The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.14 “SHE’S HELPING KIDS KILL THEIR KIDS!” Olivia Rodrigo Pills Controversy, Organ Collection Fraud, &

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

The lies just never stop... Let's talk about it. Click here https://bit.ly/43e9CfN and new customers use code DEFRANCO to get 20% off, on your entire order of Liquid I.V.  PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco ===== Text me at 813-213-4423 to get secret updates, alerts, and announcements –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Conservatives Accuse Olivia Rodrigo of Indoctrinating Kids with Contraception 04:13 - NJ Father Arrested After Barging Into Class to Confront Teen 05:42 - Study Suggests Maternal Mortality Has Not Actually Been Increasing 08:39 - Hundreds Rescued From Philippines Love Scam Center 10:23 - Sponsored by LiquidIV 11:30 - Schumer Calls for New Israeli Elections to Get Rid of Netanyahu 14:59 - More California DAs are Prosecuting Fentanyl Overdoses with a New Tactic   19:01 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 19:50 - Organ Transplant Collection Groups Investigated for Fraud 26:29 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Stories Previous coverage on organ transplant system failure: https://youtu.be/J_vCZe7lngs?si=frEaVK1Rig6Qlvt9&t=505 ——————————   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, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Organ Collection Probe: Lili Stenn ———————————— #DeFranco #OliviaRodrigo #Israel ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show, and we got a lot of news to talk about today. So just hit that like button to train YouTube, let it know you like these big daily dives in the news, and let's jump into it. Starting with... Olivia Rodrigo just incited a full-blown moral panic. And depending on where you look online right now, Olivia Rodrigo is either a feminist hero or she is corrupting the youth. And all of that because she handed out emergency contraception at her tour stop this week in Missouri. Which with this, it is worth noting that Missouri has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning them completely with very few exceptions. But this also isn't that surprising. I mean, this is an issue that Olivia has been very outspoken on,

previously condemning the Supreme Court. Now that her Guts World Tour has taken off, she launched the Fund for Good, which is an initiative aimed at helping women and girls, specifically when it comes to reproductive rights and access. And in fact, not only does some of her ticket proceeds go to this fund, she's also partnering with local chapters of the National Network of Abortion Funds at her North American stops. And in St. Louis, the groups Right By You and the Missouri Abortion Fund had a booth with information, condoms, and Julie, which is a morning after emergency contraceptive. And all of this is part of her effort to arm women and girls with the tools that they need to make choices about the reproductive future, especially in a state with such strict abortion laws. So yeah,

you had tons of people supporting this, praising her, saying she's putting her time, her effort, her money where her mouth is right now. But of course, all of this as a whole different group in this country, not happy, very furious, with some very concerned about her specific audience. Because if you go to an Olivia Rodrigo concert, you're likely to see adults, teens, and yes, some kids. So you had people slamming her for handing out information and contraception in a venue where kids were, some even slut shaming her, people criticizing her saying things like, this is the narrative young girls are getting. Instead of celebrating mothers and loving children, they are being led to believe that abortion is normal and the purpose of sex is lust, right? And there was no shortage of pro-birthers pissed off that she was fighting

for reproductive access, also falsely accusing her of passing out abortion pills at her show, which I mean, just to relay the reality, as the FDA explained, that is very much not what the morning-after pill is. But still, you had people writing things like, it's a drug used to kill kids. Her fans are kids themselves. She's quite literally helping kids kill their kids. Of course, with that, you had a lot of people pushing back,

noting that the morning-after pill prevents pregnancy. They do not terminate it. With people like activist Olivia Juliana, who we actually previously interviewed responding to a Missouri state senator saying, plan B isn't an abortion medication, you donut. Thanks for being a prime example as to why men shouldn't make laws about women's bodies when they have no idea what the hell they're talking about. Others talking about how important contraception is,

especially for many of the people in Olivia's demographic. Right, noting that trials have shown that giving teenagers access to contraception doesn't make them have sex more. It just makes the ones who are already having sex more likely to use protection. And it also wasn't just conservatives that were receiving this pushback.

