The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.13 FORTNITE BANNED! APPLE SUED! Belle Delphine & Cardi B Lead The Way, USPS Sabotage, &

Starting point is 00:00:00 Oh, I didn't sleep. All right, here we go, it wasn't much better. And the first thing we're gonna talk about today, actually this first section, let's talk about some quickie news before we get into the deeper dive. The evolution of entertainment and business news, we had Cardi B once again.

Starting point is 00:00:33 You know, we talked about Cardi this week because of the controversy and debate over WAP, but this week, also in a very interesting move, Cardi B launched an OnlyFans, easily making her the biggest A-list celebrity to join the platform. Though, of course, in the past few months we have seen massively popular online personalities join. Recently, we had people like Belle Delphine coming back to the internet,

Starting point is 00:00:51 you know, she came back with those big YouTube music videos, really all just promotion for her OnlyFans. Also other established creators like Tana Mongeau in between, I guess, partying during a pandemic, going to OnlyFans. You know, with Cardi B, it feels more significant because she said she's not really gonna be putting out adult content, saying she's not gonna be showing any T, any A, any P. So if anything, it appears that she's using this as something that's more akin to a Patreon or kind of the self-launch services that we've seen

Starting point is 00:01:17 from the likes of Ace Family and Logan Paul, which is very notable. These massive influencers do help move mountains. Or we've seen moments in the past like Insider noted that Beyonce's shout out for OnlyFans and making the Stallion Savage remix gave the platform an influx of attention, with the site seeing a 15% spike in traffic

Starting point is 00:01:32 less than 24 hours after Beyonce's mention. And so with all of that, it will be interesting to see if this new move from Cardi B lends itself to the further mainstreamification of OnlyFans. Side note, I know that I kind of just glanced over it in a joking reference to influencers still partying during a pandemic. Once again, to reiterate, to these selfish influencers

Starting point is 00:01:48 that not only did it, but then continue to do it either publicly or in secret, you be in trash and whatever justifications you have going in your head so you don't feel like a bad person, those are false. Then while we're gonna be talking about a different kind of reopening, we had AMC theaters in the news. And this because AMC announced that in the United States,

Starting point is 00:02:04 many theaters will begin opening as of August 20th. And to help incentivize people to come to the movie theater, even though they may be afraid, they will be offering 15 cent tickets. So it will be for old classics like Empire Strikes Back, The Goonies, Back to the Future, and Inception. Also, as far as how the company says that they're going to keep their customers

Starting point is 00:02:21 and employees safe, they're saying theaters will be held to 30% or less capacity with entire rows blocked toward that goal. Concessions transactions won't involve cash and popcorn or fountain drinks won't involve refills. Also claiming that AMC employees must go through daily temperature checks. Adding that individuals showing symptoms will need to self quarantine and be symptom free

Starting point is 00:02:37 for at least 72 hours before returning to work. Also claiming they've invested in additional cleaning. And as far as the customers, they say that masks will be required. And if you do not have one, they will offer one for a dollar. Though regarding the possibility of sick customers coming in and potentially spreading, on their website it just says, "'If you have symptoms such as a fever or cough

Starting point is 00:02:53 "'or have come in contact with someone with symptoms, "'please take care and come back to a movie with us "'when you are well.'" And as far as my reaction to that news, personally, I don't care about a 15 cent ticket. You could not pay me enough to go to a movie theater right now. Literally the only way I'm going is if I buy

Starting point is 00:03:08 every 15 cent ticket in a single movie theater and I go watch it by myself. Right, if they're only selling like 30% capacity, I think that's under $15. But yeah, actually, if anything, even if you're not one of these people that are gonna go to the movie theater, it might benefit you to go to the site

Starting point is 00:03:23 and see if one is opening near you. Just so you're aware of what may or may not happen near you in the coming weeks and in the precautions that you may need to take in addition to what you're already hopefully doing. And then the final entertainment news quickie that I want to touch on here is Apple versus Epic Games slash Fortnite. It all happened really fast today. You had people like Tom Warren of The Verge this morning noting, wow, Epic Games has added its own payment scheme to Fortnite on iOS. It bypasses Apple's IAP system and it's cheaper. Not sure how Epic is able to do this, but it's good news for Fortnite fans. Right, so in other words,

