The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.13 This Andrew Tate, Kanye West, Adin Ross Controversy Has The Internet Twisted & Today's News

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got L's in the chat for Andrew Tate and Aiden Ross, scammers getting arrested, extremist numbers growing in our military, all that, and so much more we gotta talk about in today's Philip DeFranco show. So buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it. Starting with this Andrew Tate, Aiden Ross, Kanye West controversy. Alright, so we're all on our own pockets of the internet, so you may not know that Aiden Ross is one of the biggest streamers in the world. This despite, or maybe even because, he's like if the failures of our public education system just magically became a person. Because he's a streamer, there are far too many recorded examples to show you just in one video. So I'll show you this moment from about two weeks ago, where he was like just now learning what fascism was. And also like, I guess, how words sound out.

Starting point is 00:00:38 What does a fascist mean? Far-right authorization on you on ultra does it ultra ultra nullity oh my god ultra analyst analyst political ideology movement characterized by dictator leadership centralized autocracy militarism for forcible suppression suppression of opposition so i don't know what that means right i swear to god i don't know what the fascism is i don't know what that means, bro. I swear to God, I don't know what the f*** fascism is. I don't know what the f*** that is. Benito Mazzulli and Givianti Genital and Jason Stanley. Like who the f*** are these people, bro? I don't know if I could get that many words wrong in a sentence on purpose. Also, you might notice in that clip, Jason Stanley just kind of catches a stray with Ross comparing Mussolini, a famed fascist, with Stanley who wrote about fascism. He literally wrote the books, How Fascism Works and How Propaganda Works.

Starting point is 00:01:27 But anyway, for those unfamiliar, now you understand where the Aiden Ross bar is. Oh, it keeps going down. But the guy has a massive and motivated audience, which is why it was big news, but not surprising, that apparently Kanye West was going to go on Aiden Ross's stream. Right, Kanye was gonna make it the latest stop on his I'm-gonna-go-on-other-people's-platforms-and-say-crazy-shit-like-I-love-Hitler tour. You know, because why not platform a guy

Starting point is 00:01:45 who sees Jewish people as his enemy and also publicly denies the Holocaust and says just outlandish stuff that's not true over and over again? Because just think about how many views you're gonna get, the ad dollars, the super chats. But even from the get-go, you had people surprised Aiden would even play with this idea

Starting point is 00:01:59 because Aiden is actually Jewish. But what ended up being the biggest news here is that Aiden ended up announcing that he wasn't gonna go through with the interview. I can't have my platform be used to spread hate, and I can't have my platform be used to basically insult people and hurt people and hurt everyone.

Starting point is 00:02:16 And while with this, most people were like, oh, thank God. The last thing we need is Kanye West getting another microphone in front of another massive audience singing praises of Hitler, who also had some of his viewers upset with this move, and calling him out for backing out here. I see people putting L's in my chat. That's cool, El Aiden, you're a pussy, I understand, whatever. I mean, I don't understand. I really don't. And going on to say, even though he is a

Starting point is 00:02:35 massive lifelong fan, he knows that the interview just wouldn't be worth it. Even though there were people spamming El and Aiden's chat over this decision, there were a lot of people relieved that he made this choice, saying, hey, I don't have to be like a fan or support him for the other stuff, but I think this is a good thing that he's taking a stand here. Then you also have this third group calling him out for being what they said was hypocritical, saying, how can you say you do not promote hate, but you still stream with Andrew Tate? Saying he's famous for being violently misogynistic and sexist, likes of online personalities like Jake Lucky saying, I'm a little confused why he will platform Andrew Tate for an interview, but not Kanye West. Also, side note, you should know that Aiden Ross

Starting point is 00:03:04 loves Andrew Tate, I think as much as a West. Also side note, you should know that Aiden Ross loves Andrew Tate. I think as much as a person can love another person, like just so you can get a feel, this is a still from one of the last conversations they had together on stream, which I mean, that just oozes of that Piper Perry being surrounded meme energy.

