The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.5 What The GTA VI Leaker Really Exposed, MrBeast, Amazing CRISPR Advances, Prison Labor & Today's News

Episode Date: December 5, 2023

Transform your style statement at  http://www.vessi.com/defranco for their best deals of the year! Free shipping to CA, US, AU, JP, TW, KR, SGP. Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my ...code DEFRANCO to get up to 40% off your purchase! shhh this is a secret link: https://youtu.be/g1gOaaDvy1Q?si=CKxW2lA5TfvrZcpw  –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - UK’s Ofcom Considers Facial Scan Recognition for Adult Content Sites 03:01 - GTA VI Trailer Smashes YouTube’s Most Watched Record After Leak 05:46 - On His Deathbed, Man Reveals to his Daughter That He’s a Wanted Bank Robber 09:11 - Tuohy Family Accuses “The Blind Side” Michael Oher of Extortion 10:34 - Sponsored by Vessi  11:29 - Colorado’s Broken Prison Labor Promise  17:09 - Sponsored by Cozy Earth  18:15 - UK Greenlights World’s First Gene-Editing Treatment  23:39 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Stories ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxx Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #MrBeast #GTA6 ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Today we're talking about the government wanting to scan your faces if you go to an adult site, extortion claims, where the push to ban forced labor isn't working, the ability to edit people's genes to treat their disease is here, and what that wild GTA 6 leak and release has exposed. We're talking about all that and so much more on today's brand new extra large Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news, so let's just jump into it. Starting with, if you want to watch some, uh, let's call it adult content, boy, do I have a site for you. No, that's not, that's not this video. Rather, what I'm talking about here is that if you're in the UK and you want to watch some of that content, prepare to have your face scanned.
Starting point is 00:00:32 If Ofcom, which is the UK's FTC, goes through with this. Because this is a possible regulation that they're considering to make a requirement by 2025. With that being among other ideas, including having websites vet ages by looking at government IDs or passports. But of course, I mean, we're talking about it. Facial recognition technology is by far the most controversial here. And also because they know people are going to try and get around this system, they would be required to have safeguards in place. Things like having a liveness check, which is making sure that it's an actual person on camera and not just a stolen ID or a photo being placed up to the camera. And so with this popping up in the news, obviously not everyone is super pumped about it. And along with the generally uncomfortable reasons that people have been sharing, you have critics
Starting point is 00:01:07 saying, you know, this could be a repository for hackers to form people's identities. And that's in addition to fears that this could be used to blackmail people, which is also why I've been obscenely open about the weird shit I'm into. Sexy clowns. I don't like that that's my reality either, but you know, I don't know. I blame Harley Quinn and probably some childhood trauma that I've repressed. Can't shame the shameless is all I'm saying. But, you know, the fears that we've been talking about here haven't just been expressed by privacy experts, but also companies like ALO, the owners of Pornhub,
Starting point is 00:01:31 who said in a statement, any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. But this, as you have Ofcom and companies that do facial recognition tech saying, you know, the concerns here are overblown.
Starting point is 00:01:43 Arguing first off, maintaining the privacy of the data and individuals is a legal requirement. And according to Yodi, a company that specializes in this tech, there's no reason to hold on to a user's data as images are instantly deleted after the verification is done. But then also, even if that's the case, there are still other reasons to be concerned. Because we've seen that when similar systems have been implemented in places like Louisiana, traffic dropped to the site by 80%. And ALO argues that all it really did was push would-be viewers to their site to dark corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, don't follow the law,
Starting point is 00:02:09 that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content. Though also, I do wanna note, that drop in traffic can, to some degree, be attributed to VPNs masking where the data's really coming from. And that's not just like some conjecture or a blind hypothesis I'm throwing out there.
Starting point is 00:02:21 We know things, like when Utah passed their age verification laws, VPNs went up 847%, which I also wonder like if you own a VPN company, are you like secretly hoping that this happens? Because I mean, that's a lot of potential new customers. I mean, you look to the UK, nearly 14 million people admit to watching online porn. Though also regarding some of those numbers, right, who is actually watching it? Ofcom says that the issue of kids watching porn is a very serious one, with surveys indicating that the average age for a kid to watch porn being 13 years old.
