The Philip DeFranco Show - Why Asmongold's Kid Shooting Ban Split The Internet

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

SeatGeek: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL10 use my code PHIL10 for 10% off tickets and to be entered in the weekly $500 giveaway’ OUR LIVE TOUR STARTS August 21st! Get your tickets!  https://CrashingOutTour.com  Grab the Emotionally Exhausted Tee at https://beautifulbastard.com/ Donate to the LFG campaign @ http://lindsayforga.com/donate  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 - Meta Reportedly Paying NeoNazis and AI Slop Farms for Content 06:40 - Asmongold Defends His Beliefs About “Shooting Migrant Kids” After Twitch Ban 12:26 - Sponsored by SeatGeek 13:35 - Arts School Where Epstein Preyed on Students Reveals Decades of Abuse 19:01 - Captain Charged After Boat Capsizes in New York Harbor, Killing Mother and Baby  19:52 - Trump Admin. Offers Grants to Cities That “Abandon Progressive Ideologies” 21:04 - Ex-NBA Players Declares in WNBA Draft in Trans Athlete Culture War Stunt 22:43 - Taylor Farms Issues Jalapeno Recall Over Salmonella Outbreak 24:18 - Flesh-Eating Screwworms Are Eating People Alive in Mexico 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   ———————————— #News #Asmongold #Twitch 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. 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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It's no surprise how fast civilization can disappear. Go! Out there, it's kill or be killed. Jacob Alorty. There are people out there. There? They need our help. Josh Bruland. Shoot first and inquire afterwards.

Margaret Quali. Okay, tough guy. And Guy Pearce. Arm up! The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott. In theaters August 28th. Get tickets now. This Asman Gold situation is blown up and divided the internet

after he got banned from Twitch for saying that migrant children should be shot and then proceeded to double down. Met his open-weight AI firestorms gotten even bigger, but Facebook also just got caught shelling out money to neo-Nazis and AI slop farms. You also have decades of abuse getting uncovered at this prestigious art school with the Jeffrey Epstein connection making the story even darker. And you've got a flesh-eating parasite spreading through Mexico with cases now reaching the United States. 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.

When or if you have a kid, you've got to make some really difficult decisions about how you're going to raise them. And half the time, you'll have an idea about what you're going to do and then you're actually in the position, you do something different. Or in Zadilla, full helicopter parent, never let them out of your side and stick a tracker in their skull. Or do you hand them a key, tell them, hey, stay safe, release them out to the open world to explore and gain experience? And or is it somewhere in between, right? Because there is a very similar debate going on right now about humanity's super smart, super awkward robot children, AI models. Right, because on one side, you have anthropic and open AI who argue that new models are dangerous and they should be securely contained and developed under strict supervision. But then on the other side, you've got meta, Microsoft, and Google, who argue that the greater danger lies in restricting AI while the other kids in the block grow up much faster.

And by the other kids, they largely mean the Chinese AI startups that have been releasing more. and more powerful models at comparatively lower costs. Right, because a lot of the Normaverse isn't aware, but you've got Moonshots, Kimi K3, Alibaba's Quen 3.8 Max, and Deep Seeks V4 Flash, all of which not only rival their top American competitors, but also have one key advantage. They're open weight, right? And weights are the industry term for all the parameters, biases, or weights that govern

how an AI thinks and responds. You can basically think of it like a board full of knobs and dials that let you tweak the model's personality. Right, how much of insert attribute do you want it to be? That is what open weight gives you access. It's a different thing than open source, which you've probably heard of before. Because that's where the actual source code making up the AI itself is public, so you can even rebuild it from scratch if you wanted to.

But the reason that you're seeing this being such an important thing is that open weight models are typically cheaper, they give users more freedom to modify them, and they can be downloaded right to your local computer instead of running off of a data center somewhere. And so over time, you've had both producers and consumers gravitating toward open weight models, especially after these recent cybersecurity breaches. We talked about on a recent show, but you had that open AI model going rogue, hacking into to another company called Hugging Face. And actually, when that happened,

hugging face had no choice but to use a Chinese open weight model to defend itself against the attack. Right, because closed models have restrictions on being used for cybersecurity. And a key thing is that this is not isolated. You've got this as also other companies AI models have gone rogue as well.

