The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.2 Moist Cr1tikal Drama & Accusations, Israel Kills 7 World Central Kitchen Aid Workers, & Today’s News

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Just go to https://www.zocdoc.com/phil and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Then find and book a top-rated doctor today!  Beam’s Dream is clinically shown to improve sleep. Click https://shopbeam.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO to get up to 35% off. ==== ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Moistcritikal Upset at Claims His Cash Giveaways Are Tax Write-Offs 03:35 - Jon Stewart vs. Apple, Google to Delete Incognito Data, Facebook vs. Snapchat 06:29 - Microsoft Developer Accidentally Prevents Major Hack 09:50 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 10:57 - FL Supreme Court Upholds 6-Week Abortion Ban, But Puts Protections on Ballot  14:10 - Israeli Strike Kills Aid Workers in Gaza 17:31 - San Francisco Police Arrest Oakland Pirates Who Raided Larger Bay Area Boats 18:43 - Sponsored by Beam 19:41 - The Ozempic Boom May Only Just Be Starting 26:02 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Show ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Ozempic Boom: Maddie Crichton  ———————————— #DeFranco #Moistcritkal #JonStewart ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Philip DeFranco Show ASMR experience. Could you imagine? Sup, you beautiful bastards? You're watching the Philip DeFranco Show. It's Tuesday, and we got a lot of news to talk about today, so let's just jump into it. Starting with... In internet drama news,

we've got people going after internet commentary Jesus right now. And that's seemingly because he broke one of the ten internet commandments. Right, thou shalt not do a nice thing publicly on the internet. You just don't do it lest you want the wrath of insufferable dickheads on the internet with nothing but time on their hands. Right, because Moist Critical, AKA Charlie, he's getting some hate because he gave people money.

People seeing this and going, oh, he's just doing these cash giveaways for a tax write-off. It just shocks me how even something as simple as just giving individuals money during streams is now a controversial issue. Right, because when he streams, his viewers fill out a form where they say how much money they would want, what they would use it for. And this guy, this prick, this asshole, he's got the unforgivable audacity to just randomly select people and give like $5,000 to $10,000 per stream. I know, monstrous.

Charlie then playing a clip of one of the streams where he did this and someone called him out. Hey, Charlie, no tax write-off. I mean, free money giveaway tonight. So it seems like there's people that think me giving away random amounts of money to random viewers on stream is a tax write-off. Do you not know how that works? That legitimately hurts me. Like I'm not going to try and put up a front where I'm unbothered. I have thick skin, sure, but this actually hurts me. I just, I recognize how lucky I got in life and I just want to do something nice with it. They're saying that multiple people

have been spamming those accusations, trying to get people to believe this, trying to turn the tide against him. With them also saying that's not how things work, pointing to an IRS page that says, Gifts to individuals are not deductible. Only qualified organizations are eligible to receive tax deductible contributions. While some accounting blogs know that there are some contexts where giveaways might be eligible, like items given away in a promotional context,

one, it's very dependent. And two, I would also argue, even if he got a write-off for this, so what? Just like a basic understanding of what write-offs look like. So as someone successful in California, I get taxed to fucking high heaven. And to keep things clean, let's just say I have, after everything's included, a 50% tax rate. If I make $10,000 and say for some reason there were no expenses attributable, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'm only taking $5,000 home. But then let's say in another situation where I make $10,000, I actually donated $5,000 to a charity or something that's tax deductible. I'm still going to get taxed on $5,000 of that $10,000 and bring home $2,500. By getting a tax deduction, I didn't magically make more money. I would have in fact made less money. And again, I'm oversimplifying the

situation here because I don't want to like dive into every aspect of the tax code. No, well, if this thing happens and then this thing happens, but just like at the core level, the accusations don't make sense. So I understand his frustration. Everyone has this desire to prove some kind of deep seated, diabolical motivation behind everything, even the most simple shit. And it's not always the case. And while obviously different, this feels a little bit like a different flavor, a different shade of the Mr. Beast scandals that happen when he helps people with his, like, philanthropy. But I guess with all that said, if there's a place that I can end this cleanly,