Starting point is 00:02:48 But with all of that said, it brings us to the questions with this story. One, what are your thoughts regarding age verification tech, whether it be, you know, showing an ID or having your actual face scan? And two, if you are concerned with the laws, what are the things that are most concerning to you about it?
Starting point is 00:03:01 And then, the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer that dropped yesterday was so massive, it didn't break YouTube, but it did break a record. Stripping MrBeast of the title for the most watched video on YouTube across a 24-hour period. MrBeast's video managed 59.4 million views in that time frame, which just to be clear is still fucking mind-boggling. But GTA 6 blew past it with 77.5 million. Though we should also say so far because as of recording, it still has six more hours to rack up views during the 24-hour period, with this being the number as I'm uploading
Starting point is 00:03:30 the video. But it's also not surprising that if anyone was going to break this record, it would be GTA 6 and Rockstar Games. I mean, we're talking about one of the most anticipated games ever. But also, as you probably know, it wasn't supposed to come out yesterday. Instead, its release was actually the result of the trailer being leaked onto Twitter, and that allegedly being done by a developer's son. And this, of course, is the latest. It is actually the result of the trailer being leaked onto Twitter, and that allegedly being done by a developer's son. And this, of course, is the latest. It is hardly the only leak the company has dealt with recently. With, for example, back in 2022, there was a major hack revealing a ton of information about the game.
Starting point is 00:03:55 Then back in September, about 50 minutes of footage from the game was released online. Though all of this also leading to a number of theories. Because the reality is that those leaks just kept building more and more hype for this long-awaited game. So it's led to people like streamer S-Fan saying, they 100% leaked it themselves so everyone would talk about how the trailer leaked. LMAO genius. But also with that, I mean, those at the studio seem pretty fucking upset about it. Like how in a now-deleted tweet, senior gameplay animator Javier Altman wrote, this fucking sucks. I was hoping to watch this for the first time tomorrow along with my fellow teammates and coworkers. I feel we deserved that moment. Though Altman then, you know, tried to share some positive messages,
Starting point is 00:04:24 but ultimately he actually nuked his whole account since posting that. But either way, the trailer has been a major, major success, and it's probably going to break records when it comes out. And this at a time where video games are already by far the largest segment of the entertainment market. With, and keep in mind, this is a game that was released 10 years ago. GTA Online making $500 million off of microtransactions in just the last fiscal year for Take-Two, the publisher for GTA Online and Rockstar Games. So just imagine what they're going to make from the purchase of a new GTA game,
Starting point is 00:04:50 as well as the income coming from a new GTA Online. Also, I just want to put it out there, no pressure, no stress, especially, I say this because really, people are fucking horrendous to like animators and people that make video games. If and when the release date for this game gets pushed from 2025 to 2026, I understand it i will respect it i will i will know that it will be
Starting point is 00:05:09 because you want the game to be good but it will also emotionally break me also side note if you are one of these fucking insane people that supports harassing the animators or the people working on these things you're trash you're a garbage person understand there these are real people that are doing their job and often doing so under immense time and general pressures and this has kind of been in my brain recently because i came across people that were all up in arms because uh the new season of invincible got split into two pieces and people were being absolutely insane about it it's one thing to feel inconvenience because you're like so fucking pumped about something it's it's another where people are just making it so personal and harassing people but to bring it back around
Starting point is 00:05:44 what are your thoughts about GTA 6? Are you excited? And then, you ever have a conversation with your parents or one of your parents, and you're like, oh, that's right. You're a whole real person who lived a whole life. You're not just a figure that judges all my life decisions. Right in a moment, it can just undo our basic understanding of who they are. And for me, when that happened with my dad, it was very meaningful.
