The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.18 Andrew Tate Situation Just Got Worse For Him, 41% of Young Voters Support Luigi Mangione, Matt Gaetz

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

10 News Stories You Need to Know Today… PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco Visit https://on.auraframes.com/3YIJyHW and use code PHIL to get an exclusive deal and get $35 off on the best-selling Carver Mat frame! Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Luigi Mangione Indicted for Terrorism, but Polls Find Gen Z Support 04:00 - Police Can Seize Over $3 Million in Unpaid Taxes from Andrew Tate  05:38 - Megan Thee Stallion Files for Restraining Order Against Tory Lanez 06:53 - Adult Site Blocks Florida Users After Age Verification Law 08:04 - Amazon’s One Medical Faces Wrongful Death Suit 11:10 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 12:12 - DOJ to Pay $100M in California Women's Prison Abuse Allegations 14:06 - The House Ethics Committee Reportedly Voted to Release Gaetz Report 17:26 - Republican Infighting & Elon Musk Could Block Efforts to Avoid Gov’t Shutdown  20:59 - Sponsored by Aura Frames 22:02 - EU Investigating TikTok for Romanian Election Interference by Russia 26:27 - Sponsored by SeatGeek  27:03 - Comment Commentary ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #AndrewTate #LuigiMangione ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show, your daily dive into the news. It is Wednesday, December 18th. We have a lot of news as you can tell by the time code. So, hey, you just hit that like button to let YouTube know you like these big daily dives into the news and let's jump into it.

Starting with, we need to talk about Luigi Mangione today for two reasons. The first is that Luigi Mangione has now been charged with first degree murder in furtherance of terrorism. And the second is that a lot of the youth of America lusts for blood. Now we'll start with the charge because the new charge doesn't replace

its existing second degree murder charge, but it just gives a potential jury another option and also highlights an interesting quirk of New York law. Because in most jurisdictions across the United States, a first degree murder charge just requires premeditation. But in New York, it's actually a very narrow set of circumstances that qualify. With one such requirement being that the alleged crime

is quote, intended to intimidate or coerce the civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination, or kidnapping. And you had Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg adding, This was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we've seen that reaction.

You know, the statutory elements we can go into, but its most basic term, that's what this is. This was not an ordinary killing. Also, in addition to these charges, there's been some updates about the investigation into Mangione. New York is still trying to extradite him from Pennsylvania, where he's been arrested on gun charges.

And police now claim they have more evidence that may link Mangione to the crime, such as ballistic evidence from the firearm that he allegedly used. Possibly most damning, if true, is fingerprint evidence on a Kind bar wrapper and water bottle that he reportedly got at a Starbucks very close to the crime scene just before the attack.

But with that said, it brings us to the second part of what I said we need to cover. Mangione is very popular with a number of Americans. He's reportedly received quite a bit of mail, as well as 153 deposits into his commissary, which allows him to buy some small amenities while behind bars. And you know, when I say a number of Americans, we should talk about the numbers. Because we got the news that Emerson College ran a poll about this whole situation. Well, they found that of the general population, just 17% said that the killing of the CEO is

acceptable or somewhat acceptable. The big number that stood out is that 41% of young voters, those between 18 and 29, said Thompson's killing was acceptable or somewhat acceptable. The big number that stood out is that 41% of young voters, those between 18 and 29 said Thompson's killing was acceptable or somewhat acceptable. But then, as you can see from the graphic, the support dropping there from age though, then kicking a little bit back up with older folks. You know, with this, if you go on social media regarding the killing,

you still see in a lot of different takes out there. It was seemingly some in support of the alleged action saying things like, Bragg's quote about Luigi Mangione and the UHC shooting is crazy because he definitely didn't sow terror. The vibe was pretty good, actually. With others, I'm just joking about Mangione, saying things like, Luigi Mangione indicted on terrorism for the irreparable damage he has done to male body standards. Of course, this also is you have plenty of people out there condemning Mangione's alleged actions, saying things like, let's be clear, Luigi Mangione is a terrorist. He is not an activist. He is not a

victim. He is not a hero. The fact that he quotes the Lorax in his manifesto makes me sick. If you care a whole lot, you don't kill innocent people. But then also kind of separate from those two different takes, you had people using this situation to highlight how differently things can be treated in America.

