The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.24 Indigenous Women Are Being Forcibly STERILIZED, MrBeast vs Pewdiepie's GenZ Stranglehold & More News

Episode Date: August 24, 2023

Click here https://bit.ly/3UQhPTe  and use code DEFRANCO to get 20% off, plus free shipping, on your next Liquid I.V. order. Or purchase the Lemon Lime Hydration Multiplier in Sugar-Free in stores at Costco  Check out the Vessi Boardwalk and their other styles at http://www.vessi.com/PDS. Get the style and size you want now for 15% off your entire order! Free shipping to CA, US, AUS, NZ, JP, TW, KR, SGP. Catch up on our latest PDS: https://youtu.be/E8LwjRJaesA?si=8IwkfUi3Agf5ACYi  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 - Lizzo to Countersue Dancers 02:49 - Quebec Court Allows Indigenous Women in Canada to Sue Over Forced Sterilizations 05:17 - Abuse of Disability Accommodations Prompts Airlines, Parks, More to Crackdown 07:51 - New Report Finds Youtube Is Gen Z’s Preferred Platform 09:57 - Sponsored by Liquid IV  10:45 - Republican Primary Debate Highlights  15:13 - Studios List Very High-Paying AI Jobs Amid Strikes 17:13 - Sponsored by Vessi 17:55 - Amid Crisis, Major Cities Fail to House the Homeless When Options Are Available  23:39 - Republicans Aim to Cut a Bipartisan PEPFAR Program  ——————————   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 #MrBeast #Lizzo ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're talking about how Lizzo is now suing her dancers who are suing her. Doctors in Canada are forcibly sterilizing indigenous women. We watched last night's Republican primary, so you didn't have to. Homelessness is skyrocketing, and we need to talk about the politicians who are failing us. We're going to talk 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 to support the show, and let's just jump into it. Starting with, Lizzo is suing, where a few weeks ago, three former dancers sued her for sexual harassment, creating a toxic work environment,

and body shaming. With that lawsuit being a total bombshell, because it just goes against the massive brand that Lizzo has built for herself as a body positive and self-love advocate. And with that, Lizzo denied the claim, saying that they were outrageous and sensationalized. And she now reportedly plans to counter-sue the dancers who are making those claims. And her lawyer, Martin Singer, releasing a statement saying, The lawsuit is a sham. Lizzo intends to sue for malicious prosecution after she prevails, and these specious claims are dismissed. With him also giving photos to People magazine that he says refute one of the claims.

Because among the many accusations, you had the dancers saying that Lizzo pressured them into attending a topless cabaret show in Paris. And the lawsuit claiming that this was a pattern of Lizzo pressuring dancers into situations that they were just uncomfortable with. But in the photo, you can see Lizzo's dancers smiling backstage, with the performers, TMZ, obtaining a photo and highlighting where the three plaintiffs are. The singer describing the three dancers as gleefully reveling backstage after the topless show, and also saying the dancers returned to work for

Lizzo's tour following this incident, and saying this proves glaring contradictions with what's said in the lawsuit. Though with that, you have an attorney representing the dancers here, defending them, saying, We've addressed all these instances where the plaintiffs appear to be happy alongside Lizzo during their time working with her. Of course, they wanted to keep their jobs. And so obviously, we're going to have to wait to see what happens there. But notably, it turns out this was not the only lawsuit.

Because you also now have the Los Angeles Times reporting that six months before this lawsuit, Lizzo actually had to pay a settlement dispute with 14 other dancers. And that reportedly stemming from a scene in Lizzo's documentary, Love Lizzo. One scene was shot during rehearsals for the 2019 VMAs, showing a group of dancers getting emotional as they talked about what it meant to be a female plus-size black dancer. Some wiping tears away as one dancer says, you can't let nobody see you sweat, you have to be three times better. And the dancer is saying that this footage actually made its way into the documentary without their knowledge or consent. And their manager going so far as to say the film emotionally exploited the women by using that