It was also outlets like Rolling Stone, because when they covered the situation, they ran with the headline, Olivia Rodrigo's St. Louis concert hands out morning after pills despite state ban on abortion. With people saying that headline implies that the pills go against an abortion ban

or a form of abortion themselves, when again, that is not the case. With the outlet even later getting hit with a community note on one of their tweets. In effect, this whole mess got so big that the groups that Olivia partnered with in Missouri, they had to respond to all this. With the Missouri Abortion Fund writing, for those wanting to know, text right by you brought the emergency contraception and we helped pass it out at Olivia Rodrigo last night. This is a normal part of their programming and what many abortion funds do when they table. Olivia supports abortion funds, but

orgs are doing the hard work. And noting this is important to clarify for a few reasons. One, we want Missourians to know free emergency contraception is available even when Olivia is not in town. And two, responsible journalism could have let folks know that EC is legal and safe. We spent the day correcting wrong info. But with all that said, ultimately where I want to kind of end this story is just as far as my personal feelings on this, like it's, it's no secret I'm pro-choice. And I know I'm not going to see eye to eye with a lot of pro-birthers out there, especially when it's, you know, connected to things like religion. But I just genuinely don't understand any of the outrage around preventatives.

Information and contraception. Because for all the shouting of, think of the children. In my eyes, Olivia and a lot of these people, they are. We got too many kids having kids. Abstinence-only education has been proven to fail. So if you want to think of the children, protect the children. you warn them of the realities, you warn them of the risks, you arm them with whatever they can so they don't bring in unintended life that they're not ready for, especially when you're also the side that wants no abortions. And understand, I say that as one of those people

that thinks that you should wait till you're over 18 to have sex so that you're emotionally mature enough. But that is not the reality that's out there. You have teens having kids out there. And removing their access to information or contraception to do stuff safely is not going to stop them. It's just going to make their situation and options worse. And then, the way to decide, is this father a hero or a villain? Because this guy's name is Aaron Thomas. And his daughter is a student at Paulsboro High School in New Jersey.

And according to an affidavit obtained by ABC, she'd been having issues with another student, a 15-year-old boy over airdropped photos. So there, we don't know much more than that vague detail. And so on Monday, Thomas went to the school to sign out his daughter. But instead of just doing that, he somehow found the classroom that she was in, barged inside, and confronted the boy.

Apologize to my daughter. No, I ain't gonna do it. Apologize to my daughter. I didn't do nothing to it. You don't give a I see you. I always have to be serious I didn't do nothing to it. You don't do nothing to it. I didn't do nothing to it. I apologize. I didn't do nothing to it. I apologize.

I apologize. I apologize. I didn't do nothing to it. With him apparently even threatening to get physical at one point. It takes more than a full minute before another adult gets involved. With someone putting their hand on the father's back, trying to escort him out. But then he turns his attention to a second student. And it's unclear exactly what he did, but police allegedly grabbed the kid by the arm. And so with that, he walked out and left the

building before anyone ever called security. Though now he's been charged with simple assault, making terroristic threats, trespassing, and disorderly conduct. But after that video got out, people had some very mixed reactions. For some, Hale and the dad is a bamf who's defending his daughter. Though then others criticizing him for threatening a child and not going through the school administration first. And then also you just had a bunch of people more concerned about the fact that he was able to just march into the classroom in the first place. Or people pointing out that he or someone else, they could have easily brought a gun there. Which also, on that note, we're now finding out that, for whatever reason, the school's resource officer just wasn't at the building that day.

