The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.5 WOW! Leaked Video Exposes Child “Gladiator Fights”, Andrew Tate’s Florida Problem, & Trump's Speech

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Don't miss out on a new https://beautifulbastard.com We The People Tee and hoodie or out special 50% sale on select items! Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today!  Level up your health at http://www.TryARMRA.com/DEFRANCO  and use code DEFRANCO at checkout to get up to 15% off your first order. 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 Watch yesterday’s show here: https://youtu.be/pPdM_vYoqPk?si=B7R2B_y0m3PG-Abv&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1   – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Florida Launches Criminal Investigation into Andrew Tate 04:26 - 30 LA County Probation Officers Indicted for Facilitating Fights in Juvenile Centers  07:41 - “Stranded” NASA Astronauts Set to Return in a Few Weeks 10:16 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 11:27 - Highlights from Trump’s Speech to Congress 25:33 - Sponsored by ARMRA 26:43 - Federal Return to Office Policy Creates Confusion 29:47 - Researchers Link Swearing to Strength, High Pain Tolerance 32:17 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 32:45 - Comment Commentary  Trump’s full speech: https://youtu.be/cR5Dmj6GK88?si=OTp9ODggEuSoiQbY Fact Checks of Trump’s speech: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/04/g-s1-50488/trump-congress-joint-address-fact-check https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/fact-checking-trumps-speech-congress-rcna194819  https://www.factcheck.org/2025/03/video-factchecking-trumps-address-to-congress/ https://www.fox5ny.com/news/trump-congress-speech-facts Key takeaways from Trump’s speech: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-speech-highlights-takeaways-congress-address-rcna193844 https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/president-donald-trump-joint-session-not-state-of-the-union-2025 ——————————   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 #AndrewTate #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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fights. What's really happening with the new active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers in Florida? My swearing is actually good for you. And I watched Donald Trump's record-settingly long speech to Congress, so you don't have to. 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, starting dive into the news, how it's being covered, and how people are reacting, starting with this. Wow, so this is a big surprising escalation and update. The Attorney General of Florida is now investigating the Tate brothers.

Right, and that after Andrew and Tristan Tate landed in Florida a few days ago, and yesterday you had A.G. James Uthmeyer tweeting, Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate. And saying, based on a thorough review of the evidence, I've directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers. And adding, Florida has zero tolerance for people who abuse women and girls. We will not allow it. And while that statement didn't specify exactly what the investigation was into, He did later tell a Scripps reporter. These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world. Many of these victims coming forward,

some of them minors, you know, people can spin or defend however they want. But in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. If these guys did criminal activity here in Florida, we will go after them with the full force of law and hold them accountable. Right, and so now this is obviously not the first time the Taits have ever been under investigation. Right, they were previously investigated

and arrested in Romania on trafficking charges, which they've denied. Though notably, what brought us to today is that travel restrictions in the country were lifted on them last week, allowing them to arrive in the US as the case is still playing out. Additionally, the Taits were previously set

to be extradited to the UK following proceedings in Romania under a British arrest warrant. So with that, some want Prime Minister Keir Starmer to seek their extradition from the US now that they're stateside. And all of this is they're being sued by a woman in Florida who accused them of luring her to Romania for sex work, which is an allegation they've denied,

and they're actually suing her for defamation. Now with all this, I'll say it is surprising but not the most surprising to hear that the state's AG is open to criminal investigation. Right, and that at the very least because Governor Ron DeSantis said that the brothers were not welcome in Florida after they landed and said that he would discuss the matter with the AG.

Notably, you've got Andrew Tate pushing back against this, responding to the news of the investigation by writing, "'Absolute Communism. "'I've been in America for five days.. I sat on my laptop and did a podcast. Insanity. With a matting, I am super disappointed in the United States. This isn't the America I know. This is a sad, sad day for America. Trying to find crimes on an innocent man. I'm not afraid. I'm genuinely just disappointed. With their lawyer, Joseph McBride, also condemning the investigation and alleging that by doing this, the attorney general, quote, threw ethics law

out of the window when he publicly took a side in an ongoing Florida lawsuit where Andrew and Tristan Tate are suing a Florida woman for orchestrating a sophisticated plot to use sex as a weapon to ruin their lives. With the matting, Attorney General Uthmeyer's statements are inflammatory, biased, and designed to affect the outcome of our pending civil suit in Palm Beach Court. And that is possibly where the statement would end for most lawyers. But this lawyer then went on to call DeSantis a quote, "'angry, vertically challenged imp who hates Tate and Trump "'for being actual men.'"