Starting point is 00:06:03 But my experience and Ashley Randall's experience, so different. Because in 2021, as her 71-year-old father, Thomas Randall, lay there dying, they had a conversation. Because as far as she knew, her dad was just this Boston car salesman, country club golf pro who loved his wife and his only child dearly. And then, you know, life happened. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He only had a couple of months left to live. And he decides, while lying there in his deathbed, to reveal to his daughter that he had actually lied to her since she was born. He was not the man that he said he was. And I mean that both generally and literally. His name was not Thomas Randall. Turns out it was actually Theodore Conrad. He wasn't just some regular old suburban dad. He was a fugitive bank robber. Turns out,
Starting point is 00:06:39 more than five decades earlier, as a 20-year-old in Ohio, he pulled off one of the biggest bank heists in the state's history, making off with $215K, or $1.7 million in today's dollars. And so on this night that Theo Tom drops this information on his daughter, Ashley stays up reading about everything she could find online about the man she thought she knew. And as far as the details, on July 11th, 1969, the day after his birthday, Theodore Conrad went to work as a teller at the Society National Bank in Cleveland. During his break, he bought a bottle of whiskey and a pack of cigarettes. And then at the end of his shift, he just went into the vault, quietly stuffed the cash into a paper bag, and walked out a brand new man. With the bank then not realizing that the money was missing until two days later,
Starting point is 00:07:14 but by then, he was long gone. But then a week later, Neil Armstrong had taken one giant leap for mankind, and the media quickly forgot about Conrad, and the case went cold. Though his young face did live on on wanted posters and episodes of shows like America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries. And all this as his family had no idea where he was, which actually turned out to be Boston, where notably he wasn't like just hiding out.
Starting point is 00:07:32 He wasn't a recluse. He was actually an incredibly popular guy and he was remembered as kind by most of the people who knew him. So for Ashley, you know, all of this immediately came as a shock, but then she said, you know, the small details about her dad
Starting point is 00:07:41 suddenly clicked into place and it made sense. Like how he always wore a beard and how he rarely took off his baseball hat in public. Also, he would always refuse to leave the country despite his wife and daughter begging him to go to France using the excuse that he just didn't like overseas travel. Or like how he watched hours and hours of NCIS and other crime shows. In fact, his favorite movie, The Thomas Crown Affair, inspired his own bank robbery. His daughter thinks that he chose his fake first name. Thomas is a tribute to the film's main character. You can look further into the story.
Starting point is 00:08:05 She talks about how then she told her mom and how they talked to him. And going on to talk about how they kept their father's secret until after his death. But I will say, and this is such a stupid, like, Philip DeFranco side thing that bothers me. In one of the interviews she did on this, she specifically said, And he finally said that he would tell me as long as I promised not to look into it. And that's when he told me that his name was Ted Conrad. I obviously did not listen to him and I did look into it. And hey, I'm a nosy little bitch too, but you promised your father on his deathbed.
Starting point is 00:08:36 One, you wouldn't look into it. And then two, after he passes, you're like, in a year, I'm going to tell everybody. And not just like in a tweet, but she co-hosts a podcast about her father. And maybe it's like the Sicilian in me and how I was raised, but I'm like, I just kind of see you as a snitch, you know, as a nonviolent crime. Though I do wonder if her dad would actually kind of support what she's doing now. Because apparently that money he stole did not stay around. With reports actually saying that there was a 2014 bankruptcy. So in a way, he kind of went from robbing a bank to becoming his daughter's bank. Because she's now able to capitalize on the situation. He's not here. He doesn't have to deal
Starting point is 00:09:08 with the consequences. But I don't know. I got to ask you, what are your thoughts here? And then we've now got an update on the Michael Orr blindside situation. Because earlier this year, we learned that not everything was as it seemed between Michael Orr and the Toohey family, or the people behind the story that inspired the Oscar-winning movie, The Blindside. With Michael saying back in August that he only recently learned that he wasn't actually adopted by the Toohey family, but rather placed under a conservatorship, which he also filed a legal petition to be released from at the time. And so, of course, this was horrible, shocking news, I imagine, to the people involved, but also to the real victim, me. All of a sudden, I have to take the time out of my day to find a new
Starting point is 00:09:38 favorite white female savior movie? Is it The Help? Is it Freedom Riders? I don't know. I don't have the time to go back and watch those. But back to Michael Orr, right? The conservatorship ended back in September, but there was still the problem of money. And according to Michael, the Toohey's made millions of dollars from the movie and he didn't get his fair share, a claim which the Toohey's denied. And now, in addition to that denial, the Toohey family is pushing back, saying in a new legal filing that Michael actually tried to extort $15 million for them in threatening text messages. And in screenshots attached to the filing, the Toohey family attorney shared messages allegedly sent from Michael saying,
Starting point is 00:10:08 If something isn't resolved this Friday, I'm going to go ahead and tell the world how I was robbed by my supposed-to-be parents. That's the deadline. It was $10 million. Now I want $15 after taxes. With the Toohey family's attorneys adding in the filing, Needless to say, the menacing demands were shocking and hurtful to the Tooheys, who had always treated Mr. Orr with kindness and love. which is the same sentiment that Michael has been disputing for months with
Starting point is 00:10:27 his attorneys, saying that Michael was devastated when he learned that he wasn't actually adopted, saying that he believes that the Chewies knowingly pocketed the money from the movie that was owed to him. And then it's a season of giving, and that goes for Mother Nature, too. And I've got a great gift idea that enables you to knock out two birds with one stone, because, you know, unpredictable weather is a real thing. And so you want to be stylish and at the same time have the right shoe that allows you to pull just about any ensemble together, protect you from whatever weather pattern you cross paths with that day. At this point, I think you know where I'm going to go with this.
