The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.16 Guess Who Wants To Punish Poor Children, Hasan Abi, Ben Shapiro, Eden Knight, & Today's News

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got a rich dude bro exposed on video pushing a disabled student's wheelchair down the stairs. We need to talk about the devastating situation around Eden Knight. We've got Ben Shapiro wanting to punish poor kids and their families. The Pentagon just dropped some This You footage. There's a 50% off sale over at beautifulbastard.com on select items. That's ending in 24 to 36 hours. We're going to talk about all of that and so much more on this brand new Philip DeFranco show, so buckle up, make sure you're subscribed, and let's just jump into it.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Let's talk about this douchebag who thought it was a great idea to push a wheelchair down a flight of stairs that's now made national news. So let's break it down. Last weekend, there was security footage from a bar in Erie, Pennsylvania that went viral on Twitter. And that video shows a stairway of a bar that's packed with people, and at the top of the stairs is an unoccupied wheelchair. Several people pass the chair, there's no problem, there's no incident, and then three young men walk up to it and kind of linger. That is, before one of them sits in the chair, stands back up, and then proceeds to push it down the stairs before moving into the crowded room. And that charming young gentleman, as it turns out, is 23-year-old Carson Breer, notably the son of Danny Breer, a former NHL player, and in fact, the interim general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Starting point is 00:00:56 So the video was taken over the weekend. The video gets posted on Tuesday, and on Thursday, as I'm recording this, it has around 30 million views. Keep in mind, that's just the original video. And the original poster of that video identified the wheelchair as belonging to Sydney, a double amputee who needed to be carried to the restroom downstairs, which is why the chair was left unattended. So that's why with this, we saw GoFundMe started to help her cover the cost of her damaged chair. And as far as Carson, he became public enemy number one for a lot of people. Both he and his father trying to defuse the situation, issuing apology statements on Tuesday. Carson saying, I am deeply sorry for my behavior on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:01:25 There is no excuse for my actions, and I will do whatever I can to make up for this serious lack of judgment. And in fact, Mercyhurst University even released a statement saying that Carson was sorry, but adding, The actions displayed in the video make our hearts heavy and fall short of our mercy belief in the inherent dignity of each person. We pray for and are in solidarity with the victim and all persons with disabilities

Starting point is 00:01:42 who rightfully find actions like this to be deeply offensive. But adding, our Mercy tradition also reminds us that students and all people who make poor choices deserve opportunities to learn, change behaviors, and atone for harmful actions. Though, of course, with that, you have people going, so is nothing going to happen to Carson? Is it because of his famous dad? Regarding that, as far as what we know, the Mercyhurst athletic program has reportedly suspended Carson from the hockey team, and the other two dude bros in that video have been suspended from their respective teams. Though those suspensions are pending the outcome of an investigation, I imagine both into the incident as well as just kind of checking out to see when people are going to forget this happened. The reportedly the Erie police chief is also launching an investigation into the incident. So we'll see what happens there. But as far as the court of

Starting point is 00:02:17 public opinion, people do remain skeptical of Carson, it seems in general. And that seems to be connected to the belief that this is not this outlier and that this is maybe just another example of a trend with people looking into his background and finding that he was actually dismissed from the Arizona State University hockey program back in 2019. That for quote, a clear violation of team rules and that he was not a culture fit for the team. The ESPN reporting that it wasn't just a single incident. Saying his dismissal came from repeated behavioral problems. Also, as far as Sidney, the owner of the wheelchair, she said on Twitter that the donated money collected will be donated in turn to other disabled people who really need it.

