The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.20 Trump Education Department Problem Just Got Worse, Andrew Shulz Tesla Controversy, & Today's News

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Visit http://wildgrain.com/defranco use code DEFRANCO at checkout and receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! AND get 15% OFF https://beautifulbastard.com with Code: PDS while you can! Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PST & watch more here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz7GTEreqn8&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1   – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Immigration Crackdown Prompts Horror Stories, Germany & Canada Warn Citizens 08:14 - Tesla Backlash Grows as Stock Tumbles & Cybertrucks Get Recalled 12:17 - Sponsored by Wildgrains 13:25 - Trump Signs Order to Dismantle Education Department & More Updates 21:02 - Israeli Conducts Ground Offensive, Hamas Launches Rockets into Tel Aviv 23:55 - Sponsored by Beautiful Bastard 24:40 - Study Suggest Global Population has Been Underestimated 26:37 - Over $100K Raised for Man Imprisoned by Stepmother 29:40 - Comment Commentary Connecticut Rescue GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/connecticut-rescue-a-second-chance  ——————————   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 #DonaldTrump #AndrewSchulz ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Foreign politicians are now advising their citizens against travel to the United States amid concerning detainments, seizures, deportations, and what they called the creep of totalitarianism and fascism. Trump just signed an executive order to begin eliminating the Department of Education, and that's just one of three big education news stories you need to know today. The Tesla backlash controversy has only gotten bigger with now Andrew Schultz and Theo Vaughn in the mix, and then a good news story and update 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 talking

about it, starting with this. We need to talk about why Germany is now warning its citizens about the increased risks they may face while traveling to the United States, as well as, more broadly, the rapidly growing number of stories that show that even if you're in or trying to enter this country legally, if you're not a citizen,

and in some cases, even if you are, you might be caught up in Trump's immigration crackdown. But starting first with Germany, I will say that the country has not issued a full-on travel advisory, right? They've just updated some existing guidance. With the morning travelers, that tougher immigration enforcement under Trump

could land some travelers in detention or see them face deportation. And notably, this is coming in response to several German nationals being detained trying to enter the country, some being held for days or weeks and allegedly facing pretty rough treatment in the process. One German tourist, for example,

reportedly spent more than six weeks in detention, including eight days in solitary confinement. Another reportedly spent more than two weeks in detention, including eight days in solitary confinement. Another reportedly spent more than two weeks in custody, claiming he was denied a translator and that he spent time chained to a bench along with other travelers. And both saying they were flown back to Germany without a clear understanding of why they were detained

in the first place. And a notable thing here is in the second case, his partner, who's an American citizen, came down trying to get answers from officials, and she said they not only searched her car, but also saying that when she raised objections, two ICE officers detained her and took her to a separate room where she was subjected to a humiliating body search, with her then afterwards also chained to a bench for a time before being released. And then on top of those cases, a German green card holder,

a permanent U.S. resident living in New Hampshire, has also claimed to have been violently interrogated by border officials after returning from a trip to Luxembourg, with his mother also telling reporters that he had been held at Boston's Logan Airport for hours, stripped naked, and put in a cold shower by two officials. Also claiming that immigration agents had put pressure on her son to give up his green card and claiming he was given little food or water

and denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression. And actually with that, he required medical attention at some point during the interrogation and ended up in the hospital. Although now he's being held in a detention center in Rhode Island with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service telling the media that claims about his case were blatantly false without saying which points it disputed. As well as saying in a statement, when an individual is found with drug-related charges

and tries to re-enter the country, officers will take proper action. However, with that, I will say as of recording, it's not exactly clear what those charges are. Because he does reportedly have some misdemeanor cases associated with him from several years ago, including ones involving drug and alcohol abuse. So it's not clear if that's what they're talking about specifically or it's something new, but court records show that he completed a recovery program in Nashua in May of 2024.

