What A Day - Ukraine Celebrates A Somber Independence Day

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

Today is Ukraine’s Independence Day, marking 31 years since it broke from the Soviet Union. It also comes six months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, and Ukrainian officials are concerned that new strikes could come on the symbolic date.California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation on Monday that would have allowed three California cities to open overdose prevention sites – though Newsom said during his campaign in 2018 he was “very, very open” to the harm reduction strategy.And in headlines: prosecutors dismissed all charges against the two Atlanta police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a federal jury convicted two men for leading the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a whistleblower alleged that Twitter misled regulators about how it fights hackers and spam.Show Notes:NY Times: “Eric Adams After Dark: A Private Table and Tarnished Friends” – https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/nyregion/eric-adams-la-baia-zero-bond.htmlVote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/Crooked 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/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Wednesday, August 24th. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we are waiting patiently for our voices to be used in a viral TikTok mashup song about corn. Listen, the viral corn song is real. People on TikTok listen to it tens of million times per day. Several million of those are from me.

It is a work of art. It is a something. On today's show, a jury has convicted two men for conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor. Plus, President Biden is set to make an announcement to cancel some student loan debt. But first, today marks six months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. So we're going to recap what got us here and where we are now. As a reminder, it followed a dramatic breakdown of Russia's relationship with the West last year as Vladimir Putin sought recognition for two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Putin would later declare them independent states and the world watched as tens of thousands of Russian troops were deployed to the border for what the Kremlin described as a peacekeeping mission.

Then, on the evening of February 23rd in the U.S., and as dawn was breaking the next day in Ukraine, the first rockets were fired. This is a CBS News special report, and we are coming on the air because the war in Ukraine has begun. Vladimir Putin has just addressed the Russian people moments ago, announcing what Putin called the start of a military special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. Just a few moments ago, we heard five loud explosions. That sounded like a fighter jet overhead. The U.N. Security Council held an emergency late-night meeting asking Russia's president to order tanks and planes and troops to back away from Ukraine's borders. We have now received our first statement from the president of the United States.

He says the prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine. A full scale invasion could lead to one of the biggest conflicts we've seen in Europe in decades. Yeah. At this point, the war shows no signs of stopping. It's one of those events that you, I will probably remember where we were, when this happened, when it started, and it's going on. been forced to flee and entire cities have been decimated. And according to the United Nations, there have been 5,600 civilian deaths. It's really unfathomable destruction to innocent lives and the country of Ukraine. Today also coincides with Ukraine's Independence Day, marking 31 years since the country broke from the Soviet Union. Yeah, but this year's Independence Day will be very different from years past. The U.S. State Department issued a security alert earlier this week,

warning that Russia is planning to increase efforts to launch strikes against civilian and government infrastructure targets in Ukraine in the coming days. Ukrainian officials have sent similar warnings that these may coincide with the holiday. And as a result, all of the events that would have celebrated this day are now banned in Kyiv and Kharkiv. They want to make sure that, you know, security forces in Ukraine can respond to threats and also that people stay as safe as they possibly can. Also, we should note that we're recording this at 9.30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. So this is as of now, you know, it's morning, very early morning in Ukraine.

Things could change really quickly. Yeah. So I know at the start of this invasion, the U.S. was very actively sending money and resources to help Ukraine. Is that still going on? Yeah. So the federal government is actually expected to announce a new security assistance package for Ukraine valued at about $3 billion as early as today. It is also timed for their Independence Day. This would be the largest round of aid that we have sent since the invasion started six months ago. It aims to train and equip Ukrainian forces with new weapons and defense systems so they can continue defending their country in the long term. This is actually different from past aid packages because this one really focuses

on mid-length to long-term defense. So kind of expecting that this might not be wrapped up as quickly as many of us hoped. Right. There has been a lot of news out of Russia and Ukraine over the past few weeks. What's been going on and what does this mean for the state of the war? Yeah. So as I said earlier, there's really no signs of this stopping, you know, coming to a peaceful conclusion anytime soon. As of now, there are definitely a few things to be aware of going on on the ground, though. One is that Russia may start show trials of Ukrainian prisoners of war. A few weeks back, photos emerged from Mariupol, which Russia now occupies, showing steel cages that are being built inside of a local symphony hall.

