The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 8.6 "Logan Paul Is Trying To Silence Me" Scandal, What You Should Know About Tim Walz, Google LOST BIG &

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Visit  https://www.cozyearth.com/defranco and use my code DEFRANCO to get 40% off your purchase! Get an exclusive NordVPN deal here https://nordvpn.com/phil It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!   90 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Coffeezilla Says Logan Paul Is Trying to Silence Him with a Lawsuit 04:47 - Kamala Harris Picks Tim Walz As Running Mate 11:44 - Sponsored by Cozy Earth 12:47 - Judge Rules Google Search Monopoly Is Illegal 16:14 - Countries Want to Resume Live Nuclear Testing 22:44 - Sponsored by Nord 23:47 - Stock Market Rebounds 25:29 - Iraq-Based US Troops Wounded in Rocket Attack by Iran-Backed Militants ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino Associate Producer on Nuclear Testing: Jared Paolino ———————————— #DeFranco #Coffeezilla #LoganPaul ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. And the news did not stop newsin' today. We got so much to talk about. So you, my friend, you just hit that like button to let YouTube know you love these big daily dives into the news, and let's jump into it.

This is a news show. Logan Paul's team of lawyers showed up to silence me. That is what YouTuber CoffeeZilla just announced to the world in a video yesterday that has since blown up. Because as you may know, Coffee, aka Steven, Logan Paul's team of lawyers showed up to silence me. That is what YouTuber Coffeyzilla just announced to the world in a video yesterday that has since blown up. Because as you may know, Coffey, AKA Steven, he's made multiple videos investigating Logan's CryptoZoo venture, calling it a scam,

also calling Logan out for failing to complete his promise of paying back all the alleged victims. And back in June, Logan sued Steven for defamation, arguing that Steven's coverage of that CryptoZoo fallout was an intentional attempt to hurt Logan's reputation. But them also accusing Stephen of making those videos just for clicks and a paycheck. You know, for a while, Stephen didn't respond,

but he's now finally addressed it. The key thing is not only is he standing by his reporting, but he is now accusing Logan of filing this suit to prevent more potentially negative stories from coming out. You see, only hours before this lawsuit was filed, I had reached out to Logan Paul about a new investigation into one of his companies,

which has just been accused by the Canadian government of being a multilayered fraud in Canada. I obviously had questions, but before I was able to get answers, Logan's team of lawyers showed up to silence me. Right, and so that investigation centered around Liquid Marketplace, a platform that Logan co-founded

where you can buy fractions of and co-own collectible items like Pokemon cards. Because, you know, Stephen said that for a while he had heard rumors that people at the company may have been mishandling funds. So he said that he tried to meet with the CEO to discuss this, but then the CEO would just straight up schedule meetings with him and then not show up. And so Stephen says that he tried to reach out to Logan and Logan said that he would try to iron this out and have the CEO respond. But then months later, still nothing. And then come June, officials in Canada were already on it. The Ontario Securities Commission revealed a liquid marketplace investigation where they accused liquid

marketplace of being a multi-layered fraud, taking in $2.7 million from the sale of these fractionalized collectibles. The platform allegedly did not do exactly what it promised. Some of the blockchain tokens did not even mint. But even worse was the allegation that approximately $3 million was misappropriated from $10 million they raised of investor funds. This is a very similar claim to the one I had tried to verify. So the CEO and other executives were accused of making hidden payments to shell corporations. The CEO also accused of buying luxury goods and the company's credit cards. Well, notably, Logan was not named in this. Stephen still reached out to him because he's the face of the company. And he asked Logan about the allegations from the Ontario Securities Commission on June 26th. But before noon on June 27th, he was hit with a lawsuit.

Stephen saying, you know, he never got answers to his questions and maybe Logan had good answers. Maybe Logan is innocent here, but now the story is not about those questions. It's about why I was sued immediately after asking them and threatened if I reported about Liquid Marketplace in a way they didn't like. I believe this lawsuit was not designed to win, but to shut me up, to threaten me. We also saw Steven just slam the allegations in the lawsuit itself.

