The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.10 The Kanye West Situation is Pathetic, Vance Sparks Constitutional Crisis Concerns, & Today's News

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtmCkX6JqQ&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1 Kickstart your passion project with a free trial today: https://www.Squarespace.com/Phil  & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase! https://BeautifulBastard.com 3 new tees, hoodies, and crews PLUS 50% OFF blankets, candles, & select products w/ code "GET50OFF" – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Kanye, Kendrick, and Taylor Swift Stir Super Bowl Controversy  06:04 - Vance & Musk Claim Judges Don’t Have the Power to Block Trump Admin. 10:35 - Trump Tells Treasury to Stop Minting Pennies 13:51 - Sponsored by Squarespace 15:01 - Russ Vought Orders Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Stop Work 19:15 - Trump Freezes Aid to South Africa Over Land Law 24:44 - Comment Commentary ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #Kanye #TaylorSwift ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and a lot of different people had a lot of different feelings about a lot of different things. As far as the actual game, right? Chiefs versus Eagles, pretty much everyone except Chiefs fans were very happy with the results. It was just a brutal beating. Even the score of 40 to 22 made it look closer than it actually was. Like one of the Chiefs touchdowns happened after the coach of the Eagles got doused with Gatorade.

Though that also made the game kind of boring for a lot of people who didn't have a dog in the fight. Then separately, there was the Taylor Swift of it all. She was there to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelsey play. And when her face got put on the jumbotron, she got booed like crazy. The number of reporters saying that largely came from the Eagles fans that were there.

Though in addition to that, you had the president of the United States piling on, riding on social media. The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got booed out of the stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving. Though there, regarding left-wing and right-wing reactions

to that, not everyone was on the same page. Or with a seeing, for example, conservative commentator, Tommy Lahren tweeting, "'I know I see this differently than a lot of conservative friends, but I didn't like nor do I celebrate the booing of Taylor Swift. What did she do to any of y'all?

I get that she endorsed Kamala, but that's her right. Are we supposed to hate someone because they have different political opinions?' Overall, she is a wholesome and talented performer who by all accounts is kind to her crew and a nice person." Saying, I don't celebrate that kind of thing being booed just because she voted for someone that I didn't. But then in addition to that, of course, there is the Kendrick Lamar halftime show and really just, wow, depending on where you went on social media, drastically different reactions. Like if you go to YouTube

right now on the official halftime show video from the NFL, Kendrick Lamar is the goat. It's saying Samuel L. Jackson, his uncle Sam was genius. Kendrick was so kind to let some football teams play during his concert. Considering the beef with Drake started March 2024, this is the longest funeral I've ever seen. People calling it award-winning. Some people were even hyping up his cardio, as well as highlighting things like Kendrick bringing out Serena Williams to Crip Walk after Drake stalked that woman publicly for years and obsessively threw shots at her for turning him down is so wild. That man is the definition of AD chaotic good. But then you go to Twitter, you look at some headlines,

you had people going, was this the worst halftime show in history? And there, as far as people that had kind of a negative reaction, it seems split across three things. Seemingly some everyday folks, and there was also like a political right-leaning angle to it, and then of course, Drake fans.

Right around the political stuff, you had some calling it the DEI halftime show. Some, like Matt Gaetz, seeming to condemn it, saying the halftime show you just watched is clearly the regime's response to Trump's historic gains with black men. Which I will say, regardless of the fact

that Kendrick was announced as the performer before the election, you would also think Matt Gaetz would know better than to kind of walk into this trap. And I say that because like half of the responses to him are just people writing the lyrics to Not Like Us. But then aside from the political stuff, there were also takes like it just didn't feel super entertaining.

