The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.13 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED! Joel Osteen Church Shooting, Jon Stewart Tackles Biden-Trump, & Today’s News

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Go to https://buyraycon.com/defranco to get up to 15% off your Raycon purchase, plus free shipping! Go to http://www.unrealdefranco.com/ to switch to Unreal Mobile and get three months of crystal clear connectivity for the price of two! Buy The New https://BeautifulBastard.com Drop While You Can! –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 0:00 - What We Know About Lakewood Church 06:59 - Water Slide in Sweden Explodes During Fire 07:45 - Super Bowl Ratings Show Power of Taylor Swift Effect 10:14 - Sponsored by Raycon 11:13 - Australia to Tackle Doxxing in Legislation  13:17 - Jon Stewart Weighs in on Growing Biden/Trump Age Debate 18:40 - Even When Winning, Democrats Think They’re Losing 20:33 - Sponsored by Unreal Mobile 21:21 - Dating App For People With High Credit Scores Launches 23:28 - News Media Hit With Wave of Layoffs 28:00 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Show ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #BillieEilish #JonStewart ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show. I got an extra large one for you today. We got a lot of news to talk about. We're talking about all the new information that's come out around the megachurch shooting, Jon Stewart taking on Trump and Biden, people are saying Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift

are the future, credit score dating, news layoffs, this craziness, and then there's even more. So buckle up, hit that like button to let YouTube know you like these daily dives into the news, and let's just jump into it. Starting with, we need to talk about the shooting at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church and what we know so far. Because on Sunday, a 36-year-old Hispanic woman entered this Houston megachurch at around 2 p.m. as a Spanish language

service was beginning. Very notably here, Lakewood is a very highly attended church with around 45,000 attending services weekly, which makes it the third largest megachurch in the country. According to the police, this woman wore a trench coat, carried a backpack, and had her seven-year-old son at her side while armed with two rifles. With a search warrant affidavit also showing that the woman claimed to have a bomb and was carrying a yellow in-color rope and substances consistent with the manufacture of explosive devices,

which appear to be a detonation cord. The law enforcement later said that they didn't find any explosives at the scene. And with this, you had investigators saying the woman and her son entered the church after she pointed an AR-15 at an unarmed security guard and forced her way in. She then quickly began to open fire inside a hallway, but two off-duty officers working security at the church responded immediately. Those two being identified as Houston Police Officer Christopher Moreno and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Agent Adrian Herrera.

Those officers exchanged gunfire and the woman was shot and killed. Though also the woman's son was also shot in the head during the exchange and remains in the hospital in critical condition as of recording. With that, the police saying right now it's unclear who shot the child. Beyond that, another 57-year-old man was shot in the hip and hospitalized, but officials have said he has since been discharged. And a very key thing here is that during a press conference yesterday, Houston Police Commander Chris Hassig said that all of the gunfire happened in the church hallway. The two officers preventing it from spilling over into the main sanctuary were worshippers were sent scrambling for cover and safety after hearing gunshots, which is why law enforcement officials applauding these two men saying they are heroes who help prevent a

mass shooting. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Chairman Kevin Lilly saying these two officers held their ground. They held their ground in the face of rifle fire at point-blank range. And they continued to fire until the perpetrator was neutralized. And they did not yield. They were a wall that existed between worshipers and terror, between freedom of religion and murder. Now, with this, as far as what we know about the shooter, officials have not yet officially identified a motive. You know what?

Yesterday's presser has provided some early information law enforcement had discovered, specifically talking about the AR-15 the shooter used and saying. There was a sticker on the buttstock of the rifle that stated Palestine. A sticker simply stated Palestine on the buttstock. We have uncovered some items. We do have some anti-Semitic writings that we have uncovered during this process. But like I said, we are 24 hours into it. It is very new. We are getting new information as the hours change. And so we are going to be delving into that more.

