The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.22 Trump’s Joe Rogan Problem is Getting Worse... & Today's News
Episode Date: April 22, 2025A sad day when besties dont see eye to eye Unbox comfort at https://rovelab.com/defranco and get up to 50% off Rove Lab products until April 28th. Go to https://hensonshaving.com/DEFRANCO and enter... DEFRANCO at checkout for 100 blades with purchase. Note: You must add both the blades and the razor for the Henson discount to apply. WEAR YOUR FEELINGS! https://BeautifulBastard.com Get 10% OFF with code "TARIFFS" Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here: https://youtu.be/Kv9cIVuES_Y?si=P0q9W0R7gRp2KQUY&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1 – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Trump & the Supreme Court are Barrelling Toward a Constitutional Crisis 9:24 - Sponsored by Rove Labs 10:36 - France Asks Regulators Probe #Skinnytok Tag for Harmful Effects 14:01 - Harvard Sues Trump Administration for Freezing Funds 17:22 - Sponsored by Henson Shaving 18:31 - Stocks Fall, Dollar Hits Three-Year Low as Trump Bashes Fed Chair Jerome Powell 22:43 - Viral Clip Introduces the World to Australia’s “Twinnies” Who Run Bird Sanctuary —————————— 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 Associate Producer on Pope Francis: Jared Paolino ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter: https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #DonaldTrump #JoeRogan ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news.
As I am Philip DeFranco, and there is a lot we need to talk about today,
starting with this.
The fight over Donald Trump's immigration actions
are only intensifying with the Supreme Court
and the administration now barreling towards
what might become a full-blown constitutional crisis.
Right, and so for you to fully understand where we are
and where we're going,
you have to first go back to Saturday
when the Supreme Court issued an emergency order
at like one o'clock in the morning
to block the administration from deporting
even more Venezuelans
accused of being part of Tren de Iragua.
Because you have the Trump administration
using the controversial 1798 Alien Enemies Act
to deport people that it claims are part of the gang.
And notably, this act has only ever been used
like three other times to go after people.
And each time, it's been a black stain on America's history.
And this is normally a gang
wouldn't be targeted under the act
since it's meant to remove people
working with enemy governments.
Which is why to justify its use,
the Trump administration has accused them
of being in operation by Venezuelan dictator,
Nicolas Maduro.
You know, with that, like we've talked about earlier this
month, the administration began flying
alleged gang members to El Salvador.
With it obvious from the get-go
that there's gonna be a ton of litigation around this.
And in fact, the Supreme Court stepped up in early April
to essentially say, what the fuck are you doing?
You need to give people that you want to deport enough time
to challenge their deportations
before removing them from the US.
However, there were growing signs
that the Trump administration
was going to violate that ruling,
or at least the spirit of it.
Or because this past Thursday,
immigration officials started issuing notices
to Venezuelans being held in a Texas detention center
that read, I am a law enforcement officer
authorized to apprehend, restrain,
and remove alien enemies.
Accordingly, under the Alien Enemies Act,
you have been determined to be an alien enemy
subject to apprehension, restraint,
and removal from the United States.
With critics then accusing the administration
of violating the Supreme Court's order
because A, the letter was only in English
and many of the recipients don't speak English,
and B, it was given out late Thursday night,
meaning that they'd have just a few hours
to get ahold of a lawyer and fight the case
by Friday morning or risk getting deported over the weekend.
And so what we saw was the ACLU springing into action
and challenging the government's action.
While the reporting I'll say is a bit hazy here,
it does seem like they initially tried
to go to the district court
before turning to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and then the Supreme Court for help.
But then at around one o'clock in the morning on Saturday,
the Supreme Court stepping in
with that extremely short order
that essentially blocked the government
from deporting these Venezuelans.