Starting point is 00:03:16 And from the clips I've seen of them together, I think he like gets off on being belittled by Tate. But I digress. The main point being, there were a lot of people that agreed with Lucky's take and some going as far as to call Aiden a hypocrite. You also had people saying, hey, Tate has said his fair share of just outlandish bullshit, but to his credit, he isn't a Nazi fanboy, which apparently is the bar now. You know, he's not out there praising

Starting point is 00:03:35 Hitler. For example, this morning, he wasn't talking about Jewish people. Instead, his war was on reading. Tweeting, reading books is for losers who are afraid to learn from life. Books are a total waste of time. Education for cowards. And I say, good. It's about time someone take a stand against reading. Andrew Tate is not afraid to take on big book. He saw what trying to read did to Aiden Ross's brain and he was like, not on my watch. Bros over books. But this story isn't about that idiot. It's about the fact that we should praise Aiden Ross for not tripping over the bar, which apparently is now four feet underground. You didn't platform the man that's been spewing hate about Jewish people and goes to sleep with a Hitler body pillow.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Allegedly. But hey, that's a story. Some of my opinions on it, and I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Also, I will say, as much shit as I've talked here, I do credit him with not platforming Kanye. And then, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas last night. This just hours after telling several thousand people that he didn't think that he was going to get arrested.

Starting point is 00:04:33 Which I will say, I think the one accusation you can't make against Freed is that he does not have blind confidence. Because it's not exactly a mystery of why he's being arrested. He's been accused by nearly everyone of fraud for how he handled customer funds at FTX. And that's just not random Joe Blow opinions. The SEC agrees with that assessment based on their just unsealed indictment against SPF. They're hitting him with eight charges, two for conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, two for the same thing, but against lenders, conspiracies for commodities and security frauds, money laundering, and conspiring to defraud the US and violate campaign finance laws. And that last one is actually a little more interesting to me personally,

Starting point is 00:05:06 because it's unclear what exactly he did to violate campaign finance laws. Though notably, he was one of the country's largest donors and made claims that he donated to the Republican Party just as much as the Dems, albeit through dark money donations. So possibly the specifics lie somewhere in there. But either way, it's looking like SBF's time outside of prison is coming to a close, especially as John Ray III, the now CEO of FTX, completely contradicted Sam's recent claims.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Ray, Sam's been trying to go on this PR campaign, claiming, you know, I'm just a fucking idiot. It's got in over my head, there was fucked up accounting. This is like a sitcom where the dumbest person in the room is suddenly responsible for billions and billions of dollars of other people's money. Except we started seeing reports just as we were writing this piece up

Starting point is 00:05:39 that SBF and other FTX leaders had an internal group chat called wire fraud. So I'm gonna guess at the very least they were a little self-aware. But according to the new CEO, Ray, there is a sliver of truth behind SBF and other FTX leaders had an internal group chat called wire fraud. So I'm going to guess at the very least they were a little self-aware. But according to the new CEO, Ray, there is a sliver of truth behind SBF being in over his head, testifying to Congress this morning that SBF was grossly inexperienced. However, that does not justify SBF's actions as Ray added that the company didn't have, quote, poor accounting like SBF claimed, but rather no accounting.

Starting point is 00:06:00 I mean, holy shit. And on top of that, he made it clear that there wasn't really a distinction between FTX and Alameda Research. Alameda Research was a sister trading company that SBF claimed to not run at all and had little knowledge of how it worked internally. But according to Ray, that wasn't the case at all. They were really one in the same. And to make matters worse, FTX and Alameda's funds were also completely co-mingled, which allowed FTX to engage in risky margin trading with customer funds who never agreed to allow them to do so. Also, touching on the bankruptcy proceedings, the company has managed to claw back $1 billion in assets and transferred them to a cold wallet,

Starting point is 00:06:28 although there it's still unclear if customers will actually ever see any of that money. Hopefully they manage to get more back because it's complete bullshit that there were a ton of customers who put their money with FTX as the company explicitly promised in its TOS they would never use their funds for trading,

