What do the 1970s crime wave, the endangerment of the California condor, and Gen Xers demanding to speak to the manager have in common? There’s a compelling case that all are exacerbated by lead exposure. This week How We Got Here unpacks the long and sordid story of how lead found its way into gasoline…and the organs of many Americans. But gas is just the tip of the iceberg—we still see lead in consumer products today, from drinking water to baby food to Stanley Cups. Why do we still use this p...
Feb 17, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fulton County DA Fani Willis and special counsel Nathan Wade both took the stand on Thursday about their prior romantic relationship. The hearing will determine whether it constituted a conflict of interest that disqualifies Willis from prosecuting Donald Trump for election racketeering in Georgia. Meanwhile, a verdict is expected Friday in New York’s civil fraud trial against Trump, and New York’s hush money criminal trial against Trump got a start date of March 25th. And in headlines: Kansas C...
Feb 16, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast A mass shooting at Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade for the Kansas City Chiefs left one person dead and 21 more injured. Authorities said they had three people in custody. Democrats took home some important wins earlier this week, including Democrat Tom Suozzi flipping the Congressional seat that once belonged to New York Republican George Santos. We’re joined by Shaniqua McClendon, Vice President of political strategy at Crooked Media, for more on what the victories could mean for Dems’ chances in...
Feb 15, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast House Republicans impeached Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday in a 214-213 vote. Meanwhile in New York, Democrat Tom Suozzi won the special election to replace ousted Republican Congressman George Santos, and Pennsylvania voters elected Democrat Jim Prokopiak in Tuesday’s state House special election. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may loosen Covid isolation requirements. Under newly proposed guidelines, Americans who test positive for Covid would no lo...
Feb 14, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives hinges on a special election taking place today in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Democrats currently have a one-seat majority in the chamber. The results of today’s race will determine if Democrats can pick up one more seat or if they become tied with Republicans. We’re joined by Melissa Walker, head of Giving Circles over at The States Project, to learn more about who’s running and what’s at stake. It’s looking like a whirlwind of a week for T...
Feb 13, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tuesday is Election Day for the race to replace George Santos in New York’s third congressional district. The candidates running for the seat include former Democratic congressman Tom Suozzi and Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip who’s been selected as the nominee for Republican and conservative parties. With Republicans holding a narrow 219-212 majority in the House, the stakes are high. We’re joined by Gabby Seay, the campaign director of Battleground New York, to learn more about what it wou...
Feb 12, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s Week 2 of What a Day’s new series “How We Got Here,” in which Hysteria’s Erin Ryan and Offline’s Max Fisher pose a question about the week’s biggest headlines and comb through history to answer it. This week, they dive into the enemies-to-lovers story of the NFL and sports betting. Why did professional sports leagues disavow gambling for so long? How did the NFL go from hating Vegas to hosting a Super Bowl there? And who cares what color gatorade they dump on the field this Sunday? (Spoiler...
Feb 10, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in a case considering whether or not Donald Trump can be removed from the ballot in Colorado because of his role in the Jan. 6th insurrection. Most of the justices, including a number of the liberal justices, seemed convinced by at least one argument from the defense: that an individual state can't disqualify candidates in a national election without Congress specifically granting them that power. We’re joined by Melissa Murray, professor of law...
Feb 09, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments about Amendment 4 — a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion up until the point of fetal viability in the state's constitution. Justices must approve the language of the amendment proposed by abortion advocates before it can be put on the ballot in November. We’re joined by Anna Hochkammer, Councilmember for PineCrest Florida and Executive Director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, to learn more about Amendme...
Feb 08, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump's immunity claim and ruled that he can be put on trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A three-judge panel issued the unanimous decision, writing, “for the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump.” We’re joined by Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s legal podcast Strict Scrutiny and a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, to learn more about the case and what comes n...
Feb 07, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brittney Gilliam agreed to a $1.9 million settlement more than three years after police officers in Aurora, Colorado held her, her sister, her two nieces, and her six-year-old daughter at gunpoint. This comes on the heels of two new studies from the Journal of the American Medical Association that show the effect of police violence on Black communities. Educators in Durham, North Carolina held another “Day of Protest" on Monday that forced Durham Public Schools to close seven schools. It was the...
Feb 06, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to having a personal relationship with Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she hired to handle the election interference case against Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the federal case against Trump is being delayed. And the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Thursday deciding whether he can be left off the ballot in Colorado for his role in the January 6th insurrection. Police in the city of Dearborn, Michigan were on high alert this weekend after...
Feb 05, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to What a Day’s How We Got Here, a new weekend series where Hysteria’s Erin Ryan and Offline’s Max Fisher pose a question about the week’s biggest headlines and comb through history to answer it. This week: why does it feel like the souther border is always in crisis? How does immigration enforcement distort our view of what’s actually happening? And what lessons about our fragile national identity can we learn from a discontinued California highway sign? Show Notes: What A Day – YouTube...
Feb 03, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Joe Biden issued an executive order imposing sanctions and visa bans on Israeli settlers who were accused of attacking Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the violence in Gaza continues. The Palestinian death toll has reportedly surpassed 27,000. More than 66,000 people have been wounded by Israel since Hamas’ attack killed 1,200 and took about 250 largely civilian hostages. Universal Music Group started pulling their music from TikTok Thursday morning...
