What A Day

Amazon plans to buy movie studio MGM for $8.45 billion, which would give the tech company a huge library of movies, shows, and franchises including the James Bond series. Some in Congress want to block the sale. The tech company is also the target of a new antitrust suit from the D.C. Attorney General.  The largest Confederate monument in the country is in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and it’s three a...

Moderna said that its vaccine trial for 12-17 year olds resulted in zero cases of symptomatic COVID. Also, we discuss so-called breakthrough cases, which happen when fully vaccinated people get coronavirus: Don't worry, they're wildly rare and a sign of the effectiveness of vaccines. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law that would prohibit social media platforms from kicking off political ca...

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. His friends, family, and the community of Minneapolis will memorialize him with a gathering and a candlelight vigil. Floyd's killing by now-former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin rallied activists to demand that their local police departments reform, be defunded, or be abolished completely. We discussed these efforts with Oluc...

The state of the pandemic in the US is looking brighter with infection rates dropping to where they were in June of last year, and hospitalization rates declining, too. But vaccination rates vary widely depending on where you look on a map, with New England showing rates above average and the South showing rates below average. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reportedly held over the weekend...

The NBA playoffs begin tomorrow after a season that's played out during a global pandemic and a mass movement against police brutality. To discuss this season in context, we're joined by the host of Takeline and ALL CAPS NBA, Jason Concepcion. Israel's security cabinet voted to accept a ceasefire that a Hamas official said would start at 2 a.m. local time on Friday. The full terms of the agreement...

Progressive Representatives in the House led an effort to block a $735 million arms sale to Israel in a demonstration of the shifting political attitudes towards the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We spoke with Simone Zimmerman of B'Tselem USA and Yousef Munayyer at the Arab Center in Washington D.C. to get their perspectives. Also, Israel and Hamas are moving slowly towards a cease...

Airstrikes have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with numerous vital resources damaged or destroyed. We spoke with Inès Abdel Razek, advocacy director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, about the situation on the ground. Also, EU members called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The House passed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill, yesterday, which would spee...

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, which deals with a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. This is not a drill: based on the current makeup of the court, there's a real possibility that Roe could get overturned, which would allow 21 states to immediately ban or restrict abortion. The Israeli military continued to barra...

Since the Centers for Disease Control announced their new relaxed guidance for mask-wearing for vaccinated people, there have been numerous questions about what was behind the decision, how it will affect mask hesitancy, how businesses will respond, and more. To discuss these questions, we’re joined by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, physician, and former health commissioner of Detroit. And...

The Center for Disease Control announced revised mask guidelines yesterday, stating that people who are fully vaccinated can safely go maskless and stop social distancing most of the time, even if they are indoors. One hope is that the guidance will cut down on vaccine hesitancy; The Biden administration is effectively telling Americans that you can get vaccinated and do a lot more, or you can kee...

Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ousted from the House GOP leadership, yesterday, over a failure to pretend that Donald Trump won the election he lost by more than 7 million votes. In the aftermath of this action from House Republicans, 100 members of the party say they plan to release a letter threatening to form a third political party unless the GOP gets less Trumpy.  Yesterday afternoon, the opera...

The coronavirus crisis in India continues to escalate, with the World Health Organization warning of a potentially more transmissible variant and the country reporting over 240,000 deaths. To get a better sense of the situation on the ground, we spoke with Niha Masih. She's a Washington Post reporter in New Delhi. And in headlines: Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip kill over 33 Palestinians, mi...

Israel carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip, last night, leading to the deaths of at least 20 people. This was in response to rockets launched by Hamas at Israel, and it marked the most destructive moment stemming from the ongoing conflict in Jerusalem. We discuss the circumstances that produced these violent clashes, as well as the international response. President Biden announced yesterday...

With more and more Americans becoming fully vaccinated against COVID-19, officials have signaled a willingness to revise mask wearing rules again for those who have gotten their shots. Globally, the Biden administration has finally gotten behind the idea of waiving patents on vaccines so that generic versions of the drugs can be produced abroad, especially in places that are experiencing extreme s...

Tomorrow, the National Labor Relations Board is set to hold a hearing into the failed unionization vote of workers at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with the union that sought to represent the workers alleging foul-play. We spoke with Sara Nelson, head of the Association of Flight Attendants, about the hearing, and the state of the labor movement in the U.S. more generally. Nelson has...

After delivering on his promise of 200 million shots in 100 days, President Biden has set a new vaccine target: that 70 percent of the adult population get at least one shot by July 4. The Biden administration also plans to change the way doses are portioned out to states by allowing states to request or reject doses from a central stockpile according to their need.  Republican state lawmakers are...

Four mothers who had been separated from their children at the border by the Trump administration will finally be reunited with them this week, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas yesterday. These are the first families to be brought together as a result of a task force President Biden created shortly after taking office, and over the next few weeks, an additional 32 famili...

The COVID crisis in India is getting worse by most metrics, with Saturday marking another daily record of new cases. In the U.S., Oregon is emerging as a hotspot. On the brighter side of things, the U.S. vaccination campaign remains extremely successful with over 103 million adults now fully vaccinated. A landmark lawsuit in the decades-long opioid crisis begins today between two communities in We...

The pandemic continues to spiral out of control in India, with the country recently topping 200,000 deaths by the official count. The initial flights carrying relief from the U.S. landed yesterday. Vaccine manufacturing supplies from the U.S. will soon follow. The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that it’s creating standards over the next year to ban menthol in cigarettes and all f...

President Biden gave his first address to Congress last night, themed largely around moving America out of the most difficult stage of the pandemic and approaching a new normal. Part of that has to do with The American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion program that would pay for two free years of community college, universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, and more. We go over the main takeaways. Biden...

The CDC issued new guidance yesterday that fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks outdoors unless they’re gathering in a large crowd, and they can safely enjoy many indoor activities with masks. Of course, the key phrase here is “fully vaccinated." Until you’re pumping COVID antibodies, the CDC continues to recommend masking up in any situation where you’re around other unvaccinated peop...

The results of the 2020 Census were released yesterday, and they showed that over the past decade, the U.S. population grew by the slowest pace since the 1930s. The results will change how the 435 seats in Congress are allocated, with a handful of states set to gain or lose a seat. We discuss. The Supreme Court will be taking up a case that deals with the rights that people have to carry guns outs...

The CDC and the FDA have lifted their recommended pause on the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine, and added a warning label about the very, very rare reported cases of blood clots. But overall vaccination rates in the US are slowing down, indicating that while supply is increasing, demand is decreasing. President Biden lifted the partial ban against the export of the supplies necessary to make vac...

President Biden and 40 heads of state met for the first day of a virtual climate summit, yesterday, and he pledged to cut America’s greenhouse gases in half from where they were in 2005 by 2030. Biden also announced a plan for the US to double the amount of money it gives to other countries to help them lower their own emissions. COVID cases are still surging worldwide, with a record 5.24 million...

Derek Chauvin has been found guilty, but it's painfully obvious that the issue of police brutality is bigger than the conviction of one officer for murder. For example, today is the funeral for Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man who was killed by police during a traffic stop near Minneapolis. Plus details are still coming out in Columbus, Ohio, about the police killing of 16-year-old Ma'Khia...