What A Day - So... What's The Plandemic?

Episode Date: March 12, 2020

The WHO has officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. And last night, President Trump announced new travel restrictions on foreign nationals coming from Europe. We tell you everything you need to know about where we’re at. Senator Bernie Sanders spoke yesterday in his first event since Tuesday’s elections. He said he will stay in the race and previewed how he plans to go after Vice President Joe Biden in Sunday’s debate. And in headlines: Weinstein gets 23 years, Covid-19 grifters, and Rockstar Energy is worth 3.9 billion dollars.

it's thursday march 12th i'm akilah hughes and i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day the daily news podcast recommended by four out of five handsome dentists you think they'll date me perhaps you think so if you impress them enough it doesn't sound like you're confident maybe the first four will i don't know about the fifth. Oh, all right. He's racist. On today's show, the next steps for the Democratic presidential campaigns, then some headlines. But first, some new action from the Trump administration on coronavirus. All right, we're not going to sugarcoat it. It's officially a pandemic. We are talking about COVID-19. The mysterious coronavirus.

The coronavirus in China. Deadly new strain of coronavirus. Endangers coronavirus from China. More than 200 cases of coronavirus. Coronavirus. Yeah, when he says more than 200 cases, it's like way more peaceful than the current. How quaint. Over 100,000.

Yikes. How quaint. Over 100,000. Yikes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, yesterday, the World Health Organization increased the health emergency to its highest level, pandemic. Akilah, do you want to explain what that actually means? Yeah, fine. I really would prefer to report on some good news, but I don't know. I wish I could make these promises.

Yeah. All right. Well, a pandemic is a very particular distinction. The CDC says a pandemic is, quote, an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people. And this is compared to an epidemic, which is an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area. So we're really talking about the spread. And at the time of recording, more than 4,000 people in 114 countries have died from COVID-19. 120,000 people have tested positive. And the World Health Organization thinks we need to start taking this very, very seriously. Yeah, agreed. But you know, that might be hard given the sort of crisis of authority in the United States with federal health officials and President Trump contradicting one another often. What is going on there?

A lot. So let's start with what Trump had to say last night in his address from the Oval Office. After consulting with our top government health professionals, I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and well-being of all Americans, to keep new cases from entering our shores. We will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight. Wow. So Trump went on to say that the restriction does not include the UK. There has been some confusion over how the policy is going to work. And even as we go to record, we're still getting

clarification on things. You know, for example, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the travel restriction only applies to foreign nationals, not US citizens. Right. And this is the first time that it sort of seemed as though Trump is taking this seriously. In recent days, he's been comparing coronavirus to the yearly flu, railing against Vanity Fair for reporting on the lackluster government response as fake news. So just shifting gears then away from the White House, there was testimony yesterday from federal health officials. Can you talk a little bit about that? Sure. So earlier in the day, Anthony Fauci from the National Institute of Allergies and

Infectious Diseases spoke to the House Oversight and Reform Committee about the response to the coronavirus. Based upon the current trajectory, how many people do you think will get this new virus and how many people do you think will die? You cannot predict. I know you can't predict, but we have a graph. We have the beginning of a graph. We know this is going to go up. We have the experience of China. We have the experience of Italy. Can you give us some projections? It is going to be totally dependent upon how we respond to it. So I can't give you a number.

If we now sit back complacently... I'm not asking to be complacent. I'm asking for a realistic... I mean, that's what the public is looking for. I can't give you a realistic number until we put into the factor of how we respond. If we are complacent and don't do really aggressive containment and mitigation, the number could go way up and be involved in many, many millions. If we taught to contain, we could flatten it. So there's no number answer to your question until we act upon it. Yeah. And, you know, by the way, kudos to Anthony Fauci for continuing to keep us informed.

You know, he's consistently taken this seriously and he's not letting politics get in the way of telling the truth, which we need, you know, just level headed shit on display finally. And just to reiterate here, he's saying we need to take containment efforts that requires testing and tracing cases and mitigation efforts like limiting large public gatherings. And speaking of that, let's do a quick update on some of the larger cancellations that have happened over the last 24 hours.

Yeah, so one of the biggest ones, or maybe the biggest one, the NBA has suspended games until further notice. And that's after a player tested positive for coronavirus, Rudy Gobert on the Utah Jazz. Yeah, look up Rudy Gobert and microphones and watch yourself be very disappointed early in the morning. Yeah. The NCAA March Madness Tournament announced that the six rounds of gameplay will also be sans fans, which means, you know, empty. And honestly, if there aren't fans, they might as well play in like a high school gym because what's the point of, you know, wasting the energy on a huge stadium?