Some saying they just couldn't understand what he was saying. And of course, bringing it back to the Drake and Kendrick takes like, it just didn't feel super entertaining. Some saying they just couldn't understand what he was saying. And of course, bringing it back to the Drake and Kendrick Lamar of it all, some saying that Drake would have put on a better performance. Which here I'll say two things. The first is I would love to know your thoughts

about the performance. What was your reaction? But then also too, I'll say, you know, there was a very real question of would he perform not like us at the Super Bowl? Because while Kendrick performing that song at the Super Bowl was seen as kind of a victory lap, notably Drake is also suing UMG

for defamation over the song. This is an active thing that's happening and he's accusing the label of releasing and promoting a song that included false pedophilia allegations that are against him. And actually before yesterday's game kicked off, Drake's legal team issued a statement ahead of time taking aim at UMG and saying it is quote,

"'Masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely entertainment, but saying there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world. With that saying that they are confident in the evidence that they have in this case. But then finally, with everything Super Bowl related,

let's talk about Kanye. Right in that, cause Kanye did another one of those Super Bowl commercials that he just shot on his phone. With the one last night showing him sitting in a dentist chair, talking to his phone and telling people to go to Yeezy.com. And well last night, there were a number

of different things you could get, as of this morning, Kanye West is just straight up selling swastika shirts. Just a white shirt with a swastika on it. It's labeled HH01, which the ADL said is code for hail Hitler. And while you also had the ADL issuing a statement condemning Kanye for this, they were not alone. There were tons of other people doing it as well.

With people among other things outraged that he was even able to buy a Superbowl commercial for Nazi merch. With some adding, obviously Kanye is an idiot and deserves any backlash, but Fox sold him advertising space during the biggest TV event. They should be catching flack too. Though this new product launch, it's really not that surprising because its release followed an hours-long anti-Semitic rampage on X where Kanye said he was a Nazi and that he loved Hitler as well as saying,

some of my best friends are Jewish and I don't trust any of them. "'I'm never apologizing for my Jewish comments "'and I don't even know what the fuck anti-Semitic means. "'It's just some bullshit Jewish people made up "'to protect their bullshit.'" And all of this is Kanye has a history of anti-Semitic stuff. I mean, he talked about in the past

going death con three on Jewish people. But with West's latest bigoted attempt to get attention, you had people once again calling for his account to get shut down. For example, David Schwimmer writing in a post on Instagram, we can't stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled ignorant bile, but we can stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk, and saying Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform X. That's twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in real-life violence against

Jews. And with that, we actually did end up seeing Musk chiming in, but not about the Nazi stuff. Instead, we saw him responding to a conservative podcaster calling for Kanye to be banned because he's posting literal porn on the timeline. Which yes, by the way, was also another thing that he was doing at the time. And there, you had Musk saying that Kanye's account is now classified as not safe for work.

But with that, as of this morning, the account just doesn't exist at all. Though there, you have most reports suggesting that Kanye deactivated it himself and that it doesn't currently appear to be Musk's doing. Or with it appearing that Kanye actually signed off by saying, I'm logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent.

It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board. But yeah, with all that said, you know, this is a new show, but I also want it to be a conversation. So I got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Reactions, opinions, your reasoning, anything and everything,

I'd love to see in those comments down below. Actually, whether it be this first story or anything else I covered today. And actually, some of your comments may make the show tomorrow in comment commentary. But then, to move on to other big news, we need to talk about how Elon Musk and J.D. Vance, right, two of Trump's closest allies,

they are now openly suggesting that the courts do not in fact have the power to block Trump's actions. And so there's this growing crisis and question of, well, what happens if they just ignore the law? Or what happens when the executive branch just says, oh, you know, the judiciary's authority to serve as a check on executive power? No, that's not a thing. You know, with that, this whole conversation goes back to this battle over Doge and whether or not it has the authority to access the Treasury Department's payment system. Because, you know,

Musk and much of the Doge team, they're reportedly special government employees, which is a class of federal worker that face less strict rules on ethics and financial disclosures than other staff. And with all that, you might've seen a one 19 year old Doge employee. He was reportedly fired from a previous internship with a cybersecurity firm for leaking internal information to competitors.