Starting point is 00:06:40 and then they just did so anyway. And it's the Joe Blow traders that I hope get their money first, not the Mr. Wonderful or celebrity types. Some on TV saying, oh, I lost $15 million with FTX. And notably there, this after he aggressively promoted FTX online

Starting point is 00:06:53 and a chunk of that money he lost was FTX equity. That's also why he's been named in lawsuits. But there, as far as the legality of this whole situation, hopefully the prosecution against SBF goes well, as I think it'll serve as a very strong message to crypto scammers. So how big of a message? I don't know. For as many people I think that care about this space, there are so many bad actors that are willing to take some risk for excessive amounts of gain. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens specifically with SBF

Starting point is 00:07:15 and more generally with regulation in the space. And then, you know, recently I went holiday shopping online and they asked for my email address and phone number without exposing my gift. Like that product did not need that information. So why were they asked for my email address and phone number without exposing my gift. Like that product did not need that information. So why were they asking for that information? Well, it's to be put on their direct marketing database. That's why. If you're like me, I get annoyed by companies collecting, aggregating, and trading your personal information without you knowing it.

Starting point is 00:07:35 Data brokers, marketing brokers, financial information brokers, they all sell what they have on you to third parties or after they use it for themselves. And the process of deleting that information feels like a job that never ends. But our fantastic sponsor of today's show, Incogni, will do that for you. No one wants their home address out there. Info like your name, email, home address, social security number,

Starting point is 00:07:52 it gets collected and sold over and over again. It can genuinely feel out of control. So enlisting Incogni to take on the process of removing your data off the market just makes sense. So just go to incogni.com slash DeFranco and the first 100 people to use code DeFranco will get 20% off of Incogni. Limit access to your private information, steer clear of identity theft and keep your data from being sold. That's incogni.com slash defranco and use code defranco

Starting point is 00:08:13 to get your personal data off the market. And then you can no longer buy cigarettes or tobacco products if you were born after 2008. That is a new rule and ban in New Zealand, right? It's a very big move in a country where smoking overall has actually been on a dramatic decline recently. The government also aiming to help current smokers. With there being a plan, for example, to reduce the number of outlets that can sell tobacco products from over 6,000 right now to just 600. It'll also mandate that the nicotine levels in products will need to be severely reduced to make them less effective. And the argument is that even though this seems very draconian, it will have long-term health benefits. And in particular, it's expected to help close the life expectancy gap between Maori and non-Maori people,

Starting point is 00:08:47 with about a quarter currently being smokers, which is way above the national average. However, there is a huge hole in this entire plan. There are also concerns, concerns that older people will just buy it for younger people, arguments this is just gonna create a black market. But also, a key thing here is it doesn't ban vaping,

Starting point is 00:09:00 which is actually far more popular among young people anyways. And as the health detriments of vaping continue to be revealed over time, it kind of sounds to many like this is like banning alcohol except for wine. But for now, all y'all sucking on your little robot dicks, get a little buzz, you're safe. It's lame as fuck, and I hope that one day you'll be able to quit, but you can legally do it. I get it, we all need something to take the edge off. But that's why when I become a citizen of New Zealand over the next five years, I will become your prime minister

Starting point is 00:09:24 and I will legalize mushrooms. And then we've got AI back in the news, but this time it's a little different. So the company Do Not Pay is launching an AI chat bot that you can use to negotiate your bills. So instead of you having to sit there emailing a customer service rep or have a whole conversation in live chat, it'll just do it for you. In one example, AI talks with internet provider Xfinity and gets them to knock $10 off the bill. This tool isn't coming from the goodness of do not pay as hard. It literally helps their entire business model. But that's how a big chunk of the world works.

Starting point is 00:09:49 And it appears that there is a net good here. And I think it kind of showcases how far AI is going to come into our day-to-day interactions. But what's also funny is the AI that we use is very likely going to interact with other people's AI. Because there are reports that businesses are also increasingly using AI to talk with customers. Which, when you think about it, so weird, but also kind of hilarious. Like, we're going to have to have our robots settle disputes for us. But, that's not the only AI news. Because in China, the government is moving to crack down on AI-generated content.