moment. Notably, those dancers were reportedly under a union contract for the work on the VMAs, but were not presented with any kind of non-union contract for the behind-the-scenes footage that was used there. But you had a lawyer for the production company Boardwalk Pictures claiming the footage was openly captured with their consent, adding they all knew the cameras were there, and I don't think the documentary was even contemplated at that point. But then you had the dancers claiming they didn't know about this footage until August of 2022, a few months before the film came out, because that's when they were offered $350 plus a 10% agency fee to appear in the documentary, which is an offer sources said seemed too low. And actually earlier this year,

each of the 14 dancers received settlement payments of over $7,000 each. And also part of the reason I mentioned this is that some online have said, oh, it looks like the dancers are trying to double dip here. They've been going after Lizzo before, but notably none of the 14 dancers in this settlement are actually involved in the much bigger lawsuit now. And again, for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how that bigger lawsuit plays out. But in the meantime, what are your thoughts here with the countersuit? And then there are some Canadian doctors out there that are forcibly sterilizing indigenous women, or at the very least, that's what's being claimed in a class action lawsuit that was approved by a Quebec judge. And that lawsuit being brought by two at-seat Quebec women on behalf of the First

Nation, with both claiming they had given birth five times at a local hospital, and that after the fifth, which was done by C-sections, they both had their tubes cut. But one of the women reportedly had no idea the procedure took place, while the other said she was coerced into accepting the procedure. And these women are confident

that as their case gets more publicity, more women are gonna come out with their experiences. And even their lawsuit refers to a third woman they know that was coerced into being sterilized. And with this, you might think that forced sterilizations are so rare that there can't be that many others. But when you look into this story, just wow. Because last year, a Canadian Senate panel looked into the issue and found that between 1980 and 2019, there were at least 55 cases of forced sterilizations across five different First Nations women. And I need

to emphasize at least, because other studies and experts have identified many, many more victims, including some since 2019. And one of the most famous cases, which seems to be the experience of a lot of victims, is what Dr. Andrew Katsaka did in 2019. At that time, an Enoch woman went in for abdominal pain and agreed with Katsaka to remove her right fallopian tube. But while doing the surgery, nurses heard him say, let's see if I can find a reason to take the left tube as well. And that is exactly what he ended up doing over his staff's objections and without the patient's consent at all, leaving her sterile. Now, Katsaka claims that he was just voicing his thought process out loud and that removing the laugh would also help her abdominal pain. But then an investigation found that he had made a severe

error in surgical judgment and they took his license away for five months. Although they also said they found he wasn't motivated by racism, though I doubt that made the victim feel any better. But one of the questions is then why does this happen? In the past, there was a long history of state-run sterilization programs that undoubtedly left their mark, but that doesn't completely explain why doctors still do it until even today. And so with that, the Canadian Senate's report found that a significant power imbalance between Indigenous women and their doctors played a major role, as well as the situation being complicated by language and cultural barriers. And that can include things like victims just not understanding what they're signing or other forms of communication breakdowns. Even simple things

like how we non-verbally say yes and no. Like most of us probably shake our heads up and down for yes, side to side for no. But actually for many Inuit, it's raising your eyebrows or scrunching your nose. And that cultural misunderstanding can leave some doctors right that the patient was just unresponsive and feeling like they can take the wheel. But also with that, I do want to note that does not completely answer why these cases can still happen. And honestly, I haven't been able to find a very, very good answer for that. And it might just be that there are a ton of factors all mixed together. Though it seems like at the very least, there does need to be some education, but I need to understand that there are certain things at their core that have to be changed. It's kind of like how in America, and we've done deep dives

on this in the past, black women are far more likely to die during childbirth. And then why do a few assholes always have to ruin a good thing for the people who actually need it? And specifically today, I'm talking about disability accommodations and traveling. Because there have been so many people abusing the accommodation system at theme parks and airlines, these companies are now cracking down, which is forcing actually disabled people to have to jump through hoops to get the accommodations that they need to travel that's already difficult to get to begin with. I mean, just this summer, Universal Theme Parks in Florida and California began requiring guests with disabilities to actually register before their visit with the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards. And they require travelers to fill

out an application along with documentation of their condition and the contact information for a medical, education, or government professional. With one such traveler, Amy Schinner, saying the process for accommodation for her 25-year-old son with autism was so much, and they were actually lucky to have the necessary documents on hand because they'd recently moved. But otherwise, it could present some serious challenges, And some disability rights lawyers even question whether the information required to get that card violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. With one disability lawyer in Massachusetts saying the Justice Department specifies that people should not be required to disclose the nature of their disability when requesting accommodation and calling these

