What A Day - It Takes Two Bills To Make Reform Go Right

Episode Date: June 25, 2020

Democrats in the Senate blocked a Republican police reform bill yesterday, and Democrats in the House are expected to bring their police reform bill to the floor today. In Colorado, millions are calling for a new investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, who was killed in police custody last year. The country hit its single-day high in new confirmed coronavirus cases yesterday. A new trend is emerging of local jurisdictions making their own calls in the absence of state and federal leadership. And in headlines: early results from Tuesday’s primaries, GNC goes bankrupt, and Roundup pays out 10 billion to settle cancer suits.

It's Thursday, June 25th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we've now done almost as many episodes in quarantine as we did in the studio. Yeah, and to celebrate, we're going to stay in quarantine. Yeah, more of the same from us, to be honest. It's the safer choice. On today's show, Congress takes one step forward and one step back on police reform, then some headlines. But first, the latest. On Wednesday, the country hit its single day high in new confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of this entire pandemic. That's according to tracking from the Washington Post. More than 36,000 cases were reported. The prior high was in late April. So it certainly seems like the country is regressing, at least in some states like California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. So we know that these cases

are climbing. And we know that public health officials always said that reopenings would lead to more cases. But now that we are here, are we getting any actual policy responses? That would be logical, right? Well, mostly we're seeing a mix of responses. And it kind of seems like at some point reality is going to catch up with the people who are making these decisions here. For instance, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has had incredibly confusing messaging on all of this, is now actually talking about potential local restrictions in the state as hospitals are concerned about the surge they're seeing. More locally, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city's ICUs are filled to 97% capacity, with COVID-19 patients accounting for more than a quarter in intensive care. Then in Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis didn't make

a policy change but encouraged people to avoid crowds, areas with bad ventilation, and close contact with other people. Then other govs, notably Democratic governors, took tougher stances. In Washington state, Governor Jay Inslee is saying that masks are going to be mandatory in public statewide. California already had that policy. North Carolina's governor is also introducing a mask mandate and pausing further reopening. But what's becoming kind of the trend are just local jurisdictions within states making their own calls, sometimes absent state leadership, and of course, with no national leadership. And sometimes it's being dictated by local businesses too, who have to make the difficult decision to close again, given the spread in their areas. So

time's going to kind of tell if more states end up making more restrictive choices and whether or not people would actually adhere to them. Yeah. And it is kind of ironic that these northern states, which had awful outbreaks earlier in the year, are now in a way better position. And, you know, they're trying to protect it while everybody else is just shit in the bed. That's right. So New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that individuals traveling from harder hit states are going to have to quarantine for two weeks when they get to New York. The initial states that are deemed high risk in that include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington state. And there's a penalty that could be imposed of up to $10,000 if you break the rules. So do not break them.

New Jersey and Connecticut are also part of the arrangement, which is, like you said, a pretty crazy turnaround since late March when it was Florida telling New Yorkers to quarantine as people fled the city there. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty obvious that the virus is sticking around and places are just going to have to be ready to contain it. Or they can keep ignoring it and things can just keep getting worse, but they really should try to contain it. You know, what do we know about how that's actually working out in other countries? Yeah, there's a general agreement from everyone that they don't want to go back into lockdowns that further damage the economy and affect workers. So places have been trying these sort of localized containment measures. So you look at South Korea, they prepared the public for

the long haul here. And that's gone a long way to having a public that trusts the government is willing to engage. They set a target of 50 new cases max per day, which I think is the amount that they can actually trace and contain. But the second that things seem out of control, like that recent outbreak at bars in Seoul, they act, they made people wear masks on public transportation, and close public facilities for two weeks. And they've been adapting throughout the process per the New York Times, their companies are having people sit in zigzags, for instance, because apparently that's supposed to be good.

There are strange rules like the discouragement of singing in public places. That one should stick around even after all of this, is how I feel. Fully agree, fully endorse. And they even told people to wear two kinds of masks in the summer, one that is a typical surgical mask

and another that is like an N95, which lets fewer particles in for more crowded areas. And we talked about Germany in the context of meat processing plants on yesterday's show. They also have similar rules when things seem to spiral out of control, like a rule they have in place that areas that register more than 50 new infections per 100,000 people within seven days have to curb it with some kind of mass testing or localized quarantine. So no place is going to have this quite figured out. But even for the countries that seem to have quote unquote beaten COVID-19, they're having to be flexible and come up with ways to deal with this. And I think there's something to be learned there, especially if this is all successful.