And this is notably the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals actually denied the ACLU's request,
claiming that they needed to wait for the district court to make a decision before intervening
outside of crazy circumstances. With them saying that they didn't feel this was a crazy circumstance,
claiming the district court's order today indicates that petitioners gave the court
only 42 minutes to act and did not give respondents an opportunity to respond.
And this reasoning was actually echoed later in the evening
after Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas
released their dissent, with their argument
pretty much being that this was an unprecedented move
by the Supreme Court and was hastily
and prematurely granted.
And quote, in some, literally in the middle of the night,
the court issued unprecedented
and legally questionable relief
without giving the lower courts a chance to rule,
without hearing from the opposing party
within eight hours of receiving the application
with dubious factual support for its order
and without providing any explanation for its order.
Of course, as we talked about earlier,
the court told the Trump administration
it needed to give people ample time
to challenge their deportations
and many feel that Alito's dissent,
it ignores the reality that the government's actions
arguably skirted that order as well
as the fact that the government
is willing to move people very quickly.
Not to mention that allegedly,
they were already Venezuelans on buses,
presumably to be sent to airports
when the ACLU made its motions.
Also, I will say, it's not like Alito was completely wrong
in calling this unprecedented,
with just one of the examples being,
this administrative stay was made by the entire court
when normally they're done by a single justice
who oversees that district court,
in this case, the fifth is Alito's territory.
And considering he dissented,
it's very likely that no stay would have been issued
if it was his choice.
I'll also say it's extremely unusual for the Supreme Court
to issue its ruling before a dissent has been written.
Normally they're released at the same time,
but also considering that there were fears
that people were going to get deported within hours,
the court might've felt that they had to move super fast.
But then notably, with all that,
there is a growing narrative online among Trump supporters
that the court is now overstepping its boundaries
and should be ignored with some even saying things like,
"'So if the Supreme Court can overrule
"'the executive branch, does that mean the executive branch
"'can overrule a Supreme Court decision
"'since they are both co-equal branches?'
And you've got conservative radio host Jesse Kelly arguing,
"'Ignore the Supreme Court.
"'Arrest anyone who tries to enforce this.
"'Dissolve the Supreme Court entirely if they push.
You can deport foreigners
or you don't have a country anymore.
There are no good choices now.
And this is just one
of the potential constitutional crises going on.
I mean, another is the fight over due process,
which underpins almost all of this,
which the TLDR is that, you know,
people in America are afforded due process,
which gives them a chance to fight their charges.
Due process, kind of important.
Otherwise the government says,
"'Hey, you're this thing and that's it, you're that thing.'"
In this case, without those hearings,
the government doesn't have to prove anything
about the people that they're rounding up.
They could just wave a magic wand
and claim that someone's a Salvadoran MS-13 gang member,
and therefore they need to be deported such
as in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case.
You know, just today, you had a federal judge
in Colorado ruling that the Trump administration
must give a 21 day notice to any Venezuelan migrants
detained in the state before it can deport them, with the administration then also
being required to tell those migrants in a language they understand that they have a right to challenge
their deportation. With that, one of the things that we're seeing is that many Trump supporters
are increasingly saying they don't think allegedly undocumented people should get that kind of due
process. With, for example, last week, Vice President J.D. Vance tweeting out a defense of
the administration's actions, writing,
Ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden's millions and millions of illegals.
With reasonable resources and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people per year?
Though with that, you've had many people pushing back, saying that argument is essentially, there's too many people to process fairly, so let's just skip the Constitution. And I mean, the fact that you have people calling
for skipping due process, it's set off alarm bells
in people who otherwise support Trump,
like Joe Rogan, for example,
who's in this now viral clip saying.
What about due process?
No, that.
Well, here's the problem with that.
What if you are an enemy of,
let's not say any current president,
let's pretend we got a new president,
totally new guy in 2028.
And this is a common practice now of just rounding up gang members with no due process and shipping them to El Salvador.
You're a gang member. No, I'm not. Prove it. What? I got to go to court. No, no due process.