requirements, quote, against the spirit of the ADA. But also understand this is not a new issue. People have been abusing disability accommodations for years. In fact, Disney had to completely overhaul their accommodation system 10 years ago because guests were hiring people with disabilities for the day in order to skip lines. And according to Lizzie Reynolds, the owner of a travel agency, there are still message boards and conversation online about how to take advantage of the system. Saying Disney knows this and they've dealt with it for years. But it's also not just amusement parks. Right back in 2020, the Transportation Department ruled that travelers cannot board with emotional support animals. That ruling means that airlines can now require those

traveling with a service animal to submit forms regarding their animal's training and vaccinations as well as an assurance that the animal won't relieve itself on long flights. Though there, every airline handles their requirements differently. But Open Doors, a non-profit disability advocacy group, works with several, including JetBlue and Alaska Airlines. And in order to travel, disabled passengers must have their service animal cleared by Open Doors and provide the non-profit with the flight information so Open Doors can, in turn, communicate with the airline regarding the animal's paperwork. Which sounds straightforward, but that process, unfortunately, does not always work out. Like one legally blind college student found out from Minnesota who was denied boarding on her JetBlue flight because of a problem with her Open Doors paperwork for her service dog.

With reportedly her dog pre-approved, but the flight information was mis-centered and no one with JetBlue or Open Doors could solve the problem. And like many people who have to go through these hoops, she was extra prepared. She even presented the necessary paperwork for her service dog to JetBlue directly, but they refused to accept it. And so she was forced to take another flight with a different airline the next day. And when she was eventually refunded for her missed flight, people shouldn't have to fucking go through that. And unfortunately, she believes that there will always be holes in the system. And over the 15, 16 years of this show, we've repeatedly said, don't be stupid, stupid. I gotta add on to it.

And that's, don't be an asshole, you fucking asshole. And then in entertainment news, what are the kids watching? And the answer to that question might be found in a recent advertiser report done by Precise TV and Giraffe Insights, where they found among other things, it is not TikTok, but rather YouTube

that is the number one preferred platform among Gen Z teens. With their survey of 13 to 17-year-olds finding that 82% of them were watching YouTube compared to around 65% for TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Though notably, this report specifically focused on gaming content, finding that 9 in 10 teenagers play video games, with titles like Minecraft and Roblox as some of the most popular games among the demo, with teens twice as likely to watch gaming content on YouTube than any other platform. When it comes to the streaming wars, 76% of these teens report watching gaming on YouTube compared to just Twitch at 34% and Kik at 20%. So the fact that Kik is so high so fast among this

demo should shake Twitch. Also, as far as who they identified as their favorite gaming influencers, those included Staples, Markiplier, PewDiePie, MrBeast, and Jacksepticeye. I mean, it makes sense. Those are absolutely massive channels. I mean, in addition to MrBeast having even more channels, I mean, just his gaming channel alone has 37 million subscribers. And of course, PewDiePie has been massive on the platform for so long, and he has over 111 million subscribers. Also, an interesting thing is, you know, this is an advertising report, so the majority of this was talking about how advertisers can capitalize on these numbers. And Precise TV's co-founder and chairman saying, while the report confirms some assumptions,

it reveals loads of actionable insights marketers have never had access to when targeting Gen Z. Even things like finding the teens are more likely to recall an ad on YouTube than any other platform. And they're nearly twice as likely to remember seeing an ad for a new video game on YouTube compared to TikTok or regular TV.

