PDS 4.28 DEAR JOE ROGAN, Ethan Klein Backlash, New York Post Fake News Controversy, Giuliani & More
00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Paddington 2 of internet news shows. This is the Philip DeFranco show. It is Wednesday, April 28th, 2021. Hit that like button. Definitely subscribe. A brand new subscriber at random for the month of April. At the end of the month, we'll be getting $5,000.
00:16 Also, friendly reminder, you only have five days left if you wanna get in on the exclusive limited shop DeFranco drop for the month of April. But with that said, let's just jump into it. And the first thing that we have to talk about today are these wild and ridiculous attacks on America's Dr. Joseph Rogan, MD. Y'all know Joe, I put DMT in my elk meat, Rogan.
00:35 Joe is in the news right now because he's facing backlash for comments that he made about vaccinations on an April 23rd episode of his podcast. Though it really didn't become the huge national news story that it has become today until yesterday when a clip started circulating on Twitter. Yeah, I think for the most part,
00:50 it's safe to get vaccinated. I do, I do. But if you're like 21 years old and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I go, no. Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person? Like, look, don't do anything stupid,
01:03 but you should take care of yourself. If you're a healthy person and Like, look, don't do anything stupid, but you should take care of yourself. You should, if you're a healthy person and you're exercising all the time and you're young and you're eating well, like, I don't think you need to worry about this. Tim and his guests later talking about people showing off that they got vaccinated, calling in virtue signaling. You know, a lot of it kind of played
01:18 into a common piece of misinformation regarding COVID-19, which is that it's no big deal for young people. And while yes, a young person might not be impacted the same way that it's gonna affect an 80 year old, right? We've seen that. There is still plenty of risk when it comes to getting it. There are young, healthy, athletic people who have dealt with long haul COVID.
01:33 There's also still a risk of hospitalization and death with a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association finding that just in the first five months of the pandemic, 4,535 Americans aged 25 to 44 died of COVID-19. But also I think one of the frustrating things for a lot of people with Rogan on this topic is the kind of the selfish nature of this argument.
01:50 Right, when you get vaccinated, yes, one of the main things is protecting you, but also to protect others and slow the spread to more vulnerable people. And it's kind of crazy that that didn't even come to mind for him because he even talked about his own kids getting COVID, but he used it as an example of it not really being that big of a deal.
02:06 It didn't hit him that hard, but apparently not seeing that his kids could then maybe infect other kids. All the kids in general could go home and infect vulnerable people. But you know, the really young kid argument is almost even a distraction to the main thing because he was primarily talking to people that were 21 years old.
02:20 I mean, he's talking about people of age already approved to get the vaccine in the United States. And so a lot of people had issue with Joe Rogan with the huge platform that he has telling young people not to get vaccinated. And so in addition to everyday people having the reactions that they did, you also saw people with platforms of their own,
02:34 like Ethan Klein writing, "'Healthy young people definitely should get the vaccine. "'That's how we stop the spread.' "'Not rocket science, guys. "'It's about returning to normal and saving lives. "'In India, they are literally burning bodies in the street "'while people like Joe Rogan "'enc encourage people not to vaccinate. Others saying the people who watch Joe Rogan's show are the people we desperately need to vaccinate in order
02:51 to speed up the end of the pandemic. Joe isn't just endangering their lives, he's endangering the rest of us too. And arguing, if you're honestly wondering whether or not you should get a vaccine, ask a licensed physician and heed their advice. It's that simple. Also had artists like Phineas making a similar point saying, I'm sure Joe Rogan knows more about UFC than your average immunologist does. And I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say, I would imagine he knows a little fucking less
03:12 about vaccines than your average immunologist. And actually speaking of real licensed physicians that I didn't have to Photoshop into a picture of a lab coat, I actually saw the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci responding to Rogan with him hearing that quote and saying, well, that's incorrect Savannah. And the reason why is that you're talking about yourself in a vacuum. Then you're worried about yourself getting infected and likelihood that you're not going to get any symptoms. But you can get infected and will get infected if you put yourself
03:39 at risk. And even if you don't have any symptoms, you are propagating the outbreak because it is likely that you, even if you have no symptoms, that you may inadvertently and innocently then infect someone else who might infect someone who really could have a problem with a severe outcome. And ultimately, as far as my opinion on this topic, I think like a lot of people, I think back to that Bill Burr clip when Joe Rogan was trying to egg him on about mask wearing. Walk down the street with a mask on. Let's not start this, Joe. Do you though? Let's not start this. Okay. Let's start it. I don't want to start this bullshit. I'm not going to sit here with no medical degree, listening to you with no medical degree, with an American flag behind you, smoking a cigar, acting like we know what's up better than
04:21 the CDC. Personally, I'm going to be more inclined to listen to a Dr. Anthony Fauci over his recommendations and what he's saying about COVID-19 over a guy that's essentially telling me to kettlebell COVID away. I will say, and yes, the bar is very low. I appreciate that Rogan isn't saying that the vaccine is poison. He said, yeah, I think it's generally healthy.