And that includes Anthropic and meta, hence the debate over the parenting styles. Right, because while you have one side, taking these breaches as further proof that AI needs to be even more tightly controlled by the companies that make them, the other side, they argue that everyone should be given access to these models so they can defend themselves.

And on that side, You've got meta who just announced that it's making its most advanced model, Muse Spark 1.2, open weight. We're also working to make sure that everyone has a personal superintelligence agent that works 24-7 on your behalf to improve your health, your relationships, your career, your finances, and more. Right, as you have Zuckerberg explaining, they're putting out a new AI called Muse Glimmer that he says is not only open weight, but open source. And while apparently it won't perform as well as other leading models on metrics like coding, reasoning, and writing. The point is accessibility. Right, it's meant to be small enough that you can just download it and run it off your basic. PC or Mac, no internet needed, and have it as a personal assistant that's there all the time.

With Zuckerberg writing in an online manifesto, everyone will have an exceptionally capable personal agent that understands you, your goals, and everything you care about. And then, seemingly anticipating the obvious concern that people might have with that, he assures everyone that it'll have strong privacy and security options so you can just trust it to handle all your personal content. In fact, he says that it'll have a fully private mode where even meta or any other service provider cannot see or grant access to your information. Now, whether you buy that or whether you believe Zuck or not, that's on you, but either way, privacy for individuals, you know, that's just one half of the equation. Another concern you're saying is about security

for the public. But because the helicopter parent critics, they warn that opening up access to these AI models from just anyone to tinker around with, it could end up getting the tools in the wrong hands. Think people like hackers or criminals or bioterrorists. But you've got Zuckerberg seemingly dismissing that criticism, writing, the notion AI is so dangerous that the only safe path is an extreme concentration of power seems inherently problematic. Saying rather than centralizing superintelligence, we should distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it. This is the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests,

and improve their lives in the world more than ever before. Though I should then also add for you that it will also empower me to shareholders to make an obscene amount of money, most likely. Whether there be one, by convincing everybody, they need a 24-7 AI agent plugged into all their devices, and or two, because it's widely seen that a lot of the other companies are way ahead of them as far as AI agents. But either way, what you saw was Zuckerberg spending, a lot of this manifesto pitching the lax approach to AI development to American policymakers. Or with him claiming that any policy that slows American model releases, even by a month,

could let China race ahead. And Trump, he seems receptive to that argument because he reportedly told AI developers this month that open weight models don't have to undergo voluntary safety tests. But of course, you know, getting the product out there quicker than your competitors is just one step, right? People have to actually want it. Zuckerberg's told people that he's betting on there being a huge consumer market for personal AI agents, which is a pretty big bet. Because reportedly, META expects to spend as much as $145 billion on AI infrastructure just this year. And that's not only to improve its existing core products

like Facebook and Instagram, it's to roll out these brand new products and hope that they pay off. And notably after the last quarter, Meta reportedly had a free cash flow of just $784 million, which may sound like a lot of money to you and me, but it's also a roughly 90% drop from the $8.5 billion reported a year earlier.

In fact, the last time that its free cash flow was this small, the company was burning money on the Metaverse. Right, and that bed obviously hasn't paid off. And so you've seen these tight numbers making a lot of investors queasy. And so seemingly as a result, Meta stock fell 10%. Though I will say the markets maybe are showing a little more confidence in Zuckerberg since he unveiled Mews Glimmer. Are you the stock climbing nearly 3% in pre-market trading?

But one, where the stock is gonna end a week from now, we'll see. Could be up, could be down. And two, whether it's good for shareholders is also a completely separate question from its impact on humans. And you really have no shortage of critics out there saying there is a reason to worry. And that's for a number of reasons, including the way I Meta's idea of putting AI in the hands everyone could collide with the Facebook Creator Fund to create a just shit sandwich. Right, because we already know from reporting that AI slop farms and meme factories based in countries like India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and elsewhere, they rake in money by flooding the platform with high engagement, low quality content. And we also know that a lot of that content is political, and that some of the creator fund goes to white nationalists, neo-nazis, and anti-vaxxers.

