The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.22 The Ethan Klein Hasan Piker Twitch Problem, Former Abercrombie CEO Sex Trafficking Arrest, & More

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

There is a lot to talk about with this particular dumpster fire of a situation... Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my code DEFRANCO to get up to 40% off your purchase! Go to https://ground.news/defranco to stay fully informed, think critically about the news you consume and get all sides of every story. Subscribe for 40% off unlimited access through my link.  Like my shirt? Get 2 for yourself right now! https://beautifulbastard.com/products/long-sleeve-tee-2-pack?variant=2a466d62-ca0b-44b3-85e7-9b7802c4b328 Theres also 3-pack tees for 33% off and more @ https://BeautifulBastard.com 14 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Twitch Creators Banned Amid Criticisms Involving Israel and Palestine  09:13 - Sponsored by Cozy Earth 10:19 - Former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries Arrested 12:00 - DIY Ozempic Hacks Take Off Amid Shortages and High Prices 18:07 - Sponsored by Ground News 19:11 - Extreme “Torture Chamber” Haunted House Faces Calls to Shut Down 22:25 - Lawsuits Challenging Overseas Voting Face Setbacks in Swing States 24:28 - Schools in Mexico Have 6 Months to Ban Junk Food Sales Amid Obesity Crisis ——————————   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 DIY Ozempic: Maddie Crichton  ———————————— #DeFranco #EthanKlein #Hasanabi ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. We have a lot to talk about on today's extra, extra large show. But first, we gotta talk about this Twitch dumpster fire because there are actually several different news stories happening here, though kind of at the center of it,

you have Ethan Klein, Hasan Piker, and a creator by the name of Frogan. But where we'll start is with the fact that over the past few days, we've seen the platform accused of ignoring antisemitism by creators like Ethan Klein. Multiple content creators have been banned for what were deemed hateful comments,

and all of the fallout that's come from that as creators and fans go after one another. Though technically, you could say that all of this started when Asmongold made his horrendous comments last week degrading Gazans, which as we covered on the show, was something he apologized profusely for after getting banned. But then the spotlight on the situation shifted

after Klein put out a video last Thursday called Twitch Has a major problem. And in that video, Ethan claims that Twitch harbors anti-semites and actively ignores it. And as some evidence, he points out that Twitch recently unbanned Sneeko and Fresh and Fit, content creators that are unambiguously anti-Semitic. And then on top of that, he highlighted this segment from an official panel at TwitchCon, where multiple Arab content creators alongside some non-Arabs made a tier list. Well, it's a panel hosted by Frogan and four of her friends in which they have a tier list where they rate people where good is Arab and bottom is loves Sabra. Sabra is a very popular hummus brand. I know in Israel, it's pretty much in everybody's refrigerator and it's kosher. They're an American company, but they've been the subject of the pro-Palestine boycott. I mean, it's kind of

just Arab good, Jew bad. I mean, I haven't a hard time seeing this any other way. And what's crazy is that I've been suspecting that Twitch has an anti-Semitism problem. Obviously, it started with Hassan platforming Houthi terrorists and showing unfettered terrorist propaganda on his channel. And then along with that, Klein also added, If they were really serious about anti-Semitism, Sneako and Fresh and Fit would never have been brought back to the platform. It's just a no-brainer, right? But they were welcomed back with open arms.

And I mean, their whole platform essentially for the past year has just been anti-Semitism. I'm not even kidding. And that's literally all they talk about. Now, all of that then led to Frogan, who's a mod for Hasan Piker's stream and also streams herself responding and writing on Twitter. Even Klein lied again and said, myself,yself, Arabs,' which is the show, and our guest did a tier list where, quote, "'good' equals Arab and Jew equals bad,'

which isn't what happened. Our tier list was, quote, "'Who has Habibi Pass?' which is a meme tier list we did with a variety of creators. Here is the clip with the context." But then sharing a clip from that event and adding, "'The whole basis of my podcast, Arabs with Capri and Raph,

is that we are all Arabs from different religious backgrounds. I am Muslim, Capri is Christian, and Raph is Jewish. Sabra hummus is objectively the worst hummus to exist and is the unfortunate standard of hummus in the US. Right, and so with that, you had some feeling that was a reasonable response, though others still called it a dog whistle to say Israeli without saying,

especially given the context Klein gave earlier about its popularity in Israel. However, all of that was kind of just the tip of the iceberg because Frogan ended up deciding just a day later to open up an entirely new can of worms after saying on stream, I have no pity at all for any soldiers. I will never have any pity for any soldiers.

