squad. That's absurd. So given how difficult it is to get these drugs to make the cocktail, like you mentioned, this, Trevelle, state officials in Alabama also couldn't explain how they were going to protect execution witnesses if they used nitrogen on an inmate. Oh my god. In other words, they were like, if we use this method, like, maybe we'll accidentally kill other people in the room because we don't know what we're doing. Yikes. And somebody thought this was a good idea. Yeah.

Lots of people did, in fact. Just shocking. Truly shocking. The bottom line here is that there really is no humane way to kill someone. Right. Even if, and maybe especially if, the state is doing the killing. So for now, they plan to use lethal injection going forward, despite the horrible outcome in the July execution of Joe Nathan James Jr.

The obvious solution, which is to stop executing people, has been rejected by the state of Alabama. Of course it has. So that is the latest for now, and we'll be back after some ads. Now let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Today is the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. And since it is one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in recent memory, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the city is faced with an unprecedented security challenge. About 10,000 police officers will be on duty and many foreign dignitaries will have to share a shuttle bus to the funeral.

I'm imagining Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron connecting over some complimentary Dasanis. Maybe they'll splurge and go Evian. Who knows? Yeah, totally. However, President Joe Biden got the OK to roll up in his own armored vehicle. Meanwhile, over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of mourners waited hours for a chance to see the Queen's coffin at Westminster Hall. Members of the royal family and other VIPs, again like Joe Biden, got to skip the queue.

But if there's one thing that Brits love to do, it is waiting in line. I am told one person who wanted to wait his turn was none other than British soccer, excuse me, football legend David Beckham. Mr. Bendit like Beckham, if you know what I'm saying. Beckham was reportedly in line for 13 hours, Josie. That's a remarkably long time to see a coffin. A box. Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin put out new guidelines for schools on Friday, taking aim at trans students and reversing previous rules put in place to protect them. Under the new policy, trans kids will not be allowed to use the bathroom that aligns

with their gender identity, and teachers will not be allowed to refer to a student by their chosen name or pronoun unless they have written permission from their parents. Outrageous. The new guidance also states that teachers cannot quote-unquote conceal any information about a student's gender identity from their parents, meaning that teachers could be forced to out-trans students to their families. The new rules will likely be challenged in court, but as of right now, all of Virginia's school districts must adopt some version of these new policies by the end of next month. And to get an idea of how many students this will impact, according to the UCLA Williams Institute, which studies gender identity and law, over 6,000 teens in the state identify as trans.

This is absurd. For obvious reasons. I hope that they're obvious for the folks listening. But I'm really going to need Glenn Youngkin, who every time we mention on this show, may I add, it's for some foolishness. It's doing something so messy.

It just doesn't even make any sense. He should talk to somebody about the fact that the only time we bring up his name is when he is trying to take somebody's rights away. Last week, a federal judge appointed Judge Raymond Deary to serve as the special master to review documents seized by the FBI at former President Trump's home last month. We talked about Deary and his background on our show from September 13th. But the Justice Department is not on board with Deary reviewing all of the documents. On Friday, the DOJ asked an appeals court if the review could the government and the public, which I don't know what that means. But it's just making this entire situation a whole lot more complicated and chaotic to me. A common theme is emerging among Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, and that theme is residency in New Jersey. Senate candidate and exasperated grocery shopper and quack Dr. Oz had to defend himself all summer

against claims that he predominantly lives in the Garden State, and he hasn't made it easy for himself since he's also recorded campaign ads from his mansion in New Jersey. The latest guy to wash up from the Jersey Shore is Pennsylvania's Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano. Mastriano was born and raised in New Jersey. And late last week, the New Jersey Globe reported he was registered to vote there until, ready for it, 2021. Of course. Which you all may recall was actually not that long ago. Pretty recent.

Now Mastriano's situation is a little easier to defend than Oz's. He did register to vote in Pennsylvania when he moved there in 2012. And the most likely scenario is that he didn't tell the Jersey Election Board to unregister him when he left the state. What does that sound like to you? Oh, normal. But Republicans would call that voter fraud when you're registered to vote in two different states. Yes, they would. Even though that happens, as we can see here.

So the audacity. Anyway, still, there may be an opening for Josh Shapiro, Mastriano's Democratic opponent, to use this new information against him. And we'd recommend that Shapiro take notes from Oz's Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, who enlisted Jersey Shore star Snooki to troll Oz with this cameo video. Hey, Maymatt. This is Nicole Snooki. Personally, I don't know why anyone would want to leave Jersey,

but I want to say best of luck to you. And don't worry, because you'll be back home in Jersey soon. This is only temporary. It's so good. I love it. Wow. It's beautiful. This is top tier Wow. It's beautiful. This is

top tier shade. It is. It's top tier shade. Top tier campaigning. Right. Love this. Love it. And to go through Cameo, I mean, I can't get over how good this is. It's just so good. This is amazing. Okay, John Fetterman, you deserve

to be elected just for that alone, okay? It's true. It's true. After a long and passionate campaign by the likes of Doja Cat, Dollyetterman, you deserve to be elected just for that alone, okay? It's true. It's true. After a long and passionate campaign by the likes of Doja Cat, Dolly Parton, and our own John Lovett, only the first two of whom were getting paid millions of dollars, Mexican pizza is finally back at Taco Bell. The final boss of fusion food returned as a permanent menu item last Friday. Joining the chorus of haters who consider Mexican pizza to be little more than a weird tostada was Pizza Hut,

which tweeted at Taco Bell late last week that they were introducing their own quote-unquote Italian taco, which was really just a piece of pizza folded in half like we used to do back in the day. Pizza Hut later deleted the tweet, but that doesn't mean they lost this fight. The true losers here are the children who will grow up in a world where Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are the stewards of Italian and Mexican culture. I also love that I say Italian and not Italian. I love the Italian. I love it. It's perfect. Never change. I'll do my best. Thank you so much.

And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go. The first vote by mail ballots are hitting mailboxes and the earliest in-person voting starts this week. So if you don't know how you'll vote, this is the week to get your shit together. We're not playing games, y'all. Come on. Okay? Yes. Visit votesaveamerica.com

slash everylastvote to make your plan, remind everyone you know to do the same, and make a donation to the Every Last Vote Fund. Those contributions go directly to help organizers and volunteers in key swing states mobilize communities of color

that are routinely targeted by voter suppression tactics. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, buy a cameo from Snooki, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Twitter fights between fast food companies like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Travelle Anderson. And take a Dasani for the road, President Macron.

You need one. Right, he needs a goodie bag to take home with him. Yeah, they won't charge you probably. What a day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein. And our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka.