The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.23 Mark Robinson "Nazi Sex" Scandal Got Worse, Skinny Girl Bans Hide A Real Problem, & Today's News

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Kickstart your passion project with a free trial today: https://www.Squarespace.com/Phil  & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase!  New Limited Drop @ https://BeautifulBastard.com is LIVE AND YOU CAN GET 20-60% OFF on Drop Week! 43 Days Until Election Day! Make Sure You Are Registered to VOTE: https://Vote.org  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Mark Robinson’s Staff Resign After Wild Posts Leaked 06:33 - Ryan Murphy & Netflix Depict Menendez Brothers as in a Relationship Together 10:04 - Liv Schmidt Banned on TikTok Over Controversial “Skinny” Content 13:05 - Sponsored by Squarespace 14:14 - Missouri Supreme Court Hearing Arguments in Marcellus Williams Case 18:08 - Over 100 Reported Dead in Lebanon as Israel Increases Attacks 21:55 - How Police Are Using Civil Asset Forfeitures to “Steal” Property CNN Robinson exposé: https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1836860054844117461  ——————————   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 Civil Asset Forfeitures: Brian Espinoza ———————————— #DeFranco #MarkRobinson #TikTok ———————————— 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 we have, let's call it an interesting show today. So just brace yourself, hit that like button and let YouTube know you love these big daily dives into the news and let's jump into it. This is a news show.

So y'all, this is insane. Are we gonna talk about how the Mark Robinson situation got way worse this weekend? Because while we did a deep dive on just how horrible this guy was after he won his primary back in March, the shit that came out and how it came out is just wild. Which again is saying something,

because to give you a very top level TLDR of what we talked about in the past, Robinson has a long history of making a wide range of incredibly disturbing comments, and doing so largely online. With this, including a whole host of different antisemitic comments and Holocaust denialism, tons of outlandish conspiracy theories

and many other remarks disparaging women, trans and gay folks, Muslims and other black people. But then we got this reporting from CNN that while it is not unexpected, is just fucking insane. With it specifically being reported that the comments that we're gonna be talking about were made between 2008 and 2012 on the porn website, Nude Africa,

which includes a message board. And there are a number of different details that CNN used to match the account to Robinson. First of all, the comments were made under the username, minisoldier, which Robinson has frequently used for other online accounts. Then of course, there's the fact

that Robinson listed his full name as well as an email address that he's used on numerous websites across the internet for decades. With this including the comments and platform Discuss, where the same email was used to create an account that also had the username, minisoldier, and even featured a picture of Robinson himself. And notably, that account still appears to be up

when we checked this morning. But then also beyond that, minisoldier shared a ton of biographical details that were shared on Nude Africa that line up with Robinson's background. Like for example, the time period during which he served in the military, the fact that his mother worked

at a historically black college and university, the length of his marriage, and his place of residence being Greensboro, North Carolina. But then, as far as the comments themselves, there were a number of antisemitic posts, in addition to the one in October 2010, where Robinson declared, totally unprovoked,

that he was a black Nazi. Also that same month, he used an antisemitic slur in another post, and in March of 2012, he posted that he would prefer the leadership of Hitler over the Obama administration, writing, I'd take Hitler over any of the shit that's in Washington right now. October, 2010 also seemed to be very busy for Robinson,

who shared the take, slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it, slavery, back. I would certainly buy a few. Additionally, he also criticized MLK Jr. and posted about Muslims using derogatory language and racist slurs. He also frequently used homophobic language.

Additionally, you had CNN flagging several other disturbing posts, like one where, quote, Robinson graphically described his own sexual arousal as an adult from the memory of secretly peeping on women in public gym showers as a 14 year old, adding that Robinson recounted the story as a memory he said he still fantasized about,

as well as a post on a thread where commenters were discussing a woman who claimed that she was raped by her taxi driver while intoxicated, and Robinson chimed in by saying, "'And the moral of this story, don't fuck a white bitch.'" Then there were also several posts that he made that appeared to directly contradict some of the extremist views that he has continually pushed

regarding the LGBTQ plus community and abortion. Right, despite repeatedly railing against trans folks in public CNN also found a post where Robinson said he enjoyed transgender porn writing, "'That's fucking hot. "'It takes the man out while leaving the man in, and writing, and yeah, I'm a perv too. Also on the topic of abortion,