Not to mention, Trump's been granting temporary security clearances to officials who haven't been fully vetted. But you know all of that being part of the reason why alarm bells were ringing when Doge demanded access to the payment system. A system which not only disperses trillions of dollars in federal spending every year,

but also holds sensitive personal information about millions of Americans. And as you might remember, when Doge came knocking, David Liebrich, a lifelong civil servant, then serving as the acting secretary of the department, he turned them away. But then, boom, he got placed on administrative leave,

with the Senate then confirming Trump's pick as the new secretary, and Liebrich resigning a few days later. And very quickly, we saw with Trump's guy in charge, Musk's team was given access to the payment system, which then led to 19 Democratic attorneys general suing the administration, alleging that giving access

to Doge's special government employees violated federal law, with them also arguing that Doge's access to the treasury records could interfere with funding already appropriated by Congress. And there, notably, Musk claimed that his team only had read-only access to the system and just planned to review payments as part of an audit process.

But then you had reporting by the Associated Press contradicting that claim with sources there claiming Doge officials originally sought access in order to stop money from flowing to USAID. And then with all that, this weekend, you had a federal judge temporarily halting access to the payment system for all but a few, including civil servants who have passed background checks and need to access the system to keep it running. With the judge also ordering the destruction of any downloaded information from the payment system by anyone given access to it since January 20th. And the judge there citing a risk of irreparable harm

and adding, the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hack it. With us then seeing Musk in response, calling the decision absolutely insane and claiming something super shady is going to protect scammers.

But from there, the criticism has gone from expressing disappointment or disagreement with the judge's decision to questioning his authority and calling for him to be removed. Or with Trump, for example, saying, "'No judge should frankly be allowed "'to make that kind of a decision. "'It's a disgrace.'"

With then, Musk sharing a reaction by conservative commentator Glenn Beck and adding, "'A corrupt judge protecting corruption. "'He needs to be impeached now.'" With Musk also sharing another post suggesting that the Trump administration may have no other option but to defA corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached now.'" With Musk also sharing another post suggesting that the Trump administration may have no other option but to defy the judge's ruling. And finally, you had J.D. Vance piling on, writing on X,

"'If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general and how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.'" And this is notably Vance, who's a graduate of Yale Law School, suggested more than once in

the past that presidents like Trump can and should ignore court orders if they think it infringes on their rightful executive powers. Well, this post didn't go quite that far. It arguably carries more weight now that he is vice president. And so with that, you have people like one NYU law professor highlighting Vance's use of the words legitimate powers and pointing out that the judiciary is the branch with the power to decide what a president can legitimately do or not do and going on to say, the concern is that the vice president's statement could be taken to suggest that the executive branch is prepared to refuse to comply with a court order based on the president's own view that he has a power that the courts have concluded he does not. And adding, a president who orders his officials not to comply with court orders would be creating a

constitutional crisis. And this is you also had people like Liz Cheney, putting it more bluntly, writing on X that, if you disagree with the ruling, you can appeal. And adding, you don't get to rage quit the Republic just because you are losing, that's tyranny. And with all that said, I do wanna be clear, at this point, the Trump administration

is reportedly complying with the order and seeking legal recourse. With the seeing today, for example, the DOJ filing a motion to have the judge's order lifted, claiming that the quote, "'remarkable intrusion' is unconstitutional and should be dissolved immediately." And then, otherwise, there's a hearing set for February 14th.

And of course, with all this, it's important to remember, this is just one of Trump's efforts that have been met with legal roadblocks since he took office. We've seen judges already stop him, at least temporarily, from ending birthright citizenship, putting thousands of USAID workers on leave, and transferring transgender female inmates to male prisons.

And this is today a judge will be deciding on the fate of the buyout offer sent to almost all federal employees. So right now with Trump already proving his willingness to push the envelope of presidential authority, you have people wondering where would he stop? And what would happen if he just ignored the authority altogether? But then shifting gears,

we should talk about Donald Trump's latest, probably least controversial, but still possibly illegal executive action. Because Trump has reportedly directed the treasury department to stop minting new pennies, right? America's one cent coin with them writing on social media. For far too long, the United States has minted pennies, which literally cost us more than two cents.