With all that, I gotta ask, which camp do you land in? Do you see this father as a hero, as a villain, as something in between? Let me know what you're thinking and why. And then, we need to talk about something very, very serious. On this Mother's Day, we call your attention to a very sobering fact. It's a bit sobering. Two new disturbing reports. High maternal mortality rates. Hundreds of mothers are dying every year and health professionals say about half of those are preventable. Pregnancy in the U.S. has become significantly more dangerous. The maternal death rate has been steadily rising for decades. The US has the highest rate of deaths

related to pregnancy and childbirth in the developed world. Health experts say we are failing. But are we really, or at the very least, is it as bad as it seems? Because according to a new study published yesterday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, America's actually not doing as bad as people think. In fact, finding that in contrast to warnings for years, the maternal mortality has doubled or even tripled

during this century, the rate has actually remained relatively low and stable. And as far as why there's such a huge gap between some numbers and other numbers, I say the answer lies in 2003. Right back then, the National Vital Statistics System, or NVSS, it added a checkbox to death certificates to note whether a deceased person was pregnant or had recently been pregnant. And doing this to address concerns that pregnancy-related deaths were being undercounted. And just that little change dramatically increased the count of maternal deaths. They're going from 9.65 deaths per 100,000 live births between 1999 to 2002, to 23.6 per 100,000 from 2018 to 2021. Or in other words, it more than doubled. But this new study actually found

that many of those deaths were unrelated to pregnancy or childbirth. For example, hundreds of people age 70 or older were misclassified as having been pregnant. And in other cases, you had people's deaths from cancer or other causes being counted as maternal deaths if the box was checked. Also with this, one of the weird things is the NVSS realized that people are misusing the checkbox as early as 2018. But instead of doing away with it or making some other change, the organization only tightened the criteria for women over the age of 44. Seemingly because older women were more likely to be misclassified. So in this new study, the researchers ignored the checkbox and counted only deaths that listed a cause related to pregnancy. What they found is that when they did that, mortality only increased from 10.2 to 10.4

over the same 20-year time period. But also with this, and I really want to stress this, I do not want to give the impression that these new figures are like the real ones, the objective ones, and that the old ones are just completely misleading. Understand, there is still a debate about whether it's actually useful to define maternal mortality strictly as deaths directly caused by pregnancy or childbirth, or because arguably that leaves out important indirect causes

like postpartum mental health, for example. And if we're using this to design policies that target the key causes of mortality, we need a fuller picture. Yet also on the other side of this, you can argue that too broad of a definition might include irrelevant data, which then makes it harder to design effective policy. And so I guess all of

this is to say, right, the short main takeaway is that all of this is a lot messier than the headlines would have you believe. But also, very notably, no matter how much you massage the data, there are a couple things that are just 100% true. First, there is a huge racial disparity in the maternal deaths that do occur. But as we've talked about on the show, black mothers dying at nearly three times the rate of white mothers. And secondly, the overall rate for the US is still higher than most peer countries. So notably, if you use this new studies data, it's not as wildly out there like others have claimed, instead actually being comparable to rates in Canada and Britain. With all that said, now that I've dumped this complexity in your lap, I'd love to know your thoughts and experiences in

those comments down below. And then I'm about to do a bad thing to you. I'm about to make you feel bad for scammers. That's because this morning we got the news that Filipino authorities rescued over 600 people from a scamming center that were forced into the industry, with reportedly And then, and scam people all over the globe. The most common things that they did being various crypto and love scams. They pretty much they'd pose online as people interested in finding love, find a mark, slowly build up that trust, and then convince them to invest in various business opportunities with cash or crypto. And as far as how the police actually figured all this out, it's because one of these guys, a Vietnamese man,

managed to escape after climbing a tall wall and running to a nearby farm. And they knew pretty instantly that this wasn't a bullshit story because there were clear signs of torture all over his body Which I can't get into the specifics because of YouTube policies. You're just gonna have to trust It was bad So following that police raided the compound and found plenty of guns and ammunition alongside stories of past victims who tried to escape

