What A Day - Work From Homeroom

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

The school year is officially beginning in some states and there have already been disruptions due to students and staff testing positive for Covid-19. A huge number of students will learn remotely for now, with only 6 of the nation’s 25 largest school districts saying they will do in-person teaching.Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington all have primaries today. We highlight some noteworthy races and ballot initiatives to watch out for. And in headlines: several parts of the world face extreme weather, thousands of Germans protest Covid-19 restrictions, and some thought-provoking updates from the first cruises to set sail since the pandemic began.

it's tuesday august 4th i'm keely hughes and i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day where we are currently putting together our offer to buy tiktok yeah i have been learning a bunch of dances and i think if i owned it maybe the kids wouldn't make fun of me i assume that they would make fun of me either way, but I'm willing to try. On today's show, a preview of the primary elections happening today, then some headlines. But first, the latest. The school year is officially beginning for some students this week in states like Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Some schools are doing in-person instruction with the option of virtual learning. Other schools have totally moved online, at least for the start of the year, and already there have been reports of COVID cases quite literally as the classes began.

Yeah, so we are getting the first look at how this could all go, and the early anecdotes at least aren't encouraging. Rather, they're just more confirmation that this is a nearly impossible task without more funding and more resources for all of those involved. So let's start with Indiana, where some classes began as early as last Thursday, and we've already seen issues to say the least. Elwood Junior High School, for instance, temporarily closed just two days after the school year began because at least one staff member tested positive for COVID-19. That's according to the Indianapolis Star. So now the school is closed this week and will do remote learning before going back to a regular schedule. The local

superintendent did say that all the staff was tested before the year started and no students ended up being in close contact with the individual or individuals who had tested positive. But in another instance, also at an Indiana junior high, within hours of opening, the school found out a student there had tested positive. That led to the student needing to be isolated then also a quarantine of 14 days for the people who potentially came into close contact and per the new york times the district seemed to be going through the necessary steps it needed to in the lead-up to opening as best as they could first they gave parents the option of in person or online and according to the superintendent only 15 15% wanted remote learning.

So this is the path that they chose. Students are required to wear masks most of the time while they are at school. And the problem is that according to the superintendent, the state is not explicitly saying when schools should close if they identify cases. So what you're left with in a lot of scenarios is the school making the choice and these potential stop and start disruptions. Right. So what rules have we actually seen put in place by like local and state leaders for various districts around this? I mean, we've mentioned before a few of them, but like it's actually go time school starting. So is there a plan? That's generous. So just to put things in perspective first, that same New York Times article found that out of the 25 biggest school districts in the country, only six have not said that they are beginning remotely. So a great majority of kids in this country are starting the year at home.

But the terrible truth among anyone who is paying attention is that the virus is just too out of control to prevent cases from popping up if everybody's going back in person. So knowing that there have to be a lot of these contingency plans that are being developed locally. For instance, we mentioned before that New York City is planning on this hybrid model of school in September. But in recent days, we've seen an acknowledgement that that is only a plan and that there needs to be another plan for potentially going remote if they see cases. So to that point, late last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the local community infection rate has to remain below 3% for this reopening plan to

progress. He also said that if there were one to two cases in a classroom, those classes would close for two weeks while the rest of the school would continue. But then if it's more than that, that would lead to a broader shutdown of the building. Very confusing, convoluted. And then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been frustrated with the city's planning so far and says that he's going to make an announcement on schools later in the week. Then if we look at California, where a vast majority of classes are starting online, there's a rule to close down if more than 5% of people at the school test positive. In Chicago, it's contingent also on case numbers in the city overall. So these are very, very complicated situations. And it's easy to understand why some parents would want to keep their kids at home,

even if they had hoped that they could go back. I mean, for sure. Like, it's very hard to understand. And like, if this is changing every hour, every day, they have to be I mean, it's pretty much another job that they have to pay attention to this. All right. Well, we've heard about the kids, but what's the latest from teachers and staff? Because it's a whole other issue to consider the people who rightfully are worried about coming in or are perhaps already

sick. That's right. Yeah. And, you know, they're making a lot of noise about this already. And just this past Sunday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the largest school district in Georgia, which is Gwinnett County, had 260 employees test positive for COVID or have to quarantine due to possible exposure. Classes begin remote there next week, but this past week, teachers had to go into work on plans for the year. Many reportedly raised concerns about having to come in at all while students don't. So that's just one example of something happening right now. And already there are protests from teachers springing up, and the American Federation of Teachers said that they would support strikes in the fall. The Chicago Teachers Union has recently been making a push to have a remote only start in the city.