The targeted approach is certainly better than doing nothing. That's right. Moving on, though, let's talk about where things stand on policing. There are two dueling bills in Congress, one in the House from Democrats and one in the Senate that's written by Republicans. And yesterday, Democrats blocked that Senate bill, saying it was a non-starter. Yeah. So for those of us on the internet, it's a pretty familiar experience watching people

conflate what Democrats and the Senate are doing with what the Republicans are trying to do. But today we're going to deal in facts. So here's what happened. Yesterday, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans from taking up their policing bill, calling the legislation, quote, flawed. The GOP bill would collect data on police practices, establish new training programs, increase body cams, things that just add resources to the police, but it really doesn't do anything that the Democrats have wanted or pushed for, like, you know, making it easier to prosecute cops. So in essence, it does little to save actual lives. No one has really ever accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of being succinct, but he did approach it yesterday.

So to Mitch McConnell's face, he said, quote, I want to ask the American people, I want to ask the Republican senators, who is a better guardian of the civil rights of African-Americans when it comes to police reform, the NAACP or Mitch McConnell. So don't get on your sanctimonious horse, Leader McConnell. You have none of the civil rights community behind you. Fars. Straight fire. But since then, you know, Trump has mischaracterized the loss as Democrats trying to weaken the police. Look, if only that's really what they were full heartedly trying to do.

Later today, though, House Democrats are actually going to bring their bill to the floor where it's expected to pass. So we're going to be keeping an eye on that. But keeping in the theme of police and civil rights abuses, we also have an update on the Ahmaud Arbery case in Georgia. That's right. So the three men involved in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, one you'll remember is a former law enforcement officer and another is his son. Right. So they were indicted by a grand jury yesterday on murder charges in Georgia. Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery's mother, says she's pleased with the direction the case is moving. I am too. But I do think we all need to remember that the only

reason that any of this is happening is because the video got out and really because a video existed at all. So we're going to keep you all posted as the case progresses. But along with the push for accountability in the cases of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, we're also seeing a renewed push to revisit and reopen older cases of police violence. Yeah. And one prominent example is Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was killed in police custody in Aurora, Colorado. He was walking home last year from a convenience store and police responded to a 911 call of a quote, suspicious person. In arresting him, officers used a neck hold and called first

responders to the scene who injected McClain with ketamine to quote sedate him. He had a heart attack and died days later. Yeah, local rallies were held at the time. Articles were published in local newspapers. But, you know, I really hate to say this. We know where this is going. The local DA cleared all the officers involved. And after a temporary leave, they are now all back on the job. Now, McLean's case is getting fresh attention.

According to the Sentinel Colorado, the local DA's office has received over 10,000 emails in the last couple of weeks. That's compared to just two emails in the previous six months. And almost 2.5 million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for a new investigation. At least people are paying attention. And now we're starting to see some kind of progress. Yeah, like some early signs. I mean, in the last couple of weeks in the city of Aurora, they banned the use of neck holds, although ketamine injections are still allowed by first responders for some reason. And Colorado's Governor Jared Polis said he is now looking at intervening in the case. At the state level, Colorado just passed a big reform law last Friday

to among other things and qualified immunity as a defense in state courts for police officers being sued for civil rights violations. So that makes Colorado the first state to eliminate it. Individual officers can now be held liable for up to $25,000, which seems incredibly low, but at least it's a start. And that's the latest. It's Thursday WOD Squad, and for today's temp check, we're talking about some important legal business. A Virginia judge has dismissed lawsuits brought by California rep Devin Nunes against two parody accounts that pretended to be his mom and a cow. He sued Twitter for $250 million, saying that the parody accounts nearly cost him his reelection. But the judge ruled that Twitter couldn't be held responsible for posts by its users. So Giddy, from your professional legal perspective, where did Nunes go wrong? Yeah, I wish that I could have prosecuted this case for Mr. Nunes.

Look, you got to show that this mom and a cow are a danger to you, you know, and they're posting information that could be embarrassing and could make you feel unsafe and, you know, could actually impact your election. I just frankly don't think that he proved that this innocent cow did much wrong in this case. For sure. And beyond that, you know, the burden of proof is on him to prove that he is actually like a likable person people would want to elect in the first place. And he has certainly not done that. So, yeah, I think that there's a lot of mistakes happening on his behalf in this case. But do you think that justice was served in your legal opinion?

