What A Day - Landlord Szn

Episode Date: July 24, 2020

The federal eviction moratorium from the CARES Act expires today, leaving up to 12 million people vulnerable to eviction if they can’t pay rent. Trump cancelled the Jacksonville portion of the RNC, after he moved the event there from North Carolina. The Justice Department’s Inspector General and the Department of Homeland Security will investigate federal law enforcement actions in Portland. This comes days after Portland’s mayor was tear gassed by federal agents along with protestors in the city. And in headlines: Trump repeals and replaces the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, Michael Cohen will be released from prison again, and virtual Matrix baseball fans.

It's Friday, July 24th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, where we are hoping they just stick with the name of the Washington football team. Yeah, and I hope that this spreads to every sport. Just, you know, the New York baseballs. The Philly hockey. The Los Angeles basketball.

You know, these things, it's easy. Rolls off the tongue. On today's show, federal agents come under federal investigation for policing in Portland and D.C., then some headlines. But first, the latest. What Mr. Yoho did was give permission to other men to do that to his daughters. In using that language in front of the press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, women in his community. And I am here to stand up to say that is not acceptable.

Go off. That was AOC. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put some respect on her name speaking on the House floor yesterday in response to Rep Yoho's offensive comments and non-apology apology. But in other news, the United States passed four million known coronavirus infections yesterday. It took about three and a half months for the country to hit its first million known cases and about 15 days to go from 3 million to 4 million. But in Congress, it's been a week since lawmakers came back into session, and Republicans have spent that time fighting with each other about what should go into the next economic relief bill while the rest of the country waits. So Gideon, let's go through how we got here.

Yeah, so the quick backstory, Democrats in the House passed their version of this next relief bill back in May. It was called the HEROES Act. So it broadly expands and extends emergency aid for frontline workers, states and localities, re-ups those stimulus checks, among other things. And Republicans in the Senate at the time just dismissed it. And now months later, those same Republicans plan to present their own bill. They were coming off this two-week recess and had already given themselves a very short deadline to

draft something before emergency measures from the last bill run out. They're not on track to make that deadline currently. But the fighting that was going on among them this week and between them and the White House delayed the planned introduction of the bill even further from this past Wednesday. Now there's reporting that a final offer is going to be posed to Democrats by Monday. It's just a real utter embarrassment at a moment when people are badly, badly hurting. And one of the big sticking points was a payroll tax cut for employers and employees that the White House was pushing. So Senate Republicans resisted on that. And now that's likely going to be scrapped. Okay, so aside from that, what else do they have in the works? Well, per the Washington Post, they're going to reduce the supplemental unemployment benefits

from $600 a week to about 200 a week. Big cut there, though a draft bill that the New York Times got shows that that could go up. And broadly, these Republicans have been pretty fixed in their idea that giving too much unemployment money is a damper on the economy because people won't look for jobs, to which we and everybody else counters with what jobs are you exactly talking about? And also from the coldly economic angle in this, if you cut that $600 off, you're also keeping money from flowing into the economy because people don't have money to spend. Anyway, other stuff that's in the bill, another round of stimulus payments. That's one of the rare spots of agreement between the two

parties. There's also a reported $70 billion for schools, with about half of that tied to districts reopening in person, $25 billion in money for testing, something the White House also inexplicably didn't want, and money for vaccines. And this is all intended to fit into the Republican proposal, which is supposed to be around a trillion dollars. And Democrats are sticking with their initial bill, which was that $3 trillion bill and includes, among many other things, an extension of that $600 unemployment payment until January. Yeah, I really like that one. But in other things that the White House didn't want, President Trump canceled the Jacksonville portion of the RNC on Thursday. That is right. So this was sort of sudden and of course comes after he moved it to Florida from North Carolina

because the officials there said that they couldn't safely have a full capacity event. And now here we are. So it's exactly the same. It's exactly the same. Yes, the health officials have been pretty consistent in a number of states across the country. But in Jacksonville, Trump was hoping for a larger crowd for his actual convention speech. But he said yesterday that that was no longer

happening given the COVID-19 outbreak in the state. He also said that he would give a speech in some form or other and that the formal nominating process is going to still happen in Charlotte, North Carolina. So no longer an opportunity for older gentlemen to sweat it out on our three of Trump's speech about the five different words that he remembers in order. Yeah, what a bummer for us and for the gifts that we could have been using. But back to the important matter at hand, there were also new unemployment numbers yesterday. So we go over them every week and they're always bad. But there was something more deeply concerning this time.

