The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.23 The Truth About Linus Tech Tips’ Controversy, Harassment, & Allegations, & Today’s News

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Click here https://bit.ly/44NobrE and use code DEFRANCO to get 25% off your order. Thank you Liquid I.V. for sponsoring this video! #NewLookSameHydration #LiquidIVPartner Head to http://www.grifindefranco.com today to invest where you spend! Use code “PHILD5” for $5 towards your new favorite habit! ==== ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩- – 00:00 - LTT Says Investigation Into Misconduct Allegations Found No Issues 03:30 - Eras Tour Scams Abound in UK as DOJ Officially Sues Live Nation 05:43 - Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Outpaces Daily Drinking in the US 06:56 - Japan Cracks Down on Tourists; PewDiePie Says YouTubers Are Ruining the Country 10:00 - Sponsored by Liquid IV 10:58 - Photos Show Justice Alito’s Beach House Displaying Flag Tied to Jan. 6 Riots  15:01 - Companies Are Charging Vets Thousands to Apply for VA Benefits 20:12 - Sponsored by Grifin 21:15 - Ohio Republicans Threaten to Take Biden Off the Ballot 23:18 - China Military Surrounds Taiwan, Kenya Becomes US Ally, & Stupid Guy Body Slams Orca 25:33 - Cities Around the World Brace for Potentially Scorching Summer ——————————   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 Heatwave: Maddie Crichton  ———————————— #DeFranco #PewDiePie #LTT ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. We got so much to talk about today, so I'm just going to hit you with the monkey and dive into it. We need to talk about this big Linus Tech Tips update, especially because, you know, I think the most oxygen and the biggest spotlight is always given to the big, juicy story, the accusations. And unfortunately, a lot of the time you don't see the reporting later down the road of, you know, was there anything there? What are the updates? You know, in the YouTube world, this is massive news because Linus Tech Tips just released the results of a months-long investigation that found that they didn't have a toxic work environment nor allowed sexual

harassment. Also, if you're unfamiliar, this is just not fresh in your brain, let's revisit. So back in August of last year, the LTT channel and the company above it, LMG, were accused by former employee Madison Soup of a ton of wrongdoings. But easily, the main ones were that there was sexual harassment that went unaddressed and ignored, and that the company set her up for failure with poor communication and shifting expectations that were never relayed. With that then causing a massive backlash against Linus and the company, the company promising that an independent investigation would be carried out. Since then, they've been almost completely silent on the issue, with the company also having to juggle other issues that we've discussed on the show in the meantime.

But now, the big news is that they've released the general findings of the investigation via a tweet, and if true, they look very good for LMG and LTT. So we learned that the entire thing was conducted by Roper Grejo, which is a large Vancouver-based law firm specializing in labor and employment law, with them conducting a third-party investigation. And that the main takeaway with this is that, in summary, as confirmed by the investigation, the allegations made against the team were largely unfounded, misleading, and unfair. They've been also going down more specific allegations made by Madison, such as claims of bullying and harassment not being substantiated, saying allegations that sexual harassment were ignored or not addressed were false, any concerns that were raised were investigated. Furthermore, from reviewing our history, the investigator is confident that if any other concerns had been raised, we would have investigated them. It also goes on to pretty much claim that every one of

Madison's claims were false and that the company had made efforts to address her concerns when they were brought up. With really one of the only things on this being a mark against LMG being allegations of process errors and miscommunication while onboarding this individual were partially substantiated, but the investigator found ample documentary evidence of LMG working to rectify the errors and the individual being treated generously and respectfully. When they had questions, they were responded to and addressed. So, you know, with this news, many fans are pretty happy with how everything played out, saying things like, glad to see this is going well. I just hope some of the fans don't go and harass or bully the employees that made these allegations. But at

