The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.12 The Kanye West Scarlett Johansson Problem, Trump's Putin Visit Pivot, & Today's News

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here: https://youtu.be/1grTTkGEzuw?si=Qnv6rsqavQniG1lx&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1&t=1212s Head to http://paired.com/DEFRANCO and start to strengthen your relationship today! Head to https://www.lumen.me/DEFRANCO for 20% off your purchase. Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL https://BeautifulBastard.com Get yourself some of our new shirts, crews, and hoodies! copy pasting old ones will lead to an increase of sales and codes being pushed that are no longer active  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Anti-Kanye AI Video Goes Viral as He’s Sued, Dropped by His Agent & Loses His Site 03:11 - FEMA Leaders Ignore Judge’s Order Halting Funding Freeze 08:08 - Trump Says He’ll End the Ukraine War “Immediately” After Call with Putin 10:19 - Sponsored by Paired  11:27 - Countless Death Row Inmates Left in Limbo in States with Suspended Executions 17:57 - Nvidia Stick Slips Again Following Post-Deepseek Recovery 20:43 - Sponsored by Lumen  21:42 - Politics Round-Up: Gabbard Confirmed, Elon Responds to “Unchecked” Fears & More 32:20 - 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  Associate Producer on Death Row: Star Pralle ———————————— 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 #ElonMusk ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So you're hosting the family barbecue this week, but everyone knows your brother is the grill guy, and it's highly likely he'll be backseat barbecuing all night. So be it. Impress even the toughest of critics with freshly prepared Canadian barbecue favorites from Sobeys. Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news, how it's being covered and how people are reacting to it. It is Wednesday. There is a lot to talk about. I had food poisoning last night, so I'm just gonna hit you with that monkey

and we're gonna jump into it. This is a news show. Fuck you, Kanye. That is what a bunch of celebrities said in a viral video, but the thing is they didn't actually say it because the video in question was actually made with AI. They're making the rounds on Instagram, showing a slew of stars wearing shirts,

they give a middle finger to Kanye and having the star of David in the middle. Or with this appearing to be an obvious attempt to push back to the antisemitism he's been spewing lately. And in it, you see the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Drake, Mila Kun, as Ben Stiller, and more, appearing before the video closes with Adam Sandler flipping off the camera.

And with the video getting shared all over the place, you had some arguing that it was actually a good use of AI since it was condemning hate. But this, as there was no shortage of others, immediately rubbed the wrong way by it, writing things like, it doesn't matter if every single person in this AI sludge would have agreed to be in something like this.

They're not in it. Someone could just as easily use this to make the same video of them wearing Kanye's shirt. That's why this shit needs to go. And others saying, fuck Kanye West, but fuck abusing AI too. Right, it wasn't just people on Twitter chiming in. You even had Scarlett Johansson,

who was featured in the clip, giving a statement to People Magazine saying, "'I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance "'for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind. "'But I also firmly believe that the potential "'for hate speech multiplied by AI "'is a far greater threat than any one person "'who takes accountability for it.'"

And saying, "'We must call out the misuse of AI, "'no matter its messaging, "'or we risk losing a hold on reality.'" But Johansson also noting that she herself has been a victim of AI and saying, we must call out the misuse of AI, no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality. But Johansson also noting that she herself has been a victim of AI and arguing, it is now a 1,000 foot wave coming for everyone and our leaders need to do more to protect us. And adding, it is terrifying

that the US government is paralyzed when it comes to passing legislation that protects all of its citizens against the imminent dangers of AI. And saying, I urge the US government to make the passing of legislation limiting AI use a top priority. It is a bipartisan issue that enormously affects the immediate future of humanity at large. Right,

and with that, it's not too surprising out of all the people that were depicted here that Scarlett was the one to speak out. I mean, as far back as 2018, she began speaking out against deepfake, non-consensual pornography. She also more recently took legal action in 2023 against an AI app that used her likeness in advertising. And last year, she slammed OpenAI for using a voice that sounded incredibly similar to hers after she denied the request to lend her voice to the program. But then also separate from that issue, there is the Kanye of it all.

Because since we last talked about his Superbowl commercial and him selling swastika merch, he's faced some real backlash for his actions. And we've since seen Shopify pulling his site down with the platform telling NBC News, "'All merchants are responsible "'for following the rules of our platform. "'This merchant did not engage

"'in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify." Kanye's agent also dropped him this week, writing that this was specifically in response to his hateful remarks. We even saw a Jewish ex-employee filing a lawsuit against him, claiming he was abusive and called himself a Nazi.