Robinson has continually pushed for strict abortion bans and blamed women for being sluts. And this, even though he admitted to paying for his own wife to have an abortion in the 80s, which he said he regrets. But also on Nude Africa, Robinson explicitly said he didn't care about celebrities having an abortion, adding, I just wanna see the sex tape. You know, with this,

I'm kind of just touching on the highlights. I'll link to the full article down below, especially because very notably here, a few days after publishing this piece, the outlet reported that the posts in question had been removed from Nude Africa. Though there, they said it was unclear if Robinson or the platform itself took them down

and neither responded to requests for comment. But also, that's not where the story ends. Because just one day after that expose was published, the Washington Post reported that it had obtained screenshots of now-del deleted posts made by Robinson on the same platform where he praised Hitler's book, "'Mein Kampf'." Right, the same book that famously describes Jews

as the eternal parasite. With Robinson offering up this take on a thread, literally asking for book recommendations, writing, "'Mein Kampf' is a good read. It is very informative and not at all what I thought it would be. It's a real eye-opener." Beyond that, the Post also reported that Robinson

wrote extensively and in graphic detail about having extramarital sex with his wife's sister. Now, with all that said, as far as how Robinson has responded, he and his representatives have repeatedly denied writing the Post. In fact, he actually denied the allegations before they even came out,

posting a video vowing to stay in the race and claiming that the upcoming story was a lie leaked by his Democratic opponent. Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words, you know my character, and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before. Folks, this race right now, our opponents are desperate to shift the focus here from

the substantive issues and focus on what you are concerned with to salacious tabloid trash. We cannot allow that to happen. And folks, we've seen this type of stuff in the past as well. Clarence Thomas famously once said he was the victim of a high-tech lynching. Well, it looks like Mark Robinson is too.

But I will say comparing yourself to Clarence Thomas is a choice. But, you know, despite Robinson's blanket denial, this scandal has had a direct impact on his campaign. Over the weekend, Robinson announced in a statement that four of his top campaign staffers had resigned. This, including his top advisor, the campaign and deputy campaign managers,

and his finance director. With one of those aides also telling Axios that two political directors and the director of operations had also resigned. You also had a local public radio station saying yesterday that it had confirmed that most of the campaign staff had quit, leaving Robinson with just three aides. But despite this mass exodus, the response among top Republican leaders, it's been mixed, right?

Some have kind of been towing the line, saying that the reports are concerning, if true. Others have also defended Robinson, echoing his argument that this is all a fake smear campaign by his opponent. As far as how Trump and his team have responded, you had J.D. Vance giving the most non-answer I've ever seen in my life when pressed on the matter, saying, I don't not believe him, I don't believe him, I just think you have to let these things play out sometimes in the court of public opinion. Trump himself has steered clear of mentioning Robinson, who he previously championed during a rally

in North Carolina this weekend. Though notably, his campaign also said that they would not be pulling his endorsement of Robinson. But this also is on the other end of the spectrum. You have other Republicans arguing that, you know, he was behind in the polls before this happened and they already didn't expect him to win. But now by saying it, they're worried that he risks

hurting the party's chances in the upcoming election. With it also being reported that senior state legislative leaders have been urging Robinson to drop out over concerns that the fallout could cost them the super majority in the General Assembly. And this is also some Republicans are worried that Robinson could drag Trump down in a key swing state that'll help determine the outcome of the election

and where polls currently show him neck and neck with Harris. Which I mean, it was already kind of shocking to see North Carolina in play right now. But for now, you know, we're gonna have to wait to see how all this plays out. But then switching gears, let's talk about why people are freaking out on Netflix and Ryan Murphy right now.

Because if you haven't seen, many on the internet are furious right now over some of the incestuous implications in the new show, Monsters, the Lyle and Eric Menendez story. With that being created by Ryan Murphy, and it's about the Menendez brothers who, if you didn't know, are currently serving a life sentence over the murder of their parents in 1989. Their case back then made national headlines, resulting in a major legal saga, and has been the subject of tons of documentaries in the past. With the prosecutors

trying to claim that they killed their parents to inherit their money, but the brother is saying that they killed them in self-defense because their father sexually and physically abused them starting in their childhood. And right now, you have viewers upset that the show implied that the two brothers had an intimate and incestuous relationship. With the two brothers in one scene reportedly dancing together very seductively at a party

while people looked on horrified. In another, they kiss on the lips. And at one point, the show even suggests that this was a potential motive behind the murder, that they killed their parents because they were hiding this dark secret. So all of this has sparked a ton of online outrage with people saying things like,

"'Eric and Lyle Menendez are victims of rape, molestation, "'and incest committed by their father "'and enabled by their mother. "'Ryan Murphy chose to victimize these survivors "'even further in his grotesque series "'mocking their horrific sexual assaults. "'He is sick, protect all survivors.' "'As well as creating fan fiction involving incest

between real life brothers, especially when they have been victims of abuse and incest themselves is absolutely vile and insane. And others going on to say that these were real people who endured years of sexual abuse and adding these dramatic elements risks sensationalizing their trauma for the sake of storytelling. Ryan Murphy needs to handle these topics

with the care and sensitivity they deserve. Right in there, you have multiple reports noting that there haven't been reports of them actually having this kind of relationship. Though noting there that during the trial, Lyle did confess that he had once abused his brother and later apologized and arguing that instance stemmed from what he was enduring at the hands of his father.

Which is also why you had outlets like Vulture talking about how their relationship is depicted on the show and saying, at best, the steaminess between the brothers was an attempt to demonstrate how challenging it is for victims of child abuse to have normal relationships, an attempt that doesn't land right tonally. But at worst, it undermines the seriousness of abuse and blurs the lines between what's hot

and what is absolutely inappropriate and wrong. If we choose to believe that the two were lovers on some level, that robs Lyle's molestation confession of its meaning and impact. And with all this, you had a ton of people arguing, this is just a pattern for Ryan Murphy. Because the first season of his Monsters Anthology series was about Jeffrey Dahmer,

and that show faced a ton of criticism as well, especially from the families of Dahmer's victims. Now with all that said, you know, so far with this situation, the brothers have not directly addressed the incest depictions, but Eric did release a statement via his wife's social media accounts,

condemning the show overall, claiming that its depictions of his brother Lyle were especially unfair and added, "'It is with a heavy heart that I say I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent. It is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedy surrounding our crime have taken the painful truth several steps backward, back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused and that males experienced rape trauma

differently than women. And going on to say, how demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Now with all that, Netflix has not addressed this backlash so far, but it also notably comes as there are tons of other news stories surrounding the brothers because of the show.

Rae Kim Kardashian reportedly visited them in prison in the wake of all this, and she notably has collaborated with Ryan Murphy in the past. With reports saying that she visited the brothers because of the show. Kim Kardashian reportedly visited them in prison in the wake of all this, and she notably has collaborated with Ryan Murphy in the past. With reports saying that she visited the brothers alongside her mom, her sister, Chloe, a TV producer, and the actor who played Eric on the show. The reports say it's unclear how much the show was even discussed because apparently she was there

to speak to inmates about criminal justice reform. You know, with all this, especially if you've seen this show or you've been interested in the case, I'd really love to know your thoughts here. And then let's talk about this Liv Schmidt controversy. Whereas if you don't know, I didn't before this, she is a TikToker who has almost 700,000 followers on the platform.

That is before her account got disabled earlier this month. Right, and Liv posts about dieting, fitness, and weight loss, but many have accused her content of promoting under eating and eating disorders. And because their content is often viewed that way, I'm not gonna show a ton of it, but to give you some context, right? Here's a picture posing a lot about portion control

and what she does to stay skinny, using the word skinny a lot. Same things like- Calories did in fact count on 4th of July. Act skinny, get skinny, act fat, get fat. I have the worst fear of becoming fat or being fat. Really presenting skinny as the goal. And so you've had tons of creators

calling her out for months now, arguing that she's promoting unhealthy food habits and mindsets, that her content is reminiscent of the pro-anorexia forums that you'd see in the earlier days of the internet. And then with all that, last week, the Wall Street Journal did a profile on her. And there, noting that when they reached out to TikTok

for comment about Liv, they actually disabled her account for unspecified community guidelines violations. But with that, you had Liv defending her content to the outlets, saying, "'Weight is a touchy topic, but that's what the viewers want. A lot of people want to know what people eat. I'm honest about how it is hard work.

