The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.8 "MrBeast Must Be Stopped!", Taylor Swift & BTS Fans VS Argentina's Far-Right, New AirBnB Ban, & More

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Go to https://pdsdebt.com/defranco to get our quick and easy debt assessment today!  https://wakeandmakecoffee.com We Just RESTOCKED! Up to 50% OFF Your First Bag! Catch up on our latest PDS: https://youtu.be/h701kP0XqRs?si=DBQLW_pIPy7F9LA2 –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 0:00 - MrBeast Backlash Highlights Inequities in Kenya 05:59 - Florida Prisons Locking Inmates In Shower Stalls For Hours 09:01 - Taylor Swift Fans Try to Influence Runoff Election in Argentina 11:24 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 12:20 - Banning Airbnbs Can Lower Rent Prices in Cities 16:05 - Election Day Brings Big Wins for Democrats, Abortion Rights 22:42 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Stories ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxx Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #TaylorSwift #MrBeast ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're talking about people and groups trying to cancel Mr. Beast over his Africa Well video. But also, don't let that distract you from the real problem that we're going to break down here. We've got to talk about the massive election news we saw last night and what it means moving forward. Swifties and the BTS army might actually be on the verge of swaying Argentina's presidential election and future. Turns out banning Airbnbs might actually be amazing for everyday people. We break down the Florida prison guard shower scandal. We're talking about all that and so much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, all made possible by beautiful bastards like you who buy Wake & Make Coffee.

If you haven't bought a bag or three of our fantastic core roasts yet, there's no better time. I'm talking happy medium, guiding light, and dark matter. All with their own amazing, unique flavor profiles, low acidity. And I know you're going to love it so much, it'll even let you snag your first bags for 50% off. Just ditch your overpriced burnt coffee and go to wakeandmakecoffee.com and put in your order. But that said, I got a lot of news to break down for you today, so let's just jump into it. Starting with, Mr. Beast successfully predicted this so-called scandal, this backlash, and I want to talk about it. Because the story isn't that Mr. Beast is an Nostradamus, right? It's just based off of historical data this was going to

happen. He puts out a video where people can't hear or they see, and he's like, hey, I'm Mr. Beast. I fixed it. Boom. Well, that's largely gotten him a lot of praise. There've been people going, yeah, fuck that guy. It's just, you know, performance activism. He's just trying to look like a good guy. This is part of the business. Also, I'm going to disregard that lots of people's lives are made better because I'm angry. Granted, it would make sense if it was at the system and the world, but I'm also going to direct it towards Jimmy, Mr. Beast, because fuck that guy. And so when he released his new video, I Built 100 Wells in Africa, he kind of knew what was going to come. And in that video, he goes to Kenya, Zimbabwe, and other countries to install wells to give people

drinking water. Also notably speaking to the local communities, giving their schools new equipment. Mr. Beast closing his video by encouraging people to donate to the Water Is Life campaign at Beast Philanthropy. I know it's weird that a YouTuber has to do all this stuff, but someone's got to do it. And if no one else is, we're going to do it. As you can tell, it really does change the lives of the communities where we build them. And so with that, you know, as expected, he got a lot of praise for doing that. People applauding him for helping so many people using his platform and money for good. But as he predicted, he got some backlash with some saying that he was exploiting vulnerable communities for content content, some accusing him of being a so-called white savior and arguing

he's tackily packaging a myth mostly to children that Africans are helpless, featureless, subject of his kindness, that Africa can only be helped by a white celebrity who's amassed immense wealth first. Well, of course, online, everyone sounds off on things. We actually saw some activists agreeing with parts of the criticism, with, for example, in a CNN report, them pointing to one aspiring Kenyan politician who accused Mr. Be Beast of playing into a stereotype that Africa is dependent on handouts. Also, in addition to that, CNN talked to the founder and CEO of the water infrastructure organization Face Africa, who said, I've been doing this for 15 years, but we've been struggling to continue the work because funding, awareness, and advocacy all take work. And adding, overnight,

this person comes along who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It's kind of frustrating but it's also understanding the nature of how the world is. And with that saying, it was good that Mr. Beast installed these wells but also adding that doing it sustainably is what matters. Arguing that it's one thing to install wells and another to actually have them working five years from now. With their organization face also going on to explain so much more of the wider consequences that come from not having access to water. Because beyond causing serious illness, it prevents children from getting an education because they need to help with water retrieval.

