The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.18 The Israel Gaza Problem Just Got Worse, Surprise Attack Kills Over 400, Roberts Rebukes Trump & More

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at https://PDSDebt.com/defranco   Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here:  https://youtu.be/8b9Df4zgGl0?feature=shared&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Ubisoft Prepares For Staff Harassment Amid Assassin’s Creed Shadows Launch 04:10 - UMG Files Motion to Dismiss Drake Lawsuit 07:38 - John Roberts Rebukes Trump Over Call to Impeach Judge 11:03 - Sponsored by PDS Debt 12:05 - Israeli Airstrikes Kill Over 400 Palestinians in Gaza and Shatter Ceasefire 18:15 - DOGE “Seizes” Institute of Peace & Other Updates 27:01 - Teacher’s Annual Tradition Inspires Students to Spend $20 For Kindness 29:47 - Comment Commentary  $20 Challenge: https://www.pledgecents.com/cause/mpqqxz/20-challenge-a-lesson-in-kindness ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #Drake #AssassinsCreed ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet Tim's new Oreo Mocha Ice Caps with Oreo in every sip. Perfect for listening to the A-side, or B-side, or Bull-side. Order yours on the Tim's app today at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. In a huge and rare move, Chief Justice Roberts just hit back at Donald Trump over attacks on a judge who issued a ruling against him. Israel just killed over 400 Palestinians in a surprise airstrike, breaking the ceasefire, and they're warning there's more to come. We've got three big updates you need to know about Dogecut news, and the Assassin's Creed anti-harassment and Drake UMG lawsuit situations have divided the internet. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, where you daily dive into the news,

how it's being covered, and how people are reacting to it, starting with this. Ubisoft is now reportedly planning for its employees to be hit with an onslaught of harassment as their new game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, is set to release this week. Because while for many it is a highly anticipated game, for others, they're angry. For nearly the last year,

it's faced a sort of anti-DEI controversy. And this, in part, because the installation takes place in feudal Japan, and when the trailer first came out back in May, people got to meet the two main characters, Naoe and Yasuke. And as you might've noticed, Yasuke is black and that prompted tons of people to cry woke and threatened to not play the game.

With some tying their issue with his race to the fact that the game is set in Japan, arguing that leads should have been Japanese. And then on top of that, some were also mad that the other protagonist was a woman. But as far as historical accuracy is concerned, reportedly Yasuke is a historical figure and black samurai. Though with that, it kind of added to the backlash

as some contend that there are questions about his rank and samurai status. So you had outlets like Forbes noting that there was some criticism about accuracy alongside people who were just simply mad that he was black at all. And while all of this, you know, started in spring of last year

with the game about to come out, recent posts from the Assassin's Creed account have been met with some replies that are slamming the game for being woke or DEI or some variation of that. So now we're seeing things like the outlet BFM TV reported that Ubisoft is implementing an anti-harassment strategy for the games released to protect its staffers and developers who designed it.

With one staffer reportedly telling the outlet, "'We're advised not to post on social media "'that we work at Ubisoft to avoid harassment.'" And that staffer noting, "'Some have already dealt with a series of attacks "'since the game was first presented to the public.'" Additionally, you had BFM TV reporting that Ubisoft presented an anti-harassment plan to the CSE. And while the outlet didn't say what the acronym meant, Forbes said that it referred to Canada's communication security establishment.

And this plan will reportedly involve a team monitoring and acting in the event of any targeted attack as well as providing psychological and legal support to employees that are targeted. With outlets like Forbes noting that as wild as this might sound, quote, there have been many such instances of individual developers target over games deemed woke or anti-anti-DEI statements they've made. And saying this can involve them being personally attacked and brigaded online or their actual faces being plastered on YouTube thumbnails. And with that, saying that some have been targeted just for progressive seeming t-shirts

that they've been photographed wearing, having their pronouns in their bio or for having a certain hair color. And so with all that, we've seen a lot of different responses to the news. There's some like big streamer and commentator, they've been photographed wearing, having their pronouns in their bio, or for having a certain hair color. And so with all that, we've seen a lot of different responses to the news. There's some like big streamer and commentator, Hasan Piker, writing,

"'The Wildest Meta Online' is content creators of every political background running targeted harassment operations in the ways that anonymous online forums used to and masquerading it as accountability." And adding, "'Sending death threats to devs is not accountability. You should self-reflect.'"