And adding, "'Attorney General Uthmeyer is his pathetic lapdog.'" In closing, by saying that the Tate brothers have not committed any crimes in Florida. And so then, as far as the responses here, you had people on Tate's side slamming Florida, accusing the state of targeting the brothers without evidence.

But then also, notably, you had plenty of people celebrating the news as well, saying that they're glad that Florida's AG is seeking evidence. But then also notably you had plenty of people celebrating the news as well, saying that they're glad that Florida's AG is seeking justice. And among those, you had people like senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation telling ABC News, "'Florida AG Uthmeyer is right to criminally investigate

"'the Tate brothers who have publicly boasted "'about exploiting women, yet have continuously sought "'to undermine the Romanian investigation "'into these crimes.'" And saying, "'Over 40 victims have been identified across Romania, "'the United Kingdom, and the United States. They deserve justice. Florida's investigation is a positive step towards justice realized. And I also feel like it should be noted, this is not just a

left versus right issue. The moment the Tates got to the States, I mean, it wasn't just the left. Some conservatives weren't thrilled either. And so there is an interesting divide there that's playing out. Also, I mean, you even had tons of people pointing the finger at Trump because even though Trump said he was unaware of the Tates coming to Florida, previous reporting claimed that his administration was pressuring Romania to lift restrictions on them. And this is you've had some like Alina Haba counseled President Donald Trump saying that she was a big fan of Tate. Nice to meet you. I'm a big fan. Well, nice to meet you. I'm a fan. You're the one saving Trump. You're doing more important work than me. You know, for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how the investigation plays out.

And also in the meantime, how the division in the conservative movement handles the situation. But then from that next up, let's talk about some general what the fuck news. And that is what if we take a bunch of kids and we put them in some fighting pits? Now with that, you might be going, Phil, what are you talking about?

That is absurd. You're a monster. Put 200 on the tall ginger. That is more or less what 30 correctional officers in California have been accused of. Because last year, the LA Times published leaked security footage from Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, California.

And that footage showed eight probation officers just standing around while a group of kids came swinging at one 17-year-old boy one at a time. And so these officers, they're just watching this kid fight half a dozen other kids. Also, this video originally came from that 17-year-old's attorney while they were arguing that he wasn't safe at Los Padrinos and should be released until his trial.

But here's the thing. Once that footage was out and about, the California Department of Justice, they launched an investigation. An investigation that uncovered nearly 70 fights like this in the span of six months involving 143 different kids aged 12 to 18. Within all of that, bringing us to the big update this week, a grand jury indicted 30 officers for their role in facilitating these fights.

And so you have each of these officers facing a felony child abuse charge, which if convicted is between two and six years in prison. Also one of the 30s facing a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly using force and violence against an unnamed subject. And that is three others of that 30, they're being charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.

With the indictment alleging that two of the three knew about the fights beforehand, their time and location, and then told other officers to watch the fights, but not report them. And the third allegedly told new hires that the fights were an example of how the detention staff controlled the kids in their care. And with all this, after the indictment was unsealed,

we saw California Attorney General Rob Bonta saying to the LA Times, they did have multiple gladiator-type fights between individuals with probation officers employed by LA County right there in the room, watching, not intervening, not keeping the young people they were charged with taking care of. With him adding that prosecutors believe the officers organized the fight, saying, we believe that this was planned, it was intended, there was a desire on the part of the juvenile probation officers for these fights to occur. They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day and at a certain time and a certain place.

Also notably, the Los Padrinos director has been indicted, but his attorney argues that he's innocent. He's saying he didn't set up or even know about any of the fights, so quote, "'I'm not sure how they got him into this as an accomplice.'" But regardless, the LA County Probation Department, which is in charge of the facility, says it, quote, "'fully supports and applauds the indictments.'"