And to arguably, the more you lower the barrier for anybody and everyone to use AI and whatever they want with minimal restrictions, the more we're gonna see it get weaponized for political or financial game. But again, at the same time, you have others like Zuckerberg arguing that the technology is just as, if not more dangerous, in the exclusive control of a few corporations and governments. So what is the better option or I guess what is the least worst option? But then from that, we dive into another extremely divisive and controversial topic. And that's because you have Asman Gold, one of the biggest streamers in America saying that migrant children should be shot. He then got banned from Twitch and then he made a video doubling down on his comments. You actually had all this start in last week when Asbin spoke about a wave of thousands of migrants from Morocco crossing the border into a Spanish

territory in northern Africa. Right in that, it sparked a ton of chaos in the area as well as a a ton of misinformation online. And while discussing this, you had, has been defending the idea of shooting migrants who illegally cross borders like this, including children. Is shoot them problem saw? That's what I would do. That's what I think they should. I think they should just shoot them. Like, I've said this before. Like, I know that it might sound like, oh, well, you shouldn't do that. I have no sympathy for doing that. And I would do that in a second because it's the right thing to do in the long term. And there's always, this is emotional blackmail, right? Well, you can't shoot these people. They have kids with them. Well, then don't bring your

kids. If you don't want to get shot, then don't bring your fucking kids. It's really simple. You mean you'd shoot adults and deport the kids, right? Well, I'd shoot whoever. Yeah, I'd shoot whoever. I mean, if it's kids, women, men, anybody, just shoot them. They're going to stop coming over? Because if you don't do that, they'll use children and women as shields to get themselves over. And then they'll put more women and children at risk because they know that they can use them as collateral so they can get more of themselves over. That's the way it works. That's the way an animal thinks and these people are animals. They're savages. He then had to acknowledge that his comments might sound extreme and cold, but he claimed that a country should do whatever is necessary to

protect its borders. And again, arguing that by killing all migrants that come over, including kids, it'll stop adults from using children as so-called shields. And then while responding to comments, he added, you say, yeah, yeah, no, that's, I mean, obviously that's what I said, right? I mean, And like that's clearly like, I mean, I mean, that that's, like, I don't know why. Like, why would you repeat it to me as if I didn't say it? Keep the kids deport their families? What do you think the kids do? The kids grow up and they resent you for supporting their families to turn the terrorists.

Well, you saw that he had a decent chunk of his audience that he's cultivated. Supporting this, it also led to a ton of backlash. And so you have people writing things like he was casually dropping genocidal rhetoric and normalizing the murder of women and children. Adding still got his fan base on their knees saying dumb shit like he's got a point. No, the fuck he doesn't. Psychopath with a platform. And then even when you had reports breaking that Asman had been temporarily banned from Twitch,

the criticism only grew louder with something that those comments they were so bad that it should be permanent. But then on the other side of this, you saw that his band sparked outrage for a different reason. One, you had people saying that he shouldn't have been banned in the first place. And two, you had some saying, hey, if Asman's rhetoric landed him a ban, Hassan Piker should also be banned. You even had Elon Musk riding, why does Twitch have this double standard? Which then, results that in Hassan jumping in to try to defend himself, suggesting that the clips that Elon was using to justify a ban were taken out of context,

whereas, quote, Asben Gold urged people to shoot and kill migrant children, which is very real. And well, his supporters agreed with that take and Asben Gold supporters agreed with their take. There was also a fair share of people that were like, yeah, ban them both. They're now one of the latest people to address the controversy is Asman Gold himself.

Because over the weekend, you had him posting a video titled Why I'm Gone. And there, you had the explanation partially being tied to the ban as well as a health scare he said that he was dealing with at the same time that he went to the ER over, though it looks like it was nothing serious. So then with that, he explained that he got from Twitch

it last two weeks, though he plans to appeal it. And though he doesn't know for certain, He suggested that these comments about migrants were what led to the ban. But really, the part of the video that got the most attention was when he chose to double down on that narrative anyways. I'm straight up, I think you should shoot these people. The people were saying that you couldn't do that because, well, there might be kids in the crowd. And my response to that is that you should shoot them anyway. You should do this anyway.

