The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.19 The “Tesla Terrorism” Problem, 3 BIG Trump Losses, What the JFK Files Have Exposed So Far, & More

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

Go to https://sundaysfordogs.com/phil to get 50% off your first order of Sundays for Dogs! Get an exclusive NordVPN deal here https://nordvpn.com/phil It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!  Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL   Don’t Miss the https://BeautifulBastard.com 50% OFF Flash Sale! 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 - Tim Walz Cheers Tesla Stock Crashing as People Set Cars on Fire 03:38 - Trump Admin Releases JFK Files, Judge Denies Bid to Dismiss Kahlil Case & More 14:13 - Sponsored by Sundays 15:09 - Russia Accused of Breaking Temporary Ceasefire After Agreeing to Deal 20:24 - Arkansas Jail Gets Rid of Inmate Calls Over FCC Frustration 24:10 - Sponsored by Nord 25:13 - Protests Break Out at Gal Gadot’s Walk of Fame Ceremony  27:30 - People Living in Hotter Areas Age Faster, Study Finds 30:34 - Instacart Shopper Saves Man’s Life After Spotting Propane Leak Inside Home 33:58 - Sponsored by SeatGeek  34:34 - Comment Commentary Key takeaways/what we know so far from the JFK files: https://abcnews.go.com/US/jfk-files-key-takeaways-learned-didnt/story?id=119939692 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/03/19/jfk-files-summary-assassination-takeaways/ https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/19/us/jfk-assassination-files https://apnews.com/article/jfk-assassination-files-released-trump-4e82e40715312f68b4f1f0d0592a8c42  ——————————   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 #Tesla #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. The sharp rise in what's been dubbed Tesla terrorism is dividing the nation. Trump just took three big L's, but what happens next year is what really is going to expose a lot. Chaos erupted at Gal Gadot's Walk of Fame ceremony.

Or just living in Arizona compared to Seattle is aging you faster. And then a good news story to keep you sane. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news, how it's being covered, and how people are reacting to it, starting with this. Tesla's been taking some hits, both metaphorical and literally lately, with one of the latest ones grabbing some headlines being from Tim Walz. Saying on my phone, I don't know, some of you know this on the iPhone, they've got that little stock app. I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day.

$2.25 and dropping. So, and if you own one, if you own one, we're not blaming you. You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off, you know? And you see Walls, he made those comments during a speech in Wisconsin last night as part of a national tour of town halls he's doing all over the country to reach voters in red districts. And that dig at Tesla and Elon Musk proved to be very divisive, right?

Because depending on where you went online, you saw very different reactions. Where you hop over on TikTok, the comments are just filled with people who thought it was really funny and appreciated the pettiness, wishing that he was the current VP and saying that he should run for president. But then if you hopped over on Twitter, he was getting eaten alive by people who thought that a politician shouldn't be rooting for

or celebrating the stock of an American company that employs people all over the country, falling. With even Musk responding himself, writing, sometimes when I need a little boost, I look at the JD Vance portrait in the White House and thank the Lord. The wall of this is Tim Walz is far from the only person to hop on the Tesla hate train lately.

Cause seemingly ever since Elon's doge started taking a knife to government agencies, there's been a string of Tesla protests all over the country with people gathering outside of dealerships and showrooms saying things like, We don't want your Nazi cars, let's send Elon back to Mars. We don't want your Nazi cars,

let's send Elon back to Mars. And reportedly tons of these protests have been peaceful and uneventful. They've also reached a kind of boiling point with acts of vandalism popping up. We're seeing reports pop up like shots being fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon. And while no one was harmed, there was damage to the building and cars there. And yesterday in Las Vegas, cars at a Tesla center were shot at and little blazed by a Molotov cocktail with authorities calling it a targeted attack. Additionally, of the FBI investigating an arson attack

at a Tesla location in Kansas City. And in Seattle, authorities are also investigating a fire that damaged four Cybertrucks. And I mean, cases like this have even popped up abroad with Teslas being burnt in Berlin. Now, luckily, according to the Associated Press, no injuries have been reported yet as these incidents have been popping up.

But of course it is a wild and scary escalation. And as far as why people have seemingly gone down this avenue, you had a sociologist telling the AP that they have likely become so prominent because Tesla is an easy target. With the Madding, they're rolling down our streets, they have dealerships in our neighborhoods. Also you had Elon responding to all this,

saying this level of violence is insane and deeply wrong. AG Pambandi also condemning the violence and issuing a statement yesterday saying, "'The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property "'is nothing short of domestic terrorism. We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved. And now one of the latest updates from this whole ordeal is coming out of Canada, where the Vancouver International Auto Show has opted to cut Tesla's display from its lineup over safety concerns.

