The Depp-Heard Verdict And Its Social Impact
A jury found that both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard were liable for defamation in their lawsuits against each other. But the jury awarded significantly more in damages to Depp, and his team is treating it as a legal win. One contentious race in California’s primary election next Tuesday is for L.A. County Sheriff, in which incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva faces eight challengers. Although he r...
21m Jun 02, 2022
21m
The Life And Legacy Of George Floyd
The first of several funeral services started for the victims killed by a gunman at a school in Uvalde, Texas. And over the weekend, the Justice Department said it would open a probe into the local law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting. Two former Minneapolis police officers on trial for aiding and abetting George Floyd’s killing asked a judge to delay and relocate their trial. In ad...
27m Jun 01, 2022
27m
The Police Response To The Uvalde Shooting
Parents and other community members in Uvalde, Texas, are criticizing local police for its handling of the Robb Elementary School shooting where 21 people were killed on Tuesday. In addition, many are wondering why there were differences in the initial statements that officials had made, why it took so long for police to apprehend the gunman, and how the gunman was apparently able to enter the ...
28m May 27, 2022
28m
Texas Mourns The Children Killed At Robb Elementary School
Officials have not confirmed all the identities of the 21 victims – nearly all children – of the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. However some family members have started to identify them publicly. Their deaths have sparked widespread outrage over Republicans’ staunch opposition to gun control measures. Nicole Golden, executive director of Texas Gun Sense, joins us to discuss h...
21m May 26, 2022
21m
Another Deadly Shooting At An American Elementary School
A gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. Officials say they expect the death toll to rise with additional victims hospitalized but in critical condition. Today, President Biden is expected to issue an executive order on federal police reform on the two-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd. The order will direct all f...
15m May 25, 2022
15m
Don't Believe Every COVID Count You Read
COVID cases are rising again in the U.S. In just the past month alone, the average number of confirmed cases has doubled according to the CDC. But with many people using at-home rapid tests where results don’t get reported to officials, the actual case count could be much higher. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, epidemiologist and host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” joins us to discuss how to get an accu...
19m May 24, 2022
19m
Title 42 Won't Be 86'd
A federal judge ruled that the Biden administration could not end a pandemic-related border restriction program known as Title 42. It was set to expire today. The first shipment of infant formula from Europe arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday, one of the first signs of relief to the critical shortage in the U.S. Other shipments are expected later this week, as well, to help ease the burden. An...
17m May 23, 2022
17m
Panic! At The New York Redistrict
Oklahoma’s legislature passed the country’s strictest abortion bill. The ban goes further than Texas’ abortion law, and if signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt it would take effect immediately. After the New York State Court of Appeals declared maps drawn by the legislature unconstitutional, a court-appointed “special master” released a new set of Congressional districts for the state. Th...
21m May 20, 2022
21m
Primary Go Round
Following Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary elections, Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. And State Senator Doug Mastriano, one of the leading proponents to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state, was nominated as the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate. Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, joins us to discuss various primary races ...
18m May 19, 2022
18m
An Abortion Access Win For Michigan
President Biden traveled to Buffalo, New York, yesterday to speak with the families of victims of the white supremacist mass shooting, as well as other community members. Without invoking any particular names, Biden also referenced political and media figures who have attempted to gain from spreading the racist lie of the so-called “replacement theory.” A judge in Michigan temporarily blocked ...
24m May 18, 2022
24m
Racism Fueled Buffalo's Mass Shooting
Federal officials are investigating Saturday’s shooting in Buffalo, New York, as both a hate crime and “racially-motivated violent extremism.” The gunman touted the white supremacist theory that immigrants and folks of color are “replacing” white Americans and voters. It’s primary election day in Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Watching these states will help us unde...
22m May 17, 2022
22m
Rallying for Reproductive Rights
A white gunman killed 10 people and injured three others on Saturday at a grocery store in a historically Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. Local authorities and the FBI are investigating the mass shooting as a hate crime. On Saturday, thousands of people across the U.S. took to the streets to protest the leaked SCOTUS opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. More than 450 “Bans Off Our...
19m May 16, 2022
19m
We Need To Talk About Kevin McCarthy
The January 6th commission issued subpoenas to five Republican Congressmembers including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in order to gain information about communications they had with the White House leading up to the riot, during it, and after. These are critically being issued before the committee begins its public hearings next month. Tomorrow is a nationwide day of action with Bans O...
