What A Day - No One's Quick As Gascón

Episode Date: December 9, 2020

As vaccinations kick off in the UK, the approval process is moving forward here in the US as well. The FDA now says Pfizer’s vaccine offers protection within just 10 days of getting the first dose, though efficacy goes up even further after a second one. Authorization is still pending. The US had planned to rely heavily on the AstraZeneca vaccine, having made a deal to buy 300 million doses… but new data indicate the drug isn’t as effective as some of the other options being reviewed. On his first day, the new district attorney of Los Angeles George Gascón announced a suite of policy reforms that will change how law enforcement is done in the city. Gascón is part of a larger wave of newly-elected progressive DA’s, from places like Austin, Orlando, and New Orleans.And in headlines: the Army fires or suspends 14 officials at Fort Hood, police raid the home of COVID data scientist Rebekah Jones, and Christopher Nolan is not happy with Warner Bros.Show Links:"Blunders Eroded U.S. Confidence in Early Vaccine Front-Runner"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/business/covid-vaccine-oxford-astrazeneca.html"AstraZeneca vaccine details published in Lancet, but data suggests need for more trials"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/astrazeneca-lancet-covid-vaccine-oxford/2020/12/08/482ca0f0-34b5-11eb-9699-00d311f13d2d_story.html

It's Wednesday, December 9th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What a Day, where we are sad that we've had fewer opportunities to hear Christmas music in big box stores this year. Yeah, you know that song that just says Christmas a bunch? It's like Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Right, I feel like I haven't heard anybody say Christmas that many times in succession, and it's actually hurting my holiday spirit. Yeah, this is the war on Christmas that has been talked about for years and years, and it's finally here and I don't like it. Yeah, they really brought their army. On today's show, a blue wave of progressive DAs getting sworn in, then some headlines. But first, the latest. I said, what's this thing?

You're doing the vaccination. They said, yes. And then they spent various times asking me questions about this and that. Not very interesting. And I said, yes, no, yes, no. And they said, we'll come at half past twelve. Of course, I couldn't damn well find anywhere to park my car,

so I was late. Anyway, I'm here now. And I got inside and they duly put me on the list. I went off and had a rather nasty lunch, and then came back, and they were ready for me. And no, it didn't hurt at all. I didn't know the needle had gone in until it had come out. That was 91-year-old Martin Kenyon talking about his fairly mundane day, including difficulty finding parking, a nasty lunch, and, oh, of course, being among the first people in the UK to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Yesterday was filled with a lot of these hopeful anecdotes, including a guy legitimately named William Shakespeare being among the first people to get the vaccine. And it comes at a dark moment in the pandemic, specifically for the US, the UK, and Europe.

Yeah, so this is the slow start of us getting out of this, one William Shakespeare at a time. For this particular vaccine, the UK has enough at the moment for an estimated 400,000 people. Their population is around 67 million, so it's gonna take quite some time to pull this off. But one of the other things that Kenyon showed

during his interview that caught some attention was this small vaccination card that's going to take quite some time to pull this off. But one of the other things that Kenyon showed during his interview that caught some attention was this small vaccination card that's meant to indicate that he had received the first dose. While they are not ID cards per se, the New York Times reported that there are some preemptive questions about whether they could be used to essentially divide society up between people who have and haven't been vaccinated, granting the former access that the latter might not get. So health officials in the UK have said that they're just for reminding people when they should actually go back in after three weeks for the second shot. But it speaks to another challenge that the UK and every country will face in maintaining these records for the entire vaccination process. And also the

idea of some sort of immunity passport has been questioned by scientists as well. Yeah, and that's because we don't know how long immunity will last or just how well these vaccines might prevent the spread. That is right. All that Pfizer and Moderna have measured so far is how good their vaccines are at preventing people from becoming sick with COVID-19. And the good news is they appear to be very, very effective at protecting against symptoms, particularly the worst ones. But it remains possible for now that asymptomatic spread could still occur, which is why some epidemiologists are saying that masks would still be needed after you get vaccinated. But there was other good news yesterday for the approval process of the Pfizer vaccine in the U.S.

The FDA put out a bunch of documents ahead of a meeting later this week, and one of the key findings was that the vaccine appears to offer protection within 10 days of getting just the first dose. That's not to say you don't need the second one. The efficacy goes way up after that. It would be like stopping short at the 50-yard line. But it could help if we're looking at a situation where our medical systems are still overloaded in the next few months. Also, according to these documents, the vaccine worked well for participants of different ages, body weights, and race. So we're going to find out more in the next few days.

