The Philip DeFranco Show - The Taylor Swift Wedding Problem is Worse Than You Think & Big Reckless Ben Lego Scandal Updates

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

EVERYONE who signs up wins a FREE Rose toy! https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/philipdefranco-podcast - Get Early Tickets to Join Us on Tour! https://linktr.ee/crashingouttour  - BEAUTIFUL BASTARD Premi...um blanks, signature fits, and the new tie dye drop. Go get your new favorite shirt! 👉 https://beautifulbastard.com LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2VWATCH CRASHING OUT w/ PHILIP & ALEX 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 - Earthquake in Venezuela Kills 164 People, With Death Toll Likely to Rise 04:44 - Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Wedding Leads to Massive Bets on Prediction Markets  09:51 - Sponsored by Bellesa 10:51 - USPS Plans to Hold Back Ballots in States That Don’t Give Voter Lists to Trump 15:56 - Bricks & Minifigs Agrees to Drop Gag Order Against Reckless Ben 18:17 - Wendy’s Gets Boost From Meme Stocks  19:49 - Doctors in America Forced to Ration Cancer Drugs 21:00 - Rats and Mice Are Rapidly Mutating to be Resistant to Poison  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, Jared Paolino, Victor Sledge   ———————————— #DeFranco #TaylorSwift #RecklessBen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:45 Is Taylor Swift wedding problem? It is way bigger than you probably even realize. You've got big, big news on the reckless Ben Lego scandal front. And we go inside why these Venezuelan earthquakes were so horrible and devastating and what to expect next. 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. Just past 6 p.m. yesterday, the Earth just started shaking like it's really never done before in Venezuela. People were caught in the middle of showering. They were watching the World Cup.
Starting point is 00:01:11 They were in the middle of shopping. But they then all ran for safety when they realized what was happening. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake had struck around 105 miles west of Caracas, leaving people shaken, but that was kind of just a preview. Because exactly 39 seconds later, another even stronger quake hit. This one clocking in it at a magnitude of 7.5. making it the most powerful earthquake in Venezuela since 1900, and what we've seen already, it is horrified. But also, what might come over the coming days, it could be so much worse.
Starting point is 00:01:39 Or because according to the president, at least 164 people are confirmed, dead so far with nearly a thousand more suffering injuries. Though also a huge thing is that the U.S. Geological Survey, they're estimating that the death toll could rise to as much as 10,000. And in fact, they're saying that there's a 30% chance it could go up to as much as 100,000. Though I do want to be clear, that is based on the worst-case scenario.
Starting point is 00:01:56 It's based on historical earthquake patterns and statistical modeling, not on the number of casualties. But the fact that two huge earthquakes struck back to back and so shallow, just 14 and six miles underneath the ground, respectively, it made this uniquely dangerous. Especially because for some context, this happened to a country where earthquakes, they're really not too common. Others like Chile and Peru, they get them way more often. Plus yesterday was actually a national holiday, so you had more people at home. Because Venezuela is also a poor country, a lot of those homes are not sturdy. With many built from unreinforced brickmasonry and adobe blocks, not the kind of stuff that's designed to withstand a once-in-a-century double earthquake.
Starting point is 00:02:25 So dozens of buildings, they just collapsed. Some of them multiple stories high, and we have no idea how many people are trapped. dead or alive underneath mountains of rubble. And of course, the more time that it takes to dig them out, the less likely it is that they'll still be breathing by the time rescuers get to them. So you've got this race against the clock, workers and volunteers are doing everything they can
Starting point is 00:02:40 to save lives. Meanwhile, you've got panicked and traumatized people just flooding the streets. Some staring shocked back of the mess of metal and concrete that they used to call homes. Others too afraid to go back inside because who knows, maybe an Afroshock delivers a knockout blow to any buildings
Starting point is 00:02:52 that are left standing. And so people seeing shelters, searching for their friends and family and telling their stories to the media. The buildings were shaking the electricity lines above us were, you know, sparking, exploding because of the shaking, lots of screaming, people panicking. I felt everything fall on top of my home, of my apartment. I managed to cover myself with the furniture. The building superintendent with the baby and all the neighbors coming down,
Starting point is 00:03:16 but from that building, I only saw that one family got out. These glasses fell to the floor. As you can see, behind me, neighbors are coming down to the streets. In the worst hit areas, you had streets, choke with debris and top of electric poles, with some parts flooded from burst water pipes. Then, of course, makes it a lot harder for first responders to get where they need to go. And the country's main airport where international aid would normally land, that shut down due to severe damage. And one of the hardest hit regions that you're seeing is LaGuarda,
Starting point is 00:03:43 where over 100 buildings have collapsed, according to the U.N. And so naturally, you've got millions of Venezuelans living outside of the country, trying to contact their loved ones, try to make sure they're okay. But that's proving to be difficult since many areas lost power, internet and cell service. And then on top of that is part of the national state of emergency declared by acting President Delci Rodriguez, subway and natural gas services were paused in Caracas, where they're also closing down schools for the next week and turn in some of those into temporary
Starting point is 00:04:04 shelters and donations centers. You also have health care professionals in the country being asked to report to hospitals immediately to care for this influx of patients. But also, even after all that, things might get worse. And I don't just mean because they're going to be discovering more people and things like that, but rather because seismologists, they think at least one after shock of a magnitude of five or greater is likely over the next week. So while you have rescuers cleaning up the current mess, they're also bracing for more buildings that come crashing down at any minute. And also as this is playing out, you have many pointing out that, you know, all this historic disaster, it's coming after years of corruption and mismanagement as well as crippling U.S. sanctions.