But they're saying that her videos are targeted towards women working desk jobs who are interested in weight loss. And claiming that people who don't like what she has to say, they can use the block button. Also with this, denying that she has an eating disorder, but saying that she knows what it's like to be uncomfortable in her body.

Even though she had her account disabled and is fighting to get it restored, the Wall Street Journal noted that she already made a new account and for a period of time, its bio said, it's not a sin to want to be thin. And this whole thing, it's gotten even more attention. I mean, so much so that outlets like the New York Times are even covering it, with them notably speaking to some of her followers who think that the criticism is overblown. Though this, as other experts know, that her content could be very seductive and influential to vulnerable

young adults. But ultimately, with all this, for now, I'd love to know your thoughts on two things. One, specifically about the ban in general, do you think that was the right move? Or do you think that was an over-correction? And two, what are your thoughts on this situation more in general? Or like, do you think that this lands more on the feet of the creators like Liv Schmidt?

Or is this more, and it doesn't have to be two completely separate things, but do you think more of the problem in general are the social media platforms in general that platform and promote this stuff to young people? Because looking at this situation, I understand I have not gone on a deep dive of Liv Schmidt content. Well, I think skinny, skinny, skinny, skinny, skinny is just a very toxic way to think about everything. There are a number of common sense things that she says, and I'm like, yeah, no, I've adopted that in my lifestyle.

I've talked about openly in the past, I've been been a very emotional eater and it's been a very long journey to change my relationship with food without villainizing food. Like going from 275 to 175 over three years, like a lot of it, yeah, some of it's new foods and you know, activities, but a lot of it is portion control, not rushing, allowing my brain to go, oh, you, you're actually full instead of, you know, inhaling way more. And then all of a sudden my brain catches up and it's like, oh, you're way too full Instead of inhaling way more, and then all of a sudden my brain catches up and it's like, oh, you're way too full now. But also, I don't know. I mean, like we've talked about in the past,

like on the complete opposite end of this, there are those that are part of the body positivity movement that I very much agree with, but then there are also people that I think take it to a toxic place. Or the folks that pop up in stories now and then who are like attacking or villainizing Lizzo because she's working on her health.

Yeah, I don't know. I'd love to know your thoughts here. But then taking a quick break from the news, you know, how many of you kicked off 2024 promising to finally turn a passion project into profit, launch a business or lucrative side hustle? Well, whatever the idea, no matter the venture, your website is your digital business card, right? The only space where you control the story, no algorithms or distraction. It's your canvas to showcase your unique style and voice without constraints. And that's exactly where Squarespace comes in.

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when you're ready to launch. That's squarespace.com slash phil. And then we gotta talk about how a man's life is in the hands of the Missouri State Supreme Court right now, right? Because they are currently deciding whether or not a man who many believe is innocent should be executed tomorrow. Right, so this man's name is Marcellus Williams, and he's 55 years old.

With him having now spent more than two decades in prison after being convicted for murdering a woman by the name of Felicia Gale. Because in 1998, someone broke into her home in the suburbs of St. Louis and stabbed her to death with a knife taken from her kitchen. But Williams, he has always said it was not him. And despite his conviction of the death sentence that came with it, the evidence that he's guilty, I mean, it is far from convincing to say the least. So with that, we've seen his execution actually put off twice already. First in 2015 and then in 2017,

when then Governor Eric Greitens appointed a board of inquiry to look into whether Williams deserved clemency. But notably, Greitens then resigned not long after that in the midst of scandals involving allegations of sexual misconduct and blackmail. And when the current governor, Mike Parson, took office, he dissolved the board

and revoked Williams' stay of execution. And then, I mean, this year, it's just been even more of a roller coaster. Right, this last January, Wesley Bell, who's the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, he filed a 63-page motion saying that Williams was likely innocent. For one, he argued that the two main witnesses

against Williams, quote, "'were known liars beyond being incentivized by the reward money.'" And then he claimed that the original prosecution improperly removed qualified jurors for racial reasons. And there, notably, that is something that the original prosecutor has actually commented on, with him saying,

no, I didn't remove one of the jurors because he was black, but rather because he and Williams, quote, "'looked like they were brothers.'" Which to me sounds like an around about way of saying the exact same thing. But regardless, right, the big argument made by Bell has to do with the hard evidence, or rather the lack of it.