Starting point is 00:02:46 So, you know, a little bit of a silver lining. And, of course, with this story, I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding Carson and the whole situation. But I guess in the meantime, remember, there are people with disabilities out there. And if you see a wheelchair, probably just stay away from the wheelchair. Treat it like it is a wheelchair in an abandoned mental hospital. Nothing good will come from fucking with it. And then, if you've never heard the name Eden Knight, I want you to listen up because after you hear this story, it's going to be a hard name to forget. So she's a 23-year-old woman from Saudi Arabia who came to the United

Starting point is 00:03:10 States for college and during the pandemic, she came out as trans. With friends telling Vice that not only was she well-read, hilarious, and so fucking smart, she also wanted to be a leader for trans people. But by last spring, she had graduated and her visa had expired, so she's seeking legal pathways to stay in the U.S. With a big part of this being her fearing her conservative Muslim family back home won't accept her. So she moves in with a woman named Bailey and her husband in Columbus, Georgia, because they're looking to host and support homeless trans people. And Eden was the absolute perfect addition to their family, getting her nails done with Bailey and caring for their son so well, she was gifted a bracelet with the word aunt etched into it.

Starting point is 00:03:40 Plus, at this time, she begins medically transitioning through hormone therapy, which apparently improved her mental health. And then in August, a man calls Eden on the phone, offering to help repair her relationship with her parents and she buys it. Right, and his name is Michael Pokaliko. He's a former Republican official and CEO of Special Investigations, a DC contractor. And to Eden he seems innocuous enough so she moves out to Washington following a suggestion where she meets him and more importantly a Saudi lawyer by the name of Bader. With the latter of the two housing her an apartment, buying her meals and and connecting her with therapists, all while subtly pushing her to detransition. Constantly telling her that she looks like a man and a confused teenager, according to Eden, who said, nobody misgenders me so purposefully like he does. And as she became dependent on him,

Starting point is 00:04:14 even fearing that she might get deported if she ran away, she buckles, with him reportedly forcing her to dress masculine and stop hormone therapy. He then buys her a flight back to Saudi Arabia, and she later discovers the truth. Bader and Michael had been hired by her fucking parents. So she flies back in December and her home life is a nightmare. With her family allegedly berating her, calling her a freak, her parents confiscating the hormones she tried to take in secret on more than one occasion. With her then apparently taking her own life, with her family announcing on Twitter this week that a young man with her name had died. And in a note detailing the entire story that she publicized before her death, Eden said, I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old.

Starting point is 00:04:47 I hope we get to see our kids who are up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights worldwide. You also had her friend Zoe say, this is as much a murder as a suicide. The things that she was going through were so insane that it wasn't just a mental health issue. I don't think most people could survive that, trans or otherwise. With this being another heartbreaking story, I don't know what to do because I feel like there's so many people in this world that are just locked. Like, how many times can I cite all the studies showing how gender-affirming care improves mental health and reduces suicidality for trans people? How many times can we talk about how only a tiny fraction of people who transition feel any regret afterward? Because it often feels like talking to a wall

Starting point is 00:05:19 that's already made its decision, validating their ignorant feelings with outlier stories, and boom, there you go. And this is true to so many of the villains in this story, but especially the two men at the center of it, you better hope there's not a hell. There's blood on your hands, and all the lies that you tell yourself to make you feel like maybe you're a good person,

Starting point is 00:05:37 it doesn't change the reality of the situation, and deep down somewhere, part of you knows that. And finally, for anyone that's watching this story, whether you be trans or any part of the LGBTQ plusbtq plus community Well, I can never fully understand because I am not in your head and that is not my lived experience Please know that you are valid Please know that you are loved that for all the hate in this world

Starting point is 00:05:54 There is so much acceptance and love and know that when you are not met with love and acceptance just because you are living Your own life not hurting a fucking other soul. That doesn't mean anything about you. It's about them. But I also know for you, these are just words in passing. So I do want to link, of course, to resources down below that can hopefully help. And then if you got in trouble at work, like what do you think would happen? Or do you think you'd get like a write-up, a slap on the wrist of some sort? Maybe even have your hours docked if you're an hourly employee. Well, according to a new court ruling out of the third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,

Starting point is 00:06:21 your PTO is on the table as well. Your paid time off could go bye-bye. With the ruling stemming from a lawsuit between Beata Home Healthcare and its salary-exempt employees, which specifically means employees who are paid a flat salary, regardless of how many hours they've worked.