the same time, there were some concerned about at least one aspect of the statement. With the company writing, at this time, we feel our case for a defamation suit would be very strong. However, our deepest wish is to simply put all of this behind us. We hope that will be the case, given the investigators clear findings that the allegations made online were misrepresentations of what actually occurred, and adding, we will continue to assess if there is persistent reputational damage or further defamation. And so some weren't happy with that statement, saying things like, well, I believe the investigation was thorough and have no reason to doubt that the results of the investigation are correct. I really don't think it was good optics to make any mention of

a very strong case for a defamation suit. As well as I wonder who wrote this and thought it was a good idea to publicly threaten a broke, immature girl with a defamation lawsuit. Would have been better to just sit on these results and not even mention them than to come out and threaten a lawsuit. There, we also saw people defending the mention and pushing back that LMG shouldn't have mentioned the defamation aspect. Saying things like a lot of people are complaining about the defamation part, but my take, it's fine and should be there. There's a lot of people defaming folks on the internet, either for clout or out of misunderstandings. And it's a good thing that people are being reminded that consequences exist. With now all of this out there and people reacting to it, I got to pass the question off to

you here. What are your thoughts with all this? Whether it be about the findings of this independent investigation just generally or the more specific question regarding the mention of a defamation suit. And then Taylor Swift and the Olympics are fueling fraud. And in fact, we just saw BBC News do a report of how it's happening. Right, and with this,

highlighting how this scam warning is coming from UK finance. Because fraud, you know, is an issue at large right now with UK finance saying last year, consumers lost 86 million pounds trying to buy items that never materialized. Well, a lot on its own. That was a 28% increase from 2022. When it comes to Taylor Swift specifically, the BBC noted that Lloyds Bank previously said

that fans had lost 1 million pounds trying to see the UK leg of the show. I mean, that's so far. That doesn't even start until next month. With the bank reporting that it's had 600 customers come forward so far about all this cash they've lost from the Eros tour fraud, and most of the scams started on Facebook. And you have the BBC estimating that if other banks have similar figures, there have been at least 3,000 victims in the UK alone. Though notably, I do want to say, when it comes to concert ticket news, it's not all doom and gloom, because we've got a major update here in the

States with the Department of Justice now officially telling Live Nation to go fuck itself. Although, to be fair, they didn't use that language. Instead, you know how last month we talked about the very likely possibility that the DOJ was going to take legal action? Well, now it's official as the department, alongside over two dozen states, sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster today, with the DOJ accusing them of monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry. And the DOJ saying that fans here in the U.S. are deprived of ticketing innovation

and forced to use outdated technology while paying more for tickets than fans in other countries. Right, noting that Live Nation's reign of terror impacts artists and venues as well. And among the specific accusations, you have claims that Live Nation uses retaliation and threats against venues and competitors that try to get in its way. And saying that it uses long-term exclusive contracts with venues to prevent them from using rival ticketers or more than one ticketing option. Also among the claims, you have the DOJ saying that it exploits its relationship with a firm called Oakview Group, which it notably describes as a potential competitor-turned-partner that has described itself as a hammer and protector for Live Nation. One of the biggest things here is,

as expected, this suit is seeking to break up Live Nation. But also, on a more surprising note, it's seeking a jury trial. Now, for their part, Live Nation's slamming the lawsuit, putting out a statement today saying, the DOJ's lawsuit won't solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows. Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment. But as far as if that turns out to be true, we're going to have to wait to see how this plays out. And then in national news that I don't really know how to feel about yet, for the first time on record, there are now more daily pot smokers than daily drinkers in the States. Right in that, according

to a new study using highly reputable survey data published yesterday, with it finding that in 1992, less than 1 million people self-reported using marijuana every day or nearly every day, compared to about 9 million who drank alcohol daily. But by 2022, while the number of alcohol went up to nearly 15 million daily, cannabis users exploded to almost 18 million. Notably, daily use and general use, the numbers get different. Alcohol is still consumed more extensively than cannabis. With only, it's still a lot of people, 62 million saying, you know, they've partaken in marijuana over the last year compared to 177 million for alcohol. But the new data does show that cannabis is consumed more intensively. The study's author explaining to the AP, a good