This is something that disproportionately impacts girls and women as they're seen as the ones in charge of managing water and cooking and cleaning with faces website adding, the lost number of potential school days and education hinders the next generation of African women from breaking out of the cycle of unequal opportunity for gainful employment. With safe water nearby, women are free to pursue new economic opportunities

and improve their families' lives. Also, in this situation, you have others arguing that this whole controversy highlights far more than just the issues with water in African countries, right, some pointing to larger issues with income inequality. And understandably, while a number of places have this issue, a lot of the focus was on Kenya,

as that's where a lot of Mr. B's video took place. And actually, with that, CNN pointed to a Kenyan activist who suggested that Mr. B's video brought shame to the country, right, saying leaders get grants for cars, but somehow there's no money to drill more holes for wells so people can have drinking water. And actually, to dive into that, you had Reuters doing a report back in 2018 noting that while Kenya's economy had grown roughly 5% annually over the last decade, it has not been equally distributed and has made the gap between the rich and the poor wider. And this is a small minority of Kenyans receive the wealth, and it's not trickled down. With the Kenya Fight Inequality

Alliance telling the outlet that, quote, faced with a fiscal crisis caused by corruption and overborrowing, the government is choosing to balance the books on the backs of the poor by increasing the cost of the basic goods like food. And there, the report noting that at the time, the government had proposed a 16% tax on things like flour, gas, and bread. With groups like Oxfam also saying that corporate tax dodging is undermining Kenya's tax base, explaining Kenya is losing $1.1 billion a year to tax exemptions and incentives, almost twice what the government spends on its entire health budget in 2015-16. Oxfam also highlighting budget issues, saying that even though a quarter of Kenyans lack access to regular health care, only 6% of the government

budget goes to hell. Also more recently with the AP doing a report in 2022 about how elections at that time highlighted wealth inequality. As the people watch campaigns spend millions and millions of dollars while the rest of the country is working, unable to even save money. Mind you here, the public doesn't even get to know where that campaign money comes from. Then there are also issues with malnutrition, with USAID saying that 26% of children in Kenya are stunted, a sign of chronic malnutrition. And while yes, there have been improvements in recent years, there are still parts of the country where this is a massive problem. And so of course, with this one, I'd love to know your thoughts. I think, again, I think this is like a different version of the same thing regarding, once again, the so-called scandal. I think there

are things you can criticize Mr. Beast for. I don't see this as one of them. I don't see Mr. Beast coming in and doing these things as a failure in any way of activists and people trying to make the world better. Rather, I think they should light a bigger fire under politicians, the people who actually have the power to do something. In this case, he was in Kenya and other African countries, but oftentimes he also highlights issues back here in the U.S. That it should add a spotlight to not just that shit is fucked, but why shit is fucked. And as it is in a lot of situations, it's largely because the haves trying to keep away the have-nots. Money, resources, access to those things, that's control. We wouldn't even be having this very important conversation right now, nor would the lives of those featured in the video be better off

if Mr. Beast didn't take the time here. Which is not to say, get on your knees and pray to the almighty Jimmy, but it's weird to just fucking take it out on him. But again, that's a story, my opinion, and whether you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear from you. And then, you know, I've never thought to myself, Florida prison, that sounds like such a good time. But some of the stories we're seeing pop up in the news right now are horrifying. And I say that because among other things, 14 Kern or former inmates spoke to Insider, as well as there being 22 lawsuits describing how guards locked them inside filthy shower stalls for hours on end. And those reports coming from over 30 facilities over the past two decades, and the details are just nauseating. You've got people