US military, boo who? I hope you get PTSD. The ones I do, the ones I'm like whatever about, the US soldiers, are the ones that like acknowledge that like what they did was wrong, they didn't know well back, they didn't know back then. Whatever. You're a good person in my book. The U.S. military that are like, yeah, like, you know, I did this back then, but now I know it's wrong. Like I'm changed. Like imperialism. This you don't deserve the PTSD. But like any other

motherfucker, you're doing them. Oh, my God. I want my fucking Camaro. No student loans. I hope you get PTSD and I hope you get no health insurance when you get back into fucking America. Now with that, she did eventually give a sort of apology, but even with that, many users pointed out that Twitch's hateful conduct specifically covers veteran status. So they argued that she should be banned. Arguing things like Twitch ban logic,

Brogan saying military service members should get PTSD, no suspension, eGirl streamed soft core porn, 24 hour suspension, Asmongold calling Muslims inferior, 14-day suspension. Being a Jew in Israel, unable to even create an account on the website. Which I'll say, we're gonna talk about that last bit at the end of this story.

But like always with situations like this, this led to people digging up old clips of her saying other questionable things. Like with a clip where it appears that she may be hinting that her cousin may be involved with Hezbollah. But either way, by Monday, Twitch eventually cracked down and banned Frogan, which led many to believe that it was

because she was wishing American veterans get PTSD. However, it appears that that is not the official reason. Instead, it appears that it was because of her comments on that TwitchCon panel, which was over a month ago, because they also banned the others on that panel, which also led to calls that it was being racist against Middle Eastern voices.

And then on top of that, Twitch permanently banned Sneeko, something that Klein felt was necessary if they wanted to tackle antisemitism seriously. And it also looks like the decision was in part taken because of pressure from the Anti-Defamation League. With the ADL even tweeting out a whole thread on this that started by saying, ADL spoke with the Twitch staff today

after becoming aware of several concerning incidents on the social media platform and or involving Twitch streamers in the past week. With the men going on to mention Frogan by name. And so with all this, we've seen Frogan not happy with her 30-day ban, saying, 30-day ban for saying people like bottom-of-the-barrel hummus,

but other people get two weeks for advocating for the genocide of Palestinians. Got it. Or with that last part, a pretty obvious reference to Asmongold's ban. But with all of that said, like that doesn't even bring us close to the end of all this. Because after the ban of Frogan and others on that panel,

many of whom were avid pro-Palestinian voices, content creators like Hasan Piker began to react in frustration. And in particular to a lot of these controversies being spread and encouraged by various subreddits and the creators associated with them to which hasan said there is no winning in this in this battle okay there is no winning in this battle there's nothing you and i or this community or anyone can do nothing at all this is precisely the reason why I just eat it every fucking day. Okay.

For the past 12 months, for the past 12 months, this has been endless. Okay. When they can't get anything off of me and my statements, then they fucking turn around and, you know, pick apart different statements from the chat.

If they can't do that, they go after people that are also pro-Palestinian, but have smaller audiences. Hassan then went on to claim that many people's opinions are turned into a caricature of who they are. Like, for example, he says that Muslim people are often painted as anti-Semitic no matter what. And with that, arguing that there isn't much he can do to change people's minds about it. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing I can do. All I can do is just take it. Just like all Capri Sun Papi and Frogan and everyone else that's getting banned in this

mass ban wave, that all they can do is take it. But then at almost the exact same time Hasan was making these statements on his stream, Klein was also streaming. With most of that criticizing Twitch for having an antisemitism problem, right? Talking about the recent unbans and criticizing people like Hasan

for letting it become commonplace on Twitch. And among his problems with Hasan is that he's promoting this guy from Yemen who many think, Klein included, is actively involved in Houthi piracy. This is others argue that at the very least, he's just a guy that is extremely anti-Semitic. Klein also blasted Hassan and others because of clips like this. I think like anyone who does our general job, and especially someone like him who I only make $3 million a month. I'm middle class.

