The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.7 PewDiePie Hacks, Kendall Jenner IS A HERO, Bird Box, Saudi Girl Escape, & More...

Episode Date: January 7, 2019

Latest episode of The Philip DeFranco Show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Monday Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and just a quickie note before we get started I just want to take a second to say I missed you guys. I love your faces two and a half weeks It was a it was a lot of time to to prep recover and yeah, I'm just excited to be back Also, yes, I am one of the only people that can go on vacation and come back looking more tired But with that said let's just jump into it and the first thing we're gonna talk about We'll probably have to do it a few times in these first two weeks when coming back, are some quickies.

As far as industry quickies are concerned, we saw more Felix, AKA PewDiePie, back in the news. And on my break, when I peeked at the internet, it was always very interesting to see the articles because there was a range. Although I will say my favorite was, and I was like, this is a real article? PewDiePie attacks Lilly Singh with big Chungus meme.

And then of course you had more with the going ons of T-Series versus Felix Although since there is some distance between Felix's channel and T-Series with Felix just passing 80 million subscribers The story has been less about the difference in subscribers and more the other things we've seen including what the independent described as PewDiePie hackers hijack Google Chromecast exposing huge security flaw in process and reportedly you had people seeing this video saying your Chromecast Smart TV is exposed to the public internet and is exposing sensitive information about you and providing a link on how to fix it and adding you should also subscribe to PewDiePie. And so it was another example of more internet-y things bleeding into the real world. Also, it's kind of taking this meme, this moment in pop culture as a way to highlight that what you thought was secure isn't secure.

But also reportedly according to a spokesperson for Google, they said, We have received reports from users who have had an unauthorized video played on their TVs via a Chromecast device. This is not an issue with Chromecast specifically, but is rather the results of router settings that make smart devices including Chromecast publicly reachable.

Also while mentioning a story about a YouTuber, we should talk about this new, young, up and comer that has just blasted onto the YouTube scene. A guy by the name of, I'm probably gonna pronounce this wrong, Jack Black. Yeah, Jack Black has a YouTube channel called Jablinski Game. He's the most recent celebrity to jump onto the platform.

He has only posted three videos and has over three million subscribers. Although I will say, as far as celebrities jumping on the platform, Jack Black has been the most well received. And I think it's just because he seems to be the one taking it the least serious while at the same time having respect and just having fun with it. And I think it's just because he seems to be the one taking it the least serious while at the same time

having respect and just having fun with it. And personally, I will say, I hope to see more of this from the people that try and come on the platform rather than something being super, super polished. But that's just me. Also while I was gone, Bird Box was released, which of course was the Netflix movie with Sandra Bullock. And it was just completely on a different level,

massively successful, with just after a week, Netflix saying that 45.3 million Netflix accounts out of 137 watched at least 70% of the movie. Which really makes me wonder how many people have actually watched it, because one, you can watch it with other people at the same time, and two, a lot of people share Netflix logins, and a number of people on the same Netflix account

may have watched the same movie. But also, Bird Box was in the news because it became just a massive meme, whether it be about people that don't wanna deal with a situation, or in reference to a referee making a call you do not like also you had people starting to do something called the Bird Box Challenge essentially just people trying to go through a day with a blindfold on something that was getting so much traction Netflix even tweeted can't believe I have to say this but please do not hurt yourselves with this Bird Box challenge You don't know how this started and we appreciate the love, but boy and girl have just one wish for 2019,

and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes. Which I imagine part of the internet responded by biting into a Tide Pod and saying, "'You're not my dad.'" And the last quickie is, what celebrity were people angry about today news? And while there were a number of people we could talk about, the most recent was Kendall Jenner.

Reason being that she and her mother had been teasing that, you know, Kendall Jenner was going to be sharing this very raw story, with Kris Jenner sharing Reason being that she and her mother had been teasing that you know Kendall Jenner was going to be sharing this very raw story with Kris Jenner sharing this video. When I was 14 I couldn't reach as many people as I can now. Now that I'm 22 and I have this whole thing behind me I can I can speak to so many people and just be like I can help you and it's okay and ever and I experience it I'm very normal and like I understand you, like I can connect with you. I'm gonna try and help.