Hasik also went on to say that the officials believe the attacker acted alone and wasn't part of a bigger group, but then continued. And we do want to state that through our investigation, I mentioned anti-Semitic writing. We do believe that there was a familial dispute that has taken place between her ex-husband and her ex-husband's family. And some of those individuals are Jewish. So we believe that that might possibly be where all of this stems from. And a big thing here with this whole story,

a woman who the media has identified as the shooter's ex-mother-in-law wrote a Facebook post yesterday where she claimed that her former daughter-in-law raged against Israel and Jews in a pro-Palestinian rant. But despite that, the ex-mother-in-law, who CNN reported is a rabbi, said, quote, this has nothing to do with Judaism or Islam. As far as why this woman targeted an evangelical megachurch, that remains unclear.

Now, it's been reported that court records show the shooter was going through a bitter divorce and a custody battle. During that time, her ex-mother-in-law reached out to staff at Lakewood for pastoral advice. Notably, the records don't say which staff she contacted. And a spokesperson for the church said he didn't believe members or leaders of the church knew the attack. Through all of this, as others have noted, that Osteen, like many other evangelical leaders, has expressed solidarity with Israel and held events there. But again, this is law enforcement officials say that the matter is currently not being investigated as a hate crime. With them noting that there are a lot of other things at play here and they're looking into it. This, including a history of mental illness that

was documented not just by family members but by police as well. With court filings reportedly showing that the shooter's former mother-in-law sought a conservatorship of her son, alleging that this woman was mentally ill and that the boy was being neglected and abused. And she echoed some of those claims in her Facebook post, claiming that the shooter had previously been treated for schizophrenia. The shooter also had a checkered past with numerous arrests, with the authorities saying that the attacker had multiple aliases, including both male and female names. With that, we saw a number of conservative outlets and commentators like Fox News and Libs of TikTok initially saying the shooter was trans. With Libs of TikTok repeatedly spreading this claim and a bunch of others on the right running with

that narrative. This including reply guy Elon Musk who suggested with zero evidence that hormones for gender-affirming care could be a major causal factor in violence. But we also ended up seeing Fox News eventually walk back their claims after police said not only did the shooter identify as female, but noting that she was in fact the biological mother of her seven-year-old. And this after combing through past police reports and conducting numerous interviews with people that she knew. According to the Associated Press, county records showed that under her various aliases, the woman was charged in six criminal cases from 2005 to 2011. Those charges ranged from forging a $100 bill, to stealing socks, hats, and makeup, to assault for kicking a detention officer which

landed her in jail for 180 days. And as a part of her history with mental illness, authorities said that the shooter was placed under emergency detention in 2016, though they didn't give more information. But more recently and most significantly in 2022, she was arrested on misdemeanor weapons charges. And massively important here, during yesterday's presser, a reporter noted in a question to officials that records show that this woman had actually had weapons taken away from her in 2022. And then even beyond that, the FBI had literally questioned her about her efforts to purchase a weapon last year. But when the reporter asked

how the shooter was able to get a hold of those weapons, officials just said they were still investigating. But they also said that it appeared she had purchased the AR-15 she used legally just months ago in December. And then when asked if the police had opportunities to intervene sooner, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner

tried to avoid direct responsibility. She did have a history, if you want to say that. But there are millions up on top of millions of people who have a history. And to your question and answer, the response is that we all need to continue to work together. But numerous people have literally said that they did exactly that and law enforcement didn't do shit. With yesterday, six different neighbors of the shooter telling reporters that she had threatened and harassed them and displayed firearms, making them fear going outside of their homes. And in July of 2022, one neighbor said she filed a police complaint against the shooter for allegedly threatening her with a handgun. In fact, the