Starting point is 00:04:34 Right, all of that's already left Venezuela's infrastructure crumbling, including electricity, transit, and health care. And despite Trump's promises of a golden age of prosperity there, there's been little evidence of an economic recovery since he kidnapped Nicholas Maduro back in January. And now you've got the U.S. Geological survey estimating that these quakes could wipe out anywhere from 1 to 7% of the country's GDP. And so now Trump's pick to govern the country Rodriguez has to manage this crisis while keeping the economy under control, appeasing the Maduro loyalist in our government. satisfying Trump's demands that she opened the country to American companies.
Starting point is 00:05:00 And all that, while her approval rating is sitting at 25% right now in her perceived legitimacy, it's in tatters and Trump basically crowned her like a colonial viceroy. Though, I will say she's not going to have to deal with this all on her own. The UN, several Latin American countries, and of course the United States are swooping in to provide aid, as Marco Rubio explained. I had an opportunity to talk earlier this morning with Delci Rodriguez, the acting president. We're already deploying a search and rescue teams from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Los Angeles. The airport there is badly damaged, so we'll have to rely on the Department of War to deploy assets there.
Starting point is 00:05:30 But then from that, let's pivot to a much lighter story, something a little more pop culture, especially because it's been popping up more and more, and that is that there are millions of dollars that are now being wagered on prediction markets over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey's wedding. I think everything about this story makes me feel old and like I hate everything and I don't like it about myself, but also maybe I just don't like it about society, I don't know. Yeah, the bets include when will it happen, who will attend, where will it be, who will be the bridesmaids and groomsmen and even will Taylor get pregnant before tying the nine? Right quick aside, doesn't it feel like it says something about society that we looked at all the celebrity session over the past several decades?
Starting point is 00:06:00 Right, and then the celebrities that have spoken out against it, the horrifying crashouts we've seen, like Britney Spears would happen with like, do you remember the live streams around Britney Spears? Apparently, like, the lesson we learned was, man, I wish I could have bet on Britney Spears shaving her head in my parlay. Yeah, this is just part of society now. You can gamble on anything. Right with Taylor specifically, ever since they got engaged, there's just been so much speculation. Early reports claimed that Taylor had paid off a couple so that she could get married at a fancy hotel in Rhode Island next to her beach. house on June 13th. But that weekend came and went with no wedding. And then more recent report suggested that it would be at Madison Square Garden on the weekend of July 3rd with over a thousand people in attendance. But apparently one of the appeals being that there's thorough security and no
Starting point is 00:06:35 windows there, so paparazzi couldn't access it. But there is mixed reporting as to whether or not the actual wedding is actually going to be there. Or to some think that the garden's only going to be used for a bigger reception and a smaller ceremony is going to take place first. Which can then kind of create this issue for better is because on Kalshi's event of the wedding location, you have New York City leading the way, but quite a few other locations in play as well. And so with that, you have the rules saying, if multiple wedding ceremonies occur in different locations, for example, a civil and a symbolic ceremony, only the first wedding ceremony to occur and be publicly reported by a source agency will govern this market, which again, it just opens the door for so much
Starting point is 00:07:06 ridiculousness. One, there's even more of a reason that you can't trust people that you're around or people you're in business with who's a leak and stuff. Maybe they don't even leak. Maybe they, you know, do some insider trading, but then people see the insider trading and all of a sudden everyone knows about your life. And two, with the prediction market is having these specific rules and things that have to like qualify, there's a lot of just opportunity for manipulation and people to get screwed out of their money. Which I don't feel like I'm breaking any news here. More people lose money on these sites than win. It's actually a shock minority that not only win on this platform, but win anything that is meaningful. And all of this is it's not just, you know, like TMZ and page six reporting on it.