40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use. Because for alcohol use, that number is just 11%. These numbers are concerning to a number of doctors who warn that high frequency use is more likely to lead to addiction. And with that, the CDC estimating that around a third of cannabis users already have cannabis use disorder. You know, with these numbers and some of the concerns, I'm especially interested whether you're stone cold sober, you drink, you smoke, you do whatever. What are your thoughts here? And then Japan wants tourists to stop causing problems. And this isn't fully new news. We've talked about this before. In fact, tons of places worldwide have been enforcing new measures to get tourists to either leave or chill the fuck out. And often it's because

out-of-towners just generally get in the way of locals trying to live their life. Like Kyoto banning tourists from parts of the Geisha district because people kept misbehaving. And now we're seeing other actions like a town in Japan that had a stunning view of Mount Fuji from one of its convenience stores. It's so popular that tourists often flock there to get some good old-fashioned insta pics. Although I should say that store had a stunning view of Mount Fuji, because the town actually just finished putting up black screens blocking the view to deter tourists from heading to that photo spot. With the AP reporting the people in the town were annoyed the visitors just kept blocking the sidewalk, getting into traffic on busy roads, sometimes even going onto people's

properties just to get a good pic. And so while you had some locals telling Reuters that they like people coming to their town, there's just a limit. And especially saying that safety has to be accounted for. And this is either the outlet noting that this comes as tourism in Japan has skyrocketed lately. And specifically the Washington Post even saying that the current surge is pushing Japan's world-famous hospitality to the brink. But this in part is just how crowded it is as well

as issues like tourist littering and causing other problems. Which I mean, just having been there, the littering alone would make people go crazy because it's so fucking clean there. Like there were times I was walking around and everything was so clean. I was like, do I live in a third world country? But then on top of like the normal tourist stuff,

we've also recently seen streamers and YouTubers under fire for going to the country just to be a nuisance. But you have people like Johnny Somali, for example, who Business Insider reports has been arrested twice in Japan for trespassing and for disrupting business at a restaurant. There've also been other instances like where a YouTuber went viral and faced backlash for using Japan's public transit without paying. And actually with this, one of the biggest

voices now speaking on it is PewDiePie as well. He's still a massive creator. He lives in Japan now, and he just put out a video saying that YouTubers are ruining the country. With that, saying that all of it started back with Logan Paul, and it's kind of turned into this infestation, showing examples of tourism issues and nuisance streamers and saying, It is really frustrating because like for a lot of people, Japan is an escape of this bad behavior that's just done in public a lot of times. Not saying the whole world is like terrible, but you know, Japan is generally seen as more polite and therefore people want to protect them. Right. Noting that YouTubers especially are trying to get outrage clicks at the cost of people who just want to live there and they're just trying to go about their day.

I think because it's Japan, everyone is so nice. People like assume it's OK to take advantage almost like they have this idea that, oh, no one's going to tell me off. So it's OK. Yeah. Dumbasses. They're the ones that are like, oh, I can do whatever I want. They're so nice. Yeah, exactly. Like there's something inherently actually racist about that, I feel like.

The thing is, as these instances become all that more common, they will get handled one way or another, either by local legal means, the platforms in general, or the audiences at large. Though there, I would argue that especially in recent years, there's been this emergence of audience that just loves noose and streamers, loving the wild west, what the fuck aspect of it, not thinking about the actual impact

to what's happening in those streams. So because those creators often have different shittier audiences, I don't think there's really any amount of outrage or shame that impacts this, aside from platforms doing something or something being done legally, like with local or national laws