04:39 I appreciate that he's not doing the full Tucker Carlson and telling people to call Child Protective Services if he sees kids wearing masks when they're playing. But yeah, ultimately, I think Rogan has a very shitty opinion here that flies in the face of science. And that's kind of the end of the story. I know there are some people that are trying to de-platform him. I'm personally not pushing for that in any way. In fact, I would argue that I'm doing exactly what Joe Rogan is doing. I'm simply sharing my opinion on my platform, though my opinion also appears to be backed more by actual experts and doctors in the field
05:06 that is being commented on. Evidence-based science and research and not my daughters got sick and they didn't seem that like that big of a deal. And honestly, this is kind of a weird thing to even be commenting on because outside of, you know, stupid shit like this and other stuff I don't agree that Joe Rogan does, I'm actually kind of a fan.
05:21 But also I can't just not call out dumb shit, but hey, that's the story, my personal opinion and takeaway, and of course now I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? But from that, let's take a second to pay some bills and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, NordVPN.com slash Phil. I've been a Nord customer for years, and if you still haven't checked it out, you are missing out on the peace of mind one gets when securing your personal data and internet activity. With NordVPN, all of your internet data is protected behind a wall of next generation encryption and NordVPN servers are ultra fast,
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06:19 That is nordvpn.com slash phil and be sure to use code phil at checkout. Then, and this is still developing as we're recording news, we should definitely talk about Rudy Giuliani. And this, because as the New York Times reported, federal investigators have executed a search warrant on Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan apartment as part of an investigation
06:34 into Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine. But this is part of an investigation into whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws as President Trump's personal lawyer. And so with this, you have the Times reporting that Giuliani's electronic devices have been seized. The fact here is also noting that the execution of a warrant which must be approved by a judge also signals
06:48 that the investigation into Giuliani's role in Ukraine during the Trump administration is intensifying. Now, as far as what comes from this situation, we're gonna have to wait and see, you know, what was actually on these devices. Did anything get removed? I mean, it's a whole thing. But I would say if there was incriminating information
07:03 on those devices, I would be shocked if there was still a trail. Because for Giuliani, I mean, he's had to know that this is a long time coming. Or when the Trump administration was in power, you had officials blocking warrants against Giuliani. But obviously with Biden's administration, you have the Department of Justice
07:17 swiftly approving the move. But also, Captain Trowell by combat has proven that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but you know, we'll see. It'll be very interesting to see where this ends up and if we learn any interesting information. Then let's definitely talk about this really messy misinformation news that's out there right now.
07:32 And if you haven't seen, the New York Post is currently in hot water over a front page article that they published on Friday, which was titled, "'Come On In' Solo Kids at Border Welcomed with Copy of Veep's Book." With that article claiming that thousands of copies of Vice President Kamala Harris's children's book were being handed out to unaccompanied migrant kids
07:47 and welcome kids. In fact, the post even seemingly cited one example where children brought from the US-Mexico border to a new shelter in Long Beach, California were to be given the book, Superheroes Are Everywhere. With it also going on to say that the White House had, quote, no answers when asked if Harris was profiting off of these alleged welcome packages.
08:02 And so over the weekend, a number of notable Republicans began jumping on this story, including RNC Chair, Ronna McDaniel, and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who tweeted, "'Now they're forcing taxpayers "'to buy Kamala Harris's book "'to give to those illegal immigrants?' But as it turns out, this story was completely fake.
08:17 In fact, yesterday we saw a number of other media outlets debunking the story, including the Washington Post, which likened the article to a quote, "'bad game of telephone.'" And that's because according to Long Beach City officials including the Washington Post, which likened the article to a quote, "'Bad game of telephone.'" And that's because according to Long Beach city officials that the Washington Post spoke with, Harris's book is not being handed out in welcome kits.
08:31 Instead, what actually happened is that a single copy of the book was donated during a citywide donation drive. And as far as how that book ended up being singled out, reportedly a photographer for the Southern California News Group visited the Long Beach shelter and snapped a photo of Harris's book. That photo was then distributed by Reuters
08:46 and eventually run in the New York Post alongside its bullshit article, which as it turns out had no other attribution to back up its claim that the book was being given out in these welcome kits. With the Washington Post noting that it had reached out to the article's writer, Laura Italiano, but never got a response.
