The Daily Dive

The security failures last Wednesday when pro-Trump supporters sieged the Capitol building seem to be even worse than initially thought. Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, said that he tried six times to get back up from the National Guard and each time his request was rejected or delayed, with some of the reasoning for no back up, were the optics of declaring an emergency. Peter Herman, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for more on the Capitol Police failure.

Next, the social media platform Parler is down. After being removed from Google and Apple app stores for an insufficient content moderating plan, Amazon Web Services also cut them off. It could take more than a week for the platform to come back as conservatives and far-right extremists look for an alternative to Twitter. Ryan Mac, senior tech reporter at BuzzFeed News, joins us for the latest as Parler is now suing Amazon to get back online.

Finally, because of the pandemic, grocery trends are looking different this year. Instead of seeing large product lines or product innovations, there will be a focus on supply chain issues and keeping shelves stocked instead. We will see changes in grocery store layouts, more plant-based items, and new functional foods and beverages. Cara Rosenbloom, registered dietician and president of Words to Eat By, joins us for what to look out for this year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fallout continues from the siege on the Capitol building and calls for President Trump to resign have intensified. While that is unlikely to happen, Democrats are planning another vote to impeach Trump and compounding the issues in the final days of his presidency, many social media companies have suspended the accounts of the President. With his favorite megaphone silenced and his time in power waning, it seems he will not go silently as he plans a visit to Texas this week and will most likely continue to rail against big tech companies. Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington Digital editor at NBC News, joins us for more.

Next, once again we are trying to learn about the origins of the coronavirus that has caused a global pandemic. A team of scientists from the WHO is beginning an investigation as to how it has emerged. While the leading theory is that the virus jumped from bats to humans, another theory posits that it could all have been an accident... a virus made more infections in a lab through something called "gain of function" research. Nicholson Baker, author of 17 books and contributor to NY Magazine joins us to talk about this lab-leak hypothesis as we try to understand the origins of the COVID-19 so we can prevent the next pandemic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congress has affirmed the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden and he will become president on January 20th. But how we got there was a mess. Mobs of supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and broke into the House and Senate chambers. It was a failure of security where members of Congress had to be evacuated and taken to undisclosed locations. Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington digital editor at NBC News, was in the Capitol while it was raided and shares her experience with us. We will also discuss the fallout: many are calling for President Trump to be removed after initially encouraging his supporters and continuing to dispute the election.

Next, throughout the pandemic, many have had issues with claiming unemployment benefits, some waiting months for payments. But there has also been scammers cashing in on fraud in the system to the tune of $32 billion. Many of the scammers are coming out of Nigeria, but they can’t do it alone and use a “mule” network to get it done. Many of the victims are also people who are employed, but have had their identities stolen. Nick Penzenstadler, reporter at USA Today, joins us for how scammers are cashing in on unemployment. You can read Nick's full story here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s official, Democrats have taken control of the Senate. Both Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their Senate runoff races in Georgia splitting the chamber 50/50, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie breaking vote. For Warnock, he has achieved many historic firsts including becoming the first Black Democrat Senator from Georgia. Maya King, politics reporter at Politico, joins us for how Warnock won.

Next, with a new strain of coronavirus spreading through the U.K. and very strict lockdowns, Britain is taking a different approach to vaccinating its people. Instead of following the two shot protocol of the Pfizer vaccine taken about 3 weeks apart, officials have said they will try to give more people their first dose of the shot and delay the second shot by as much as three months. Helen Branswell, senior writer at STAT News, joins us for this modified rollout.

Finally, the death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. continues to rise, but sometimes it is hard to register the magnitude of losses. Some perspective is often needed to understand what has been lost. For instance, on average, each person in the U.S. who has died from COVID-19 has lost about 13 years of their lives. Joe Pinsker, staff writer at the Atlantic, joins us for some numbers that make the impact of the pandemic sink in.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rollout of the vaccines so far in the U.S. has been moving at a slower pace than expected. In California, where the state is experiencing huge coronavirus numbers and shortages of equipment and oxygen, only 35% of doses that have arrived have been administered. Colleen Shalby, reporter at the LA Times, joins us for why the rollout hasn’t gone as expected and what Gov. Newsom is planning to speed things up.

Next, more than 1 million Americans are still waiting for unemployment aid. Deep backlogs are contributing to some not getting financial aid, but also to blame are extensive fraud prevention checks, old computer systems, and applications getting flagged for extra scrutiny. Any claim set aside for a manual review can take months to resolve. Heather Long, economic correspondent at the Washington Post, joins us for more.

Finally, the pandemic has taken a toll on relationships in many ways, but interestingly, both marriages and divorces are down. Many had to cancel or postpone weddings due to lockdowns, and on the other side, some are avoiding divorce for practical reasons and economic uncertainty. Ben Steverman, reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for why these rates may be falling and whether they might tick back up after the pandemic is over.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgia is the center of the political world right now as the Senate runoff elections continue and control of the Senate will be determined. Over the weekend, President Trump also called Georgia's Secretary of State to pressure him into recalculating the vote in his favor asking him to find 11,780 votes. Natalie Jennings, Editor of The Fix at the Washington Post, joins us for what happened in this hour-long phone call.

Next, the new variant of the coronavirus that was found in the U.K. has now made its way into the U.S. The mutated virus is more transmissible, but not more severe and has been found Colorado, California, Florida and most recently, New York. People infected with the new variant are thought to have greater concentrations of the virus in their noses and throats. Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter at the NY Times, joins us for how Covid is spreading faster.

Finally, Wednesday will be an eventful day as some Republicans will object to the certification of Electoral College votes and many MAGA supporters will turn out to protest in Washington D.C. While the certification will most likely go through, activists and Trump supporters will still turn out to put pressure on Republican lawmakers. Tina Nguyen, White House reporter at Politico, joins us for what to expect on January 6th.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The marijuana dispensary MedMen had a very promising beginning looking to be the Apple Store of pot. It was one of the first mainstream brands that drew many to invest in marijuana, but things soon began to unravel. There was a class-action lawsuit from employees alleging labor law violations, and other lawsuits alleging manipulating stock prices, bank fraud and more. Adam Bierman had to resign as CEO and the stock value dropped significantly. Ben Schrekinger, national political correspondent at Politico, joins us for how the Apple of Pot collapsed.

Next, we will talk about the strange world of cheerleading music. After the success of the Netflix Docuseries “Cheer,” more people were taking a look into the world of cheerleading and one thing that stands out is the music accompanying the high flying routines. Gone are the days of simple rhyming chants, modern cheer squads are performing to club-like tracks full of EDM drops, pump-up raps, and laser beam samples. Cheer music still has to abide by copyright laws and music licensing and it has spurred a whole new industry that makes original music for top cheer teams. Duncan Cooper, music journalist and former editor of the Fader, joins us for the world of cheer music.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.