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Alito's just chilling. He's one of the nine most powerful judges in the country, a lifetime appointee. If you've got Justice Clarence Thomas just openly having sugar daddies and he's not recusing himself with stuff that involves his wife and the effort to overturn the 2020 election, like, what? No, we should and can talk about any and all of these situations that we see play out with the Supreme Court. But to act like any meaningful action will ever really be taken, that's it's it's a little bit silly at this point. It doesn't take into account where we are politically in 2024. But let's talk about it, because Alito has been facing a ton of backlash since last week when The New York Times reported that an upside down American flag, a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement, had been flown outside his house in the days after the insurrection. And that's significant not only because of what it symbolizes, but

because Supreme Court justices are supposed to remain independent and avoid political statements or displays on matters that could come before them. Now, Alito, for his part, responded like a lot of husbands do when they don't want to deal with some stuff. He blamed his wife, for him, that's Martha Ann Alito, in telling the Times, I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs. With sources interviewed by the outlet saying that Martha Ann had been in an ongoing clash with a family on the block, we displayed an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, but saying because of the timing, the neighbors had interpreted the inverted

flag as a political statement by the couple. And so, you know, with this, you had numerous judicial experts saying that the move was a clear violation of ethics rules and raised concerns about Alito's ability to be impartial in cases involving the election in January 6th. You know, that could be super significant because the court is set to rule on two major insurrection-related cases in the coming weeks. I mean, one of those is literally whether Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. You know, that little low stakes thing, which is why we've seen tons of people going after Alito, with many Democrats calling on him to recuse himself and some conservatives even criticizing him. I mean, even Lindsey fucking Graham said the actions were not good judgment.

And now that backlash has actually gotten even louder because the reason we're talking about this today is that the Times reported yesterday that another flag associated with January 6th and Trump was flown outside another one of his houses last summer. With three pictures obtained by the outlets and accounts from nearly half a dozen people revealing that an Appeal to Heaven flag was brandished at the Alito's Long Beach Island home in July and September of 2023. With also a Google Street View image from last August showing the flag up. With the Times explaining while the flag originally dates back to the Revolutionary War, more recently it's become a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the Stop the Steal campaign and for a push to remake American

government in Christian terms. And very notably here, that flag, which has been embraced by Christian nationalists, was also carried by a number of insurrectionists and featured prominently on January 6th. And notably with that, as of recording, neither Alito nor the court have responded to the revelations about the second flag, with people wondering, is he going to try to blame Martha again or say it's not supposed to be connected to that, it's the other thing. You know, as a result, we've seen tons of people are doing their calls

for Alito to recuse himself from the January 6th cases. With this, again, including top Democrats like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who wrote on X, did another neighbor make Alito's wife mad? How many MAGA battle flags does Alito need to fly for the court or judicial conference to see there's a problem? But also, some have gone even further,

saying that more needs to be done than just recusal. The likes of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez telling MSNBC. Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on January 6th and is now going to be presiding over court cases that have deep implications over the participants of that rally. And while

this is the threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy. And in the Senate, we have gavels. There should be subpoenas going out. There should be active investigations that are happening. There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And, of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way.

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Truck month is awesome! Ask your Chevrolet dealer for details. But as far as whether any of that is going to materialize, we'll have to wait and watch. But as I made abundantly clear at the top of this, I don't really think that with the state of things that people are held accountable. That it's purely a numbers game, a power grab or power enforcement. But hey, every now and then, I am wrong. It sometimes does happen. So we'll have to wait to see not only what happens, but if Alito responds as well as it does the core respond and what is it. And then, y'all, this is insane.

