The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.25 Horrible Youtuber Adoption Scam Exposed... (& Today's News)

Episode Date: May 25, 2023

Go to https://shopbeam.com/phil to get 40% off your first month’s subscription OR 20% off a one-time purchase. Take advantage while it lasts!!  Go to https://hellofresh.com/16phil and use code 16ph...il for 16 free meals with FREE shipping! Zaid Just Put Out a NEW Freestyle the News: https://youtu.be/F6wYM_f2ruo  Catch Up on the last PDS: https://youtu.be/xN8RjOFrytg – 00:00 - Della Vlogs Opens Up About Heartbreaking Adoption Scam 04:05 - Gabby Petito's Family Release 'Burn After Reading' Letter Sent to Brian Laundrie 06:12 - Mizzy Fined Over Home Invasion and Dog-Snatching Pranks 08:03 - Sponsored by Beam 08:50 - DeSantis Announces Presidential Bid in Glitchy Twitter Live 12:43 - Telecom Company Sued by 48 States Over Robocalls 14:12 - Nvidia Shares Spike 26% on Huge Forecast Beat Driven by A.I. Chip Demand 14:59 - Sponsored by HelloFresh 16:10 - Long COVID Patients Feel Snubbed By Emergency Ending 20:33 - Drug Shortages Persist in U.S., Including For Cancer Treatments – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Della Vlogs Opens Up About Adoption Scam: https://youtu.be/k92wZJAF-oE Gabby Petito's Family Release Brian Laundrie 'Burn After Reading' Letter: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65678974 Mizzy Fined Over Prank: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22472364/tiktok-nuisance-mizzy-18-fined-200-prank/ DeSantis Announces Presidential Bid in Glitchy Twitter Live: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1178070208/twitter-glitches-mar-ron-desantis-debut-as-presidential-candidate Telecom Company Sued Over Robocalls: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/24/avid-telecom-robocalls-lawsuit/ Nvidia Shares Spike 26% on Huge Forecast Beat Driven by A.I. Chip Demand: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/nvidia-nvda-earnings-report-q1-2024.html Long COVID Patients Feel Snubbed By Emergency Ending: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/long-covid-symptoms/ Drug Shortages Persist in U.S., Including For Cancer Treatments: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/11/health/chemo-drug-shortages/index.html ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxx Enright, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #DellaVlogs #ElonMusk———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive in the news. Also today, I made it a big one, so give that like button some extra love. With that said, buckle up and let's just jump into it. Starting with, this adoption scam is wild. So it has to do with Dallin and Bella Lambert, aka Della Vlogs. With them recently posting a video called, Our Adoption Was a Scam. Because after dealing with infertility, struggling to have a child, they decided, hey, let's adopt. And they said they were in contact with a woman who was pregnant with twins. It's seeming like they connected via social media. And to them, this to have a child, they decided, hey, let's adopt. And they said they were in contact with a woman who was pregnant with twins. It's seeming like they connected via social media. And to them, this seemed like a complete miracle. It was a perfect fit. And it
Starting point is 00:00:30 probably would have been if the woman had actually been pregnant. But it turned out that was not the case. She was actually lying to them and other families as well. The whole time she had on a fake bump and was faking pregnancy, she wasn't pregnant. Right. And so with that, they're obviously shocked. You know, they had hopes and dreams just blow up. Also saying they had done so much for this woman to thank her for the gift they thought they were getting or things like throwing a gender reveal at her request. She said that if we were to throw a gender reveal, she would love to be included in any way and to kind of be a part of that. And so we thought that'd be really cool. And that was kind of our motive for, for doing a gender reveal like that.
Starting point is 00:01:04 When someone like looks you in the eyes and is like, of our motive for doing a gender reveal like that. When someone like looks you in the eyes and is like, I hope you guys do a gender reveal. Like it would make me so happy to see how loved the babies are going to be. Like you believe them. The woman also apparently saying she wouldn't have a lot of family supporting her through this. So she wanted them to be with her during the birth. And they even helped her prepare for it. Traveling from Arizona to California to do birthing coaching with her. We would meet in person with her and with the birthing coach
Starting point is 00:01:25 and take nine weeks of birthing classes to be ready for when the twins were born. One of the most fucking heartbreaking things is that this woman also told them they had to get a nursery ready. But they're claiming that the doctor said that the twins could come early. So they excitedly hurried.
