The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.5 Responding to the Lies, Liver King Fraud & Apology, Amouranth, the "Twitter Files", & Today's News

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Internet's weird. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Always weird. For example, I had a lot of people asking me my opinion on this guy. But I was fortunate enough to not know who this is. Uh, this is the Liver King. And apparently the big news is that he was exposed for taking steroids. Though to me, the bigger news is that anyone thought he wasn't on steroids? Like there were people out there genuinely going, Yeah, I believe him.

Starting point is 00:00:20 He got like that just by eating liver and bull testicles. You know, there are people out there that are just trusting. He's previously denied steroid use. Yeah, last week he got exposed. There were emails of his that leaked onto the internet showing he was on growth hormone, explaining his whole schedule. With a man ultimately responding with a video titled, Liver King Confession, I Lied.

Starting point is 00:00:36 And in it, he admitted that he lied, saying that he was on steroids. But he had a good excuse. He said he did it. He lied because young people are killing themselves. So bring awareness to the 4,000 people a day who kill themselves, the 80,000 people a day that try to kill themselves, our people are hurting at record rates with depression, autoimmune, anxiety, infertility, low ambition in life.

Starting point is 00:01:01 Our young men are hurting the most, feeling lost, weak, and submissive. So I made it my job to model, teach, and preach a simple, elegant solution called ancestral living. And then, depending on how you view the situation, and this man, after six minutes of explanations or excuses, he closes by saying, I fully own that I f***ed up. I am as sorry as a man can be.

Starting point is 00:01:22 And here's the thing, you can take him at his word or not, but I do think a key thing he left out of all this, it's not like he just lied. He didn't lie to keep young men from hurting themselves. He lied so he could sell everyone supplements. This man has made an untold fortune just over the last year. And how'd he do it? By selling products that he credited even though he was actually just on steroids. This is like if I sold Invisalign and I was like, yeah, it fixed my teeth. This is the before, this is the after. And I just skipped over the part where I got veneers and crowns. You know, I'm not alone of this mindset. I saw creators like

Starting point is 00:01:51 PewDiePie speaking on this recently. We're talking about how liver king and action movie stars lie about how they get their bodies. And here we have another one where he's selling supplements. That's really the reason I don't take steroids, supplements. I am saving lives here. All these people trying to get like, what the fuck are you talking about? You are the problem. You are not the solution. And others like Joe Rogan just laughing hysterically

Starting point is 00:02:12 at the bullshittery that the liver cake is trying to sell here. To apologize. Because I fucked up. Because I'm embarrassed and ashamed. But yeah, with all that said, I'd love to know your thoughts on any and all aspects of this story.

Starting point is 00:02:24 But also if I can close on a final thing here, this is yet another of the countless reasons why you can't believe what you see online, especially when it comes to body image. The internet is not real life. Be skeptical and do not compare yourself to others. And then, in other online news, you have Twitch suffering right now.

Starting point is 00:02:38 With reports coming out that Twitch has suffered the biggest viewership drop in years, with the platform as a whole racking up less than 1.7 billion hours watched in November of 2022, with this had to be their lowest points in September of 2020. Though, key thing, reports note that this is still significantly higher than the 1 billion hours they saw in January and February of 2020. And as far as if this is a sign of things to come, or just kind of the regular ebb and flow of what we see on sites like Twitch,

Starting point is 00:03:00 we'll have to wait to see. But in the meantime, one thing that is not in question is the relationship between audiences and the people they watch on Twitch. Which is one of the craziest being seen with this Amaranth situation. She's one of the biggest streamers in the world. We talked about her recently after she revealed that she was married and claimed that she was being abused by her husband. Just absolutely devastating and scary stuff. But since then, saying she's free and seemingly to help her, one of her viewers sent her a package that included $70,000, a new iPhone, and self-defense items like a taser, which understandably left Amaranth asking questions. Is this a YouTuber