Russia is reportedly going to try and make these trials as humiliating as possible for these prisoners. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if they go through with this, it would make negotiating with Russia impossible. Ukraine wouldn't do it. Also over the weekend, you may have heard Darya Dugina, the daughter of a far right Russian ideologue and a big time supporter of Putin, died in a car bombing. Russia quickly blamed this on Ukraine, though Ukraine has denied any involvement. But this definitely has intensified calls from the Russian far right to amp up attacks on Ukraine, coinciding with this Independence Day. Not great. And not to mention this entire situation that has been ongoing at Zaporizhia, the nuclear plant in Ukraine that is currently held by Russia.

The Ukrainian technicians at the plant are essentially being held hostage there, but they are also needed. They are critical to ensure that something disastrous doesn't happen here. There is still a lot of tension over that, and that extends far beyond Russia and Ukraine. Something goes wrong. This could result in a nuclear disaster, which would be catastrophic for everybody. So everyone has been very concerned for quite some time. The UN nuclear watchdog says that if talks to get them access to the plant succeed, they will visit. But that hasn't happened yet. Still up in the air. So, you know, lots to be nervous about. Thank you so much, Priyanka, for that. Let's switch gears to another big story

from this country. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have allowed three California cities to open overdose prevention sites. It would have let San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland establish these sites in communities struggling with, quote, open drug use and frequent overdoses. It was a disappointing decision from the governor, who said during his campaign in 2018 that he was, quote, very, very open to the idea after former California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill that same year. In his veto letter on Monday, Newsom said he was worried about, quote, a world of unintended consequences if such sites were to open. Okay, seems like quite a reversal

here. Josie, I know we've talked about this concept of an overdose prevention site before, but can you remind us of what they are? And are supervised injection sites the same thing as overdose prevention sites? Or are we talking about something different here? Yeah, great question. Same thing. They basically do both of these things. They give drug users the ability to take drugs in a controlled environment, and therefore they prevent overdoses. These sites provide clean needles, drug tests, naloxone, that's the opioid antidote used to treat someone who is overdosing. And they also provide information about treatment for people who are interested. And they have personnel on site who are ready to respond if someone does overdose. So the point of these sites, right, is harm reduction. They significantly

reduce the likelihood that a drug user will die from an overdose, and they provide hygienic supplies to reduce the risk of other medical issues that come with intravenous drug use. Totally, 100%. It feels like, at least to me, that we have known and understood this concept for quite some time, understand the benefits of it. But okay, as of now, do these sites actually exist or is this still kind of a concept that people are talking about? They actually exist. In fact, there are almost 200 of them worldwide.

Last year, New York City opened the first authorized overdose prevention site in the U.S., and a number of other cities in the state of Rhode Island have approved their use. But they have had trouble getting some traction here because of the political costs, basically. Yeah. Okay. So these are already happening. There's already having positive benefits in communities. But guess we could have guessed that would be the case. So please tell us more about these certain parties and these certain special interests who don't seem to like these very much. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of to your point, right? Like it's like, we know they work and we know that people across the political spectrum overdose, right? Like this

is a crisis that's hitting everybody. At this point, we know that this is like a huge widespread problem across America. That is a disaster. So very interesting that there is this point, we know that this is like a huge, widespread problem across America. That is a disaster. So very interesting that there is this opposition. But please tell us more. Drugs won the drug war. And some people are not willing to admit that. Some people, yeah, don't admit that fact.

Yeah. You're correct. Parties, special interests, not into it. For example, in California, Republicans and law enforcement agencies did not support the bill because they said it would, quote, encourage illicit drug use. One right-wing analogy I read said it's like making a special lane on the highway for drunk drivers, which I personally enjoyed. Whoever said that doesn't understand drunk drivers. They don't stay in their lanes.

Yeah. That's literally the whole point. Would have landed, but. Right, right, right. You're almost there. Small detail. Scott Wilk, the lead Republican in California's state Senate, said, quote, people struggling with addiction need help, not a legal place to shoot up. Even Democrats have fed into the same narrative, including former Governor Jerry Brown, who said injection sites should only exist if they require users to enter treatment in order to use them.