And this, as you had others saying, "'The fact Ubisoft has to do this' speaks volumes about how toxic the gaming community really is. Absolutely insane. With some there believing this issue is not tied to just this case or scenario. You had Wired last year reporting that DEI has kind of become a rallying cry for Gamergate 2.0, with them citing a postdoc at UCLA there who argued, even if we cleansed our games of women, non-white people, queer people, which is their ask, and one we absolutely should not give in to, they would turn to insufficiently masculine depictions of white men. And claiming this movement exists only in opposition to some polluting other and enemy that must be manufactured if a real enemy cannot be found. And that, as you had outlets saying, right, that idea of trying to point to others and manufacture enemies probably sounds familiar in terms of our political landscape.

With us seeing, for example, Forbes noting that these anti-DEI social trends are now normalized in the US government. Some even arguing that the anti-woke right has pulled some of its strategies straight out of the Gamergate playbook. With, for example, Axios writing that the far right learned from Gamergate and other online movements, how to use social media attacks

to achieve real world political gains in ways that many key institutions from journalism to government to tech are still struggling to understand. You know, with all that, as the discourse around this on both sides continues online, the reviews for the game are coming in and the release is just around the corner, I gotta pass the question off to you with what are your thoughts here? What do you agree or disagree with, with what you've seen online or what you've seen reported, as well as just your general thoughts around the anti-harassment measures or on the bigger picture scale of the anti-woke, anti-DEI stuff.

But then switching gears to big entertainment and legal news, Drake picked a fight, took a huge L, got all in his feelings and decided to sue to make said feelings hurt West. That is pretty much the scathing legal argument Universal Music Group just dropped on Drake in a recent legal filing over his lawsuit against them. Because if you don't remember the specifics,

earlier this year, Drake sued UMG, which represents both Kendrick Lamar and Drake himself. With Drake accusing the company of defamation and alleging that when Universal allowed Kendrick to release Not Like Us, the label, quote, "'Launched a campaign to create a viral hit "'out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake "'of being a pedophile and calls

"'for violent retribution against him.'" And then further claiming that UMG knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false and chose corporate greed over the safety and wellbeing of its artists. But UMG, you know, they denied the allegations. And yesterday they filed a motion to get the suit dismissed, claiming that Drake, quote,

lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. And then adding, and remember, I am reading this word for word. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.

And that's just where the filing starts. You also had the label saying that in a rap battle, it takes two to tango, right? And so with that, they said that Drake used UMG's platform to promote tracks that said Kendrick abused his wife and that one of his sons is not actually his and was fathered by his business partner. With him then further adding, not like us did not emerge out of thin air. It was Lamar's culminating diss track and one of the nastiest lyrical warfare rap feuds in recent history. And adding, it followed the release of seven preceding tracks in which Drake and Lamar hurled increasingly vitriolic allegations at each other, and saying if there was circumstance for the audience to

anticipate the use of epithets, fiery rhetoric, or hyperbole, this is it. With them arguing that this is all part of the diss track genre, which is centered around outrageous insults, and saying they would be severely chilled if Drake's suit were permitted to proceed. Which is essentially a legalese way to say that Drake is kind of fighting against the culture. And then when it comes to the specific claims, Love It or Not Like Us, you had UMG arguing that criticism concerning Drake's relationships with minors

predate the song and have even been acknowledged by Drake himself. But essentially saying that if Drake has 99 problems, 11 is one. But then also as far as the reach of the song, there is no understating just how big this song was. Right, not like us swept the Grammys, it was the main event, a Kendrick Super Bowl halftime performance. But with that, Drake's team maintains that this is the result of a defamation campaign from his own label, with his lawyer responding to UMG's

