- This is one of the craziest stories today.
Right, so there's this local reporter,
Bruce Willingham,
he's in McCurtain County in Oklahoma,
and he suspected that county officials
were having secret meetings,
so he just left his recording device behind.
And, he ends up catching way more than he expected.
With Bruce identifying the sheriff, a local commissioner,
and a member of the sheriff's department,
discussing hiring a hitman
to kill both him and his son, Chris, another reporter,
and burying them.
- [Commissioner] I've known two or three hitmen,
that were very quiet guys,
and would cut no (censored) mercy, in Louisiana,
'cause this is all mafia around Louisiana.
- [Department Member] But, here's the reality.
If a hair on his wife's head, Chris Willingham's head,
or any of those people that really were behind all that,
if the hair on their hair got touched by anybody,
who would be the bad guys?
- [Sheriff] Who'd you blame for it?
- [Department Member] They're insignificant in my life.
- [Commissioner] What comes around, goes around.
It will, I told you it will.
- [Sheriff] Yeah, I know where two big deep holes are,
if you ever need 'em.
- [Commissioner] I've got an excavator.
- [Sheriff] These are already pre-dug.
- And, in the same recording,
there's a discussion about the number of people
running for sheriff,
and this is the response from the commissioner.
- [Commissioner] I heard 10 or 12 people
running for sheriff,
I said (censored),
let's get 20. (people chattering)
They don't have a goddamn clue what they're getting into.
I'm gonna tell you something,
if this was back in the day,
when that...
When Alan Morris take a damn Black guy,
whoop their (censored), and throw 'em in the cell,
I'd run for (censored) sheriff.
- [Sheriff] Yeah, well it's not like that no more.
- [Commissioner] I know.
Take them down to old Mud Creek
and hang them up with a damn rope,
but you can't do that no more.
- [Sheriff] And, the thing about it--
- [Commissioner] They got more rights than we got.
- Now, a key thing here,
other media outlets covering this story
said they could not independently verify
who the voices on the audio belong to.
And, Chris, who's discussed in the audio,
is the one who wrote the piece transcribing the recordings.
But, for now, we've seen Oklahoma's governor
calling for the officials resignations,
saying, I am both appalled and as hardened to hear
of the horrid comments made by officials
in Mccurtain County,
and adding there is simply no place
for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma,
especially by those that served to represent the community
through their respective office.
I will not stand idly by while this takes place,
with him also saying
he is going to call on the state authorities
to open an investigation into any illegal conduct.
And, Bruce reportedly turning the full recording
over to the FBI
and the Oklahoma Attorney General's office.
So, keep in mind this is still a developing situation.
We're gonna wait to see what happens.
But, this is insane.
Unfortunately, not surprising,
but still insane.
And, then some Andrew Tate's accusers
are now crowdfunding to sue him.
Right, these three women are based in the UK
and actually filed abuse and sexual assault complaints
on him back in 2014 and 2015,
with him eventually being arrested twice,
and the case moving to Crown Prosecution Services in 2019.
But, as Vice reported,
the CPS decided not to prosecute,
finding that there was
"no realistic prospect of a conviction
despite the evidence in one complaint
including a message from Tate that read,
I love raping you."
And, the three women are now crowdfunding
on a platform called Crowd Justice,
raising over 8,000 pounds outta their 50,000 pound goal
with 25 days left in the campaign,
and them writing on the page,
"We believe that many of his victims
have yet to come forward,
and it is time for the English justice system
to hold him responsible for his actions."
And, explaining they plan on encouraging
a criminal investigation in the UK
while pursuing a civil case against Tate,
saying they hope this might empower other victims
of his abuse,
and adding,
"We wanna show them that we as survivors can stand up to him
and that every one of his despicable acts has consequences.
Our goal is to reveal his true face in a UK court
and prevent other women from becoming his victims
and to release impressionable young boys
from his toxic hold."
And, as far as what Tate has had to say,
he has denied the allegations these women
have levied at him in the past.
And, this, of course,
as he's also denying the sex trafficking allegations
against him in Romania
for which he's currently under investigation
and house arrest four.
And, then Nintendo's on the warpath again,
this time with copyright bringing down the hammer
on the large video game creator by the name of PointCrow,
who makes content about Nintendo games,
with four of his videos showing a multiplayer mod
for Breath of the Wild being hit with copyright claims.
