What A Day

Birth rates are plummeting around the world and no one has cracked the code on how to get people to have babies. More money, free daycare, and medical advances don’t appear to help…and criminalizing abortion DEFINITELY doesn’t help. This week on How We Got Here, Erin and Max break down how the 20th century baby boom is misremembered, the factors responsible for declining birth rates today, and whether anything can be done about it. SOURCES: Understanding the Baby Boom - Works in Progress German birth rate drops steeply against backdrop of unease – DW – 03/20/2024 Italy's falling birth rate is a crisis that's only getting worse | Euronews South Korea’s birth rate is so low, the president wants to create a ministry to tackle it | CNN Romania's abortion ban was deadly for women and is a warning for U.S. - The Washington Post El Salvador (CIA) El Salvador: Court Hears Case on Total Abortion Ban | Human Rights Watch Alarm as South Korea sees more deaths than births Work–life balance - Government of Sweden U.S. Fertility Rate Falls to Record Low - WSJ A World Without Men: Inside South Korea’s 4B Movement Everything you need to know about artificial wombs Can Immigration Solve the Demographic Dilemma? – IMF F&D

This week, we saw some big wins in the fight to expand access to the ballot box. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court reinstated a second majority Black congressional district in Louisiana. Earlier in the week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority looked poised to overturn a two-year-old decision banning nearly all absentee ballot drop boxes. Still, a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice shows voters in more than half the states will face new restrictions on voting that weren’t there four years ago. Kareem Crayton, senior director of voting rights and representation at the Brennan Center, gives us the lay of the land on ballot access heading into November. And in headlines: House Republicans moved to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt after the White House blocked the release of audio of President Joe Biden’s interviews with a special counsel over his handling of classified documents, the Supreme Court rebuffed a conservative-backed effort to challenge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and an Indiana judge says tacos and burritos are legally sandwiches. Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/3bp8a5b9https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed to two debates on Wednesday. In agreeing to the debates, Biden and Trump are bucking the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had been organizing debates since the 80s.U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week that the Department of Justice will “aggressively” prosecute anyone who threatens election workers ahead of the 2024 election. The announcement comes as a new poll from the Brennan Center for Justice found that more than half of local election officials are scared for their safety. Alexis Johnson, a former VICE News reporter who covers race, politics, and culture, says despite good intentions, Garland and the DOJ will likely struggle to keep that promise, leaving election workers vulnerable. And in headlines: Inflation dipped slightly in April, the number of Americans who died from a drug overdose decreased for the first time in five years, and a high-level Biden appointee resigned in protest of the U.S.’s continued support for Israel and its war in Gaza. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whatadayhttps://www.nyic.org/get-involved/

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial hit a new level of chaos Tuesday as Michael Cohen, Trump’s former self-described ‘fixer,’ continued his testimony for a second day. Trump’s defense team also began cross-examination, trying to paint Cohen as a bitter former employee out for revenge and publicity. Outside the Manhattan courtroom, an entourage of MAGA Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, took turns railing against the trial and bashing the American justice system. And in headlines: Democrat Angela Alsobrooks will face former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the race for Maryland’s open Senate seat after both won their party primaries Tuesday night, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv to reaffirm the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine amid recent Russian gains in the country’s east, and President Biden announced higher tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles, solar panels, semiconductors, steel and aluminum. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Donald Trump leads President Biden in five of the six battleground states, according to two new polls released by the New York Times. These polls come at a time when Biden is struggling to win the support of young voters. But while polls are an essential snapshot of the country, that snapshot is fairly narrow. So to discuss what these numbers do and do not tell us, we spoke with Dan Pfeiffer, a co-host of Pod Save America and the host of Pollercoaster. And in headlines: Michael Cohen takes the stand in Trump's hush money trial, three states hold primaries, and Louisiana could be the first state in the country to categorize abortion pills as controlled, dangerous substances. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whatadayhttp://Crooked.com/Friends

