The Philip DeFranco Show - The Flock Camera Scandal Nobody's Talking About & Why Greek Life Is Finally Facing A Reckoning

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

FINAL 2 SHOWS!! Get your http://crashingouttour.com tickets for DC and Pittsburgh this weekend!!  Kickstart your passion project with a free trial today:  https://squarespace.syuh.net/phildefranco  & enter offer code “Phil” to get 10% off your first purchase! Join http://PhilipDeFranco.com for a free newsletter and Ad-Free Shows!! FAQWhere did you say we could donate to Linz? http://lindsayforga.com/donate & Learn more @ http://lindsayforga.com Where can I grab merch & premium blanks? https://beautifulbastard.com/What's the Semi-Secret Phil Text Line? 813-213-4423 LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2VWATCH/LISTEN TO MY OTHER PODCAST (CRASHING OUT) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCergKLoy-Yv9zlPk3XQYK7Q?sub_confirmation=1 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2DkU87umhGH9mH1z24Bi9w?si=6sSdjhVNQjyVeBQDLiXcyg Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crashing-out-with-philip-defranco-and-alex-pearlman/id1843429519 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco  🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd  🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - Cornell 7 Case Forces Reckoning on Other College Campuses 06:07 - Hegseth Uses Speech to Stoke Culture Wars & Establish Office of Religious Affairs 11:37 - Sponsored by Squarespace 12:39 - Flock Cameras Went Up in a FL County, But No One Knows Who Installed Them 18:12 - It’s the Last Weekend of the Crashing Out Tour!! 18:55 - Christa Pike in Critical Condition After Surviving Two Lethal Injections 19:59 - Paramount-WB Merger to Clear After Judge Approves Settlement  21:01 - Novig Valued at $2 Billion After Controversial Sydney Sweeney Ad 22:08 - Whale Sinks Yacht in Pacific Ocean 23:01 - Fetterman Votes Against Effort to Force Reports on West Bank Violence 24:05 - Bolivia’s Attorney General Accused of Money Laundering THE TEAM 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, Victor Sledge, Ilana Frost   ———————————— #News #Cornell #AOC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, August is a great time for a reset before fall gets chaotic and my closet, it could use some adult supervision. And that's where today's sponsor, Quince comes in. Quince makes fewer better pieces from premium materials, the things you'll reach for constantly. And I really like their staples like organic cotton teas and Mongolian cashmere sweaters at work all day and into the evening. Or basically, clothes that make you look put together without looking like you spend an hour planning it. Their denim and Taylor Chino start at 60 bucks with a fit, structure and quality that you'd expect from a luxury designer brand. And then you've got things like the cotton silk short sleeve crew neck sweater.

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So hey, upgrade your everyday by scanning that QR code or going to quince.com slash defranco for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. And they're now available in Canada and the UK as well. So that's QU-I-N-C-E dot com slash DeFranco. Quince.com slash DeFranco. You now have the huge news this week. I said a spotlight on what many are calling a bigger college culture crisis from deadly hazing to disturbing rape allegations. Pete Hexett's new initiatives are actually crazier than most people realize. Tennessee botched their first execution of a woman in 200 years so badly that she now likely as brain.

and officials just found a bunch of flock cameras that nobody's admitting to owning and they have no idea who's been watching. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show you daily dive into the news, starting with this. Between rape allegations, deaths, and kind of been covered freshmen in basements, it feels like we're in the middle of this full-on Greek life and toxic college culture reckoning, or at least conversation right now. Because while we've been talking about the Cornell gang rape allegations this week, as everyone's expressing strong opinions about that situation, you're then also seeing this wave of other disturbing stories about rape as while as violent and even fatal fraternity hazing's coming out. Right, just yesterday, former Northern Arizona University fraternity leader, Carter Eslick, was sentenced to two months in jail for his role in a hazing ritual that ultimately got an 18-year-old student, Colin Daniel Martinez, killed.