dismissal motion by saying, UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists, and the public from a simple truth. A greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence. With Drake's initial suit noting that Kendrick's cover art for Not Like Us depicts his house and street with sex offender markers on it. And as the rap battle was ongoing, a shooting actually took place outside of Drake's home and left his security guard injured. And as far as why Drake believes that his own label would defame him, well, Drake's current deal is coming to an end. And so the suit alleges that UMG intentionally harmed Drake's brand to gain leverage when negotiating a new deal with them. But there you have UMG maintaining it

did nothing wrong by publishing Not Like Us and argues that Drake is in the wrong for filing the lawsuit. But I'm also noting here that Drake previously signed a petition just a few years back that condemned prosecutors from using artists' creative expression and lyrics against them in court with the label adding, Drake wasrake was right then and is wrong now.'" You know, as far as the response to this news, we've largely seen Drake mostly getting dunked on online, with people seemingly really loving just how scathing UMG was in the dismissal motion

and that Drake's getting dragged by his own label. But I mean, the filing even has a header using one of Drake's own lyrics against him with the document starting by quoting him saying, "'Yeah, I want it all. "'That's why I strive for it. "'Diss me, you'll never hear a reply for it.'" Which I'll say is,

as far as the lawsuit dismissal motion world, pretty standout. You know, while we wait to see how this plays out, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. But then, next up, we gotta talk about how Donald Trump and many of his supporters think

that judges that he disagrees with should be impeached. And now, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has spoken up, with Roberts issuing a rare statement criticizing Donald Trump and his allies for their attacks on the judiciary. Right, but with that, to understand, the starting point for this story

is the Trump administration deported dozens of alleged Venezuelan gang members by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Right, and we went over this in detail yesterday, but there were at least three key points. Right, one, it's a law that allows the government to deport certain individuals in times of war without trial. And while the administration claims

we're being invaded by gangs and therefore at war, that's kind of a hot take to say the least. Two, despite the administration's claims, it hasn't provided any evidence yet that all those being deported are gang members or have committed any crimes in the US at all. And three, despite the apparent lack of due process, these deportees are not just being sent back

to their home country, they're instead being sent to a prison in El Salvador and forced to work. And so with all that, you had US District Judge James Boasberg issuing a temporary restraining order to halt the deportations until the question of their legality could be resolved in the court system.

Notably, however, the planes were already in the air and the administration defied the judge's verbal directive to have them turned around, claiming they hadn't truly defied the judge because his written decision didn't also specify that the plane should be sent back. But then also claiming that the judge lacked the authority in the first place.

And then today you had Trump writing on social media, clearly in reference to Boasburg. This radical left lunatic of a judge, a troublemaker and agitator who is sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama was not elected president. With him then going on to say in all caps, "'He didn't win anything. "'I won for many reasons and an overwhelming mandate,

"'but fighting illegal immigration may have been "'the number one reason for this historic victory. With Trump also saying, I'm just doing what the voters wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the crooked judges I am forced to appear before, should be impeached. Though notably, of course, with that, there's several federal judges appointed

by Democratic and Republican presidents, including Trump himself, who have blocked Trump's agenda in the past. You know, with that, there have been increasingly frequent calls for various judges to be impeached from the MAGA base, as well as from those in power. You know, with all this, you been increasingly frequent calls for various judges to be impeached from the MAGA base, as well as from those in power. You know, with all this, you have experts saying it is all incredibly alarming because it's an attack on a basic pillar of our democracy.

And so with that, Roberts apparently could no longer stay quiet, saying in a statement, For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose. And a key thing with that is this type of thing is extremely rare, but it also isn't the first time that Roberts has publicly clashed with Trump. In 2018, for example, he criticized Trump for singling out an Obama judge who had ruled against the administration saying, we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges, or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. But in any case, as a recording, neither Trump nor the White House has commented on Roberts' statement.

Though notably, even after Roberts issued his statement, you had Brandon Gill, a Republican from Texas, announcing on X that he had introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg, writing he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and should be removed from office. Which is something that has many experts saying they cannot stress enough how insane that is. We're saying that there's very good reason to believe these deportations are illegal and the judiciary has only done what it's designed to do. And to be very clear,

while a handful of federal judges have been removed from office in the past, it has been because of gross misconduct in office, such as taking bribes, right? Not as a result of individual decisions they've made. Because if you just start trying to oust judges because you do not agree with their decision, the whole system just falls apart, right?