Noting that all of the officers involved have been placed on leave without pay and saying, our department sought the assistance of law enforcement authorities when misconduct was discovered, which eventually led to the AG's office investigation. Since then, we have fully collaborated with our partners and then adding, at the same time, we have been conducting our own internal inquiries. Accountability is a cornerstone of our mission and we have zero tolerance for misconduct of any peace officers, especially those dealing with young people in our system. But with this, I will say not everyone is against the officers in question here. With the saying of the president of the LA County Deputy Probation

Officers Union, for example, which represents all 30 of the officers in labor talks saying that they'll offer support however they can. And with that saying, every American is innocent until proven guilty. Our members are entitled to the same presumption of innocence and deserve to be treated with fairness and due process just as they provide to those in their custody. And with that, I'll say, you know, you can watch the videos for yourself, but also I wanna add, it is worth mentioning that this is not the only issue that Los Padrinos has had.

In fact, they're actually under an order from the state to close, but the LA County supervisors are using an emergency action to keep it open, right? And that because of the lack of any other juvenile facilities. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how this plays out, both for the officers involved

and for Los Padrinos itself. But then shifting gears to different news, the astronauts are finally coming home. Because you may remember the flurry of headlines from last year about these two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams. They were the crew of the Boeing Starliner's test flight last June and were supposed to be

on the International Space Station for a grand total of eight days. But instead, what happened is that on the ride up to the ISS, the Starliner ran into a bunch of issues and glitches, including helium leaks and thruster mishaps. And so Sunny and Butch's stay in space, it got extended by months and NASA ultimately decided that it was just too risky for them

to ride the Starliner home. With them then making the announcement back in August that the Starliner would be coming back to Earth unmanned, with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson saying at the time, "'A test flight, by nature nature is neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Sunny aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety, our core value and our North Star.

And so after that, it was decided that Sunny and Butch would keep doing work up on the ISS and they would be folded into the Crew-9 team that flew up there in late September. And that Crew-9 team consisted of two people, one NASA astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut, rather than the planned four people in order to leave room for Butch and Sonny on the SpaceX flight back to Earth. And with this whole situation, we saw many people saying that Butch and Sonny,

they were just abandoned or stranded in space. And that, including the likes of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who reportedly blamed the Biden administration, with Musk saying on X that it's terrible they, quote, left them there so long. But notably, even from space, Butch and Sonny actually pushed back against this idea that they were abandoned, telling Anderson Cooper on CNN. We don't feel abandoned. We don't feel stuck. We don't feel

stranded. I understand why others may think that. We come prepared. We come committed. That is what your human spaceflight program is. It prepares for any and all contingencies that we can conceive of, and we prepare for those. And as for their return, the original plan, or not the original original, but the new original, was for Crew-9's replacement, Crew-10, to fly up there in a brand new SpaceX capsule. But last month, plans changed a little bit once again, with NASA announcing that instead of using a new capsule for Crew-10's launch, they're instead going to fly up in a used one, hopefully lifting off March 12th. Then, Crew-9 and Crew-10 spending about a week together for a handoff before Crew 9,

including Butch and Sonny, jump into the capsule and head back home. Which would mean, and hopefully it happens, that they'll be back on solid ground by the end of the month. All of which brings us to yesterday, nine months into their one-week space trip, with Butch and Sonny giving a pre-departure news conference. And there, Sonny's saying that the hardest part was keeping their families back home waiting. Saying it's been a rollercoaster for them, probably a little bit morearture news conference. And there, Sunny's saying that the hardest part was keeping their families back home waiting, saying it's been a rollercoaster for them,

probably a little bit more so than for us. We're here, we have a mission, we're just doing what we do every day, and every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun. But with that, hopefully everything goes as planned and the fun can be over. And hopefully in a few weeks,

we'll be talking about Sunny and Butch being back here on Earth. And then we'll get to more news in just a moment. But first, you know, have you ever woken up with a funky symptom like a swollen, itchy eye or a persistent cold and cough and immediately Googled it or searched TikTok to see what's wrong?

And I think we've all gone down that rabbit hole. And not to mention that booking a doctor appointment, it can feel daunting, but it's time to get the help and care you really need. And thanks to our sponsor, ZocDoc, there's no reason to delay. They make it so easy to find and book a doctor who's right for you.

