The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.25 College Campus Protest Crackdowns Exposing A Lot, Harvey Weinstein Conviction Overturned, & More

Episode Date: April 25, 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!  Download the free app here: https://mistplay.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO100 inside the app for 100 extra points! Code expires 8/31/24. Limited quantities available & valid for new users only.  ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Harvey Weinstein NY Conviction Overturned 02:39 - Campus Protests Continue at Emerson, UTA, USC & More 07:30 - DOT Changes Airline Refund Rules, Musicians Push for Concert Ticket Reform 10:15 - Sponsored by ZocDoc 11:21 - SCOTUS Hears Case on Trump’s Presidential Immunity  15:03 - USDA Tightens Limits on Added Sugars and Sodium in School Lunches 16:15 - MN Senator Allegedly Broke Into Stepmom’s Home to Take Father’s Ashes 19:52 - Sponsored by Mistplay 20:56 - Young People Increasingly Facing Cancer Diagnoses 26:42 - Your Thoughts on Yesterday’s Show ——————————   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, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Cancer: Maddie Crichton ———————————— #DeFranco #BillieEilish #Hasanabi ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a lot to talk about today. This is a new show. The disgusting, predatory, slot monster that is Harvey Weinstein just got his conviction overturned. But that doesn't mean that he's a free man today. Let me explain. Because the New York Court of Appeals just overturned Weinstein's 2020 conviction in a 4-3 ruling. But I'm essentially saying the judge in his trial allowed too much testimony from women with allegations not related to the charges. Right, because Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence after being convicted of criminal

sex act charges and rape. But in this decision, the appeals court said that Weinstein was convicted by a jury for various sexual crimes against three named complainants and, on appeal, claims that he was judged not on the conduct for which he was indicted, but on irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior bad acts. We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes because that testimony served no material non-propensity purpose. And adding that the court compounded this error when it said that he could be cross-examined about these allegations. And ultimately saying the only remedy for these errors is a new trial. Now with that, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office did release a statement saying it would do everything in its power to retry the case,

and so of course, eyes are going to be on the potential for this new trial. But as far as Weinstein behind bars, he's still staying there, because back in 2022, he was convicted of rape in LA over a separate case, and he's currently serving a 16-year sentence for that. Though notably, you did have a spokesperson for Weinstein saying, With Weinstein's lawyer also adding, Though of course, with this news, there are a lot of people that are not happy. With, for example, most notably Judge Madeline Singus writing in the dissenting opinion that the court has repeatedly thwarted the gains survivors have made. And adding, men who serially, sexually exploit their power over women, especially the most vulnerable groups in society, will reap the benefit of today's decision. Forgotten are the women who bear the psychological trauma of sexual violence and the

scars of testifying again and again. We also had a lawyer who represented two pretrial witnesses slamming this decision, calling it a step back and defending the use of the outside testimony, saying courts routinely admit evidence of other uncharged acts where they assist juries in understanding issues concerning the modus operandi or scheme of the defendant. The jury was instructed on the relevance of this testimony and overturning the verdict is tragic

in that it will require the victims to endure yet another trial. But a definitive thing that we do know about what's about to happen to Weinstein, a man who's been accused of some form of sexual misconduct by over 100 women, is that while he's currently in prison in upstate New York, he's going to be sent to continuous sentence in California. With that, the New York Times also reports that he's also going to be appealing his conviction there in May. So it definitely looks like there's going to be a lot more to come with this case

here. And then things are not calming down across college campuses right now. And as a part of that, we've seen a new wave of arrests as school and government officials seek to stop student encampments like we saw at Columbia. With one of the biggest new protests being yesterday at UT Austin, where we saw more than 500 students walk out of class in support of Palestine. And just like at every other protest of this nature, one of the biggest things that they wanted was for the school to divest from companies working with Israel or Israeli firms. And with this, campus police were quick to try to confront the group and they tried to open negotiations. but reportedly that failed within half an hour with one officer telling a student that he'd be the first to go. And he made good on that promise with that student

being the first to be arrested. That was then followed up by police getting backup from state troopers and more students getting handcuffed and facing criminal trespassing charges and police forming a line to push them back. They then regrouped at another part of the campus and once again, there was a confrontation with police where protesters were forced off the lawn that they were trying to occupy. And in the end, at least 34 people were arrested, two of which were members of the media. You know, a big thing here is that UT Austin, that's just a single example of how much schools have been cracking down on students. We saw the same thing happen at USC here in LA, with things there continuing well into the night, and we saw nearly 100 people arrested. And the list kind of just goes on and on.