PointCrow then challenged them,
Nintendo responded by instantly going nuclear
and escalating it to copyright strikes,
which is a whole illegal process.
That means that lawyers had to get involved.
And, rather than submitting one strike
against these four videos,
they stretched them out into two strikes,
which is a key thing,
'cause three strikes and your out.
PointCrow's channel has also been hit
with serious restrictions.
And, since then, Nintendo's claimed
another 20 plus videos from his channel
that's not just Zelda footage.
And, from PointCrow's perspective,
this doesn't make any sense.
Right, the videos in question,
which included both vanilla
and modded versions of Nintendo games
followed Nintendo guidelines,
making him and others feel like
Nintendo's enforcement of its rules are sporadic
and unclear.
Right, beyond being protected by fair use,
Nintendo's content guidelines
also allows for his content via Let's Plays,
and other creative uses of Nintendo games and videos.
- You might argue that modded content
is in violation of these guidelines,
but, historically, that's not the case.
The terms of service for the Legend of Zelda
says you cannot modify the game.
But, it also says that you cannot stream it,
you cannot make videos of it,
and you cannot otherwise broadcast it.
A Nintendo's game content guidelines changes this though
by providing a license
on top of the existing terms of service,
which modifies the terms of service for content creators.
- He also lays out how, and this is a very key thing,
even if he's in the right
and wants to appeal Nintendo's DMCA claims,
it might cost him millions to fight.
- That risks my channel, my livelihood,
and the livelihoods of my team.
- Right, and with all this has led some to suggest
that Nintendo here,
they're just retaliating against him
for publicly releasing
the Breath of the Wild multi-player mod.
So, you have people saying,
if the mod is the issue,
sue him directly.
But, if you're all of a sudden
going after his YouTube channel,
that's just this weird separate petty thing.
And, while in the gaming community,
this has gotten a lot of attention,
people making solo videos on it,
people like Moist Critical speaking on it,
being particularly annoyed by the situation,
talking about how Nintendo
is really only consistent in being inconsistent
with how they treat creators.
You can also see that people kind of feel hopeless here,
'cause Nintendo historically just does Nintendo
and doesn't listen to anybody.
But, also at the end of the day,
I think it's clear why Nintendo doesn't listen.
One, because they don't genuinely care
about the creator community that's built around Nintendo,
and, two,
people are still gonna buy the fucking game.
They've got heroin in video game form.
They got us when we were kids.
I played the Legend of Zelda I think when I was five,
which means Nintendo's had their hooks in me for 32 years.
And, rightly or wrongly,
they see anything that they are not behind
immediately as a threat that needs to be squashed.
I often think it's wrongly,
but the situation is as it is
and we'll see how it develops.
And, then Jidion got arrested while live streaming, right?
Last week he tweeted that he had a warrant for his arrest
in Houston.
He kind of started trolling the Houston police,
almost daring them to arrest him,
with the warrant being for criminal trespassing,
seemingly connected to a prank video that he did
with another creator
where he interrupted a professor's class,
professed their love for her,
but she clearly did not want them there,
and called either security
and the police to get them out of her class.
And, so what we ended up seeing
was Jidion going live over the weekend,
seemingly he got pulled over for speeding,
and then boom.
- Once he runs my name,
they're gonna see the (censored) warrant.
I haven't paid off my warrant yet
and it's (censored) ridiculous,
'cause I could have went yesterday,
but I wanted to make a video for you guys.
- I was just saying at one point
that he gets pulled over a lot,
but the officer eventually getting him outta the car,
and bringing up the warrant.
- [Officer] I'm just gonna give you a warning,
but they...
They wanna place a hold.
So, you're gonna have to come with me.
If you can put your phone in your pocket, man,
I'm gonna have to put you in handcuffs.
- With all that leading to the best moment
of this live stream,
Jidion asking the officer a question.
- Is it cool if I get a thumbnail?
- [Officer] A who?
- A thumbnail before you put the handcuffs on?
- And, a little after you see the officer cuff him,
and Jidion closing the stream,
though he since posted on his Instagram story
suggesting he's free now.
What interesting times we live in.
And, then,
are you happy with a state of streaming right now?
And, I ask, because according to new surveys,
half of people say they pay too much for streaming,
and one third say they plan on cutting back
on how many services they subscribe to.
In fact, many say they've already made changes
to their subscription habits
with 47% saying they made the change,
because of their current economic conditions.
