- We got big updates with
the Atrioc QTCinderella deep fake situation.
Should people be able to be compensated for donating organs?
You got Andrew take yelling stuff,
but getting slapped in the face by the law,
we take a peek at some of
the women helping nudge young men into a toxic pipeline.
We're gonna talk about all of that and so much more
on today's brand new "Philip DeFranco Show".
So buckle up, hit that like button,
and let's just jump into it, you beautiful bastard.
Starting with news about this
Mensa member's mini rant going viral.
- If you're a man,
and you use the frowny crying face, you're gay.
Back in the war days, you used to have to kill people.
Why the (beep) are you sad? - And that's just some of what
that homophobic valedictorian was dropping.
You know, a ton of people on the text line sent me
this clip, said, "Hey Phil I wanna know your feelings
and your reactions to it."
And ultimately, I just got two things to say,
one's quick, one's longer.
The first is that I hope that it is readily apparent
that this is a trash person,
who you should not take serious in any capacity.
It sucks that people like this exist,
but treat her video like a vaccine.
It's just prepping you for some
of the hateful stupidity that is out there in
the world that hopefully you don't need,
but it's best to be prepared to combat it.
But also, two, the person in this video,
who by the way, if you happen to be watching,
this is the most you'll ever matter.
It sucks that your parents spent
all those years raising you, just so you could be, like,
a small snippet of a Philip DeFranco video.
(group oh's)
But I wanted to take a moment to note that people like this,
it should end with them.
Or at least we should understand
that these are, like, outliers.
Because a big problem with our algorithmic news
and content feeds is that we think
that everything is what we see.
What I noticed is that after I watched this video,
I started being fed more and more content like it, right?
Starting to get snippets of random podcasts
where you have, like, Instagram models saying, like,
"A man is only worth what he can provide me."
And the host sets the bait
for the ridiculous person,
and they're like, "Okay well if he's just there
to provide you and give you what you want,
what happens if he gets hurt?"
To which she responds, "Well I guess I'll get a new one."
And it's infuriating content
that's meant to bait you into reacting with it.
But then that just feeds the algorithm
and then you get more stuff like that.
And then I think a lot of people, especially young men,
get fed more and more of this content.
Which then gets weaponized by top G fuckheads.
So you got this algorithmic feed telling you
this is what women are like, what society is like,
what is expected of you?
This is where value comes as a man.
And then it throws you into
this actually toxic masculinity pipeline.
The toxic masculinity gets thrown around
way too much these days, but actual.
And with that, there's a lot of misogyny
and all of that is taken advantage
by a bunch of guys that call themselves, like,
alpha, or top G that have programs they're selling
or podcasts they're trying to get you to watch.
Because of course the easiest way
to monetize something is to set into people's heads.
It's a us versus them thing.
And that's why to, to close this story,
I really wanna speak specifically to the men,
the young men that watch this show.
I hope that we can realize a number of things.
The first is that anyone that uses gay
as a slur or a slam should go fuck themselves,
they're worthless.
They should have just saved themselves the energy,
and wore a shirt that says,
"Nothing of value comes outta my mouth."
Also, real men can and do cry.
They can hug their male friends.
They can share their feelings rather
than just suffering in silence.
That sort of behavior just makes angry young men
who feel victimized by the world.
And there are a number of things in society
that do need to change more and more,
like it being widely viewed by a number of people
that men are only worth what they can provide for a family.
And I say this as the breadwinner for my family,
that they can be different for different couples.
That you don't have to fit
into some fucking previously crafted box
that society was like, "Now you fit in."
because we're all just a bunch of fucking evolved monkeys
on a spinnin' rock trying to figure shit out.
And hopefully while we're here,
while it will never be the entire time,
we can feel happy and we can feel satisfied
and feel like we're doing some good here while we're here,
without having to other
or villainize other people who are just existing.
And I'm not saying don't hate just, you know,
hate specific people based off of their actions.
Not whole groups, even though,
once again, based off the algorithmic feeds,
it can make it feel like everyone.
And then we got a big but quick Andrew Tate update,
because just as I was finishing up today show,
the AP reported that a Romanian court upheld
a second 30 day detention for Tate after an appeal,
who of course is currently being held on suspicion
of organized crime and human trafficking.