Also tweeting, make sure to watch Kendall Jenner's Twitter on Sunday night to find out what I'm talking about and be prepared to be moved. Hashtag be the change, hashtag share your story, hashtag change the conversation, hashtag finally a solution. That's a dangerous hashtag anyway. And then on Sunday it was revealed that she was the new face of Proactiv. For me, I can honestly say that the magic was Proactiv.

It's a huge deal that I'm partnering with Proactiv. And I'm hoping that I can help people and show people that this is the way that I got clear. And that hopefully this is the way that you can get clear. And my reaction to this is, one, if you were and that hopefully this is the way that you can get clear. And my reaction to this is one, if you were surprised that they would trick you like this, you haven't been paying attention. And two, yes, I agree with Kris Jenner

that Kendall Jenner is so brave to cash all of those checks to be the face of Proactiv. To say I had acne and people made fun of me, but people were also like, we're proud of you for embracing your acne. But also yes, I really needed to get rid of that acne and I did, and also I'm going to call this product magic. But I also think this is kind of another daily reminder that we should no longer be surprised that fake, out-of-touch people reveal themselves to be fake, out-of-touch people. She's probably a fine person, and you know, I always try to remind myself, people in the spotlight,

they're just people, but the way that this was kind of built up, it just seems so disingenuous. It just seems like a fraud. But that's just my personal takeaway and I'll leave it at that for now and pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on that story or any of our quickies? And then let's talk about the situation

about an 18 year old woman from Saudi Arabia by the name of Rahaf Mohammed Al-Khanoun. And this story over the weekend has just blown up. Reportedly while on vacation with her family in Kuwait, she boarded a plane for Bangkok, Thailand with her final goal being to get to Australia to claim political asylum. According to a friend, she's fleeing from an emotionally

and physically abusive family and the threat of death because she has renounced Islam. Reportedly, this abuse included death threats, beatings. At one point, she was forced to remain in her room for six months for cutting her hair. The young woman saying, they won't let me drive or travel. I am oppressed, I love life and work,

and I am very ambitious, but my family is preventing me from living. And the thing about Saudi Arabia, if you don't know, they have strict guardianship laws that require a woman's male guardian to approve travel plans, among other things. And Kuwait does not have this requirement, which is reportedly why she took this opportunity to flee. But here's the thing, Rahaf claimed that when she got off the plane in Thailand, her passport was taken by either a Saudi diplomat or Kuwait Airways employee. And later clarifying, "'Someone told me he would help me get a visa for Thailand "'so I can go inside,' adding, "'After that, he took my passport. "'After one hour, he came with five or four persons

"'and told me my family wants me "'and they knew I had run away "'and should go back to Saudi Arabia.'" According to Thai authorities, initially she was going to be deported because she didn't have the correct paperwork to stay in Thailand. But at that point, Rahaf began tweeting

about her experience in the airport and was pleading for anyone to help her. Reportedly, Rahaf was then taken to an airport hotel room to wait For the flight back to Kuwait. As her departure time approached she continued to tweet hoping that just anyone would help her. Also tweeting Based on the 1951 convention in the 1967 protocol I'm Rahaf Muhammad formerly seeking a refugee status to any country that would protect me from getting harmed or killed due to leaving my religion And torture from my family. I seek protection in particular from the following country, Canada, United States, Australia, United Kingdom. I ask any, if it representatives, to contact me."

What she's referring to there is the 1951 Refugee Convention that lays out the core policy of non-refoulement. And that asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. Now, while Thailand didn't sign this specific convention, they have signed other treaties

that bar them from returning people to places where they face harm. And eventually, while all of this was happening she also reportedly barricaded herself in the room and refused to leave when the time came for her scheduled flight. And according to Sophie McNeil who's a reporter that was in her hotel room, concern is once attention wanes another attempt will be made to force her on Kuwait Airways. But then there was a massive update. Hours after all of this UNHCR representatives were allowed access to Rahaf and she was allowed to enter Thailand and to be taken to a safe location while the UN High Commissioner for Refugee reviews her case.