And then with all that, of course, we have to talk about updates around Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
You know, while he is just one man,
he represents a much, much larger situation.
The latest update on his situation
is that his surroundings are slightly better,
at least according to court filings
that the government made,
because they're required to update the court
every few days about Kilmar's situation.
And he's now allegedly being held
at a lower security prison
where he gets his own bed and furniture.
Although with that, he was reportedly held
in solitary confinement for weeks,
which could mean no furnishings at all.
With that swap apparently being done
before Senator Chris Van Hollen visited him last week.
Which, speaking of visits,
four Democratic lawmakers just landed this week
in El Salvador to try and get Abrego Garcia out
with Representative Robert Garcia saying,
"'Well, Donald Trump continues to defy the Supreme Court.
"'Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally
"'in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported.'"
And adding, "'This is why we're here,
"'to remind the American people that kidnapping immigrants
and deporting them without due process
is not how we do things in America.
And while you're the State Department saying
that Abrego Garcia is in good conditions
and in an excellent state of health,
these Democrats are demanding daily proof of life.
This is the Salvadoran government
rejected their attempts to see him,
arguing that they're not in the country
in an official capacity.
But then finally, with all this,
we started talking about Venezuelans being held in El Salvador, and it looks like
there might actually be an update on that. Because in a post on X directed to the Venezuelan
president, Bukele offered an exchange. 252 Venezuelans who were deported from the U.S.
and are being held in El Salvador for the same number of, quote, political prisoners being held
in Venezuela. Bukele listing off the names of journalists, activists, and the family members
of high-level opposition figures
in Venezuela, as well as accusing the government
in Venezuela of detaining nearly 50 citizens
of other nationalities, including Americans, and adding,
"'The only reason they are imprisoned
"'is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud.'"
But then, in response, the prosecutor's office
in Venezuela responding by calling Bukele a neo-fascist
and saying that his comments were, quote, cynical,
with them then demanding information about the people
that the Salvadoran government
has detained, including their legal status
and medical reports."
And their statement, it came in hot saying,
"'The treatment received by Venezuelans
in the United States and El Salvador
constitutes a serious violation
of international human rights law
and constitutes a crime against humanity.'"
With all this, there's still a lot of uncertainty
around the specifics of Bukele's proposed swap
with a big question being,
are the political prisoners going to be free
upon getting to El Salvador?
And so ultimately, you know,
there's a lot that we're gonna have to keep our eyes on
on several different fronts,
but if there is just one place I can end,
is how the fuck are we debating
about if due process should exist?
That's genuinely fucking insane.
The people that are rooting for this
are either not thinking about it,
or they love autocratic fascist dictator bullshit,
but they don't like those words.
And I find myself agreeing with Senator Chris Van Hollen when he says he is not vouching for
Abrego Garcia. He's not vouching for the man. He is vouching for his constitutional rights to due
process in America. If we live in a world where the government can just say you are this thing,
or you're guilty of this thing, and you do not get a chance to do process, that's beyond.
And as you see repeated in history over and over again,
it starts with someone that the general citizenry could go,
well, those are other people, distant people.
This could never happen to me and my friends and my family.
I mean, we're so different.
But you know, Joe Rogan is right in this avenue.
One day, the people that you want in power
may not be in power.
Or what if you just end up being on the wrong side
of the people currently in power,
because shit changes.
Maybe that Bulls jersey you wear,
and it's not because you think MJ is the GOAT,
it's because you're a member of MS-13.
Maybe that fucked up joke you said, it wasn't a joke,
it was a serious thing, and actually it was a threat.
Who's to say really?
Not you, because fuck due process.
And as is often the case,
if you don't stand up for the rights of those
that you aren't aligned with,
or you actively disagree with,
you don't actually stand for anything
except power and control.
And then I've got more news you need to know
in just a moment.
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today. But then next up from that, shifting gears to a different kind of news, something needs to
be done about skinny talk. Those are words that many people all over the world are saying right now, and if you're unfamiliar,
it's pretty much what it sounds like.