With that staffer also saying that at one point, she suggested that he issue a statement condemning Nazism after people criticized his album artwork for using fonts and imagery appropriated by Nazis. But there, you have the suit claiming that Kanye responded to that by saying, "'I am a Nazi.'" With the suit also claiming that back in June,

he complained about how much money several Jewish employees were making, and then wrote, "'Welcome to the first day of working for Hitler.'" And that's in addition to the staffer claiming that around this time Kanye berated her, called her ugly and stupid, and then she was fired the day after this rant.

With her lawyer releasing a statement saying, "'Yea waged a relentless and deliberate campaign "'of antisemitism and misogyny against my client. We need to stop excusing Ye's behavior. Then next up, we gotta talk about how officials at FEMA are defying court orders to comply with the Trump administration and firing those who refuse to do the same.

Right, because FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it's one of those agencies that's particularly drawn the ire of Trump and his supporters. And now, more than ever, it may be on the chopping block. Right, and to fully appreciate what's happening now, we gotta take it back to the second week of Trump and his supporters. And now more than ever, it may be on the chopping block. Right, and to fully appreciate what's happening now, we gotta take it back to the second week of Trump's presidency first.

Because that is when his administration ordered a government-wide funding freeze that quickly sparked not only confusion, but also major doubts about his constitutionality. With it then not being too long before a federal judge put a temporary pause on the funding freeze and a second judge also issued a temporary restraining order against the directive just a few days later.

And then this week, that same judge said that the Trump administration had failed to comply with the order, and notably, that being the first time a judge has explicitly stated that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate. But despite that, it was just hours later when a senior FEMA official reportedly defied the order, sending an email instructing staff to freeze funding

for various grant programs going back several years. With that, including those focused on emergency preparedness, homeland security, firefighting, protecting churches from terrorism, and tribal security. NBC News even reporting that it obtained screenshots of that email from a recipient who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. With that person also claiming that the official's instructions violated the court order and adding, there's a lot of people who are running scared and trying to appease the new administration. With that, you've got NBC reporting that civil servants are basically finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.

Right on one hand, they may technically be breaking the law if they do what they're told, but then on the other hand, they risk getting fired if they defy the Trump administration. That's not a hypothetical. With FEMA specifically, four employees were just terminated for dispersing federal funds to house migrants in New York City hotels. And those firings, notably, were just the latest in a chain of events set off by none other than Elon Musk. With Musk on Monday posting on X that the Doge team had discovered that FEMA had sent $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house unauthorized immigrants and claiming that, quote, sending this money violated the law

and is in gross insubordination to the president's executive order and adding, that money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels for illegals. So with that, like so many of the things that we've talked about over the last three weeks, at the very least, it's not that simple. One, while it may have been in defiance

of the Trump administration, as we discussed, the Trump administration may actually be the one in defiance of the law. And two, the money, it wasn't meant for disaster relief. And according to city officials, it certainly wasn't being spent on high-end hotels. Like for example, the average cost for a hotel room in New York City, average cost,

has recently exceeded $400 per night. But the average cost of a night stay for migrant families sheltered by this program, it's around $156. And probably more important with that, as far as this program, Musk seemed to be referring to payments made by the Shelter and Services Program. With that program notably being created by Congress

back in 2023 to issue grants to groups and localities providing shelter and other services to migrants released by DHS custody after crossing the border. Also, the money for this program, it's actually been allocated to Customs and Border Protection, but because CBP doesn't have its own system for administering grant programs,

the payments issued by the program were administered by FEMA. But still, this money is separate from the billions of dollars the agency spends on disaster relief. But despite all that, just two hours after Musk's post, FEMA's acting director announced that the payments in question had been suspended

and said that the personnel would be held accountable. Then, less than a day later, a spokesperson for DHS, which oversees FEMA, announcing that the four employees, including the agency's chief financial officer, had been terminated for quote, "'circumventing leadership to unilaterally "'make egregious payments for luxury New York City hotels "'for migrants,' and saying,

"'Under President Trump and Secretary Noem's leadership, "'DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists "'to undermine the will and safety of the American people.'" And with that, some former senior officials at FEMA reportedly expressed concern, saying that the employees have been fired simply for doing their jobs by distributing federal funds as directed by Congress. But in any case, right, all of this, it's just one part of the battle over FEMA. Because as we've talked about, FEMA appears to have been a major target of dis and misinformation from Trump, Elon Musk, and their supporters ever

since Hurricane Helene. And in the first week of his presidency, Trump talked about shutting down FEMA and then signed an executive order establishing a body to investigate the agency, which he accused of political bias, denying aid to his supporters, and spending billions to welcome unauthorized migrants. And then, less than two weeks later, Doge reportedly gained access to FEMA's internal systems and began reviewing the grant programs that it uses

to help communities prepare for and respond to disasters. With officials saying that a small team without security clearance accessed the agency's network containing the private and sensitive information of tens of thousands of disaster victims. But then this weekend, the new Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, also talking about getting rid of FEMA,

quote, the way it exists today. Finally, just yesterday, you had Trump taking to social media to say, the Biden-run FEMA has been a disaster. FEMA should be terminated. It has been slow and totally ineffective. Though of course, with that, you have experts saying that