saying they were left in these cold and unsanitary stalls, often in wrists or ankle restraints, deprived of food and water. And then when they were finally delivered food, they described having to balance the tray and eat while standing up because the alternative was to sit on a moldy, crumb-covered, bug-infested, piss-soaked shower floor. But also, some of them were there so long they couldn't stand up anymore and they just sat down. And in fact, for one man, he says he was put in a stall for 23 hours over the summer and given no bathroom breaks, just a plastic bag to defecate in. And with that saying, when they feel like they want to punish you,

they put you in the shower for hours. They do that all the time. The shower will drive you crazy. And with that, you had several more inmates backing up that claim that they were being punished. On the other side, you had some arguing that staff just used those stalls as temporary holding facilities while they were being transferred somewhere else. But regardless of the real or the official reason,

lawyers say that is a clear violation of Florida's Department of Corrections policy, especially when the guards abused inmates and kept them in the showers despite health concerns. Like this one guy who claimed at a federal lawsuit that officers at one facility threw him against the wall, smashed his face, and then locked him in a shower stall

for six hours without medical treatment, and saying he defecated in there after his requests to use the bathroom were rebuffed. And now, 15 years later, he still has chronic pain and a metal plate in his face. And there, a judge actually dismissed his case long ago because he supposedly failed to exhaust the prison's grievance processes. Except very notably, we see from some of these reports

that prison guards allegedly retaliate against inmates who use that process. With three different men alleging that they were locked in shower stalls after filing grievances, protesting a cellmate, assignment, and simply requesting medical assistance. And then you have another inmate alleging in a federal lawsuit that he was locked in the shower after a corrections officer sexually assaulted him, with the CEO denying that allegation, though later resigning and settling the case. Also, in at least three cases, inmates filed civil complaints

alleging that they were locked in the shower after expressing suicidal thoughts, with, for example, one transgender woman at a men's facility saying she attempted to take her own life inside the shower after this happened to her. And then at another men's prison, she says she went on a hunger strike after Rhonda Santa signed a bill restricting access to gender-affirming care, with officers allegedly leaving her in a shower stall for five hours as they tried to find an open suicide watch cell, with them allegedly not delivering her medication, though she says they did serve her dinner there with peanut butter, which she also happens to be allergic to. But

suicidal inmates weren't the only ones who almost died from this practice. For example, in 2018, a man was allegedly left in a stall for 12 hours without a bathroom break. So he peed and he pooped into a potato chip bag. And then, after he left, another inmate was thrown in there for almost an hour, and you had the water quickly filling the stall, mixing with the bag, reaching open wounds from diabetes on his ankles. And that guy then suffered a bacterial infection that hospitalized him for two months and nearly killed him, with him ultimately losing the use of his legs, and he could no longer stand or use the bathroom on his own. But again, we saw multiple courts dismissing his case,

saying that the officer who refused to let him out of that stall, despite him begging, has qualified immunity. And as far as what Florida Corrections had to say, when Insider asked them why they appear to routinely break their own rules on this practice, they just replied that any officer caught doing it would be held accountable. But given the whole everything we just talked about, that doesn't really seem to be the case. And then, y'all, Swifties in Argentina are in their political activism era, with the same fans across the country taking their fan power and using it

for political activism ahead of a runoff election later this month, which with that, I gotta give you some background here. The presidential election is between economy minister Sergio Massa and far-right libertarian candidate Javier Millet, with reports noting that Millet has spoken out against abortion and sex education, rallied against political correctness,

and also denies humans' impact on climate change. And with that, you have many reports saying that he needs to have that youth vote to be successful. But you have Swifties in the country wanting to make sure that does not happen. With Taylor Swift, of course, being one of the most popular people in the world, and of course, she's used her platform in the past for political reasons, especially pushing against conservatives, this has now gained international attention, with outlets like the New York Times pointing to one group called Swifties Against Freedom Advances, with that being Malay's party, and they previously posted Malay equals Trump. Now, that account actually got suspended for some reason, but it had a reach before it was taken down. And they are having posted a mission statement that was viewed