Starting point is 00:01:38 They bought two cribs, two car seats. They were ready to go. Which I think is so cruel to do to someone who has been struggling with infertility for five years. Now we have a nursery ready for twins sitting there with all the stuff. And I just, I feel sick about it. Like I can't even go.
Starting point is 00:01:55 I haven't gone in the nursery since we found out that this was all a scam. You know, they added there were some red flags, but they ignored them. They're thinking, you know, actually maybe it's justified. Maybe we're just overthinking. Though they are one of the biggest being that this woman was really hesitant
Starting point is 00:02:06 to meet with an adoption agency when always have kind of a pretty elaborate reason as to why she wouldn't meet them in person. She talked about how the pregnancy was non-consensual and that she had a lot of trauma and PTSD from that whole situation, which is real. And that is a whole other issue. And I can't even believe that she would make that up
Starting point is 00:02:25 and take that story to manipulate someone like that. I think it's the most awful thing that someone could do. Our hearts were just broken for her. Like when we heard that, like, you know what? Like you take your time. But eventually everything fell apart when someone reached out to the couple saying they had information on this woman.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Claiming that the supposed expecting mom was talking to another couple about adoption as well. And the couple had also gotten heavily invested. And so then together, they ended up posting on a Facebook group for ending adoption scams to see if other people were in contact with her. And there, they get tons of responses. People then using photos and timelines to connect the dots that she wasn't pregnant. With all that, they then try to confront her, but she lied and tried to deny it.
Starting point is 00:02:58 It just blows my mind. I don't know why somebody with fake pregnancy... It's like so sickening that someone could do this to multiple families. With all this, you have people saying that the motive is very unclear. They don't know why she did this. Because apparently, no one actually gave her money aside from one couple that gave her a gift card for maternity clothes. And the Lamberts closed their video by saying they hope this serves as a warning about the prominence of adoption scams. Though there, depending on what part of the internet you found out about this story, very different reactions. Some just sending their condolences, saying they feel bad for people,
Starting point is 00:03:25 but then you have places like Reddit and you have people saying this is what happens when you try to quote, buy a baby online. But I will say with all this, I can't help but feel fucking horrible for these people. Like for those of you who have been with me for a while, you might remember forever ago when I was a youngin'. I got catfished.
Starting point is 00:03:37 It has to be like, God, was it 15 years ago? That completely fucked up my world and this is like seven levels worse. Because these people seemingly have wanted a baby in their life for so long and they've had nothing. And then all of a sudden, some hope. And then as the days go on and it feels like, oh, the birth could happen anytime. It feels more and more real. And so I imagine for them, this feels like a loss of a real baby or something to be processed and mourned. And whatever this other woman's reasoning, I don't know how to describe it other than pure
Starting point is 00:04:05 evil. And then we just got massive news regarding the Brian Laundrie Gabby Petito situation from back in 2021. But as you probably remember, because it was such a massive story, Brian strangled his girlfriend Gabby, who was a travel influencer during a cross-country road trip, kicked off this weeks-long search first for Gabby and then for Brian, with Brian fleeing into a nature preserve and presumably taking his own life. One of the things we saw with this was the Petito family suing the Laundries last year, with them claiming that they knew their son murdered Gabby and hid it from detectives while everyone else was looking for her. Saying, for example, that the Laundries refused to return calls or texts from the Petito family as they were panicking over their daughter's whereabouts.
Starting point is 00:04:37 Well, that lawsuit, it's now released another piece of evidence, a letter which the Petito's lawyers say was found by the FBI in Brian's backpack near his remains. Though he also said the Laundries' former lawyer claiming that the agency actually had it for weeks by the time that their manhunt for Brian ended. But regardless, it was written by Brian's mom, and it begins with several lines about how much she loves him and how nothing will ever divide them, followed by her explaining, If you're in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it.
