The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.29 Jon Stewart Defends Tony Hinchcliffe, Ballot Box Fires in 3 States, & The Truth About Ronald Greene

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my code DEFRANCO to get up to 40% off your purchase! Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today!  YOUR NEW https://BeautifulBastard.com DROP is LIVE! 7 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Cop in Ronald Greene Case Won’t Face Any Jail Time 05:16 - CNN Bans Guest Over “Beeper” Comment Aimed at Mehdi Hasan 07:58 - Jon Stewart Weighs Into Tony Hinchcliffe Backlash  09:37 - Sponsored by Cozy Earth 10:39 - Election Drop Boxes Set on Fire in WA & OR  14:32 - Minneapolis Man Arrested a Week After Shooting His Neighbor  17:53 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 19:01 - 200,000 Cancel WaPo Subscriptions After Bezos Ends Presidential Endorsements 23:33 - Former Philippines President Duterte Reveals Shocking Revelation 26:22 - Microsoft Accuses Google of Campaign to Influence Antitrust Regulators Excited Delirium Deep Dive: https://youtu.be/W7GSu-DQDzU?si=DwieAiAGlkKLYi4u  ——————————   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 #JonStewart #CNN ———————————— 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 of big news to talk about today, starting with how Louisiana cops killed a man, covered it up, and now they're walking free. Barely getting a slap on the wrist for one of the most brutal cases of police violence

in recent memory. All right, so let's walk through it. Back in 2019, Ronald Green, who was a 49-year-old barber, he died after a high-speed chase with Louisiana police for a traffic violation, with state troopers initially telling Green's family that he had crashed old barber, he died after a high-speed chase with Louisiana police for a traffic violation. The state troopers initially telling Green's family that he had crashed into a tree and died on impact. But then they released a one page statement clarifying

that no, actually he resisted arrest, became unresponsive and died on his way to the hospital. So understandably people were like, one, that's vague. And two, why'd you change your story? But then for two years, the state police refused to release any body cam videos, even as the public demanded. With it not being until 2021 that the Associated Press obtained 46 minutes of footage that revealed the horrifying truth. Several cops punched, kicked, choked, dragged, tased, and pepper sprayed Green, who barely resisted until he died.

And to speak on the order of events, we learned that after the chase, two officers rushed Green's car. And you can see him raise his hands and repeat, okay, okay, I'm sorry, over and over. But almost immediately, one cop tases him before he even gets out of the car or does anything, with Green pleading, I'm your brother, I'm scared, I'm scared. And then after Green gets out, one trooper wrestles him to the ground,

puts him in a chokehold and punches him in the face while another calls him a stupid motherfucker. Meanwhile, Green's wailing, I'm sorry, as a trooper tases him again on his back and warns, look, you're gonna get it again if you don't put your fucking hands behind your back. And eventually they have him face down with his hands cuffed behind his back

and his feet shackled together, which is then how he would remain for more than nine minutes struggling to breathe as a heavyset man. Which is why at one point you see him trying to prop himself up on his side. Then Trooper Corey York grabs the chain connecting his shackles and drags him backward all the while yelling.

All right, sir. Don't you turn over. All sir. Don't you turn over. All right. Don't you turn over. Lay on your belly. Lay on your belly. Yes, sir. With York then putting a knee into Green's back, and then at another point, though it's hard to tell from the video exactly what's happening, Green suddenly cries out. One cop then heard yelling, yeah, yeah, that shit hurt, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. To which Green responds, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

And several law enforcement officials told the AP that that might be the moment when he was pepper sprayed, which we know from documents happened at some point. But then after all that, as Green is just lying there moaning, the cops are just casually using sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their hands and faces from what they just did.

With one heard commenting, I hope this guy ain't got fucking AIDS. All right commenting, I hope this guy ain't got fucking AIDS. All right, all over. I hope this guy ain't got fucking AIDS. And then after paramedics arrive, one can be heard saying he's not getting enough air, yet nobody appears to give green oxygen. Then later on,

Trooper Chris Hollingsworth was recorded telling a fellow officer, And I beat the ever living fuck out of him, choked him and everything else trying to get him under control. And then all of a sudden he just went limp. Yeah, I thought he was dead. The other officer then notably asking in response, you all got that on body cam? At which point, how crazy Hollingsworth turns off his camera. Now also with this, the autopsy report, which wasn't made public for two years, listed Green's cause of death as quote, cocaine induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury and restraint.