Some in Ohio are doing the same. And the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association even shared a post on Twitter with images of fake gravestones and captions like, quote, RIP grandma caught COVID helping grandkids with homework. That message is just about as clear as they could make it. So as we get closer to various start dates, this is absolutely going to be something that we keep an eye on. But moving on quickly, let's talk about some elections we're also looking at for today. Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington all have their primaries. Let's go through a few things on the ballot. All right, so let's start in Michigan. We've talked about primary races this year where progressives have challenged moderate Democratic incumbents.

But today, we have the opposite thing happening. So a high-profile progressive incumbent, Representative Rashida Tlaib, is defending her seat against a moderate opponent, Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. Tlaib defeated Jones in 2018 in an extremely tight race, so this is a rematch for the district, which includes part of Detroit and the surrounding suburbs. There is a similar dynamic playing out next week as well in Representative Ilhan Omar's primary race in Minnesota. These are going to be important races to watch as the progressive wing of the party tries to grow its ranks in Congress by picking up new seats, but also defending these gains from 2018. That's right. And we saw AOC easily win a race earlier in New York in her primary the first

time she was defending that. But speaking of progressives picking up new seats, there's also an interesting race in Missouri where Cori Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist, is trying to unseat a longtime incumbent, Representative Lacey Clay, for his St. Louis area seat. Yeah, so it's definitely an interesting race. But another interesting thing to watch for in Missouri, voters there are also going to decide whether or not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. 38 states have expanded Medicaid enrollment, but Missouri is one of several states with Republican political leadership that hasn't. If it passes, more than 200,000 people would become eligible.

With the pandemic and people losing their jobs and related health insurance, that number could definitely increase. Earlier this year, we saw another red state, Oklahoma, pass expansion via a ballot initiative just like this. So that's making supporters of expansion pretty optimistic. Yeah, that would be truly great if it passes. And last question on primaries, there are some big Republican races as well to keep an eye on. For sure.

So in Kansas, there's an interesting Senate primary on the Republican side where Chris Kobach is running in an 11-way race. Kobach is the former Secretary of State in Kansas, who was the face of Trump's voter fraud panel back in 2017 when they were both spreading lies about undocumented immigrants voting in the presidential election. There's reporting that Republicans in Congress are actually worried that Kobach will win the primary and then lose in the general election in November because his views are so controversial, which I believe is another word for racist, but you know they can't say that word. They're putting their backing behind a different candidate. And honestly, I hope they all lose in November.

You know, like it doesn't matter which one you guys are choosing. They should lose. And then just because we're on the topic of truly odious Republicans, there's one more race to mention. Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was pardoned by Trump after he was convicted for criminal contempt after he unlawfully detained immigrants against the judge's order. Yeah, so he's running again for his local sheriff's office in Maricopa County, Arizona. That's the same office he was voted out of in a landslide in 2016. With mail-in voting, it's unlikely that we'll get results right away in these races, but we will keep you updated. And that's the latest. It's Tuesday, WOD Squad. And for today's Temp Check, we're talking about an iconic ad campaign, the Got Milk ads, which dominated school libraries and poster form from 1993 to 2014.

The milk industry is bringing the campaign back amid a surge in sales amid the pandemic. The ads are different, though. So rather than focusing on celebrity milk mustaches, they target the, quote, social first generation with viral clips and what can only be described as a milk wrap. So, Giddy, will these ads convince you to drink milk?

No, definitely not. I don't want to see a milk wrap. I also can't do milk on its own in a glass. It feels too much like I'm a small baby. I respect people that make that choice in their lives, but there's not going to be an occasion where I'm like, hmm, I'm thirsty. You got to go grab a glass of milk.

It's just not for me. I mean, are you like lactose intolerant or is it just like the concept? It's the concept. I could handle it, I think. You know, I've seen people like do chocolate milk after workouts or something, which apparently they think is supposed to be good. I just, it's just the idea, like if you're going to have it in cereal, like God bless, that sounds great. I'm pretty good with like any kind of milk situation in cereal. But as like a contained drink, it's just, I can't do it.