And all of this is notably happening as you have many pointing out that the judiciary is seemingly the only thing trying to do a check and balance as Congress has kind of just given up so much power to the executive branch. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out.

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Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Then, next up in big international news, the Israeli government just killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, breaking its fragile, flailing ceasefire with Hamas. And while you have many hoping that a deal can somehow be salvaged, you have a lot of people just left wondering how many more people are going to die. And you know, with that, the surprise airstrikes be salvaged, you have a lot of people just left wondering how many more people are going to die. And you know, with that, the surprise airstrikes early this morning,

they reportedly killed at least 404 Palestinians, to be exact, including five senior Hamas leaders, but also women, children, and other noncombatants, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. With the same things, like for example, a strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah, reportedly killing 17 members of one family, including five children and their parents as well,

as another three children and their father. And overall, it was among one of the deadliest single days of the war, a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom were reportedly women and children, as well as displaced an estimated 90% of the population and otherwise led to widespread destruction and devastation across Gaza. With Israel, as a result, facing evidence-backed accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. And that is, of course, the war first erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing some 1,200 people,

mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. With evidence of the atrocities committed that day also supporting accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the group. But in any case, regarding this latest Israeli attack, you have officials saying that the operation was open, ended and expected to expand. With one official telling the Associated Press

that Israel was striking Hamas's military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. They also accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. And with all that, the Israeli military has now also ordered people to evacuate areas alongside Gaza's borders

and head toward the center of the territory. With this further indicating that Israel could soon launch a new ground offensive. And on that note, the center of the territory. With this further indicating that Israel could soon launch a new ground offensive. And on that note, the prospect of the war continuing, it's raised concerns about the fate of the roughly two dozen hostages still held by Hamas and believed to be alive.

Right in this is notably, according to a recent New York Times analysis, at least 41 hostages have been killed since being taken captive on October 7th. Some killed by Hamas's fire, some by Israeli bullets and airstrikes, and others whose cause of death remain unknown. You know, now with all that, the main group representing families of the captives, they criticize the government for backing out killed by Hamas's fire, some by Israeli bullets and airstrikes and others whose cause of death remain unknown.

You know, now with all that, the main group representing families of the captives, they criticize the government for backing out of the ceasefire, saying that it chose to give up on the hostages and adding, "'We are shocked, angry, and terrified "'by the deliberate dismantling of the process "'to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity "'of Hamas.'"

And then on the flip side, you have a senior Hamas official claiming Netanyahu's decision to return to war amounts to a death sentence for the remaining hostages. With him accusing the Israeli prime minister of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing coalition and also calling on mediators to reveal facts on who broke the truce.

And while of course, you know, we can't be in Netanyahu's head, we don't definitively know his inner motivation, it is certainly true that he's facing mounting domestic pressure, which this latest move may help him weather. I mean, mass protests have already been planned over not only his handling of the hostage crisis, but his recent

decision to fire the head of Israel's internal security agency, a guy by the name of Ronan Barr. With a key thing there being that under Barr's leadership, the agency is currently investigating ties between Netanyahu advisors and leaked classified documents as well as the possible exchange of favors with Qatari officials. And with all that, Netanyahu has already fired or forced out a string of top officials since the war began, with his critics saying this has all been part of a broader campaign by Netanyahu

to undermine independent government institutions, with the ultimate aim being to boost his reputation, silence dissent, and hold onto power in the face of pressure to not only accept his own alleged responsibility for policy failures in the lead-up to October 7th, but also as he stands trial on corruption charges. And if we're looking at this situation critically,

to some extent, it seems to be working. Right, his latest testimony in the long running trial, it's actually been canceled directly in response to the urgency of the ongoing military operation in Gaza. And this is the operation has also seemingly given him a political boost, at least among extremists. With the saying the far right Jewish power party that left Netanyahu's coalition in response to the ceasefire

now announcing it would be rejoining the government. And their party's leader is saying, "'We welcome the return of the state of Israel led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intense fighting.'" And all of this happening at a time where Netanyahu and the Israeli far right have seemingly been emboldened by the Trump administration.

