The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.2 They Killed Their Spanish Teacher Over Bad Grade, "Roving Group of Masked Kids" Initially Blamed

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

Start your free trial today: http://www.Squarespace.com/Phil  & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase! News You May Have Missed: https://youtu.be/gTxui8CJwmo Check Out This Week’s Rap-Up: https://youtu.be/UKSXkPBcmfM TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - Prosecutors Say Bad Grades Motivated Students to Kill Teacher 02:31 - Artists Sign Letter in Support of Restricting of Rap Lyrics as Courtroom Evidence 04:16 - Sponsored by Squarespace 05:02 - Netanyahu Poised to Return as Israel’s Leader After Another Election 08:30 - Health Experts Warn of Possible “Tripledemic” – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Prosecutors Say Bad Grades Motivated Students to Kill Teacher: https://apnews.com/article/crime-homicide-iowa-des-moines-fairfield-42eba22bc42bf9e52a165478916072c4 Artists Sign Letter in Support of Restricting of Rap Lyrics as Courtroom Evidence: https://roguerocket.com/2022/11/02/rap-music-evidence-open-letter/ Netanyahu Poised to Return as Israel’s Leader After Another Election: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63490806 Health Experts Warn of Possible “Tripledemic”: https://roguerocket.com/2022/11/02/tripledemic-skyrocketing-rsv/ —————————— Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright, Christian Meeks Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle Production Team: Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco  #MeganTheeStallion #Drake ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into today's news. Meet Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale. They're two Iowa teenagers, and the reason they're dressed up like dollar store Hannibal Lecters is that they've been charged with murdering their high school Spanish teacher, Nohema Graber. And this all reportedly happening in the small town of Fairfield. One year ago to the day, tomorrow, Graber's body was found in a Fairfield park, hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow, and railroad ties, with the teacher reportedly having been beaten to death with a baseball bat. And the big news today is that prosecutors this week say they know the motive for why these two allegedly did this, and they say it was because of a bad grade. Now, Miller's lawyer, according to the AP, is trying to invalidate four search warrants and suppress evidence from Miller's home, comments that he made to the police, and information taken

from his cell phone and the social media platform Snapchat. But this is in court. I'm not the judge. You're not the jury. So let's talk about what we think we know. Investigators say that they found that Miller had actually met with his high school Spanish teacher at the high school on the afternoon of the 2nd. This is to discuss the bad grade that he had in her class. Authorities saying the graver later drove her van to a park where she was known to take daily walks after school, with witnesses claiming they later saw her van leaving the park less than an hour later with two males in the front seat. That van then gets abandoned, and investigators saying that Goodale

then makes a phone call, with a witness he called later picking up those two as they walk to town on that same road. One of the likely reasons that Miller's lawyer doesn't want the police interview included is because in that interview, Miller talks about being so frustrated with the way Graber taught Spanish

and how his grade was bad in her class, how it was lowering his GPA. Also regarding the murder, he initially said, I had no involvement, but then, quote, he later stated he had knowledge of everything but did not participate. Reportedly saying, no, he didn't kill this teacher. It was a, quote, roving group of masked kids, who also, he claimed, forced him to then get involved by providing a wheelbarrow and driving the van. As far as why Miller's lawyer doesn't want the Snapchat evidence included, well, I mean, as the AP reported, the documents say a witness provided photos of a Snapchat conversation

that identify Goodale's admissions that he acted in concert with another person to bring about Graber's death. But as far as what happens from here, we won't know everything until sometime next year, with Goodale's trial set for December and Miller's trial scheduled for March. Though, a key thing with the trials is that this murder happened when both were 16 years old. They are now 17, but they are still going to be tried as adults. And if they're convicted for first-degree murder in Iowa, they could face life in prison. Though, key thing, as the AP notes, Iowa Supreme Court

rulings require juveniles convicted of even the most serious crimes to be given a chance for parole. With that said, if everything is as it is and it is true that they killed their teacher with a fucking baseball bat, hopefully chance for parole isn't actually a chance for parole. And then, when should your own words not be allowed to be used against you in the court of law? That is the central question and debate at the core of this story. Because right now we are seeing rap lyrics being used in court against artists. Where you have rappers like Young Thug and members of the Young Stoner Life label currently facing dozens of charges, including ones that accuse the label of being a criminal gang. And there, prosecutors are using their lyrics as confessions of criminal intent.

Lyrics like, I get all type of cash, I'm a general. And this, not a random outlier. Experts have found over 500 cases where rap was used as legal evidence, and that is likely an undercount. But also, here's a key thing. Those same experts found only four instances since the 1950s where non-rap lyrics were used as evidence. And three of the four cases were tossed out, while the other was overturned after conviction. Which is why you have a lot of critics saying that rap is being unfairly targeted.