It just feels like nothing can just be good. There's always someone or something fucking everything, right? And I'm saying that today because remember how we talked about the VA benefits for burn pit victims? Well, according to a new report, there are allegations that a handful of wealthy corporations are illegally siphoning off that money for themselves, which for those of you that missed that news, because your life does not revolve around this show, how fucking dare you? The US military used to burn all its trash from bases abroad in giant pits with jet fuel, which you think was obviously a bad thing. And it was. It would smother nearby service members in toxic fumes that caused a long list of medical conditions, especially cancer and respiratory

issues. So in 2022, Biden signs the PACT Act, vastly expanding benefits for victims of burn pits and other toxic exposure. And the big news this week was that on Tuesday, he announced that over a million claims have been approved so far under the new law. Now, usually that means one of two things. Either one, the vet applied for benefits all on their own, or two, they got help from a veteran service organization or VSO. Like for example, veterans of foreign wars or disabled American veterans to pick two well-known examples. With those being nonprofit groups that have been officially accredited by the VA since the 1950s and are required by law to provide assistance free of charge for initial claims. But now there's also a new group of kids on the block offering to do the

same exact thing for a hefty price tag and with none of the certifications. With the Washington Post actually identifying as many as 100 unaccredited for-profit companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars helping veterans apply, charging anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000. And their clients signing contracts that bind them to pay a one-time fee equal to five times their new monthly disability payment or increase, which is wild because literally a federal law prohibits exactly that. But notably, back in 2006,

Congress removed criminal penalties for that law, effectively defanging it. And either way, these companies also argue they're just basically doing educational or consultant work, with their clients ultimately submitting their own claims, so they're not actually breaking the law. But that argument seems to be contradicted by the industry's own advertising, which pitches their services as a substitute for the traditional VSOs, promising a higher chance of approval and accusing both the VSOs and the VA of failing to meet

veterans' needs. And to be fair there, you know, they've kind of got a point, where the VA has long been criticized for putting vets through a bureaucratic slog, delaying the process, and ultimately denying legitimate claims, all of which the Biden administration has tried to improve, and it's had some success. But like we talked about, the approval rate for PACT Act-related claims reaching an impressive 75% now. But in its effort to speed up the process

and expand outreach, the VA has found itself straining to accommodate all the new claims. But even after bringing on over 11,000 new employees to deal with the workload, it's still struggling. But officials also telling The Post that training fell short

and the staff have worked mandatory overtime most months. Also, the training manual for toxic exposure cases has been revised multiple times, causing delays and inaccurate decisions. None of which is helped by the fact that the agency still relies on an outdated processing system requiring manual work. So as of April, there was a backlog of more than 300,000. We've seen at least one Gulf War vet giving the for-profit company that he hired a positive review, with him saying that he paid at $5,000 and got his disability rating boosted from 30% to 90%, and adding that they did more for me in six months than I did in 18 years. But notably, this is others are much less grateful for the service that they receive,

with, for example, one saying it looks like they're throwing you a lifeline when they're just taking advantage of you. You also have current and former employees from the companies themselves accusing them of prioritizing profits and volume over actually helping vets, saying they make unrealistic promises and devote minimal time to individual cases. With one former coach who quit due to ethical concerns, explaining, I was charging veterans $20,000

who I potentially spent 45 minutes on the phone with. Even calling his former employer a veteran mill that outsources most contacts to contract employees in the Philippines. Also, some vets have alleged that these companies have harassed them for payment, even when they settled their bills and decided to file claims on their own, which is also why it's not shocking that many have sued these companies, alleging they

charged excessive fees and used deceptive trade practices, with notably law firms, accredited claims agents, and even the Texas Attorney General joining them in the courtroom. And now you also have the VA saying it's opened investigations into almost 40 unaccredited companies since October of 2022, with it also sending cease and desist letters to about two dozen of them. And we've even seen New York, New Jersey, and Maine banning or restricting for-profit claims companies in similar bills or pending in at least five other states. And a very big thing is that on the federal level,

lawmakers have actually introduced a bipartisan bill with backing from 44 state attorneys generals last year to restore the Justice Department's authority to seek criminal charges against the firms. But a very key thing there is that within months, the industry then formed a trade group led by Trump's former acting VA secretary, with it immediately dishing out campaign contributions

