The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 6.10 Trump’s Newsom LA Protests Problem is Getting Worse, RFK Fired Entire CDC Vaccine Panel, & More
Episode Date: June 10, 2025Today’s Bonus Video: https://youtu.be/8FQoe8q515c Get a free cold brew maker with your Trade cold brew subscription, at http://drinktrade.com/defranco Get an exclusive NordVPN deal at https://nord...vpn.com/phil Risk free with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee! New "Elect a Clown" Tees https://BeautifulBastard.com still $10 off until Phil remembers he wanted to raise the price back up lolol Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here: https://youtu.be/hVjLJP_-vYA?si=kFfplVjnn_8P8vq5&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1 – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Cities Across the Nation Join Los Angeles in Anti-ICE Protests 11:48 - Sponsored by Trade Coffee 12:54 - Judge Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit Against Blake Lively 16:40 - States Sue Trump for Reversing Policy Aimed at Limiting Makeshift Machine Guns 20:32 - Sponsored by Nord 21:43 - RFK Jr. Fires All Seventeen Members of the CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel 27:03 - Heroic Crane Driver Gets to Check Off His Bucket List After Cancer Diagnosis -—————————— 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 #GavinNewsom #DonaldTrump ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Trump is now threatening protesters, not rioters, with heavy forces. We're also getting big LA protest updates and his Gavin Newsom problems getting bigger and bigger.
RFK just fired an entire CDC vaccine advisory panel, and why public health experts are calling it one of the darkest days in modern medical history with severe consequences incoming.
Trump just made it easier for convicted felons to get their hands on deadly weapons.
And why a judge just threw out Justin Baldoni's $400 million bombshell lawsuit against Blake Lively,
but the legal war between them is far from over.
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.
We need to talk about these huge updates
around the LA protests.
Starting with those Marines they deployed to the city
with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth saying,
"'Due to increased threats to federal law enforcement
officers in federal buildings,
approximately 700 active duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order, saying, we have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers, even if Gavin Newsom will not.
But just to start with a quick correction there, for some reason, Hegseth continues to say that the Marines are coming from Camp Pendleton, which is a massive base near San Diego.
But then looking into it, they're actually coming from the middle of the desert
out in 29 palms.
But regardless, right, other officials have added
that the Marines won't have the ability to arrest people
and instead they're there just to guard federal buildings
and personnel.
And as of this morning, they arrived in LA
and they're awaiting deployment to specific locations
throughout the city.
But then also separate from the specifics,
just the idea of American troops being deployed
on American soil,
it's continued to be an extremely controversial issue.
Some even comparing the US now to Russia, China,
North Korea, and other totalitarian regimes
that regularly use troops to quell civil unrest.
Now with this whole situation,
one thing that local law enforcement
and the National Guard are probably gonna have
to be dealing with are a number of looters.
And that not because the protests or protesters in general
are going around looting the city,
but instead it ends up being part of a common pattern
that we see when large scale protests happen
where people take advantage at night to cause some chaos.
Such as in downtown LA,
where you had places like the large Apple store
being broken into last night.
And with that you had city officials condemning those acts
with for example, Mayor Karen Bass writing,
"'Let me be clear, anyone who vandalized downtown
or looted stores does not care
about our immigrant communities.
You will be held accountable.'"
But then also being a sentiment that was echoed
by Governor Gavin Newsom online. And actually I spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about this immigrant communities. You will be held accountable. But then also being a sentiment that was echoed by Governor Gavin Newsom online.
And actually I spoke with House Minority Leader
Hakeem Jeffries about this as well.
And he told me.
We can't allow bad actors to infiltrate those movements
and to engage in provocations on the ground
that then will delegitimize the ability
of those righteous movements
to persuade the American people that we need change.
But Jeffrey's also saying destruction
of property is never acceptable,
assaulting law enforcement officers is never acceptable
and anyone who engages in it should be held accountable.
