The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.16 The Problem with Linus Tech Tips Controversy, Harassment Allegations, and Response... & Today's News

Episode Date: August 16, 2023

Click my CoPilot link https://go.mycopilot.com/Philip-De-Franco or use the QR code on screen to get a 14-day FREE TRIAL with your own personal trainer Catch up on our latest PDS: https://youtu.be/ANxqoVANd8M Check out our daily newsletter! http://dailydip.co/pds  Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillydefranco/?hl=en  –✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 0:00 - Linus Tech Tips Faces Scrutiny About Company Ethics, Possible Theft, Harassment  10:58 - Bradley Cooper Faces Backlash For Prosthetic Nose in “Maestro” 12:41 - Sponsored by CoPilot  13:40 - Hawaii Wildfires Likely Caused by Downed Power Lines 15:44 - Mother of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Teacher Pleads Guilty to Felony Child Neglect 16:37 - Rep. Ronny Jackson Yells at Police In Disputed Footage 20:53 - Documents Expose Horrible Conditions, Neglect, Abuse in ICE Detention Facilities 23:44 - Pride Month Backlash Hurt Target Sales For More Background on Linus Tech Tips: Gamers Nexus’ First Video: https://youtu.be/FGW3TPytTjc Gamers Nexus’ Follow Up: https://youtu.be/X3byz3txpso Linus Tech Tips Response: https://youtu.be/0cTpTMl8kFY Madison Reeve’s Allegations: https://twitter.com/suuuoppp/status/1691693740254228741?s=20  Check the Pinned Comment for Their Answers to Our Questions!  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxx Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Star Pralle, Chris Tolve  ———————————— #DeFranco #LinusTechTips #GamersNexus ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're talking about the growing laundry list of accusations against Linus Tech Tips, what happened to the mom of the six-year-old that shot their teacher, the messy body cam footage of Ronny Jackson has people divided, we now have a major clue of what started those devastating wildfires in Maui, or people are losing on Bradley Cooper today. We're talking about all that and so much more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news, so buckle up, hit that like button, let's just jump into it. Starting with, the biggest controversy and scandal on YouTube right now is that one of YouTube's most famous

tech channels has faced serious scrutiny over the last few days over allegations of theft, workplace harassment, conflicts of interest, and serious flaws in its review videos. And at the center of all this, you have Linus Tech Tips, a really Linus media group, LTT's parent company, that also runs things like their labs, which is meant to be a team of engineers that allow LTT to review tech products at a much higher standard. And it appears that all their recent problems kind of started because of this clip from a tour of their labs when an engineer said, the difference between us and somebody like Gamers Nexus or Hardware Unboxed is we test new components, new tests every time. Which I will say, if you're not into the whole tech part

of YouTube, you probably don't know those names, but you at least need to understand they are two sizable channels that are well known for how well they test and benchmark tech products like PC graphics cards. Some could see this like, if you're watching this, you respect me. I all of a sudden randomly throw shade to someone else in the space that you respect. It might be kind of like that. You know, that led to a back and forth where hardware unboxed defended itself in a series of lighthearted tweets. And then Linus responding to that on his live show. But where things really blew up is when Gamers Nexus released a 44-minute video on Monday to directly discuss the comparison. And in it,

they argue that LTT cares more about releasing as many videos as possible over anything else. And it wasn't like they were just throwing out baseless accusations. Regarding the extremely fast schedule of LTT, they point to a video where employees flatly state that they wish projects weren't so rushed and that the schedule was loosened a bit. And as for the bad data, they gave multiple examples of data being incorrect. But we're not going to get into every technical detail because you can go watch their video. I'm gonna include links down below.

But some of the mistakes included things like getting the names of products they were viewing wrong, putting the wrong specifications on screen, or not having consistent testing parameters for products that lead to faulty performance data. Or things like one graphics card having a 300% performance increase over its predecessor. Or something that's a major outlier,

stand out, it might raise some eyebrows. And with that, LTT does correct the videos, but in ways that Gamers Nexus argues is ineffective or unethical. If an error is caught after being posted online, they sometimes use YouTube's edit tool to insert new graphs. Then there are on-screen fixes that are done prior to uploading,