And as far as Eslick, he was serving as a designated driver that night, he left around 11 p.m., but he was also the fraternity's pledge master at the time, and he provided the alcohol and the rules for the so-called game. And he would court document showing that the teen who died, Martinez was one of four Delta Tau Delta Pledges who were instructed to share two bottles of vodka until they vomited. We then later in the night, witnesses noticing Martinez snoring unusually and gagging without vomiting. Or with people searching symptoms of alcohol poisoning at around 3 a.m. But reportedly, still not calling 911 until six hours later.

And so just a terrible failure on the frat's part to not respond before it was way too late. Martinez, he tragically died of alcohol poisoning with a blood alcohol content of 0.425%. Which, for reference, that is more than five times the state's legal limit for drivers 21 and over. And in court yesterday, you had Martinez's parents appearing on Zoom to talk about what they're going through after losing their son. And every morning since January 31st, he is not coming home. No parent should ever have to bury their child. With a family also calling for accountability and reform within Greek life, and you also saw Eslik getting emotional as he apologized to them.

I'm so incredibly deeply sorry for the events that happened on January 30th, and I took full responsibility for the hand that I have played in that ritual. And I know nothing that I say here can replace or give anything. type of closure to the Martinez family because I can't even imagine what the pain of you losing a trouble feels like. And as far as Eslick, in addition to his two months of jail, he got three years of supervised probation that requires creating and delivering 305 anti-hasing presentation. But still, for a lot of people that are aware of this space and what happens in them, you have people asking, you know, how many deaths and other extremely troubling hazing stories have to come out for it to

actually result in some change in Greek life? And in fact, just a week before Eslik was sentenced, you had this viral photo taking over the internet and adding to the discourse about for turn And specifically what you're seeing there are 30 pledges at a University of Wisconsin Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house basement shirtless and covered in food and condiments. We're with police saying that a number of them had visible injuries consistent with being physically assaulted and there's also a thermostat in the room set to 81 degrees Presumably just to torture them even more and we're talking about a group of guys here that are mostly 18 years old Also as far as who's being held responsible for this you have two 20-year-old members of the frat Raiden Klein and Samuel Vane being arrested But also we're gonna have to wait to see what happens there because they were both released hours later on a $400 bond

Also, while this fraternity alpha epsilon pie was actually kicked off campus as a recognized chapter over a decade ago right back in 2015, the national organization still recognized the Madison chapter, so it's maintained a presence of the school. And so you had the national fraternity responding to this controversy saying in a statement that they're cooperating with authorities and adding, hazing is a betrayal of everything our fraternity stands for. But then with that, you have a lot of people saying, but is it though? Because with these stories coming out week after week, hazing seems like the foundation of fraternity life in a lot of these cases, the thing that defines the culture right from the start.

While Greek life circles, they tend to be a hotbed for, I mean, honestly, a lot of homoerotic stuff, but also toxic masculinity, you also see that shit everywhere else on these campuses. Right, and specifically another place where it seems to often thrive is sports teams. And that actually brings us to another story that we need to talk about that centers around Louisiana State University student Kendall Danielle Francis. Who claims an LSU football player raped her in October of 2025 and says that the school hasn't offered her much guidance or treated this with the urgency that it deserved. LSU said that he was accountable for rape and then proceeded to suspend him for a year, even though for rape, the suspension is two to three years. After the appeal process, LSU decided to send me the email of the appeal process during my class. So I ended up reading the appeal in my class, and during the letter it said that he was still responsible for rape,

but he's able to play football, join orgs, and everything like that. And so that made my anxiety really, really bad because I don't want to face this person. So this caused me to go online full time. While Frances actually shared that TikTok a few weeks ago, you're now seeing her story getting a lot of tracks on social media this week because of the conversations around Cornell. Because these women, they've been sharing similar stories about how they feel like their schools didn't do enough to protect them. Well, obviously, each situation is its own unique thing.