Out in Boston, police spent the night tearing down a pro-Palestine encampment at Emerson College, arresting more than 100 people arrested. And the list kind of just goes on and on. Out in Boston, police spent the night tearing down a pro-Palestine encampment at Emerson College, arresting more than 100 people, with police claiming that no protesters were injured at Emerson, but four officers were, including one seriously. But notably, footage from the event puts that into doubt because police were not messing around. So for many, it's hard to believe that no one but officers were injured. And you know, as always, there has been a wide range of reactions to all this, with one of the most viral examples being Hasan Piker on Piers Morgan. Because while speaking about the protests, he had this to say when asked if these protests were just performative. Absolutely not. I don't think that, I mean, all protests are technically performative, obviously, but there's a very clear-cut goal. That is why they're trying

to very clearly cause a little bit of a disruption and engage in- But are you comfortable? Okay, but are you comfortable, Hassan? Are you comfortable with the ones who are seen chanting support for Hamas or chanting about intifada? I am perfectly comfortable with people chanting about the intifada. As far as the Hamas thing goes, any kind of protest is always going to have a litany of random people,

but ultimately it doesn't really matter. You have to look at the actual tangible goals that the protest movement is stating they are interested in. And I think that those goals, and I think you will agree with me on this, Piers. I think those goals are pretty valid overall. I think that they want to, one, recenter the attention to the genocide that is ongoing in Gaza. And two, demand that their tuition dollars do not go to operations in Israel. However, notably with that, Hassan wasn't particularly happy about that interview,

but I'm talking about it later on stream and how it quickly devolved into an argument about Israel and the war as a whole, rather than what he thought he was there to do, talk about the protest. Right. And kind of after that bit, it kind of just turns into a yelling match. A lot of that also ended up being the really viral clips because people love slams and clapbacks. But also, to zoom in a bit, over at USC, tensions have been high for a while now. Especially after that valedictorian controversy that we covered last week. And while there are many students who are passionately supporting Palestine and want the war to end, you have many Jewish students saying that these situations are veering in a direction that's making them feel unsafe.

And at UT Austin, President Jay Hartzell justified yesterday's events, saying, The protesters tried to deliver on their stated intent to occupy campus. People not affiliated with UT joined them, and many ignored university officials' continual pleas for restraint and to immediately disperse. The university did what we said we would do in the face of prohibited actions. With it also believed that UT Austin's strong response was influenced by an executive order Governor Greg Abbott issued earlier this month. With it requiring that schools change their free speech policies to punish, quote,

the sharp rise in anti-Semitic speech and acts on university campuses. And Abbott, who authorized state troopers to be deployed to combat the protesters, said on Twitter, Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in Texas, period. Students joining in hate-filled anti-Semitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled. Also, regarding his anti-Semitism claims, Abbott and many others painted this protest as anti-Semitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled. Also, regarding his anti-Semitism claims, Abbott and many others painted this protest as anti-Semitic because it was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee. However, you had many saying at the protest itself, there seemed to be no blatant anti-Semitism like we saw at parts of the Columbia protests.

Also, another twist to all this is that the demand that UT Austin divest from companies arming Israel is probably not possible under a 2017 Texas law. Although, notably, that law has been challenged many times and continuously narrows in scope. But all of this is there were a lot of people critical of the police and state's actions, such as how armed the police were when they first confronted protesters despite demonstrations being completely peaceful up to that point. We also saw criticism over how the university presented the demonstration, with officials claiming the tough response was needed because the protesters threatened to cancel classes yesterday. But in that Instagram post from Tuesday, the Palestine

Solidarity Committee also had details that they encouraged students to walk out of class, not that they were going to forcibly shut down the school. We also saw a lot of faculty members at UT Austin coming out to condemn the school's response, saying, we faculty at UT Austin condemn President Jay Hartzell and other administrative leaders' decision to invite city police as well as state troopers from across the state to our campus today in response to a planned peaceful event by our students. Right within many of these schools having more planned protests for today.