This including canceling a service to save money,
switching to a free ad supported version of a service
or bundling services,
with roughly 60% of households
using a free ad supported version
of a streaming service.
And, on average, American consumers
are paying $48 per month on video subscriptions.
Also, a key thing is that there are different habits
for different generations.
Millennials on average spend the most
on monthly streaming services,
but they also churn through those subscriptions
at the highest rate
and are more likely to cancel subscriptions
for gaming and music.
And, half of millennials and Gen Z
say they prefer user generated video feeds to streaming,
specifically noting that those apps are free, convenient,
and easy to cater to their interests.
But, honestly,
who knows what the hell
the future of streaming's gonna look like?
With the rise of Netflix and other services,
we saw the massive decoupling from TV subscriptions,
and now it feels like every month
there's the announcement of a new merger, right?
Like it wouldn't be shocking
if we're a year away from HuFlixMax+ Premium,
a Disney company.
And, then for any of you focused
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And, then don't be stupid, stupid.
That's what people are saying right now
about 21 year old Josiah Garcia
who's a member of the Air National Guard in Tennessee,
because Josiah was looking online for a side gig,
he wants some extra cash to support his family,
and all of a sudden he comes across a website
called rentahitman.com,
a website that, as it turns out,
started as a jokey ad for a cybersecurity startup.
But, when that startup failed,
the site was actually getting requests
from murder for hire services,
so the admins just transitioned it to a parody site
complete with fake testimonials
from people who use the service and loved it.
And, Garcia apparently not only thought this website
was actually real,
he applied for a job,
and over the course of a month,
he submitted his resume, identification,
his work experience as an expert marksman
with the National Guard,
his home address,
and a headshot.
Garcia even reportedly saying in a follow-up email,
"I'm looking for a job that pays well,
related to my military experience,
shooting and killing the marked target,
so I can support my kid on the way."
"What can I say?
I enjoy doing what I do.
So, if I can find a job that is similar to it,
such as this one,
put me in, coach."
The FBI then got involved
with an undercover agent offering Garcia $5,000 payment
to kill someone.
And, Garcia allegedly accepted leading to his arrest.
And, Garcia now facing up to 10 years in prison
if he's found guilty,
which is again why I say don't be stupid, stupid.
But, in other news,
if I had a family member that did what Colin McCarthy did,
I would probably need the services
of rentahitman.com.
Right, 'cause Colin reportedly went to his local bank
in Oregon,
drained his joint bank account that he had
with his family,
taking around $200,000,
with him not even having the decency
to spend that money on drugs and sex workers
like a decent degenerate,
instead driving onto the highway,
and then just throwing the money out the window,
which caused the obvious,
dozens of people stopping
and combing the side of the road for cash.
Police then getting called,
'cause this all caused so much traffic.
They reportedly asked him to stop,
saying that it was dangerous for people
to be wandering the shoulder of the freeway after dark.
But, here's the thing,
McCarthy hasn't been arrested
or cited with any crime.
Right, granted,
officers said they're considering slapping him
with a disorderly conduct charge
for the trouble that he caused on the freeway.
But, unfortunately, for McCarthy's family,
they're just SOL,
'cause the account was legally shared,
even though it's known that all of that was not his money,
the authorities can't do anything,
though they did request anyone who picked up the money,
please bring it in,
so the family can have it,
which call me a cynic,
not gonna happen.
And, then you've got this Texas lawmaker
looking to create vigilante migrant hunting squads,
where you've got GOP State representative Matt Schaffer
trying to push through HB20,
a bill that would form what he calls
the Border Protection Unit,
a new security force,
not just of law enforcement personnel,
but of private citizens,
with all of them directly answerable to the governor,
and its state admission being to arrest, detain,
or deter individuals crossing the border.
So, we've seen Democrats dubbing this
the vigilante death squads policy,
saying that the people most likely
to join something like this would be extremists,
in arguing that this does nothing
to address the fentanyl crisis,
which his bill is supposedly meant to help solve.
Right, because most illegally trafficked fentanyl
comes to the US through ports of entry,
not between them,
where most migrants crossed.
And, it's not like a 60/40 split.
CBP data shows that more than 90% of fentanyl
comes through the ports
and US Sentencing Commission data
showing that 86% of defendants
convicted of smuggling fentanyl through those ports
are US citizens.
And, that probably because the checks they have to undergo
are less stringent than those for migrants.
