What A Day - Shut Up Or Shut Down

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Republicans held their first hearing Thursday in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The six-hour hearing before the House Oversight Committee tried to make the case that the president benefitted from his son's business dealings – even though the Republicans' own witnesses said they didn't have any evidence to prove it.Meanwhile, the U.S. government notified federal workers that a shutdown is on the horizon if Congress doesn't reach a deal by 12:01 a.m. ET Sunday. The disruption could impact millions of government employees and military families, and affect many critical services.And in headlines: Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York is set to start on Monday, California will raise the minimum wage for fast food workers, and Netflix has rolled the credits on its DVD-by-mail service.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked 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/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, September 29th. I'm Traeval Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, where we are looking forward to making a field trip to the skyscraper formerly known as Trump Tower. Yes, they're going to have to rename it Tish James Tower once Donald's fraud trial is over, and I'm looking forward to the new sign. Yeah, I'll visit it once to see the sign, maybe, but I can't say I'll be ever going back. On today's show, California will raise the minimum wage

for fast food workers. Plus, we bid a fond farewell to Netflix's DVD-by-mail service. But first, as we careen towards a government shutdown, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee apparently has some bigger concerns.

Yesterday, the committee held its first hearing in its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his family's business dealings. The hearing was filled with a panel of Republican-picked witnesses who, get this, say that there isn't actually any evidence of a crime committed by the president. Oh, so they're playing in our faces legitimately is what you're telling me. Wow. Okay. So before we get to that, can you remind us why we're even here again? Yes, absolutely. It appears that Republicans are bored with governing. I don't really know. As a reminder, they accuse Biden of corruption. They allege that he was involved with or profited from his family's foreign business dealings. By family, they mean Hunter Biden, his son, and his brother, and that he was influenced by these dealings when making policy decisions. The president's son, Hunter, and his work overseas have become the real focal point for Republicans here. But again, there is no direct evidence to support any of these claims, not one. As I said earlier, the three witnesses

who Republicans actually picked to testify in front of the panel said that there was not enough evidence to accuse Biden of corruption or to impeach him. While it was going down, some senior GOP aides were actually venting to CNN reporters about how dumb it was to pick witnesses that refute their own case. So really not off to such a good start over there. But again, while Republicans devote precious time and energy to this sideshow, time is running out to keep the government open and funded, something that we will get more into very shortly, but has actual consequences for millions of Americans. Yes, we will get into that. Before that, though, what did the House Democrats on this committee have to say about all of this? I mean, House Democrats are pissed. They, much like the witnesses, pointed out that there is no evidence here showing any wrongdoing by

President Biden. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that this didn't even meet the threshold for an impeachment inquiry to be opened. During the impeachments of President Clinton and President Trump, there were full House floor votes to open those inquiries. That is notably not the case this time around. That has not happened. It is just this committee who's brought this. She called the whole thing an embarrassment to the time and people of this country, which quite frankly, that is like a nice way to put it. Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, Texas had the real standout reaction to the information that was presented. Take a listen to her. But I will tell you what the president has been guilty of.

He has unfortunately been guilty of loving his child unconditionally. And that is the only evidence that they have brought forward. And honestly honestly i hope and pray that my parents love me half as much as he loves his child until they find some evidence we need to get back to the people's work which means keeping this government open so that people don't go hungry in the streets of the united states and i will yield i know that's right okay jasmine Jasmine. Yeah, she really said it all. That's all we've learned from this evidence. That's all we've learned through all of this. President Biden is an amazing father, is an amazing devoted father. And there is real work here that these people are ignoring while they do this. Absolutely. And speaking of that real work