This lawsuit is not about Logan Paul getting defamed. Instead, this is about him trying to dodge accountability, victims, and blame anyone but himself for his problems, especially me. Rather than pay back his victims fully, Logan would rather publicly humiliate himself in court by accusing me of defaming him. Or with him saying that Logan's lawsuit isn't actually about the original investigation into CryptoZoo, but about two videos and a tweet that focus on Logan paying back the alleged victims. Remember there are two parts to CryptoZoo, the NFTs and the ZOO tokens,

and Logan chose only to refund the NFTs, which is a minority of the losses, and I had a major problem with that. But I'm claiming that Logan himself is referred to the people who lost money as victims, and therefore should be willing to hold himself accountable here. Also claiming that nothing in his coverage

should count as defamation because Logan had already had a bad reputation when it came to crypto schemes before all this. And then also saying that defamation involves malice and Logan had praised his reporting in the past. This journalist, YouTuber, crypto uncoverer guy named Coffeezilla, who's incredible by the way,

a very thorough, good-hearted, smart guy. Right, so with all that, Stephen claims that Logan's allegations have no merit. With that, what he says Logan does have is money, which Steven is struggling with, saying that his insurance company isn't covering this lawsuit, which is also why he announced

that you can support him over on Patreon, or he's also selling t-shirts to raise legal funds. You know, with all this, depending on where you go on the internet, drastically different reactions. Or you go one place, and seemingly a lot of Logan's fans don't care about any of this.

But then you go to Steven's video, which has passed 4 million views in less than 24 hours. And people are very anti Logan with top comments, including Logan Paul dealing with the consequences of his own actions, impossible. As well as the fact that he'd rather go through all this and hire five lawyers rather than pay some people back. Some money is wild definition of a scumbag.

And finally, legal eagle dropping the shocked Pikachu face. Right, but all of that is the court of public opinion. And as far as what happens in real court, we'll have to wait and see. And then it's Tim Walz. It's always been Tim Walz. Even though most of us did not know really who he was until like the last two weeks.

I mean, the man called some Republican politicians weird on TV and he went from a virtual unknown outside of Minnesota to the Dem VP nominee. With Kamala Harris officially announcing that her VP pick is, yes, Minnesota governor Tim Walz this morning. Right, and so let's talk about who the hell is this guy? Well, for one thing, he has a super different background

and appeal from Harris, which is really the whole point here. He's a 60 year old governor who was born and raised in rural Nebraska, joined the Army National Guard after high school and served for 24 years. Then after that, he went to college, got a teaching degree, and then moved with his wife to her home state of Minnesota, where he worked as a high school teacher and a football coach for about a decade

before he decided to run for office. With him in 2006, winning his race to represent Minnesota's rural first district, successfully flipping it from red to blue. While in Congress, Walz was largely regarded as a moderate Democrat, with him being known during that time for a number of things, including his support of gun rights,

earning him actually backing from the NRA. But then notably, after winning reelection for his seat five more times, Walz decided to run for governor in the 2018 race. And from that point on, he started to shift to the left, with him becoming increasingly more progressive on a number of issues, including gun rights. With him even saying that his then 17-year-old daughter

pleaded with him to do more to prevent gun violence after the Parkland shooting. So actually, while on the campaign trail, he donated all the money he had ever gotten from the NRA to charity, and he started pushing for some gun control measures like background checks and getting rid of reciprocal carry agreements between states.

And while he now supports some restrictions, Walls himself is still a gun owner who hunts birds and is proud of it. But then also beyond guns, his progressive shift expanded to plenty of other issues as well after winning the race for governor. With Vice President Harris even noting many of the progressive policies that he's enacted

since taking office and her post announcing it. With that including tax cuts for working families, setting paid family and medical leave requirements, and making Minnesota the first state to pass a law providing constitutional abortion protections after Roe was overturned. But then also, beyond what Harris listed, Walz has enacted a number of other high-profile progressive policies. With this including providing free college tuition for low-income students and free meals for school children, legalizing recreational marijuana, and creating protections for trans folks. He's also championed environmental policies with the New York Times even describing him as one of the nation's most forceful advocates for tackling climate change. But again, what's really wild is how quickly he has blown up,