And then, you know, buying tickets for literally anything has become a massive pain in the ass. Like for travel, it's like you're getting screwed at every corner for entertainment. You got tickets selling out in nanoseconds. But we have two bits of news today that at least give some level of promise and hope. Starting with air travel.

Because the Department of Transportation just announced that customers are entitled to cash refunds if their flight is canceled or significantly delayed or changed. And that refund has to be in cash or in the original form of payment. So if it's a card, it goes back there. And if it was miles, it goes back there. That is, if the passenger doesn't accept the substitute voucher or the credits that the airline offers. And the big thing is that refund also has to be automatic, meaning no begging on the phone for hours for it. And it has to be relatively prompt, so within seven or 20 days, depending on how you originally paid.

And as for when all this applies, it's pretty straightforward rules. You're entitled to this if your flight is canceled or changed significantly, meaning that your departure arrival time was bumped three hours domestically or six hours internationally. It also applies if the airport is switched up on you,

the number of connections is increased, your seat is downgraded, or if you're switched to a less accessible flight if you have a disability. And so with this, you have Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg saying in a statement, passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them without headaches or haggling. The rules also add that these refunds have to be in full, but exclude the value of any portion of transportation already used. It'll also cover smaller things like refunds for delayed baggage, or if you paid for services like Wi-Fi

that didn't work during your flight. The Department of Transportation is also going after junk fees by requiring airlines to be more transparent about fees up front, so you're not surprised by a new price while you're already grabbing your wallet. With Buttigieg saying these rules could save travelers half a billion dollars a year. Notably, if you have summer travel, don't get excited. Most of these rules aren't expected to take effect until October, but at least then it'll be in time for holiday travel season. And so arguably, that's the bigger news, because this next ticket story, it's not as concrete or actionable. You know, it's baby steps. But this one dealing with concert and event tickets because nearly 300 artists just signed a letter asking Congress to fix the ticket buying process.

And those artists including Billie Eilish, Phineas, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, and many, many more. And that is the only reason Billie Eilish is in the news today. Definitely don't Google Billie Eilish mirror after you watch today's show, unless you want to read some stuff that she gets applauded for, and I would be told I'm psychotic for saying. They'd kick me out of polite society. But in this letter, specifically, they're asking for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to support the Fans First Act, which is this bipartisan bill that was introduced late last year. And that bill aiming to reform the ticketing system by going after bad actors, price gouging from resellers, and by increasing transparency. With the artist addressing committee members Maria

Cantwell and Ted Cruz, saying the current system is broken. Predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of their chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price. And adding no one cares more about the fans than the artists. When predatory resellers scoop up face value tickets ahead of fans in order to resell at inflated prices on the secondary market, artists lose the ability to connect with their fans who cannot afford to attend.

Notably, the artists also went after deceptive URL practices and speculative tickets. So this is gonna be very interesting to watch to see if anything comes from it. And then, you know, surprisingly, I found out that a lot of you don't have a doctor when you probably should. You have that scratchy throat that turns into

not being able to swallow a thing to that nagging pain that starts affecting the rest of your body. And the common denominator I've heard about why there's hesitation is not having the right doctor that you trust and feel comfortable with. But thanks to the amazing partner of the PDS, ZocDoc, they understand your reasons and they're here to help you. Now, the typical wait to see a doctor booked on ZocDoc is between 24 to 72 hours. Sometimes you score same day appointments with doctors who have verified reviews from real patients, not bots like actual people. Plus, ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated in-network doctors near you who accept your insurance and instantly book

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That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Phil. ZocDoc dot com slash Phil. And then we need to talk about how the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today about whether Trump can claim presidential immunity from prosecution because we're not going to get a decision today it's very interesting and it's got to be very meaningful right and all of this connected to the federal criminal charges over his alleged attempt to overthrow the 2020 election with doj special counsel jack smith saying the former president created a fake slate of electors to replace the real ones who voted for biden in key states but trump's lawyers they

