The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.24 Megyn Kelly Apology, Canada Legalization Wins & Fails & Trump's Caravan Comments

Episode Date: October 24, 2018

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is, as we predicted, and it is an easy prediction, as we get closer to Halloween, there have been more and more of these situations that have blown up regarding criticism or outrage relating to Halloween costumes. Last time we talked about it, there was that young boy that dressed up as Hitler, and today we have Megyn Kelly. And the reason for this is, on her show, Megyn Kelly was talking to three other people about Halloween costumes and blackface and this happened

But what is racist? Because truly you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween Or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween Like back when I was a kid that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character Following this we saw a wave of backlash of people saying it's disgusting that she's defending blackface, that this is racist. You have people like Padma Lakshmi on Twitter sounding off saying, "'I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018.

"'You are on national television. "'You have a responsibility to educate yourself "'on social issues, Megyn Kelly. "'This is so damaging.'" And you had Adam Rippon asking, "'What year did she grow up in?' And what followed from all of this, other than the reaction online,

is that we ended up seeing Megan Kelly? Apologize reportedly sending an email to colleagues saying I've never been a PC kind of person I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which far from being healed have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year This is a time for more understanding love sensitivity and honor and I want to be part of that I look forward to continuing that discussion and following that we saw Megan Kelly's NBC colleague Al Roker really chime in on this issue. The fact is, while she apologized to the staff, she owes a bigger apology to folks of color around the country. Because this is a history, going back to the 1830s, minstrel shows, to mean and denigrate a race wasn't right.

I'm old enough to have lived through Amos and Andy, where you had white people in blackface playing two black characters, just magnifying the worst stereotypes about black people. And that's what the big problem is. That's what the issue is. And following that, we had Megyn Kelly on her show, Start With This. And I want to begin with two words. I'm sorry. You may have heard that yesterday we had a discussion here about political correctness and Halloween costumes.

And that conversation turned to whether it is ever okay for a person of one race to dress up as another. A black person making their face lighter or a white person making theirs darker to make a costume complete. I defended the idea, saying as long as it was respectful and part of a Halloween costume, it seemed okay. I learned that given the history of blackface being used in awful ways by racists in this country, it is not okay for that to be part of any costume, Halloween or otherwise. Then heading on the notes, if she doesn't want to add to the divide in the country right now, and then there's a standing ovation in that crowd.

We saw a variety of reactions to this. There were people that were supportive of Megyn Kelly saying, yes, this is good, you can grow. Others saying they think it's ridiculous that she even has to apologize in the first place. Also people feeling the apology was empty. People like Kimberly Nicole Foster tweeting, pro-apology, even if it's just a symbolic act. But a 47 year old woman is telling us she just learned that blackface is offensive. That's not an apology, it's an insult. And so with all of that explained,

I wanna pass the question off to you. Where do you personally land on this story? And then let's talk about news out of Canada, which by the way, all people from Canada, I saw all your comments. Phil, how dare you not talk about this story? Why aren't you talking about, calm down Canada. It's not all about you.

Although I love you because you're definitely in like the top two places that are extremely nice and kind to me. It's like you and Ireland. But main point, weed, marijuana, cannabis, whatever you want to call it, it became legal in Canada a week ago on October 17th. And while that's massive news in its own right, the thing that was interesting to me is what would happen once it was legal. And now there is a lot of news surrounding this legalization. And the first place we'll start is with some numbers.

Unsurprisingly, there have been huge sales numbers and actually even some shortages. According to one estimate, there were at least 111 shops opening on the first day. SQDC, a manager of sales in Quebec, recording more than 12,500 in-store transactions and 30,000 online orders. But that also meant they quickly ran out of products.

And in fact, another company on the other side of the country, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, they warned that shortages for some of its products might last for months. And you had Bill Blair, a Canadian legislator that pushed for legalization saying, we expected certain strains might run out and there would be a bit of a run on supply.