But then he also added, we also don't want to see
this type of executive branch overreach
where Donald Trump is perhaps trying
to intentionally inflame the situation
and cause more chaos on the ground
than might otherwise exist.
You know, that last thing that he said,
it's a major talking point surrounding these protests.
Is the Trump administration purposefully trying
to make them worse?
Because beyond just Jeffries making that claim,
we saw Mayor Bass telling reporters yesterday.
We need to stop the raids.
There should not be happening in our city.
It is not warranted and it does any,
the only thing it does is contribute to chaos.
This was chaos that was started in Washington DC.
On Thursday, the city was peaceful.
On Friday, it was not because of the intervention
of the federal government.
And notably, Newsom's been making similar claims
since at least Friday when he wrote,
inciting and provoking violence,
creating mass chaos, militarizing cities,
arresting opponents.
These are the acts of a dictator,
not a president.
Which he then essentially restated in a reply
to White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller.
Which speaking of Miller,
he's been in the trenches online
defending the Trump administration's handling of all this
with for example, him tweeting,
what does Governor Newsom mean
when he keeps saying the presence of ICE officers
and the troops necessary to protect their lives and duties
are inciting riots?
He's adopting the argument of the insurrectionists,
enforcing federal immigration law in our city
is not allowed and we will riot if you do.
Newsom isn't trying to suppress the anti-American revolt,
he's encouraging it.
With that in general, the two have a lot of back and forth
with Miller and other MAGA stands,
claiming that the protests in California
and the state government's alleged lack of a response
is an insurrection, which Newsom and many others said
that really the only people defending a modern insurrection
is a lot of MAGA and Trump after he pardoned 1500 Jan Sixers,
which is also notably something Jeffries touched on
in our conversation, essentially saying
that this is hypocrisy or projection.
Donald Trump and the Republicans have zero credibility,
zero on the issue of law and order.
We will not let them lecture America on this subject.
When Donald Trump, on his first day in office, he didn't lower health care costs or lower
the high cost of living as he promised on day one. And on his first day in office, he
pardoned hundreds of violent felons who brutally beat police officers on January 6th.
That's what he did.
And now wants to turn around and lecture America
as if he's standing up for law and order, get lost.
These people are phony in that regard.
Right, and if you've watched yesterday and today,
it's probably become clear that Newsom is consistently
at the center of the story.
You know, it makes sense.
He's the governor where the protests are happening
and he's kind of long been a boogeyman for conservatives.
In fact, so much so that you have figures like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson saying some questionable
things about it. With the most recently today being asked if Newsom should be arrested,
which is a whole thing we talked about yesterday, and you had Johnson saying,
That's not my lane. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should
be arrested, but he ought to be tart and feathered, I'll say that.
With Newsom using the opportunity to bash the GOP as a whole by claiming that it was on brand
that they would want to use an 18th century punishment.
And he's actually just been going off
against the Trump administration and their allies.
It's been pointed out that the cost of deploying troops
in the National Guard is gonna be enormous
at around $134 million.
With Newsom then using that stat to ask
whether that money would be better spent
on vet nutrition assistance.
He also called out Republicans who claim that LA
and California is full of violence
and pointed out that many red states have far worse murder
and violent crime rates.
Also, one of the weirdest things that happened
was Trump claimed that he spoke to Newsom last night,
which Newsom replied,
there was no call, not even a voicemail.
Americans should be alarmed
that a president deploying Marines onto our streets
doesn't even know who he's talking to.
But then John Roberts of Fox News saying,
here's the call log,
while also, I guess, not realizing that it was from
one o'clock in the morning on June 7th.
Which notably, it wasn't yesterday,
it wasn't the day before yesterday,
it was the day before that.
So seemingly Trump lied or confused three days ago
with yesterday.
With that also just being a small taste of the swings
that Newsom's been making online.
But then to go back to the protest,
one of the debates that we've actually seen pop up
have been about masks.
Specifically about whether protesters and ICE agents
should be able to conceal their identities.