There is a lot of stuff that is consistent. And with Frances, you had are revealing in her TikTok that her own Title IX process was happening from December of last year to September of this year. Or which would mean that she's been dealing with all this for nine months just to end up in a situation where she's not going to class in person anymore because her alleged rapist is still wandering around the school. I'm a first generation student. Um, my family, you know, they all just knew that I was going to LSU. My friends knew that I was going to LSU. So it just sucks that my experience has to be like this and I've had to experience

such things and the fact that the university didn't take care of it appropriately is just not okay. Now also interestingly, like with, Cornell, you have the local DA now doing a criminal investigation because the story's gone viral. And so you have East Baton Rouge, Paris district attorney Hillar Moore requesting all reports, interviews, evidence, and other relevant records from LSU, the university police, and the Baton Rouge police department. And so it seems like we should expect to keep learning more about this and so many other stories right now. But while we wait to see how things continue to play out,

one, of course, I'd love to know your reactions, but also, two, I'd love to know your thoughts around, I guess, college culture in general, Greek culture in general, and sports in colleges in general. regarding the different cultures and experiences. Those experiences, those comments, they add another interesting level, I think, to the show, but also just for me doing this. Right, but then also, while you have all that playing out and conversations around culture happening in general, that then brings us to Pete Heggseth, right, the Secretary of Defense, who's waging a culture war of his own inside of the military.

Because if he didn't see, yesterday he delivered a speech saying, No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. The ideological clowns are out. the patriotic cowboys are in with testosterone testing on top. We are no longer the woke department. With that being part of his State of the Forest Address at Quantico, where he spoke to a crowd at junior officers and listed troops and other guests. Rainey also unveiled a slew in new initiatives that is so-called Department of War.

With those initiatives being pretty much all delivered through heavily partisan and hostile language. And so for example, he routinely attacked the press for the way that it's covered, the military and the Iran War specifically. Hegset claiming that they report on the conflict as though there are adversely And adding, allow me to lay it out simply for the anti-American losers in our media. Too many of them hate the president more than they love the country. You see, it's your movements and bases that they reveal to the enemy.

It's your operations that they jeopardize when they leak classified capability. It's sick. It's a national betrayal. It's treason, actually. And he said, frequently returning to his classic talking points about strength, insisting at the military was a weak, woke, DEI mess before he and Trump got their hands on it. Americans want to serve when they are led by strong patriots, not by weak weirdos. Right, but one of the weird things is, is, you know, he slams beirdos and weirdos, and then minutes later he asked the crowd to give it up for his crew of guys. Project Meridian will be co-led by three of our nation's best minds.

Elon Musk, Palmer Lucky, and Newt Gingrich, all of whom are up in the audience with us today. Please stand if you would. Thank you. At minimum, that's at least one beardo and two weirdos. But as far as what Project Meridian is, well, its focus is the future of warfare. And so this trio, they're going to be working on developing technology and weapons for our military for future generations, apparently. And it kind of goes hand in hand with another one of Heggseth's announcements, the Autonomous Warfare Command, which will buy, drones, robotics, and other tech. Though I will say his most controversial initiative was likely

a choice to create an office of religious affairs in the department. 95% of our force recognizes an almighty God. Starting today and for secretaries of war after me, the office of religious affairs will report straight to the top. No staff filters, no bureaucratic dilution, a direct line to the secretary. As Psalm 3312 extols us, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. God is good. evil is not, and America's military must understand the difference. And with this office, you have Hexed saying that spiritual health will be treated the same as physical health.

Chaplains will have a direct channel to leadership and there will be more tools to strengthen religious support. But with all this, you might have noticed that he put a lot of emphasis on just one religion. Right? And this part of the speech was by no means the only time he quoted the Bible. Jesus said, and you know it, do on to others as you would have done onto yourself. Lord, here I am. Send me.

And so you're seeing that there are a lot of people that are concerned about this office, with many arguing that it blatantly clashes with the First Amendment. Where with, for example, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, calling it immoral, unethical, and unconstitutional. And that's as you have others saying, this isn't a surprise. This is a pattern for Hegset, that he is constantly injecting his religion into the department.