it's for anyone out there who happens to end up being in a position where they're privileged enough to be able to, you know, pass on some good and maybe even showcase it to some degree. Don't let annoying, insufferable people on the internet stop you from doing it. Some people will just always suck. They have since the beginning of time. Ever since the first caveman discovered fire, there was some fucking knuckle-dragger, Grog. He rolled his eyes and grunted like, that's a bit much. Because then if you haven't already figured this out, you will. Miserable people love company. And they're trying to spread that shit like they're playing Plague Inc. And then there is so much big tech news we have to talk about today. I mean, just the first three. One, Jon Stewart called out Apple. Two, your porn history, I'm talking to you. Yes, you specifically. I mean, I didn't even know half of that stuff was legal. And three, Meta's insane spyware and secret cloning project. Right, so first up, you had Jon Stewart

having FTC chair Lena Khan on The Daily Show last night, having a fun little chat about monopolies and AI. And at one point, he actually revealed that he had wanted to interview her before, right on the podcast for his Apple TV Plus show, The Problem with Jon Stewart. But he ultimately didn't, and last night he explained why. I wanted to have you on a podcast, and Apple asked us not to do it, to have you. They literally said, please don't talk to her.

With Jon Stewart also adding that Apple wouldn't even let him do a skit mocking some of the promises of AI, which he finally got to perform on last night's show. Also, if it wasn't already obvious, Apple has an interest in shutting down Lena Khan, or really anyone from the FTC for that matter, because it's the agency tasked with enforcing antitrust law, and the DOJ actually just recently sued Apple for abusing its monopoly power over the smartphone market. But also, Stewart's allegation that Apple is suppressing speech that it doesn't like on its platform, I mean, that's a big deal. Though possibly not as big of a deal as that porn you've been watching. Because Google's been quietly collecting browsing data from people using Google Chrome with incognito mode turned on for years.

And the people using that likely think that their search history won't be saved anywhere. But the company stored potentially embarrassing incognito search histories and regular search histories in the same profile, which it then used to measure web traffic and sell personalized ads. And all that is according to a class action lawsuit

filed against the company in 2020. With one of the plaintiff's lawyers writing, Google has made itself an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it. But the big news is in a new settlement, the company has agreed to destroy that data that it collected from millions of people, as well as now clearly stating that it can track users browsing during incognito mode. And finally, Google must now, by default, block third parties from tracking incognito users' cookies so advertisers can't gather data on your search history. And actually, speaking of your data being used in ways you

didn't expect, to close out this three-piece, let's talk about meta. Because court documents that were unsealed last week, they revealed how it used people's data as a backdoor into its competitors' platforms. And this goes all the way back to 2013 when Facebook acquired Onavo, which is an Israeli data analytics app. And before the acquisition, it sold itself as a tool for people to reduce and track their own mobile data usage so they don't get overcharged by providers. But using this data, Facebook discovered that Snapchat was a top five mobile app and WhatsApp had begun to outpace Facebook Messenger. So it then tried to acquire Snapchat, which rejected the offer and then successfully acquired WhatsApp. But if it couldn't buy its competitors, it would crush them instead.

And in 2016, according to internal emails, Zuckerberg had a team begin tracking how people used apps like Snapchat, Amazon, and YouTube after figuring out how to effectively decrypt that data. With an unnamed executive saying in an email thread that included Zuckerberg, they were trying to build a clone of Snapchat. And surprise, surprise, later that year, Instagram launched Stories. All of which is why in the following year, former COO Sheryl Sandberg called Onavo the gift that keeps on giving in front of Meta's business operations team. Notably, in 2019, Meta removed Onavo from app stores after TechCrunch revealed that it was tracking children's data, prompting spyware allegations. But the damage had already been done.