that they are ignoring, let's talk a little bit more about this shutdown. On Thursday, the U.S. government notified federal workers that a shutdown is on the horizon if a deal isn't reached by Congress by 12.01 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. So that's less than two days away as you all are hearing this. The TLDR of this is that far-right Republicans in the House, with the backing of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are basically holding the government hostage as they try to satisfy some of their conservative demands. If a shutdown does happen, it will be the third government shutdown in 10 years. The previous two were in 2013 and 2018. And like this impending one, we have Republicans to blame for it. Right. So if a shutdown happens, can you just remind us of some of the very immediate effects of that happening? Yeah. So firstly, there's roughly 2 million federal workers, think TSA

folks, park rangers, people who call you about not paying your taxes, as well as 1.3 million active duty military personnel that would be impacted. So, you know, not a small number of people. Perhaps the biggest impact is that so many folks won't get their checks. They won't be able to pay their bills or take care of their families. And some folks will be furloughed and sent home with no idea of when they can return to work, but others still have to go to work knowing that they won't be paid. Of course, everyone will get back pay once all of this is rectified, but that, you know, doesn't help the imminent issues people will have to deal with, especially folks who are living paycheck to

paycheck. Totally. Also, government programs that help lower income and other folks in need like SNAP and WIC could be impacted. You would still be able to go to national parks, but they won't be cleaning the bathrooms or maintaining the trails, for example. And those congressional staffers that are working on that impeachment inquiry you just mentioned, Priyanka, they also won't get paid, but will still have to go to work. And just to put a point on this, you know, a government shutdown would have an outsized impact on Black communities especially. Though we only make up about 13% of the total U.S. population, we are nearly 20% of the federal workforce. And so this would become, you know, yet another example of what I call a historically Black phrase, that when white folks catch a cold,

Black folks get pneumonia. A government shutdown is not great for literally anyone, but especially not Black people and communities of color that are already disadvantaged in so many ways. Fortunately though, right, things like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Postal Service won't be immediately impacted. You know, that is fortunate, but I want to circle back to that emphasis you made. And thank

you so much for pointing that out. The black community and communities of color, low income communities, especially face this as an outsized impact. That's not something that we discuss when this comes up in the news, when, you know, people are playing politics with the budget and, oh, they ran out of time. Like there are very real lives affected by this. And if you don't feel the impacts of a government shutdown directly, consider yourself very, very fortunate. Many, many people are not privileged enough to be in that position and feel this impact from the minute it starts. Absolutely. So what do we know about where things stand as of now as we head into the weekend. What's the vibe here? The House is expected to vote on a GOP stopgap bill today, but it's not expected to pass. That's because the Republicans want to cut government spending in ways that President Biden and the Democrats just simply won't accept. Then

there are also other measures that are being discussed that would similarly be short-term solutions while a longer one is worked out. But, you know, the girls are fighting over there in the Republican Party anyway, so those bills also likely won't pass. Meanwhile, in the Senate, they have their own plans. They even voted to advance a short-term funding bill earlier this week. But again, the Republicans in the House don't yet see it for such a compromise. I hope everyone sees how really the Republicans, and I should say a particular group of Republicans are like holding things hostage.

Absolutely. And again, like clockwork, it is the American people who are having to deal with these consequences. Now, a miracle could happen over the weekend. Hell, technically,

one could have happened already as you all are listening to this episode. But this is the latest for now as we went to record around 9.30 p.m. Eastern Thursday night. We will be back on Monday, of course, with any necessary updates. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines.

Starting with the continuation of Donald Trump's many legal woes, his civil fraud trial is set to start on Monday in Manhattan. That's the case we told you about earlier this week where Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and his namesake company were found liable for fraud by overvaluing Trump's assets and inflating his net worth by billions of dollars. An appeals court yesterday rejected Trump's last-ditch effort to delay the trial. He had the audacity to even sue the judge overseeing the case two weeks ago, which is really wild, if you ask me. Wild? He and his team are pulling out everything they can.

