What A Day - The West Wheeze

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

Trump is now back in the White House after making a Trumpian and very public return, but doctors say he’s still not "out of the woods." Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tested positive along with two deputies in the communications department, but the White House’s contact tracing effort seems to be negligible at best. The Supreme Court began its new term yesterday by rejecting an appeals case from Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to give out same-sex marriage licenses due to religious objections. But Justices Alito and Thomas used the moment to voice their opposition to same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. We discuss what that means in light of Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, and what other cases the court will hear in the next month. And in headlines: police shoot a Black man in Texas who was trying to stop domestic violence, the EPA gives Oklahoma authority over environmental issues on tribal lands, and the rock gods rule in the case of Led Zeppelin vs. Spirit.

It's Tuesday, October 6th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is what a day where we've removed our Trump medical news chip, smashed it and melted all the pieces. Yeah, now that we don't have that, we can just look at our phones for the same information all day long. That's right. I didn't need the chip anyway. My phone is my heart and soul. And that's the moral of the story. On today's show, President Trump leaves Walter Reed and the start of the new SCOTUS term. Then some headlines. But first, the latest. Trump is now back at the White House. Right. Yesterday afternoon,

he tweeted that he was going to leave Walter Reed Medical Center. And in the evening, he returned to the White House, promptly took off his mask, went inside. And then the White House released essentially propaganda videos of the entire journey. Some of the video footage appeared to show him taking labored breaths. In that same tweet from earlier in the day, he said, quote, Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life, which comes after more than 200,000 people at least have died from it in the United States, many of them as a direct consequence of Trump not being afraid of the virus. It is truly like a horror film. And it's also easier for Trump to say this when he's the president and has access to top of the line treatment and care.

Aside from the usual from Trump, his doctors gave another update on Monday before he moved. So what did they say about his current condition and the days ahead? Yeah, so Dr. Conley and the team didn't answer some questions about Trump's lung function or the last time that he tested negative for COVID. Those are going to continue to be questions going on from here. They said he did meet the criteria to leave the hospital. But one of the telling quotes was that they also said Trump wasn't, quote, out of the woods yet, which makes sense given what medical experts know about the progression of the disease and that it can worsen at around the seven to 10 day mark. The doctors also said that Trump was continuing to take

remdesivir and dexamethasone. Those are the two drugs we talked about yesterday, which are both typically used for hospitalized patients. Conley also said they're going to be monitoring how things progress over the coming week, emphasizing that there's still going to be a medical team treating him at the White House. Here is a clip. We all remain cautiously optimistic and on guard because we're in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient that received the therapies he has so early in the course. So we're looking to this weekend, if we can get through to Monday with him remaining the same or improving better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh relief. But as I said, 24-7 world-class medical care surrounding him down there. We're not going to miss anything that we would have caught up here.

Right. So a close eye until next Monday. And a bit of a mixed bag overall, it seems. And once again, we're ending up with more questions than answers, including whether Trump will stay at the residence or also work in the Oval Office, or broadly what infection control procedures they are going to take at the White House. Yeah. And meanwhile, with each passing day, there are additional positive cases being identified in and around the White House or just linked to Trump. That's right. So it appears we may have not seen the end of this and we don't have a good sense at the moment of just how much more widespread this outbreak might be. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that she had tested positive as well as two deputies in

the communications department. And we're finding all this out in sort of drips and drabs for a couple of reasons. One is that a lot of these individuals are taking multiple tests and some are coming back negative multiple times until they eventually get that positive result. And two is that the contact tracing effort put in place by the White House is negligible at best, meaning that the people that we don't usually hear about in the news, cleaning staff, cooking staff, and their families

are in dangerous situations as well, or potentially will be in the future. According to a New York Times report, at this moment, the White House is not doing a full-on contact tracing effort for all the guests and staff at the Rose Garden event for Amy Coney Barrett. That part was outside, which is considered safer than indoor gatherings,

but again, there have been loads of identified cases from that day, which also had this indoor component. And given the onset of symptoms for Trump in the timeline there, it's possible that he was in fact infected that day. Oh my gosh. Well, on top of that, there was a report that the White House isn't working with the CDC on contact tracing either. Yeah. So according to the Times, the White House is going in alone right now. And what they're doing instead of this full contact trace is they are only alerting people who came into close contact with Trump in the two days before his diagnosis, which they've said came late last Thursday. And even those limited efforts that have been conducted thus far seem to be just emails as opposed to more detailed calls about what is going on and what to be on the lookout for. And that 48-hour window crucially includes Trump going to the debate,

the rally in Minnesota, and the fundraiser in New Jersey. So one of the key problems here, even before you have to embark on a contact tracing effort, is that reports suggest the White House has been heavily relying on rapid tests to screen people who might come into contact with Trump. Those tests, though, while fast, can miss cases particularly early on