Starting point is 00:03:29 who's like trying to pull a prank on me or some sh**? No, it appeared the self-defense kit was in response to all of this, with the sender including a letter which noted that the phone was paid for but not activated, also including two phone numbers she can put into the phone if she wants, the first being a bodyguard service that the sender apparently had on retainer with a payment source already attached, and the second being the sender's personal line in case she needs anything at all. Which, of course, resulted in some people thinking it was creepy, except she seems to not think that. That's it in the letter. There's not like a creepy,

Starting point is 00:03:55 run away with me, please marry me, like there normally is, let me smash. None of that, let me suck in them toes. And honestly, I'm not sure exactly what to think on it. I'm like, I'm letting this story digest, but if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them in the comments down below. And then, it feels like a third of the news stories on the internet right now involve Twitter. We briefly touched on it in the community show, but you had Kanye West getting booted off of Twitter again,

Starting point is 00:04:16 but this time, obviously at the hands of Elon Musk, with a leaked text even showing Elon texting Ye to say, you've gone too far. Kanye then posting this photo of Musk. Kanye then gets the boot, with Elon later saying in a Twitter space, I think, um, you know, posting swastikas in what is obviously not a, you know, good way, uh, is an assignment to violence. I personally wanted to punch, uh, Con-Kanye.

Starting point is 00:04:37 Kanye then taking to Instagram to write, Am I the only one who thinks Elon could be half Chinese? Have you ever seen his pics as a child? Take a Chinese genius and mate them with a South African supermodel and we have an Elon. Then saying they probably made 10 to 30 Elons. Then later saying it was meant as a compliment. But that's it for Yadoff right now. We'll have to wait to see what happens.

Starting point is 00:04:54 But like I said, not the only reason Twitter's in the news. Except this story involves former President Trump literally calling for the Constitution to be terminated. Right over the weekend, the former president who incited a violent insurrection posted on Truth Social with a revelation of massive and widespread fraud and deception and working closely with big tech companies, the DNC and the Democrat Party, do you throw the presidential election results of 2020 out and declare the rightful winner or do you have a

Starting point is 00:05:15 new election? A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great, quote, founders did not want and would not condone false and fraudulent elections. With that, absolute bullshit and insanity of tearing up the Constitution coming from Twitter. Because on Friday, you had Elon Musk releasing the so-called Twitter files, which he teased as a bombshell that would finally at last expose how Twitter engaged in, quote, free speech suppression when its former management decided to limit sharing of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop three weeks before the 2020 election. The TLDRs of the Post story alleged that Hunter Biden tried to set up

Starting point is 00:05:47 a meeting between an executive at a Ukrainian company that he had worked for and his dad, which Joe's spokespeople denied at the time, with seemingly one of the biggest issues at the heart of the story being that it appeared to draw from leaked content from a laptop that the Post claimed belonged to Hunter Biden. So what we saw was Twitter responding by blocking the story under its policy against disseminating stolen and hacked materials. That then prompted a ton of backlash, largely from conservatives, who accused Twitter and other social media platforms like Facebook, which also blocked access to the story, of censoring news that could hurt Biden just ahead of the election.

Starting point is 00:06:13 And we ended up seeing within the span of just two days, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reversing the decision, and later telling Congress that the decision was a mistake. But despite that, a number of conservatives have continually pointed to the whole ordeal as an example of big tech censoring them, with Musk now amplifying that and boosting the Twitter files as evidence of this, and saying that he would show what really happened behind the scenes. But now, like with many of Musk's promises when it comes to Twitter, you have people saying this is a massive nothing burger,

Starting point is 00:06:34 with people saying what we ended up actually seeing wasn't Musk releasing a bunch of documents, but saying instead he simply pointed to a lengthy, disjointed Twitter thread posted over the course of about two hours by Substack writer Matt Taibbi. And as far as what's in the thread, we saw it contain some screenshots of internal communications at Twitter, with Taibbi saying that the information was based upon thousands of internal documents obtained by sources at Twitter, with him also saying that he had agreed to certain conditions in exchange for the documents, though he didn't give any details there. But ultimately, the general consensus seems to be that the so-called bombshell information that he shared just corroborates what we already knew,

Starting point is 00:07:01 where the screenshots of email exchange really just show a group of executives at Twitter debating whether or not to limit the article and how to deal with the situation? With people saying there's literally no smoking gun, showing the Democrats pressured the company to censor the post, or Twitter caving to partisan demands in an attempt to silence conservatives, or really any evidence at all?