because he has gained a lot of national attention in recent weeks, largely due to numerous mainstream cable news appearances that have gone viral. With him specifically there getting traction and centering himself prominently in the national discourse by repeatedly calling Trump, Vance, and other Republican politicians weird. We do not like what has happened where we can't even go to Thanksgiving dinner with our uncle because you end up in some weird fight

that is unnecessary. And I think bringing back people together, well, it's true, these guys are just weird. And it is, you know, they're running for He-Man Women Haters Club or something. These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room. That's that's what it comes down to. And don't, you know, get sugarcoating this. These are weird ideas. Listen to them speak. They're awkward. And it stems from who's asking for this crazy stuff? Who's asking to raise the price of insulin? Who's asking to get rid of birth control?

They do these focus groups or whatever. Who's sitting in a barn racing, you know, Wisconsin, saying, you know what we really need? We need to ban animal farm. Nobody is. They're talking about real things. These guys are just weird. That's who they are. So it isn't much else. Don't give them the power. Look, are they a threat to democracy?

Yes. Are they going to take our rights away? Yes. Are they going to put people's lives in danger? Yes. Are they going to endanger the planet by not dealing with climate change? Yes. They're going to do all that.

But don't lift these guys up like they're sometimes heroes. The fascists depend on fear. The fascists depend on us going back. But we're not afraid of weird people. We're a little bit creeped out, but we're not afraid. You know, that viral appeal, it absolutely slingshotted walls into the public eye and the VP picked.

I mean, he's got this certain charisma that a lot of politicians lack. He has a kind of accessibility to him. He explains things fantastically. I think a lot of Democrats, when they're talking about policy or they're trying to defend something, they emit something that's a bit like a word soup fucked a thesaurus. And it

feels like he's got this down to earth, likable, relatable thing going. You know, as far as wider net appeal, he's a vet, a gun owner, a former teacher. He's the first Democratic VP pick since fucking 1964 that hasn't gone to law school. He's got a long record as a moderate, but he's also implemented sweeping progressive policies. And notably, he's able to speak and defend those policies in a way that I think most people understand. What a monster kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions. Right, so while he's not staunchly middle of the road

and from a swing state like most of Harris's other top contenders, the idea here is that he will actually appeal to more voters in more states. You know, rather than just targeting one key state with a more zeroed in pick who might not have as much appeal in other key states. Which you know, definitely was one of the big appeals of a Josh Shapiro as VP.

It's widely believed that the road to the White House could be paved through Pennsylvania. But also with Walls specifically, while Minnesota might not be a key state, other Midwestern states like Michigan and Wisconsin absolutely are. And there are many that believe that Walls' Midwestern roots and Big Ten platform will help the campaign a lot

in those battlegrounds. You know, that's definitely something that we've seen reflected in a lot of responses from a ton of people across the political spectrum who have those battlegrounds. You know, that's definitely something that we've seen reflected in a lot of responses from a ton of people across the political spectrum who have cheered Walz's selection. Or you've got Nancy Pelosi characterizing Walz as right down the middle, calling him a heartland of America Democrat.

But that also echoed by other moderates, including many who were top contenders to be Harris' VP and who applauded the selection, with some like Pete Buttigieg notably highlighting Walz's Midwestern voice. But then also equally important, there we saw a ton of progressives rallying behind the pick, like Representative Ilhan Omar, who represents Minnesota as well as AOC,

tweeting, Vice President Harris made an excellent decision and gov Walls as her running mate. Together, they will govern effectively, inclusively, and boldly for the American people. They won't back down under tight odds either. From healthcare to school lunch, let's do this. We also saw some anti-Trump Republicans applauding Walls' selection. Then of course, on the other side, we saw most conservatives railing against Walls, with many of course, on the other side, we saw most conservatives railing against Walz. With many of them, including Trump's campaign, painting him as far left. With the campaign spokesperson calling Walz

