The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.28 Why This Disgusting Robinhood Dumpster Fire Has Me Furious, H3H3, DHS Warnings, & More

Episode Date: January 28, 2021

Enter at https://www.omaze.com/Phil for your chance to win a 2021 Bentley Bentayga with $20k in the trunk and to support a great cause.  Use code PHIL150 for 150 additional entries to increase your odds!  Check out the new ACW episode with Daniel Sloss: https://youtu.be/j9eZhdzLwyQ -- WATCH Full “A Convo With” Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/ACW  LISTEN On The Podcast Platform Of Your Choice: http://LinksHole.com WATCH the ACW Clips channel!: https://youtube.com/ACWClips -- 00:00 - Robinhood Stops Trading GameStop, Users Furious 04:21 - EU Investigating Nintendo Over Joy-Con Drift 05:47 - Sponsor 07:02 - DHS Warns of Domestic Extremists 10:11 - Biden's Executive Orders On Healthcare -- ✩ SUPPORT THE SHOW ✩ ✭ BUY our GEAR, Support the Show!: http://ShopDeFranco.com ✭ Lemme Touch Your Hair: http://BeautifulBastard.com ✭ Paid Subscription: http://DeFrancoElite.com  ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩  Robinhood and WeBull Users Infuriated After Apps Heavily Restrict GameStop, AMC Trading https://roguerocket.com/2021/01/28/robinhood-and-webull/ EU Group Calls for Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift Investigation: https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/27/22252043/eu-nintendo-switch-joy-con-drift-investigation DHS Issues Rare Warning of Heightened Domestic Threat: https://roguerocket.com/2021/01/28/dhs-issues-rare-warning/ Biden Signs Executive Orders Expanding Healthcare: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/28/joe-biden-reopen-obamacare-enrollment-amid-covid-19-pandemic/4290137001/ ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ NBC Claims “The Office” Is More Popular on Peacock Than It Was on Netflix:  https://roguerocket.com/2021/01/28/nbc-peacock-netflix/ Bernie Sanders Inauguration Memes Helps Raise Over $1.8M for Charity:  https://roguerocket.com/2021/01/28/bernie-sanders-1-8m-for-charity/ ——————————     Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright Produced by: Amanda Morones Art Director: Brian Borst  Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Cory Ray, Neena Pesqueda, Brian Espinoza Production Team: Zack Taylor ———————————— #DeFranco #Robinhood #GameStop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So no QC intro, we're jumping straight into the news and the dumpster fire that is this AMC GameStop Robinhood story. Do you know how much you have to have messed up to get AOC, Dave Portnoy, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump Jr. on the same side? And the answer is a lot, a ton. If you tried to quantify it,

it would sound like a made up number that a child came up with, like 11T gajillion. And so while this is still a developing situation, in part what I'm talking about here is that Robinhood today decided to make it so that you could not buy new stock for GameStop, AMC, Blackberry, Nokia, Bed Bath and Beyond, and more. And that move comes as the stock market

has been heavily upended by a group of Redditors from the subreddit WallStreetBets. I've been covering the story this week where you have people on WallStreetBets and kind of just retail investors in general, leveraging a process known as short squeezing to force hedge funds to take a massive loss in stocks. And while short squeezing is by no means a new tactic,

their efforts were just wholly unprecedented. For example, GameStop share price surged to $470 today, but just half a year ago, it was only $4. So that's why this week we've seen so many people just buying and buying and buying this stock up until Robinhood users like myself logged in this morning and found they could no longer buy new stock, instead only allowing us to sell off existing shares

of these select stocks. And so notably this one-way pipeline meant that Robinhood in effect only allowed moves that would continue to push the stock back down. With Robinhood citing in a statement, recent volatility, saying that it also raised margin requirements for certain securities. And so this loss of Robinhood was a massive setback

for many Wall Street bets traders. Right, and with this, we saw many of the stocks plummet, though it is a developing situation. Some have gone back up, some, it's all over the place. And while Robinhood is not the only company to make this call, right? More traditional brokerages like TT Ameritrade and Charles Schwab have also restricted

some forms of trading. It just feels worse with Robinhood. I mean, they built their whole identity around this idea of democratizing finance for all. So that's why a lot of people, including myself, are pissed. Which is why I'll say, one, as a longtime Robinhood customer, I'm fucking furious. I'm moving my money.

And two, in the past, they've actually had spots on my show. And so let me make this very clear. I'm not suspending future Robinhood spots. I am completely canceling them and I don't care how much money I got offered. I'm not taking them back on, right? Many people, including myself, understood the inherent risk of investing into a number of these stocks.