Yeah, I think that we should be able to shitpost and troll Devin Nunes for the rest of our lives. That's our right as Americans. Like it's in the Constitution. And I plan on continuing to exercise that right and calling him dumb on Twitter when he says dumb things, which is pretty much every time he tweets. Yeah, I mean, for me, purely from a legal standpoint, I definitely think that, you know, implementing the use of more animals to possibly embarrass him or send more posts really just sort of lines up with classical legal theory and, you know, doctrine that I actually learned pursuing my degree. That's right. That's exactly right.

That's how I remember it. Well, just like that, we have checked our temps. We are standing a cow account on Twitter. Please stay safe, and we will check in with all of you again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The results from Tuesday's chaotic primaries are rolling in, and so far it's looking really good for progressive candidates in New York. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her district's primary, ensuring her a smooth reelection. With a huge number of absentee ballots still rolling in,

many races haven't been officially called yet. But former educator Jamal Bowman is currently beating incumbent House Democrat Elliot Engel by a landslide. And here's Bowman on our pod this week. People would be more involved in democracy if we engage them in our democracy. Everyone's voice is supposed to matter. Everyone's supposed to be involved and everyone's supposed to be engaged. That's right. In voting and also someone should marry me. But back to the primary results. All right. In Kentucky, progressive candidate Charles Booker is trailing behind Democrat Amy McGrath to be the Democratic Senate candidate. And looking ahead to the presidential election, new polls show that Joe Biden is taking the lead over Trump with the

support of white women and non-white voters. Plus, he's cutting into Trump's voting base among all male voters and white voters and people middle aged or older. So get ready for November. Yeah, it's almost every demographic. So good luck. No luck. No luck. No well wishes. No well wishes. The company behind Roundup Weed Killer will be paying over $10 billion to settle tens of thousands of legal claims. Bayer made the announcement yesterday after years of lawsuits filed by cancer patients claiming that the product caused non Hodgkin's lymphoma. This $10 billion deal is one of the largest settlements ever made in the history of civil lawsuits. I know that from my legal degree. Even after all of this, Bayer still claims that Roundup is still safe to use and plans to continue selling the product without

adding any warning labels about its safety. Now, part of the settlement money will be used to create an independent panel to decide whether or not chemicals in the product do indeed cause cancer. I personally recommend holding off on Roundup and letting weeds devour your lawn until that panel has a firm answer. Honestly, the weeds can do whatever they want. So, vitamin and supplement store GNC, which is basically a straight guy's version of Sephora, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week with plans to close 1,200 of their 5,200 U.S. stores. For years, GNC has been telling us to slim down and tighten up, and they're finally following their own advice. GNC has fought to pay off its nearly $1 billion in debt. This became impossible when COVID hit, leading them to close many of their stores and report a $200 million

loss during the first quarter of the year. GNC is the sixth major U.S. retailer to file for bankruptcy since the pandemic began. Pour one out for them, and by one, I mean one large jug of plant-based birthday cake protein powder. My morning drink of choice. That sounds wretched. Production of the new Amazon Lord of the Rings show is set to resume next month in New Zealand. The country formed a fellowship and put coronavirus back in Mount Doom. Now they can make fun TV shows again. To find actors for the show,

one New Zealand casting agency made an unusual job posting this week. They asked for talent that was, quote, funky looking, by which they meant having long, skinny limbs, facial lines, large eyes, skinny faces, and or missing bones. Okay, yeah, be right back. Throwing away my bones so I can be in the next Lord of the Rings. lines, large eyes, skinny faces, and or missing bones. Okay. Yeah.

Be right back. Throwing away my bones so I can be the next Lord of the Rings. Tolkien fans are strong in numbers, so much so that a 2012 casting call for The Hobbit drew 3,000 extras and was shut down by police. They better not try that shit on me because the only laws I follow are the laws of Middle freaking Earth. I'm so glad you read that headline instead of me. And those are the headlines.

That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, don't sue us for $250 million and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just J.R.R. Tolkien's high fantasy epic Lord of the Rings, like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And stay strong, GNC.

Please keep being in that weird dark corner of the mall that I never visit. You're going to live near that Auntie Anne's until you're old. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. you