The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.15 I'M SORRY ABOUT YESTERDAY, It Was a Mistake, Asmongold BANNED, Joe Rogan Kamala Harris Backlash, &

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Welp… Go to http://zbiotics.com/DEFRANCO and use code DEFRANCO at checkout to get up to 15% off your first order. Go to http://meundies.com/phil to get 20% off and free shipping.  21 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Asmongold Banned After Comments About Palestinians  05:00 - Man Charged for Shooting Stalker He Found With His Missing Daughter 07:32 - Manhunt Leads to Arrest in Home Invasion Where Men Posed as Utility Workers  09:36 - Sponsored by Zbiotics 10:42 - Harris Sets Fox News Interview, Reportedly Discussing a Joe Rogan Appearance 14:15 - U.S. Demands Israel Improve Humanitarian Conditions in Gaza 16:59 - Canada Expels Indian Diplomats, Accuses Gov’t of Campaign Against Dissidents 19:43 - Sponsored by MeUndies 20:50 - Zelensky Confirms North Korea is Sending Soldiers to Russian Front Lines 22:42 - Ohio Is Using Millions in Taxpayer Dollars to Directly Fund Religious Schools Hasan’s stream with Asmongold: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2276013364 ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Ohio Private Schools: Lili Stenn ———————————— #DeFranco #Asmongold #JoeRogan ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I don't know how I'm gonna do this without a ukulele. I'd like to apologize. On yesterday's show, we put in background music. There was an AI quote thing that we were testing out and you guys universally loved it. But it just, it adds too much, stop it. It added too much work behind the scenes. I don't think we'd be able to do that on a regular basis.

So we're not gonna do either of those things ever again. And of course that is the only reason, because again, you guys loved it so much. It pains me we'd be able to do that on a regular basis. So we're not gonna do either of those things ever again. And of course that is the only reason, because again, you guys loved it so much. And it pains me not to be able to make you happy. Oh, of course I'd love to continue my streak of just never making a bad decision. You know, I have to think about what's best for my team. So yeah, let's just do what we fucking do around here.

Let's raw dog the news and talk about it. And actually the first thing that we're gonna talk about today was one of the most requested stories. It's another YouTuber Twitch streamer that's out there apologizing. And that's a guy by the name of Asmongol. Because you've got tons of people pissed off at this guy, tons of people calling for him to be banned.

And that's because during a live stream yesterday, he started talking about Israel and Palestine. And he said about Palestinians. If you wanna consider a genocide as a systematic killing of a group of people, they have genocide built into Sharia law right now. So no, I'm not going to cry a f***ing river when people who have genocide that's baked into their laws are getting genocided. I don't give a f***. They're terrible people. These people are not your allies. They are

not the same as us. They come from an inferior culture that is horrible. It kills people for their identity and is directly antithetical to everything Western values stand for. And it is an inferior culture in all ways. So unsurprisingly, you have tons outraged online, people saying he's actively advocating for genocide, tons of people comparing his comments to Nazi rhetoric. Bro, this is this is straight-to-one what Nazis said about Jewish people, the most right-wing approach to this conversation. This is insane. I don't think he understands how unimaginably fucked up this statement is. And this is others responding with things like, you live in the United States, Skidmark.

"'Genocide is actually baked "'into the laws of your own country. "'Happy Indigenous Peoples Day, you greasy fucking freak.' "'As well as deserves to be perma-banned off Twitch for this. "'The level of moral depravity to say this shit. "'I don't even understand how it's possible.'" Right, and there are tons of people pointing to Twitch's terms of service

that his comments may have broken, and others thinking that a Twitch ban isn't even enough in terms of repercussions. With people pointing to his OTK network and saying things like, "'If I were in OTK, I would leave the org so fast "'as long as he is one of the owners.'" Adding, "'I'm not crazy about deplatforming people,

"'but we just watched a bunch of human beings "'get burned alive and this miserable piece of shit "'is calling them inferior.'" And with all this, for his part, Asmongold actually ended up calling in to Hasan's stream and criticized him where they discussed all of this. The conversation going a few hours long, going back and forth in the context of cultural values

and what calling a culture inferior means. And so I'll link to the whole thing in the description. You had them saying things like, You don't think that I support Israel, do you? I don't, but I think that, no, I don't think you support Israel, but I think you're saying that Palestinians are immoral or evil or have an evil, antiquated culture or are barbaric is not only a historical. What's up? I do.