I mean, trust me, I use it myself. And that's because ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search, compare high quality in-network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. I mean, they're connecting you with over 100,000 doctors across every specialty from mental health to dental, primary to urgent care and more. Search by location, availability and insurance, which by the way, you'll find up up front who takes your insurance, to find doctors who prioritize your health with no compromise. With ZocDoc, your care is just a few clicks away. And the best part? You can see real-time availability and book instantly. I mean, most appointments happen within 24 to 72 hours and some even same day, right? Not six months from now. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go

to ZocDoc.com slash fill or scan the QR code to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash Phil, ZocDoc.com slash Phil. But then next up, let's talk about Trump's speech to Congress. And I am going to try to make this consumable, but it was a yap-a-thon.

With the clocking in as the longest presidential address to Congress in modern history, with Trump speaking for roughly one hour and 40 minutes. Which side note, if you're one of the about 300,000 people that watched it live with us on the channel last night, it was great having you. You know, with it being such a long speech, what I'm gonna do is cover the key points,

the highlights, the big takeaways, and obviously I'm not gonna be able to cover every single thing. So with that, I'll say the speech began in typical Trump fashion. He sang his own high praise. Citizens, America is back. We've accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or

eight years. And we are just getting started. Well, of course, you know, it's not unusual for a president to spend some time celebrating his perceived accomplishments. Also notably, these addresses to Congress, they often lay out an agenda for the year, but with Trump, he spent very little time unveiling new policies. And this is his speech also generally lacked calls for unity and bipartisanship

that have been common historically, which is why we've seen many describing it as divisive and partisan with little to no precedent. I mean, even had a guest on Fox News describing it as the most partisan speech he's ever heard a president give in this kind of setting. And with that, while blaming one's predecessor for the country's problems is also kind of a presidential tradition, he called Biden the worst president in American history. And he also mentioned his name a dozen other times to blame him for everything, for the high cost of eggs to drugs and crime. And then, besides Biden, he attacked Democrats in general for standing in his

way and complained that they would never applaud his accomplishments. Also referring to them as these people, radical left lunatics, and even using his Pocahontas nickname for Senator Elizabeth Warren. Once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do. But of course, with all that, we saw Democrats hitting back, right? There had been some debate over the best way to deal with the speech with people like Maxwell Frost

of Florida, for example, arguing, we wanna make clear that things are not business as usual. Things are falling apart. Though in the end, we saw a number of different things playing out. You had some top Democratic leaders and others in the party sitting quietly without disrupting Trump's remarks. This also is some skipped the speech entirely,

others like independent Bernie Sanders, they walked out early in protest. There's also as others in attendance were shouting, heckling and otherwise trying to express that their opposition went beyond normal partisan disagreement. And we saw some of that kicking off just a couple of minutes into Trump's speech.

We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! With one of the most notable early moments being Al Green from Texas standing up, waving his cane and shouting, among other things, you have no mandate to cut Medicaid. It's something that he just kept doing and that quickly led to him getting kicked out. Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum,

the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. Remove this gentleman from the chamber. The people on both sides of the aisle going, wow, that's unprecedented. Though there, the truth is yes and no. To be clear, you know, this isn't the first time in recent history that an opposition lawmaker has interrupted a president's address to Congress. With, you know, many pointing to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, for example, repeatedly interjecting during former President Biden's State of the Union speech back in 2022. Though notably,

they weren't kicked out. And also unlike them, Al Greene might now get censured in Congress as well. And then, you know, in addition to that, throughout the speech, you had different interactions. You know, there were moments where Democrats were laughing out loud when Trump said that the era of rule by unelected bureaucrats is over. With the camera feed even then focusing on Elon Musk while people were laughing. Additionally, the Democrats applauding loudly

when he talked about aid to Ukraine and yelling January 6th when he talked about protecting police officers. Right, and all of that was in addition to some waving signs that read things like, Musk steals, save Medicaid, and protect veterans. And even those were in addition to things like, Rashida Tlaib bringing a whiteboard and writing different messages on it throughout Trump's speech, including, no king, lies, and start by paying your own taxes. But you know, in any case,

