What A Day - Kerch Strait Bridge Is Falling Down

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Over the weekend, 20 Russian missiles hit civilian areas of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 13 people and injuring 60 more. These air strikes followed an explosion on Saturday on the bridge between Russia and Crimea, which has both economic and symbolic importance.New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday after the city’s primary shelter system became overloaded, due in part to the influx of asylum seekers from Latin America. We discuss what Adams is and isn't doing to help people in New York City find shelter... and the efforts of Republican governors like Texas's Greg Abbott and Arizona's Doug Ducey to exacerbate the city's houselessness crisis.And in headlines: Nationwide protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini entered their fourth week, Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trial starts today, and a NLRB judge ruled that a Michigan Starbucks illegally fired one of its baristas for union organizing. Show Notes:Vote Save America: Every Last Vote – https://votesaveamerica.com/every-last-vote/Thanks to Nick Turner for writing on this episode!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, October 10th. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we are celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day by remembering that Columbus did not actually discover America because people already lived here. That's right. At best, he popped over uninvited and then refused to leave. That makes him maybe the worst house guest in human history. And we've had some bad ones, okay? On today's show, Harvey Weinstein's second sex crimes trial begins in Los Angeles.

Plus, Starbucks is in hot water yet again with the National Labor Relations Board. But first, an update on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Over the weekend, 20 Russian missiles hit civilian areas of Zaporizhia, killing at least 13 people and injuring 60 more. According to local Ukrainian officials, at least 20 houses and 50 apartment buildings were damaged by the shelling. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack, calling it, quote, absolute evil. He noted that rescue teams are still looking for survivors in the rubble, and so the casualties could increase. Now, this attack is at least the second one to hit Zaporizhia in just a few days, as last Thursday, Russian missiles killed another 20 people there and

caused, quote, significant destruction to residential buildings. And late last month, a rocket strike on the outskirts of the city killed yet another 30 civilians at a checkpoint and bus stop as they tried to flee the area. About the latest attack, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, quote, The only goal of Russia's deliberate attacks was to cause death and destruction to civilian people, so terror and fear. Though Russia has continually denied targeting civilians throughout the war, they basically lie and say that the assaults are the work of Ukrainian forces trying to drum up support. It's believed that yesterday's missile strike was in retaliation for an explosion that happened on Saturday on the bridge between Russia

and Crimea. Wow. Okay. So can you tell us a little bit more about this bridge? Why is it important here? Why is it a subject of retaliation? Just tell us a little bit more if you can. Yeah, so it's called the Kerch Strait Bridge. It's the longest one in Europe at 12 miles and the only connection between Russia's mainland and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed back in 2014. The bridge is not only the primary supply route for Moscow's forces fighting in southern Ukraine, but it also is a symbol of Russia's claim over Crimea. So all of that was compromised on Saturday when a blast on the bridge collapsed part of its roadway, killing at least three people. A subsequent fire engulfed

a train of fuel tanks on a separate adjacent rail portion of the bridge. Now, Putin is blaming Ukraine for the explosion, even calling it a, quote, terrorist act. But the Ukrainian government did not officially claim responsibility. One of Zelensky's advisors told the press, quote, Putin accuses Ukraine of terrorism. No, there is only one state terrorist and the whole world knows who he is. His whole like, no, it's actually them bit is getting real old, real fast. It's getting very, very old. Now, that being said, a senior Ukrainian official did tell the New York Times anonymously that Ukraine's intelligence services orchestrated that explosion using a bomb loaded

onto a truck being driven across the bridge. But of course, this war wouldn't even be happening if Russia didn't start it in the first place nearly eight months ago. So it is still Russia's fault, regardless. Correct, yeah. And in related news, Putin turned 70 years old last Friday. So if you were wondering what to get the 70-year-old murderous dictator in your life,

perhaps here's a lesson for you. Tajikistan's president gifted Putin with multiple enormous pyramids of melons, while Belarus's president gave him a gift card for a tractor. Apparently, you know, tractors are an industrial staple for Belarus. They're all the rage there, apparently. Of course. Then Steven Seagal. Yes, that Steven Seagal. Excuse me? Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Apparently he's besties with Putin. He posted a video to Instagram that included this little note. He is one of the greatest

world leaders and one of the greatest presidents in the world. Okay. First of all, that sounds like Donald Trump. So what's going on? Are we serious? These are great questions. But, you know, I will say there is a history of Steven Seagal being celebrated by Putin and the Russians earlier this year for his 70th birthday. They have a whole little relationship going on, Josie. Okay. No, thanks. But my particular favorite gift was a congratulatory message from a group of Ukrainian hackers who posted a note on the Collective

