The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 10.4 The Concerning Story of Shimaa Qasim, Houston's Robo-Ban, BH Response, & More

Episode Date: October 4, 2018

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Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we should talk about today is Iraq and Shima Kassim. Shima, if you don't know, is Miss Iraq 2015. She has a large following on Instagram with 2.7 million followers. And the unfortunate part of that is that's put her in the spotlight in a country where religious violence is still prevalent. Kassim is considered westernized, meaning she often dresses more akin to European and American women. She doesn't wear the hijab or other modest clothing by the standards of the region.

And because of this, she has received a ton of hate online. Some messages and posts criticizing her for her immodesty and others just saying, you will die. And some posts recently seemingly got so bad that she ended up having to disable comments flat out. And this past Sunday, she had a live stream where she made it clear that she actually fears for her life, noting that women who have been famous in Iraq

have been slaughtered like chickens. She also mentions that she has received death threats via text message, one simply saying, you're next. And as far as, well, how do you know for sure that's a death threat, Kasim wouldn't be the first quote unquote westernized woman in Iraq to face this problem. And one of those notable women is someone Kasim praised in her livestream as a martyr by the name of Taraa Fares.

Fares was a model, she's a former Miss Baghdad with a big following as well on Instagram with 2.8 million followers. Just last week, she was gunned down by two motorcyclists in Baghdad while sitting at a stop in her car. And this reportedly happened in broad daylight. So, Ferez's death, Kasim's experience, it hits on this issue in the country

of women being increasingly targeted. Regarding Ferez, most people believe it's because of how she dressed, her profession, and maybe some hints of sectarian violence as she was a Christian. Also, reportedly, she had only been there for a short period of time, and before her death, she reportedly received similar messages

to those that Kasim is receiving. Her death also sparked a ton of controversy when a famous journalist for the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV station commented on her killing and tweeted, It's just a whore that got killed. And he eventually ended up deleting that tweet after major backlash, and his employer condemned the vulgarity of the tweet, but for many, it highlighted that the killings are accepted by some. And also, this 22-year-old's death is just the tip of the iceberg. Just days before her death, Saud Al-Ali, a female human rights old's death is just the tip of the iceberg. Just days before her death, Saad Al Ali, a female human rights activist,

was shot in the city of Basra. And before that you had Rafif Al Yasseri, a plastic surgeon at the Barbie clinic dying, and so did Rasha Al Hasan, a beauty expert. And reportedly both of them died via unusual circumstances in their homes, both also in the same social circles as Ferez. You even had the prime minister, Ha'idir Al Abadi,

even suggesting that there's an organized effort behind these deaths, suggesting specifically that there is a plan behind these crimes and ordering an investigation. Hannah Edwar, founder of the human rights group Iraqi Al-Amal Association, said the murders appear to be threatening messages sent to activists in particular, but also to the whole of society. Adding attacking women who are public figures is a bid to force them to shut themselves away at home. And so that's where we are right now with this situation. I think it is a situation that needs more light cast on it. But also with a situation like this, I wanted to pass the question off to you of what would you do if you were her?

You have some calling for Kasim to leave Iraq for her own safety, whereas others have praised her for being who she is there, saying that's how you truly change the culture. And I'm really interested in what you, if you were in that position, what you would do. And then let's talk about BetterHelp, the online counseling service, which for full transparency, I'm not sure how what you if you were in that position what you would do Let's talk about better help the online counseling service which for full transparency

I'm not sure how familiar you are with these videos or the business side of things that we've talked about with my company on it Of franco elite better help has been a sponsor of our videos We've even partnered with them at a company level to help them with other sponsorships with other youtubers also And it's not just a stick from a sponsor read it is a service I personally use a service I personally love In addition to recommending it in sponsored videos, I recommend it to friends and family, especially friends and family that are like, "'Oh, I don't have the time to talk to someone.'"

