The Philip DeFranco Show - The KIDS Act Problem is Worse Than You Think & Trump Caught in Tucker Carlson & Affordability Trap

Starting point is 00:00:00 I want to apologize in advance. A lot of the things today kind of got me worked up. And as much as I want this to just be a straight news show, and I'm going to give you just the facts. Today, I also had to share my opinions and places. And right now, it's just like, it feels like metaphorically everyone can get these hands. So, hey, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. You daily dive into the news.

Starting point is 00:00:18 Buckle up, hit that like button, and let's just jump into it, starting with this. You might need to show social media companies your ID before you post a meme, right? That is now one of the many concerns surrounding the kids, internet, and digital safety Act, aka the Kids Act. And that might sound familiar to you because the House just passed it earlier this week by a vote of 267 to 117, but it's also incredibly controversial. Right on paper, you might think that as a bill about kids safety that's very hard to argue with. It's seemingly meant to hold tech companies accountable by requiring new safety features and parental controls, restricting the use of minors' data and advertising and more stuff like that. But then there is a major in-your-face

Starting point is 00:00:51 Kardashian in the 2010's butt to this story, and that centers around privacy concerns. You've got groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU opposing this bill over fears that it could lead to companies using ID age verification. And while technically, the bill itself does not require it, with the EFF noting that some parts even specifically say the bill should not be read to require age verification. Once you look at the rest of the bill, to quote the EFF here, that disclaimer starts to look hollow. Because you see, the bill, it requires special controls, protections, messaging settings, and even more, whenever a website knows or should have known a user as a child. And you're with the EFF saying, should have known wording is a low negligence style standard of knowledge. And adding, if an online service gets it wrong, it's going to be up to courts and regulators to decide after the fact if an online service should have known a user with 16. And adding to try to avoid liability, services will have to determine which users are teenagers and which or not.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Most won't be able to simply trust their users. And the most likely route is requiring driver's licenses, passports, do facial scans or using age estimation systems that combed through a user's activity. And very importantly, this isn't just going to impact kids. adults will have to prove that they are adults, meaning that information would be demanded from potentially everyone. And so that's why you've got a lot of people calling it a de facto mandate, with Thomas Massey, for example, even saying it is a Trojan horse bill. You've got the EFF adding that the bills requirements come at the expense of privacy, free expression, and the ability of people of all ages to use the internet without revealing sensitive data.

Starting point is 00:02:11 Right, because if you have a situation, the landscape has changed where every major platform suddenly needs to verify hundreds of millions of people, that means that someone's now sitting on a giant centralized pile of your ID photos, your passport scans, your face data. And you're not new. You know, this is a huge target for criminal activity, and there are recent examples to back that up. Honestly, it feels like there's too many to choose from last year. You had a major data leak from the T app that exposed government IDs, verifications, DMs, and even more. And that app even actually explicitly promised to delete those verification photos immediately after approving users, but they didn't. And those photos also retain metadata, including GPS coordinates. And one person reportedly was able to use that information to make a map plotting locations of the app's users. And that's by no means. The only similar case, there was an ID verification vendor.

Starting point is 00:02:52 that's been used by X, TikTok, Uber, and more, being previously breached, exposing users' names, licenses, and more. So when you have people saying handing your ID to every website is dangerous, they're pointing to a proven track record of breaches. But also, I'll note, this is not the only wave of criticism that the Kids Act has been receiving.

Starting point is 00:03:08 Because there's actually also backlash from people on the other side of the situation I think the bill is actually too weak. Which then, funny enough, maybe one of the only reasons it has a tough time in the Senate. Wherever, you have some members that are upset that it removed duty of care provisions. Because of the version that passed

Starting point is 00:03:20 didn't have harm reduction policies or other requirements meant to limit addiction. So that's prompted some Senate Democrats to say that the bill fails to meet the moment. So you end up in this weird situation where you have lawmakers voting against the bill over government overreach and then others voting against it

Starting point is 00:03:32 because it does not reach far enough. But hey, at the end of the day, it did still pass the House and some argue that this is gonna be inevitable, that the groundwork for laws allowing digital ID verification, it's already been late. Are you already seeing things like California passing a law that'll require app stores to verify ages

Starting point is 00:03:46 so that kids don't access inappropriate content? Also just last year, the Supreme Court upheld at Texas law requiring age verification for adult content in a six to three decision. Even though there, you had legal scholars saying that the ruling should only be applied to obscene content, you have critics fearing that lawmakers are gonna stretch it as far as they can.

