The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.15 Harrison Butker’s Weirdo Sexist Speech Exposed A Lot, Taylor Swift, Robert Fico, & Todays News

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

Harrison may be the smallest man who ever lived… Go to http://zbiotics.com/DEFRANCO and use code DEFRANCO at checkout to get up to 15% off your first order. Head to https://tryfum.com/defranco and use code DEFRANCO  to get a free gift with your Journey Pack!  today. Use code “PHIL” for $20 OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL  Daily Dip newsletter subscribers can win up to $1,000 in SeatGeek credit so make sure you’re subscribed: https://www.dailydip.co/ ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - Harrison Butker Says Women Belong in the Home at Commencement Speech 05:25 - Manhunt Underway in France After Prisoner Makes Daring Escape During Transport 08:46 - Sponsored by ZBiotics 10:00 - Karen Read “Conspiracy” Trial Consumes Boston 14:14 - U.S. Drug Overdoses Decrease… By Just A Little 17:01 - Slovakia’s Prime Minister Hospitalized After Attack 19:17 - Ukraine Unable to Disrupt Russian Offensive Because of U.S. Weapons Rule 22:13 - Sponsored by Fum 23:14 - Fossil Fuel Interests Watering Down Global Plastic Pollution Treaty  30:25 - Comment Commentary ——————————   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, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Plastic Pollution: Jared Paolino  ———————————— #DeFranco #HarrisonButker #TaylorSwift ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. You're watching the Wednesday Evening Thursday Morning Philip DeFranco Show, and we got a lot of news to talk about today. We've got the wild Harrison Butker-Taylor Swift homemaker scandal. There's a massive manhunt underway for a drug dealer known as The Fly after a deadly escape. We break down the divisive Karen Reid murder trial, as well as the impending fallout from the assassination attempt of Slovakia's prime minister. And then there's even more we gotta break down today, so just buckle up, hit that like button to train YouTube, and let's jump into it. Starting with Harrison Butker is in the news today. And for a lot of people, you're like, Harrison who? Though for me and many others, we know him as the annoyingly accurate kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. But over the last 24 hours, a lot more people have become familiar with Butker because of his recent

commencement speech at Benedictine College. When I first saw the amount of backlash, I was like, what did this guy say? And this was the first viral clip that I saw. Part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture. And when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Other countries do not have nearly the same absentee father rates as we find here in the U.S., and a correlation could be made in their drastically lower violence rates as well. Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men.

Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don't necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better. I saw that and I was like, okay, there's, you know, there's nothing crazy about that. I don't necessarily agree with doing something that you're talented in that you don't enjoy, especially when it's coming from a guy that gets to kick a football for a living you know there's an obvious disconnect between me and him when it comes to the religious stuff but you know i don't think it's a bad thing to say that men need to be there for their families they need to learn how to endure and deal through struggles not to the point where you're like suffering in silence but the main point being like i looked at this clip and i saw nothing explosive but then i looked around and i

found more from this about 20 minute speech. And understandably, when he addressed the women in the audience, that has gotten the most attention because he said. I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers

in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all, homemaker. While the audience there at this Catholic school, they erupted in applause, the reactions online have been very different, especially because he didn't stop there. He also railed against what he referred to as dangerous gender ideologies. He slammed degenerate cultural values in media, and he also snuck in a diss at Pride Month when

discussing the pride that students felt for their school when it was facing public scrutiny. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride. He also took some time talking about COVID-19, slamming leaders, including Joe Biden. Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally. Bucker also spent a decent chunk of time talking about church leadership, basically suggesting that a lot of them are unexcusably helpless. And during this bit, Harrison, who really was coming off as the smallest man who ever lived, had the bright idea to quote Taylor Swift. This undue familiarity will

prove to be problematic every time because as my teammate's girlfriend says, familiarity breeds contempt. Because you know, if there are two things that Taylor Swift probably loves, it's being reduced to someone's girlfriend and speeches that take women's rights back a century. Now for their part, the Chiefs have not yet responded to the speech. I don't fully expect them to. With how fast things happen on the internet, I'm sure they're like, this is gonna pass soon. But the internet, for sure, has been filled with people saying things like, Thank you, person wearing seven pounds of hair gel who plays the only position on the football field