But, Priyanka, that defeats the purpose of these sites. They have to be open to all users to really prevent harm, right? No, totally. So Josie, you mentioned that Governor Newsom said that he was worried about a world of unintended consequences. Feels like he's talking about the political ones for himself. But what did he mean by that? Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's what he meant.

Because it really is a baffling thing to say. Because the data shows that these sites work. Right. There has never been a single fatal overdose, not one, at an overdose prevention site. Literally in the name. Right. It's right there. And studies have found anywhere from a 26 percent to 50 percent reduction in overdoses in areas surrounding these sites as well. So it seems like they influence people beyond just who's actually like going through the doors.

Right. Right. influence people beyond just who's actually like going through the doors, right? Plus, although Republicans use the issue to score political points, the narrative that they encourage drug use is, in fact, false. Actually, people who use these sites are more likely to ultimately seek treatment for their addiction. So for Governor Newsom to talk about unintended consequences, it's like baffling. It is confusing and it makes no sense. Because we actually do know what the consequences are of us not trying to prevent overdoses, right? More than 100,000 people

across the country died of an overdose from April 2020 to April 2021. That's an almost 30% increase from the year before. That's a wild number. It's a wild number. I don't know. I don't know what vetoing this, you know, does to help anybody. Totally. Who is struggling with addiction. And look, 7,000 of those people who died were in California. It's so infuriating to hear Governor Newsom imply that these sites are the risky thing. The risk here is not implementing proven workable policy.

And we know what happens when you don't practice harm reduction. Thousands, in fact, 100,000 people die. I really like what Dr. David Kahn, an addiction specialist and former president of the California Society of Addiction Medicine said. He said, the only requirement for recovery is to be alive. We want to save lives. And this is how we do it. Yeah. It's such an incredibly disappointing decision, not one that I would have expected from California. In California, These are places that provide resources and help for people who have an addiction and want to be safe. They want to stay alive.

Like we could very easily be solving this problem. And that's part of the reason I think it's so sad is Gavin Newsom should be kind of paving the path, right? And he's not. And it feels like this is like really fear motivated, which is just sad. Very. Anyways, that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines.

Headlines. A former Louisville, Kentucky detective pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy on Tuesday for lying in order to get permission to raid Breonna Taylor's apartment back in 2020. Kelly Goodlett, the former detective in question, wasn't actually at the raid the night that Taylor was fatally shot, but she admitted to knowingly misleading the judge who authorized the no-knock warrant for it. This makes Goodlett the first officer to be convicted in connection to the case, and her conviction comes after she and three other Louisville police officers were hit with federal charges for violating Taylor's civil rights. But notably

absent from that lineup of defendants are the two white police officers who actually shot and killed Taylor two years ago. Yeah, it's like so deeply infuriating that the only person who's been held accountable in this way wasn't even there. So objectively wild. Something is amiss here. It is not working. The system is not working correctly. If that is, this is the conclusion we have gotten to. Georgia prosecutors said on Tuesday that they are dismissing all charges against the two Atlanta police officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks in 2020.

Brooks, a black man, was 27 years old when the two white officers tried to arrest him for a DUI while he was sleeping in his car in a drive-thru lane. Brooks resisted and eventually broke free after taking one of the officers' tasers. But as Brooks was running away, one of the officers shot and killed him. The former Fulton County DA charged the officers with aggravated assault, violating their oath of office, and more shortly after the killing.

But Peter Skandalakis, the special Georgia prosecutor, assigned to the case said the two officers, quote, acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force that night. And he essentially blamed Brooks for his own death because he took the officer's taser. Meanwhile, the two officers in question are undergoing training to eventually be reinstated and go back on the job. Excuse me, what? Yeah. It's also weird to me because I'm like, if I killed someone, I wouldn't want to go back to my job. Yeah, wouldn't you be a little bit traumatized?