And, when Schaffer was pressed on this
during a hearing last week,
he acknowledges some people believe that data,
but said that others, without specifying whom,
say a lot of it comes between the borders,
and adding,
but I think in a way it's distinction without a difference,
which is why you have people saying
that he is choosing his feelings and anecdotes over facts,
with is one of the things
we ended up seeing is over several hours,
around 300 other people poured in from around Texas
to testify nearly all of them against the bill,
with many calling it racist, xenophobic,
and authoritarian,
one activist just calmly ripping into it.
- If you believe this policy would serve
as a deterrence for migration,
I'm sorry, it won't.
Drug cartels will take advantage
of this bill's bottlenecking effects,
where migrants will be prime targets for violent attacks,
potentially leading to an increase of drug
and human trafficking.
- But, as far as what happens from here,
we're gonna have to wait to see what happens if it passes.
But, if it does, a big key thing
is that this could feed into a Republican legal fight
to overturn a 2012 Supreme Court decision
that struck down a similar set of policies in Arizona.
And, then another day another country being ripped apart
by a civil war with this time it being Sudan.
So, if you don't know,
Sudan's one of the largest and poorest nations in Africa.
And, while it's unclear who fired the first shot,
fighting between the government
and a paramilitary group broke out on Saturday morning.
The capitol there, Khartoum,
getting rocked by gunfire
and explosions straight through Monday
as mortar rounds and artillery fire pounded the city.
You've got war planes flying overhead.
You can see satellite photos showing smoke rising
from Khartoum's airport, the railway authority,
the energy and defense ministries,
and general command of the army.
The violence is also spreading out beyond just the capitol,
with gunman reportedly looting hospitals,
government offices, compounds,
and warehouses belonging to aid groups in the UN,
in the region of Darfur.
According to a UN envoy,
there were at least 180 dead today,
with the head of the Doctors Union also saying
three major hospitals had been struck,
a fourth was evacuated,
and two more relocated their patients
after backup generators failed,
adding that some workers hadn't slept in 48 hours
and saying, "We are on the brink of collapse
of the entire healthcare system."
"Supplies are running very low.
We issued an appeal asking
for intravenous fluids, for blood,
and medicines."
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program
temporarily paused its operations on Sunday
after three of its Sudanese staffers were killed,
which is already horrible news,
but it's absolutely devastating
for the 15 million people
who don't have enough to eat,
making up a third of their population.
Right, because as mentioned,
Sudan is extremely poor,
with its people on average earning just $750 per year.
But, as far as this current conflict,
it finds its roots in the 2019 political settlement
that saw 30 year President Omar Al-Bashir,
ousted from power.
Right, after months of street protests
by pro-democracy activist,
the Army arrested him
and formed a joint civilian military government.
Then, in late 2021,
the military,
half of the government seized power in a coup,
promising to restore order until a democratic transition
could be completed.
But, since then, Sudan's been run by a council of generals
led by the two men at the center of this weekend's violence,
one, the de facto president
and head of the country's armed forces,
and the other,
that man's deputy in the head of the roughly 100,000 strong
paramilitary force
called the Rapid Support Forces or RSF.
With that group being hugely influential,
having intervened in Yemen and Libya,
with its leader controlling some of Sudan's goldmines,
and its presence as a power center
outside of the regular military
created tension within the government,
though both men signed a draft deal back in December
to carve a path towards civilian leadership.
But, that has clearly fallen apart
with activists saying it elevated the RSF leader
to a threat
by making him an equal to the president,
as well as failing to resolve friction
over the planned integration of the RSF
into the country's military.
So, you had nerves already on edge,
but then last week,
RSF forces redeployed around the country
in a move that the Army perceived as a threat.
And, so now stability looks unlikely to return
as both men blame each other for the fighting,
and both men refused to negotiate with the other,
which is exactly what we saw yesterday afternoon,
when they agreed to a three hour humanitarian ceasefire,
only for locals to say the fighting never actually stopped.
Also, as far as the international response,
we've seen many western nations
and regional governments calling for an end to the violence.
But, there,
I mean, Sudan's been largely cut off
from the rest of the world since 2021,
so there's really not much leverage.
Though, if we did see anyone
in a position to exert pressure,
it's probably Moscow,
which backs the RSF,
or Egypt, which backs the military.
But, that's where today's show is gonna end.
Of course, I'd love if you were a part of that conversation
and the comments down below,
but as always my name's Philip DeFranco,
you've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.