And notably the use of masks among officers
is something that Jeffries has chimed in on with him
arguing that America is a democracy, not the Soviet Union
and he pledged to identify officers
who try to hide their faces.
And while you have many agreeing with that take,
there's also many pushing back on it.
And there are people arguing that they're masking
to protect themselves and that includes Todd Lyons,
the acting ICE director
So a lot of agencies were invited to come out two weeks ago in Los Angeles
We ran an operation where ICE officers were doxxed. So let's just say that again
People are out there taking photos of the names their faces and posting them online with death threats to their
family and themselves.
So I'm sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks,
but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there
and put their lives on the line and their family on the line
because people don't like what immigration enforcement is.
They are wearing those masks because we were in an operation with the Secret Service
where we arrested someone that was going online, taking their photos,
posting their families, their kids' Instagram, their kids' Facebooks, and targeting them.
So let me ask, is that the issue here that we're just upset about the masks,
or is anyone upset with the fact that ICE officers' families were labeled terrorists?
And so I wanted to know what your reaction is to that. Of course, anybody who unlawfully targets the families
of ICE agents should be held accountable
to the fullest extent of the law.
That's not what we're talking about
in this particular instance.
Does an ICE agent really need to wear a mask
to snatch a two or three year old American citizen
who's battling cancer away from their families
and from their communities?
Is that what needs to happen?
That doesn't have anything to do with a legitimate threat
to the safety and security
of that particular enforcement action.
And then separately, as far as whether protestors
should be allowed to wear masks,
you had Jeffrey saying that, you know,
that should be a decision made at the state and local level with him then noting that he actually backs such a policy in his home
State of New York
then when it comes to ICE agency argued that this is a matter of safety and security not just for the American people but
Also of law enforcement officers themselves
I'm saying one in terms of the homeland security officials who are snatching people off the streets and masks that violates everything that we know
About how law enforcement should be conducting themselves
openly and honestly in the United States of America.
But then he also added too,
that it sets up a very dangerous situation
where you again allow for bad actors
to potentially pretend to be
or imitate Homeland Security officials.
I'm saying at some point in time,
you may have a circumstance
where someone actually gets kidnapped
thinking that they're being apprehended
by a so-called ICE agent
when it turns out to be a bad actor.
But then another aspect of this whole situation
is you have DHS claiming that these raids,
they're to get criminals off the street.
And they even had a thread that showed the huge number
of criminals that were taken off the street,
which is sarcasm, it was like five.
That low number, it just fueled anger and criticism
that these raids, they're targeting everyday people
who are just trying to make a living to feed
and house their families.
Which actually brings us back around to the protest
because DHS also tried to prove that protesters were violent
and chose the worst clips ever.
There were people saying in the nearly two minute compilation
there was maybe one violent moment
where it looked like someone threw an object at police.
Also Customs and Border Patrol had their own proof
which showed a firework going off near police.
And their fireworks have definitely been used
and pointed at police on occasion during these protests.
And without a doubt fireworks can be dangerous
and please don't throw them at police.
But in general, the protests have largely continued to be extremely peaceful and more
unborn. Really the only violence that we've seen happen are in areas where protesters are confronted
by ICE agents and police, which for many it fuels the allegations that this is a manufactured crisis.
And then finally with this situation, it may end up just being the tip of the iceberg, right?
Because similar protests have now popped up in cities all over the country. With the Singh,
for example, NBC News,
counting at least 25 rallies.
Some that had small turnouts
and others that drew hundreds or thousands.
I mean, just at the California coast,
there were anti-ice protests in San Francisco,
drawing an estimated 9,000 people.
And that came as there were already protests
in the city over the weekend,
which led to dozens of arrests
and two officers reportedly getting injured.
And then if you hop to the other side of the country,
you had around two dozen people arrested in New York City
at a protest outside of Trump Tower.
And with that, you had people like
Florida's Republican representative,
Anna Paulina Luna, tweeting,
"'Notice how these riots never happen in red states.
California can blame Trump all at once,
but this chaos is the direct result of years of soft on
crime pro-criminal policy.