In any case, according to one immigration attorney, even with those prior charges, the alleged treatment of this man is extreme. And this is a big key thing that we're seeing is reports in general that immigration officers are employing more aggressive questioning tactics with immigrants and tourists trying to enter the country. At least, that's according to lawyers and former immigration officials

who've spoke to the Wall Street Journal, who also say that border agents are more frequently detaining people. With them also noting that officials are now requiring most immigration applicants to submit their social media handles with applications, and they've been increasingly searching people's cell phone contents at airports as well.

And all of this may be in response to one of Trump's day one executive orders calling on immigration officials to apply what they referred to as enhanced vetting measures to visa and green card applicants, including immigrants reentering the country. With lawyers also telling the journal that the directive appears to have put pressure on officials

to find more violators with the goal of tightening restrictions on who is allowed into the country. Though I will say with that, of course, Germans are far from the only ones being caught up in this. We're also seeing things like a British tourist being detained by US authorities for 10 days, reportedly due to the fact that she was planning to stay with a host family in exchange for helping out

around the house and not having a work visa. There was also the case of Jasmine Mooney, the Canadian who was in an American Pie video and said she was held for 12 days in rough conditions, shackled at certain times. And actually on that note, you had Canadian MP, Charlie Angus today calling on Canadians to avoid travel to the United States, if at all times. And actually on that note, you had Canadian MP Charlie Angus today calling on Canadians to avoid travel to the United States if at all possible. We have seen too many stories of citizens being pulled out of airport lines and being fingerprinted and deported as though

they were criminals. Citizens being kidnapped through the legal detention by ICE. And it's not just Canadians. We see the attack on backpackers, students, doctors, professors. And with that, Angus also calling on his government to, quote, stand up for its citizens who are being denied their rights through arbitrary detention in the United States. People whose phones are being seized and searched for any kind of incriminating evidence that they're somehow progressive or woke.

That's not the actions of a democratic nation. That is the creep of totalitarianism. That is the creep of fascism. And we need to call that out. But then from that, you know, moving on to France, we're learning about a French scientist reportedly denied entry to the United States after immigration officers searched his phone

and found messages expressing criticism of the Trump administration. The unnamed source reportedly telling the French news agency AFP that the individual underwent a random check on arrival, during which his work computer and personal phone research, and authorities claiming that they found messages

that expressed hatred towards Trump and can be qualified as terrorism. With him also reportedly confiscating his professional and personal equipment and sending him back to Europe the following day. You also had another source reportedly telling AFP that authorities accused the French researcher of hateful and conspiratorial messages.

And actually with that, claiming he was briefly being the subject of an FBI investigation until those charges were dropped following his expulsion. However, according to the French minister of higher education and research, who said the scientist had been on assignment for the French National Center for Scientific Research and traveling to a conference near Houston,

that researcher had simply sent messages, expressing a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy. And of course with that, unless there's more information that's set to come out, many would say that the possibility that criticism of Trump has been equated to terrorism is pretty fucking terrifying. Though it also may be, in the eyes of some, unsurprising, considering how we've seen the question of free speech become central in other high-profile immigration cases. Or with some of those not involving people entering the country, but people already living here, such as

Mahmoud Khalil, the detained Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident who still hasn't been charged with any crime, but them instead being deemed deportable on the basis of a little known provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act, giving the Secretary of State the discretion to deport non-citizens if there is, quote, reasonable ground to believe that their presence

or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. But in any case, a key thing here is that following Khalil's detention, Trump promised that it was the first arrest of many to come. And it appears that we are seeing that now as immigration authorities have detained a Georgetown graduate student by doubling down on the same questionable legal argument

that they used to justify Khalil's detention. And so this person is Badr Khan Suri. He's reportedly an Indian citizen in the United States on a valid J-1 student visa, and his area of study is reportedly peace building in Iraq and Afghanistan. With DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLafflin alleging on exit, Suri was actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media. They're going on to say that they have close connections

