The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.25 Taylor Swift Hates Fat People, Kanye West is a Sad Old Man, The Secret Reason Your Rent is So High,

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, the news show for people who hate keeping up with the news. Buckle up, make sure you're subscribed, and let's just jump into it. Yo, Kanye done goofed. Remember when yesterday I showed you that what I thought was overlooked clip

Starting point is 00:00:15 from that Now Remove podcast where Kanye said? The thing about it, me and Adidas, it's like I could literally say anti-Semitic shit and they can't drop me. I could say anti-Semitic things and Adidas can't drop me. Now what? Well, that is age like milk left out in the sun because Adidas this morning terminated their partnership with Kanye,

Starting point is 00:00:36 with Adidas saying they do not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye's comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's with Kanye and, quote, ending production of Yeezy branded products and stopping all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect. And then, just hours after that, Gap, which ended their partnership with Kanye last month but were still selling products, announced

Starting point is 00:01:04 they would immediately be removing Yeezy products from its stores. And even shutting down YeezyGap.com. It just goes to the Gap website now. And this is absolutely massive news for a few key reasons. The first of which is, yes, there was pressure on Adidas to cut ties with Kanye. But I really can't help but stress how much it shows Kanye fucked up that Adidas did this. It's being reported they are going to lose out on $250 million by terminating this deal with Kanye. And that's not like gross sales.

Starting point is 00:01:29 That is net profit. Kanye fucked up so much by spouting hate and disinformation and then leaning into it that a major company was willing to shoot themselves in the dick for a quarter of a billion dollars. And as far as for Kanye, it's being estimated by Forbes that without the Adidas deal, his net worth has dropped to $400 million, meaning he'd no longer be a billionaire because his deal with Adidas was being valued at $1.5 billion. I also don't know what this means for the future of Kanye in releasing products, especially if it's under the brand of Yeezy, because Adidas was sure to include in their statement that they are the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. But maybe Kanye is already thinking of new brands to tap into his new market. If you just look at the social reaction to Kanye right now, it looks like he's just like fucked up a lot of the goodwill from his old fans. And so maybe soon he drops the Blood and Soil 23s, maybe some Air Himmlers. Yeah, ultimately that's where we are. We'll have to wait to see what happens next.

Starting point is 00:02:21 In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on this. And then, Taylor Swift is fatphobic, according to a number of people online following the release of her new album. Also, to preface the next part, I do want to say, I do think those people are stupid, but here is the explanation. So along with Taylor Swift's album release, she released a music video for Antihero. And it includes this moment of Taylor stepping onto a scale, and instead of a number, it just says fat. And this sparked some outrage from some on the internet who wrote things like Taylor Swift saying, imagine if I was fat,

Starting point is 00:02:47 that's a nightmare. Is fat phobic, even if it was unintentional. And that's why people are upset. She used her enormous platform to display fat phobia and think about who a majority of her fans are, teenage girls. And Taylor Swift's music video where she looks down at the scale, where it says fat is a shitty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don't need to have it reiterated yet again, that it's everyone's worst nightmare to look like us. You know, when I read that, I thought, you know, I think two can play this game. I've been watching people participate in the outrage Olympics for 15 years now. So to this, I say, how dare all these people say with their full chest publicly, fuck Taylor Swift struggles? How dare they dismiss

Starting point is 00:03:22 this woman's struggle who has had the word fat used against her as an insult, who has been very open about her struggles with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Rather than keeping an open mind, you want to muzzle her so she can't share her own experiences and struggles? And that's in addition to these people just being fucking, this is a critique of fat phobia. I'm not even a Taylor Swift stan, I'm just anti-fucking stupid people. And I think part of the reason I'm so frustrated is that so much of the conversation around weight is fucking stupid. Whether it be this or what, like months ago when we talked about people getting outraged at a company because they had plus-size models and people were saying they were promoting obesity. So much of this has become nonsensical, overly emotional bullshit. But hey, this is the Philip DeFranco Show.

Starting point is 00:04:02 That's a story, my opinion. And now I'd love to know yours, whether you agree or disagree with me. Let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below. And then your rent is too fucking high. And as it turns out, very likely part of a unified effort to fuck you where it matters the most, your wallet. So in massive news this week, nine of the largest property management companies and a price setting software are now facing a lawsuit for allegedly colluding to keep rent prices high. So at the center of this, you have software made by RealPage that's supposed to use a variety of metrics to figure out what rent should be for an apartment. But one of its most powerful tools is the information that its clients provide the software. Key things like

Starting point is 00:04:35 lease renewal dates and actual rent rates. Because that information is then aggregated along other factors and used to pop out a rental rate for the area. With RealPage boasting that using all this information can give the most accurate rental prices for an area and that 90% of the time its recommended rates are used. But, key thing, that is where the issue lies. All this normally private information sharing allegedly turns all these entities into an illegal cartel. But Phil, you may ask, how is sharing this private information allowing these companies to fuck me in my tight little wallet? It's a weird, curvy way to ask, but I'll explain. Normally, if an apartment building wanted to set a competitive price, it'd have to look