This would never happen under real law
and order leadership.'
But plot twist, it is also happening in red states,
starting with several cities in Texas.
For example, in the capital city of Austin,
you had some local outlets saying
the demonstrations began peacefully,
but there was eventually a standoff between protesters
and the Texas Department of Public Safety
who deployed tear gas.
In the area, the state's governor, Greg Abbott, writing,
between the Austin Police Department
and the Texas Department of Public Safety,
more than a dozen protesters were arrested in Austin.
Peaceful protesting is legal,
but once you cross the line, you will be arrested.
Fuck around, find out. There was then also at least one person reportedly arrested in Dallas. Peaceful protesting is legal, but once you cross the line, you will be arrested. Fuck around, find out.
There was then also at least one person reportedly arrested
in Dallas during a protest with reports again,
saying that it started out peaceful,
but eventually declared unlawful.
And according to CBS News,
a firework exploded near police officers
and some people threw bottles at police.
And like I said, you know,
there are dozens of protests happening all over.
So this is just a small example of what we're seeing.
And again, it is worth noting that a lot of these events
have been peaceful.
And even in cities where there were arrests,
you have some officials noting that most events
were peaceful.
But with that, I will say we're likely gonna see
how crazy everything might get this weekend
as groups are planning mass protests on June 14th.
So with all that, one, I'd really love to know
your thoughts and reactions to the updates
and the news that we're seeing.
So leave those comments down below.
And two, if you wanna watch the full
Hakeem Jeffries interview, I think it comes in
at around just over 25 minutes. I've got a link for you in the description and it's over on the PDS
news clips YouTube channel. And then you've got even more news we got to talk about in just a
minute. But first, you know, it is official. It is time for cold brew. And you know, if you haven't
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But then to shift gears from that to a very different
kind of news, we got to talk about this Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively situation.
Cause we just got a huge update.
Because Baldoni, he just took a huge L in his legal battle
against Lively, but understand the case is still far from update. Because Baldoni, he just took a huge L in his legal battle against Lively,
but understand the case is still far from over.
Because yesterday you had a judge dismissing
the $400 million lawsuit that Justin had filed against Blake
where he accused her and her husband Ryan Reynolds
of defamation and extortion.
Which to give you just enough background
for those that haven't lived and read this story.
Well, Blake and Justin starred in the film,
it ends with us, which Justin also directed.
With the two not walking off that set as friends,
to say the least.
In December, you had Blake filing a civil complaint and then eventually a lawsuit
where she claimed she was sexually harassed and then retaliated against during production. Then
in January you had Justin and his production company filing his lawsuit where he accused Blake,
Ryan and their publicist of trying to destroy his career and take over control of the film. And then
actually he also sued the New York Times which was the first outlet to report on Blake's allegations.
So then all of that bringing us to yesterday where you had a judge tossing out his complaints
ruling that the allegations that Blake made in her suit
are exempt from libel claims
and that Justin's assertions
that Blake stole creative control of the movie,
they don't count as extortion.
With the judge writing that the complaint
did not adequately state that Blake's quote,
threats were wrongful extortion
rather than legally permissible hard bargaining
or renegotiation of working conditions.
And a very big thing that a number of people have really
missed is that the judge left the door open
for Justin Scamp to pursue different claims related
to Blake potentially breaching her contract.
But still overall, right?
This is considered a massive win for Blake.
And so you had her team celebrating the news
and calling the judge's decision a total victory
and complete vindication.
Adding, as we have said from day one,
this $400 million lawsuit was a sham
and the court saw right through it.
We look forward to the next round,
which is seeking attorney's fees,
treble damages, impunitive damages against Valdoni,
Sarowitz, Nathan, and the other wayfarer parties
who perpetrated this abusive litigation.
You then also had Blake Lively
addressing the news herself on Instagram,
sharing resources and organizations
that provide legal help to women who need it,
and writing, like so many others,
I felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us.
Well, the suit against me was defeated.
So many don't have the resources to fight back.