to a known or suspected terrorist who is a senior advisor to Hamas. So this also as Suri reportedly has no criminal record, has not been charged with a crime yet, and his lawyer said that Suri denied all of the allegations in McLafflin's statement. With that lawyer then adding that he believed the accusations against Suri were seemingly based

on who his father-in-law was. Which I will say with that, his wife's dad is reportedly a former advisor to the Hamas leader whom Israel assassinated last year in Iran. However, you also have people noting that the dad has said that Suri was not involved in any political activism, including on behalf of Hamas. With Hamas also having left his position

in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago, does not currently hold a senior position within the group and has in fact publicly criticized Hamas. With Hamas also having left his position in the Hamas-run government in Gaza more than a decade ago, does not currently hold a senior position within the group, and has in fact publicly criticized Hamas' decision to attack Israel on October 7th, 2023. With all this, you also had Georgetown saying in a statement that it was not aware of Mr. Suri engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention, and adding, we support our community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation, and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable.

With him adding, we expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly. And this is his lawyer also released a statement saying, "'Seeing our government abduct and jail another innocent person is beyond contemptible. And if an accomplished scholar who focuses on conflict resolution is whom the government decides is bad for foreign policy, then perhaps the problem is

with the government, not the scholar.'" But with all that said, as we wait to see more stories like this, if they're going to come out or not, as well as if more information comes from the stories we even talked about today, I got to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Because in addition to this being a news show where we're talking about what's happening, how it's being covered, what people are saying, that also includes you. I want this to be a conversation. In fact, some of your comments and replies on today's show may be in the next show and comment commentary, which we include at the end. But then from that, we got to talk about the news that the Tesla

backlash appears to only be growing and the whole situation in general appears to be escalating. I mean, just yesterday, we talked about some of the reactions and coverage of Tesla stock falling in recent months as well as nationwide protests against the company and a string of vandalism attacks targeting Tesla centers and dealerships. And just last night after the show, the FBI deputy director wrote that our teams are actively working on the Tesla incidents and the swatting incidents, along with our other responsibilities to keep the homeland safe. With that just being one of many responses we've seen to the news with, for example, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also going on Fox News last night and not only condemning vandalism, but telling Americans

to just straight out buy the stock. I mean, this is just so outrageous. You have probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America. And you have this sort of weird side of the Democratic Party attacking him. If you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It'll never be this cheap again. But there's seeing places like CNBC noting that having a cabinet member endorse a company's stock is a highly unusual move.

With the outlet also adding that the conflict of interest rules prevent federal employees from using their roles to quote, "'Endorse any product, service, or enterprise, save for very limited situations,' none of which appeared to apply to Luttony." Though one, just to insert my opinion here, not that surprising. I mean, just the other day, Trump turned the fucking White House into a Tesla dealership. Though also too, back to the news,

it does not appear the endorsement helped that much because as of this morning, Tesla stock took another dip. Though I will say, you know, I'm recording this as the markets are still open. In the afternoon, there was some upward fluctuation, though it was still down a hair. And this after yesterday was actually a good day for Tesla, but it's actually down 5% over the last five days, and it's down nearly 40% since the start of 2025. But you know, connected to that, we talked about the likes of Tim Wall

joking about Tesla's stock plummeting, saying that looking at his little stock app, it gives him a little boost, with some seemingly loving that pettiness, but then tons of others slamming him for celebrating the fall of an American company. You know, what we've seen since is that discourse just continuing to grow

with a ton of people chiming in on both sides. Or with this, for example, seeing the likes of Andrew Schultz going on Theo Vaughn's podcast yesterday and saying, it's not fair to root for Tesla as a whole to fail, even if you don't like Elon. Yes, I understand that he's antagonizing people. He's like rubbing people the wrong way. You don't like the guy. You don't like the beliefs. You don't like what he's doing. And there are things to criticize. I'm not saying there aren't things to criticize. Like everybody is nobody's above criticism. But to punish that car company that is 100 percent made in America, made by people living in America, Americans rely on those jobs. Like maybe we criticize another thing. Right. Like what is your goal that we shut down those factories and those Americans lose those jobs?