Starting point is 00:05:07 online or call other buildings, get an idea of the going rental rates, at which point they could decide if they wanted to undercut the competition. But instead, what we're seeing are these apartment buildings all agreeing to just use RealPages price, which uses the actual rent people pay to figure out prices. And in addition to that, RealPages software apparently uses other schemes to help smooth out prices to keep them higher on average. This is including things like staggering lease renewal dates to make sure that they're not all clustered around January and July. Because God forbid there was more availability at one time, people might be able to go, hey, I want to pay a lower price. This is not like a random side effect. This is something that RealPage brags about, boasting that by doing all of this,

Starting point is 00:05:38 it can help clients experience rental rate improvements year over year between 5% and 12% in every market. Which, I mean, that doesn't mean that you are getting screwed by this, but there is a solid chance. Especially considering that together these property management companies own hundreds of thousands of apartments in the country. And this problem is allegedly huge in areas like downtown Seattle, where 70% of the apartments are owned by the same 10 companies. All of which use this software. Now, as expected, all of these companies deny the allegations, but this is something that we're going to need to keep an eye on, especially as America has become more and more

Starting point is 00:06:08 year over year becoming a renter nation. But for now, we wait to see if the lawyers and the courts can figure it out. And then, American optimism is at a record low. My disappointment is immeasurable. So this is poll where Gallup asked, in America, each generation has tried to have a better life than their parents with a better living standard, better homes, a better education, and so on. How likely do you think it is that today's youth will have a better life than their parents? Very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely, and very unlikely. And they found that optimism dropped 18% since just 2019, with just 13% saying very likely, 29% saying somewhat likely, and 57% saying somewhat to very unlikely. We're

Starting point is 00:06:47 talking about a drastic change that is now being referred to as the vibe session. And the breakdown by demographic is actually very interesting. As Insider explained, Republicans drove the drop in optimism with just a third saying they think the next generation will fare better. And among Democrats, the majority of whom do think things will get better, still saw their optimism at its lowest ever. And then when it came to dollars, confidence in the economic future is actually higher among low earners, with a majority of households with an annual income below $40,000 saying they're optimistic. Though Gallup senior editor Megan Brennan said that could be because higher income Americans do seem to have more of a Republican lean. The main point, hope is hurting right now.

Starting point is 00:07:20 And then, do you ever find yourself struggling to find the right words to say in order to convey what you feel or how to communicate clearly in emails well that is exactly the reason i'm happy to thank the sponsor of today's show grammarly ramerley's communication assistance allows you to power through work efficiently and confidently by helping you write more clearly and effectively grammarly has a free version with comprehensive writing suggestions like grammar spelling and punctuation but upgrading to grammarly premium boosts your productivity to get your work done in time with their advanced features. Personally, I love using Grammarly to check my writing before sending emails, video scripts, or whatever.

Starting point is 00:07:49 One of my favorite features being their premium clarity full sentence rewrite feature, which rephrases my hard to read sentences to keep my writing clear and concise. And the best time to get Grammarly is now. You can boost your productivity and clear your work tasks faster than ever, so future you, they don't have to work through the holidays ahead. So work smarter, not harder, and get your work done faster with Grammarly. Sign up for a free account and get 20% off Grammarly premium at grammarly.com slash DeFranco. And then are innocent Republicans just getting attacked in Florida for being Republican? That is a question that's being asked after

Starting point is 00:08:17 Senator Marco Rubio dropped a bomb on Twitter Monday, writing, last night, one of our canvassers wearing my t-shirt and a DeSantis hat was brutally attacked by four animals who told him Republicans weren't allowed in their neighborhood in Hialeah, Florida. He suffered internal bleeding, a broken jaw, and will need facial reconstructive surgery. Right, so this immediately goes in the big, if true, category. A lot of people very angry, but also a lot of people very skeptical. Right, so Hialeah is a well-known Republican stronghold with a Republican mayor. So you have people saying, right, the idea that a gang of people would beat up a guy for being Republican isn't impossible, it's just a little strange. And then, the skepticism with this story grew more and more intense when local media picked up a police report on this. And the account of what happened in that report was that the victim was handing out flyers when he came upon the house of Javier Lopez.