meaning LTT knew about the error and Gamers Nexus argues. These have to be used carefully because most people won't read them. They might just listen to the video or kind of tune it out. So these shouldn't be used for undoing a criticism that was unfair. Or like if they said that something about a product sucked, but it was actually because they used it wrong. And speaking of product reviews, ethical concerns were also raised about Linus and the company's connections with certain manufacturers. Things

like LMG makes a screwdriver and has a branding deal for it with Noctua, a cooler manufacturer that they also regularly review alongside competitors. Or that Linus has invested a sizable amount of money into the laptop maker framework, and all of that culminating in a situation that many feel encapsulates the issues with LTT's reviews. Or like they recently put out a video about a GPU water cooler block by the small company Billet Labs. The thing was reportedly a prototype, but the MSRP of the final product was very expensive and nearly a thousand dollars. The item was also made for a specific graphics card, but Linus tested it on a newer model and argued that it should work close enough. And that incompatibility actually led to issues

trying to attach the prototype and test it, leading Linus to say that no consumer should ever buy it. And even LTT fans at the time were upset at how Linus gave a conclusion despite improper testing. Or some felt it was something like trying to review a sports car by taking it off-roading and then concluding that it just sucked. However, with that, Linus doubled down

on his live show, arguing. Nothing would have changed. Nothing that obeys the laws of physics would have changed the conclusion. With him then going on to say, But I'm not, I don't know, guys. I'm not sure if I can apologize for not spending another $100, $200, $300, $500 of various people's time sitting and engineering a workaround to a product that no matter the result, nobody should buy. And so for many people, that last comment kind of cemented

that Linus cared more about getting videos out quickly rather than getting them right. But that was just the tip of the iceberg for the issues with Billet Labs, because after that review, the company asked for the prototype back in order to send it to other reviewers. However, that never ended up happening, and months later, the item was auctioned off for charity at LTS, where that recent expo where the clip starting this firestorm came from. And Billet Labs was understandably upset, as LMG had reportedly promised to send the card back to them. So the bad review and having their prototype sold felt like a kick while they were down. And all that leading to this huge public outcry with fans and critics ripping into Linus, saying he stole the prototype.

And that was in addition to not getting their data right when consumers rely on their reviews when buying products. We then saw Linus replying in a forum post with that not going well. In it, he got blasted for writing, I still disagree that the Billet Labs video is an accuracy issue, saying it's more like I just read the room wrong. And to that, Gamers Nexus and others pointed out that as a review channel, their conclusion should be objective and not based on what the room wants to hear. Although Linus did concede that a writer on the team actually told him

that the video should have been redone properly. Now, just because it's an expensive high-end product, it doesn't mean that fans may not wanna see it ripped. I kind of think of it how like many fans of Top Gear can't afford supercars that they show, but they still like to see high-end stuff performed. But with all this, one of the big things that got him completely ripped into

was saying that he was disappointed with Gamers Nexus' piece, saying that they should have reached out to him for a comment, and saying if they had done so, they would have learned that there was already an agreement to pay for the prototype, or like the fact that we didn't sell the prototype, but rather auctioned it for charity

due to a miscommunication. While there, it seemed like maybe he was trying to point out the difference between like stealing something and there being a miscommunication and it got auctioned off it appeared that most people kind of locked on to and just mocked the idea that there was a difference between selling and auctioning. However with all that we saw Billet Labs telling Gamers Nexus that much of that just wasn't true. Linus's statement makes it seem like there was an agreement already in place to remedy the issue and Gamers Nexus released its Monday video. Apparently the email to compensate Billet Labs wasn't sent until hours after the video went live. But overall, Linus's response there was seen as kind of lacking and defensive,

rather than owning up to what many said were valid criticisms by Gamers Nexus. And with that saying, by attacking Gamers Nexus, Linus was just shooting the messenger. With that said, this morning they actually uploaded a video that tackles many of the accusations that were brought up, though not all. First off, the company is putting production on hold for at least the next week to discuss all this and the steps moving forward. You had Linus apologizing for how he handled the situation and saying it was pretty much his fault as he was CEO at the time.