You see, he highlighted the fact that the original crime scene was quote, "'rife with physical evidence, "'including bloody shoe prints, fingerprints, and hairs,' but saying despite that, quote, "'none of this physical evidence "'tied Mr. Williams to Miss Gayle's murder.'" And to that point, just last month,

a new analysis actually showed that Williams' DNA wasn't on the murder weapon. So then with that, prosecutors cut a deal with Williams to avoid execution. Though notably there, he still would have been re-sentenced to life without parole under the new agreement. But in any case, it all fell apart like that. Right, because what I didn't mention is that

while Williams' DNA wasn't on the knife, someone else's was, two people's actually. With them finding the DNA of an investigator and a prosecutor who participated in the original trial. And so basically they determined that the evidence had clearly been mishandled. With that, then apparently meaning that it could no longer be used to exonerate Williams.

In fact, a judge striking down the deal just a couple of weeks ago, with him saying the new analysis, quote, "'Unraveled Mr. Williams's claim of innocence.'" And there, I should say a big part of the reason that it ended up before a judge at all was because of this guy, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

And if he looks familiar to you, it's because we've actually covered him on the show before. And it's partly because this is not the first time that he's tried to make sure that a death sentence is delivered, even when there's reason to believe that the person is innocent, right? You might remember that he fought

to keep Christopher Dunn behind bars, even after a judge had exonerated him and ordered his release. Which on the note of other instances, right? This is a nationwide issue. And according to the Death Penalty Information Center, at least 200 people sentenced to death since 1973 were later exonerated,

with notably four of them being in Missouri. But either way, all that may be why Williams' lawyers have actually stopped emphasizing claims that he's innocent, at least for now. Instead, they're trying to get the case thrown out on the grounds that the original prosecution fucked things up by wrongly removing prospective jurors that were blackened by the mishandling of the knife.

And on Saturday, we saw that they filed a joint brief asking the Missouri Supreme Court to send it back down to a lower court for a more comprehensive hearing on Bell's January motion of Kate Williams' 2001 conviction and sentence. Right, and all of that led to the hearing that happened this morning, just a day before the scheduled execution.

And now, as of recording, we're still waiting to see what they decide. Though notably, whatever happens with that, there are other people who have the power to do something to stop this, with Williams' lawyers having also asked the US Supreme Court to stay the execution. And then also, mostly, there is a lot of pressure on Governor Mike P power to do something to stop this. With Williams' lawyers having also asked the US Supreme Court to stay the execution. And then also mostly there is a lot of pressure

on Governor Mike Parson to do something. With Missouri Congressman Cori Bush, for example, writing a letter to him saying, "'You have it in your power to save a life today "'by granting clemency to a man "'who has already unjustly served 24 years in prison "'for a crime he did not commit. "'I'm urging you to use it.'"

But of course, if none of that happens, at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Marcellus Williams will be killed by lethal injection. But ultimately, I gotta ask, what are your thoughts with all this? But then, shifting gears to Israel, there is a belief that Hamas's leader might be dead, there's even more fire being exchanged in Lebanon, and Israeli forces are drawing condemnation for raiding a West Bank office of Al Jazeera. Restarting with Lebanon, the health ministry there says that Israeli strikes this morning killed at least 182 people and wounded hundreds more. Although as of filming, we don't know how many were civilians and how many were combatants.

But that said, these strikes were extensive and Israel admitted to launching at least 300 across Southern Lebanon. Following this, Israel also warned that further strikes were likely gonna be hitting the Eastern part of the country and warned locals to flee, many of which have. Also warning locals to flee any area where Hezbollah weapons could be kept

and even provided a map. Which I mean, you probably noticed that the map just includes pretty much all of Eastern Lebanon, something that human rights advocates have slammed. With them pointing out that it's not a civilian's responsibility to know where military objectives are, so just blanket saying everywhere in this area isn't super helpful.