He makes $30 million a month. He's upper middle class. He's upper middle class. And it's like, we won the lottery. Why are you talking about the truth? This motherfucker says you are rich. So why do you care about anti-Semitism? Also, like, Hasan is probably as rich as I am.

Let's be honest. He downplays as well. He gets, like, the same probably as rich as I am. Let's be honest. He downplays as well. He gets, like, the same concurrent viewers as we do, and he collects all the money straight to the dome himself. Okay? So, like, the same logic. Just say, hey, Hasan, why are you getting so worked up about Gaza, man? We won the lottery. You're rich, dude.

Just chill. Like, what a pathetic fucking response. And honestly, I mean, for this part, it kind of just goes on and on from there because they're doing all these during live streams. We're talking about tons and tons of hours. I'll link to it down below. It's just something we can't cover point by point in this show. So if you want to do an even deeper dive, you have the tools at your fingertips. Then, as I promised, I would come back and touch on something that many people have pointed to as proof that Twitch was being anti-Semitic is the fact that Israelis weren't able to sign up to the site. But among others, you had political commentators

like Destiny bringing this up, and also Twitch said that it fixed it shortly afterward, saying, when signing up for a Twitch account, you can select an account verification method, email or phone, for added protection. Following the October 7th, 2023 attacks, we temporarily disabled signups with email verification in Israel and Palestine.

And going on to claim, we did this to prevent uploads of graphic material related to the attack and to protect the safety of users. But Twitch then going on to say that not letting users sign up with an email later on, that was a mistake and just an oversight in that it's fixed now. This, as you might've noticed,

there was a big community note on that. With that note, claiming that Twitch's explanation is not true and that even phone verification signups weren't working. With now all of that said, and as things continue to play out in real time, I gotta pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts with this mess?

Any and all of it. I know there are a number of things at play here. Any and all of it, I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below. But then, taking a quick break from the news, does anyone else equate fall with the ultimate comfort vibe? And in my opinion, nothing says comfort and cozy

like Cozy Earth. They've mastered the art of comfort, so thank you, Cozy Earth, for that, but also for sponsoring today's show. And yeah, believe me when I tell you, Cozy Earth sheets are hands down the most comfortable I've ever slept on. I mean, even our guests, when they come over, they can't stop raving about them. Made from viscous derived from bamboo, their bedding is designed to naturally regulate temperature, which is a huge thing for me because I tend to run hot no matter what the weather is outside. But also, not just the sheets, Cozy Earth towels are also next level.

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say you heard about Cozy Earth from the PDS. And remember, Cozy Earth, you deserve it. But then, in big news, the former CEO of Abercrombie has been arrested in a sex trafficking investigation. His name is Mike Jeffries, and he's been a controversial figure in fashion for decades now. You know, back when he was the CEO of the brand

from 1992 to 2014, he really built the brand around sexualization, even though it was a teen store. He was also widely known for fat phobia, intentionally not making large sizes for women, and saying that he hired good looking people because he only wanted hot, cool people shopping in his stores.

All of which made him a very, very divisive figure. But today's news much bigger because it centers around the fact that he was arrested and charged with running a sex trafficking ring while he was in charge of Abercrombie. With also the Wall Street Journal reporting that a federal indictment lists 15 alleged John Doe victims.

He also was arrested alongside his partner, Matthew Smith, as well as their employee, James Jacobson, who reports say is accused of recruiting and hiring men for parties and hosting tryouts where he required the victims to have sex with them. Jeffrey is accused of pressuring models to attend sex parties, paying for their involvement, implying them with muscle relaxants, Viagra, and lubricants.