24m May 13, 2022
24m
A Failed Attempt To Codify Roe with Sen Kirsten Gillibrand
The Senate failed to pass a bill on Wednesday that would effectively codify the right to an abortion. The bill, called, “The Women’s Health Protection Act,” was expected to fail because Democrats didn’t have enough votes to pass it and beat a filibuster. Democratic New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joins us to discuss what comes next. And in headlines: Palestinian-American reporter Shireen ...
18m May 12, 2022
18m
How Data Tracking Could Be Used To Prosecute Abortion
As the Supreme Court considers overturning or scaling back Roe, online privacy and pro-choice advocates are concerned about how police might use data from someone’s phone or computer to prosecute or charge them for seeking an abortion in states where it could be deemed illegal. Sara Morrison, a senior reporter for Recode, joins us to discuss the need for more data privacy laws in a post-Roe wor...
24m May 11, 2022
24m
Voters Could Protect Abortion Rights In Michigan
Michigan has a 1931 law on the books that criminalizes abortion. That law has not been enforced since 1973 when Roe v Wade was decided, but it hasn’t been repealed either. And so it would take effect again should Roe be overturned because the state’s GOP-controlled legislature said they don’t plan to revoke it. We talk with Kelly Hall of The Fairness Project, which is gathering signatures to pu...
17m May 10, 2022
17m
How Pro-Life Becomes Pro-Incarceration
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion would become illegal in at least 26 states. That means two main things for people who hope to terminate a pregnancy – increased confusion and increased criminalization. Today is Victory Day, an important holiday in Russia that marks the defeat of Nazi Germany 77 years ago. Some reports say Putin might use the occasion to claim victory in Ukraine, while ot...
18m May 09, 2022
18m
Providing Abortions In Uncertain Times
Abortion providers and advocates in several states have been scrambling to figure out how to process the fall out of the Supreme Court leak, what to tell patients, and how to still help them if the procedure is restricted where they are. Susan Braselton, who manages the clinic escort program for the Roe Fund in Oklahoma, joins us to discuss how her work has been affected by anti-abortion laws b...
25m May 06, 2022
25m
Reactions To What Could Be The End Of Roe
Abortion providers across the country are rushing to figure out their next steps in light of this week’s news about abortion and the Supreme Court. Plus, we share some of our listeners’ stories about how Roe has helped them and what it would mean to them if it were overturned. In headlines: The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates again, New Mexico officials are struggling to contain seven...
26m May 05, 2022
26m
Imagining A World Without Roe
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said that the leaked draft majority opinion on overturning abortion rights is authentic and that “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.” Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny” podcast, joins us to answer our legal questions about what this could mean for abortion access n...
24m May 04, 2022
24m
SCOTUS Seems Poised to Overturn Roe V. Wade
Politico has obtained what is says are leaked documents showing the Supreme Court is poised to strike down the constitutional right to abortion. In a draft majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito writes that two landmark rulings – 1973’s Roe v Wade as well as 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey – “must be overruled.” Workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City voted against joining the Amazon...
19m May 03, 2022
19m
Off-Peak Pandemic
The current COVID wave in the U.S. is relatively mild considering what we’ve seen in the past. For instance, recent data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the daily COVID death rate has really slowed. And COVID hospital admissions are far below what we’ve seen during other surges. After numerous refusals by Ukraine to surrender the city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials have brokered a de...
19m May 02, 2022
19m
FDA Says Last Call For Menthol
Moderna said on Thursday that they were asking the FDA for emergency use authorization for their vaccine for children under 6. If granted, they would be the first shots available to the youngest of kids. Separately, the FDA announced they will ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars across the U.S. within a year. Experts say that this could save hundreds of thousands of lives, es...
19m Apr 29, 2022
19m
Reckoning With Racist Policing in Minneapolis
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found that Minneapolis and the city’s police department engaged in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the state’s Human Rights Act. The two-year-long investigation began after former officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020.  Russia released a former U.S. Marine from its custody yesterday in a prisoner swap with the U...
18m Apr 28, 2022
18m
Harvard Faces Its Legacy Of Slavery
Harvard University pledged $100 million to redress its ties to slavery. In an email on Tuesday, the school’s president said that the university bore “a moral responsibility to do what we can to address the persistent corrosive effects of those historical practices on individuals, on Harvard, and on our society.” According to multiple reports, President Biden said that he may be prepared to not ...
20m Apr 27, 2022
20m
Musk Rules Everything Around Me
Elon Musk reached a deal with Twitter on Monday to take over the company for roughly $44 billion. Mike Isaac, a tech reporter for the New York Times, joins us to discuss how we got here and what comes next. And in headlines: President Biden plans to nominate Bridget Brink to be the next ambassador to Ukraine, the Supreme Court will take up the case of Rodney Reed, and Beijing officials began ma...