situation got so bad that five months ago, the neighbors got together to spend a whole day where they talked to local elected officials, the police, the sheriff's office, and Houston's legal department. But still, nothing was done and she was still allowed to own and purchase firearms after all of that. With many, including the attacker's ex-mother-in-law, arguing that Texas' lax gun regulations and lack of red flag laws are to blame. But ultimately, that is where we are with this. And again, remember, we're getting more updates. It's a developing situation. And if and when more information comes out, we'll be there. And then we need to talk about whatever the hell just happened in this video. Because that is Liseberg Park, one of Sweden's biggest and most popular amusement parks. And it's been building an

additional water park section, which reportedly cost over $10 million and was set to open this summer. But also that's probably not going to happen because of what you just saw. Because yesterday, for unknown reasons, a fiery explosion erupted at the construction site, with it hurling flaming debris across the area. And as a result, it ignited several large water slides in a building. Now, fortunately, no guests were there since the park was still under construction, but you have the Associated Press reporting that 16 people were slightly injured and one park employee is missing. But either way, we saw this fire send a black plume of smoke drifting over Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, the authorities having to evacuate nearby hotel and office buildings, as well as

warning people to stay indoors and close off all windows or ventilation. And then we're still getting more and more news and fallout from the Super Bowl, with it now being reported that this Super Bowl broke historic ratings, reaching 123.4 million viewers via CBS and its other platforms, with it being described as the most watched telecast ever, or the most watched telecast since the moon landing, which one is huge. Though two, we need to remember these are like very Americaica specific numbers because if you want to talk about crazy numbers i think fifa said that the last world cup 1.5 billion people watched it live so the nfl and the super bowl huge but that also kind of hits on why the nfl is interested in like getting the sport out of the country but there is a lot of attention on this year's historic numbers for a number of reasons because even though

the last super bowl was another record breaker this follows a five-year period where ratings were really in flux. Declining in 2019, hitting a historic low in 2021. Though also, I think it's important to note that comparison here can be tricky. And that's because over the last several years, Nielsen's actually changed how accounts out of home viewing at venues like bars. But still, with all this, you have many people attributing this viewership jump, at least in part, to Taylor Swift. She was at the game rooting for Kelsey and the Chiefs. She's been to a number of games this season. The Peacock playoff game made history. In effect, 20% of viewers said that they were rooting for Kansas City because of her. Seemingly, this is just continuing the trend of everything

she touches turns to gold. I mean, recently, the Grammys, they've been struggling with their ratings. They saw a substantial uptick this year. She was nominated for and won several awards. I mean, hell, even the Golden Globes, which had practically been ready to be lowered into its grave. They saw a ratings boost this year with her being one of the most notable stars in attendance. You also have people saying it's not just Taylor Swift, arguing that this is actually part of a much larger phenomenon, which is women driving the economy. It's saying from the box office to concerts, women were running the world last year. And so, you know, it'll be interesting to see if broadcasters pick up on that trend, if they capitalize on female-centric entertainment in the near future. I mean,

it's already something we're seeing with the Oscars, which is heavily leaning into the Barbie of it all. With them even releasing a promo this morning in a mini Barbie spoof starring some of the cast, especially because in all likelihood, you know, it's not going to win Best Picture or a lot of its categories, with many saying that its best bet right now is for Best Song with Billie Eilish. You know, ultimately we'll have to wait and see because over time, you know, we're really going to be able to see the scope of this trend, how specific it is to certain artists, or if it becomes like an industry-wide thing. Especially as there are a number of different trends that I find fascinating right now. Like kind of the recent resurgence of

country music, you know, obviously led by the likes of Morgan Wallen, how some friends recently put me on to Zach Bryan. We're seeing more and more artists actually jump into the space, right? Post Malone's been a good example. Beyonce now more recently, although they're not technically a new avenue for her. But then that starts this whole other conversation. There was that whole daddy lessons controversy years back. Man, all of this is going to be very interesting to see how it plays out. And then I probably have three pairs of Raycon earbuds. I have one for my gym bag, a set on my desk, and a pair on my nightstand.