when someone might not be showing symptoms. And apparently White House policy has been that masks can just be taken off if those tests come back negative. That is just, even I know that that's dumb. And already there are at least eight people who went to the Barrett ceremony that have tested positive, with experts thinking there may be many more. It makes sense to me that you can't just do a rapid test and no other safety precautions. But what specifically have experts said about that? Yeah, so in a Wall Street Journal article, the Dean of Brown University School of Public Health likened the use of these rapid tests

alone as using a metal detector. The rapid tests from Abbott that the White House uses have approximately 9% false negatives, according to studies cited by the Wall Street Journal. So if 9% of armed people don't set off a metal detector, you still have a dangerous situation. And when you kind of trade accuracy for speed, the idea is that you'd also have other common safety measures that epidemiologists recommend, like social distancing and masks. The CDC defines prolonged contact as 15 minutes or more of unprotected interacting with someone less than six feet away. And that almost certainly happened over the course of that Saturday. There's also already one example,

according to the Wall Street Journal story of someone testing negative at the White House that day, taking off their mask after that and later having a positive test. It was the president of Notre Dame, and he later said he regretted not keeping that mask on. All right, well, we'll be following this mess as it goes on and on and on. But there were also a few updates on what we can maybe expect from these coming debates, which are apparently still happening. between Pence and Harris, a la what Democratic Senate candidate Jamie Harrison had during his recent debate against Senator Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. A lot of effort for one debate. Then according to the New York Times, for the next presidential debate, which is supposed to happen on October 15th, again, how? Apparently the debate commission is considering doing it virtually. By the way, Chris Wallace, the moderator of the debate last week, tested negative for COVID yesterday. So time will tell what will

happen here. But moving on to another important story, the new SCOTUS term has begun. Akilah, what is the latest there? Yeah, so SCOTUS is back. And there are some lowlights that kind of look like highlights at first if you were squinting. So first up, the highest court in the land declined to take up Kim Davis's appeals case. You'll remember that she's the allegedly religious Kentucky clerk who didn't want to do her job and give same-sex marriage licenses, which, yay, you know, don't waste our time with that SCOTUS since gay marriage is the codified law of the land, right? Oh, no, it's just wrong somehow. Yeah, that's basically what they're saying. So Justices Alito and Thomas used this rejected appeal to release a statement calling into question the Obergefell decision from 2015,

which is the case that declared same-sex marriage to be constitutional. They said, in part, that by choosing to endorse a, quote, novel constitutional right over religious liberty, quote, the court has created a problem that only it can fix. They went on to say, quote, until then, Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty. Yuck. I think this is a bit of a dog whistle to those deeply invested in getting Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to the court. I mean, she's already made clear that she disagrees with that ruling, according to NPR. And since the court is going to be hearing a more relevant case about LGBTQ rights next month, why preview what you clearly see as a foregone conclusion? Yeah, so people are already calling for senators to press Barrett on this

issue at her hearing and whether or not she'll respect Obergefell as precedent. It's sort of a similar situation to the Roe v. Wade concerns. But let's talk about that upcoming case that you mentioned. Yeah, so the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments for it in November, and it has to do with gay rights and foster care. More specifically, the justices will consider whether or not a city can legally exclude a Catholic adoption agency from its foster care system because it refuses to work with gay couples. Yikes. Okay, so let's quickly get into the other cases that the Supreme Court will be hearing in the coming months. The ACA is the other giant notable case which hasn't gotten a day of rest since the legislation passed. It cannot be overstated how wild it is that they can decide to take away the health care

and protections within the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic. And beyond that, there are expected to be plenty of election suits taken to the highest court. There was a decision just yesterday from the court on an election case out of South Carolina where the justices ruled in favor of Republicans to reinstate a witness signature requirement for mail-in ballots, something that's tough for people who live alone. And again, we're in the middle of a pandemic. There's a lot more that we'll be monitoring and updating you all on, but that's the latest for now. It's Tuesday, WOD Squad. And for today's's tim check we're back with some animal news yesterday wildlife managers in australia announced they'd brought tasmanian devils back to the country for the first time in 3 000 years the hope is that the reintroduction of the devils will not only grow

their numbers but will also scare off feral cats which are a huge threat to wild animals in australia australia's own thor chrisemsworth, endorsed the effort and helped give it a handsome face. Tasmanian devils themselves are cute, but also loud and angry sounding. So Giddy, let's say you're invited to be the spokesperson for this kind of animal campaign. Which animal are you going into business with? Hmm. I think if my campaign is to scare off feral cats, I may introduce some ostriches or other large birds that can run quickly.

I think they could keep up with the cats. I think they could also throw their necks around like these large birds do and terrify these cats away. And I think they're a practical bunch. They seem to know how to find things, and they seem to have a good vision that they could use to track the cats far away. So that's my pitch, and I hope they're listening. Yeah, if you are listening to this podcast, please Photoshop Gideon into an ad about hostages scaring away cats. We need to laugh these days.

