We'll explain the Supreme Court's decisions about Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Who will have to get their shots for work, and who is now off the hook.
Also, the most serious case yet to come out of the Capitol riot investigation and why presidential debates may never look the same.
Plus, a big winter storm moving through dozens of states, how tens of thousands of Americans are getting their debt erased, and an American athlete who gave up her spot in an Olympic event so her teammate would get the chance to compete.
The Supreme Court yesterday blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to enforce a vaccine or testing mandate for private employers. Meanwhile, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin said that they, again, will not support changing the filibuster rules to pass new voting rights measures.
More than 8,000 grocery store workers in Colorado have begun a strike against their employer, the Kroger-owned chain King Soopers. Kim Cordova, head of the workers’ union that represents them, joins us to discuss their demands.
And in headlines: The FBI arrested the leader and founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, teachers in France protested the country’s school COVID policies, and Prince Andrew was forced to give up all of his military and royal titles.
Show Notes:
We'll be back with a new WAD on Tuesday, January 18th after MLK Day.
The Economic Roundtable: “Hungry At The Table: White Paper On Grocery Workers At The Kroger Company” – https://bit.ly/3I3a84p
Big Tech actors like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube feel increasingly comfortable banning conservative voices from their platforms. But as Big Tech is willing to censor conservatives for their speech, other platforms devoted to free expression are starting to fill the gap.
The director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Technology Policy, Lora Ries, contends that as long as these big platforms continue to censor dissent, alternative platforms will crop up to try to serve as alternatives. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
"The new CEO [of Twitter] has been quoted as less concerned with free speech and more about driving their users toward information that Twitter wants to provide," Ries said as an example of Big Tech censorship. "That doesn't bode well for free speech or true public discourse or having disagreements about difficult topics like COVID and COVID response."
"So as long as that trend continues, then these alternatives, I think, will grow and compete with each other," she added.
Ries joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss how Big Tech censors conservatives and how platforms such as Gettr and Rumble are putting free speech at the forefront.
We also cover these stories:
The Supreme Court blocks the Biden administration from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., confirms she will not back efforts to alter the filibuster, seemingly ending attempts by Senate Democrats to change the procedure.
The House of Representatives passes a controversial elections-related bill that would greatly expand the federal government’s control of state and local election laws.
There is a ton of breaking news today, happening just as we went to record. Andrew had time to briefly look over the Supreme Court ruling on the vaccine mandates and it is TERRIBLE. To quote Andrew's live reaction off mic, "Oh they're just lying now." It's that bad. But, we also had some good breaking news! In a nice timely Andrew Was Right, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was arrested on Jan 6 charges despite not even being there, signaling an escalation in the whole consequences thing. This is good. All that PLUS a wonderful deep dive on an alleged "one weird trick" to solve the filibuster. You know by now it probably won't work, but it actually does and it's very interesting! It just doesn't solve the problem people hope it would.
Our first interview today is about a novel that, believe it or not, was actually written before the coronavirus pandemic even started. The End of October, written by Lawrence Wright, is about...a pandemic. But Wright told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly he wishes he hadn't gotten so much of it right. The second interview is with two friends, Marilyn Hacker and Karthika Nair, who were separated by the pandemic. So to connect with each other, they wrote a book of poetry called A Different Distance. They told former NPR host Noel King that the collaboration actually strengthened their friendship.
Pablo Escobar had a private zoo at his estate in Colombia, with zebras, giraffes, flamingoes - and four hippopotamuses. After Escobar was killed in 1993, most of the animals were relocated except for the so-called "cocaine hippos." Authorities thought they would die but they did not and now, about a hundred roam near the estate. Conservationists are trying to control their population because they worry about the people and the environment. But some locals like the hippos and a few researchers say the animals should be left alone and are filling an ecological void. The controversy reflects growing debate in ecology about what an invasive species actually is.
Contact Short Wave with your animal stories at shortwave@npr.org.
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Pablo Escobar had a private zoo at his estate in Colombia, with zebras, giraffes, flamingoes - and four hippopotamuses. After Escobar was killed in 1993, most of the animals were relocated except for the so-called "cocaine hippos." Authorities thought they would die but they did not and now, about a hundred roam near the estate. Conservationists are trying to control their population because they worry about the people and the environment. But some locals like the hippos and a few researchers say the animals should be left alone and are filling an ecological void. The controversy reflects growing debate in ecology about what an invasive species actually is.
Contact Short Wave with your animal stories at shortwave@npr.org.
We talk to two members of the artist collective Solarpunk Surf Club about their new solarpunk game Solarpunk Futures, gaming as a method of education and organizing, and the importance of kinds of organizing that don't contribute to burnout.
Today on What Next TBD: What is going on with little kids' vaccines? Why don’t they seem to be a priority for the government or the pharmaceutical companies, while parents are stressed to a breaking point? We discuss with Meg Tirrell, health and science correspondent for CNBC, and co-host of the Readout Loud podcast.
