The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.17 RFK Jr’s War on Autistic People is Disgusting, Republican Admits "We're All Afraid" of Trump, &

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

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We've got to talk about RFK Jr.'s war on autistic people because he just spewed so much misinformation about autism at his first press conference that experts now believe that his brain worms died from starvation. You've also got the Trump-Harvard shakedown getting even crazier, and it actually exposes the bigger thing at stake than just one college. What's really going on now with these threats

to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt? And then just some good news about good people to keep you sane. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, your daily dive into the news, how it's being covered, and how people are reacting to it, starting with this. So we should talk about RFK Jr. having his first press conference as the Secretary of Health and Human Services yesterday because he used it to spread a ton of misinformation

and offensive claims about autism. Now, of course, this isn't at all surprising. Kennedy and or his brain worms, they're infamous for making false claims about autism in the past, including that it's caused by vaccines. But it's also inherently and objectively a different thing to use the rhetoric as the nation's top health official instead of as a private citizen. Especially because those remarks, they directly contradict researchers in his own agency.

At this press conference, it came on the heels of a new CDC report that found that autism rates among children have continued to rise, increasing to one in every 31. A figure that is notably five times higher than it was back in 2000 when the agency first started reporting the data. And as far as why we're seeing this, you have experts saying that there are a number of factors at play, but they widely agree that a main driver here is simply due to increased awareness, screening, and testing within the medical system. With the idea being that in the past, you know, those kids

in the neighborhood, Jim and Joel, they weren't just a little bit different or touched by God. They may have just had autism and they weren't diagnosed. Right, and that, along with the fact that definitions of autism, they've expanded to include mild cases. And that notably is something that the CDC itself appeared to back up in its latest findings, with it noting that some states

may have higher rates of autism because they have stronger systems for early detection or more comprehensive insurance programs that increase access to testing. And with that, you have the CDC explicitly stating that part of the reason that California had the highest rates of autism was because it had a super strong diagnostic program that assesses children as early as possible. And similarly, you had the agency saying that Pennsylvania had the second highest prevalence

in part because the state has a Medicaid policy that increases access to screening services for families regardless of income. So both of those factors, they seem to fit into the general narrative that we're not necessarily seeing a massive increase in kids with autism, we're just getting better at finding cases that were always there and went undetected in childhood. In fact, one expert even said that pediatricians

are actually encouraged by the report's finding because, quote, we know that we have gotten so much better at recognizing and identifying autism in children. But despite all that, in his press conference yesterday, RFK Jr. went out there like a vaccine skeptic Kool-Aid man and presented the CDC's findings as this kind of horrible atrocity, with him falsely claiming that the broad consensus

among experts was wrong and incorrectly painting it as an inaccurate assumption that's been spread by the media. One of the things that I think that we need to move away from today is this ideology that this that the autism diagnosis that the autism prevalence increase at the relentless increases are simply artifacts of better diagnosis better recognition or changing diagnostic

criteria this epidemic denial has become a feature in the mainstream media, and it's based on an industry canard. Obviously, there are people who don't want us to look at environmental exposures. And then there is an individual injury. These are kids that this is a preventable disease. We know it's an environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics. They can provide a vulnerability. You need an environmental toxin. The amount of money and resources put into studying genetic causes, which is a dead end, has been historically 10 to 20 times the amount spent by NIH and other agencies to study environmental factors, to study exposures, to study external factors,

and that's where we're going to find the answer. And within three weeks, and probably we're hoping in two weeks, we're going to announce a series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing it. Okay, so a few things I want to unpack here, but I am going to start by saying if you have autism, if you are neurodivergent, or you have people like this in your family, I would love to hear your voices and opinions on this topic. But to start, first of all, experts have forcefully pushed back against his claim that autism is a quote, preventable disease.