argue he should enjoy immunity from those charges. Setting a 1982 Supreme Court ruling that former presidents are immune from civil litigation for their actions in office. But to that, you had Smith countering that criminal charges are different. So far, the argument has exposed a clear split between liberals and conservatives on the bench. With Justice Brett Kavanaugh calling the charges vague, claiming they could be used against a lot of presidential activities historically with a creative prosecutor who wants to go after a president. And in a similar vein, Samuel Alito argued that denying Trump immunity would incentivize

future presidents from leaving office peacefully because they know their rival may prosecute them. But that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy. But then you had the liberals like Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson pushing back against that. There is no fail-safe system of government. In the vast majority of cases, the innocent do go free. Sometimes they don't, and we have some post-conviction remedies for that. But we still fail. We've executed innocent people. Having said that, Justice Alito went through, step by step, all of the mechanisms that could potentially fail. In the end, if it fails completely, it's because we've destroyed our democracy on our own.

You seem to be worried about the president being chilled. I think that we would have a really significant opposite problem if the president wasn't chilled. I'm trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into, you know, the seat of criminal activity in this country. Then more in the center, we saw Chief Justice John Roberts peppering Smith with hard questions. Right here, the special counsel arguing that immunity is not necessary in criminal cases

because safeguards would prevent political prosecutions, including the need for a grand jury to bring charges and institutional norms within the Justice Department, with Roberts there shooting back. Now, you know how easy it is in many cases for a prosecutor to get a grand jury to bring an indictment and reliance on the good faith of the prosecutor may not be enough in the some cases. But overall, most judges, including some of the conservatives, appeared skeptical of

Trump's claim to absolute and sweeping immunity, with him seeming to converge on the question of whether his efforts to overturn the election constitute official acts done as president or simply private acts. And on that, even Trump's attorney conceded that some of Trump's actions on January 6th were private acts. But the judges also aggressively pressed Smith's attorney about his framing of the case. And so right now, if you made an educated guess, it looks like they may be searching for some kind of middle ground decision. But also a notable thing there is that even ruling down the middle could effectively be ruling in favor of Trump. Because if the judges throw the case back to the lower courts to iron out certain issues about the official versus private acts distinction,

that could delay the process for months, meaning that Trump could get elected before the trial. And if that happened, he could just make the case disappear because it would be his own Justice Department prosecuting him at that point, which is also why you had Smith urging the Supreme Court not to delay the trial. But of course, even in that scenario, Trump couldn't simply squash the state charges against him in two of his other trials. So then the prospect of a sitting president getting tried, convicted, and sentenced by an individual state, I mean, that raises a whole bunch of awkward legal questions. But hey, who knows what's going to happen? Again, this was hearing oral arguments, hearing the questioning, and only time can tell what this mess is going to definitely look like. And then the U.S. Department of Agriculture just announced a suite of new nutrition standards for lunches

and breakfasts in public schools, with it creating the first limit on added sugars in school meals, which I have to say, I was kind of shocked that this did not exist before. I thought maybe it was just high, but it just did not exist. But it's here now, and it'll start with high sugar foods like cereal, yogurt, and flavored milk in the 2025-2026 school year. Then, by the fall of 2027, added sugars overall will be capped at no more than 10% of total calories per week. And also, by that same time, they'll reduce sodium in breakfast by 10% and in lunches by 15%. Though notably, that still falls short of the 30% cut recommended by officials last year. And all of this, of course, is they will be still giving out Lunchables, which as we've talked about on the

show before, contain high amounts of sodium and lead. And then lastly, districts will have to buy more food grown or raised inside the United States, which will hopefully help support American farmers. And so some people happy about this change, others angry. For example, according to Fox News, some school nutrition directors have warned that stricter standards could force schools to scale back their menus, which would then inadvertently push students to less healthy food choices. Then you also hear all the old arguments against USDA standards that if kids don't like the food,

they'll either bring their own unhealthy meals from home or they just won't eat. But then on the other side, you have people saying millions of families don't have the time or the money to send their kids to school with homemade meals. So whatever is offered at school, it's what they get. And if it's healthier, that's all the better. And then I've got a don't be stupid, stupid story for you with this one, because this one starts with Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell. She has actually just been charged with felony burglary after being caught in a house on Monday. But according to Mitchell, the people and the police, they all have the wrong idea. Denying any wrongdoing in a Facebook post and saying that she was just checking on a family member with Alzheimer's and writing,