It's a hashtag that's existed on TikTok for a while now,
but it has really taken off over the past couple of months,
and it's a trend where you have people posting strict rules
and advice about weight loss.
Now with that, when you search for skinny talk on the app,
it actually gives you a message saying
you are more than your weight,
and that help is out there if you have questions
or concerns about body image.
Then once you scroll to the videos under the tag,
you're met with mantras like-
What you eat in private will always show in public.
Eat only what you want to stay in your body
past the taste on your lips.
If you want to be small, you eat small.
If you want it to be big, you eat big.
Why do you eat like a linebacker
and expect to look like a ballerina?
You'll then also see people posting body checks, what I eat in a day videos, content like that.
With the hashtag having 56,000 posts.
But really, I mean, Skinny Talk creators, they don't always use the hashtag and there are many, many more related videos.
And notably, a lot of these creators, they have massive followings.
But also, as you'd expect, a lot of people find Skinny Talk to be at the very least concerning.
Right, arguing that it promotes disordered eating and a generally unhealthy obsession with thinness.
And actually the reason that we're talking about this today
is it's caught the attention of France's minister
for digital media who just reported this hashtag
to the French regulator, ARKOM, and to the European Union.
Where they're saying in a statement that quote,
"'These videos promoting extreme thinness
"'are revolting and absolutely unacceptable.'"
And adding, "'Digital tools are marvelous
"'in terms of progress and freedom,
"'but badly used, they can shatter lives. "' The social networks cannot escape the responsibility. And actually, according to
Politico, Arcom's now working with the European Commission to investigate, given the public health
risk the trend may pose. And this is going down as the commission's already opened a probe into
how TikTok's algorithm affects minors. Now, as far as what TikTok has said, they say they've
deleted posts and have rules against body shaming, dangerous behavior linked to weight loss, and age restrictions for content idealizing certain body types.
But there, you have many things that the platform just hasn't done enough.
With a scene, for example, a nurse in France starting a petition calling on TikTok to remove Skinny Talk content and that effort getting over 25,000 signatures.
And this is the effects of Skinny Talk aren't just being felt in France or in Europe.
We even had Rolling Stone just doing a piece noting that overall weight loss content online
has gotten mean again.
We're saying that people are shifting away
from body positivity and it's prompted more people
to come across shaming tactics on their FYPs instead.
With them then pointing to one creator
with 900,000 followers who has said things like,
"'You hungry at night?
"'Chew on your pillow.
"'What about running?
"'Run to the kitchen and eat less food.'"
With the outlet adding,
they're actively seeking out people who will be direct
and mean can seem counterintuitive.
But adding, part of the draw for Skinny Talk
is that creators often publicly say out loud
the thoughts people usually think to themselves.
Right in there, you had Dr. Erin Parks,
the chief clinical officer
of the virtual treatment center, equip explaining,
this is harmful for everyone,
whether you have an eating disorder or not.
It is taking the depressive self-critical thoughts
that exist in all of our heads and it's amplifying them.
And adding, I'm worried about the long-term harm
to our brains as we're laying down these pathways.
How I look is my worth and what I eat makes me good or bad
and reinforcing them again and again.
And while obviously a lot of these creators
believe their content to be just motivational and honest,
not toxic and dangerous,
you had one author telling Rolling Stone
that skinny talk is really just a mask off approach
towards diet culture that removes the wellness coded language
that creators promoting disordered eating often hide behind.
With some even comparing it to the eras of pro anorexia,
Tumblr or ED Twitter.
And so with all that, you know,
I'd really love to know your thoughts on this trend
on leaders in France taking action against it.
And if you've also noticed these weight loss narratives
changing on your own feeds as well.
But then next up from that today,
we got to talk about Harvard now suing the Trump administration over its threats
to withhold funding from the university.