That's right. So the government reported that more than 1.4 million people filed for unemployment, which is an increase from the week before. And that's the trouble spot. The numbers have been slowly declining for the last three months, and this is the first uptick. And economists so far have said that it indicates that any sort of brief gains that we may have had from reopenings may have begun to subside. And more businesses have had to close in recent weeks as the outbreaks in the U.S. stretch on. And this all comes as federal unemployment benefits are set to run out, as we mentioned, and a federal evictions moratorium expires today. That's from the previously passed CARES Act. So that means that up to 12 million people in units that were protected

could face evictions if they are unable to pay rent, or their city or state doesn't have its own local rules still in place to stop those evictions during the health crisis. It is truly a perfect storm. And we're seeing reports that already many landlords across the country are starting eviction proceedings. And sometimes it's for folks who were waiting on unemployment benefits that hadn't arrived yet. So yeah, a very significant story to say the least here that we're going to continue to follow, as well as any next steps Congress might take to put that moratorium back in place. But shifting gears, let's return to some developments out of Portland. All right, so to catch us up, on Wednesday night, the mayor of Portland, Ted Wheeler, and protesters were tear gassed by federal agents. The video is totally

wild and shows just how out of hand Donald Trump's America has gotten because again, Donald Trump is still the president and this is happening. Here's nasty stuff. I'm not afraid that I am pissed off. Mayor Wheeler, who's also the police commissioner, had been criticized earlier this year for allowing local police to use tear gas on peaceful protesters. But now that it's his eyes that are burning out of his skull, he said he wants to reconsider the use of tear gas on protesters. Under Oregon law, it can be used if a riot is declared. Wheeler said, quote, I don't think we should use these tools at all. It makes me think long and hard about whether this is really a viable tool. What a world it would be if we could just, you know, have empathy without having to get tear gassed.

But that was Wednesday. Then yesterday, the big news was that the Justice Department's inspector general will investigate federal law enforcement actions in Portland, but also in D.C. for that infamous tear gassing of protesters in Lafayette Plaza outside of the White House for Trump's weird Bible photo op. The Department of Homeland Security is also going to investigate actions in Portland, specifically looking at allegations that DHS agents improperly detained and arrested demonstrators. Yeah, my man just loves to get investigated. Yeah, Trump is king of the investigations, believe me. All right, well, DHS and other federal forces are definitely starting to come under more scrutiny than ever

with people questioning their role and the size and scale that they've grown to. This week, Portland moved to immediately ban its police force from cooperating with federal law enforcement. Another big win for the state's rights advocates, who turned a blind eye to what Trump and his administration have enacted on the nation. And this comes after reporting that Portland police officers were working in tandem with federal agents to advance on protesters earlier in the month, even though city officials hadn't okayed that. Now, any officer who work or communicate with the feds will be disciplined. The city council is also banning police from arresting journalists and legal observers or using intentional force on them. You know, you'd think you don't need a local law to protect against that. But hey, it's 2020 and that's the latest. It's Friday, WOD Squad.

And we're starting today's Tim Check with a shocking fact. Today would have been the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It was delayed in late March and could happen in summer 2021 or maybe never. So Kitty, when the Olympics actually happens, what is your favorite event? I could go with the obvious ones and the ones that like the United States is actually very good at, like gymnastics, swimming, et cetera, so forth. But I think the one that I've gotten the most joy out of at times is curling because it took such a steep learning curve for me to understand what was happening and why people were sweeping brooms so violently on ice, I think. Yeah. Isn't that like a Winter Olympic sport?

It is a Winter Olympic sport. So maybe it doesn't count. I'm going to count it. I'll allow it. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. That is very gracious of you.

But getting away from the weird fascinations we have with particular sports that are not of the top tier, what's your favorite part about watching when we actually have Olympics? You know what I really love? I love the opening ceremony because I love the outfits from every country. It's like a 17 hour long parade of people waving flags and like the coolest futuristic costumes with their like country's colors on it. And I always have just like, I'm rating them. I'm on Twitter. It's like another, um, Met Ball gala for me. Like I just, I love it. I love watching the berets that we wear in America. We always wear berets, but we never wear berets in real life.

And I'm like, that's my favorite beret holiday is the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Yeah, that is a really weird thing that always happens. And also, what was the year when the one guy was like really like greasy in a way that people liked and had a shirt off? Oh, the shiny man. Yeah, I feel like he wasn't wearing a shirt at all. Yeah. Like he was just like their outfit was like a loin, which was kind of cool.

Yeah. That guy looks great. And he's like the, one of the most like distinctive Olympic memories I have recently. So shout out to him. And I hope he's still greased up wherever he's at. Yes. Please be greased.