Trump does not have the authority to terminate FEMA, saying that would require congressional action. But all of this, as we've talked about over the past three weeks, as Trump has been testing his power, we're seeing what he can do, understanding that there will be legal challenges with many likely to go to the Supreme Court. But also with that, right, there's a lot of concern right now about what that could mean for disaster preparedness across the country. And again, as we've talked about with several different topics, that does not mean that FEMA cannot be improved upon and there shouldn't be criticism. For example, a guy who briefly served

as FEMA administrator during Trump's first term, he claims there's actually a widespread agreement that the agency needs reform, but also said that its preparedness and disaster response functions are in high demand and well executed. With him also telling Axios, "'We need a national effort to reform FEMA.'"

I don't think anyone is arguing with the president on that, even people at FEMA. But the disassembly, the abolishment of FEMA is not in the national interest. Then shifting gears, Trump just had his first confirmed conversation with Vladimir Putin since taking office last month. And he said that they agreed to negotiations

to end the war in Ukraine. Or with Trump breaking the news on social and saying that the phone call was lengthy and highly productive and noting that they discuss Ukraine, the Middle East, energy, AI, and more. And then added, we each talked about the strengths of our respective nations and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, AI, and more, and then added, we each talked about the strengths of our respective nations and the great benefit that we will someday have

in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia and Ukraine. With the matting, President Putin even used my very strong campaign motto of common sense, with him going on to claim that they've agreed to have their respective teams start negotiations

immediately and that he plans on calling Ukraine's President Zelensky to inform him of their conversation. With him then thanking Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call as well as yesterday's release of Mark Fogel, who's an American school teacher who was detained in Russia.

And then finally closing the statement by saying, "'I believe this effort will lead "'to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon.'" As far as other details about the conversation, a Kremlin spokesperson told reporters that it lasted nearly an hour and a half and that they agreed to hold a personal meeting with Putin inviting Trump to Moscow.

And while Trump didn't say whether or not he and Putin discussed Fogel on the call, many outlets did note that their conversation did follow a major prisoner swap. In exchange for Fogel's release, the U.S. freed a Russian national being held in the States for money laundering. And yesterday, we had Trump suggesting that Fogel's release could be the start towards building relations that would allow for the war to end. With many outlets also noting this comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently said that a return to Ukraine pre-war borders is unrealistic. You know, while Trump's post about the call notably did not specify where Zelenskyy fits

into the negotiations, not long after Trump's announcement, Zelenskyy did take to Twitter to say, "'I had a meaningful conversation with POTUS. "'We long talked about opportunities to achieve peace, "'discussed our readiness to work together "'at the team level and Ukraine's technological capabilities.'" With the matting, President Trump shared details of his conversation with Putin,

"'No one wants peace more than Ukraine.' Together with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace." As President Trump said, let's get it done. Right as this news broke, you saw a lot of outlets kind of noting the description of this call marking a shift in US-Russia relations.

So for example, the Washington Post adding, "'In a highly charged choreography of diplomacy with an adversarial leader, the Trump-Putin call was likely to upset Kyiv since former President Joe Biden had a mantra of coordinating closely with Ukrainian leaders before any contacts with Russian officials. With him noting this time Trump spoke first to Putin

and then would call President Zelensky to loop him into the conversation. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment, but you know, we're coming up on Valentine's Day and we should talk about something we don't normally discuss, your relationship. Right, falling in love, it could be exciting, but staying in love, that is where the real work happens, and that's exactly where today's sponsor, Paired, comes in. You see, Paired is a relationship

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Because according to a recent Washington Post analysis, more than half of the 2,100 inmates in the US sentenced to death are in jurisdictions where executions are on hold in one way or another. This is also in many of those places, executions could resume at any time, whether by official decree or maybe a ruling getting overturned, for example.