1.5 million times before the removal. And so now the fans are using a backup account where they reposted that statement and noting that as Taylor has said in the past, they need to be on the right side of history. And adding that they need to come together and discuss this election, especially as Taylor is set to bring her Eros tour to Argentina this weekend. So they see this as a key time to mobilize. And with, of course, everything Swifty, like they have their own culture things. Some of the things they're talking about are just like pure Swifty, like instead of just regular friendship bracelets, they have anti-Malay friendship bracelets. They also have graphics quoting her songs to say things like, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling NASA 2023. Though others just being straight and blunt with what they're saying. Saying, Swifties,

we do not vote for Malay. On November 19th, we are not going to vote for the candidate who does not respect the struggles of women and diverse people. We are not going to vote for the candidate who proposes taking away the rights of all Argentines. And notably, this is not just a one front stand war. Because Swifties aren't the only ones working together against Malay. You have the BTS army rallying against him as well. And there, part of that has to do with the fact that his running mate previously mocked the band, saying their names sounded like an STD. And so the BTS ARMY fought back, calling the running mate xenophobic. And what's really wild and crucial here is that these kind of fan campaigns do tend to reach young people,

and young people are a massive part of Malay's base. Now, as far as what he thinks about all that, he addressed the Swifties during a radio interview, with him trying to shrug this off, saying, I'm not the far right. They can express what they want. And notably, Taylor herself has not said anything about Argentina's election, right? This is a fan movement. But as far as if that changes,

we'll have to see when she performs there, both if she says anything, or will we see any sort of meaningful rally there? And also, we'll have to see who the hell is gonna win this election, because the race just, at least according to the polling, is getting just tighter and tighter. And then, are you feeling the effects of inflation? And I ask

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and easy debt assessment today. It's time to take back control of your life and live for you, not your debt. And then banning Airbnbs is a very good thing. That is what many are shouting from their rooftops right now after New York earlier this year decided to crack down on Airbnbs. Because back in September, after some serious pushback from Airbnb and landlords, New York City passed a law that heavily limited short-term rentals. We saw in a matter of weeks, nearly 20,000 Airbnb listings in the city going up in smoke. And very key here, a big motivation behind the law was rent prices. With the thinking at that time being that by limiting short-term rentals, those properties would then turn back into long-term housing and landlords would have a lot more competition. And in theory, rent prices would drop. And actually now, thanks to a recent case study published in Real Estate Economics, there's

real evidence to back up that thinking. With this specific study focusing on Irvine, California, a city that banned Airbnbs back in 2018. Right back then, you had residents there growing frustrated with the ever-increasing number of vacation rentals taking over their quiet neighborhoods. The city's regulations are pretty straightforward and not unlike other rules that we've seen in other cities. You can't run a property for fewer than 30 days at a time. But the difference in Irvine is that they actually enforce that policy

and it took about a year to fully figure out how to do so. What they did is they hired a specialized property tech firm to find these illegal listings in order to actually enforce it. Even then, some landlords tried to come up with tricky solutions around the city's ban. But as they continued to root out more and more of these short-term rentals,

fewer new ones were popping up. And by January of 2021, the number of Airbnb listings in Irvine halved. And key thing here, with fewer short-term rental listings, Irvine saw their long-term rent prices drop within just two years, estimating that their 60,000 rental units in the city

saw a 3% decrease in rent on average, which to some might not sound like a lot, but they say that it adds up to a reduction of $80.7 million in annual rental spending. And keep in mind, we're talking about prices going down rather than in many places it went up. Because while this study has shown that banning short-term rentals can drive down prices,

others have shown the other side of this, that more short-term rentals mean higher rent prices. With a 2017 study in Boston finding that apartments listed on Airbnb increased the rent price of nearby units, and a 2020 study in Berlin came to a similar conclusion. Which, yeah, no shit, that makes sense. That is, at its core, simple supply and demand. When there are more Airbnbs, there's fewer long-term rentals. The fewer long-term rentals have less competition, you can raise prices. But

