The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.23 MrBeast's Gross New Scandal is Crazy, Nightmare Roblox Mom, The Private Equity Hospital Problem, &

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

Today is just filled with crazy...brace yourselves. 813-213-4423 Just go to http://www.vessi.com/pds for 15% off your first order.  Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/ MONDAY OCTOBER 28TH The New https://BeautifulBastard.com Drop goes live! Text my number above AND/OR sign up for the mailing list on site to get first access. (scroll to the bottom to enter your email on the BB site) 13 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Lunchly Responds to Rosanna Pansino’s Claims of Moldy Cheese 03:41 - Trump Said Hitler “Did Some Good Things” 05:53 - FL Woman Used Roblox to Convince 10-Year-Old to Kill Infant 07:41 - Sponsored by Vessi  08:41 - Tim Walz Subject of Disinformation Attacks Tied to Russia 14:57 - American Airlines Fined $50 Million for Mistreatment of Disabled Travelers 17:04 - Beautiful Bastard Drop Arrives Next Week! 18:21 - Private Equity Firms Behind Increase in Hospital Deaths 25:00 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 25:37 - Q&A  ——————————   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 ———————————— #DeFranco #MrBeast #LoganPaul ———————————— 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 are just 13 days away from the election. For some of you, more importantly, we are eight days away from Halloween, and we have a lot to talk about today, starting with some disgusting drama.

And specifically, one second, I can't do that the whole show. Specifically, I'm talking about how huge creators, Mr. Beast, KSI, and Logan Paul, might be regretting how much they've focused on cheese with their new Lunchly food products. Because while Lunchly, which is the three's kind of Lunchables competitor or dupe,

depending on how you want to look at it, was immediately criticized by people who disagreed with its better-for-you marketing, and they've been focusing on that, they're now trying to defend themselves amid claims that creator Rosanna Pansino found mold in her Lunchly that she purchased. Because over the weekend,

Rosanna posted a video of a Lunchly with mold, and she wrote, this is disgusting. I was filming a video comparing Lunchables to Lunchly, and I was shocked when I opened the pizza Lunchables. The cheese had mold. The expiration date was still two months away. And then after people accused her of putting the mold there herself, she shared another video that showed her unsealing the product and seeing it for the first time. Alright, so let's open these up.

Oh man, this packaging. Let's see if these are epic ingredients. Oh wow. These are molded. This is molded. That's mold. Right, so obviously this goes massively viral. You have people talking about it everywhere.

Others claiming they've heard or seen Lunchly products having mold, which then prompted Lunchly to respond with a representative telling Newsweek, All Lunchly products go through a stringent review process "'to ensure the quality and safety of its products. "'That process consists of multiple inspections "'and approvals, including that of the USDA, "'before any product can leave the manufacturing facility.'" Here, you also had another person speaking to the outlet

about Rosanna's post with them being identified simply as a person familiar with the product. And regarding Rosanna's comments, they said to, quote, "'Consider the context and the source. Right, seemingly referring to the fact that Rosanna has a history of being critical of these creators and specifically of MrBeast and his Beast game show.

And so now with that, you also have Rosanna slamming the source for using that angle. Writing, did someone from MrBeast's team seriously just try to imply that I faked the mold in the lunch I bought? Is their PR move going to be smearing me when there are dozens of other reports of mold in their food?

Is this their mysterious spokesperson who always downplays serious allegations on Jimmy's behalf? And adding, it's unbelievable that Mr. Beast's PR team says to consider the source, apparently implying I'm not a valid source. I'm not the type of person to fake videos. That's more Mr. Beast's thing. Are they going to actually do something about this

or keep gaslighting people? Which again, just to be clear, she keeps saying Mr. Beast's PR team, Newsweek, technically didn't specifically identify the source who said this. But man, in general, this Lunchly launch has been, it seems, rough. That's not to say the sales numbers aren't good. I mean, it possibly could be. Their target demographic they're trying to sell to are these small children who are just going to annoy their parents into buying them. They're not being fed the controversy videos on YouTube Kids.