Which ding, ding, ding, if you remember our segment in Deep Dive on the bogus excited delirium diagnosis and its spinoffs, that should be ringing alarm bells. Which if you haven't seen, I'll link to it here now, also included in the outro card. But then going back to the specifics of this, notably that report declined to state

whether the car crash or the police brutality caused the most serious injuries, leaving the blame for his death ambiguous. All the while, the cops were busy covering up their handiwork. The highest ranking officer of the sixth at the scene telling investigators that day that he had no body camera footage of the incident,

a blatant lie, with them also adding the bogus claim that the trooper sat Green up and immediately held his head up so he could get a clear airway. But of course, the video shows his men doing the exact fucking opposite, with them literally saying they didn't wanna sit Green up because they were afraid he'd spit blood on them.

And then even when they did finally sit him up, Green was already unresponsive with his head slumped down to his chest and they didn't try to lift it for nearly six minutes. And then going further, the police didn't even give forensic pathologists the most routine documents for the autopsy report. We're talking no police reports, no collision details,

no emergency medical records. They also didn't open an administrative investigation into the troopers' use of force until 474 days after the incident. And while most everything that we've talked about would make you think, okay, so then someone was held accountable. No, I mean, Hollingsworth,

the cop who had his own poetic words, beat the ever-living fuck out of Green? Well, depending on your view of things, he either escaped or got justice after he died in a car crash in 2020. And then, while a grand jury indicted the five other officers in December of 2022, nearly two years later, only two of them still face any charges.

Which actually brings us to today's news about York, the cop who held Greene down and dragged him by his shackles. Because initially he got hit with felony charges of negligent homicide and malfeasance. But then, because the prosecutors were worried they weren't gonna be able to get a conviction with the ambiguous autopsy report, especially in such a conservative state,

they dropped the homicide charge and York just pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery instead. He got a $1,000 fine, 160 hours of community service, and one year of supervised probation. Or in other words, he got zero jail time for what many consider to have been murder. And because this motherfucker pled no contest,

not only does he get to keep his pension, his conviction also can't be used in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Green's family. And so now the last hope for any sort of real justice, even partial justice, is with the one cop remaining who's still being charged, as well as the now years old FBI civil rights investigation that's still unresolved.

But then next up, let's talk about that Newsnight shit show that happened. Because last night CNN had this show where they were hosting a panel to talk about the upcoming election. And things just went off the rails. But the real focal point being left-wing commentator, Mehdi Hassan sparring off against right-wing commentator,

Ryan Gerduski. Or with him on live TV getting into Trump's Madison Square Garden rally and specifically the racist jokes and comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and others. During this, you see Hassan acknowledged and equating Trump supporters with Nazis is inflammatory, but adding, if you don't want to be called Nazi,

stop doing, stop saying. And at that point Gerduski then cut him off, claiming that Hassan, more than anyone else at the table, had been called an anti-Semite, to which Hassan responds. And then Gerduski makes a comment about a beeper that seemed to refer to the exploding pages that Israel used to kill members of Hezbollah. But I'll just let you watch. I mean, I'm not saying or saying, I'm a supporter of the Palestinians, I'm used to it. Well, I hope your beeper doesn't go off. The thing is, is that... Did you just say I should die? You should not. No, I said no.

Did you just say I should be killed? No, I did not say that. Hold on. Did you just say I should be killed? Hold on. On live TV? Guys, let me just stop. You said you hope my beeper doesn't go off.

Guys, you should stop that right now. Of the Palestinians. Guys. Hamas? Guys, let me stop. I said Palestinians. Are you? Am I what?

No, of course I'm not. Palestinians are not. I apologize. Are you a racist, violent person inciting violence against me? Ryan, Ryan. That's disgusting. That is completely out of pocket. I apologize.