a dangerously liberal extremist, who is obsessed with spreading California's dangerously liberal agenda far and wide, and only pretends to support Americans in the heartland. You also had Ron DeSantis making a similar claim, calling the Harris-Walz combo the most left-wing ticket in American history. Also with that, going on to say that Minnesota

was ground zero for the BLM riots of 2020. And that's definitely something that we've seen a lot of other Republicans seizing on. But I'm arguing that he didn't respond fast or strong enough to the riots that broke out in Minnesota following the police murder of George Floyd. But you know, it was also something that JD Vance has already seized on saying at a rally

in Pennsylvania today, that Walls is a radical who let rioters burn down Minneapolis. But hey, with all that said, another milestone is down. VP pick has officially been announced. We have the Democratic National Convention coming up and we are what, 90 days away from election day. So yeah, now would be a very good time to double check that you are registered to vote. And if you know you're not, sign up to vote. I'll link to resources down below, but you can also just go to vote.org. You know, be part of the process, because one, this is the most important election since the last most important election.

Two, there's a lot to vote on. It's not just the presidency. There's a lot of stuff locally that matters. And three, yes, you vote for the change that you wanna see in the world, but also if you lose, you get to complain. And isn't that the most important thing, to have the moral high ground

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And also get some free Cozy Earth socks when you tell them that I sent you in the post-purchase survey. Cozier, you deserve it. And then y'all, Google just took an L. They got sucker punched and it could completely change the entire tech industry. And I'll explain, right? See, US District Judge Amet Mehta just ruled that Google has acted illegally to maintain their dominance in the online search space. And I mean, this ruling has been a long time coming. This suit was initially filed back in 2020 by the Justice Department in 38 different states and territories.

Within the 10 week trial ending with closing arguments back in May of this year. And in his ruling, Judge Mehta agrees with the government's assertion that Google suppresses competition by paying billions of dollars to make their search engine the default on smartphones and web browsers. And the ruling saying that Google spent

more than $26 billion to secure those default agreements in 2021 alone. And some of y'all may not realize, because you know, you pick and choose what you want. Those defaults, they are important and they make a noticeable difference. I mean, for example, Microsoft's Bing has an 80% share of the search market

on the Microsoft Edge browser, which actually with that, according to the judge, that shows that other search engines could be successful if Google isn't locked in as the predetermined default. Also with this, like before we move forward, you have to understand this is a landmark case with some describing it as the most important antitrust case of the century. With it certainly the biggest since the showdown with Microsoft in the late 90s. So with this, you had Attorney General Merrick Garland saying in a statement, this victory against Google is a historic win for the American people.

No company, no matter how large or influential, is above the law. And when we know that this ruling is a serious blow to Google, we don't know exactly what the penalties against them are gonna look like. And that's because the fines and remedies are gonna be decided in another trial set for early September. But I mean, we could see Google being required to break apart some of its empire

or being prevented from paying to have questions automatically answered by its search engine on smartphones. You also have others theorizing that users might be presented with a choice screen in the future, letting users know about other search engine options. And then of course, there will very likely be a monetary fine. But it could also be years before we see anything at all, because Google, of course, plans to appeal. But the company is president of Global Affairs saying, this decision recognizes that Google offers the best search

engine, but concludes that we shouldn't be allowed to make it easily available. With Google staunchly maintaining through their arguments that their success and popularity comes from customers preferring their product to their competitors. With their attorneys saying during closing statements, Google is winning because it's better. Also very notably, Google isn't alone in opposing this decision. For example, the lobbying group, Consumer Choice Center, calling it a step in the wrong direction.

And their deputy director saying, the United States is drifting toward the anti-tech posture of the European Union, a part of the world that makes almost nothing and penalizes successful American companies for their popularity. Also importantly here, the effects of this decision, it goes beyond just Google. Right, the ripples from this,

they're set to cause serious shakeups within big tech. You know, Microsoft will likely be the biggest winner if fewer people are using Google. You know, if the court blocks Google from paying to be the default, Bing could be an easy replacement for Samsung and Apple. And even if users are forced to choose, Microsoft could see substantial benefits.