And then, though finally here, one of the biggest tech stories that's garnered probably the most attention today involves Linux and Unix. Because reportedly, with just a little social engineering, a hacker or a group of them nearly got away with one of the biggest hacks ever. But it all ended up getting stopped completely by accident. After Microsoft developer Andre Freund stumbled across a major vulnerability while trying to optimize how they get remote access

to their Linux and Unix machines. Also, I wanna say, this story quickly gets very complicated and it's full of a lot of technical jargon. So if you're an expert and or a prick, like please excuse my very basic explanation for the layman. But first, regarding Linux and Unix, if you don't know, they're operating systems

kind of like Windows or Mac OS. So unlike those, they're extremely customizable and they have a ton of unique versions called distros. And while some people use them for, you know, their at-home computers, they're most often used for backend stuff like servers and databases, with them essentially being one of the major building blocks for our technological world today, which means exploiting them would be a major deal and be a treasure trove of data. Because like, if it's data that's on a server, it could potentially be affected. And everything in our lives these days is pretty much on a server somewhere things started to fall apart last week when frond was trying to figure out why the systems they used to get remote access to their machines were being slowed down while remote access might sound like inherently

a security risk normally these things are crazy secure and necessary as the physical servers are off-site but when he started digging deeper he found that something called xz utils was interfering on the surface like that wasn't a. It's just used to compress and decompress data, right? Think of like a zip file. And it's now borderline ubiquitous across Linux and Unix after the biggest distros adopted it. However, it turns out compressing and decompressing data was just a cover. It turns out that the program was able to piggyback off a code that let developers get remote access to other machines and used a ton of confusing layering to hide what it was doing. And from there, it could do pretty much whatever it wanted to the machine that was being tapped into.

And that including uploading malicious code or stealing data. With ironically enough, the layers that it was using to hide its true intentions, being the thing that exposed it because it was slowing down processes. But of course with this, one of the big questions is how the hell did this happen? Right, by default, the people using Linux and Unix

are pretty big data nerds and they know a thing or two about security. Not to mention that essentially everything's open source and the code can be checked and vetted. And so while the full picture is still coming in, it's looking like there was a lot of social engineering involved, which is a major tool for hackers that's often overlooked. And reportedly, it looks like it started back in early 2023, when a user by the name of Gia Tan submitted an update to XZUtils. But then over time, Tan making other updates.

And eventually, other users started complaining that XZUtils wasn't being maintained properly, and that someone like Tan should be put in charge. Now with that, it's unclear if those people are part of the scheme, or they were genuinely happy that Tan was at least actively working on XZUtils wasn't being maintained properly and that someone like Tan should be put in charge. Now with that, it's unclear if those people are part of the scheme or they were genuinely happy that Tan was at least actively working on XZUtils. But regardless, Tan was given that access. We then fast forward to February of this year and Tan finally makes the leap to implement the backdoor as an update to XZUtils. Or because at this point, he was trusted and no one cared to double check the work. But then he and other users beginning to ask and demand that major distros of Linux and Unix start to include updates on their operating systems. We then some of the updates going through to their systems, which is how we ended up with Frun stumbling across the back door on accident, resulting in

everyone now scrambling to fix the problem and looking into other stuff Tan and associates may have worked on. But the good news is that at least as of right now, it doesn't look like anything was actually stolen, which is amazing considering you have people saying like, we were close to possibly one of the biggest data heists ever, all because of a bit of social engineering and the fact that people never actually checked what was being done to an open source software. Which really isn't unheard of. Like a lot of people, like they look to like the movies of like, oh, that's what hacking is. Like nine times out of ten regarding hacking, it's not someone sitting looking at code. Rather, getting someone to willingly give up access because they think they're talking to a trusted source.

So I guess the main point is be nice, but trust nobody. Reasonable paranoia is the name of the game. It's just when you lose the reasonable, that is when it becomes a problem. And then, surprisingly, I have found that a lot of you do not see a doctor, and you probably should, be it that scratchy throat that turns into not being able to swallow a thing, to the nagging pain that starts to affect the rest of your body. And the common denominator that I keep hearing about why there's hesitation, it's not having the right doctor that you trust and feel comfortable with. Well, thanks to the amazing partner of the PDS, ZocDoc, they understand your reasons and they're

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That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Phil. ZocDoc dot com slash Phil. And then we should talk about how abortion access was just functionally eliminated in the South. Because just yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court allowed one of the strictest and most far-reaching abortion bans in the country to take effect, prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and overturning decades of precedent. And the reason this one in particular is so incredibly significant is because it was the only state in the South that hadn't yet enacted an abortion ban or just outlawed the procedure altogether in the years since Roe was overturned, with Florida since then having become one of the last remaining places for