With them arguing things like, Luigi Mangione being charged with terror but a school shooter isn't is exactly what is wrong with this country. Slap on the hand for a child murderer, life in prison for the murder of one CEO. Though there, I will say that some school shooters have been charged with terror, but most aren't.

Also regarding how the government's treating this situation versus others, you have people pointing to reports that New York Governor Kathy Hochul's considering setting up a special hotline for CEOs to report alleged threats. With that, reportedly coming after she met with 175 corporate reps, counter-terrorism officials,

and Homeland Security yesterday. And generally speaking there, the optics of such a hotline, it hasn't gone over the best online. With many who often feel that rich individuals get way better treatment by the government and judicial systems speaking out. With people saying things like,

instead of pushing for the New York Health Act, which would provide single payer in New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul decided to provide wellness sessions to corrupt CEOs and provide them with a hotline so they feel safe. Democrats continue to show who matters to them, and it's not us. As well as democracy is when rich people

get a special hotline for their own personal protection. But yeah, generally speaking, that's where we are with the Luigi Mangione situation. And I will ask here, specifically, I want to know your thoughts regarding the poll, and the differences regarding age groups and opinion. But then, we've got some quick celebrity legal stories in the news today, starting with Andrew Tate.

And that, because a court in the UK just ruled that police in the country can seize 2.6 million pounds or over 3 million US dollars in unpaid taxes from it. With police in Devon and Cornwall seeking to seize the money, which has been held in seven frozen bank accounts held by Tate, his brother Tristan, and a woman only identified as Jay.

And we saw a judge rule today that several transactions made by the brothers, including millions of dollars in transfers to Jay, were a quote, straightforward cheat to evade tax authority. Saying there that they were serial tax evaders who paid nothing than over $26 million in revenue made over the course of nearly a decade. And one lawyer even alleging that Tate

had previously publicly said, "'When I lived in England, I refused to pay tax.'" With then, according to the BBC, detectives linking some of the revenue to the human trafficking allegations the brothers are facing in Romania, but have repeatedly denied. With all the money reportedly coming from earnings in the war room, Hustlers University,

Cobra Tate, and OnlyFans. Though for his part, Tate has slammed the court's decision online, writing, First, they said I was a human trafficker, but couldn't find a single girl to testify. So instead, they stole all the money they could find from banks. If you speak against power, they will do anything to destroy you. And adding, when they fail to control your influence, they audit your influence. When they fail to match your power, they nitpick your paperwork. They want the world to believe that a man of mastery can be reduced to a headline in a lying newspaper.

With him then further adding in a statement, this is not justice. It's a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system. But then with all that, you had police forces releasing a statement saying, not only did their investigations find that Tate and his brother paid no taxes

on income earned between 2014 and 2022, but both individuals are alleged to have concealed the origins of their income by channeling money through, quote, front accounts, constituting criminal activity and rendering those earnings proceeds of crime. Though notably, these proceedings were civil, not criminal. But obviously, there are a lot of cases

left to play out with the Tates, so we'll have to wait to see. But that said, it brings us to our second legal celebrity update, and that is Megan Thee Stallion seeking a restraining order against Tory Lanez. Which is interesting, because two years ago he was convicted

for shooting Meg in the feet and eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison. But with that, she's alleging that he's managed to continue a campaign of harassment from behind bars. And with that, you have multiple outlets obtaining the nearly 200-page filing, which claims that Tory continues to terrorize Meg,

and adding, due to inadequacies and loopholes in the criminal justice system, she is currently without any formal protection against his attacks. And then further claiming that Tory and his legal team purposefully filed petitions challenging his conviction on the day Meg's documentary came out in an effort to spread false claims about the case while she was telling the public her story, even calling Tory's alleged efforts psychological warfare. And this is notably Meg claims that he's

not doing this alone and has formed a quote conspiratorial relationship with a blogger who is smearing her name online. And actually with that Meg previously filed a lawsuit against that blogger and her latest filing now points to prison calls between Tory and his father where they allegedly discussed paying the blogger. They're claiming that they are working together to bully, harass and further victimize her and likening that blogger to a puppet that Tory's using. And so she's seeking a new restraining order as a previous protection order expired that would prevent Tory from directly or indirectly harassing and intimidating her. The filing then saying that without a restraining order,