Right, with Representative Jared Huffman writing, Hegset is a full-throttle Christian nationalist who hates separation of church and state, saying he chips away at it all the time through his monthly Christian church service at the Pentagon, is endless prophesizing by removing religious minority faith codes from the chaplaincy program, et cetera, et cetera. The road to Gilead is paved with dystopic crap like this.

And you also had an author who focuses on politics and religion saying, Hegset's ongoing use of religious imagery sends a clear message. Ardline Christian Nationalists welcome, others not. The idealization of the military is poison. And notably, this kind of backlash, it comes at a pretty critical time for Hexette. But as the midterms get closer, the war in Iran, it's one of the biggest issues on voters' minds, and it's a war that his department is waging. And in fact, just yesterday, you with the New York Times reporting that even Republican lawmakers,

they're beginning to question his leadership claiming. Republicans in Congress complain privately and increasingly in public that he and his staff are dismissive of their questions and frequently unprepared for briefings. And when it comes to Hegset's choice to fire generals and admirals, you had Don Bacon, a Republican representative from Nebraska saying, it's not the right way to treat people. It's not decent. And when it comes to Iran, you have lawmakers frustrated that they can't get them to answer basic questions about budget requests with, for example, Republican Senator Tom Tillis adding,

I don't think Heggseth has developed any productive relationships even with Republican members. And in fact, you now have Republican candidates in key congressional races questioning the war publicly or outright calling for it to end as the American public has grown tired of it. And then actually with that, you have Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego going on CNN to say, hey, all these issues are potentially why Hegset is putting so much focus on these culture wars in the first place. This is him kind of weaponizing religion because he needs to distract from the fact that he's losing a war. Because, hey, let's say the midterms go blue. Democrats, they take both the House and the Senate, or really even just the House. there are likely going to be calls for Heggseth's impeachment. I mean, it's believed that they might have already even had the votes ready now,

but Mike Johnson, he put them on a recess. But yeah, that said, personally, my opinion, you talking about a Heg-Seth impeachment, just add that onto the pile of reasons I'm going to be voting this year. I'm going to be doing it anyway, but I'm going to put my back into it. And then there's even more that we've got to dive into in just a minute right after this quick break. For those of us still working on something for over a year

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just go to homeserv. But then, diving right back into the news, of Florida County, they just found a bunch of mysterious flock cameras and no one knows who owns them. Right, officials in St. Lucie County, they recently decided to get rid of all their flock cameras amid the widespread public backlash.

Right, and there's been privacy concerns over the use of these AI-powered automated license plate readers or AOPRs. And a key thing is that this came after Governor Ron DeSantis directed state officials to remove all AOPRs from state highways. Right, but then, according to reporting, St. Lucy County officials thought they had 52 cameras, but as they started to remove them,

they discovered 14 more that hadn't been permitted by the county. Now, that's said, after the county shared a list of the un-permitted device, with local law enforcement agencies. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said that three of the devices were theirs. But they reportedly haven't said why they were operating the cameras without permits,

which are required in St. Lucie County. So that, concerning on its own. But then, you also had the counties two other law enforcement agencies saying none of the remaining 11 cameras were theirs and as of recording, no one else has claimed them. Meaning there were nearly a dozen flock ALPRs just sitting around St. Lucy and no one knows

whether they were actively collecting data or who could access it or what's going on. And so now as a result, the county posted notices of cameras that they found, given the owner's 30, days to remove them and placing plastic bags over them in the meantime. But then also a very weird key thing here, a spokesperson told the Washington Post that the county had not yet reached out to flock saying that they planned to wait until the notices expire. That ends up being very significant

because while law enforcement agencies and private companies, they can purchase these cameras, the company says that it usually handles permitting an installation. And in a statement of the post, a flock spokesperson said that the company applies for permits where required and noting that permitting requirements vary by jurisdiction and are not necessary in every location. But again, And key thing, St. Lucy is one of those places that requires permitting. While you'd Flock saying, hey, they reached out of the county to review the cameras in question and address any discrepancies, it's unclear if the officials there are working with the company. And that says it's also unclear if we're ever going to know who operates or operated those

ALPRs if there isn't some coordination with Flock corporate. Because you have the post also reporting that one of the unpermitted cameras that had been taken down when they visited the location, leaving only removal notice wrapped around the poll and they have absolutely no idea who removed it. And that's as you had someone who lives nearby saying, hey, I just assumed that that was operated by law enforcement. And the fact that the county had no idea who had belonged to, it made them feel very unsafe. And part of the reason the story matters is this is by no means the first time that Flock's ALPRs have just turned up without authorization from local authorities. Which feels absolutely fucking insane and crazy and avoidable.

But yeah, you have things like back in December, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, they ended their contract with Flock entirely after the company installed two cameras without the city council's knowledge of few weeks after they voted to pause the use of the cameras. Also you have things like a Forbes investigation finding that Flock had installed cameras in several states, including Florida, without first obtaining the necessary permits. And so with all of these different kinds of stories coming out, you have people arguing, hey, these incidents, they further underscore the need for federal regulation at the very least. And while generally speaking, Republicans have been less inclined to be worried about this. You do have lawmakers on both sides appearing to agree, generally. Right? Multiple members of Congress have proposed different bills regulating various aspects of this budding industry as the public backlash has grown dramatically over the last few months. I mean, just yesterday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley announced that he'd be introducing a bill called the Stop Flock Abuse Act. And among other measures, the bill would ban local governments that collect a vehicle location data from

selling or sharing it with non-governmental third parties. Also, it would prevent users from abusing ALPR systems by instituting a written approval process for searches and requiring agencies to preserve and audit a log tracking those searches. Also mandate that data be encrypted and that agencies permanently delete driver data after 10 days, with limited exceptions for active criminal investigations. Also prohibit ALPR makers from using any hardware or software from foreign adversaries and ban any use of facial recognition technology. And you would Holly arguing that this legislation will establish basic safeguards for AI-powered cameras and adding, AI-powered cameras produced by flock and its competitors are tracking and creating

digital footprints of everyday Americans, a nightmare for individual liberties unless Congress enacts meaningful rules and accountability. But then also to his point there, some lawmakers they've also said that the federal government should go even further. Right, in this lengthy post on Twitter a few weeks back, Senator Bernie Sanders appeared to call for the use of flock to be stopped altogether, writing, totalitarianism is when a government or another entity with overwhelming power seeks to know, control, and influence everything you do, say, and even things. Saying, I fear very much that if we don't act aggressively, That is where we're heading.

And adding, we must come together to stop flock and AI mass surveillance, saying that is why I will be introducing legislation to do just that. And you also had that echoed by Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez during a town hall event in Ithaca, New York earlier this week. We need to understand these systems. AI, data, all of this are founded on theft. They are stealing what is yours. Your face, your behaviors, your privacy.

we have a right to privacy in the United States of America. And they are violating it and monetizing off of it. There's certain things that just shouldn't be allowed. To me, the idea that flock cameras even exist is unconscionable. And I want to congratulate the city of Ithaca for kicking flock out of your city. Because when you choose to enroll at a school, you're not choosing to have all of your movements, monitored and controlled by a private company.

There should not be these kinds of contracts that exist. Rather monitored and surveilled by a private company. Your data should be yours. Your privacy should be yours. But of course, like I always say on this show, words or words, actions or actions, and we'll have to see if there is any actual meaningful movement on this front, especially given the fact

that President Trump has said that he likes flock cameras. Yeah, no, I sort of like him because of that, because of law enforcement. But some people don't. They think it's an important. infringement. They help catch a lot of criminals. I like them.

And then there's actually a bunch of craziness we still need to talk about in a second, but just really quick self-promo thing. Right, I'm sponsored myself. If you're in near Wanna Be in DC and Pittsburgh this Friday and Saturday, I'd love to see it because we're closing out or crashing out to war with our final two shows at 2026.