Starting point is 00:04:58 If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags. If you fly to the moon, I will be watching the skies for your re-entry. If you say you hate my guts, I'll get new guts. They're going on about how people's actions show if they love you, not their words. Then quoting the Bible, then giving another poetic paragraph about how nothing can separate them.
Starting point is 00:05:15 Now notably with this, the laundry's defense claims this letter has nothing to do with Gabby Petito, pointing out that it never actually mentions her and that it's undated. Brian's mom also claiming it was written prior to the trip in which he killed Petito. But one detail has worked against her and that is that undated. Brian's mom also claiming it was written prior to the trip in which he killed Petito. But one detail has worked against her,
Starting point is 00:05:27 and that is that the letter was enclosed in an envelope with the words, burn after reading. But with that, she claims that she and her son shared a love for several books, one of which was titled Burn After Writing. Versus saying that that was an inside joke, not a conspiracy to destroy evidence. While your and my opinion on the validity of that claim, it may matter in the court of public opinion, at the end of the day, the only thoughts on this that will actually matter is that of the jury. The trial
Starting point is 00:05:47 currently scheduled for exactly one year from now. This case notably following a separate wrongful death lawsuit last year in which a judge awarded the Petito's $3 million from the Laundrie's estate, though notably they'll likely never receive that full amount. And this is currently the Petito's are also suing the Utah police and officers who questioned Brian and Gabby about an alleged domestic violence incident just weeks before he killed her, with him of course failing to take him into custody there. But what are your thoughts on the letter? Do you think this is damning evidence, or do you think this is a reach? What are you thinking, and why, in those comments down below? And then, remember that waste of space we talked about the other day, Mizzy? He's the TikTok prankster, but his pranks are
Starting point is 00:06:18 invading a family's home, stealing a woman's dog, leapfrogging a random Jewish man. Well, he has now been served a little teaspoon of justice, and I I barely even that. With him appearing in court yesterday where he pled guilty to breaching community protection orders stemming from his prior arrest. The judge then slapping him with fines totaling 385 pounds, ordering him to not post any videos on social media without the documented consent of the people featured in them, as well as an order telling him not to trespass on private property, which I just, I, how is that the punishment? How do you commit a crime? And then your punishment is a reminder not to commit that crime. Like you understand he is just going to get worse. Like he even released a video saying I'm getting what I want with him then going straight onto Piers Morgan show.
Starting point is 00:06:57 Oh, the story about that. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Let me speak. Yeah, because no, no, no. Let me speak. Let me speak. No, no, no. I'm going to tell you. Let me talk about that situation. No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. For the viewers who don't know what you've done, I'm going to tell them. We also watched a whole 10-minute interview
Starting point is 00:07:14 so that you did not have to burn those brain cells. And I can tell you there was not a single productive exchange. Though there was a notable moment where he appears complaining that the fine is just too small to actually be a deterrent. And Mizzy responds. The UK laws are weak, simple as, and that's not my fault. That's not my fault. You know, really just showcasing his lack of respect for the law,
Starting point is 00:07:30 Mizzy was out of court less than 24 hours before he created new social media accounts and reposted old prank videos. One of him screaming in a man's face, another with him riding on top of a London bus, another where he's like speeding away from supermarket security on a bike. Though then at the same time saying that he may be done creating prank content, saying I ain't a prankster no more. Instead saying he's same time saying that he may be done creating prank content, saying I ain't a prankster no more.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Instead saying he's moving over to Twitch with both gaming and IRL content. Though also I don't know how that's going to go because Twitch has a track record of banning people from the platform for stuff they did off platform. But yeah, I don't know. Call me a cynic. I just don't see him actually changing. Granted, people can change. You would love to see it, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
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Starting point is 00:08:22 When I tell you this solves your sweet tooth fix before bed, it is the same effective ingredients as the dream powder we all know and love and still has only 15 calories and no added sugar. This is their most successful selling flavor yet, and right now they're having a massive Memorial Day sale. So just head over to shopbeam.com slash fill. The discount will automatically be applied at checkout and get 40% off your first month subscription or 20% off a one-time purchase. We're talking about a bag of dream normally being $95, but with this, it's $60 during the sale. So take advantage of it now because it ends on May 30th. And then Ron DeSantis officially announced that he is running for the Republican nomination yesterday. And a lot of people are talking about it, though many talking about it for different reasons. The first being that it was an absolutely
Starting point is 00:09:00 weird, glitchy mess at first. Now it's quiet. Tonight I'm pleased to introduce two individuals who've done more to loosen the grip. Sorry about that. We've got so many people here. So let's see. It's like they just keep crashing. With him literally having to end the space on Musk's account and start a whole new one on a separate account.