she will have no protection from Tory when he's released. And this possibility alone causes her severe emotional distress and makes her fearful for her life. And then if you live in Florida, you will no longer be able to access PornHub come the new year. And that because governor Ron DeSantis signed HB3 into law this year,

which reportedly in part requires pornographic websites to implement age verification to block access to those under 18. With the law specifically mandating that these websites use either anonymous age verification or standard age verification. And this is your places like Axios reporting that the Free Speech Coalition

filed a legal challenge to the law this week, arguing that it creates a substantial burden on adults who want to access legal sites without fear of surveillance. As far as PornHub, if you're in Florida right now and you go to the website, you'll get a pop-up that says you will lose access to Pornhub in 13 days and saying your government wants you to give your driver's license before you can access the site. With then adding, we don't want minors accessing our site and think preventing that from happening is a good thing, but putting everybody's privacy at risk won't achieve that. And so come New Year's

Day, Florida will now be the ninth state that Pornhub has pulled out of. The wall of this is you have people on the other side saying, you know, for Pornhub, this isn't actually about caring about privacy. With reports noting, for example, that state representative Chase Tremont, who's actually a Republican who sponsored the age verification bill, he said that the site's decision to shut down rather than comply tells us exactly

who their real target audience is. But yeah, that's the situation. Florida's probably not the last state we're gonna see this from, but generally bad news for porn sites, great news for VPNs. And then some of the most dangerous medical conditions are the ones you don't even know you have.

And sometimes it takes a trained professional who knows what to look for to tell the difference between a trivial symptom and a life-threatening emergency. So the question right now is, can you make that judgment over the phone or even with a video call? Right, and hitting on that, we're seeing people like Simon Rowland,

a researcher with the healthcare company, Halion, telling the Washington Post that few providers actually receive special training in making remote diagnoses, which can be especially difficult in acute cases. And also what we're seeing right now is that the answer appears to be revealing itself thanks to One Medical.

They're that in-person and telehealth primary care provider that was acquired by Amazon for almost $4 billion in early 2023. And with that, you have the Post reporting that just before Christmas that year, One Medical allegedly made a fuck up that apparently led to its first ever wrongful death lawsuit. With Philip Tong, you have the Post reporting that just before Christmas that year, one medical allegedly made a fuck up that apparently led to its first ever

wrongful death lawsuit. With Philip Tong, a beloved father and husband in his 40s, logging onto a video consultation to report some symptoms. Namely there that he was short of breath, coughing up blood, and watching his feet turn blue. Which I gotta say, even as someone with zero medical education, I gotta say sounds pretty serious.

Oh, and also our guy Phil, he was diabetic and had been sick with flu-like symptoms for about a week up to this point. Yet, according to the lawsuit, the provider's recommendation was simple, just buy an inhaler. But then, just hours later, Tong collapsed in an emergency room and died the same day.

And so now you have this lawsuit arguing that one medical failed to order appropriate testing for him and lacked adequately trained and qualified staff, resulting in treatment that was careless, reckless, and negligent. And so you have the first meeting in that case scheduled for March of next year, But here's a big thing. This is not the first complaint

that's been lobbed at one medical or Amazon. After the company was acquired, current and former employees told the Post that the pressure to improve productivity increased at the expense of patient care. With reports saying a virtual provider's schedules became so tightly packed that two different patients reported

having telehealth visits with providers who were clearly calling from their cars. And so at one clinic, you had former employees saying that standard appointments drank from one hour to 30 minutes. Health coaches no longer assisted physicians throughout appointments, and in-person mental health check-ins with behavioral health specialists were replaced with virtual visits. With doctors expected to see more and more patients per day, first around six, and then eventually more than 12. And then a year after the acquisition, one medical laid

off several hundred employees, including some clinical staff and reception workers. Employees were then replaced by a call center in Arizona, manned by a staffing agency. Now with that, some of its workers are full-time employees, but reportedly many others are newly hired contractors with little to no medical experience in just a few weeks of training. So it's been argued that we're already beginning

to see the consequences with the Post, for example, reporting that the call center failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for elderly callers with urgent symptoms. With things like, for example, a patient reporting a blood clot, pain, and swelling, and staff didn't escalate the call, and they just scheduled an appointment.