For example, their chief financial officer is saying that for every percentage point Bing gains in market share, Microsoft would get about $2 billion in ad revenue. But also, you know, Apple or Samsung, they could make their own search engines rather than make a deal with an existing Google competitor. There's also the other aspect of, you know, this could have an impact on the AI race.

But you know, the likes of the Wall Street Journal reporting that if Google isn't the default search engine, more people might just turn to AI as an alternative, which I mean, was already seemingly a threat to Google's future. This just might make it a bigger threat. And you're seeing things like e-marketer, senior analyst, Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf telling CNN

that the courts could seriously hurt Google at a pivotal moment if they take away the company's default search agreement, saying its ubiquity is its biggest strength, especially as competition heats up among AI powered search alternatives. And then perhaps most importantly, this ruling could have a serious impact

on other monopoly lawsuits against Amazon, Apple, and Meta. But again, like I said, this is still a developing and complex situation. We're going to have to wait to see, you know, what happens with the penalties decision, what happens with Google's appeal, and just watch those other lawsuits. And then, so there's something that we need to talk about because it was easy to miss. Because back in June, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said something that should probably get you worried. Humanity. So you've always been picky about your produce. But now you find yourself checking every label to make sure it's Canadian. So be it.

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Refreshingly simple. He's on a knife's edge. The risk of a nuclear weapon being used has reached heights not seen since the Cold War. Dear friends, we need disarmament now. And those aren't just some empty words from an activist. The world is really in a uniquely unstable place right now because for the first time in its history, the United States is confronting not one,

but two strategic rivals with nuclear arms. With both Russia and China expanding their nuclear arsenals in recent years in Beijing, rushing ahead faster than any other country. In fact, one report back in June revealed that China had put some of its warheads into a state of what was described as high operational alert on ballistic missiles for the first time.

And so Biden's senior director at the National Security Council recently warned that the United States, which notably has already been upgrading its nuclear arsenal for years, may have to start expanding it soon if Russia and China keep doing what they're doing. But also for some Republicans, and particularly Trump's personal allies, that's not enough.

With them arguing that after three decades of restraint, the US should finally make nukes go boom again. With Trump's former national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, writing in Foreign Affairs Magazine recently, the United States has to maintain technical and numerical superiority to the combined Chinese and Russian nuclear stockpiles. And adding, to do so, Washington must test new nuclear

weapons for reliability and safety in the real world for the first time since 1992. Y'all said Christian Whiten, a State Department advisor for Bush Jr. and Trump, telling the New York Times, it would be negligent to field nuclear weapons of novel designs that we have never tested in the real world. And Trump telling the New York Times, "'It would be negligent to field nuclear weapons "'of novel designs that we have never tested "'in the real world.'" And so basically the argument is that

without live detonations, we can't be sure the bombs will actually work if we need to use them. And there, he gave two examples of newer models that would need fresh testing. You've got the W93, which fires from a submarine, and the B61-13, which drops from an airplane. But also, as he had the Times noting, those weapons aren't completely new.

The W93 warhead relies on currently deployed and previously tested nuclear designs according to the White House. Researchers at the Los Alamos lab who designed the bomb themselves say that live testing isn't necessary. And then as for the B61-13, it's just another version of a bomb already deployed

as far back as 1968. And the core nuclear parts are recycled from that old model. And then on top of that, we already have ways to test nuclear weapons without actually detonating them. It's called the Stockpile Stewardship Program, right? And it's run by the National Nuclear Security Administration or NNSA, which is part of the Department of Energy.

And the way that they do it is through simulations on just mind-bending supercomputers the size of an entire room. Like this one in Tennessee, for example, that can perform a quintillion operations per second. And the computer models are getting more accurate and more advanced all the time, thanks to data from really fucking cool experiments.