Good job, CNN. Let's have first block say the Muslim guy should be blown up on TV. Don't say then I apologize. You literally accused him. I apologize. So after that segment ended, the host, Abby Phillip, came back on air alone and got very serious with her audience. First, I want to apologize to Mehdi Hasan

for what was said at this table. It was completely unacceptable. We want discussion. We want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other. But when you cross the line of a complete lack of civility, that is not going to happen here on this show. But then CNN later explaining that Gerduski

is now banned from appearing on the network where there is quote, "'Zero room for racism or bigotry.'" And while as of recording, Hassan hasn't spoken about this episode since it happened, Gerduski has, and he's completely doubling down on his remarks. With him writing, you can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi

and have taken money from Qatar-funded media. Apparently you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I'm glad America gets to see what CNN stands for. That Qatar-funded media jab apparently referring to Hass what CNN stands for. That Qatar funded media jab, apparently referring to Hassan's work for Al Jazeera. Of course, like every story around these things, if you go online, depending on where you are, you have people having completely different takes.

A lot of people very divided. On the right, you see a lot of examples of people echoing or agreeing with Gerdeski's statement there. Then on the other side, you have people saying that Gerdeski is a coward or a hypocrite. Noting how online he's doubling down and talking about jokes. So in person, he was profusely apologizing and looking scared. With a lot of people saying this is an example of acting how you do on the internet, but in real life and that not working

out for you. So with that, people are saying that Gerduski is kind of just recoiling back to the internet. You know, with all that, I got to ask, where do you land on this? But then in interesting political news, we should talk about Trump continuing to suffer from the fallout from his Madison Square Garden rally. But this also, as Tony Hinchcliffe is now getting a defense from people that a lot of people didn't expect. Starting with Trump though, the Archbishop of Puerto Rico has formally rebuked Trump and is demanding he personally apologize.

The president of the Republican Party's branch in Puerto Rico is threatening to unendorse Trump unless he apologizes. Ed Bunny and Marc Anthony have now cut ads condemning Trump and this following endorsements from JLo and Ricky Martin. Pennsylvania chapter of the National Puerto Rican Agenda has sent out a letter urging Puerto Ricans and Latinos to vote against Trump.

And all this is Trump has refused to apologize, denounce or condemn the jokes. With him at this point saying he just doesn't know Tony Hinchcliffe and that someone just put him up there. Though also on that note, a lot of the conversation is now kind of moved to this place of, it's not about Tony Hinchcliffe having said these things. It's that Trump and or the people he has surrounded himself

with thought that this would be a great place to have this sort of content. Especially when paired with the fact that a number of the other non-roast comedians that spoke at this rally made racially offensive remarks about Latinos, black Americans, Jewish citizens, and Palestinians. So the conversation has become more

about the Trump team's green lighting of this content at the venue. With in fact, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show defending Tony Hinchcliffe and hitting these points. Now, obviously in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally on The Daily Show defending Tony Hinchcliffe and hitting these points. Now, obviously in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before election day and roasting a key voting demographic,

probably not the best decision by the campaign politically, but to be fair, the guy's really just doing what he does. But for now, with election day just seven days away, it's gonna be very interesting to see, does this actually have an impact? Because while it's being reported that this scandal and this backlash is breaking through in a way we really haven't seen in a very long time,

words are words, actions are actions, polls are polls, and ultimately, we won't know till election day and probably a few days after. Then, you know, who else agrees that fall is the season for ultimate comfort? The cooler temperatures, the cozy vibes, it is perfect. Being in Georgia now, I'm actually getting to experience seasons again. I love it. You know, if you ask me, nothing defines cozy quite like Cozy Earth. They've absolutely nailed the comfort

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Go to CozyEarth.com slash DeFranco and enter DeFranco at checkout for up to 40% off. And if you get a post-purchase survey, just say you heard about Cozy Earth from the PDS. Cozy Earth, trust me, you deserve it. Then we're gonna talk about ballot boxes getting set on fire. This happened in Oregon and Washington yesterday.

Now in Portland, Oregon, thankfully fire suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all the ballots. With reportedly only three damaged there and they were still intact enough for election officials to identify whose they were and get in touch with them. But then 15 miles away in Vancouver, Washington, that's a different story.