But then, over the following two days, clinical staffers flagging four more call center errors involving elderly patients with urgent complaints, including stomach pain and blood and stool, a spike in blood pressure, an insect bite, and sudden rib pain. Now, with this, the corporate leadership has defended itself

against all these accusations. For example, one medical CEO claiming it's independent of Amazon leadership and any changes are unrelated to the acquisition. And that, along with the company claiming that it began shortening appointments before Amazon took it over, saying that patients are now screened in advance

by a centralized team to save time and administrative tasks in the office. And then with that, claiming that the call center has improved response times and patient care. But hey, if this doesn't end up getting settled and this lawsuit unfolds and more reporting comes out, at administrative tasks in the office. And then with that, claiming that the call center has improved response times and patient care. But hey, if this doesn't end up getting settled and this lawsuit unfolds and more reporting comes out, I'm sure we'll find out

if any of that's actually true or not. Then in a quick break from the news, are you feeling the pressure of debt? Well, if you are, you're not alone, right? It's something that most of us deal with, but also when the holidays roll around, it just feels like an impossible weight at times. Gifts, travel, celebrations, it all adds up fast.

In fact, last year, nearly half of American consumers took on more debt just to get through the holiday season. And with that, I mean, let's be honest, starting a new year with more bills and the same stress, it's not the vibe. If you've been making payments, but your balances are barely budging, today's sponsor, PDS Debt, can help. They'll take the time to get where you're coming from and match you with personalized options to tackle things like credit cards, personal loans, medical bills, or collections, or whatever's stressing you out. If you have $10,000 or more in eligible debt, PDS Debt offers real solutions no matter your credit score, even if it's bad or fair. And getting started is really quick and easy, especially because they're offering you right

now a free debt analysis that takes just 30 seconds. So hey, head over to pdsdebt.com slash DeFranco to start your journey toward becoming debt-free, especially because life can feel so much lighter without feeling the weight of mounting debt. Stop merely surviving and start living for you, not your creditors. Take the first step to reclaim control today at pdsdebt.com slash defranco. But then we need to talk about how the US Bureau of Prisons

just lost nearly $116 million for running what was known internally as the Rape Club among guards and prisoners. In this, after the Justice Department concluded what appears to be the largest settlement in the Bureau's history. And it all comes down to just one prison, the Federal Correction Institution in Dublin, California.

You see, it was one of six women-only facilities in the federal prison system, housing just several hundred inmates, which then makes it all the more shocking that a staggering 103 of them sued the Bureau for alleged sexual abuse and retaliation for speaking out. Though perhaps really not that surprising since even the former warden, Ray Garcia,

who would have ultimately been responsible for making sure that none of this happened, was guilty himself. He actually got convicted in 2022 for abusing three inmates and is serving a 70 month prison sentence. With then also seven other employees getting charged so far, six of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted. But this is allegedly as many as 30 correctional officers

took part in the abuse, including a chaplain. And it seems like they barely even tried to hide it. Like for example, one inmate said her prison work supervisor assigned her to work with a maintenance foreman she had accused of rape and then taunted her by remarking, let the games begin. Or like this other time where a woman said that when she reported her rape by a safety administrator

to an internal prison investigator, he replied, if it's not on camera, then you're beat. And when women spoke out, they were often put into solitary confinement or transferred to other prisons, Catholic church style. Now with all this, we're also seeing the 103 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, each getting about a million dollars on average.

And this is one inmate who was there for a 10-year drug sentence, even convinced a judge to release her three years early because of the alleged abuse that she received at the hands of at least five correctional officers. Also, as far as the prison itself, FCI Dublin has since been shut down with its inmates being distributed

to other federal prisons across the country. Though I will say that doesn't necessarily mean that they're free from the abuse. And I say that because in 2022, a Senate inquiry found that staff had sexually abused inmates in at least two thirds of federal women's prisons over the past decade. But at the very least,

the prisons where these women went to will now have court appointed monitors. And back in July of 2022, Biden signed a law strengthening oversight of the Bureau. But then in massive news I did not expect, it is now being widely reported that the House's Ethics Committee has voted