where you legally can't get touched for this rousing talk on masculinity. And telling women at their college graduation that they've been lied to and they'll be more fulfilled as homemakers is something. And finally, can anyone direct me to his thoughts on the Catholic Church spending billions to protect child molesting priests? And again, while there's a lot of conversation wondering, you know, are the chiefs or the NFL or or any of his teammates going to say something about this? If I were to guess, I think largely the answer would be no. I imagine even people on his team that do not agree with him are going to be like, hey, you know, everyone's got their own opinions and feelings, which is also, I think,

the closest thing that we're going to publicly see is some sort of rebuttal, even though it's very disconnected from it, is how you have people comparing a speech from Patrick Mahomes that he just recently gave. He's QB1 for the Chiefs. He's a religious man himself. And he also recently gave a speech, but it was about uplifting and empowering women in sports. Tonight, I'd like to raise a glass to a new era in sports. An era when the women's game is finally getting the attention it deserves. Okay, ultimately, that's the situation as it stands right now. And while, of course, I want to know your thoughts on anything that stood out to you on today's show, especially with this one. I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below.

And then, in wild international news, an unprecedented manhunt is underway in France right now. And all of it has to do with Mohamed Amra. He's this French criminal known as Le Mouche, or The Fly, who escaped from custody in a deadly ambush that took place yesterday morning. An ambush that was actually captured on security cam footage, as well as videos filmed by bystanders and posted online.

And so here's what we know happened. At around 11 a.m. yesterday, a black Peugeot rammed into Amra's prisoner transport vehicle as it emerged from a toll booth on a major highway about 85 miles northwest of Paris. We then hooded men with automatic weapons coming out of the vehicle and circling the van and raining bullets on it for more than two minutes. And as these bullets were flying, terrified riders in a pass and bus threw themselves to the ground. The one passenger capturing an image of one of the gunmen out of the window. And when the bullets finally stopped, two prison guards were dead and three more were wounded. And hitting on how unprecedented this whole situation is, they were the first prison guards to be killed in the line of duty in 32 years. One was a 52-year-old father of twins and the other was a 34-year-old who's expecting a child with his wife.

But as far as the fly, he escaped. And in the footage, you can actually see him being helped out of the vehicle by the attackers. We then set fire to the black Peugeot and flee to another vehicle waiting nearby. And according to French officials, that white car, as well as another car, were found burned in separate locations about a dozen miles from the toll booth. Now, with all this, on X, French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack a shock to us all, adding that the nation stands alongside the families, the injured, and their colleagues. And going on to say that everything's being done

to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French people. And actually with that, over 450 officers were reportedly mobilized in this unprecedented search of the area where the attack happened. But that obviously hasn't yielded results so far. And so the authorities seem to be expanding their search area. Today, asking Interpol to issue a red notice for Amra,

which is a request made by law enforcement in one country asking their foreign counterparts to locate and arrest the suspect. Also, with how wild all this is, you're probably wondering, okay, who the hell is this guy? Is he the fucking French El Chapo? Like, why is he getting this treatment?

And that's had to be one of the most confusing things about all this, because he's not, or at least not that we know of. Reportedly, he's 30 years old. He was born in France. And it's true that he's reportedly very well known by the police, having been convicted 13 times since he was 15 years old for offenses, including extortion and assault, as well as several thefts. He's also

under investigation in connection with a kidnapping and a homicide case in one city and an attempted homicide and extortion case in another city. You know, all that said, in like the grand scheme of things, because there are levels to this, this guy apparently isn't that big of a deal. Even the interior minister has said that the riskiness of this attack and the amount of preparation that appeared to have gone into planning it, they were surprised. And that's because despite his lengthy criminal record, Amra is not, quote, the biggest criminal that we have in our prisons. And going on to say that the violence, the massacre, the disproportionate means used to free this person did not match what authorities knew about Amra. But presumably,

there's something about this guy that made this high-risk escape operation worth it. And so for now, we kind of just have to wonder why. Though, with that, like most things, the whole story ties into broader issues as well. Amra reportedly has ties to a gang in the southern French city of Marseille, which notably has been absolutely plagued by drug-related gang violence.