And it doesn't matter really what the collateral damage is. You should defend your borders, especially when you're being invaded by such a massive force of people. And I also referred to the people that used the human shields as animals. Yeah, that's exactly what I think. I think they're fucking animals. If you use children as human shields in order for you to invade a country or in order for you to do terrorist attacks, I think that you're a fucking animal and I'm not sorry for it.

I want to let you know that I apologize for nothing. I meant exactly what I said and I think that these borders should be defended with lethal force. You then also had Aspen pointing to other situations where he thinks that children potentially being used as shield should not be spared from harm. In a lot of gang culture, what they do is they'll use children. to commit crimes because they know the children will not be sentenced in the same way than an adult will do. If these kids are being charged as adults, the entire tool that these people were using,

you know, these gangs were using of having children commit crimes on their behalf, this tool would effectively be rendered ineffective. But we don't want to do that because it makes people sad to put kids in jail. But from my perspective, the way that I see it is that it makes me sad to see kids that were abused, that are trafficked and that are put into these situations. I think that I really do have the most moral and ethical position on this. Because the moment that you create an incentive,

you also drive a behavior. In this video, again, it highlights, depending on where you go on the internet, drastically different reactions. If you go into his comments, you'll see a ton of his fans agreeing with them, upset with Twitch, saying he did nothing wrong. But then you hop somewhere else on the internet

and there's no shortage of people saying this choice to take those comments further and refuse to apologize, all while planning to appeal the ban, it just stoked more anger. Or with people arguing, someone going, I apologize for nothing when getting banned for advocating for the slaughter of women and children should disqualify you from appealing said ban. And tripling down and quadrupling down on killing migrant children is completely fucking deranged. Only 14 days is not enough for this insane rhetoric.

Keep him banned indefinitely. But with all that said, as all of this continues to play out, I got to ask you, where do you land on this? Right. One, what are your general reactions to the takes themselves? Two, what are your thoughts regarding the 14-day ban? And three, do you think that Twitch has a double standard? whether you think that other people should be banned as well or that he's being targeted.

And then we've got to dive into this crazy Epstein-connected situation, but first, one, quickly, if you haven't already, hit us with a like to keep us in your feed and subscribe if you're new here. And two, we have a quick word from today's sponsor. I want to give a shout-out to all the beautiful bastards out there that have entered our weekly $500 Seatkeek giveaways. Because today's sponsor, Seatkeek, has doled out nearly $60,000 to you guys

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Save on lunchbox savers like Ziggy's sliced deli-me products for always $375. And get life brand pure vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each. At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready, with a whole world and more. But then diving right back into the news, we've got to talk about the Interlaken Center for the Arts in Michigan. Right, and this place goes way back. It was founded in the 1920s. It draws students from all around the world

to attend both its boarding school and its summer camp. To Blanche, the careers of some pretty huge names, like Josh Grobet and Chapel Rhone. But maybe the most famous former Interlaken student is Jeffrey Epstein. You had him attending when he was a teenager and later he became one of the school's most celebrated donors. Even had a lodge named after him,

though after his conviction in 2008, Interlaken said that they cut ties with them, they changed the name of the lodge, but also as with kind of everything else the guy touched, there was still some red flags. In fact, you're the New York Times reporting that mingling with students and interlock in as an alumni and a donor, that's where Epstein encountered some of his earliest victims. And in fact, the school, which had already brought in

a law firm in 2024 to investigate reports as sexual abuse by faculty and staff, expanded that investigation to include the allegations against Epstein as well. And where the report, it's now been released, and it is so much worse than you can even imagine. Right after two years of interviews, the reports say that roughly 70 former students described sexual abuse by nearly 50 adults who were employed or affiliated with the school from the 1950s to the 2010s. You've got a full range of allegations that these teachers were grooming, flirting with, sexually touching, and even outright having sex with these students. You've got the report reading, the information gathered during the investigation is simply devastating. Right, in it, it talked about the severe impact those traumas had on the students, with, for example, one saying,

afterwards she was lost and just went home while all her friends were applying to other performing arts schools. And another saying, I do remember being a pretty significant blow to my motivation to continue as a young artist. And that's just the academic impact. There's also the career side. You'd many saying they didn't pursue performing arts as a full-time job because of the abuse at Interlaken. He had one saying that he decided against it because, quote, it all seems so integrated. If you were going to pursue this, this was going to be part of the deal. You would need to be sexually involved with someone if you would continue to be a performer.

