The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 2.9 I Owe You An Apology, Tom Holland Spider-Man Controversy, Florida Man Strikes Again, & Today's News

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

Click here https://www.seed.com/defranco to get 15% off your 1st month’s supply of See’s DS-01 Daily Synbiotic + Free shipping! News You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/6IVOb_nc_t4 TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - DOJ Charges Couple with $4.5B Bitcoin Laundering Scheme as Their Rap Videos Go Viral 02:47 - Hospitals and Lawmakers Ask for a Federal Investigation into Travel Nurse Salaries 06:14 - Sponsor 07:18 - “Spider-Man” Oscar Snub Prompts Conversation About What Movies Are Award-Worthy 09:09 - Florida Legislature Moves Forward With “Don’t Say Gay” Bill – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ DOJ Charges Couple with $4.5B Bitcoin Laundering Scheme as Their Rap Videos Go Viral: https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gve4/woman-who-allegedly-laundered-dollar1b-in-bitcoin-was-cringe-youtube-rapper Hospitals and Lawmakers Ask for a Federal Investigation into Travel Nurse Salaries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-relief-funds-drive-up-nurse-pay-hospitals-say-11644316203 “Spider-Man” Oscar Snub Prompts Conversation About What Movies Are Award-Worthy: https://roguerocket.com/2022/02/09/jimmy-kimmel-no-way-home-snub/ Florida Legislature Moves Forward With “Don’t Say Gay” Bill: https://roguerocket.com/2022/02/09/florida-legislature-bill-schools/ —————————— Executive Producer: Amanda Morones Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Ben Wheeler, Chris Tolve Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #SpiderMan #Razzlekhan ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and just very quickly I want to apologize for yesterday's show. I felt a little off yesterday, a little bit slow, so I was like, hey, I'm gonna speed up the show 5%, but completely on me. I accidentally uploaded a version that was 20% sped up. So if you're wondering why was Phil doing an impression of Eminem doing Rap God in yesterday's show, that's why. But, that said, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Hit that like button if you want me to punch you in the throat, you weirdo, and let's just jump into it. And to kick things off today, it was one of the most requested stories. Let's talk about whatever the hell this is.

This song is for the entrepreneurs and hackers, all the misfits and smart slackers. What? Ra's al Khan, the Versace better win. So that musical genius, that icon, the voice of a generation is apparently what a multi-billion dollar criminal looks like. Yes, really. She goes by Ra's al Khan. Her real name is Heather Morgan. And apparently, in addition to being a better lyricist than Eminem, having a better flow than Biggie, according to her website, she is also a software CEO, a writer, an economist, and a few contradictory other things. And in her bio as a contributor to Forbes, she wrote,

When she's not reverse-engineering black markets to think of better ways to combat fraud and cybercrime, "'she enjoys rapping and designing streetwear fashion.'" And that description just makes me smile from my heart because she is also allegedly tied to one of the largest heists and money laundering schemes in history. Yes, really. Yesterday, Morgan and her husband, Ilya Lichtenstein,

were arrested by US authorities and are accused of attempting to launder $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and toraud the United States. Which means, and I'm sorry, fans of true music, Morgan and her husband are both facing upwards of 25 years in prison. Now, as far as how the hell did they even get that much Bitcoin, apparently they were holding

onto 120,000 coins that were stolen off of Bitfinex back in 2016. And according to court documents, the couple managed to launder 25,000 Bitcoin so far through a complex series of transactions that ended with the funds being deposited into accounts owned by them. With the feds ultimately getting them because they got access

to one of her husband's cloud storage accounts. And in that account, they found a list of more than 2000 crypto wallets and keys. So once they had that, they followed the transaction history of everything through the wallets. They were able to link the couple directly to the hack. And since then, authorities have managed to recover

more than 94,000 Bitcoin, which is valued right now at $3.6 billion, which actually makes this the largest recovery in DOJ history. And with all this in a statement, you would assist an attorney, General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. issuing a warning to those who think that cryptocurrency

protects their illicit activities from scrutiny. Saying today, federal law enforcement demonstrates once again that we can follow money through the blockchain and that we will not allow cryptocurrency to be a safe haven for money laundering or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system. And as far as those impacted by the 2016 hack, there could be hope here.

With Bitfinex saying they will be cooperating extensively with authorities and are working to establish our rights to a return of the stolen Bitcoin. And so from here, we'll have to wait to see, you know, can people actually get their money back? If so, how much? And what happens to the crocodile of Wall Street? What a shitty name.

Anyway, with this story, I would love to know, what are your thoughts here? And then we need to talk about the war going on between lawmakers, nurses, travel nurses, and hospitals right now. And that in part because some members of Congress right now wanna cap some of the nurses' salaries. So it's no secret that the past two years

have taken a nasty toll on our healthcare system with the hospitals overloaded, nurses overworked by the flood of COVID patients and general economic shock. And as a result, nurses have left their jobs in droves, whether it's because of burnout, fatigue, poor work conditions, pay, both, some other reason. Now, to be clear, it's not like everything before the pandemic was completely fine

in the American healthcare system. I mean, hell, according to the president of the National Academy of Medicine last November, 40% of pre-pandemic physicians reported depression and suicidal ideation. Then after COVID hit, things got even worse. Some 60 to 75% of pre-pandemic physicians reported depression and suicidal ideation. And then after COVID hit, things got even worse. Some 60 to 75% of clinicians reporting symptoms of depression, exhaustion, sleep disorders, and even PTSD.