And since then, and not because of the situation, Linus and his wife Yvonne had hired a CEO to take over many day-to-day operations, and he promised to shake things up in this video. Additionally, Yvonne announced that there would be a reduction in uploads moving forward and that production was being halted for at least a week to discuss systems at the company and adding,

"- Staying relevant on YouTube is hard for everyone, but we aren't fighting for survival anymore, and we don't need to run at this pace. In fact, in some ways, it's our efforts to keep doing more and keep doing better that have created our current situation. She also said that it was wrong to not spend $500 to properly retest a product and that halting production wouldn't mean hardships for their massive team. Other members of the team spoke as well, such as the head of their labs department, to clarify some testing issues and state that things were moving to make their testing more reliable. As for many of the on-screen mistakes, such as questionable graphs or asterisks when

they named products wrong, they said that's often a communication breakdown between the writing team and the editing team, with their head writer pointing out that often fixes would get flagged, only for them to not end up in the final video. There have been times when an internal video review caught an incorrect graph, resulting in new versions of the graph being created, only for those new graphs to not be put in the video. Just about every error that has appeared in a video in the past year has directly resulted in a process change

designed to prevent that specific issue from ever happening again. While we talked about a lot more, the most important thing was probably the Billet Labs fiasco. But I'm saying that somewhere along the way, internally, it wasn't made clear that the item was to be sent back.

And then after it was sold, someone at LMG did promise to reimburse Billet Labs prior to Gamer Nexus' video, kind of. Even though I replied two hours later, apologizing and offering to pay for the component, I forgot to actually include our contact in that email. Right, ends up that while they CC'd all of the LMG team, they forgot to actually add Billet Labs to the two box.

Went to our procurement team instead of Billet Labs. And in the end, Billet claims that while LMG found the buyer of the original block, they prefer to get paid for a new one because of how long LMG has taken to send other items back to them and can't guarantee that the item isn't damaged. And overall, it kind of looks like the video was well received. Although you definitely had people who were upset that they monetized the video and made jokes about selling products in it, some even making compilation videos of the parts that upset them.

Now, at this point, you might think the story is done, but, you know, when it rains, it pours. What we're seeing is in LMG's case, there's also former employee Madison Reeve coming out and saying that the work environment there is toxic and harbors harassment. And some of her accusations are in the same vein as prior criticism of the company, like an outsized emphasis on putting out as much content as possible. But she also detailed far more concerning allegations things like saying that she was told by management that her work was quote dog shit or that she needs to be more assertive

only for her to be reprimanded when she was but the worst of these claims by far was that of harassment or we're talking about claims of co-workers calling her homophobic slurs asking her to twerk for them and groping her there were also claims that people asked her about her sex life and that i was told that certain issues were sexual tension and I should just take the co-worker out on a coffee date to ease it out. And she claims that her concerns were largely brushed under the rug or ignored and she finally quit after a colleague told her, I think the reason you try to be funny is because you lack any other skills. And so with that, you've seen some saying these allegations line up with an image of blindness that is anti-worker. Right, and this

because they say in the past he's made statements about not liking certain unions and feeling that if his employees unionized, it meant that he failed as a business owner. There are also some details out there about allegedly leaked contracts that prohibit employees from speaking about their salaries with co-workers, which is something that, like, if you were based in California, is highly illegal here, though it's probably just unethical at worst in British Columbia, where LMG is based, because that province has no laws explicitly protecting a worker's right to discuss salary with colleagues. And the final and last second update to this story is before posting, LMG got back to us. I'm going to include the full FAQ of responses in the top pinned comment of this

video, but I wanted to include at least their responses to the two last controversies. The first being their response to what are your thoughts on members of the community feeling this initial controversy wasn't being taken seriously due to things like jokes about store plugs, kicks to sponsors, and the video addressing the situation being monetized, to which they said, we're LMG. Even when our content is serious, we have elements of fun in it. This has been our style, and we wanted to send a message to our community that just because the suits are talking about workflows and processes, the fun isn't going anywhere. With an adding, jokes aside, we have a decade-long unbroken streak of daily videos. To pull back this dramatically, I think,

shows how seriously we're taking community's feedback. And saying we didn't include a sponsor for the video, and we heard the feedback from our community and from our team internally, and we turned off AdSense monetization for this video. And to the question, and saying, to see if we can corroborate any of what's being said. Furthermore, we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publishing the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this. When we are ready, we will release a statement.