Right. Additionally, E3, the biggest gaming convention in the U.S., is canceled this year. And just FYI, the federal government hasn't mandated the cancellation of any large events yet. These are all independent businesses making the decision to cancel on their own. And some sad news. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have coronavirus. Hanks said he and his wife tested positive while in Australia, where he is set to begin production on a film. We wish them the best.

And last thing for today, we went through the White House, we went through cancellations of events. What's going on with Congress? All right. So Senate Republicans blocked an emergency paid sick leave bill designed to give vulnerable service industry workers the time off that they often lack. But perhaps the House will have better luck. So Democratic representatives are expected to vote today on a stimulus package to give economic assistance to those same Americans that the Senate thinks shouldn't have paid leave in these very uncertain times. That package would include enhanced unemployment benefits, paid sick leave again, and a boost in the availability of food stamps. All right, we're going to keep you posted on all the updates since the story isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And if you're in a place where people are questioning the reality of this story or not taking it seriously, they should know that it is real and it is serious.

Take care of yourself. Wash your hands like you just unclogged your own shower drain. And if you can, work remotely. You know, just try to do so. Following the primary on Tuesday, we have some more updates on the state of the 2020 presidential race. First, the latest results. North Dakota got called for Senator Bernie Sanders. That's his first win in a night that was otherwise a romp for former Vice President Joe Biden.

And Washington state is still tallying votes and it's too close to call. Sanders, who didn't speak on election night, gave his first speech yesterday where he shared some updates on his campaign. Gideon, take us through what he had to say. Yeah, so Sanders started, as he often has at events throughout the campaign, stressing the importance of defeating Trump at all costs. He acknowledged that Tuesday night was not the best for his campaign and even conceded that he was, quote, losing the debate over electability to Biden, a theme we've talked about many times on the show. Yet Sanders talked about something that we mentioned on our episode yesterday, that polling indicates ideas that he has championed are very popular with voters and that he's overwhelmingly winning with younger voters so far. And so his message in part was the Democratic Party has to ensure that they continue talking about these

issues and engaging with these voters. And Sanders also said that he still plans on being in the next debate with Biden, where he has a few questions for him. On Sunday, I very much look forward to the debate in Arizona with my friend Joe Biden. And let me be very frank as to the questions that I will be asking Joe. Joe, what are you going to do for the 500,000 people who go bankrupt in our country because of medically related debt? And what are you going to do for the working people of this country and small business people who are paying on average 20 percent of their incomes for health care? So Sanders used that construction. What are you going to do for tons of issues spanning climate change, mass incarceration, health care and more? And in the past week or so, Sanders has been litigating Biden's previous record to contrast himself. But reporting throughout a lot of this campaign has shown that

Sanders doesn't really want to dig in and attack him so hard because he genuinely likes him and doesn't like going negative. And so what he's been left with is this litigation of the past votes. And that hasn't really panned out in terms of electoral wins. We saw that for a stark example in Michigan, where Sanders was talking about Biden's prior trade positions, and it didn't lead to victory on Tuesday. So this new speech from Sanders seems to reflect two things. One, that if Sanders is going to get back into this race, he wants to use the debate as the opportunity to try and do so. And two, that if Sanders is going to get back into this race, he wants to use the debate as the opportunity to try and do so. And two, that if Sanders is not the nominee, he wants to make sure that his voters are spoken to and that Biden adopts some of the progressive policies that have animated voters throughout the campaign.

Yeah. And on that point, you know, he could be really effective in doing that. He's already pulled the conversation and the party to the left on things like minimum wage, climate change, health care stuff. We literally just mentioned. But, you know, we'll just have to see. Meanwhile, coronavirus is continuing to impact how these political campaigns will actually look. He spoke yesterday about Sanders and Biden canceling events in the Cleveland area this week. But what's the latest? Yeah. So given the prior cancellation, Sanders doesn't have anything on his schedule until the debate on Sunday. But the campaign is planning for teletown halls and live streamed addresses. The debate itself is actually not even going to have a live audience. So we might see

some elbow bumping from Biden and Sanders, which would definitely be gif-able. Then yesterday, Biden canceled events in Illinois and Florida and is instead doing virtual events as well, which I can only assume means he will appear by hologram. I doubt that they have the technology ready for him specifically. Maybe they do. We'll find out. Additionally, today, Biden is set to give remarks on the coronavirus, which has become a natural political focus of both campaigns at the moment. They're having to kind of navigate both the logistics of how do you actually campaign when something like this is happening and the response that both of them want to present

to the outbreak and what they would do. On top of that, it also just seems like nothing else is breaking through news-wise besides updates on the pandemic. Yeah, I mean, you know, and as other news is happening, we're going to keep covering it. But it's just the dominant story right now. We didn't realize that this is what the year would be at the beginning of the year. We really didn't know. Meanwhile, on the event front, the current vice president, Mike Pence, who is running the government response to the outbreak, is still planning to attend a campaign event in Wisconsin next week for an upcoming congressional special election.