Like so many families, mine is dealing with the pain of watching a loved one decline due to Alzheimer's and associated paranoia. Over the weekend, I learned of medical information which caused me grave concern and prompted me to check on that family member. I entered a home I had come and gone from countless times in the past 20 years, where my son even once had his own room. Unfortunately, I startled this close relative, exacerbating paranoia, and was accused of stealing, which I absolutely deny. Which sounds like a horrifying mix-up, but there are a few problems with her story, such as the fact that she was allegedly caught at 4.45 a.m. in all black clothes and with a backpack full of stuff. And even worse, the charges against her claim that she initially had a totally different excuse for why she was in that home, or which ended up being her stepmother's, because instead of doing a welfare check on a family member with Alzheimer's, she instead

allegedly said she was trying to get some sentimental items of her father's, which included his ashes since he just passed away. And that because apparently shortly after he died, her stepmother just cut off contact with the entire family. And while getting arrested, Mitchell allegedly told her stepmother, I was just trying to get a couple of my dad's things because you wouldn't talk to me anymore. With her even then telling police, clearly I'm not good at this. I know I did something bad. And on top of that, one of the things that she had in her backpack was a laptop with her stepmother's name on it. While Mitchell claimed that she was just given that laptop, her stepmother denied that. But either way, Mitchell's colleagues in the state Senate, they're not happy with the situation. With fellow Democrat Senate Majority

Leader Erin Murphy saying, the allegations against Senator Mitchell are upsetting. The behavior alleged is far outside the character she has established in the Senate and in her distinguished career in the military. We believe in due process and Senator Mitchell has the right to a full defense of her case in court. But also adding in the coming days and weeks, Senator Mitchell must also have serious and difficult conversations with her colleagues, constituents, and family. Though with this, Republicans were far less open to just waiting for justice to play out. With the Senate minority leader there saying, I understand the difficult situation her family is facing. However, the actions taken by Senator Mitchell are disturbing.

The complaint, released by the Becker County attorney, lays out the case of a person who took extensive preparation to burglarize a family member's home. The behavior is unbecoming of a member of the legislature, and she needs to resign from the Senate immediately. And wouldn't you know it with all of this, as far as why the Democrats are like, hey, let's wait things out. Republicans are saying, kick her out. It just might have to do with how their state Senate is extremely close, split just 34 Democrats to 33 Republicans. And if the Democrats lose that seat, they lose their trifecta, right? They control the House, the Senate, and the governorship right now, all of which has made passing bills for them extremely easy. Also with this, I do need to point out that the state Senate and the U.S. Senate, they're different, right? In the U.S.

Senate, if there's a tie, the VP comes down, they break the vote. But in Minnesota, there's nothing like that. So if Mitchell were to resign or be forced out of office by her colleagues because she was found guilty, then there's a good chance that things would grind to a halt until November's election. So I guess all of that is to say, Senator Mitchell fucked up. It is really just a question of how much of a fuck up this is. It's just a question of if she screwed things up for herself or literally half of the people in her state. Also, I just have to end this on why do people just talk to the cops when they're found in situations where it looks like they did something bad? I'm an annoying level rule follower.

It's the fucking it's the most boring thing about me. It's my least favorite trait about myself. Even if I 100% know I have done nothing wrong, let alone if you were caught red-handed in a house you're not supposed to be in, I'm not talking to police. The moment that interaction starts, I forgot all English except, I need a lawyer, as well as, sorry, I need a lawyer. Because I am also one of those annoying people that never got out of the habit of saying sorry at the beginning of something, if it even slightly inconveniences someone else. But I just don't get it. But also, that is separate from the core of what this story is about. And then, you know, it's not a secret that one of the ways that I unwind, like most of you, is gaming. And now, I'm just about guilt-free when I do this, since I found

it rewarding. All thanks to the sponsor of today's show, Mistplay. Because Mistplay is a loyalty app for those of us that like to game. You know, whether you're looking for a little help covering your Amazon purchases, daily coffee, Fortnite battle pass, whatever. With Mistplay, you can earn rewards just for playing mobile games. They offer a huge catalog of games to discover from casual, puzzle, word, and card games to strategy and adventure and more. And basically, the more that you play, the more points you earn. Points that bring you closer to gift cards from your favorites like Amazon, Walmart, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. And basically, the more that you play, the more points you earn. Points that bring you closer to gift cards from your favorites like Amazon, Walmart, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. Like really, over $100 million in gift cards have already been redeemed