And yesterday, just before his escape, a French Senate committee released its conclusion that the country has been, quote, overwhelmed by drug trafficking. And in addition to all this, Amra's escape is shedding light on working conditions in French prisons, with French prison guards actually now on strike

over what they have described as a worsening climate of violence at their jobs. But the key point there being that French prisons are now holding around 77,000 inmates when there's only really room for about 60,000 of them. With that said, there's a lot of different angles, a lot of different things happening all at once, and we're gonna have to wait to see what happens here. And then I think

it's safe to say that nobody wants to feel not so great after having a few drinks, like in general, but also especially when you have kids. You know, with spring here and summer around the corner, wouldn't it be nice to make the most out of background barbecues, graduations, vacations, weddings, birthdays, reunions, Friday nights, whatever, all without feeling not great the next day. And well, the good thing is I actually have you covered thanks to the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Z-Biotics. Because y'all, Z-Biotics pre-alcohol probiotic is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Because when you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. And that

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to get 15% off your first order. That's zbiotics.com slash DeFranco and use code DeFranco at checkout for 15% off. And thanks Zbiotics for sponsoring the PDS. And then, is there a sweeping conspiracy by law enforcement to cover up the truth about the murder of a Boston cop? Or is that just the story his girlfriend's telling because she doesn't want to go to jail for hitting him with her car? That is what's being debated right now in this ongoing murder trial

of Boston police officer John O'Keefe that has absolutely transfixed the city for more than two years now. And to be clear at the top, there are a ton of unknowns and disputed facts about this case. But what we do know is that O'Keefe was pronounced dead after his girlfriend, Karen Reed, found him with severe head injuries and hypothermia outside the home of a colleague at 6 a.m. in January of 2022.

And according to Reed, she had been searching for him since she woke up on his couch at 4 a.m. and discovered that he hadn't come home from a night out. Reportedly, both Reed and O'Keefe had gone out drinking in the town of Canton, Massachusetts that night with a group of friends. That group, including O'Keefe's co-worker on the force, Brian Albert, who invited people to his nearby home for late night drinks. So just after midnight, Reed drove to Albert's house and O'Keefe got out of the car. But that is when we start hearing different stories.

Prosecutors claim that O'Keefe and Reed, they had been fighting that night and then she put her SUV in reverse, accelerated, intentionally hit him, and then left. And they say they have several pieces of evidence to back that up. First, the prosecution said in court documents that O'Keefe's DNA was recovered from a broken taillight on Reed's car

and that shards of taillight had been found on his clothes. They also argued the text and voicemails between the two in the weeks and even hours before his death, including angry voice messages the night of, showed a strained relationship. Also noting that witnesses had said that O'Keefe had told her he wanted to break up and that she had accused him of cheating. Beyond that, prosecutors further alleged that Reed had told friends that she drank so much that night that she didn't remember driving to Albert's house. But arguably the most damning evidence that they have is the fact that multiple emergency workers who responded to the scene have testified that they heard Reed repeatedly say, I hit him. With one woman who helped search for O'Keefe saying that Reed had mentioned she had a crack in her

taillight and even wondered out loud if she had hit him. But Reed, who was arrested three days later and charged with multiple crimes, she tells a different story. She's pleaded not guilty and denies ever harming O'Keefe. Instead, her lawyers have argued that he entered Albert's home and while inside, he was fatally beaten and then dumped outside. Claiming that Reed's actually being framed by Albert,

his family, and both state and local police in a conspiracy to cover up the truth and protect the real murderer. And that story has been latched onto by a ton of people who believe Reed is innocent and have rallied to her support starting the Free Karen Reed movement. With both Reed's lawyers and her supporters arguing that there are a number of inconsistencies here. Specifically, they say that O'Keefe's injuries

are not consistent with being hit by a car, with him pointing to wounds on his arm that resemble bite marks, indicating that he was attacked by Albert's German Shepherd. There, you have prosecutors reporting that there was no dog DNA found on his body. And also, the medical examiner who conducted O'Keefe's autopsy didn't find, quote, any obvious signs of an altercation or a fight. But also beyond that, Reed's lawyers and supporters have claimed that there are issues with the whole taillight situation, noting that surveillance footage of O'Keefe's house shows her car coming very close to his parked car and asserting that she had in fact hit it, shattering her light. Additionally, the defense has gotten some witnesses to say they didn't personally hear Reed say she hit O'Keefe

and that they didn't see pieces of broken taillight at the scene, with some questioning why the shards weren't found in an initial search but turned up hours later after heavy snowfall. And Reed herself has also disputed the claims that she said she hit O'Keefe, insisting that in her shock state she asked, did I hit him? A question, not a confession. But also, according to the free Karen Reed movement, the most suspicious part of all this is that the authorities recovered the cell phone of a woman who was in Albert's home that night and helped Reed look for O'Keefe the next day. With that phone showing the woman had searched how long to die in cold on Google at around 2.30 a.m. a few hours before the body was found.