with getting all that part out of the way, getting more into the specifics about what Trump talked about, a good chunk of the speech, it involved Trump applauding his own administration's efforts to roll back transgender rights, as well as diversity, equity, inclusion programs. What I have just described is only a small fraction of the common sense revolution that is now, because of us, sweeping the entire world. Because we're getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military and it's already out and it's out of our society. We don't want it. Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. And from there, you had Trump pledging to fight what he described as the economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare inherited from the Biden administration. But I'm also claiming

that his administration will reduce inflation by lowering the price of energy. The previous administration cut the number of new oil and gas leases by 95%, slowed pipeline construction to a halt, and closed more than 100 power plants. We are opening up many of those power plants right now. It's called drill, baby, drill. And then secondly here, he said that the administration would be combating inflation by ending the, quote, flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars, with this making it clear that he fully supported Elon Musk and Doge. Thank you, Elon.

He's working very hard. He didn't need this. He didn't need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don't want to admit that. And then with that, he then went on to spend several minutes

listing what he described as appalling waste identified by the Doge team. $22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens. $8 million to promote LGBTQI+, in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. $8 million for making mice transgender. In the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.

$8 million for making mice transgender. This is real. $32 million for a left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova. Under the Trump administration, all of these scams, and they're far worse, but I didn't think it was appropriate to talk about them. They're so bad. Many more have been found out and exposed and swiftly terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people headed up by Elon. And we appreciate it. We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud. In that part, it stood out for two reasons. One, the fact that Donald Trump said that Elon Musk heads Doge. Because like we talked about in the past,

the Trump administration had a legal defense that Elon Musk does not actually head Doge, right, both publicly and to a federal judge, and now you have the president contradicting that. And in fact, we're already seeing reports that plaintiffs in one lawsuit against Doge have alerted the court of President Trump's remarks last night, calling Elon Musk the head of the office.

And then two separate but connected, there's zero evidence that Doge has uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud. And this is it's also up for debate whether you consider these programs, which are often mischaracterized by Trump and Musk as waste. You know, with that, Doge itself has claimed to have generated $105 billion in savings.

And this of course is a figure that they haven't really been able to prove. Because as we've talked about previously, the New York Times notably has found that Doge has erroneously reported savings based on contracts that have already ended and miscalculated numbers. And in a number of the cases, not by like a little bit. But in any case, right, moving on to another point we should touch on, tariffs. It's obviously a very big topic right now since Trump imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico as well as new tariffs on China yesterday. A move that's resulted in many economists warning that a trade war doesn't benefit anyone.

You know, with that, we immediately saw the markets take a massive hit, erasing a lot of the post-election gains, especially as countries have begun responding with tariffs of their own. But what we saw is that Trump defended the tariffs and warned that reciprocal tariffs would go into effect on April 2nd. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries. You then had Trump going on to highlight some of the tariffs that U.S. products

face, such as an over 100% tariff on American automobiles in India, as well as an average tariff in South Korea of over four times what the U.S. has on South Korea. But there, we've seen some pushback, with some Indian outlets, for example, claiming that it's not that high, and instead, the highest tariff is 70%, which is still very high for a tariff. And this is you had South Korean officials pointing out that tariffs on American imports are effectively 0%. And then with all that, you had Trump somewhat acknowledging there could be a negative economic impact, but he very much downplayed it, kind of talking about it as a temporary thing, and continued to insist that it would be beneficial. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it's happening,

and it will happen rather quickly. There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much. You know, one of the notable things here is that you had many members of the Republican party, long a party that has staunchly supported free trade, applauding the tariffs.

Which, you know, really ends up just being one of the things that we're seeing more and more about. Trump has bent the party around him. Which actually on that note, Republicans in Congress are now working on a massive tax and spending bill focused on clearing the way for key elements of Trump's domestic agenda. And so in his speech,

he also went over what he wants to see in that, with the big thing being just cutting taxes. And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody. I'm calling for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security benefits for our great seniors. And while saying all of that, also saying that he is going to balance the budget, something that's been described by some as a complete fantasy. Right in that,

because it's been reported that the budget framework that we've seen from the Republicans, that would actually likely widen the federal government's budget deficit rather than reduce it. But with, you know, that said, shifting now to foreign policy, we should talk about Ukraine. Right, and as we've talked about before, Trump has recently blamed Ukraine for the war.