Starting point is 00:04:01 All while, you have many noting that no matter what kinds of laws get enacted, kids are gonna find a way around them. And whether it be kids or adults, reports have already found that VPN usage spikes, they happen when digital ID laws take effect. And so before I go crashing out and some of the other stories today,

Starting point is 00:04:15 I do wanna pass a question off to you. What are your thoughts, opinions, reactions, to a world where you have to upload your government ID or scan your face just to you social media or a number of services out there? Or do you think it makes sense that this is just kind of the inevitable evolution of the internet? Or do you think this is crazy? Do you think it's a massive overreach dressed up in a Protect the Kids costume?

Starting point is 00:04:32 And then, you know, next up today, we need to talk about affordability and the just ridiculous reactions we've seen regarding affordability. Or when questions are being asked about it, when it's up for debate. You know, it's something that's top of mind for a lot of Americans, one, because they can't afford a lot of stuff. But also now, too, some of the just ridiculous on-camera reactions we've gotten from Republicans. Take for example, this now viral, just absolutely insane clip of Representative Troy Nelms. How do House Republicans make the case that you're fighting for affordability when you go back

Starting point is 00:04:58 to your districts? Affordability, what are you talking about? Well, affordability is the big... I'm going to go to tomorrow. I'm going to, well, over the fork. I'm going to give me a couple of big lobster tails. I'm going to get me some nice rib-eyes. I'm going to sit in my backyard with my family, my neighbors, and we're going to be enjoying the fort. But listen, everybody understands. You're going to see a little increase. and energy prices because of Iran. I'm okay with the increase in fuel because you knew it was going to happen with obviously with oil and the strait and everything, but it's a temporary, it's a temporary issue. You think the 60% of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck can afford lobst or tails

Starting point is 00:05:35 and rib-eis and all of that? Maybe not. Maybe the 60% of America don't work as hard as I do, I do. I mean, I don't know. Yikes. Okay, so to Nell's credit, one, at least he's saying the quiet part out loud, he's being honest about what he thinks. But also two, what an asshole. He literally gets paid nearly three times the median American salary and he's like, motherfuckers out there just lazy. Like just a few lazies? No, maybe 60%. They can never do what I do because I bust my ass. Let me look at my notes here. Uh, probably kicking people off of healthcare coverage. But you've also had a number of different reactions like that from Representative Jake Elsie, who has asked a similar question. Mr. Elsie, how do House Republicans

Starting point is 00:06:10 make the case for affordability when you go home to your districts now? You'll have to ask the people who made this happen and I'm not one of them. Oh, you have a trifecta. House-Settet and White House. And for me, this is another one of those kind of just fun responses. It's unfortunately the classic Republican politician talking point, the deflection, that it's actually the Democrats that got us into this affordability crisis. And with that, his answer is essentially, well, I didn't create this mess, so I don't need to clean it up. Except one, even if we say what you're saying is true, that the Democrats created our

Starting point is 00:06:43 this whole situation. One, it is literally your job to try to represent your people, do good by them. Two, there is literally nothing standing in your way for you to do your job. Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the House, they've stacked the Supreme Court. And then to go back, well, things, you know, there were issues before the 2024 election, no doubt about it. They've gotten so much worse since Trump took office and enacted his agenda. According to an April analysis by the Urban Institute, nearly half of all people in American families, cannot afford the true cost of living and don't have the resources to cover essential expenses. And that's as you have 42% of U.S. households that have incomes that are technically too high