Starting point is 00:10:53 A big thank you to our fantastic partner, Vessi. Seriously, though, Vessi sneakers are the unsung hero of your outfit and could be a lifesaver. I mean, these sneakers have kept me dry through storms that I've been caught in and I really like the way they look. Plus, most of you have torrential weather way more often than we do in Southern California. Vessi allows your life to not be dictated by weather. Plus, Vessi sneakers come in light or dark colorways.
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Starting point is 00:11:33 know, Colorado became the first state in modern history to ban forced labor prisons five years ago. And in fact, many other states followed suit. Now these five years later, inmates and advocates say that the state that kicked off this broader movement is still forcing inmates to work against their will. Also, to talk about this, I got to give you some quick historical background. Because when slavery was abolished under the 13th Amendment, one exception was still included. Slavery and involuntary servitude could only exist as a punishment for a crime. So prison rights advocates say that this exception permits forced labor in prisons. And most states still allow for this kind of forced labor.
Starting point is 00:12:03 But five years ago, Colorado voters voted on an amendment that changed their state constitution to say, there shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude. And that was a huge move. I mean, only one other state had taken a similar step, and that was nearly two centuries ago, with Rhode Island banning slavery without exception in 1842. And then all these years later, Colorado's moves sparked a broader effort to get rid of the so-called exception clause. And just in the past few years, we've seen Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont all making similar changes to their constitutions. And according to NPR, at least nine more have introduced legislation, including Nevada, where residents will vote on the issue in
Starting point is 00:12:35 2024. But Colorado, which ushered all this and is now being accused of not following through, with one community organizer saying, unfortunately, here we are five years later and we have not seen the change happen inside of our prisons. You know, that's been backed both anecdotally by inmates and by literal data from the Colorado Department of Correction. With those records, which are obtained by NPR,
Starting point is 00:12:53 showing that over 14,000 prisoners were written up for not working since 2019, the year after Colorado banned forced labor. And hundreds of those prisoners received punishments, including being assigned more work or losing privileges. One of those people was Richard Lilgeros, who worked in the kitchen of the Colorado prison where he was serving time. Richard, who has PTSD, had a hard time working in the kitchen and kept asking for breaks. And eventually, the guards stopped making him work, but they also punished him for not
Starting point is 00:13:16 working by moving him to a unit where he was more restricted from accessing the outdoors and phones, as well as taking away his so-called good time, which is used to help determine eligibility for parole. So as a result, he and another prisoner filed a lawsuit last year accusing Colorado of violating the new constitutional amendment. Now, Colorado, for its part, has pushed for the lawsuit to be dismissed by claiming that taking away privileges
Starting point is 00:13:33 is not the same as punishment. We have critics calling bullshit on that, and advocates and experts also saying that's an argument that essentially creates a loophole for prisons to get around Colorado's amended constitution and keep using forced labor. And they also go on to say that there are two main reasons that we're still seeing this, capitalism and a lack of accountability in the law. Because prison labor is actually a huge
Starting point is 00:13:50 economic sector in the majority of states that still allow it. The most recent data from the Federal Bureau of Justice statistics showing that there are over a million people in federal and state prisons nationwide, and three in every four of them say they are required to work. According to a report from the ACLU, prison workers make at least $11 billion in goods and services per year. And this is the kind of work that they're forced to do differs from state to state. Right, in New York, they staff DMV call centers.