Starting point is 00:06:32 Right at the company, these employees would get extra compensation if they met certain productivity goals, which is fairly standard at companies with salary-exempt employees. However, there were also punishments for missing those targets. In those cases, the company would actually take away PTO hours

Starting point is 00:06:44 that employees had accrued, which led to the workers suing under the Fair Labor Standards Act, with them arguing that the PTO was part of their compensation, and saying because of that, according to a Department of Labor fact sheet, an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which the employee performs any work, regardless of the number of days or hours worked. So they argued, as long as we show up for at least one hour during the week, we're entitled to the PTO. Though the company clearly disagreed and pointed out that in instances where a poor worker didn't

Starting point is 00:07:07 have any more PTO, it's not like they'd start docking their pay. Part of the argument was that the punishment can only go so far. We also ended up seeing the court disagreeing with the employee, saying that the PTO does not qualify as compensation and is instead a fringe benefit because it's paid irregularly, such as when it's taken or when an employee leaves the company. But before we freak out and you're like, oh my God, is my company going to do this? This decision, as of now, is only binding for the areas covered by the third district, which is like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. But I'll never say never because this does open the door for other courts to agree or disagree when something happens in their district.

Starting point is 00:07:35 And then, sell TikTok or it's getting banned. That's the official stance of the Biden administration is reportedly taking on TikTok and its Chinese ownership. For the US government versus TikTok, it's a battle that's been going on for a while now, and there's currently legislation floating around that could ban the app, with there being plenty of security concerns regarding the Chinese government's ability

Starting point is 00:07:50 to access private user data on the app, as well as use its algorithm to spread misinformation. And yesterday, we saw a TikTok spokesperson saying that the Biden administration wants Chinese ownership to sell the app, or it's gonna potentially get banned. But apparently, at least according to the New York Times, that demand was made to TikTok in recent weeks.

Starting point is 00:08:03 We have TikTok arguing that a sale really isn't going to solve any issues, saying, If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem. A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. And adding, Also, as places like NPR have noted, a sale like this would have to get the okay from Chinese officials who have been far from enthused about the idea. And we've already seen TikTok try to work with the U.S. in the past. We had the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. examining TikTok's data safeguards, with the app responding by pledging $1.5 billion on a project

Starting point is 00:08:38 that would keep the U.S. data on U.S. servers. But as concerns have grown, the committee has rejected that project. With all of that now leading us through this new ultimatum. So I'll keep my eyes on this. We're gonna have to wait to see what happens, but make sure you're subscribed so you stay in the loop. And then, did you know that two out of three guys will experience some form of male pattern baldness by the time that they're 35?

Starting point is 00:08:54 Maybe you have that friend or that family member that's dealing with hair loss, and well, thanks to the sponsor of today's show, Keebs, you don't have to just sit around and wait for that to happen to you. Whether you're looking to prevent hair loss, stimulate hair growth, or just take better care of the hair that you have,

Starting point is 00:09:05 Keeps has you covered. Keeps helps you stop hair loss before it's too late with a scientific and affordable approach to treatments that are up to 90% effective at reducing and stopping further hair loss. And in addition to clinically proven treatments, Keeps has an award-winning all-natural thickening shampoo and conditioner system. Plus, you can get these products delivered directly to your door, meaning no more going in person to the doctor's office for your prescription,

Starting point is 00:09:22 saving you both valuable time and money. Simply put, hair loss stops with Keeps. So to get your special offer, go to keeps.com slash DeFranco, or just click that link in the description. That's keeps.com slash DeFranco. And then hungry people don't exist because I've never met one. That's literally what Minnesota Republican State Senator Steve Draskowski said to argue against a bill that would provide universal free breakfast

Starting point is 00:09:40 and lunches to all public school students. I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry. Yet today. I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don't have access to enough food to eat. Now, I should say that hunger is a relative term, Mr. President. You know, I had a cereal bar for breakfast. I guess I'm hungry now. Oh, there's so many douchebags in this story.