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because you also have activists saying that what inspired this move from Australia, it shouldn't be classified as doxing. Because what we're seeing right now is Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, asking the country's Attorney General to write up legislation and revisions to Australia's Privacy Act. And while so far, nothing has been drafted and the exact details are up in the air, you do have different outlets saying there will be a handful of focuses. According to Bloomberg, measures could include takedown notices and penalties for social media companies. Vice saying the potential changes will make doxing a crime punishable by jail time. Also the AP saying there could be fines. And then as far as why doxing all of a sudden has become such a priority in Australia, notably this is coming after a 900-page transcript from a WhatsApp

group chat of Jewish writers, artists, and academics was leaked. With reports saying that it was published by pro-Palestine activists and that the information shared included names, pictures, professions, and social media accounts. With Attorney General Mark Dreyfus saying in a release that the overall trend of doxing is a deeply disturbing development, and adding, the recent targeting of members of the Australian Jewish community through those practices like doxing was shocking, but sadly, this is far from being an isolated incident. We live in a vibrant, multicultural community, which we should strive to protect. No Australian should be targeted because of their race or because of their religion. Though this, as some activists have

defended the leak, claiming this is whistleblowing from a whistleblower within the chat. And Clementine Ford, an activist who shared the information, arguing on Instagram that there was a public interest in the leaks as it demonstrates, quote, "'The coordinated efforts of those working "'to silence criticism of the Zionist state.'" And claiming that people in that chat were discussing tactics to harm the livelihoods

and reputations of people simply for being Palestinian or for calling for an end to the genocide against the people of Gaza. But they're also saying that no addresses, phone numbers, or emails were shared and that it's wrong to frame the leak as doxing. But there you have Prime Minister Albanese pushing back against that, saying that hundreds of people in the chat were providing support to one another

and telling local radio, the idea that in Australia someone should be targeted because of their religion, because of their faith, whether they be Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Catholic, it's just completely unacceptable. Saying there should also be new proposals to strengthen laws against hate speech. You know, with this, I'd love to know your thoughts. One, of course, generally about the criminality of doxing. But also two, what are your thoughts around the debate of whether what we're talking about here is whistleblowing or doxing? Because

depending on where you go on social media right now, people have drastically different opinions. And then, Jon Stewart returned to host The Daily Show for the first time in nine years last night, and it was like chicken noodle soup for my news-rattled brain. And notably, in his first show back, he tackled one of the most debated issues that Americans have been talking about the past week. One thing we know for certain is this. We have two candidates who are chronologically outside the norm of anyone who has run for the presidency in this country, in the history of this country. They are the oldest people ever to run for president, breaking by only four years the record that they set.

For a number of reasons, people have been expressing concern that both Biden and Trump, though in the past week, mainly Biden, are too old to be president. Trump's 77, Biden's 81. By the end of their second term, they'd be 82 and 86. And with that, an ABC Ipsos poll finding that 86% of Americans think that Biden's too old to run, whereas only 62% said the same about Trump. Which is interesting, not only because of the gap between the two candidates, but because both of those numbers

are actually much higher than they were back in September. This is becoming a growing issue. But back in September, 74% saying Biden's too old and 49% saying Trump's too old. Notably, there has been a lot more discussion over the past week because of the special counsel report. Because in that, even though there was evidence that Biden had willfully retained classified documents, it did not recommend charges. One of the reasons they threw in there is that he would most likely appear to a jury as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly

man with a poor memory. With a report claiming it was observed that he had trouble recalling the years he served as vice president and didn't remember the exact date his son Beau had died. Which then resulted on Sunday, the president gathering reporters for a press conference to refute the accusations of mental decline, with many saying he started off strong, it was solid, he was leaving, and then he went back and it was not a great look. Many American people have been watching and they have expressed concerns about your age. That is your judgment. That is your judgment. Conduct of the response. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a

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you find yourself checking every label to make sure it's Canadian. So be it. At Sobeys, we always pick guaranteed fresh Canadian produce first. Restrictions apply. See in-store or online for details. In the Gaza Strip has been over the top. He also confused the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico.