It was high volatility, right? I might lose all my money. The market is the market, but when you make it so that people can only sell and you're widely seen as the brokerage for the everyday person, and this whole movement has been charged by the everyday person, what the fuck do you expect to happen

when on that app you make it so people can only sell? And all of that is why we're seeing people like Representative Rashida Tlaib speaking out, saying, this is beyond absurd. The Financial Services Committee need to have a hearing on Robinhood's market manipulation. They're blocking the ability to trade to protect Wall Street hedge funds stealing millions of dollars from their users to protect people who've used the stock market as a casino for decades. It wasn't just the Joe blows and the politicians speaking out,

we saw a number of internet creators chiming in. Any hitting on that same note like Ethan Klein, who wrote, why the fuck do we protect hedge funds? They are parasitic money black holes that provide no value to society. They've been shorting stocks for years knowing it has the potential to backfire. They made a dangerous bet, now live with it." As well as Mia Khalifa tweeting, "'English isn't my first language, but this isn't what I thought free and open market meant, Robinhood.'"

On top of that, we're also seeing the news that Robinhood is now beginning to be hit with class action lawsuits. And here's the thing, I'm filming this right at the top of the morning. This is still a developing situation. I would not be shocked if we see other apps and brokerages join in in limiting.

But there's also an understanding that many of those are probably smaller. And once someone like a Robinhood makes this move, it's likely very hard for these smaller guys to do anything different. And hey, as far as the whole situation, maybe there's this better, amazing explanation, but overall it just feels like the wrong people were losing money.

Which actually to that point, but in a different way, just as I finished today's show, I was ready to upload. We got this update. We have Robinhood now saying that they'll resume what they call limited trades starting tomorrow. It makes me wonder how much of that decision was them not wanting to join the people that were losing money.

Also a quick update to that whole Ted Cruz and AOC being on the same side thing. In response to Ted Cruz saying that he fully agreed with an AOC tweet, AOC also responded, "'I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost got me murdered three weeks ago, so you can sit this one out.

Happy to work with almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime, if you want to help, you can resign.'" So there was all of that. Then in other news about a company facing class action lawsuits and investigations, let's talk Nintendo. Though it was a less alarming situation than the first story.

I have this because the European consumer organization is calling for an investigation into Nintendo's Joy-Con drift issues. But drift, it occurs when Joy-Cons don't communicate properly with the console base or when they begin controlling themselves. And it is a very annoying issue that users have been complaining about

since the Switch came out nearly four years ago. Though it is a problem I've only had to deal with once since my children have destroyed four Nintendo Switches. Mostly with water, but sometimes just brute force. Little boys are just drunk cavemen. But I just got lucky number five last night. Oh my God, I forgot how fun Hades is. Keep getting sidetracked with this story.

But this Joy-Con issue is a big one. In fact, there have been several class action lawsuits filed in the United States over the matter. In a specific way, the European Consumer Organization submitted this complaint of, "'Your shit breaks too easy.'" So they submitted a complaint to the European Commission for premature obsolescence and misleading omissions

of key consumer information. That is because it has received nearly 25,000 complaints from consumers across Europe about faulty controllers and adding, according to consumer testimonies, in 88% of cases, the game controllers broke within the first two years of use. With the group saying that they were very concerned about Nintendo continuing to sell a product

that was continuously reported to Nintendo and in the media by consumers as failing prematurely. But for now, we have to kind of wait and see what happens. You had the European Commission kind of releasing a vague statement about next potential steps. To know if and when that other shoe drops, I'll let you know. Then we should talk about the department of Homeland

Security publishing a rare bulletin yesterday, warning of a continued threat from domestic extremists in the weeks following Biden's inauguration. Now notably the bulletin did not cite any specific threat and in a statement to the media, DHS officials said they didn't have information implying there was a specific credible plot, but the announcement did note that there could be continued violence

from some ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority in the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives. With the DHS appearing to say that these threats could come from across the political spectrum, saying that the threats range from a variety of issues,

including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and police use of force. And that last point seems to point at left-wing groups that set fires, smashed windows, and had standouts with police in Portland and Seattle following the inauguration. But also, experts have said that the main focus of the warning was on racist extremist groups,

pointing to some specific language that the agency used, as well as the fact that it specifically mentioned the 2019 mass shooting in El Paso that targeted Hispanics. And you know, despite the seemingly vague wording here, this bulletin is incredibly significant for two reasons. First of all, while DHS issues a few of these warnings a year, they are almost always focused on international terrorism threats.