And then you've got the mental health and personal relationship side of things. Right, many of the alumni that this law firm interviewed said they've had to seek therapy to process what happened to them. People dealing with depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, substance abuse, and on and on and on. Right, you have a significant number saying that they found it hard to trust people and that the abuse they faced at interlocking. It skewed the perception of older men. It taught them to be uncomfortable when people come on to them and poison their relationships. relationships with men altogether. And as far as Epstein's involvement in all this,

you have the report including the accounts of two of the three former Interlaken students who have described having disturbing encounters with her. Or with one of them telling investigators that Epstein engaged in sexual conduct with her, brushing against her body over her clothes and a manner in which he indicated was accidental. Then adding that he paid her to visit him in New York while she was a student, and when she was there, he'd often put his hands on her and she described him touching her crutch. And then you had another alum saying that Epstein also paid her to go to New York after she graduated and that she'd given him a massage and he, quote, may have asked her to remove her top.

And then very notably, that woman's mom reportedly called the school to warn them that Epstein was praying on students. But then she said that no one from Interlaken ever followed up. As far as the school now, when this report came out, they released an overview and an apology letter, saying, we are deeply sorry for the harm experienced by members of our community and extend our apologies to those impacted by abuse at Interlaken. And then adding, we also want to say clearly, Interlaken will not tolerate predators or those who enable them, saying our campus exists to protect, educate, and empower every student.

And they went on to say that Interlockett is fundamentally different than it was back then. And adding that the majority of the abuse mentioned in the report took place many decades ago and that reports of abuse in Interlaken have significantly decreased over the past 25 years. You then also had them saying that they turned over the names of all the accused faculty to the local authorities. And they added that no one accused in the report is still employed at the school and many of them are dead. And actually, they named a few of the staff who have passed away, but who also investigators got multiple firsthand accounts of creepy pervasive behavior about. So that included Byron Hanson, who worked at the school from 1960 to 2015, Charlie McHhorter, who was a trustee from 1970 to 1970 to 1999,

and John Hood, who worked there from 1963 to 1979 full-time and seasonally until 2004. But then what you saw is that this, you know, saying sorry and name and a few names approach, it didn't sit well with a lot of the Interlaken alumni who were abused. And one of those people was Paul Bush, who was a dancer who was sexually abused by his ballet teacher at Interlaken back in 2005 when he was just 16 years old. Right, in 2004, after he spent a summer as a music student in Interlaken, Paul was recruited by Thomas Clower to be a boarding student during his sophomore year of high school. Right on a partial scholarship and everything,

and you had Paul telling NPR that he was over the moon about it. In the summer students, they dreamt of getting a spot as a boarding student that it felt like his prayers had been answered. Saying a lot of my desire was to prove that I was enough, that I was good enough, and that I was worthy of love. And so that he said, it put him in the perfect condition for someone to pray on him. And as Paul tells it, Clower began showering him with attention and became increasingly involved in his life. They'd meet one-on-one. Clower would email him inappropriate questions about his personal life and sexual activity. And Paul said that he let a lot of the creepy behavior slide because, quote,

it's really hard to differentiate what's appropriate and what's not until it's too late. But then one day, Clower brought both Paul and another student over to his house, and they all watched a movie together. With Paul describing Clower, throwing a blanket over the two of them, and then touching his thighs and genitals while the other student was sitting right there, saying he wanted me and he took me and it didn't even matter that someone else was watching it happening. And Clower, he eventually pled guilty, he was convicted of abusing Paul. He was added to the sex offender registry and Interlaken, they fired him. But for Paul, he said that the trauma, it went beyond just that incident. In the aftermath, he was interviewed twice by investigators from the sheriff's department and he was grilled about his sexuality and he became a social pariah for his last two years at Interlaken.