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It's just the right vibe. It's just something special about taking an internet thing, go an IRL with it. It's just, this moment feels like it's necessary. And it's all really made me realize like how much I've missed the community aspect of things. But yeah, if you wanna snag some last minute tickets, go to crashing out toward dot com.

I put those links right up at the top. And yeah, I look forward to seeing your beautiful faces there. And then, diving right back into the news for your final block today, let's cram in some more news you need to know before I let you go. Starting with the news that Tennessee just tried to execute a woman this week,

but it went so wrong that she ended up alive, in a hospital, and now the states paused all of its executions. This is Krista Pike. She was sentenced to death back in the 90s at 18 for the brutal murder of her classmate. And this week, she was set to become the first woman that Tennessee has executed in over 200 years. Right with the execution failed and according to her lawyers, Pike was given a dose of the lethal drug, Pento Barbatol.

But then minutes later, she reportedly turned to her spiritual advisor and asked if the injection had even happened yet. With the reporters watching saying they could then hear her snoring, the state then also gave her a second dose, but it still didn't kill her. And so her lawyers have filed an emergency motion arguing that she was put through cruel and unusual punishment. And after they rushed her to the hospital, you had a doctor they hired saying that the drug likely never reached a high enough level. to stop her heart and that she may now have a brain injury. And so the governor, they've now halted the state's remaining executions this year and ordered an independent review.

All while, Pike's lawyer said they've warned that this would happen, blaming degraded drugs and a secretive protocol. And seemingly, everyone's furious in the situation, right? The mom of the woman that Pike killed, this mom who waited years for this day, she's furious, but of course, for a different reason, with her words being, they fucked up. And then also, big news today, one man is about to control CNN, CBS, HBO, Paramount, and Warder Brothers, and a judge just cleared the final hurdle to make that happen.

So of course, I'm talking about David Ellison. His company, Paramount, they're buying Warner Brothers in a roughly $80 billion deal. And you've got it merged into Hollywood's biggest studios, plus their streaming services and news networks into one media giant. And it's expected to officially close next week. And this, of course, after you had a lot of people fighting hard to stop at, 12 states sued to block it, the Riders Guild sued senators and actors like Mark Ruffalo spoke out, warning that it would kill jobs, crushed creativity, and weakened independent journalism.

And we have the judge saying that there were meaningful grounds for disappointment. The critics' concerns didn't amount to anything that she could legally reject the deal over. And then as far as the settlement itself, you've had critics calling it toothless. There's no breaking anything up. Instead, Paramount agreed to make more movies, fund workers who lose their jobs, and accept new editorial monitoring over CNN and CBS. And we have many noting that the losers here are workers in journalism. In addition to this being a massive win for Ellison and possibly Trump through that,

Warner Bros' outgoing CEO, David Zazlov, he's set to walk away with more than $550 million. So yeah, you have Hollywood set to change in a very big way now. But then also, in the news, Sidney Sweeney, right, just a few weeks ago, she got absolutely dragged for that racy ad. Think you know sports? Prove it. Novick is just sports. And connected to that, it looked like she maybe lost 200,000 Instagram followers, at least for that little while.

Here's the truth. It worked out fantastically for her. Because while the company back in February, Novick, it was worth $500 million. Now months later, after the ad, it is worth $2 billion. And Sweeney is an equity partner now. Because whether you love them or hate them, the prediction market space, it is booming. And Novick, they're a prediction market where you bet on sports outcomes, kind of like Kalshi or Polly Market. And like a lot of people, you probably saw that ad.

Sweeney posing nearly nude with a few strategically placed sports props in the tagline, Novig is just sports. And we had some loving just to see Sweeney posing with less clothes. It also got roasted, especially by women in sports who said that it pushed this outdated sexist idea of women. But the ad, it went viral, the investor money flowed in, and Sweeney, she's looking up on this. Right, she reportedly didn't take a cash paycheck for that ad. She took equity and ownership stake in the company. And so the backlash she absorbed, the followers that she might have lost in the meantime,

that was a transaction, that was a switch. And by some estimates, even a small stake, it'd be worth with around $10 million at this new valuation. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was higher. Also, you've got the news that a sperm whale just rammed a 52-foot yacht in the middle of the South Pacific, sank it, and then left four people fighting to survive for almost 18 hours.

