The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 5.8 First American Pope Sparks Backlash, AOC Bernie Sanders Hypocrisy Scandal, & Today's News

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Go to https://ground.news/defranco to see beyond the headlines and stay fully informed without feeling overwhelmed. Subscribe today through my link for 40% off unlimited access. Use code DEFRANCO at https://incogni.com/defranco to get an exclusive 60% off. 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   Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here:  https://youtu.be/DmxwXbRWxQ8?si=oqYgAhA0wEF-r34-&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Bishop Robert Francis Prevost Becomes First American Pope 02:52 - Bernie Sanders Addresses Backlash to Private Jet Use  06:38 - Shareholders Sue UnitedHealthcare, Luigi Mangione Fund Hits $1 Million 09:11 - Sponsored by Ground News 10:19 - Political Streaming Gets Boost from Election Season 13:33 - France Responds to Series of Abductions Related to Crypto 16:10 - Texas AG Says Six People Have Been Arrested for Electoral Fraud 18:08 - Sponsored by Incogni19:14 - Palworld Says it Had to Modify Game Due to Nintendo Lawsuit  22:55 - Sponsored by SeatGeek  23:32 - 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, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco ##PopeLeoXIV #HasanAbi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We just got a brand new pope and part of the internet's lost their dang mind around it. Calling him, among other things, a Marxist woke pope. We've got the Bernie Sanders AOC private jet scandal. A new slew of kidnappings and ransoms. Big Nintendo backlash. Now the future of political coverage is drastically changing. We're talking about all that and much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news starting with this.

A new pope just dropped and he is an American. Today, after just one day and 24 minutes, the conclave to elect a new pope ended. With people in St. Peter's Square getting to see white smoke blown from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and people just erupting. It was the only thing I've ever seen

that's kind of like it is going to the Eres Tour. We later learned that 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost will be the next pope and he's taken the name Leo XIV. And as far as who he is, he's from Chicago originally, but he holds dual citizenship, both in the States and in Peru where he served for two decades. Also back in 2023, he was appointed by Pope Francis to run the Vatican office in charge of selecting bishops.

You know, even though the headlines that are running right now is that we have the first American Pope, according to the New York Times, he has spent much of his life outside of the States. But still his American roots are significant, with NBC News, for example, explaining, "'The decision to elect an American "'goes against conventional wisdom,

"'which has held that the United States "'holds enough power in the world already.'" But as far as Pope Leo, he spoke primarily in Italian during his first address, and he first said, "'Peace be with you,' to the crowd," with reports noting that peace was a major part of his speech. And you know, as far as his politics,

some outlets have referred to him as a centrist, but you also had the AP noting that he was part of a revolutionary effort to add a few women to the voting bloc that advances bishop nominations to the Pope. Though this is, he also reportedly opposes ordaining women as deacons. And regarding LGBTQ plus issues,

his thoughts are potentially unclear as he hasn't really spoken on the subject in a while. But some believe that he's less likely to curry favor with the LGBTQ plus community than Francis, though he is similar to Francis when it comes to the environment in a while. But some believe that he's less likely to curry favor with the LGBTQ plus community than Francis, though he is similar to Francis when it comes to the environment and migrant outreach. With the Times saying here that he's overall more discreet and reserved

and will likely be a stylistically different Pope than Francis was. So it's kind of a vague and mixed bag, though what I will say, this is something that has gained a lot of steam. It's gonna be very interesting where it goes. You've got a lot of people online right now noting that an account linked to the new Pope

shared an article back in February titled, J.D. Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others. That account also retweeting a post sharing articles about Trump's immigration policies and asking, do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? And so for all of this, a lot of people on the right are already beefing with him. I mean, you have the likes of Laura Loomer, for example, calling him an anti-MAGA and woke pope, as well as a Marxist puppet. Others saying he is, quote, worse than Francis, who, you know, is known for having a progressive agenda.