Hundreds of ballots got destroyed in a ballot drop box fire that officials say is likely connected to the first incident. And a very key thing there is that Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington's third congressional district, which is expected to be one of the closest house races in the country. And while there was a fire suppression system at this drop box in the district, it just didn't work. With Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey explaining, the majority of the ballots are completely destroyed and the remaining ballots are severely damaged and very, very wet. But that's not to say that these votes are necessarily gone forever, because we're far enough away from the election

that voters who may have dropped off their ballots at either of these affected drop boxes this weekend are being asked to get in touch and told their votes will be counted. With also the Washington Secretary of State's office reminding voters that they can actually check online to see if their ballot had been marked as returned and ask for a replacement if necessary.

And then in addition to that, officials are putting measures in place to try and keep something like this from happening again. Like for example, with the situation in Washington, county officials are increasing how frequently ballots are being picked up and changing collection times to the evening so they're not being left there overnight.

Also, the county decided to hire workers to monitor all of its drop boxes 24 hours a day until the election's over. And then as far as these specific incidents, they're now being investigated by local authorities and the FBI. And actually a big thing there is they've now shared a photo of a suspicious vehicle

seen parked beside the drop box in Portland. So hopefully this asshole or assholes are trying to fuck with democracy, they get held accountable soon. And actually a big thing there is they've now shared a photo of a suspicious vehicle seen parked beside the Dropbox in Portland. So hopefully this asshole or assholes are trying to fuck with democracy, they get held accountable soon. But overall with this, you have experts still saying this is a secure way of voting with one even telling NPR, for example, these Dropboxes have been thought through and have these measures in place.

And adding people should not allow these isolated incidents to undermine their trust in these voting methods, which are generally extremely secure. But then also saying, you know, small scale incidents like these arsons can bolster misconceptions about the security of drop boxes. Because as we've talked about on the show, ballot drop boxes and mail-in voting in general

have been subjects of conspiracy theories and false claims since the 2020 election cycle. With in fact, the Department of Homeland Security warning that this could happen in a briefing last month right after. Some social media users are discussing and encouraging various methods of sabotaging ballot drop boxes and avoiding detection. With them then going on to say,

election infrastructure remains an attractive target for some domestic violent extremists and other threat actors with election-related grievances. And finally here, warning that some threat actors may perceive ballot drop boxes as soft targets because they are more accessible. Which on that note, this actually isn't the first time drop boxes have been targeted this month,

because you may have missed it, but last week, a postal service mailbox in Phoenix was set on fire, with about 20 ballots being damaged and the Arizona Secretary of State saying that many undamaged ballots were recovered and the affected voters would be contacted. And the great news there is that local law enforcement have actually already arrested a 35-year-old man

in connection to the incident, though he claimed that his actions were not politically motivated. Though, you know, all of this, it's just a part of all the pre-election chaos that we're seeing right now. I mean, since we're already talking about Phoenix, there was also a guy arrested there last week

for shooting at a DNC office on three separate occasions. There's law enforcement saying that guy had amassed 120 guns and 250,000 rounds of ammunition, leading them to think that he was planning a mass shooting. Then, jumping back to mail-in voting, Russian actors were reportedly behind a widely shared and now debunked video seemingly showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in Pennsylvania,

with intelligence officials there saying the video was part of Moscow's broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans. And very importantly with that saying, they expect Russia to create and release similar content in the days leading up to the election in the weeks and months after.

So it's something that I always preach on the show, but be very careful and skeptical of what you're seeing out there at all times. Healthy skepticism is important to have. It's when you don't believe anything or you believe everything that you have a problem. But with all that said, the main thing that I want to hit on as the final note here is do not let any of this stop you from voting by whatever means is available to you. In-person day of, in-person early, drop box. If you have to do

mail, do mail, though keep in mind when you are sending it. There are and there are going to be more fights about what votes to accept by mail, when they come in, et cetera. But the most important thing here is do not let anything dissuade you from voting. Just do it. And of course, push your like-minded friends and family to do the same. Oh my God, election day is in a week.

But then we gotta talk about how after months of warnings and racially charged harassment, Minneapolis police have finally arrested a guy who was accused of shooting his black neighbor in broad daylight. Though even there, it didn't happen until almost a week after the victim was left fighting for his life. So the victim is Davis Moturi.

And a video captured on a home surveillance camera shows Davis standing outside, trimming a tree in his own yard by the property line. And then suddenly he just falls to the ground and that's because his neighbor, John Sawcheck, apparently shot him in the neck. Now thankfully, like I said, Davis survived, but only barely.