In fact, according to reports, records show that there have not been any bulletins warning Americans about violence from domestic extremists in recent years. And second, this is the first time that DHS has publicly said that the US faces a growing threat from violent extremists following the Capitol insurrection,

which is especially notable because neither Homeland Security nor the FBI issued similar bulletins before the attack. Despite the fact that rioters have been openly planning the event online for weeks with many posters, both calling and planning for violence. However, some have also speculated that yesterday's bulletin is just a reflection of the administration change. Right, the DHS under Trump had been long accused

of failing to publish reports or warnings about far right domestic extremists and white supremacist groups. For example, even after DHS published a report in September of 2019 that specifically flagged white supremacists as a leading domestic terrorism threat, you had analysts and intelligence officials claiming that the warning had been watered down and delayed,

with some former Trump administration officials even telling reporters that the White House tried to suppress the phrase domestic terrorism. And also this past September, you had a top intelligence official accusing the acting DHS secretary, Chad Wolf, and his deputy of directing him to change intelligence reports to make the threat of white supremacy

appear less severe, while also including more information on left-wing groups to align with Trump's messaging. Now Wolf and his second in command denied those accusations, but an intelligence official involved with drafting yesterday's bulletin about domestic extremists told reporters that it should have been issued in November.

You know, back when Trump was making false accusation after false accusation about the election, stirring up bar right groups. Also during that time, the DHS should have been warning about the potential for violence Trump was firing department officials who he believed were disloyal. And while you know, many people might think

that this new bulletin, it's too little, too late, the same intelligence official also said that the department decided to publish this warning now because it was concerned that the peaceful inauguration might've created this false sense of security. And adding that the intent to engage in violence has not gone away among far right groups upset about the outcome of the election.

And in fact, I mean, you just look at the news yesterday, there was a man in California charged with stockpiling weapons, including pipe bombs. With the FBI saying that he wrote texts saying he wanted to blow up a Democrat building and that he intended to go to war against Democrats over Trump's election laws. And so for now, we're gonna just have to keep our eyes peeled

for any more developments on this front, as well as any additional warnings from intelligence agencies. Then in other political news, we should talk about the continuing executive orders that Biden keeps pumping out. And today specifically, we're talking about the two executive actions aimed at expanding health coverage.

Biden signed them today with the first action being an order that will open a special enrollment period that will allow Americans who do not have health coverage during a pandemic to sign up through the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplace. Under that order, people who do not have affordable healthcare benefits through their jobs will be able to apply for coverage from February 5th

to May 15th through healthcare.gov. Now, normally enrollment is only open for six weeks at the end of the year, but when the pandemic first came into full force last spring, tons of people lost the insurance that they had through their work. And for some reason, despite that, Trump refused to reopen Obamacare enrollment to the millions of Americans

who suddenly didn't have insurance during a pandemic. And while a number of the people who were impacted enrolled last month during the market's annual opening, Biden's order is expected to specifically target people who are eligible to receive benefits under the ACA, but never knew their options. This, in part, due to the Trump administration's refusal to advertise the ACA as an option

for struggling uninsured Americans. Something that would have been helpful because even reportedly before the pandemic, there was an estimated 28 million people who were already uninsured. This, even though more than half of them were eligible for some form of coverage under the ACA. Also, beyond that, the order will seek to undo

some of the other actions Trump took to undermine the ACA. This, including directing federal agencies to reconsider work requirement rules and other policies that undermine protections for preexisting conditions, including complications related to the coronavirus. And Biden's second executive action is a memorandum to protect women's reproductive healthcare,

both in the United States and abroad. With one of the most significant parts of that action, including rescinding what's known as the Mexico City Policy, right, which is a global gag rule that bans international nonprofits from receiving federal family planning aid from the United States if they provide abortion counseling. For decades, Democratic and Republican administrations

have taken turns rescinding and reinstating the gag rule whenever they take office. But very notably, a study released last year actually found that the policy not only failed to reduce abortion rates, but that it actually had the opposite effect, causing abortions to increase by around 40% in the countries that they study

because lack of funding caused a decrease in access to contraceptives. And in addition to scrapping the Mexico City policy, Biden's memo will also direct federal agencies to review a similar Trump-era rule that limited the use of federal funding meant for domestic family planning under Title 10. And like the global gag order,

Trump's rule, which targeted Planned Parenthood blocked organizations that provide abortions or referrals from getting federal aid. But that is where I'm going to end today's show. I of course would love to know your thoughts on this or anything else we talked about today. As always, thanks for being a part of my daily dives in the news.

If you're looking for more to watch, I got more news for you right here, a podcast right here. With that said, I love yo faces and you've just been filled in with news that matters for people that care. I'll see you next time.