I do think that. Yeah. I mean, I think I don't. I don't. I don't know, man. Like, how can you be in support of a culture that tells people that they can't be who they want to be? It's not defensible, but I think most people, including the gay Palestinians or queer Palestinians or queer Lebanese people, There is no room for advocating for civil liberties in your own domestic policies when you are escaping bombings. But when you start talking about like inferior cultures, that sets up the opportunity for historically, at least, dehumanization.

And also it justifies a lot of the atrocities that those people end up experiencing. But then all of that leading to later that night, Asmongold walking back some of his original comments on X. Writing, Looking back on it, I was way too much of an asshole about the Palestine thing. My bad. Of course, no one deserves to have their life destroyed, even if they do things or have views I find regressive.

You guys deserve more than me saying stupid shit like that. I'll do better. But given the situation, how things went down, not a ton of people are buying it. Right among other things, saying he's only doing this to save face amid calls for him to get banned or removed from OTK. Others saying the most reflection you can do is quote, my bad. There's no sugar coating this. You wholeheartedly agree with the principles of Nazism, log off. Also going back to that note on people calling for him to get banned, actually, as I was recording today's show,

he got banned from Twitch. Though notably, one, it was described as a temporary ban, and two, it was the specific Zach Rohr channel, and Asmongold has several channels on Twitch. So as the situation is developing in real time, I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts with all this? Whether it be specifically about his disgusting comments, his apology, or the bans, or the calls for them.

But then, shifting gears, we gotta talk about 36-year-old Aaron Spencer of Arkansas. Right, and that's because last week, at around one in the morning on a weekday, he discovered that his 14-year-old daughter wasn't in a room or even in the house. So Aaron, of course, he reports her missing to the police. The sheriff's deputies then get dispatched to his home. But before they can even get there, they get another 911 call about a shooting. And it turns out that Spencer apparently found his daughter on his own and she wasn't alone. But they're reportedly in a car with 67-year-old Michael Fossler,

which is a man that the girl had a no contact order against according to her mother. That order is stemming from an incident back in July when he was arrested for internet stalking of a child and sexual assault, according to the sheriff, who said that the man was out on bond. Whereas when Spencer sees his missing teen daughter inside a car with her alleged stalker rapist,

this confrontation led to its logical endpoint. Spencer ultimately shooting and killing Fossler right there. When the cops showed up to the scene, all they knew was the fact that whether justified or not, one man killed another and that's homicide. And so they arrest Spencer on a preliminary charge of first degree murder and they book him in the county jail with him posting bond the next day.

Now, since then, Spencer's wife and his child's mother, Heather, they've explained their side of the story in a series of Facebook posts explaining, "'We have no idea this man was in contact "'with our child again,' saying he was looking "'at the rest of his pathetic life in jail and our daughter was the only witness.

We 100% in the moment thought he had taken her to kill her. Then going on to thank community members who shared claims that Fossler attacked them as well and adding, we have gotten a clear picture of a predator who continuously worked with children and preyed on young girls. This man was chief of police in Indiana

and a resource officer giving us a better idea of why the Lenoke County courts have been protecting him and going after my husband. With all of that then being compounded by the revelation that the sheriff and his former jail administrator, they were sued back in August for ignoring female inmates who alleged sexual abuse by jail staff, which is why you had the sheriff telling KATV Channel 7.

I'm a daddy. In a situation similar to this, I can't tell you I wouldn't act the same way. But now we are the fact finders. We don't file the charges. We supply the information so the prosecutor can make a determination whether it was justified or not. And so for right now, we've got to see if this preliminary charge against Spencer turns into an official charge or if this thing's going to blow over.

Though, if it does go to trial, an attorney told Fox News that Spencer's lawyers do have multiple arguments they could roll out. One, they could say he shot Fosler in the heat of passion, which would downgrade the murder charge to manslaughter. Or two, they could say that he shot Fosler in the heat of passion, which would downgrade the murder charge to manslaughter. Or two, they could say that he shot Fosler in self-defense, either to protect himself or his daughter. But either way, he and his wife are gonna need the money

to retain a lawyer, which is also why they're fundraising online. Though there, according to Heather, GoFundMe took down their page and returned the money to their donors. With a GoFundMe spokesperson saying that, "'It's terms of service prohibit fundraisers "'that raise money for the legal defense