Security Treaty Organization's website that read, quote, we want to congratulate Putin on his last birthday and wish him a comfortable trip to The Hague. I love that too. That's a great troll. I love it. It's perfect. We'll obviously keep y'all updated on the latest in Ukraine. But for now, let's move to a story that's unfolding in New York City. Yes. So on Friday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency after the city's primary shelter system became overloaded due to what the New York Times calls the, quote, influx of thousands of migrants from Latin America. This influx is partially due to political grandstanding from Republicans and border states like Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Anytime I hear those two names in particular, along with DeSantis, it's not good. So before we get into what this declaration of a state of emergency even means, let's talk about the numbers. How many people are currently in the New York City shelter system?

As of Thursday, the number of people in the city shelter system was 61,379. That's just below the all-time record for the system, which was set in 2019. And according to Mayor Adams, the shelter population is on pace to exceed 100,000 this fiscal year. Okay, that's a lot of folks, that's a lot of folks. It's a lot of folks. But that number includes all people in the city's shelter system. How many of those are considered migrants?

Good question. So about 12,700 are considered migrants, meaning migrants make up about a fifth of the city's current shelter population. About 17,000 migrants have arrived in the city since April. But those numbers are not letting up. On Friday, three more busloads of migrants arrived in New York City, and many of them are coming from border states, but they're originally coming from Venezuela, where the economy has collapsed and many people are unable to feed their families or themselves. And many of them are seeking asylum, meaning they are in this country legally, but they don't have work permits.

So there's very little they can do to support themselves. Right. And this is an increase from the past, right? Why is that? Yeah, well, it's because of Republicans playing politics again, right? I mean, we talked on the show about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sending a plane full of asylum seekers to Martha's Vineyard. That was just the latest in the recent history of Republican hijinks. For months, Republican governors, especially Greg Abbott, have been loading migrants onto buses and sending them north to places like D.C., Chicago, and yes, New York. And many of them don't even know where they're going until they get there. Correct.

So it's really horrible. You mentioned that Adams declared a state of emergency. What does this do to, you know, alleviate the current strain on the city's resources? Well, declaring a state of emergency allows the mayor to open up emergency relief centers more quickly by, quote, exempting them from the normal land use and community review process that often slows the opening of shelters. So this basically allows those in the shelter system to get resources like medical care and help from caseworkers more quickly. So the declaration is basically a way of like getting around the red tape that can often impact the ability to help in dire situations. Gotcha. And you also mentioned that only about one fifth of the people in the city's overburdened shelters were migrants. So what else is going on to kind of drive this increase in people needing shelter? Yeah, well, people need shelter when they are experiencing houselessness, right? And the

factors that contribute to houselessness continue to really impact New York City. In fact, in general, the city is increasingly unlivable. There's not enough affordable housing, evictions resumed after the pandemic moratorium, rising rents, etc. And so it's important to keep in mind that Adams has not actually handled this issue of houselessness well in the past. For example, in March, he started his sweeps program where basically unhoused people were offered shelter, but any belongings they couldn't take with them were destroyed, which isn't the kindest thing. He's also proposed some particularly loony policy solutions like putting unhoused people on a cruise ship. In other words, I don't feel super, super positive about his ability to weather the rising numbers that New York City's shelter system is seeing right now. We will continue to follow

Adams' attempts to address the houselessness crisis in New York, and we'll continue to follow the actions of Republican governors to inflame it. But that is the latest for now. We will be back after some ads. Now let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. A report released by Iran's state coroner on Friday described her cause of death as an underlying illness rather than blows to her head by police, as her family has stated. After protests raged on throughout the weekend, authorities shut down all schools in the central Kurdistan region where Amini was from. And on Saturday night, a state-run news program was hacked by anti-government demonstrators. The news report was quickly interrupted with pictures of four young women who have died in Iran in the last month and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, surrounded by

flames. We'd like to warn listeners that this next headline references suicide, so if you need to, go ahead and skip the next minute or so of the show. Last week, attorney Carrie Goldberg accused CBS News of canceling a segment about her firm's lawsuit against Amazon, a lawsuit that accuses Amazon of selling quote-unquote suicide kits to teenagers. Goldberg is representing two families whose kids took their own lives, both of whom ingested fatal doses of a chemical that they bought on Amazon. Goldberg's suit also alleges that when you buy this particular chemical online, Amazon encourages you to bundle it with other products like an antacid that keeps you from vomiting it up and an Amazon edition of a literal suicide handbook. Which, why are you selling that in the first place?