But there you saw prosecutors heading back, arguing that the search had actually been typed after O'Keefe was discovered, but it was put into a tab that had been left open since 2.30, hence the timestamp. In fact, they say that Reed herself had requested that the woman make the search after finding O'Keefe unresponsive.

But also, regardless of who the jury ultimately sides with, I mean, this whole trial has swirled up a ton of noise. With Reed's devoted squad of supporters a woman make the search after finding O'Keeffe unresponsive. But also, regardless of who the jury ultimately sides with, I mean, this whole trial has swirled up a ton of noise. With Reed's devoted squad of supporters launching protests, demanding that she be freed, raising money for her cause, with sometimes their actions being described as a bit too loud, resulting in a judge ordering demonstrators to stay 200 feet away from the courthouse and banning anyone from the trial wearing clothing with pro-Reed slogans. Meanwhile, you also have more fuel being thrown on the fire

by a popular but controversial Boston blogger known as Turtle Boy, who notably has written tons of articles promoting conspiracies and also has sold a bunch of pro-reed merch, with him actually getting in so deep that he was arrested in October on charges of witness intimidation.

Hell, shit has gotten so out of hand that you even had the district attorney leading the case, taking the extremely rare step of issuing a video refuting and contradicting some of the conspiracies, saying that the people promoting them had harassed witnesses. But for now, our eyes are just kind of glued on this ongoing trial and seeing if we get any new information, which on that note, all this is developing in real time. So this isn't going to be the last time we talk about it. And then in big

U.S. drug news, we have sort of a good news, bad news situation going on. On one hand, preliminary data from the CDC is showing that U.S. drug overdose deaths decreased last year for the first time in five years. But on the other hand, that still meant that about 107,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2023. So about 3,500 fewer deaths than in 2022. That's about a 3% drop. And a key thing is that's after overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years. From 2019 to 2020, they spiked 30%. And then from 2020 to 2021, they went up another 15%. So when you think of it that way, overdose deaths in 2023 were still almost twice as high as they were five years ago. Though also another key takeaway is that it does vary from state to state. In some Western states

like Washington and Oregon, overdose deaths increased by upwards of 27%. But in other states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Indiana, and Maine, overdose deaths dropped by at least 15%. With all that, efforts to deal with this is a nationwide issue that's relatively new. For example, it's only been two years since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a coordinated national strategy to prevent overdoses. So there's hope that this is actually a sign

that that strategy and other initiatives are really starting to reverse that trend. You know, with that news, we see people like Dr. Catherine Keyes, a professor at Columbia University, telling CNN, it is a hopeful trend in some ways, but then also adding, it is certainly not a sign

that we need to take the foot off the gas of overdose prevention. You know, with all that, fentanyl is a hopeful trend in some ways, but then also adding, it is certainly not a sign that we need to take the foot off the gas of overdose prevention. And with all that, fentanyl is a big focus here. That's because while your common sense may tell you, yeah, synthetic opioids, bad times. The specifics may be worse than you think, right? Because synthetic opioids, including fentanyl,

were involved in more than two thirds of overdose deaths in 2023. And this is, we also know that more than 115 million pills containing illicit fentanyl were seized by law enforcement in 2023 2023 compared to just 71 million in 2022 and less than 50,000 in 2017. In fact, in 2015, before the rise of fentanyl and methamphetamine use, there were approximately half as many overdose deaths in the US. And so all of that is bringing us back to the question of how do we deal with this problem?