He reportedly suffered a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion. He tried to kill me. It won't take long to tell you Neutral's ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors. So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. Does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill.

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This didn't just come out of nowhere. Davis has been dealing with John's shit for a whole year. It turns out since purchasing his home in 2023, he and his wife have contacted the authorities at least 19 times to report John for vandalism, property destruction, and harassment and threats of physical harm that included the use of racial slurs. And in fact, if you look into it, John has a history of harassing, threatening, and attacking his neighbors dating back to at least 2016. He even had three active arrest warrants for previous threats against multiple neighbors, including Davis at the time of the shooting. Now

with that, police say they attempted to contact John on multiple occasions in response to Davis's past 911 calls, but he simply refused to come to the door every time. And so understandably, police had been criticized for failing to do something then, and now they're also being criticized for their response to the shooting. Because again, it happened last Wednesday in broad daylight. But John, after very obviously shooting a man

during the day, was not arrested until early Monday morning. He never even left his house, also meaning that once Davis got out of the hospital, he couldn't really go home. Essentially, I'm homeless until the cops decided to go and somehow capture John. Now that said, as far as why, according to the police,

there were officers surrounding John's home for days, waiting for him to exit. They were hesitant to go in because they knew he had guns and also believed he had improvised explosives. And the mayor later saying, "'Given reports of mental illness, presence of firearms, "'possibility of explosives, and all of this "'in a residential neighborhood,

"'a careful and methodical approach was required "'to ensure that lives were not lost.'" With then Minneapolis police chief, Brian O'Hara, further arguing that it's unfair to insist the police officers should be deescalating tense situations while also saying they should quote, "'Bust through those doors with a SWAT team "'and drag somebody out.'"

And adding, he can't have it both ways. But then also with that, he took some responsibility for the department failing to prevent the shooting in the first place. In this particular instance, we failed this victim 100% because that should not have happened to him. The Minneapolis police somehow did not act urgently enough to prevent that individual from being shot.

But also with this, a big thing is that O'Hara seemingly tried to make excuses, saying his officers were, quote, scared of being prosecuted if they get into a situation where they make a mistake trying to do their job and protect the public, which just to insert my opinion here is arguably a very shitty take. We 100% failed this victim, but in our defense, we were worried we wouldn't do a good job. Inaction regarding a well-documented threat is also not doing a good job. It also doesn't help the matter that this is nowhere near the first time Minneapolis police have faced criticism. With one of the more recent notable things being a U.S. Justice Department investigation last year concluding that the department had a pattern or practice of discrimination against black Americans, among other findings.

I mean, even that investigation stemming from the 2020 murder of George Floyd in the city, though, at least in this situation, no one was killed. Though that obviously has more to do with John's accuracy with a gun rather than the actions of police. Then, taking a quick break from the news, I've personally found success using our sponsor, the PDS, ZocDoc, and I truly recommend the service. Because if you don't know, ZocDoc is where you can find

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So hey, go to ZocDoc.com slash Phil and download the ZocDoc app for free. And find and book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash Phil. ZocDoc.com slash Phil. Then we gotta talk about how over 200,000 paying readers just canceled their Washington Post subscriptions after Jeff Bezos ended presidential endorsements. But Bezos has now publicly defended and explained the move and it's caused this massive debate. So

let's talk about it. So as you might've heard, Jeff Bezos blocked an already drafted endorsement from the Washington Post of Harris. And according to NPR, which reported that over 200,000 canceled subscriptions number, that figure represents around 8% of the paper's paid circulation. When this move was announced last Friday in an op-ed by Will Lewis, the outlet's chief executive and publisher, he wrote then that the decision not to endorse this

or any future presidential elections was a return to the paper's roots, noting that for many decades, they didn't offer endorsements. And arguing there that we see it as consistent with the values the Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader. And adding there, we also see it as a statement

in support of our readers' ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions, whom to vote for as the next president. And from there, going on to say that the Post's job is to be nonpartisan and independent. But that received a lot of backlash, both in and out of the newsroom.