Correct. Amazon claims that it's not responsible for people who misuse the chemical in question, but Goldberg and the family she represents want to hold the company accountable for making it so easy to buy such a deadly product in the first place. Yeah, and it turns out there's no other way to use the chemical. There's no reason you would need this. Disgraced Moby mogul Harvey Weinstein goes to trial in Los Angeles today. This comes five years after allegations were first made against Weinstein. More than 90 women to date have accused the former movie producer of sexual misconduct.

90. I just want to reiterate that number because it's shocking. Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault in New York. This new trial, expected to last a couple of months, could put him behind bars for up to 140 years. I don't really like prisons and whatnot, but you know, it's what he deserves. I gotta say, he's not going to make it 140 years. It's not looking great for him, you know? It's not.

After Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered two concussions in five days, the NFL is modifying its concussion protocol to include ataxia, a term that describes impaired balance and dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue. I'm not a doctor, but those symptoms seem like they should have already been in there. Maybe. I don't know. We've been talking about this for a little minute now with the football. Tua was seen falling down twice while attempting to leave the field after his first concussion two weeks ago. Ironically, a day after the NFL and the NFL Players Association made this announcement, the Miami Dolphins backup quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, suffered a possible concussion on the first play of this Sunday's loss to the Jets and was removed from the game. By the time the NFL finally gets a handle on this issue, there may not be any Dolphins left to save. Yeah, if your quarterback and your backup quarterback both suffer concussions

by playing the game, it might be a problem with the game. There might be. A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled on Friday that a Michigan Starbucks illegally fired one of its baristas for union organizing, and that the company must offer to reinstate the worker with back pay. The ruling also requires that Starbucks officials meet with the location's employees to reemphasize their right to unionize and admit that the company broke the law by retaliating against the former barista. The Starbucks Workers United Union has accused the coffee chain of firing over 80 employees for union organizing, which the company has denied. Finally, justices served the Starbucks way in a cup with your name spelled incorrectly on the side. You know, as somebody who has a little extra punctuation in their name, let's just say Starbucks can never get my name correct. I was going to say, have they ever spelled it correctly? Ever once?

Never. Even when I spell it out for them. Of course. No, no, no. Naturally. An American tourist in Italy showed why everyone hates American tourists last week when he was arrested for toppling two ancient Roman sculptures in anger after being denied, get this, a meeting with the Pope. A police spokesman said on Thursday that the 65-year-old man had seemed psychologically stressed, their words, not mine, which really could describe anyone in 2022, me included. One Roman bust the man threw to the floor lost part of its nose and an ear,

a common injury among 2,000-year-old statues, which they say will take over 300 hours to repair. The two damaged pieces have been described as, quote, culturally insignificant, and it is assumed that the pope was not impressed enough by the hissy fit to grant the man a meeting, because that's not how it works, actually. Yeah. I have to say it is the most American thing on earth to just destroy things because you don't get a meeting with the guy you want. The American way. And those are the headlines.

One more thing before we go. Cricket's newest podcast hosted by Tommy Vitor from Pod Save the World and Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers. World Corrupt is finally here. The world's most watched sporting competition this year will not be a feel-good affair. FIFA, soccer's corrupt governing body, awarded the 2022 edition of the World Cup to Qatar via bribery. On World Corrupt, Roger and Tommy are breaking down all of the controversy surrounding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

and helping listeners understand the tectonic plates shifting under the sporting events they love. New episodes of World Corrupt drop each Saturday in the Pod Save the World and Men in Blazers feeds. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, get your coffee at a unionized Starbucks and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just smashing old statues and anger like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. So check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Travelle Anderson. And always remember, Steven Seagal loves Putin. Which that was not on my 2022 bingo card. I think

it should have been. We knew. We knew it was coming. Yes, I'm the wrong one here. Yeah. I'm the problem. Yeah. 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 Gilliard and Kachaka. you