Honestly, that's like a really interesting choice i i definitely i'm like i'm thinking right now and my wheels are not turning towards birds i just i think i think naturally bird like cats are normally like you know i can fuck with this bird whatever i'm i'm a strong and feral cat but if they see an ostrich you know that's that's basically like dealing with a dinosaur that's not i mean tasmanian devils are also sort of prehistoric type creatures. They all seem to live in Australia. Same question for you, Akilah. What animal are you going into business with here? You know, I mean, if we're specifically just talking about an ad campaign for bringing animals to fight with other animals, if it's feral cats, I'm just going to enlist some other

feral cats like I want to pit them against each other. If we want to get rid of them, we know that the quickest way to do that is to divide and conquer. So I'm just going to team up with like the meaner looking cats and be like, hey, they said this was their land. I think you guys should civil war.

And then we don't have to bring the devils back. I think that the devils, I don't know where they've been re-situated, but I'm sure they put down roots and weren't excited to come back. If I was leaving after thousands of years, I feel like I'd be a little upset to have to return, but that's just me. It's true. It's a real fight fire with fire situation. You do sort of like a lineup of, you know, the most feral cats located in the city, audition them in whatever way, shape or form seems to work and then let them

loose once they've qualified. See, these are good plans. And just like that, we have checked our temps. Stay safe. Photoshop me with apparel cat. And we'll be back with another tip check tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. at a gas station. 31-year-old Jonathan Price had intervened to stop domestic violence when police arrived on the scene. A lawyer for Price's family said he then raised his hands and attempted to

explain what was going on when police fired tasers at him. When his body began reacting to the electrical current, police, quote, perceived him as a threat and shot him to death. The city posted a statement saying the officer who shot and killed Price has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Texas Rangers. Price's Facebook posts in recent months show that he defended police officers during Black Lives Matter protests this year, and those posts have been shared in recent days, leading many to express their grief that Price trusted a system that did not trust him back. Yeah, it's just poetic. The EPA has granted Oklahoma authority over environmental issues on tribal lands within its state.

Now, a number of regulatory authorities under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act will be overseen by Oklahoma instead of the federal government. This could give the state a legal path to commit environmental abuses on tribal lands, like dumping hazardous waste or spilling oil, while restricting the ability of the tribes to fight back in court. Tribal authorities saw the decision as a blow to their sovereignty, and the Cherokee Nation called it a, quote, knee-jerk reaction to curtail tribal jurisdiction. It's worth noting, too, that Oklahoma has a huge oil and gas industry who unsurprisingly supported the EPA's decision. The EPA wrote that they would make sure that Oklahoma's environmental actions don't violate federal laws, but that's coming from an agency that rolled back around 100 environmental regulations under Trump. Yeah. And staying on the topic of our planet's future, let's talk about ExxonMobil. While other energy companies have announced plans to cut back on pollution and phase out fossil fuel, Exxon is stepping in to fill the emission void. Great job. Leaked documents show they're planning an expansion in oil production that would increase their annual carbon dioxide output by 17% or 21 million tons per year, which is nearly the output of the entire country of Greece.

I have no words for this except, mamma mia, I hope my grandchildren can fly spaceships. So once you account for the secondary emissions that would result from Exxon's plan, like from customers who burn their fuel, that number grows even larger to nearly 100 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. It's almost like Exxon executives think if they make enough money, they can pay the devil not to put them directly into hell. Exxon has strong ties to conservative politicians in the U.S., with their last CEO, Rex Tillerson, serving as Trump's first Secretary of State. There's been a long legal battle over whether Led Zeppelin stole the first riff in Stairway to Heaven, and at last, the rock gods have spoken. And by rock gods, I mean the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case yesterday and will allow a 2016 ruling in favor of Led Zeppelin to stand. The case dates back to 2014, when lawyers representing the band Spirit first argued that Stairway was a ripoff of their client's song, Taurus. In the six years since then, as our country has edged ever closer to blowing itself up, the case has passed through several courts,

a process that presumably involved the judges eating acid, sitting in a finished basement, and listening to the songs back to back to decide if one rocked harder or if they rocked exactly the same amount of hard. If you think you can ignore the Zeppelin v. Spirit legal battle just because you're less than 30 years old or you prefer other non-dad genres of music, think again. Rulings in the case have already made it harder for smaller recording artists to win copyright infringement cases against pop stars and have been cited in lawsuits against Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran. That's true. Also, if you're under 30, listen to Led Zeppelin. People will think you're cool, you know?

I mean, Gideon will definitely think you're cool. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you liked the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Don't try to bribe the devil and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just sheet music of Led Zeppelin songs like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe.

I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And enjoy your non-dad music genres. You know, I want to say trip hop. Introduce your parents to 100 Gags and see what they say. See if they ask you to leave the car.

Because they might. They might. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.