This is so wasteful. Let's rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time. You know why? As someone who has a well-documented history of hating on and shitting on the US penny for the last two decades, I was happy to hear this, but also I was surprised.

This isn't really something that Trump talked about on his campaign, but notably, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency raised the prospect in a post on X last month where he also highlighted the penny's cost. And with all that, Trump, Musk, Doge, here, they're absolutely right that pennies now cost more than they're worth. Last year, for example, it cost 3.69 cents to

produce and distribute a penny, according to the U.S. Mint. Meaning, accounting for their face value, each penny made a loss of 2.69 cents. And with the Mint issuing over 3 billion pennies last year, total losses amounted to about $85 million. Which is why this is not a new idea. Experts and government officials of all stripes, they have been calling for something to be done about the penny for years now. I mean, this is a bipartisan issue. Both the Democratic and Republican lawmakers of Congress, for example, they've introduced legislation

to temporarily suspend the penny's production, eliminate it from circulation, or require the prices be rounded to the nearest 5 cents. And then, as far as the people, according to polling by Data for Progress, 58% of voters agree that the government should stop producing new pennies. Now, with all that said,

it's not like there is not any opposition. You see those who support keeping the penny claiming that getting rid of it would effectively impose a one cent sales tax on consumers since prices ending in 99 cents are so common. Supporters also arguing that the penny helps charities with fundraising. And then finally, another argument is that the elimination of the penny might increase the demand for nickels, which notably are actually even more expensive to produce. Right there, it turns out each five cent coin, it costs nearly 14 cents to make. But even with all that, proponents of eliminating the coin say that the cost savings are worth it.

And they also point to potential benefits like speedier checkouts at cash registers. And all of this is, you know, there have been a lot of real world cases where low value coins have been discontinued without major consequences. I mean, Australia, for example, they withdrew their 1 and 2 cent coins from circulation back in 1992. And then even earlier, countries like Sweden and New Zealand, they stopped minting their one cent coins. And more recently in 2012, Canada stopped minting their penny. With the most recent shift being last year, with the UK actually opting not to produce any new coins at all after officials decided that there were already enough in circulation.

But then also, besides those examples from abroad, this wouldn't even be the first time the US eliminated its least valuable coin. A long time ago, there used to be a half cent coin that got discontinued by Congress back in 1857. But also, that there, right, that's actually a key thing with this news, because Congress discontinued that coin. And currently, it's just unclear whether Trump can do the same with a penny by himself. Right, currency specifications including the size and metal content of coins are dictated by the House and the Senate. Now with that, I will say you have people out there like one economics professor at Northeastern University,

for example, arguing that there might be some wiggle room. Them saying discontinuing the penny would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies. And then adding, it will be important to have rules in place regarding how cash transactions that are not divisible by 5 cents should be handled,

most likely by rounding to the nearest 5 cents, and also regarding how existing stocks of pennies can be used in exchange. And so it's gonna be very interesting to see what actually happens from here, because while this is kind of benign, it is yet another example of Trump testing the limits of his power.

But just to add, however we do it, yes, let's kill that fucking penny. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment, but first, you know, let this be the year that you take that side hustle or passion project to the next level. And I know how that procrastination life goes. You know, I'd been sitting on that book club idea for ages,

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So kickstart your digital space today with a free trial at squarespace.com slash fill or scan the QR code on screen. When you're ready to launch, just use code fill for 10% off. That's squarespace.com slash Phil. But then shifting gears, let's talk about how you can kiss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau goodbye, at least for now. And that because over the weekend, Trump's Office of Management and Budget Director,