Starting point is 00:09:20 Though easily my favorite thing was when David Sachs was like, hey, if you want to give it up to Elon Musk for buying Twitter and, you know, defending free speech, send him a heart. At which point, my app just crashed for the fifth time in a row. Something with this, it was probably such a big letdown for DeSantis, who obviously wants to have this historic moment. When they switched accounts to host the space, they lost nearly half of their initial viewers with only getting around 300,000 people tuning in at the peak. But once things did finally get underway, about a half an hour later, it was pretty much what you'd expect. While yes, they continued through a few continued glitches, DeSantis officially announced that he was running and he proceeded to answer softball question after softball question. Which again, one of my favorite
Starting point is 00:09:56 things, like Elon and co, like something they hit on multiple times. They were like, it's so important we do spaces like this so we can hear differing ideas. Meanwhile, in actuality, it was just a big ol' circle jerk. Which, hey, it's his announcement. I was not expecting a debate, but don't feign like it's something else, Elon. It was a setup for him to do his Ron DeSantis thing. Noun, verb, woke culture problem. Woke mob. Woke mob.
Starting point is 00:10:17 Take on the woke mob. Woke mind virus. Woke ideology. Woke ideology. Woke ideology. Woke test. Woke Olympics. Weaponized wokery.
Starting point is 00:10:25 Wokery is easily my favorite. Though also, to be fair,. Woke Olympics. Weaponized wokery. Wokery is easily my favorite. Though also, to be fair, DeSantis did outline a few key policy areas. He spoke more at length about immigration and education, saying that he'd build a wall at the southern border, speaking favorably about school choice legislation, making it clear that in the White House he'd do a lot like what he did in Florida, using a lot of executive power. But also with all this, much of the substance of DeSantis' announcement and also the lack thereof on certain topics, it was totally overshadowed by two things. One, the Twitter glitches, and two, Donald Trump dunking on it. With some of his memes, including AI audio of the announcement being made while Hitler sorrows. Oh, and the devil were in attendance
Starting point is 00:10:57 and talking. Another equating the Twitter space launch of his campaign with a SpaceX rocket. Though there we've seen DeSantis and Elon trying to spin this as you know, DeSantis broke the internet. Though there it's important to note, that is not the case. You broke Twitter. Twitter that has been dealing with so many technical issues that may or may not have to do with the fact
Starting point is 00:11:13 that Musk has fired so many engineers and staff. And unless he is the dumbest man on the planet, he has to know that this was gonna be a big draw. Or anticipated events can draw millions of viewers when they're done on prime time networks. He alone has 140 million followers. So you'd think, hey, let's test the system. Is there a way that we can test a load of a million users? But instead, you had a thing that was breaking between 350 to 600,000 followers, and you had to close it down. And then you end up peaking with
Starting point is 00:11:37 300,000 viewers in a Twitter space, something several of them tried to spin as like the biggest ever gathering. With that, you had people immediately pushing back saying no, even with as likely to get views after the fact, because also not only do people want to hear what he had to say, but people want to see the shit show. There are so many other examples like April the Giraffe giving birth with 1.2 million watching, AOC playing Among Us with 430k, BuzzFeed just trying to get a watermelon to explode with 807k. I mean, if all numbers are equal, maybe the watermelon should run for the Republican nomination. Though largely in response to people kind of laughing at this disaster, you had Elon and his supporters accusing
Starting point is 00:12:08 mainstream media outlets of just being hypocritical and falsely presenting this as a failure. But I will say on the other side of this, this is technically historic in that you have a big candidate making an announcement in this way for the first time ever. This is also yet another example that highlights that Elon sees any attention as success. With his response to the many, many people and outlets that were like, wow, look at this fucking train wreck being, I call it massive attention, top story on earth today. Which to that, I would say, yeah, if DeSantis filmed a video where he smeared shit all over his face, that would also likely lead the news cycle. That would not likely translate into, we should take this person and the platform seriously. But