He called Zelensky a dictator, also yelled at him in the Oval Office. And yesterday, he temporarily suspended the delivery of all American military aid to Ukraine. But notably in his speech, while he did start off by complaining about how much aid the U.S. has sent, overstating the amount by a couple of hundred billion dollars again, he also dialed back the rhetoric against Zelensky a bit. With the same reacting positively to a social media post earlier, which Trump referred to as a letter in which Zelensky voiced regret for Friday's blowup and said he was ready to begin peace talks. I appreciate that he sent this letter, just got it a little while ago. Simultaneously, we've had serious discussions with Russia and have received

strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn't that be beautiful? Wouldn't that be beautiful? It's time to stop this madness. It's time to halt the killing. It's time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides. Also, speaking of international takeovers, Trump restated his desire to make Greenland part of the U.S., something about 85% of Greenlanders oppose, according to a recent poll. And with that, you first had Trump suggesting he respect the will of the people, saying, we strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America. But notably, Trump then seemingly just undermined what he had said when

he said that the US will get Greenland one way or the other. We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it really for international world security. And I think we're going to get it. One way or the other, we're going to get it. Also sticking with Trump's territorial ambitions outside the U.S., he also talked about reclaiming the Panama Canal again. We didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back. You know, with that, he referenced recent news that a Hong Kong based company has agreed to sell its stake in two Panama Canal ports to American as well as Swiss investors. With him pointing to this is evidence

that he's already started reclaiming the canal. But of course, we're going to have to wait to see how all that works out and if it does, whether it satisfies Trump. And then, you know, besides that, of course, there's a whole lot more we could talk about with this speech. Like I said, it was exceptionally long. He had a lot of guests that he was pointing to for a number of the things that he was talking about. And so with that, what I'm going to do is in the description of this video, I'm going to be linking you to the actual full address to Congress, as well as some consolidated breakdowns of what was talked about, as well as fact-checking articles. Because unfortunately, as usual, Trump made an impressive number of false or at the very least misleading claims, if you're interested in that.

You know, where I'm going to finish the dive into this is by finally talking about the response from the Democrats, right? And while we saw responses from individuals like AOC and Bernie Sanders, you had Alyssa Slotkin for the official response. You know, she is a first-term senator from Michigan, and she delivered her party's rebuttal from the city of Wyandotte. Which notably, as she pointed out, both her and Trump won in November. And so with that, she started her speech by trying to emphasize the common ground that she says still exists between Democratic and Republican voters. It might not seem like it, but plenty of places like this still exist across the United States. Places where people believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should do well and your kids should do better. It reminds me of how I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mom a lifelong Democrat,

but it was never a big deal because we had shared values that were bigger than any one party. From there, you had Slotkin acknowledging that Americans want change and also saying she was on board with the idea of improving government efficiency and cutting waste, but adding, there's a responsible way to make change and a reckless way. And we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy. And then with that, she shifted to criticism of Trump, claiming that he hasn't come up with a credible plan to deal with rising prices, and adding that his policies, including tariffs, will actually leave most people worse off than they are now, with the exception being the super rich. President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends.

He's on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life. And then, in addition to economic issues, you had Slotkin raising concerns about national security as well as accusing Trump of pitting Americans against one another rather than bringing them together.

But then finally, urging people to take action to preserve American democracy, including by staying engaged, holding elected officials accountable, and organizing. You know, with everything we just covered, which again, doesn't touch on everything in this just historically long speech, I gotta ask, what were your thoughts? Because you know, really, depending on where you go,

there are a lot of different reactions. And then we'll get to more news again in just a moment. But you know, first, you know, several months ago, my buddy told me he started taking colostrum and I was like, excuse me, what? And yeah, he'd been taking Armour colostrum for over a year and experienced a notable difference in his immune system response, lean muscle mass, faster recovery from workouts. I mean, he felt more resilient overall. And well, naturally, I was skeptical. I tried it. And yeah, today's sponsor Armour colostrum has been my newest health obsession. Because the way I describe it is that colostrum is basically nature's OG

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Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit PCFinancial.ca for details. And next up, we need to talk about why Trump's return to office order for federal workers is being described by so many as a disaster and get to the truth of what's really going on and where this could lead. Right, and that in part, because we're seeing things like workers being told you have to go back to the office only to then find out it's not actually equipped to handle workers at all.