Though I will say, for his part, Trump hasn't taken any shots at the new pope yet. Right so far, he just wrote a Truth Social post congratulating him and adding, it is such an honor to realize that he is the first American pope. What excitement and what a great honor for our country. I would argue the biggest things here,

one, with the pope being from Chicago, that means that no catch up on hot dogs is now canonical law. And two, it's just kind of crazy that Chicago got a Pope before it got a quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season. But the next up today,

let's talk about this controversy around Bernie Sanders and AOC. Because many conservatives have been up in arms since Fox News published a video showing Sanders and AOC exiting a chartered plane for several West Coast stops in their massively popular tour, with the outlet claiming that the plane in question

was the Bombardier Challenger private jet operated by Ventura Air Services. And according to their website, the jet can cost up to $15,000 an hour. And then beyond that, Fox reported that FEC filings that they obtained showed that Sanders' campaign committee had spent, quote, over $221,000 chartering private jets

during the first quarter of 2025. With this article then going on to accuse both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez of being hypocritical for flying on private jets while championing the Green New Deal and what Fox called aggressive climate change policy. Then it specifically took aim at Sanders noting that he also spent a lot of money on private jets during his presidential campaign in 2020 writing, Sanders has long been ridiculed for relying on luxury private jets while crisscrossing the country, warning Americans about climate change and the threats of billionaires seizing political power.

And adding, despite his democratic socialist platform advocating for universal healthcare, the Green New Deal, and ending wealth inequality, Sanders flying private has become infamous. You know, that sentiment was echoed by many others who claimed that it was hypocritical for them to be spending so much money on a private jet to tour around the country talking about corporate interests being evil and the uber wealthy. With many conservative outlets slamming the two with headline after headline,

with then conservative voices and politicians chiming in, with for example, representative Marjorie Taylor Greene calling AOC a hypocrite and a liar and Bernie an old, weak mainstream Democrat. But they're then taking shots of the two calling Sanders a joke and slamming AOC for refusing to debate her and saying that her colleague is a little twit who is too scared and stupid. You know, the reason we're still seeing this in the

news today and why we're talking about it is because Sanders has clapped back in an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News. Gotten criticized from other people. Free Beacon says Bernie Sanders spent $221,000 on private jets fighting the oligarchy tour paid for by friends of Bernie Sanders. That you've spent millions of dollars in campaign funds on private jet travel over the years. How do you push back on both of those things? When's the last time you saw Donald Trump during a campaign mode at National Airport? No, no, no. It doesn't. But he's also not fighting the oligarchy. No. You run a campaign and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. The only way you can

get around to talk to 30,000 people. Think I'm going to be sitting on a waiting line at United waiting while 30,000 people are waiting. That's the only way you can get around. No apologies for that. That's what campaign travel is about. We've done it in the past. We're going to do it in the future. Unsurprisingly, a lot of conservatives slamming that response with Bernie Sanders, in fact, trending on X this morning, and many accusing him of once again being a hypocrite and looking down on the Americans that he claims he's trying to reach with the fighting oligarchy tours.

With people writing things like, "'Bernie Sanders' essentially said "'he's not a peasant like us. "'That's why he flies on a jet.'" But this is, you also had others defending Sanders, including the likes of Andrew Yang, who wrote, "'Bernie Sanders is 83 and had to be in multiple states "'in the same day.

"'In that situation, you fly private. And this is, you also had Mark Shanahan, an expert in American politics at University of Surrey, saying that this is a matter of principle versus pragmatist. Arguing, Sanders would no doubt prefer to travel the country in a less gas guzzling manner, but recognizes the need for bespoke travel if he's to spread his message to the maximum number of people

in the shortest time. Right, and then going on to note that he could forego in-person rallies for online engagement, but his rallies are working and adding. People want to see political figures on the ground talking to them directly and answering questions, especially in this period of disruptive government. With the men also noting that Sanders's private jet use, in his words, pales in significance compared to the estimated $23 million in rising its cost taxpayers to cover President Trump's visits to his golf resort so far in his second administration. You know, that's something that we've seen others echoing,

saying that at least Bernie and AOC are getting important messages out and actually connecting with people on the ground. You know, with all that said, I'll pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Do you find the private jet stuff to be hypocrisy, or no, you think this is a nothing burger?