Because as we talked about last week,
the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion
in federal funds to the university
after it refused to comply with a list of demands
outlined in a letter that it sent on April 11th
from a new panel called
the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.
And among other things,
the demands outlined in this letter
included instructing the school to shutter all DEI programs, change its admissions, hiring, and governance practices, and take
a number of steps to crack down on pro-Palestine viewpoints as part of what they claim are
efforts to combat antisemitism.
And since then, the administration has also threatened the university's tax-exempt status
and ability to enroll foreign students.
They're now also being reported that officials are planning to cut another $1 billion specifically
for health research.
But now you have the school fighting back in court
and setting up a massive clash
between the nation's most prestigious university
and the Trump administration.
And in the lawsuit,
which is filed against numerous departments
and their leaders,
Harvard specifically accuses the administration
of violating its First Amendment rights,
federal administrative procedures,
and other regulations for actions of this nature,
alleging that the government has been trying to, quote,
"'Use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at
Harvard, with the complaint then going on to claim that the administration's actions threaten
Harvard's academic independence and are part of a broader effort by the government to punish Harvard
for protecting its constitutional rights. And very notably here, the suit also argues that the Trump
administration has failed to establish any connection between the funding freeze and
fighting anti-Semitism, with them noting that Harvard has been making structural
reforms to combat it on campus, but instead of engaging the school on those efforts, the
administration is trying to freeze funding that has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism,
and adding, the government has not and cannot identify any rational connection between anti-Semitism
concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen. And that is
something that we've also seen echoed by Harvard president Alan Garber,
who said in a statement announcing the lawsuit yesterday,
As a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about rising anti-Semitism.
With him then going on to reiterate that the school has been taking tangible action on that front,
and then adding,
Before taking punitive action, the law requires that the federal government engage with us
about the ways we are fighting and will continue to fight antisemitism.
But they're claiming that instead,
the government's demands seek to control
whom we hire and what we teach.
With Garber then also accusing the administration
of trying to impose unprecedented
and improper control over Harvard
and arguing that the consequences
of the government's overreach
will be severe and long lasting.
With them also specifically outlining research
that will be jeopardized by these freezes,
including efforts to help children survive cancer, understand how cancer spreads, predict the spread of outbreaks,
and reduce the risk of disease, adding, the victims will be future patients and their loved ones who
will suffer the heartbreak of illnesses that might have been prevented or treated more effectively.
And then further claiming that the funding freeze undermines the nation's ability to save American
lives, foster American success, and maintain America's position
as a global leader in innovation.
But as far as, you know, what happens from here,
Harvard is now asking a judge to declare
the administration's freeze as unconstitutional
and order it to reverse any frozen or terminated funding.
And you have legal experts saying
that they have a solid case,
especially regarding allegations
that the Trump administration violated laws
governing administrative procedure and regulations.
But as far as how the administration has responded,
they've made it clear that they will not go down
without a fight.
The single White House spokesperson issuing a statement
saying, the gravy train of federal assistance
to institutions like Harvard,
which enriched their grossly overpaid bureaucrats
with tax dollars from struggling American families
is coming to an end.
Taxpayer funds are a privilege
and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required
to access that privilege.
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And next up today from that, we got to talk about why the stock market is all over the place,
the dollar is down, and gold is at an all-time high.
And then more than that, what two men have to do with it all,
President Donald Trump and Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell.
So long story short,
Trump's tariffs, they triggered a Wall Street sell-off
and stoked fears of an economic recession.
And so to help offset impacts of the stock market,
Trump wants Powell to lower interest rates.
But the Fed is supposed to be insulated from politics,
and for good reason.
But then, connected to that,
Trump's escalating attacks on Powell
then actually just adding to the market turmoil.
But with that said, where things get very interesting
is with a slightly longer version,
because I'll start by putting out the fact
that Trump himself actually nominated Powell back in 2017.
With that, then followed by Trump talking
about firing the man at least once
every subsequent year of his presidency.