With one of the experts who collected data for the CDC study saying, "'Autism is not an infectious disease, "'so there aren't preventative measures that we can take.'" And you also had others echoing that, explaining that autism is actually considered a lifelong developmental condition that affects the brain and pushing back on Kennedy's claim

that the increased rates are an epidemic. And beyond that, experts also say that Kennedy's claim that autism is caused solely by some sort of environmental factor that can be eliminated rather than genetic factors is flat out wrong. It's widely agreed on that autism is a complex condition that doesn't have a single cause, with, for example, Zachary Warren,

a pediatric psychiatrist and autism researcher at Vanderbilt University, explaining, we have hundreds, if not thousands, of different neurogenetic factors that, in combination with complicated environmental interactions, influence presentations of autism. And what's more, existing research actually shows

that autism is heavily influenced by certain genetic factors, which totally contradicts Kennedy's claim that studying the role of genes in autism has been a dead end. Well, notably, researchers have also said that more work does need to be done to study the role environmental factors play in this.

Kennedy's all or nothing approach, it's fundamentally wrong. Especially because even if environmental factors do play a this, Kennedy's all or nothing approach, it's fundamentally wrong. Especially because even if environmental factors do play a role, there's no evidence right now to support this idea that autism can be prevented or cured. In fact, I mean, some experts say we need to do the exact opposite of what Kennedy has proposed. Arguing that instead of looking at environmental components,

researchers would be better off doing more studies into the genetic factors of autism and funding efforts to develop new services for people with autism. And so as a result of all this, you have many experts saying that Kennedy is actually hurting people with autism by spreading blatant misinformation to justify a flawed approach that will divert resources from things that could actually be helpful. And to that point, we've also seen many people slamming Kennedy for using rhetoric that is actively harmful to this community. Autism destroys families. More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which are our children.

These are children who should not be suffering like this. These are kids who, many of them, were fully functional and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they were two years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it. Now, first off, again, I need to clarify, there is no evidence for his claim that many kids

who have autism didn't have it until they were two years old and then suddenly got infected by some kind of environmental toxin. But that claim is very notable because RFK Jr. has made similar comments in the past about vaccines causing autism in children who previously had no symptoms. And while he did not directly mention vaccination in the press conference, it is very important to connect those dots between his past comments and his remarks yesterday about this mysterious environmental toxin

that's causing autism. Now beyond that, others have also accused him of using offensive and inaccurate stereotypes to paint all autistic people as this single group that's totally unable to function in society and presenting autism as some sort of horrible affliction that we need to get rid of. For one thing, autism is an enormous spectrum. I mean, there's a huge range of symptoms and severity,

but plenty of people with autism, they live perfectly functional lives. I mean, just one prominent example that comes to mind here is Elon Musk, who has what used to be referred to as Asperger's, now just part of autism spectrum disorder, which I will say I'm interested to know his thoughts about these comments from Trump's health secretary. Especially because in fact, the same new CDC report

that Kennedy was talking about here, it found that fewer than 40% of the children with autism were classified as having an intellectual disability. But also, you know, even beyond the highly functioning folks, experts also say that it's harmful for RFK Jr. to be presenting more severe cases of autism in such a negative light, with one expert explaining, "'I am not dismissing the challenges.

"'There are considerable challenges and a lot of those are barriers to services. And adding, we've been doing a parent retreat weekend for 27 years where we spend a weekend with 60 parents and family members and we're not meeting with family members and parents who say autism is just a tragedy and it's hell in our lives.

You talk about the positives and the negatives and the joys as well as the challenges. And that's something that we've seen echoed by numerous parents of children with autism as well as autistic adults themselves. Like for example, you had an autistic mother named Meg Raby who works with neurodivergent children as a speech language pathologist writing an op-ed

responding to Kennedy's claim saying, Kennedy's rhetoric doesn't just misunderstand autism, it crosses off the humanity of autistic people. It reduces us to burdens or symptoms instead of recognizing us as whole people. It fuels fear and parent shame in kids in hopeless as whole people. It fuels fear in parents, shame in kids, and hopelessness in communities. It adds to the exhaustion of families

who are already doing everything they can to support their children, feel like we're something to mourn instead of someone to love. But you know, on that note, that is where I'm gonna end this segment today. And of course, like I said earlier, I would love to know your thoughts on this story

and this whole situation. And then we'll get some more news in just a moment. But you know, have you ever been to a dentist who insists on chatting while your mouth's just full of tools? Or maybe a therapist whose only availability is smack dab in the middle of your workday or the really annoying one