But, you know, they've got a pretty good infrastructure in place and I'm confident it will work. But that said, the strain on the supply might actually be pretty serious. In fact, some stores in Edmonton have already had to close their doors. Also, other store owners in Alberta, for example, are allowed to order more stock from the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission,

but we saw one owner saying that the website had no products to offer anymore. So there's that situation and those numbers, but what about the money? Well, one producer, Alcanna, that operates five stores in Alberta, said it made $1.3 million in the first five days of operation. And reportedly, that was from about 17,000 separate sales. Also, on the first day of sales, the Alberta Cannabis website, which is the only legal online source for ordering weed in that province, they said they sold $730,000 worth of product. Also, while we're talking about the money,

there is a little bit of misinformation floating around. There was a report out there saying that Canada was able to pay off its entire federal debt in one day because of this, which would be amazing, considering that would be around $660 billion. But it is not true. In fact, the report came from the Daily Bonnet, which is a satire website So if you fell for that article now

You know what it feels like to be one of those people that shares an onion article thinking that that is real But that said regarding money it is expected that there is going to be a ton of the arc view group Which is a cannabis investment market research company predicts that legal weed will bring in 1.3 billion dollars in 2018 That's only a fraction of the estimated market for cannabis. Statistics Canada estimates that Canadians spend about $4.4 billion per year on cannabis. And the Arcview Group estimates that 570 million was spent on legal medical marijuana in 2017.

But it's not just been all rainbows and sunshine. Along with the massive sales and shortages, there have been plenty of complaints and issues popping up. Some customers complained that online deliveries weren't working, there were changes in shipping estimates, wrong products were sent, there was no follow-up. Not only that, there's also been a rotating strike at the Canadian Postal Service, which has affected delivery times as well. Also, there are concerns around pricing. Some people believe that increased prices due to taxes and regulation will drive people away.

And in fact, according to a Global News Ipsos poll, before legalization, about four in ten Canadians said the price was the determining factor as to whether they would buy legally or on the black market and about 36 percent of respondents said they'd get their product from the same places before legalization. Additionally, we've seen people complaining about excessive packaging. Reportedly, some products came with 70 grams of plastic foil and cardboard for just one gram of cannabis. And so you have some people believing that the concerns and hiccups here will cause people to turn to or just stick to the black market for cannabis. And in addition to all of this, there is concern for some growers. The CBC spoke to a couple of growers

who have been growing for decades, and they both noted that legal medical marijuana actually drove their profits down because of the abundance of growers and product. And so you had one grower saying that the result was either you went out of business or you got bigger to deal with it. And I will say it's this last part

that is one of the most interesting things to me regarding legalization. You end up seeing these situations where you have growers or people that have been supportive of the legalization movement for decades. And as the movement is finally successful and you're seeing decriminalization and legalization and all of a sudden there's all this opportunity, much bigger groups that want to take advantage of all of the new massive demand jump in and potentially put these little guys out of business. And so ultimately you end up having some people that, you know, they try to get this thing to happen and they accomplished it and the side effect is it hurts them which once again

That might just be me that that's fascinating and horrible fascinating also while this is a national story an issue for Canada there have been International effects most notably and really the most vocal so far has been South Korea and the reason for that is even though smoking and consuming Marijuana is now legal in Canada It isn't legal for some people living there this is because many nations require their citizens to not only follow local laws when traveling abroad, but also to still follow many of their own laws. And the reason South Korea is notable in this regard is because they are fairly aggressive in charging people with high level drug charges

over marijuana. So this situation would include residents of Canada, such as the 22,000 South Korean students currently enrolled in Canadian schools. Also additionally, the roughly 293,000 South Koreans who travel there annually. And they're being serious about it. The South Korean embassy in Canada tweeted out a warning

to their citizens last week. Roughly translated, they wrote, "'Cautions on legalization of cannabis use. "'The law for the legalization of cannabis use for leisure "'will be in effect throughout Canada starting tomorrow. "'Even if South Koreans are in a region "'where marijuana is legal, "'it will be illegal for them to consume it,

"'including purchase, possession, and transportation. "'Please take care not to commit an illegal act "'and be punished.'" And being penalized for cannabis use in South Korea is not a small offense. It carries a penalty of up to 50 million won, which is around $44,000, or up to five years in prison. Authorities in South Korea are active

in prosecuting marijuana-related charges, regardless of if they happen domestically or internationally. People who have been caught using drugs in the past or have mentioned on social media their drug use are under increased scrutiny when returning to South Korea. The country's even known for hitting celebrities who were caught using the drug. Recently in 2017, T.O.P. from Big Bang, which is one of the biggest K-pop groups in the country, he was given a 10-month suspended sentence. Also, he was kicked out of the mandatory military service. And also, a big note here, this was after being caught same way as if they were caught in the country. Adding, it doesn't matter if the incident occurred in another country that legalized the drug.

