What A Day - The Sisterhood Of The Traveling RNC

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

The planned site of the Republican National Convention this August is North Carolina, one of the states where coronavirus case numbers are currently on the rise. Governor Roy Cooper’s understandable concerns about this event going forward have led to a low-tier scramble, with Georgia and Florida offering to host. Also in Florida… key American innovation Walt Disney World has announced reopening plans for July. And the NBA might finally be making its 2019-2020 season return nearby.And in headlines: Mike Pompeo declares that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, Jennifer Carrol Foy seeks to be America’s first black woman governor, and Facebook knew it’s platform turned people into maniacs.

It's Thursday, May 28th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, where we are drafting our own social media executive order that basically says, be truthful. Yeah, just go back to lying in real life, okay? The internet could be a good place if you guys would just tell the damn truth. On today's show, what's next for theme parks and sports, then some headlines. But first, the latest. And Dragon SpaceX, unfortunately, we are not going to launch today.

Your goal for 5.100 launch scrub. 5.100, it was a good effort by the team. Wow. All right. So that was a clip from NASA's live stream yesterday from a now rescheduled launch. If weather provides, they'll be lifting off this Saturday, May 30th. But in other news, the U.S. has now officially surpassed 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, according to multiple tallies, a toll that is hard to even conceive of and is the highest in the world. As the country reopens, there appears to be a kind of patchwork picture emerging of where cases are rising and falling. While much of the country is remaining steady or seeing decreases, about a dozen or more states are seeing an uptick. Right. So broadly

across the country, as far as we know currently, those case numbers and deaths are trending downward. And in places like New York, which was an epicenter for weeks and made up a lot of those totals, the daily death toll is significantly lower and at levels not seen since March, which was an epicenter for weeks and made up a lot of those totals. The daily death toll is significantly lower and at levels not seen since March, which is excellent news, of course. But meanwhile, there are still other areas throughout the country where cases are on the rise. And that includes California, which has now become the fourth state in the country with at least 100,000 confirmed cases. The other three that hit that milestone are Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. And even in a state like California that is moving more cautiously than many other states,

there are still some within the state who think that even more trepidation is necessary right now. Dr. Sarah Cody, the health officer for Santa Clara County, who spearheaded the first shelter in place order in the country in Northern California expressed concern about the speed of reopening on Wednesday, particularly the authorization of religious gatherings of up to 100 people in parts of the state. Yeah, and among the states that reopened faster, what do we know about the numbers there? Yeah, so cases are up in places like Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. For some of those, the graphs right now look a lot more like spikes than others.

And other states like Arkansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, which never had full-on stay-at-home orders to begin with, they're also seeing their cases increase in recent days. But we're in this kind of uncertain moment, given the information that we currently have, because some of these upticks could be due to this reopening. Some of it could be due to testing increases as well. Then there are issues with the actual testing in some of these states that remain, as well as like the data collation and distribution. So the picture is certainly murky at this point. And given what we know about the virus, it's possible that it becomes clearer with time. But still, the World Health Organization and many public health officials continue to say what they've

been saying for a long time, that places could be at risk of increasing rates of these COVID-19 infections if they relax social distancing measures too soon. All right. So one of the other places with increasing cases is North Carolina, which just so happens to also be holding the Republican National Convention in August. Trump seems unhappy about this. So what's going on and what do we make of it? Yeah, unhappy about this. So what's going on and what do we make of it? Yeah, unhappy is right. And this has become another big pet project of President Trump's

Twitter feed in the last couple of days. He said that he wants a guarantee that the event, which is currently scheduled for August, can be held at full capacity and said that the Democratic governor in North Carolina, Roy Cooper, was in a, quote, shutdown mood. I mean, sure, sir. Yeah. So obviously there's, you know, the naked political angle and all of this. Trump is up for reelection this year. North Carolina is a critical state. And he has had this playbook for quite some time of picking fights with Democrats that are leading states that are important to keeping him in office. And Governor Cooper is also up for reelection this year. And unlike Trump, has some rightful concern about tens of thousands of people suddenly converging on a city in just a few short months. At North Carolina's current stage of reopening, they're limiting indoor

gatherings to 10 people, which is not a full convention. Not at all. And then into the phrase Georgia and Florida, both led by Republican governors who offered to host the convention instead if North Carolina somehow doesn't. But is a massive multimillion dollar event that is contractually supposed to be held in Charlotte going to suddenly relocate in a short window before it happens? Unclear. Also, this is tied up in contracts. We'll see. And privately, according to reports, I mean, the RNC is talking to North Carolina's governor about how to pull something like this off safely. And even they are thinking about contingency plans for an event that likely, if it happened in person, would end up being pared down. And beyond these Republican governors trying to suck up to Trump, they're also recognizing that a convention is a big money boost for their states, at least in the short term.