With a spokesperson for the event telling CNN that they made this choice after giving Tesla multiple opportunities to voluntarily withdraw, and that their primary concern is the safety of attendees, exhibitors, and staff. Though I will say, while safety was the big issue here, you also had a lot of people noting that a lot of Canadians aren't exactly thrilled with Elon Musk right now, and there have been some Tesla takedown protests up north as well. But for now, we're going to have to keep an eye on the stock, which actually received a little pop today, the actions on the ground, right? We continue to see fire bombings and shots being fired as well as the rhetoric around this situation,

the reactions to it. But then next up today, we've got four pieces of Trump administration news you should know today. Of course, this Trump administration is moving at the speed of a blitzkrieg. So there might actually be 10 things you know today, but I'm giving you four right now.

But first up is the news that I completely predicted. And I think at this point, it's just, it's purposeful and it's spiteful. Trump administration released the last batch of JFK assassination piles right after the show went up yesterday. And those documents revealed an absolutely massive, incredibly shocking bombshell. Lee Harvey Oswald still did it. Stupid joking aside, if you're waiting for any kind of revelation or even new information, you're probably going to have to wait a little while longer. Because we're talking about

more than 63,000 pages of documents. It's gonna take historians months, probably years, to fully pore over all the pages. But also with this, you have many scholars expecting that most of the documents released yesterday don't really contain significant new information that hasn't already been in the public domain for a long time.

There probably aren't gonna be any major sweeping revelations that totally undermine everything we thought we knew, because if there were, I mean, they probably wouldn't release them. In fact, some experts say that at least some of what we'll see will probably be full versions of documents that were previously available,

but just with less redactions that add a name or two to the record. And this is other documents will likely just be duplicates of variants of materials that have been in the public record for a long time. But of course, a big thing is that it's not to say that there won't be some interesting details that were previously unknown.

And you know, so far from what we've pawed through and analyzed, that seems to be the case. We were mostly just getting various tidbits that are fascinating for history buffs, but not really for normal people. And you know, with all this developing, I'm gonna link in the description to a couple of different resources

that are keeping track of those various findings. So if you're interested, you can keep track there. But what I will say has been standout is there's been a lot of discussion over the chaotic process by which these records were released. But according to reports, Trump totally blindsided his top security aides when he announced on Monday

that he'd be releasing the last batch of documents the following day. The saying of the New York Times reporting that Trump's national security team was stunned and forced to scramble after he made the announcement with only 24 hours notice. Because while work had already been underway to release the documents since back in January

when Trump signed an executive order mandating the move, again, we're talking about tens of thousands of pages of documents. So that process was still ongoing when Trump suddenly announced that the remaining materials would be made public. And so with that, according to the Times, the tight deadline raised a number of concerns among the nation's top security officials, with reportedly sources telling them that some officials were worried about the unintended consequences of rushing the release, including the possible disclosure of sensitive personal information like addresses or social security numbers of people named in the documents who are still alive today. And in fact, we've seen at least one report of this happening with an attorney who works on national security issues,

accusing the Trump administration of doxing former public servants who staffed the congressional investigation into JFK's assassination by revealing their social security numbers in full. So, you know, as of filming, that is where we are. We're going to have to wait to see what happens, but it does bring us to the other Trump news, all of which revolve around some very significant court rulings. Like just first up this morning, we saw a judge rejecting Trump's efforts to dismiss the deportation challenge brought by Mahmoud Khalil, because as we talked about before, he's a Palestinian rights activist and former Columbia graduate student who the administration detained and is trying to deport. And this, despite the fact that he is a green card holder married to an American citizen,

and he still hasn't actually been charged with any actual crime yet. Instead, what we've seen so far is the administration just broadly accusing Khalil of leading and engaging what they called activities aligned to Hamas, and they're attempting to deport him under a rarely used and little known provision of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, a provision that gives the Secretary of State the power to remove people from the country if their presence is deemed to, quote, "'have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.'"

With Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that it is a policy of the United States to restrict the spread of antisemitism. Though there, many people, including plenty of American Jews, have said that's bullshit, given that Trump and others in administration have embraced antisemitic conspiracies and rhetoric.

And this, as legal experts and many others across the political spectrum, including those who oppose Khalil's views, argued that it is an explicit violation of free speech. Them accusing the Trump administration of trying to illegally detain and deport someone purely based on ideological differences. And that's actually something that Khalil's lawyers

have argued in their effort to seek his release. With them claiming that the administration exceeded its legal authority and violated his constitutional rights to free speech and due process. And in his decision today, rejecting the administration's efforts to toss Khalil's claims,