08:59 They also reached out to the White House, which confirmed that it was neither purchasing nor distributing Harris's book. Then we saw just several hours after the Washington Post published their fact check, the New York Post deleting its come on in story. But then just a couple of hours later,
09:11 the original article was made live again with an editor's note and a title now reading, "'Kamala isn't at the Southern border, but at least one migrant kid got Beep's book." And then a few hours after that, we saw Italiano announcing her resignation from the New York Post. And writing on Twitter,
09:24 the Kamala Harris story, an incorrect story I was ordered to write in which I failed to push back hard enough against, was my breaking point. But even with her claim there, you had a lot of people saying that fell short, with some responses like, "'So she drew the line after she fabricated a story.
09:38 "'It went viral and has yet to be retracted.'" Interesting how that seems to just keep happening while these pubs rake in clicks. Though we have seen others offering a counter argument with replies like, if you think Laura should have just refused to write it, consider somebody else would have, and they might've punished or fired her,
09:51 and we might never have known. If you've already convinced yourself you can function within the Murdoch ethos or lack thereof, you eventually have two choices, keep selling your soul and doing the wrong thing or stop. I always think we should encourage and reward people who want to stop. Right, in that tweet, a reference to Rupert Murdoch, who owns the New York Post, as well as a number of other
10:08 conservative news outlets. Actually, I mean, that even includes Fox News, who we talked about earlier this week, promoting and pushing this misinformation about President Biden banning red meat. So definitely not new, definitely not a good look, very viral over the past week. But, you know, with this story with the New York Post and Italiano, what are your thoughts here? Do you think this is Italiano just trying to save face here or no, do you think she is telling the truth? She is trying to do the right thing?
10:31 Where do you land in that camp of she's doing the right thing now, but she should have never done the article? Any and all thoughts, I'd love to know. And then let's talk about President Biden officially unveiling the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan this morning. So this is part of Biden's three tiered
10:45 Build Back Better economic initiative, which also includes the stimulus bill passed back in March, as well as the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package. And if signed into law as is, which it will not be, among other things, the new plan would provide $200 billion for free universal preschool for all three and four year olds, reduce the cost of childcare for low and middle income families,
11:05 allocate $109 billion for two years of free community college, including for non-citizen immigrants brought to the United States as children, aka dreamers, get $1,400 in additional assistance to low income students through Pell grants, recruit more teachers and strengthening the education workforce, specifically in communities of color,
11:20 create a comprehensive nationwide family and medical leave program, provide more nutrition assistance for children, including expanding school meals programs and summer meals programs when school is out. And finally, extend a number of tax credits aimed at helping lower and middle income families that were increased under the last stimulus package.
11:36 Right now, including higher Affordable Care Act premiums, tax credits, and the child tax credit aimed at fighting child poverty. Now notably, according to the official fact sheet detailing the plan, those tax cuts will be 800 billion of the final price tag, but that still leaves $1 trillion in new spending. And as far as how that will be financed,
11:51 Biden is proposing a series of tax reforms that the fact sheet says will raise about $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. This including increasing the marginal income tax for the top 1% of American earners from 37% to 39.6%, which would actually just restore the top bracket to what it was before Trump's 2017 tax law. He has also proposed raising the capital gains
12:10 and dividend tax rates for those who earn more than $1 million a year, beefing up IRS enforcement and closing other tax loopholes that benefit wealthy Americans and large corporations, including a provision in the tax code that reduces capital gains on some inherited assets like vacation homes. So a very big, a very ambitious plan,
12:26 and one that will almost certainly hit roadblocks in Congress. Well, yes, if you look on paper, you think that the Democrats could try to approve both this plan and the infrastructure proposal as well without any Republicans. But I mean, that very much seems like an uphill battle. Right, as we've talked about before,
12:39 several centrist Democrats have called for the infrastructure bill to be bipartisan and will likely do the same for the American Families Plan. Biden, for his part, has said that he will negotiate with Republicans to reach a compromise, but it isn't clear what that could look like. I mean, if you look at the infrastructure plan, for example, the Republican counter proposal was a mere fraction
12:55 of Biden's proposal at $568 billion. We've already seen the Republicans have largely signaled that they are much less interested in investing more money in education, childcare, and paid leave, and much more interested in spending on America's crumbling childcare, and paid leave, and much more interested in spending on America's crumbling freeways and bridges. So as a result, that's why you have some congressional aides saying that lawmakers are probably months away
13:11 from even taking up the American Families Plan. But still, it just makes sense to cover it. It was announced, we need to know what is at play here, and then we watch it just kind of all go to shit, as always, in Congress. I mean, that's kind of what we do. So yeah, on that happy note, we're just gonna have to wait
13:26 and see what happens from here. And ultimately with this story, and honestly anything else that stood out to you today, I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below, because this brings us to the end of today's show. As always, thank you for watching, liking, subscribing, all the good stuff.
13:38 Also remember you only have five days left to grab what you want while you can at shopdefranco.com. Be a part of our biggest drop today before it's too late. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, we covered right here, more news, a podcast. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in.
13:52 I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.
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