States like California and Oregon, for example, where deaths have gone up, they've been accused of reviving the war on drugs to combat overdoses. With Oregon, for example, recently recriminalizing even small amounts of illicit drugs. Also at the national level, you have Republicans blaming the fentanyl crisis on Biden and what they perceive as his failure to control the border. And also, hitting on that point, the DEA does say that illicit drug supply is primarily controlled by Mexican cartels who ship drugs into the states. However, it's also argued that we lack evidence to suggest that tougher drug laws, heightened border security, or increased drug seizures actually have an impact on the availability of dangerous drugs in the country. And all of this is in the meantime, you have many experts pointing to the fact that only one fifth of the estimated

2.5 million people with opioid use disorders in the country are in treatment. With them attributing the low number of Americans in treatment to systemic barriers, including a focus on abstinence rather than harm reduction, as well as things like insurance company policies and laws that are not based on science or are outdated compared to other countries. Also, to that point, U.S. overdose deaths remain higher than in other high-income countries. It's not a unique American problem, but it is an exceptional American problem, which at the very least has to make us think that it doesn't have to be this way. And then we've got absolutely insane news coming out of Slovakia right now. In a country where political violence insane news coming out of Slovakia right now.

In a country where political violence is almost unheard of, there was an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fica. Although notably, I say attempt right now with a bit of an asterisk because he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with life-threatening wounds. And as of recording this,

despite three and a half hours of surgery, the defense minister says that his condition continues to be serious and that, quote, we do not have good news at the moment and we put our hope in the hands of the medical specialists at the hospital. And so as far as what we know is that the attack happened in the central town of Handlova after Fica left a government meeting, with the 59-year-old prime minister then going out to greet supporters and

shake hands, where he was promptly shot in the stomach by a 71-year-old man, according to local media. The government has now clarified that there were five shots before the suspect was tackled. His office also confirmed that he sustained multiple gunshot wounds and that the next few hours will decide whether he makes it or not. And while security and police have the attacker in custody, they're being tight-lipped right now. Though what we do know is that the suspect apparently legally owned a firearm, according to his son, who told local media, I have absolutely no idea what my father intended, what he planned, what happened. Just as I was recording, officials came out and clarified that this was definitely a politically motivated attack, although they left it at that. But it

could be almost anything, as Vitsa is a divisive figure, both domestically and internationally. He's very pro-Russian. He's promised to veto any potential Ukrainian NATO membership. But at the same time, he's angered his base by promising to provide Ukraine with more arms. So we really just don't know right now, though very notably, this is one of the few things that has put Biden and Putin, at least publicly, on the same page. With Biden saying that he was alarmed to hear reports of the attack on the prime minister and adding, we condemn this horrific act of violence. Our embassy is in close touch with the government of Slovakia and ready to assist. And Putin saying there can be no justification for this monstrous crime. I know Robert Fitsa as a courageous and strong minded man. I very much hope that these

qualities will help him survive this difficult situation. Please convey to him words of the most sincere support as well as wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. And over in Slovakia, even opponents of Fica showed their support with the outgoing president saying in a conference, I am shocked. We are all shocked by the terrible and vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fica. We may not fully comprehend yet the seriousness of what happened today. The shooting of the prime minister is first and foremost an attack on a human being, but it's also an attack on democracy. Violence is absolutely unacceptable.

For now, all we can do is wait to see what happens to the prime minister and then watch the fallout from there. And then, in big international news, things are kind of fucked for Ukraine right now. Let's just call it that. And with that, Ukraine's now voicing its frustration with a U.S. policy that's preventing it from using weapons against targets in Russia

as Putin's forces continue their new offensive near Kharkiv. That attack was launched last week, and so far, Russian troops have managed to destroy key border towns and take up positions there. And according to people on the ground, the attack was absolutely vicious, with the local chief patrol officer saying, within 24 hours, there were probably several hundred hits by artillery, mines, and dozens dozens of cluster bombs but i'm posting a video where heavy fighting could be heard which is also why ukraine evacuated over 7 500 people from the nearby villages to harki meanwhile nearby ukrainian troops have been moving back to stronger positions near harki which has been a city that

russia has really wanted to take since the war started as it sits just across the border the one thing that's unclear is whether this is a serious attempt to take kharkiv or an attempt to stretch Ukrainian forces thin, right, in hopes that it could make more serious gains on other fronts. So there's also another thought that this is actually just an attempt to build a buffer region between Ukraine and Russia in order to make it harder for Ukraine to launch drone strikes on oil facilities in Russia. And evidence of this can be seen by the fact that they're blowing up bridges, which would make both the counter-attack and pushing deeper into Ukraine harder. But either strategy, it might work, as Ukraine is already struggling to bolster their troops over fears of heavily increasing the draft.