Starting point is 00:07:38 You got the New York Times reporting about this. In fact, they did a major report seeming to confirm an MSG wedding, saying it'll be a multi-day event that permits were filed to shut down nearby streets. Members of the Kansas City Chiefs had booked hotels nearby, and officers who were at the train station below the venue have apparently been told about the wedding. So then, you had people feeling pretty confident throwing big bucks on there. In Kalshi, there's around two and a half million dollars on the location alone and another million on the date. Polly Market is $300,000 on the guest list. And some, you know, it makes sense. Jack Anthonoff, Patrick Mahomes, Selena Gomez. But then also Andrew Tate was at 16% odds? I don't know, maybe there's something happening that I didn't notice
Starting point is 00:08:13 because I have a job. Or is it like a stupid situation where Andrew Tate bet on Andrew Tate being there and he's going to like storm the wedding? But also with this, the New York. Times also hit on kind of the note that I'm hitting on, right, noting that the prediction markets have changed fandoms. One communications professor described it as parasyciality exploding. And with these two people specifically, it feels like it's kind of the perfect storm. And Travis's aside, right, a lot of people that watch him, they're already sports betters. So a lot of people there, there's just an extension of gambling. And then as far as the Swifties, they're like an army of private investigators. One of the Taylor's big things is leaving
Starting point is 00:08:40 clues and Easter eggs for her fans. They're used to do in the work and now all of a sudden, for some of them, not saying like a majority, there's this monetary incentive. And actually there you had another professor adding, if you can pick up patterns and recognize patterns in Taylor's behavior and the Easter eggs and get really good at thinking through the numerology, then it's a natural expansion to say, wait a minute, why don't I make a little money off of this weird superpower? And with that, Taylor's generally not easteraging about her real life. Which is why you've had a number of fans saying things like, I don't think that you can really call yourself a supporter of an artist if you're trying to place bets about their personal life.
Starting point is 00:09:08 But the thing is, one, people are betting, and two, you're seeing people already turn a profit. One better on Polymarket, for example, managed to score a few thousand dollars after they were going on a betting spree about their engagement just hours before it was announced. And if any of this, it's making you feel weird. know that you're not alone. And I don't just mean me, but yes, let's bond. Let's have a little moment. But also, recent polling suggests that both Republicans and Democrats prefer that these markets be federally regulated. And in fact, one of the things you're seeing is that a lot of states right now feel like things are kind of a too loose at the federal level and they're feeling the need to step in. So for example, Kentucky, they recently sued polymarket, Calsheet and an online casino with the state's attorney general saying.
Starting point is 00:09:39 They are operating illegal sports books in Kentucky and breaking our laws. These multi-billion dollar corporations and their legal fictions don't pass the SNIP test, reclaiming that they're bypassing consumer protection and tax requirements as well as doing business without a state gaming license. But Trump's people, they do not like this. In fact, just this week, the CFTC sued Kentucky for his interventions, arguing that Kentucky is the latest state attempting to shut down federally regulated event contracts. And adding, as I've consistently pledged, the CFTC, is firmly committed to maintaining its exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and today's lawsuit against Kentucky is yet another example of the commission protecting its federal interests. And that actually
Starting point is 00:10:10 makes Kentucky now the ninth state that the CFTC is sued. And so with that just this morning, you had Democratic senators Jeff Merkley and Richard Blumenthal sending a letter to the Appropriations Committee, asking them to stop the CFTC from using federal funding to prevent states and tribes from enforcing their gambling laws. And adding that the CFTC's actions here will only fuel a gambling public health crisis and interfere with states and tribes longstanding prerogative to regulate or even restrict gambling. Arguing these states have rightfully identified these platforms or gambling and the CFTC should not be getting in their way. And then there's more we got to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor.