then, you know, we jump back to New York, and we saw many arguing that Airbnbs weren't an important factor when discussing the city's housing crisis. And in fact, Airbnb maintains that position with the representative saying, there are a number of complex factors driving today's housing affordability crisis, from growing income inequality to decades of exclusionary zoning and even changing location preferences post-pandemic, including the rise of remote working from home. Going on to argue, many experts agree the primary driver of the affordability crisis is chronic underproduction of housing, not short-term rentals. And continuing, unfortunately, short-term rentals, which in most cities make up a tiny portion of local housing stock, have become a

convenient but misguided scapegoat for a housing crisis that started long before the founding of Airbnb. And you know, with this, to take a break from just punching them in the back of the head, they do have a point. Banning short-term rentals will not immediately solve the housing crisis in New York or across the country. Research shows that the U.S. needs up to 6 million new homes in order to truly balance the market. But that doesn't mean cutting down on short-term rentals isn't worth doing. For example, Sarah Sadian, the Senior Vice President of Policy and Field Organizing at the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, saying, if we wait for just the one solution that will solve all problems, we're not going to make any progress. Right, and the way that I think about it is, like, if I want to be a healthier version of me,

yeah, it makes sense for me to both work out and, like, be more active and also eat good foods. But that doesn't mean just doing one of those things isn't progress, isn't a net benefit. And in a world where we have the political bodies that we do and we have corporations putting money over people and everyone really just trying to wring whatever they can out of the have-nots, you're never going to get perfection. Or you know, never say never, but you shouldn't expect it. And so progress is a win. Just to bring us back down to earth. The key thing with this story is the win here is people just having a fucking place to live in a way that doesn't destroy the rest of their life. But again, that's a story. Some of my opinion. And of course, I pass the question off to you. And, you know, you have your own lived experiences. You might be on different sides

of this story, whether you're a renter or someone that's renting. And I'd love to hear from anyone willing to share. And then we have got to talk about those elections yesterday. And there is a lot to break down, but we're going to start with abortion. Because abortion was and has been on the ballot both directly and indirectly in many of the key off-season contests this year. And voters all across post-Roe America have showed

that they remain deeply mobilized by the issue, even in ruby red states. So we'll start things off with a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion protections in Ohio called Issue 1. That has easily gotten the most attention nationwide, and it's a topic that we've covered extensively over the last year, with almost all precincts reporting the referendum passed by a large margin of 56.6% to 43.4%. And it's really important that we look at the actual number of voters here to really emphasize the support we saw. Because as of recording, Issue 1 earned more

than 2,186,000 yes votes and 1,675,000 no votes, meaning that more than half a million people supported protecting abortion rights than opposed it. And that is incredibly significant. This is a state that Trump won by solid margins in both the 2016 and 2020 elections. What's more, it also showed that this issue brought major turnout, especially for an off-season election. Y'all, more than 3.8 million voters turned out. That's nearly as many who voted in Ohio's 2022 Senate race. And a key and very important thing here is that the data shows that it wasn't just the Democrats who came out to back the measure, with preliminary exit polls showing that one in five Republicans and almost two-thirds of independents supported Issue 1. And the initiative won outright in 18 counties Trump won in 2020.

So learning that information, it's an insanely powerful representation of how abortion rights are popular across party lines and shows that this issue is still a major weakness for Republicans. And again, this wasn't an outlier. This was backed up in other elections yesterday where abortion wasn't directly on the ballot, but still played a key role. Like when we jumped to Virginia, there you had the state's Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, largely making the elections for the state's Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate a referendum on abortion. With Youngkin and other Republicans campaigning heavily on a proposed 15-week abortion ban, which they tried to paint as a more reasonable policy in an effort to appeal to moderates.

But that ended up backfiring majorly, because not only did Democrats keep control of the state Senate, they actually took control of the state House away from Republicans. So now Democrats control both chambers, seriously hampering Youngkin's powers to enact his conservative agenda. And beyond what it means for the state, Republicans' losses there also represented a major ego bruise for Youngkin. I mean, the guy had been positioning himself for a possible presidential run in 2024 or 2028, with him hoping that major wins in the legislature, or at worst, at least keeping the status quo in the House, would help him out there. But the opposite was true. This seriously undermines his hopes for a future presidential run, or at the very least, an even slightly successful one.