And so with all of that kind of explained from the get-go, that's why I was so taken aback yesterday when all of a sudden there was this wave of claims that BetterHelp was a scam. And looking into it, it mainly appears that these claims are coming from kind of these two things that are being connected. One, there are places where there are a lot of reviews

from people that weren't happy with the service or the counselors that they had or for a variety of other reasons. And two, you had people calling into question certain parts of BetterHelp's terms and conditions. And those parts hit on things like, while we may try to do so from time to time in our sole discretion,

you acknowledge we do not represent to verify and do not guarantee the verification of the skills, degrees, qualifications, licensure, certification, credentials, competence, or background of any counselor. It is your responsibility to conduct independent verification regarding any counselor that provides you with counselor services, whether through the platform or not.

And we strongly recommend that you will conduct this verification prior to communicating with any counselor through the platform and on a continuous basis as you use the platform. Right, and so from that terms of service, there's this question that pops up of, okay, are you just allowing anyone to say that they're a counselor? Right, because that language is concerning and is completely alien to my understanding of how they go and vet these people.

So from here, I then reached out to our contact at BetterHelp. We ended up being connected with the founder of BetterHelp, Alain Matasse. And he gave me a statement where at one point he talked about the terms and conditions in question, saying, the terms and conditions document typically provides the legalese that defines the extent of liability "'and mitigates legal risks associated with such platforms. "'We will be revising the terms and conditions document "'so it more closely matches the vetting process "'we currently conduct.'"

And regarding that current vetting process, he said, "'We have a whole team that makes sure every provider "'we bring to the platform is fully licensed "'and in good standing. "'Providers who apply are required to provide "'proper licensure documentation, proof of identity, "'and references from other licensed practitioners "'who have worked with them. "'We then cross to provide proper licensure documentation, proof of identity, and references from other licensed practitioners who have worked with them.

We then cross-check their licensure information with their respective state licensing board. Additionally, our vetting process for each provider, which typically takes four to five weeks, goes well beyond checking credentials. Each potential provider needs to complete a case study exam by a licensed clinician in a video interview. The result of this rigorous process

is that only about 15% of the therapists who apply to work through BetterHelp are accepted to the platform. And then adding that on top of all of that, we also show the full licensing information for each provider to make it easier for users to do their own due diligence on their counselor. And so seemingly the TLDR of that statement is the founder saying we acknowledge that we need to revise our terms and conditions. The way that the legal wording was put into place was to limit liability, but we do vet these people. Also on top of this, Matas has publicly said, you are welcome to go to our provider directory, betterhelp.com slash counselors, and see the credentials and licensing information

of each one of our providers. And also on top of all of that, they have invited me to their offices to see their processes and procedures. With all of that said, even though I personally trust them, I've had a fantastic experience myself. Moving forward, I'm going to be putting a temporary hold on future BetterHelp sponsorships.

This until one, they reword their terms and conditions, which they said that they will, and they really need, I understand the concern there. Like I looked at the site of one of their competitors and they have some of that same distancing language, but it also says that they put in a lot of work. That needs to be made apparent. And I also do need to go there and see

what they are actually doing and how they actually do it. And I mean, getting them to address the terms and conditions, the vetting process, also the other complaints and criticisms of the service overall. And also on that note specifically, I requested and they accepted for me to either bring a journalist with me or to have one come in addition to me. And I think that's an important part because I am aware that because of my relationship and partnership with BetterHelp, there's no way that to everyone it can seem unbiased when I go there. And so today and all of this of course is still developing,

I reached out to a journalist that covered the controversy around BetterHelp and invited them to come with me, or in addition to. They said that they're interested and hopefully we can arrange for something sooner rather than later. But ultimately, that is where we are right now. Understand I take this situation very seriously, and I will keep you up to date as things develop. Then, in your weird but interesting headline of the day, Houston votes to ban sex robot brothel from opening. According to reports, the city council vote was unanimous. And regarding this so-called brothel,

you had the mayor of Houston say, "'It's not the sort of business that we advertise for "'or we seek to attract, or quite frankly, "'from my point of view, the sort of business "'that I want in the city of Houston.'" Also adding, "'Look, I'm not trying to be the moral police, "'but I am charged with the health and safety "'of the people in our city, "' founder of Love People Not Pixel, saying,

We all see the connection to the devaluation and the abuse and the exploitation of women, and that's really what we're after. But on the other side of it, you had the owner of Kinky Dolls saying, We're here to prevent human trafficking. We are actually considering to donate a portion of our business to help fight human trafficking and prostitution, which is an issue for many, many years. Now that said, looking further into the story, it appears that sex robots themselves are not being banned, but the ordinance ends up banning the try it before you buy it business model, AKA a brothel type model. And it was such a weird story, but I also thought there might be an interesting debate there over what you think, right?