Like for example, the world's largest x-ray facility, which takes radiographic images of controlled implosions meant to imitate a nuclear bomb. Or, for example, the world's most powerful laser system, which is as big as a sports stadium that replicates the extreme conditions of a thermonuclear explosion. Or, less fun but still important, so-called subcritical experiments, or blasts that test components of a weapon without producing a nuclear chain reaction. That said, you know, the supporters of live nuclear testing claim that all these methods,

they're not actually enough to truly test whether a bomb's safe and effective. But the key counter to that is most of the experts who have any clue what they're talking about, they disagree. And then either way, you also have opponents of nuclear testing arguing you don't have to be a scientist to know that live testing's a bad idea. Just from a geopolitical standpoint,

a nuclear arms race would arguably hurt the United States more than it would help. Because for example, during the first race in the Cold War, China only conducted 45 tests compared to Russia's 715 and America's 1,030. The US is seen as being far ahead of its rivals, especially China and a new arms race could just allow them to catch up. Since you know, among other things, they have way more to learn from testing their stockpiles than we do. Also, despite its rapid buildup over the past several years, China's only gotten estimated 500 nuclear warheads, making up just 4% of the global inventory. Because you have to compare it to the 10,600 that the US and Russia have combined, which make up nearly 90% of the

world's total. All of which is why Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball writes that it would lead to, quote, a global chain reaction of nuclear testing, raise global tensions, and blow apart global non-proliferation efforts at a time of heightened nuclear danger. And now more than ever, the global balance is at risk of spiraling out of control, especially as the only remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington known as New START expires in 2026.

And according to reports, American officials believe there is very little chance of forging a new treaty while the Ukraine war is raging on. And then even if they did, there would be little point to it unless China also signed on as well, which is also another reason why diplomacy is more complicated than it was during the Cold War.

And all of this is Beijing has refused to come to the table. Also very notable is that early last year, Putin instructed the Kremlin to quote, "'Make everything ready for Russia "'to conduct nuclear tests.'" With him saying there, if the United States conducts tests, then we will. No one should have dangerous illusions

that global strategic parity can be destroyed. So largely, the ball is being seen as an America's court, which is also why the next four years of world history are gonna depend so much on this upcoming election. Because while Trump himself hasn't explicitly taken a position on nuclear testing, some of his allies have. And while notably that includes former officials that I mentioned before,

it also includes lawmakers in Congress. Right, in 2020, Senator Tom Cotton proposed and Republicans approved an amendment to the defense budget to shrink the time required for a nuclear test. And then the Heritage Foundation, right? The conservative think tank behind Project 2025, they recommended eliminating the prep time

altogether last year. With its policy guide for presidential candidates proposing a move to immediate test readiness. But most of all, Trump's own record on nuclear policy from his first term, it suggests, let's say, that he has a cavalier attitude towards the question. During his 2016 campaign, he reportedly asked a foreign policy advisor three times

why the US should be reluctant to use nuclear weapons. Not build up, not upgrade, use. And then shortly after the election, I don't know if you remember this, he declared, let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all. Then after taking office, he refused to sign the UN negotiated treaty

on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which most other countries sign. He then also tore up multiple arms control agreements, including the Iran nuclear deal, the intermediate range nuclear forces treaty, and the open skies treaty. And he would have actually let the new START treaty expire back in 2021, but he lost the election to Joe Biden,

who then rescued it at the last minute. He bragged that his nuclear button was much bigger and more powerful than Kim Jong-un's. Also, according to former chief of staff, John Kelly, Trump suggested nuking North Korea and then blaming it on another country. And there, it said that when military leaders pointed out how many people that would kill,

it had, quote, no impact on him. Also, in his nuclear posture review, the White House proposed to develop low-yield nuclear weapons, with it reserving the right to resume nuclear explosive testing if necessary to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal,

as well as formally shortening the time that it would take to resume testing from 24 to 36 months to six to 10 months. With senior officials from the top national security agencies in 2020 seriously discussing resuming live nuclear testing, which then led the Democrat-led House to preemptively block any potential funding for it. All of which is to say, you know,

would a second term Trump support live nuclear testing? Maybe, who knows? But it's important to take a look at what he has said, what he has done, the people around him, the people who have been around him, so you can make a pretty good guess. And depending on your views of building up the nuclear arsenal or even potentially using it,

that's something you should know. And then, if states are banning access to certain websites and TikTok's future is still hanging in the balance, and who knows what'll be next? And this is, you know, I think we all care about accessing a free internet, right? And well, if my assumption there is correct, why don't you have a VPN yet?