Starting point is 00:03:52 Fortnite changed their in-app purchasing system so that Apple doesn't get a cut, which resulted in Apple quickly responding, cool story, bro, and they kicked Fortnite out of the app store. Also releasing a statement saying, "'Today, Epic Games took the unfortunate step "'of violating the app store guidelines

Starting point is 00:04:04 "'that are applied equally to every developer "'and designed to keep the store safe for our users. As a result, their Fortnite app has been removed from the store. Epic enabled a feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple. And they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services. Then going on to say that they have benefited from the system and the fact that their business interests now lead them to push for a special arrangement does not change the fact that these guidelines create a level playing field for all developers and make the store safe for all users.

Starting point is 00:04:35 And as far as Fortnite's response to all of this, which I have to imagine they knew that Apple was going to respond this way. You saw them tweet out, Fortnite Party Royale will premiere a new short, 1980 Fortnite, join us at 4 p.m. Eastern time.'" With that seeming like an obvious reference to that famous Apple ad from the 1980s.

Starting point is 00:04:50 It's also not a complete surprise that Epic Games is doing this. The CEO, Tim Sweeney, has said things about Apple in the past light, "'Apple has locked down and crippled the ecosystem "'by inventing an absolute monopoly "'on the distribution of software "'on the monetization of software.

Starting point is 00:05:01 "'They are preventing an entire category "'of businesses and applications "'from being engulfed in their ecosystem by virtue of excluding competitors from each aspect of their business that they're protecting. And actually, a last second update to this story, Fortnite has announced via tweet, Epic Games has filed legal papers in response to Apple.

Starting point is 00:05:17 With Epic Games then releasing that short on social media and in fact, in game in Fortnite. With it closing on the text, Epic Games has defied the App Store monopoly. "'In retaliation, Apple is blocking Fortnite "'from a billion devices. "'Join the fight to stop 2020 from becoming 1984.'" And then adding the hashtag, free Fortnite.

Starting point is 00:05:35 So it does appear that this was Epic Games' way of walking Apple into a lawsuit. So this is gonna be a big one to watch in the future if we do a bigger deep dive on this. I mean, we should expect names like Amazon to pop up in this. I mean, it is gonna be important to watch this one because depending on what happens with all of this,

Starting point is 00:05:49 it has the potential to change the landscape online. Not just for big players like Epic Games, but other developers as well. You know, with that, I do wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts regarding this lawsuit, Apple kicking Fortnite out? Also, due to the sheer size of Apple and the App Store, do you believe that Apple is a monopoly?

Starting point is 00:06:04 Yes, no, maybe so, why, why not? I'd love to know. And then let's talk about more big updates regarding COVID-19 and reopening schools in America. And where we'll start here is with a clip of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a news briefing yesterday. Martin County Superintendent Lori Gaylord told me today

Starting point is 00:06:19 that she viewed reopening her schools as a mission akin to a Navy SEAL operation. Just as the SEALs surmounted obstacles to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, so too would the Martin County school system find a way to provide parents with a meaningful choice of in-person instruction or continued distance learning. And here I'll say, in addition to that just being a very stupid statement, maybe not the best thing to bring up the orchestrator of 9-11 when your mishandling and messaging of this situation in Florida

Starting point is 00:06:47 has helped result in three times the number of American deaths than we saw on 9-11. 8,764 deaths, 212 died yesterday. And those Navy SEALs that you're mentioning as it pertains to the reopening of schools are horrified and scared teachers. Right now, obviously, that's just Florida and DeSantis, though we have seen other governors

Starting point is 00:07:03 speaking out about school reopening. For example, this week, you had Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear encouraging schools to follow his order that delays in-person schooling until September 28th, saying, In my very core, I want us to get back to in-person instruction,

Starting point is 00:07:14 but to ask our kids to go in with all our teachers and faculty at a time when it's not safe. It's something that we can't ask of them, and I'm not willing to. You also had people like Texas Governor Greg Abbott taking the approach of saying that school districts themselves should be the ones deciding whether or not and I'm not willing to. You also had people like Texas Governor Greg Abbott taking the approach of saying that school districts themselves

Starting point is 00:07:26 should be the ones deciding whether or not to reopen, not local government. Also adding that the state might increase testing once schools reopen as well. And you know, when we're talking about schools potentially reopening, talking about their reopening plans, I think one of the things that's important to do is to talk about those that have already crossed the bridge.