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But then, next up from that, we gotta talk about how you are now already seeing Donald Trump's showdown with Harvard escalating massively with him, not only holding back funds, but also threatening to effectively ban foreign students from attending and even going after their tax-exempt status. And the key thing is that whatever happens, the future of higher education in the United States, it may depend on it. But you know, with that, this sort of kicked off last week

when the Trump administration sent a letter demanding that Harvard change its admissions, hiring and governance practices, including for example, demanding that the school quote, "'Immediately shutter all diversity, "'equity and inclusion programs.'" Though this while simultaneously demanding you could call it a different kind of DEI,

with Trump demanding that they take steps to ensure greater so-called viewpoint diversity among both students and faculty. With them then also accusing the school's leaders of failing to keep Jewish students safe and allowing antisemitism on campus, with one of the related demands being that the university keep out students, quote,

"'hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or antisemitism. Though notably, of course, it may be the administration's own actions that are actually hostile to the Constitution. With a saying, for example, Harvard's president,

arguing that the demands violate the university's First Amendment rights, saying, "'No government, regardless of which party is in power, "'should dictate what private universities can teach, "'whom they can admit and hire, "'and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.'" And then adding, "'The university will not surrender

its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Now with that, you then had Education Secretary Linda McMahon firing back at that claim, claiming in an interview on Newsmax that she supported debate and disagreement on campus and saying this is actually about civil rights and student safety. Though, key thing, even if that is their true intent,

the Trump administration may still be breaking the law. Right, specifically here, it may be defying federal regulations, which say that the government must identify and list violations, offer a hearing, notify Congress, and then wait 30 days before applying penalties. So with that, it's not shocking to learn that the faculty union at Harvard

is actually suing the Trump administration, as is the one at Columbia University. But there's also seeing the attorneys in one of the lawsuits writing, "'These procedures exist because Congress recognized that allowing federal agencies to hold funding hostage or to cancel it cavalierly would give them dangerously broad power in a system in which institutions

depend so heavily upon federal funding. But a huge thing is while all that is playing out, the Trump administration is staying on the offensive. With us also seeing now that they're threatening to take away Harvard's ability to welcome international students. With Homeland Security Secretary and so-called Ice Barbie cosplayer, Kristi Noem,

reportedly demanding detailed records on Harvard's foreign students' visa holders' illegal and violent activities. And with that, saying that the cost of noncompliance will be the immediate loss of the university's Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVP certification. And then on top of that, she reportedly canceled $2.7 million worth of grants

to the university that she claimed undermine America's values and security. Now, of course, those dollars are relatively small beans for a place like Harvard, but the possibility of losing out on international students, I mean, that could be huge. Right, the school's nearly 7,000 international students. They reportedly make up more than a quarter

of its enrollment in the 2024-2025 academic year. Although I will say it's not immediately clear how many of those are here on the types of visas that will actually be affected by the loss of the SEVP certification. But whatever that figure, a Harvard spokesperson reportedly said that the university stands by its previous statement

that it will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. And while we're gonna have to wait to see what happens with that, I mean, again, the Trump administration is not letting up. Because on top of everything we've already talked about, the IRS is now reportedly considering whether to revoke Harvard's tax exempt status,

which is truly a monumental deal because the status not only means that the university doesn't have to pay income and property taxes, it also means that donations to the university are tax deductible, which helps bring in massive donations from ultra wealthy Americans.

Now with that said, you have experts saying there's a good chance that if that were to happen, Harvard would win in court. Right, and that in part because federal law bars the president from either directly or indirectly requesting the IRS to investigate or audit specific targets. And notably, that is exactly what Trump did

a couple of days ago when he posted on social media that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status and accused the university of pushing what he called political, ideological, and terrorist-inspired supporting sickness. Though he then had a White House spokesperson since claiming that the IRS, they had already begun independently investigating