Which means Tate, as well as his brother,
who's being held for the same investigation,
will be in custody until at least February 27,
with BBC News reporting that in the initial decision
to extend the Tate's custody in January, the judge cited,
"The capacity of the defendants
to exercise permanent psychological control over
the victims, including by resorting
to constant acts of violence.
And while Andrew Tate and his brother have been accused
of human trafficking, rape, and organized crime,
both Andrew and his brother have denied those allegations.
And we saw them still doing so
while walking into the court this morning.
- [Reporter] Are you innocent Mr. Tate?
- You know I'm innocent.
- Also doubling down on this while leaving the hearing.
- Ask them for evidence, and they'll give you none,
because it doesn't exist.
You'll find out the truth of this case soon.
- Also, with the situation we've seen
a big update regarding their defense,
with the brothers reportedly hiring lawyer
Tina Glandian to join their defense team.
And Glandian is very notable,
because she's represented people
like Chris Brown, Jussie Smollett, and Kesha,
with reports saying that she definitely brings
a lot of experience to Tate's team.
And today we saw her defending the brothers by claiming
that there are outside pressures influencing the case,
and adding "So far the system has failed."
And then what would you give to get outta prison?
How much does it matter to you?
That's what two Democratic state representatives
are asking right now in a bill they just introduced
that would allow inmates to donate their organs
or bone marrow in exchange for reduced sentences.
With the idea being that if these inmates do this,
they get between 60 days
and a year off of their original term.
And man, when I tell you that when one
of the bill sponsors Judith A. Garcia tweeted this out,
she got torn to shreds in the replies.
People calling it disgusting, predatory,
an egregious violation of medical ethics.
Now Garcia argued in defense of her bill
that it'll grant inmates bodily autonomy,
and help the 4,000 people waiting
for organ donations in Massachusetts.
But critics have fired back
that you can't have true bodily autonomy
when you're incarcerated,
and arguing that there are better ways
to facilitate organ donation without coercion.
Well we ended up seeing after all
this backlash is another sponsor of the Bill,
Carlos Gonzalez, telling vice that he's open to dropping
the sentence reduction incentive from the bill,
and saying if that happens
it could become something more reasonable.
Right, because people have long advocated getting rid
of the roadblocks, keeping prisoners in many states
from donating to family members, saying that,
"Broadening the pool of potential donors would help
those more susceptible to organ failure,
who are disproportionately black and Latino."
as well as strengthening the donor's agency
by giving them access to the healthcare needed
to go through with the procedure.
But even then, you have some critics saying
it's just impossible to get informed consent
from an environment as inherently coercive as a prison,
where inmates are often mentally ill, poor and uneducated,
and merely the perception that the conditions might improve
if they donate, whether correct or not, is dangerous.
But with this story I really would love
to know your thoughts here.
Right, With what's been proposed,
are you a hard no?
Are you a yes on just the family?
Are you a yes for if they donate they get time off?
And I ask, because I remember from polling somewhere
within the last five years that actually a majority
of Americans are in favor
of financial compensation being allowed
for something like a kidney donation.
Right, because the average wait time for a kidney,
if you get on the list is over four years,
and you have thousands of people dying
because they don't get donations.
So there's a stack on another question,
'cause you know I love throwing them at ya.
If you are someone that's in favor
of being able to compensate someone
for donating an organ, do you also think that should go
to someone like a prisoner,
and the time that they're serving?
Or do you see that situation
as something far different from just money,
because someone's incarcerated?
Which I will say, the compensation stuff
is something that I always struggle with.
Like I personally think that it should be allowed,
but I also understand the arguments against it,
because all of a sudden you might create
this system where, you know,
the poor are just exploited for their fuckin' organs.
You know, you're just giving
the top 5 to 1% even more reason
to keep poor people suppressed,
because, hey, organ farm.
Which then immediately makes me go, oh no,
there shouldn't be compensation allowed,
at least in the form of money.
But then also I'm like,
I feel like we should reward people
that are otherwise being generally selfless.
Help me come to a conclusion on this one.
Let me know what you're thinkin'.