Starting point is 00:07:39 Right, in just the past week, we talked about North Paulding High School in Georgia, for example, how several students and staff there are quarantined after the first week of school back due to reported cases. But more importantly, they are far from alone. According to a new report, it says that more than 2,000 students, teachers, and staff are quarantined

Starting point is 00:07:53 across five states. This as a result of 230 positive coronavirus cases. Over half of those come from one district in Georgia where 1,100 are quarantined after school started just two weeks ago. And these numbers are coming from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Indiana. And also, the thing is, the number of people actually quarantined after school started just two weeks ago. And these numbers are coming from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Indiana. And also, the thing is, the number of people

Starting point is 00:08:08 actually quarantined across the country is likely even higher because there are other states in these situations. For example, in Martin County, Florida, the county that DeSantis was talking about when he compared school reopenings to killing Bin Laden, you have a classroom of kids being required to quarantine after a student displayed COVID-19 symptoms

Starting point is 00:08:21 on the second day of school. And that's something that health experts really cannot stress enough, right? We're not talking about something popping up after months in a school year. We're seeing this happen almost immediately. It's like if someone fired a pistol and they're like, "'Off to the races!'

Starting point is 00:08:32 And then they shot you in the calf." And you know when I said teachers are horrified, they're scared, that's not just based off of all of the emails that I've been receiving. We're starting to see polls like 73% of teachers say that they do not think their state should reopen for in-person instruction. This is coming from teachers who also acknowledge that digital learning is not ideal.

Starting point is 00:08:47 And also when we talk about school, we should note the differences between like a high school and something for really, really young kids. One teacher in New Jersey pointed out, I know as an educator of small children, it's going to be very difficult to social distance. Even if the kids kept on their mask and didn't touch each other and stayed six feet apart, it's little things like on the first day of school, children cry, a child will ask me to tie his or her shoes. My gut reaction is going to go near that child to comfort that child, to help that child. And the risks of that situation are being further highlighted

Starting point is 00:09:11 by what we're seeing with the data. COVID-19 cases in children are up 90%. In some places, that jump is even more severe. In Florida, cases in kids are up by 137% in the past month, more than double. Once again, even if the likelihood of death is low for a child who gets coronavirus, what about the teachers?

Starting point is 00:09:27 What about the family? But hey, ultimately that is where we are with this story right now, as states and school districts make decisions, obviously we're gonna be paying attention. In the meantime, while we wait to see what happens, I do wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts regarding this whole situation?

Starting point is 00:09:39 And also what are your thoughts regarding DeSantis here? And then let's talk about the United States Postal Service. So the mail is already an incredibly important thing for millions and millions of Americans getting things delivered to their house, including important things like their medications, but even more important in an election year during a pandemic.

Starting point is 00:09:54 And when it comes to the USPS, there have been more and more concerns since May. Back in May, the Postal Service's Board of Governors, which is Republican control, named Louis DeJoy, the new head of the Postal Service. Notably, he is a top donor of Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee with no USPS history. We then see DeJoy changing things,

Starting point is 00:10:10 implementing huge cost cutting measures, a move that alarmed postal workers and their unions. We started seeing people like Kimberly Carroll, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union and a postal clerk in Waterloo, Iowa, raising the alarm, saying mail is beginning to pile up in our offices and we're seeing equipment being removed. And we started seeing more and more reports about delayed mail with people like

Starting point is 00:10:27 carol saying the new policies are not allowing us to deliver every piece every day as we've done in the past so a lot of people have seen what's happening with the usps as a continued assault by trump and his administration both on the usps as an entity itself which he has railed against as well on the 2020 election which is expected to have a lot of mail-in voting. With Trump continually spewing baseless claims that increased mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud. As among others, Axios has pointed out, fraud for mail-in voting has historically been rare.