Manhattan-based US District Judge Jesse Furman noted the severity of the allegations here, writing, "'These are serious allegations and arguments "'that no doubt warrant careful review by a court of law. "'The fundamental constitutional principle "'that all persons in the United States "'are entitled to due process of law demands no less.'" But that also is notably not the only laws that Furman dealt to the Trump administration

here because he also rejected their efforts to transfer the case to Louisiana where Khalil is currently being detained. Because while Khalil was initially arrested in Manhattan, he was then moved to New Jersey and then later Louisiana where the government is trying to have the matter heard. But you have Khalil's lawyers arguing that the case should be heard in New York because that's where they first filed the challenge to his arrest. With also his legal team accusing the administration of trying to avoid having the case heard in New York or New Jersey. Because as experts have noted, if the matter was heard in Louisiana, it would be under the jurisdiction of the highly conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which could have set a sweeping precedent for deportations Trump would

favor. And in his ruling, Judge Furman acknowledged that the legal challenge had indeed been filed in New York, but by that time, Khalil had been moved to New Jersey, so that is where the case should be heard. With him writing here that requiring Khalil to move his case to Louisiana would also mean litigating far from his lawyers, from his eight months pregnant wife, and from the location where most,

if not all of the events relevant to his petition took place. So a big and notable thing, Furman also added that additional matters will also need to be determined by the New Jersey court, including whether Khalil should be released or transferred from the Louisiana detention center. But regardless, right, you had Khalil's legal team cheering this move as a victory. And that notably is not the only legal setback that the Trump administration has experienced in the last roughly 24 hours. Because third up today is that a judge has temporarily blocked Doge's efforts to

dismantle USAID and ordered the administration to partially restore agency functions, marking yet another blow to Trump's efforts to purge the bureaucracy. Though, I will say very notably here, this decision appears to be especially damning for one person in particular, Elon Musk. Or with a seeing the New York Times reporting that the move appeared to be the first time a judge has moved to rein in Mr. Musk

and his Department of Government Efficiency directly and adding, the finding that Mr. Musk had personally and unlawfully overseen the dismantling of the agency offered a firm rejection of his operations authority. And specifically here, the ruling in question stems from a case brought by a group of USAID workers who claim that the power that Musk had assumed over federal agencies is unprecedented in U.S. history. And arguing that, under the Constitution, that kind of authority can only be exercised by someone who has been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as an officer of the United States.

With the suit also contending that regardless of Musk's role, Doge's effort to unilaterally eliminate USAID is unconstitutional because the agency was created by Congress, so only Congress can get rid of it. And yesterday, the federal judge overseeing the case ruled that Musk himself and his team had likely violated the Constitution in multiple ways. Writing that Musk's ascent to power as an unappointed official appears to be unconstitutional, as does the unilateral dismantling of USAID without approval from Congress. With the judge then also ordering Musk and his team to immediately stop all efforts to get rid of the agency,

reinstate email access to all employees, and submit a plan for workers to reoccupy a federal office that they were evicted from last month. And very significantly here, the judge also appeared to reject the argument by the Trump administration's lawyers that Musk doesn't actually lead Doge and that he's serving in an advisory capacity with no ability to steer decisions on his own. And so this is definitely a very significant move against

Musk, but it's also unclear exactly how large of an overall impact this is going to have on Trump's efforts to abolish USAID, given that most of the workforce and agency contracts have already been terminated. And in addition to that, while the judge said that the unilateral dismantling of USAID was likely unconstitutional, he also made it clear that his order only applies to Musk and Doge, not USAID officials themselves, who are not parties in the case. I'm acknowledging, at least under this current ruling,

USAID officials could continue efforts to unwind the agency, with that including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has assumed control of the agency. Right, so this ruling, it could be very short-lived, but you still had lawyers for plaintiffs cheering on the move as a victory while a White House spokeswoman condemned it. With her accusing what she called rogue judges

of subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda. Then that brings us to number four, the final story of this segment, which is that another judge has blocked Trump's executive order, attempting to ban trans people from the military.

Because as we've talked about before, right after taking office, Trump signs an executive order that paved the way for a ban by directing the Pentagon to revise medical standards. And then you had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issuing a series of memos obtained by the media that said that the military would stop accepting new trans troops who wish to join and remove most current trans service members. But with that, you had the administration promptly sued by both active duty military personnel and others who wish to join the service. With the plaintiffs arguing that the order violated their equal protection rights

under the Fifth Amendment. What we ended up seeing yesterday is a federal judge in Washington agreeing with that argument and issuing a preliminary injunction blocking the policy. In a ruling, the judge specifically took aim at the language in the executive order that referred to being transgender as a falsehood inconsistent with humility and selflessness required of a service member. They're arguing there that the order's pronouncements are pure conjecture and that the policy provides nothing to support defendants' view that transgender military service is inconsistent with military readiness, and adding, plaintiffs face a violation of their constitutional rights, which constitutes irreparable harm. Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed, some risking

their lives to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them. They're then also going on to accuse the Trump administration's lawyers of misrepresenting the studies they provided as evidence to back up their claim. Right, and then also arguing that while policies impacting transgender troops were adopted

after careful study and review, Trump enacted this order so soon after taking office that no one knows what he relied on, if anything. And so yeah, you had another setback for Trump, and this after other federal judges have other orders targeting transgender Americans, right? Including policies halting federal support for gender affirming care for transgender youth

and forcing incarcerated trans women to move to men's facilities. But again, while this is big news, there are so many updates, this is part of the game that is being played. This is in no way the same thing as the sloppiness that you saw from the first year of the Trump administration back in 2017.