Russell Vogt, he sent an order to the CFPB for which he's also the acting director, instructing all of the agency staff not to come to the office and flatly stating, "'Please do not perform any work tasks.'" Which is effectively tantamount to shutting down the entire agency. And for some context and background here,

the CFPB is an agency tasked with protecting consumers against unfair, deceptive, or predatory practices by large financial institutions. It was actually created in 2010 after the subprime mortgage lending meltdown of 2008. But its authority covers more than just housing loans. You've got credit cards, medical debt, auto loans, student loans, digital currencies, payment apps, and other financial products. And really, ever since then, we've seen many Republicans, tech executives,

and financiers bitterly fighting to repeal the agency. With them arguing that it's unaccountable, accusing it of overreach, and claiming that its regulations hurt business. Also, pointing to regulation of car dealerships and loans to pawn shops and gun makers is evidence that the Bureau has exceeded its original mandate by targeting supposedly legit businesses. And so not only did Vogt order staff to see Saul's supervision and examination activity on Saturday, his officials announced

that the agency's DC headquarters would be closed from Monday through Friday of this week. And with this notably mirroring what the Trump administration did to the USAID headquarters last week. And also like what happened to USAID's website, the CFPB's website and ex-account appear to be shut down this morning. And this, his vote said that he told the Federal Reserve that the

CFPB would not accept its next draw of federal funding for the upcoming quarter. With him then saying that it, quote, is not reasonably necessary to carry out its duties. Saying the Bureau's current balance of $711.6 million is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment. The spigot long contributing to CFPB's unaccountability is now being turned off. And so now, in the meantime, we can expect the CFPB to get the USAID treatment from the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk. Or with a seeing on Friday that Doge staff

reportedly entered the Bureau's building and gained access to its computer systems. With Musk even posting on X that afternoon, CFPB RIP. Which in case like his intentions weren't clear enough, he also said back in November that he wanted to delete the CFPB. And so with all this, you have people saying, you know, there's arguably a conflict of interest there.

Right, and that in part because X and Visa are reportedly working on a new business relationship to offer direct payment solutions to customers of the social media app. With X money reportedly being meant to allow users to instantly fund their X wallet and connect their debit cards for peer to peer payments as well as to instantly transfer funds

to their bank accounts. You have critics saying that this assault on the CFPB is essentially Musk's season control of his own regulator. But with that, Musk is not solely responsible for this latest push. But I mean, vote himself, he was an architect of Project 2025, which proposed abolishing the CFPB.

But then also as we're seeing this play out, on the other side, we're seeing Democrats and consumer advocates mobilizing to keep the Bureau alive. For example, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is the architect of the CFPB in 2010, saying, "- If you have a bank account or a credit card or a mortgage or a student loan, this is code red. I am ringing the alarm bell. The CFPB is the little agency working to shut down scams and fraud on payment apps like Zelle and PayPal and Cash App.

It's the agency that steps in when the big bank trips up and repossesses your car. It's the agency that's working to cut those crazy fees that banks and credit card companies bury down in the fine print and then you got to pay for them. Already, this little agency has forced giant banks and corporations to give back more than $21 billion directly to families they cheated. You then also have the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the CFPB's roughly 1,700 workers filing two lawsuits against Vodon Sunday.

With the first seeking to block Doge's access to private and sensitive information at the agency explaining there, the CFPB collects and maintains a vast amount of data, including sensitive information about individuals and businesses, including banks and other financial institutions. And then the second suit alleges that votes orders

reflect an unlawful attempt to thwart Congress's decision to create the CFPB to protect American consumers. They're basically arguing there that since the CFPB was created by Congress, the executive branch can't just legally shut it down. But then also a notable thing is that unlike many other agencies, it receives its funding directly from the Federal Reserve

rather than through the congressional appropriations process. And that's something that's meant to shield it from political pressure, but it's unclear whether that gives vote more leeway in turning off the spigot, in his words. And so for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how all this lands in the courts. Which I will say, if Trump's efforts with USAID

and the Treasury are any sign, it will face a lot of resistance from judges. But then to move to some international news, what the hell is going on in South Africa? That's what more and more people have been asking lately because over the past few weeks, this thing has gone from a fringe topic among the right wing into a major foreign policy priority

for the Trump administration. And at the center of this situation is a controversial land expropriation bill that South Africa signed into law late last month. Right on the surface, the law gives the South African government a mechanism to take land away from owners without any compensation under limited circumstances.