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Starting point is 00:12:24 But then, listen, 24 hours later, a federal judge struck down major parts of Trump's executive order. Because even though Trump votes by mail, he says that it's fraud because the Democrats vote more through mail. And so he's been trying to limit it. And specifically, this executive order would direct the Department of Homeland Security to create a national list of citizens in each state using data from citizenship and naturalization records, social security records, and other federal databases. And then once that's complete, the order mandates that the Postal Service can only provide absentee ballots to people on those citizenship lists. And you have Trump's order instructing the DOJ to prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local election officials who issue federal ballots to people who are deemed ineligible to vote. Right. And in addition to being very controversial, this executive order was widely panned as very illegal, according to experts.
Starting point is 00:13:03 Right because the Constitution very clearly gives state legislatures and Congress, not the president, the power to set rules for federal elections. Which is why you've had critics slamming the move as a transparent effort by Trump to federalize elections and get them under his thumb. But of course, a big part of Trump 2.0 is just do shit, break shit, and see what happens. Move full steam ahead to implement this policy. With you then seeing just a few weeks ago, the USPS introducing a new rule that would force states to provide the names, addresses, and ballot barcode numbers for anyone who requests a mail-in ballot. A move that would functionally give the Trump administration a federal absentee voter database. You had the New York Times reporting earlier this month that the rule would also allow the postal service
Starting point is 00:13:35 to refuse to deliver absentee ballots in states that do not turn over the sensitive. voter information, reporting that the vaguely written policy appears to establish broad authority for the agency to intervene in the mail voting process and adding, withholding some mail services in states where voters rely heavily on mail-balloting could affect millions of Americans. Now, very notably here, the postal service rule, it hasn't been finalized yet, but it's still undergoing a 30-day public comment period. With that starting earlier this month, and Trump's order directs the agency to issue a final version by the end of July. But also back in April, before this rule was publicly proposed, postmaster general David Steiner told the times that
Starting point is 00:14:05 the USPS would defer to the courts regarding the legality of Trump's executive order, and that the agency would absolutely continue to deliver mail-in ballots. But when pressed by Democratic Senator Gary Peters during a hearing yesterday, he had a very different answer. Yes or no, if a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposal route? Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest in order to, you know, look, what we're asking for...
Starting point is 00:14:34 So, that's the answer. You'd tell no. So the proposed rule basically coerces states to conform to these new requirements and hand over their absentee voter rolls or face the consequences of not being able to vote by mail. Some states, that's all they do. You're telling these states, either give the federal government this information, trust the federal government, trust the Trump administration. We'll take good care of these. And if you don't do it, you can't mail absentee ballots. You're going to make a decision that people cannot vote by mail. That's unacceptable.
Starting point is 00:15:09 And so unsurprisingly, Steiner's answer got a lot of backlash, but that is not where it ended because this morning, you had a federal judge in Boston blocking key parts of Trump's mail and voting executive order ruling in favor of a coalition of 23 states in D.C. that had sued over the policy arguing that it was clearly unconstitutional. And you had the judge explicitly writing, the Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections. Arguing that the president does not have any authority to direct DHS to compile voter voter eligibility list for each state end, that the USPS has no power to adopt
Starting point is 00:15:35 any binding regulations on mail and voting. But then also with this, I do want to hit on something that is notable. Because this story was breaking as I was recording today's show, we're seeing kind of different reporting around the scope of the ruling. You've got some outlets like CNN reporting that the decision just applies to the 23 states in D.C. that brought a lawsuit against the order. But then you also had outlets like Reuters implying that the ruling blocks implementation of the order entirely. But also, by the way, the Trump administration, they're going to appeal this.
Starting point is 00:15:58 So we're going to have to wait to see what happens here. We should also know that this is not the only kind of election-related loss that Trump has gotten recently. Right, on Monday, you had a different federal judge. blocking the Trump administration from using a centralized database that aggregated American sensitive personal information to check eligibility. And the system in question there is called the systematic alien verification for entitlements or save and it was overhauled by the Trump administration last year. And while it was meant to flag potential non-citizens and to seize voters, some foreign-born
Starting point is 00:16:21 U.S. citizens have been wrongfully flagged as potential non-citizens. And you're the federal judge in that case ruling that the system could result in citizens being improperly purged from voter rolls and that the tool as is cannot be used. Right. And then she also argued that Congress had expressly banned the federal government from centralizing Americans' personal identifying information, claiming that the federal agencies that created the SAVE program knew that the database violates those statutory protections. And then literally just yesterday,
Starting point is 00:16:42 you had another federal judge blocking most of a Trump executive order from taking a fact that would have required people to provide proof of citizenship in order to vote and prevent mail balance from being counted if they arrive after election day, even if they were postmarked by that date. With a judge ruling that Trump had zero authority to set those requirements under the Constitution.