But one other thing that I should mention that is important to note from the reporting that's out on this so far, a lot of the volunteers felt somewhat sick after the second dose. So some experts wanted to raise that and ensure that doctors tell their patients so they don't freak out. Yeah, I'm glad that they said so because I've been, you know, hypochondriac. And ever since I found out about COVID, I've been worried I have it. So if I started to feel sick, I would have thought it was me. Yep, same. Well, that's Pfizer, which seems like it's going to get approved here based on everything we've seen and read. But as we talked about yesterday, the Trump administration reportedly passed up the chance to lock down more doses of it. So where does that leave us with everything else that's in the works? Yes, indeed. Just remind us again that that happened. Well, the FDA advisory committee that's going to meet this week on Pfizer is expected to meet on Moderna next week. So

those are two very promising ones there. Then there is AstraZeneca, which we haven't talked about in a while. And there's a lot going on. So according to the New York Times, the United States had made a deal with the company for about 300 million doses of their potential vaccine. But there have been a lot of problems along the way. And one of the issues, according to this report, is that AstraZeneca was supposed to be the company that was supplying the U.S. with a big portion of our overall supply. So the uncertainty with them combined with the Pfizer decision from the Trump administration has made the timeline of having the whole population of the U.S. vaccinated by the summer a little bit murkier.

All right. So you mentioned issues with AstraZeneca. Let's explain those issues. Okay. So here are some. Apparently, AstraZeneca didn't disclose that they had to pause their trials for safety reasons during a conversation with the FDA in September. Seems like a thing that should have come up. So while it is less expensive and easier to store, that led to some obvious trust issues here and also has slowed the company down overall.

At this point, they haven't finished enrolling people in their U.S. trial. And this week, they published full data from their trials in the scientific journal The Lancet, revealing that the vaccine is about 70% effective overall, a solid result, but less than Moderna and Pfizer have shown so far. But there are still tons of questions about it, namely how effective it is for older populations, a big question and a confusing finding about some greater success among participants who got a half dose and then a full dose. Anyway, there is a lot more to unpack here. So we'll include two good links to all of that in our show notes on more of the backstory. But in other news, let's talk about what's going on with district attorneys. Voters have swept a group of progressive DAs into office

this year, and they're already starting to make some pretty big changes. Yeah, so let's start in LA, which is the biggest prosecutor's office in the country and has the biggest jail system too. This week, the new DA, George Gascon, officially took office. Gascon was backed by Black Lives Matter to oust the now former DA, Jackie Lacey, who was backed by the police union. Immediately upon swearing in, Gascon announced a list of progressive policy changes, including an end to cash bail, ceasing prosecution of juveniles as adults, ending the three strikes law, which basically means that if you have three petty convictions, you can't be given a punishment as harsh as a murderer or a rapist. He also wants to review thousands of old cases to see if his office should ask the courts to reduce past sentences or overturn past

convictions. Yes, sir. Get to work. So let's focus on cash bail for a moment. Why is this change such a big deal? Well, it's a huge deal for a lot of reasons. Gascon himself said, quote, we know that our system of money bail is as unsafe as it is unjust. The rich can be dangerous while the poor can pose zero threat to society, which is true. The amount of money in your bank account should not impact whether you stay in jail or not. And statistically, cash bail has been disproportionately imposed on Black and Latinx people. But in the immediate, it also has implications for who will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. A study from the University of Texas found that 80% of COVID deaths in Texas jails were people who weren't even convicted of a crime. So that's not to say that you should be

forced to get COVID if you were convicted of a crime, but it just goes to show you that these systems have real impacts. And also goes to show just how quickly change can be made when we elect people who give a shit. Technically, a judge can still impose bail since it's still legal under state law, but judges usually defer to the prosecutor, and Gascon's prosecutors will no longer recommend it except in the case of a homicide or other violent crime where prosecutors will ask to have defendants kept in custody. Got it. Okay. And another big announcement out of L.A. is that Gascon wants to create a use-of-force review board that is tasked with deciding if a case against the police should be reopened in fatal incidents. Yeah, this is a big one that the police really aren't happy about. And Gascon has already said that there are at least four cases involving the LAPD, Long Beach Police, Gardena Police, and Torrance Police that he will be reopening. And one final thing on Gascon, who is an honorary WAD squad member, even if he doesn't want to be, he's aiming

