What A Day - Makes No Census

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

Trump signed a memo yesterday that aims to omit undocumented immigrants from the census count. It seems like a way for Trump to side-step a Supreme Court ruling that removed citizenship questions from the census, and it's unclear how or if he'd even be able to do it. Protests in Portland have only increased in response to the presence of federal agents. Democrats in the House are working to take powers away from these so-called “rapid deployment teams."And in headlines: a Michigan judge denies the early release of a student jailed for not doing her homework, Joe Biden’s plan for caregiving, and big-city corruption from Ohio state Speaker Larry Householder.

It's Wednesday, July 22nd. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we're asking why unmarked federal agents never show up for things that are actually useful. Yeah, I can't tell you how many barbecues where I had to leave from my own party to go get ice, like literal like ice cubes. So why can't they do that? If you work for ice, you should be delivering ICE. Thank you. That's how it should be.

On today's show, we check in on the protests in Portland and Trump's latest attempt to weaponize the census, then some headlines. But first, the latest. I don't know. I haven't really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. But first, the latest. Okay, that was Trump wishing well to accused sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. These briefings are going great so far in their

return. But in other news, for the first time in weeks, the US recorded over 1000 deaths from COVID-19 in a single day. And at this point, over 3.8 million people in the United States have been infected with coronavirus. But according to new data from the CDC, the true number could be anywhere from twice that much to 13 times that much. So Akilah, we've gotten into this a little bit before, but what exactly is the CDC saying here? All right, so it's been pretty obvious all along that the number of confirmed cases is an undercount. Like, not everyone gets tested, there are testing shortages,

and some people just don't experience symptoms, so they're not getting tested either, you know? And so the true number of infections, basically, has been an open question. The CDC has been trying to answer it with wide scale serology testing, where they take blood samples from thousands of people in different locations across the country to check for antibodies. Antibody testing, by the way, is much more accurate on a population level than on an individual level, if you were wondering. Yesterday, the CDC published new data from their ongoing

survey, and it showed a few things. So one, that the rate of infection varies widely across the country. So, for example, in New York City, they found that 24% of people had antibodies as of May, but in Missouri, it was only 2.8% of people. The other big finding, though, was that reported cases were much lower than the true infection rate. So let's just take Missouri again. Actual infections, according to this new CDC data, were 13 times higher than reported cases. Scientists think that around 40% of people infected don't develop symptoms and may not seek testing, but they can still pass on the virus.

That's right. So these things are some of the stuff that we suspected, but now there's more data that's actually backing it up. And we'll continue to get this data from the CDC throughout the year. Yeah. And another thing that's important to point out is just how many people are still susceptible to the virus. Even New York City, which was one of the hardest hit places on Earth and where data suggests that 24% of people have been exposed, even there, it still falls way short of the 60 or 70% scientists think is needed for anything near herd immunity. Many scientists who looked at this data said they hoped it would finally stop the national delusion

of just letting the virus do its thing. Yeah, let's hope. Shifting gears for a second, we also got some news about the Trump administration and the census yesterday. We sure did. So Donald Trump's endless persecution of undocumented immigrants continued yesterday

as he signed a memo that aims to omit them from being counted in the census. We've discussed on the show before that the census not only determines how many representatives a state has, but it also determines funding for communities for a full decade. So this memo is vindictive in two ways. It aims to define areas with populations of people who are undocumented, and it also seems to be another way for him to have a citizenship question as part of the census process, which the Supreme Court already struck down as unlawful. Yeah. So Chief Justice John Roberts literally called the rationale for adding a citizenship question to the census, quote, contrived. Yeah. I mean, that seems like an

understatement. And on that point, I think it's really unclear how they could even know who is a citizen and who isn't since the census has been available to fill out since March. And that question didn't appear. So like, how would they even know? The director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, who argued the case to the Supreme Court, said yesterday, quote, the Constitution requires that everyone in the U.S. be counted in the census. President Trump can't pick and choose. He went on to say that he will see Trump in court and will win again. Yeah, it does not seem like the law is on his side. Right. I'm not sure why Trump isn't letting this one go either. I mean, considering in 1998, he had to pay $1.4 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claims that