20m Apr 26, 2022
20m
Delete Your Shared Netflix Account
The Supreme Court is in session this week and will hear two cases that could have a big impact. The first will be heard today and could affect our First Amendment right to freedom of religion, including the separation of church and state. The other will be heard on Tuesday and could have major implications for migrants at the Southern border seeking asylum. Netflix estimates that 100 million ac...
20m Apr 25, 2022
20m
The Tragic Kingdom Of Ron DeSantis
The GOP-led Florida state legislature gave the final stamps of approval to a pair of proposals on Thursday. The first redraws Florida’s Congressional voting map in a way that would eliminate two majority Black districts. The other revokes Disney Corporation’s special tax status around Disney World. In headlines: The U.S. will provide $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, the Supreme Court ru...
23m Apr 22, 2022
23m
Run For Something (You Better Clerk)
Russia gave Ukrainian forces in Mariupol an ultimatum earlier this week: surrender or die. Russian-backed separatists said only five people surrendered, which could mean that the city could be captured very soon. Voting rights organizations are funneling their support to the people on the ground who oversee local elections ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Amanda Litman from Run For Somet...
25m Apr 21, 2022
25m
Puff Puff Pass Laws Decriminalizing Weed
Hours after a federal judge in Florida overturned the CDC’s mask mandate for public transportation, airlines like Delta and United made masks optional. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, host of Crooked’s “America Dissected,” gives some advice to help you make your own decision on whether to stay masked. In headlines: President Biden announced actions toward federal student loan debt forgiveness, Florida Gove...
22m Apr 20, 2022
22m
Maskers, Prepare For Takeoff
A federal judge in Tampa, Florida, voided the nationwide travel mask mandate on Monday. Last week, the CDC extended that mask mandate for commercial flights, subways, trains, and other forms of public transportation until May 3rd. The Russia-Ukraine war has sparked concerns among U.S. officials about cyber warfare. On Sunday, CBS News reported “evolving intelligence” that suggests that Russia i...
16m Apr 19, 2022
16m
South Carolina Sets An Execution By Firing Squad
The city of Mariupol has been one of the worst sites of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Ukrainian forces have held their ground, reports are now saying that Mariupol is likely to fall to Russian forces soon. A man named Richard Moore in South Carolina is scheduled to become the fourth person executed in the United States this year. Moore was given the option of being killed by the electric ...
16m Apr 18, 2022
16m
Defending Trans Youth in Alabama
Alabama became the first state to criminalize the act of providing gender-affirming medical care to trans youth, last week. The bill makes it a felony to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to trans kids under the age of 19. Kaitlin Welborn, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, joins us to discuss her organization’s work challenging the law. And in headlines: Fl...
20m Apr 15, 2022
20m
The War On Roe in Oklahoma
New York Police arrested a suspect in relation to Tuesday’s mass shooting on a Brooklyn subway. Frank James was apprehended in Manhattan and is accused of shooting ten people, which resulted in many more injuries as well. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill on Tuesday that makes performing an abortion in the state a felony. Jenny Ma, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductiv...
19m Apr 14, 2022
19m
A Mass Shooting On An NYC Subway Train
A mass shooting took place on a New York City subway train, Tuesday morning. According to New York’s Fire Department, 10 people were shot and, miraculously, no one died. We recap what we know and what we don’t know about the shooting. And in headlines: Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol accused Russia of using chemical weapons, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill that outlaws performing an ...
19m Apr 13, 2022
19m
Give Up The Ghost Guns
President Biden announced a new rule that would prohibit the unregulated online sale of “ghost guns,” or firearms that you can self-assemble from kits with gun parts. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives says that it recovered about 20,000 suspected ghost guns last year, which is ten times more than it did in 2016. The effort to try Russia for war crimes in Ukraine is picking u...
18m Apr 12, 2022
18m
How A Miscarriage In Texas Led To A Murder Charge
Texas authorities arrested 26-year-old Lizelle Herrera, last week, on murder charges for what the local sheriff’s office described as a “self-induced abortion.” Her bond was set at $500,000 and her arrest sparked protests from abortion rights activists over the weekend. But on Sunday, local prosecutors dropped the charge against her. More than 50 people were killed and another 98 injured after ...
17m Apr 11, 2022
17m
Hot Takes On The New IPCC Report
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice on Thursday, and the first former public defender to sit on the high court. Three Republicans crossed party lines to support her, including Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a n...