That's part of the reason why Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said that he would be happy to host the DNC too. Look, I mean, take that with what you will, but I don't trust this man's intentions necessarily here. But speaking of Florida and large events, Akilah, this state appears to be riding on an ounce of hope that reopening major attractions won't just create super spreader events. Can you talk about some of the reopening announcements we got yesterday? For sure. All right. So the first one is major. Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is reportedly reopening in July. The plan would have Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening on the 11th with Hollywood Studios and Epcot on the 15th.

But just because they're reopening doesn't mean there will be a return to the sweaty four-hour line for Rise of the Resistance again. So instead, there's going to be lowered capacity at the parks, no parades or fireworks since those tend to cause crowding, a mandatory mask rule, temperature checks at the gates, more cashless options to encourage contactless payments, and way, way, way more hand sanitizing stations. Personally, I'm not interested unless they wipe down the whole ride every time, including the gears and the talking presidents. But I get why Disney wants this. Their parks make up 37% of the company's overall revenue, which is tens of billions of dollars. Right. Some people were looking at their wallets for sure while we were on site. And there's also some Disney news involving the NBA. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So the NBA may be finally making its 2019-2020 season return at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Disney World. This July is also the date for that.

At least they are in talks with Disney about it. But, you know, everything is up in the air. This comes after the season suspension back in March after players tested positive for the virus. The idea is to limit travel, do testing and create a sort of bubble around the teams so that they don't get infected. Also, it's very unlikely that there will be fans. But here's what else we know. There are a lot of contingencies in the plan, one of the biggest being that many international NBA players are overseas, and there are still travel bans in effect.

So getting the players physically to these hotels and arenas and maybe quarantining them, who knows, is going to be really important. And what the actual league play will look like is still up for debate. I mean, can they pick up where they left off? Will this be considered postseason or will it be a modified postseason playoff scenario in which teams from the same conference end up competing for the championship? It's not a popular idea, but we're not living in popular times. But this is important to pay attention to because what's decided here may help determine what other sports leagues do nationwide and worldwide. Another experiment is happening. The National Women's Soccer League has announced a 25-game tournament in Salt Lake City in late June, but players have the option to opt out. So

I guess we'll just keep you posted. Yeah, I don't know how you create a bubble when Disney World is also opening around the same time. I have many remaining questions. But finally, let's get to some updates from around the world. Yeah, so leaders in the EU have proposed a giant relief package, about $2 trillion over the next several years. It's a mix of grants and loans that would go to economic recovery efforts in affected countries. It still has to be approved, but it's a big step because it would be a massive centralized effort that would knit together the finances of all the countries in the EU.

And this comes as the strength of the European Union has been tested in recent years. You know, we know about Brexit and all those other nationalist movements. But if passed, it'd be a pretty big show of unity, I think. But we've already got some of the wealthier countries in Northern Europe, like Austria, Denmark, and Sweden questioning the plan because they're worried about taking on debt to support countries in the south like Spain and Italy. The virus hit those countries especially hard and recovery will also be hard because they rely very heavily on tourism, which isn't likely to bounce back anytime soon. Germany and France have said that allowing some countries to recover faster than others would hurt the entire union. They appear to be backing the plan, but the proposal requires unanimous approval, so we'll likely see a lot of negotiations around this in the coming weeks. But that's the latest for now. It's Thursday, WOD Squad, and you know what? We're checking in.

So Adidas started selling cloth face masks earlier in the week. A three-pack goes for $15, and the masks, which are black with an Adidas logo on the side, sold out in minutes and were promptly available on eBay for almost $100. Adidas has since restocked on their website so giddy are you ready for the hype beast mask market i'm not ready for any sort of like swift fun monetizing of this pandemic in any way i mean look if you need if you need to get a mask and this is an option for you by all means i would really want you to get the mask instead of not getting it to keep yourself safe and others safe. But yeah, I mean, you know, we're venturing into territory where there's going to be normcore New Balance masks.