With the White House even revealing that it had been consulted by Israel about yesterday's airstrikes and also voicing support for Israel's actions. You also had National Security Council spokesman, Brian Hughes, blaming Hamas, claiming that the group could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire, but instead chose refusal and war.

And notably the key words there were echoed by Netanyahu's office saying that he ordered the military operation following the repeated refusal by Hamas to release the hostages and warn, "'From now on, Israel will act against Hamas "'with increasing military strength.'" But this also as the ceasefire and hostage release deal

that Hamas refused, it's not the one they agreed as the ceasefire and hostage release deal that Hamas refused, it's not the one they agreed to back in January. Because the first phase of that deal, it actually expired on March 1st, and it saw the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the increased flow of humanitarian aid, and the release and exchange of individuals

held by either side. Also, I'll say here that during the first phase, Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians who the military say approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas. But overall, the ceasefire was seen as having held. However, it was also meant to include the start of talks to negotiate the second phase,

which would see the declaration of a permanent secession of hostilities in Gaza, the withdrawal of all Israeli troops, and the release of all living hostages in exchange for additional Palestinians described as prisoners and detainees. But there, Israel reportedly refused to move forward with phase two,

claiming that it had never been required. With the seeing the country's foreign minister, for example, claiming that Israel received a side letter from the Biden administration that explicitly states that there is no automatic transition between phases. And so instead you had Israel calling for an extension of the ceasefire during which Hamas would be required to release additional hostages.

When Hamas then refused and insisted that phase two move forward as originally planned, Netanyahu announced that Israel would begin blocking the supply of food, aid supplies, and fuel to Gaza, with him and others arguing they couldn't commit to an end to the war as long as Hamas remained armed and in control of Gaza. Though notably, with that, Arab leaders have endorsed

a plan to rebuild Gaza that would see Hamas cede power to a committee of independent experts until a reformed Palestinian authority can assume control. However, Israel has also ruled out any role for the Palestinian authority in Gaza, and Hamas, while claiming to be willing to let other Palestinians run the enclave, says it won't give up its arms until there is a Palestinian state. And so with that, the U.S. and Israel flat out rejected it and instead took steps towards implementing Trump's Gaza takeover

slash what many say would be ethnic cleansing proposal. Or with the Israeli government establishing a new office under its defense ministry to manage the mass transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries. Right, and this is American and Israeli officials have reportedly been approaching the governments of Sudan and Somalia to talk about resettling Palestinians there and also considering Syria. Though with that, you have Trump insisting that, quote, "'Nobody is expelling any Palestinians.'"

But ultimately, we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out, especially considering all these new developments. But then, switching gears from that, we need to talk about three things you need to know about Doge today. Right, and so the first is that Doge is now being accused of breaking into a private nonprofit

that's not part of the executive branch and using law enforcement to physically remove the organization's leaders. With this massive showdown taking place yesterday at the US Institute of Peace, which is an independent nonprofit that was created by Congress back in 1984 under legislation that very notably was signed into law by President Reagan.

And the aim of USIP is to help prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad, according to its website. But last month, Trump signed an executive order listing the nonprofit as one of four agencies to be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law as part of Doge and Elon Musk's sweeping cuts. And just this last Friday, the administration fired

most of the organization's board, except for three members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and National Defense University President Peter Garvin. And then with the rest of the board out of the organization's board, except for three members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and National Defense University President Peter Garvin. And then with the rest of the board out of the way, those three went into full succession mode and promptly fired USIP's president and CEO, George Moos, and replaced him with Kenneth Jackson. And he is a State Department official

who played a role in dismantling USAID. But with all this, you had officials at USIP arguing that Trump and Musk actually had no authority to gut their operations because the agency is a congressionally chartered nonprofit and not part of the executive branch. With a lawyer for the Institute saying that it was preparing to sue the administration

over the board's removal and that officials at the organization have refused to recognize the terminations. Also, according to USIP officials, people working for Doge initially tried to gain access to the agency's DC headquarters shortly after the mass firing of the board, but representatives from the Institute made them leave.