and sending an army of lobbyists to Washington, which apparently worked because the bill has not yet come up for a vote, thanks to some key GOP lawmakers. In fact, what we're seeing is they're now trying to push policy in the opposite direction, with Republicans introducing a bill last year that would create a pathway to accreditation for the industry

and capping fees there at $12,500 for each claim. But in the meantime, vets are losing their hard-earned benefits not only to these corporations, but also to scammers. In fact, from 2015 to 2019, the FTC got over 160,000 fraud reports from vets, with a median loss for veterans from fraud standing at 44% higher than other civilians. And this is part of the reason why I feel so defensive and fucking infuriated for our vets. Because put your fucking political beliefs to the side. This is one of the most exploited fucking groups in our country.

They go off to fight how many pointless wars for politicians back home. They risk their lives. They get injured, traumatized, poisoned on their own fucking bases. And then they come home and they get stiffed by a stingy government bureaucracy, the government that fucking loves them so much. And as if that wasn't enough, they get exploited by vampire capitalism and

victimized by criminals. And it's all just equal parts infuriating and heartbreaking. And then I've got more news for you in just a second, but I got to ask, have you ever heard the term stock where you shop? It's basically the long-term investing version of voting with your dollars. Buy a burrito at Chipotle, own Chipotle stock. Subscribe to Spotify, own Spotify stock. You know, you get the gist. And thanks to our fantastic sponsor, Griffin, Thank you. Whether you're a seasoned investor, never bought a stock in your life, or somewhere in between, Griffin lets you stock where you shop without lifting a finger. It's fully customizable. You link the cards you use most, turn off companies you don't like, you set a weekly limit, and you start with just a dollar at a time. Deposits are aggregated weekly and transferred to your investment account. Griffin's adaptive investing is a first-of-its-kind technology,

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With now Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, writing on X, as it stands today, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee will not be on the Ohio ballot. With that, pointing to a conflict between the Democratic Party and state law. And what he's talking about here is a law that requires political parties to certify presidential candidates 90 days before the election, which is August 7th of this year. But the party isn't actually set to officially nominate him until the Democratic National

Convention, which doesn't take place until August 19th to the 22nd. Now, very notably here, this is actually a super minor procedural issue that's not at all uncommon and usually resolved very easily. I mean, Washington and Alabama also faced similar deadline problems this year, but both managed to address them, with Washington officials agreeing to accept a provisional certification, while Alabama's legislature extended their state's deadline so Biden could qualify. And in fact, Ohio itself has even passed extensions to the state deadline when it ran up against party conventions in both 2012 and 2020. And in fact, earlier this month, the state Senate passed legislation that would do the same this election.

But this week, Republican House Speaker Jason Stevens told reporters that the GOP-controlled chamber wouldn't be passing the legislation, saying there's just not the will to do that from the legislature, and adding it's a hyper-political environment at this time of year. And there are some Republicans who just didn't want to vote on it, and there were some who did want to. I think there are other alternatives to it, so why create a stir that's not necessary? Notably there, Republicans have also shot down the other alternatives to keep Biden on the ballot. Democrats had attempted to resolve the issue with a provisional certification like Washington state did, but LaRose rejected that, with him citing an opinion from the state's attorney general, Shocker, also a Republican, who said that there isn't anything in Ohio law that

would permit that move. Beyond that, the legislature could technically pass an emergency law, but that would also require a two-thirds vote in both houses, which is highly unlikely. So basically, the only option LaRose has given them is for the Democratic Party to move their whole entire convention just to accommodate Ohio. Or rather, more specifically, just to accommodate Ohio Republicans. With the secretary writing in a letter to the chair of the Ohio Dems saying that unless the party complied with the deadline, he would instruct boards of election to begin preparing ballots that do not include the Democratic Party's nominees. Now, with that said, there is a third thing the Dems could do. They could just sue his ass, and sources are actually saying that Biden is considering taking that step.