With prosecutors alleging he would mislead these victims into thinking they were attending modeling shoots. And the Journal reporting that the indictment even says that Jeffries and his partner, "'Injected men in their penises "'with a prescription- grade erection inducing substance for the purpose of causing the men to engage in sex acts in which they were otherwise physically incapable

or unwilling. And as shocking as some of these allegations are, they're also not completely surprising. Because for example, last year, a BBC investigation included claims that he had sexually exploited and abused men at parties that they hosted. A civil lawsuit was also filed after the report

launching similar allegations, and it accused Abercrombie of being complicit in these alleged crimes. And according to a US attorney in New York, Jeffries and his partner spent millions of dollars on this alleged sex trafficking enterprise. And with all that said, as far as Jeffries' side here, his attorney has not given an explicit statement

on the arrest, simply telling NBC News that they will respond in detail when appropriate, but they plan to do so in the courthouse and not to the media. But then when you hear DIY, you're probably thinking about crafts, home projects, but how about DIY medicine hacks? Because that is a very real thing,

especially with Ozempic, Manjaro, and other drugs like them that are expensive and hard to get. When I say DIY, I don't mean for you to like picture Dexter's laboratory or something, but rather people taking their medicine into their own hands by either messing with the prescriptions that they already have

or by finding alternative forms of them. With people often using online advice or viral TikTok suggestions to get around the flaws of our wonderful little medical system. With one of the biggest trends right now being people essentially hacking into their Manjaro pens to get more usage out of them. With also outlets like Axios noting that Reddit and other forums are full of people providing step-by-step videos and charts. All detailing how to break open injectors and extract doses and bacteriostatic water to stretch them. And this is the people hunting down these guys are saying the costs are killing their wallet

or that they're losing access to coupons and can't keep up with the prices. And listen, I'm not gonna tell you specifically how people are doing this because I am not a doctor or in the business of teaching alternative medical tactics. But just so you can at least understand the basics of what's going on here, I'll point to a piece that the Atlantic did recently,

where they talked to patients who really needed to find a loophole to save money on Mount Jaro. Because many have found with those pens specifically, you can split a maximum strength pen into smaller doses and save money. Because those pens, they come in multiple concentrations that cost the same. So by dose splitting, one pen can effectively become six at the fraction of the original cost. But it's not always super easy, and it can require sterile medical supplies and a little math to actually do it right. Which is why The Atlantic noting there are big risks here because when you break open that pen, you can introduce microbes and bacteria to the drug

and then cause an infection. With also both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly saying they do not condone these practices and that people should not ration these kinds of weight loss drugs. You also had doctors telling the outlet they don't recommend breaking into the injection pens independently, even if they understand

why people are doing it. Though this is you had Michael Snyder, medical director of the Bariatric Surgery Center at Rose Medical Center in Denver, telling Axios that those Reddit forums should not be immediately dismissed. It's saying there is something special about people in difficult circumstances,

finding a place where others can relate to their desperation and experiences. But then he also added, this is a powerful drug. If you're going to jailbreak any of this stuff, I really would talk to your doctor about it." And there, he also said that there are often off-label ways to extend doses that you can work through if you just talk to your doctor.

Because as Bruce Scott, the president of the American Medical Association also said, "'These people are essentially reformulating their own drugs based on the advice of total strangers.'" And quote, "'I don't think I can overemphasize the fact that this is scary stuff and that patients should consult their physicians.'"

And this is others wonder how sustainable and long-term and option this really is. And this is also not the only sort of medicine hack with room for error when it comes to this class of drugs. With for example, the New York Times recently doing a report about people using an overdosing on Ozempic alternatives. These drugs are compounded semaglutide,

but they're not brand name drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy that come in the prepared doses. It's essentially like Shein or Timu Ozempic that can be prescribed online or via telehealth. And it comes with a vial and a bag of syringes for patients to draw out the doses of the drug themselves. And just like the people jailbreaking Manjaro, tons of people using compounded semaglutide

are turning to Reddit and YouTube tutorials for help. But even still, it turns out it can be easy to fuck up the do-it-yourself dosing. With The Times, for example, speaking to a woman who accidentally took five times the amount that she was supposed to take and spent a day constantly vomiting as a result. Noting that some people have taken 10 or 20 times the amount they needed and ended up in hospitals developing pancreatitis, fainting, getting dehydrated, and more. Now with this, here are the Times noting that plenty of people do take compounded semaglutide and they're

totally fine. They understand what to do and it works for them. But as the demand for the drug has increased, so have cases of things going wrong. With this year so far, Poison Control Center is getting 159 calls about compounded GLP-1s compared to just 32 last year. And in July, the FDA even had to issue a warning about patients dosing their own compounded semaglutide. With them noting that on top of patients

lacking experience with self-injections, there's also a lot of confusion as some instructions use different units of measurement, like milliliters versus milligrams versus just units. And adding with that, that compounded semaglutide poses a higher risk than FDA-approved semaglutide, like Ozempic, because compounded drugs do not undergo FDA pre-market review for safety, quality, or effectiveness. Compounded drugs should only be used for patients whose medical needs cannot be met by an available FDA-approved drug. And the big thing with all of this is that these Ozempic hacks,

they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to do it yourself medicine. I mean, all the way back in 2016, you had doctors warning against DIY EpiPens after online forums were teaching people how to make them at home, right? And that happened around the time that the cost of EpiPens was rising.