Starting point is 00:07:18 to qualify for federal and state assistance, but they're not high enough to cover fundamental living costs like food, housing, and health care. Meanwhile, thanks to inflation, which got supercharged by Trump's war of choice with Iran, costs of everyday expenses like energy and transportation, as well as essential goods and services, they're rising faster than wages. And then as far as things like health care, a recent Gallup poll found that just 49% of Americans said they could consistently afford health care. That is the lowest percentage they've seen since they started tracking those metrics. And again, Trump and the Republicans have only made it so much worse. Right, thanks to massive cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare under Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill, which they want to keep trying to call something else because it's become so unpopular, you've got the Congressional Budget Office estimating that as many as 15 million people are going to lose their insurance in the next eight years. And then because Trump and his Republicans refused to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, premiums have absolutely skyrocketed. It's making the public insurance plans prohibitively expensive for so many Americans. In fact, one recent

Starting point is 00:08:08 analysis found that five million people dropped ACA insurance as a result. And that's all on top of the massive economic shocks that we've seen because of Trump's pointless war with Iran. Actually with that, you had House Majority Leader Steve Scalise just plain gas sliding Americans. Yes, pun intended here, claiming that the country is actually thriving. I think the affordability crisis, it's over because gas is now down 50 cents. This is a country that's actually experiencing a golden age again. I mean, gas prices are done 50 cents from where they were just a few weeks ago and continuing to go down. affordability is back again. Do you remember how I said these liars were gonna do this?

Starting point is 00:08:41 How gas would jump up, $1.50, then it would drop 50 cents, and they'd be like, look, we won. Some people said I was being too cynical, but gas prices, yes, they've fallen in the last two weeks, with the national average clock and ended up around $3.84 a gallon, but that is still nearly a dollar more than it was before Trump started this war. And because of Trump's war, a third of Americans are now saying that they're struggling to pay for their energy bill. Actually, we haven't even gotten to Trump here. He has repeatedly said that he does not actively care about how the war is impacting Americans financial situations. When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are American financial

Starting point is 00:09:12 situations motivating you to make a deal? Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about American's financial situation. I don't think about anybody. Also, I know, more recently, he's received backlash for his comments on a housing bill that Congress passed with massive bipartisan margins. Right, that bill?

Starting point is 00:09:32 It's been described as the largest housing affordability bill in decades. You got it aiming to lower housing costs and increase housing stock through a number of different mechanisms. For things including streamlining building regulations and preventing large private investors from buying up single family homes. But despite it being very popular and the fact that Republicans and Democrats miraculously actually came together in such divided times, right, to actually agree on something to address the affordability crisis, Trump then is alone in holding it hostage. He says he's refusing to sign it until Congress passes his so-called SAVE Act, where the bill that, you know, they say is all about voter ID, but is really about killing mail-in voting. And even though there clearly isn't enough support among Republicans to pass that legislation, Trump's refused to back down. While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he basically said he does not care about this historic housing affordability bill that can help countless Americans. What are your plans for the housing bill, Mr. President?

Starting point is 00:10:19 Are you speaking about it? I don't know. I think it's so unimportant by compared to the same American. Here's what I would like to say. Much more than a bill that big deal. It's a yawn. Some people say, it's wonderful. To me, compared to the Save America Act,

Starting point is 00:10:39 just about everything is a big yawn. But yeah, big yawn from Trump, it does make sense. This probably does feel boring and unimportant, especially compared to, you know, chances where he can enrich himself and his family by at least $2 billion just in the last year and a half. But for everyday Americans who can't manipulate and abuse the power of the presidency

Starting point is 00:10:56 to line their pockets, the housing affordability crisis is a very real issue. The median home price, it's now five times more than the annual income of a typical family and the cost of homeownership, it's hit record highs. And then there's also a severe supply shortage regarding houses that are available. The United States, it's looking down the barrel of a shortfall of millions of homes and houses are not being built fast enough.