For now, we would ask that we allow our team the time they need to be as thorough as possible, as this will take some time and due to our employee confidentiality responses, we may not be able to provide a comprehensive statement until we've completed our investigation. We pride ourselves on maintaining a safe and inclusive environment, saying in addition to our existing report systems,

both anonymous and otherwise, we've proactively reached out internally today to encourage members of our team to report any workplace bullying or harassment they might be experiencing so we can take quick and decisive action. In closing, we are halting video production and will be reducing our video output in the coming weeks as we strive to provide improvements to processes and work-life balance for our employees. But ultimately, that is where we are with this developing situation. We're going to keep our eyes on it. And without a doubt, there's going to be more to talk about in the coming days. But in the meantime, I got to pass the question off to you, whether you're a part of these communities, if you're in this tech space, or you're completely outside. And I'd love if you'd let me know that in the comments. What are

your thoughts, feelings, takeaways? Where do you stand on this and why? And then Bradley Cooper is being accused of anti-Semitism. The trailer for his latest movie, Maestro, just came out. And in it, Bradley plays famed conductor Leonard Bernstein. And actually, in addition to playing the lead role, Bradley directed, co-wrote, and produced the film. And with this, we've seen a lot of backlash surrounding the fact that it looks like Cooper's wearing a prosthetic nose

to play Bernstein, who is Jewish. And so because of that, you have people saying that by doing this, Bradley, who is not Jewish, has reduced Leonard Bernstein to an antisemitic trope and caricature. And some writing things like, the debate over whether it's okay

for non-Jewish actors to play Jewish roles, or whether Jewish actors should be favored for those roles is complicated. But giving an actor a literal prosthetic nose to play a Jewish man feels like the grossest possible manifestation of it. And there's never an excuse for using a prosthetic nose to portray a Jewish person. It's just a vile stereotype that we must eliminate from our society. Some speaking on the history of this and noting, the quote, big nose stereotype for Jews comes from Nazi propaganda meant to dehumanize Jewish people.

Others also saying the whole situation is made even more baffling by the fact that actually if you look at old photos of Leonard Bernstein from when he was young, Bradley Cooper could actually look more like him without the prosthetic. You also saw a number of people angry because reportedly before Bradley Cooper was selected to play Bernstein, Jake Gyllenhaal, who is Jewish, was hoping to make a biopic about him, though Jake ended up losing the rights to Bradley and his team, with him eventually telling Deadline that he wished them the best on the project. But the idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years. So you saw some people frustrated

there, though you did have people defending Bradley. And among those, you had Leonard Bernstein's kids, who put out a statement this morning saying that Bradley included them in every step of the filmmaking process, and added, It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance and were perfectly fine with that. We're also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well. While we've seen many people glad that the family weighed in here, giving their remarks, saying, you know, their opinion matters almost the most. Still, for others, they don't think the statement

sits well with them. Which is why I'm going to pass the question off to you. What side of this do you land on and why? And then, y'all, working out consistently can be so hard. But seeing some results really keeps you going. And so I want to take a second to thank Copilot for helping me through that journey and for being the sponsor of today's PDS. Because Copilot makes working out easy. Their coaches are able to schedule workouts

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You know, the first step is so simple. You just start with an onboarding call and you connect to groceries that over deliver. Link in the description or use the QR code on screen to get a 14 day free trial with your own personal trainer. Cause y'all copilot is the doable way to start and stick with your fitness goals. Between my coach and the app, it helps me stay consistent and work harder. And then the Hawaii wildfires. If we were unsure exactly how everything started, this new video overwhelmingly points to one culprit. And this comes from Jennifer Pribble, a senior research coordinator at the Maui conservation center who narrates security footage from 10 47 PM, August 7th. There's a flash. And I think that's when a tree is falling on a power line. The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire. And according to experts, that bright light that you saw was probably an arc flash,

which is what happens when a power line comes in contact with vegetation or another line or gets knocked down, releasing power, usually through sparks. And at that exact moment, according to Whisker Labs, a company that monitors electric grids across the U.S., 10 sensors in the region where the conservation center is located recorded a significant incident in the grid owned by Hawaiian Electric, which serves 95% of the state's residents.

And a few hours later, after that fire had quickly eaten through thick trees, dead branches, and eucalyptus-flecked gulches, another one ignited next to an electrical substation in Lahaina after a bright flash. With all this mounting evidence strongly suggesting that these and other wildfires, which are now responsible for at least 106 confirmed deaths, were spiked by Hawaiian Electric's infrastructure.