instead of paying a union pension fund, he hired undocumented Polish workers to demolish a department store so that he could build Trump Tower, or that many of the staff members at Mar-a-Lago were undocumented workers as recently as 2019. So it's just more do as I say, not as I do from Donald Trump. We're going to keep following this, but if you haven't, fill out the census. There is not a citizenship question, and it helps your community if you do so. So visit census.gov for more information. And now let's wrap up by returning to other terrible actions by this administration, but this time against protesters in Portland who are continuing to take to the streets now more

than 50 days after the killing of George Floyd by police. Yeah, so we talked about these federal agents getting extremely violent with protesters. They're also taking people in unmarked vehicles without obvious probable cause in some cases. And there was an acknowledgement for the first time yesterday from federal officials that they had, in fact, done that at least once. And also DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf told Fox News last night that they're having to proactively arrest people because they don't have the help of local law enforcement. I don't really track the logic that is going on there, but sure. And anyways, as a result of all of this that they are doing, the protests have only increased in size. In recent days, according to the Oregonian, protests have swelled to over a thousand people, whereas before they were dwindling to fewer than

a hundred. So this, of course, is the opposite effect of what federal officials say that they are there to do, supposedly to quell this major unrest in the city that they say that local officials can't control, which, of course, can't also be separated from Trump's goal here of making democratic cities seem out of control and rife with crime. Yeah, I mean, it feels like what we saw in the initial protests against police brutality, where there's this overly aggressive crackdown on protests that leads to violent incidents, which causes more reason to protest. Inertia. Absolutely. Yeah. And you see that in examples like this group called the Wall of Moms that are in Portland. It's basically a line of mothers that stand hand in hand to peacefully protect protesters.

And in at least one incident, they were tear gassed. And there was also the incident involving a Navy veteran, Christopher David, in which he tried to ask some of the federal officers how they view their actions in light of their vow to uphold the Constitution. In a video of the incident, he can be seen getting beaten with a baton and hit with pepper spray as he approached. And after the encounter, David reportedly required surgery on one of his hands. That's just terrible. And so this is, you know, rightfully sparking outrage in Portland. But it's also leading to an effort in D.C. to reconsider funding for departments like DHS. So how's that going? Right. So one of the things that advocates have been

pointing to is this upcoming appropriations vote that's in the House on funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the coming year. They're saying that the bill should prohibit actions like the ones we are seeing in Portland, or it shouldn't be voted on at all and approved. Congresswomen Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Presley, and Tlaib have all previously voted against any bills that fund CBP and ICE. And as a reminder, the so-called rapid deployment teams that have been present in Portland are directed by DHS and are comprised of a number of officials, including from CBP and ICE. And then separately in Congress, too, Ocasio-Cortez is working on legislation that would require these officials

to identify themselves, including their agency, their ID number, and their last name. And Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley also has a bill aimed at that. Yeah, so it's a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Meanwhile, the president is talking about sending in federal agents to other cities. He just never learns. That would appear to be the case. So Trump has said that the officials are being sent to Chicago and that there's a possibility other places like New York, Philadelphia, and Detroit follow. And that has unsurprisingly resulted in a number of angry responses. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote a letter to the

president warning against actions like we're seeing in Portland, in her city. But she also said that her understanding was that there wouldn't be, quote, unnamed agents and that the efforts are supposed to be focused on violent crime and not peaceful protesters. And she added that the local attorney's office was informed about all of this and is actually coordinating the resources, which is quite different than the situation in Portland, where these actions were taken against the will of local officials. Lightfoot herself is getting some backlash of her own based on those comments, though, for having any kind of partnership with the administration. So we'll keep track of all these developments, but that is the latest we have for now.

It's Wednesday, WOD Squad. And for today's Tim Check, we're talking about an American tradition, drinking Coca-Cola. The Atlanta brand's sales fell by 28% from April to June due to lagging away from home channels like movie theaters, restaurants, and bars. Coke says that sustained elevated sales of its products for home consumption helped prevent greater losses. So, Giddy, what are you doing to support Coca-Cola in their time of need? I'm letting a two liter bottle of Coca-Cola just sit in the fridge where it has been accidentally for almost a week and a half at this point. I have an issue. I brought this up before and I'm just going to level with everybody here of drinking Coke when I'm thirsty at home i feel like i always am like gravitating to water coke feels like a nice sweet treat almost a dessert if you will and it feels a little