Also, there is another election in Virginia that I want to mention that we've covered a number of times on the show. With that race involving Susanna Gibson, a Democrat running for a state House seat who was caught up in a sex scandal after the Washington Post reported that she and her husband live-streamed themselves performing sex acts for tips on a porn site. Also, when I say scandal, it's just because of how people react to the situation, right? It's important to know that everything here was above board. It was legal between two consenting adults. But the public reaction to this news, I mean, it caused a stir. It resulted in Gibson dropping in polls. And this morning, the race was too close to call. But as I was recording this, we got the news that the race has now officially gone to our opponent, with them getting 51.4% to 48.6%

with most ballots counted. But still, I mean, we're talking about a pretty close margin. We're talking about a difference of just 966 votes. But going back to the main topic here, we also saw Democrats and abortion rights advocates notching another W in Kentucky, with the incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear winning his re-election in a state that is solidly red. And like Youngkin, Beshear's campaign focused heavily on abortion, but of course, just the opposite side of the spectrum. With Beshear fighting against the Republican-controlled legislature's efforts to impose strict abortion bans and spending millions of dollars on ads that elevated his pro-abortion platform and took aim at his Republican opponent's anti-abortion stance. And so with this, you have people saying

not only did this race represent yet another win for abortion rights, it also symbolized yet another loss for Trump. Because in this largely Trump state, Trump had endorsed Beshear's Republican challenger with the hope that the candidate would get a boost by having his name tied to the former president. Remember, this state voted for Trump by a whopping 26% in 2020. But that endorsement was not enough to push him over the edge. And very notably, that wasn't the result of a lack of Republican turnout.

With all of the other Republican candidates running for statewide offices, winning with at least 57% of the vote. I mean, we're talking about a significant margin. But also beyond that, the Democrats saw another big win in Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court race where abortion rights were also at play. With a liberal who won

in this essential battleground state campaigning as a pro-choice candidate. With that, you had Democrats working to emphasize abortion in his election, including in ads. But finally, the last big race that I want to hit on here was one of the closely watched ones where Republicans actually won, with Mississippi's Republican Governor Tate Reeves winning his re-election. But also a potential key differentiating factor here is this is one of the only one of those pivotal elections where abortion was not a voting matter because the Democratic candidate running against Reeves was also strongly anti-abortion, and that anti-choice candidate

actually underperformed expectations. But as far as what the lessons learned here are, I mean, we see a debate. You know, you have some saying the poorer than expected performance by a Democrat really just emphasizes how big a role abortion has played in these elections, especially when pro-choice candidates and initiatives go head-to-head against anti-abortion counterparts. You also have others saying, yes, well, that is true in many places. Not every state, not every race is the same. Arguing that in a state like Mississippi, you have to have a more right-leaning Democrat to even be competitive. Kind of like in West Virginia, people saying you wouldn't get a Democratic senator like Joe Manchin unless he's more moderate or conservative. Otherwise, the Republicans just take that super easy. But even

with all that, that's not to say the Republicans are not having trouble finding effective messaging on abortion. I mean, we've even seen some beginning to back away from their more extreme positions. I mean, as I mentioned earlier, Young can try to more moderate approach in Virginia with his 15 week ban. I mean, you even have Trump himself trying to distance himself from strict bans. Though notably, he'll also take credit for killing Roe v. Wade. But also with that, it'll be interesting to see how things change as we go into the 2024 election cycle. Which, by the way, I understand that there's like a million fucking think pieces out there of like, OK, so the elections happened yesterday. What does that mean for 2024? Let's do the polling.

