The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.15 Elon Musk Fraud Scandal Has Divided The Internet, Israel Hamas Ceasefire, & DJI Drone Strike Problem

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

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Elon Musk has been getting absolutely torched for being a weirdo liar by millions of gamers, but he's now responded. Also, Israel and Hamas appear to have agreed to a ceasefire. We've got huge updates with Russia and Ukraine. The South Korean president's now been arrested. And we've got people freaking out now about a new huge drone controversy. We're talking about and breaking down all of that today on your brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, how news is being covered, and how people are reacting. But first, I've got an announcement for you, and that is that the first drop of 2025 is being covered, and how people are reacting. But first, I've got an announcement for you, and that is that the first drop of 2025

is now live over at beautifulbastard.com. It is a mini drop, but of course, you know, it's what you do with it that matters. And so to start, we've got our brand new fantastic flannels that you've been seeing me wear on the show recently in both red and black and black and white. And then I've also got some fantastic accessories for you with this drop in the new

Wear Your Feelings 36-ounce Insulated Water Bottle, along with our vegan leather bound journal for your intrusive thoughts or affirmations, dealer's choice. It's also on dotted wood-free paper, dotted because I'm a big bullet journaler. And all four of those are available for 20% off if you get it in the first 24 hours. And we still have some final leftover sale items for up to 80% off on site. So grab anything and everything you want while you can. But like I said, we have a lot of news to talk about today, starting with Elon Musk is a fucking lying loser. Those, understand, are not my words,

but rather what we've been seeing gamers saying after months of Musk claiming to be a top player in games like Diablo 4 and the new Path of Exile 2, which then led to accusations that he bought the accounts as well as speculation from people in the community like Moist Critical that Musk just has a need to be seen as cool and smart. It's such a weird, stupid thing to even lie about in the first place, and yet here he is

telling blatantly obvious fibs. He's got all the money in the world and all of the insecurity imaginable. He has this desperate, insatiable appetite for unconditional love from everyone, and in this pursuit makes everyone hate him through being just a lying cringe lord. This is such an unnecessary lie to even tell. He just wants to be viewed as the smartest person to ever grace this f***ing space rock

that we live on, and the best at everything that everything even attempts to do even when he's just not okay but let's back up a bit here because this entire situation it's been playing out for months now right i mean as far back as november you had musk bragging about his gaming on joe rogan's podcast are you in the top 20 in the world or top 20 wow in diablo yeah yeah do you want to tell everybody your handle no, don't tell them. Don't tell them. It's not worth it. Well, they actually listed me with my actual name in the list. Oh, did they really?

Oh, interesting. But yeah, there's only two Americans in the top 20. The rest, almost everyone is from Asia. And now more recently, he's been posting on X about Path of Exile 2, which is a much harder and more complex game in the same genre that had its early access launch in early December. With him, for example, on December 17,

streaming, fighting the final end game boss as a way to show off Starling's connectivity while even airborne. It also appears that he's been playing on the hardcore game mode, which means that if his character dies, even a single time, that he has to make a new character

and regrind all those levels. So it's not really meant for casuals, which is then also why a lot of people were surprised when Musk revealed via his GamingX account that his new character, Percy, was already on the leaderboard. Elon Musk's character is currently level 97, aka rank 12 on hardcore, that's permanent death mode, trade league. And then on January 7th, he did another live stream with a character which was now level 97 and way up on the leaderboards. And it's this live stream where borderline irrefutable proof came out that Musk wasn't playing the account himself normally, at least according to very experienced PoE hardcore players and streamers like Quinn and Kriparian earlier this week.

Which also I'll say as a quick note, when this first happened and people started talking, we didn't cover this. It was weird, but Elon's weird. And we're kind of just waiting to see if Elon himself would respond, which he actually did today. So that's why we didn't cover this. It was weird, but Elon's weird. And we're kind of just waiting to see if Elon himself would respond, which he actually did today. So that's why we're talking about it. But apparently the first big giveaway was his level. For example, Quinn pointing out that getting to 97,

it is a major feat and it takes for fucking ever. Two weeks into the league when people are playing the game, literally they're staying up 40 to 50 hours without sleeping, only playing Path of Exile, and they are the most tryhard guys in the world. The highest ranked player on the Hardcore Trade League was level 93. We then see him point out that despite only being four levels away,

it's a big grind to get to 97 since the time required is exponentially more, summarizing that Elon has pretty much only been playing PoE, which must be especially true because this Percy character was seemingly made in early January after his original character, Kekimus Maximus died. So it isn't a month of progress, but a couple of weeks at best doing almost nothing but playing Path of Exile.