"'of anyone formerly charged "'with an alleged violent crime.'" Which is why now the family is accepting donations through Venmo and Cash App instead. Though most recently, Heather said that even Cash App's denying transactions for unspecified reasons. But then, in just horrifying news, these guys pretended to be utility workers

to get into an elderly couple's home before then binding them in duct tape, killing the husband and robbing them. But it's now learning that this whole situation kicked off last Thursday at around 10 o'clock at night in a suburb outside of Detroit. With the local sheriff's department releasing ring camera footage

that shows two men wearing yellow vests and face masks, saying that they're from DTE, which is an energy company based in Detroit, and saying that they were there to check for gas leaks. But I mean, they had a clipboard with a form that had the company's logo, even ID badges. And as far as the homeowners, they were Hussein Murray and his wife,

both in their early 70s. And notably, they owned a local jewelry and pawn shop, with the police saying that may have something to do with why they were targeted. But on that Thursday, according to the authorities, the couple turned the men away that night. With the fake utility workers saying, "'That's fine, we'll be back in the morning,'

and back they came. Friday at 10 a.m., they show up again." With this time, Mr. Murray signing the paper and showing the two men into the basement. And the prosecutor saying that these two fake workers, they quickly returned upstairs alone and asked Mrs. Murray where they could find money and jewelry. With them reportedly duct taping her wrists and ankles and hitting her when she began to scream. And after they took her

watch and phone, the two men left in a white pickup with the DTE logo on it. And Mrs. Murray was able to free herself enough to call 911. And unfortunately, when the authorities got to the house, Mr. Murray was found dead in the base with his wrists and ankles duct taped. His injury is so gruesome that the sheriff's office said it was unclear whether he had been shot or beaten to death. And as for his wife, she was briefly hospitalized though, otherwise she is okay. And from there, the manhunt started, right?

The sheriff's office releasing the ring footage and the photos from Thursday night. And one of them, Carlos Hernandez, was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana on Saturday after being spotted traveling south. The now facing charges of felony murder and unlawful imprisonment. And it turns out he was also wanted in Ohio

on unrelated warrants for armed robbery. And then as far as the other guy, yesterday the local sheriff's office said they arrested him about 30 miles south of where the crime happened. Though I call him the other guy, because as of yet they haven't released his name. And then, you know, with all of this,

one of the reasons that we're talking about this today is something that DTE said when they released the statement. Where they expressed sympathy for the victims, but also they warned people that they will always notify them in advance before making a visit to their homes. Or trying to get the word out that it is rare for their employees to need to enter a home and adding

that customers should always ask for a photo ID badge before letting the employee do so. But ultimately we'll have to wait to see what happens in this situation, but hopefully these two monsters, they get put away for life. But then take it a quick break from the news. You know when you come across something that works for you, like really works for you and you just feel like the need

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off. Then, in huge election news, we got to talk about Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Fox News, and Joe Rogan. Starting with the news that Kamala Harris is going on Fox News and Donald Trump is pissed about it. Because yesterday, Fox News announced that Harris would be sitting down for an interview with Brett Baier this Wednesday

that's set to air at 6 p.m. Eastern. And I know some of you might be thinking, okay, a presidential candidate's going on one of the single biggest networks, groundbreaking. But it's actually a pretty big deal, right? Top Democratic officials, they have long avoided Fox. In fact, President Biden hasn't even appeared on the network once since taking office. But in recent weeks, Harris's campaign has made an effort to switch things up with Tim Wallace, for example, appearing on Fox News Sunday the past two weekends. And all of this is part of the campaign's broader

media blitz to reach different audiences and different voters. With this, including a mix of more mainstream news outlets, as well as less traditional media sources, including Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast. You know, with Fox News specifically, you might be going, well, who is she actually gonna win over? It's 2024. She's not gonna win over diehard far-right Republicans.