Harvard's tax-exempt status before Trump posted about it. But you know, with all that, even if this happens and it's ultimately shot down in court, one, as we've seen with a number of things right now, even if something ultimately will fail because of the courts, a lot of damage can be done in the meantime. And this is, two, you have outlets

like the New York Times suggesting that this is still a big deal with the Times writing. Even an attempt at changing Harvard's tax status would signify a drastic breach in the independence of the IRS and its historical insulation from political pressure. And this is, of course, everything with Harvard, it's just one small piece of the puzzle. Just with academia, you have dozens of universities

being investigated. Several have already had their funds frozen and the visas of hundreds of students, faculty, and researchers across the country, they've been revoked. But so far, Harvard's defiance has seemingly inspired other universities to stand up against interference from the Trump administration. And so this is going to be a very important place to watch, especially as, right, okay, so that was a news story, here's some of my opinion. Especially as right now, if you look on the landscape on several different fronts, with law firms, news outlets, broadcasters, and schools giving in

to the Trump administration, it doesn't stop anything. The attacks and attempts to crush will just continue. You can liken it to the idea of if you give a bully an inch, they'll take a mile, or a nefarious version of if you give a mouse a cookie. Victory is in no way guaranteed, especially against an attacker that is so huge. But it is essentially zero if you stay scattered,

stay scared, and just give in to everything, because it won't stop. And the Trump administration has done a very good job of scaring people. I mean, you even had Lisa Murkowski today, a senator coming out and saying, we're all afraid of Trump, adding, it's quite a statement, but we are in a time and a place

where I certainly have not been here before. And I'll tell you, I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real and that's not right. But hey, now we're gonna have to wait to see what happens on several of these different fronts. So on the note of removing Harvard's tax exempt status, I mean, if we're gonna do that with schools,

we might as well do that with churches, right? Only seems fair. But then next up today, we really need to dive into the news that a federal judge has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt. So the judge here is U.S. District Judge James E. Boesberg. And that name might sound familiar because last month, the Trump administration continued to send planes of deportees to a prison in El Salvador after Boesberg ordered the planes to be turned around. With this

then seeing the administration defending this action under the Alien Enemies Act, with them claiming that they did this to remove foreign gang members, though an analysis has found that the majority of the people on those planes, they didn't have criminal records. With all of that, it brings us to a memorandum that Boasberg issued yesterday, saying that by sending those planes, the government demonstrated, quote,

a willful disregard for the court's order, sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt. With him then further adding that the court did not come to this conclusion lightly or hastily indeed, it has given defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. And saying none of their responses has been satisfactory. And continuing,

the constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders, especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it. With Boasberg even saying that officials defied the order, quote, deliberately and gleefully. With him pointing to the fact that Secretary of State Marco Rubio retweeted a post from El Salvador's President Bukele that said, oopsie, too late, in response to a headline about Boesberg's order.

Though with this, you have the Trump administration unsurprisingly fighting back with a White House communications director tweeting, we plan to seek immediate appellate relief. The president is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country.

You then also had a DHS spokesperson claiming that the issue was actually already resolved by the Supreme Court and should make Boesberg's orders irrelevant. And that because a little over a week ago, the Supreme Court vacated Boesberg's order, allowing deportations under the Alien Enemies Act to continue, with the court ruling that legal challenges

to this should take place in Texas and not DC. Though the court also said that the government should give deportees time to challenge their removal before leaving the country, though really, overall, it was a big legal win for Trump. But with that, according to Boasberg's latest ruling, this Supreme Court decision doesn't matter. With him writing that even though the court vacated the order a few weeks ago, this quote does not excuse the government's violation and saying instead, it is a foundational legal precept that every judicial order must be obeyed no matter how erroneous it may be until a court reverses it. Or with him basically saying, instead, it is a foundational legal precept that every judicial order must be obeyed, no matter how erroneous it may be until a court reverses it.