But were caught what's really crazy and sad is this is hardly the only case of this happening just last year Filipino authorities rescued Over a thousand people who were forced into scam work It's also notably not just happening in the Philippines. Southeast Asia in general is a hub for this kind of scam work, with the UN even estimating that hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked throughout the region for it. And this is you have countries like China especially fed up with it, as many of their citizens are the ones targeted on every step of these scams. They're from being forced into the work all the way later to then being targets of those workers. And it's at a point that they're even trying to hunt down those leading these rings. Like, for example, in northern Myanmar, near the Chinese border,

where ethnic Chinese militias and warlords control the region, China even managed to get the military junta to agree to arrest three of these warlords. And that's despite them being especially powerful allies of the regime in order to not get on China's bad side. And while the news that we got to talk about today is good, the bad news is this is very widespread, and it's not going to be ending anytime soon. And then, you know, staying hydrated is crucial to regulating body temperature, keeping joints lubricated, helping deliver nutrients to cells, keeping organs functioning properly, and honestly,

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Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. It's super easy. You just tear, pour, shake, and drink. I'm sorry. Link down below and use code DEFRANCO. And then Benjamin Netanyahu needs to go. That is not just what Palestinians, Arabs in general, and many Israelis are saying. It is also now what Senator Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor. With Schumer in a speech yesterday going over how Israel's campaign in Gaza is quote, over the top.

And that speech actually going over a bunch of issues with the conflict and what should be done, such as pushing for a two-state solution to the conflict, saying that it's the only way to guarantee peace. But the headline and attention-grabbing part was this. The fourth major obstacle to peace is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7th.

The world has changed radically since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that has stuck in the past. Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course? At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel." And we also added that he thinks that Netanyahu does genuinely care about the security of Israel. Quote, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel. Now, notably, you know, with this disliking Netanyahu, normally it's not newsworthy. He is not the most popular person.

But it is a massive deal that not only a senator, but also the majority leader came out and called for new elections. And Schumer is hardly the only one. There is a growing movement within the Democratic Party to push both political and policy changes within Israel. I mean, it's actually at a point where some think that his comments didn't go far enough. Like in Michigan, for example, where the campaign for an influential anti-war group said, Senator Schumer is beginning to shift, but far too slowly and with little substance for what actions Biden can take now to stop the outrageous civilian death toll in Gaza. And all this is on the other side of the aisle. You have Republicans blasting Schumer's comments. Senator Mitch McConnell, for example, calling Schumer's comments grotesque and

hypocritical for those who, quote, hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of the democratically elected leader of Israel. With him then going on to say the Democratic Party doesn't have an anti-Bibi problem, it has an anti-Israel problem. And outside the United States, right over in Israel, you had President Isaac Herzog not liking these words, writing Israel is a sovereign democracy, saying it is unhelpful all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. Although honestly, they're probably not the most happy with Biden right now anyway. First off, President Biden has been increasingly making deals to help Palestinians in Gaza, such as aid

airdrops and having the Navy make an offshore port so European vessels can bring aid to Gazans. And on top of all that, Israeli outlets are reporting that the U.S. wants to actively oust Netanyahu in claiming that the info comes from a, quote, very senior Israeli official. They also say that Netanyahu is, quote, fuming. U.S. intelligence reports that say that he is very likely to face big protests as he continues to lose trust with the Israeli public. And while all of this obviously affects situations on the ground, there is also the question of how is Biden going to navigate this? Because on one side, Republicans are going to try and frame this as Democrats and Biden, that they're anti-Israel. And that, while you're going to have Democrats and Biden pushing back saying, no, it's not an

anti-Israel issue. It is an anti-how Netanyahu is handling the situation, slash he's doing a number of things to remain in power situation. Then on the other side, you're going to have people saying that Biden and Democrats aren't doing enough. Their comments and actions don't go far enough. You know, as always, where we land on this is we have to wait and see how history plays out. And in the meantime, if you have any thoughts, opinions, or predictions, I'd love to hear from you. And then, should drug dealers be charged with murder in fentanyl overdoses? That is both a question I have for you watching right now and something that's being debated in California right now, where we've seen an increasing number of prosecutors pursuing this path. In fact, district attorneys in multiple