But then another red flag for Quinn being that Musk had items used for doing end game content stored as Elon's maps, all of which were relatively easy to complete. And the reason that stands out is that if you're organizing your items, you're not going to write Phil's maps, Phil's currency, but just, you know, maps, which to them seemed to imply that someone else had set these aside for Elon. Not to mention that Elon Musk didn't play Path of Exile 1 and Path of Exile 2. Maps are actually called waystones. And he never actually refers to them as maps. He calls them

play another round here this is a hard level of waystone so it's just kind of weird that he's again called his tab elon's map so almost like someone who's a path of exile one veteran you know is kind of making that tab and be like elon you know this there's a there's a tab there called elon's maps grab your map out there i've rolled them all for you they're nice and easy you also had quinn saying that elon clearly doesn't know how to navigate the end game's core system by clicking on something that is inaccessible over and over. Because he'd need to have interacted with this literally thousands of times to get to 97.

Or also pointing out that when he's fighting a boss, he runs out of resources despite having ways to refill it instantly. And then, while playing, he doesn't have what's called a loot filter, which hides or highlights gear depending on how important it is. Or saying that he's just using the game's default, which no one uses that far into the game. Or he's saying that the filter is universally used. And I mean universally, because the amount of stuff that drops in the game, it can be overwhelming.

But it makes it easier to see the good stuff that drops to pick up, which Musk could have used because he just walks by one of the game's most useful and valuable currencies while playing, since it's not highlighted in a special way. But what becomes obviously apparent. Chaos Orb, no loot filter. He's just running past Chaos Orbs!

He just ran past the Chaos Orbs! Chaos Orbs are one of the most important currencies, and they're also really rare. I have about 140 exalts. I have like nine Chaos Orbs. Just so you guys understand. But then finally, regarding what people have pointed out, I'll end with how he describes items.

Because in short, it's claimed that he doesn't know the fundamentals of how gear works. So the non-technical version is that Musk claims that his gear isn't very good, despite likely being among the best in hardcore right now. This is a great staff, but it's only a level 62 staff. His weapon is, I kid you not, one of the best, if not the best staffs on the entire hardcore trade league you cannot even buy it insane weapon these affixes are i'd hate to say perfect but they're they might be perfect receipt of musk claiming that his gear is so many levels below his level 97 character except in poe that has nothing to do with its power it's just the minimum requirement to it. Like there are items that require level one and they're among the strongest

in the game. And this also isn't stuff that you can just like find on the ground. A player would need to understand how to craft items and trade super efficiently to reportedly even attempt to gear this good. And honestly, we could go on and on for the non-gamers out there. This is the, this is the smallest version of this story. But if you want more, and I mean, even more granular details, definitely check out Quinn's video. I'm going to link to it in this story. But if you want more, and I mean, even more granular details, definitely check out Quinn's video. I'm going to link to it in the description. But ultimately, you had Quinn ending his video by saying,

And if you needed any more proof that Elon is 100% boosted, he was playing the game today inside of maps, blasting while simultaneously on a X space, talking to like some far right wing part of some German government. I don't know, some political bull. And so all of this was enough to convince a lot of people that Musk was just lying about being good at games. Right. As we saw Moist Critical putting out a multi-million view video, just confused about why he even lies about shit like this. Others saying and asking, you know, obviously it's kind of silly to be so invested in whether or not Elon is lying about his Diablo account, but it's kind of clear he bought it. If he's willing to go on Joe Rogan and lie about something so