Southerners seeking abortions. In fact, on average, more than 80,000 women have abortions in Florida every year. That makes up nearly 1 out of every 12 abortions in the entire country. And last year, over 84,000 women got them in Florida more than any other state, with as expected out-of-state residents making up a growing percentage of patients. And as the Washington Post explains, the new law will affect more women seeking abortions in the first trimester than any other single abortion ban to date. An expert saying this is going to completely upend access in the region, with one telling the Post there is nowhere in the southeast that can absorb Florida's patient base. It's simply

not possible. And saying this is an unmanageable volume of patients to try to offset to another state. But the decision by the state Supreme Court here is also very notable for a number of other reasons. First of all, the case it heard actually centered on the state's 15-week abortion ban that went into effect in the summer of 2022. But their ruling in favor of that law also triggered the much more restrictive six-week ban, which was passed last spring, and that's because the law was written so that it could take effect once the Florida Supreme Court approved the 15-week ban. So essentially, we're talking about planned legal dominoes here. Beyond that, it also goes against years of precedent set not only by Florida's judicial system,

but also by the voters themselves. Because for decades, Florida has upheld the right to abortion under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1980 that protects the right to privacy. With that specifically Florida has upheld the right to abortion under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1980 that protects the right to privacy. With that specifically establishing that citizens have the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion in their personal lives.

Right, and in addition to the courts long interpreting that clause to apply to abortions, the people of Florida also made it clear that they support this as well. With them voting against a proposed amendment back in 2012 that would have excluded abortion from those constitutional privacy protections. But in recent years in Florida,

DeSantis has stacked the state Supreme Court with anti-abortion justices, with his appointees now making up four of the court's seven judges. It was not surprising that this court ruled that there was, quote, no clear right to abortion embodied within the privacy clause. But, and this is a very big but, the ultimate impact of this ruling might not last very long. And that's because in another decision yesterday, the court also ruled that an initiative to enshrine abortion under the state constitution could be put on the ballot in November, which notably dismissed an effort by the state's Republican attorney general to block that measure, which would ban laws that restrict abortion before fetal viability, which is usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy. And so now,

effectively, the future of abortion, not only for Florida, but for the American South, is in the hands of Floridian voters, which is just yet another thing to throw at November to make it such a pivotal election. And it's going to be interesting to see who turns out to vote and what that vote is. As right now, polls have consistently shown that a majority of Floridians believe that abortion should be legal. In fact, a survey last month by a coalition of pro-choice groups showed that 73% of respondents specifically support the ballot initiative. And while it often feels these days that we live in a whole new world, the state has a history of passing more progressive ballot measures, even while still also electing Republicans. Though, and this is key, supporters of the measure will need to go out and vote in droves.

That's because Florida requires constitutional amendments to pass with at least 60% of the vote. Right, it's not a simple majority, just one more vote over 50%. It's 60%. And that's a bigger percentage than any statewide measure protecting abortion has won since Roe was overturned. And all of this as Florida's electorate has increasingly been moving towards the right in recent years. But as far as what's actually going to happen, we will have to wait till, you know, that little tiny nothing election in November. And then there's so much news we need to talk about with Israel and Palestine. And I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but none of it is good. For one, we learned that Israeli forces killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza last night. Those workers being part of a group called World Central Kitchen, or WCK,

which is a U.S.-based non-profit that's also become a key player in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region. While this is still a developing story, we have details starting to emerge. Like, first up, those killed include three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and a Palestinian. With all those governments condemning the attack, and U.S. Secretary of State Blinken calling the workers who were killed heroes and saying, we shouldn't have a situation where the people trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at great risk. And as far as exactly how this went down, you had WCK saying that its convoy was hit after unloading more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid at a warehouse in central Gaza. And very notably here, the group

said that its convoy had coordinated its movements with the Israeli military, saying that they were traveling in clearly marked vehicles. And actually with that, you have people pointing to footage shared by Reuters that seems to show that a hole was torn through the WCK logo on the roof of one of the cars. This actually has Aaron Gore, the group CEO, claiming that its employees were specifically targeted by Israel. Now to be clear here, this is still developing. We do not currently have any evidence at this time that this was intentional. You had Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledging that Israeli forces were responsible, saying, unfortunately, in the last day, there was a targeted attack have any merit,