counties have moved towards this strategy. This is including Sacramento, Fresno, San Joaquin, San Bernardino, San Diego, Placer, and Riverside. While most of these counties cover more conservative or purple areas of the state, we've recently seen ultra-liberal San Francisco taking similar steps, with the DA, mayor, and police officials forming a task force that will investigate opioid deaths and drug dealing as possible homicide cases. But really, right now, Riverside County, which is known for its aggressive crime prosecution, is really leading the charge here. Since 2021, the county's DA, Mike Hestron, has charged 34 suspected fentanyl suppliers with murder. Very notably, last year, he successfully prosecuted a landmark case where, for the first time ever in California, a jury convicted a man

of second-degree murder for the fentanyl-related death of a 26-year-old woman. Also notable, that wasn't the first fentanyl murder conviction in the state. That came out of Placer County back in July for the overdose death of a 15-year-old girl. But that Riverside case specifically is still super significant because it's the first time that a jury was successfully convinced that the person who supplied the fentanyl knew that it was deadly and still provided it anyway. And in that case, prosecutors argued that the defendant, Vincent David Romero, he split a pill that he knew contained fentanyl with 26-year-old Kelsey King, who overdosed and died. Although with that, Romero's conviction is currently being appealed. And with all this,

as places like the New York Times explain, many of the fentanyl cases that have been prosecuted in California involved people who thought they were buying pain pills like oxycodone or Percocet, but ended up with pills containing fentanyl. And like Romero's case, prosecutors argued that if they can prove a defendant knew that the drugs contained fentanyl and could be deadly, they can face murder charges. But actually proving that, it can be tricky, especially because unlike a lot of other states, California doesn't have a law on the books that explicitly classifies fentanyl deaths as murder. So because of that, prosecutors have been using the legal theory that it used for prosecuting drunk drivers. Because under that rule, which was established four decades ago,

courts determined that a person can be charged with murder if they knowingly drive drunk and kill someone. But also beyond that, proving that someone knew that the pills contained deadly fentanyl is a time-consuming task. It requires prosecutors to comb through texts, phone records, and other communications to find evidence that the person supplying the fentanyl knew about the risk, and that can be hard to find. So while a growing number of these cases are being filed, there's still just a fraction of the hundreds of overdose deaths these counties record every year. But the DA is prosecuting these cases, arguing that even just bringing some murder charges for fentanyl deaths sends an important message. But San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins saying that bringing homicide charges in just a handful shows that we will not let you get away with killing our

most vulnerable. That was also echoed by the San Diego County DA, who said that even if a dealer isn't ultimately charged, she wants to give families of overdose victims as much information as possible. Saying these families feel like their soul has been ripped out of their chest. They want to know what happened. But then at the same time here, on the other side, you have a lot of people pushing back on this strategy. You have many legal experts saying that these prosecutions are being done on unsettled legal grounds because there's no state law that says that fentanyl deaths can be charged as murders. And defense attorneys arguing that the definition of murder that these prosecutors are using is too broad and unconstitutional

because there's no law even setting the definition in the first place. And among those, you have Romero's defense attorney, who told the Times, So is it murder to sell someone a pack of cigarettes since you know that cigarettes can kill? And adding, the power to define the crime of murder belongs to the legislature, not to courts and not Mr. Hestron's office. Beyond that, other critics have said that this is a heavy-handed, overly punitive tactic that backtracks to overly aggressive drug policies of the 90s, which of course ultimately proved ineffective. Failing to actually cut drug use while overwhelming state prisons with low-level distributors and addicts. With many arguing there's also a lack of historical data that shows prosecuting dealers for homicide

and giving them longer prison is actually a deterrent. And you know, that point's even been backed up by experts like Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford who studies addiction, with Humphreys expressing doubt that the threat of murder charges for low level dealers will actually disrupt the supply chain, saying they're very low skilled labor. You can spend your half a million, million dollars per to put them in a state prison system, but they'll be replaced almost instantly. It's not out of sympathy that I say we can't just continually arrest people on the corner. It's just futile.