And the report also going on to illustrate the buying power these teens have as well as their influence on their parents. And hey, if there are any brands trying to get into this space, you should know Mr. Beast tweeted this morning that they have a couple videos open with open brand slots and noting that those videos do over 100 million views in a week. Which funny or unfortunately enough, when I've talked to people in the industry, Mr. Beast's problem is actually that they get too many views. Like most online

advertisers do not have the quarterly budgets to sponsor a single video at what should, what the market rate should be. But that also arguably means if you can convince the people with, you know, the, the control of the wallet to actually put a spot in a video, they're probably going to get a crazy discount because really you're talking about the viewership of like the Superbowl, if not more, especially on these new videos. And then hydration, hydration, hydration, people. I cannot stress enough how important staying hydrated is for everything to do with your body, which is also why I'm so thankful for our friends over at Liquid IV. This is the stuff that helps me through my workouts and hiking and now keeping me hydrated through this heat. So thank you, Liquid IV, for also being a sponsor of today's show. I mean,

to be blunt, Liquid IV works faster at hydrating you than water alone and has three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink. Liquid IV also provides eight vitamins and nutrients for everyday wellness and offers up to 100% daily value of essential B vitamins, B3, B5, B6, and B12. And like I said, I usually drink Liquid IV during my workouts and on hikes, but especially going through this heat wave. It's also so easy. You just tear, pour, shake, and drink. Did I mention that it tastes great? So if you're looking to keep hydrated, just click that link down below or just use my code DEFRANCO to get 20% off plus free shipping on your next Liquid IV order.

Or you can purchase the Lemon Lime Hydration Multi hydration multiplier and sugar-free in stores at Costco. And then, last night we saw the first Republican primary debate and I watched it so you wouldn't have to. And to make it more interesting, I thought of it as kind of like right-wing bachelor, seven men and one woman, all vying for the heart of right-wing America. But really, I mean, because Trump's not there, so it's kind of just one of two things.

One, it's their audition to try to make Trump go, oh, maybe I want that person as my VP. And or two, jump in the polls in case, you know, Donald Trump goes to jail. And the GOP just then has to put someone else out there because without anything else changing, like, he's the nominee. I will say, last night went away that a lot of people didn't expect. But, you know, you had the candidates. Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and then lastly, former Arkansas Governor

Asa Hutchinson. With some of them getting significantly more airtime than others, as you can see from this graph. And I immediately knew this was going to be a special kind of event because the Fox News moderator opened up the debate, strangely to some, with some lyrics from the viral country song, Rich Men North of Richmond, which notably shot to the number one spot on US billboards this week. With it becoming popular among conservative pundits for its rural working class themes and attacks on welfare, high taxes, obese people, and politicians who went to Jeffrey Epstein's island. And so the moderator started by asking Homelander how he would respond to the song. And he answered, those rich men north of Richmond have put us in this situation. And

finally, we need to lower your gas prices. And after that, well, I think everyone went in going, hey, the small guys are going to gang up on Ron. He kind of mostly faded into the background while Ramaswamy took most of the hits. I think one of the most standout clips from Ron being where it looked like he said a thing and then had to remind himself to smile. It was interesting, even when the moderator tried to provoke some of the candidates like Nikki Haley into jabbing at Ron, they dodged. And as for why, analysts guess that it's because they see him as a rival in decline. I mean, his campaign has floundered over the past couple of months from negative headlines, negative polling, and some humiliating scandals from his staff.

One of those being a bizarre video showing Ron along Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. Also, painting Trump as overly friendly towards LGBTQ people. Also, his speechwriter, Nate Hockman, allegedly posted a video showing Ron superimposed on a sun wheel, which is a Nazi symbol. With the campaign then firing Hockman soon afterward, along with over a third of its staff. But also, while some see him not being the focus of a bad thing, some argue that, you know, maybe it was

actually a good thing. He avoided getting sucked into the infighting, but still got to articulate his key policy positions. And as far as the star player last night, Ramaswamy, everyone else attacking him was arguably the best thing he could have asked for. Because not only did it put him squarely in the spotlight, I mean, this guy, what, a few months ago was polling at 1%. But with the other candidates kind of blending into this mob, just trying to take him him down it bolstered the image that the republican establishment was just out to get him which he absolutely played up calling nikki haley a professional politician and wishing her well in her future career on the boards of lockheed and raytheon you've been pushing this lie all week you want to go and defund israel you want okay let me address that i'm glad you

brought that up i'm gonna address each of those right now this is the false lies of a professional politician he also pushed his political outsider angle while proudly showing off his climate denialism i'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for so i can say this the climate change agenda is a hoax the climate change agenda is a hoax he also had some saying the other candidate who seemed to come out on top in this debate was mike pence but in positioning himself as the adult in the room and going after Ramaswamy for his political inexperience. I mean, look, Joe Biden has weakened this country at home and abroad. Now is not the time for on the job training.