So in no way is it surprising that with so much stress, more people are just giving up. And about 20% of healthcare workers have quit their jobs between the start of the pandemic and this past November. And because of those quitting, of course someone has to fill that gap. So say hello to travel nurses, my mom. Or so you have staffing agencies dispatching nurses

to hospitals across the country to compensate for temporary staffing shortages. But notably with the uniquely large shortages after COVID, the demand for these nurses is way larger and so are their paychecks. It's basic supply and demand. When the demand is high, prices go up, but it's also, it's kind of fucked.

Like if you're a nurse and you're like, I'm staying with this hospital, you're essentially being penalized because of your loyalty. And I mean, not to blow up my mom's spot and I don't know exactly how much she's getting paid, but looking at the data, looking at the reports, many travel nurses are getting paid twice as much as their permanent counterparts,

or in many cases, even more than that. Data from Vivian Health shows that the pay for travel nurses jumped from $1,706 in December of 2019 to $3,290 per week in December of 2021. And coincidentally, the travel nursing industry has doubled in size over the past year. And with all this, you might be asking, you know, why don't these hospitals just pay

their permanent nurses more, right? They're gonna essentially have to pay more to have expensive staffing agencies, expensive travel nurses. And the answer, like a lot of things, is the government. Where a lot of that COVID emergency relief money that was dished out to hospitals multiple times during the pandemic has been used to hire travel nurses.

I mean, just to use two examples, you had FEMA in January saying Hawaii would get $95 million for traveling healthcare workers. And as of November, Texas spent nearly $7 billion in federal aid on temporary nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists. And so now you have some trade groups arguing that travel nurse agencies are exploiting

a tight labor market to charge exorbitant prices. And in fact, on January 25th, almost 200 house lawmakers even asked the White House to investigate the spike in wages for travel nurses. With the Wall Street Journal reporting yesterday that the White House is now saying that it's taking steps to alleviate the nursing shortage and pressure on wages, namely by connecting healthcare providers to communities that need workers through grants and loan repayments as well as providing funds for hospitals to recruit staff. But still, some believe that is not enough, arguing that lawmakers should

put a price cap on travel nurse salaries, which unsurprisingly has led to a lot of fear among travel nurses who were like, oh shit, my income could take a hit. With some even arguing, yeah, there should be a cap but it should be on hospital executives. We also have others who believe the solution is to just fill the staffing shortage with more full-time nurses. But as a CEO of the Texas Nurses Association explained,

it becomes this vicious cycle where you're chasing your tail and it's escalating. Right, the more travel nurses make, the more full-time staff is going to question whether or not to make the switch. Right, amid all of this, there's this growing rift between the hospital executives and full-time nurses who often feel alienated or even resentful

over the pay discrepancy. Also, quick fun thing, if you ever wanna fill 15 minutes up, ask a full-time nurse and a traveling nurse what they think about the other. 90% of the time, you'll be like, "'Oh shit, high school really never does end.'" But also that said, if I was a full-time nurse and I was essentially being penalized for my loyalty,

I'd be fucking petty as shit. But that's the story, some of my takeaway. And now I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Especially if you or someone you know is in the healthcare industry. And then to be very blunt, do you wish that your pooping experience could be better?

I know you're like, ah, my neck, what a hard pivot. But I just feel like I needed to say it that way because I'm about to say a lot of technical terms because I want to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Seed. Everything that I thought I knew about probiotics was wrong and Seed is the real deal. They combine a probiotic and a prebiotic to form their DSO1 daily synbiotic and it's designed to support gastrointestinal function and support whole body health. I've been taking Seed's DSO1 daily symbiotic for some time now. I've been noticing some benefits to my health, some I kind of alluded to just before. And their unique capsule design uses an outer prebiotic capsule

that protects the inner probiotic through digestion past your stomach acid for 100% survivability into your colon. But also, Seed goes beyond gut health to help promote clear and glowing skin, heart health. But I do have to say the support in my gut health has been the biggest thing for me. My body just feels great

and I was kind of just surprised by how much. The main thing, try it. You can try it risk-free. In your first month, you get a refillable glass jar, a travel glass vial and a 30 day supply. And after that they send sustainable refills. So go to seed.com slash DeFranco and use code DeFranco to get 15% off

your first month supply of Seeds DS01 Daily Symbiotic plus free shipping. And then it's that time of year again, we get Oscar nominations and thus controversy, anger and debate. And this year across the categories, yes, you have people saying this movie got snubbed, this actor got snubbed,

with one of the big focuses for many people right now being on Best Picture and Spider- No Way Home. Or when it comes to Best Picture, you have 10 potential nominees, which was actually a recent change made over a decade ago. It used to be just five nominees, but in 2009, they changed it to be anywhere from five to 10, with them specifically doing that

because so many people felt like The Dark Knight got snubbed. But also in that time, the Academy rarely ever nominated the full possible 10 movies, and as far as like superhero movies, it rarely ever happened, though you do have examples like Black Panther. But this year they said they would commit to do a full list of 10, right?