Starting point is 00:10:07 Imagine having the audacity to say that, period. But the fact that this man is a politician, it really brings the insane stupidity to another level. I'm starting to feel like if you've never been poor, you shouldn't be able to take a public office. Because this schmuck's full-throated admission of being completely out of touch with the people that he represents is wild. Right, I'm not talking about feelings here. I'm talking about data. Specifically, data from the Hunger-Free Schools campaign showing that one in six children in Minnesota is food insecure. But also, 25% of those children are not eligible to get financial help with school meals because it's a means-tested program. Which is exactly why

Starting point is 00:10:36 supporters of the bill say it is needed, because it can close the gap for families in Minnesota that don't qualify for free or reduced school meals, but still struggle to pay for them. And what's more, according to Democrat Senator Heather Gustafson, who wrote the bill, one in five students in Senator Draskowski's district qualifies for free and reduced lunch. But also, unsurprisingly, that wasn't the only stupid thing Draskowski said regarding the bill.

Starting point is 00:10:54 He also argued the estimated $200 million a year, the measure is estimated to cost, would be better spent on addressing learning issues at schools. But as Gustafson pointed out, this will do exactly that, saying, being hungry makes learning almost impossible. There is no worksheet or assignment, test, or project that will matter to a student who hasn't had anything to eat. And studies have shown time and time again that kids fucking need food to be able to learn and focus,

Starting point is 00:11:15 and feeding students actually helps performance. Beyond that, $200 million a year in this specific context is not very much to provide every single public school kid two free meals five days a week. Especially when you consider the fact that education receives the second biggest amount of funding in Minnesota's budget and that the state lawmakers are working with a $17.5 billion budget surplus this year. Now, all that said, the good news here is that the Senate did actually pass the bill. And since it's already been passed in the House, it's now expected to be signed into law by the Democratic governor. But Druskowski wasn't the only person saying stupid shit about school lunches and child hunger this week. You also had this clip of Ben Shappalappa Ding Dong

Starting point is 00:11:46 going viral where he's arguing against making school lunches free. With custom Trail Bosses available, class-exclusive Duramax 3-liter diesel engine and Z71 off-road package with a 2-inch factory suspension lift, you get both on-road confidence and off-road capability. Dirt road ahead? Let's go! Truck month is awesome! Ask your Chevrolet dealer for details. So you've always been picky about your produce. But now you find yourself checking every label to make sure it's Canadian. So be it.

Starting point is 00:12:27 At Sobeys, we always pick guaranteed fresh Canadian produce first. Restrictions apply. See in-store or online for details. ...are not going to solve the problem of child hunger at any serious level. If there is a problem of children actually starving, that is a child endangerment scenario to which CPS needs to be called. If you're talking about actual child starvation, the truth is it does not take that much money

Starting point is 00:12:50 to feed a child. I know I have three of them. That's right, it's not hard to feed your kids. There's no excuse. Just become a massively successful grifter. Stoke the flames of a culture war, peddle in intellectually dishonest or ignorant opinions, get a career based off of dunking on teenagers

Starting point is 00:13:03 who don't have a college degree yet. Then boom, you could feed three kids like Ben. Also, I just love that the core of this argument is, you know, the government shouldn't be stepping in and paying for these kids' lunches. If the parents can't pay for the kids to eat, we should pay people to take those kids out of the home, place them somewhere where all of a sudden the care for that child is also subsidized. But I'm also getting ahead of myself because, I mean, he's just factually wrong on a multiple level. First of all, he's totally mischaracterizing the situation. Kids can be food insecure or hungry without being physically starved.