Or with him basically saying, hindsight, it doesn't count. And just because the Supreme Court ended up more on Trump's side, eventually it doesn't mean that his administration should have ignored the court's ruling at the time it was handed out. With Boasberg then continuing by saying, if a party chooses to disobey the order, rather than wait for it to be reversed

through the judicial process, such disobedience is punishable as contempt." And so with all this, right, you might be wondering, well, what does this actually mean if Trump administration officials are held in criminal contempt? And well there, you're seeing outlets like CBS News saying this could set the stage for an unprecedented

showdown between President Trump and the judicial branch. With the CNN legal analysts even saying, "'Holding federal executive branch officials in criminal contempt is just about unheard of, once in a blue moon.'" And adding, part of why Chief Judge Boasberg is moving cautiously is because he's trying to walk a tightrope, not letting the government off the hook for its misbehavior, but also not provoking pushback from either the DC Circuit or the Supreme Court. And so with that, a key thing is that

Boasberg did offer the administration a way out, saying that it could, quote, purge its contempt, i.e. right its wrongs. With him writing that the most obvious choice for officials would be to assert custody of those who were deported and give them a chance to challenge their removal. You know, what that would actually look like, it's unclear right now because Boesberg also said that, quote, the government would not need to release any of those individuals, nor would it need to transport them back to the homeland. But then Boesberg also saying that officials could propose other methods of coming into compliance. But, you know, say officials do not purge their contempt. That's where things could get really dicey.

Because you have Boasberg saying that the court would then identify those responsible for defying the order. And so with that, I mean, there could be hearings and depositions, and the court could even request that those held in contempt be prosecuted. And if the government declines to prosecute the case, Boasberg will appoint an attorney himself. And of course, all of this playing out is it's not the first time that Trump and Boasberg have had to run it. Trump has made it clear he is not a Boasberg fan and he controversially called to impeach him. And this is, of course, it's not the only current case that's putting Trump in the courts at odds over deportations. Because the judge of the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case has also indicated that she is considering holding Trump

officials in contempt. With Abrego Garcia, of course, mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador. We've talked about this case a whole lot. The U.S. District Judge ordered that the Trump administration return him to the U.S US for due process, which the Supreme Court largely upheld, saying that his removal was illegal and that the government must work to facilitate his return. But with this, you have the District Judge saying that she's received no evidence of officials' efforts to actually get him back to the States.

With this then also getting more updates to Obrego Garcia's case yesterday, when officials released documents that they say support their case against him and that he was a member of the MS-13 gang. With this, including police contacting what they referred to as a reliable source who advised that he was an active MS-13 member. DHS also tweeting out documents that say that his wife sought a restraining order against him after he attacked her. But there, you had his lawyers denying that

he was a gang member and his wife has also fought for his return with his wife saying in a statement, After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. With the ratting, no one is perfect

and no marriage is perfect, that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation. With us then also seeing yesterday, El Salvador shutting down Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen's efforts to meet Abrego Garcia. Because you had the senator visiting the country in a high-profile trip and telling reporters that President Trump and our Attorney General Pam

Bondi and the Vice President of the United States are lying when they say that Abrego Garcia has been charged with a crime or is part of MS-13. That is a lie. But despite the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration says that they can't do anything to actually secure his release. And with this, you have local outlets like NBC Washington reporting more on the documents that the administration recently released, right? Saying they come from reports written by a police officer named Ivan Mendez, but Mendez was reportedly fired for misconduct in office after providing confidential information to a sex worker. And this is according to a previous report from the DCist, he was also included in the state attorney's do not call list of officers whose

misconduct deemed them unreliable witnesses. And so for now, we're going to have to wait to see what happens. But, you know, wouldn't it be crazy if there was a process? I don't know. Maybe we'll call it due process. That would make it so, you know, we're not arguing if someone committed a crime after the fact of them being put into a prison outside of the country. You know, for now, we're going to have to wait to see how this plays out. But then switching gears to a different kind of news. Let's talk about these so-called angels on earth.