But importantly, their lawsuit would likely result in a long, drawn-out legal battle that could take months to resolve. And then we've got a slew of big international news. And when I say big, I mean that in two ways. Starting with the fact that China has surrounded Taiwan in what it's calling a strong punishment, where these two days of military exercises are in retaliation for what they called separatist activities because of Taiwan's elections earlier this year and the new president calling on China to stop intimidating them and recognize their democracy. Though you have China saying that those supporting independence for Taiwan will be left with, quote, heads broken and blood flowing. And notably, while China believes that declaring independence is something Taiwan could do, it doesn't have to and it won't because the reality is that Taiwan is already its own country.

It has nothing to declare independence from. And this is these Chinese drills are simulating a full-scale armed invasion and a blockade of Taiwan. Which is why Taiwan says that China is undermining regional peace. And adding that they don't seek conflict, but if China wants to fight, we'll fight. With unsurprisingly, the U.S. condemning the Chinese aggression and Japan and the U.S. expected to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion, at least under the current leadership. And they've built a coalition that may include the majority of the West and the majority of China's neighbors. Then we've also got Kenya now being the U.S.'s newest major ally, with them notably being the first sub-Saharan nation to receive the designation of non-NATO major ally.

And they're actually the 20th nation to get it. So this will allow them to obtain better weapons and have closer security cooperation, though some have asked, why is this happening? Well, Kenya has been a key part of American counterterrorism forces in East Africa. They're also part of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group and have deployed police officers to Haiti. This will actually be Biden's third formal ally behind Qatar and Colombia. And Kenya will also be the fourth African nation to become a major U.S. ally alongside Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. But then, as promised, the other kind of big international news.

A man in New Zealand has been fined for trying to body slam an orca whale. So the New Zealand government is calling this a body slam. Though in some of the team's expert analysis, they think it's more of a belly flop or a flying body press. The killer whale was swimming near his boat when he then jumped off the boat at them. And if he tried to body slam the whale, that means picking up the whale and slamming it. We're getting into the semantics.

Just saying, words matter. But anyways, the main thing is that the authorities aren't pleased, saying that it left them genuinely stunned. And saying that it's stupid behavior and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca. And in New Zealand, they try to avoid these situations.

I mean, flying body presses are obviously a bad idea, but it's also illegal to swim with orcas there, which is also why he's already been fined $365. So with that amount, it sounds more like a price of admission rather than an actual penalty. And then there's a big question right now about just how fucking hot it's gonna get this summer. Because do you remember just how hot last summer was?

Right, 2023 was overall the hottest year on record, and it wasn't even close. We saw insane heat waves all over the globe as well as tragic and often historic levels of heat-related deaths. So after all that you might think, hey this summer we deserve a little break, a little reprieve from the boiling temperatures, right? Well, like with most things on this show, things are not looking too good because this last April was just the hottest April on record for Earth. With one scientist even saying that this whole year has a 66% chance

of being the hottest one of all time. And we've already got reports warning that this summer specifically will at the very least be brutal, if not potentially record-breaking. For example, the Washington Post explaining that high temperatures will be driven by a likely switch from El Nino to La Nina in the latter half of the summer. And even though La Nina does have a slight cooling effect on the planet, it can turn up the summer heat in the U.S., especially as climate change has also pumped up temperatures. But they reported that some areas of the country will also does have a slight cooling effect on the planet, it can turn up the summer heat in the US, especially as climate change has also pumped up temperatures. But they reported that some areas of the country

will also experience dry weather and as a result, likely droughts. And while you had one meteorologist talking to Axios questioning if this is definitely gonna be the hottest summer ever, even he noted that it is still probably gonna be insanely warm and we need to be prepared for that,

which you know is why we have a lot of organizations introducing new tools to try to handle this. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for example, just recently partnered with the CDC to expand its experimental heat risk tool that gives information and guidance to those vulnerable to extreme weather and who need to take extra precautions. That's meant to give people a bigger picture of the weather in their area by using a scale to show the health risks associated with the heat, humidity, and more. It's also meant to help them determine what kind of outdoor activities are safe or if certain medical conditions might make them more at risk. Kimberly McMahon of the National Weather