And with this, you had eight residents telling the Washington Post that they had long raised concerns with the company about its aging poles and power lines strung across Maui, which notably in places is thick with drought-stricken trees, brush, and grasslands. One woman even saying that she and her neighbors sent videos to the utility company of low-hanging lines and trees, adding that there had actually already been fires from electrical equipment in the past, but responders had always put them out quickly. And four days before the fires broke out, despite multiple warnings,

Hawaiian Electric reportedly failed to cut power ahead of the windstorm. And this, even as other utilities in states like California, Oregon, and Nevada had done so following infernos caused by electrical equipment in their communities. And documents reportedly show that Hawaiian Electric was aware that a power shutoff was an effective strategy, but had not adopted it as part of its fire mitigation plans. Which you could argue makes sense from a financial perspective, since one, it's bad for profits, and two, if there ends up being no danger, then customers lose electricity for no reason. But obviously, that was a horrible decision that backfired. So in addition to the general anger and shock of this news, we saw Hawaiian Electric stock

plummet nearly 40% yesterday, S&P Global downgrading the company's credit rating to junk. Some law firms have also now filed a class action lawsuit against the company, but we may not get an official confirmation of the fire's cause until the government completes its investigation. And then a six-year-old shot his teacher. Remember when we talked about that earlier this year? Back in January, that first grader brought a gun to school, shot his teacher, Abby Zwirner. One of the biggest questions on everyone's mind being, what type of repercussions were going to happen to the parents of the shooter?

Well, we now know with the boy's mother, Deja Taylor, pleading guilty to felony child neglect yesterday. And as part of her plea deal, the misdemeanor charge of reckless storage of a firearm was dropped. The prosecutor is agreeing to only seek six months in jail, but ultimately it comes down to the judge. Because the six months is essentially a recommendation, and the judge can do what they want. And the maximum sentence here is up to five years in prison. Also, yesterday, we learned how the boy got the gun in the first place. According to Joshua L. Jenkins, the assistant attorney at Newport News Commonwealth, the gun was stored in Taylor's purse on top of a dresser.

So the boy just pulled out a drawer and climbed up the dresser to reach the top and take the gun from his mother's purse. But as far as the actual punishment, Taylor's sentence is set for late October. So we're gonna have to wait to see what happens there. And when we wait to see, what are your thoughts regarding not only the situation, but specifically, what do you think the punishment should be? And then let's talk about this messy body cam footage of Representative Ronnie Jackson and the controversy around it all. Because Jackson is currently a Republican representative for Texas, but before that, he was the White House physician for both Obama and Trump. In fact, Trump loved him so much, he nominated him to head the VA,

but Jackson withdrew his nomination after White House staff accused him of fostering a hostile work environment and properly dispensing prescription drugs and potentially drinking on the job, with the DOD inspector general finding that he had actually bullied staff and made sexually inappropriate remarks, though he denied that report. And that background is said to be relevant to the story that we're talking about today because it involves a medical crisis that he responded to at a rodeo in his district last month, with police body cam footage taken at the scene appearing to show Jackson approaching a group of people around a 15-year-old girl who authorities said was having seizures. And very notably here, there is no audio for this part of the footage, which makes the story incredibly messy,

because then a few minutes later, we see the Texas State Trooper seemingly nudging Jackson and gesturing for him to get back from the girl. He then stands up, appears to get into a confrontation with the trooper, and is quickly led away by two other troopers as the girl is loaded onto a stretcher. Jackson continues to talk to the troopers, and then about 30 seconds later, two officers tackle Jackson to the ground. They handcuff him, they hold him to the ground with his face down, and about 50 seconds after that, he's seen standing again talking to police,

and then the audio comes in. I asked you to get back. No, you did not. I asked you to get back. You came in, you flew in. I did, I did. And you were a full on. I did ask you to get back.

You need to take that off, and I will take it off. And you did not get back. I will take him off. You better recalculate, mother. Multiple people asked you to get back. Nobody asked me to get back. Yes, they did. No, she did.

Yes, she did. Everybody here asked you to get back. Then a couple minutes later, the confrontation continues at another location. When multiple officers asked you to get back in the EMS. Nobody asked me to get back. Yes, they did. No, they didn't. I was talking to her about her blood sugar and her blood pressure.

You were the first mother to say something to me. The first one. Nobody did. The parents didn't want either of y'all there. We were trying. Nobody said something to me. Nobody. The first person I said.