With this, including property that isn't being used and where there's no intention to develop or make money from it as well, as land that might be a threat to people. One of the big issues that's sticking out for many is that landowners won't be getting anything for land that's taken. You know, that's something that in many parts of the world, it just can't happen, such as in the US. Yes, the government can forcibly take land for things like public roads, but under our constitution, there has to be fair compensation for it. Well, technically, the South African constitution has a similar clause. There are arguments there that zero money is actually fair

considering the years of oppression. But also looking at the situation, right? South Africa didn't just go straight to taking people's land. This entire policy, it stems from a constitutional requirement that pushes the government to try and right the wrongs of white apartheid rule,

with land being one of the biggest points. Because during apartheid, laws favored white land ownership to the point that it was almost impossible for non-whites to own land. And after the apartheid government was removed, the ruling ANC party tried to tackle the issue under a willing seller, willing buyer policy, meaning that it was always willing to buy white land

and distribute to black owners. And the government had expected to have 30% of the private land distributed by 2014, but they ended up falling short of their goal. And by that year, only 4% of private land and 8% of private farmland had been transferred. In all these efforts, they've morphed into a narrative that white South Africans are being targeted,

despite the fact that land law doesn't specifically mention race. With that then leading to last Sunday with Trump writing on Truth Social, "'South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly. It is a bad situation that the radical left media doesn't want to mention.

A massive human rights violation at a minimum is happening for all to see. The United States won't stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of the situation has been completed. With that, then being followed up by the news that Secretary of State Marco Rubio

will not be attending the upcoming G20 summit that's being hosted there. Although his statement there took a step back from claiming there were explicit human rights violations and instead claimed that the G20 summit that's being hosted there. Although his statement there took a step back from claiming there were explicit human rights violations and instead claimed that the G20 was a platform to promote DEI and climate change. From there, we fast forward to this past Friday and Trump followed up on his threat

by signing an executive order that blocks as much foreign aid to the maximum extent allowed by law. And in that, the order highlighted, quote, "'Countless government policies designed to dismantle "'equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, "'and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.

You know, we've actually covered a lot of this stuff in the past as well, but the big thing is that there's a very big feeling among white South Africans that the ANC has gone too far in trying to make South Africa more equitable to the point of being anti-white. And Trump here seems to agree because this order also states,

the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation. Now, for many here, Trump's sudden concern with South Africa, it coincides with Elon Musk's influence. Musk is from there originally, and his family benefited from apartheid.

Throughout all of this, he has been in the trenches on Twitter arguing about the topic. For example, after Trump first talked about the situation last Sunday, South Africa's president tweeted out, "'South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality,' saying the South African government

has not confiscated any land. And then continuing, the recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution."

With them then going on to highlight that the only foreign aid they get from the US is for 17% of their AIDS treatment program. There you had Musk replying with, "'Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?' With then all of that being followed up by a week's worth of posts that South Africa is not only racist against white people,

but actively calling for their genocide." And the person that many used as kind of the poster boy for the situation was Julius Malema, who's the leader of the EFF party. And yeah, he has said some pretty crazy things. Like at a rally a few years ago, he chanted. And in general, a lot of the speeches have talked about slashing the throat of whiteness and similar rhetoric. There you had some defending Malema's chant as a longstanding rallying cry for anti-apartheid activists against the system itself. But all of that then leading to Musk yesterday tweeting out,

