What A Day

On Thursday, there was a big spike in shelling across the front line between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists within Ukraine. The separatists claim that Ukrainians are the ones firing at them, and the fear is that Russia could use this as a “justification” for military action to invade. The Beijing Winter Olympics conclude this Sunday. Ava Wallace, who has been in China reporting on the Olympic Games for the Washington Post, joins us to discuss what it’s been like to cover them.And in headlines: Over 100 people are dead and dozens more missing in Brazil after mudslides, Florida’s House Republicans passed a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and a judge ordered former President Trump to testify under oath within the next 21 days.Show Notes:WAD will be taking a break on Presidents’ Day, and will be back with a new episode on Tuesday, February 22.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Wednesday, federal officials announced upcoming guidance changes, which reflects yet another new stage of the pandemic. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, epidemiologist and host of Crooked Media’s “America Dissected,” joins us to discuss what these new policies might look like and answers other questions about the future of COVID.And in headlines: Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva took first place in the women’s short program, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly ousted three members of the city’s school board, and President Joe Biden ordered the National Archives to hand over the Trump administration’s White House visitor logs to the January 6th committee.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the military has ordered some Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine to return to their bases, signaling the potential for a further de-escalation. However, President Joe Biden later said that “an invasion remains distinctly possible,” and that the U.S. had not yet verified if Russian troops are actually falling back. Matthew Chance, CNN’s Senior International Correspondent, joins us from Kyiv to discuss what things look like on the ground. And in headlines: Remington Arms has settled with families whose loved ones were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, American scientists say they have cured a woman of H.I.V., and a federal report predicts that sea levels along our nation’s coasts could rise one foot in just three decades because of climate change.Show Notes:CNN’s Matthew Chance – https://twitter.com/mchancecnnFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Monday marked the start of in-person early voting in Texas ahead of the state’s March 1st primary. Texas is just one of nearly 20 states that will hold elections this year with more restrictive voting laws in place, a result of Republican-led efforts to validate former President Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election. James Slattery, a senior staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, joins us to discuss what’s happening in the state, what’s to come and what the rest of the country can anticipate as we head into the midterm elections. And in headlines: The U.S. closed its embassy in Kyiv, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the country’s Emergencies Act for the first time ever, and a judge said he would throw out Sarah Palin’s defamation suit against the New York Times.Show Notes:The Texas Civil Rights Project – https://txcivilrights.org/Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canadian police began arresting those who were part of the ongoing so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests, yesterday. It’s been almost a week since demonstrators blocked the Ambassador Bridge between the U.S. and Canada as an objection to vaccine mandates for truckers doing business across the border. We recap what led us to this moment. The U.S. has reduced its Ukrainian embassy to a skeleton crew and continues to draw down national guard troops stationed in Ukraine, in the likely scenario that Russia invades. Several world leaders have taken a turn trying to talk Vladimir Putin down, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, but none have dissuaded Russia’s leader in his quest to flex his old man muscles. And in headlines: Fully vaccinated Walmart employees will no longer have to wear masks while at work, Rudy Giuliani is expected to cooperate with the January 6th House committee, and Erin Jackson made Olympic history when she won the gold medal in the women’s 500-meter speed skate.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The House January 6th Committee has found gaps in official phone logs from the White House on the day of the insurrection, during times when investigators know that former President Trump was making calls. Plus, new details have emerged regarding Trump’s handling of White House documents, causing concern that he may have destroyed or stolen “top-secret” materials. Representative Zoe Lofgren, one of the members of the Jan. 6 committee, joins us to discuss what this will for the House investigation.The Cincinnati Bengals are competing in the Super Bowl this weekend for the first time since 1988, so to discuss his hopes for the game, and his love for the city, we're joined by Mayor of Cincinnati Aftab Pureval.And in headlines: Canada’s “freedom convoy” blocked a third passageway to the U.S., Congress passed a bill that would end forced arbitration in cases of sexual misconduct, and the state of California sued Tesla for allegedly allowing racist discrimination in one of its factories.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Several states announced plans to lift mask mandates this week, but the federal government is taking a more cautious approach, and has communicated that hospitalizations and deaths are still high enough that relaxing guidelines at this point would be premature. Dr. Céline Gounder, a clinical assistant professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at NYU who has been in touch with the White House, joins us to discuss what comes next in this new, slightly less-masked phase of the pandemic.And in headlines: Top Russian military commanders flew into Belarus for a massive military exercise, families of the victims who died in the Bronx apartment fire last month are suing the building owners, and Russian figure skaters may have their Olympic medals stripped after one of their athletes failed a drug test.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This weekend's Super Bowl LVI comes as the NFL is being sued by Brian Flores, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins who has accused the league racial discrimination in hiring practices. To discuss the lawsuit and racism in the NFL, we're joined by Tyler Tynes, a staff writer for GQ who covers the intersection between race, politics, and sports.The nominees for the 94th Academy Awards were announced yesterday and Netflix’s "Don’t Look Up" is up for Best Picture. The climate change satire has been a huge hit for Netflix, though the critical response to it has been more mixed. David Sirota, who co-wrote the screenplay, joins us to talk about the movie and how the climate catastrophe gets covered in media.And in headlines: a new Freedom Convoy blockade emerged at the U.S.-Canadian border, Peng Shuai spoke to reporters in her first sit-down interview since last year, and federal agents arrested a couple for conspiring to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The White House released a report yesterday detailing how it wants to increase union participation and collective bargaining in the workforce amid historic lows in union membership across the U.S. This is happening while workers at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama are in the midst of a union election process after last year’s election result was overturned. Reyn McGuire, an employee at the warehouse who is actively organizing her coworkers, joins us to discuss how this vote is and isn’t different from last time. And in headlines: Protests over Covid mandates in Ottawa prompted the city to declare a state of emergency, school mask mandates repealed in three states in the Northeast, and Frontier and Spirit Airlines announced plans to merge.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Republican-drawn congressional and state legislative maps constituted partisan gerrymanders that violated the state’s constitution. This is just the latest example of courts recently acting as a line of defense against maps that are very clearly drawn to increase Republicans' electoral odds. Michael Li, the senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, joins us to discuss the impact of redistricting efforts across the country.And in headlines: Amir Locke was killed by Minneapolis police after they entered his apartment during a no-knock raid, Olympic athletes took to social media to call out the poor living conditions for athletes in isolation in Beijing, and Southwest Airlines announced that it would resume serving alcohol on its flights.Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whatadayFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.