Starting point is 00:10:14 So there, any new AI programs meant to generate what they call deep synthesis products will need government approval before being released. And, the people who make and use them will need to have their identity attached to their account so that what they make can be traced back to them and on top of that all AI generated content has to be clearly marked as such for example images will likely need a watermark and it'll also be very Illegal to remove those marks. We don't know the specifics yet But the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission did make it seem like the punishments would be pretty severe But as far as if the restrictions that they put in place actually work out as intended We're gonna have to wait to see and then our, our government, our police, and our military are crawling with far-right extremists. And that's not my feelings, that's according to a long line of academic research and news reports

Starting point is 00:10:52 which this new study by the Project on Government Oversight only confirms. With it finding that a leaked membership list for the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia group that helped storm the Capitol, contains over 300 self-described current or former DHS officials. We're talking Border Patrol, Secret Service, the TSA. One person even claimed to have worked on President Clinton's and Bush's protective details. With the group intentionally targeting and recruiting law enforcement because of their practical skills and because they help lend credibility to an otherwise fringe movement. And notably, this report comes just weeks after Oath Keeper's founder, Stuart Rhodes,

Starting point is 00:11:20 who himself hailed from the Army, was convicted on seditious conspiracy charges for his involvement in January 6th. But with this, you have people saying it's not exactly shocking that the DHS is such an extreme hotbed for extremism. People noting its specific role in policing immigration, also pointing to background information like it was created in the wake of 9-11, when you had Islamophobic paranoia

Starting point is 00:11:36 running absolutely rampant. Police also noting a lien where in 2016, you had the ICE union endorsing Donald Trump, the first such endorsement in the agency's history. You have people saying this is especially concerning because the DHS is one of the main departments responsible for countering domestic terrorism. But also understand, it goes far beyond the DHS. For example, a Reuters investigation last May found dozens of self-identified current or former police instructors on the Oath Keepers membership

Starting point is 00:11:57 list. And another investigation by Reveal back in 2019 found almost 400 current or former law enforcement officials in Confederate anti-Islam, misogynistic, or anti-government militia Facebook groups. And all of that reinforcing anecdotal reports of police officers from small sheriff's offices around the country to big departments like the NYPD and LAPD expressing racist views or having ties to far-right groups. But also this problem stretches past law enforcement

Starting point is 00:12:18 even reaching deep into the Pentagon. With even a Military Times poll back in 2017 finding nearly one in four active duty service members had observed white nationalism among the troops. And that rising to 40% among non-white soldiers. And even that shouldn't be surprising because as far back as 2009, you had DHS reports noting that right-wing extremist groups actively recruited disgruntled returning veterans. And understand, by talking about this, I'm not trying to paint everyone in these positions as, oh, they're all right-wing extremists. But this is incredibly important to note. The situation should be

Starting point is 00:12:44 talked about, and it explains why so many of the biggest names in domestic extremism have had ties to the military. Brandon Russell, founder of Atomwaffen, George Lincoln Rockwell, commander of the American Nazi Party, Louis Beam, leader of the KKK, and Richard Butler, founder of the Aryan Nation. And it's clear that their recruiting efforts

Starting point is 00:12:58 have been paying off. I mean, you could just look at the Oath Keepers using military-style tactics at the Capitol, or, for example, a report from NPR earlier this year, it found that one in five people charged for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection were current or former military service members. And honestly, with this topic, we could just keep digging and digging, but where I want to leave it today is, of course, in general, I'd love to know your thoughts. But additionally, if you have been in any of these government positions or have been a service member, or you know people who have been,

Starting point is 00:13:24 what are your thoughts on this? Maybe even what have your experience has been with this that is where today's show ends as always Thank you for watching like and being subscribed to my daily dives into the news and to all you beautiful bastards I'll say my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.13 This Andrew Tate, Kanye West, Adin Ross Controversy Has The Internet Twisted & Today's News

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.