Wouldn't you be like, maybe this isn't for me? Yeah, it's very bizarre. Anyways. A federal jury convicted two men for leading the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The two defendants, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., were found guilty on conspiracy charges and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction as part of their plan. As a reminder, prosecutors said that Fox and Croft's plan was to not only kidnap Whitmer in her vacation home, but to blow up a bridge to keep police from stopping them

in what would have been an even blend of domestic terrorism and Wile E. Coyote stuff. Defense attorneys for the two men said that the actions of the undercover FBI agents and informants involved in the plot constituted entrapment. Tuesday's verdict comes after a different federal jury deadlocked on Fox and Croft's case in April and acquitted two other men who were involved in the scheme. Whitmer put out a statement about the conviction, saying it, quote, proves that violence and threats have no place in our politics

and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. I think they sought to do more than divide. Governor, ma'am, no. There's a lot more going on here. There is no set date for when Fox and Croft will be sentenced, but I cannot get over the fact that Fox and Croft sounds like a new American restaurant in a suburb.

It is wild. And another story about how when Republicans shake up their base, their base sometimes explodes out of the can. The Internal Revenue Service is doing a security review of all its facilities following rhetoric from the right that could inspire violence against employees. After the Inflation Reduction Act added $80 billion to the IRS budget, prominent Republicans seized on it as a talking point, suggesting that the money will let the IRS build some kind of oppressive tax army targeting working people. Here's one example from Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde, which makes an enormous logical leap starting from the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Oh boy. Think about it. If the left will weaponize the FBI to raid President Trump's personal residence, they will surely weaponize the IRS's new 87,000 agents, many of whom will be trained in the use of deadly force to go after any American citizen. Jesus. It's a stretch in

every way and also a lie, but I do like how he starts with think about it. Think about it. I will think about it. I don't know if you actually want me to think about it because it's not good for you if I do. Per the Biden administration, that money will actually go towards monitoring high wage earners and corporate tax cheaters and not towards assembling IRS SWAT teams armed with guns and calculators. But right wingers are sufficiently riled up that the IRS announced it will examine its 600 facilities and decide whether to add more security measures. This is supposed to be the most boring government job alive. A hundred percent. The only multi-billion dollar tech company we have ever rooted for in a lawsuit, Twitter, was accused by its former head of security of misleading the public

on how it fights hackers and spam. Peter Zatko came forward publicly yesterday to say that back in July, he filed a whistleblower complaint against the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He claimed that Twitter has little oversight of sensitive info, but too many of its employees can access the platform's central controls and more. If you remember that day in 2020, where every famous person on Twitter, including Joe Biden, tried to steal your Bitcoin, these accusations might ring true. And if they are true, then the company would be in violation of a deal that it made with

the Federal Trade Commission over online security. Zatko also accused Twitter of lying to Elon Musk about the number of bots on the platform. This revelation adds a huge plot twist to the saga of Musk trying to buy Twitter for $44 billion, then backing out because of his worries about the fake account, and then Twitter filing a lawsuit to make him follow through on the deal. Musk's lawyers immediately subpoenaed Zatko in addition to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey

in order to get more info on the platform's user base. In response to these accusations, a Twitter spokesperson told CNN that Zatko was fired back in January for performance issues and that his claims are, quote, riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. I don't know if I trust them. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot going on. President Biden is making back to school

season $10,000 sweeter today as he's canceling that much in student loan debt. At least that's what the AP was reporting last night as we went to record. Not everyone with student loan debt will get this deal. Yesterday, it was looking like only those who make under $125,000 annually will qualify. Even before today's announcement, progressives were expressing dissatisfaction that Biden isn't going further. The president of the NAACP, Derek Johnson, said that $10,000 in forgiveness isn't enough for debt-laden black Americans, and added, quote, this is not how you treat black voters who turned out in record numbers and provided 90% of their vote to once again save democracy in 2020.

Can't argue with that there. No. Though, I will say, if President Biden is dipping his toe into this and realizing, you know, how good this feels, water's warm, baby. Cancel a little debt, what happens? Nothing.