But of course, a note that I want to hit here is, South Korea isn't the only country that has rules like this for their citizens. And in fact, the United States is the same, although in the case of the United States, most laws are ignored while abroad. Right, well I'm not saying do it. If you drink in Europe and you're 19, you're probably not going to come back and get arrested, right? If you smoke in Canada and you go back to a state, you're not going to be arrested. I mean, as long as you're not trying to fly it back like an idiot. But all of that said, I guess the main point, if you're South Korean and you're in Canada,

just don't do it or don't tweet about it or have narcs as friends. And I guess shave and wax everything so there's no hair to test. I don't know, it's crazy to me that marijuana is so villainized. It's crazy to me that there are people in jail right now because they had weed on them.

And really what I hope we end up seeing is just from more places decriminalizing and then just full out legalizing marijuana, people realize, oh, this is not the devil. That in fact, a lot of good can happen from just the business that it generates, the taxes that it generates. But ultimately, with Canada, it's only been a week,

and so we'll have to wait and see the long-term effects. That said, regarding legalization or any of the complaints or other issues here, I'd love to know your thoughts. Then just kind of quickly on the note where I talked about, I didn't talk about the marijuana story, I wanted to see how it develops. A story that I wanna mention right now,

but I'm not going to dive into it deeper because there's been a lot of real news, a lot of false alarms about it, and so I'm waiting to see it develop before just spouting off about it. There's of course the news of the suspicious packages that were sent to the Obamas, the Clintons, CNN's offices had to be evacuated,

and that's not even the end of the story, but it's all still happening right now. So I wanted to mention it because obviously this is a massive story right now, this is incredibly important, but I feel like for me to properly cover it, that's gonna be on tomorrow's show. And then let's talk about easily

the sexiest story of the day, and that is immigration caravans. We've previously discussed this situation. It was much earlier on. There have been a lot of developments, but to kind of bring you up to speed, to give you a TLDR, if you didn't see earlier this month, there was this caravan of migrants

reportedly trying to escape poverty and violence in their country. The caravan was formed in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, and it began making its way towards the United States. And this is the second time in the last several months that a large migrant caravan from Central America has made international headlines for attempting to cross into the United States.

But one of the big differences here is this one is much, much bigger. The group, which reportedly began with less than 200 people, quickly swelled to more than 2,000. Then, after a brief showdown with the police at the Honduran-Guatemalan border, the caravan was able to cross and continue making its way north. And as it continued north, it also continued to grow in size to an estimated 4,000 people. And unsurprisingly, it gained a lot of attention, including attention from President Trump, who threatened to cut in size to an estimated 4,000 people and unsurprisingly gained a lot of attention including attention from President Trump who threatened to cut off aid to Honduras if it could not stop the caravan from moving forward and that's pretty much where we left it and so what has happened now?

Well on Friday many members of the caravan reached the border of Mexico and broke through a fence on the Guatemalan side of the border once they were through the fence migrants then reportedly gathered on a bridge over the Suchiate River that separates Guatemala from Mexico and according to reports reports on the ground, some migrants in the front began by trying to form an orderly line to be processed when they first arrived at the border. But because the sheer number of people we're talking about here, it quickly led to things getting out of control,

even leading to Mexican police deploying tear gas. But reportedly after what ended up being a tense hour and a half standoff, things became orderly again. And according to one of the migrants, those that were causing disorder were expelled from the group and handed over to the Guatemalan police. Although even once things did calm down,

some of the caravan ended up jumping into the river to swim or boat across and makeshift rafts. In the midst of all of this, one migrant was asked what the caravan's message was, and they said this. Our message is we're not criminals. We're coming over here because we wanna work. We need a job.

We need better, you know, a better life. That's why we're here. We also had Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto speaking about this issue, saying that some of the migrants crossing into the country, quote, tried to enter Mexican territory irregularly, attacking and even hurting some elements of the federal police,

and adding Mexico does not permit and will not permit entry into its territory in an irregular fashion, much less in a violent fashion. However, as the weekend continued, Mexico border officials reportedly urged the migrants to apply for legal status and asylum in Mexico and have gradually let more and more migrants into the country. New Mexican officials have said they are only allowing migrants that meet visa requirements or other conditions for potential asylum

and they've requested that the UN help with refugee claims. But according to many reporters on the ground, authorities haven't really done much to try and stop many of the migrants from entering Mexico illegally. And while it's unclear exactly why this is the case, support for the migrants in Mexico appears to be pretty strong and the optics of Mexican police rounding up immigrants likely doesn't look good on Mexican television. But whatever the reason here, Mexico's perceived inaction led to President Trump saying this. I don't know what's going on with Mexico.