And that following last week where he confused two different German chancellors. Days before that, confusing two different French presidents. And with this, we've seen two different kinds of defenses of Biden. The first being these are just kind of occasional gaffes saying that behind the scenes, he's actually mentally sharp, he's focused, he's always working.

And then separately, though sometimes connected, you have people saying, if this is disqualifying for Biden, then Trump's no better. Because the list of his gaffes and flubs and just outright kind of just insane things goes on and on. Whether it be, I don't know, what's most recent? He confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi. He praised Hungary's prime minister for his leadership of Turkey. He claimed he defeated Obama in the 2016 election. He warned that the country's on the verge of World War II. And among other things, last night, Stewart playing the, that Trump magnets clip. All I know about magnets is this. Give me a glass of water. Let me drop it on the magnets. That's the end of the magnets. As well as deposition footage where Trump, who

says he has a great memory, does not recall saying that. So here's the thing. If everyone is seeing this, they're seeing the Biden stuff, they're seeing the Trump stuff. There is the very big question of why do voters see the two men so differently? Well, with that, you have places like the New York Times saying it may be their different visual presentations. Writing Biden's voice has grown softer and raspier, his hair thinner and wider. Trump, by contrast, often dyes his hair and is unnaturally tan. While Biden often holds his upper body stiff, creating an impression of frailty, Trump uses his physicality to project strength and stamina in front of crowds. But also, you know, speculation like this is kind of telling.

Because really, all we have to go on is what we can see in public. And according to several memory experts who talked to the Washington Post, that actually doesn't tell us much. Saying that the candidates' cognitive abilities, they can't be evaluated based on anecdotal memory lapses. With one saying, many of us have memory slips all the time. We can't remember where we put our car keys. We can't remember dates or names. But we don't really notice the mistakes when we're young. It's when people get older that mistakes and memory seem to have more significance.

And there, you know, you have people noting neither Biden nor Trump are alone in their flubs. So my favorite random ones is like in 2012, Mitt Romney shared a memory of a jubilee in Detroit that actually took place before he was born. 2008, Hillary Clinton told a story about being under sniper fire in Bosnia a decade earlier. Later, she admitted she misremembered being told there was a potential threat of sniper fire, which is why I have experts adding that to really know whether someone's declining,

you need to perform a formal evaluation. And as for Biden, we have a letter from his longtime doctor released by the White House nearly a year ago that described him as a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male after a physical examination. But also like when Ronnie Jackson was in the White House and he was glazing up Trump on those things. People that want to believe those statements are going to believe those statements. And then everyone else is going to understandably be skeptical. Because

again, we're talking about a situation involving two people where one is in his 80s and if the other is elected, will be in his 80s during that term. And while specifically looking at Democrats, 73% say that Biden's too old to serve another term compared to only 35% of Republicans saying the same about Trump. Another perspective is that many left-leaning people have said that they will vote for a comatose Biden than an anything Trump. A guy who invited Russia to do whatever the hell they want to NATO members who don't pay up more. Who said, you know, if there's alleged election fraud, which he's been alleging, it allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. But again, none of that dismisses the legitimacy of people concerned about age. And again, while it appears that there is a double standard and hypocrisy at play

regarding like only being worried about the mental faculties of one of the candidates, especially given everything we can see from both, it doesn't dismiss those concerns. And at the very least, thinking about the country moving forward, there should be age caps in place. You can call it ageist, but y'all, both candidates are older than the average US life expectancy. We're on the other end of the bell curve with these two fucking guys. But that's where I'm going to leave it for now because the stage is set and it's going to play out how it plays out. And then Democrats have a loser mentality. And Dems, understand, I'm not coming at you for no reason. I'm not being judgy, name calling. I'm just slinging facts. Because while