Starting point is 00:11:14 But in the meantime, what you're seeing is that you've got people like JD Vance having the audacity to claim that it's the Democrats who are somehow preventing a solution for the housing affordability crisis. I would love it if Democrats were willing, you know, not that they are going to agree with Republicans all the time, but if they were willing to work with us on lowering housing prices, on lowering gas prices, on actually making the lives of American citizens better,

Starting point is 00:11:36 you know, we could have some real bipartisan compromise. My brother in Christ, though hopefully not soon. I don't know how you haven't gotten X communicated by the Catholic Church yet. The Democrats did reach a bipartisan compromise on housing affordability. Trump is literally the only reason it is not a law. And it's absolutely insane to say that Democrats are refusing to reach a compromise on lowering gas prices when the only reason that prices are so fucking high is because of Trump's war of choice. A war that most Dems have opposed from the start, and I say most,

Starting point is 00:12:02 because you know there's some that secretly are a fan of it. I initially dragged their feet just to see how things would play out. But unfortunately, right now, the power lies with the Republicans in this Republican White House with Trump and J.D. Vance, and they seem kind of more fixated on gaslighting than actually signing the solution. Because their winning strategy right now is to just gaslight Americans, to let them know that their, you know, their lived experience,

Starting point is 00:12:22 that's a lie. You're not actually suffering. Which I will say is the wildest strategy they could have possibly stolen from a number of establishment Democrats. They seemingly took that and just supercharged it with extra. stupid. These corrupt lazy motherfuckers have me crashing out today. And then there's more we got to dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, for those of us still working on something for over a year now and you still haven't gotten that website up, I need you to ask yourself this. Are you actually closer to launching than you were six months

Starting point is 00:12:48 ago? And that's not a jab, right? That's just what happens when the build feels harder than the idea. Squarespace, they make the build stupid simple. If you have no website, no problem today, that changes because Squarespace makes it so easy to make that site. You can start selling content, And courses, physical or digital products, I mean, truly, whatever you've been dreaming up, you can probably do. Their Beacon tools will literally draft your site copy, suggest your layout, design your pages. You just describe what you want, and it builds around you. No coding, no guesswork, just results.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Whether it's low end, you just want to showcase things or high end, you want one-time payments, subscriptions, both. Do it all. And Beacon can help you design and build the business, and then acuity handles the bookings. By the time that the first client finds you, everything's already ready for them. And then once you're live, they're built-in analytics and marketing tools. They keep everything running like clockwork, so you can just focus on what you, actually care about. So stop with the procrastination, and that comes from a former professional

Starting point is 00:13:34 procrastinator. Your free trial, it's waiting for you at Squarespace.com slash Phil or scan that QR code because today is launch day. And just remember when it's ready to go live, use code Phil to get 10% off and just let him know we sent you. And then next up today, we've got to talk about Tim Walls getting absolutely slammed right now for issuing what may be one of the most controversial pardons ever. Because the pardon that you're looking at today is for Tal Vang. He's a 42-year-old immigrant from Thailand who came to the U.S. as a child refugee in 1994. He then became a permanent resident and eventually settled in Minnesota. But most importantly, in 2005 when he was roughly 18 years old, he was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old

Starting point is 00:14:09 girl. While he initially tried to justify his actions, he ended up pleading guilty to avoid prison time, and an immigration judge ordered his deportation to Lowe. But because at the time, Lao refused to accept deportees in large numbers, many people that would have been sent back ended up staying in the United States on supervised release. So here he stayed for 20 years, But then he got swept up in the ice crack down in Minnesota back in December and now he's facing deportation again. So what Veng did is that he filed for a pardon from the state with him pointing to his decades of having a clean record since his conviction as evidence of his rehabilitation. He also expressed a regret for his action saying that he carries a deep shame and that if he could go back and change it, he wouldn't a heartbeat. But also it seemed to be the biggest deciding factor here came from his victim because they ended up submitting an unsigned statement asking for the state to grant the pardon.

Starting point is 00:14:47 Writing what happened to me was wrong, but I have had many years to think about this. I have made peace with it. I forgive him. And so what you got is that the Board of Pardons, a three-person panel, including Governor Tim Walls, the State Attorney General Keith Ellison, and the State Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson, granting the part. They essentially wiped Vang's criminal record clean and gave him the chance to fight his deportation. So as I can imagine, the backlash has been massive. And among the reactions, you had the Department of Homeland Security saying on Twitter, Governor Walls' pardon shielded this child rapist from removal from our nation,

Starting point is 00:15:13 and adding this is the type of disgusting criminal sanctuary, politicians are shamelessly protected. Anyway, DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen sharing the post and calling the pardon horrific and accusing walls of protecting illegal criminal aliens over American citizens. And personally, I got to say, kind of fucked Tim Walls and these other two board members for putting me on the same side as Mark Wayne Mullen. But I understand that they've shared that the victim chiming in on Vang's behalf, it played a major role in their decision.