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being the stock market. With investors left and right over the past 24 hours just getting whiplash. Why do you suppose I just hurled a chair at your head, Neiman? I don't know. Sure you do. And that's because markets went from record lows yesterday

to soaring back over the course of the day and night with the Japanese stock market retracing nearly all of its losses. Now that's not to say that things might not be on the rocks for the Japanese economy as the rebound was because of its weak yen. Or with the market crashing, the yen started trading just 1% worse against the dollar. That sounds bad and is bad for everyday Japanese people, but it helps exporters a ton. So unsurprisingly, the value of things like tech companies and car

manufacturers skyrocketed, which helped rebound the markets overall. Though to be clear, that wasn't the only thing that helped Japan's rebound. But everything else will get us into the weeds. And you know, I'm trying to keep my watch time high. I will say though, the same things largely happened in the UK, Taiwan and South Korea as well. All of which were hit hard following the US jobs report late last week. Also speaking of that, the US had a rally of its own.

Although overall we're still down from last week as a recording. But really who knows what's gonna happen with the stock market, which really these days just feels like a less looked down upon casino. But as a recording, it looks good, especially since they're opening with good news from Asia and Europe. Also with this, I do want to know, like this entire 24 hour saga,

it has caused more investors to call for the Fed to cut interest rates by September. But for now, one, we'll have to wait to see what the Fed does, and two, see what the stock market does. Because again, all these reactions have largely come from just the past 48 hours. And it often feels like in these situations, you have to pull back and look at a larger time scale,

whether you look at year to date or from 2021 to now and go, oh, maybe this is less big. Like I had friends acting like they were on fire yesterday and I'm like, you're still up 15% on the year. But yeah, we'll have to wait and see what happens. But then we've got to shift gears and talk about the Middle East. Starting with the news that US military personnel

at an air base in Iraq have been wounded in a rocket attack, with at least five people being injured in that number, including both American troops and contractors. And notably, according to U.S. officials, that number is based on initial reports, and it could still change, with them also adding that one of the Americans was seriously injured. But in any case, right, this happened yesterday at the Ain al-Assad airbase in Western Iraq. And it's actually a base that's been targeted repeatedly over the past several years by Iran-backed militias in the country. And while as of recording, no one has taken responsibility, it is widely believed that one of these groups

was also behind this latest attack. Especially because these attacks have become way more frequent since Israel's war with Hamas began in October. Right between October 17th and January 29th, for example, there were more than 150 attacks on US personnel in Iraq, along with Syria. And in January, three American troops

were actually killed in a drone attack on A small US outpost in Jordan and with that the Ain al-Assad airbase It's actually been targeted at least two other times in the past three weeks There was also an attack late last month on a small US base in eastern Syria Of course all of this is happening as tensions and fears in the entire region are just off the fucking charts Especially because you know last week in just 24 hours Israel claimed responsibility for killing a Hezbollah commander in Beirut and was accused of assassinating

a senior Hamas leader in Tehran. With of course, both Hezbollah and Iran vowing revenge. The Iranian government saying that any retaliatory attack would involve its proxy forces, which include not only Hezbollah, but also Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, and these militants in Iran. Right, and notably with this,

Iran is also saying the US bears responsibility in that assassination because of its support for Israel. And so with that, it's not clear if yesterday's rocket attack in Iraq was part of that response, right? It could be a response to the U.S. carrying out a strike in the country just last week. They killed four members of Iran-backed groups. But I mean, it could also just be a continuation of ongoing efforts to target U.S. forces in the country, because there are about 2,500 American troops in Iraq. And the U.S. in Iraq, they've been in talks to get them out, but the progress has been slow, which for these groups, that's not good enough.

And their chief goal is to force US troops to leave the country entirely. You know, with all that, whether or not the attack had anything to do with the events of the last week or not, we're all still waiting for what comes next, right? And with that, yesterday we saw Biden and Harris convening their national security team to deal with all this.