We don't need to bring in a rookie. We don't need to bring in people without experience. Chris Christie also jabbing him, essentially saying he's trying to be the Republican Barack Obama. The last person in one of these debates, Brett, who stood in the middle of the stage and said, what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here was Barack Obama. And I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur standing on stage tonight. But easily, the biggest presence on the stage was the absence of the person polling number one, Donald Trump. While everyone else was squabbling about abortion, Ukraine, the economy and immigration, Donnie was presumably just trying on different

shades of red tie to wear to his date with the Georgia police. Though notably, in a very Donald Trump move, he didn't just skip the debate. He had Tucker Carlson release a pre-shot interview they did during the debates, where they're getting who knows how many actual views, X is horrible about actual view count, but even if that number is hyperinflated, it's still going to be a fuck ton of people. Though notably, at the debate, you had Pence and Christie openly slamming Trump for January 6th, and all of them supporting Pence's decision

to certify the election results that day, which some have said was a watershed moment for the race, but others argue it only solidifies Trump's position as the beleaguered outsider. Yet notably, despite all that, every candidate except Asa Hutchinson raised their hands when the moderator asked whether they would still support Trump in the general

if he got convicted. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see, did any of this move the needle? Right, following that showing, who's going up, who's going down in the polls? Because if you look online, there are a lot of people that are very confident about drastically different takeaways from last night. And then, actors and writers are on strike right now, right? They're on the picket lines, they're fighting for a number of things, including being against AI. But, as they are doing that, a number of studios are actually hiring AI-related positions, some with salaries over $1 million. With NBC News reporting they found six entertainment companies, including Disney, Netflix, Sony, and NBCUniversal, advertising at least 26 AI-related

positions recently, with many of those jobs having generous salaries of around $200,000. But some also appear to go much higher, like the technical director of AI and machine learning position at Netflix Game Studio, with a listing having a pretty wide range but getting into the seven figures. That also not the highest salary, with one engineering director role at Netflix having a range that got up to $1.8 million. And while that role doesn't have AI in the title like the first did, it mentions machine learning as one of the domains the role encompasses. Also with this, I do want to note, of those 26 jobs, it does vary widely about how much that role relates to content creation. Although the outlet did note, even for AI jobs not directly related to creating content, the job openings are one

indication of where production companies are putting their resources. And to that, I would say and argue, we need to treat AI not like it's this black and white situation. It is here, and generally it is only getting better every single day. So unless you want to be completely replaced by it, you need to learn about it and try to figure out how you can use it as a tool. Right? Like I'm not going to have chat GPT write this story up as a script for me, but I could ask it, what are several interesting angles to approach a story that starts with, and in an instant, there is a shotgun blast of ideas against the wall. Some are going to be stupid. Some I think are going to be great. A lot are going to need tweaking. But I'll share some of the more standout results it gave me. I compared

the cost savings of using AI versus traditional human teams over the long term. Deep dive into the job market. Discuss the ethics. Follow the life of an actor or writer affected by this transition. Gauge public opinion. Something I never would have thought of. Analyze the environmental impact. And I would still need to do the legwork, the fact checking, all the regular stuff. But all of a sudden this tool has helped me elevate something. And I very much believe in almost every industry out there. If you are not learning these systems, especially as a young person, it's going to be like not embracing the internet when that came out because you don't like certain aspects of it. And then this is the summer of crazy weather and getting caught in a rainstorm or on a muddy hike. It can just suck, especially