stupid, is this really someone you want influencing your government? And also, why did it take Path of Exile for people to realize Elon Musk is a fraud, lol? In fact, some in the space like Asmongold are so confident that Musk did not pilot his own account that he said, If Elon Musk can prove that he played this account to 97, I will stream on X starting the day that he proves it for an entire year straight, every single stream that I do. But with all of that said, today Elon Musk actually responded, with him seemingly denying account sharing and joking. Am I gonna comment on the Chinese driver of my Pathback to Hell account? Yes. His

name is Yilan Ma, and he's amazing. I rely on him for everything. With him then quote tweeting that video saying, I love my Chinese alter ego. Although with that, I'll say the fun here may have come to an end because that character actually died at rank seven on the leaderboard. So it appears that it's back to square one for Musk and or whoever is playing that account insanely well. Now, as far as what is definitely happening here or what's real or not real, I don't know. With this kind of stuff, I leave it to the nerds to figure out.

And I say nerd with love. I'm a news nerd. I haven't been a gaming nerd in 12 years. Broke too many controllers. Only a keyboard or two, always sucked with a keyboard. But for the gamers and non-gamers alike out there, I gotta ask, what are your thoughts about all this drama? But then to shift gears,

we need to talk about this big, big drone controversy. Because DJI, who reportedly has a 90% share of the global consumer drone market, they announced this week that they are no longer geofencing its drones from flying over restricted areas like airports and certain government buildings. With them saying in their post, "'When DJI first introduced the geo system in 2013,

"'consumer drones were still a relatively novel technology "'and formal drone flight rules and regulations were sparse. With them adding, the geo-fencing system was created as a voluntary built-in safety feature to help foster responsible flight practices. But then adding, since then, global regulations and user awareness have evolved significantly with a greater focus on geo-awareness and remote ID solutions, which makes detection and enforcement much easier. And so now, instead of having a geo geofence that prevents these devices from going over restricted spaces, operators will get in-app alerts to notify them

if they're near a restricted zone. Or as places like The Verge have put it, "'Only common sense, empathy, and the fear of getting caught by authorities will prevent people from flying where they shouldn't.'" And while you may agree or disagree with this move, it is very much worth noting that DJI is not violating any regulations

by removing the geofence, with even an FAA spokesperson telling The Verge that it doesn't require geofencing from manufacturers. But of course, some are still concerned with DJI's former policy VP writing, this is a remarkable shift in drone safety strategy with a potentially enormous impact. With him then also adding,

there was substantial evidence over the years that automatic drone geofencing implemented using a risk-based approach contributed significantly to aviation safety. Right, and this is, others have noted that all of this is happening as, you know, the recent headlines have made people very wary of drones, right? I mean, you have the mystery sightings in New Jersey and other states concerning a lot of people. Also, more recently, drone use actually disrupted the response to the wildfires in Los Angeles after a civilian drone collided with a

firefighting plane last week. And while luckily that plane was able to land safely after the incident, the collision did puncture a hole in its wing and so it had to be grounded after that. And this notably is that plane was one of the super scoopers that drops water over the fire. So taking it out of commission was a setback to putting out the fire. And a key thing here is that also happened

even though flying a drone over a wildfire area is a no-no. The FAA imposed temporary restrictions barring any unauthorized drones from flying in zones that were impacted by the fires, which is also why the FBI is now investigating the incident to find the operator of that drone. Also a key thing that I'll say here is this is just one

instance of drones getting in the way of these efforts. Because we've seen reports now saying that multiple drones have flown over the Palisades fire, which then forces the firefighting aircrafts to leave the area and understandably that pisses off the people who are on the front lines trying to put out the blazes, which is why we've seen tons of people bring that up amid DJI's decision, especially since some reports are

claiming that the drone involved in the collision was in fact a DJI. Also, on top of all that, you have some noting that DJI's move will raise intelligence and security concerns because DJI is a China-based company. But I mean, Congress even considering banning sales of drones from major Chinese manufacturers. But for now, what we're seeing from DJI is they are reminding drone users to follow local laws and obtain authorization to conduct flights in warning zones. And this is they've also noted that the U.S US is not the first place to have geofencing rolled back, right? This update has actually been active in the UK and several European countries since

last year. But ultimately, for now, that is where we are with this. And I'd really love to know your thoughts on this in those comments down below. And I mean that for kind of everyone, whether you have no experience with drones, you're a drone hobbyist, enthusiast, maybe you're a drone operator, or maybe you're also just someone in aviation. And then, you know, we'll get back to the news in a moment, but you know, one of the most annoying things is when you sign up for a free trial, innocently forget about it,

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That's rocketmoney.com slash PDS. Just remember, rocketmoney.com slash PDS. But then to shift gears to absolutely massive international news, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire, probably. Because as of recording this video, mediators like the Qatari PM have said that the agreement is set to go into effect on Sunday.