And then over in Dallas, it's being reported that a Department of Education building was left with ethernet cables all over the floor and random wires sticking out of the wall, with motion detectors for lights not working and so you had people just being forced to work in the dark. A situation that actually eventually led to a woman stripping over some cables and cutting her foot up real bad,

leading to a workers' comp claim. You know, those were the workers who were lucky enough to have buildings at all. In a few cases, you had things like officials at the Interior Department and the General Services Administration, which actually manages federal buildings, not coordinating when leases would end.

So for example, in the Western United States, at least two buildings used by the Department of Interior no longer had leases. And with that, the GSA has tried to alleviate these closures with a space match program, which allows agencies with emptier offices to host workers from other departments who don't live near their offices. So for example, if you work for the DOJ,

but don't live near a DOJ building because you're remote, instead, the closest building is a Department of the Interior building and you go there to work. But reportedly even that is falling apart because of the GSA once again not coordinating leases. And some administrators are learning that their leases will be up as early as June, causing massive confusion about where exactly everyone is supposed to work. Which is why we're seeing workers' statements pop up like,

we don't really know what this means, we can't telework but we aren't going to have an office in a couple of months. You know, this is going to be an issue that will likely grow since Doge has bragged about canceling more than 700 leases on their website. With that, including offices for the Social Security Administration and the US Attorney's offices. And I mean, the federal government currently has hundreds of buildings that could go up for sale soon.

Now something, you know, I think is important to say here is that this should have been foreseen since even before Trump took office, it was known that the government was downsizing office spaces due to work from home. Like for example, in 2024, when it was revealed that the Department of Veterans Affairs reduced their office space in DC by 16%

between 2020 and 2022. A move that resulted in saving $15 million annually. Also, it's not like the workers were never going to the office. Reportedly, the reality was that only 10% of the federal workers were fully remote and you had a 2024 OMB report finding that workers who did have some work from home

spent 60% of their time in the office. Although notably, that did vary agency by agency. And that is the Biden administration shooting for workers to be in the office at least 50% of the time. So it's not like people were just never showing up. You know, right now we have the situation where many return to work orders have been delayed. And there's a suspicion across many workers that it's simply because officials have realized they have nowhere to go. Though a big key thing there is that has fed a very real fear that heavy layoffs are coming. With us seeing one worker telling CNN here, the only way a return to office works in these types of situations is if you now reduce the number of people. You know, to step back a bit,

there are reasonable arguments on both sides for requiring workers in office versus work from home, though it is largely dependent on what that specific job is. You know, ultimately, that is where we are. It is varying from a bit messy to just incredibly messy. And it's probably going to be over the next few weeks and months where we see how this has really impacted the federal workforce. So I will say increasingly day by day, it does appear that it is going to be some sort of bloodbath depending on the agency. You know, we'll see what happens and many people will likely feel what happens because whatever does happen, it's going to be years of lasting impact. But then finally, for your

DeFranco prescribed good news story of the day, I just want to say you should be saying more. Because according to Richard Stevens, a researcher and senior lecturer in psychology at Keele University in England, swearing is actually good for you. With him calling it, quote, a drug-free, calorie-neutral, cost-free means of self-help. And actually back in 2009, Stevens and his colleagues published their first article linking swearing with a reduced sensitivity to pain. And the study centered on a cold presser task, with researchers asking participants to hold their hands in ice water for as long as possible while repeating either a curse word of their choice or another non-swear word. And at the end of the day, the experiment associated swearing with both an increased pain tolerance and a

decreased perception of pain altogether. With then, more studies quickly showing similar effects, like in 2020, Stevens looking specifically into the use of the word fuck and how it compared to a neutral word or a made up word like twizpipe. And there, they also found that swearing was linked to an increased pain tolerance. But thing is, it's not just pain

with the Washington Post reporting that swearing has also been linked to bolstered social bonds, improved memory, and it even eases the sting of exclusion or rejection. The saying, Ollie Robertson, a psychology researcher at the University of Oxford saying, "'Neurologically, the pathways for physical pain "'and emotional pain are the same.