So you have Humphreys and others saying that instead of using retribution-based tactics that we've seen fail in the past, that local officials should be focusing more on rehabilitation and harm reduction, like providing Narcan or addiction treatment. Also addressing the root cause of addiction, like mental health and housing crises.

And again, all of this playing out as many feel that we need to do everything and anything possible to try to mitigate the ever-growing opioid epidemic and overdose crisis. And so with this, I'll end it how I started. With a question, should drug dealers be charged with murder and fentanyl overdoses? And then? Now, as someone who struggled with pretty significant debt in early adulthood, I know personally how stressful that can be.

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authorities are conducting a big sweeping investigation into potential fraud committed by the nonprofit organizations that collect transplant organs. And this, according to six people familiar with the probe, because as we've talked about on the show before, there are widespread issues with the U.S. transplant system. And specifically at the center of all this, you have the nonprofit that has had an ironclad monopoly over the transplant system for nearly four decades, the United Network for Organ Sharing, aka UNOS. And not only does UNOS single-handedly operate the whole U.S. organ transplant system, it is the only entity that has ever run the system. And boy, oh fucking boy, does that arrangement have a truckload of problems. According to government statistics, more than 103,000 people

are currently on the organ transplant wait list, and 17 people die every day while waiting. And notably, that as UNOS has long been criticized for the number of organs they've discarded, damaged in transport, or simply just didn't collect at all. And then back in 2022, the Senate Finance Committee published an insanely damning report on the findings of their own two-plus-year-long investigation, which again, we have touched on. But at the very top level here

is that this report revealed a winding network of failures that have cost lives, and specifically 70 lives from 2008 to 2015, with those people dying due to mistakes in screening organs, while another 249 developed diseases because of the same errors. And y'all, we're talking about real basic shit, like failing to complete mandatory tests for blood types and disease.

Also, under UNOS, there have been numerous breakdowns with the delivery of organs, like some being damaged in transit, abandoned entirely at airports, or just being left and never picked up. And with that, you have experts and lawmakers saying these breakdowns can be traced back to the technology that UNOS uses. With a confidential 2021 White House report obtained by The Post finding that the whole system needs to be overhauled, citing complete shutdowns,

absolutely prehistoric software, and that's among many other issues and errors. But this is UNOS's rejected calls for reform. And this is the federal agency that oversees UNOS has very little power to actually regulate them and doesn't have the same technical expertise. So UNOS is basically able to get around new updates to technology that the feds require

by just complaining about change and using a lot of confusing technical jargon instead of actually taking steps to fix anything. But this also is one of the biggest complaints about UNOS is that they're just simply a shitty boss. Because while UNOS is the big daddy that controls the whole network, it does this by overseeing smaller regional nonprofits that actually handle the collection and transportation of organs. With those nonprofits called Organ Procurement Organizations or OPOs, and there are 57 of them in total, with each holding its own total monopoly over the territory it operates in. And critics have long accused UNOS of not doing enough to manage complaints about these OPOs when they underperform. In fact, in the 2022 report, the Senate Finance Committee said that UNOS's lax oversight of the regional non-profits, that was partly to blame for the many failures the report identified, specifically finding that one

in every three OPO had failed to meet government standards for collecting organs in their monopolized territory. And this is UNOS basically doesn't do a damn thing to hold the OPOs accountable. And that's really important for what we're talking about today, because it's these procurement organizations that are at the center of this reported investigation. Now, at the moment, the exact scope of the probe, that is unclear, with sources telling the Post that it involves U.S. attorneys from numerous parts of the country in at least five different states, as well as investigators