I guess it looks like the people are walking right through the middle of Mexico. So I'm not exactly thrilled there either. And since all of that, even more people have joined the caravan, not just from Honduras, but also now from Guatemala and El Salvador, two countries that also have high levels of poverty and violence. Many were gathered in the border city of Tapachula, Mexico, where they were reportedly greeted with open arms,

with reports that residents of the town were even handing out water bottles and distributing clothes and shoes to the migrants. And as far as the number of people in the caravan, on Monday, a United Nations deputy spokesperson said, Large numbers of people are arriving in Mexico today and are likely to remain in the country for an extended period. And at this time, it is estimated that the caravan comprises some 7,233 persons. And the latest we've heard is that the caravan has stopped in Huixla and is now traveling north from there. But also regarding the number of people while in Mexico, the Interior Ministry has said that the number of migrants has dropped to around 4,500. And also adding that it's received asylum claims and requests from migrants to be returned home.

And as the caravan continued, so did President Trump's tweets, some of which have now been called into question. And those tweets include, "'Sadly, it looks like Mexico's police and military "'are unable to stop the caravan "'heading to the southern border of the United States. "'Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in.

"'I have alerted Border Patrol and military "'that this is a national emergency. "'Must change laws.'" Then adding, "'Every time you see a caravan or people illegally coming "'or attempting to come into our country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change

our pathetic immigration laws. Remember the midterms, so unfair to those who come in legally. And then writing, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the US. We will now begin cutting off or substantially reducing the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.

Now regarding that first tweet about Middle Easterners joining the caravan, that's been called into question because it's unclear where Trump got this information or what evidence he has to back up the claim. But it's possible that the tweet is based on comments made by the president of Guatemala, Jimmy Morales. During a speech he made in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, he claimed that Guatemalan authorities

had arrested and deported 100 people in the country who were quote, highly linked to terrorist groups, specifically ISIS. That was then reported on by a Guatemalan newspaper and following that Judicial Watch, which is a conservative legal advocacy organization, they jumped on that report in an October 18th article writing, in a startling revelation,

Guatemala's president announced that nearly 100 ISIS terrorists have been apprehended in the impoverished Central American nation. Why should Americans care about this? A caravan of Central American migrants is making its way north. Additionally, Morales' comments were highlighted by a guest on Fox and Friends, which is of course one of President Trump's favorite shows.

You got the president of Guatemala saying to a local newspaper down there just last week, they caught over 100 ISIS fighters in Guatemala trying to use this caravan or other processes. But going against that, you have multiple reporters on the ground who are traveling with the caravan saying they've seen no evidence of Middle Easterners joining the caravan. So then on Tuesday we saw President Trump being pressed for evidence of his claims and he didn't back down, but he also didn't provide evidence. There's no proof of anything. There's no proof of anything. But they could very well be. Separately we had Vice President Mike Pence commenting on this issue at a Washington Post live event. It's inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border.

Inconceivable? The truth is, well, let me, statistics on this. In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border. Now there, it's unclear exactly where Pence is getting that 10 terrorists a day number from. That's also because it doesn't appear that there's any data released that specifically tracks border apprehensions of terrorists. Now we do know that Homeland Security reported that in 2017, 2,554 individuals on a terrorist watch list were stopped from entering the country. But virtually all of those apprehensions were people trying to enter the country through air travel.

And so even if those were the numbers that he was trying to use, it doesn't really seem applicable to the situation we're talking about now. But with all of that said, the two questions I wanna leave you with, and it's not just what do you think about immigration, we've covered that as kind of a group.

I wanna know what you think about Trump and Pence's angling of Middle Easterners trying to get into the United States. Do you feel like it is blatant fear-mongering, especially given Donald Trump's comments regarding evidence? And also, what do you think and feel about the other countries involved here, whether it be the migrant situation and the handling in Mexico,

and or the angle of cutting aid to these countries? Do you think that that sends a message, or do you think that just can make the problem worse? A lot of these people are seemingly trying to leave bad situations, horrible poverty, and a lot of the relief is meant to reduce poverty. And so do you think essentially the kind of punishment, the cutting off of aid, that would just make the problem

even worse for the United States? And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, with this being the PBS, I wanna also hear from you, whether it be this last story, the first one, anything in between. Let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. Also, while you're at it, if you like the show,

you wanna support it, hit that like button if you're new here. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss future videos. Which on that note, if you missed the last Philip DeFranco show, you wanna support it, hit that like button if you're new here. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss future videos. Which on that note, if you missed the last Philip DeFranco show you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch that. Or if you already saw that but you didn't see this morning's extra bonus news video,

you can click or tap right there. But that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.