to release its report on a range of very serious allegations against Matt Gaetz. For cases we've talked about a number of times before, the committee has been investigating Gaetz for sexual misconduct, drug use, and accepting improper gifts. With that, notably coming after the DOJ dropped its own separate probe

into whether he paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old minor, and paid women to travel across state lines for sex. But then, as you might remember, just days before the panel was supposedly set to vote on whether to release the report, Trump tapped Gates to be his attorney general, with then Gates making the very rare move

of just immediately resigning, which ended up mucking everything up because the ethics committee can only investigate sitting members. So by resigning, he effectively ended the probe and made it very difficult for the panel to release the report. With the seeing many Republicans,

including Speaker Johnson pressuring the committee not to release their findings, saying that it would violate House rules and be against precedent. Though I will say very notably there, there is actually precedent for releasing an ethics report after a member of Congress leaves, but it has only happened on a few occasions,

which is why it is insanely rare that the committee reportedly voted to now release the Gates report. A move that's also super significant for several other reasons. Right, first of all, it came after Gates already withdrew himself for consideration as AG. And this is according to CNN, which was the first to report the latest news,

the committee secretly voted to release its findings earlier this month. And that is super notable because the argument for releasing it when he was still under consideration as AG was that he was still gonna be a public servant and that the American people deserve to know the truth. Right, and so after Gates withdrew his name, the debate kind of ended up fizzling out for the most part.

But it's generally speaking, seeing both lawmakers and the American public mostly dropping their demands to see it. Especially after an attempt by House Democrats to force the committee to release the findings failed to pass in the chamber. Hell, you even had the Republican chair of the committee literally saying that Gates' withdrawal

should end discussion of the report's release. So you have people saying that the fact that they're still voting to release this when he isn't gonna even be serving the public anymore, that could speak to the severity of their findings. But then also beyond that, this decision is significant because it marks a major reversal for the panel and specifically for members of Gaetz's own party.

Because remember, this committee is split evenly among Republicans and Democrats, five to five, but because the GOP controls the House, they get to break ties. And last month, just one day before Gaetz resigned, the Ethics Committee voted against releasing the report, with unsurprisingly, Republicans voting along party lines to block their findings from being made public.

So if all of the reporting here is true and the panel secretly voted again and decided to release the report this time around, it would mean that at least one of the Republican members flipped their vote. Now currently, regarding the contents of this report, we don't have any new information right now, though we have seen multiple outlets reporting

that it is expected to be released later this week. Also, with this news, as far as how Gates has responded, he wrote a long post on X where he once again denied the claims, noting that the DOJ had investigated the allegations before and then writing, "'I was charged with nothing, fully exonerated, "'not even a campaign finance violation,

"'and the people investigating me hated me.'" With Gates also claiming that the witnesses the House panel interviewed had been deemed not credible by the DOJ, and arguing that he and his attorneys weren't able to challenge the testimony the witnesses gave to the committee. But then he also went on to sort of address

the substance of the allegations against him, saying, "'In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated, "'even some I never dated, but who asked? "'I dated several of these women. "'For years, I never had sexual contact "'with someone under 18. "'Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court, which is why no such claim was ever made in court.

My thirties were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. It's embarrassing though not criminal that I probably partied, womanized, drank, and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. And saying I live a different life now. All of which I imagine is a pretty good preview of what his defense is gonna be

against whatever the report ends up saying. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what this report actually says. And then, is the US government about to shut down? Because there's a showdown playing out in Congress right now. Because you see, you had lawmakers having until midnight on Friday to pass a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown.

And last night, congressional leaders unveiled a 1500 page stopgap bill, right, called a continuing resolution or a CR that'll fund the government until March. So it's largely seen as a short-term bill meant to keep things going until Trump and the new Republican-controlled Congress can take over. But also, in addition to extending current funding levels,

the legislation also includes a number of very notable provisions. Right, among other things, the CR would allocate more than $100 billion in disaster relief for communities hit by the recent hurricanes and other natural disasters. It would give an additional $10 billion in aid to farmers as lawmakers continue to squabble over a new farm bill.