This is part of the plan to do a lot of big things, break things apart, get people out, and then fight, fight, fight in court, most likely trying to take most of these things to the Supreme Court. And the biggest questions are, if it gets struck down in the Supreme Court, one, will so many people been ousted

or things damaged and broken down that you can't actually cleanly put it back together and so you effectively did what you wanted to anyway. And two, what happens if Trump doesn't listen to the Supreme Court? Because while there's supposed to be checks and balances in place, it looks like we are at a very, very unique situation.

You have Trumpetist supporters rallying up impeachment threats against judges who don't go their way. And that's in addition to the crackdowns or the very least scare tactics they've taken against some law firms that they've seen as opposing them. And then as far as the legislative branch where Republicans have control right now, they're seemingly fine with letting Trump and the executive do what they please. Either because one, they agree with what he's doing ideologically, and or two, the people around Trump, including the richest man in the world, threaten anyone

that goes against him with primaries, refunding opposition and giving them the boot if they don't vote their way. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But first, y'all know we're a full-blown dog family. And I know many of you wanna feel good about what's in your dog's bowl, right? That's why it's important to choose food made with real human-grade ingredients. I mean, I started my dogs on today's sponsor,

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Sundaysfordogs.com slash phil. Your dog will be happy you did. But then next up today, we need to talk about Trump, Putin, Zelensky, and the war. Because yesterday, as you may have seen, President Trump and President Putin had a long phone call with some, hailing it as a positive step in ending the Ukraine war, and others calling it a clear example that Putin is in full control. With the call ending up being about an hour long, and by the end of it, the White House said that both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. Saying they also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.

The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people. We saw the Kremlin largely echo that with their spokesperson saying this morning that both the US and Russia understand each other well. And in a post on Tuesday, we saw Trump giving some details about the ceasefire,

writing, we agreed to an immediate ceasefire on all energy and infrastructure with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire and ultimately an end to this very horrible war between Russia and Ukraine. We also know that a prisoner exchange just happened today, but this news probably falls short of the 30-day general ceasefire that Zelensky had previously agreed to. With that, you had Trump himself saying that a general ceasefire wasn't possible without more talks, telling Fox News in a pre-taped interview. Well, you have a situation, we have a lot of guns pointing at each other foolishly because it would have never happened if I were president.

That was not a war that was supposed to happen. And it did happen, so that's where we are. And right now, you have a lot of guns pointing at each other and a ceasefire without going a little bit further would have been tough. Russia has the advantage, as you know. Well, Zelensky said that he was skeptical about the limited ceasefire without going a little bit further would have been tough. Russia has the advantage, as you know. Well, Zelensky said that he was skeptical about the limited ceasefire. He also said if there is a partial ceasefire, this is a positive result. Except it's possible that Russia

may have thrown a wrench into any serious peace talks already. And that is because just hours after speaking with Trump and claiming to agree to a limited ceasefire pending more talks, Russia launched a series of drone strikes all across Ukraine. Now, technically, this wouldn't violate the limited ceasefire as long as energy infrastructure wasn't hit. But according to ending more talks, Russia launched a series of drone strikes all across Ukraine. Now, technically, this wouldn't violate the limited ceasefire as long as energy infrastructure wasn't hit. But according to Ukraine, the drone strikes did just that, with Zelensky saying,

"'This confirms that we must continue to pressure Russia "'for the sake of peace.' And adding, "'Only a real halt to Russia's attacks "'on civilian infrastructure can signal a genuine desire "'to end this war and bring peace closer.'" Just as I was recording and finishing things up, Russia came out and made their own accusations that Ukraine was the one

that actually broke the limited ceasefire by targeting Russian energy facilities this morning. All of which then brings us to this morning with the news that Trump and Zelensky reportedly had their own call that Trump described as very good. With them then also going on to write on Truth Social that much of the discussion was based

on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs, and claiming we are very much on track. From here, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will be working on trying to get a full ceasefire going. And talks for that are expected to happen over today and tomorrow with a bigger meeting planned to happen

in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. And it appears optimistic that this ceasefire on energy infrastructure is just a short jump to a full-scale ceasefire, but many have pointed out that parts of the Russian demand seem like a non-starter for Ukraine. For example, Putin doesn't want Ukraine to mobilize more troops or get more armed shipments, although it's not fully clear if that only applies to U.S. armed shipments or European ones as well. Because while the U.S. might agree to haul weapons shipments to Ukraine,

European countries seem to be moving the opposite way. And that is another issue, is that it's not like Russia is going to stop arming itself or mobilizing troops, which opens the door to them just using the break in fighting as a chance to better prepare for more attacks. With all this, Witkoff is probably right in saying that the devil is in the details, but the Trump administration seems eager to get a ceasefire going. However, you have some feeling that Trump might be too eager

to work with Putin with moves like ending anti-Russian sabotage campaigns and even ignoring clear insults. Or with him pointing to Putin allegedly making a power move by forcing Trump to wait an hour for their call yesterday. With it also seemingly backed up by a Russian broadcast where Putin was reminded on stage about the call before saying he could finish that event first. But then with that, you have others claiming

he just reading too much into the situation and that there was no official time for the call as long as it was done before the evening. Additionally, we've seen a lot of different views about how this limited ceasefire is being portrayed. We have the Trump administration calling it a success and a solid first step in the peace process and supporters backing that up saying things like,

"'Trump's deal with Putin shows strength, not weakness, trusts the process,' as well as, "'Why not have a relationship with Russia? Why shouldn't Trump and Putin work together to make the world a safer place?' I don't see anything wrong with having a good working relationship with Russia and Putin. It's about peace in the world."