But at the same time, they're also saying that some details are still being hashed out. And this also is any agreement still needs to be formally approved by the Israeli cabinet and the government. Though with that, Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu has said in a statement

that officials hope that the remaining concerns will be worked out sometime tonight. But then also here, according to NBC News, Israel's Supreme Court would have an additional 24 hours to allow an appeal. But Hamas, for their part, has not only confirmed but celebrated the ceasefire deal as an achievement for its people, with them describing it as a historic moment in the conflict with its enemy and praising Gazans for their, quote, legendary resilience in the face of the war. And so with all this, we got to talk about what exactly is in this agreement, or at least what we know so far.

Because I will stress this again, this is all developing in real time, and we're learning about it as we go. But with that, the deal seems to be some version of a three-phase deal that's been floated for months. So in the first phase, lasting six weeks, Hamas would reportedly release 33 Israeli hostages. And to give some context there, Israeli officials say they believe 98 hostages remain in Gaza

and that only 60 are still alive. And so with that, among those to be released first would be women, children, men over the age of 50 and men under the age of 50 who are wounded and sick. And in exchange, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinians held captive. And specifically, according to Reuters, Israel will release 30 Palestinian detainees

for every civilian hostage and 50 Palestinian detainees for every Israeli female soldier Hamas releases. And then in addition to that, the first phase would also reportedly involve the withdrawal of the IDF to a buffer zone in Gaza near the border with Israel. But with Israel saying that it won't completely withdraw from Gaza until all of the hostages are returned. But this is also they're now agreeing to withdraw from two specific parts

of the territory that have been, as Axios has explained, a sticking point in past negotiations. But in any case, on top of all that, the deal would also reportedly allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, which, like a lot of the territory, but possibly more so has been absolutely pummeled by Israeli strikes, been largely cut off from humanitarian aid and been the site of multiple forced evacuations that aid groups say only made things worse. Which on that note,

the deal would also reportedly require 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid be allowed into Gaza every day. With 300 of them, right, a full half of them specifically allocated for the North. And again, right, that's all just phase one. Phase two, that's still reportedly kind of up in the air, with the two parties only agreeing so far that negotiations over a second phase should begin by the 16th day of phase one. With that phase then reportedly meant to bring about the eventual release of

all remaining hostages, including Israeli male soldiers, a permanent ceasefire, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers. And then finally, if we get that far, a third phase would include the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction, which it's believed would be supervised by Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations. And so there are you people wondering, you know, what this is really going to look like long-term. For example, a Gazan professor of public policy speaking to the Washington Post asking, who's going to govern Gaza? How will reconstruction be carried out? Who's going to commit resources and financial means for this reconstruction? As well as asking, will Israel cooperate or will Israel introduce obstacles? And finally say,

the big missing element is political settlement or a political proposal to end this conflict. But of course, for the most part, anything to end the fighting is being celebrated as a win, at least by politicians. For example, Biden issuing a statement applauding the tentative agreement and emphasizing his role in reaching it, saying, I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31st, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. With him then going on to add that the deal is the result of both the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. With him continuing, my diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.