"'Immediate sanctions for Malema and declaration of him "'as an international criminal.'" With Malema then responding, "'I really think you have entirely lost your left brain. "'A typical spoiled brat and direct beneficiary "'of apartheid whiteness.'" With him then going on to say that he was proud to be an international criminal

if it meant fighting for black people to be equal to white people. But then also with all this you have some going it's kind of crazy that there's so much focus on Malema at all. And that because he's actually part of a fringe Marxist-Leninist party that has had some success but is nowhere near big enough to be in power. In fact, it's not even part of the ruling coalition. It's an opposition party right now. And with all that said you also have others out there that have been pushing back against Musk and Trump. There's been more and more talk that Musk has been pushing for the Trump administration to tackle South Africa

because of a personal vendetta. That possibly connected to his company Starlink trying to set up service there, but it's run into issues. Because notably there are rules that 30% of the business has to be owned by disadvantaged groups, meaning black or mixed race people in South Africa. And so with that, we saw tweets like digging out Julius Malema's old videos to push white genocide propaganda

because you were told black people need to own 30% of your Starlink for it to operate in South Africa is diabolical. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see where things go here. I mean, everything's constantly evolving. I mean, even as I was recording this for you, the US embassy and consulates in South Africa released

what they said was a fact sheet that added even more reasons the US was targeting the country. So now on top of the land bill, there are references to South Africa's efforts at the International Criminal Court to target alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Yeah, for now, there does appear to be a movement on the situation, and it's going to be very interesting to see where it goes. But then, finally today, let's talk about the last show in some comment commentary brought to you

by BeautifulBastard.com, where right now, not only can you snag yourself some of our awesome newer releases like God is Testing Me and A Silly Gooser, clearly thriving, you're crushing this ad read, Phil, clearly thriving, and're crushing this ad, Reed Phil, clearly thriving. And I'm just built different, poorly. But also, you can get 50% off some of our fantastic accessories like our emotional candles, our water bottle, our notebook. I mean, those are normally 35 and 25. You can get those for 14 and 10. But you'll have to use code GET50OFF before Tuesday at midnight to get in on that discount on the accessories. But with that said, let's dive into those comments

where 85% of them are about the specific news stories that are being covered, but then 15%, it's more, it's been more stuff like Mothman saying, watching this right before my therapist appointment so that I can get my money's worth. Ugh, I know. And this is making me physically sick, trying to remain informed and up to date

about this whole circus feels like self-immolation. But then adding, but we can't close our eyes and ignore it. And so with that, I'll say, how about this? Next Monday is President's Day. So that means that a decent chunk of that show is gonna need to be pre-shot. I cannot promise you good news, but I will try to give you at least weird news.

Weird can be fun and still informative and there's value there. That said though, I have really enjoyed that people have started sharing just good news or fun facts in the comments as a like kind of lighthearted thing. With for example, Andrea Mom sharing on that last show, "'Good news for today, Warsaw, Poland has a water system

that is controlled by mussels. Mussels are very good at filtering toxins out of water, but when a toxin load gets higher than they can handle, they shut their shells until the toxins subside. Warsaw has eight mussels working at a time, monitored by computer. If four close their shells, the water treatment plant stops the flow of water to protect people. After three months of service, the mussels are relocated to the wild to live out their lives and are replaced by a new shift. Thank you for sharing.

That was like a little, uh, like a little of air as, uh, as it feels like we're drowning. But then, as far as comments that were more specifically aimed at the news stories we were covering, we had blood sharing the fact anyone is believing that $50 million in condoms were sent to a war zone gives me a headache. Did they ever stop to think, hold on, why would they even do that? With Tim saying, oh, it gets better. They tried to say it was to make bombs.

So there you had some chiming in. It's not the fact that they lie. It's the fact that they're getting away with it and people believe them. And Lofalo wondering, how did they go from don't trust the government to I only trust the government? I swear these people are such hypocrites. With then a beard thicker than yours saying,

let's call a spade a spade. It's not a misunderstanding, it's misinformation. With others replying, no, it's disinformation, as in deliberate lies as opposed to just wrong info. With member adding, politicos should sue for defamation. Seriously, they could lose a ton of income because of these lies from the right. But ultimately, that is where we're gonna end

today's Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news. But of course, remember, I've got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.