Nothing happened. Nothing bad at all. Right. You know what? Go for it. Go a little deeper. We won't let you go too deep. We're fine. We'll take you to a supervised injection site. We'll give you a floaty. Cancel it all. We'll give you the floaty. Cancel it all. Yeah. No. He's taking it slow, but you know what? I have faith in him. I believe. Yeah. Agreed. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads with some coverage of the mayor who never sleeps, Eric Adams. It is Wednesday, WOD Squad. And today we're doing a segment called WOD Recommends, where we share an under-the-radar

news story, movie, book, or even a rude bumper sticker that caught our attention. So today we are recommending an article that ran in the New York Times on Monday called Eric Adams After Dark, A Private Table and Tarnished Friends. Reporters Sarah Maslin-Neer and Jasmine Hughes basically staked out Adams for a month in June and recorded where he went on nights out because Adams made restoring New York's nightlife a very key part of his platform when he ran for mayor. Now, here is where it gets interesting. He overwhelmingly made visits to one restaurant on 14 nights a month, which is crazy. I don't know anyone who's eating out that much, let alone at the same place.

The place is called Osteria La Baia. It is run by two twins with a history of money laundering. Adams maybe doesn't pay, unsure. And his usual order is the Branzino, which, you know, might be a great choice, except for the fact that he usually describes himself as a vegan, which makes it very fucking weird. It's very weird. It's very weird. So there is a lot going on in this article. We don't have time to cover it all. But Josie, you pitched this story. Please tell the people what stood out to you about this story. Every single part of the story is amazing.

Really? From top to bottom. I love the part where he keeps going to Zero Bond. Love it. And he's like at the club. This man ran for office so he could get into Zero Bond, which I kind of respect. You can skip the line. He is at the VIP room that's unlocked with a fingerprint scanner at Zero Bond with the mayor of Atlanta, by the way.

Oh. I love the twins aspect. The troubled twins. The Branzino is amazing. The Branzino is absolutely incredible. It's incredible. Listen, Branzino, a fabulous choice. Right.

Just stop saying you're vegan. Don't tell people you're vegan. That's annoying anyway. Listen, it's not a very popular thing to be. People aren't very nice to vegans out there. Right. I don't have any issue with it. Do whatever you want.

Eat whatever you want. But like, that's not the label I'd be picking for myself unless I actually was. And I have to say, I really love this idea of the New York Times reporters outside the house, following the car. Following him in a little disguise. Truly incredible. Just marking in their notebooks, like, one more night. It's really good.

This is great reporting. Great work. Hanging out there being like, unsure if he actually paid his bill, which isn't allowed. Right. It's not allowed. And he said he just has like a running tab,

which is like, is that a thing anymore? Okay. They're like basic things you have to do as a mayor, like not take gifts and like pay for your food. He's doing the absolute opposite. I feel like he's doing the opposite and he's going to continue doing the opposite because that's his vibe.

There's also part of this article where he says like the mayor believes in like giving people a second chance. He obviously believes that you're more than like the worst thing you've ever done. Oh.

Which I would love to hear if this is a former cop, this is a cop mayor. Like, oh, do you really? Oh, that's your mood now? Cool, cool, cool, cool. Listen, this man is using his office

for all the privileges that I might use this office for if i had it but the thing is i would never run and i would never be able to delude people into thinking that i would be a public servant this man just wants to go out and respect that but like maybe don't be the mayor i have to tell you if you ever get elected i will not let you do this i will follow you around and make sure you pay for your food and you're to be the people. I will be the angel on your shoulder, okay? I'm going to be out there telling everybody I'm vegan. Yeah.

Wearing a freaking prime rib. Truly, truly incredible. Incredible. That was WOD Recommends. We'll put a link to the story in our show notes so you can read it. One more thing before we go. On Pod Save the World, Ben and Tommy break down all the most recent international news and foreign policy developments. Ben recently checked in with Congressman Adam Schiff about the possible ramifications and potential national security fallout of the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago. Plus, the guys discussed the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan,

TikTok, bears tripping balls, and so much more. Okay, I'm interested. Yeah. Listen to new episodes of Pod Save the World each Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, become a regular at a restaurant, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just your tax returns, carefully to keep away the IRS SWAT team like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe

at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Race. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And hands off my Bitcoin, Joe Biden. You wouldn't know what to do with it. Yeah, I wouldn't know what to do with it. Me either. I can't start Googling Bitcoin. I'll never recover. Your targeted ads will be a nightmare. Truly. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Lita Martinez and Leo Duran. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka. Thank you.