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That is a massive jump. In fact, so massive that if the trend holds for the rest of the year, it would represent the single biggest increase since the government started tracking comparable numbers more than 15 years ago. And this is not some model that's based on a small sample size. This study is incredibly thorough, with specifically the Wall Street Journal looking at available data from more than 300 entities that count homeless people in areas ranging from cities to entire states. And those entities accounted for eight of every nine homeless people counted last year. Just over halfway into 2023, more than 577,000 people are homeless. And notably, the increases that we're seeing around the country are not even. Some places have reported figures near or below the 11% national average. Like,

for example, Los Angeles County documented a 10% increase in homelessness. But then in other places, we've seen bigger jumps, like the New Orleans area, which reported a whopping 15% surge. Though, of course, these numbers are preliminary, and the final count comes later this year from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But there, it's also important to note a number of flaws in the way that HUD does its count. The department's numbers come from what are known as point-in-time counts taken on a single night. But those metrics are widely considered to be undercounts because they are highly impacted by a number of outside factors like weather or how many people even volunteer. But regardless of the exact final count number,

it is clear that the problem is getting worse. And if you live in a city in America, that's something you can probably back up with your own anecdotal evidence. Now, as far as what is driving these historic increases, advocates and government officials say the biggest factor is the same one that's been driving up homelessness for years, high housing costs. The cost of rent across the United States hit a record high last year, with Redfin finding that listed rents for available apartments skyrocketed 15% from the year before nationally. And that is median listed rents for those available units rose above $2,000 for the first time ever. And the same is true for housing prices, which also reached a record high last year. Data from the National Association of Realtors saying the median home sale price climbed more than 10% from 2021. So that alone is helping make the crisis worse, but it's also

just part of an ongoing trend. With experts saying that what we're seeing right now is different because those high costs are having a much bigger impact now that the pandemic era policies have ended. We're talking about those eviction bans, $46 billion in emergency rental assistance, as well as increases in unemployment, food stamps, and child care tax credits. There was a ton of support for people who were already struggling, and for those who were on the brink of homelessness, the ending of all those programs pushed them off the edge. Please understand, this is not me exaggerating, this is not hyperbole, it is not me catastrophizing. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that an increase of just $100 in the median U.S. rent is connected to a 9% spike in homelessness.

And for many people, this is not a temporary situation that we're talking about. According to HUD data from last year, over 138,000 people were chronically unhoused, which means they were either homeless for a year or more or have been homeless on and off for over three years. But as America continues to see this unprecedented crisis getting worse and worse, we're also increasingly seeing homelessness policies fail time and time again. And this even as millions, and in some places, billions of dollars are being funneled toward helping fix the problem. Take for example Los Angeles.

You can't talk about homelessness without talking about LA. And that's in part because nearly one third of all homeless people in the entire country live in Los Angeles. So as a result, it's widely been seen as a test case for dealing with the homelessness crisis. And holy shit, we are failing that test. Not only has LA seen increasing homelessness at both the county and city levels in the last year, several recent reports have shown how the policies the city has put in place are

failing to get people housed. For example, a new analysis by LA has found that nearly 300 apartments built explicitly to house homeless people as part of a $1.2 billion bond measure have still remained empty. And this despite the fact that the units have already been ready to move for over two months. And as far as why, an old government answer, red tape. According to the outlet, local officials and service providers said that the issues are mainly caused by federal paperwork rules and layers of eligibility restrictions regarding who can live in particular units. And understand, many of these hundreds of units have even been matched to the people who are living on the streets right now. With the outlet adding, in some cases, people have been living outdoors for months as their assigned apartment sits empty. But also, it's not just one

policy that's fallen short. Inside SAFE, the main homelessness program of LA Mayor Karen Bass, has also had issues with long-term housing. That program, which was estimated to have cost $32 million through the end of June, has provided more than 1,400 people with shelter and motel rooms. But so far, it's only been able to relocate around 8% of people to long-term housing. Beyond that, we've also seen things like ProPublica recently publishing an incredibly damning report on a long-standing ordinance that required residential hotels to reserve rooms for affordable housing. Those hotels make up around 15% of affordable housing in LA and are often the only housing many low-income elderly and disabled folks can afford. But ProPublica found that 21 of those

hotels totaling more than 800 units that were supposed to be used as affordable housing have instead been turning the buildings into tourist hotels. Also, I don't want to just pick on LA, they're not alone. Earlier this year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that while the city spends $356 million on rooms for homeless people, many of them are unfilled. With the outlet finding nearly 1,000 supportive housing units sat empty last year, which is 10% of San Francisco's housing stock for the homeless population there. Then you jump to New York City, the number of empty units is reportedly in the thousands. And we've also seen similar issues with housing existing but remaining empty in plenty of other major American cities with big homeless populations. We're talking