So this is Caleb and Ruscella Bone, and their oldest son, Griffin, was born with a heart condition. And at three months old, he needed open heart surgery. And he and his parents, they spent a lot of time in and out of the children's hospital during his life. Right, and that's where Caleb and Ruscella learned all about the kids within the foster system

who have complex medical issues. You know, kids who, like Griffin, they had conditions that forced them to spend a lot of time in the hospital, but without the support that their son had. And so they see this and they decide, "'Hey, let's be that support.'" And in 2022, they adopted a little boy

by the name of Maurice who needed a kidney transplant. And now in 2025, they just finalized the adoption of two-year-old Isabella, who came to them at five months old with a heart condition like Griffin's. In fact, shortly after she came to live with Caleb and Rochelle, Isabella went in for an open-heart surgery. And so they've been there with her as she spent much of her early life in the hospital, with Isabella actually being the fourth medically complex child that the Bones

have adopted or fostered. Now with this, this is such an American thing to say, if you are worried about how all these hospital visits are hitting the Bones' bank account, you can also stop there. Right, and that because as it turns out in Tennessee, kids in the system with complex medical situations like this, they're covered by TennCare, which is the state's Medicaid program, and they're still eligible even after adoption. So the foster parents, they receive a stipend and even more assistance is available

for the more unique needs that these kids have. But for the Boneses, it's about the kids. With Rochella saying, "'There are hard days, and sometimes at the beginning, it can seem overwhelming. However, the joy and privilege of knowing our kids and getting to walk with them through their hardest days has made it all worth it.

And this is, according to Suzanne Jones of Youth Villages, finding families for children like this, it is so important, saying, we have a lot of children who end up coming to us out of hospitals. Foster parents have to go through training at the hospital. So sometimes that can be daunting. They have to go through the full medical training

to know how to care for their medically needy child. And so Caleb and Rochelle is stepping up. It's nothing short of extraordinary with Suzanne Addick. They are absolutely angels on earth. They are just the best kinds of people. Though there we saw Rochella pushing back a little bit saying, I don't know if we'd say we feel chosen or we're the right people, but we said yes.

You know, when you're talking about kids needing homes and love and support and not being alone in this world while they endure medical hardship, saying yes is a fucking big deal. And so that's why today, Rochella, Caleb, you are our bamfs of the day. Then finally today, let's talk about y'all's comments on yesterday's show and some comment commentary

brought to you by beautifulbastard.com, where right now you don't wanna miss out. You can snag the new April drop that just came out this week with one day we'll all be skeletons. Yeah, no, it's fine. Everything's fine. More like fun, productive,

and one minor inconvenience away from losing my shit. And that, of course, with any number of this year's best sellers so far. Just make sure if you do the order in the next 24 hours, you use coupon code tariffs to get 10% off. But with that said, diving into those comments, a lot of y'all had jokes yesterday. Even on weird, disturbing, and creepy stories

like the Elon Musk one, we had a top comment reading. "'After Phil started saying Elon's baby names, "'I turned around and my furniture was floating.'" With Atlas responding, "'I wasn't looking at the screen "'and I just thought he was listing off new Ikea products.'" So some were just really weirded out and concerned. Like King of the Mooners saying,

"'Damn, the Elon Musk story makes me think "'the tweet about giving Taylor Swift a child "'was more serious than most thought, yikes.'" As well as they want people to pop out babies, but they also cut all these programs to help struggling families. Their agenda is fucking stupid. But y'all, that's just your babies,

not Elon Musk's super genius babies. Also, I gotta say, I love all the support from people who traditionally are like, we need more dads in the homes, which is, you know, I think something we can generally agree with. So many of those people getting on board with that, yeah, Elon Musk should impregnate as many women as possible,

even though there's literally no way to make sure that there is a father actively in the home. At least seemingly so far, unless you are bulletproof vest sized. But then also in addition to that, there were a lot of comments and conversations around Buford, the hero dog. And in general, y'all were giving me a lot of shit,

but also making jokes again. For example, Larry saying, "'Disappointed the dog wasn't considered "'the BAMF of the week. "'He got that dog in him, Phil.'" Or with there being no shortage, people call him Buford, a BAMF, an absolute G. Others sharing their own stories

of having Pyrenees themselves. Saying among other things, they're simply amazing companions. They're fiercely affectionate, yet stubborn. And if they feel like it, they will kill a bear. So with that, two things. One, let me express my apologies. Such a travesty should not have happened on my watch.

I beg your forgiveness. And two, congratulations, Buford. You are our first ever retroactive, beautiful bastard recommended bamf of the day. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where your Thursday evening, Friday morning dive into the news is going to end. Now, sadly, this is your last full show of the week, but the good news is I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday.