The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.29 The Try Guys, What Now?! Scandal Fallout, Hurricane Ian Aftermath, Meg Thee Stallion, Jevin Hodge, &

Episode Date: September 29, 2022

Go to https://cuts.team/phillyd and use code PHILLYD to get 15% off your first order! Go to https://brilliant.org/DeFranco to sign up for free. And also, the first 200 people will get 20% off their an...nual premium membership. News You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/_H1BgkskTr4 TEXT ME! +1 (813) 213-4423 Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - Try Guys Postpone Podcast Amid Ned Fulmer Scandal 01:26 - Hurricane Ian Rips Through Florida 04:42 - TwitchCon Faces Backlash After Booking Megan Thee Stallion Amid Creator Pay Cuts 07:00 - Sponsored by CUTS 08:01 - Jevin Hodge Interview 14:33 - Sponsored by Brilliant 15:29 - Gen Z Favors Tech and Media Brands 18:43 - Questions About Age Limits Arise After Biden Calls Out to Dead Lawmaker During Speech 22:01 - NATO Suggests Nord Stream Leak Was Sabotage – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Try Guys Postpone Podcast Amid Ned Fulmer Scandal: https://deadline.com/2022/09/ned-fulmer-the-try-guys-1235128240/ Hurricane Ian Rips Through Florida: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/29/hurricane-ian-live-updates-damage-forecast-florida/10457271002/ Where to Help: https://www.feedingflorida.org/taking-action/donate https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/ TwitchCon Faces Backlash After Booking Megan Thee Stallion Amid Creator Pay Cuts: https://roguerocket.com/2022/09/29/twitchcon-megan-thee-stallion/ Jevin Hodge Interview: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3653837-cook-report-shifts-three-more-house-races-toward-democrats/ Resources for AZ Voters: https://azsos.gov/elections/voting-election https://www.vote411.org/arizona Gen Z Favors Tech and Media Brands: https://www.axios.com/2022/09/29/gen-z-favorite-brands Questions About Age Limits Arise After Biden Calls Out to Dead Lawmaker During Speech: https://roguerocket.com/2022/09/29/biden-mistakenly-calls-out-lawmaker/ NATO Suggests Nord Stream Leak Was Sabotage: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63065943 —————————— Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright, Christian Meeks Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle Production Team: Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco  #TryGuys #MeganTheeStallion ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup, you beautiful bastards! Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show. Buckle up, make sure you're subscribed because I'm splitting $10,000 across 10 lucky subscribed beautiful bastards this month. I also think it's gonna be one of the last months that I do this because I'm cheap. But yeah, let's just jump into it. No matter where you looked online, there was Try Guys content plastered everywhere. Which makes sense, it was one of the biggest stories in the entertainment space this week. We talked about it earlier this week after the Try Guys announced that Ned Fulmer was out after an internal review. Ned apologizing for cheating on his wife with an employee. While a lot of what we've been seeing online are reactions to the news, as well as people looking at old clips and saying, you know, you can kind of tell this and that. One of the biggest questions in the air was, well, what is next for the Try Guys, right?
Starting point is 00:00:37 What's next for the other three and the company? It appears that we will know soon, but not right now. With the Try Guys announcing late last night, the tripod will be taking a week off and returning next week on October 6th. We wanted to take some time to formulate our thoughts before recording the episode. Thanks for being patient. Twitch, we've seen mixed reactions. Some saying you're doing this to milk views. Others saying, you know, this makes sense.
Starting point is 00:00:56 Personally, I'm of the mindset of I think it makes sense for them to take the time to properly figure out how to address all this. I think one of the worst things you can do is rush a reaction because you might not say things correctly and then everyone will kind of like pick apart every single thing that you said and create their own narratives. Though on the other end, if you wait too long, people fill in the blanks themselves,
Starting point is 00:01:15 regardless of whatever is definitively true or not. Especially because it's not just a cheating scandal. An employee was involved. So I don't even know what the legal situation for them is right now. But the main thing is that in a week, we'll know more. And then a lot of people are asking what is on my microphone. It is what you think it is. It's a condom. It helps protect the gear. We can't get these mics wet. There's a lot of wind, a lot of rain. So we got to do what we got to do. And that
Starting point is 00:01:40 is put a condom on the microphone. Practicing safe and responsible reporting. You love to see it. Although I guess the idea of being safe and responsible, that's going to be different for different people. For example, when it came to Hurricane Ian, to kind of understand this kind of monster, we saw hurricane hunters actually flying a plane straight into Ian yesterday, capturing it on camera. Oh!
Starting point is 00:02:05 That's a big no for me. If I need that sort of rush in my life, I will choke myself while I masturbate like a normal human being. I don't know if we include that in the show. Sometimes I get too comfortable here. But that hurricane hunter is saying that out of the six dozen hurricane penetrations he's done in his career, that was the worst one ever. And specifically saying he's never seen so much lightning in an eye. But like
Starting point is 00:02:28 we covered yesterday, Ian made landfall battering central Florida. It's now moved off the coast, though winds and rainfall are still affecting the state. But very fortunately, it's now been downgraded to a tropical storm with only around 70 mile per hour sustained winds as of this morning. But forecasters predict that it is headed north, reaching the South Carolina coast on Friday, by which time it is expected to re-upgrade to a hurricane. Moving further inland through the Carolinas on Saturday and Sunday and touching parts of Georgia as well. But while we wait to see that happen, Floridians woke up this morning to assess the damage. And with that, you saw the Lee County Sheriff going on Good Morning America, giving some chilling remarks on the death
Starting point is 00:02:59 toll. While I don't have confirmed numbers, I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds. With that horrible estimate getting plastered all over headlines this morning, but fortunately it does not appear to be true. With Florida Governor Ron DeSantis clearing the air in a press conference this morning saying hundreds of fatalities have not been confirmed and adding. The number that was put out by Lee was basically an estimate of, hey, these people were calling, the water was rising on their home, they may not have ended up getting through, so we're obviously hoping that they can be rescued at this point. Also noting the teams will be checking on people who may have called 911 during the storm to see if they need any help or if any rescues are necessary. And saying that as far as the actual death toll, he believes that two people died during the storm, though it is unclear whether they're directly storm related. So for us to actually have any confidence in the numbers here, we're gonna have to wait for the Florida Emergency
Starting point is 00:03:42 Management to issue a statement on injuries and lives lost. But also, important to note, Ian wreaked havoc in other ways, with at least 2.6 million people still out of power, according to one tracker. There's also catastrophic flooding, leaving many stranded, with videos on social media showing several feet of water bursting through people's doors. Take a quick scroll through TikTok, you just see all sorts of things. Things like boats being in places where boats should not be. You have an emergency room in Fort Charlotte having its roof torn off of the intensive care unit, they are forcing staff to evacuate patients on ventilators to other floors as water gushed in. In fact, regarding hospitals specifically, a FEMA administrator said that there were nine hospitals that may have to be evacuated.
Starting point is 00:04:16 But right now, it is difficult for rescuers to reach people in their homes or public buildings because roads are either submerged or blocked by fallen trees and power lines. With DeSantis saying there's possibly thousands of people stranded. And all of this warranting a declaration from President Biden that the situation in Florida is a major disaster, which opens up the door for federal aid to supplement state, local,
Starting point is 00:04:34 and tribal recovery efforts. So for those affected out there, my well wishes to you. Please be safe out there. And for everyone else, I'm gonna put some links in the description if you wanna try and help out. And then, we don't want Megan the Stallion, we want money, though I'm open to both. That is what a ton of people are yelling at twitch right now Stemming from this whole controversy we've seen from the last week and now new developments
Starting point is 00:04:53 I twitch recently changed how they pay their top creators if you have a paid subscription on the platform It's usually split 50-50 between the creator and the platform But some big creators had premium subscription terms which landed them a 70-30 split Well, most of those streamers just wanted Twitch to change those terms to give all creators that same split, Twitch was like, sounds good, how about no? And in fact, creators with premium terms will only get the 70-30 split for the first $100,000, and after that it goes back down to 50-50. Though, I do want to note, this does not kick in until June of next year. So also, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw even more people switch over to YouTube than we've already been seeing.
Starting point is 00:05:26 People already pissed about that, right? Kinda just like holding onto that anger. And in the middle of all these creators processing their emotions, Twitch announced some major musical acts to be performing at TwitchCon, including Megan Thee Stallion. While I have literally no idea how much it costs to book Meg, a lot of people just assumed it's not cheap.
Starting point is 00:05:41 Right, the general reaction from a lot of people being, what the fuck? You just talked about having to make it so the creators made less money because what you do costs a lot of money. Instead of making cost saving measures elsewhere that don't impact your creators, you're going to book a fucking top tier musical act. And I understand that frustration. That'd be like if I announced company wide, like, hey, we're all going to have to tighten our belts. Salaries are going to have to go down. But very excited to talk about the game plan for the upcoming year on my yacht and guess what bts is performing you'd be like fuck you how about you help me pay my rent and for these twitch streamers it's like so you're taking my ability to reinvest
Starting point is 00:06:14 into the content that i'm making so that you can just fuck around with meg or to get more specific tweets like so twitch can't afford to pay their creators 70 30 can't fix their media player that crashes after each ad can't enforce their policies so people aren't doing inappropriate things on stream, but they can't afford paying celebrities to promote their streaming sites. So, you know, kind of going over like a turd in a punch bowl. But I will say it's going to be very interesting to see, like, how things move from here. YouTube's been snatching up more and more talent, and while YouTube's not perfect, it seems like more and more people are pissed off at Twitch every day. Currently, it remains to be seen if Twitch is going to be able to right this ship, make it so that this is a successful company, not just right now, but for 5, 10, 20 years from now. Or will their long-lasting legacy be,
Starting point is 00:06:57 it was a great service if you wanted to eventually get signed by YouTube and get fucking crazy money. Because that seems like one of the best ways to make money on YouTube. Start on Twitch. And then, I want to thank the sponsor of today's show, Cuts Clothing. I can just not understate how comfortable everything I have from Cuts Clothing is. It is now literally half my wardrobe. I love it. And they're perfect for back to office, school, just post-summer life, whatever you want. They are buttery soft, wrinkle resistant, pre-shrunk shirts. And most importantly, they retain shape over time. I must have washed my tees 50 plus and they still look new. And Cuts lets you choose your perfect cut with options of a split hem, elongated,
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Starting point is 00:08:08 and where Trump and his allies have fought bitterly to overturn the election results. And since then, the Republicans in control at the state level, they've imposed some of the most outrageous voter suppression laws and redistricting after the 2020 census ultimately resulted in one more Republican-leaning seat
Starting point is 00:08:21 and one less Democratic-leaning one. So with Arizona, it's one of the most key states for Republicans to gain seats, to close a narrow gap in the House, and take the majority. But if the 2020 election has taught us anything, it's to not count your Arizona voters before they've hatched or have voted. Yeah, voted. That's also in part because despite losing a Democratic-leaning seat, Arizona is still home to some of the most competitive races in the country, with one of the most important being Arizona's 1st District, which also, just so you know, everything's changed with redistricting, and District 1 covers areas previously considered District 6.
Starting point is 00:08:49 And according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, redistricting made the map several points better for Democrats in AZ-01, and it's now a district that went for Biden, and every statewide Democrat would have won since 2018. So as a result, the Republican incumbent, Representative David Schweikert, is currently locked in a race for his life against his Democratic opponent, business executive and community leader, Jevin Hodge. With the most recent polling showing the two in a dead heat, tied at 47% and 6% undecided. So as part of my effort this year to talk to candidates in these essential close races, I reached out to Hodge and he told us exactly why Schweikert is a bad choice for voters.
Starting point is 00:09:20 I mean, what it really comes down to is you have someone with David Schweikert that has been convicted of 11 ethical violations, right? And everything including campaign fraudulent loans, first class travel, Super Bowl tickets, and the list goes on and on and on. And so at the basis here, you have someone that you just can't simply trust in leadership, not to mention a voting record that is fully anti-American, has voted against every initiative that would deliver for Arizona families and would deliver for the American people. The American Rescue Act, the bipartisan infrastructure package, protecting our troops, marriage equality, the gun safety bill, inflation reduction. I mean, I can just keep going on and on and on. And then he backs up his actions with his words. He's on record saying that climate change is folklore. A woman does not need the right to choose and that the people of January 6th is kind-hearted, well-intentioned people. And what this means is, right,
Starting point is 00:10:25 you have somebody who voted to overturn the election, does not believe in the principles that uniquely makes America America. And you have someone that is actively working against the will of the American people. But also with Hodge, I said, you know, I really just want to know the two things. Why not him, but why you?
Starting point is 00:10:43 And also asking him how he would respond to the criticism that he isn't qualified because he's so young and he hasn't held public office. My story is that of the American people. It's not much different. And I'm a business executive. I get to work with mission-triffing organizations every single day that delivers for the communities in which they operate in. I'm a unifier. I bring people together. And then I'm a Head Start executive as well. I'm the president and longest running Head Start in the Booker T. Washington Child Development Center.
Starting point is 00:11:12 We are serving families across the Phoenix metro area, delivering service and doing everything that we possibly can to help folks get ahead. I was also interested to know, like, what actually mattered to the people in this district? Because when we talk about the elections, we usually think about everything on a national level. Because yeah, while a lot of the national issues are local issues, you are representing this specific
Starting point is 00:11:30 group and you're supposed to be doing the best for them. I'm not going to Washington to be a federal official. I'm not. I'm not that guy. I'm going to Washington to be a local official that has access to federal resources and that will act in the interest of my community at the federal level. And right now, when you talk about the number one, number two, number three issues, Arizonans are hurting. The economy is hitting us hard here. And we need leaders that are going to provide realistic solutions that's going to attract innovative economic solutions, inspire economic innovation so that we can cultivate homegrown individuals, provide those high-wage jobs. But in addition to that,
Starting point is 00:12:05 folks need to see, you know, everyday impact as well. We need to lower costs for families. You look at right now, we can lower the cost of prescription drugs. Schweikert has voted no to cap insulin at $35 a bottle. In addition to that, they're afraid that their freedoms are under attack. You look at all of the attacks right now on democracy. We need to strengthen. You know, you look at the H.R.1, the Four People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. When we strengthen the fundamentals of our democracy, ensure that we're expanding access to the ballot box, we're going to have more participation, which is going to increase representation here in the United States Congress, and not to mention reproductive freedoms. I'm going to be someone in the United States Congress that's going to fight every single day to ensure that anybody has the right to choose
Starting point is 00:12:56 what they so want to with their bodies. And that includes the freedom to get an abortion. But also with all that, we can't lose sight of the fact that yes, this is still something that affects everybody. This isn't a race that just affects District 1. This could very well decide the future of this country. Right now, we have people that are roaming the halls of Congress that are actively working to tear down what we all collectively have worked so hard to protect and preserve. We need to protect the future of our democracy in order to have a republic to live in, to pass on to our kids and our grandkids. And that starts by weeding out the bad apples. David Schweikert is one of them. I'm working to to to take care of this race so that we can have people that are willing to unite and work across lines.
Starting point is 00:13:37 I'm Barack Obama Democrat. I consider myself McCain Obama. I'm an Arizonan. Right. I'm someone that's right in the middle here that's going to be able to work with folks on both sides of the aisle, understands perspectives, and are willing to find real solutions. Is there a last thing that you'd like to leave me and my audience with, especially since just even one vote from the people that are watching could change the race, if I want to make this an all-important interview. When you think about everything that is happening right now in the halls of Congress, right, you look at the laws that are being passed and you look at the folks that are fighting against good initiatives for the American people. I'm going to close out with this.
Starting point is 00:14:18 If you want to change the laws, you have to change the lawmakers. And so we need people that are going to be willing to, like I said, roll up their sleeves, get down to change the lawmakers. And so we need people that are going to be willing to, like I said, roll up their sleeves, get down and do the work to deliver for every American and to deliver for every Arizonan. And I'm going to be that person to do so. And then I want to take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Brilliant. They're making today's show possible. And Brilliant takes subjects like math, science, computer science, you know, those areas of life that people fear most and convert them into awesome experiences of guided discovery. With thousands of lessons and exclusive new content added monthly, Brilliant offers courses for all levels, from mathematical
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Starting point is 00:15:54 app. And notably here, we saw some pretty big gaps in what Gen Z is consuming compared to the whole of U.S. adults. With Gen Z's big four being YouTube, Google, Netflix, and Amazon, and YouTube being actually their most liked brand. But the real key here to why Axios looked at what Gen Z was consuming is because, as they know, people ages 18 to 25 have increasing societal clout and spending power, but their tastes don't always conform to those of their elders. Which brings to mind this moment of Mr. Beast on the Flagrant podcast, where he's talking about where companies are spending ad dollars. It's weird how slow it is. They still would rather like buy a Orange Bowl commercial than a YouTube video.
Starting point is 00:16:26 And it's like, how many people are even watching this football game? I don't know. You know, like, well, I mean, it's probably like four or five million, but. Is it? Probably, yeah. It's like every old person home, they just leave the TV on the studios. And they're opening up TikTok and commercials. I agree.
Starting point is 00:16:40 Like, you know, it's slow. That's what I'm saying. On commercials, on TV, they're like, okay, go ahead and pick up your phone right now. Go open TikTok. We'll see you in two minutes. We're gonna bore the shit out of you. You know? But you know, and on YouTube, that's what you get.
Starting point is 00:16:51 So it's like, it's more eyeballs and it's like the person you're there watching. Even with Mr. B's being one of the most successful people online, you don't have to just take him at his word. Market analysts also agree with him. With, for example, one saying, brands can't just exist as brands anymore. They have to have an interface,
Starting point is 00:17:04 something for audiences to actually engage with those companies need to be more approachable and more personable because audiences are growing very used to being able to interact with the creators that they like you know we have seen more and more old school companies staples out there engaging in new advertising strategies mcdonald's i think is a fantastic example of that they had that insanely viral travis scott meal a couple years back there there was even then travis scott launching a clothing line around it m around it McDonald's also working with the likes of BTS and now they had an adult happy meal to bank on nostalgia also as we've talked about before massive toy companies are moving their advertising from traditional outlets to YouTube and TikTok and
Starting point is 00:17:35 some it's like not even thought of as a split even going as far as to cut out television altogether with the president and CEO of canal toys saying last year my budget for tv this year is zero last year I only used influencers and this year only zero. Last year, I only used influencers and this year, only influencers, and I don't see myself going back. And according to an influencer marketing agency, around $9.7 billion was spent on influencer marketing in 2020 and more than 15 billion
Starting point is 00:17:56 is expected to be spent in 2022. And they go on to say, with more social media platforms scaling and setting the cultural agenda, such as TikTok, creators are emerging as the key gateway between consumers and brands. Which is also why I think in addition to creators and these massive companies having partnerships,
Starting point is 00:18:09 we're gonna see more and more creators having their own massive companies. And personally, I welcome it. I get to support creators I like. It does feel more engaging. I mean, my son and I, one of our favorite things is Mark Rober's Crunch Labs. And I think if anything,
Starting point is 00:18:19 and this might just be like in these transitionary years, the only thing that might make a Rober need a larger company is the ability to put out as much as he wants. Like I got in on Crunch Labs day one. They're currently sold out. You have to join a fucking wait list in hopes that you can start getting boxes. That is how successful shit like this is. Also, since I'm just shouting people out, if you want a good knife, get the Babish knife.
Starting point is 00:18:39 He has a whole bunch of cookware. It's fantastic. He's not even my friend. I mean, maybe we're friendly. In my experience, this shit's just been good. And then, at the risk of sounding ageist, I pose the question, should there be an age limit if you wanna be a politician?
Starting point is 00:18:50 That's been a longstanding question when talking about Congress or even the White House, and one that has kind of been rekindled thanks to this clip going viral of President Biden publicly asking if a Congresswoman who died last month was present at a current White House event. The lawmaker in question was Republican Representative Jackie Walorski, who had helped convene and organize a White House conference
Starting point is 00:19:08 on food, nutrition, and health that Biden was speaking at. In fact, Biden had even acknowledged her work on the conference in an official White House statement following her death last month, which read, Jill and I are shocked and saddened by the death of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana, along with two members of her staff in a car accident today in Indiana. Continuing, I appreciated her partnership as we planned for a historic White House conference on hunger, nutrition, and health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America. But in his remarks yesterday, thanking the group of bipartisan lawmakers who helped make this event happen, we saw this.
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Starting point is 00:20:06 I want to thank all of you here for including bipartisan elected officials like Representative Gover and Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative Jackie. Are you here? Where's Jackie? I didn't think she was going to be here. Biden, for his part, did not correct the mistake during the speech. But in a press conference later, the White House press secretary repeatedly said that the congresswoman was top of mind for Biden because he was championing the lawmakers who had worked on the conference, as well as because he's set to meet with her family on Friday when he's scheduled to sign a bill in her honor. Though, to be honest, the fact that he's supposed to sign a bill in her honor two days from when he made those remarks makes it kind of look worse. So with all this, you had a lot of people and media outlets using this as evidence that Biden, who is 79, does not have the mental capacity to serve as president,
Starting point is 00:20:47 with many saying the president is senile. And while yeah, unsurprisingly, most of those remarks came from the right, which has regularly questioned his mental acuity, I think this is an issue that goes beyond left and right. It goes beyond Biden and touches on concerns about America's most important leaders being old. Because while Biden is the oldest president in history,
Starting point is 00:21:02 Trump, who is 76, would have also held that title if he had won his reelection. And his mental state has of course been heavily questioned as well. But also very importantly, it goes beyond the presidency. The current session of Congress is the oldest on average of any Congress in recent history. And this is a bipartisan problem.
Starting point is 00:21:17 The averages are fairly similar when it comes to Republicans and Democrats. There's also a higher percentage of people who are older than the median age, right? Nearly one out of every four members are over the age of 70. And very importantly, some of the people in the highest leadership positions are among the oldest members. Right, Nancy Pelosi is the oldest ever House Speaker at 82 years old. The third person in line for the presidency is the same age. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is 257 years old,
Starting point is 00:21:42 which is why it's unsurprising that a recent Insider Morning Consult poll found that three in four Americans support an age limit for members of Congress. And more than 40% say that they view the ages of political leaders as a major problem. And it makes sense. Like I said, at risk of sounding ageist, there are tons of other industries that have age caps, like airline pilots, the military. And if you're too old to fly a plane, you're probably too old to be making laws that are going to impact the entire country, especially a country that isn't at all demographically represented by age in Congress. But with that, of course, imposing age limits on Congress or the presidency would almost certainly require changes to the Constitution. And unfortunately, those changes would have to be made by the same ancient ones who currently refuse to let power slip from their arthritic grip. And so with that, that's a story you can obviously tell where I stand.
Starting point is 00:22:23 But I want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? Do you think there should be age limits for Congress and the presidency? And if so, what should that limit be? And then, World War III, is it about to happen? Will the video games about it afterwards be cool? Those are just two questions in the air
Starting point is 00:22:38 following Putin's government ramping up its nuclear rhetoric after annexing four more regions of Ukraine after a sham referendum and what looks to be sabotage on the Nord Stream pipeline. So starting with the pipeline, it connects Russian gas to places like Germany through the Baltic Sea and was heavily damaged in multiple spots a few days ago, pouring tons of natural gas into the ocean. While blame has gone around people pointing fingers, there is no doubt that it was deliberately damaged. It is not officially known who damaged the pipeline,
Starting point is 00:23:02 but European countries are already hinting that they think that it was Russia's attempt to attack their energy infrastructures. With Denmark's defense minister saying that Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic region, and we expect them to continue their saber rattling. Also NATO's general secretary warning against future attacks and tweeting,
Starting point is 00:23:17 "'Any deliberate attack against allies' "'critical infrastructure would be met "'with a united and determined response.'" However, Russia has denied wrongdoing here and described such claims as predictably stupid, with a spokesperson saying the country had no interest in damaging the pipeline due to how valuable the natural gas was, and adding that this area is the Baltic Sea. There were many more aircraft, ships, or other marine vehicles from NATO countries there, and arguing that these reports of Russia's involvement are
Starting point is 00:23:40 absolutely ridiculous and biased. But they did say they had a likely culprit in mind. That's right, we did it. It was America all along. With a spokesperson supposed evidence for this being an offhand comment that Biden made back in February that there would, quote, be no longer a Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine. Though with that, American officials scoffed at the theory and called it preposterous. We had all that, and obviously we need to care about what develops there. But we should also move on to how Russia is using sham referendums in Ukraine to justify annexing four more regions of the country and escalating the chance of nuclear war.
Starting point is 00:24:10 So earlier this week, when Russian authorities in both the breakaway regions of Ukraine alongside other occupied territories held referendums on joining Russia, would you believe it? Just landslides. 87 and 99% of the people saying they wanted to join Russia, which by the way, at least make it believable. I don't know 90% of people that agree on anything. But that aside, we didn't have to wait long
Starting point is 00:24:30 to see how fast Putin would move here. But there now being expectations that Putin's going to give a speech tomorrow to formally annex them. And this territory would amount to 15% of Ukraine's territory. Now with all this, Ukraine has called these referendums illegal
Starting point is 00:24:42 with its foreign ministry saying that forcing people in these territories to fill out some papers at the barrel of a gun is yet another Russian crime in the course of its aggression against Ukraine. With President Zelensky saying in a statement that the votes are worthless and do not change reality. The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored, and our reaction to recognition of the results by Russia will be very harsh. And internationally, all of this has been condemned as illegal, with some places like Finland using it
Starting point is 00:25:05 as a nail in the coffin to finally ban Russians with tourist visas, which could have a huge impact for a number of reasons, including many Russians are actually using them to escape the draft right now. Also, what's especially worrying about these moves is how it escalates the chance of nuclear weapons being used. Russia has long made it clear that if there was an attack
Starting point is 00:25:20 on Russia that threatened the stability of the country, it has the right to use nuclear weapons to defend itself. And so now Putin and Russia, they're changing what Russia is. With Russia saying, hey, that's ours now. All of a sudden Ukraine's invading Russia. When in reality, all they'd be doing are kicking out the occupiers, the invading force.
Starting point is 00:25:37 And this is on top of everything getting more deadly by the day. We're very likely to see the death tolls heavily rise in this war as untrained Russian conscripts are now starting to get to the front. And even when the fighting mostly stops in the winter, it's expected that many are just going to freeze to death due to a lack of equipment. And as much as people want Russia to lose this war, like I don't get giddy thinking about some fucking guy who's just been fed misinformation for years and years and years who Putin forces
Starting point is 00:26:01 to the front line dying or freezing to death. Or like, I stand with the people of Ukraine. I want them to slap Putin right in his dumb fucking face. But it's also important to remember there are victims of all kinds in this situation. Once again, I really don't see an end to Putin throwing his people into the wood chipper and really just threatening everybody's existence in the world right now,
Starting point is 00:26:22 unless someone close to him does something about it. Give him some of that special Russian tea and let's be done with it. But ultimately, that is where that story on today's show ends. As always, thank you for watching and being subscribed to my daily dives into the news. If you're not already, how dare you do it now? Also, if you want to help support the show, you can go to beautifulbastard.com, snag yourself a shirt or a poster. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in.
Starting point is 00:26:43 I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow. It'll be a YouTube short, but it's still technically me seeing you tomorrow.

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