Seattle, Oakland, Dallas, and many more all across the country. And like in Los Angeles, while there are a number of factors keeping those units vacant, a common thread is the paperwork and bureaucracy. And while obviously this is not the magic bullet that solves everything, to have the solution right in front of you that is already paid for and the fucking paperwork is the thing preventing people from being housed, it is infuriating. And it begs the question, can the government be the actual solution here? Because they can't even do the thing that's already done. If they can't even do that part properly, how are they going to do the other stuff? They're the multi-prong problem stuff. In every election cycle, it's how we get two fucking options. One person that's like,

hey, let's try the failed policies again. Maybe it'll go better this time. Or some fucking idiot that's like, what if we just made it illegal to be homeless? If we turn them into prisoners, technically they're not homeless. And I honestly don't have an outro for this. I'm just angry. And then Republicans are threatening to withhold life-saving medicine for 20 million people. And specifically, what we're talking about today is this hugely impactful program called the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which distributes HIV AIDS drugs to people in countries that wouldn't otherwise be able to access that critical medicine. Notably, PEPFAR was actually first signed into law by George W. Bush back in 2003.

And since then, it has been massively successful. I mean, I really can't emphasize how important and effective this program has been. I mean, we're talking about a policy that has saved an estimated 25 million lives worldwide just in the last two decades. And notably, one that is still supporting ongoing treatment for another 20 million people who depend on it for access to life-saving drugs. So clearly, this is an absolutely pivotal program. And as the Washington Post explained, PEPFAR is the world's largest health program devoted to a single disease. A status that officials say achieves the dual goal of strengthening U.S. diplomatic ties and boosting public health. And adding that since it was enacted, PEPFAR has spent in excess of

$100 billion across more than 50 countries, distributed millions of courses of medicine to treat and prevent HIV, collected data that shed new light on the virus's spread, and forged durable partnerships with local governments and organizations. And it also goes beyond just HIV and AIDS, with many experts actually crediting PEPFAR with helping stabilize health systems in many regions that were devastated by HIV back in the 1990s, like sub-Saharan Africa. And that's in addition to boosting the global ability to deal with future crises. So unsurprisingly, this policy has been massively popular and has had widespread support across the political spectrum, from liberals to conservatives and even the religious right. In fact, religious conservatives actually helped give this policy the backing it needed on

the right, with Hepfar reportedly being championed by some of the country's most prominent Christian conservatives. And Vox adding, the evangelicals provided the political muscle on the right, as well as a kind of unvarnished Christian moral argument for healing the sick that ultimately got Bush and Congress on board. And since then, both parties have come together to reauthorize it every five years with no fuss, no drama. But we're talking about on this damn show, so you know something changed. And all of that changed a few months ago, right? Congress kicked off the new year. Everyone pretty much expected PEPFAR is going to pass easily. And with the GOP in control of the House of Representatives, all eyes were on Republican Representative Christopher Smith, because he

chairs the subcommittee that oversees PEPFAR legislation. And he actually wrote the reauthorization bill last time back in 2018. With Smith himself, even as recently as January, signaling that he'd once again push for reauthorization. You know, he was praising the program. But just a few months later, he and other Republicans who had previously backed the program suddenly changed their mind. And that's because back in May, the Conservative Heritage Foundation published a report accusing the Biden administration of misusing PEPFAR to, quote, promote its domestic radical social agenda overseas. And in a few lines, the author of that report claimed that that included abortion. But experts have noted there are a number of glaring issues with that report,

saying the author has very little credibility, right? He is not a public health expert. Instead, he spent his career focusing on democracy promotion abroad. Also, in addition to helping promote Trump's BS election fraud claims in 2020, he was fired from his job at USAID in 2021 for downplaying the insurrection. But critics saying, most importantly, he provides zero evidence to back up his claim that PEPFAR is being used to fund abortion.