Starting point is 00:08:59 Who apparently approached him and said, you can't pass by here, this is my neighborhood. So he then says the victim crosses the street to avoid Lopez, says he's on public property, then argues some more, until Lopez allegedly runs at him, grabs him, and slams him to the ground, punching him repeatedly. With the police adding that a second unidentified suspect kicked him in the face, but it's not clear whether anyone else was involved. But, here was a key kicker. Police added that there was no indication that Lopez was actually politically motivated,

Starting point is 00:09:21 though the investigation is still ongoing. So for many, the question became, okay, well, if it's not politically motivated, why did this allegedly happen? Well, one thing that we have since learned is who the victim is. Meet Christopher Monzo, a man who reportedly earned his very own article on the Southern Poverty Law Center's website. This, after he was arrested in 2017 for attacking protesters with a Confederate flag. All while wearing a shirt reading League of the South,

Starting point is 00:09:40 which is a white nationalist group that advocates a second Southern secession, with him explaining, These people are committing genocide against the South, which is a white nationalist group that advocates a second southern secession with him explaining These people are committing genocide against the South. The current events being the violence instigated by these communist individuals who seek to silence us through means of violence and coercion. Though also here, Monzon claimed last year that he resigned from this group years ago, has stopped using racial slurs, and is not and was never a white nationalist. But to that, others have said he's only trying to distance himself from his past because he was actually running for local office in Florida. And actually regarding that, a review of his social media found

Starting point is 00:10:11 that he's still active in neo-Confederate communities, which in part is why you had so many people saying, hey, he may have been attacked on Sunday, not for being a Republican, but rather for being a notorious racist in the area. Not that that would legally justify the violence against him. It just puts Rubio's explosive tweet in another possible context. But for now, we'll have to wait to see what comes from this investigation if we get more information. But in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts. And then your kids, the kids, they're getting dumber. Many are saying the students are failing because schools aren't utilizing billions of dollars in funding. So here's the situation. The Biden administration gave $122 billion to schools in March of 2021 to pull them out of

Starting point is 00:10:44 the COVID slump. But according to a Washington Post analysis, schools across the country have spent less than 15% of it. Specifically, what we're talking about is the third round of the elementary and secondary school emergency relief, or ESSER III. When you look at the numbers, the spending rates vary wildly from state to state and even district to district within states. But key thing, the money is just collecting dust in many places where it's needed the most. All this as student math and reading scores have plunged to the lowest they've been in decades thanks to the pandemic. And when the 211 districts where the students are estimated to be the furthest behind were examined, they found that half of them had used less than 5% of the ESSER III funds.

Starting point is 00:11:17 So of course the question is, why? Why is this money not being spent? Well, in some places it's very straightforward. The funds are just not immediately available, causing a delay in the spending. According to education professionals in Baltimore, state approval didn't come through until October of 2021, meaning that most of the planning for spending this money was made for the 22 to 23 and 23 to 24 school years. Also, other reasons for the delay include the nationwide educator shortage

Starting point is 00:11:37 and the desire to make the money last as long as possible. The ESSER III expires in September of 2024, so some districts are trying to stretch it out. That including an assistant superintendent in Washington who said, Rather than a huge firehose of funding in a single year or even two years, we've been intentional to think about how do we stretch this funding to have supports for students as long as possible? Or because a key thing I wanted to take away from this, it's not like all these schools are just abandoning their students to a life of finger

Starting point is 00:12:00 counting and illiteracy. This problem requires careful planning and tens of millions of dollars, notably in a field where money is often a problem. So much so that it's become standard to see teachers doing like fun little TikToks as a way to try to get people to go to their Amazon wish list so they can actually do something for the students. Regarding this new money, according to the White House and an analysis of thousands of school district spending plans for the next two years, the vast majority of these funds are committed to critical needs. Are we talking about things like reversing learning loss and addressing the mental health issues of students? In Baltimore, for example, $9 million will be spent to bring in outside organizations

Starting point is 00:12:30 and tutors to over 100 schools. In Tennessee, they're awarding extra funding to districts that spend half their ESSER funds on academics and participate in a multi-year tutoring program. In DC, $40 million is being poured into a tutoring program that will reach over 8,000 students across the next two years. But also, as great as these plans in place are, some districts are just behind on the spending, with one professional from Education Resource Strategies saying, in some cases, probably the plan review and approval took longer than they assumed. I think the majority of cases, though, are about challenges getting management capacity to get spending initiatives kicked off. But then finally with this, I think it's incredibly important to note that the data available for

Starting point is 00:13:02 these funds also might not tell the full story. Education experts say that the number reported for each district is the amount that they have requested from the state. Because school districts, when using ESSER money, actually spend local funds and are reimbursed later by the state. And so, yes, with learning losses setting students back to the 90s, it's disheartening to hear that some districts aren't spending the money available to them. However, many are taking advantage of these millions of dollars and trying to solve the problems the pandemic created for students. And the hope is that in the next year, two years, three years, we start seeing the meaningful change happen on the ground. But where I'll leave you with this messy, troubling, but hopefully hopeful story is I'd love to know your thoughts regarding what you've been seeing.

Starting point is 00:13:36 Because while I can talk about this story at a national or a state level and one person sharing a story that's anecdotal, if a lot of people share it, that's actually a snapshot of what's happening across the country. But ultimately, that is where that story and today's show ends. As always, thank you for watching and subscribe to my daily dives in the news. If you're looking for more news, you can click right here to watch yesterday's show or the brand new series we just launched. Those links also in the description down below. But my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.25 Taylor Swift Hates Fat People, Kanye West is a Sad Old Man, The Secret Reason Your Rent is So High,

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