Netanyahu's words here just sort of ring hollow for a lot of people. And that's because, as we know, innocent people dying in this war is not new. Most recently, we have these seven new deaths, but I mean, we have over 200 humanitarian aid workers that have been killed in Gaza during the war. And that's in addition to at least 95 journalists and media workers. And of course, that's on top of as many as 32,000 Palestinians who have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry. That number including more than 13,000 children. And many saying that these death tolls have a lot to do with how Netanyahu has chosen to wage this war. Human rights groups warning that Israel is not complying with the ICJ's

order in the genocide case against the country, and also arguing along with UN and EU officials that Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid indicates it's using starvation as a weapon of war. I mean, to that point, it's notable that this attack on WCK has led them to suspend their operations in Gaza. Celebrity chef Jose Andres, the founder of WCK, saying on X, the Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. And then in addition to that news, we're also seeing Israel coming under fire this week for a new law that had passed to temporarily shut down the Qatari-funded news outlet Al Jazeera.

And so to be specific, the law allows for the temporary ban of foreign news networks that the government deems a threat to national security. But Netanyahu said that he would act immediately to implement the law against Al Jazeera, accusing the outlet of supporting Hamas's October 7th attack and serving as a mouthpiece for the group. And with that, while you do have people who are critical of Al Jazeera's coverage, and that includes the U.S. government, with this, we've seen the Biden administration say this may be a step too far. The White House press secretary saying, we believe in the freedom of the press. And adding that the United States supports the critically important work journalists around the world do, and that includes those who are reporting on the conflict in Gaza. And this is the CEO for the Committee to Protect Journalists

said that this is part of a pattern of Israel attacking journalists. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling, winning, in an exciting live dealer studio, exclusively on FanDuel Casino,

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And of course, with this, I'd love to know your thoughts on either of these situations. And then we've got literal modern day pirates terrorizing the San Francisco Bay. And it's been happening for over a year with local officials believing these so-called East Bay pirates come from Oakland's growing homeless encampments. With

them stealing boats from the marinas there, usually small dinghies. Then they raid houseboats and yachts parked on a waterway separating Oakland from Alameda, using bolt cutters to break inside, stealing anything they can get their hands on. Tools, fishing equipment, guns, engines, even the entire ship itself. And then after they've stripped it of all it's worth, they either tear the boat apart, sink it, or just abandon it miles away. With the owner of a sailing school telling Fox News that it may actually have to close after pirates snatched half of its safety boats. And this is other residents have shared videos of themselves chasing pirates across the bay, even describing having physical fights with thieves. One woman also sharing a story where she had to rescue a man who drifted off on a sailboat with no motor because a pirate cut his boat line

during an argument. And for months, we saw local police just unable to deal with the problem due to jurisdiction issues and staffing shortages. But now we're seeing the police teaming up with the Coast Guard and even announcing that they've arrested three suspected pirates or breaking into a waterfront business. With officers executing a search warrant on their illegal boats and recovering the stolen valuables. But as far as how this is going to pan out, we're going to have to wait to see, right? All of this is relatively new. And it'll be interesting to see if all this piracy is a momentary blip or it is going to be a growing problem. And then I think we can all agree that lack of sleep or just not good sleep, it's not healthy and it just aids in complications down the road. And I get it. I used

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became so wildly misinformed. That is an aggressively wrong prediction. That is not correct. Because despite there being a debate and a controversy around it, like what we're seeing and like everything that's popping up, it looks like the evolution of this drug is just beginning. Similar competitor drugs have been entering the market. It feels like every time you look to the headlines, like it has a new way to aid and other health issues and the makers of Osemp, it could be introducing a weight loss pill in the future, because currently it's an injectable. And again, we are still in the very, very early phases of this. So the widespread impacts have yet to come, but they could be

absolutely massive. Also, if you aren't familiar with this whole Ozempic phenomenon, I'll explain it. So the actual drug itself is called semaglutide. And among the things that it does, it reduces cravings and appetite. And the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk offers two forms of it. Ozempic, which is approved for diabetes patients. And Wegovi, which is approved for weight loss and patients experiencing medical conditions as a result of being overweight. But also a key thing with this whole situation, tons of people who don't medically need these drugs have been using them just for the weight loss effects, right? And so this has caused some shortages. And so all of this has created a massive weight loss frenzy and endless discourse. And it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime

soon because it appears that this drug has a lot more potential. Right back in March, for example, Novo Nordisk shared trial results showing that Ozempic actually lowered the risk of kidney disease progression and death from kidney and cardiovascular complications by 24% in diabetic patients. With outlets like NBC News explaining that this is part of the growing evidence that the benefits of these drugs can go well beyond diabetes treatment and weight loss. So with that, the company said it'll present detailed results later this year and even expects to seek label expansion for Ozempic in the US and EU. Notably, this also comes after we learned that WeGoV can have major cardiovascular benefits, reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular-related death

by 20% in overweight patients, including patients dealing with heart disease. And so notably with that, you have places like the New York Times noting that these results also ask questions. Like how exactly semaglutide helps the heart? Is it directly because of the weight loss or is it something else? And also, how does this apply to a more diverse group of patients? But from just what we know, you have a lot of medical professionals telling the Times that this is monumental, with one going so far as to say that it potentially identified a new best practice, with an assistant professor of cardiovascular

medicine at the Yale School of Medicine telling the outlet that this is, quote, one of the most anticipated trials in the last 10 years. The uptake of this drug is going to be skyrocketing in the next couple of years. And so very notably with this, you have the Times adding that these findings, the demand related to them, will pressure insurance companies to offer broader coverage for them. Hell, it could even push Medicare to cover it. But a very big thing is that this new interest could also just make it that much harder for people to get their hands on it. Especially as you start hearing about potential benefits that don't have as much published research, but things that are being looked into, including some of Glutide's potential ability to limit alcohol cravings,

with actually NPR doing a big report on this in the past. Speaking to Christian Hendershot, a psychologist and addiction researcher at the University of North Carolina who's leading a trial about this, saying, there's really been a large number of clinical and anecdotal reports coming in suggesting that people's drinking behaviors are changing, and in some instances, pretty substantially, while taking Ozempic or Wegovy, saying all these reports, for the most part, are anecdotal. But adding, at the same time, it does seem like there's a pretty strong signal here, as well as patients who could usually toss a significant amount of wine or beer back in a night, telling the outlet that now they can't even fathom having more than one glass. And even there, it might not stop with

just alcohol, because studies in animals have found that these kinds of drugs can limit consumption of nicotine, opioids, and psychostimulants. With the clinical director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse explaining to NPR, the mechanism in the brain that regulates overeating overlaps with those responsible for the development and maintenance of addiction, including alcohol disorder. And again, this is still being studied, but Hendershot said that he has heard of clinicians already prescribing it to limit alcohol use and adding that, quote, the horse has already left the barn when it comes to this. Though again, this is many still say that it is too early for this off-label use, saying that we do not know enough and that there could still be complications.

But then potentially the biggest news related to these drugs is that Nolo Nordisk is actually testing a weight loss pill that could be even more effective than Wegovi and Ozempic. Because again, those two are injections, but a pill is a lot more accessible. So even an effective equivalent would be a game changer. And in March, the company shared phase one results of the pill amicretin, which targets the same GLP-1 hormone as those two injectables, as well as another hormone to regulate appetite. And its findings showed that it not only seemed to be safe and well-tolerated with similar side effects to semaglutide, but patients saw a 13.1% weight loss after two weeks. That is astounding. That is over double the weight loss patients saw in the same time during Wegovy trials. Now with this, it's important to note, this is early data. It was just shared by Novo Nordisk and further research still

needs to be done. But reports have noted that phase two trials will likely begin later this year. And the company's head of international operations saying, this is going to get big. This is going to get very, very big. And yet so big, it's on the company's stock way up, without even passing Tesla on the day the news was announced. But also, as you have all this excitement, whether it be about the money,

whether it be about the new potential uses for these existing drugs or the new drugs. There's also a lot of debate and backlash around the uses right now, with a number of people saying, you know, there's nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight, but these drugs are medically needed by people, some of which have been saying they're having trouble accessing this because so many people want it. Also, it hasn't just been people speaking on this. Just a few days before the Oscars this year, Eli Lilly, of all places, actually released an ad attacking Hollywood's obsession with those Zempik-related weight loss, which But you know, some people found weird or possibly self-serving. Because a pharmaceutical company trying to give moral lessons already feels weird, especially one that's been hit with controversies in the past.