The only so-called proof that he offered is that the Biden administration said that it will promote sexual and reproductive rights and reproductive health services abroad, which he claims is just code for abortion. He also claims that some of PEPFAR's biggest partners condemned the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,

with him implying that they're using PEPFAR funding to pay for abortions. And despite that lack of evidence, Representative Smith amplified those claims, circulating a letter back in June claiming that Biden had hijacked PEPFAR to encourage abortion overseas. And there, pointing to different organizations that had gotten federal funding from the program while also separately supporting abortion access. But there, experts say that those allegations fundamentally and possibly purposefully misinterpret how PEPFAR operates. Because reportedly, the way that PEPFAR works is that the program is funded by various governments. And that includes the U.S., with PEPFAR then

allocating that funding to partner groups that directly provide HIV aid services like antivirals and other treatments. And because some of those partner groups are focused on reproductive and sexual health, they also happen to support abortion services. With experts noting, that is totally separate from PEPFAR. None of the money that PEPFAR gives to those groups can be used for abortion services because federal law explicitly prevents foreign aid from going to those services. With experts noting one of the easiest ways to think about this is that it's similar to how Planned Parenthood works. Planned Parenthood provides a ton of different services, and abortion makes up just a small fraction of those services. And to provide its services,

Planned Parenthood gets money from a lot of different sources, including the federal government. But the organization is banned under federal law from using any of the federal money that it gets to fund abortion services. So it uses other financial sources to fund those while federal funds go to other services like cancer screenings and contraception. Which when you make that comparison, it's not surprising that Republicans are doing this now.

Because even though Planned Parenthood doesn't use federal funding for those abortions, Republicans have politicized the group and called for it to be defunded. But that's the thing. This has been known and well-established. This is not new news for Smith or anyone that reauthorized it in the past. And again, the people promoting these claims haven't produced any evidence that PEPFAR or any of its foreign partner organizations are

using the federal money to fund abortion services. Meanwhile, on the other side of this, you have a ton of officials, lawmakers, PEPFAR partners, and even PEPFAR itself having directly contradicted these claims. With PEPFAR even going as far as to update its strategic direction document to emphasize that it does not support abortion. And there, outlining the four areas of sexual and reproductive health services that it does provide and adding, PEPFAR does not fund abortions consistent with long-standing legal restrictions on the use of foreign assistance funding related to abortion. And a top White House official rejecting the claim.

We are not injecting abortion into PEPFAR in any way, shape, or form or seeking to make changes in law related to abortion. And this has also been backed up by the group's PEPFAR funds, noting that the program has strict control and transparency. And this is their examples, like this one guy who's worked closely with PEPFAR since its beginning, and who identifies as a pro-life Christian, refuting the allegations, saying he investigated those claims and added, I haven't found evidence in all the people in the faith community working on PEPFAR, overwhelmingly pro-life people, would have been the first to say, hey, you know, we've got a problem here

because this is happening, but it just isn't. But regardless, the accusations by themselves have been enough to stall the reauthorization of this incredibly important program. So as far as what happens next, we'll have to wait to see, but we've seen some Republicans, including Smith himself, floating the idea of imposing what's known as the Mexico City Policy.

That policy, also called the Global Gag Rule, bans the U.S. from giving federal funding to any organizations that support abortion, even though those groups don't use that federal money for abortion services. Also, we've seen members of the GOP proposing shortening PEPFAR's authorization window, pushing for it to be reauthorized every year instead of every five years. But there, many public health experts have said both options are just bad, saying if this Global Gag Order was put into place, numerous international groups would be cut off from a ton of essential funding,

and not just for HIV and AIDS. With a senior White House official also saying it would hurt America's ability to fight tuberculosis, malaria, and gender-based violence overseas. Now, notably, with all this, PEPFAR can still continue even if Congress can't get its shit together and agree on some kind of reauthorization. But experts still say that failing to reauthorize for another five years would seriously harm the program because it would signal to other countries that the U.S. is not committed to the program or the fight against AIDS. And there's a concern there would be a ripple effect with other nations seeing a key leader just kind of dropping out. With all that then further threatening PEPFAR's funding,

undermining the goal to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, and of course, people are going to die in the meantime. And that is where today's extra large Philip DeFranco show is going to end. But do not worry, because for more news you need to know, I got you covered right here. You can just click or tap, or I'll link in the description down below. And as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love your faces, and I'll see you next time.