Also with this, over in Beirut, families are rushing to pull their kids from school despite not being targeted at the time. But that wasn't unreasonable because just as I started recording this, Beirut was hit with strikes. And this after just two days ago, Israel bombed the Southern portion of the city

when trying to hit a Hezbollah commander. So today's strikes alongside the recent Pager and walkie talkie explosions, that is being argued by some as an Israeli strategy to escalate the situation in order to deescalate. And whatever your feelings on, if that makes sense or not, for the time being, it does not seem to be working. In response to pretty much every attack,

including today's, Hezbollah has fired off its own missiles and drones into Israel. Although notably, their strikes have been far less effective, possibly because much of the border region has already been evacuated by Israel. So the even bigger concern right now

is that all of this is gonna lead to an all-out war between the two sides rather than calm things down, which also may be the Israeli government's intention anyways. But they're being argued that they might think that it's better to get this over with now while their military is mobilized rather than wait for Hezbollah to get more powerful.

And in fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made comments to this effect, saying that the country was, quote, "'Not waiting for the threat to come. We're preempting it.'" But all of that, I mean, that's just what's happening up north. On pretty much every border, Israel has stuff going on.

Over in Gaza, officials say that an Israeli strike hit a school two days ago and killed 22. However, here you had Israel pushing back on the idea that it was a school, claiming that it was just to cover for a Hamas command center. Also speaking of Hamas command, there were rumors circulating that Israel managed to kill Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar,

after he was suspiciously silent and unreachable for a while. And the IDF refused to confirm or deny that, but now there are reports coming out that they've recovered bodies to DNA tests and the results were negative. So it looks that Sinwar might still be alive, though this is all still developing.

But then as far as other updates shifting gears and going to the West Bank, Israel raided the offices of Al Jazeera in the city of Ramallah, where according to a security guard on duty, "'My eyes were heavy and I was almost asleep "'when I suddenly saw them breaking the main door. "'I stood up to see what they were doing.

"'They threw the first bomb and then the second.'" And after breaching the building, Israeli soldiers spread out to shut down the facility and confiscate materials. And one of the big things with all soldiers spread out to shut down the facility and confiscate materials. And one of the big things with all this is that Al Jazeera actually live streamed the entire thing. You also had Israel ordering that Al Jazeera couldn't use the space and would be banned

from broadcasting there for 45 days, and they made sure of both. Or with the offices getting their doors torn out and replaced with iron ones. But really, it was more of an iron wall than a door, considering they were welded shut. And this raid, I mean, it's a major hit to Al Jazeera's operations throughout Palestine,

since Ramallah was its last big office in the area after its Jerusalem location was similarly raided back in May. And each time, we've seen Israel justify their actions by saying that the offices were used to incite terror, support terrorist activities, and used as a mouthpiece for Israel's enemies. Now with that, both accusations were heavily denied

by Al Jazeera, who called the raids a criminal act, and added, the raid on the office and seizure of our equipment is not only an attack on Al Jazeera, who called the raids a criminal act and added, the raid on the office and seizure of our equipment is not only an attack on Al Jazeera, but an affront to press freedom and the very principles of journalism. That also being backed up by journalist groups from Israel, such as the Foreign Press Association, right?

And as their name suggests, they represent foreign press in the region. And they said in a statement that they were deeply troubled by an escalation, which threatens press freedom. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens on pretty much every front. I mean, there is a lot going on right now

and a lot developing in real time. And we'll continue to aim to try to cover as much as possible, right? Because the headline-grabbing war events, they often hide the other activities that would normally be massive headlines on their own. And then for this next one, I want you to imagine expecting to get a cash payment

for your business only to then be notified that it actually won't be coming because the police took it. Because that's exactly what happened to Henry and Min Chang, who own a small wholesale jewelry business in California. You see, they claim that in early 2024, upwards of $42,000 of cash was stolen

by Indianapolis police, who identified a parcel that a Virginia client sent via FedEx and confiscated it. With prosecutors then starting civil asset forfeiture proceedings, which if you don't know, are often a massive revenue generating engine for police units across the country. And as it turns out, Indianapolis is the perfect spot for this

because it's home to the second largest FedEx hub in the nation and it processes upwards of 99,000 parcels per hour. So this is like easy mode for the police. They could either patrol around town and seize vehicles, guns, or cash that they think might be involved in a crime after detaining someone, which you know is what civil asset forfeitures are intended to do. Or they can just pull random parcels from the FedEx lines and have their dogs sniff them. And if there's cash, boom, it's seized. And it's because of this practice

that the lawsuit makes it clear that the Chengs, they're not a one-off case, right? Many people have been affected by Indianapolis police seizing their cash only because it was shipped. And the police and prosecutors are able to so easily and successfully do this because of how broad and vague the requirements for civil asset forfeitures are. Right, the novel legal practice essentially accuses

the property itself of being involved in a crime regardless of whether the owner was charged with a crime. Such as one infamous case in Houston where a mother let her son use her car. He got pulled over and arrested for having some weed on him and then her car was seized by the officers to be sold. And she ended up being left with little recourse because winning forfeiture cases is extremely difficult.