So you've got hundreds of inmates and the loved ones of countless victims just left in this limbo state while the debate surrounding the death penalty just drags on, waiting for an execution that may never happen. And a perfect example of this is John Lesko. Back in 1979 and early 1980,

John Lesko and Mike Trebalia, they committed a string of violent robberies and they killed four people, with their fourth and final victim being Leonard Miller, a 21-year-old police officer in Apollo, Pennsylvania, who they shot and killed on January 3rd, 1980. But then later that day, the police storming the hotel room where Lesko and Trebalia were staying

and they arrested them and they were then sentenced to death for Miller's murder in 1982. And so off to death row they went, but they didn't go quietly, right? They spent decades filing appeals and even got a new sentencing that ended with the same result. But before they could be killed in 2015,

Pennsylvania's governor placed a moratorium on executions. So what we ended up seeing is in 2017, Trevalia, he died of natural causes and Lesko, he's still waiting for an execution to this day. But it also just isn't Lesko waiting here, right? People back in Apollo who loved Miller, they've also been waiting for decades. And in some cases, the wait's been so long that they've actually changed their minds about his sentence. Like with William Kerr, for example,

who was mayor of Apollo at the time when Miller was killed, and Robin Davis, who was an officer in Apollo and later served as the local police chief. Though I will say that is not the case for everyone, right? Some are still waiting for Lesko to be put to death. Like with James Claussen, for example, who went to the police academy with Miller and was a pallbearer at his funeral with him telling the Post, we know who was guilty, carry it out. But with all that said, a key thing here is that we're not talking about all this because it's limited to Lesko. But it is much bigger. In fact, the Washington Post looked at every single person sentenced to death in the US and they found that nearly 80% of them, we're talking 1,681 people, they're being held in eight

states. And five of those eight states, they're talking 1,681 people, they're being held in eight states. And five of those eight states, they're not currently carrying out the death penalty. Like California and obviously Pennsylvania, they have moratoriums on executions, but they have more than 700 death row inmates combined. And in Arizona, executions were paused in 2023 after the governor ordered a review

of the state's procedures. But in Ohio, they stopped them doing out of necessity, right, they reportedly don't have the drugs for lethal injections. And the governor said early last year that it is unlikely that they'll perform any executions during the remainder of his term. And then finally, North Carolina,

which has 136 people on death row, they got blocked by the courts from executing anyone and they haven't actually put anyone to death since 2006. And all of this as since 2007, many states have outright abolished or abandoned the death penalty with officials citing a whole slew of concerns. With this, including among other things,

a number of wrongful convictions, not to mention the racial bias, with the Post's analysis, for example, finding that while just 14% of the U.S. population is Black, 40% of those who are on death row are Black. And this is the death penalty in general has become much less popular. In fact, according to a Gallup poll, support for capital punishment dropped from 80% in the 90s to 53% in 2023. So all of that has led to new death sentences becoming far less common. In fact, the post finding that nearly half of all the people on death row today

were put there before 2000. But with all that said, there is still a big question that needs to be addressed in these places that have put executions on hold, like what happens to the inmates already on death row? Because among other things, even if there's no execution for them in the immediate future,

opponents of the death penalty say inmates still face increased restrictions. And they're kept in this terrifying state of just simply never knowing what could happen. With David Ruck, for example, a longtime death penalty defense attorney and an emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, calling it a grim lottery and saying, what's so horrifying about the death penalty is its randomness. Every now and then, someone's name will be called

and they'll be fed into this ritualistic process of execution. Which notably is similar to what Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on death row and was exonerated for a wrongful conviction back in 2015, told the Post. Saying that death row is, quote, a place of pure hell and that knowing at any point your number will come up and you'll die, it's unlike any other punishment. You know, even though he was exonerated and he is now breathing that free arrogance, Hinton says that it feels like he never got out, saying, I won't be free until the day I die. I will never, ever be free until God calls me home. But then also, right, there's more to this than the psychological toll on the inmates. There's also the financial angle. For example, here, the Post citing researchers and criminal justice experts saying that it requires more resources to house people on dedicated death rows, because they require more security, more staffing, and solitary cells.

And with that, a 2008 study from California's Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice found that in California at the time, it cost an additional $90,000 to house someone on death row compared to a max security prison. And that, as death penalty opponents have said, that even seeking the death penalty in the first place, that is more expensive. With studies in Washington State and Maryland finding that it costs more than an extra million dollars to seek a death sentence compared to life in prison. Peter Collins, for example, a criminal justice professor at Seattle university saying that capital punishment cases, they require multiple attorneys, in-depth investigations,

and expert witnesses. And adding, the state's contemplating taking someone's life and there's no reversing that. That's why it costs more. It's more expensive because it has to be. Now with all this, some places have responded to these problems by commuting sentences, meaning, right, officials change the sentence given by the court to a lesser one. So in 2022, the governor of Oregon commuted the sentences of all 17 people on their death row. And more recently, we saw Biden commuting the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, giving them life in prison without parole instead, which definitely a big deal considering that Trump has positioned himself as an avid supporter of the death penalty, with him even restarting federal executions