Well, just like that, we have checked our tips. Uh, we are safe at home, not watching the Olympics, but maybe we'll reminisce on some of theased. Well, just like that, we have checked our tips. We are safe at home, not watching the Olympics, but maybe we'll reminisce on some of the outfits. And we'll check in with you all again next week. Let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. And it made it so local governments had to assess poverty and segregation in order to get federal housing funds. The Trump administration gutted the rule in 2018. And on Thursday, it replaced the regulation with a new one, which has a much lower bar and effectively lets local governments self-certify that they're doing what the law requires. Many see this as part of Trump's racist appeal to voters in the coming election, going hand in hand with his recent claims that Joe Biden wants to, quote, abolish the suburbs. Specifically, it's seen as a dog whistle to white suburban voters, especially women who are often valuable swing voters in presidential contests. Biden has pledged to restore the rule if he is elected. And when I was in high school, I would have loved to vote for someone who wants to abolish the suburbs. We were bored as fuck.

Well, resting Marmaduke face guy Michael Cohen will be released from prison today after a judge found that he was sent there in retaliation for writing a tell-all book about Trump. As a refresher, Cohen was Trump's personal lawyer until he pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other crimes in 2018. In May of this year, he was allowed to start serving his sentence from home

because of COVID-19. Then in July, his probation officers asked him to sign a document that would have prohibited him from publishing a book during his sentence. And when of COVID-19. Then in July, his probation officers asked him to sign a document that would have prohibited him from publishing a book during his sentence. And when he refused to sign it because he was writing a book, he was taken back to prison. Cohen's probation officers say this action was not retaliatory and that they weren't instructed by anyone in the executive branch to include a book clause in Cohen's paperwork. But the judge in charge of Cohen's case said he'd never seen the clause like that before. And also, this all fits with Trump's new habit of using the DOJ to shut

down books about him. I'll save everybody some time. Michael, just put the three things you know are going to be on the news in a medium post. All right. Nobody wants your 500 page book. You can make a million dollars some other way. I just know it. Yeah, there's a lot that you can do, Michael. We believe in you. Guys, we've seen your comments and read your reviews, and we hear you loud and clear. You want to know more about the cold, hard financials of candy companies. Well, you are in luck because Hershey's company gave their quarterly earnings report yesterday, and we are diving the frick in. The company did

better than analysts expected, leading to a nearly six-point stock bump. And a big topic on Hershey's call with investors was the dreaded H-word, Halloween, a holiday that normally accounts for 10% of their sales and which you might expect would go poorly for them this year given the pandemic. Surprisingly, though, Hershey's CEO wasn't that concerned. She said, quote, consumers will find creative and safe ways to trick or treat. It is an outdoor event and it's an event where a lot of masks are already worn. Very true statements there. And just FYI, a second layer of fabric does make your mask more effective, but large rubber fangs that are dripping red goo actually do not. Hershey's did say they'll be ordering less Halloween themed candy this year to avoid having leftovers. So prepare yourself, folks. You will

only have a short window to devour chocolates that are shaped like pumpkins. I'm going to start wearing a scream mask to the pharmacy when I have to pick up prescriptions. Baseball season started yesterday with many teams opting to put cardboard cutouts of fans at the stadium to make up for the lack of a crowd. Eagle-eyed viewers could still tell that something was off. Could be that the paper fans mostly had no arms and their heads were the wrong size, but that's all going to be addressed on Fox Sports. The network announced that on tomorrow's broadcast of MLB on Fox, they'll debut virtual fans.

3D people inserted live into stadiums as a form of augmented reality. Now you can watch the big game with 10,000 non-player characters from an old RPG. If only this fake fan technology had been ready when Trump held his last rally. In a promo, Fox touted the ability of the 3D fans to cheer, boo, and do the wave. They're living in a simulation, we're their overlords, and it's just a matter of time before they find out and turn against us like in The Matrix. Still not clear how long we'll need these virtual fans, though. Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals just tested positive for COVID-19,

which is not the ideal way to kick off the season. And those are the headlines. Quick announcement before we go. This Sunday will be 100 days out from Election Day. And between now and then, voters will be up against things like this pandemic, voter suppression, and disinformation. That's why Vote Save America is kicking off a week of action to fight back and make sure that every last vote can be cast and counted. That's right. So check out votesaveamerica.com slash every last vote for all the details. You can request your vote by mail ballot, find volunteer opportunities, and there's a brand new fund to support aggressive on-the-ground efforts to mobilize communities that are frequently the targets of voter disenfranchisement.

Find everything you need to make sure every last vote is counted on election day at votesofamerica.com slash every last vote is counted on Election Day at votesofamerica.com slash everylastvote. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, help us find out if we're all just fake fans in a big baseball game simulation, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just books that aren't written by Trump's former employees 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 please don't wear your Halloween mask as a face mask. Do as I say and not as I do. This is always the rule around WOD. You should know by now. I never said I was a role model. What a Day is a Crooked Media production. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis.

Sonia Tun 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 Keshaka.