Starting point is 00:14:13 In Michigan, they make license plates. In North Carolina, they work on highway crews. And in 14 states, including California, they actually fight wildfires. And this is some states have really drawn parallels between slavery and forced labor. Like in Louisiana, for some reason, prisoners serve lawmakers food. And in Texas, where some prison farms are literally located on the same land that they used to use for slave plantations.
Starting point is 00:14:32 You know, most inmates actually work to maintain the prisons that they're being held in by cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, keeping the grounds. And most of that is done with little or no pay. I mean, nationwide, prisoners usually make less than a dollar an hour, and they're not afforded many of the same labor protections given to non-incarcerated workers. And so all of that is why experts say that that is going to be why it's so difficult to get rid of prison labor. And you have Michael Gibson-Light, an assistant professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Denver, explaining, if that flow of cheap or free labor were to stop, I think the fear is that the entire institution would possibly need to shut down. And adding, it's not an unrealistic fear because speaking to the inertia of this whole system, this has been the way that we've manned these facilities for generations. And so to suddenly stop, it would be a budgetary nightmare. And in fact, that's literally an
Starting point is 00:15:11 argument that some government officials have made against proposed measures to ban forced prison labor in states like Florida and California. For example, a former county commissioner in Florida speaking against the proposal in the state by telling reporters, there's no way we can take care of our facilities, our roads, our ditches, if we don't have inmate labor. We cannot tax our citizens enough to replace the value that the inmate labor contributes to our community. And in an analysis of what would happen if California's constitution was changed
Starting point is 00:15:34 to just pay prisoners minimum wage, the state assembly committee wrote that it would cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year. But also with that, you have people pointing out that these economic arguments have nasty historic parallels. With one organizer in Colorado telling NPR, we had this conversation back in the 1860s that, you have people pointing out that these economic arguments have nasty historic parallels. With one organizer in Colorado telling NPR, we had this conversation back in the 1860s that, oh, abolishing slavery would be too costly for our economy.
Starting point is 00:15:51 And adding, I don't think anybody now would disagree that that was a price worth paying. Beyond that, experts also say that these laws leave too much room for state correctional departments to interpret them as they see fit. With one former Colorado inmate asserting, it is really very simple. It's accountability. There is no accountability. And adding, legislators, if you're just like, okay, well, we passed the bill. We've done our part. Department of Corrections can figure out how to do that and work that out. Doc is not going to work it out. And that was also echoed by Andrea Armstrong, a professor of law at Loyola University of New Orleans, who said that sometimes the ballot measures for these forced labor bans have vague language. Explaining, it's not clear to me that
Starting point is 00:16:23 in any state where the amendment was adopted that the Department of Corrections actually said, oh, okay, it's our understanding that we will not force anybody to work again. But they're then going on to argue that the conversation about forced labor in prisons also needs to be paired with ones about fair wages, training, and worker protections.
Starting point is 00:16:37 Saying people in prison are not looking for a future where they don't work. So many people I've talked to have talked about the value of work that they learned behind bars. They want to do work that's meaningful and that they have a choice in. And that is not an extreme request. Now, notably here, some advocates are taking that into account, according to NPR, who reported in Colorado, the community organizers that led the original campaign are now regrouping. And this is organizers in New York are trying to get a ban on forced prison labor passed through
Starting point is 00:16:58 the state legislature rather than through a ballot initiative, which they argue will create change faster. But as far as what will actually move the needle and how things will progress, we're going to have to wait to see. So in the meantime, I got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this news? And then, you know, I love this time of year because no matter the weather, it's just kind of a cozy season. You know, what better way to embrace the cozy than with the sponsor of today's show, Cozier. I'm talking about the best bedding I've ever slept in. And if you've ever been on the fence about pulling the trigger on this brand, now is the time to do it. Because also, the Cozy doesn't stop with bedding. Their hoodies and joggers are incredibly soft and luxurious feeling. Cozy Earth gives you the