Whereas Russia, I mean, they've just openly drafted more troops. And it's now at a point where there are over 500,000 Russian troops attacking Ukraine. And, much to Ukraine's frustration, Russia was able to amass 30,000 troops for the latest offensive just across the border. Also, when I say frustration,

it's because Ukraine actually has the ability to strike those troops. It's just that the United States does not allow American weapons to be used within Russia. Notably, the UK has recently lifted a similar restriction. Right, so Ukrainian forces have essentially just had to sit there and watch Russian troops build up in the open, which is almost the complete opposite to how the war within Ukraine's run. And while there, I'm not going to get into too much detail,

because I actually have a pretty big piece on this tomorrow, it's important to note that this is an issue that's not going away either. Right, America just approved another large aid package for Ukraine, and those weapons will be barred from being used within Russia. And also speaking of that package, there's some frustration over its timeline. With President Zelensky saying in an evening address to the nation this week, that the time gap between the announcement of packages and the actual appearance of weapons on the front line is too large. However, we saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushing back on that while visiting Kyiv this week, claiming instead that some of the supplies were already

arriving in Ukraine. Though I will say that is not why Blinken pushing back on that while visiting Kyiv this week, claiming instead that some of the supplies were already arriving in Ukraine. Though I will say that is not why Blinken's visit has been grabbing headlines. Instead, it was that this motherfucker showed up with his guitar and was like, anyone want to hear Rockin' in the Free World? And that's him playing it in some bar in Kyiv, which many felt was a bit out of touch. Also, I'm one of those many. I mean, look at the situation. They're like, please, Antony, we just want to be able to fight this war without our hands tied behind our backs.

And he's like, best I can do is free bird. This isn't some college party, Antony, where you're trying to get laid. Ukraine's already getting fucked. This is happening at a time where President Zelensky has actually canceled all foreign diplomatic trips in order to show how serious the country is taking all this. But in the meantime, there is one thing that is very clear. There will continue to be heavy fighting and a huge loss of life, which is also why tomorrow I'm going to talk about how this war is fundamentally challenging military doctrine and how modern wars are fought. So we'll definitely, I'd love to know your thoughts here. Be sure to come back tomorrow for that. And then it's hard giving up things that we enjoy and it sucks. But if you tweak your brain a bit, it's not about

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And perhaps even more importantly, we're talking about the countries and companies that are standing in the way of a solution. Also, spoiler, the United States is absolutely one of them. Starting off with this, I don't know if I need to tell you why plastic is a problem. I could talk about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or tell you the crazy statistics about how the world's plastic could bury Manhattan two miles deep or cover the entire surface of the planet. But the main thing to keep in mind is this. 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year, with some of it spilling into waterways or the ocean, ultimately damaging ecosystems and harming wildlife. Some of it also breaking down into tiny microplastics or nanoplastics that find their way into the human body and affect our health. And on top of all that, it's responsible for 3.4% of global greenhouse

gas emissions. So part of the good news with that is that there is actually a global effort to deal with this problem. In 2022, the UN adopted a historic resolution to develop a legally binding treaty to end global plastic pollution. And so now for the past two years,

an intergovernmental negotiating committee has been meeting with the goal being to draft a treaty text that everyone can agree to by the end of 2024, which truthfully is not an easy task. So far, there've been talks in Uruguay, France, Kenya, last month in Ottawa, Canada. In the final round, a discussion is scheduled

to take place in South Korea in November. So basically we're 80% of the way through this thing and well, things are not going so well. And that is because, surprise, surprise, efforts to limit plastic pollution might just mean that some companies make a little less money. And in large part there, we're talking about fossil fuel companies,

right, because most plastics are actually made from fossil fuels. And as ineffective as action on climate change may be so far, efforts to deal with that problem have, of course, taken aim at oil and gas production. And so to make up for those potential losses, fossil fuel companies are going all in on plastic, with increased plastic production being a major part of the industry's plans for the future. In fact, according to the International Energy Agency, for example, plastic is projected to account for nearly half of growth in oil and gas mining before the middle of the century, with estimates from the likes of oil companies even higher. BP, for example, predicting that plastics will represent 95% of net growth in oil demand from 2020 to 2040.