saying I was never integrated back into the community. I was always looked at as different. While he went on to dance professionally for over a decade, he struggled with mental health issues, including PTSD and substance abuse. As this topic of abuse at Interlocon has gotten more and more attention, you have Paul placing the responsibility solely on the school, saying it's the lack of aftercare,

let alone that it happened 69 other times with other people. The fact that the predator was on the campus to begin with is all Interlaken's responsibilities. He and many of the other alumni, they're still waiting for some sort of real accountability. You've got Paul saying, the school's apology letter, it doesn't even come close to that.

adding, they get to say case closed. That is completely unacceptable because guess what, my life is still open. And then before I let you back out into the world, let's cram in some more news you need to know today. And we'll do it quick, starting with this boat captain that just got arrested. Right, because you had a boat capsizing in New York Harbor this weekend, killing a mom in her five-month-old. With the boat flipping around 10, 25 Saturday night near the Statue of Liberty. And it could have been so much worse, but luckily, when it happened, there was another boat nearby. So they were apparently able to call for help and get 12 survivors on the boat as officials arrived on the scene.

And where the response was huge, right, the fire department. and the NYPD, the Coast Guard. It was actually the police divers on the scene who eventually found 27-year-old Sarah Sanchez and her daughter, Antonella Garcia, in the water. And while they're both taken to the hospital and critical condition, they ultimately didn't make it. While we're still waiting on details

on what exactly caused the boat to flip. Apparently part of it looks like it was because the captain Manuel Hernandez had 14 people on board when the boat was only big enough to hold about a dozen. Now he's been charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment. Actually, the police are also investigating whether or not he was working under an illegal charter that night. But then also in the news,

you've got the Trump administration getting ready to pay a total of 300, $300 million in grants for cities that are willing to cut what they're calling progressive ideologies on policing. Or they want those cities to fall in line with direct support for federal immigration enforcement, tighten up on anti-homeless laws, and provide treatment for people on the streets with mental health problems. And apparently, you've got cities like DC and Memphis being called the model cities for all this. So with those changes next month, the Justice Department is announcing up to four finalist cities who will split that money. But then with all this, you have some leaders saying this money is just an enticement to

get them to give in to Trump's ideological interests. Right, because apparently to get the grant, they have to be evaluated by senior political appointees from the Justice Department instead of something legal experts say is more politically neutral like a peer review process. Also, they have to have have documented buy-in and support across their local governments as well. And then on top of that, you're also seeing some more logistical reasons that people are skeptical. Right. And one example is, we don't know if accepting the grant means that they'd have to also let the National Guard in if Trump made that call. And if he does, it also sounds like those recipient cities would be the ones who would have to pay for it down the line. And so that's why you have legal experts saying it

forcing those cities to preemptively flip the bill for future unspecified federal interventions in their own backyards is unprecedented. But with all that, you have the DOJ saying, hey, there are already some cities that are interested, although they haven't specified which ones. And so you're going to see next month how this all plays out. And more importantly, how the people of those cities react. And then you've also now got the news that former NBA Center, Inez Cantor Freedom, is the latest pro to officially declare for the 2027 WNBA draft. And I say latest because you have him, along with former NBA first rounder Royce White, saying that they're joining the Women's Basketball League by claiming that they're entering the draft as transgender women.

But really, everyone knows that this is a deliberate political pressure campaign, a political stunt targeting the WNBA's eligibility policy. Or because even these two are not exactly hiding it. Or you have them pointing out that while the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement states only women can play, the 400-page document, never actually defines the term or set specific guidelines on self-identification. It seems like this whole standoff exploded after Indiana Fever Guard, Sophie Cunningham, publicly voiced support for barring biological men from women's sports.

And actually all of this has now resulted in WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert, sending a memo to all teams saying that they were forming a task force to address trans-athlete eligibility. But notably that seems to be a decision. in the hands of the league itself and not the players, because the Players Association issued a statement declaring that they refused to be used as political pawns. So that's not to say that players and even coaches haven't supported trans athletes on their own.

Many have, but also, this is one of those issues that no matter what the WNBA decides here, what they do, there's then just gonna be another blowup, and in the meantime, can turn white, they're facing praise and criticism. Right, those against trans athletes think if they're making a good point about how, as they see it, it's ridiculous to let trans players play.