And adding a more resolved than ever
to continue to stand for every woman's right
to have a voice in protecting themselves,
including their safety, their integrity,
their dignity and their story.
And then on top of all of that,
you had the judge also dismissing the claims
that Justin levied against the New York Times as well,
which is why you then had a spokesperson for the Times
saying, we are grateful to the court
for seeing the lawsuit for what it was.
A meritless attempt to stifle honest reporting.
Our journalists went out and covered carefully
and fairly a story of public importance
and the court recognized the law is designed
to protect just that sort of journalism.
But then with that, as far as where does that leave the case,
I mean, well, Blake's lawsuit, that's still ongoing.
Last week, she ended up dropping two of her emotional
distress claims against Justin with her lawyers there
saying they were simply streamlining and focusing the case
with that trial still set for spring of next year.
But then separate from that, it looks like Justin's team
might still be fighting back.
And that because today his attorney, Brian Friedman,
gave a statement to TMZ saying,
"'While the court dismissed the defamation related claims,
the court has invited us to amend four out of the seven
claims against Ms. Lively,
which will showcase additional evidence
and refined allegations.
And adding Ms. Lively's own claims are no truer today
than they were yesterday.
And with the facts on our side,
we marched forward with the same confidence that we had
when Ms. Lively and her cohorts initiated this battle
and look forward to her forthcoming deposition,
which I will be taking.
So really, this story isn't gonna be going anywhere
anytime soon.
And then as far as the public reaction to the news,
depending on where you go, very different reactions.
So I will say if you go to Blake's Instagram comments,
you'll see tons of people accusing her of paying the judge
off, others on Twitter continuing to slam her.
But then on the other side, you have people saying
that they're glad that Justin is facing consequences
for trying to use the courts to run a smear campaign.
And some overall calling this a victory for women.
But even that camp isn't universal because you have those who you know seem to
support Blake saying this doesn't actually look like a loss for Justin right now because even if
the case was dismissed they believe that he's going for the court of public opinion anyway.
So a lot of different takes, a lot of different opinions, a lot of different reactions, and while
we wait to see what happens here I'd love to hear your thoughts in those comments down below.
But then from that next up today we've got to talk about how over a dozen states
are now desperately trying to stop Trump
from giving what some people call machine guns
to convicted felons in their communities.
Which I know just sounds like a crazy sentence,
but let me explain.
So machine guns are heavily regulated under federal law.
They have been for decades.
But then along came these things called bump stocks,
which effectively makes semi-automatic rifles
more closely mirror fully automatic machine guns
by bumping the rifle back and forth,
rapidly pulling the trigger.
You know, we saw the carnage that it could do
in the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas,
where you would have gunmen firing over a thousand rounds
in just 11 minutes, killing 60 people
and wounding hundreds more.
And actually in response to that,
you would president Trump banning bump stocks in 2018.
But then what you saw is that in 2020,
this company called Rare Breed Triggers
started selling a new product
they called a forced reset trigger.
And like the bump stock,
it effectively makes semi-automatic weapons
mirror fully automatic ones
by snapping the trigger forward
every time it's pulled back.
But then in 2022, you had the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives determining
that the forced reset trigger was illegal.
With them arguing that because constant finger pressure
on the trigger keeps the gun firing,
it essentially is indistinguishable from a machine gun,
even if the internal firing mechanism is semi-automatic.
So Biden's DOJ took rare breed triggers
and its dealers to court,
and they seized more than 12,000 triggers
from gun stores and individuals.
But then fast forward to last year,
you have the Supreme Court striking down
Trump's bump stock ban.
With Clarence Thomas arguing that since technically
the bump stock does not make the gun fire
more than one bullet per squeeze of the trigger,
it just lets the user pull the trigger
over and over really fast.
It doesn't meet the definition of a machine gun.
Or in other words, a bump stock does not convert
a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun
any more than a shooter with a lightning fast
trigger finger does.
So then the gun rights groups were like,
well, if that's the case for bump stocks,
why shouldn't it be true for forced reset triggers as well?