But this moldy cheese controversy is kind of funny for two reasons. One, because again, they have focused so much on the cheese. They're like Lunchables says cheese product. We use real cheese. And they've kept hitting on the note of, oh, I like my cheese drippy, bro. So that every 10 year old and under just keeps commenting that on their videos. But then two, funnily enough, Logan Paul's co-host on his podcast even was like, I think you crushed it with Prime. I think it's weird that you're launching a perishable product. then boom this mess falls into their laps do you want to know my one issue with this product sure and i'll i'm gonna be i'm gonna be kind of transparent serious you have this product right prime yeah those things can sit in freaking haiti for this product for a year and a half you

don't like refrigerated why would you launch a perishable product? They sent three of them to my house. I also saw you got robbed by a door-to-door package stealer. I did. He didn't steal the lunch, Lee? He did not. Probably because it was too warm. But hey, for now, we'll have to wait to see what happens from here.

And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts in general on this whole situation and controversy. And then Donald Trump said Hitler did some good things. Just another normal headline in 2024. And we've learned this thanks to Trump's former chief of staff and retired four-star general, John Kelly, going public. Right, and understand, Kelly was sought out

by Donald Trump to be his chief of staff. This isn't some random guy. This is Trump's guy, and he's a credible witness. Right, Trump would talk to Kelly about Hitler's generals, and two other sources even said that Trump went as far as to say that he needed the kind of generals that Hitler had. And then when Kelly tried to explain to him that Hitler's generals tried to kill him three times,

the president said, quote, "'No, they were totally loyal to him.'" Trump would also apparently further share his admiration of the leader of the Third Reich by saying that he did some good things like rebuilding the economy. He commented more than once that, you know, that Hitler did some good things too. Which Kelly notes was done with the explicit purpose

of going to war with the entire world. And Trump admiring Hitler was according to Kelly, something that happened on more than one occasion. With Kelly also sharing that he had to explain to Trump why he shouldn't use the military on Americans. Also regarding that old story, Kelly then confirmed that Trump did in fact call those who died in defense of the US suckers and losers.

He basically said to you that those who died for America on the battlefield were losers and suckers. And he said it more than once. Yes. A statement that is already at face value, appalling, but in specific context, it's particularly nasty. Because John Kelly's son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed when he stepped on a landmine while serving in Afghanistan. With Kelly then going on to say that Trump met the definition of a fascist, that he would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law.

The former president is in the far right area. He's certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators. He has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure. If he was left to his own devices, would he be a dictator if he didn't have people around him? Oh, I think he'd love to be. I think he'd love to be just like he was in business. He could tell people to do things and they would do it and not really bother too much about whether,

what the legalities were and whatnot. And all of this making Kelly now the second general that served Trump to call him a fascist with the first being Mark Milley. But then, you know, experts say that you should spend quality time with your kids. Yeah, but I think Tara Alexis Sykes out in Florida, she should probably ignore that advice. And that, not just because I don't trust anyone

with the name Alexis, you know what you did. And yes, I'm talking to all of you. But also because this specific one's been accused of attempted murder and aggravated child abuse after using roadblocks of all things to manipulate her 10 year old child into nearly killing a two month old. And that's just the start of it.

Now, based off of where this ended up, it probably won't come as a shock to hear that Sykes didn't have custody of her kid because they had actually temporarily been removed from her care and sent to the Gulf Coast Kids House, which is a child advocacy center that handles this sort of thing. But during that time, Sykes used Roblox to maintain contact.

And that's when, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, Sykes instructed the 10-year-old to drown the infant in the bathtub, burn the infant with scalding water, and drop the infant on the floor to kill it, with them then seemingly settling on the last option last week. Reportedly, the 10 year old picked up the baby

after he became fussy and was walking into the kitchen with him to find an adult before dropping him. Now with that, the we'll call it mixed news is that the two month old is expected to survive, albeit with severe injuries. But regardless, once questioned, this little girl made it clear that her mom was involved, telling police that she had actually done all of this

because she was terrified of her mother and felt that if she didn't follow through with the instructions, Sykes would harm or kill her as well. And what's crazy is that things could have easily escalated from here because Sykes also explained to her child, quote, how to kill the adults the 10-year-old was temporarily living with

by cutting their throats with a knife while they slept and burning their house by dousing bedsheets with aerosol spray and setting them on fire. But apparently this fucking horrifying disaster only averted after the 10-year-old doused the bedsheets with aerosol, but couldn't carry out the rest of the murder plot. And so as far as where things are now,

you have Sykes being held without bond and officers not expecting that any charges are gonna be brought against the 10-year-old. And so I guess all in all, I rate this story a Florida out of 10. I'm glad it's not worse, but it is a nightmare even in its current state. But then taking a quick break from the news,