And then, long time viewers know,
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And then we've got a ton of updates on
that Atrioc deep fake controversy we talked about yesterday.
Which, I'm gonna try to keep it pretty lean,
because for the most part it's, like,
all the people that should be sorry have said sorry.
Though I really do wanna say at the top of this piece
what I said at the end of yesterday's piece.
This really shouldn't be a situation where
for you to think that this is like actually a big deal
that it would need to be like your daughter,
your sister, your girlfriend, your wife, your mom,
or someone that you know.
And if it would make you feel different on it,
I'm not gonna villainize you,
but I think that you need to look inside,
and try and grow from this.
But of course the gist of the story is
that the streamer Atrioc got caught,
opening a tab where there was a deep fake porn website,
which notably hosted explicit deep pics
of very high profile female streamers,
with many of those women being his colleagues,
and in fact people that are connected
to the people that he knows.
There is tons of backlash, a number of the women
that were featured on that site speaking out.
And while we covered Atrioc's initial apology,
where he was speaking and his wife
was crying behind him yesterday.
He has also since released a written apology,
apologizing to the female streamers who
were actually pictured in his tabs.
Saying, "Your names were dragged into this,
and you were sexualized against your will."
Saying, "I'm sorry my actions have led
to further exploitation of you and your body."
also saying he wanted to correct the damage he caused,
with that, noting that QTCinderella,
who is one of the streamers featured on that site,
was able to get the site taken down after working
with a law firm, Atrioc saying he is working
with a law firm to figure out the cost of the legal fees
for the women impacted.
With Vice reporting that the creator of
that website also issued an apology that read,
"I feel like the total piece of shit I am,
the best course of action I have understood is to
wipe my part off the internet and help decrease the number
of future videos of those involved.
You will not see me pop up again."
But also it's probably easy to be like, you know what?
This is on me, I'm so sorry,
after you've been threatened with a lawsuit.
Which actually regarding that,
QTCinderella spoke on it in a stream yesterday.
- And I still plan on pressing legal charges,
so I don't, it's nice that they deleted it,
but I still plan on moving forward with what I'm working on.
- We also saw more apologies roll in,
with that of Ethan Klein.
Where there was a moment on the podcast,
where they were watching QTCinderella just issuing
this powerful response,
with him then playing the the Christmas song over it,
breaking into fits of laughter,
with him apologizing right after.
But of course there was still massive, massive backlash.
So we saw him post a video yesterday,
saying he feels horrible,
especially since he has so much respect for QT.
- And that's the part that kind of sucks for me the most,
is that someone who I actually really want
to support may have felt worse on
a already difficult situation,
because of my careless and very, very inappropriate
and gross and stupid behavior, right?
- QT also speaking on stream,
saying that Ethan reached out to apologize personally.
- Like I didn't instantly forgive him.
I literally said, why would you do that to me?
It's really (beep) up of you,
but I do believe he's sorry,
I think he shouldn't have done that.
I think he knows he shouldn't have done that.
We also a response from Ludwig, not only a massive creator,
but QTCinderella's boyfriend.
Though he just kinda posted a video largely sharing
the stories and reactions of the women impacted,
also noting that as far as why he didn't instantly respond
to all of this happening, you know, he said,
"Hey I'm a boyfriend first and you know
then I'll talk about it."
Or do you wanna be there for the person impacted?
Which makes sense and it's weird that anyone like would,
I don't know, think there's any other reason
why you wouldn't speak on it.
But for me personally,
I think the most interesting aspect of the story
is what is gonna happen through this lawsuit.
Because truly nothing changes
until more and more precedents are set.
Right, while this story is different,
it reminds me of all the things that led
to legislation around revenge porn,
there were well-known websites
that were dedicated to revenge porn for a while.
And it took time plus lawsuits
for the law to catch up.
But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what happens.
Because remember, this is just one instance
of an ever-growing problem.
And then the UK hasn't seen a strike this big
in over a decade.
You've got more than half a million workers,
mostly teachers, civil servants,
and train drivers crowding the streets
for what's been dubbed walk out Wednesday.
And with nearly all the rail travel down right now,
tens of thousands of schools have closed,
The military's been placed on standby
to help with border checks.