But here's the thing. According to research by Nielsen, more independent voters watch Fox News than CNN or MSNBC. And so there are potential votes to be pulled there, though, of course, this is a calculated risk on their campaign. You know, as a result of Harris being on Fox News, Trump is big man. With him unsurprisingly lashing out at Fox News

in a series of Truth Social posts where he said that Fox, quote, "'has grown so weak and soft on the Democrats, "'constantly polluting the airwaves "'with unopposed Kamala representatives.'" With him then going on to take shots at numerous Fox News personalities while claiming that Harris's spokesperson

virtually owns the network and at it. It's not worthwhile doing interviews on Fox because it all just averages out into nothing. Fox News has totally lost its way. Now with that, I do think that it's important to point out that Trump has regularly appeared on Fox News. And this, even though he has more frequently condemned the network for not spouting his talking points

as much as they used to. Just last month, he did an interview with Fox and friends and he's literally participating in a town hall hosted by the network the same day that Harris Is set to sit down with Bayer. So, you know, it really seems like he's just threatened by Harris appearing on more conservative media outlets Also, he lashes out at anyone that just doesn't kind of get in rank and file. Notably with this whole situation It is very unlikely that this is the only place Harris is gonna be going to try to get more conservative voters Especially since Trump wouldn't agree to another debate with Harris after what happened with the first one, right?

In fact, we're actually now seeing reports that Harris's team is in open talks to set up an interview with Joe Rogan, which is something that would be absolutely massive because one, there's also been talks about a potential Trump-Rogan podcast. Two, Rogan has the single biggest podcast in America. And three, his audience is predominantly male,

which is a demographic that Harris is struggling with in the polls, and one, that she's been trying to court. Though I will say, if that does actually happen, it would be very interesting to see how that interview would be received by Rogan's audience. I mean, if you thought there was a controversy after Alex Cooper interviewed Harris, you ain't seen fucking nothing.

Though notably, I will say with Cooper, while she got backlash mostly on Instagram, and then the short term, her follower accounts on both her personal Instagram and show's account initially dropped, they've since completely rebounded. In fact, she's seen net increases from before she did the interview. But they're then also doubling down on women's rights with a special Call Her

Daddy episode called An Abortion Story. Though there, I would say, if these Rogan podcasts were to happen, expect very different reactions. Those are very different audiences. And really, the only times I've ever seen Joe Rogan backtrack is when he's gotten conservative backlash. But yeah, you know, the main thing is the election is just 21 days away, which feels crazy to say. And both campaigns right now in this neck and neck race are trying to make big moves and calculated risks. As we wait to see how things are gonna play out, I'll implore you to go to vote.org.

Get details on how and where to vote. If you can vote early, definitely knock it out. In Georgia, for example, today is the first day you can early vote. Also make yourself a little voting plan. It's been shown that if you make that plan, it becomes much more likely that you'll actually go out and vote.

You know, get your friends and family involved, unless you don't think they're going to vote your way. What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered.

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has to do with the United States, Gaza, and Israel. And that because the United States is now threatening to cut military aid to Israel if it does not improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Because that's what the Biden administration said in a letter to top Israeli officials that was obtained by several different media outlets. With specifically the letter being written jointly by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. And in it, the two noted the amount of assistance

entering Gaza in September was the lowest of any month during the past year. With the men explicitly blaming Israel for the drop in aid, as well as continued starvation and widespread suffering. Arguing that Israel's efforts to limit aid have directly increased lawlessness, looting, and accelerated the deterioration of conditions in Gaza. With the men going on to say that Israel has 30 days to reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory,

or else it may have implications for future weapons transfers under U.S. law. And there, Blinken and Austin specifically cited a provision of the Foreign Assistance Act that bans the U.S. from providing military aid to any country that, quote, prohibits or otherwise restricts directly or indirectly the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance. With the two top officials also outlining a number of demands that the country must meet if it doesn't want to risk the suspension of security aid. With this, including permanently transferring 350 aid trucks to the Gaza Strip each day through all four border crossings, as well as opening a fifth border crossing,

allowing humanitarian pauses to distribute aid for at least the next four months, allowing Palestinians concentrated along the coast to move inland before the winter, ending the policy of forced evacuations from the Northern Gaza Strip, permitting the Red Cross to visit Palestinian detainees, and working with the United States to discuss incidents of mass civilian casualties during IDF operations, among other measures." And understand, this letter is very, very significant,

with it even being described as the starkest threat by the United States since the war began last year, and the most wide-ranging and comprehensive list of US demands from Israel since the beginning of the war. It's also very notably a major shift from how the United States has handled the situation in the past. Israel is highly dependent on US military aid

and they have relied heavily on it throughout this war. And critics of Biden's handling of the conflict have repeatedly accused him of failing to leverage that position of power to get Israel to fall in line with humanitarian issues. Since the war began, the Biden administration has only stopped one shipment of US weapons from going to Israel. And back in May, it continued the flow of weapons after issuing a report that found