Leaving room for options. So the Spider-Man No Way Home, which got amazing reviews, did amazing at the box office, despite the pandemic slump we've seen, yet a lot of people throw their hands up in the air and go, what the fuck? Or because it's not even like Spider-Man No Way Home didn't try to get a nomination.

They did a full campaign to land one, with producer Amy Pascal telling The Hollywood Reporter, just because they're a certain kind of genre doesn't mean they're not quality movies. We all got in this business to make movies that people want to see, that make people feel things. And I think this movie legitimately does that. And you've got Marvel head, Kevin Feige,

telling The Hollywood Reporter, "'It's a good thing when people are in a theater and they stand up and cheer. It's a good thing when people are wiping tears because they're thinking back on their last 20 years of movie going and what it has meant to them. That to me is a very good thing. The sort of thing the Academy was founded back in the day

to recognize." But still that doesn't change the situation. They did not land a nomination except actually just for visual effects. Personally, I've got a foot in two different camps. One is, okay, I really don't care. Like I don't think, I can't remember the last time I watched or cared about the Oscars.

But two, given the movies that we got in the past year, how the fuck is Spider-Man No Way Home not at least in the top 10? Why are y'all doing this to Zendaya's boyfriend? It just feels like more often than not, they penalize movies for being theatrically successful. But I also understand that's just my opinion, so what's yours?

And then y'all Florida man is at it again. And by Florida man, I mean, Governor Ron DeSantis. And by it, I mean, making life harder for LGBTQ kids. How thoughtful of him to take a break from villainizing mass and go back to old school conservative values. So what we're talking about is that the Florida Senate Education Committee just advanced legislation that critics have dubbed

the Don't Say Gay Bill, which would prevent school districts from quote, "'Encouraging discussion about sexual orientation "'or gender identity in primary grade levels, "'or in a manner that is not age-appropriate "'or developmentally appropriate for students.'" But, oh my God, what a surprise, the text of the bill does not define

what would be considered age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate. And because we're talking about a state that is in part represented by Matt Gaetz, there are understandable concerns about leaving the definition of age appropriate open to interpretation. And while the lawmaker who proposed this measure

has said that it would just keep the topics out of the curriculum, not classroom discussions, there's no mention of curriculum in the text. Also other notable provisions in the legislation include allowing parents to sue schools if they think they're violating the law and if they don't inform parents about quote, "'Critical decisions affecting a student's mental

emotional or physical health or well-being But once again not clearly defining or getting into specifics and as one Democratic senator pointed out critical decisions could be something as basic As a kid being served a vegetarian lunch without their parents Okay, but still despite the very obvious issues with this bill It was advanced after DeSantis voiced his support for the move on Monday saying schools need to be teaching kids to read to write They need to teach them science, history. We need more civics and understanding the U.S. Constitution. What makes our country unique?

All those basic stuff.'" Yeah, all those basic stuff, like figuring out how a fucking sentence works, Ron. But one of the main things here is that while conservatives have argued that this legislation is about parental rights, Democrats and advocacy groups have slammed it as clear discrimination against LGBTQ youth, with many noting that studies have shown

that schools are a crucial support system for LGBTQ kids. But I mean, for example, there was a 2021 survey of more than 82,000 youth conducted by the Trevor Project. And they found that 30%, only 30% of kids said their home was LGBTQ affirming while half said their school was. Which quick side note, if you can't love your child and support your child just because they're LGBTQ,

fuck you. What a useless empty shell of a human being you are. I know they say you get more flies with honey and you know, you wanna try and like talk sense to people, but no. Like there is the forward thinking part of myself where I'm like, hey, I really hope that you can kind of deconstruct why you feel the way you feel.

But then the other part of me kind of just wishes that a giant rock would fall on your head. Life's already hard as it is for most people and you're just not gonna be there for your kid because of something they can't control? Like it used to be a thing where people would see someone that was like anti-gay and they'd be like, I hope you have a gay kid, but no.

That's just more trauma for kids that don't have a support system. You know, kind of taking the feelings and the thinking there, it's why you had people like Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, tweeting last month that this bill will kill kids. Noting that another Trevor Project survey found that 42% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered

attempting suicide last year. And those criticisms have only grown since the Don't Say Gay bill cleared the committee yesterday with President Biden himself even chiming in to condemn the measure. Saying to those who will be impacted by this hateful bill, to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. And adding, I have your back and my administration

will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve. But still that said, ultimately that is where we are with this story. And I mean, it's pretty much all but assured to pass. But ultimately that is where that story and today's show ends. As always, thank you for watching,

hitting that subscribe button to join for these daily dives into the news. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.