I put no faith in anything that we're seeing right now. And this is, you know, people are putting things out like, hey, in the last five elections, the person that won here, that showed which party won the presidential election. Cool. None of that matters. And I say that because a year is a long ways away. A lot of things can change, but also because it feels like anytime I bet on a game and there's like, it comes down to the final kick and they're like, okay, this kicker, George McGillicuddy, he's hit the last 13 of 13 from this distance. And oh my God, his leg is broken. He hit a small child in the stands. He missed it that bad. I can't believe we're seeing this. Assume the polls are wrong and that you'll lose no matter what, if you don't vote. Voting for the world you want to see, or also against the world you don't want to see. But that isn't to say that there are some strategies that will probably help. Like with Democrats

already trying to get abortion initiatives like Ohio's on the 2024 ballots in key swing states like Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania to try to energize their base. Because a big thing about going into 2024 is that not many Democrats are excited about Joe Biden. One of the only things the party has effectively broadcast to their base is that he's not Donald Trump. But here's the thing, that might not cut it, especially as a number of recent polls have shown Trump beating Biden in key swing states. So they're like, but what if abortion was on the line? I mean, more than it was in 2016, with Trump eventually replacing one third of the fucking Supreme Court. Hey, time will tell. And we all get to live through another most important

election of our lifetime. Yeah, fun. And then let's talk about yesterday today, where you take a look back at yesterday's show. We dive into those comments and see what you're saying. What are your opinions, your feelings, your arguments, sometimes your experiences related to the stories. So to start here, I will say, yes, I saw that there was a decent chunk of conversation about Sammy. Some of you saying you loved Sammy, you'd die for Sammy.

Others saying it's so cringy. And to that, I say, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, how long have you watched me? Sometimes I just do weird, cringy shit. I'm going to keep doing weird, cringy shit randomly. I do something to try to add levity to just the dumpster fire that is the news cycle. So just know whether you love or you hate the voice, the thing yesterday. I mean, I'm not I love you. I'm not really doing it for you. I'm doing it for me, though. I will say, you know, yeah, I smiled when I saw the people that enjoyed it or like their kid happened to be in the room

and they were cracking up. But easily my favorite comment was, oh my God, I miss Sammy Sacco. For those of you who don't know, Sammy used to host this show before Phil took it over in 2010. Sammy wanted to do more field work though, so he left. But then he tried to take his time slot back and Phil's ratings were going down. It was a lot of drama and Sammy trash talked Phil on Letterman. Just glad to see you back, old friend. Yeah, just make up that lore. Why not? But also, yesterday we did have people talking about the actual news stories.

Like, oh my god, the story about the most transparently racist cop ever. Some of the comments many of y'all agreed with saying, what I find most telling about the racist cop isn't that he's a cop who hates black people. It's that he felt comfortable being so blatant and upfront about it. This is more about the culture of the department than of him as an individual, that he felt his bigotry would be welcomed and appreciated by his peers, and that it was something they agreed with him about. Though there you had some saying, you know, it is hard to say though how many people he was that openly racist around. Could be a single person, could be the entire department. But for some,

the story kind of just highlighted why it's so hard to see a big change. Some writing, we found the line the police departments can't cross. It takes an exposure of such magnitude just to get one terrible cop off the force. No wonder justice never gets served. And others chiming in, it'd almost be funny how blatant the cop literally saying, I hate black people would be. If not for the whole, we give him discretion to shoot people thing. But then finally, there was a lot of conversation around the impending and the current water crisis in the United States.

We talked about the situation with groundwater and aquifers. You know, saying these groundwater issues are a blatant slap in our faces that the people we put in charge have failed to take actions to protect us in return for taking corporate bribes. As well as saying the groundwater story really adds to the existential burden. To lose water would be devastating. You know, like climate change. We are just going to let greed and corporations run us into a literal worst case scenario. Paid lobbyists will be there saying there is no water shortage until people literally don't have a drop left in the tap. Some international beautiful bastards also chiming in, saying, as a Dutch person,

I know how crucial maintaining water from aquifers and groundwater is. We have strict rules surrounding that water. Saying, in a country where houses built on poles will rot and the land will sink, when the groundwater level is reduced too much and where we depend on that water for drinking and agriculture,

we knew early on that we needed to preserve this amazing naturally occurring water reserve with good robust laws. But that is where your daily dive into the news is going to end for today. Though, for more news that you need to know that you may have missed, like yesterday's show, I got you covered right here. You can click or tap, or I got links in the description. But no matter what, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow for more news.