With him then also delivering a speech shortly after where he outlined the details of the deal. We then also saw President-elect Trump chiming in and taking full credit for the deal, writing on Truth Social, this epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November as it signaled to the entire world that my administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans and our allies. With him then adding, we have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House and my administration is fully confirmed

so they can secure more victories for the United States. And notably with that, we saw experts saying that while Biden does deserve praise for his work on the negotiations, Trump isn't wrong here. Trump has insisted that a ceasefire be put into place by the time that he takes office and threatening great consequences. With some officials and experts then crediting those threats

and helping move negotiations along. With this including the head of the US-based Center for International Policy, who said, "'The fact that the two sides have finally reached a deal "'after Trump's threats ironically shows "'how effective actual pressure can be "'in changing Israeli government behavior.'" For now, I'll say while it looks good

and we hope that it is good, we're gonna have to wait to see how successful this deal actually is. And that is also assuming it does not fall apart in the last minute, which we hope does not happen. But then in other international news, it finally happened. South Korean president Yoon was arrested today, right? And it had been widely expected that eventually Yoon would be arrested. But I mean, he's been sitting in his fortified house for weeks. And remember when I say fortified, I mean, literally the presidential security services put up barricades and barbed wire everywhere.

And all of this coming after investigators had tried to arrest him nearly two weeks ago, but were repelled by the same team. Though I will say this time it does look like things were a lot easier. In fact, according to Reuters, Yoon had turned himself into the CIO just as his home was about to be raided.

But this also as other outlets have made it seem like he was arrested at home. Now with that also reportedly there were a relatively small number of pro-Yoon protesters near the residence, though luckily there's no indication that they tried to stop the arresting officers as they were dismantling the barricades. You also saw the CIO adding here that this time

there were no individuals or security staff actively obstructing the execution and there were no significant physical clashes. So it looks like Yoon's security detail also didn't intervene and it seems like the CIO was ready for that because this time they also brought a lot of police with them as backup.

And while I don't know the exact number, you had the Wall Street Journal claiming 1,100, CNBC saying about 3,000, but either way, it's way more than the 200 guards Yoon had. Also regarding Yoon, he recorded a message just before getting arrested saying that, "'This is an illegal investigation, "'but I will appear at the Corruption Investigation Office

"'to prevent bloodshed.'" And Yoon will likely try to defend his actions in court with the same defense he's been using this entire time. Right, the argument that the president is constitutionally allowed to declare martial law. Though clearly other lawmakers and many people disagree, and that's gonna be a question that the court's gonna have to decide.

You know, with that, the stakes here are extremely high, both for Korea's constitution and for Yoon himself. Right, no matter what, this could set a huge precedent, and for Yoon himself, the insurrection charges could lead to a death sentence. Which to say, something notable there is that Yoon actually has become now the first president in the country's history to be arrested, though understand,

that's kind of an improvement because plenty of past presidents there were just assassinated. Now with this, another interesting aspect that stood out is how the news has affected the country's economy. Right, some had thought that an arrest like this, it would send shockwaves, but the country's stock market barely noticed and only dropped 0.02%. Though that could also be in part

because this has been going on for so long and everyone kind of already expected this outcome, so there wasn't a ton of shock. But for now, it remains to be seen what Yun's fate is and what the future for the country is gonna look like. But then in other international news, we need to talk about how Ukraine and Russia are seemingly throwing everything they have

at each other right now, ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration. And so starting with Ukraine, this week they've been conducting what's been described as one of the largest attacks of its kind since the war began, with them reportedly hitting three different regions of Russia as well as the formerly autonomous

Republic of Tatarstan and striking as far as almost 700 miles into the country. With this notably being thanks to the help of American and British made long range missiles, the use of which the US and UK authorized for strikes inside Russia only back in November. But with that, the strikes reportedly targeted Russian military and industrial facilities, including chemical plants, refineries, and oil and ammunition depots. So this is the Russian defense ministry claim that it shot down all of the Western missiles fired at one of the most

heavily targeted regions, as well as 146 drones outside the war zone. And now, of course, with that, you have Russia vowing to retaliate, with their defense ministers saying in a statement, "'These actions of the Kyiv regime, "'supported by Western curators, will not go unanswered.'" With them then with that announcing the next day that it had launched a strike on, quote, "'Critically important facilities of gas

"'and energy infrastructure that ensure the functioning "'of Ukraine's military-industrial complex.'" With Zelensky responding on social media today, writing another massive Russian attack, "'It's the middle of winter "'and the target for the Russians remain unchanged, "'our energy infrastructure.' "'Among their objectives were gas and energy facilities

"'that sustain normal life for our people.'" And with that, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, air, land, and sea-based missiles, including at least one ballistic missile, were all launched in the attack, along with dozens of attack drones. With many reportedly being shut down or otherwise failing to reach their target.