Starting point is 00:10:53 This also according to the Brennan Center with Oregon, a state that votes primarily by mail, documenting only about a dozen cases of fraud out of more than 100 million ballots since 2000. And here's the thing, there is and should be a concern about whether states and the USPS are ready for the number of mail-in votes. If the ability and effectiveness of the USPS

Starting point is 00:11:10 is being undermined, you may have an issue. So then you see the argument raised that, okay, well to handle this, we need to throw some money at the USPS and mail-in voting, which is something that we've seen with coronavirus stimulus negotiation. With Democrats looking to get $3.6 billion for mail-in voting, 25 billion for the USPS?

Starting point is 00:11:25 And actually the reason we're talking about this is this morning, Donald Trump on Fox Business explained, no, he was not going to do that and why. They want $25 billion, billion for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now in the meantime, they aren't getting there.

Starting point is 00:11:47 By the way, those are just two items. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it. And of course, following that, there was a big reaction. You started seeing headlines popping up like, "'Trump Admits He Opposes Funding for Postal Service "'To Block More Voting by Mail.'"

Starting point is 00:12:02 You also had Colorado Secretary of State, Jane Griswold, saying this amounts to voter suppression. He also had a Biden campaign spokesperson saying, the president of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundreds of millions of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural economies and for delivery of medicine.

Starting point is 00:12:17 Because he wants to deprive Americans of their fundamental right to vote safely during the most catastrophic public health crisis in over 100 years. This is an assault on our democracy and economy by a desperate man who's terrified that the American people will force him to confront what he's done everything

Starting point is 00:12:31 and his power to escape for months, responsibility for his own actions. We've also seen congressional Democrats urging Postmaster DeJoy not to implement new directives, saying many state deadlines allow voters to request absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots within a few days of election day. So it is vital that standard delivery times remain low

Starting point is 00:12:48 and pricing remain consistent with past practices to which election officials and voters are accustomed. Now understand this is still a developing story. We're gonna be keeping our eyes on this, but if there is a place that I can end this, I know there's a lot of chaos, confusion, a lot of noise, a lot of uncertainty right now. I also think some people are being lulled

Starting point is 00:13:02 into this sense of complacency. Maybe they're looking at the polls. Take those with a grain of uncertainty right now. I also think some people are being lulled into this sense of complacency. Maybe they're looking at the polls. Take those with a grain of salt. Be skeptical of everything and do not lose focus. As much as you can, you need to chaos-proof your vote. I'm gonna link you to a very simple and handy-dandy resource in the links down below on when and how to vote in all 50 states.

Starting point is 00:13:19 It'll link you to the appropriate application for your state. It lets you know when you need to apply by, the voting date, the cutoff for when the mail is received. And remember, I'm saying this for a number of reasons, including right now, the majority of US states require absentee ballots to arrive on election day. Regardless of when the voter put them in the mail,

Starting point is 00:13:35 regardless if it's postmarked, it would not be counted. And in fact, according to NPR, at least 65,000 ballots were rejected in the primaries this year because they arrived too late. But hey, that's a story as it is now. Some of my takeaways, some resources for you down below so you can make sure that your vote is more likely to be counted.

Starting point is 00:13:51 With all of that, I then pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around this situation? And that is where I'm going to end today's show. To the 47 of you that made it to the end of the video, of course, thank you for being a part of these daily dives in the news, being a part of this community. Also, if you're new here, join. Just hit that subscribe button, it's free. Maybe tap that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're new here, join. Just hit that subscribe button. It's free.

Starting point is 00:14:06 Maybe tap that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're looking for more to watch, I got that brand new podcast out with MatPat, or maybe you just missed yesterday's show, you wanna catch up, click or tap right there. Also, a big thanks again to Robinhoodphil.com. Click that link down below if you are interested. But with that said, of course, as always,

Starting point is 00:14:19 my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you next time.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.13 FORTNITE BANNED! APPLE SUED! Belle Delphine & Cardi B Lead The Way, USPS Sabotage, &

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.