But then, next up, let's talk about United Healthcare and Luigi Mangione. First up is the news that investors are accusing United Healthalth of misleading them and concealing how the business was being damaged by backlash following the killing of CEO Brian Thompson. With that being alleged in a new class action lawsuit being brought against the company. And specifically there, you have investors claiming that UnitedHealth artificially inflated its stock price by refusing to change their 2025 net earnings forecast to factor in how their operations would be impacted

by Thompson's killing and the controversy around it. With a lawsuit saying that the day before Thompson was killed in December, the company had initially forecast earnings per share of $29.50 to $30. But in January, a full month after his death, UnitedHealth refused to change the forecast and stuck by their initial projection.

But the investors, they say that the projection should have changed because before Thompson's death, the company used a strategy that allowed them to deny more claims than their competitors in the industry. And in response to the widespread public outrage and scrutiny following his death, UnitedHealth shifted its strategy so it was denying fewer claims. But this is the plaintiff said that the company failed to disclose those changes, which they argue would have also impacted the earnings projections. They're saying that the initial forecast, it was based on the use of aggressive anti-consumer tactics that the company was no longer deploying,

but that were necessary to achieve their original earnings goal. This then seeing last month, United Health finally revising its 2025 outlook, and they cut their forecast for adjusted profit per share to between $26 and $26.50. A move that actually caused their stocks to tank by over 22%, wiping out nearly $119 billion in market value.

With the shareholders alleging that they suffered significant losses and damages as a result of the company's wrongful acts and omissions, which ultimately led to the precipitous decline in the market value of the company's securities. And with all that, as far as how UnitedHealth has responded, you had a spokesperson telling reporters that the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing and intends to defend the matter vigorously. But with that said, it brings us to the second piece of news here that I wanted to touch on. And that is that the organizers for Luigi Mangione's legal defense fund have announced

that the donations have now surpassed a million dollars. With that milestone apparently being driven in part by a surge of supporters who gave money on Mangione's 27th birthday this Tuesday. With this, you had the organizers saying in a statement that these contributions represent a quote, "'Step forward in pursuing justice for Mr. Mangione.'" Noting that the fundraiser hosted on Give, Send, Go

has received over 28,000 individual donations with a median contribution of $20 and adding, the milestone was reached because of the continued resonance of Mr. Mangione's story. He's become a contemporary folk hero understood by millions to be a brave, righteous American concerned with the lived experience of the common man. With the organizers saying they hope to continue

until they reach one and a half million dollars. Of course, we'll have to wait to see what happens with Mangione, who still faces both federal and state charges and the potential of the death penalty. And then, you know, I've got more news for you in just a moment, but first, you know, on Tuesday's PDS, we covered Trump's meme coin, which has effectively codified

the Trump administration's transactional nature on the blockchain for all to see. Of course, because I'm a nerd about these things, I couldn't wait to see how the left and specifically the right was gonna cover this thing. So of course, for that, I went to Ground News and let's just say they handled it differently. Generally, we saw right-leaning coverage

highlighting the Trump crypto efforts as legitimate and an innovative approach to campaign finance, portraying the coin's buyers as enthusiastic supporters, eager for access rather than potentially compromised actors. You know, that's honestly why I love Ground News and why they decided to sponsor today's show, where we actually use their tools in our analysis of the news spectrum. And if Ground News isn't a part of your news diet, I mean, what are you waiting for? You can go see for yourself why they've got 10,000 plus five-star reviews at ground.news.com.