Starting point is 00:12:41 hey, that's a story and we'll just, we'll have to see how things play out from here. And then, let me ask you something. How often do you get spam phone calls? Is it hey, that's a story, and we'll just, we'll have to see how things play out from here. And then, let me ask you something. How often do you get spam phone calls? Is it once, twice, a few times a day? Because as it turns out, you may just have one company to thank for that. Right, because Avid Telecom is currently being sued by the attorney generals of 48 states
Starting point is 00:12:56 for allegedly facilitating billions of robocalls. Which that alone shows what a special kind of fuck up this is, that almost the entire country of differing political views wants to sue you. With some of the specifics from the complaint being that Avid sold phone numbers, data and dialing software, allowing their customers to make mass automated calls.
Starting point is 00:13:13 With their services even allowing customers to spoof area codes so people were more likely to pick up. And according to call records, in just the last five years, Avid has facilitated more than 20 billion calls to US numbers. And the complaint going on to say
Starting point is 00:13:24 that Avid transmitted 7.5 billion robocalls to people on the Do Not Call registry, which is illegal. And the complaint going on to say, Every day, millions of American consumers receive a barrage of unwanted robocalls that are harassing, annoying, threatening, and malicious. These calls are all scams designed to scare and harm consumers. And other calls may not be scams, but are harassing, abusive, and illegal nonetheless. Also, with all this, it's not like Avid didn't know this was coming because we know that a group working with the
Starting point is 00:13:48 Federal Communications Commission gave Avid not one, not two, but 329 warnings that their services may be used for spam calls, all of which went ignored. Now, for their part, Avid's saying, hey, we didn't do anything wrong. And in a statement claiming, contrary to the allegations and the complaint, Avid Telecom operates in a manner that is compliant with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations. And adding that the company has never been found by any court or regulatory authority to have transmitted unlawful traffic, and it is prepared to meet with the attorneys general. And then, in huge tech and business news, NVIDIA is on top of the world right now. This in large part due to the explosive growth we've seen with AI. Right in the
Starting point is 00:14:19 last year, their stock has doubled in price, and they're currently forecasting about $11 billion in sales for this quarter alone. And they gained almost a third of their entire market value over the last 24 hours. But they're pushing them towards a valuation of nearly a trillion dollars, which is a very exclusive club. Are you talking about companies like Apple and Microsoft there? And as far as what's been driving this, NVIDIA's chips have proven themselves absolutely essential to the building of AI tools. With analysts saying that some AI systems could require thousands of chips. With this recent AI explosion, it puts them in a very, very lucrative position. With one group of analysts even saying,
Starting point is 00:14:46 it looks like the new gold rush is upon us and Nvidia is selling all the picks and shovels. And everyone who owns Nvidia stock right now, I wanna say, you're welcome. I personally will not be buying it because the moment I do, it will drop 80%. So I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I'm making for you. And then, do you enjoy cooking,
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Starting point is 00:16:00 slash 16phil and code 16phil gets you 16 free meals with free shipping. Also, later today when the number 16 is still stuck in your head, this is why. But honestly, all this is a no-brainer, And then... matter most? When your famous grainy mustard potato salad isn't so famous without the grainy mustard. When the barbecue's lit, but there's nothing to grill. When the in-laws decide that, actually, they will stay for dinner. Instacart has all your groceries covered this summer. So download the app and get delivery in as fast as 60 minutes. Plus, enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Feels like my brain is on fire, like it's being cooked on the daily. I will get pain down my arm, elbows, hands, shortness of breath, tachycardia. I can't walk very far at all without running out of breath. I'm constantly getting dizzy. It is like running a marathon for the simplest of tasks. There's no treatment and no cure for it. And doctors don't know what to do with you. This is long COVID, a condition where symptoms