That makes you feel better about your gripe with Elon. And in addition to that, you also had the House Judiciary Republicans writing that it is disgusting for Democrats to root against Tesla. But then notably, there's also been some backlash or at least scoffing to that backlash for two reasons. You had some noting that one, that if the concern is that Americans are losing their jobs, well, that's why some people are mad at Elon in the first place. And then also too, you had a lot of people saying that a number of the people and groups that are outraged about people rooting for Tesla's failure, they are the same people who have rooted for the failure of or boycotted companies that are either American

and or employ a lot of Americans. With the same, for example, Bud Light actually trending on Twitter this morning as people noted conservatives previously boycotted and raged against the company after it partnered with a trans content creator and Kid Rock even shot cans of the beer. Or with a boycott impacting sales and distributors. And at the time that that same

house judiciary GOP account tweeted, Bud Light, Disney, Target, go woke, go broke. And so we're seeing that whole back and forth playing out there. But then that also brings us to the last piece of Tesla news, which is that there is now a major Cybertruck recall. With this impacting essentially all Cybertrucks sold in the first 15 months that the cars entered the US market. Meaning we're talking about over 46,000 vehicles though. The company estimates that only around 1% will actually have the defect at issue. Or with that reportedly being a part called the cant rail,

which is a stainless steel exterior trim panel that can apparently delaminate and detach from the vehicle. Within that detached panel possibly becoming a road hazard and increasing the risk of accidents. As you have Tesla now offering service free of charge to replace that part. And all of this is notably, there have been a handful of Cybertruck recalls

since it hit the market. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment, but I gotta tell you about today's sponsor because they have completely changed my household's bread game. They're not just bread. We're talking pasta, pastries, all the comfort foods that we love,

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Penn over, quote, its policies forcing women to compete with men in sports. With that essentially being all the information they gave us, I mean, even Penn didn't really seem to know any more than we did. With a spokesperson for the university telling multiple outlets yesterday that the school has yet to receive any official notification of the funding freeze or any details. But despite the vague statement, it was widely speculated that the rapid response team's post was referencing Leah Thomas. Where the transgender student-athlete was allowed to compete on Penn's women's swim team in 2022, becoming the first trans woman to win a division one NCAA title. With Thomas's inclusion and success generating a lot

of criticism and lawsuits alleging that Thomas was given an unfair advantage in being allowed to compete in the women's category. And those accusations have resurfaced again recently amid the Trump administration's broader crackdown on transgender Americans. Right last month, three of Thomas's former teammates filed a lawsuit against Penn, Harvard, the Ivy League,

and the NCAA for violating Title IX. And very notably here, that move came just one day before Trump signed an executive order effectively banning trans women from competing in women's sports, with the margum that such allowances violated Title IX and threatened to withhold federal funds from any school that went forward with such policies.

And then just one day after that, the education department announced that it had launched an investigation into San Jose State and Penn for allowing trans women to compete on women's teams. But here's where things start to get sticky, right? Leah Thomas hasn't competed at Penn since winning the title in 2022.

And according to reports, the school no longer has any trans athletes competing on women's teams. With a spokesperson for the university insisting that when Thomas was allowed to compete, that was only because the National Collegiate Standard at the time permitted it. Saying, quote,

Penn has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams. We have been in the past and remain today in full compliance with the regulations that apply to not only Penn, but all of our NCAA and Ivy League peer institutions. And what's more, a White House spokesperson also told the Washington Post that the decision to halt funding

to Penn was not the result of the Education Department's investigation into the school for alleged Title IX violations, saying instead that the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services were withholding the money as part of a review of discretionary funding. But they then also did not specify what the discretionary funding was

or explain why it was being paused if not in connection to a Title IX violation. Which is especially confusing because the spokesperson still emphasized that this was about Leah Thomas, saying, "'UPenn' infamously permitted a male "'to compete on its women's swimming team, "'overturning multiple records hard-earned by women