I said, hey, can y'all step back? Nobody. The first person I heard was you rolling in. And you were like, get the back of my face. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'll apologize for it. Walk with me.

I was just trying to help. It has nothing to do with who I am or what I do. I was in the ER, doc, man. Okay, let me speak. I know you were there to help, right? But I got EMS coming on scene. I got multiple parents. Nobody was there yet, though.

Yes, they were. No, they weren't. They were just rolling up as I was standing there. I said, hey, we got a court coming. The two going on to argue about what was wrong with the girl, Jackson saying multiple times that he was an ER doctor enlisting other qualifications before threatening to call Governor Greg Abbott. So obviously, we can't hear what was said during the disputed section of the video, but the accounts of the police and Jackson vary wildly. According to an incident report by Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry,

Jackson later said that he agreed with a nurse's suggestion to put a gumball in the girl's mouth to help with her blood sugar, with authorities saying that prompted a disagreement over concerns that this girl was going to choke on the gumball because she had been seizing. Terry's report also noting that deputies said they asked Jackson four times to step back before handcuffing him. The sheriff's report also going on to say that Jackson actually threatened to beat up a trooper, and that one officer said they believed Jackson had been drinking due to his belligerent actions.

With that, a chief deputy also saying that he had seen Jackson drinking backstage at the rodeo, and Terry, who was an elected Republican, writing that Jackson later called him and told him, he would pull hell and high water and come and bury me in the next election. But a scene in the body cam footage, Jackson disputes the fact that he was ever told to back up. And notably there, two witnesses also said they didn't think Jackson was given adequate notice to back up before he was apprehended. And one saying, from our view, he never saw EMS. He was away from the patient before they showed up on scene.

Beyond that, a spokesperson for Jackson also denied the allegation that he'd been drinking and claiming that the representative was prevented from giving medical care in a potentially life-threatening situation due to overly aggressive and incompetent actions by the local authorities present at the time of the incident. And adding that he will not apologize for sparing no effort to help in a medical emergency, especially when the circumstances were chaotic and the local authorities refused to help the situation. What we've seen since the body cam footage has been released is Jackson only doubling down, saying in a post, I'm glad the video is out. It shows the incompetence of the

authorities and their complete disregard for the young girl in distress. And adding, I will apologize for my language, but I will not apologize for getting upset and speaking my mind considering the circumstances. If I had to do it again, I would still step up and act in a life-threatening situation. I will always help someone in need. I will not apologize for that. But hey, that's where we are in this developing situation.

And if we get any updates, I'll obviously keep you in the loop. But in the meantime, I gotta ask, what are your thoughts on this messy situation? And then it's widely known that immigration centers are an absolute house of horrors, but we've just gotten new details. Because after more than three years of wrangling

over a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, a federal judge forced the government to give NPR more than 1,600 pages of reports written by DHS inspectors. And they showed that between 2017 and 2019, over two dozen ICE detention facilities across 16 states subjected their detainees to abuse, neglect, and awful conditions that even led to death. Like in one Alabama facility, the White House dropped last year. Inspectors found nail clippers with blood on the blades, medical exam rooms with no hand-washing sink, and filthy living quarters. Or in Pennsylvania,

you had guards strapping a mentally ill man into a restraint chair and giving the lone female officer a pair of scissors to cut off his clothes for a strip search. And the inspector writing, this is a barbaric practice and clearly violates basic principles of humanity. Though that also wasn't an isolated instance. Right at a Michigan facility, staff reportedly locked mentally ill detainees in restraint chairs without justification and used pepper spray when it wasn't warranted. And oftentimes, reportedly, the abuse involved sexism or racism. For example, a sergeant in New York entering the female unit would reportedly greet the women by yelling, hello assholes and bitches. With multiple staff making comments like,