"Decision Day" for high school students looking to go to college was pushed back this year to May 15th, rather than the traditional May 1st deadline. The shift was made to accommodate for a host of problems students have had using the new federal financial aid application or FAFSA. We spoke with Ellie Bruecker, the director of research at the Institute for College Access and Success, to get a better sense of where the FAFSA fiasco left college applicants. And in headlines: Israeli forces continued to advance in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, students walk out of commencement speeches at VCU and Duke, and the start of the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Why are middle-aged and older Americans persistently pro-Israel? It hasn’t always been the case. This week on How We Got Here, Max and Erin discuss the profound opinion shift among younger Americans, and then take a trip off campus to understand how geopolitics and propaganda in the 21st century have entrenched pro-Israel sentiments in Gen Xers, Boomers and beyond. SOURCES: The U.S. Public’s Pro-Israel History | Pew Research Center Majority in US Say Israel's Reasons for Fighting Hamas Are Valid | Pew Research Center Daniel Hopkins and Gall Sigler | On-campus protests reflect stark generational divide on Israel-Palestine | The Daily Pennsylvanian Americans' Reaction to Middle East Situation Similar to Past Americans' Views of Both Israel, Palestinian Authority Down Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Action in Gaza Despite concerns about war, many voters would ban pro-Palestinian campus protests Half of US adults say Israel has gone too far in war in Gaza, AP-NORC poll shows Americans' views divided on US policy toward Israel-Hamas war: POLL - ABC News The history of US support for Israel runs deep, but with a growing chorus of critics - ABC News The generation gap in opinions toward Israel | Brookings Public Attitudes toward Israel: A Study of the Attentive and Issue Publics American Public Opinion Polls: Attitudes Toward Israel Prior to 1967 Foreign Policy Interest Groups, Mass Public Opinion and the Arab-Israeli Dispute CBS News poll: Rising numbers of Americans say Biden should encourage Israel to stop Gaza actions The American Public and Israel The 1987 AIPAC Conference Trump’s Hard-Line Israel Position Exports U.S. Culture War Abroad - The New York Times How Republicans fell in love with Israel - Vox What unites the global protests for Palestinian rights - Vox Israel vs. the Palestinians: TV Coverage of the Second Intifada Pentagon deleted part of official's apology - Oct. 20, 2003 Franklin Graham conducts services at Pentagon - Apr. 18, 2003 Religious Beliefs, Elite Polarization, and Public Opinion on Foreign Policy: The Partisan Gap in American Public Opinion Toward Israel | International Journal of Public Opinion Research | Oxford Academic

Adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand this week in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. And let's just say she didn't hold back from describing what went down between them. We spoke with attorney Norm Eisen, author of "Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial," to get his impressions of Trump's outlook in the New York criminal case and review the other cases the former President faces. And in headlines: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds to Biden's threat to cut off some military aid to Israel, universities shun U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Barron Trump is selected as a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the U.S. would not supply Israel with some weapons if it moved forward with a ground invasion of Rafah. The announcement came hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the government had already paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over fears of an imminent offensive in the southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. Israel has been ramping up its attacks on Rafah over the last few days, all while negotiators frantically try to reach a ceasefire deal in Cairo. Ben Rhodes, former Deputy U.S. national security advisor to President Obama and co-host of Pod Save The World, talks about how much leverage Biden really has over Israel's military operations. And in headlines: A Georgia court agreed to hear an appeal over whether the Fulton County District Attorney can continue to lead former President Donald Trump's state election interference case, Republican and Democratic House Lawmakers blocked Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from ousting Speaker Mike Johnson, and third-party presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says a parasite ate part of his brain. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

The Justice Department is set to take a significant step this week, initiating a lawsuit against Iowa over its new immigration law. This law, which criminalizes the entry of individuals previously deported or barred from the country, mirrors the controversial Texas law. The latter is currently under legal scrutiny. Notably, other Republican-led states are also contemplating similar legislation. Spencer Amdur, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, sheds light on the rationale behind these stringent state immigration laws and why federal courts have invalidated similar state laws. And in headlines: Adult film star Stormy Daniels described in explicit detail a sexual encounter she had with Donald Trump during testimony in the former president’s criminal hush-money trial, TikTok sued the federal government over a new law that could ban the app in the U.S., and Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Hamas on Monday announced it had agreed to a proposal for a ceasefire deal, renewing hopes a truce with Israel could be reached. Israeli officials said while the proposal didn’t meet all of its demands, it would send a delegation to Cairo to continue talks in hopes of reaching a deal. The movement on a possible ceasefire came as Israeli officials also ordered more than 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate parts of eastern Rafah. In this city, more than a million people are sheltering. Jeremy Konyndyk, president of the humanitarian group Refugees International, explains how an Israeli invasion of Rafah could further destabilize Gaza. And in headlines: The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial fined the former president another $1,000 for violating a gag order, Indiana holds its primary election today, and Conde Nast reached a tentative labor agreement with its unionized workers. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Former President Donald Trump held an audition of sorts on Saturday for his top vice presidential picks. At least seven known Veep wannabes attended the Republican National Committee’s spring retreat at Mar-a-Lago, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. The attention-seeking behavior continued into the Sunday talk shows when Scott refused to say whether or not he would accept the 2024 election results during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” And in headlines: Israel and Hamas traded blame over an impasse in the latest round of cease-fire negotiations, the Israeli government shuttered Al Jazeera’s news operation in the country and raided one of its offices, and the first civil trial over the lethal crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld music festival has been delayed over a free speech claim by Apple. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Why does it feel like avian flu is always circling around? How did it land on cows? Are we on the cusp of another pandemic? Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of America Dissected, joins Erin to break down how this strain of bird flu could go from animal plague to human plague, lessons learned from past outbreaks, and what can be done to stop it this time around. SOURCES A Bird Flu H5N1 Status Report - by Eric Topol Updates on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) | FDA USDA Now Requiring Mandatory Testing and Reporting of HPAI in Dairy Cattle as New Data Suggests Virus Outbreak is More Widespread | AgWeb H5N1 update: We have to do better, faster Bird flu ‘an urgent warning to move away from factory farming’ Inflation is cooling. Why are egg prices still so hard to crack? Birds, Pigs, and People: The Rise of Pandemic Flus - PMC The cost of replication fidelity in an RNA virus. 'Nobody saw this coming'; California dairies scramble to guard herds against bird flu H5N1 Bird Flu: Current Situation Summary | Avian Influenza (Flu) Bird flu risk prompts warnings against raw milk, unpasteurized dairy products - CBS News Climate change will force new animal encounters — and boost viral outbreaks.