Right, it often boils down to trying to prove a negative, that your property was not involved in a crime on your behalf. to be sold. And she ended up being left with little recourse because winning forfeiture cases is extremely difficult. Right, it often boils down to trying to prove a negative, that your property was not involved in a crime on your behalf. And making matters worse is that despite good intentions on the surface, forfeitures are filled with abuse as the Chengs found out. Right, in their case, Indiana officials won't say

why the cash was taken, just saying that it was involved in a crime and that's all they need to know. So actually getting the money back has become nearly impossible as they aren't even sure what they're arguing against. Now with this, the Chengs are being helped with the Institute of Justice, which is a libertarian aligned league group that has long fought against civil asset forfeitures.

Although I will say they are hardly the only group against the practice with even the ACLU being hypercritical of forfeitures. Also making matters worse for them is that recent Indiana Supreme Court cases don't seem to address the issue. Because in late 2023, there was one ruling that did undermine some civil asset proceedings

by saying that owners of seized property could demand a jury trial, as long as they were an Indiana resident. But the Changs and probably most people getting their cash seized at the FedEx Hub, they're not living in Indiana. And again, there is a massive incentive for police to do this.

In Indiana alone, all police agencies made over $4 million through assets they seized last year. Also, prosecutors' offices took $1.2 million, and in total, almost $7 million was taken from defendants and not given back. Now, to be fair, obviously, a lot of those assets and cash were likely used in crimes that would be forfeited. But again, the issue is that there is almost no recourse

for defendants. Only a million dollars has been returned. Also, as a side note, the Institute of Justice also has a massive problem with this breakdown, claiming that state laws require all money seized to go towards the common school fund, but the breakdown clearly shows it's just a fraction. And this is, that's just what the state itself did.

The federal district attorney's office also made its fair share through civil asset forfeitures last year. Like for example, the Southern District of Indiana scored over $15 million through forfeitures in 2023. And so this perverse incentive means that instead of legitimately suspecting something of being involved in a crime, such as when arresting someone with a large sum of cash,

they instead do things like in Indianapolis and they just seize anything suspicious. Also another thing in Indiana that makes the entire system especially egregious is that it's the only state that lets prosecutors contract out forfeiture cases to private attorneys and let them keep a substantial amount of what they win,

which means that instead of needing to worry about whether a case is even worth pursuing because of the man hours it would take, they just have attorneys wanting to eat those cases up. And they don't even pretend to hide behind the veil of seeking the truth like prosecutors do. Now that said, the good news here is that not every state is as horrible as Indiana when it comes to these laws.

Ray and all the others have phased out the commissioning of cases to private prosecutors. And we are seeing reforms being done across the country, even if it's very slow. Like in California, where the government at least needs to show that the owners of of cases to private prosecutors. And we are seeing reforms being done across the country, even if it's very slow. Like in California, where the government at least needs to show that the owners of property need to know it was used in a crime, which is a very high bar. Although the incentive to go after property

is still there, right? Police agencies still get 65% of everything they take. Now with all that, there was hope that the US itself would be able to step in and solve some of the worst abuses caused by civil asset forfeitures. And since I would hold my breath regarding Congress, that leaves the Supreme Court, which notably gave a narrow opinion

on the matter earlier this year. With them ruling that such cases don't require a preliminary hearing to decide whether police can retain seized property. However, justices on both sides offered opinions that they might be willing to tackle the broader questions that civil asset forfeitures raise in the future. So it is possible that if the case is brought before them,

they'd at least hear it. And that could be huge, because as a whole, civil asset forfeitures have caused a lot of people to reflect on how much power police and prosecutors actually have. Right, because in a country where you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and otherwise you have tons of protections,

the fact that you could still be ruined despite never actually being charged with a crime seems like a glaring loophole in the entire justice system. But that my friends is the end of your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news. As always, thanks for being a part of these daily dives. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.