But then, later that same day, Doge officials coming back with two FBI agents, but they eventually left after a lawyer for the nonprofit, told them it was an independent agency outside of the executive branch. But then, yesterday, Doge once again turned up outside of USIP headquarters, but this time they had what appeared to be private security

and they tried to enter the building. So officials at the Institute, they call the police to report that Doge members were trespassing on their property. But when the police actually arrived, instead of clearing out the Doge team, they removed USIP leaders from the building, including Moose, and allowed Doge to enter.

With Doge saying on exit, police also escorted Jackson, USIP's new leader, into the building, and accused Moose of refusing to grant him lawful access. But with that, we saw Moose, for his part, painting the story in a very different way. Instead, accusing Doge of illegally breaking into a building that they had no right to access and physically evicting leaders

that had no right to remove. And adding, our statute is very clear about the status of this building and this institute. So what has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit corporation. With a lawyer for USIP also painting this as a full-fledged coup, saying that the building

was seized by force by police officers with guns, acting under the authority of a resolution that we are going to get a court to declare invalid. And to that point, a key thing, I really cannot emphasize how significant this is. While Doge and Trump have repeatedly been accused of exceeding legal authorities in their mass purges, this is markedly different from anything we've seen. And so this is gonna be an absolutely key

and crucial legal test that we have to keep an eye on. But that then brings us to the second big piece of Doge-related news we need to talk about, which is that current and former employees of the Social Security Administration who span the political spectrum are now warning that Doge's cost-cutting measures, they're gonna hurt the agency's ability

to serve the public. And that failure would have massive implications. The SSA sends retirement, survivor, and disability payments to more than 73 million Americans each month. And it's also super significant in that Trump has repeatedly promised that he will not touch Social Security benefits. Social Security will not be touched. It'll only be strengthened.

We're not touching Social Security, other than we might make it more efficient, but the people are going to get what they're getting. Look, Social Security won't be touched, other than fraud or something. We're going to find it's going to be strengthened, but won't be touched. Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched. Nothing. Aims to cut $2 trillion. Can you guarantee that Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security will not be touched?

Yeah, I mean, I have said it so many times, you shouldn't be asking me that question. Okay, this will not be read my lips. It won't be read my lips anymore. We're not going to touch it. Now, we are going to look for fraud. But a huge thing here is that you have experts and officials on both sides of the aisle saying that Elon Musk and Doge's so-called cost-cutting measures, they have the potential to create such massive holes in the infrastructure of the agency that they could destabilize the entire program, which in turn could threaten access to social security benefits. Because a big thing to understand is that SSA staffing, it was already at a 50-year low, putting enormous strain on the agency and undermining its ability

to serve the public. And now they're calling even more in response to pressure from Doge, with the agency announcing in recent weeks that it will cut up to 12% of its workforce while also offering early retirement and other incentives to get people to leave. And then even more recently, we've seen Musk ramping up his criticism of the program and seemingly teeing up even more cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. With the meeting calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme at a recent interview with Joe Rogan and saying on Fox News last week, The way it's important in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that's like the big one to eliminate.

That's the sort of half trillion, maybe 600, 700 billion a year. That is also a mechanism by which the Democrats attract and retain illegal immigrants by essentially paying them to come here and then turning them into voters. And so right off the bat, there appears to be zero evidence of basically anything that he's claiming here. First of all, it appears there's nothing to back up his claim that there's half a trillion to $700 billion in entitlement spending fraud, right? As Forbes explains, that would represent nearly a third

of the $1.5 trillion Social Security paid out last year and approximately 20% of the amount spent on Social Security and Medicare combined. When the administration tried to provide evidence for his claims on social media, it pointed to a government accountability office estimate that fraudulent spending across the government is between 233 billion and 521 billion a year.

Even if you take that at face value, that's across the entire federal government, not just these three programs. And as for Musk's comments about immigrants there, undocumented immigrants aren't even eligible to receive social security benefits. That's as the SSA has said that it collects more than $20 billion in annual payroll taxes from unauthorized workers.