Didn't know you were allowed to do that, but all right. Right. It's really wild. His legal team tried to argue that the judge ignored an earlier appeals court decision and that some of the accusations brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James were too old to be considered at trial. And so you might want to stock up on popcorn this weekend because Trump himself, three of his adult children,

and some of his closest advisors are listed as possible witnesses. So, you know, they could be called up to take the stand. We can only hope. You know, it'll be fun, but someone I will be missing. You say three of his adult children. There is a fourth. There are five children in total. It's always number four is getting forgotten. Poor Tiffany. Since the beginning, it was always her. Justice for Tiffany in this moment. She probably likes it that way, though. She probably does. She probably doesn't want to stand. And good for her, smart enough to not get wrapped into this, or maybe just lucky enough. The Donald Trump school of legal maneuvering is once again outdoing itself. President Biden recently declared a federal emergency in

Louisiana as the state battles an ongoing intrusion of saltwater in the Mississippi River. The lack of rainfall from a long drought this summer means that the amount of fresh water in the river has declined. So saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico that would ordinarily get flushed out has actually rushed farther upstream and has contaminated the drinking water supply for communities south of New Orleans. And without any substantial rain in the forecast, officials are scrambling to stop the saltwater surge before it infiltrates water treatment plants that many residents depend on. That has led to skyrocketing demand for bottled water in New Orleans, as residents there brace for the possibility that they too might lose access to drinkable water. New Orleans faced a similar threat back in 1988, but more recently we saw this play out in Jackson, Mississippi just last year.

And with climate change making these crises more and more frequent, it's also costing a lot of money. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said last week that after a record-breaking year of disasters, the agency's emergency relief fund is almost tapped out. The looming government shutdown is not helping either, and we are still in the peak of Atlantic hurricane season. I don't know how else to say this. We are in the bad place.

We are the little dog in the burning room. That is us. That is absolutely us. Shifting gears a bit to highlight a major win for food service workers. Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation that would raise the minimum wage for fast food workers in the state to $20 an hour, the highest base salary in the industry. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, California has seen over 450 fast food worker strikes to push back against low wages and poor working conditions.

When the pay bump takes effect next April, full-time fast food workers can expect to make around $41,000 a year. That is up from the current average annual salary of about $34,000 a year. Activists who fought for the bill say that many of these workers are the primary breadwinners for their families. And this is just the beginning. The law also creates a special counsel with the power to increase fast food industry wages through 2029 and to ensure they keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, over in New York City, a judge ruled that food delivery companies must bump up what they pay their workers to nearly $18 an hour. Earlier this year, we talked about how delivery workers for companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub are considered independent contractors, meaning they aren't entitled to a state or federal minimum wage. asked legislation to remedy that, but the apps sued to block it, claiming that paying their workers higher wages

would hurt business, which is a very interesting way of saying the quiet part out loud, that you don't care about your workers and you only really care about your bottom line. Yikes. Yeah. Thursday's ruling clears the way

for the new minimum wage starting next month. And speaking of fair compensation, the union representing striking actors will meet with Hollywood Studios again on Monday to resume negotiations for a new labor contract. This will be the first time that SAG-AFTRA and the studios have met since the strike began in July. The upcoming sit-down comes less than a week

after the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative deal to end its own months-long work stoppage. The hope here is that actors will also get their fair share from the big production companies as well. SAG-AFTRA put out a statement on Wednesday encouraging people to continue supporting its members on the picket lines as the union returns to the bargaining table. In the meantime, SAG is already gearing up for another potential labor battle. The union voted earlier this week to authorize another walkout

to demand better working conditions for video game voice actors and motion capture performers at 10 major game studios. I love that like everyone in the industry in this moment is like, they're basically playing a game of tag team. It's like, okay, writers, you go first.

Then it's the actors, you're go first then it's the actors you're next next is coming the voice game actors and motion capture performers great love it stunt folks we're talking a few weeks ago about coming together as well everybody deserves everybody their rights to be paid what they should be paid and absolutely keep it coming i love this song totally and i mean if these production companies want productions to happen, this is just what they have to do. The cause of doing business is paying people who work to make your business happen. It's just it's really not that complicated. It's really that simple. And those are the headlines.