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Starting point is 00:18:03 and better and more comfortable. So the times now, people go to CozyEarth.com slash DeFranco and enter DeFranco at checkout to save up to 40%. That's CozyEarth.com slash DeFranco, CozyEarth.com slash DeFranco and save 40% right now. Hurry, this offer ends soon. And then we have to talk about CRISPR. It is a once distant dream that is now a medical reality the UK taking an absolutely game-changing step by approving the world's first CRISPR treatment named Casgevi for public use. So this specific therapy is going to be used to treat blood conditions like sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. Both can be debilitating, with sickle cell disease sometimes causing extreme pain in patients with beta thalassemia, which by the way I'm going to just call BT because that
Starting point is 00:18:40 is a mouthful, leading patients to need constant blood transfusions. And a key thing is that in both cases, the victim's genome has an error in encoding hemoglobin, which is the protein in our red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body. In the case of sickle cell disease, your red blood cells end up misshapen and have a tendency to stick together and clog up your blood vessels. Also, that shape makes it harder to even get oxygen to bind to hemoglobin. And in turn, both of those things lead to a lack of oxygen throughout your body. BT, on the other hand, just generally leads to low hemoglobin levels as well as just generally low red blood cell counts, which presents as a general sense of fatigue, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeats. And what Cascavi does is use what's called CRISPR-Cas9 to edit these genomes
Starting point is 00:19:16 and fix the mutation. In order to do that, doctors pull out bone marrow from the patient. CRISPR then uses RNA molecules to guide the Cas9 enzyme to the correct part of the DNA, and it cuts the BCL11A gene. Think of it like your genome is a Google doc. The therapy, control Fs for the bad gene, and then deletes it. That's pretty much all that's happening, or rather the dumb way to explain it. As far as what happens when that gene is removed, the body's able to make fetal blood cells, which aren't deformed by sickle cell disease or suffer from BT. And that's because BCL11A normally stops the production of these fetal cells in adults. Though also, that doesn't mean they're done yet. Patients still then need to undergo extensive therapy to prepare their bodies for the bone marrow with their edited genes to be reintroduced to their bodies. And if you don't know about bone marrow transplants,
Starting point is 00:19:55 they are long and intensive, which is also why it's expected that patients may have to sit in a hospital for upwards of a month while their body begins to make more of the fetal cells rather than the ones affected by sickle cell or BT. Also, this doesn't mean that those patients suddenly won't have those diseases. Instead, the treatment is meant to mitigate their effects by allowing the body to make at least a substantial amount of normal red blood cells. But you know, with this, the big questions for this treatment and really CRISPR in general is how safe and viable is it? Which I will say, I mean, considering it got approval in the UK, which isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, you can probably be pretty confident that it's not going gonna be killing or maiming people on the regular. And as for the numbers we know,
Starting point is 00:20:26 there were 45 participants in the trials for sickle cell disease, though some ended up dropping out. So in the end, they managed to only follow 29 people. But out of those, Keskevi managed to completely eliminate cases of debilitating pain from 28 for at least a year. And in the case of BT, out of the 42 participants,
Starting point is 00:20:40 39 didn't need a red blood cell transfusion for at least a year. And the remaining three, they had their need reduced by 70%. So overall, we're talking about substantial improvements. Then, of course, there's the question of were there any serious side effects? And there, the worst is probably an increased risk of infection, which can happen with bone marrow transplants in general. But there are also side effects that you'd expect, like nausea and fatigue. So I mean, we're talking about an incredibly positive result. However, should be
Starting point is 00:21:03 noted, some researchers are warning that this doesn't mean that we should just stop keeping an eye on CRISPR. With David Ruda, a geneticist at Imperial College London saying, it is well known that CRISPR can result in spurious genetic modifications with unknown consequences to the treated cells. It would be essential to see the whole genome sequencing data for these cells before coming to a conclusion. Nonetheless, this announcement
Starting point is 00:21:20 makes me feel cautiously optimistic. It also looks like the US and EU regulators are seriously considering approving Cascafe. Although, even with approval, there is a serious catch. It is fucking expensive. And also, concerning it likely won't be available for low and middle income countries because of how difficult the tech is to actually use. With doctors saying that their capabilities to edit gene codes would need to substantially rise, or the tech would have to get much easier to use. With that, a key thing that we've talked about in other spaces where we're seeing advances,
Starting point is 00:21:45 this is just the beginning for CRISPR. Where it is today is the worst it will ever be again. This is you have other researchers around the world exploring how to use the tech for other genetic disorders and not just rare things. With one of the biggest ones being high cholesterol, which is a leading cause of heart disease, which you know is the biggest killer in the United States.