While doctors understood why people were turning to this method, they noted that it would be incredibly easy to give the wrong dosage. And this is there are also other risks of the devices and sterile, which is why you had a doctor explaining to ABC News at the time that yes,

say your kid was having an anaphylactic reaction. You could use a syringe and a vial of epinephrine to stop it, but we know in emergency situations, it can be hard to draw up. There might be problems with under dosing or overdosing, and it's not practical for most people. It is hard to do that and expect people to do that in an emergency situation.

And this is in recent years, we've seen a rise of stories of people trying to hack abortion medication at home as reproductive healthcare access is dwindling. Oftentimes people turning to herbal remedies that can be incredibly dangerous. Tons of viral TikToks recommending using herbs like pennyroyal and mugwort to essentially bring on a miscarriage for those who want to terminate their pregnancy, but had no other option. But there, not only is there no data supporting this, it can actually cause serious harm. Pennyroyal, for example, can cause fainting, seizures, cardiac arrest, coma, liver injury, and more when consumed as

a concentrated oil. These herbal remedies actually bring us back to Ozempic because people are also trying to get Ozempic-like effects from herbs and natural supplements, with a number of people online touting a supplement called Berberine as nature's Ozempic. And while you actually had doctors telling Vogue that the research on this is very promising, results are going to vary person to person. And of course, it should not be viewed as a replacement for prescription medication, especially for someone who medically needs Ozempic or a similar drug.

And this also, as other reports know, that while berberine can promote weight loss, it's not at the same scale as Ozempic. But you know, with all that said, because I know we've covered a number of things here, I'd love to know your thoughts on all this. Because these kinds of hacks, they're pretty wide ranging, as are the potential consequences.

But obviously a lot of people doing this, they're not doing it for fun or for sport, right? They're often attempting things because they're in a hard place and they're trying to solve real issues. And so if you or someone you know has felt like they had no choice to try something like this, or they've tried it,

or just anything, I'd love to know your thoughts and your experiences on this. Also, just to close this out, because I know some people are gonna misconstrue this, I am not recommending anyone do the alternatives. This is just me talking about news and current events that are happening. But then taking a 60 second breather from the news,

but then to also still talk about news, you know, the news cycle is showing no signs of approaching sanity. I mean, if we're being honest, it is hard to make sense of the chaos and get the full picture in a world where seemingly everyone occupies a different reality. You know, we strive to make sense of the chaos here daily.

And that's also why it's great that Ground News is sponsoring today's show. Their app and website aggregate the world's news, allowing us to compare coverage beyond mainstream media, which is critical to getting to the heart of each story. Nearly 170 sources reported on Trump repeating the claims about the Haitian immigrants eating Ohio residents' pets. With only 10% coverage from conservative sources,

it was clearly a huge blind spot for right-wing media. Headlines on the left calling Trump's claims baseless, while the few headlines on the right claim it's not just a conspiracy. We can even seek out these disproportionately covered stories on Ground News via their blind spot feed, which is pretty key. Ground News is for those of us tired

of just mainstream media narratives and interested in leaving our silos once in a while to understand where other perspectives are coming from. So hey, head to ground.news slash defranco today and media narratives and interested in leaving our silos once in a while to understand where other perspectives are coming from. So hey, head to ground.news slash defranquitoday or scan the QR code below for 40% off unlimited access, which is what I use to read the news. But then, whether you call it the scariest haunted house

in America or a torture chamber in disguise, McKamey Manor is back. Because technically it's a haunted house in Summertown, Tennessee, but it's also attracted a lot of controversy over the years where it's, we'll call it extreme methods. With participants even having to sign a 40 page waiver, provide a doctor's note, show proof of medical insurance,