Service telling the LA Times that it's not just for people who might be sensitive to heat waves. It's for everyone, including local officials and community organizers who can use it to decide if they want to open cooling centers or disperse water to those who need it. And those cooling centers, they're a big focus in a lot of places like Arizona, for example, which saw relentless heat last year. I mean, y'all, literally nearly 650 people died from heat-related issues in just Maricopa County, with many condemning the government for having such a slow response. And so this year, Maricopa County's expanding access to cooling centers, increasing their hours, and many people have already used these services. You also had, for example, Bloomberg doing a report on how small businesses are navigating

all this, you know, because heat can really take an unexpected toll on them. When it's hot, people don't want to go out as much. They don't want to do anything. They don't want to window shop and meander around town. It's also just more expensive to operate a business during the summer, with, for example, the outlet speaking to the owner of an ice cream and lobster roll shack in Maine, whose electric bill skyrocketed when it's hot. And on top of all that, in order to prepare for the heat and hopefully make sure people still want to come into the shop, he's spending $25,000 on heat pump heads. And this is a lot of restaurants are going to be shelling out money that they don't have on similar cooling measures. I mean, it's to the point where some think that the government needs to step in and offer more help to these businesses

that have increased expenses as a result of heat waves. Because I need you to understand, it's not just ice cream shops being affected. The consequences of what we're talking about, they're massive, right? Bloomberg noted that the 2023 heat wave in Texas, it costs the state's economy nearly $10 billion. And of course, this isn't just a problem for the United States, right? These sweltering temperatures have been an issue around the globe. I mean, Europe's 2023 was a scorcher and the continent largely is not built for such warm weather. And obviously, plenty of countries and cities are going to be taking measures to mitigate the harm from heat, some turning to air conditioning and strengthening their power systems, increasingly using solar and wind power for electricity. You have cities

like Barcelona weighing more creative options for a few years, like painting the roofs of buildings white to cut down the heat. But of all the cities in Europe, when it comes to this summer, most eyes are on Paris right now, which makes sense. They're going to be hosting a little event called the Olympics. You have places like NBC News noting that usually locals in the city, they have a solution to dealing with heat waves in the late summer. Get the fuck out of Dodge and go somewhere else. But the city's obviously going to have a metric fuck ton of people there this year. And so there are already major concerns with one of the biggest being that the Athletes Village

isn't gonna have air conditioning. And even though most Americans, including myself, hear that and we're like, so did they just die? The organizers there have maintained that they still have a thorough plan for keeping athletes cool. With one speaking to Reuters saying, we designed these buildings

so that there would be comfortable places to live in in the summer in 2024 and later on, and we don't need air conditioning in these buildings because we oriented the facade so they wouldn't get too much sun during the summer, and the facades, the insulation is really efficient, with the madding that they're using naturally cool underground water to cool the air of the apartment, with the city also saying that it wanted to prioritize environmentally friendly options whenever it could in its Olympic efforts. And organizers have actually tested this more sustainable cooling option, with NBC Sports doing a report saying they studied the area's temperatures block by block. Though this is some countries have remained skeptical and they're preparing to do a

bring your own AC situation if the weather gets really hot. Though also a conversation and question that's popped up because of this connected to the Olympics is should the Olympics move? Right. And I don't mean the place. I mean the time. People wondering if it makes long term sense for the Olympics to be in late July and August. At least in a city along a latitude similar to Paris. But that is a specific problem for another time. And of course, with the heat situation in general, I'd love to know your thoughts here. What have your recent experiences been? What are your new concerns?

Anything and everything, leave in those comments down below. But that is where your final PDS for the week is going to end. But hold in your tears. We're going to get through this. Because, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you right back here on Monday.