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and enjoy 15% off your first purchase at checkout. That's vessi.com slash PDS. Get them now while they have your size. But then in political news, that would have been very easy to miss because a lot of the news cycle right now has focused on Barack Obama and Eminem campaigning together for Harris,

which several months ago would have sounded like a Mad Lib you came up with while high on bath salts. And the fact that Barack Obama then started rapping Lose Yourself to the crowd. Bomb it on my sweater already, mom's spaghetti. I'm nervous, but on the surface, I look calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep bomb forgetting. But right now, we got to talk about Tim Walz. And that, one, because of the way he went after Elon Musk, and two, because of these troubling lies that are

being spread about him by Russia. But starting with the Musk stuff, you had a clip of him at a rally in Wisconsin yesterday, making the rounds. Elon's on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dipshit on these things. You know it. Tim, when your advisors told you to stop calling them weird, they didn't mean say that. Also, truthfully, before anyone starts clutching their pearls, I can't believe Wal said this.

Trump just a few days ago, while on stage, in front of the cameras said Kamala Harris was a shit vice president. His words. With him also yesterday calling her slow, stupid, insinuating she was drinking or on drugs and that she was lazy as hell, which is really wild. And not even because it's not true, which it's not,

but if it was true, this person that you're describing crushed you in the fucking debate. There's a good reason why you declined doing a second debate and you've just stuck to rallies and podcasts. Like I'm not even gonna call you scared. That's just smart. If I had to be Donald Trump from here to election day, yeah, I'm not facing Kamala again. I'm going on fucking Joe Rogan. But going back to Tim Wallace, right? It wasn't just him name calling. Raywood Wallace criticizing Musk's growing influence in

the Republican party, jokingly calling him Trump's real running mate and saying, Think about that. That guy is literally the richest man in the world spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election. Now look, they're saying the quiet parts out loud now because Donald Trump has already promised that he would put Elon in charge of government regulations that oversee the businesses that Elon runs. 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.

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and Musk right now. And that includes some of the lies that are now being spread on his platform that are actually part of a viral disinformation campaign, specifically targeting the Democratic VP pick. Right, and to get more specific, I'm talking about Russian disinformation groups reportedly being behind baseless accusations

that Walls sexually abused students while he was a high school teacher. With a report this week from the office of the director of national intelligence, for example, saying, Russian influence actors manufactured and amplified inauthentic content, claiming illegal activity committed by the Democratic vice presidential candidate

during his earlier career. And with that, at least four separate claims have spread since early October, racking up millions of views on social media platforms, including X. With it apparently starting on October 5th, when an anonymous man claimed in a Rumble live stream that Walls abused him when he was an exchange student in Minnesota from 2004 to 2005.

And notably that man was interviewed by John Mark Dugan, a former Florida Sheriff's deputy living in Moscow and a known source of Russian disinformation. And on top of that, both the State Department and the exchange program say they have no record of a student matching his description. But of course that didn't stop the disinformation from spreading and it was just the beginning.

Right, because there was also another Rumble video posted on X, this one accusing Walls of acting inappropriately with students during trips to China. And then another X account posted grainy screenshots of supposed emails alleging Walls' misconduct with a minor at a concert in 1995. Though of course, there was no evidence of any of this

and the emails appear to have been doctored. And then finally, the latest effort was a video of a man claiming to be Matthew Metro, a former student, alleging Walls sexually assaulted him in 1997. And Matthew Metro, he's actually a real person, but that wasn't him, right? And we know that because the Washington Post actually interviewed the real guy

who not only said Walls never abused him, but they'd never even met. And so with all that, according to researchers at Clemson University, at least two of these four claims seem to be directly linked to a Kremlin-backed troll farm known as Storm 1560, which as it turns out is also the same group

that spread a video with a woman falsely claiming to be the victim of a hit and run accident by Kamala Harris. And while yeah, this wall stuff has been gaining traction, it's just the tip of the iceberg. For example, a recent NBC investigation finding that this group has been behind at least 50 false narratives launched since last fall.