It would commit the federal government to pay 100% of the cost to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore last spring. It would also pave the way for the NFL's commanders to go from Maryland to DC, provide a cost of living adjustment for Congress members' pay,

which is something that hasn't been voted on since 2009, and criminalize the publication of quote, "'nonconsensual intimate visual depictions,' including deep fake pornography." Right, and those, they're just some of the most significant provisions. There are also a whole host of additional unrelated policy measures

on health, energy, and other matters that lawmakers were able to slip into the bill as part of negotiations. Well, when that hits your ears, it sounds very weird. It's also an understood that it's not all that uncommon for an end of the year spending bill. They even have a term for it. They call it a Christmas tree

because it's decorated with a bunch of different pet projects both parties have been trying to pass. Because they get tacked onto a must pass spending bill. They even have a term for it. They call it a Christmas tree because it's decorated with a bunch of different pet projects both parties have been trying to pass. Because they get tacked onto a must pass spending bill, lawmakers are forced to choose between enforcing a shutdown or caving to those projects and passing the bill as is so they can head out for the holiday recess. But also understand the fact that it is common

does not make it popular, especially among Republicans who generally oppose new spending, which is why it is then not shocking to learn that a bunch of GOP members have slammed this bill. With many openly opposing it, calling it a Democrat wishlist, or as Representative Eric Burleson put it,

"- It's a total dumpster fire. I think it's garbage." It also wasn't just lawmakers complaining, right? We saw Elon Musk making multiple posts condemning the CR and urging lawmakers not to pass it. Vote no also trending high on X this morning. Though there you also have people saying something that's become common on the platform

is that a bunch of the top posts promoted by the algorithm there were totally unrelated and literally nothing to do with the stopgap bill. But Musk's decision to chime in here, it is very notable. Because he's supposed to head this commission that's all about slashing the budget and it elevates the spending battle

to the millions and millions of people who see his content. And actually on the note of spread, I mean, just yesterday, you had the Washington Post publish his wild analysis that found that Musk's influence on X is bigger than every single member of Congress combined. With that reportedly including both personal and official accounts. And so it's believed by a number of people that by adding visibility to the shutdown showdown, Musk could encourage constituents to pressure their Congress members to vote against the CR. But also with this, right,

on the other side, you have Democrats widely voicing support for the bill. And actually, so has Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who helped negotiate it. With Johnson defending the bill here and arguing that it's just a short-term measure, not a fully funded bill like the Democrats wanted. And arguing, this is a small CR that we've had to add things to that were out of our control.

These were not manmade disasters. These were things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do. I wish it weren't necessary. And adding, we have to be able to help those who are on these dire straits. And that's what the volume of the pages to this is. And so it's gonna be very interesting

to see what the vote on this is. Because given how slim the Republican majority is in the House and how many members have already voiced opposition, Johnson is very likely gonna need the Democrats to get this resolution passed. And at least from an optics standpoint, that could be a bad thing for Johnson

because it could be seen as caving to Democrats. And as we've seen with situations like Kevin McCarthy, bipartisanship can be fatal for Republicans. Though, I will say that the situation on the ground has changed for a number of reasons, including Matt Gaetz not being there. So one, we'll have to see what happens with the CR, but also when the new Congress convenes next month,

it'll be very interesting to see if Johnson gets the support that he needs to maintain his leadership position. But yeah, all that's to say, it's gonna be a very interesting month. Then, to get a quick breather from the news, let's be real. How many photos sit in your camera roll just collecting digital dust? Because I used to be that guy, but then I found

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start appearing was priceless. And the frame, like, it looks like a piece of art, high res display that makes photos look like actual prints. No more scrolling through endless group chats or forgotten albums. Like seriously, it's the best gift for loved ones, right? Really ticking the box for the gift that keeps on giving. And it's perfect for anyone,

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But then we've got to talk about two big pieces of TikTok news. The first is that according to reports, the Supreme Court has now agreed to hear oral arguments over whether the law to force a sale of TikTok from its parent company or face a ban is constitutional. With that set to happen on Wednesday, January 10th, which is very notable because the ban is supposed

to go into place on January 19th. So we're gonna have to wait to see what happens there. And obviously whatever happens is gonna be huge. But then also today, we need to talk about how TikTok is under fire in the EU because the European Commission has now opened formal proceedings against TikTok on the suspicion that it failed to quote,

properly assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to election integrity as required under the EU-wide Digital Services Act or DSA. And specifically here, this all has to do with the recent presidential election in Romania. Because back in November, we saw a far right ultra nationalist candidate

by the name of Colleen Georgescu coming out of nowhere to win the first round. This all has to do with the recent presidential election in Romania, because back in November, we saw a far right ultra nationalist candidate by the name of Colleen Georgescu coming out of nowhere to win the first round. And very notably, he campaigned almost exclusively on TikTok, even being dubbed the TikTok Messiah for his ultra religious messaging with him saying, for example, that he has a mission from God to save Romania. He also, among other things, has said

that the moon landing never happened and that COVID-19 just doesn't exist. Right, and that's in addition to stuff like describing fascist leaders from his country's past as national heroes. But more specifically for this story outside of that, the reason he sparked so much concern internationally, at least among the mainstream European establishment, is for being intensely critical of the EU and NATO while appearing friendly to Russia. The key thing to keep in mind there being that Romania is seen as playing a key strategic role in the region. You see, the country shares

a 400 mile border with Ukraine, with it also being home to a new air base that'll be one of NATO's biggest in Europe. And in fact, there's already a missile defense facility built by the United States in the country, which Georgescu has criticized using what many have called typical Putin talking points. And so with all that, you had people just not believing

that he really won fair and square. And actually, as it turns out, he might not have. With the seeing not only the Romanian government, but also non-governmental organizations reporting that the candidate had received a massive boost from a network of paid influencers, fake accounts, and bots. With the country's national media regulators saying that it had flagged, quote, various irregularities

and asked TikTok to take action, but claiming that the platform just didn't respond adequately. So with that, the government requested that the European Commission open a formal investigation into TikTok's role in the Romanian elections under the DSA. With then, not long after that, Romanian authorities declassifying a series of documents

suggesting that there may have been an effort there similar to Russian influence operations in Ukraine and Moldova. Claiming, for example, the 25,000 pro-Georgescu TikTok accounts burst into action just two weeks before the first round vote. With it also saying it identified

more than 85,000 cyber attacks it allegedly sought to exploit vulnerabilities in Romania's election IT system. And then finally saying they found hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid to some TikTok users involved in promoting Georgescu in the lead up to the election. Now, actually with that specifically, we're seeing some Romanian TikTok influencers

fleeing the country as they're being investigated by tax authorities for their alleged role in swaying the election. But also just a day after the declassification of those documents and just two days before the second round of the election was scheduled to take place, Romania's constitutional court made the before the second round of the election was scheduled to take place, Romania's constitutional court

made the hugely controversial decision to cancel the election and rerun it at a later date, with notably not only George Escu, but also the liberal candidate who had been set to challenge him taking issue with the decision, where you had both describing the move as an attempt by the unpopular and distrusted establishment parties

to cling to power. But then on the other side, at the same time, you have people saying that the election was deeply flawed and needs to be redone. But in any case, with the EU now investigating, this whole situation is just becoming an even bigger part of the debate taking place not only there, but here in the States.

Right, one, you constantly see playing out about balancing free speech with efforts to tackle disinformation and foreign interference. Which on that note, Europe's now on high alert when it comes to other upcoming elections, which may be another reason for opening these proceedings against TikTok.

In fact, earlier this month, anticipating the possibility of an investigation, the commission actually ordered TikTok to retain all data related to election risk management for four months, starting from late November and running through March. And notably there, the order encompasses all national elections, not just the Romanian one. So with that, the commission will specifically

investigate TikTok's recommendation systems for what they call coordinated inauthentic manipulation or automated exploitation of the service. And that's in addition to looking into TikTok's recommendation systems for what they call coordinated inauthentic manipulation or automated exploitation of the service. And that's in addition to looking into TikTok's policies on political advertisements and paid for political content. So the investigation triggered by what happened in Romania, but not necessarily confined to it. The commission here, for example, is saying

it's conscious of the risk of interference in the German parliamentary election coming in February and the presidential election in Croatia starting on December 29th. Though with everything that's been said here, TikTok for its part has consistently denied wrongdoing, with a spokesperson also saying, we've protected the integrity of our platform

through over 150 elections around the world and continue proactively addressing these industry-wide challenges. As well as adding, TikTok has provided the European Commission with extensive information regarding these efforts, and we have transparently and publicly detailed our robust actions.