wrong occasionally to not do it in these settings that coca-cola is talking about i.e stadiums movie theaters unless you're putting alcohol in it it feels a little to me like i would be taking a big step and i also don't want to open the two liter and just see it go flat this is truly like the clearest difference between you and i as human beings i do not see coca-cola as an indulgence if anything it is like a foregone conclusion most of the time um and like when i was growing up in the south yeah i mean it was like it was our water. We just had to drink Coke all day. So, yeah, I I I guess that like, you know, I don't

even know what to say to you right now. I am shook that you think that this is an indulgent beverage that you can only have in a party setting. It connotes that so strongly for me that I feel like if I divorce the reality from what I'm accustomed to, it'll mess me up in a way that I simply can't do at this time. But again, you know, personal problems for me. But so we're getting at Coke consumption here. What's the at-home soda consumption looking like at this point? Okay, so I'm definitely drinking soda with alcohol, sometimes without, you know, like we,

when we cook, sometimes I'm like, I'm going to need Sprite, which I believe is a Coke property. We are not sponsored by Coke yet, if you're listening. But yeah, I definitely, I've been drinking Coke. I have a vintage Coca-Cola t-shirt. I love it. I support, I'm down for the cause. If they need me to buy an extra two liter here and there, I will find the change in my couch and do my American duty of, you know, keeping this business afloat. Yeah, I mean, you know, one of two is the best that they can hope for. You know, I got to apologize on behalf of my particular proclivities here. But I'm sticking with water for now. Yeah, he's clearly sponsored by big water.

Well, just like that. We have checked our temps. Stay safe and we will check in with you all again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. revealing how the student was taken into juvenile detention after the judge ruled that her failure to do schoolwork violated her probation. At the time, her mother said that she just needed to get used to online learning. The girl's case garnered nationwide outrage, with lawmakers and school board members demanding her release.

Advocates point out that race plays a huge factor in these decisions and that in Michigan alone, black children are four times more likely to be detained or committed than white children. The girl's attorney says he plans to appeal this decision. European Union leaders have agreed on a massive stimulus package to confront the recession brought on by the pandemic. The 750 billion euro deal is intended to help recover EU economies that have been hit the hardest, such as Spain and Italy. More than half of the money will go to those countries as grants, meaning they won't be expected to pay it back later on. But the rest of the budget is going to be up for grabs as loans.

To raise the massive amount of funds needed for this deal, the EU plans to sell bonds as one collective unit. For the first time in history, the EU would be a major borrower in global financial markets. The package is now set to go through the European Parliament for ratification. But guys, you know what's cooler than 750 billion euros? That's right, $775 billion. That's a phrase a lot of folks are saying. Stay tuned to that. And that's what Joe Biden announced he'd commit

to make caregiving more affordable in the U.S. yesterday. Biden's plan would commit over 400 billion to elder care, which would include funding for new community health workers and programs to eliminate the wait list for home and community care under Medicaid. Biden's child care proposals include universal pre-K for children ages three and four, increased pay for child care workers, plus tax credits and subsidies for parents. Putting caregiving front and center in a presidential campaign is by no means the norm, and Biden framed these issues as increasingly important amid the pandemic. Trump's campaign said of this plan, quote, Biden's unaffordable left-wing agenda

gets more expensive by the day. It's true, a more sensible plan to help people afford care would be to make it so everyone's dad owns a lot of apartment buildings. Mm-hmm. This week, Ohio said that massive white-collar crime isn't just for coastal elites. The state's Republican Speaker of the House, Larry Householder,

was arrested with four others yesterday for heading up a bribery and money laundering scheme that netted $60 million. Householder and his friends took payments from energy companies in exchange for securing a $1 billion state-funded bailout of two nuclear power plants. The nonprofit he created to collect these payments is called Generation Now, which sounds like a fake generation made up by marketing companies to sell soda. At the time that the bailout was signed into law, Vox called it, quote, the worst energy bill of the 21st century. Householder used the money to fund the campaigns of 21 state candidates in 2018 and for personal expenses like credit card debt and a home in Florida. Ohio Republicans like Governor Mike DeWine and party leader Jane Timken have called on Householder to resign. I think that's a good idea because he'll have more time to spend with Yes, and become the House no longer holder of the Republican House.

Yeah, that's right. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, tell us about your favorite power plant, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just demographic data on Generation Now 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 get well soon, Coca-Cola. I'd like to buy a Coke the world. They'll be fine. They're fine. Don't worry. They're fine. They got a lot of money.

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 Kshaka.