"'and granting the fully intact male "'access to the locker room. Right, all of that is also the White House has not said what needs to happen in order for the funding to be reinstated, which again is especially confusing given the fact that no trans athletes compete on women's teams at Penn right now. See, I mean, right now it's unclear exactly

what's going on, why these funds are being withheld, or even what policy the administration is doing this on. You know, Trump's order banning trans athletes specifically required the education department to take enforcement action, but this move is apparently coming from the DOD doing this under. You know, Trump's order banning trans athletes specifically required the education department to take enforcement action, but this move is apparently coming from the DOD and HHS. But then on the note of the education department, that brings us to the next piece of news,

which is that the American Federation of Teachers, one of the biggest educators unions in the country, is suing the agency and accusing the agency of effectively breaking the student loan system. With the AFT specifically alleging that the department is blocking millions of student loan borrowers from accessing affordable repayment plans and student loan forgiveness

programs that are authorized under federal law. And this suit comes as the federal student loan repayment system is currently undergoing a major crisis that has left millions stuck in forbearance due to a legal challenge to an income-driven repayment program enacted by the Biden administration. And that program, called SAVE, allowed students to repay their student loans based on how much money they made, with the idea there being to keep payments affordable and avoid defaults. But SAVE notably has faced a legal challenge from a group of red states, and last month, the Federal Appeals Court ruled that it was illegal and questioned the legality of two other income-driven repayment programs, a.k.a. IDR. And while the court had stopped short of striking down the other programs,

Trump Education Department responded by shutting down all IDR plans, including one that the appeals court itself explicitly said wasn't part of the ruling. And that has had an absolutely massive impact, right? According to reports, more than 12 million student loan borrowers use IDR plans, and over 1 million borrowers were waiting for their applications to be processed when the agency shut everything down. So now where we are is, one, no new applications are being processed. Two, people enrolled in SAVE are unable to move to new plans or apply for income-based adjustments to their payments. And three, borrowers who need to recertify their income for an existing plan, right, which is an annual requirement,

they're being blocked from doing so, resulting in massive increases to monthly payments. And all of this is the administration's efforts have blocked one of the biggest avenues of student loan forgiveness, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, or PSLF. And you see that PSLF, it provides forgiveness in as little as 10 years for borrowers who commit to work for nonprofit or government employers the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, or PSLF. When you see the PSLF, it provides forgiveness

in as little as 10 years for borrowers who commit to work for nonprofit or government employers, rather than taking up more lucrative private sector jobs. You know, think teachers, nurses, public defenders, and prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and military service members, they can all qualify. But PSLF, it requires most borrowers to repay their loans under an income-driven repayment plan in order to qualify.

So by pausing all IDR programs, the Trump administration effectively blocked borrowers from PSLF as well. So as a result, AFT argues in its lawsuit that the education department's decision to suspend all IDR programs goes way beyond the appeals court decision, which again, only determined that Biden's SAVE program was illegal and said nothing about blocking access to all the other plans. So you have the AFT accusing the Trump administration of overstepping its authority, arguing. Congress provided clear and specific directives to the department so that millions of Americans could repay their loans without being hindered by the debt, with them then going on to accuse the administration of violating congressional power and directives by

shutting down all IDR plans without any indication of when or if they'll be revived. But then also, honestly, a lawsuit might be the least of the education department's concerns right now because the final education- story I wanna hit on is that we are once again seeing reports that Trump is going to sign an order aimed at dismantling the agency entirely. And if you feel like you're experiencing deja vu, it's because we saw the exact same reports a few weeks ago.