I think there are normcore masks. They're like the blue ones that are like paper or whatever, like the ones you would get in the waiting room if you had a cough in regular times. Those are ones that I sometimes use on occasion. So I'm proud to be normcore. But how long would you wait in a line for, let's say, a big Supreme mass drop? Another big mass drop. Yeah, like you mean like a digital line? Well, zero minutes because I'm not a hype beast.

I like the idea of it, but I think Supreme is such a joke. Like I think that spending thousands of dollars on what is essentially like a weekender bag and like a t-shirt with a logo doesn't make a lot of sense. I also think like there are a lot of cool, smaller businesses making masks and they're like way more creative and cool. So I've been into that. I mean, some of them are kind of pricey. So really, I'm just relying on the ones that I have. I got the Crooked masks, go to our store. But yeah, I don't necessarily see me ever waiting for a drop for anything ever again.

I think that's sensible, and I agree with it. I also think that this is a moment that, you know, Bape could make some sort of comeback with their zip-up hoodie things that they had, where it was like the shark, you know, and you zip it up. Yeah, I remember that. That's right. It'd just be like an undershirt, like a turtleneck that comes up over your face. Yeah. You know, then you have like a cool look to your whole vibe. You're also, you know, covering your mouth and nose. Just a suggestion for the babe listeners out there. Yeah. Babe, if you guys are trying to like do some more jobs, we got some ideas for you and

we will take 10 percent. But yeah, I think that this is all great news. And you know what? We checked our temperatures. We're feeling cool. Hope you are too. And we will check back in again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines's mere firing. Floyd's family has also said in interviews that they want to see the officer arrested for murder.

Now, these statements follow demonstrations in Minneapolis on Tuesday night, where hundreds of protesters gathered at the intersection where Floyd was killed, many wearing face masks and holding signs printed with Floyd's last words, I can't breathe. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas and foam projectiles. Right now, the FBI and a separate agency have been called in to investigate the officers who were involved. Oh man, so you're saying if they showed up without face masks and their rifles, the police might have been nicer. Putting it out there, putting it out there.

All right, well, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared on Wednesday that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China. The move is a response to a law passed last year that requires the U.S. to annually verify that the territory is autonomous. Ironically, that law was passed by Congress and signed by Trump to support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Now, with the pandemic causing tensions between the U.S. and China to rise, Pompeo's decision could allow Trump to move forward with other actions against China, like higher tariffs and visa restrictions. Many analysts say those actions would hurt people in Hong Kong more than China and could be bad news for a lot of American businesses. Pompeo's announcement comes after protesters in Hong Kong took to the streets to demonstrate against China's controversial new security law. Virginia delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy launched her gubernatorial campaign on Wednesday, running to succeed current governor Ralph Northam in 2021

and become the first black woman governor in America. On the Democratic side, she'll be competing for the nomination against at least one guy accused of sexual assault and another guy who had to apologize for doing college blackface. On the Republican side, who knows? Probably some sons of the Confederacy and a former video game streamer who got deplatformed for using slurs. True. Foy is a defense lawyer who headed up Virginia's effort to ratify the federal Equal Rights

Amendment. The first time she ran for office, she knocked on thousands of doors while pregnant with twins. She might be relieved that this time around, there probably will be less doors. True. Noted social media graveyard Facebook knew that its product made people hate each other, but they made the conscious decision not to fix it. That's according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, which

described a 2018 internal presentation on the tendency of Facebook's algorithm to, quote, exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness. Apparently, Facebook is programmed to promote posts from super sharers who are extremely active on Facebook. These are generally the same posters who push hyper partisan content. One pitch was to cut back on that boost to restore some sanity to the site, but the idea was dramatically scaled back by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who asked execs not to bring him proposals like that again. A separate 2016 internal presentation showed that, quote, 64% of all extremist group joins on Facebook are due to the site's recommendation tools. Bad news all around. Mom's Book Club is good news, though.

And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, buy our new inbox Supreme masks on eBay and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just trippy AF phrases on blacklight posters 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 beware of the social media graveyard Facebook. It's a terrible place.

You don't want to go there. You're, that's just death. Surrounded by death and destruction. Stay out. I'll vote for anyone who cancels Facebook. Concur. What a day is a product of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tunn 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.