from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And while the inquiry has been going on for several months, it appears to be intensifying, with the chief executive of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations sending a letter to his membership that said that the VA inspector general had dispatched investigators to the offices and homes of 10 OPO chief executives as part of an inquiry. And as far as what is being investigated here, sources say the probe is looking to determine whether these OPOs knowingly defrauded the government, and specifically whether any OPOs violated the Federal False Claims Act by intentionally billing the federal government for unallowable costs. But sources also saying the investigators are looking into

whether there were any kickbacks between organizations and if six OPOs have fraudulently billed the VA and Medicare. And the VA's involvement here is actually very, very notable because it's not usually grouped in with the criticisms of the organ transplant system, though it still has plenty of its own problems. With a 2021 report in the American Journal of Transplantation finding that between 2010 and 2019, OPOs procured organs from just 33 deceased donors at VA hospitals, even though 5,281 were eligible for donation. And this also, as a person familiar with the inquiry, said that investigators are looking into whether OPOs

are just using VA donors to collect body tissues that can make them more money, but not harvesting desperately needed organs. Because in addition to procuring organs, some OPOs also collect tissues like skin, bone, heart valves, and other body parts that are used for surgical operations and other medical treatments,

with those being gathered both from people who also donate organs and from people who don't. And not only are those body tissues way easier to collect than organs, which obviously require much more expertise, but the market for them is also super lucrative. And unlike organs, information on tissue transaction doesn't have to be made available to the public. And while we only know so many details right now, this investigation is absolutely massive, because it could result in criminal charges or civil lawsuits, with a post saying this probe could be the gravest threat yet to the status quo in the troubled multi-billion dollar organ transplant industry. And that's incredibly

significant because this isn't the first time the federal government has tried to crack down on UNOS and its network of problematic organ procurement groups. Right back in 2012, two officials in the Alabama OPO were convicted of health care fraud and other charges after taking kickbacks from a funeral home. And just last year, the Senate Finance Committee sent letters to executives of eight different OPOs and what they described as an effort, quote, to crack down on serious potential financial conflicts of interest and abuse of taxpayer money. And there we saw the senators specifically asked the executives about instances in which they potentially abuse their positions for monetary gain. With them going on to allege that OPOs and their executives have

engaged in a complex web of financial relationships with tissue processors, researchers, testing laboratories, and logistics providers, which have the potential for creating conflicts of interest. And saying that the panel has heard testimony and received credible allegations that senior members of UNOS's patient protection and policymaking committees may harbor undisclosed for-profit interests and may be leveraging their UNOS leadership positions to self-enrich at the expense of patient care. And going on to say, Right, and beyond that, Congress has also taken tangible actions to crack down on UNOS's monopoly, with it actually passing a law back in July authorizing overhauls to the system.

But it's also unclear how much that'll actually achieve, because while it could take some power away from UNOS, the nonprofit will ultimately still be involved there. And UNOS actually didn't oppose the legislation, which is a pretty good sign that it probably doesn't go far enough. And all this as it's not just the federal government that's been taking aim at OPOs for alleged corruption. They're also going after each other. With one OPO filing a lawsuit back in December, accusing a neighboring group of trying to steal one of its big nonprofit healthcare networks by offering $3 million to start a new transplant program in violation of anti-kickback laws. And so at the very least, that feels like a glimpse, but I mean, this is clearly an industry

and system that is begging to be fixed. But with years and years of documented failure having not done that, all we can do right now is hope that this investigation is the straw that breaks the camel's back and that it brings about changes that are desperately needed. And then finally today, let's talk about yesterday today. And man, on yesterday's show, there was a lot of comments or a lot of conversation. And a lot of it was very heavy because it was in relation to our story about the misinformation around kidnappings.