that Israel's action or inaction had contributed significantly to the insufficient flow of aid to Palestinian civilians. But at that time, the United States didn't determine that the Israeli government was blocking U.S. humanitarian assistance, which notably was a claim that was widely rejected by the vast majority of international aid and development organizations working on the ground there. But I'm also accusing the US at the time of turning a blind eye to Israel's clear obstruction of aid. But now you have analysts and former officials saying that this letter is essentially an implicit admission

that the US believes that Israel's actions in Gaza violate American law. But as far as what happens from here, I mean, we're gonna have to wait to see, especially because 30 days from now is after the US election. So if Harris wins, Netanyahu is very likely gonna have to try to deal with the situation.

But if Trump wins, Netanyahu's mindset is probably, well, I can deal with this stoppage for three months and then Trump's in power. And then we got to talk about how India's top diplomat in Canada may have blood on his hands. And that's according to the Canadian government, who just named him and five other diplomats as persons of interest in the 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist. They then also kick them out of the country. And beyond that, Canada is accusing the Indian government of waging a broader campaign of threats, intimidation, and physical violence against dissidents living in Canada.

All of which basically means that Canadian-Indian relations have just hit fucking rock bottom. Though to be fair, it's been strained for a while. The Indian government has long been concerned about the movement to establish an independent Sikh state in Northern India. And Modi's government especially has been worried about influential Sikh activists living abroad,

keeping that movement alive. And it's raised these concerns with Canada in particular, where Sikhs make up nearly 2% of the country's population. But then this whole situation really took center stage with that assassination back in 2023. Because the man that got killed, he was a Canadian citizen born in India, but he was a leader in the Sikh independence movement,

which is actually banned in India. With India even having designated him as a terrorist. While many thought, hey, he's gonna be safe in Canada, he got shot dead in a parking lot after leaving the Sikh temple that he led. With that, by September, the Canadian prime minister revealed that there were credible allegations

that India's government had links to the killing. So with that, Canada expelled an Indian diplomat. You had India denying the allegations, accusing Canada of harboring terrorists and extremists, also expelling a Canadian diplomat in response, and things just kind of escalated from there. Like in May, Canadian police arrested and charged three Indian nationals accused of involvement in the killing, with them saying at

the time the investigations were continuing, including to connections to the government of India, right? And that is the investigation that brought in these new explosive findings, which not only linked these six diplomats to the 2023 murder, but also a bunch of other shit. You have Canadian officials now saying that the investigation uncovered evidence of Indian government involvement in home invasions, drive-by shootings, arson, and at least one additional killing. And those Sikhs expelled diplomats, they were accused of being directly involved

in gathering detailed intelligence on the Sikh separatists who were then either killed, attacked, or threatened by criminal groups working on behalf of the Indian government. In fact, officials also said that these diplomats may have themselves been involved in coercing Indians living in Canada to serve as informants against Sikh activists.

With that being done by not only threatening to deny them visas, but also making physical threats against them and their families back in India. But with this, of course, India has denied everything. They've instead responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats, including Canada's top diplomat, New Delhi. Also, India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement saying that the Modi government, quote, strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But of course, a key thing and takeaway here is that Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. Just last year, for example, the United States said an Indian official directed an ultimately

unsuccessful assassination plot against a Sikh separatist in New York. And in general, Western security officials and human rights organizations say that Modi's government has become one of the world's biggest perpetrators of what's known as transnational repression, which is basically just a fancy way of saying using violence and other means to deal with opposition who have escaped to other countries. And this notably as it is a widespread issue with a lot of countries doing it.

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With Ukrainian and South Korean officials now confirming this, and Zelensky, for example, saying, we see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea. This is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to occupying military forces.

And you know, in some ways, this isn't surprising, right? North Korea has been one of Russia's most vocal supporters. In 2022, for example, it was one of just four countries that sided with the Kremlin and voted against a UN resolution condemning the invasion. And as Alensky said, it's been sending weapons and ammunition as well.

In fact, North Korean ammunition shipments have reportedly been vital in allowing Russian forces to advance into Eastern Ukraine this summer. And according to a Ukrainian source, they estimate they've provided about half the large caliber ammunition used on the battlefield this year. With that likely tied to back in June, Putin and Kim Jong-un signing a mutual defense agreement.