Because you guys know, we strive to break through echo chambers, to bring you the story beyond the headlines, and they're a critical tool to account for reporting bias. Left, right, or center, you'll understand news media at a deeper level, and you'll even start to notice coverage gaps thanks to their blind spot feed, where stories ignored by either side of the spectrum

are highlighted. So scan the QR code or head to ground.news.fr today to get 40% off unlimited access to the Vantage plan, the same plan I use. But then, next up in the news, Donald Trump has been fantastic for live streamers, specifically political live streamers. You know, while we all could kind of guess that

and feel that that was true, this new report titled Politics and Live Streaming, it says not only that that kind of content had a 56% spike in yearly viewership in 2024, but also the bump from last year's election has continued into this year and there's been sustained growth. Because according to the report,

in the first quarter of 2025, political content nearly matched the volume of gaming streams on Twitch, accounting for over 11% of all content watched. And if you look at the data over time, you can see that in the first quarter of this year, political content was watched for 3.4 billion hours. Which yes, is a slight dip from the previous quarter

when the election took place. But if you compare it to the quarter one of 2024, there were only 2.6 billion hours watched. So we're talking about a pretty substantial leap from last year. And as far as where people are watching it, Twitch is the largest share of political streaming channels followed then by YouTube and then Kik,

but also YouTube, it dominated hours watched, taking up nearly 98% of that pie. And as the report explained, this is because different platforms attract different kinds of streams. And adding that at first glance, this imbalance might seem odd, but it actually makes sense.

Saying the vast majority of political content on YouTube is produced by major news outlets that often broadcast 24 seven and regularly attract thousands, sometimes even hundreds of thousands of viewers. Twitch on the other hand, lacks these heavyweight viewership drivers. Saying instead it's home to hundreds of passionate creators

who occasionally dive into political discussions, more like passerby commentators and deeply engaged political videos, but active nonetheless. But to YouTube, it's getting a massive lift from mainstream news outlets that livestream their broadcasts or presidential press conferences and other major events. Whereas, you know, Twitch, it posts more of an independent creator-led charge.

So it then makes sense that the biggest streaming channel on YouTube Live was Al Jazeera. Then when you hop over to Twitch, Hasan Piker's the most watched political creator there. And this is on Rumble, the crown went to Right Side Broadcasting Network. With the report then kind of noting that while there are exceptions to every rule,

you can sort of see a political divide among platforms, with Rumble specifically popular among the right and among alternative political bloggers. Whereas on Twitch, you know, it has a bigger segment of those who lean left. And then because when it comes to individual political creators, Hasan stood out so much, the report actually analyzed some of his viewership data

specifically to sort of paint a picture of a left-leaning American news streamer. And interestingly, while Americans make up the biggest chunk of his viewers, they still account for less than half of those who watch him. Or with them taking up around 48% of the share, then you got Canada coming in at 9%, the UK and Germany at around 5% each.

And in general, it's a pretty international audience. You know, it also makes sense that international viewers are flocking to American creators because, you know, Americans have such a large presence on these platforms. You know, accounting for 23% of channels and then followed by India at under 11%. And then, you know, as far as why there's been such a substantial increase

in people streaming political content, the report noted, as global tensions rise and political discourse becomes increasingly polarized, the demand for real-time information and commentary has never been higher. And adding, live streaming platforms have emerged as crucial spaces for audiences seeking not only news,

but also interpretation, debate, and a sense of connection. And you know, this is something that politicians are at least kind of leaning into. And in general, it's gonna be very interesting to see how this continues to evolve over the next three to four years. Not only because the political space has been expanding and changing dramatically,

but also as we've seen play out over the last few years, this space is playing a bigger and bigger role in elections. Whether it be news focus, videos on demand, podcasts, or live streaming. But then next up in the news, if you have a lot of crypto, you might want to start keeping that shit to yourself. And one of the reasons I say that is there's this growing trend of ransoms and kidnappings of crypto people all across the globe. With now the latest examples coming from Paris where there's been a string of crypto related kidnappings. And on more than one occasion, the kidnappers cut fingers off to prove they were serious.