to use a diversion program for first-time offenders of small crimes associated with mental illness or poverty. So diversion programs basically give the offenders probation and volunteer work in exchange for the crime being expunged from their record. This should go a long way towards keeping people out of a system that's difficult to escape once inside. So we'll have to keep an eye on how implementation of all this goes, but it's really good to see that Gascon is already working to make good on his campaign promises. Yeah, that it is. And as we mentioned, this is part of a larger wave of newly elected DAs

that are ready to make big changes in other places as well. Yeah. In Austin, Jose Garza was just elected, and he's also invested in eliminating cash bail. In Orlando, Monique Worrell's the new DA, and she has a background in wrongful conviction claims. Jackie Johnson is out in Georgia after her hand in the Ahmaud Arbery case. And over the weekend in New Orleans, the race was finally called for progressive DA Jason Williams. He's promising not to try minors as adults and to stop sentencing enhancements, for example, giving someone a heavier punishment because they're in a school zone

or giving them a longer sentence because they have prior convictions. So lots to feel good about going forward and big wins for organizers and activists who have worked really, really hard to get out the vote on these issues this year. We'll keep following the moves of these new DAs, but that Squad, and for today's Timp Check, we're talking about a harrowing clip that was big online yesterday from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson's BBC show, Cook, Eat, Repeat. Now, I'm aiming for quite a solid mash at this stage, but I still need a bit of milk, full fat, which I've warmed in the microwave.

Okay. Love to heat my leftovers too long and get tomato sauce on all four walls of my microwave. So, Kitty, Nigella is obviously being very creative here with this pronunciation but do you have any words that you personally pronounce not normally this is nothing on on this scale unfortunately or fortunately for me um i do i feel like do you know sepporo Even I said it tentatively as I brought it up now. Like the beer? Yes.

Yes. I order it wrong every time and then I psych myself out while I'm doing it and I try to correct mid-sentence. And there's just like sort of an awkward silence with the waiter. How do you say it? I think that I say the way that I just said it, I think, Sapporo. Yeah. But I think that sometimes say the way that I just said it, I think, Sapporo. Yeah. But I think that sometimes I say Sapporo, but I still, as we're talking right now, I'm convincing myself that one is right and the other isn't.

Have you been corrected in public? Like, how do you even know? Because I feel like a lot of times people just let you say it however you want to say it. I get corrected the second that the waiter leaves the table. Like, somebody else at the table is like, what is wrong with you? Oh, that's fair. That's fair.

Say it the right way. Like, don't be weird. I mean, yeah, that's been me before for sure. So that's, I mean,

that's a, that's a bad example. Cause it's like a, it's, it's not a household item. It's like a very specific name. And so, you know,

maybe more of an inherent challenge than having to say like toaster for toaster. toaster. I don't even know how you would mess up refrigerator, but it would be very creative. It's it's more syllables than microwave. So what is this word for you? What are your your trouble spots here? Well, OK, so I guess that we have to define like normal. Like I don't have any like creative different ways to say things, but I feel like I say on like I say on like it's two syllables instead of on like a lot

of people say and that was very New York though I have an accent but you know I think no I mean I think that I I have come to accept it and and honor that pronunciation and the what the second one that you did was very like, I just came from Long Island. So I don't want that one. See, I don't even hear it when I say the word. But I have been the person judging a lot of people when they say words wrong, which I'm trying to be better about.

It's just, you know, we were raised in a society that wanted you to feel superior for any reason. And that was one of the reasons I had. But I used to date this guy. We were at a restaurant and he ordered a quinoa salad, but he said quinoa. And like the lady like, you know, said it back to him. She's like a quinoa salad. And the only reason this was satisfying was because we had like had a very small sort of like couple's quarrel about the pronunciation before she came over.

Because I was like, it's definitely quinoa. He didn't believe me. And then he said it that way. And I will always laugh at the time I was right. Also, growing up in Kentucky, I worked at a Fazoli's. Shout out to Fazoli's. Hell yeah. Fazoli's have, we're eating unlimited breadsticks, I guess.

But people would come through the drive-thru and ask for peony pasta all the time. And every time I would like laugh and they would get more and more indignant. They're like, what's wrong with wanting peony pasta all the time. And every time I would like laugh and they would get more and more indignant. They're like, what's wrong with wanting peony? Do you do something to it? I'm like, no, it's just not what it is. The truth is that you didn't do anything to peony pasta because you were doing something to penne pasta.