Starting point is 00:13:28 That's on the very extreme end of a very big spectrum. What's more, he's wrong that school lunches don't have an impact on child hunger, especially for families dealing with sky-high food prices due to inflation, combined with the winding down of many pandemic-era programs that help reduce household hunger nationwide to the lowest ever. And these universal free lunch programs in particular are incredibly impactful. If you don't know, during the pandemic, the Department of Agriculture waived school meal eligibility requirements so schools could offer free meals for all students. And according to a study by the Food Research and Action Center, 95% of school nutrition staff surveyed said that the waivers helped reduce child hunger in their districts

Starting point is 00:13:57 during the 2021-22 school year. Beyond that, school lunches make up a lot of the meals that students have, which is also something Representative Ted Lieu put really well in a tweet responding to Benny Boy's absolute dumb fuckery. Dear Ben Shapiro, your remarks are dumb. Let's do math. Say a kid should eat 21 meals a week. School lunches provide five of those meals, solving nearly one-fourth of the problem. That's pretty good. Oh, and how about you miss one of your meals five days a week and see how you feel? And keep in mind with Ted, that's just him talking about school lunches. Right, just in 2019, the Agriculture Department also funded $2.5 billion free or low-cost breakfast to kids in need. And for universal free lunch programs that also provide free breakfast like California's and the one expected to go into effect in Minnesota,

Starting point is 00:14:31 we're talking about kids getting almost half their meals at school. Also, going back to Shapiro saying Child Protective Services needs to get involved, I'm in no way the only one calling that out. With his group, including the likes of Hasan Piker who tweeted, 9 million children in the richest nation on earth live in food insecure homes. Mr. Protect Our Kids claims the best thing for the small government to do is kidnap them and put them in the foster care system instead of offering free lunches or child tax credits. It's probably way more expensive to fund enough resources

Starting point is 00:14:54 to track down all the kids who are hungry and then find them homes or whatever the fuck this plan is than just help feed them at school. And I say this not as just an outsider, right? I'm doing well for myself. I'm not gonna act like I'm the most connected to Joe Blow guy, but I grew up poor. I took advantage of free lunches at times, and it will never not infuriate me that people that seemingly are ignorant and have no empathy

Starting point is 00:15:13 whatsoever have these massive audiences where it would make more sense to rip me away from my parents who were trying to bounce back at the time and to support a social safety net that is specifically meant to help the kids. And to bring it back to the core story the time, than to support a social safety net that is specifically meant to help the kids. And to bring it back to the core story with Minnesota, in a state where the $200 million is a tiny little fraction of the surplus. But hey, that's a story, my personal takeaway. And of course, I'll pass the question off to you.

Starting point is 00:15:37 What are your thoughts on this one? And then, can Fox News be trusted? Now, keep in mind, I'm not asking you specifically because you're watching this show and that means you probably weren't dropped on your head as a child, but rather that's a question for people who consume Fox News.

Starting point is 00:15:48 Do you actually trust it? And specifically, do you trust it following the texts that were revealed in the Dominion lawsuit? And according to new polling, which was done by Variety, by Maru Group, some of the network's viewers are starting to catch on. But the key word there is some. Or because remember, those texts revealed

Starting point is 00:16:01 that despite literally everything they said on air, how much they were validating, platforming, and just adding fuel to the fire of bullshit claims, Fox hosts and executives privately condemned Trump and his election fraud claims. Right, texts where Tucker Carlson literally said he hates Trump passionately. And others where one of Carlson's producers compared election deniers to terrorists, but especially dumb ones. Cousin fucking types, not Saudi royalty. And all of that bringing us to a survey that ended up finding that after those texts were revealed, 21% of the network's viewers trusted Fox News less.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Which honestly, you would think that number would be higher when they were essentially calling the viewers cousin fucking terrorists. But no, you had 45% continuing to trust it, 23% having no opinion, and 11% already not trusting it and continuing not to. My people, I get it. Sometimes you gotta see what the propaganda machine's

Starting point is 00:16:41 putting out there so you know what world other people are living in. But here's a key thing that really hits on the depressing fact that none of this fucking matters. Even though roughly one-fifth of viewers trust the network less, only 9% said they were actually watching it less. With Fox News even telling the outlet there has been no impact to advertising

Starting point is 00:16:55 with no advertisers dropping or pausing as well as no impacts on viewership levels. But the survey did also find that it did change people's opinions on if the election was stolen or not. With 13% of their viewers saying, you know what, now I don't believe that the 2020 election was stolen. Though very key thing,

Starting point is 00:17:08 literally 50% say they still believe it was stolen. The emperor has no clothes and half of the people do not care. And then, you know how yesterday the US government claimed that an international airspace, there was a Russian fighter jet that dumped fuel on a US Air Force surveillance drone, then clipping it, forcing it into the ocean.