for playing games. You know, when I downloaded Mistplay, I started earning points when I found new games for myself to play, like Marble Master and Wordscapes. You know, they work my brain in different ways. So combine gaming time with earning time and download missedplay.com slash DeFranco or click the link in the description to download missed play for free. You'll get 200 bonus points for signing up today. Plus use my code DeFranco100 inside the app for an additional 100 free points, which helps towards redeeming your first gift card. And then we have a good news, bad news situation we need to talk about. And I'll start with the good just because the other stuff takes longer to explain. So the good news is that in recent decades, the overall risk of dying from cancer has declined.

And that's all thanks to treatments and diagnostic advancements and fewer people smoking. So awesome, good news. But the bad news is that cancer incidence for many common types is on the rise. Right this year, for example, the United States is expected to cross 2 million new cases according to the American Cancer Society. Cancer is especially increasing among younger people. And this has actually been the case for several years now, but a handful of reports from the beginning of this year have recently highlighted just how big of an issue it is. With it also prompting doctors to weigh in

on what we should do about this troubling trend. Because according to the British Medical Journal, global incidence of early onset cancer increased by 79% between 1990 and 2019, and deaths increased by 27%. With breast, tracheal, bronchus, and lung, stomach, and colorectal cancers having the highest mortality rates in 2019. Also, as far as like, what is early onset, or like, what ages are medical professionals pointing to when they say

younger? Well, as Yale Medicine explained, it can often mean something different based on the type of cancer, right? In breast cancer, early onset often means a diagnosis in someone younger than 45, whereas for colorectal cancer, that could be someone younger than 50. But generally speaking, Yale's program addressing this includes all patients diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 18 and 49. And cancer can actually manifest itself differently in younger people. For example, in breast cancer, which is among the types seeing big upticks in young patients, younger women often have more aggressive forms that require more aggressive treatments, and they're also more likely to have a genetic mutation than older women. This is especially notable because with breast cancer, early onset rates

have been increasing for a while, but that increase has gotten steeper in recent years. And because young patients haven't hit the age when mammograms and screenings are widely recommended, early onset diagnoses often come late, or when the cancer is at a more advanced stage. And this is a problem in other kinds of cancer as well, like colorectal, which of course is also on the rise in young people. And this is folks are generally recommended to seek routine screenings for that by the age of 45. And even that is a recently adjusted number. It was 50 until a few years ago. Then, you know, the increased cases that they've seen, it prompted officials to lower it. So if you're younger, you're probably not on the lookout for it. So it's easier to miss until you actually have symptoms.

And even then, most young people understandably just assume, oh, those symptoms, they're maybe tied to something else before they jump to cancer, especially a cancer that's often been advertised as something that happens in older folks. But now, colorectal cancers are the leading cause of cancer death in men under 50. And they're the second leading cause for women under 50 in the US. They're being diagnosed in young adults twice as often now as it was in the 90s. Now, at this point, you might be thinking, Phil, what the fuck? I'm an adult under 50. You're scaring the shit out of me. Just tell me why this is happening so I can, like, calm my heart rate down. Well, the thing there is that

it's just more bad news on that front because we really don't know why this is happening, at least not in any certain terms. With the chief scientific officer for the American Cancer Society telling CNN, there's something going on here. It's just different now than it used to be. This young adult trend is the thing

that has me scratching my head the most. And that, as doctors are also telling Time Magazine that it's unlikely there's just one cause behind this. Cancer is a complicated disease, so there could be a number of environmental and lifestyle and genetic explanations. Some risk factors, including eating a lot of processed food, not exercising enough, drinking too much alcohol. I mean, some studies have found that it could be tied to obesity. Researchers are also looking at how food and medication intake could impact the gut microbiome. A recent study also just linked it as potentially being tied to accelerated aging, right? Extra wear and tear