So that's worse. We went from like Micor Wave, which I thought was bad to Quinoa, which is probably worse too. I think Peony is number one, top of the list. It's pretty terrible. Well, just like that, we've checked our temps. Stay safe. Try to say

the words the way they were meant to be pronounced, but if not, make it very entertaining. That's all I ask. And we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The Army has fired or suspended 14 top officials at Texas-based Fort Hood following an investigation sparked by the April murder of soldier Vanessa Guillen. The probe was carried out by an independent civilian review board, and it found that leaders at Fort Hood did little to address a culture of sexual assault and violence within their ranks. This year alone, at least 25 soldiers at Fort Hood, including Vanessa Guillen, died due to suicide, homicide, or accidents. Interviews with the over 35,000 service members at the base

revealed that women largely did not report incidents of sexual harassment because they were afraid of retaliation or weren't confident in the military's response program. The new report outlined several changes that must be made at the base, including ones related to missing persons protocols and the handling of criminal investigations. In dystopian law enforcement news, police in Florida raided the home of a former state data scientist who was fired after refusing to manipulate COVID data. Rebecca Jones tweeted videos of state police entering her home with weapons drawn on Monday morning. Cops took Jones's phone and laptop to investigate an unauthorized text message that was sent to

1,700 people, encouraging its recipients to speak out about Florida's COVID strategy. Officials say the message came from an IP address connected to Jones's house. Remember that it is a crime to say that Ron DeSantis should stop being governor and just be the always angry manager of a struggling Planet Fitness. When Jones was working under the state's Department of Health, she refused a directive to fudge Florida's COVID numbers to make it look like the state was ready to reopen. After she was fired for that in May, she launched Florida COVID Action, a dashboard that she updates with virus data and info about testing. Jones called the raid an act of retaliation for her regular criticism of how the state is handling COVID.

Good to know that it is a crime to say that Ron DeSantis should be working there, but, you know, maybe he should be working there. Warner Brothers announced last week that they'd be releasing their entire next-year slate of movies simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. And now the reviews are in. Film industry people are really, really mad about it. Longtime Warner Brothers collaborator and the mad wizard behind Tenet, Christopher Nolan,

had one of the most extreme takes, telling The Hollywood Reporter, quote, Some of our industry's biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out that they were working for the worst streaming service. Wow. Boom.

This is to be a razor, but, you know, I'll allow it. Agencies and talent management companies were kept in the dark about the movie, finding out just 90 minutes before the public did. Filmmakers are upset because they want their movies played on the big screen and feel like their interests are being overlooked in favor of Wall Street's. They also have a financial stake in their film success at the box office and think they'll lose money under the new release model. Legal challenges may be on their way, like one from Legendary Entertainment, who co-financed Godzilla vs. Kong with Warner Brothers and had to pass on a deal to distribute it through Netflix

for $225 million. Now it's headed to HBO Max and they didn't have a chance to negotiate. Warner Brothers, you have made some very powerful enemies in those two enormous monsters. Yeah, the phrase most important movie stars is very funny in a time like this in America. Well, the pandemic is affecting us all in different ways. And for two rich neighbors in Laguna Beach, California, it's making them face off in the pettiest legal battle of all time. The two noble fighters are billionaire investor Bill Gross

and multimillionaire tech CEO Mark Tofik. And their drama revolves around a $1 million blown glass sculpture in Gross's yard. In an extremely relatable series of events, the sculpture became damaged in April, Gross put up a large net to protect it, and then Tofik complained to local officials because the net was blocking his view of the ocean and wasn't properly permitted. Channeling the pain the whole world was feeling at that time,

the two men then began to harass each other brutally, with Gross blasting rap songs, mariachi music and the theme to Gilligan's Island so that the complaint against his big net might get dropped. And Tofik allegedly filming and spying on Gross. Legal challenges followed with both men filing for restraining orders. The latest development in this tale of right and wrong was on Monday when Gross proposed calling off the case and donating all the remaining legal fees to charity. Lawyers for TOFIC say this is just a tactic to stop bad PR. One thing's for sure, a rock slide that sent both these men's homes into the ocean would be very good and fair. Yes, that is the preferred legal settlement. Yep, team rock slide. And those are the headlines.

Okay, one last thing before we go. We are only a few weeks away from the January 5th runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate. Early voting starts on December 14th. That is next Monday. And if you're looking for ways to support groups that are on the ground, making sure every voter makes their voices heard, sign up to adopt Georgia. Yeah, we'll be sending new opportunities to donate and volunteer every week between now and January. So head over to votesaveamerica.com slash Georgia to sign up and learn more. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, find Christmas big box store music on the web if you are desperate like me not just tales of rich guy beach lawsuits 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 feel better, Chris Nolan. You're still the guy who made The Dark Knight to me. Yeah, you'll get another chance at putting a movie out that's like, isn't time crazy? are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.