Whether we think that it is strange or not, is this something that should be banned? You have a grown person making a choice about what they're doing with their life in a private setting. It's a situation with a sex doll slash robot, so is that really prostitution? And I'd really love to know your thoughts on this one,

because while I would not be super pumped to be right next to this place, to me, while it's not a place I would actively go to, it does seem like a place that is harmless. But that said, that is my personal takeaway from it, and I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? And then let's talk about this horrible story

coming out of Florence County, South Carolina. Yesterday at around 4 p.m., sheriffs there attempted to execute a search warrant on a residence. And that warrant was reportedly related to allegations that a 27-year-old that lived there had sexually assaulted a minor that was a foster child in the house.

And when the sheriffs arrived, instead of cooperating, a man who has now been identified as 74 year old Frederick Hopkins barricaded himself inside with an unspecified number of children and opened fire. Reportedly as other officers arrived to assist, the suspect continued to fire, hitting seven officers total.

Also due to the position of the shooter, officers were unable to get to the injured without putting themselves in the line of fire. But reportedly thanks to a mine resistant ambush protected or MRAP vehicle, they were able to retrieve the officers that had been shot. And after what ended up being a two hour standoff, Hopkins ended up speaking with the negotiator and was taken into custody.

Also regarding Hopkins, he was then taken to the hospital with a head wound, reportedly from a fall. There are also reports that at least one civilian was injured, a 20 year old man inside of the house who was shot and taken to the hospital, but as of right now his condition is unknown. And as far as the police officers, one of the officers who was shot and taken to the hospital, but as of right now his condition is unknown. And as far as the police officers, one of the officers who was shot, Terrence Carraway, he reportedly died of his injuries on the way to the hospital.

He was a 30 year veteran of the force. He was named officer of the year in 2004. Also among the injured, you had three Florence city police officers and three other county deputies. Two of those police officers have reportedly been released from the hospital and one is in serious but stable condition. As far as the deputy is conditioned right now

We don't have new updates. So that's that during last night's press conference We had Florence police chief Alan Heidler speaking of the officers bravery. These officers are my family We will take care of them and we will take care of their Loved ones, but I want you to please Pray for these officers and their speedy recovery. Pray for the family who lost the bravest police officer that I have ever known. We also had South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster tweeting about the shooting saying,

"'This is simply devastating news from Florence. "'The selfless acts of bravery from the men and women "'in law enforcement is real, "'just like the power of prayer is real. "'Peggy and I ask that you pray for them, "'pray for their recovery, pray for their families, and pray for all of Florence. We also saw President Trump tweeting about the incident

saying, my thoughts and prayers are with the Florence County Sheriff's Office and the Florence Police Department tonight in South Carolina. We are forever grateful for what our law enforcement officers do 24-7, 365. And for me today, I felt like this was an important story to talk about, not only because of the actual loss of life and the injury here

But given the way our news cycle works, especially around stories that involve let's say police shootings. It's very easy to dehumanize the police It's very easy to forget that these are people and how dangerous their job is They likely thought that this was just going to be a routine search warrant and all of a sudden you have injured and dead I know for many online it's become kind of this usual thing that people kind of scoff at thoughts and prayers, but what I really do want to end this story on, obviously my thoughts and my heart goes out to all of those affected, but I also just want to say thank you.

Thank you to the good men and women that put their lives on the line for us, for their community. I, like pretty much everyone else, that is not in law enforcement. I am commenting from the sidelines and I cannot imagine what goes into your job. So thank you, my heart breaks for you here, and that's where I'm gonna end this one today.

And remember, if you like these videos, you like these daily dives into the news, hit that like button. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button. Also, if you missed yesterday's show, you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch that. Or if you wanna watch the newest bonus video, you can click right there. But, that said, of course, as always, my name is Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you next time.