Starting point is 00:15:36 But one, I'm personally of an opinion that anyone that does something like this, they're a monster in my fucking eyes. They're a monster for life that can never be trusted. And then two, just optically, this is fucking stupid politics. You have an administration that has been purging the country of so many, non-criminal, even though they've said that they're focused on the dangerous criminals. And so y'all decide to protect someone who targeted a 10-year-old girl? And listen, I looked through your statement.

Starting point is 00:15:59 You made a less than subtle dig at Trump pointing out that he's throwing pardons around like candy, valid criticism. But what about your fucking pardon to, my guy? And overall, in my opinion, I found this disappointing, disgusting, and it feels like team politics taken to a stupid and dangerous place. Then actually, also speaking of team politics, we then have to talk about the news that Tucker Carlson is starting a third party. He just officially announced it in an interview with a Columbia journalism review, just weeks after he declared that he was leaving the GOP over Trump's war with Iran and the party's deep support of Israel.

Starting point is 00:16:29 I would not support the Republican Party. There's no chance I would support the Republican Party. I've been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party. I mean, very consistent defender. But there's no defending this because it's immoral. And it's exactly the opposite of what a political party in a democracy is charged with doing, which is representing. its own voters, its own citizens, its own nation, and they're not doing that. So no, I'm out. And if I'm out, then I think a lot of other people are out. And in this new interview with CJR, he echoed a lot of the same points, ragged on Trump and his war in Iran before then saying, I'm going to help build a third party. There should be a good faith effort to figure out what benefits the country. And that's adding, I mean, if you make $60,000 a year, you're degraded. Your life expectancy has gone down

Starting point is 00:17:12 and the promise of your children's lives is likely gone. No one seems to care. It's not even a factor. What about Hamas? I officially do not care about Hamas. The U.S. government should have as its first priority, the welfare of its own people. And he went on to say that Democrats and Republicans are in lockstep solidarity with each other when it comes to war and finance and arguing. That's not a democracy, that's a one party state posing as a democracy and it needs to be broken.

Starting point is 00:17:33 Though Tucker also said that he did not want to be a candidate for this future third party. And this of course is kind of just the latest and biggest update around the Maga Civil War that we've been covering for over a year now. And so far as far as the reception online, it's been kind of mixed. You did have a ton of people applauding the move,

Starting point is 00:17:46 cheering Tucker on saying that a new alternative to the GOP is very welcome. You also had some arguing that he could unite both the left and the right if he centers the new party around kind of a big tent populist platform. But then you also had plenty of people slamming this move saying that it would just fracture conservative votes and ultimately make it easier for the Democrats to win. And then you also had other people saying really there's no way that a third party can actually gain any meaningful traction. And there as you'd expect you had a lot of people pointing to Elon Musk, or whether it was ketamine induced or ego driven or both. Elon famously said that he was gonna start his own third party and then he ultimately bailed. That was around the time where Elon all of a sudden was in that fight with Trump.

Starting point is 00:18:18 He started talking about the Epstein files. was actually a big part of the reason why that popped back up and damaged Trump so much. Though, of course, as we've all witnessed, he then cozied back up to his daddy. But then also beyond all the other stuff with Tucker, you had people questioning his ability to actually build an effective third party. With many, claiming that despite his large platform, many of his ideas, they might be seen as too fringe with one person writing. I like Tucker, but he can't build a new party because he's all over the place.