But this also is, depending on where you're looking, there's been far more takes blasting Trump for the deal. First up, criticizing that the administration has made it seem like this was a great deal to work out, despite going into it, demanding a 30-day general ceasefire, which notably is something Ukraine had already agreed to as long as Russia did. And so you had people like former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson writing, what a surprise. Putin rejects an unconditional ceasefire. He wants to keep bombing and killing innocent Ukrainians. He wants Ukraine disarmed.

He wants Ukraine neutralized. He wants to make Ukraine a vassal state of Russia. He isn't negotiating, he's laughing at us. And then on top of that, there is an argument being made that the ceasefire and energy infrastructure disproportionately helps Russia. And that is because Ukraine has increased attacks in Russian oil refineries,

which are a major source of income there. And so for many, in the end, there is a real sense that the Trump administration has made it very clear that they are moving in a pro-Russia direction, especially because on top of all this, there's news coming out that other pro-Ukrainian programs are being cut, such as a massive database the US has been keeping of Ukrainian children

that Russia had abducted and forcibly moved, with there now being concerns that the database will be or has been deleted completely. But really, for now, where we're at is the situation happened, a lot of people are reacting now where we're at is the situation happened. A lot of people are reacting and we're really gonna need to wait until Sunday to have a much better idea

of whether a serious ceasefire is actually on the way. And of course, in the meantime, I'd love to hear from you. What are your thoughts here? Let me know in those comments down below. But then next up today, we need to talk about this news that I'm gonna ask you to put yourself into the story for a minute.

So imagine being locked up and told you can't call your family, not because you misbehaved or you did something wrong, but because the sheriff would rather cut off all inmate phone calls and comply with a federal rule to make them affordable. Because that is exactly what's happening in one Arkansas jail.

But also a key thing is that this ties into bigger questions about what's to come as the FCC heads towards a new Republican majority that's promising to delete as many regulations as possible. And to fully properly explain this, we gotta start with Baxter County Sheriff, John Montgomery, who recently announced that the county's 100 person jail will eliminate phone service entirely on March 30th.

With him writing in a statement that the decision is due to regulations being put in place by the FCC that begin on April 1st and claiming it will no longer be feasible to keep and maintain the inmate phone system at the Baxter County Detention Center. And what he's referencing there is an FCC decision made back in July

when the agency voted to end what it described as exorbitant phone and video call rates that had burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades. Announcing that under new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call would drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails.

And in small jails, it would go to a buck 35 from $12.10. With also the agency issuing new rules preventing prison telecom providers from passing the majority of surveillance costs onto incarcerated people and their families. it would go to a buck 35 from $12.10. With also the agency issuing new rules preventing prison telecom providers from passing the majority of surveillance costs onto incarcerated people and their families, as well as prohibiting jails

from collecting commissions on phone calls, a practice which reportedly enabled counties to share revenue with prison telecom companies in exchange for contracts. And it was a decision that immediately sparked backlash from the industry and a number of Republican-led states, with us seeing 14 Republican attorneys general, led by those from Arkansas and Indiana, suing to block the FCC's new rate caps.

And a big key thing with this is that the National Sheriff's Association filed a legal brief last month supporting the lawsuit, with them arguing that unlike traditional telecom service, where access to communications is a matter of a customer purchasing a service from a provider, access to IPCS for incarcerated people is not a given. And there, you had Sheriff Montgomery making a similar argument, claiming, an inmate phone system is a means of communication that may be provided for inmates at a detention center, but it is not required to be provided by law.

Though notably then also announcing that the prison would be offering additional in-person visitation dates and or times to compensate, as well as more frequent local radio broadcast to inmates of local news and community information and saying, we regret that the federal government took this step last year,

"'as we know this will place a hardship on families.'" And adding, if at such time, the FCC reverses their adverse regulations, the Baxter County Sheriff's Office will revisit the feasibility of re-implementing the inmate phone system. And so with all that, and now with Trump in charge, you have many wondering if the agency may do just that. And then also beyond that,

wondering what they might do or rather undo. And on one hand, even Republican Brendan Carr, who's now FCC chair, voted in part to approve the new prison phone call regulations. But since Trump's been inaugurated, he's been investigating media organizations and been looking into DEI practices at Verizon and Comcast. And then, even more recently, he announced that the agency is launching a massive new deregulatory initiative. Or with them opening a new docket entitled, Delete, Delete, Delete, in which the agency seeks comment on every quote, rule, regulation, or guidance document that the FCC should eliminate for the purposes of alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens. With Carr saying in a statement, under President Trump's leadership, the administration is unleashing a new wave of economic opportunity by ending the regulatory onslaught from Washington.