Along with this, reportedly her passport was returned to her in the meantime. Now after all of this, after she had left the airport, she tweeted that her father had just arrived in Thailand and that she was worried. But according to Thai officials, she is under Thailand's sovereignty now. No one, no embassy can force her to go anywhere.

We will protect her as best as we can. We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law." So what that means is as of right now, her application for asylum is being reviewed and she is not to be deported from Thailand. But still, there are now a few questions

that have been raised about the reason that she was stopped and whether Saudi officials were involved, as Rahaf said. According to a statement posted on the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter, they claim that she did not have a return reservation or tourist visa, which means that the Thai authorities had to deport her. That statement then going on to say that she was stopped by airport authorities for Quote violating the laws and that the Saudi embassy did not take her passport We had Thailand's chief of immigration police saying that the Saudi embassy said that the girl had run away from her parents and they fear for

Her safety adding we acknowledged this and checked her paperwork She had a passport but no return ticket no travel plan and no destination or hotel reservation in Thailand So per airport security procedures, immigration denied her entry. Also hitting that point we heard before, that if deporting her would result in her death, we definitely wouldn't want to do that. However, Phil Robertson,

who's the Deputy Asia Director for Human Rights Watch, he contradicts what the Thai authorities and the Saudi officials have said, telling BBC, quote, "'It seems that the Thai government "'is manufacturing a story that she tried to apply "'for a visa and it was denied. "'In fact, she had an onward ticket to go to Australia,

she didn't want to enter Thailand in the first place. So that would mean that she didn't actually require any travel plans in Thailand because her final destination was Australia. It was also confirmed by the Guardian that she actually had a three-month multiple entry tourist visa for Australia. So of course, there's a lot of concern there as far as well, what actually happened in Thailand and what is going to happen from here? Especially because this situation has reminded many of a similar one that happened back in 2017. There's a 24 year old woman by the name of Dina Ali Lasloom. She was from Saudi Arabia She fled from Kuwait trying to make it to Australia. During a layover in the Philippines

she was stopped and returned to Saudi Arabia. Reports from activists say that she was beaten, bound and had her mouth duct-taped shut before being put on a flight back to Saudi Arabia. Reportedly at one point she was able to use a Canadian tourist phone to post a video on Twitter saying that she would be killed. And since her return to Saudi Arabia, she hasn't been publicly heard from. And so looking at the situation with Rahat, if she's forced to return to Saudi Arabia, she could face charges for parental disobedience. Also, she could be charged with harming the reputation of Saudi Arabia. Also, renouncing Islam is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. But ultimately that's where we are with this story as of right now.

It will be very interesting to see what happens from here. Hopefully she is granted asylum. And today's moments like this and stories like this where obviously there is, there has to be an appreciation for the internet. Because really without the massive spotlight of the internet on this story, she would have been hopeless. But also, and obviously understand

this is not a done situation. It brings to mind the countless others that want to escape their situation or have tried to but did not get the attention of others. Ultimately today, for now, that's where this story ends. And then of course, let's talk about the shutdown because today, Monday, January 7th, this is the 17th day of the federal government shutdown. That also makes this the second longest shutdown so far in the last 20ish years, with the longest being between 1995 and 1996, which lasted 21 days. And this shutdown stems from disagreements

over the funding of the border wall between President Trump, his Republican allies, and Democrats. The President wants around 5.6 billion to fund the wall, while Democrats have already approved 1.6 billion to fund border security and don't want to give more. And to talk about what's happening right now, we kind of need at least a surface level recap

of what went down. On December 11th, you had President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meeting with then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. We saw them talking about a sticking point in the negotiations to fund the government in 2019, which was the border wall. At that meeting, of course, Trump infamously said, I will shut down the government. Okay, fair enough.