in his first term, carrying out more than a dozen. And while when Biden came into office, federal executions were paused, Trump take two, probably gonna reverse that. But it's also not just Trump either. The Post reports that there are several officials looking to restart executions in their jurisdictions. Like with Louisiana, for example,

they haven't carried out an execution since 2010, but the new governor, he signed a bill last year adding nitrogen gas and electrocution as possible execution methods in a bid to start them back up again. In some states like Utah and South Carolina, for example, they have already successfully done so, each just carrying out their first execution in more than a decade in 2024. In this, his supporters argue that by leaving these sentences unfulfilled, it lets these horrific crimes go unpunished and it leaves the families and friends of victims hanging. For example, Duffy Stone, an elected prosecutor

in South Carolina who has argued for and gotten a death sentence before saying, "'In a courtroom, they have said, this is the sentence. "'For that sentence not to mean what it says "'calls our criminal justice system into question.'" But with all that said, as we wait to see what happens at both the state and federal levels, I gotta ask you, what are your thoughts here?

Whether you're for or against the death penalty, and it is a very divisive topic, I'd really love to know your thoughts about this whole situation. So like with anything we talk about, let me know what you're thinking in those comments down below, because yes, this is a news show,

but it's also a conversation. But then from that, switching to some business and tech news, the tech giant NVIDIA has now found itself in another controversy over the past few days as reports have come out that its brand new graphics cards were causing fires. And there's been rumors ever since the RTX 5090s came out

that they burnt up their connector cables, but it wasn't until this weekend that credible proof came forward. People saying that a post by Reddit user Ivan6953 showed the cable he was using was just completely melted, meaning he effectively burned up $2,000. And that, I mean, is assuming he got it at MSRP, considering these cards are almost impossible to get

and scalpers sell them for double. But then also appearing that the burning affected both sides of the cable, meaning that the computer's power supply was also damaged. So considering this is a high-end PC, that would be another few hundred bucks down the drain. In the post, he claimed that he was playing Battlefield and noticed a burning smell before shutting off his PC.

Following that, more reports started coming out, but things really kicked into high gear after YouTuber DerBauer, who's very well known in the custom PC space and even has his own products, got a hold of Ivan's cable and card. With him instantly wanting to put a few things to rest such as claims that this was caused by user error by highlighting Ivan's long-time experience in the custom PC space. We talked for almost three hours. He knows a lot. He knows the overclocking scene, knows core enthusiasts that I know personally as well. Derbauer also made it clear that the third-party cable that the card used was high

quality so it shouldn't have reached nearly 200 degrees celsius when plugged in. Which I will say that I know personally as well. DeBauer also made it clear that the third-party cable that the card used was high quality, so it shouldn't have reached nearly 200 degrees Celsius when plugged in, which I will say is insanely hot. I mean, even for PC stuff, which often deals with high temperatures. And that appears to be backed up by Ivan saying that he used the same cable on his last graphics card, which used the same connector.

And so if it's not user error or cables causing these meltdowns, what is it? And well, the current leading theory from DeBauer and others is that NVIDIA cut it too close with their power requirements. The 5090 draws something like 575 Watts of power and 12 pin connector that NVIDIA uses is just certified for 600 Watts of power.

So there's like 4% headroom. Although theoretically the cable can go as high as 660 Watts which is still just 15%. And considering similar issues happen with the last generation card, which had 46% headroom, many feel that NVIDIA should have known that this was likely to happen. Right, in that situation,

not plugging the cable in all the way, it could cause fire. So there's been backlash about this cable for at least two years now. And so with this, there are now questions about why the company is so adamant about using the 12 pin connector instead of alternatives like multiple eight pin connectors.

That way power can be more evenly distributed across the cables rather than potentially surging and causing damage. Well there, the leading theory is that it just makes it easier to fit everything onto the product as a bunch of eight pin connectors take a ton of space up. Now obviously, with this, you have consumers angry and frustrated that such an expensive product would have issues like this. But it also notably comes after NVIDIA had a major stock crash after DeepSea KI was revealed to have been super efficient without the use of high-end NVIDIA cards.

Which is really key because they are ubiquitous in Western AI systems. Now I will say, since then, the stock has recovered, but there are some real worries that this news would cause another crash. So there, it might seem like those concerns might be premature. Right in that, because in pre-market trading, the stock was down nearly 2%. But since then it appears that things have stabilized and the stock is just down about 1%.