And adding, the FCC is committed to ending all of the rules and regulations that are no longer necessary. Though this, of course course, is view of experts saying that his actions against independent media and going after DEI seems to be the very opposite of deregulation. But I mean, however, paradoxical or hypocritical people may find this implementing this agenda will soon be getting easier. And that in part because Democratic Commissioner Jeffrey Starks announced this week that he will resign from the agency this spring and that's going to leave a Republican majority. Also, in any case, the Republicans likely would have gained a majority soon,

as Trump has already nominated a Republican to fill another empty seat. Though I will say with that, US law prevents any party from obtaining a super majority, so Trump can't totally stack the commission. But still, we're seeing experts and critics warning that a lot of damage could be done, but for now, we're gonna have to wait

to see how this plays out. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment, but you know, the rise of scams and fake websites out there, it's insane. Scammers are getting better. It's scary. And these fake sites are often riddled with malware. They've gotten so sophisticated

that even the most skeptical people I know, they've been fooled. I mean, this can happen to any of us and especially to loved ones who may not be as tech savvy. And that's why everyone needs a VPN, right? I mean, I use NordVPN, who's also our fantastic sponsor today to keep my digital life secure.

My wife and the kids, they love using it to access streaming content from around the world, my kids especially with anime. But increasingly, I'm grateful to Nord for providing the best shot at maintaining access to information. And I love that Nord keeps me anonymous online, right? They mask your IP address, maintaining your privacy. With thousands of servers worldwide, you can access anything, stream your favorite shows, and enjoy fast, secure P2P sharing.

With NordVPN enabled, your data is encrypted and flows between your device and Nord's secure servers. And whether it's cyber criminals intercepting your data or state actors attempting to block you, Nord keeps you protected. Right now, you can get a huge discount on a two-year plan, plus an additional four months free at nordvpn.com slash phil. That's nordvpn.com slash phil, or scan the QR code, because it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. But then, next up from that in entertainment news, the controversy around Gal Gadot, it bled into the real world yesterday. And that because she was getting her own star on Hollywood Boulevard. And, you know, those are kind of big to-dos. There's a whole event. You have speakers lined up to honor the moment. But according to the LA Times, protesters managed to delay the ceremony with

both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups present, holding signs and flags and chanting. You know, for those unfamiliar why there'd be a conflict or controversy around, you know, Wonder Woman getting a star on the Walk of Fame, you had people noting that Gal is Israeli. She's reportedly the first Israeli actor to get a star. She's also been very vocal about her support of Israel and she previously served in the IDF.

And so with all that, you had one protester telling Reuters. We need to boycott everything that is related to Israel, including arts and culture. This person should not be getting a star on the Walk of Fame. But also, notably, like I said, both sides were represented here, and when Gal gave a speech and mentioned being from Israel, she was met with cheers. I'm just a girl from a town in Israel, and...

And... Yes. Also, as this was going down, there was reportedly a scuffle and yes. Also, as this was going down, there was reportedly a scuffle between the two sides with a variety of reporter writing that a pro-Palestine demonstrator stole a pro-Israel protesters flag and posted a video of what appeared to show

the person running away and getting chased with police joining the chase on foot. Down with action music. We're reimagining Disney Studios classic 1937. Open to the community. Imagining a Disney Studios classic 1937 opens the curtain for the United States. Right in that same reporter also sharing footage of protesters getting handcuffed against a wall, but according to the LA Times, no arrests were made.

And notably, all of this comes as Gal's making more headlines than usual right now because she's in the Snow White live action remake that's coming out this weekend starring as the Evil Queen. And with that, it seems like the potential for protest was anticipated by Disney because last week there were reports that the studio opted to scale the film's premiere back due to Gal's controversies. Though that also due to other mostly unrelated backlash that Rachel Zegler, the actress playing

Snow White had previously faced, including from people who called her casting woke or did not like comments that she made about the original animation. And this is you also had others knowing that Rachel's views on what's happening with Israel and Gaza, they're kind of the opposite of Gal's as she posted free Palestine messages on social media. Though as far as how much this is you also had others knowing that Rachel's views on what's happening with Israel and Gaza, they're kind of the opposite of Gal's as she posted free Palestine messages on social media. Though as far as how much this is actually going to affect the movie, that remains to be seen. Are you Disney still hoping for a box office success aiming to make around $50 million stateside

and another 55 million abroad? But as far as if it's gonna be a winner or loser, we should see in the next few days. But then next up, we've got news that can be summed up in four words, cold good, hot bad. Because that is the conclusion of a new study that looked at the link between heat exposure and what scientists call your epigenetic age. You know, you've got your chronological age and then your biological age, which, you know, to fully understand, you could just look at anyone with progeria, which is the rare genetic disorder that causes them to age