And their efforts have been to do things like lower support for Ukraine, increase support for Trump, and spread lies about Harris. And in fact, all of this is just one small part of the overall effort by foreign powers to interfere. We're seeing intelligence officials right now warning that Russia as well as Iran and China, they may be planning to create chaos

even after the election. Though with all this, it's not just foreign powers we have to blame for creating chaos. For example, Republicans have in many cases successfully pushed companies to stop fighting election misinformation. With Meta, for example, we saw Mark Zuckerberg announcing a change in the company's policies this summer,

with them saying that they'd no longer temporarily demote US content while waiting for fact checkers. And then Musk, I don't know if you've been on X recently. There is a reason you have people describing his takeover of Twitter as perhaps the single biggest factor in today's disinformation landscape. Because not only did he take apart the platform's teams

that flagged false or hateful content and reinstated users who had been banned for violating company rules, he's also been out there actively spreading misinformation himself, right? I mean, just last week, he echoed the debunked claim that Dominion voting systems rigged the count in 2020. And very notably, a recent study also found

that he played an outsized role in amplifying content promoted by Tenet Media, which if you don't remember, was accused last month of covertly using $10 million in laundered funds from Russia to pay right-wing media personalities like Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, and Tim Pool. In fact, at least 70 times from September, 2023

to September of 2024, Musk responded to or shared accounts linked to Tenet to his followers on X. And many of those related to this year's election. Which to bring this segment to a close, regarding this year's election, remember to vote. If you can vote early, get that shit out of the way.

If you need any information, go to vote.org because the bad actors out there, and unfortunately there is no shortage of them. They are trying to lie to you, to mislead you, to dissuade you from voting. So don't take it for granted. Vote, vote, vote like it might be your last chance. Get those like-minded friends and family to do the same

because a lot is at stake, guys. And it's not like the world of misinformation is gonna get any easier to sift through. Especially when you have people like Elon Musk who will buy the town square, poison the well, and rip down the guardrails. And then American Airlines has mistreated disabled people and now they're paying the price for it, literally.

Because yesterday the federal government slapped American Airlines with a $50 million fine after an investigation by the transportation department and DOJ found many serious violations of disabled passenger rules between 2019 and 2023. I mean, we're talking unsafe physical assistance resulting in injuries, generally undignified treatment of people in wheelchairs, and a repeated failure to provide prompt wheelchair assistance. Not to mention the thousands of wheelchairs American Airlines apparently mishandled by

either delaying or damaging them. And the impact that this mistreatment has on people, it's substantial. I mean, for example, earlier this year, you had dozens of disability advocates being brought to Washington. And there you had Thomas Braddy, the director of the National Council on Independent Living saying, the reason I didn't fly anymore and I gave up flying was because too much damage to my wheelchair.

And adding there that not being able to fly has prevented him from traveling with his wife and held him back in his career. With also Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth adding that her wheelchair is like part of her body, saying if this is broken, you've broken my legs. So when Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced this fine against American Airlines today,

he said, one traveler with a disability told us in her words, "'I was made to feel like a piece of luggage, "'so I do not fly anymore.'" And adding, the era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over. With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities.

By setting penalties at levels beyond a mere cost of doing business for airlines, we're aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place. And very notably, with this fine, American Airlines will, one, pay half to the U.S. Treasury, but then, two, the other half will go to passenger compensation and upgrades to systems and equipment in order to minimize wheelchair damage and delays. And all of this is American Airlines' claim in a statement that they've already spent $175 million this year on quote, services, infrastructure, training, and new technology leading to a 20% bump in their wheelchair and scooter handling rating. But then going on to say in their statement, despite these improvements, there are instances where the service the airline provides

is disrupted, untimely, or results in harm to the passenger or their equipment. American takes all these complaints and claims seriously and works hard to remediate them. But for now, we'll have to wait to see if there is actual change here. Both, I mean, for American Airlines as well, is there a ripple effect that we see play out? But then, taking a quick break, I'm not gonna sell you, but I am gonna tease you.

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But then, we have to talk about how private equity firms, yeah, they're making a killing in the healthcare sector, but they may also be making a killing in a more literal sense, right? Because the basic idea with private equity firms is that they take control of a business for a relatively short time, and they make some changes, they rese Because the basic idea with private equity firms is that they take control of a business for a relatively short time and they make some changes, they resell the company and boom, they make a profit. And to do that, they cut costs wherever they can, with the result often being job

losses, lower quality products and worse customer service and probably even higher prices despite all that. Plus, unlike publicly traded companies, private equity firms do not sell shares and they're not required to report as much information. And with all that, the absolutely insane growth of private equity across nearly every sector of the economy is something that a lot of people see as a problem. But then specifically in the healthcare sector, of course, stakes, I mean, they can be life or death. And with that, for-profit ownership has long been a part of the American system. Well, lots of for-profit models are a bad fit for healthcare. Private equity is perhaps the worst one. And that's not me just sharing my opinion. That's according to Eileen O'Grady from the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, who said, it basically takes the for-profit model and