according to Pew Research, when they surveyed Americans, the majority of all Americans believe that their side is losing, Democrats just always feel like they're losing no matter what is actually happening. Like Republicans, when Obama was president, they were like, we're losing, man. But then Donald Trump won the presidency and over the next four years, they were like, we're winning, baby. This is the most winning that's ever been won. And then in 2020, Biden won. And they were like, this is the bottom. We're just eating so many L's. That's what's actually fueling the obesity epidemic. But Democrats, from 2016 to 2024, the majority have said our side is losing. Dropping from 80% of Dems in 2020 to 60% in 2022. Dems, that is a loser's mindset. Not only did you knock Trump out of office, you won two Senate

seats in Georgia. I've lived in Georgia. You know how insane that is? For correction, I lived in the unofficial U.S. state of Atlanta, which is drastically different from the rest of Georgia. But places like Alpharetta would be my second home. And the fact that Georgia went blue, crazy. The fact that the majority of you didn't feel like winners, crazy. It's like someone bought you a PS5 and you're depressed

because it's going to take you away from all your reading. Though, I will say, joking aside, I do understand why a lot of y'all can have a negative outlook. Because while in the last few cycles, Democrats have been overperforming during election days, that is also happening as you have a very, very conservative Supreme Court drastically changing the shape of America and doing so in ways that only they can do. And obviously the most drastic shift to the Supreme Court happened during the Trump presidency where he put three people in place. That also speaks to the importance of the elections that you won because it would be even more conservative and thus conservative for longer in the future. Had you not gone to cast your votes, you wouldn't have Ketanji Brown Jackson

there. And that's the way politics works. It is slow and it sucks and it's shitty. And then it all happens at once. But that's where I'll leave it because if you're losing, even when you're winning, I don't know. I don't know what kind of life that is. And then, you know, if you're like most folks, you're probably overpaying your mobile provider for the exact same services that you can get from today's sponsor, Unreal Mobile. Seriously, why are we paying the big guys two to three times more when you can get unlimited talk, text, and data starting at $20 a month with Unreal? I mean, they're powered by the number one most reliable network in America, according to Global Wireless Solutions. The only difference is you don't pay a premium for splashy marketing or stores you'll never visit.

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stunt, a dating app has just been launched for people with only a credit score of 675 or higher. The app is called Score, and it will only exist for the next 90 days. While on the surface level, you might go, this just sounds so fucking superficial. The research and the data that's out there, it shows that you might actually have a better opportunity in finding a long-term partner this way. With research from the Federal Reserve showing that if you have a high credit score, you are not only more likely to get into a serious relationship, but that relationship is also more likely to last longer. And the researchers, you know, they argue this isn't

some sort of superficial thing, saying that credit scores might actually be indicative of deeper qualities and relationship skills, particularly as they relate to trustworthiness. And going on to say, our results present new evidence on how a mismatch in trustworthiness within a household may affect its stability. Though I will add, and I understand, you know, a credit score and like how much money you have, it's not a direct one-to-one exactly. But as someone who has existed in both realms, money stresses or the lack of them, I think also affect long-term relationships as well. With the same time, you have places like TechCrunch reporting, you know, this is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Saying especially when you consider that the average U.S. citizen's credit score is 716, with black and Hispanic people more likely than other racial groups to have a score below

640. Essentially arguing that in addition to being blatantly classist, it has a low-key racial bias. But with all that said, I'm going to leave you with two things. The first is I'd love to know your thoughts, not only on this specific dating app, but your thoughts regarding credit scores and how that impacts relationships. Because it's definitely an interesting thing to look at because whenever I think about money and relationships, that's like a little more simplistic, right? Access to funds or not, that can add an extra layer of stress in a relationship. But credit score is, it feels a little bit more deep. But then also second, and this is kind of self-serving, though I'm mentioning it because I think it can genuinely help a lot of people. Forever ago, I invested in this company,