Starting point is 00:16:57 Though I will say the actual impact there, not that big. It doesn't change the status quo much. In fact, that same judge had issued a, a preliminary injunction, but this latest ruling does make the move permanent. Though again, the Trump administration can appeal the decision. But then from that, for our final block today, let's slam in some more news you need to know. And first up here, we've got reckless Ben back on the news. Because you've got Ben saying that the gag order that kept him quiet in his battle against bricks and
Starting point is 00:17:18 minifigs is done, or rather almost done. Because it's been a minute, but to bring him up to speed and oversimplify it, Ben blew up in the news after he launched an investigation into bricks and mini figs over there dealings with Brian Mansell. Claiming Mansell was cheated out of his full payment after selling his late father's Lego collection, or which he now believes to be worth more than $100,000. The whole thing's been chaotic, the police got involved. There's all this body cam footage.
Starting point is 00:17:37 Ben said that he fled to Mexico, worried about getting arrested. And one of the last things that we heard from him was that he was being forced into silence. Episode three is finally finished after crazy all-nighters and basically destroying my health. But I can't post it or I will go to jail. Now that I'm officially served, I cannot even mention this company.
Starting point is 00:17:57 This order was put on me because this company was telling the court that I was making bomb threats, I was planning on murdering the manager and employees, which obviously I didn't do. So that was a couple of weeks ago. But now he's posted a new video saying that he and his team, they talked to Bricks and Minifigs lawyers and he claimed that they were worried that Ben's team would destroy them in a lawsuit. Right now, lawsuits related to the harassment and other claims Bricks and Minifix's owners have brought against Ben, which also named Mansell as a co-defendant.
Starting point is 00:18:23 You've been saying that it was obvious that Bricks and Minifigs would lose in court. And well, obviously, we have to keep into account this is coming from him. This is his point of view. It does really stand out based off of how Ben left things before. And with all this, you had Ben saying that he had Ben saying that he he and his team started playing hardball with Bricks and Minifigs saying that he would take it easier on them online if they lifted the gag order that they had on it. Though there, I got to note, other reports have said that Bricks and minifix's owner has wanted to pull back on the gag order because they said it unlawfully restricted speech by individuals, not directly named his primary defendants. Whatever the case is,
Starting point is 00:18:49 it does appear like the gag order is on the way out. You've been saying that he expects to be able to upload part three of this whole saga pretty soon. We also noted that part three was originally going to be about 20 minutes long, but now he's expecting it to be 40 to 45 minutes as he adds more updates. And then on top of that, he says he has an episode four in the works. And that as far As the court dates go, he has a preliminary injunction hearing that's scheduled for next week. And then after that, you'll likely have a few more court dates related to charges that he got in March, which includes stalking, trespassing, and targeted residential picketing. Then also this afternoon, Ben's friend tweeted a claim that the judge has now declined the restraining order
Starting point is 00:19:18 because it was considered too broad, meaning that Ben still wouldn't be able to talk openly about the situation. So by no means is this over, but seemingly a very big update. And as far as specifically with the case around the Legos has started all this, he says that he expects that to take around two years to play out in court. Well, obviously, there's gonna be a lot of eyes on this company, right? Bricks and mini figs. There's a lot of eyes right now on another company, and that is Wendy's. Because they just had their biggest jump in share price since 2021.
Starting point is 00:19:40 And why? Well, it's Wall Street Betts again. You're seeing people far and wide right now saying they want to save Wendy's. Because Wendy's, they've been on a steady decline for the past three years with stocks dropping by over 70% since 2023. But after you had meme stocker see in that post, Wendy's got a 26% boost in stock price yesterday. With analysts saying this is definitely another iteration of meme stock mania. Or with many saying this is kind of like what happened with Krispy, GoPro and GameStop, AMC.
Starting point is 00:20:03 And yesterday you had investment officers saying that Wendy's likely came into focus because of its low share price and the high proportion of them that have been sold short as consumer stocks are squeezed by economic trends. And adding it the Reddit crowd, happily found some nervous short sellers. But of course, then, with all that, you have experts warning, this is not a short thing. Meme stocking doesn't automatically mean you get a bag. Granted, you have examples of people making a lot of money with the meme stocks of the past.