Yeah, it's worse than pretty much not getting a drink at all. Yeah, like imagine if it's hot outside and then you just come inside. That's what I'm saying. If you're running, you're overheated and you're like, let me get some dairy on my stomach right now. No. Nope. We absolutely can't do it. So in that regard,

are you drinking this milk straight or not? No, I have a black mother and father. We did not just drink cow milk in a glass. It did not happen. And I am lactose intolerant. I have made some concessions to ice cream and cheese in the past, but I'm never going to be so fucked up

as to drink a full glass of milk when water is right there. Literally, like I would drink soda. I would drink juice. I would drink anything that you're supposed to consume pretty much before I would drink any kind of milk just like in a cup.

Yeah. And like cheese and ice cream is like the Pokemon evolution of milk anyway. Like it's the better version of it. So it's like, it's way, there's,

there's a lot more different ways that you can have it. Like, why would you go back to Bulbasaur if you're like already at Venusaur? You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know.

You're right. You're right. This is a beautiful Pokemon evolution of a drink. And just like that, we have checked our temps. All right. Let's just stick with the Charizard beverage option, not the Charmander. Our temps are pretty cool. It's like the gross milk.

Stay safe and we will check in with you all again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. On top of struggling with a global pandemic, some parts of the world are now forced to deal with climate change in the form of extreme weather. It is monsoon season in South Asia, and Bangladesh has been hit especially hard. Up to a third of the country is underwater due to river flooding and very heavy rains.

And that is affecting nearly 4.7 million people who have been displaced and COVID response plans for vulnerable communities like the Rohingya refugees have been put on hold. California is going through its wildfire season with 15 separate fires as of yesterday. And one of the largest fires was the Apple Fire in Southern California, which burned over 20,000 acres and forced thousands of residents to evacuate. Then on the opposite coast, as we go to record, scientists are watching out for Hurricane Isaias, which is expected to make landfall in the Carolinas. Thousands of people in Berlin took to the streets this weekend to protest COVID-19 restrictions. Officials say 20,000 people participated in a demonstration that organizers called the End of Pandemic Day of Freedom.

If they really wanted to end the pandemic, one good option would have been staying inside. Participants came from a variety of groups whose take on science are not known to be good, like the neo-Nazi NPD party, the far-right citizens of the Reich, and even followers of the mostly U.S.-based conspiracy QAnon. Scary to imagine the German guy who's so into conspiracy theories he's blown through all of the local ones and has now gone fully international. Few, if any, of the protesters wore masks, and social distancing guidelines were largely ignored. Germany's government has been praised for its handling of the pandemic so far, but in recent weeks, the case numbers have been climbing. That makes me scream inside my heart. Protests are also happening in Israel, but from the left.

More than 10,000 people gathered in Jerusalem this weekend to call for the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is in the middle of a corruption trial and faces charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust. Many Israelis also criticize his government's handling of the coronavirus crisis, which is in its second wave after the country reopened early and has left more than 20% of citizens unemployed. Netanyahu's far-right, extremely online son, aka Don Jr. of Judea, got in trouble following the protests for tweeting out the names, home addresses, and cell phone numbers of three organizers, leading to death threats against them. An Israeli court ordered Yair Netanyahu to delete his tweets and to leave demonstrators

alone for six months. You absolutely love to see a bad poster lose his doxing privileges. We love it. All right. Well, through this whole coronavirus crisis, many of us have been asking the same question. When do I get to be confined on a cruise ship again? Well, it might take longer than expected. On multiple cruise lines that have resumed operations, dozens of crew members and passengers have now gotten COVID-19. When these cruises say everything is included, they are being very serious. A Norwegian cruise ship saw 36 crew members and four passengers get sick. A German cruise company had 10 COVID-19 cases on two different boats. And a Tahitian cruise ship returned to port on Monday after one passenger from the U.S. tested positive.

American exceptionalism means stopping at nothing to resume having really bad vacations. All the ships took precautions, but some admit they fell short. The Norwegian Cruise Line CEO said, quote, we have made mistakes. A preliminary evaluation shows that there has been a failure in several of our internal procedures. Yeah, you don't say. Remember that the only surefire way to avoid a boat accident is by practicing boat abstinence. No amount of themed pools and buffet meat is worth this right now. Never again. And those are the headlines. Good news, WOD squad. We just put tons of new items in the Crooked store on sale,

up to 70% off. They're our friend of the pod tease, call Congress gifts, and of course, WOD merch. It's my favorite. You should get some. And there's a lot more. So check it out at crooked.com.

That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, miss us with that buffet meat and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just overseas conspiracy theories 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 consider taking six months off from doxing. Maybe just don't list personal information about anyone, including yourself. Maybe just keep that shit to yourself. What a Day is a Crooked Media production.

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 Kishaka.