Except technically those 20 days in January
before Joe Biden took over in 2021.
I think he was a little busy with other stuff, we'll say.
Something happened in January of 2021.
I think it was like a tour, unscheduled tour,
I think is what it was. But with that, what we saw was Biden appointed Powell to another four
year term in 2022. And then, you know, he didn't constantly threaten to fire him. But then, of
course, the Democrats lost, Trump won, he returned to the White House, and he got right back to it.
And in fact, you had the Wall Street Journal reporting last week that he had been privately
discussing getting rid of Powell for months. And notably, after announcing his Liberation Day
tariffs, you had him calling out Powell publicly saying it would
quote, be a perfect time to cut interest rates.
But a big thing is, you know,
the Fed doesn't care about Trump's economic agenda,
at least not directly.
Its job simply put is to keep inflation in check
while maximizing employment.
And over the last few years,
what we've seen is it's actually been able to help bring
down inflation while keeping the unemployment rate
relatively low.
There was the COVID of it all,
inflation ended up peaking at around 9% in 2022,
but last month it was down to 2.4%,
which one, stellar numbers when you look
at the international community,
and two, pretty close to the agency's 2% target.
And that as unemployment levels
have remained pretty low as well.
Although I will say Trump's tariffs
have also sparked fears about that.
But in any case, last week Powell noted
that Trump's tariffs were quote,
"'Highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, which for the most part means
cutting rates is exactly what you would not do. And he would Powell himself, suggesting there is
no rush to act and that the Fed can wait for greater clarity before making any decisions.
That, however, seemed to set Trump off, with him then publicly calling for Powell to be fired the
next day and writing on social media, Powell's termination cannot come fast enough. With then
one of Trump's top economic advisors
soon confirming that officials would continue
to study the question of whether they can legally fire Powell
because Powell, he has seemingly made it clear
that he will not step down if Trump asks him to resign.
With him, for example, speaking at an event last week
and saying, our independence is a matter of law.
We're not removable except for cause.
And that is very likely true,
but also since it's never happened,
it's ultimately somewhat unclear
whether Trump actually has the authority to remove Powell.
Though notably, the Supreme Court is currently hearing
a case that could give the president more power
to fire some federal officials before their terms are up.
And so ultimately we're gonna have to wait
to see what happens there and whether it applies to the fed
since we're living in unprecedented times
and it appears that the theme of this administration
so far has been, let's really test the limits
of presidential power.
You know, either way, there's no doubt that firing Powell,
I mean, it would be unprecedented.
And whatever Trump may think, it would very, very likely
do even further damage to the American economy.
And in fact, we're already seeing how that may be true
because early yesterday morning, Trump again,
took to social media urging Powell
to cut interest rates preemptively,
with him claiming that energy costs are down,
that food prices are substantially lower,
and that there is virtually no inflation. And going on to say, there could be a slowing of
the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates now. And over the course
of the day yesterday, stocks slid, though with that today, they have mostly bounced back. You
know, that whole episode, I guess, tied into the season of episodes we've had this year,
it kind of shows the impact that Trump has had. And notably with that, stocks aren't the only sign of investors losing confidence in the U.S. Because when stocks
slump, investors often seek out so-called safe haven assets, normally including the American
dollar and U.S. government bonds. However, yesterday what we saw was that the dollar index fell to its
lowest level since 2022, and bonds are being sold off as well. And instead, what we've seen are
people buying up good old-fashioned gold, the most tried and true safe haven asset.
In fact, the price hitting an all time record high yesterday of more than $3,500 per ounce.
And then with that, you had the IMF today releasing a growth forecast for this year that gave the U.S. the biggest downgrade among advanced economies, thanks in large part to tariffs.
Of course, we're not in this alone and other countries are projected to be hit hard as well.
But ultimately, we're going to have to wait to see how this plays out. But then next up today in very different news,
let's talk about this viral video
that introduced the world
to a pair of Australian treasures.