Feb 02, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The first official Democratic primary of 2024 taking place this Saturday in South Carolina. President Joe Biden has seen a decline in support among Black voters in early polls, so this early primary date is a chance for the Biden-Harris campaign to rally support in South Carolina and make a broad appeal to Black voters nationally. We’re joined by Jaime Harrison, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, to dig into the significance of South Carolina’s Democratic primary and how it plays into t...
Feb 01, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Despite reported headway in the negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected Hamas’ two primary demands for an extended temporary ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages. Meanwhile, around a dozen Israeli troops disguised themselves as medics and civilians and stormed a hospital in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in the city of Jenin Tuesday morning. Tech CEOs of several social media platforms are on Capitol Hill today to tes...
Jan 31, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast A bipartisan immigration deal in Congress could be announced as soon as this week. The agreement would give the executive branch the legal authority to suspend asylum when migrant crossings surpass a certain threshold, among other things. That’s the part of the deal that President Biden referred to when he said late last week that he’d “shut down the border” if this new bill makes it into law. A new report by the Associated Press found that prison labor is connected to hundreds of millions of do...
Jan 30, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The UN’s International Court of Justice ruled last Friday ordering Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire. The court is weeks into a case that considers whether Israel is committing genocide. Republicans are, yet again, threatening the lives of trans people. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to get healthcare providers in other states to give him the private medical records of youth who’ve received gender-affirming care. Meanwhile, Repu...
Jan 29, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Joe Biden will send CIA Director William Burns to help negotiate a new deal between Israel and Hamas to release hostages. Meanwhile, protests in the U.S. continued around America’s involvement in the war and whether we should officially call for a ceasefire. Universities in particular have been in the spotlight as the sites of many of these demonstrations. L.A. Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong appointed Terry Tang as interim executive editor, making her the first woman ever to be th...
Jan 26, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered his third State of the City address on Wednesday. Since just last spring, 170,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, tens of thousands of whom were sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. But in his speech, Mayor Adams fell short of providing any real plans to address the situation. We’re joined by Christine Quinn, former Speaker of the New York City Council and current head of shelter operator Win, to discuss what migrants need and what providers in the...
Jan 25, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Former President Donald Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican primary on Tuesday and defeated former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate. We’re joined by Colin Booth, Chief Political Correspondent for the Granite Post, to break down the results. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held their first joint campaign event of 2024 in Manassas, Virginia on Tuesday. And one clear takeaway from this event is that the ...
Jan 24, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Biden administration has the authority to remove parts of a barbed wire barrier erected by Texas officials at the U.S.-Mexico border. The high court ruled for Biden in a 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett siding with the three liberal justices. More than 300 L.A. Times journalists walked off their jobs last Friday for a one-day strike to protest potential layoffs. Then on Monday, a group of ten California lawmake...
Jan 23, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially exited from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. He made the announcement in a video posted on X on Sunday, just two days before the New Hampshire primary. Because of his exit, all eyes will be Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s primary. Democrats will also go out to vote, even though President Joe Biden will actually not be on the ballot this year. For more, we’re joined by Manny Espitia...
Jan 22, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis faces misconduct allegations after a co-defendant in Georgia’s election interference case against Trump claimed that Willis was in a “romantic relationship” with her special prosecutor. The presiding judge set a hearing for February 15th to focus on the allegations. The Justice Department released a scathing 575-page report Thursday about the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The report described the “significant failure” in the police’...
Jan 19, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on Wednesday to get medicine delivered to hostages held in Gaza. In exchange, humanitarian aid and medication will be delivered to Palestinian civilians. And overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday, Israeli forces advanced on the area around the Al Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis, a city in Southern Gaza. Over in Texas, a floating barrier in the Rio Grande will stay for now because an appeals court reversed an order for the state to remove it. Governor Gr...
Jan 18, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Biden invited Congressional leaders to the White House Wednesday for their first face-to-face talks in months about critical aid to Ukraine, immigration and border policy, and aid for Israel. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday where he emphasized the need for more aid and called out Putin directly. In the Middle East, fears of an expanding war in the region have multiplied in recent days. The U.S. launched a new air...
Jan 17, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Iowa caucuses are officially over. Donald Trump won as expected with just over 50 percent of the vote, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley came in third. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy finished in fourth place, and suspended his campaign just minutes after the polls closed and then endorsed Trump. We’re joined by Eugene Scott, senior politics reporter for Axios, to break down the results and turnout in Iowa. And in headlines: Defense Secretary ...
Jan 16, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Iowa caucuses are here. Former President Donald Trump is in the lead, according to the most recent Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll. He has the backing of 48 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is in second place with 20 percent, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in third place at 16 percent. Meanwhile, it is bitterly, bitterly cold in Iowa with a wind chill warning in place until after the caucus on Tuesday. And it’s not just Iowa – an...
Jan 15, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Iowa Caucuses are back! Trump is the clear favorite, but there’s a tense battle for second place that is all going to play out on Monday. We dive into what the caucuses even are, how they work, and what their role is in this year’s presidential election. Then, Crooked’s very own Tommy Vietor joins the show after being on the ground in Iowa himself. He walks us through what it was like sneaking into Republican campaign events, and what voters said. Show Notes: What A Day – YouTube – https://w...
Jan 12, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Israel is accused of committing genocide in Gaza in a case before the International Court of Justice on Thursday. South Africa filed the claim, and it alleges that Israel violated international law by committing and failing to prevent genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. Hunter Biden took a surprise trip to the Capitol Building on Wednesday to look Republicans in the eye as they advanced a resolution to hold him in contempt of Congress. And outside the Capitol, Hunter and his legal team ...
Jan 11, 2024•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