Cred.ai. It's your everyday spending card. You use it like a debit card, but it builds up your credit. And it makes sure that you never pay fees or interest or overspend. And I want to stress, this is not a sponsor spot. I normally make them pay me for the privilege of mentioning in the show. But I'm mentioning it here because I think it can help a lot of people. And I also want to be transparent that I do have an interest because I'm an investor. And then there is a lot of bad news about the state of news right now. If you didn't see, this year started off with a massive series of massive layoffs in the journalism industry, impacting outlets and reporters left and right nationwide. And while this would always be concerning, news layoffs at this scale have

incredible consequences, especially in an election year. And fighting disinformation will be more important than ever and also seems harder than ever. And what makes all this even worse is this is a continuation of a problem, right? It's not like it was all rainbows and sunshine going into 2024. In 2023, you saw layoffs at the Washington Post, NPR, and many more. But hell, just this last January,

before the end of the month, the Los Angeles Times gutted over 20% of its newsroom, with the paper's owner saying that the move is, quote, painful for all, but it is imperative that we act urgently and take steps to build a sustainable and thriving paper for the next generation. And with that, claiming that the paper was losing 30 to 40 million dollars annually without building toward higher readership or new advertising

and subscription revenues. You also had Business Insider getting rid of 8% of its workers, NBC News slashing staffers, New York Daily News, Forbes, and Condé Nast holding walkouts amid cost-cutting measures. Then you've got Pitchfork getting folded into GQ, Sports Illustrated laying off enough staffers that the entire future of the publication is like called into question. And if all of this sounds like so much and a mess, yes. And if you're wondering, why does it feel like all of this is happening at once?

There's actually a few reasons. The way consumers take in the news is just rapidly changing. They get pretty much everything on social media, which means there are less eyeballs on articles and TV stations. You've got legacy outlets struggling to effectively monetize their platforms, especially since they're struggling with online advertising.

And here you have people like Jay Rosen, an associate professor of journalism at New York University, telling CNN, the ad industry doesn't need the news industry when there are so many other ways to purchase attention and so many better ways to target users. And so that's left a lot of newsrooms floundering, especially on local levels. In fact, according to data from Northwestern, in 2023, the US lost on average two and a half local papers a week. And that's left 204 counties with no local news outlet. And then there's just a bunch with only one local news source.

And they estimate that another 228 counties are at risk of becoming news deserts in the next five years. And as you'd expect, this is largely impacting high poverty areas, which is absolutely devastating. You have entire and numerous communities just losing essential information pipelines, which you may think is nothing, but there's so much news that becomes big news on

a national level that starts with local reporting. But again, even the big guys are struggling. Though, you know, when we saw billionaires taking control of outlets like the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, many thought, hey, this is the answer. This is going to be the thing that solves it. But since both of those outlets just went through major layoffs, clearly that's not the case. And you have places like The Hollywood Reporter putting out pieces saying, Unfortunately, it seems no category of owner appears able to salvage a media business in decline, with business models still stuck in the past and editorial models built for a world before Facebook, TikTok, and artificial intelligence.

And actually, that last bit, artificial intelligence, is another big issue. Because while it can be and is used for a number of things, it can also be very helpful to spread misinformation. Fake stories, fake pictures, fake videos. And you've seen how fast fake bullshit can spread across the internet. With part of the job of a number of people who are being fired being debunking misinformation like that.