One of the most recent examples happening last week where you had police saying that an older man was just grabbed off of the streets of Paris and that the victim turned out to be the father of a man who had made his fortune in cryptocurrencies and the incident was accompanied by a ransom demand. Now with this, due to privacy laws, they did not name the victim or his son,

but what we do know is that the hostage was taken about 35 miles outside of Paris, and local media reports say that he was held there for three days, during which he had his finger cut off. As far as how it played out, it looks like his son didn't pay the ransom, and instead he went to the police, who acted pretty quickly,

with them conducting a raid, rescuing this man, and in total, five people were arrested in connection with the case. And now you have the suspects likely to be charged with kidnapping and with torture or a barbaric act, all of which could land them tons of years in prison, depending on a lot of factors. But again, this is just the latest

crypto kidnapping in France. Right back in January, for example, you had David Balland, who co-founded the crypto wallet Ledger, also kidnapped with his wife. There were then attempts to extort the other co-founders of Ledger for their release. And then the crypto wallet Ledger, also kidnapped with his wife. There were then attempts to extort the other co-founders of Ledger for their release.

And then the famous French GIGN, which is a police group that specializes in hostage rescues, liberated Ballard before finding his wife tied up in a car a few hours later. Well, thankfully she was alive. Ballard also had a finger chopped off and it was sent as proof that the ransomers were serious. You know, all of this is, understand,

this is not like a France specific problem. You know, late last year you had Dean Skirka, the CEO of a crypto holding company, being kidnapped for ransom in Toronto before being freed. Within all of this, maybe making you wonder, well, why go after crypto people specifically? Well, with that, some experts say it's because the money is relatively easy to get a hold of. Because in a traditional ransom, you either need to get paid in cash, which has risks of being caught, or you have a bank, why are you the money? You know, with today's modern banking system, it wouldn't be hard for them

to claw that money back eventually, but crypto, it doesn't have to deal with that. Instead, would-be ransomers just need to wash the assets by putting them in one of various services that try to scramble where tokens are going. And that, it makes it extremely difficult to track which token went where, which is supposed to be one of the accountability features of crypto.

But with that, I will say it doesn't make it impossible if a team really wanted to dedicate itself to figuring it out. In fact, this is a big enough problem that companies like Anchor Watch, which is a Bitcoin insurance company, offers policies against so-called wrench attacks. And in the case of someone having their money stolen

because of an attack like this, they offered upwards of $100 million in coverage. Although I will say, you know, that's only helpful after the fact and it won't stop someone from getting kidnapped. So, you know, if you have a lot of crypto, my advice would be to, I don't know, send it to my wallet. And or start learning how to type with fewer fingers.

This meant as a joke, but it came out like a threat. But then next up today, we've got the news that Texas AG Ken Paxton says he just busted an illegal vote harvesting scheme in Frio County. Though very notably, local activists, they say they beg to differ. Because you see Paxton, who's actually now running for Senate has long echoed Trump's baseless claims of widespread election fraud.

And with that, he's aggressively prosecuted alleged violations, upending lives in the process, and ultimately, he's gotten very few convictions. And with this, you have many, including Latino civil rights groups, claiming that the crackdown is political. With them, among other things, pointing to the fact that raids have often targeted Democratic, Black, and mostly Latino voters and volunteers, even some who were in their 70s and 80s. And with that saying, as a result,

there's been a chilling effect on volunteers and community groups that for decades have struggled to increase election participation in a state that actually has one of the nation's lowest turnout rates. But then on the flip side, you have Paxton saying, "'The people of Texas deserve fair and honest elections, not backroom deals and political insiders rigging the system.

Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power will be held accountable. No one is above the law. And with that, he announced that six individuals, including a county judge, two city council members, and a former county election administrator, have been arrested in connection with this alleged vote harvesting scheme. With one individual being charged with tampering or fabricating physical evidence, and five, all with ties to Democratic candidates, being directly accused of illegal vote harvesting. Which usually involves knocking on doors and asking if volunteers can deliver completed absentee or mail-in ballots to voting centers or ballot drop boxes.

