Today, we will be discussing the tragedy in Baltimore involving a ship colliding with the Key Bridge, Trump's legal troubles, the relationship between the UN and the Biden administration, and a poignant update regarding Kate Middleton's health.
Time Stamps:
14:18 Key Bridge Disaster
18:35 Trump Legal Woes
30:27 Biden and UN
46:00 Kate Middleton
49:04 Christine Blasey Ford
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Sociologist Neil M. Gong explains why mental health treatment in Los Angeles rarely succeeds, for the rich, the poor, and everyone in between.
In 2022, Los Angeles became the US county with the largest population of unhoused people, drawing a stark contrast with the wealth on display in its opulent neighborhoods. In Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles (U Chicago Press, 2024), sociologist Neil M. Gong traces the divide between the haves and have-nots in the psychiatric treatment systems that shape the life trajectories of people living with serious mental illness. In the decades since the United States closed its mental hospitals in favor of non-institutional treatment, two drastically different forms of community psychiatric services have developed: public safety-net clinics focused on keeping patients housed and out of jail, and elite private care trying to push clients toward respectable futures.
In Downtown Los Angeles, many people in psychiatric crisis only receive help after experiencing homelessness or arrests. Public providers engage in guerrilla social work to secure them housing and safety, but these programs are rarely able to deliver true rehabilitation for psychological distress and addiction. Patients are free to refuse treatment or use illegal drugs—so long as they do so away from public view.
Across town in West LA or Malibu, wealthy people diagnosed with serious mental illness attend luxurious treatment centers. Programs may offer yoga and organic meals alongside personalized therapeutic treatments, but patients can feel trapped, as their families pay exorbitantly to surveil and “fix” them. Meanwhile, middle-class families—stymied by private insurers, unable to afford elite providers, and yet not poor enough to qualify for social services—struggle to find care at all.
Gong’s findings raise uncomfortable questions about urban policy, family dynamics, and what it means to respect individual freedom. His comparative approach reminds us that every “sidewalk psychotic” is also a beloved relative and that the kinds of policies we support likely depend on whether we see those with mental illness as a public social problem or as somebody’s kin. At a time when many voters merely want streets cleared of “problem people,” Gong’s book helps us imagine a fundamentally different psychiatric system—one that will meet the needs of patients, families, and society at large.
Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is in the areas of social construction of experience, identity, and place. He is currently conducting research for his next project that looks at nightlife and the emotional labor that is performed by employees of bars and nightclubs. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his website, Google Scholar, Twitter @ProfessorJohnst, or by email at johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu.
Throughout history, there have been some truly remarkable people who have done some truly remarkable things.
One such person was Adrian Carton de Wiart. If you don’t know who he is, thanks, ok, because by the end of this episode, you surely remember his story, if not his name.
He was courageous, a little bit insane, and extremely hard to kill.
Learn more about Adrian Carton de Wiart and his incredible life on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
We'll update you on the major bridge collapse in Baltimore, what we know about the ship that crashed into it, and how the crew likely saved lives.
Also, there's a new name in the 2024 presidential race, and former President Trump has rolled out a new venture.
Plus, a radical rule change is coming to the NFL; Robinhood's first credit card comes with perks, and more college grads are getting jobs that don't use their degrees. Is higher education still worth it?
The Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed skeptical of a case that challenged expanded access to the abortion medication mifepristone. It was brought by anti-abortion doctors looking to roll back access, but during oral arguments both liberal and conservative justices questioned whether the group had the right to bring the case, a concept known as standing. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s legal podcast Strict Scrutiny, explained why the justices kept coming back to the issue, and what it could mean for the court’s final decision.
And in headlines: Six construction workers are presumed dead after a bridge collapsed in Baltimore, former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel got the ax from NBC News, and a New York judge issued a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his criminal hush-money trial.
Show Notes:
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For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday
According to the CDC, about one in four adults has a fear of needles. Many of those people say the phobia started when they were kids. For some people, the fear of needles is strong enough that they avoid getting important treatments, vaccines or tests. That poses a serious problem for public health. Researchers have helped develop a five step plan to help prevent what they call "needless pain" for kids getting injections or their blood drawn. Guest host Tom Dreisbach talks with Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, who works with a team to implement the plan at his own hospital. Friedrichsdorf told us some of the most important research on eliminating pain has come from researchers in Canada. Learn more about their work here.
This episode was inspired by the reporting of our colleague April Dembosky, a journalist at member station KQED and KFF Health News. Read her digital story here.
How could America shift so babies were more welcomed, less dreaded?
Tim Carney, author of the new book “Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be,” has a few ideas. He’d like to see corporations offer parents their child’s birthday off every year. He wants parents to not work so hard at parenting—and to never, ever, sign up their kids for a travel sports team. He’d like to see local governments prioritize sidewalks and denser housing, which would make neighborhoods safer for kids.
But he also wants us to think about why we have a falling birth rate—and what it says about us. After World War II, America had a baby boom, while Germany experienced a baby bust. Now, we’re struggling with our own baby bust, even as we are hammered by relentless discussions of America’s failures, the threat of climate change, and more. “The spirit of the age now is what I call civilizational sadness,” says Carney. “And the sadness is a belief that we’re just not good or that humans were a mistake.”
Taboos. Intolerable foods. Sad songs. Sexy kinks. Candy that looks like poo. Let’s get a little gross, shall we? The foremost expert in disgust, Dr. Paul Rozin, chats about the emotions related to revulsion – and BOY HOWDY do we cover some ground. Why do some things gross us out and others don’t? Can we change that? Learn how research psychologists study disgust, from butterflies to bigotry, and from pranks to power dynamics. Maybe don’t eat lunch while you listen, but definitely tune in to learn how to conquer some fears.
Florida just banned social media for kids under 14 — Social Media has become the cigarette of the 21st century.
Krispy Kreme stock surged 30% on word McDonald’s will sell their donuts in all 13 thousand US locations — Krispy is borrowing the same strategy as Target.
And BlackRock’s Larry Fink just raised alarms about Americans and their retirement savings — Why do we invest in retirement? It lets you skip a tax payment.
Plus, we’ve got a message for our Baltimore Besties.