on your body, increasing your biological age. So right now, generally the best things you can do is just try to live a healthy lifestyle, eating well, not drinking or smoking heavily, also being aware of your family's history. You know, that way you know what to look out for. You can get ahead on testing and preventative measures. And that last part being especially important. If you have a family member who had cancer, that can really change the schedule for when you're supposed to get screened. But also, you know, all of this has caused a lot of medical professionals to have a major wake up call. For example, Rebecca Siegel, the senior scientific director of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, telling CNN that the progress made in lowering the death rate is hopeful. But as a nation, we've dropped the ball

on cancer prevention. And this is others have just emphasized the urgency here. Like you've got a senior vice president at the American Cancer Society telling the Wall Street Journal, we have to find out why. Otherwise, the progress we have made in the last 50 years may stall or reverse. And this is other doctors fear that if we do not get to the bottom of this soon, that we've only seen a little bit of this so far, that a whole generation is going to have to deal with these issues and possibly more. With this story, I want to stress this. It is important to know that even as rates are going up, only 12% of people with cancer are under 50. So really, I hope that if you get anything out of this story, it's to start thinking about your health. Or as Dr. Leanna S.

Wen wrote for the Washington Post, it's also essential that people seek help for health concerns no matter their age. People who consider themselves young and healthy often downplay certain symptoms that would raise red flags among older individuals. Health professionals, too, may not be thinking of cancer as a diagnostic possibility in younger patients. It's true that when patients present a problem, chances are there is a more benign explanation than cancer. But patients should ask what that explanation is. Does that provisional diagnosis fully explain your symptoms? Are there additional tests that should be done just in case? So with all that said, where I want to end this is on a positive note, because there are more advancements being made to help detect cancer more effectively. Like for example, in January,

researchers announced that they're developing a blood test that can identify 18 kinds of cancers by examining blood protein. And while further study, of course, needs to be done, they said earlier results were highly accurate. So, you know, if this test is proven to be effective on a larger scale, I mean, it could reshape screening guidelines and give people a fast and relatively affordable new tool that could be used during routine physicals. Plus, there could also be a blood test specifically for colorectal cancer on the horizon. With a clinical trial for March finding that a blood-based screening, it detected 83% of people with the disease. And so while obviously that wouldn't replace a colonoscopy, introducing a blood test as a starting screener, it could be

really beneficial. And the group behind that test is actually already filed for FDA approval. So there's a lot of promising steps and positive things happening in a very imperfect world. But yeah, I guess, what are your thoughts with this story other than, fuck you, Phil, you're making me scared? Because again, that is not the goal. That is just the side effect of taking your daily Philip DeFranco show pill. Results may vary. And then finally today we have common commentary. We talk about yesterday's show and what y'all had to say. Starting with Phil. Statistics was the only class I enjoyed. My husband currently doing stats homework. Fucking psychopath. And a lot of y'all very much agreed with the notion that I am a psychopath. Which fair,

several of the voices in my head agree. But I also do want to clarify something. I don't like all math. I am objectively horrible at geometry. And while I still got good grades in calculus, I fucking hated calculus. AP statistics, it just, it clicked for some reason. Though Kenji said, I once heard someone say the love for maths comes in two flavors. Either you're into calculus or you're a statistics person. It's rare to find people who love both, especially on a professional level. Oh my God, Ken, I think we're the same person.

Ken, confirm, hate calculus with a passion, but will happily do stats. Also, people pay me to generate and work with data, so that helps. Yeah, money has a way of doing that. We also had just some guys saying the non-compete ban is the best thing that's happened to the working class in a long time. Which I just want to add, one of my favorite things regarding the non-competes was when Jake Tapper was covering the non-competes on CNN and he had someone on, he just so happened to mention, he's like, hey, as someone that's in a non-compete, what does this mean? And I was like, is Jake Tapper negotiating with CNN live on air right now?

Tapper's just putting out feelers for post-election. Also with that, we had people sharing their own stories. Like Smallfen saying, this affects me directly. I was a software developer in the financial technology industry and lost my job due to COVID when the company I was working for laid off all contractors. The non-compete I signed prevented me from working in other fintech jobs and made it dramatically harder for me to get back into the industry while it was at its lowest. If you work in IT, having to change the subject matter you work on every time you change jobs is just a nightmare. But also adding, I'm fine signing a non-disclosure, but non-competes are evil.

But that is the end of today's show. And if this is the last time we see each other, just know I love your face.