But you know, a key thing being that this isn't something that's illegal everywhere. In some states, they allow voters to give their ballot to a spouse, neighbor, or volunteer to submit it on their behalf. However, spurred by Trump, many Republicans have started increasingly attacking programs that allow voters to give their ballots

to anyone other than election officials. And this, even though supporters of those programs say that it makes voting easier, especially for elderly and disabled voters. In the case of Texas in 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed an overhaul of the state's election laws that included new restrictions on vote harvesting, which made it illegal to deliver a ballot for a third party. So ultimately, even if the charges against these individuals lead to convictions, which again has been rare so far, they may not actually be what normally comes to mind when a lot of people think of voter fraud.

And then I've got more news for you in just a minute, but first, you know, I'm not trying to be dramatic, but online privacy, it's pretty fun. Click one link for a new hoodie and suddenly 7,000 data brokers know your shoe size, ex's name, and your favorite salad dressing. It bounces between creepy and infuriating, right? You have thousands of companies collecting and selling your personal information right now without your

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let's talk about this big business and gaming story. And it's actually just a big update to the Nintendo PAL World situation. So now we've talked about Nintendo's lawsuit against PAL World before. It's just been going on for years now. But the short version being that PAL World was a new game that makes survival games

with monster collecting. But you know, to call a spade a spade, it very much felt like Pokemon was a massive influence. Because you could capture these pals with a sort of wannabe Pokeball and then use that to summon them later on. But also, you know, calling it a full-fledged Pokemon ripoff, that doesn't make sense either

because it also was fundamentally a different game. Like in Pokemon, I can't shoot and enslave them. You know, Palworld got released. It did crazy numbers in the Nintendo suit. You know, considering that both are Japanese studios, that means that this is going to be playing out in Japan, which is not great for Palworld. Japanese copyright and patent law,

that is extremely strict. Not to mention that Nintendo and the Pokemon company are all massive companies there. Now with that, you had PAL World promising to fight the lawsuit, though at the same time changing aspects of the game, such as removing the whole Pokeball-esque mechanic. And so now you just summon your pals next to you. And even at the time that this was changed, it was widely speculated that the change was in response to Nintendo's lawsuit. But PAL World, it was silent until this morning. Because this morning, they released a massive tweet that not only admitted they changed stuff because of the lawsuit,

but that they'd also be changing even more. With them writing, on November 30th, 2024, we released a patch for PalWorld. This patch removed the ability to summon pals by throwing pal spheres, and instead changed it to a static summon next to the player. Several other game mechanics were also changed with this patch.

As many have speculated, these changes were indeed a result of the ongoing litigation. With them then going on changed with this patch. As many have speculated, these changes were indeed a result of the ongoing litigation. With them then going on to say that they weren't happy about the changes, but they warned that not changing things would have led to an even worse player experience. And then came the even worse news with them saying, "'Furthermore, we regret to inform our players

"'that we must make yet another compromise. "'From this patch onward, gliding will be performed "'using a glider rather than with pals.'" You know, while that might not seem like the biggest change, gamers weren't happy. With many saying things like, "'Fuck Nintendo and Pokemon, y'all are just weird at this point."

Some also saying that instead of making a good game, Nintendo and Pokemon are just using their patent to stifle competition. You know, that was really at the heart of a lot of the criticism with Takes Like. "'I don't understand how this is only a pal world thing. I can play Ark and glide with a dino across the map. No way this is patented, right?

And this is you had the streamer Pirate Software, who was a fairly successful game of their own, tweeting, "'Game mechanics should never be patented. All it does is bring down both developers and players for the sake of greed. Nintendo isn't protecting Pokemon here. They are crushing any possible competition.'" But of course, at the same time,

you have some coming to Nintendo's defense, reclaiming that PAL world is just a rip-off or that PAL world is getting way too close to Nintendo's copyright and patents. There, you had once again, people like Pirate Software saying, notice the entire post. They are going after them for gliding using PALs

as the glider and also bringing a PAL out using a sphere. Copyright the look of the Pokeball, the sound it makes, the Pokemon that come out of it, et cetera. The moment you allow patenting game mechanics, you get the removal of any companion and any object that is summoned from said object. You also get the removal of minigames during loading scenes. You also remove features like the Nemesis system from being anywhere else. Game mechanics patents