And later in the year, you had a federal judge agreeing,
ordering that the ATF return any triggers that it sees
from the parties to the lawsuit.
But then you had the Biden administration being like,
wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on.
First of all, we're appealing.
And secondly, if we're gonna return these dangerous weapons,
we're gonna do it carefully and legally,
namely by conducting background checks
on anyone who asked for their triggers back
and exempting states where the triggers were banned.
And that is also the position that the ATF maintained
until Trump got his people in in April.
Then the White House in May settling the lawsuit
and effectively handing a free win to the gun industry.
Which may or may not have to do with the fact
that David Warrington,
lawyer who's now Trump's White House counsel,
previously represented rare breed triggers.
But anyway, in this settlement,
you had the company agreeing
not to make forced reset triggers for handguns,
but only on the condition that the ATF stop enforcing
the ban on forced reset triggers as a whole.
And then on top of that, the ATF would return triggers
not only to the plaintiffs in the suit,
but to anyone whose trigger was seized
or voluntarily handed over.
With that, even including convicted felons
who were barred from owning guns
and to people in states that banned them.
With Bondi saying at the time,
the Department of Justice believes
that the Second Amendment is not a second class right.
We are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation
with a settlement that will enhance public safety.
And this is you, the president
of rare breed triggers celebrating.
If I seem a little bit lighter today
with a little less anger in my eyes
and a little less stress on my face,
it's not because my wife has me
on an amazing skincare regimen, it's because we did it.
We beat the ATF.
But now the update is that 15 states in DC
are suing the federal government
and seeking a preliminary injunction
to prevent the triggers from going back out there.
With them arguing that not only does the settlement
go far beyond what the federal judge mandated last year
and constitute an obvious threat to public safety,
he said it also subjects the states
to significant added law enforcement and healthcare costs
because of the massive carnage the devices are capable of.
New Jersey's attorney general speaking for many
when he said,
Public reporting on this issue has suggested
that the US Department of Justice forced this settlement
over the objections of not only career ATF officials,
but even the president's own political appointees
at the agency.
I wish they would actually stop and think
about the carnage that could ensue
if you put 12,000 machine guns
on the street, irrespective of whose hands they fall into.
So we'll have to wait to see what happens here,
whether those triggers go back into private hands
or they stay with the feds.
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Then next up from that,
we got to talk about how RFK Jr.
just fired every single member of a CDC advisory panel
that's been shaping the nation's vaccine policy for decades.
Right in his head of the Department of Health
and Human Services,
he does have the power to appoint and dismiss members,
but removing the entire panel at once,
that's one, obviously unprecedented,
and two, you have experts warning that
it could be the latest disaster for public health in the US.
And in fact, one of the dismissed committee members said,
"'I've never seen anything this damaging
"'to public health happen in my lifetime.
"'I'm shocked, it's pretty brazen.
"'This will fundamentally destabilize vaccination
"'in America.'"
Right, and as far as the panel in question,
it's officially called the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices, or ACIP for short.
It's made up of epidemiologists,
infectious disease
physicians, pediatricians, and other experts.
And their job is to carefully review vaccine data,
debate the evidence, and ultimately decide
who should get what shots and when.
With a huge key consideration here being that insurance
companies and government programs like Medicaid,
they're required to cover the vaccines recommended
by the panel, a panel that has long been considered
a nonpartisan entity, with its members serving
four year overlapping terms,
which also means that the Biden administration
just happened to appoint all 17 of the members
who have just been let go.
And that including 13 who were only appointed
to the panel last year.
With Kennedy writing in a Wall Street Journal
opinion piece announcing what he called the retiring
of the committee members that a clean sweep is needed
to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.
And then with that, you had him trying to justify the move
by claiming the committee has been plagued
with persistent conflicts of interest
and has become little more than a rubber stamp
for any vaccine.
Though notably, that's something that many experts
have pushed back on.