And with that, I'll say, as I'm filming this, nothing official has been released yet. But according to sources in a White House fact sheet obtained by the media, it appears that this is the exact same order that was reported earlier this month. And specifically, as we talked about, it would direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to quote,

"'Take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure "'of the Department of Education "'and return education authority to the states.'" But also, as we talked about last time, it's very unclear what exactly McMahon can actually do. Or the Education Department was created by Congress, so only Congress can fully dismantle it. Though with that, I'll say McMahon, for her part,

has indicated that she would move some of the agency's key functions to other departments. You have experts saying that also would likely require congressional approval because many of those operations are explicitly assigned to the Education Department under federal law. For example, some of the Education Department's main tasks are to administer federal grant programs

that provide billions of dollars in federal funding for low-income schools and students with disabilities, as well as overseeing the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program. But Congress specifically gave that power to this one agency, not any others. And notably with that, you had a senior administration official

telling the Washington Post that those programs will not be touched. But as the outlet explained, those programs make up the bulk of the education department's budget and work. So it's not clear what that means or how the White House expects significant change without touching those programs.

State and local governments already carry most of the responsibility for education. They provide around 90% of the funds and determine most of the rules. The education department doesn't set curriculum or decide most schools' policies. Again, most of its work is supplementing funding for at-risk, high-need students and dealing with loans.

So beyond that, it's unclear what McMahon can really cut, especially given the fact that the department has already been heavily gutted by the administration and Doge, which began sweeping layoffs last week. But the Trump administration's own count, 1,300 workers have been told they would lose their jobs and nearly 600 others have chosen to leave,

meaning that the workforce is already roughly half the size it was when Trump took office. And so for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens, though. If it is just, if it continues to be the trend like all Trump news, if it happens, it will likely be either right as I'm uploading or right after we go live.

But of course for now, we'll have to wait to see it. In the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments. But then next up today, we've got to talk about Israel. Because just like we talked about on Tuesday, it looks like the war in Gaza is back on because after conducting airstrikes,

Israeli forces have now conducted a massive ground operation in the territory. And on top of that, Hamas has responded with its own rockets into Israel. With the same outlets like NPR and CNN saying that Israel is the one that broke the nearly two-month ceasefire after negotiations broke down. But there, we've seen some pushing back against that, claiming that the ceasefire technically ended 10 days ago. But the counter-argument is that the devil is in the details, though. Israel wanted to change the original ceasefire blueprint that Hamas had agreed to and have every hostage released at once. And Hamas wanted to continue the original deal

and release hostages in waves as Israel complied with leaving Gaza. But you know, as people argue around the specifics, hundreds of people on the ground have reportedly been killed, including at least 200 children. Now with all this, you have Israel claiming that the ground operations are supposed to be targeted

and meant to hit Hamas weapons caches and infrastructure. But through the fog of war right now, it's hard to tell if that's actually the case. And one of the things we have seen is that families which have gone to the ruined parts of Northern Gaza being forced to flee again ahead of the Israeli advances. And while all of that is bad enough, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned

that it's likely going to get a lot worse unless Hamas releases the remaining hostages. Saying, citizens of Gaza, this is your last warning. The Air Force attack against Hamas terrorists was only the first step. The rest will be significantly worse and you will pay the price. Unless all of the Israeli hostages are released and Hamas is expelled from Gaza,

Israel will act with forces never before seen. Take the US president's advice, return the hostages and expel Hamas and other options will be presented to you, including relocating to other places in the world for those who wish. And adding, the alternative is utter devastation and destruction.

Now with this, you had Hamas's response to the attacks being a series of rocket attacks into the Tel Aviv area, all of which were either intercepted or fell into open areas according to local officials. And something else we've seen is with the return of hostilities and especially of Israeli ground troops returning to Gaza, that sparked serious protests in Israel. For three days now, we've seen thousands taking

to the streets to protest and demand that talks take place instead of force to try and get the release of the 59 remaining hostages. With many feeling that a return to fighting just means that Prime Minister Netanyahu's government has signed the hostages death warrant. And this is near Netanyahu's residence, people waved Israeli flags and called for new elections. And notably, this doesn't appear to be a small