Thursday was Day 10 of former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan. Before testimony resumed, Justice Juan Merchan held a second hearing on new allegations that Trump violated his gag order. Later, Keith Davidson, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, walked the jury through the deal he brokered between Trump and the adult film star in exchange for her silence. Hugo Lowell, political investigations reporter for The Guardian, shares the latest details from inside the courthouse. And in headlines: Hamas officials said they would meet with negotiators in Egypt to continue talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, President Biden condemned the violence breaking out on college campuses across the country, and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law that bans and criminalizes the sale of lab-grown meat in the state. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

New York police officers arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters who’d occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on Tuesday night while pro-Israeli counterprotestors attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of House lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of passing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, a bill that critics say could create an overboard definition of what counts as anti-semitic speech on college campuses and other educational institutions. Todd Zwillich, a longtime Washington reporter and friend of the show, explains how the bill is part of a cynical ploy on the part of Republicans to divide Democrats. And in headlines: Arizona lawmakers voted to reverse the state's Civil War-era abortion ban, the Federal Reserve moved to keep interest rates flat, and the U.S. could have more than 100 million doses of bird flu vaccines available for people within four months if the disease jumps to humans. Show Notes: https://muckrack.com/joey-scott-1https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

The Department of Justice took a significant step on Tuesday to downgrade federal restrictions on marijuana. The DOJ submitted a formal recommendation to the White House to reclassify it as a Schedule III drug. It’s a monumental shift in federal drug policy because, for more than 50 years, the U.S. government has considered marijuana to be among the most dangerous drugs, on par with heroin and LSD. Krishna Andavolu, the host and executive producer of the Vice TV show Weediquette, explains what reclassification could mean for businesses, medicine, and criminal justice. And in headlines: The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial fined the former president $9,000 for violating a gag order, police arrested students that had occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus, and a key federal task force issued new recommendations for women and breast cancer screenings. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

New York holds a special election today to fill a seat vacated by Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins. The Democrat in the race, state Sen. Tim Kennedy, is expected to win. If he does, it would leave Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s majority as slim as possible: a single vote. Todd Zwillich, a longtime Washington journalist and friend of the show, explains how it will make Johnson’s job even more complicated. And in headlines: Columbia University began suspending students at the Gaza solidarity encampment, a federal appeals court ruled that certain state insurance plans must provide coverage for gender-affirming care, and the Supreme Court refused to hear billionaire and Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk’s bid to challenge the SEC’s restrictions on what he can post on social media. Show Notes: What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday/

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss developments in the latest round of cease-fire talks. The White House says Biden also “reiterated his clear position” against Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge since the start of the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed back to the Middle East on Sunday ahead of meetings with Arab leaders this week. And in headlines: Pro-Palestine protesters and counter-protesters supporting Israel clashed on UCLA’s campus Sunday morning, Biden roasted former President Donald Trump at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, and Republican vice presidential hopeful and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem writes about killing a puppy in her upcoming memoir. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday

Employees of a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to form the FIRST autoworkers union in the Southern US. It’s no small feat in a part of the country that has been notoriously anti-union. How has the South managed to scare away organized labor since the Civil War? Are labor unions finally finding a foothold there now? And why have unions been in decline across the whole US in recent years? Max and Erin dive into the politics, racism and foreign influence behind it all to uncover why it’s taken so long for collective bargaining to catch on down south. SOURCES UAW wins big at Volkswagen in Tennessee – its first victory at a foreign-owned factory in the American South UAW strikes at General Motors plant in Texas as union goes after automakers' cash cows | AP News Welcome to Operation Dixie, the most ambitious unionization attempt in the U.S. | by Meagan Day | Timeline | Medium Racial divides have been holding American workers back for more than a century - The Washington Post Manufacturing jobs are defying expectations - The Economist Union Membership, 1939 and 1953 Textile Union Fight to Organize Stevens Plants Shifts to Greenville, S.C. - The New York Times The UAW wants to recruit Southern auto workers. Here’s why that failed in the past In a seminal development for Wisconsin's economy, manufacturing has begun returning home Nissan attacked for one of 'nastiest anti-union campaigns' in modern US history How the South Became Anti-Union - Flagpole Union organizing effort and success in the U.S., 1948–2004 - ScienceDirect

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case. Trump’s lawyer tried to assert that there’s almost no situation under which a sitting president can face criminal charges, not even ordering a military coup or sharing nuclear secrets. It is a landmark case with big implications for both this year’s election as well as some of the other criminal cases Trump faces. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny,” says Trump’s team is trying to normalize conduct that is inconsistent with democracy and the rule of law. And in headlines: Pro-Palestinian protests spread to more college campuses, Manhattan’s DA vowed to retry Harvey Weinstein after the producer’s New York rape conviction was overturned, and Apple forecasted a bleak outlook for its Vision Pro headsets. Show Notes: https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/crooked.com/whataday