And if you've existed on the internet in recent days,
you may have seen this video at least in some capacity.
And one guy, he was up there with our mom
and he went up there
and he was coming back down towards us
and he goes, run, he's got a gun and oh our heart
started to pound and i said oh mom where's mom and poor poor mom was stuck up there but apparently
our brave mom she goes are you all right because he had all blood all over his face. And he goes, I'll shoot you.
She goes, hey, I'm here to help.
So that is Paula and Bridget Powers talking in unison
about a carjacking the other mother experience.
And as this video gained traction online
and people were talking about these women
and their in-stereo speech,
many Australians weren't too surprised.
Right in that, because as it turns out,
the Powers' twinnies, they're well known down under,
both for their connection with each other
and their bird sanctuary.
Because you see, after working with Steve Irwin briefly, Bridget and Paula branched
out on their own, and they've been running the 20s Pelican and Seabird Rescue for over 20 years.
And over that time, they've saved thousands of injured, orphaned, and sick native birds. And
according to one veterinarian and TV host, quote, one of the true strengths the twins possess is
this incredible ability to read a bird and just watch it for 30 seconds and almost know medically what's going on with it. And adding, you can go to university for years and years and
not be able to do that. If there's a bird in distress or even a turtle, the twins respond.
Every single waking minute will be spent tending to that animal and they don't really rest until
the patient's needs are taken care of. And looking into it, there are actually numerous examples.
Like back in 2020, they found a pelican egg that was on the edge of a dam, but it had rolled away from its nest site.
And in the 20s, they brought it inside,
incubated it, and raised the bird for months
before releasing it into the wild.
You know, they take injured birds, sick ones, lost ones,
any kind that you can imagine.
With Steve Irwin's father, Bob, even saying that
he thinks 90% of the birds that have come
into the 20s care would have died
without intervention and adding.
I hate to think of how many hundreds
and maybe thousands of birds would be dead now if not for the 20s. But also, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for Brid intervention and adding. I hate to think of how many hundreds and maybe thousands of birds would be dead now
if not for the 20s.
But also, it hasn't always been smooth sailing
for Bridget and Paula.
Besides the ridicule they've faced
for their unique speech and identical style,
they've also been battling health issues their entire life.
Issues including osteoporosis,
stomach issues, and heart problems.
But sometimes it's just being hard to get out of bed
and you actually had the 20s saying in an interview,
but we know we've got to look after our feathered friends
over in our center and they need our help.
And even the center itself has had issues.
I mean, a couple of years ago,
money got really tight for the 20s,
where they were just kind of scraping by
on public donations, their father's Vietnam War pension,
and the occasional government grant.
And eventually that wasn't enough
with the 20s Pelican and Seabird Rescue
facing the very real threat of eviction.
That is until a philanthropist based in Brisbane
stepped in and purchased the site
from the 20s landlord of 12 years, with them promising to work with them and make the site
exactly what they need, and their mom sang at the time, it's pretty amazing to think that someone
has come through the gate to fulfill the Twins' dream, not for a roof over their heads, but a roof
for the birds that they love saving. We would have had to end up moving or closed down, and even to
move dozens of aviaries from here. What a task. And because of that generosity, the Twinnies have
been able to continue their work.
Work that is gravely needed, right?
The urban development of the Sunshine Coast
has led to countless seabirds being caught up
in fishing lines, struck by propellers,
or even injured by humans.
And that's without getting into the storms
with tropical cyclone Alfred wreaking havoc
on the native birds of Australia earlier this year
and dozens of birds being transferred
to the Twinnies Rehab Center.
You know, with all that said, and for all their work,
I wanna give Paula and Bridget the BAMF of the Day Award.
But that, my friends, is the end of your Tuesday evening,
Wednesday morning dive into the news.
But of course, don't worry,
I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.
Thank you for watching.
I love your faces,
and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.