but dedicated group of Israelis who feel this way. Repolling actually indicates that a majority of Israelis don't want the hostilities to resume. And then outside of Israel, we've seen figures like Senator Bernie Sanders calling for military aid to Israel to end, which I will say is extremely unlikely considering President Trump's stance on Israel and Gaza right now. And this is other US senators, even Democrats like John Fetterman have been far more pro-Israel. Shortly after Israel resumed its airstrikes on Gaza, he wrote, Hamas does not want

peace. I unapologetically 100% stand with Israel and demand the release of all remaining hostages. And so it looks like despite the slim chance that peace was on the horizon, we're back to more bloodshed over Gaza. And really, who knows exactly what we're going to see because yeah, the first time around the US administration at least lost some of its appetite to support Israel cutting off armed shipments and trying to provide aid to Gaza, though many felt that that wasn't enough. But now this time you have Trump as the president and he's seemingly 100% on board with getting the Palestinians out of there and turning it into so-called ripy era of the Middle East.

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But then shifting gears from that in random interesting news, the global human population may have just increased by billions of people. It's currently the United Nations estimates humanity consists of about 8.2 billion beautiful bastards. But there's now new research that was published in the journal Nature Communications

that suggests otherwise. With it claiming that the five most widely used global population data sets significantly undercounts the true numbers. And that because they're based on census data, which the study's authors argue is flawed for several reasons. With the most notably claiming that counts

are often underfunded, communities in remote locations are impacted by conflict and violence are difficult to access and census enumerators often face language barriers and resistance to participation. And you have the paper citing Paraguay as an example, saying the 2012 census there may have missed a quarter of the population. And adding, this is remarkable as countless studies have employed these data sets without questioning their accuracy in the rural domain. So to get a more accurate picture, they looked at over 300 rural dam projects across 35 countries. Because you see, when dams are built, people have to be resettled.

And the numbers are usually very precise because companies have to compensate anyone affected by that project. And so by comparing that data to the traditional population data sets, this study tried to gauge the difference. And there was a difference. With it finding that the previous estimates undercounted the rural population by anywhere from between 53% and 84%. With the biggest discrepancies being found in China, Brazil, Australia, Poland, and Colombia. And a big thing to keep in mind is that current estimates suggest that over 40% of the world's 8.2 billion people live in rural areas.

And so while the study stopped short of throwing out its own population figure, that would suggest there's hundreds of millions, if not billions more people on this planet than we've long thought. Which I will say is not only just interesting, but it's actually huge because policymakers have been using these data sets

to make important decisions for decades. Right on everything from resource allocation, infrastructure planning, and public health to disaster preparedness and environmental conservation. But again, at the very least, it's just interesting. And hey, the next time someone's like, hey, there's like 8 billion people on the planet, you can be like, well, actually.

And you can seem smarter than you are because you know a random factoid, which is like 30% of the reason to watch this show. But then next up today, we gotta talk about your daily dose of good news. Though I will say we're gonna have to revisit the most horrifying story that we covered last week. Right, the 32 year old man who was allegedly held captive

by his father and stepmother for 20 years. With him saying that he was imprisoned inside of a tiny storage room and maybe for a couple hours a day on some days, he was able to have access to the rest of the house since he was 11 years old. Adding that he was starved, deprived of medical treatment, left without heating or AC, forced to do chores, just basically denied any shred of human dignity whatsoever. As you might remember, when they found him, he weighed just 68 pounds at five foot nine. But with how horrible as all that was, I am very happy to say that his local community, his country, and even the wider world

has rallied around him since learning of his courageous escape. For example, the mayor of the town where he lives reaching out to Safe Haven, a Greater Waterbury, a nonprofit that assists victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the organizer GoFundMe for the man. Well, the initial goal was just to raise $10,000.