Arguing for one, committee members can't hold stocks
or serve on advisory boards or bureaus
affiliated with vaccine manufacturers.
And saying that while it is true that some members
may have ties to the pharmaceutical or vaccine industry,
experts say that those often exist for legitimate reasons
having to do with their research.
And in any case, if ACIP members do have this type
of conflict of interest, for example,
if an institution that they work at receives money
from a drug manufacturer, they disclose it
and then recuse themselves from related votes.
And in fact, if you go to the CDC's webpage
for conflicts of interest,
it shows that one current member had recused herself
from votes on a handful of vaccines
because she had worked on clinical trials
for their manufacturers.
And so you had that, well, you also had Kennedy
who didn't provide any specific evidence
to support his claim saying that most of ACIP's members
have received substantial funding
from pharmaceutical companies,
including those marketing vaccines.
But he actually seemingly had to go back to 1997
to find a specific example that he said showed conflicts
of interest resulting in the approval of a vaccine
that shouldn't have been.
With him also pointing to a 2009 HHS inspector general
report, which he said showed 97% of committee members
failed to complete full conflict of interest forms,
but that's misleading.
Or because in addition to being just from so, so long ago,
that report, it covers all 17 CDC advisory committees
that existed at the time, not just ACIP.
And it didn't find serious conflicts among most members.
It is found that 97% of the financial
disclosure forms filed contained errors or omissions like putting information in the wrong
section or forgetting the initial and date amendments to the pages. But of course that's
also not the only thing that Kennedy said that faced resistance. For example, you also had him
claiming that the committee quote has never recommended against a vaccine even though it was
later withdrawn for safety reasons and that quote, it has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given
to babies and pregnant vaccine products given to babies
and pregnant women and adding,
to make matters worse,
the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors,
violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency,
crucial to maintaining public trust.
But you know, with all that,
while individual work groups may meet in private,
the meetings of the committee,
as well as materials presented to the members,
they're public.
And similarly, while it's true that the committee
doesn't really straight up recommend against vaccines, it's important to note
that its role is to come up for guidance
for vaccines already licensed or authorized by the FDA.
And then finally, contrary to what Kennedy has argued,
ACIP hasn't always just acted as a rubber stamp.
With, for example, in certain cases,
it recommending more restricted use of vaccines
and their approval under the FDA would permit.
And notably, the committee is scheduled to meet
from June 25th to the 27th to discuss vaccinations
for COVID-19, RSV, influenza and more.
And with that, you have the HHS saying
that meeting is still gonna happen
and they've given the agency roughly two weeks
to fill its advisory panel.
A move that had at least one law professor
specialized in public health law saying,
appointing people this fast means
they were not properly vetted
and there is no real time to check conflict
of interest issues.
And adding this will not restore trust in vaccines
and is not designed to do so.
And that is we've been seeing similar
and even far harsher criticism from doctors, professors,
former officials, and virtually every reputable health
organization in the country.
For example, one former director of the CDC saying,
we'll look back at this as a grave mistake
that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor,
undermined public trust, and opened the door
for fringe theories rather than facts.
And adding, if this leads to vaccines not being recommended,
millions of people could lose access,
pay more for vaccines and for preventable illnesses,
and children will be at greater risk of diseases
we haven't faced in decades.
And that is, you're the president
of the American Medical Association saying,
this upends a transparent process
that has saved countless lives.
And the chair of the Infectious Disease Committee
for the American Academy of Pediatrics claimed,
this is an unmitigated public health disaster.
With him adding, Mr. Kennedy has no interest
in science or saving lives.
We have entered into a dangerous time
for the health of the country.
But of course, with all of this,
we have to combine it with the context
of everything else that's happened.
Because before this, Kennedy already took the unusual step
of changing COVID-19 recommendations
without first consulting the committee.
He's also cut billions of dollars to state health agencies,
including funds needed to modernize state programs
for child immunization.
And he's done things like halted funding
for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy
and canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines
to prevent future pandemics.