And I am proud, and I'll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. Then on December 19th, the Senate passed a continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government Although it kept border security spending at current levels and didn't include any more money for the wall then in December 20th You had Speaker of the House Paul Ryan saying the house was ready to pass the bill that Trump was ready to sign it But hours later Donald Trump decided it was a no-go He decided he wouldn't compromise on funding for the wall after speaking with more conservative elements in his administration and party So at midnight on December 22nd, the government entered a partial shutdown. On December 29th, there were more negotiations

over the wall, there were even rumors that there was a deal for 2.5 billion for the wall. With allies and advisors backing off the idea of a physical wall on the border, you even had Lindsey Graham saying that it was a metaphor. The wall has become a metaphor for border security. Although the counter to that is you had Donald Trump again and again describing the wall.

And so it really wasn't surprising that on January 2nd, Trump rejected $2.5 billion for the wall, saying that it was unacceptable and demanded $5.6 billion. When does fast grocery delivery through Instacart matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer. So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus, enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.

Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. Now, we're asking for 5.6. Also, it's important to note that in the middle of this, on the 3rd, we got a new Congress. And there, as you're probably aware, we saw a light movement towards the right in the Senate, and now the Dems have control of the House.

But as far as if this meant that they're gonna be any closer to passing this funding bill, not really. Congress would need to pass this with a veto-proof majority. Donald Trump has said that he will not sign it unless he gets what he wants. Which actually brings us to Friday, where the President said in closed door negotiations with Democrats that he's willing to keep the shutdown going for months or even years.

Admitting to those words in a press conference later in the day, He also said, you said in the meeting, this is him quoting you, I just want to check, that the shutdown could go on for months or even a year or longer. Did you say that? I did. I did. Is that your assessment of where we are? Absolutely I said that. However, the president did clarify that he didn't think the shutdown would actually last past the year. Now with the government in the middle of a partial shutdown, what does that actually mean?

Well, for an estimated 800,000 federal government employees, it means that they will not receive pay for the work they have done since the shutdown, which began on December 22nd. And to make matters worse, for nearly 420,000 of these employees, they're actually required to temporarily work without pay because they are quote, essential employees. And these workers generally work in fields that are life-saving or deemed essential to the functioning of society. However, it's also important to note

that in every one of these shutdowns, the workers have received back pay once funding was secured. And a big thing to understand here is this could just be horrific, not only for essential employees, but non-essential employees. Because while historically, after every one of these shutdowns,

after funding has been secured, workers have received back pay, the delay can have massive ramifications for so many people and their families. Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, so this affects people's ability to pay any of their bills, their mortgages or rent, any of their other living expenses on time.

Right, so all of a sudden you're looking at major situations where people might not be able to pay for just their food, gas, utilities, other basic needs, their schooling, medical bills, whatever. Also a thing to consider for people to survive in the now, they may look to credit, which of course means they're gonna have to take on debt, which down the road, that's not gonna be one-to-one, right? You have interest rates, we don't know how long this is going to last. And the moment this becomes real, that this becomes a very scary situation, is January 11th, because that will be the first check missed.

We've also seen groups of essential employees just not having it, like TSA workers. Reports are coming out saying that they have been calling out sick in huge numbers, which have affected airports nationwide. But also, it's not just government employees that this is affecting, it extends further. For some, it would kind of be small inconveniences, like if you went to a national park during the holiday break,

you may have noticed that there were no workers there. Instead, just a handful of park rangers. On the positive side of this, if you can even call it that, the parks were free to enter since there was no one there to take fees. However, since those workers haven't shown up,

they haven't been around to pick up litter, restrooms have not been maintained, that has been a disgusting thing to see on Twitter. Other inconveniences include public museums being closed during the shutdown, as well as many state department services like the ability to quickly issue visas and passports. But for the vast majority of Americans,

the biggest consequence of this prolonged shutdown will be the downsizing of the IRS. As much as you and I may like to make fun of or just curse the IRS, most Americans like the agency at the beginning of the year because they get their tax refund. I say refund because it's your own damn money and they're just giving it back to you anyway. That's another video. But as far as those refunds, it looks like those are in jeopardy of being delayed because of how few workers the IRS has during a shutdown. Just before the new year, the IRS only had about 12% of its staff working. And then in preparation for tax return season, they brought back around 40% of their workforce.