But still, energy facilities in three regions reportedly suffered damage. And actually, with that, the Ukrainian State Energy Company reported emergency power outages in six regions, with the energy minister there announcing the temporary stoppages as preventative restriction measures

in connection with the massive Russian attack. Right, and yeah, this is yet again the latest in the Russian military's repeated targeting of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, something that's been described as a war crime, with it being seen as an effort to wear the country and its people down by denying them heat and electricity,

especially during the winter, as well as disrupting defense manufacturing. And this is experts reportedly say that these attacks have left the country's energy network on the verge of collapse. So these attacks, they're not just coming by air, right? This is a war with troops on the ground. And with that, we've seen Russian troops

advancing in the east, effectively laying siege to a city by the name of Pokrovsk. And there, as a result, we've now seen Ukraine halting production of the city's absolutely crucial coal mine. And when I say crucial, I mean, it is literally the only mine that produces the type of coal needed for the country's steelmaking industry, which is vital to the country's war effort. Without it, the Ukrainian Steelmakers Union has said that steel production

might drop to less than 3 million metric tons in 2025, down from 7.6 million last year. With metal and steel products also being Ukraine's second biggest export industry, I mean, worth almost $4.4 billion in 2024, that might mean losing a lot of tax revenue that's been funding the country's defense. Not to mention, stripped the military of essential materials used for armor production. So with that, it's not surprising to learn that miners have actually kept working there up until the very last minute, even with Russian forces a few miles away and bombs raining down.

With the likes of the New York Times here reporting that some miners opted to drive their own cars to the mine instead of taking the bus to better evade drones that appeared overhead. But in any case, everything that's happening in Ukraine right now, it's got all this extra attention, right? Because Donald Trump is just days away

from being the president again. So you have places like the New York Times saying that Ukraine's attacks on Russia have taken on added weight as Kyiv has apparently attempted to project strength amid concerns that Trump might temper US support for Ukraine. Because as we've talked about with Trump, he has been deeply critical of the aid to Ukraine.

He's also been seen by some as having a romance with Putin, at least to some degree, and he has effectively blamed Zelensky for the war at times. And this also, as of course, Trump repeatedly claimed during his campaign that he'd be able to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. We also said in his debate with Kamala Harris

that he'd get it settled before he even became president. So unless something happens over the next four to five days, I mean, it's gonna be a very interesting 24 hours on January 20th. But also, you know, with that, we gotta talk about what could actually happen, and also how Trump has in some ways changed his tune. Because notably as far back as October,

he made a subtle shift in his rhetoric, saying that he could solve the war very quickly rather than in one day. And actually, since the election, he's just walked it back further, avoiding really giving any sort of timeline. Though, I will say a big thing that he said last week is that a meeting's being set up between himself

and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with him again saying that this week, and adding that the meeting will take place very quickly after his inauguration. And then, as far as what we're seeing from his administration, right? Trump's incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg,

he's actually given a possible timeline, saying in an interview with Fox News last week that he would like to have a solution to the war within a hundred days. But then also Reuters reporting today that other Trump associates are conceding that making a peace deal in Ukraine will take months or perhaps even longer.

With them reportedly describing his rhetoric as a combination of campaign bluster and a lack of appreciation of the intractability of the conflict and the time it takes to staff up a new administration. And all of this is you have people like one former ambassador to Ukraine telling Reuters that even Kellogg's extended 100-day deadline, that was way, way too optimistic. Now, as far as actually what's going to happen, that remains to be seen. But it is possible with some of the stuff that we've been seeing that while Trump might not be as staunch a Ukraine supporter as Biden, he might not abandon it completely.

In fact, you have places like Bloomberg reporting this week, for example, that Ukraine's European allies have become cautiously optimistic that Trump won't force the country into premature negotiations with Russia. And reportedly, according to anonymous European officials who spoke to the outlet,

conversations with Trump officials have shown that they are receptive to two main arguments. One, that Trump would risk embarrassment comparable to Biden's messy withdrawal from Afghanistan if he suddenly pulled support away from Ukraine. Though possibly more important, two, that allowing Russia to win big would just embolden China to act more aggressively.