several times faster than normal. Where you have folks like this kid, for example, who's only 12 years old. You know, even for everyone else, there are lots of things from diet and exercise to stress and pollution that can speed up your biological clock. And one of the ways that scientists measure this is with epigenetics, right? So your DNA is packed together by something called chromatin, but some areas are packed more tightly than others. With the more tightly packed genes getting suppressed and the more loosely packed ones expressing themselves, which you know is all good and normal so long as the chromatin tightens and loosens around the correct genes. But in the time that you've been watching this video, your DNA has naturally broken apart in millions of different places. And just as fast, your cells have rushed in to repair the

damage, but in doing so, they have slightly altered your genetic structure. And so the chromatin tightens in some spots and loosens in others, particularly the areas around breaks. Meaning that genes which should express themselves don't and genes which shouldn't express themselves do. With these changes accumulating over the course of your life offering scientists a convenient metric for biological age. And so for this study, the researchers took blood samples from over 3,600 older adults across the US and then compared their epigenetics to their heat exposure

over a six year time period. And what they found was dramatic. Where someone living in a place that went over 90 degree temperatures for at least 140 days in a year, say Phoenix, Arizona, they could age up to 14 months faster than someone living in a place that only got that hot 10 days in a year, say Seattle.

And very notably, that's after controlling for finances, education, physical activity, and smoking. And the consequences, it extended way beyond just your beautiful skin getting a few more wrinkles. Premature aging has been linked to an earlier onset of dementia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, among other issues. With the study's lead researcher telling NPR that the impact is similar to the effect of smoking and drinking. And y'all, that's on top of the immediate dangers posed by heat stress, such as stroke, heart problems, diabetes, asthma, and weakened immunity. And the thing is, whether you're in Phoenix or Seattle, climate change is

going to make all of us feel these effects more. And the thing is, whether you're in Phoenix or Seattle, climate change is gonna make all of us feel these effects more. With the seeing the National Climate Assessment projecting that the number of extreme heat days in the US could rise by 20 to 30 across much of the country by the middle of the century. And so that pressure, it could make people age faster biologically

at the same time that the country as a whole is becoming older chronologically. And those trends interact since older people's bodies deal with heat less well than younger people's. They tend to sweat less, feel less inclined to drink water, and have less blood flow to the skin. With a heat physiology expert telling NPR, it's basically like if you're trying to tread water and someone hands you a brick. It's extra strain on all your physiological systems.

It's just an extra weight that needs to be responded to in order to maintain homeostasis. And with this, I'll say as eye-opening this study is, there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered. Things like how staying indoors and using air conditioning affects aging, what kinds of epigenetic changes heat exposure causes, whether acute exposures cause long-term effects, and whether the aging process is reversible.

But, you know, since people are not going to stop getting older or dying in the near future, I imagine that we're gonna be getting more research in the future. But in the meantime, wear some sunscreen, drink some water, and stay cool. But in the meantime, wear some sunscreen, drink some water and stay cool. But then from that, let's talk about your daily prescribed dose of good news.

Right, so the story begins just over three years ago with seemingly the most ordinary of women, Jessica Higgs. Right, she was an Instacart shopper in Dalton, Georgia. And one day she recalls getting an order that at first she ignored. But then after finishing the rest of her order, she says she noticed it was still sitting there a little while later. So she figured why not? It's a little bit of extra money. With her

then going to the store and grabbing all the listed items, saying that she learned that they were for a woman's elderly father who couldn't shop for himself. And then she recalls arriving at the house with the woman having instructed her to leave the bag on the porch. But when the father opened the door and greeted her, she thought he looked sick. And so feeling an intuition that she needed to help, she says she brought the groceries inside for him. And immediately she says that she felt dizzy, smelling a strong odor and noticing the culprit, a propane tank. Now with that, understandably, she wanted to message the man's daughter about it. But here's the thing, according to her, Instacart policy prohibited shoppers from entering customers' homes. You know, with being a 27-year-old

single mom just trying to pay her rent with Instacart as her sole source of income, she says even a small risk of losing her job was scary. But in the end, she ended up hitting send on the message and saying, "'I came to realize someone's life "'is more important than my job.'" And so that's it, it was done. But then the next day she got a notification from Instacart. Except it wasn't the company firing her,

instead it was the customer telling her something that immediately broke her down with her opening up TikTok and recording. She changed her tip from $14 to $100 which I'm grateful for but I'm crying because of what she commented this morning and I'll show you commented thank you so much once my son went to check on my dad it turned out it definitely was leaking you definitely saved my dad and my younger son's life. So that being said, I'm just an Instacart worker, but if you see something, say something.

And I did, and I'm so happy I did, and I'm so happy that he can live a better life. Now, first of all, I gotta correct Jessica on one thing. You're not just an Instacart worker, you are a bamf. And I know I'm not alone in saying that. I think right now that video has almost 20 million views. So I imagine that's partly because she reposted every year on the anniversary of that delivery.