This including from Marty Baron, the former executive director of the Post, who told reporters, if this decision had been made three years ago, two years ago, maybe even a year ago, that would have been fine. It's a certainly reasonable decision. But this was made within a couple of weeks of the election, and there was no substantive serious deliberation with the editorial board of the paper. It was clearly made for other reasons, not for reasons of high principle. And additionally, the newsrooms union issued a statement saying it was deeply concerned with the decision coming so close to election day. And so to that point, we also saw tons of people claiming that Bezos made this

decision to try to get favor with Trump or because he was afraid of how Trump may retaliate if he wins. And that criticism even came from people at the Post with top journalists and editors condemning the move. There were also a series of resignations from columnists and nearly a third of the 10-person editorial board stepped down. Within all of this backlash being so fierce that Bezos himself wrote an op-ed published yesterday explaining the decision. Right in there, he essentially framed his choice as an effort to restore trust in the media. With him noting that surveys have long shown declining trust in news media and journalism, specifically pointing to a recent Gallup poll that showed a continuation of this downward trend. With that survey specifically finding that for the

third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media than trusted a great deal or fair amount. And noting another 33% of Americans express not very much confidence. Bezos specifically noting in his op-ed that trust in media actually fell behind trust in Congress. Writing, our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working. And arguing that like voting machines, newspapers must be accurate and we must be believed to be accurate. And continuing there, saying media must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility. And claiming that presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,

and instead create perceptions of bias and non-independence, so ending them as a principled decision. Bezos then went on to address criticism against the timing of the decision and allegations that he was trying to appease Trump, with him writing there that he wished that he had made the decision earlier and further from the election,

but claiming that was inadequate planning and not some intentional strategy. And even explicitly stating no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here, saying neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally. With him then closing by circling back to the lack of trust in news media writing, lack of credibility isn't unique to the Post. Our brethren newspapers have the same issue. Right, and actually to that point, while the Post has been the center of attention over the last few days,

it is by no means the only major news outlet that's recently decided not to endorse a candidate. For example, just days before the Post made its announcement, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times also declared that the paper wouldn't be making an endorsement. While there, the owner claimed

that he was following a decision made by the editorial board. Several members of that board then directly disputed that, saying they prepared an endorsement of Harris that he had blocked. Also, a notable difference is that unlike the Post, the LA Times didn't say that it was ending the practice of presidential endorsements entirely for the future. It was just not backing anyone this year. So similarly, that move prompted widespread backlash, resignations, and subscription cancellations.

But then all of this is seemingly the trend is continuing. I mean, literally yesterday, USA Today, which is one of the country's single largest daily newspapers by circulation, they also said they will not be giving a presidential endorsement this year. And actually with that, USA Today's parent company, Gannett, also saying this policy will apply to all the more than 200 American outlets it owns. And this, as it's not entirely new, right back in 2022, over 200 publications owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which includes major outlets like the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, declared they would end the practice of endorsing national political candidates entirely.

But I guess with all that said, I'd really love to know your thoughts here, whether it's specifically about the Washington Post move and Bezos' explanation or really the industry in general, or even the idea of endorsements. Though specifically there, I mean, regarding news organizations and not individuals. Do you see it as a good thing, a bad thing?

Are you indifferent to it? Also, do you think it has an impact or not if these organizations are endorsing? And then I guess finally, what are your thoughts around the reasoning? Does it help with possible trust issues or do you think, no, it is owners hedging their bets? And then we've got to talk about this extortion, blackmail, and death squads, because that is what the democratically elected former Filipino president, Rodrigo Duterte, just admitted to at a Senate hearing. And I mean, it's been a well-known fact that Duterte had draconian views on how to deal with the drug trade and was long accused of encouraging the extrajudicial killings of people involved in it. But in this Senate hearing, not only did he admit it, not only was he completely unrepentant,

he even admitted to things that went above and beyond what many thought. Like for example, he told the commission, quote, I can make the confession now if you want. I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police. They were gangsters. And these gangsters, apparently, they didn't have much choice in the matter. With Duterte explaining, I'll ask a gangster to kill somebody.