And a US official reportedly saying that the Pentagon expects more attacks by pro-Iranian militias against US forces in the region in the coming days. and adding that all these growing tensions are making the militias feel less restrained by Iran to attack US forces than they were in the past. And so then with that, the US is sending an aircraft carrier, warships, and fighter jets to the Middle East

to prepare for any retaliation against Israel or American troops. But with that said, you know, a key thing is we still have almost no idea what that retaliation will look like. Right, I mean, you have Biden and Harris reportedly being told that intelligence officials expect there to be two waves of attacks, one from Hezbollah and one from Iran

and several of its other proxies. But what these officials reportedly couldn't tell them was who was going to attack first, when it was gonna happen, or what kind of attack it was going to be. Also in the meantime, it's not like there's a total lull. Right, besides that strike in Iraq, today an Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon

killed four people, with that notably happening 19 miles north of Lebanon's border with Israel, which is notable because in the past, most exchanges of fires have been closer to the border. And also with that, we've had Hezbollah launching drone and rocket attacks into northern Israel today in response, with Israeli medical officials saying that these attacks have resulted in seven people being evacuated to a hospital, one in critical condition. But then also, at the same time, a Hezbollah source told Reuters that the actual response to the assassination of their commander is yet to come. And while that's alarming, in a way what other countries are hoping that it means is that there's still a chance to stop this from getting worse.

So what we're seeing is there's this huge frantic push to stop a war. For example, you have Antony Blinken saying all parties must refrain from escalation. All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone's interest. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity. And so with that, the U.S. has been pressuring allies in the region to speak to push for peace. You know, you've got Egypt's foreign minister calling Iran's foreign minister to discuss the, quote, unprecedented and very dangerous regional escalation. And then

you've got the Jordanian foreign minister making a rare trip to Iran to try and calm things down. But Iran doesn't seem to be letting up. For example, in his meeting with a Jordanian foreign minister, the Iranian president saying that the Hamas leader's assassination was a major mistake by the Zionist regime that will not go unanswered. And so with that, while Iran and its proxies are weighing their options, Israel is doing the same. With the Israeli defense minister saying

the government is reviewing possible actions that would exact a price in the case of attempts by Iran and its proxies to attack Israel. And you know, connected to all that, you have the Israeli government coming under political pressure as well. For example, in a heated call last week, Biden reportedly told Netanyahu to stop bullshitting him.

And going further, Biden apparently expressed concerns that the Israeli PM had jeopardized a possible ceasefire and hostage deal by assassinating the Hamas leader in Iran. And then to that point, there's now new reports that Israeli security officials have privately complained that Netanyahu is actually holding up talks by doing things like reintroducing old demands that had previously been resolved. And actually, over the weekend, this leak came out seeming to show an argument between Netanyahu and the chiefs of Israel's

foreign and domestic intelligence agencies, with the chiefs accusing him of blocking the deal. And that is notable because according to the New York Times, the prevailing assessment among Israeli security officials, it's apparently that a deal could still be reached within days if Netanyahu set aside some of his conditions. And then to that point, Israel's military not being worried about politics like the PM has reportedly privately determined that a hostage deal must be finalized as soon as possible. Although with that, it should be said that it's in part because instead of Gaza, they want to focus their energy, resources, and troops on Israel's border with Lebanon. With that, then going on to show that, you know, one of the key things with all of this is that it has the potential to shape the course of the war in Gaza as well. Where reportedly the death toll has now risen

to nearly 40,000 recent strikes on schools and a hospital killing at least 30. Violence is also gripping the West Bank where Israeli fires reportedly killed 10 Palestinians, including four teenagers today. With that then bringing the total number of Palestinians killed specifically in the West Bank since the start of the war to 600.

And so ultimately, you know, there's a lot of different ways that the next few days could play out. And then with each you know, there's a lot of different ways that the next few days could play out. And then with each different one, there's a lot of different ways they could end. But of course, we'll have our eyes and ears on this. And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know what you think. Y'all, that is where your Tuesday evening,

Wednesday morning dive into the news is gonna end. The good news though, as always, is you're not gonna have to miss my stupid face for too long because I'll see you right back here tomorrow. I love yo faces and I'll see you then.