submit to a background check, and do interviews before going inside. And if someone actually decided to read the waiver, they would discover that tooth pulling, finger breaking, or head shaving could all be on the menu during the several hour long experience. And that's without mentioning, as others have described, being waterboarded, tased,

whipped, covered in tarantulas, and trapped in small boxes. And then, if you make it through all that and you get to the end, there's supposedly a $20,000 prize, though no one's actually ever gotten it. But then also, if you can't finish, you can't quit either. It's actually written in the waiver that once you're in, you're in unless, quote, serious psychological injury is present, which is one previous participant explained to The Guardian. That can be an issue when you're being bound, masked, and held underwater, slapped and stomped on,

and compelled to eat your own vomit. And in fact, you had the Manor's owner, Russ McKamey, telling Hulu in a documentary last year, either you actually complete the tour, which is not going to happen, or you mentally or physically are at such a breaking point that it's not safe for you to continue, and I need to take you out.

Now, since the release of that film titled Monster Inside, America's Most Extreme Haunted House, interest in McKamey Manor has surged. And McKamey just announced that his attraction has opened its doors once again for this Halloween season. This notably flying in the face of an online petition started back in 2019 with nearly 200,000 signatures that are trying to get the haunted house shut down.

With it describing McKamey Manor as a torture chamber under disguise and explaining, they do screenings to find the weakest, most easily manipulated people to get the haunted house shut down. With the describing McKamey Manor as a torture chamber under disguise and explaining, "'They do screenings to find the weakest, "'most easily manipulated people to do the haunt. "'If Russ doesn't think you're easily manipulated, "'you aren't allowed to go.'" And adding, "'Some people have had to seek professional psychiatric help

"'and medical care for extensive injuries,' saying, "'One man was tortured so badly, "'he passed out multiple times. "'Workers only stopped because they thought "'they had killed him.'" Though with this, you had McKamey just defending himself in an interview with the Daily Mail saying that he vets people to keep knuckleheads and fakers from getting in, and claiming that he actually prefers people

with a background in law enforcement or the military arguing. If all of those crazy horrible things said about me are true, I wouldn't be free running around doing what I want to do. Though, he may have spoken too soon, right? And that because the documentary caught the attention of Tennessee's Attorney General who opened an investigation into McKamey Manor last year. Because according to District Attorney Brent Cooper, who spoke to News 2, torture is technically illegal between two consenting adults,

but anyone can revoke their consent at any time. Since McKamey allegedly refuses to let people quit once they've started and outright stated in the film that there were no safe words, he could be liable here. With the AG also citing some of McKamey's customers who said that they didn't have a chance to review the waiver ahead of signing up and complained that the $20,000 prize

is impossible to actually win. But then with all this, back in March, McCamey actually sued the attorney general, claiming there that the information requests and inspections of his property violated his constitutional rights. With his lawyer telling News 2, every Tennessean should understand

that they are each simply one misunderstanding away from being targeted by a coordination of government power, just like Mr. McKamey. But notably, one, that lawsuit was dismissed back in August, and two, McKamey voluntarily dropped another lawsuit against Hulu and the production company behind its documentary. Though, he upheld a lawsuit

against one of the interview subjects in the film. As far as the AG's investigation, it's unclear right now what the status is on that, whether it's ongoing or concluded, but for now, we'll have to wait to see what happens from here, both legally and as far as what's gonna happen to the people that are signing up for the manor this year. But then, in some election news, Republicans are trying to stop the votes of U.S. citizens

living abroad, including members of our military. But judges in two key swing states, they're absolutely not having it. And I'll explain, right? So to start off, let's go to Michigan, where the RNC filed a lawsuit arguing against the eligibility of overseas voters who they say don't meet the residency requirements laid out in the state's constitution. And they filed this lawsuit despite the fact that Michigan has allowed citizens and service members living abroad to vote in federal elections for years. With guidance from the Secretary of State saying

that a US citizen born outside the country is eligible to vote in federal elections in Michigan as long as they have a parent or spouse who previously lived in the state. Which is what led to Judge Seema Patel dismissing the case yesterday, saying simply the guidance language lines up with state and federal laws