Starting point is 00:17:16 persist for weeks, months, or even years after the initial COVID infection. And as of this last January, 15% of US adults reported having long COVID at some point, including 6% who still did. Which is also why when the Biden administration ended the public health emergency after three years this month, some people felt really left behind. And understandably, they often react with anger, especially when they see, you know, some fucking idiot like myself going like, man, I'm so relieved the pandemic's over. Because for them, they're like, for who? With many of them feeling gaslit by society as a whole, with many people seemingly in denial about how catastrophic long COVID can be. And you heard some testimonies before, but the list of symptoms for this, I mean, it's longer than a CVS receipt. Includes things like extreme fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pain, loss of taste and smell, muscle aches, joint pain, heart palpitations,
Starting point is 00:17:56 ringing ears, rashes, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and hair loss. You name it, it might be on the list. But most scary for a lot of people are the cognitive effects, things like depression, anxiety, memory loss, and brain fog, or things that make it so you can't function at your job, at school, at home. Really, just living becomes a struggle. With 8 in 10 people who have long COVID saying it limits their day-to-day activities, and a quarter saying those limitations are significant. As many as 4 million Americans have been forced to stop working, and many can't drive anymore or even do basic tasks like cooking and cleaning.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Some even having to keep a notebook reminding them to do the simplest of things like eat food, feed the dog, get the mail. All of which is why some experts have called COVID-19 a mass disabling event. You know, touching on that, Biden announced back in 2021 that long COVID could qualify as a literal disability. Meaning some patients can get resources and protections guaranteed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as receive benefits through social security. But unfortunately, brain fog can also make it hard to even apply. And then if you do manage to apply, the process can take months only for your case to get denied. I did try to apply for Social Security disability on my own. And due to my disability, I was unable to complete the application. How do you survive?
Starting point is 00:19:01 Sadly, I'm maxing out my credit cards. I've drained my 401k at this point. And that often because the novelty and lack of knowledge around long COVID makes it hard to prove that you actually have it. Never mind obtain the documents you need to satisfy a federal bureaucracy. And with all this, we still don't understand long COVID's causes, of which there are probably many. Though we have seen some theories, like the idea that patients suffer from residual organ damage
Starting point is 00:19:22 caused by their immune response, or that remnants of the virus are still hanging around some organs continuing to produce an immune response, or even that COVID just triggers an abnormally exaggerated immune response in certain people. And unfortunately, as long as the root causes remain unknown, the treatments are going to come down to a lot of guesswork. Which is why you see patients having to cobble together whatever medications and supplements seem to best address their highly particular batch of symptoms. And also because of that, they often don't have like a single long COVID doctor that they get to go to. And instead having to go to a bunch of different specialists, which is also why we've seen dozens of clinics
Starting point is 00:19:49 popping up around the country, advertising themselves as long COVID centers. But then as their patients often discover, those places focus more on research than care because there's so little data right now. And that's without considering a lot of people can't even get into the door because you have wait lists backed up for months.
Starting point is 00:20:01 So with all this uncertainty, right? In the vacuum, you have people resorting to more informal groups. Things like the Facebook group Survivor Corps, where nearly 200,000 members share information and provide emotional support, which also appears to be a very important thing because so many people feel so alone with this, right?
Starting point is 00:20:13 Because when they tell healthy people about what's going on with them, they're not being taken seriously. It's just so hard to deal with all the time. It's such a lonely place to be in because no one wants to hear about it anymore. Everyone's over, done with COVID. But also as far as treatment, we've seen people, you know,
Starting point is 00:20:27 resorting to experimental off-label drugs. Meanwhile, others try well-established medicine, typically used for similar ailments, right? Kind of more parallel medication. Or things like getting an inhaler for breathing problems, cognitive rehab for brain fog, or physical therapy for fatigue. But with that, I will say the one positive, it's not even really a positive. The one completely not shit thing. If you do get long COVID, there is a decent shot.