If detainees do not like the treatment, they should not have come to our country. And then a guard working in another unit confronted a group of men and asked, Who's the fucking pussy who made the complaint against me? And if all of that sounds like prison or jail, that's because it is. Right, even though most ICE detainees have no criminal record, local jails, typically operated by county sheriff's departments, sometimes contract to hold them on behalf of ICE. But most immigration detention facilities are managed by private,

for-profit corporations like Geocorp or CoreCivic. And because detainees are frequently transferred between these facilities, which are managed by different entities, medical records and care plans often get lost. Plus, the facilities are often located in remote areas that lack access to high-quality healthcare, so it's really not a surprise the inspector's report included numerous cases of medical neglect. Like in Michigan, you had a man sent into a jail's general population with an open wound from surgery. No bandages, no follow-up medical appointments scheduled, even though he

still had surgical drains in place. With an inspector writing, the detainee never received even the most basic care for his wound. Then he would staff at a for-profit Colorado facility, cut a man off his opioid addiction meds, cold turkey, then believing he was faking his withdrawal symptoms, including a seizure. With a guy screaming all night that he couldn't breathe, he was vomiting blood clots, with one nurse saying, he's dying, but no doctor ever examined him, and nobody called 911 until several hours later. And then eventually, he died, with the inspector there stating, almost in disbelief, it truly appears that the system failed at every aspect of care possible. And so stories like these are just one reason why activists have criticized Biden for breaking his

campaign promise to end the use of for-profit detention centers. Plus, it was the Trump and Biden administrations that resisted NPR's public records request, and that's even though Biden pledged to create transparency around ICE. Now, that said, in the White House's defense, it has moved to shut down some facilities that were particularly egregious, but a majority of the records obtained by NPR relate to facilities that are still active today. Also, regarding the contractors, in their defense, they'll claim these reports are outdated and that things have improved since 2019. But there, the ACLU, immigration attorneys, and sources familiar with the inspection process tell NPR the problems detailed in the report largely persist, with an ACLU attorney citing reports of poor treatment

and solitary confinement during the pandemic and saying, if anything, conditions have probably gotten worse. And then Target is in the crosshairs right now, and their Pride Month backlash just got so much worse. As you might remember, earlier this summer, Target saw a boycott and even had their stores and employees threatened over their Pride collection. Those threats reportedly prompting the company to pull back on a number of their Pride Month products in order to minimize the danger. That response caused even more backlash, though this time from the LGBTQ plus community, with people saying that Target was just caving to homophobic and bigoted pressure. Well, we now know that that controversy actually had an impact on Target's sales,

with them in fact just seeing their first drop in quarterly sales in six years. And Target's chief growth officer, Christina Hennington, saying today that the reaction to this year's pride collection played a role in the dip in sales for the quarter. Established brick and mortar stores saw a 4.3% drop in sales last quarter, online sales dipping 10.5%, Target even cutting its annual sales forecast for the year.

However, despite all of that, Target's profits actually came in higher than Wall Street's projections, and so their share price jumped by 5% today. But it's also not just sales numbers that Target has to worry about. The conservative legal group, America First Legal, founded by former Trump White House advisor Stephen Miller, is suing Target over shareholder losses because of the boycotts regarding their Pride Month displays, with the investor at the center of the suit being Brian Craig, who bought just over 216 shares for $50,000 in April of 2022. According to the complaint, the value of his shares

dropped to around $28,800 after the Pride Month collection backlash this year. And so the suit argues the loss is tied to the collection, calling it a, quote, direct and predictable result of management's calculated decisions to promote sexualized material to children. And the lawsuit also going on to say these false and misleading statements

about Pride Month promotions cause Target shareholders to unknowingly support Target's board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve its divisive political and social goals and ultimately lose billions. With a lawsuit asking the court to completely overthrow the company's board and management in their misuse of investor funds to serve its divisive political and social goals and ultimately lose billions, with a lawsuit asking the court to completely overthrow the company's board of directors and compensate Craig for his losses. However, you have experts saying that AFL is going to have a hard time proving that the investors' losses

were actually caused by the Pride backlash, especially as according to Neil Saunders, managing director for retail at Global Data, Target's stock price had been on the decline for a while before the Pride Month collection debacle. But here's the thing, the quarterly sales numbers we now have and Target's own admission that the backlash did have an impact on sales may help AFL's case. So on the other hand, Target's been releasing a Pride collection since 2011, and it wasn't until conservatives, including Stephen Miller himself, pushed for a boycott that the sales numbers suffered. So it could be argued that there was a lot of historical data for Target to say this sort of thing wasn't going to happen. And in fact, it only happened because of the people now suing.

But when it comes to the law, you never really know how it's going to play out. So we'll have to wait and see. And that is where your daily dive in the news is going to end today. But for more news, you need to know I got you covered right here in the links down below. Yesterday, we had a 27 minute show. And hey, if somehow you've already seen everything, don't worry, because my name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.