And when you have this situation where there's less and less trust in what the fuck is actually real, you're left with a larger portion of the population or the electorate less informed. Whether it be day to day in your personal and business life or at the ballot box every two, four, and or six years, it's important to be informed. Which means on the note of elections, we're already seeing some of this play out. AI

election misinformation scams and experts fear that it is only going to get worse from here. With Oren Etzioni, an artificial intelligence expert, telling the AP, I expect a tsunami of misinformation. I can't prove that. I hope to be proven wrong, but the ingredients are there and I am completely terrified. You can see a political candidate like President Biden being rushed to a hospital and you can see bombings and violence that never occurred. And yeah, people could use this to manipulate voters or to just cause chaos. The fact that this kind of misinformation is increasing while newsroom journalists are decreasing, it creates the perfect storm. And again, that storm exists outside of politics. I mean, how many times have we covered something on this show where

someone turned to a journalist as their last resort and then finally got justice? They were finally heard. Some corrupt motherfucker was finally held accountable. As Emily St. Martin wrote, these stories have the ability to open and change minds, which in turn changes our culture. But the very big issue is I don't really see this trend changing in any way. And I don't know how realistic it is for any of these groups to actually evolve in a way where they're not just bleeding cash, which in turn will connect to a really long segment I'm going to release soon. Because desperation and need for money, it sometimes results in not the best stuff. But for now, that is where I'm going to leave this one.

And I want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts, your concerns, your feelings about the picture that's being painted right now? Because it not only falls on all of us as news consumers, but also people existing in the world. And then finally today, we have Yesterday Today, that segment for all you beautiful bastards that tune in daily, where we dive into the comments to see what y'all had to say about yesterday's show. With the first standout being so many people saying, if you're not growing, you're dying, that you want it on a shirt. In which case, I'll think about it. Might be able to sneak that into next Tuesday's drop, which will include your mom's favorite cowboy. Take me first. And we're unvaulting one of the most popular

things we've ever sold. Don't be stupid, gear. Though understandably and thankfully, a lot of the comments were about the more serious aspects of the news. Cesar Sanchez saying thank you for highlighting Gaza right after the Super Bowl story. Thanks for not washing over true news. Appreciate you for that. Which I know in this segment, I often say like this might be a little bit too inside baseball. Whenever we can, we've been making these tweaks, feeling more comfortable covering like the heavier, just horrendous news at the top of the show rather than the end. In the past, you know, we wouldn't do that because it felt like we were more likely to have the show completely suppressed by YouTube and, you know, it would just die. Like when you see those tweaks, they're usually not for no reason. Also regarding Israel and Rafah, you had the one-ton hammer

saying, how can the area north of Rafah be both cleared and still be a conflict zone? Why would there be a conflict in a clear area? And others adding, recall that Rafah is where Israel told Gaza they needed to go to be safe. The initial claims were that if you didn't go south when they warned people to evacuate their homes, it was your own fault. Then it shifted from going south to specifically going to Rafah. Now they're bombing Rafah, which they already were doing, but now explicitly. It wasn't that Israel bombed a place where a lot of people were sheltering. It was that they bombed the only place they told them to go to be safe. This is why allies are hard-pressed to say nothing. They know what Israel is on record of saying and how they've yet again gone against it. But then the

final comment we'll touch on regarded strippers' rights, right? Because we talked about the possible stripper bill of rights that might go through in Washington. With Hypnotwist saying, Washington State is one of the worst places to dance. Saying, my sister started her career in North Carolina. She had so much fun that she thought she could do it when she moved back home, but we live in Washington and she saw such a drastic change. Not only was she harassed by customers, she was drugged at one point and then blacklisted when one of the girls got jealous that she was making more money. She had to drive to Oregon every weekend to make more and better money. In closing, she told me it's great to see the girls are fighting back,

and she's hoping it turns around because dancing is a great career, but only if the clubs can properly protect the girls. And Sean Lewis adding, regarding the Washington strippers bill, I grew up in the east side, and I heard that just recently the last club closed down since they couldn't make a profit. Not being able to sell alcohol really limits how a club can make money. I'm unsure where they can make money without taking money from the dancers or crazy high entrance fees. Right, and that's why a lot of supporters of the stripper bill of rights say

that this will not work unless they also make it so that these clubs can serve alcohol. But that is where your daily dive into the news is going to end today. But don't worry, because as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.