One of the other things that we're going to be looking at is how this all actually impacts voting next Tuesday. Just one small example, five Phoenix area polling locations are already set to be moved from senior living facilities to protect vulnerable residents. Yeah, that's next week. But even beyond that, there's still about half the primary to go. So we're going to have to watch that closely. As of now, how have President Trump's plans changed in terms of campaigning? Yeah, it's a really fluid situation. But even Trump, who had seemed to have been resistant to making changes to his campaign schedule, has started to make changes to his campaign schedule. After his address on Wednesday, there was news that Trump would not be traveling to Colorado and Nevada later this

week for a fundraiser and a convention. But prior to that, the Trump campaign announced a new event launching, quote, Catholics for Trump in Milwaukee on March 19th. That has now also been postponed. And earlier this week, Pence said that he and Trump will continue to shake hands, though, due to their specific line of work. Watt official policy does not condone this behavior, and neither does the CDC. Okay, we'll keep you updated on the presidential race and how the coronavirus might be affecting it in the future. Stay safe out there. Let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. Hundreds of protesters flooded the streets of Raleigh, North Carolina, after a police officer shot a man during a foot chase. Javier Torres was allegedly running away from the police Tuesday night before he was shot in the stomach. His condition is currently unknown. Local news outlets reported that Torres was holding only a pizza box, but the police chief later said that Torres was also holding a gun. Police body cam footage has yet to be released, which could help clarify what happened. The department announced they'll likely release

the video soon. Shortly after the news broke, demonstrators came out until the early hours of Wednesday, blocking major streets and burning a flag in front of the governor's mansion. Officer-involved shootings are not new in Raleigh. In fact, a police officer shot someone in the exact same area just last year. Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on charges of sexual assault and rape. That could effectively be a life sentence for the disgraced movie producer who is 67 years old and in poor health. Just yesterday, Weinstein was transferred to a hospital due to chest pains. Before the sentencing, two of the victims gave powerful statements about how his actions changed their lives for the worse.

Weinstein took the opportunity to ramble about how men were being negatively impacted by the Me Too movement, throw him under the jail. He has the next 23 years to think about how insane that is. Weinstein's lawyer says he plans to appeal the sentencing in July. But even before that happens, L.A.'s district attorney's office announced they're planning to begin the process of extraditing Weinstein to California. The man got got. The government response to COVID-19 has been slow, but one group moved fast. It's our nation's noble coalition of grifters. The Wall Street Journal found more than 100 counterfeit safety masks and respirators listed on Amazon, along with widespread price gouging that brought the price of one two-ounce

bottle of hand sanitizer to $459. Was it used to sanitize the Hope Diamond? I don't know. At least seven online companies got called out last week by the u.s food and drug administration and the federal trade commission for selling dubious coronavirus treatments these included teas essential oils tinctures and one product sold by alex jones that only can be described as a magical silver toothpaste we apologize in advance of this clip of mr jones the patented nano silver we have, the Pentagon has come out and documented and Homeland Security and said this stuff kills the whole SARS Corona family at point blank range. Well, of course it does. It kills every virus. Okay, Jones knows a thing or two about oral health. As you can tell from his voice, he's truly always gargling. Folks, this is the last

time we'll talk about magic silver on this podcast. Please do not pay $90 for it. Or ever watch an Alex Jones video. All right. The preferred energy drink of tatted up high schoolers driving Jeeps, Rockstar, was just bought by PepsiCo for $3.85 billion. Rockstar has the unique brag of being the first energy drink to come in the now ubiquitous 16-ounce can. 16 ounces, by the way, is the exact amount of energy drink

your body needs to play Xbox and then ignore your mom for 48 hours. PepsiCo's new CEO is trying to diversify as health-conscious consumers by fewer sugary drinks. Last year, the company spent $3.2 billion to buy out SodaStream. Global spending on energy drinks rose by 9.9% last year, so it's about time PepsiCo joined up with a rock star. And I'm not talking about Dave Grohl. Giving that a Dave groan.

Learn to fly, Gideon. And those are the headlines. By the way, it's census time. The census is officially available today for you to go fill it out online. Head to my2020census.gov. Remember, this shit is important. It's how we make sure we have proper representation in Congress, the White House, and get access to federal funding. Don't go uncounted. And one more thing, the citizenship question will not be on the census. And the information you provide on the

census cannot be subpoenaed by ICE or any government agency. So fill it out, people, my2020census.gov. Provide on the census cannot be subpoenaed by ICE or any government agency. So fill it out, people. My2020census.gov. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, guess how many marbles we have in our jar, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just curse words carved into desks at schools 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 there's no such thing as magic toothpaste. Just mint. Just crust. Put that silver colloidal in your body and feel the rush. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. 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 Kashaka.