And specifically what you had happened, where the four sailors being on a yacht called the Tide Tam, about 250 miles off a tiny speck of an island called Norfolk Island. And then out of nowhere, there's this loud thud, the whole boat launching sideways and one sailor getting thrown off the wheel. And then when they looked out,

there was a pot of six to eight sperm whales right next to him, some reportedly as big as the boat itself. And regardless of whatever, beef this whale had, it did some damage. The steering was smashed, the hole was cracked, water was pouring in, and about 30 minutes later, yet I'm sending out a May Day. And while a New Zealand recon plane found them and they started coordinating a rescue, they still had to survive. It's for hours, they bailed water by hand until they finally had to abandon ship for a tiny life raft. And as the yacht went down, they had to cut the rope tethering them to it or get dragged down themselves. And all of that

then leading to, luckily, 18 hours later, a container ship finally scooping them up. Luckily, everyone made it. No one was seriously hurt. And then, in the news, you've had nine American citizens being killed in the West Bank since 2022. But here's the thing. Just this week, you were the Senate voting on a resolution to just require the government to report on whether it's even investigating those deaths. But it failed 51 to 47. One of the key takeaways is that every single Democrat voted for it except one, and that was John Federman. Well, Fetterman, he's one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate. You know, his no wasn't totally shocking. What made the sting even more for a lot of people is that one of the recent victims was a 19-year-old from Philadelphia.

So literally, one of Fetterman's own constituents was killed and he still didn't vote for it. Now, it could have been because the resolutions backers, they blamed the killings on Israeli settlers and soldiers. And or it's connected to why every single Republican voted against it as well. Right? Over the fact that this was more than a report. There were actually teeth in this resolution. And that's because if the State Department didn't produce the report, it could have triggered a freeze and some U.S. military aid to Israel. Or with the Republicans arguing, that was the real goal all along, a backdoor way to cut off a close ally, not a genuine push for justice. But still while doomed, you had a lot of people celebrating this vote. With many noting a similar resolution got far more democratic support than a similar effort just two years ago.

which many see is a sign of how much the party has shifted on the Israeli government in Netanyahu. But then also in other wild news, the top prosecutor in Bolivia, the guy whose entire job is to fight crime, he just got arrested for allegedly being part of the drug trade that he was supposed to be stopping. Right. And so his name is Roger Marriaca. And until this week, he was Bolivia's attorney general. But now you've got him under arrest on suspicion of money laundering, drug trafficking, and running a criminal organization. Because according to the government, he wasn't just looking the other way. He was allegedly leading a network that was buried inside of the justice system itself that shielded drug traffickers. And a key detail that's not going to be helping our friend Rogers

is that when police reportedly moved in, they caught people hauling stacks of cash out of his home. Now that said, Mariaca denies all this, calling this political pressure and interference, payback for his investigations. And honestly, that is something that is always worth taking seriously. But also, it appears that this didn't happen in a bubble, right? Because two days before his arrest,

the United States publicly revoked his visa and sanctioned him, accusing him of taking bribes to help traffickers dodge the law. And it wasn't just him, right? Around a dozen other people got swept up in the same operation, including prosecutors and officials from his own office. And a key detail with all this is that Bolivia, right, they recently elected a new more U.S.-friendly government that's been cracking down hard on organized crime. As Marriaca and others, they might have previously figured that being inside of the system

itself was the safest place to hide. Though I will say, without naming names in this video, I do not think that is a unique frame of thinking for people in Bolivia, nor people in governments around the world. But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Thursday show. Thank you for watching also. Remember, if you're going to be in or near D.C. or Pittsburgh this weekend, this Friday, Saturday, I hope I see you. You can still snag yourself some last minute tickets at crashing out tour.

Links in the description in the top comment. But as always, no matter what you do, let me say thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here next time. Make sure you subscribe. We'll see you then.