Staffing Season
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 16 December 2020
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg was announced as Biden’s nominee for transportation secretary yesterday, and former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm is expected to be picked to lead the Energy Department. We discuss those picks, plus other recent Biden nominees, like Marcia Fudge, Tom Vilsack, and Denis McDonough.
The Dolly Parton-backed Moderna vaccine has been reviewed by the FDA and found to have an efficacy rate of 94.1 percent. Zooming out, a New York Times report said it may take until 2024 for less affluent countries to fully immunize their population, since rich countries have bought up all the supply.
And in headlines: Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for kidnapping 300 boys in Nigeria last Friday, European countries announce antitrust proposals for tech companies, and Prince Harry and Meghan are podcasters now.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Wednesday, December 16th. I'm Achille Hughes. |
| 0:09.2 | And I'm Gideon Ressak and this is what the day where we respect the Postal Service, |
| 0:12.5 | we're holding itself together with duct tape at this point. |
| 0:15.2 | Yeah, there's like 50 billion packages being sent across America right now, |
| 0:18.4 | and if you're delivering them, you're a god. |
| 0:20.6 | Seriously, please be safe. We love you. |
| 0:23.2 | We do love you. |
| 0:24.5 | You're the best. |
| 0:34.5 | On Today's show, another vaccine gets closer to approval in the US than some headlines. |
| 0:38.9 | But first, the latest. And we'll start with the Biden cabinet. |
| 0:41.8 | Every day or so, we keep learning more about how President-elect Joe Biden's |
| 0:45.3 | administration is taking shape. And yesterday, we got a few more pieces of the puzzle. |
| 0:49.5 | First up, Biden's team announced former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg |
| 0:53.2 | to lead the Department of Transportation. A lot of people thought this was a somewhat odd |
| 0:57.5 | choice given his experience. And it marks the first time that Biden has chosen a former |
| 1:02.1 | opponent in the presidential primary to join his administration, well, you know, after a Kamala. |
| 1:07.6 | Buttigieg would also be the first Senate confirmed LGBTQ cabinet secretary. |
| 1:13.2 | That's right. And he'd be that other potential options people had heard about for this role that we |
| 1:17.5 | had talked about, including LA Mayor Eric Arsetti and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. |
| 1:22.4 | Both of whom faced a lot of protests when their names were brought up because of their records |
| 1:27.4 | on policing and other issues. They were non-starters for many, many people. |
| 1:32.0 | So now, brass tax, if Buttigieg gets this role, he'd be overseeing a department of about 55,000 |
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