Granted it's in video, so 1% is huge, but it's still 1%. But of course everything's developing in real time. And so we'll have to wait to see how this pans out. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But do you know how closely your metabolism and your health go hand in hand? The best way I can describe it is that your metabolism is like your body's engine, converting the food that you eat into energy. And today's sponsor, Lumen, is the tool to help with this. Lumen is the world's first handheld metabolic coach. It's a device that measures your metabolism through your breath. The app analyzes

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bans on certain media outlets, a fired watchdog, overhauls to foreign corruption, accusations in the Senate, court orders, lawsuits, mayhem. There's just a fire hose of political news that we need to talk about. And so first up, let's dive into Donald Trump's most recent executive orders, starting with Trump now pausing investigations and prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which criminalizes corporate corruption in foreign countries. And with this, critics argue this essentially legalizes corruption, but you have Trump saying that this move

will mean a lot more business for America. And that, as the New York Times describes it, is a far more transactional approach to the Justice Department's handling of corruption cases. But it's notably coming the same day that Trump dropped the bribery charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams and pardoned Rod Blagojevich,

the former Democratic governor of Illinois, who was convicted in 2011 of essentially trying to sell a Senate seat. And then he had Trump yesterday signing an executive order directing agency officials to draw plans for large-scale cuts to the federal workforce. With it stating that each federal agency, with some exceptions, will be allowed to hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart after a hiring freeze is lifted. And for those people who are hired, they'll need to be vetted by Elon Musk's doge. With the order stating that aside from agencies involved in functions like law enforcement and immigration enforcement, executive branch departments will need hiring approval from

an official working with the Doge team, as well as saying that agencies should not fill career positions that Doge deems unnecessary unless an agency head decides otherwise. All of which is a striking expansion of Musk's power over the civil service, which he's already deeply penetrated, with the New York Times now tallying at least 19 agencies that Doge has inserted itself into, which you know has led to protests from Democrats, federal workers, and even some Republicans that Musk is unchecked, unelected, and utterly unaccountable.

So with that, on Tuesday, for the first time since inauguration day, Musk opened himself up to questions from the media. So there, I will say not all media, since one outlet was absent, the Associated Press. And as it turns out, reportedly that was because the White House had threatened to bar the AP if it didn't change its style on the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the Associated Press. And as it turns out, reportedly that was because the White House had threatened to bar the AP if it didn't change its style on the Gulf of Mexico,

which Trump renamed the Gulf of America. And there we saw the outlet refuse. And so the White House apparently made good on their threat. The AP saying that one of its reporters tried to enter the event as usual, but was turned away. And saying that in the evening, another of its reporters was also barred from the White House's diplomatic reception room.

Which is why you have Julie Pace, AP's senior vice president and executive editor saying, it is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. And adding, Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP's speech not only severely impedes the public's access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment. And this notably comes after the Trump administration reportedly evicted several media organizations from their workspaces at the Pentagon and replaced them with friendlier ones.

Specifically, NBC News, the New York Times, NPR, Politico, CNN, the Washington Post, The Hill and War Zone got the boot. But then One America News, the New York Post, Breitbart News, HuffPost, Newsmax, the Washington Examiner, and The Daily Caller and Free Press taking their spots. And this, even though according to the AP,

none of those incoming outlets actually requested more space from the Pentagon Press Association. But anyway, Tuesday's event with Musk was something to watch. You had Musk donning a signed MAGA hat alongside Trump and his four-year-old son, X. And there, he fielded questions about his last three weeks of allegedly illegal activity for about 30 minutes,

with him claiming there that the goal of the Doge team is actually to restore democracy and mainly focusing on two targets. First- We have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has in a lot of ways currently more power than any elected representative. And then second.

So we've got a $2 trillion deficit. And if this, if we don't do something about this deficit, the country's going bankrupt. Right, so we kind of tied the two things together by accusing members of the civil service of wasting and embezzling taxpayer money. We do find it sort of rather odd that, you know, there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position. With Musk specifically claiming that people like that worked for USAID, though he provided no further details or evidence there.