You know, Trump is Trump and you never really know. That said, you know, what we do know is that Russia still seems to be happy that Biden's on his way out. With a saying among other things this week, the Russian foreign minister praising the incoming president for painting NATO's plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the war,

as well as then welcoming recent comments made by incoming national security advisor, Mike Walz, which included him saying that it is unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces from every inch of Ukrainian soil. And then with that, Marco Rubio, right, Trump's pick for secretary of state, we saw him make similar comments just today,

saying that Ukraine and Russia must both make concessions to end the war. Right, and so ultimately the dynamics of this war, they definitely seem like they're about to change, but exactly how much and what ways and how quickly we're gonna see the impact, that remains to be seen. But then from that, finally today,

let's do a congratulations and talk about yesterday. Starting with congratulations to Adriana V, right? The latest SeatGeek prize winner who just won $500 in a weekly SeatGeek giveaway towards her choice of SeatGeek tickets. With Adriana using her winnings to attend a Cleveland Guardians game. And then for the rest of y'all, remember SeatGeek giveaway towards her choice of SeatGeek tickets, with Adriana using her winnings to attend a Cleveland Guardians game. And then for the rest of y'all,

remember SeatGeek and the Daily Dip are still giving away up to $1,000 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already. You just add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. And $1,000 prizes are available

to Daily Dip subscribers who add code PDS newsletter, doubling entries and winnings. So definitely take advantage of that. But like I said, we need to talk about yesterday in some comment commentary. Right, and in those comments yesterday, one of the funniest things were people just dealing with and having to try to get over the fact that they agreed with Ben Shapiro on something. Saying, agreeing with Shapiro on anything was not on my bingo card, but a broken clock is right twice a day. Some of y'all then reply, we are in one hell of a timeline and

imagine my shock of agreeing with Shapiro and Steve Bannon on the same day. Others also saying Steve Bannon calling out racist white South Africans gave me whiplash. Some of y'all also saying things like Ben Shapiro inches away from the words toxic masculinity was something else. Which I will say, I wonder if he knew that and he was like, ah, fuck, he broke out a thesaurus. He was like, what can I say instead of toxic? Not a responsible masculinity. But again, on this topic, it was largely just people going, why do I agree with Ben Shapiro? Though the way I would put it,

maybe this will soften it for you, is he agrees with you on something. Does the shifting it make it feel better? That's okay. Don't. In other comment commentary, there were a lot of comments about what happened with Pete Hegseth yesterday at his hearing.

With y'all saying things like, my role for Congress, if I would go to jail or get fired from a job for doing it, they should be too. I don't care what party it is. Meanwhile, you had others sharing, I'm a female combat vet who served as a combat medic and FET member in Afghanistan. I have a purple heart and a bronze star.

When I was with my infantry unit, I passed a male standard PT test doing more pushups than some of the guys in my company. It is disgusting and disgraceful the things Hegseth has said regarding the women who went before me, fought beside me and have come after me. I fear he will destroy all the progress we have made for women in combat back decades. When I was injured in combat, the soldiers

next to me treated the most injured soldier first, as they should have. I was a soldier and a medic to them, not a female, not a woman, not a lesser being. The sports bra I was wearing that day is more grit and honor than that man ever will. You also had others saying that Senator Duckworth's questions had me the most concerned, saying Hegseth has no clue what the job he is nominated for entails. It's terrifying. And then with all this, we had a number of people criticizing or pushing back against the defense of Hegseth,

with a number of people specifically mentioning what Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen said. How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And then how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? And you want to sit there and say that he's not qualified? Give me a joke.

With people responding, this guy is the worst advocate. How dare you call him out for his alcoholism and adultery? We're all alcoholics and adulterers. Shouldn't you try and remove all of us from Congress? Yes. Yes, we should. And we've all shown up drunk to work every once in a while isn't really a valid defense. It's calling out a serious problem

that is honestly both terrifying and something that actually makes far too much sense. But that, my friends, is the end of your Wednesday evening, Thursday morning dive into the news. Remember, you get a brand new show every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. And today, remember to go get yourself some goodness

over at beautifulbatch.com with that brand new drum. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.