And there, Kim Jong-un pledging his full support for the war effort. With the time, it really wasn't clear what that would mean, but the fact that North Korea is actually sending personnel, it's probably the clearest sign just how close these two countries are becoming. I mean, foreigners, they fought as mercenaries for Russia, but this is seemingly the first time a foreign government

has sent troops in uniform. And while reportedly there's just a few dozen North Koreans behind Russian lines at the moment, with them being there to help with the operation of the weapon systems that they're sending over, despite not being engaged directly in combat, some North Korean military officers have reportedly already been killed and injured. Though probably the bigger news is there may be a lot more on their way to replace them. With an anonymous Ukrainian military intelligence official telling the Washington Post last week that several thousand North Korean infantry are training in Russia right now,

and they could be deployed to the front line in Ukraine by the end of this year. And this is there are now reports today that Russia is forming a battalion expected to include up to 3,000 North Korean troops. And there's some speculation that their role would likely involve high-risk operations aimed at reducing the strain on Russian forces.

But that definitely being a big deal because we know that Russia is struggling with manpower. So that could free up reserve troops and it could have a significant impact in certain areas on the front lines. Now, with all that said, the Kremlin has denied that any of this is true. Of course, with this coming from Russia,

you have to take that with a grain of salt and ultimately we're gonna have to wait to see what actually happens. Then, are we gonna talk about this? Because this is unprecedented in modern history. Ohio Republicans are using millions of taxpayer dollars to directly fund the construction of private religious schools.

And this absolutely historic move, it was made totally under the radar. In fact, this whole thing has been so quiet that there was barely any reporting on it before ProPublica published a story in mid-September. It's almost, and I know this sounds crazy, like they didn't want anyone to know. But getting into some of the specifics, right?

Ohio Republicans have allocated $4 million in grants to private religious schools for various construction needs, such as expanding campuses, building or renovating classrooms, improving playgrounds, and more. And they did that by quietly attaching this funding to a much larger budget bill to finance the government for the next fiscal year. With ProPublica reporting

that there was little debate in part because budget bills across the country have become too large to deliberate over every detail, and also Republicans have super majorities in both chambers in Ohio. And according to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission report, the grants, some of which were over a million dollars, went to various Catholic schools.

And while that may sound fairly normal on the surface, I really cannot emphasize just how insanely significant this is. Right, national experts on education funding, they agree that what Ohio is doing is categorically different from anything we've seen before. Because for years, Republicans all over the country have been trying to find creative ways

to divert public funds to private religious schools. With one of the most overt attempts coming from Oklahoma, which we actually talked about on the show multiple times. With the GOP there attempting to open a publicly funded Catholic charter school and arguing that charters are public, so the move is legal. Though there, that was ultimately shut down

by the state Supreme Court. There have also been less obvious efforts, like what we've seen with the recent expansion of school vouchers. Which you know are a form of public funding where the government gives families taxpayer dollars to pay for private schools, including religious ones or other education costs.

And originally, these subsidies were created to provide more choices for students with certain needs who might not be properly served by the public school system, usually kids with disabilities, students from lower-income families, and those who live in struggling districts. But in recent years,

conservatives have been massively expanding state voucher systems to cover more and more students. And while those subsidies can be used at any private school, an analysis by the Washington Post found that the vast majority have gone to religious education, thus funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to those institutions. In fact, in Ohio specifically, a whopping 91% of voucher recipients have used those funds to attend private religious schools. And that number, it jumps to 98% when you don't account for students with disabilities. Now, notably here, part of the reason those numbers are so high there is because most of the private schools in Ohio are religious.

But these figures, they're still super significant because they come just one year after the Republican-controlled legislature expanded the state voucher program so that every single student in the state is eligible. Now, at this point, you might be thinking, isn't it a violation of church and state to allocate taxpayer dollars

to families who use it to pay for religious private schools? But the thing is, is that the courts have long ruled that vouchers are constitutional because the publicly funded subsidies are not technically being given directly to religious institutions, right? Technically, they are being given to parents who then decide to spend those taxpayer dollars on religious schools. But even if vouchers are legal, Ohio's decision to pay for the construction of religious schools is fundamentally different because, as ProPublica explains, religious schools have never been able to build schools expressly on the public dime.