makes it so much more extractive and so much more harmful and risky. But despite that, private equity firms have been snatching up medical facilities at an alarming rate. I mean, private equity firms have reportedly invested nearly $1 trillion in the healthcare sector since 2012. And notably, this really picked up during the pandemic when many doctors were having a hard time just getting by and ended up selling their practices to larger groups. But of course, even as we started recovering from the pandemic, this trend continued. In 2022 and 2023, for example, corporate entities, including private equity firms, acquired 5,300 physician practices. I mean, that's an 11% increase in just two years. And notably, we actually have research now showing that private equity acquisitions of medical practices results in more lengthy and costly care for patients as well as reduced

access to services. We've seen similar findings across the board. I mean, for example, nearly 500 American hospitals are now owned by private equity firms. That's around 30% of all for-profit hospitals in the country. And a study published last year showed that patients of private equity-owned hospitals, they fell more often and they contracted more infections. With also a study published this year showing that after private equity firms acquire hospitals, the facilities, assets, and resources diminish significantly, leaving the facilities less equipped to actually care for the patients.

And then the nursing homes, I mean, they've been getting scooped up too. With a 2021 study finding that entering a nursing home owned by private equity increases your chances of dying by 10%. But with all this, we've maybe had the most attention on private equities assault on emergency care. I mean, at least 40% of the country's

hospital emergency departments are overseen by for-profit healthcare staffing companies owned by private equity firms. And when these companies take over, the way these ERs are run, I mean, it can change virtually overnight. With, for example, one doctor speaking with Vox saying he worked in multiple ERs that had been taken over by private equity firms and saying that after the takeovers, doctors would be docked pay if they didn't evaluate new arrivals within 25 minutes of them walking through the door. And in one case, he said he was rushing to evaluate a patient on time,

and he missed the fact that the man had an extensive history of alcohol abuse. With that, apparently leading to the patient spending hours getting tests directed at the wrong diagnosis. And in the end, the man died in the intensive care unit two days later. With that doctor saying the patient care was suffering from the toe sprains,

all the way up to the gunshot wounds and heart attack. And adding, all of my colleagues were experiencing the same thing. And then, besides being rushed, doctors are increasingly being replaced by nurse practitioners and heart attack. And adding, all of my colleagues were experiencing the same thing. And then besides being rushed, doctors are increasingly being replaced by nurse practitioners and physician assistants, right? Because they can perform many of the same duties and bring in the same amount of money for less than half the pay. And then of course, on top of all this, patients may be paying more. With one study from a few years ago, finding that costs to emergency room patients went up 80% after a corporate interest took ownership. Though thankfully,

that is something that's actually at least being somewhat addressed. Right, for example, in 2020, Congress passed the No Surprises Act. And when that law took effect in January of 2022, it meant that patients who receive emergency care cannot get billed for out-of-network care, even if the care is from an out-of-network facility or doctor. But also protecting people from higher bills if they get non-emergency care in an in-network facility from an out-of-network doctor without their knowledge or consent. But notably here, we have seen a lot of discussion about how providers have been finding ways around the law. And then, of course, as we've talked

about, there's a lot of other issues yet to be addressed, which is why we are now seeing more and more doctors saying enough is enough. And this also is there's reportedly been an uptick in people joining organizations opposing corporate influence in American healthcare. Take Mitchell Lee, for example. He's an ER doctor who's worked and trained under private equity-owned practices. Three years ago, he founded the advocacy group Take Medicine Back, with him saying, "'We see on a daily basis that physicians are just rising up

"'against corporate involvement in medicine.'" And to that point, his group is just one of several old and new groups opposed to private equity in healthcare. That said, though, the American Medical Association, which is the nation's largest doctor's organization with over 270,000 members, it still hasn't taken a position on private equity in healthcare.

But this, as we have seen some AMA members pushing for, at its annual meeting last year, for example, a resolution to seek a federal ban on corporate medicine generated intense debate, but ultimately fell short. And then on the flip side, there are even groups backing private equity like the American Independent Medical Practice Association, for example. With that being a group that was founded last year with the groups backing private equity, like the American Independent Medical Practice Association, for example.