A lot of people were thankful for the coverage. We had people like Jessica saying, Phil, I'm a human trafficking survivor and your coverage of this has me in awe. I've lost family because they believe these narratives and their gaslighting got so bad, I had to block them for my help. And saying so few people actually wanna help us and share the truth that is inconvenient and doesn't make them feel good.

I'm so glad you're trying to get this information out. I myself haven't made a video about it because of what she's talking about. My traffickers still have power and respect and I'm just a disabled person to them now. Foggy Psych sharing, I got my start as a therapist while working with sex trafficking victims. Every survivor's story is different and there's no, this is what sex trafficking looks like. A lot of victims blame themselves, wondering what they did to bring it on or what they could have done differently. For anyone that's gone through this, it's not your fault. You're so much more than what was done to you and you're not broken. You're worthy of so much love. And a lot of y'all agreeing with Nick

who said, all of those videos about how I was almost stolen in a Target are genuinely giving people mental health issues too. My mother is one of those people who's convinced that everyone is just always looking to grab someone because she was constantly watching true crime and hoaxes like the zip tie thing. It gave me such bad anxiety when I was first leaving her house to be an adult on my own to the point where I was scared to go outside. The fear mongering is making people genuinely unwell and it pulls so much away from what actually causes trafficking. Because now when people try to clarify it, they get yelled at by a lot of scared people who think they were almost a victim because of these types of posts. And I also want to take a second because obviously I can't get to every single comment. I do want to thank so many of you,

not only for giving your opinion, but for sharing your stories. It's very eye-opening, a lot of it's so heartbreaking. And all I can say is I wish you the best and I hope yesterday and that whole segment allowed you to feel kind of seen, maybe like something helpful was being spread. Also, in those comments, there were a lot of conversations around that first story, the stalking situation that led to a house getting blown up, with Stronsky saying, First story's wild. Imagine passing on a date because you got a bad vibe or some red flags,

only to be proven horribly correct when they and their friend come back at you with a bow and arrow, a snake, dog poo, and a goddamn IED. And WMD Kitty saying, And men wonder why women don't trust them. Which, yeah, I mean, there's no shortage of stories and situations that we've covered that make me go like, it often sounds so fucking hard just to be a woman that exists.

But also, of course, I will say with stalking and harassment, it is important to remember that everyone can be a victim. And actually with that, we have people like Frosty DLR sharing, I was in an abusive relationship. Breaking up made things so much worse.

She stalked, harassed, and even threatened to burn my house with my family inside it. Hearing that first story terrifies me, knowing how close a threat could have realistically been turned into a reality. The final comment I'll mention in this section was connected to the Mr. Beast story that we covered,

which had a lot of people agreeing with Cameron Jones, who said, The way Mr. Beast describes his work life makes me realize I should definitely spend more time with people close to me. Yes, money is very important, but I shouldn't neglect other things in my life. Yeah, this will come as no surprise if you watch yesterday's show where I was sharing my opinions and my personal life experiences, but I agree. Sometimes the pursuit of success and money, it blinds us to what we're trading with our time. The other experiences, the other benefits. But I also, you know, I want to put a big fucking asterisk on that story. It

is also important to remember that not everyone is in the same position. A lot of people, most people are just working a job or now multiple jobs just to fucking survive. And having the privilege of making those choices and like how we trade our time, not everyone has that. But it is important to remember because with whatever little control we have in our life, you do get to make some choices. And sometimes just being in the loop of survival, we lose track of life. So maybe at the very least, it can add some sort of a fire. Or I don't know, I'm a constant cynic, yet I always try to look for some fucking sort of silver lining. I think it's what keeps me from standing on the edge of a bridge sometimes. I don't know. I hope there was something

good in that story yesterday or even the conversation now that was helpful. But that is where today's show is going to end. And I'll leave you with two things. The first being a friendly reminder, join the text line over at 813-213-4423, especially for what's coming on Monday. And two, as always on these Thursdays, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you right back here on Monday.