So the question becomes, well, how the hell is that legal? Because at least at face value, this policy appears to be blatantly unconstitutional. Plus it also seems to directly violate the Ohio Constitution, which explicitly says that the General Assembly will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state, but no religious or other sect or sex

shall ever have any exclusive right to or control of any part of the school funds of this state. But there you have supporters of the move arguing that religious schools in some communities don't have enough space to accommodate the high demand of kids who want to attend following the expansion of the voucher program last year. With them arguing that allocating public funds

to build more capacity is necessary to ensure that the school subsidy program can provide access to those schools. And the executive director of the Ohio Christian Education Network, which notably has received grants for six of its schools, telling reporters, we want to make sure from our perspective, Christian school options are available to any kid who chooses that in the state. So in other words, they're saying in order to properly facilitate the voucher system and ensure every kid can choose to attend the school they want, more taxpayer funds are needed to increase religious school construction. Now that said, if you do not buy that as an adequate response to church and state concerns about public funds being directly used to build

religious schools, you are not alone. But regardless, it is true that in many parts of Ohio, specifically rural areas, parents are unable to spend that voucher money because the private schools they would use them at are too far away, or the few schools nearby are already at capacity. And that is a major political liability for Republicans and other school voucher supporters for a number of reasons. Right, first of all, Republicans have spent a ton on vouchers since they expanded them to every student in the state. I mean, during the first school year with the universal program being implemented, lawmakers spent a record amount of $1 billion, which is nearly $400 million more than the year before, and over $30 million more than the legislative analysts had predicted when

lawmakers expanded the program. But taxpayers and especially conservative taxpayers in rural areas are becoming increasingly unhappy about footing the bill for a program they can't even access. Especially when you look at the makeup of people who are able to access these vouchers. When Ohio expanded school subsidies to everyone, they really meant everyone. No matter how wealthy a family might be and regardless of whether they were already paying for their kids to go to a private school and they didn't need the extra money, they were still eligible. And while the amount of money given to each student

is reduced progressively, the higher a household's income is, the tiered system, it still gives almost every family thousands of dollars. With ProPublica reporting that even the very wealthiest families are eligible for almost $1,000 per child. And with that, it seems like those families are the ones who are capitalizing on the program.

A program that was originally designed to help low income households and students with disabilities. Since Ohio Republicans made vouchers universal, their usage has skyrocketed at a whopping 313%. With that absolutely massive surge of kids using these subsidies, you'd think that we'd be seeing a big corresponding increase

in the number of kids now going to private school. But the thing is there, private school enrollment, it has largely remained flat. It only increased by 3.7% during the same period. And in some areas, private school enrollment actually dropped, right? And that's even as the use of these subsidies grew by hundreds of students.

So the question becomes, well, how the hell does that work? And as it turns out, it's because many of these kids now getting hundreds or thousands of dollars were already attending private schools. Meaning that instead of helping public school kids switch to private schools, Ohio taxpayers are mostly just footing the bill for families who could already afford to send their kids to private schools. And to make matters even worse, these enormous expenses end up bleeding money from already struggling public schools.

Which is just so tragically ironic because the whole point of vouchers is to provide families with school choice and give parents the option to escape struggling public schools. But in reality, this is just making public schools worse by diverting their funding while also failing to actually help students in those schools. And so as a result, you have a lot of people arguing that this program is essentially just a handout for wealthier families in urban areas that's being subsidized in part by rural families who don't have access to the same privileges. And so to try to offset these criticisms, Republicans are trying to expand access to private schools, which is exactly what they did with the $4 million in grants that they snuck into this year's budget bill. Though of course, none of that changes

the very serious lingering questions about whether this move is illegal, and it already seems like groups are gearing up to file lawsuits. But a big key thing is that this situation also has the potential to go way beyond Ohio, because experts say that Republicans in other states are going to try to replicate this strategy.

And even right now, Ohio isn't the only state where Republicans are facing backlash over similar programs. I mean, just in the past few years, at least 11 states have enacted universal or near universal vouchers. And according to ProPublica, the beneficiaries in these states are mostly families whose kids were already enrolled in private schools,

not families using the vouchers to escape struggling public schools. So if other states see this as an effective tool to appease disgruntled conservative voters, you can bet your ass that they're gonna try it out for themselves with one expert telling the outlet. They get their foot in the door with a few million dollars in infrastructure funding.

It sets a precedent and eventually hundreds of millions will be going to private school construction. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how all this plays out. And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts. But that is where your Tuesday show ends. Of course, I'd love to know your thoughts

on any and all stories that stood out to you today. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.