And every time she says it still brings tears to her eyes. But they're telling people after the most recent repost, the more people that see it, the better. It's not for me, not for the comments or likes, it's for the message. The message is strong and a tearjerker. I read every single comment, every single message request. And adding, it gave me a purpose

and a completely different outlook on life because you truly just never know. And the thing is, she says still after all these years, she still hasn't been able to get in touch with the woman or her father with her telling the outlet. I remember him to this day and I think of him often, how he's doing and if he's still doing okay. They're noting my email is in my bio

and I hope that one day they'll reach out. And so one, who knows, me including this in the show, maybe that could happen. You never know who's watching or who's sharing stuff. And two, it kind of serves as a reminder of how big of an impact you could have in just taking an extra moment in an otherwise transactional or passerby situation.

Especially because I don't know about y'all, I'm so in my own damn head about all my own bullshit when I'm, even when I'm out among other people. But then also I'll add a third thing. Stories like this make me just think of like how random and amazing and horrifying life is. How things have happened or not happened based off of, you know, split second decisions of, yeah, I'll pick up that order. Or how like maybe a car crash wouldn't have happened because you're like, oh, I forgot my keys. I gotta go get that. And it like changes your life by 30 to 60 seconds.

But then finally today, let's end with a congratulations and let's talk about yesterday. Starting with a congratulations to Gustavo S, SeatGeek's latest weekly winner. With Gustavo scoring $500 in tickets and they'll be enjoying a Dallas Stars hockey game soon. And for the rest of y'all, that's right. SeatGeek is still giving away $500 in tickets and you should definitely enter today

if you haven't already. I mean, imagine being the next winner and snagging $500 towards seeing your favorite artist, sporting event, or play. I mean, there's like over 70,000 events to choose from. And all you got to do is add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize. No purchase necessary. To do it, you're welcome. It is a win-win. But like I said, let's talk about yesterday in some comment commentary. And right off the top, I'll say on YouTube, I was happy to see there was as much conversation as there was because it seemed like yesterday's show got suppressed. Out of our last 10 videos, our click-through rate was one of the best. Our

watch time was one of the best, but it was one of the worst performing videos. And I can't say anything definitively, but I wonder if it's like a soft suppression because it was titled Israel's Surprise Attack Kills Over 400. I don't know. It was weird. It's probably a number of things, but the main thing, I was happy to see there was a lot of conversation. Though interestingly,

the top comment was actually about the formatting and structure of the show, with Jonah saying, ending with a positive story every day is probably one of the best changes Phil has made recently. There's so much shittiness going on already and ending with the good helps direct my brain away from all the bad stuff. So I still hear the important stuff,

but don't end up dwelling on it for hours afterwards. Some of y'all even referring to the positive stories as a chaser, which I'll say two things. One, very, very glad to see those comments and see that sentiment. And two, you actually have Papa DeFranco to thank for it. I was on a FaceTime call with my dad two, three weeks ago. And he was like, you gotta, you gotta give people some hope at the end. He was like, it's a great show. It's just, I feel so defeated afterwards. And we'll say, you know, I'm not on the receiving end of the good news, but even for me, it, it, it lightens the day. And it also results in things like responses to yesterday's good news. Like Didi, who said, my friend passed away from cancer back in January. We ran a GoFundMe for funeral costs. And with the

remainder going to charities in her name, just want to say thank you because I will definitely be sending some of that to the teacher and her students. Such an awesome thing they're doing to spread a little love into the world of suck that we live through every day. Meanwhile, as far as other comments, there was a lot of love for the phrase, "'If Drake has 99 problems, 11 is one."

Twitch, my lawyer would like me to remind everyone, that's a joke, this is an infotainment. I was paraphrasing the sentiment that was being made by UMG. But then in addition to that, the comments were largely around Elon Musk and Donald Trump stories. Matt saying, so a billionaire who has no need

for social security benefits thinks it's a scam. What a surprise. And others saying, it's so scary to me that the response to a judge disagreeing with the president is you're wrong, I'm right. So you need to leave from the president of the United States. And I will add there that what is really concerning to the people that are like defending Trump doing that

is that they're saying essentially they want a dictator without using those words. Or they're like, oh, these federal judges, they think they're the president. And it's like, homie, check some balances. Executive, legislative, judicial. With Congress completely run by Republicans and the opposition involving Chuck Schumer getting down on all fours, like the judicial is the only check and balance left. And even that is being fucking tested like crazy right now. And seemingly part of the strategy is let's just do shit because it's gonna take a while for the courts to keep up.

Let's fire people, break stuff, ship people out of the country without due process. And it's gonna take some time before there's a first stop. But ultimately, you know, the play is to go to the Supreme Court on a lot of these things. But yeah, crazy times. That is the PG way to end that thought. But that, my friends, is the end of your Wednesday, evening, Thursday morning dive into the news.

But don't you worry. I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.