But many analysts think this is not nearly enough people to deal with the tax returns and other functions of the IRS, like investigating crime. Also, quick note, because I don't want anyone to get confused and get in trouble. Even though the IRS may not give you your refund, they are still accepting tax returns. So like in most things, government,

it is the little guy that is inconvenienced and or screwed over. So yeah, there's that. But with that said, of course we have the question of, well, okay, what is next? Well, as far as the Republicans and Democrats, we're seeing them try to steer the narrative into their favor.

Trump had a number of Republicans saying, this is a Democrat shutdown. Saying Democrats don't care about border security at all and aren't even trying to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the United States. Whereas Democrats have said, no, this is a Donald Trump shutdown. He even said that he'd be happy to take credit for it.

And as far as the border wall is concerned, it is a waste of money because it won't actually help border security. And also on the note of money, saying that this isn't just a $5 billion wall, because once you have a wall, not only will you then need people for that wall, you have a piece of infrastructure

that needs to be maintained, fixed. And so essentially saying this isn't just kind of a shot to the arm for the US economy and taxpayer dollars, but it is a slow bleed. Also reportedly Donald Trump is exploring a different tactic that we heard about on Friday. Have you considered using emergency powers to grant yourself authorities to build this wall without congressional approval? And second on Mexico, you have. Yes I have. And I can do it if I want. So you don't need congressional approval to build? No, we can use them. Absolutely. We can call a national emergency because of the

security of our country. Absolutely. No, we can do it. I haven't done it. I may do it. I may do it. But we can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. And it's another way of doing it. But if we can do it through a negotiated process, we're giving that a shot. So is that a threat hanging over the Democrats? I'd never threaten anybody. But I am allowed to do that, yes. Which then brings up the question, can Donald Trump do this?

And as of right now, it's being said that it is debatable. Under the 1976 National Emergencies Act, the president can declare a national emergency and state why he's doing it. And this gives the president the power to do things like control the means of production, seize property, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, restrict travel, and many other far-reaching powers. And as to what legal reason he'd name for the national emergency, he'd likely declare

an immigration emergency under the Immigration and Nationality Act. And under this, he would be allowed to do things for border security, but it only allocates 20 million annually for border emergencies, which is of course a lot less than 5.6 billion. Welcome to math class. Otherwise you need to also say that this is a military emergency.

That would allow the Department of Defense to undertake construction projects with nearly no budget limit. But these projects must be, quote, "'Necessary to support such use of the armed forces.' Something it's believed would be incredibly hard for the president to prove in court. And it's widely believed that any declaration

of a national emergency to fund the border wall would be fought in court. People also noting that Congress could overturn a declaration of emergency, but that also requires a joint statement from both houses. And given that the Senate has slightly higher Republican numbers now, that might be a high hurdle. Also, it should be noted that just declaring an emergency

also doesn't end the shutdown. But at the same time, it could give Donald Trump an out with his base. But also with that said, we start entering this weird hypothetical strategy conversation. And as far as what happens from here, I don't know. It's just a complete mess. But of course, with all of that said,

I wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts about this mess? And of course, I pass that question off to everyone, then specifically Americans, and then even more specifically, and I'm fascinated to know your personal opinion and your personal experience, how this is affecting you if you are a non-essential or essential employee. What you hope happens, what you think will happen. Any and all thoughts. I'd love to hear from you. And that's where we're going to end today's show. And remember if you like this video,

you're glad that the Philip DeFranco show is back, you're happy with these daily dives into the news, hit that like button. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button, ring that bell. Also big thanks to Aaron Calvert and all you other beautiful bastards supporting over at DeFrancoElite.com. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.