If you will not kill that person, I will kill you now. And that's actually an important distinction because in the past, he had been accused of giving police chiefs and officers the okay to kill suspects. So with Duterte's specific confession, instead of directly ordering them to get their hands dirty, he said that he told them to escalate situations to encourage suspects to kill suspects. So with Duterte's specific confession, instead of directly ordering them to get their hands dirty, he said that he told them to escalate situations

to encourage suspects to fight back, thus giving the officers an excuse to justify a killing, with the gangsters seemingly being used for targeted killings. Also with this, it should be worth noting that his confession is related to his time as mayor, not president of the Philippines. But with all that, the current Filipino government estimates

that during Duterte's war on drugs, about 6,200 people were killed. And that, as importantly, human rights groups fear that a solid chunk of those were just people in the wrong place at the wrong time or targeted for non-drug related reasons. But you know, looking at Duterte's testimony yesterday, I mean, it is clear that he doesn't care that there's an investigation going on. And he told lawmakers. question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do. And whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country. But no mistake about it. I hate drugs. Though again, one, a lot of the killing and harassment appears to have not been drug related. If anything, drugs were kind of used as an excuse,

as a weapon to do other things. Which on that note, the hearing yesterday had a personal touch, right? And that was because he had to face some of his accusers, including former Senator Leila de Lima. And de Lima, she was a Duterte critic who was targeted by his administration, accused of drug related crimes,

causing her to be in prison for seven years. And this, as there was essentially no proof and the charges ended up eventually getting dropped. Now with this, an important thing to note is we're likely to get more information in the coming days and weeks, as Duterte is expected to give further testimony, but remained cryptic about what exactly he would say.

However, there was a moment where I think he hit the nail on the head and he's asking what a lot of people are wondering right now, saying, I'm puzzled why the Justice Department hasn't filed any case. I've been killing people for a long time and they haven't filed any cases up to now.

And so with that, you know, maybe we'll see charges, maybe we won't, we have to wait to see. But the final thing I'll note with all this, and it's possibly a sign of how people view strongman political leaders, is that despite it being near public knowledge that these killings were going on, Duterte still remains wildly popular there. Which is also likely the reason that we're getting the testimony that we're getting here. But then in big business news, Google is waging a covert proxy war to take down Microsoft. That's what Microsoft's now claiming. And they explained their accusation in a blog post by one of the company's top lawyers. And so specifically, according to Microsoft, Google organized and funded the soon to be launched Open Cloud Coalition, which is a group

of players in the cloud computing industry that want to quote, fair, competitive and open cloud services industry across the UK and EU. And allegedly Google is going to pretend it's just a minor player in the coalition when in fact it organized, funded, and recruited smaller companies to join the group. Or as Microsoft specifically alleges, Google sometimes doesn't even make it clear that they were involved when recruiting by leaving their name off any docs. And this is Microsoft doubts that Google's aim is for a fair competitive cloud environment. Instead saying it's to keep Microsoft down and point EU regulators to them.

Which Google has kind of admitted to in the past across four different blog posts with a spokesperson saying, we've been very public about our concerns with Microsoft's cloud licensing. We and many others believe that Microsoft's anti-competitive practices lock in customers and create negative downstream effects that impact cybersecurity, innovation, and choice.

Microsoft has tried to turn the tables and point out that Google is no stranger to monopolies. In saying that, Google is spending more time trying to tear down competition into its growing cloud business rather than building it up with a company writing. Never in the past two decades have Google's search, digital advertising, and mobile app store monopolies faced such a concerted and determined threat as they do today. At a time when Google should be focused on addressing legitimate questions about its business, it is instead turning its vast resources towards tearing down others. It is disappointing that, with the foundation of their business facing jeopardy, they have sought to bolster their cloud computing service, Google Cloud Platform,

by attacking ours. And this is also hardly the only time Google has tried to attack Microsoft. Recently, Microsoft made an antitrust settlement with the cloud infrastructure services providers in Europe. But there, Google wasn't happy with the deal and tried to derail it by offering CISPE $470 million to go after Microsoft, which was ultimately turned down. It also remains to be seen if Google's efforts will pay off or whether Microsoft calling them out will lower the group's impact. But considering we're talking about two of the biggest companies ever, both of which are known to be monopolistic assholes, it's really hard to feel sympathy for either side. But that, my friends, is the end of your Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning dive into the news.

So I'll leave you with three things. One, a friendly reminder to get in on that brand new beautifulbastard.com drop, like it's just fucking awesome. You can click or tap right there, or I got a link in the description. Two, for more news you need to know, I got you covered right here. And three, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.

You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.