Starting point is 00:20:48 It'll be temporary because of all the people who ever had long COVID back in January, half of them say they no longer have symptoms. When you look around, you can find plenty of stories of people managing, reducing, or even eliminating their symptoms altogether by taking the right treatments, eating the right foods, doing the right exercises. So again, not in any way all. And for each case, the process is going to be different. And then drugs. They're so fun. I mean, helpful, and you should only take them when prescribed by a doctor,
Starting point is 00:21:10 though even when you get the prescription, you might not actually be able to get the drugs. That's because in America, we're seeing crazy shortages for many generic drugs, which is a huge deal because they make up 90% of domestic prescriptions. And we're talking about like everything from children's Tylenol to antibiotics for strep throat
Starting point is 00:21:24 to something that's gotten a lot of attention, right? Diabetes meds used for weight loss, but all the way to life-saving medications for cancer. And what's incredibly frustrating is there's not a single good answer for why there's a shortage. Though it also depends on what specific drug you're talking about, right? If you're talking about the diabetes medication Ozempic, that's obviously got a lot of attention with how popular its off-label use for weight loss has become. Though also for other medications, it can be as simple as just doctors over-prescribing. But easily the biggest concerns are revolving around supply chain issues. Issues that have caused staple treatments for things like cancer to essentially just disappear from shelves. According to a nationwide study,
Starting point is 00:21:55 doctors in 35 states report having little or no supply of staple chemotherapy drugs. And this is a shortage that's affected both large and small facilities alike. With the president-elect of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology describing the situation as a public health emergency because of the breadth of individuals it affects and the number of chemotherapy agents that are in shortage right now. And the American Cancer Society warning in May, these aren't third or fourth line drugs
Starting point is 00:22:15 where there are multiple other agents around. These are used upfront for people you're trying to cure. And this isn't like a future risk thing. We're already seeing patients feeling the impacts. There being examples like this one cancer survivor who had signs of cancer being told he couldn't receive his last four treatments because he was too low on the priority queue. You know, with this situation, with there being a shortage, it can get confusing. Or you'd think because there's been an explosion of drug
Starting point is 00:22:34 manufacturers, we'd have way more supply. But when you examine the market itself, you realize there's a roadblock. There are just three major intermediaries that buy something like 90% of all generics. And those companies, which represent major pharmacy chains like Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens, they demand rock-bottom prices. And we've seen this situation and pressure cause many American manufacturers to just ditch the generic market, with them having absolutely no chance
Starting point is 00:22:53 to compete with labor costs of India and China. But then, because of that, those drugs don't always find their way over here to the United States. And then, even when they do, they often face major quality control issues because of their extremely low prices that quickly take them off the market,
Starting point is 00:23:04 which is why, ironically, one expert told Congress congress there is a high cost to low prices and with all that said it's not like efforts aren't being made you have the fda trying to get congress to expand their team the monitors and reacts to medication shortages because i wish i was exaggerating here their team is only like 10 people but there of course you have the conservative wing of congress saying you know we don't want to expand the government also kind of spouting some rhetoric to distrust the fda so with that you know we've seen the biden administration putting together a task force to try and find long-term solutions for the crisis. There have also been other solutions suggested, things like having the government support nonprofits to buy generics from the U.S. and sell them for a small markup. Also, there have been calls for investigations into how much power these intermediaries have and how little oversight they face.
Starting point is 00:23:39 Because despite how massive this situation is right now, how this is a national security and health concern, those intermediaries really face no consequences when shortages happen. But ultimately, where I'm going to leave this story is I want to pass the question off to you for your experiences. If you or someone you know has been impacted by this, I'd love to hear from you. Because I can talk about this from a very analytical or explain the situation sort of way, but it doesn't really hit the human element that a lot of you can provide. And that is actually where I'm going to end today's show. Thank you, as always, for being a part of the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive in the news.
Starting point is 00:24:06 I hope you like this extra big show. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you next time.

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