And especially since Eli Lilly makes drugs that compete with Ozempic and Wegovy. But the ad and its messaging understandably got a lot of attention. Some people have been using medicine never meant for them. For the smaller dress or tux. For a big night. For vanity. But that's not the point. People whose health is affected by obesity are the reason we work on these medications. It matters who gets them. But this also is you have some who are angry about what is happening going, you know, the shame game isn't going to work, especially if these drugs get approved for more and more medical problems, which is why you have an increasing number of

people saying the focus right now needs to be on manufacturing more, especially because by all accounts, whether it be for diabetes, obesity, off label, this very much appears to be medication that people either take for a very long time or possibly even for the rest of their lives. So unless it comes out down the road like that this makes you grow a second head or like it increases chances of cancer a crazy amount, like the demand for this is only going to increase. But I also say that noting that is about the long-term game. The troubling current situation also needs to be handled because it's actually impacting people right now. But with all that, I'd love to know your thoughts, your opinions, your experiences, any and all things in those comments down below. But then finally, today,

we have, you changed the name, Comment Commentary. Where we look at yesterday's show, we dive into those comments, and we continue the conversation. All while I share screenshots of said comments that now make up about nine out of every ten photos in my camera roll. Starting with there being a lot of comments around that whole Billie Eilish situation, where she called out what a lot of people have seen as unnecessary vinyl production, with some then accusing her of specifically going after Taylor Swift. Though notably, it seemed like she was talking about the situation as a whole. And with that, we had Nii saying, Billie had a point though, and it's not just Western artists who are being so wasteful. I've been a fan of K-pop the past seven years,

and it's insane the consumerism culture that runs rampant. People buying hundreds of albums for different photo cards, photo sheets, and repackaged with one new song and a lot, lot more. With that, a lot of people agreeing, some saying my sisters are big BTS fans and have so many of the same album and I just don't get it. Saying I briefly was into BTS and the number of CDs my friends bought just for the little cards was astounding. You also have people like Haunted Crab sharing. Vinyl collector here, I completely see where Billie's coming from. There's so many variations coming out for mainstream artists that it's actively oversaturating the market. Not to mention that when smaller artists want their own products done, they have to wait months before they can even get the chance, if at all, as well as it costing a fortune. Maybe if

more mainstream artists embrace the recycled wax practice, then it can be less wasteful, as well as actually looking at the demand for albums. I remember seeing when Adele's latest album came out, stores were lined with different variants and types, but the demand wasn't there for it, so it ended up taking up space and no one wanted them. We also saw a lot of comments on that Oklahoma story, right about the secret Chinese mob. While there were a lot of different thoughts, one of the most popular comments was, Oklahoma here, we have an incompetent government more focused in virtue signaling to their base rather than governing. If they cared, they would have regulations and regulators frequently checking in on these farms using the insane amount of tax dollars they rake in just by the industry being here. This government is not only lazy, but one of the most

corrupt governments I have lived under. With Yelnats saying, our state government is literally the league of villains. And then finally, there was a lot of interesting conversation around that massive fish kill story in Iowa. With Wubbies Simp saying, the sad thing about the spill in Iowa is that if there is a fine, it will likely be a drop in the bucket for the company. If we want these companies to start taking these things seriously, we need to strike them. Have this fine be a significant percentage of what they made last year. These billion-dollar companies will continue to pollute and not care about our planet because all they do is fine these multi-billion or multi-hundred million-dollar businesses a couple hundred thousand dollars or a couple million and say,

do better next time. Then we're shocked when the same company does it again and then they use the last fine as an excuse to cut costs while simultaneously giving the CEO and those at the top a much larger bonus. And yeah, I mean, it's hard to do anything but agree with those statements. When a fine is a small percentage of how much money you bring in, that's just a cost of doing business. At that point, it's not a fine, it's a fee. The price of admission to play by a different set of rules than everybody else. It's a club and you're not invited. Because yeah, that's the real lesson here. Committing crimes ain't for broke boys. That's all these fines really tell us. But that right there is where today's show is going to end. I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.