Starting point is 00:07:16 In fact, the only exchange with a politician that was included in the thread came from Democratic Representative Ro Khanna. Ro represents Silicon Valley and actually told the executives they should actually distribute the story, with Khanna, who confirmed the veracity of the emails, even explicitly saying in his correspondence at the time that Twitter's move here appeared to be in violation of the First Amendment. So as a result, while you have Musk, Taibbi, and plenty of other big conservatives framing this as a huge deal, many have broadly agreed that the Twitter files drop is just a big

Starting point is 00:07:39 dud. And key thing here, that even includes some strong critics of Twitter on the right and even major voices at the New York Post. With the New York Post columnist Miranda Devine telling Tucker Carlson that this is not really the smoking gun we'd hoped for. Though, she also added without any evidence here that Musk had held back some material. Which if that ends up being the case and then it comes to light, more than happy to include here. But with all this going down the way that it has,

Starting point is 00:07:58 instead of focusing on this story the way that Musk clearly wanted, you have a ton of people arguing that this whole situation just represents yet another instance of Musk using his power at Twitter for what they say are bizarre means and trying to cater to conservatives. Another is noting that Musk's promotion of the leak is largely unprecedented and especially significant because the communications expose the names

Starting point is 00:08:14 of multiple Twitter workers and the personal email of Representative Khanna, which is why you have people saying by strongly boosting this content, Musk is basically sicking the far right on specific current and or former Twitter employees while also doxing a literal member of Congress. And with all of it resulting in Trump saying,

Starting point is 00:08:26 Constitution who? Never heard of her. Though there, regarding Musk, for his part he tried to distance himself there from Trump, writing yesterday in a tweet, The Constitution is greater than any president. End of story. But as far as what happens from here, we're gonna have to wait to see. Are you at Musk teasing part two of the Twitter files? With him initially telling people to expect the next drop on Saturday, but then on that day tweeting,

Starting point is 00:08:42 Looks like we will need another day or so with nothing materializing as of recording this morning. But if and when that drops, we'll likely talk about it. Though with how much of a showman Elon Musk is, I feel like the juiciest shit would be in the first drop. But hey, we'll see. And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. And then I want to take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Squarespace. I've been partnering with Squarespace for years now, and I have to say that if you're getting your business off the ground or creating a place to share your homemade goods, new favorite hobby, current obsession, or even a personal blog to get all those thoughts out of your head, no matter what it is you're doing, Squarespace is there to help. It's all so easy. There's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade ever. And creating a beautiful website with Squarespace's all-in-one platform has never been so simple. It's extremely intuitive and easy to use.

Starting point is 00:09:21 Plus, with their mobile-optimized websites, your content automatically adjusts so it looks great on any device. Plus, with Squarespace, you get access to all their marketing tools and analytics and their award-winning customer care team via email or live chat 24-7. So if you want to check it out, see why people love it, see if it's right for you, go ahead and start your free trial today over at squarespace.com slash phil. And when you realize you love it, make sure you enter an offer code phil to get 10% off your first purchase. And then, two substations were attacked over the weekend in North Carolina, and now tens of thousands of people have been left in the dark and cold. Reportedly, both substations in Moore County, North Carolina sustained heavy damage from gunfire. It's affecting 40,000 people, and the timing's notable. This is the beginning of December,

Starting point is 00:09:54 where temperatures are hitting the low 30s. What we've seen is a state of emergency being declared. You have schools shutting down, a curfew enacted, an emergency shelter where the generator's been opened. You have local authorities partnering with the FBI and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom's been opened. You have local authorities partnering with the FBI and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of the attack. With the local sheriff in a news conference yesterday saying, It was targeted. It wasn't random. The person that done this or the person knew exactly what they were doing.

Starting point is 00:10:14 And a representative of Duke Energy, the owner of the substation, saying that the damage is significant and will require complete replacement of key parts. And unfortunately, rerouting the power like they do in a storm isn't an option this time. Meaning that the people of Moore County could be without power until Thursday, which is why the governor of North Carolina is saying on Sunday night, an attack like this on critical infrastructure is a serious intentional crime, and I expect state and federal authorities

Starting point is 00:10:33 to thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice. But as far as who they're going to bring to justice, as of now, authorities don't know who's responsible. The sheriff last night saying no group has stepped forward to take credit, but there is one theory floating around on social media about a motive, with people noting that there was a local drag show taking place around the same time that the power went out, a show that had reportedly attracted a significant number of protesters and a police presence, and one of the leading protesters posting on Facebook after the power went out, the power is out and more and I know why. With her later going on to say that the police came to her house to discuss her post, with her writing,

Starting point is 00:11:01 I told them that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage, saying I used the opportunity to tell them about the immoral drag show and the blasphemy screamed by its supporters. With Axios reporting, the sheriff went to the woman's house and said, we had to go interview this young lady and have a word of prayer with her, but it turned out to be nothing.

Starting point is 00:11:16 But I do want to stress, as far as the show being related, that is just a theory right now, with the sheriff saying last night that so far they have found no connection. And then the police just raided public enemy number one. As this guy calls the police. He says, my truck's been stolen from a parking garage in Denver, Colorado. And key thing, the vehicle contains six guns, including an assault rifle, $4,000 in cash, two drones, and an iPhone. So the police are like, okay, not ideal. We got to find this. And luckily the truck's owner's like, oh, let me use find my iPhone.

Starting point is 00:11:39 With them actually getting two pings from the previous day, which led cops to a home in the Smont Bello neighborhood. They're prepped. They got tactical rifles, SWAT gear, a German Shepherd, and that's when the front door opens, and the gangbanger that steps out is a 77-year-old grandma. Meet Ruby Johnson. She was simply sitting inside watching TV in her robe and bonnet when she heard the bullhorn. And so she comes out, and she tells the officers,

Starting point is 00:12:00 hey, I live alone. I don't have any firearms. But meanwhile, they bust inside, allegedly breaking the garage door with a battering ram, then rifling through her belongings, allegedly damaging a gift she cherished from her son for three decades and left her home in disarray, finding no weapons.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Right, clearly turns out it's the wrong house. Leading people to go, okay, how did this happen? You got two pings, right? This should be open and shut. Well, as it turns out, Find My Phone actually pinged an area covering at least six different properties in four blocks. But rather than investigating any further, the cops just got a warrant and executed the raid,

Starting point is 00:12:28 with Johnson's friends and family as well as some community members alleging racial bias on the part of police as far as all this recklessness. That's how it is. I mean, it's not right, but that's how it is in the brown community, where it's like they do first and then they ask questions later. I don't believe this would have happened in a more affluent neighborhood where it's like they do first and then they ask questions later. I don't believe this would have happened in a more affluent neighborhood without additional evidence or verification.

Starting point is 00:12:52 Without also being reinforced by a 9 News investigation, finding that Denver police SWAT knock and announce warrants occur more often in minority neighborhoods. And as for Johnson herself, she has now filed a lawsuit against the police detective who did this saying that her sense of safety has been shattered and that she's afraid to answer the door, even now having to stay

Starting point is 00:13:07 with her kids for several months after the raid. And her lawsuit also adding that she's developed health issues due to the extreme stress and anxiety the unlawful search caused her. And then, you know how we've been doing stories about the Adderall shortage? Well, one nurse in Florida actually figured out a solution. Steal it from her students. So Michaela Crandall reportedly was hired back in July of this year to be a school nurse for Destin Middle School. And with that, she was responsible for receiving prescribed medications from parents, recording and securing them, and distributing them to the students at specific times. And all was well and good until September. Because that is when a student reportedly told her mother that she noticed a difference in her pills.

Starting point is 00:13:37 Saying that it looked like the collar and imprint were different. So the mother reports this, and the principal and school resource officer reportedly forced open the cabinet where the medications were secured and found that over 110 pills were missing. And of the five bottles that were supposed to have Adderall or Fricolin, only two had anything in them. One hadn't to leave, another had seven pills in it that turned out to be aspirin, and the parents of the student reportedly told deputies that their child wasn't even supposed to have aspirin. And the mother of another victim reportedly had to take her child to the ER because of their erratic behavior, even though she had given the school her child's medication. So Crandall has been arrested, reportedly admitting to taking Adderall for personal use, but claimed that she had a valid prescription and denied taking any pills from

Starting point is 00:14:10 students. But according to her arrest report, Crandall had no explanation about the missing pills or why the pills changed bottles. The report saying, based on the investigation, the defendant willfully and intentionally and without permission took medication from at least three student victims. The defendant was the primary and sole person to have access to the medicine cabinet. With Crandall now being charged with three counts of grand theft of controlled substance, five counts of child neglect, and one count of failure to maintain narcotics records.

Starting point is 00:14:31 And then, China may actually be putting an end to its zero COVID policy. Because we've started to see the government there lifting some of the most stringent restrictions in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities. We're seeing bars, gyms, and restaurants reopening. You have people freely boarding buses and subways without a COVID test in the prior 48 hours.

Starting point is 00:14:46 And those with mild or asymptomatic infections are being allowed to quarantine in their homes instead of state facilities. With all of this coming after the COVID czar announced last week that the country's health system had withstood the test of the virus and that Omicron is less deadly. Which is true, Omicron is less lethal, but also more transmissible. The government there also hasn't reported a significant drop in infections, with a number of new cases on Monday being 30,000 down from the peak of 40,000 last week. But it seems like the reason they're actually doing this is to appease the thousands of protesters who poured onto the streets two weekends ago calling for freedom, democracy, and an end to zero COVID. As we talked about on the show, there was a fire at an apartment building that killed 10 people, including children, with some claiming that lockdown measures blocked first responders from reaching the scene. While obviously we have tons of people

Starting point is 00:15:22 that are very thrilled that these restrictions are being lifted, There are some that are concerned. When looking into this, the estimates put the number of people who will die in China if they fully reopen at between 1.3 and 2 million people. Though, key thing here, vaccines could limit that. And to that end, the government last week launched a campaign to vaccinate the elderly population there, which is especially behind on booster shots. But still, with this, you have health experts and economists saying the vaccination rates and hospital preparedness won't be sufficient to fully end zero COVID until mid-2023 or even 2024, which is why we might end up seeing the government reimposing restrictions if cases spike. Plus, even with certain measures lifted, the ones that remain are still extremely harsh. With stuff

Starting point is 00:15:55 like this video of a man clinging to his couch as people in hazmat suits try to drag him to a quarantine facility showing how severe the lockdowns continue to be. But ultimately, we'll have to wait to see zero COVID and a number of things that they've done have put them on kind of a completely different timeline. Watching from here about what happens over there, it's gonna be like watching like an alternate reality. How might it have looked different? Though obviously not everything's one-to-one.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And that is the end of that story for now and today's show. Thank you for watching and liking. Also, if you missed yesterday's community show, definitely check it out. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.5 Responding to the Lies, Liver King Fraud & Apology, Amouranth, the "Twitter Files", & Today's News

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