So with all this, the fossil fuel industry, as well as countries whose economies rely significantly on fossil fuel production like Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, they've been doing their damn best to steer negotiations into a certain direction, with them specifically wanting to focus on things like recycling and pollution-limiting rules, rather than on eliminating plastics altogether, partly to allow production to continue on current scales. Though notably with that, American negotiators have also been unwilling to push for aggressive measures to curb production. With Douglas Macaulay, a professor of environmental science who attended the talks in Ottawa, telling NPR, it's not that the U.S. is actively opposing some of these policies that can make a difference.

It's that they are showing no action whatsoever, no ambition whatsoever for adopting any of these policies. And basically, it leaves it open for the fossil fuel lobby to argue that so-called circular plastics and waste management can solve the problem without limiting production. And that whole idea is pretty well encapsulated in this ridiculous ad from American Beverage, an industry association whose members include the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Our bottles might still look the same. But they can be remade in a whole new way. Thanks to you, we're getting bottles back. And we've developed a way to make new ones from 100% recycled plastic. See how our bottles are made?

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? See how our bottles are made. you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. And that ad notably came out just a few days before negotiations resumed in Ottawa. Despite those actors' eager smiles, what they're saying is, I mean, it's bullshit. In fact, just a day after that ad aired, a study came out proving it, with a massive team of researchers finding that Coca-Cola and Pepsi-branded products were far and away the most common plastic products polluted worldwide. With the authors of the study even telling the Washington Post that their findings are clear evidence that these companies' recycling initiatives are, quote, obviously not working, and also saying that we know what does work, and that's making and using

less plastic. And to be clear, recycling, circularity, those are all good things, and they may have a place in the future. We're just nowhere near having the capability to keep up with the scale of plastic production today. In fact, a 2022 report found only 9% of all plastics ever produced have been recycled, and the United States having one of the lowest recycling rates of any country. But that hasn't stopped the industry from pushing this narrative. With, for example, Benny Mermans, who heads the industry group called the World Plastics Council, with him saying in a statement in the lead-up to the latest round of talks in Canada, our members are investing billions of dollars in infrastructure to scale up the supply of circular plastics so that used plastics are prevented from entering the environment as waste,

landfill, or via incineration, and instead become new plastics. And again, while those investments may be happening, they've yet shown any sign of addressing the problem in a meaningful way. But these groups still have a lot of influence at these negotiations. With an analysis from the Center for International Environmental Law revealing that the 196 lobbyists registered for the talks in Ottawa, they represent a 37% increase from the 143 lobbyists registered at the last round of talks in Nairobi. And notably, they say that estimate is likely conservative, as they only included people who disclosed their ties to fossil fuel or chemical industry interests. But even with that, the fossil fuel and chemical industry, they registered more representatives than the smallest 87 country delegations combined, and more than the combined

180 representatives of the European Union delegation. And on top of that, they outnumbered the 28 representatives of the Indigenous People Caucus and 73 representatives of the Pacific Small Island Developing States, which, I mean, those last two groups, they are especially affected by plastic pollution. And finally, they also outnumbered the 58 independent scientists from the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastic Treaty by more than three to one. With all that said, this is about more than just having more people there. With Rachel Medveny, an environmental health campaigner who works for the center that did the analysis, explaining,

the presence of actors in the room who are responsible for generating this crisis creates power imbalances that obstruct progress. And to that point, Bethany Carney Elmroth, a member of the Scientist Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, explained how actors with conflicts of interest in the oil and fossil fuel industries delayed or blocked policy action for decades. And those same tactics are now being deployed in the defense of plastics, including producing misleading studies and false narratives, as well as undermining the credibility of academic science and individual scientists. And this, as she says, the independent scientific evidence is very clear. We are facing a triple planetary crisis with plastics as a central cause and current production levels of plastics are not sustainable. And just to add to all that, she also reported the most

recent round of talks in Ottawa that she and other scientists were being harassed and intimidated by lobbyists, with one even yelling in her face at a meeting. And that, it brings us to the next big problem with these talks, which is access. Because industry lobbyists, they don't only outnumber most other groups, they also reportedly get privileged access to member state-only sessions. And this is the communities most affected by plastic pollution didn't have the same access to these meetings. With one delegate for the Indigenous Peoples Caucus at the talks noting that even when they were allowed into meetings, they were given extremely limited time to speak. And so the end result of all this is that we're moving closer and closer to a treaty that'll have no real teeth to it. And we saw after the talks in Ottawa,

negotiators agreed to keep working on the treaty in the coming months. But they failed to establish a formal process to review how much virgin plastic is produced or to determine how much might be considered unsustainable. And to that point, only 28 countries have pledged to back caps on plastic production. And notably, the U.S. wasn't one of them. With the Center for International Environmental Law reporting that most countries accepted a compromise at the last minute that played into the hand of petro-states and industry influences. Which is Carol Muffet, the president of the center, rights, and lives of its own people, the world listens. And that's absolutely something to think about. With everything that I've discussed here, I want to turn the tables and ask you, what are you thinking here?