Starting point is 00:20:23 But there are also a lot of people that bought and sold at horrible times and lost money. But it will be interesting to see what happens with Wendy's, because they actually just brought on former Potbelly CEO Robert Wright to lead the charge. And they actually have another former Potbelly exec, Steve Surillish, joining his chief financial and strategy officer. With all this, I would say, who the hell knows what's going to happen? And as much as people, you know, they like to shit on the Redditors and the meme stock traders. Honestly, every time I look at the stock market, there's just something that does not make sense.
Starting point is 00:20:45 Probably the most mainstream in your face one recently being the SpaceX IPO, which is actually plummeted since it's high, but also who the hell knows what's going to happen? Because apparently nothing is real. I don't know if that's a message of hope and possible escape, or the scariest fucking thing in the world that could just tear down the global economy. I'm acidic, so it really feels like the latter. And then also in the news, you have doctors in America
Starting point is 00:21:05 rationing cancer drugs. US is now in the early stages of a shortage on generic chemotherapy drugs. And it's mainly for three reasons. One, manufacturing problems. Two, shipping delays. And three, some companies have just decided to stop making the drugs.
Starting point is 00:21:16 And the shocking, but not shocking, reason for that is money. Because on top of the chemotherapy drugs, being harder to produce and having to be done so sterile, they kind of get a low price. And that's despite the fact that there's some of the most effective treatments
Starting point is 00:21:26 for things like breast, lung, head, and neck cancers. And three of the big ones that doctors are already having a hard time securing are carboplatin, cisplatin, and oxyloplatin, with doctors calling these three drugs the backbone of a ton of cancer therapies. And so now they're reportedly having to have meetings of who gets to have the drugs, a.k.a. who gets to survive. And so, for example, doctors say they're prioritizing scarce doses to younger patients who tend to see the greatest recovery.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Some have also started spacing out dosing intervals to stretch out the treatments as much as possible. While DHS said they're considering allowing expanded imports of these drugs from different companies, we are already seeing the worldwide effect. India raised the price cap on a key ingredient by 50%. Meanwhile, Europe's warning that another drug used to treat a bunch of very common cancers might not rebound until next year. Though there is one kind of light in this darkness. Markuban's Cost Plus Drug Company, they've recently started to make two cancer drugs.
Starting point is 00:22:10 And that includes carboplatin, so that might help in offsetting the shortage to some degree. But then all of that brings us to our final story today. Because studies have found that there are mutant rats in big cities like D.C., New York and Philly, who have become resistant to rat poison, and in some cases, they're too smart for rat traps. With researchers saying rodents are showing a much higher mutation. frequency than they thought before, while pest experts are saying they're getting smarter by the day. They're just ignoring the traps and going over them. And yeah, in a recent study, more than a third of the 143 rats, and 84% of the 147 mice that were tested in the New York area and D.C. were found to have at least
Starting point is 00:22:41 one genetic mutation that makes them resistant to rat poison. And that's not even mentioning several other genetic variants that may or may not contribute to the resistance as well. And it gets worse from there because researchers also said that resistance appears to be much more widespread in house mice than many people realized. Well, some, you know, they're going to go, oh, more mice. You've got experts noting that there is a bigger danger than just being kind of nasty doubt. Are noting that both rats and mice can spread diseases that are deadly to humans like the hanta virus that just had everyone in a panic a few weeks ago. Which is why you have researchers saying rodents are more than a nuisance. As resistance becomes more common, it becomes even more important to use science-based management strategies
Starting point is 00:23:13 that protect both public health and the environment. So that's why you have some cities trying to find new alternatives to kill rodents. With things like blood thinning or denticides that cause pests to basically bleed out along with other chemicals that they haven't had time to adapt to yet. Then also with that you have experts warning that whatever chemicals are used here, we have to be very careful because those chemicals are also most likely going to be coming across other humans and other animals. And so for now, you got the researchers looking for more strategies. And depending on how long that takes, we could see some serious consequences in the near future. But then, my friend, you beautiful bastard, is the end of your Thursday show.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Thank you for watch and like and subscribe. And actually, if you've been subscribed, an extra big thank you. Because in fact, as I finish up today's show, I am immediately heading over to VidCon. Because funny enough, they are inducting me into their Hall of Fame along with Markiplier, Michelle Fawn, and Cassie Ho. So whether this is day one or year 20 of you being on, on this weird ride. Thank you so much. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here next time.

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