I mean, the money came flowing with, as of recording, over 2,000 people donating more than $115,000 so far after just one week. With the numbers still climbing, I'll also link to it in the description. You know, with that, you have Safe Haven, which is setting up a trust for the man, saying the money will be used to pay for medical

and dental care, counseling and therapy for physical and emotional recovery, housing and daily living expenses, and support for legal fees. With the group's executive director telling Fox News. From what we know, the education stopped at age 11. So it's going to need educational resources. He doesn't even probably know about technology these days. Anything that he's dealing with medically from, you know, the weight loss or, you know, rebuilding his muscles to being able to,

you know, walk properly, physical therapy, emotional therapy. You know, with all that, obviously, it is a crucial thing. The money is important, but also so many of the notes that have been attached to the donations, they're just heartwarming. The people writing things to this man, like, I just want you to know that you are such a brave and strong person that deserves the world.

You've always deserved that. And I hope from here on out, you live a beautiful life full of hope and kindness. As well as people encouraging him to live life, embrace life, go to school, ride a horse, watch a sunset sunrise, go to a theme park and ride the rides, eat all different foods, be good to yourself. Saying we're your brothers and sisters

and we are so sorry this happened to you. But then also in addition to that, right, the money and the kind words from strangers, that is great. But one of the most wild and biggest updates is that his biological mother just told NBC that she gave up custody of him as a baby and she's been looking for any sign of him ever since. It's saying that when he became an adult,

she and her daughter, the man's half sister, scoured the internet for his whereabouts. With his half sister saying, "'I just want him to know that he has a big sister "'and I've always known he's existed "'and I've always loved him "'and I've always been trying to find him. "'I've been looking for him for over a decade

"'and there was nothing, no social media, "'no court records, no ancestry information, nothing.'" And his mom adding, "'He does have everybody here on both sides, on both sides of his family that love him and have looked for him. We all love him. I love him.

He's so strong and I'm so proud of him for doing what he needed to do. I wish he did it sooner. So obviously we will never be able to understand what this man went through. And I have no doubt that this man will carry the burden of his trauma for the rest of his life.

But at the very least, we know that in addition to the money and support of strangers, he will not have to carry this alone because he has family that wants him and will be with him. But then from that, finally today,

let's talk about your comments on yesterday's show and some comment commentary. With the show being so big, there were a lot of comments about a lot of different pieces of news, some sounding off on that Arkansas jail getting rid of inmate calls over FCC frustrations and where it could go from there. With Pamela saying, reminder, every time it comes up, jails and prisons are not the same. The overwhelming majority of people in

jails either haven't been convicted of a crime yet and can't afford bail or are serving sentences less than a year or nine months, depending on the state. These are the monsters this sheriff wants to deprive of phone calls for political points. You also had others sharing their own stories like Jerry's who said, I was locked up in my three weekly calls back home to my wife who was a full state away and could not visit every month, literally kept me alive. For most inmates, phone calls make up

the most accessible way inmates can keep in touch with family and legal services. Absolutely shameful that removing this is even on the table. We also saw a fair share of comments around the Musk-Tesla backlash situation. With many of those kind of echoing things we saw in the coverage today,

Yuri's saying the irony in them talking about Tesla employing people all over the country while EM is firing thousands of federal employees all over the country, along with attacking Tesla is domestic terrorism, but storming the Capitol wasn't? With others going wider with it, saying Nancy Pelosi's house is broken into and her husband is injured. Actual elected officials, including a campaigning Trump, make jokes at their expense. Tesla stock falls and Tim Walz makes fun of it. Republicans, that's too mean. There was also, once again, a lot of love for the positive news story at the end, including interesting insights like, I recently had to stop watching you with my wife because she was leaving the videos feeling so overwhelmed. Since you started adding in the positive story and including

a story not about Trump means we're back watching it together. It leaves us feeling way more positive and optimistic for the future. Thank you. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Thursday evening dive into the news. Don't worry, I will see you soon because you're gonna follow me maybe at any of these socials here at the bottom. Or of course, because I post a brand new episode of this show 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 on Monday.