"'So when you have heartbreak, "'it's the same neural structures, "'it's the same biological blueprint, "'that's why it feels so visceral, "'because it literally is.'" But also more recently, swearing has been linked to increased strength. With Stevens in 2018 finding a link between swearing

and a participant's strength during an anaerobic power test on a bike. Though the caveat to that is they couldn't find physiological evidence that supported this link, so Stevens thinks that it's more psychological, saying, "'My research has been trying to understand "'what the psychological mechanism by which swearing "'brings about these effects, both for pain

"'and for physical strength.'" Though of course this research, it brings questions like, are you practically invincible? If you use sentence enhancers, every other word? You know, what is the proper swearing dosage in there? According to Nick Washma, professor of physical therapy at Samford University in Alabama, if you want to use swearing to increase your pain tolerance, you should start a little bit at a time. And saying, if no word comes to mind, the F word is the most commonly self-selected swear word by participants in these studies and is considered one of the most powerful

swear words out there. And with that saying, swear at a steady pace, once a second to once every three seconds at a normal speech volume. But also I'll say for those of you out there that do not have a filthy mouth like me, you don't wanna be dropping F-bombs at the doctor's office. Notably, Washmouth is currently studying whether internal swearing could have the same effect.

So, you know, we're gonna have to wait to see what their results are, but you know, in the meantime, next time you stub your toe, next time you do something stupid, it hurts, try your favorite four-letter word a bunch. Though, if I were to guess, a good chunk of you probably don't need me nudging you to do so. But then, finally today, I want to give out a congratulations and talk about yesterday. Starting with congratulations to Zara A., SeatGeek's latest weekly winner who scored $500 in tickets to go see the Deftones. 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 over 70,000 events to choose from. And all you got to do is just add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. But with that said, let's talk about yesterday in some comment commentary. Right, in those comments, there were a lot of conversations happening around the tariffs, and there was also a lot of conversations

specifically around Canada. With Kellyn's creation saying, "'Canadian here, my favorite part of Trudeau's speech "'is when he begins speaking directly to Trump, "'he starts using little words to help him understand.' "'With Cara replying, his telling Trump that he is a, "'quote, very smart man, killed me inside. "'I'm sick of hearing blatant and easily disproved lies

"'from politicians.'" The Corey said that was probably sarcasm, saying it very smart man, killed me inside. I'm sick of hearing blatant and easily disproved lies from politicians. The core, he said, that was probably sarcasm, saying it naturally flows out of Canadians' mouths. Sarcasm is the essence of Canada. Though I will say everyone can be their judge there. I think what we've seen from a lot of world leaders is they realize if they just inflate Trump's ego, they flatter him, that's the negotiating tool.

Additionally, here you have Blue Rookie saying, I appreciate Trudeau differentiating the US people versus the US government You know I think it's something that is important to always consider whether it be in this specific scenario or whenever we're talking about governments interacting with one another because you know countries will pick a leader in the United States who is Biden before Trump here and 48% of the people in the country or whatever percentage that's around that may disagree with what's happening Meanwhile, we had wizard grad students saying it's been so exhausting the exhausting the last two weeks "'to be an American who fought against this.

"'I feel like I'm strapped to a car "'speeding towards the wall and I'm getting yelled at "'for telling the driver to turn. "'I just hope people abroad know a lot of us "'didn't want any of this madness.'" Which, you know, I will say, I've attached myself more and more to this statement of, despair is not an option.

You know, there are days I look out into the world and I'm like, I wanna disengage. You know, I'm an American, and while I didn't vote for these leaders and I didn't vote for what we're seeing, it is my monkeys. It is my circus because we're all in this together. And it was as true before the election as it is now.

After the election, you may not fuck with politics, but politics will fuck with you. So yeah, pace yourself, compartmentalize, be mad instead of sad. Because at least mad has some energy. Mad looks forward. Sad just sinks in the moment. But also at the same time,

don't let this completely consume you. Do not lose sight of the important things that are close to you, your friends and family and the experiences and love that you have together. Because all of that, if it's not the core, is just very, very connected to why you care about what's happening in the world. Whether it be just down the road, in your state,

in your country, or just in the world. Anyway, I don't know how the hell I got on this soapbox. I'm gonna stop now. That, my friends, brings us to the end of your Wednesday evening dive into the news. And of course, just remember, I got a brand new dive into the news for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific, right here. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.