destroy creativity. And there he's referencing a few other patents that companies have made within the gaming space that are similarly criticized for being very, very lame since they don't allow other developers to use them. For example, the Shadows of Mordor games using a widely regarded system called the Nemesis system that allowed monsters to remember you and change their behavior. It was just a really interesting and stellar system, but Warner Bros shut that studio down

and now the mechanics just stuck behind a Warner Brothers patent until 2036. But with all that said, I don't know if this is gonna really amount to anything. Because as far as what's gonna happen, I think this guy had it right, saying so many people will say fuck Nintendo, but won't cancel their Switch 2 pre-order.

You know, at the end of the day, the only thing that changes things for really any company is money. You know, I don't believe there's going to be a big enough backlash around this specific situation that it's going to affect the Switch 2. But then finally today, I want to give out a congratulations

and then talk about y'all's comments on yesterday's show. Starting with a congratulations to Kevin V, SeatGeek's latest weekly winner. I mean, he just scored $500 in tickets, and now he's deciding whether to go to a Dodgers game or seeing Kendrick Lamar in the future. And for the rest of y'all, that's right. SeatGeek is still giving away $500 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already.

I mean, just imagine being the next winner and snagging $500 towards seeing your favorite artist, sporting event, or play. And I mean, there's over 70,000 events to choose from. And all you gotta do is add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary. So yeah, definitely get in on that,

and maybe while you're doing it, let's go and talk about yesterday's comments in some comment commentary. And yesterday, y'all had a lot of opinions on that AI story, with some just wondering, what the fuck, do I have to put don't make an AI copy of me in my fucking will now?

And the top comment on yesterday's show being, using a dead person's voice to read a script You wrote and framing it as letting them speak is fucking insane no matter the context. With others replying Yeah, this is stupid absurd horrifying and completely mad all at the same time. Some of you also equated it to the modern-day version of using a psychic to tell us what the dead want to say. I found myself agreeing more with Peek-a-Petey who, having an AI of someone who is dead speak in a courtroom setting is equivalent to having a ventriloquist do a standup routine

using the cadaver as a puppet, horrifying and disrespectful. You know, I will say, I was kinda surprised that the judge allowed that. And scrubbing through the comments, I saw I wasn't alone there with Oregon Duck, for example, saying AI has absolutely no place in court to be used in sentencing or to sway a jury and judge. With some also confused about the judge saying,

"'The judge was so moved by the notion of forgiveness "'that he gave the guy a longer sentence.'" With that part specifically making some wonder how many innocent people are gonna get caught up because the AI was good, like what the fuck? You know, with all that, I'm just left wondering if there's gonna be an appeal here because it feels like, and once again, I'm saying this

as someone that's not a lawyer, it feels like if you were going to appeal that at least the sentence, this is an entry point. And understand, I'm not this as someone that's not a lawyer, it feels like if you were going to appeal at least the sentence, this is an entry point. And understand, I'm not defending the guy that killed someone else. But it feels like there should be an argument that this should not have been admitted in court, and there's an argument that this manipulated the judge to give a sentence bigger than what the prosecutors were asking for. But that said, the last comment that I want to hit on today involves the good news-ish snake story from yesterday, with some joking about how the snake guy somehow avoided a Darwin award and is now a scientific

goldmine. Which, yeah, I gotta say, outside of the news, like, if I met a guy in a bar and he was telling me how he, like, was injecting venom and letting snakes bite him, I'd be like, oh, this is a crazy person. But because I come across this story when it's like, hey, it was actually, it was a great move. I'm like, love this guy. My boy, my guy, he's gonna save lives. So again, to repeat myself from yesterday, and also this is what the man said himself, do not follow in his footsteps.

But then my friends, is the end of your Thursday evening, Friday morning dive into the news. I hope you have a fantastic night. I hope you have a fantastic weekend. And I will see you soon. Cause of course, remember I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you for watching. I love your faces and I'll see you on Monday.