But then on the other side, you have many saying that it comes off as an absurdist example for a few reasons. The first being a, this is just a bridge that the WNBA has never actually had to cross. Where there are no trans athletes in the league, none intending to enter other than supposedly canter and white. Those two seem clearly not serious, though, hey, if they seriously transition, I recant that statement. But overall, for many here, it comes off as a culture war stunt that's meant to distract from the really bad things that are happening right now. Or just a way to troll and grift. And then also you've got the news that your Taco Tuesday might have just turned into a serious biohazard.

Right, and that, because you now have Taylor Farms issuing a massive recall across over 20 states for prepared food. containing jalapenos because of potential salmonella contamination. And so far, over 340 people have actually gotten sick and that number is expected to rise. And if you're thinking, hey, no big deal, just avoid Taylor Farm stuff. Turns out chains like Chipotle and Kudoba, they have to pull their peppers and it's also going way beyond just them. Turns out Taylor Farms provides produce to pretty much everyone in every grocery store. So the recommendation right now is to just avoid anything with jalapenians. And while the products affected have a best if used by date of up to August 16, the good news, at least if you

believe it, is that Taylor Farms does not expect this to be a problem after that, right? because the CDC and FDA traced the outbreak to co-citrous distributors who Taylor Farms bought from, and the two are no longer working together because of this. And a huge thing is to say this has been like a few bad months for Taylor Farm that not only is an understatement, because they were also tied to the massive cyclospora outbreak. They got thousands sick. But also for many Americans, this feels larger. These recalls have become increasingly common.

Just this month alone, you've had multiple produce outbreaks, not to mention the FDA just issued recalls of pastramian corned beef, linked to Listeria as well as over 12,000 pounds of bacon. And it does end up kind of holding up when you have many blaming the, Trump administration for cutting funding across the board. Or because while outbreaks, they're always more common in the summer, right? It's hot and the conditions are perfect for the bacteria to thrive. Trump hasn't made things easier. His administration has cut reporting requirements on at least five different pathogens,

including cyclospora. So tracking exactly how bad this year is is a bit harder, although we do know that there does seem to be at least a small spike so far. But also tracking whether that's because of Trump's policies or just it being a really unlucky year. To be super confident about that, it would probably take months of research to get a better idea. And then last step today, there is a parasite that has been eating people alive in Mexico and it's made its way now into the United States. But you have officials saying it is under control, at least for now, so don't freak out. But if you haven't heard about

this, they're called screwworms, the larvae of screw worm flies. And those flies lay eggs and the wounds inflamed tissue and mucus membranes of anything warm-blooded. And when those hatch, the babies start chowin down on flesh. And you've actually had the US, Mexico, and Central America, fighting against them for decades. They were declared eradicated in the US back in the 60s. And then Mexico got rid of them in 2003 and Panama in 2006. And Panama was maybe the most important because it was like a biological barrier for the flies that kept them from getting out of hand. But the barrier seemingly got breached in 2022. From there, Mexico started seeing animal cases rise by 2024, and then human cases started creeping up as well. And do you have what started

out is three new cases a week in 2025, growing to more than nine cases a week by early this year? And while Mexico's had six screw worm-related deaths since this new outbreak, it's unclear as of right now how much they actually contributed to each death since there were other health issues at play in some of those other cases. But whatever the case there, the US also got its first animal cases back in June. And we had some, claiming the Doge budget cuts, because those apparently impacted a project that was helping to keep the flies contained. You had Trump officials pushing back claiming that there was only 10 staffers dedicated to screwworms at the start of his second term. And they claim that they've stretched that team to over 120 people.

But for now, at least in the States, you only have five animal cases. And officials reportedly maintaining a pretty aggressive response to prevent it from getting any worse than that. And actually, the way that we fight them here and what we've done for years is really interesting. You see, the female screwworm only mates once in our entire life. And so what they do is they breed millions of males, they sterilize them and then dump them out of airplanes. And because these lady flies, they're one and doneers. She picks one, and that's the end of the family line. So hopefully, these cases stay few and far between.

But that, my friend, you beautiful bastard, is the end of today's show. Hit it with the likes of the PDS stays in your feed. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button. Would love to have you. But I'm going to give you back your morning, afternoon or night. Love your faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.