20m Apr 08, 2022
20m
Vaccine Makeover: Fall Edition with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
The Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Amir Locke earlier this year will not face any criminal charges. Locke was a 22-year-old Black man who was killed while members of the Minneapolis Police SWAT team executed a no-knock warrant on his cousin’s apartment. An FDA advisory committee met yesterday to discuss the next phase of COVID vaccines and boosters. Dr. Abdul el-Sayed, an epidem...
18m Apr 07, 2022
18m
Not Ready, Not Set, Redistricting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an emotional address to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday after his visit to Bucha. In his speech, Zelensky accused Russian troops of atrocities, which included violent murder, rape, and a number of horrific acts. There are a number of states fighting over redrawing their maps even as the midterm elections inch closer. Michael Li, senior ...
23m Apr 06, 2022
23m
Same-Day Solidarity At Amazon with Chris Smalls
Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, voted to form the company’s first union in the U.S. last Friday, making a historic win for labor organizers everywhere. The union earned recognition in less than a year into its existence, and it overcame multiple arrests as well as millions that Amazon spent on anti-union consultants. Chris Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union, joins us...
17m Apr 05, 2022
17m
Joe Time Like The Present To Forgive Student Loans
Signs of a massacre in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, have intensified calls for investigations into possible war crimes by Russia. Footage and photographs from Bucha show the corpses of at least twenty men strewn across the streets. The town’s mayor has said the victims included men and women and at least one child, and that they’ve already buried 280 people in mass graves. Today, hundreds of people...
17m Apr 04, 2022
17m
BA.2 The Bone
The Biden administration will reportedly end its use of Title 42 by late May. The policy effectively acted as a suspension of the legal asylum process, and has been viewed as inhumane by immigration activists. The BA.2 Omicron subvariant is now the dominant COVID strain in the U.S. This comes as many states begin to close mass vaccination and testing sites that were vital throughout the pandemi...
25m Mar 31, 2022
25m
Life As A Ukrainian Refugee, Part II
Over 3.9 million people have fled Ukraine and become refugees since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the United Nations. About 2.3 million of those people have gone to neighboring Poland, and another 600,000 people have crossed into neighboring Romania. Julia Pashkovska, a mother who left her home in central Ukraine, joins us to discuss her experience fleeing the country. A...
23m Mar 30, 2022
23m
Ginni Thomas The Text Engine
The House select committee investigating the insurrection is reportedly soon going to seek an interview with Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was found to have lobbied former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to pursue a plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election, sending 29 texts on the subject. Immigration advocates, lawmakers, and health offi...
25m Mar 29, 2022
25m
The Fight For Trans Liberation Is Everyone's Fight with Raquel Willis
On Saturday, President Biden gave a speech from Warsaw, Poland, where he talked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But at one point, he briefly spoke off the cuff and said about Russian President Vladimir Putin, “This man cannot remain in power.” White House officials quickly walked back Biden’s statement, saying that the U.S. has no strategy of regime change in Russia.  Today is the fourth da...
21m Mar 28, 2022
21m
Defense Against DeSantis
President Biden spoke in Brussels after meeting with European allies on Thursday, and announced that the U.S. would commit more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and welcome 100,000 refugees. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is poised to sign two GOP-backed bills into law: the notorious Don’t Say Gay bill and the Stop WOKE Act. Florida House Representative Michele Rayner joins ...
23m Mar 25, 2022
23m
Life As A Ukrainian Refugee
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced her second day of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Like Tuesday, there were some moments of substance in there, but many Republican senators didn’t let up on a bad faith effort to drum up controversies around Judge Jackson that just don’t exist. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said...
21m Mar 24, 2022
21m
Healthcare Is Under Attack In Ukraine
Tuesday was the second day of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings. She faced questions from senators on the Judiciary Committee on a variety of topics, including her religion, abortion rights, critical race theory, war crimes, and child pornography sentencing. The World Health Organization said that as of March 18, at least 62 healthcare facilities had been hit i...
26m Mar 23, 2022
26m
The Impact Of Texas's Abortion Ban, Six Months In
Ukraine rejected Russia’s demand that soldiers surrender the city of Mariupol, on Monday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying in part, “Ukraine cannot fulfill ultimatums.” And in Kyiv, a Russian missile struck a mall, killing at least 8 people according to officials. Republican-led state legislatures have passed an overwhelming amount of anti-abortion legislation in recent months...
21m Mar 22, 2022
21m