Starting point is 00:18:39 None of his positions have any consistent underlying philosophy that would allow a solidified policy to take shape. You also had some on the far right, like Laura Lumer, who raised questions about how the whole thing's going to work logistically, given the current internal politics of American conservatism. Writing, now the question is, will J.D. Vans join the third party? Or will he finally condemn and confront Tucker Carlson before Tucker torpedoes J.D.'s 2028 GOP presidential campaign? And that's adding, obviously, JD isn't going to join a third party, so I think it's totally

Starting point is 00:19:03 obvious now. Tucker only says nice things about J.D., but he clearly wants to hurt his presidential aspirations. Why would he run a party against J.D.? But then here's what I'll say with all this. No matter your opinion of Tucker Carlson or his belief or disbelief and his ability to craft a new third party in America. What is undeniable is that there is a growing faction to Trump's base who no longer support him

Starting point is 00:19:23 in the Republican Party, and they are being led by some of the most prominent conservative commentators in the country. All while, poll after poll is shown that Trump, he's losing ground across key demographics of his base that got him reelected. It's July now, so it might even be worse, but back in May, a CBS News poll found that 54% of white voters without a college degree, they now disapprove

Starting point is 00:19:39 of Trump's performance. That's his key base. He famously said, I love the uneducated. Also, a Pew survey from around the same time, it showed that his approval rating with Latinos it hit a second term low. And now, according to New Jersey, that was released just this week from the Ronald Reagan Institute, two-fifths of GOP voters under 30 say that they do not align with Trump's quest to make America great again.

Starting point is 00:19:57 And so many of those people do not feel like they have a home in either political party, that their interests are not represented by Democrats or Republicans. But then that mess, it brings us to the final bit of news that I want to talk about today, which is this crazy story out of Indonesia. Because he just had a couple that was caned for kissing outside of marriage. And that's after, reportedly, you had this 22-year-old guy, a 25-year-old woman being arrested a few months ago after they kissed in a car during a TikTok live stream that went viral and then prompted reports to authorities. And that kiss, it happened to take place in the only province in the country that actually enforces any form of Islamic law. And looking into it, that region has been allowed to enforce religious laws since 2006,

Starting point is 00:20:29 and in 2015, they expanded those laws to apply to non-Muslims as well. And so you've got laws there allowing for up to 100 lashes for morality offenses like adultery, gay sex, gambling, drinking, and more. And this couple that got cane for the kissing, they reportedly received 21 lashes from a earth-hand cane with over 100 people watching. And apparently the number 21 was them being lenient. Apparently they were said to get 25, but they had a few shaved off because they were already in prison for four months. And they weren't alone. You also had a handful of others cane that day for things like online gambling and adultery.

Starting point is 00:20:57 Even had the AP shared images of people that were awaiting their punishments and one where a woman needed help to get up after it happened. And while the AP actually spoke to someone who witnessed this and supported the public punishments, who said, in my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other residents to be more careful when using social media. Saying it also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public. Most everyone else who's not a fucking insane person, let me just be clear with my opinion. They were horrified by this and that included Amnesty International who condemned it with a regional director saying, Today's public caning, a young man and a woman simply for kissing, is a horrifying act of discrimination and a grim reminder of the enduring human rights violations permitted under the Islamic criminal code in Indonesia's Aceh province. And adding, caning is an inherently cruel and human and degrading punishment that frequently crosses the threshold into torture.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Indonesia's authorities must end the criminalization of consensual intimacy and repeal all discriminatory bylaws that permit corporal And that's as you have them saying that Sharia police in the province, they appear to be expanding their digital monitoring efforts. With Amnesty International demanding that Indonesia as a member of the UN Human Rights Council step in to prevent this province from carrying out these punishments. Especially because this isn't even the only recent headline about the canings in the province. Earlier this year, you had a woman apparently fainting after being caned 140 times for sex outside of marriage and alcohol offenses. Unless that a year ago, the court sentenced two men for hugging and kissing. They ended up getting caned 80 times and apparently they wanted 85, but they said that the men were polite, and good students. Yeah, I know. How thoughtful. But then my friends, you beautiful bastards,

Starting point is 00:22:20 is the end of your Thursday show. Thank you for watching, hitting that like button, subscribing to the channel. I hope you have a good July 4th weekend. If you can, enjoy some fireworks, some drone shows, have a little barbecue, touch some grass. Please don't do anything stupid with something that's supposed to explode. Like that is the whole reason that it exists. I don't want any of you on Monday to be my douchebag of the day. But really either way, I'll see you then.

The Philip DeFranco Show - The KIDS Act Problem is Worse Than You Think & Trump Caught in Tucker Carlson & Affordability Trap

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.