as well as the Michigan constitution. And then adding in her opinion that this lawsuit is a quote, "'11th hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors in the November 5th, 2024 general election.'" And then in North Carolina, you had a situation where the RNC also requested a court order for the return ballots of some overseas voters to be set aside and not counted

until their eligibility was confirmed. And on top of that, they also pushed against North Carolina's election rules that allow absentee voting by citizens born outside the US whose parents used to live in the state. And there we saw Superior Court Judge John Smith also shooting them down, denying the court order yesterday and saying,

there is quote, absolutely no evidence that any person has ever fraudulently claimed that exemption and actually voted in any North Carolina election. With Smith also pointing out that the rule that the RNC apparently has a problem with here, it's been around for over a decade and it was adopted with bipartisan support. Though all of this, as we're not just dealing

with state courts, in fact, a group of six Republicans from Pennsylvania and the US House of Representatives brought a similar lawsuit on the federal level. And there, while we don't have an answer yet, we're supposed to be getting a ruling on that soon. Also, if you're wondering why are Republicans all of a sudden interested in disenfranchising voters overseas, it appears that it could be due to the fact

that overseas voting demographics, they've reportedly shifted from mostly military members to mostly civilian expats, which just so happens to be a group that Democrats have reportedly been wooing. And even though overseas ballots reflect only a tiny fraction of the votes, I mean, this election is running so tight

that every single vote's gonna count. So make sure you vote. If you can vote early, get that shit out of the way. And if you need any help, you can go to vote.org. And remember, nicely nudge or harass with a smile your like-minded friends and family to go vote as well. But then childhood obesity is a massive problem and one that a lot of people actually think is a uniquely American one. But today we're talking about Mexico because they just made some moves to combat what they say is the worst childhood obesity problem in the world. With them now making it so that schools in the country have just six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food,

or else they face heavy fines. But with that, you know, I should start by giving you a better idea of where we are and how we got here. Because what we've seen here is that Mexico's adult obesity rate, it has soared since the adoption of the U.S.-led North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, in 1993. And well, of course, like most things, there are multiple factors at play. Some people say this is not a coincidence, with another is even arguing that Donald Trump made the problem worse as president.

But in any case, where we are now is that about one in three of Mexico's children, they're overweight or obese. The children in Mexico are reportedly consuming more junk food than any other Latin American nation, with many getting as much as 40% of their total caloric intake from junk food. And since this isn't a completely new problem, this is not the first time the Mexican government

has tried to do something about it. In the past, they've done things like implementing a rule requiring front of package warning labels, advising consumers about nutritional content. And in fact, some Mexican states have even banned the selling of junk food to minors. But of course, despite that, it's still been easy for most kids

to get their hands on it. With even a survey of more than 10,000 schools carried out between 2023 and 2024, for example, finding that junk food was available at 98% of them. Though, of course, this latest effort that we're seeing from the government, it's different in that the people risking punishment, they're not businesses, but rather the school administrators themselves. Because if they fail to get junk food out of their schools, they'll face fines equivalent to between 500 and more than $5,000, or even double for a second offense. Which, to give context, that could amount to nearly a full year's pay for some of

them. But also, with everything that we've said, it's not just about getting rid of the bad stuff, right? It's also about replacing it with something better. And so with that, schools will have to offer water fountains and alternative snacks. And with that, you have many people saying it's easier said than done, right? Notably, as of right now, the vast majority of Mexico's

255,000 schools don't have free drinking water available to students. And in fact, many schools are in areas so poor or remote that they struggle to maintain acceptable bathrooms, internet connection, or electricity. Also, another issue is that it's still not completely clear how the government would enforce the ban on the sidewalks outside schools,

because that ends up being where vendors usually post up to sell to kids at recess. And that's not like an outlier situation. A recent survey showed that 77% of schools had these types of setups outside. And so of course, for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens, both with the implementation and the impact. And while, yeah, we're talking about Mexico here,

America should also probably take note. We've got a pretty big obesity problem as well with nearly one in five kids being obese and that rate being even higher among adults. But that brings us to the part of the show where I say thank you so much for watching another daily deep dive into the news. For more news that you need to know

that you might've missed, YouTube thinks that this is the best video you could watch. And over here is where you can snag our newly restocked beautiful bastard gear. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.