With that being a group that was founded last year with the support of private equity-backed physicians groups and others, and they argue that taking on investors is one of the few options remaining for physicians who don't want to work for a big corporation or hospital group. According to one recent study, almost 61% of physicians have a negative view of private equity, and that's why less than 11% have a positive view. And notably, that's also translated into more attention from Washington. I mean, earlier this year, for example, Senator Gary Peters initiated an investigation into private equity's effects on the quality

of emergency care. And actually, even more recently, Democratic lawmakers led by Elizabeth Warren released a revamped version of something called the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, with them adding in provisions specific to healthcare. And notably there, you had Warren saying the bill was motivated in part by the collapse of Stewart, which was actually the largest privately owned hospital network in the US, with its majority owner being a private equity firm called Cerberus Capital, which may sound familiar because last May, Stewart filed for bankruptcy and put its hospitals up for sale. Also, that company has been under investigation by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which just long story short there, CEO Ralph De La Torre and other executives

were allegedly living the high life while the company's hospitals were being bled dry and patients and employees were living through horror story after horror story. And with that, we saw the Senate unanimously vote to hold De La Torre in contempt back in September after he defied a subpoena and skipped a hearing. Which by the way, that unanimous vote

marked the first time since 1971. With some hoping that bipartisanship that we saw there translates into something actually getting done, but of course, don't hold your breath. Especially because dealing with this private equity, I mean, it's just one piece of the puzzle. I mean, you have people saying private equity can only really do what they do

because so many other parts of the American healthcare system are so dysfunctional. With many arguing that maybe it wouldn't be so easy for them to make money if insurance companies weren't jacking up your premiums, if pharmaceutical companies weren't inflating drug prices, and if all these industries didn't have so much lobbying power. But then I want to give a congratulations and also answer a question. So first, congratulations to Luke Welgus. Thank you for being a longtime viewer, Luke, and also the SeatGeek prize winner who just

won $500 in a weekly SeatGeek giveaway towards his choice of SeatGeek tickets. I'm pumped to hear that you're going to be sitting behind the bench at a hockey game, so enjoy that, my friend. But also for everyone else, that's right. SeatGeek and the Daily Dip are still giving away up to $1,000 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already, especially because it's so easy. You just add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. And $1,000 prizes are available to Daily Dip subscribers who add code PDS newsletter, doubling entries and winnings. So get in on it. weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. And $1,000 prizes are available to daily dip subscribers who add code PDSNEWSLETTER, doubling entries and winnings. So get in on it, it's a no brainer win-win.

And then as promised, let's do a little ask and answer. A little segment I like to do on the show now and then, and this actually felt like it made sense because lately and especially after yesterday's show, I've gotten more and more people going, "'Wait, you moved to Georgia? Why?' And so the answer to the first part is yes, I moved to Georgia and we moved for family.

You know, I'm not gonna be one of those people that makes a whole video that's like, I'm leaving California, fuck California. I love California. And when people say, oh, the people are fake, you know, you're talking about pockets of transplants that came to California. Though understand that is not to say

that California doesn't have its problems. Everywhere does, and especially in Los Angeles County, you can see the failures of the local government all around. But again, everywhere has problems and that wasn't the reason. It's family. You know, my boys are now 10 and seven years old. I felt like, you know, I've done very good in my life.

But the one thing that, you know, by being in California, I was kind of depriving them of was extended family. And out here now they just have access to so much. So many cousins, we have four sets of grandparents. You know, a number of marriages did not work out. I think for the better. Everyone's within like 25 to 90 minutes max. And that even includes to see my dad. It's a 90 minute flight now instead of like six hours. And I'm trying to figure out, ah, should I do a red eye? And I will

say, you know, because it's been 15 plus years since I've lived out here, Southern hospitality is a very real thing. When we moved into the neighborhood, people were introducing themselves. All of a sudden, our kids have actual local friends. You know, ultimately, it's so far, so good. And then probably the least important of things, it's very interesting being a swing state voter again. And it's also been, you know, kind of intellectually stimulating being around people that aren't necessarily like-minded

in all the ways that I am. As in California, I was definitely in my own little bubble. It's relatively purple. I got a neighbor with a Trump sign, another neighbor with a Harris sign. No one here is shouting at each other because, you know, 95% of the real world is not the internet.

But I will say, it is very different from the last time I lived out in Georgia, which was 15 plus years ago. I lived closer to downtown at this place called Atlantic Station. We're definitely more in the burbs. Yeah, I think long story short, I think this move is a changing of a chapter where it really is now more about family than anything else in my life. But hey, that's going to be the end of today's show for people that stuck around for the question. I hope you enjoyed. Also, thank you for not just using me as a thing. I appreciate it. Though also I will say, no problem being a thing.

I'll be your news thing. It's a great job. But again, thank you for watching. Thank you for being subscribed to the channel. I love your faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow to talk more news.