And then later, he also claimed that fraudsters from foreign countries are taking advantage of US federal entitlement programs to the tune of one to $200 billion a year. But again, there he didn't provide any specific details or evidence. We did make similar claims throughout the event, such as that tons of federal contracts

are just fraudulent kickbacks, or that USAID was influencing elections in other countries. Though, when it came to his supposed discoveries with the treasury, he did at least get a little more specific, if not bringing evidence. Basic controls that should be in place, that are in place in any company, such as making sure that any given payment

has a payment categorization code, that there is a comment field that describes the payment, and that if a payment is on the do not pay list, that you don't actually pay it. None of those things are true currently. With Musk then claiming again without evidence there that blank checks are flying out the door to terrorist organizations, known fraudsters, and other sources of waste that don't match any congressional appropriation. Then next up, you had him going after social security, saying the Doge had found 150-year-old presumably dead enrollees and payments with no identifying information though here, uh, some context is important

because undeniably social security fraud, it does exist, but whether or not someone considers it widespread and extraordinary, a lot of the time it comes down to opinion or point of view. What I mean by that is you had an inspector general's report last year, finding that from 2015 to 2022, the agency had issued $71.8 billion in improper payments. You know, is why some saying that's an absolutely massive amount of money, but then people on the other hand going, it is, but it's only about 0.84% of the $8.4 trillion paid out in benefits over that time.

And so that in part touches on why you're gonna see people having different opinions and takes, even though they are kind of coming from the same understanding. But then after all that, Musk opened the floor to questions and a reporter asked him about the criticism that he's orchestrating a hostile takeover of the federal government. And there, we saw him respond by citing the November election and saying, You couldn't ask for a stronger mandate from the public. The people voted for major government

reform and that's what people are going to get. Then, you had a reporter ask him what checks and balances are in place to ensure that he is transparent and he is accountable, so he's not just policing himself. And there, he claimed that Doge is maximally transparent, and there, citing as evidence, how all of its actions are supposedly posted on its ex-account and its website. I don't know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the Doge organization. But critics here have argued that there are many reasons to be skeptical of that claim. They're saying, first of all, that Doge website contains little information, and while that ex-account does post about contracts that it supposedly terminated, there's not a lot of detail.

Or you have people saying, you know, you just saying you ended 29 DEI training grants at the education department and elaborating on one of them, it doesn't really tell us much about what's going on. Also with this, Trump has reportedly made the Doge team exempt from public records law for about a decade. So if a media outlet wants to dig further into any of those posts on ex

or Freedom of Information Act requests, they can't. This is the White House said that Musk's financial disclosure filing will be kept private because he is an unpaid special government employee. There, you have people saying, just adding the word special, it doesn't negate the fact that he is a federal employee and therefore criminal law prohibits him

from taking actions that directly benefit himself or his family unless he gets an ethics waiver. And here we've seen many argue that Musk, perhaps more than anyone, is rife with potential conflicts of interest. Right, he's the world's wealthiest man overseeing a sprawling business empire, owning an entire social media platform,

taking billions of dollars in federal contracts and facing over a dozen pending federal probes or lawsuits through his companies to pick the obvious stuff. You then also had one reporter asking him the question that's been raising half the country's blood pressure for several days now. If a judge does block one of your policies,

part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? Will you comply with that? Well, I always abide by the courts and then I'll have to appeal it. But then what he's done is he slowed down the momentum as part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? Will you comply with that? Well, I always abide by the courts and then I'll have to appeal it. But then what he's done is he slowed down the momentum and it gives crooked people more time to cover up the books.

Right, so for some, that's gonna be reassuring. For others, you know, they'll believe it when they see it. But in the meantime, right, Trump revealed two of Doge Team's next targets, that being the Department of Education and Defense. Already, we've seen them announce over $900 million in cuts to education, primarily targeting the Institute of Education and Defense. Already, we've seen them announce over $900 million in cuts to education, primarily targeting the Institute of Education Sciences,

with them reportedly terminating education innovation and research grants, as well as review projects tied to What Works Clearinghouse, which produces and curates research on best practices in education. And with that, if you just read the Doge team's post, you'll get the impression these were just wasteful expenses and DEI programs. There, you had the American Institute's research saying

that it lost several major grants, including a large-scale effort to gather and analyze data on how American students compare to other countries, as well as things like a data report on school safety and an effort to understand what sorts of supports are most effective for disabled youth. We're gonna have to watch out for any lawsuits there because, I mean, we've seen pretty much everything

that Trump's done get challenged in court. And actually on that front, we've seen an array of new lawsuits pop up during the past couple of days, with these including one by a group of NGOs, contractors and small businesses that rely on federal aid, seeking to overturn the White House's foreign aid freeze. Where with them arguing that the Trump administration

violated the separation of powers by withholding funds appropriated by Congress. Saying these programs cannot simply be restarted on command. USAID's partners are hemorrhaging resources and employees. And this notably comes on the heels of another lawsuit by USAID unions against the agency's attempt to put thousands of them on administrative leave. Also speaking of which,

Trump reportedly fired the USAID Inspector General yesterday. That, coming one day after the IG's office released a scathing report assessing the impact of Trump's recent changes. And that's almost three weeks after Trump fired 17 other inspectors general, which is a move that was condemned by many as illegal because he didn't notify Congress 30 days in advance.