And so with this, you have tons of people accusing Musk and Trump of using blatant misinformation to justify extreme cuts that current and former SSA employees and administrators say could break the agency. With this, including Martin O'Malley, the most recent former social security commissioner under Biden, who said,

everything they have done so far is breaking the agency's ability to serve the public. And this is you also had former Republican officials saying the same with, for example, one administrator appointed by George W. Bush calling the efforts extremely destructive. I mean, hell, it's even been reported that the acting secretary of the agency, who is a Trump ally, has expressed concerns about Doge's activities, with him reportedly saying that Trump has made choices he didn't agree with and expressing fears it would be catastrophic for the people in our country if Doge made sweeping changes at the agency.

And again, we are talking about potential life or death situations if social security payments get delayed or they're not paid out with one claim specialist even telling the New York Times. It will affect the public in a very tangible way. I hate to say this, but more and more people will die while waiting for a medical determination on their disability claim.

But then that brings us to thing number three, which is some really scary shit, which is that the Times has published a new report detailing how Doge's cuts have reached important nuclear scientists, bomb engineers, and safety experts at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Right, and all of that, and what they described

as the agency's most ambitious endeavors in a generation. Because reportedly the NNSA is currently the busiest it has been since the Cold War. And not only does it manage America's 3,748 nuclear bombs and warheads, it's also been modernizing that fleet by arming a new fleet of nuclear submarines, bomber jets, and land-based missiles as part of a $20 billion a year effort.

And again, even before Doge came in, the agency was dealing with staffing shortages to complete this ambitious workload. But now amid Doge and Musk's hacksaw cuts, the already strained agency has essentially lost all gains that it made in recent years under Biden. But according to internal agency documents, reportedly more than 130 NNSA employees took the Trump administration's payout to resign, while another 27 workers were caught up in a mass firing and not rehired. Now, notably here, a spokesperson for the Department

of Energy, which oversees the NNSA, has said that most of the fired workers handled administrative and clerical tasks that were not essential to the agency's operations. But internal documents and interviews with 18 current and former agency officials showed that's just not true for the majority of people who took the buyout. The report saying that many essential workers were part of those departures and noting the agency lost not only officials deeply steeped in the weapons modernization program, but also a noted arms control expert at a time when President Trump has said he hopes to restart talks with Russia and China about limiting nuclear arsenals. And with that, you have experts saying that these losses are going to seriously undermine incredibly important, incredibly sensitive,

top-secret nuclear work. And in addition to that, multiple current and former NNSA officials told The Times that the workforce losses will undermine the agency's ability to monitor the roughly 60,000 contract employees who run its nuclear weapons production plants and labs. The outlet then also noting that could encourage fraud or misuse of taxpayer dollars rather than limit. And in addition to that, agency officials have said that it will be very hard to replace all the people who took the buyouts. And even if they could find the right people, they don't expect that they'll be allowed to hire them under Trump and Musk's current policies. But you know, with all that said, those are just three of the big things I thought I could break down and try to make consumable for you today. There is more going on, and obviously we're going to be talking about that more in the future.

But then next up for your daily dose of good news, I've got a story that unfortunately begins with a tragic death. Because back in 2014, a 29-year-old waitress in Pennsylvania by the name of Katie got into a car crash and died. And when a police officer climbed into the mangled car afterward, they found her purse, which they gave to her sister, Christina Ulmer. With a sister then discovering $100 inside and realizing that it was the tips that Katie had earned during her shift that morning. And so she told the Washington Post, Katie was such a kind person. And I remember thinking this money should go toward kindness. And with that saying, I put the purse in a cabinet in my living room. And for a long time, I wondered what I could do with that money in Katie's memory.

With then in 2018, an idea striking her. Because you see, she's a high school English teacher and she had just assigned Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to her her. Because you see, she's a high school English teacher and she had just assigned Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to her students. And with that, she says that she realized that the dystopian society depicted in that novel where in her reading, people lacked empathy, it contrasted with the sister that she knew, explaining to ABC News.

My sister, Katie, always wanted to do something to help people. From the time she was really little, she eventually settled on becoming an EMT. And she was applying to work on an ambulance right when she passed away. And so with that, she thought she'd encourage her students to be more like Katie, and here's how she did.