Starting point is 00:22:01 Because not only is it affected by diet, but for many people, there's a genetic component that's called, and I'm gonna try, familial hypercholesterolemia. First try. For those affected, their cholesterol levels are extremely high, almost regardless of what they eat. But with CRISPR, you have researchers at Verve Therapeutics saying they're looking at how editing a single gene could change how a patient's liver functions. And while they're still undergoing studies right now, after a meeting with the American Heart Association on November 11, Verve's Dr. Sikar Katharizan said,
Starting point is 00:22:26 We're super excited. This is the first ever evidence that one can actually rewrite a single DNA letter in the human liver and have a clinical effect. So we're thrilled. And other doctors remain optimistically skeptical. Right, on one hand, they hope that treatments work, but they're also concerned that some of the claims may be overblown. Right, because so far with this, only 10 people from the UK and New Zealand have actually been treated, with Verve testing different dosage levels to see what works best, and so far only three were given a dose high enough to actually affect their LDL levels. And the numbers so far are mixed. Two lowered their levels by 39 and 48%, while the one with the highest dosage had the levels reduced by 55% for at least six months so far. And while that is great, there are many pointing out that we already have medicines that provide these results, if not better. Those drugs
Starting point is 00:23:03 are called statins and have a long history of being considered safe, effective, and are far, far cheaper than CRISPR. And the worst common side effect is muscle pain, which varies in people. However, supporters point out that CRISPR treatments are possibly a one-time solution versus having to take medications all the time. And the list of possible treatments just goes on and on. We're talking cancers, heart diseases, AIDS, Alzheimer's. And this is researchers are eyeing more and more possible solutions.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Though, a big thing, we are still probably a long ways off from widespread and common use of CRISPR. But I mean, when you really think about it, this is a technology that was figured out, what, a decade ago? It won a Nobel Prize just three years ago. We are moving at a lightning pace. And currently, things are pointing to this being an absolute game changer. And then let's talk about yesterday today, a segment I definitely didn't skip yesterday. If you go back to the video, it's definitely there. I don't know what you're talking about. But it's where I look back at yesterday's show and I dive into those comments to see what y'all had to say about the news.
Starting point is 00:23:52 Yesterday, there was understandably a lot of focus on that Mormon church scandal, right? The leaked audio, the hush money. With y'all saying things like, I remain totally unsurprised at how awful the Mormon church is and continually disappointed in those who defend them. Though people were replying, Every religion is like this. I'm unsurprised with how evil any religion is. Others responding, Try living in Utah. Some of y'all imagining the prayer to God from the father in the story.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Dear God, I am so sorry and remorseful for attacking that girl, but not enough to think I deserve consequences. Glad you agree. Okay, bye. And the whole religious confessions being like legally protected was a sticking point for a lot of people. With many arguing, If you're ready to confess to God and seek forgiveness, you must be willing to face justice. Saying this is nonsense. All excuses so the abusers can go on abusing. Though also in the comments, you had
Starting point is 00:24:30 people sounding off on the Taylor Swift, DeMois situation. All saying things like, even though I don't like Taylor Swift or her music, I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to have your every breath in life scrutinized, examined, and fed to the rumor mill must be so exhausting. Some arguing DeMois claiming they're not paid to lie is pretty infuriating. Clout, fame, and follows are a form of currency. Anyone who can sway the public's opinions of celebrities holds power. Trying to hide that fact makes me suspicious. And then finally, y'all were talking about the Trevor Jacobs situation. Y'all saying things like he is one of the few people lucky enough to be able to afford a plane and have a license to pilot, and he loses both just for some views and a trip to prison. This is seriously up there for stupidest
Starting point is 00:25:04 things people have done. But you also have people comparing it to the other stories that we covered and saying, the fact that the airplane guy got more jail time than the guy who sexually abused his daughter is absurd and disgusting. To which, yeah, I agree. If and when I become president of the universe, I'd make the abuser's punishment to be a passenger in Trevor Jacobs' plane. But that is where today's show is gonna end. Though for more news and videos you need to see, I got you covered right here. You can click or tap, or I got links in the description.
Starting point is 00:25:29 And no matter what, don't worry, because 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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