And then, finally today, we have a congratulations to say and comment commenter. As far as congratulations, I got to say congrats and happy birthday to Scott H. being the latest winner of our weekly $500 giveaway towards any tickets on SeatGeek. Scott's saying he's heading to the When We Were Young Fest in Vegas with his winnings. And for everyone else, that's right. SeatGeek and The Daily Dip are still giving away up to $1,000 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already. You just add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize. No purchase necessary. Plus $1,000 prizes are available to Daily Dip subscribers who add code PDS Newsletter, doubling entries and winning. But then two with comment commentary. Y'all had a lot to say

yesterday in those comments. Starting with the fact that there were a lot of comments and conversation around Operation Blockout, where you have these big groups of people online creating block lists of celebrities who they say are not coming out in support of Palestine. With Nuka Lucas putting out the most liked comment on yesterday's video saying, I honestly can't possibly care any less what a celebrity thinks of the Palestine situation. They can't fix it and forcing someone to talk about it against their will isn't going to get you a genuine response. Just the response they think you want to hear. With there being an outpouring of replies and support of that and others adding, what the F

do I care what musicians think about this? I care what politicians think and I vote for the politicians I agree with. And Manders saying, they want celebs to stay out of real world problems, but want them to be a voice box for them. Celebs are under constant damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. Which I will say, while this is not a one-to-one comparison, I've only ever really experienced this in the sense of like a certain group will want me to cover a story. And then I do, but I don't do it, I guess, the way that some of them want me to, which is me kind

of just rolling through their talking points. So I get to get hit with the fun one-two punch of, why aren't you talking about this? And then not like that. But that's been a constant from a minority of viewers for the past 15 years, ranging from the smallest to the biggest topics. Also, I'll say in those comments yesterday, I was happy to see a lot of you enjoyed the worms deep dive. There you had kangaroo boots saying the brain worms told me they also like the Philip DeFranco show Mason race and also sharing Phil the worm story actually made my day I have type 1 diabetes and my insulin pump blocked overnight meaning I woke up with dangerously high ketone levels I've been in the hospital all day

So after watching the story I asked the nurse and apparently me having such acidic blood It could have killed off certain types of parasitic worms in my bloodstream I mean, yeah, I probably didn't have any in the first place But not having to worry about evil vampire worms is a positive in my book. Now, I only have to worry about the other thousand types you mentioned. And there's really no shortage of other fantastically weird and interesting comments. Like from TheMelbell, who said, I'm an epidemiologist specializing in neglected tropical diseases, and that parasite story made me unreasonably excited.

They're what got me into public health in the first place. I could seriously talk about them for hours. Parasitic infection is a huge underlying factor in a lot of major global health crises. They can worsen the effects of HIV and malnutrition and exacerbate poverty by keeping people out of school and work for extended lengths of time. The efforts in eradicating guinea worm have been a huge step forward for public health. It's so nice to see NTDs and parasites spoken about in global health context that goes past, ew, tapeworms. And then finally, regarding the CEO of YouTube saying that YouTubers deserve some Emmys.

People like Messier Mitchell saying, why is YouTube CEO asking why creators aren't acknowledged by the Emmys when the most of them aren't even acknowledged by YouTube? Speak those facts. You almost had me do that stupid snap bullshit. I'm like, yeah, preach brother. But also too, I had some people rightly giving me shit

because I forgot to acknowledge that YouTubers have actually gotten Emmys in the past. Like, you know, more recently you have things like Markiplier getting nominated for an Emmy. But also a long time ago you had things like the Lizzie Bennet Diaries winning an Emmy. But in my defense, it's very easy to forget all the things that Hank Green and the Green Brothers do. Because I think as children they were asked, what do you want to do? And they said, yes. I will do all of it as long

as it is creative and or nerdy as shit. But that's also why I love them. But that is where today's show is going to end. Remember, I'll be right back for you because my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.