That rather than looking at rap as free artistic expression like other forms of music, police and prosecutors are very eager to interpret it literally. Saying that they ignore the storytelling, figurative language, and hyperbole that's often used in rap. And among those critics, you actually had California Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed a bill limiting the use of rap lyrics as evidence last month. Also, New York and even at the federal level, legislators are weighing similar bills. And in addition to that, yesterday we saw a massive stand from dozens of artists and major music companies. With the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Drake, Jack Harlow, Future, Coldplay, and more signing an open letter. A letter reading, more than any other art form, rap lyrics are essentially being used as confessions

in an attempt to criminalize black creativity and artistry. Saying what's happening is an obvious disregard for free speech and calling it a racially targeted practice. With it then calling on prosecutors to voluntarily end this practice and on politicians at state and federal levels to finally enact legislation that would limit the use of rap lyrics in court.

With that said, I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it should be allowed to be used? No, it shouldn't. By all of a sudden making this move that the artists want, are you accidentally creating a loophole? But also if legislation gets put in place, are we really gonna see like a rise of people admitting to crimes and rap? Are OJ and Harvey Weinstein gonna drop an album together?

And then I want to take a second to thank a sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. You know, I've been partnering with Squarespace for years now, and I have to say that if you're getting your business off the ground or creating a place to share your homemade goods, new favorite hobby, your current obsession, or even having a personal blog to get all those thoughts out of your head, no matter what you're doing, Squarespace is there to help. And it's all so easy. There's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever. Plus, creating a beautiful website with Squarespace's all-in-one platform has never been so simple. It's extremely intuitive and easy to use. And with their mobile-optimized websites, your content automatically adjusts so it looks great on any device. Plus, with Squarespace, you get access to all their

marketing tools and analytics and their award-winning customer care team via email or live chat 24-7. So if you want to check it out, see why so many others love it, see if it's perfect for you, go ahead and start your free trial today over at squarespace.com slash phil. And when you realize you love it, make sure you enter an offer code phil to get 10% off your first purchase. And then Benjamin Netanyahu is back. He's like the political version of Jason Voorhees just when you thought he was done. Uh-uh.

So Israel just had its fifth election since 2019. And I've been covering this ridiculousness since it started so that the TLDR is that the government there keeps falling apart as minority parties leave the coalition. And the key thing is that as all of this is happening, Netanyahu has actually been fighting corruption charges tied to gifts between him and telecom moguls. But the fact that there was this most recent election, it wasn't shocking,

especially when you consider the election prior. Because at that time, the weirdest coalition of parties joined together is essentially the fuck you BB coalition of groups that would literally never work together otherwise. And they tried and then, no, it fell apart. But then you fast forward to about 80% of the votes now counted as of this this morning and it looks like netanyahu's party is going to take the top spot but of course that alone wouldn't be enough to just give him the job so in order to form a government his block is going to need the help of the rising far-right coalition run by itamar bangvir to win enough seats and currently that far-right coalition is likely to end up as the third biggest block in the legislature which i mean that alone is a huge deal because bangvir's

party barely got into the legislature last time and mean, that alone is a huge deal. Because Ben-Gur's party barely got into the legislature last time, and this time they're gonna be one of the most powerful blocks. This is a coalition that wants things like having an exclusively Jewish state and removing what autonomy the Palestinians still have. He also reportedly wants to make the type of corruption

that Netanyahu is accused of legal, grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians, and deport rival lawmakers that he thinks are terrorists. Now, that said, when it comes to Netanyahu's opposition, his biggest rival is current Prime Minister Yair Lapid. His left center party is the second biggest group in the government. However, just like Netanyahu, Lapid is relying on allies to form a government. And for Netanyahu's opponents, this is where things kind of fall apart. Many of the right-wing voters that were like, Netanyahu's too much, we gotta

leave him last time, are now returning. And a lot of the minority parties are just not doing well at the polls. In fact, some are teetering on the threshold to get seats at all in the legislature. And if any of them end up failing, Lapid's coalition has absolutely no hope of pulling off a miracle and winning. But also with this dramatic shift happening in the polls and voting, one of the biggest questions outside of Israel is how did Lapid's coalition lose so much support? Well, there are a lot of factors, but some of the biggest include Lapid allegedly had his canvassers target voters from allied parties rather than undecided voters, a practice that

reportedly didn't stop until a week before the election. There were also accusations and frustrations that Lapid didn't give enough support to the Arab party, which was a key ally in the bloc and required to form a government. And then possibly the thing with one of the biggest impacts came from Lapid's seeming decision to abandon surplus agreements. Those are deals that allow parties who pass a certain threshold to share votes with others, allowing smaller parties to get enough votes to get a seat in the legislature. Or as one unhappy lawmaker put it, he behaved like a cannibalistic pig who tried to eliminate other parties in order to be the biggest party, and this is the result. Now, this is still a developing situation. It's updating as I'm recording. So I do want to note, there is a