We'll be back after some ads. It's Friday, WOD Squad, and today we're doing a segment called WOD Remembers, where we bid a fond farewell to something that's not a person but has still enriched our lives and is about to be gone forever. This time around, it's Netflix's DVD-by-mail service. The final red and white envelopes are being mailed out today, and as a parting gift, whoever is still watching anything on DVDs in the year 2023 will be able to keep the discs. For what exactly? We may never know. But in its heyday, the DVD service boasted more than 20 million subscribers. And according to Netflix, over 5 billion DVDs were shipped across the country since the service first started back in 1998. But by this year,

fewer than a million Netflix male subscribers remained. So after 25 years, the company says it's time to roll the credits. And we'd like to say a few words. Priyanka, take it away. This is sad. I will admit it is sadder for other people than it is for me. I was a blockbuster girl. We were a blockbuster family. We did not do the than it is for me. I was a blockbuster girl. We were a blockbuster family. We did not do the mail-in movie thing. That was a little too newfangled for us. But this is sad. It really feels like we're losing a relic of childhood and early teens and such.

Also, though, very surprising that there are around a million families with DVD players. That's a lot. That is impressive. Didn't really know you could get a DVD player. Wouldn't know how to do that. Perplexed, puzzled. I do think it's sweet that they get to keep a little memento. They're little DVDs.

They don't usually give them back. Anyways, Travelle, do you have any fond memories of using the Netflix mail-in service that you'd like to share? So I've never used the Netflix mail-in service, but'd like to share. So I've never used the Netflix mail-in service, but. Doing me both. A confession. I do own a DVD player.

Whoa. Well, just, I just have never thrown it away. I also have a very big like CD-ROM case full of DVDs that are just collecting dust on the shelf, to be clear. But they're there. You never know when you are going to need to dust off your copy of the Lifetime original movie, Life is But a Fairy Tale, you know, starring Fantasia Barrino. Didn't know they made DVDs of those. That is impressive.

Didn't know the Lifetime movies went to disc. I know, but they do. I thought it was like the Lion King. You know. I'm just saying, you know, you got to keep these things at minimum for nostalgia purposes. Maybe I will never pull out my actual DVD player. But like, I feel good being able to say, you know, I remember when we had these little CDs, and that's how

we watched movies. I get it. I feel like if I had one, I wouldn't be like running to get rid of it, but since I don't, I don't miss it. You know what I mean? Right. I get it. Anyways, R.I.P. Yes, rest in peace to Netflix's DVD by mail service.

Sigh. It was good to know you. What a time. What a time to be alive. And that was WOD Remembers. And may we remember the red and white envelopes alongside the blue and yellow Blockbuster ticket logo forevermore. One more thing before we go. Here at Crooked, we love books.

They teach us new things, expand our horizons, and piss off uptight conservatives who never got to stay for story time at the library. Can they read? We don't know. That's why we created our very own storefront on bookshop.org, where you can find books published by Crooked's imprint, a selection of favorites from the Crooked staff, and lots more. You can even pick up a copy of my fabulous, wonderful book,

We See Each Other, A Black Trans Journey Through TV and Film. Look for it in the Crooked Authors section. Yes, highly recommend. Bookshop.org directly supports local booksellers, so you will not be personally funding Jeff Bezos' yacht renovations, which is a huge plus when it comes to purchasing a book. Always a plus. Head over to Cricut.com slash bookstore to find your next read. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, pray that Republicans somehow get their shit together, and tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading and not just Representative Jasmine Crockett's bio,

like me, What Today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And Godspeed, Little Red Envelopes. In the words of the great songwriter, although we've come to the end of the road, dot, dot, dot.

And then what? It's a song. You don't know that song, Priyanka? No. Although we've come to the end of the road, I can't let go. Oh, I thought it just ended there. I was like, wait, what? What a Day is a production of Cricket Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer is Itzy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. And our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. you