First, she exchanged her sister's tips for crisp 20s at the bank and withdrew $400 more, bringing the total to 500. And then she told the story of the car crash to her 25 students and gave each of them a $20 bill explaining. I told them the way we prevent our world from becoming like the world in Fahrenheit 451 was through empathy and kindness. And saying after I gave them the money, I told them I wanted them to perform an

act of kindness with it and then record a little video about it. And off they went, right? Money in hand, kindness in their hearts. You know, one student simply ordering a glass of water at a diner and then leaving a $20 tip. Another knitting little red caps for babies with heart problems so they could be easily spotted in the NICU. And then others making homemade treats for pets at an animal shelter, even more buying toiletries and food for unhoused people.

And for each one, they created these deeply heartwarming videos. We combined our $20 to make cookies for people at our retirement home. We're here at Target getting toys for little kids in the hospital. I went to PetSmart and bought cat litter, cat food and dog food for a local rescue

called Forever Yours Rescue. And so pretty quick, this caught on and random people started donating money to Ulmer for the project, with the school even setting up a fund to accept donations. And collectively, she says that her students have now spent over $7,000 and over 350 acts of kindness, and she continues doing it twice a year. And so with that, one, if you want to

donate, I'm going to include a link in the description. Apparently, she'll actually email you a video showing how your money was spent. With her adding with that, that she cries every year watching them herself. So maybe we'll get some tears out of it too. And two, in sharing this story, in addition to highlighting some BAMFs who deserve the love and the credit, it's a story that highlights how much good can be done from so little. Right? Every mass movement, it starts with a single step from a single person. Now keep saying it until I get sick of it. We are stronger together. But then finally today, let's talk about yesterday in common commentary brought to you by beautifulbastard.com. Where right now, not only can you snag yourself some of our

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Snag what you want while you can. But like I said, let's talk about yesterday in comment commentary. Right in those comments, there was a lot of conversation around Mark Rober, the interview, and the whole scandal. One of the most liked comments on the video kind of compared what happened with Rober and just the general other news that's happening out there right now. With Tazalek saying, Damn, we're really holding YouTubers to higher standards for honesty and accuracy than people running the country and making cars. Additionally, we saw a lot of comments like Helena is saying,

Didn't Tesla get in trouble for auto driving shutting off at the last second before a crash so Tesla can deny responsibility?' Vashley, writing, "'The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated multiple incidents where Tesla's autopilot system disengaged right before a collision.'"

Saying, in a 2022 report, "'The NHTSA highlighted 16 crashes involving Tesla vehicles colliding with stationary emergency vehicles, noting that in each case, autopilot aborted vehicle control less than one second prior to the first impact. You had others saying, blaming Mark Rober for a negative brand image is crazy,

considering what the owner has been doing to the country. You also had some just kind of happy and surprised that we reached out for a comment and someone actually replied, which I will say, I do hope that little nine minute interview served as an example of, I'm not looking for gotchas,

I'm just looking for actual responses and news. And it felt like, and the response seems to be, that it was kind of good just going bullet point, bullet point of questions, accusations that are out there and getting it from the person that it's directed at. You also had Shane saying, "'Phil doing an interview in a muscle tank "'is such a power move.'"

Twitch, I just wanna say, not a power move. If I have both my computers on in this room, it can get very hot. I just wanted to have a chill, relaxed time. Did my arms also happen to look kind of good according to the TikTok comments? Yes. Was that also a little part of the reason I did it?

Not that I would admit, but back on topic, I don't know. I just, I found the whole thing very interesting. Are people gonna come to their own conclusions about Roeber, the first video that he put out, the interview and his reaction and responses that he did with me? But there is a little part of me that finds the situation a little bit funny

in that the most talked about and controversial part of that video was the fucking Looney Tunes experiment. Also, I'm not shocked there was a big reaction. Elon Musk, in connection to that, Tesla ends up being kind of a polarizing topic. The stock is down like over 50% from where it was just months ago. And that's just some of it, right?

There's a lot going on. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where your Tuesday evening Wednesday morning dive into the news is gonna end. But remember, I'll see you soon because I post a brand new video for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.

Thank you for watching. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.