small chance that Lapid's coalition could still pull through if every single member of the coalition does way better in the last few percentages of the vote. But seemingly every hour we move forward, it seems less and less likely that's going to happen and that Netanyahu will instead end up with 65 of the 120 seats. And then we get to see how long this government will work together. Because Itamar Bengvir has been described as a dangerous wildcard by many. But there are even indications that the Biden administration won't work with him because of how extreme he is and that may cause tension. Reportedly, he's pushing for minister positions that would help further his policies, and it's entirely possible that Netanyahu, who is secular, will fear driving away what secular votes he has left due to being forced to court allies

like Ben-Gvir. Or, you know, maybe he just gives in and fully embraces Ben-Gvir's vision of Israel. Yeah, that is where we currently are, and of course, I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts, especially if you're in Israel or you have family there or around there? Because while everyone may not realize it, this is huge, massive news. And then there could be a triple-demic this winter. Just get me off this fucking rock. I'm tired. I'm emotionally exhausted. I hate that new words have to keep getting made to describe how fuck shit is. Yeah, right now you have public health experts warning a triple-demic could happen. This because in addition to the expected surges

of the flu and COVID, there's another virus into the mix. Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. And if you don't know, this is not a new thing. This is actually a common seasonal respiratory infection. While it usually presents like a cold with very mild symptoms in healthy adults, it can cause lung inflammation or infections like bronchitis and pneumonia in young children,

older adults, and the immunocompromised. Now, annually, it's estimated that 58,000 children under the age of five are hospitalized with RSV, resulting in between 100 to 500 deaths. Also among Americans 65 and older, around 177,000 are hospitalized each year, leading to around 14,000 deaths. But the key thing is that this year, the U.S. is experiencing a very, very, very large early surge of the virus, especially among children. In fact, according to the CDC, detected RSV cases have tripled nationwide just in the last two months, and case numbers have already reached peak levels seen in 2021, with the preliminary numbers showing that since the beginning of October,

nearly one in every 500 babies six months and younger was hospitalized with RSV. It is believed that the real numbers across the board are much higher because many people who have been infected don't get tested even if they've been hospitalized. Also, as far as what is the reason why so many more children than usual are becoming sick and seriously sick with RSV? Well, health experts generally believe right now it's due to the broad rollback of COVID restrictions, right? Children who would have normally otherwise been exposed to RSV and able to build up immunities to it have been insulated because of COVID precautions like masking, social distancing, increased hand washing, and other measures. And so as a result, we've seen

what some doctors have described as an unprecedented number of young children being hospitalized in emergency rooms and pediatric intensive care units all over the country. And that massive surge in hospitalizations is putting a serious strain on hospitals right now. They're already dealing with seasonal spikes in respiratory viruses like colds, flus, and COVID. And as the New York Times notes, it is particularly challenging in regions where pediatric units have shrunk or have even been shuttered in recent years, creating bottlenecks in emergency rooms and shifting the strain to children's hospitals

that focused on specialized services like cancer treatment or heart surgery. And we're already seeing the impact in some places. Multiple pediatric hospitals are already at capacity, including John Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, as well as others in Seattle, Lubbock, Texas, and Orange County, California. With officials in Orange County even going as far as to declare a public health emergency yesterday as the rapid spread of the viral infections, in part driven by RSV, have caused pediatric hospitalizations and daily emergency room visits to surge to record levels. Meanwhile,

reportedly Boston Children's Hospital has postponed some elective surgery so it can make room for more patients that have respiratory illnesses. But where I'll leave you with this story is with two kind of final things. The first is that, whether from this show or somewhere else, you are now aware of what's happening. Now, as you'll say, that the best way to prevent RSV is through precautions you should already be taking. Things like hand washing, drinking water, disinfecting services, avoiding touching your face, which now that I've mentioned, you want to do 12,000 times in a minute. Other experts have also said that you should be getting your flu shot and the updated COVID boosters. But also, big news regarding RSV is that yesterday yesterday Pfizer announced that it's made an RSV vaccine that is 81.8% effective at protecting newborns from severe

illness in the first three months of life, and then 69.4% effective for six months. But that's not going to be too helpful for you right now, most likely, because while the company says that it plans to file for vaccine approval with the FDA, it takes on average eight to 10 months for the agency to issue a decision on a new vaccine, which is great news for future you, but for you right now might be like throwing an oxygen tank at someone who drowned a year ago. And that is where that story in today's show ends. As always, thank you so much for watching. For more news you need to know, click here or here. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.