Starting point is 00:17:23 And then Russia responded, no, that's not what happened. The drone just crashed after making a sharp maneuver. But that resulting today in the Pentagon saying, you know we have receipts, right? We don't give our people universal healthcare. You don't think we put a fucking camera on this thing? And they released an around 40 second video where you see a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a drone.

Starting point is 00:17:39 Hey bro, watch your jet. Watch your jet, bro. Watch your jet! Then there being a loss of the video feed on what appears to be a second pass. And then it ending with what looks like a drone's propeller fucked up. And personally, I'm happy they released this footage. Watch your jet bro, WATCH YOUR JET! Then there being a loss of the video feed on what appears to be a second pass, and then it ending with what looks like a drone's propeller fucked up. And personally I'm happy they released this footage, Biden and the Pentagon was like,

Starting point is 00:17:50 this you? Because it's important the world see what actually happened. There's also new reports saying the Kremlin encouraged the Russian jet to hit the drone, and claiming that Russia is actively searching for the drone but the US wiped its hardware and says that it's sunken as low as 5,000 feet. But there are also being claims that this is just one example of a trend of Russian forces trying to provoke the U.S. to attack. So, you know, fun times. And then we got big news coming out of Australia. With Queensland, the country's third most populous state, passing a controversial set of laws seeking to crack down on youth crime. You have the first one criminalizing breach of bail for minors, which critics say overrides the state's Human Rights Act. Meanwhile, other provisions

Starting point is 00:18:20 build more detention centers, expand an electronic monitoring trial for kids as young as 15, and raise maximum sentences for violent car thieves. And for those who complained about the laws, most thought it just didn't go far enough, with them calling the Premier a hypocrite for going back on her promise to give juvenile car thieves 14 years behind bars. They're not even the laws that she promised Queenslanders. They're not. Yet all this comes despite the government's most recent crime report showing that the total child offender count dropped 27% in the decade before 2020 to 2021. Over the last year, some data suggests the number rose by up to 1,000. But in recent years, you have people saying the media, especially Rupert Murdoch's News Corp,

Starting point is 00:18:51 that they've put an outsized spotlight on youth crime, which is more visible than adult criminality, partly because some of the teens brag about what they did on TikTok and other social media posts. There have also been several high-profile deaths, which have sparked anger and frustration among the public. So over the past few years, the government has shifted toward a tough-on-crime approach despite protests from experts and human rights groups, many of whom argued the new laws won't be effective and will just incarcerate more teens, leading to repeat offenders. But I'm also pointing to some recent high-profile cases illustrating the danger of the justice system, with one of the examples being a 13-year-old

Starting point is 00:19:17 indigenous boy who was put in detention for minor offenses and was kept in solitary confinement for 45 days, 22 of which were consecutive. But I'm also claiming he was once denied water after he became distressed from the prolonged isolation and flooded his cell. And so with all this, you have the crime victims and lawmakers who say tougher measures are necessary to keep the youth from straying onto the wrong path.

Starting point is 00:19:34 And on the other side, you have experts and activists saying, while the victim's pain is real, this is not the way to fix it. And while, of course, I'd love to know everyone's opinion on this, especially if you're one of the Australian beautiful bastards who watch this show,

Starting point is 00:19:44 what are your thoughts here? Which side of the fence are you on? And that's where today's show is going to end. Thank you for being a part of another daily dive into all the news. If you missed any of the daily shows this week, check them out here or in the links down below. There was a lot to get through. Also be on the lookout for the special Sunday show. I got a big announcement there. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you tomorrow. I mean, Sunday. It was Sunday. I already forgot.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.16 Guess Who Wants To Punish Poor Children, Hasan Abi, Ben Shapiro, Eden Knight, & Today's News

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.