But with like so much that we talk about on the show, we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out both with the EU as well as here in the States. But then finally today, let's do a congratulations and then talk about yesterday with some comment commentary. Starting with a congrats to Alicia O, the latest SeatGeek prize winner who just won $500 in our weekly SeatGeek giveaway

towards her choice of SeatGeek tickets. With Alicia in good company with past winners, right? She's planning to see Tyler, the creator. For the rest of y'all, that's right. 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. All you gotta do is 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. Thank you, you're welcome, and get in on it. But then, as promised, let's talk about yesterday with some comment commentary. Starting with the fact that there were a lot of comments about the USPS, right? Trump's desire to possibly privatize it and or gut it. With y'all sharing things like, "'As someone from the UK, "'do not privatize your post office.

"'Royal Mail has notably declined since it was privatized.' As well as really tired of the narrative "'that USPS loses money. "'We don't say the military lost $1 trillion, "'we say it costs $1 trillion. It's a service that costs money to operate. With others agreeing, saying, yeah, I'd like to introduce you to the Department of Defense.

Others claiming I work for the USPS and hearing these schmucks talking about privatizing it infuriates me. We were told for the holiday season that there will be no seasonal hiring while our facility is already lacking the needed workers. We have people working six 12-hour days and packages are still being left in the unloading area

due to the lack of workers. None of these billionaires can imagine the scale of how much mail is moved through a facility in 24 hours. And others adding, I really despise the push to privatize every aspect of the government. Just a bunch of already rich assholes trying to grab more money while driving the cost of living higher for everyone. Multiple lifetimes worth of money and they still won't be happy because they want all the money. With that, again, I'm very interested to see, one, how this plays out, and two, if changes are made, what happens from there? Especially because, as we talked about yesterday, those most impacted are very likely going to be more Trump voters. Because while a number of the changes that have been floated around would affect everyone, it would really,

really affect rural and super rural voters. Yeah, you know, with that, my general mindset is I hope for the best, I prepare for the worst. And with this election, like with past elections, I think America gets the government that it deserves at that time. And just like every single time when people fuck around, they will eventually find out. We just don't know what the find out is going to look like. There are beliefs, there are experts chiming in, but I, and I think it is because it's been a long year. To a certain degree, I'm of the mindset that if there's going to be a fire, I'm just going to sit back and make s'mores at this point. It's in no way a healthy mindset to have, but I'm just being honest with where I'm at. I probably just need a Snickers bar and a week off.

But back to comments. There are definitely a fair share of people saying the Mount Vernon police story was disgusting. People shocked. They strip searched every single person. Right, with people wondering if they strip searched every arrested person and even more, is there really a good officer in that station? Then regarding AI advancements, and specifically yesterday we were talking about Sora versus VO2 and video. And you have people saying they need to make it mandatory that if you use AI, you must disclose it. Obviously someone can lie, but if it's caught that they did and didn't say so, it should

be removed. There's so many videos just meshed together to make stories for content and it's working. Which I would say one, yes, absolutely. But also two, that solution I think at scale fails. There's too much content being uploaded to pretty much every platform. And at this point, we'd largely be relying kind of on two things. One, the terms of service of the social platforms and their ability to identify AI content. And two, the companies behind the AI putting something in their AI content that maybe signals to the social media companies that it is AI. But then even that part, it relies on all AI companies being good actors. Which even if that is the case currently, I think over a long enough period of time that will not be. Which then brings you to a debate that we see play out where you have people saying,

well, the law needs to get involved. Would making AI content meant to mislead and cause panic or harass someone? Or would the creation of some AI content, like deepfake sort of thing, if it's meant to incite panic, harassment, some sort of thing, is that the equivalent of like yelling fire in a movie theater? Or there would be a legal punishment of some sort, but then you're gonna have people saying, Oh, well I wasn't trying to incite, it was parody. And there, I don't know,

there's so much of it, it gets very, very messy. But how we as different societies, we adopt and react and make legislation around AI advancements, that is gonna be a huge defining thing over at least the next decade, for better or worse. But hey, with that said, that is the end of your Philip DeFranco show

and more specifically your extra rambly comment commentary section today. As always, thank you for watching. I hope you've enjoyed getting filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.