And then we've got another lawsuit for more than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups targeting Trump's policy, giving federal immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship. But the plaintiffs there are arguing that the move has spread fear of ICE raids causing attendance to go down and infringing on their religious liberty to minister to migrants. But with all that, I'll say while Trump is having trouble in the courts, he is finding more success in the Senate. And that, in part, because today lawmakers voted 52 to 48 to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence,

with Senator Mitch McConnell being the lone Republican who joined Democrats in voting against her. With him writing in a statement, the nation should not have to worry that the intelligence assessments the president receives are tainted by a Director of National Intelligence with a history of alarming lapses in judgment. And reportedly, some members were previously on the fence

for a number of reasons, but after confirmation hearings and meetings with individual lawmakers, apparently, she was able to calm their concerns enough to win over their votes. With that said, Gabbard is now set to oversee the entire American intelligence apparatus. Also notably more confirmations are coming in

with the Senate now voting 53 to 47 to advance the nomination of RFK Jr. as health secretary. This time Mitch McConnell voted in favor though. We'll see if he does the same during his confirmation vote, which will probably come Thursday. The really, it doesn't appear that it's gonna make a difference in actually getting confirmed or not. But then finally, the last big confirmation

that we're waiting on is Kash Patel, Trump's nominee for the FBI. Though here, I'll say his name's in the news for a different reason, with Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing Patel of secretly orchestrating a purge of career FBI officials before he's even been made director. Because according to Durbin, who outlined this in a letter

to the Justice Department's inspector general, "'Highly credible information from multiple sources revealed this alleged misconduct. And he claims that if the allegations are true, then the acting number two with the DOJ, Emil Bove, fired career civil servants solely at the behest of a private citizen. And that furthermore, Patel, quote,

"'May have perjured himself at his confirmation hearing.'" Right in that, because during his live testimony and in written answers afterwards, Patel said he was not aware of any Trump administration plans to fire FBI officials. And Zia Durbin concluding, "'If this man is so fast and loose with the truth "'before our committee now,

"'imagine what he will do "'if given the protection of office,' saying, "'We need to pause in this consideration.'" But for now, we'll have to wait to see what comes from that as well as so much of what I've tried to consolidate for you. But then let's end today with congratulations and let's talk about yesterday. Starting with a congratulations to Kevin S.,

SeatGeek's latest weekly winner who scored $500 in tickets. Kevin making the smart move and using it towards a birthday gift for his wife. And for the rest of y'all, that's right, SeatGeek is still giving away $500 in tickets and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already. I mean, imagine being the next winner and snagging $500 towards seeing your favorite artist, sporting event, or play. I mean, y'all, there's over 70,000 events to choose from. All you got to do is add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. So get in on the win-win. But like I said, we should talk about yesterday in some comment commentary. Right in those comments today, there were a number of different conversations,

but there was a big focus on Trump, Gaza, and then to a larger extent, kind of just the international stories that have been happening. Regarding Gaza, we saw comments like Leopard Gecko saying, I remember Joe Rogan saying "'Why are the left so obsessed with war?' And then adding, "'He went on a couple weeks later "'to endorse anti-war Trump.'" And members saying, "'What happened to America first?

"'You still haven't even rebuilt North Carolina "'after the last hurricane, but all of a sudden, "'it's fine that we spend billions and billions of dollars "'on turning Gaza into a resort? "'We can't spend money to rebuild LA "'or replace bridges that are failing, "'but we can afford to invade Greenland and Canada? "'We can't afford universal healthcare,

"'but we can do all these other things? "'The numbers aren't adding up. What happened to cutting spending? Regarding Trump talking about Ghazi, you had people kind of having a double take. Saying, I think Trump slipped when he said, I would own this. He really is just looking to carve a piece of the Middle East for himself, using the office of the presidency as a cudgel to do so. And this, as others were just taken aback by me noting that it's only been three weeks. And then, in addition to a focus there, we had a lot of people talking about Sam Alton v. Elon Musk.

With many of y'all noting things like, I do not care for Sam Alton, but him saying Elon Musk does everything out of insecurity is spot on, and I'm here for it. What a sad little man. But then finally, your medically prescribed positive comment of the day read,

lighter news, update about my cat and new puppy trying to get along. They hung out in the same room with me while I was the only one home with little to no complaints from the cat. One day they will play together, I'm sure of it. But that, my friends, is where your Wednesday evening, Thursday morning dive into the news is gonna end.

Of course, remember, I 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 yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.