So obviously a lot of people have been concerned
and worried about the direction we're heading,
but I mean, what we're seeing here,
it's been described as one of the most troubling moves yet.
But then from that, as we begin winding down today's show,
I wanted to talk about a different kind of news.
It's a human interest piece,
and it's centered on Glenn Edwards.
So it starts all the way back in November of 2023,
when a massive fire broke out
at the Station Hill development site in Reading in the UK.
And at the peak of the blaze,
more than 50 firefighters were on the scene
from fire stations across the country,
with video then capturing a crane operator
rescuing a guy trapped on top of a burning building.
And that crane operator, it was Glenn Edwards.
And it certainly wasn't easy.
With Glenn saying, you couldn't see anything
because of the smoke and he relied on radio communication
in order to position the rescue cage correctly.
With Glenn adding, I had so much noise up there
with the alarms, it was quite buzzy.
When I landed the rescue cradle as he just touched down,
I could feel the weight, I could hear the crowd,
but I couldn't see him.
I was 100% blind.
As the smoke cleared, both literally and figuratively,
Glenn was hailed a hero.
The chief fire officer at Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue
saying that without Glenn's quote,
incredibly skillful rescue,
this could have turned out to be an entirely different situation.
With Glenn then getting called the Bruce Willis of Reading,
and he was honored with a string of awards,
including the Commendation Medal
by the British Fire Services Association.
But all of this is he's not quite on board
with the title of hero with him saying
in an interview with BBC.
Do you feel like a hero?
No, not one bit.
I've done what I had to do.
You know, I was there, I was in the crane.
I got the man, you know, he went home
to his friends and family.
Yeah, and happy days, you know,
that's the main thing at the end of the day.
Right in the months following the rescue of GoFundMe
was launched to thank Glenn for his service
and it raised thousands of pounds.
But that also wasn't the only time that Glenn was
in the news because the next time he made headlines
for a much less positive reason and that was,
he was diagnosed with cancer.
With Glenn telling the BBC,
I had cancer in the tongue in February
when I rescued the guy.
I got that cleared up with radiotherapy,
but then in the next breath, after I had a full body scan, the consultant told me that I rescued the guy. I got that cleared up with radiotherapy, but then in the next breath,
after I had a full body scan,
the consultant told me that I had cancer
in my spine in five places.
I've been undergoing chemotherapy,
but it has grown to cut a long story short.
And that is actually where the second half
of this story comes in,
because upon learning of Glenn's diagnosis,
you had a local charity by the name
of Bucket List Wishes stepping in.
And they're this charity that grants wishes
for terminally ill adults that live around Berkshire.
It was founded by a woman by the name of Jeannie Hackett
after her mother received a terminal diagnosis
and Jeannie's continued making the wishes
of other adults come true in her mother's memory.
And so for Glenn, you know,
rather than having a lavish vacation or some bougie cruise,
his wish was just some help moving house,
maybe some new floors.
And that it's exactly what Bucket List Wishes did,
organizing the whole move for him,
getting Glenn and his wife new floors,
blinds, an oven, a new shed,
and even some vouchers or groceries and bedding.
We've even thrown in a fishing expedition for Glenn.
And so you had Jeannie saying,
we found this humbling,
but also we've been emotional about this
because we know how much of a hero Glenn is.
Hopefully we have gone over and above
and made a quite simple,
but stressful thing of moving a lot easier for him.
And it appears it's done exactly that
with Glenn calling Jeannie and Angel and saying,
what she has done for us has been unbelievable.
She has taken so much pressure off us.
And so with that, while obviously this deals
with a sad situation, I just wanted to take the time
to say that Glenn and Jeannie and bucket list wishes,
you are our Banffs of the day.
Bad things happen in this world
and that's where our attention naturally gravitates to
and it's what we're fed every day.
And I think it's important to also take a moment for those that try to do something in the face of all
that. But that my friends is the end of today's show. Thank you for watching and remember
I'll see you tomorrow because I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern 3 p.m. Pacific. Love you, mean it, bye.