And as you'd expect, the number one issue here is money,
because year over year inflation hit 10.5% in December,
which drove up the price of food and energy in particular.
So you've got workers demanding pay raises
to keep up with the inflation,
and to redress the pay cut that they've suffered
in real terms over the past several years.
With 'em also seeking pension reforms,
and protesting a bill passed in the lower house yesterday
that would enforce minimum service levels in some sectors,
which notably allows some workers to be fired
for not working on strike days.
Now, as far as the government's response to this,
it's the same that it's always been,
hard condemnation of the workers,
with Prime Minister Rishi sunk asking,
"What about the kids missing school today?"
And arguing the pay raises will further spur inflation.
And this as the government's been absolutely battered
by wave after wave of strikes in recent months,
with us only having to look back to this last December
to see the largest nurses strike in the history of the NHS.
And some think that the government's hardline approach
to the labor unrest has cost it politically,
because conservatives now trail the Labor party
by some 25 points in the polls,
and the strikers are aiming their site squarely on Sunak.
- [Group] Rishi Sunak hear us say,
we need you to raise our pay.
- And although the unions have coordinated their walkouts
for the big demonstration today,
most plan to spread their strikes over weeks or months,
with nurses, ambulance staff, paramedics,
emergency call handlers, and other healthcare workers set
to strike next week as well.
And so I ask all you beautiful bastards
that are out there in the UK, what's going on right now?
How are you feeling?
What are you seeing? Let me know about it in those comments
and we'll talk about it some more later this week.
And then, as it turns out, there's actually something
that both Democrats and Republicans in the Obama
Trump and Biden administrations can agree on.
Salmon, right,
in addition to being my favorite source of protein,
there's also kind of a controversy around it.
Recently, the Biden EPA, Environmental Protection Agency,
issued a rare veto, effectively blocking
the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska,
issuing a final determination under
the 1972 Clean Water Act, banning disposal of mine waste
in parts of Bristol Bay's watershed,
citing that the watershed had streams that serve
as crucial breeding grounds for the salmon population.
And saying that disposing
of waste there would destroy 100 miles
of streams and 2100 acres of wetlands.
And the EPA saying the decision is necessary
to protect not only the fisheries in the area,
but also the region's culture.
However, the area also contains deposits
of precious metal ores,
which is what the Pebble mine would be, you know, mining.
And the project calls for a mile wide open pit
that would eventually go to 1500 feet deep,
with tens of millions of pounds of rock removed
and processed annually.
And that will also require the construction
of a power plant, pipeline, access roads, and a port.
And all of this because the ore has been valued
at hundreds of billions of dollars.
And so the Pebble Limited Partnership
the group behind the Pebble Project,
they've been trying to get to it for decades,
and they've faced a rollercoaster trying to get started.
Some history here, it was first introduced
in the early 2000's,
and it found some support a few years later
with Republican Sarah Palin,
the governor of Alaska at the time.
But the Obama era EPA blocked that mine in 2014,
also citing the Clean Water Act and the risks to the salmon.
Then, you had Trump come into office
and reversed that decision,
breathing life back into the mine's future.
But, actually, late in the Trump presidency,
we saw some Republican opposition to the project,
seeing it as a risk to the sport fishing in the area.
So what happened is that
the United States Army Corps of Engineers denied
the Pebble mine a critical permit,
with Pebble Limited now entering
its third year of appealing that decision.
And in December of 2022, the conservation fund purchased
the conservation easements of 44,000 acres,
about 20 miles south of the proposed mine site.
Meaning that creating an access road
to the mine is now much more difficult,
bringing us to right now,
when the EPA once again blocked
the project under the Clean Water Act.
And the key thing to note here is
that the EPA does not often use this veto power.
In the last 30 years,
it has been used a whopping total of three times.
So with this, as you'd imagine,
the pro Pebble people, not happy.
With the Pebble Partnership Chief Executive saying
in a statement, "Unfortunately, the Biden EPA continues
to ignore fair and due process in favor of politics.
This preemptive action against Pebble is not
supported legally, technically, or environmentally.
As such, the next step will likely be
to take legal action to fight this injustice."
And the governor of Alaska also speaking out against
the decision saying
the "EPAs vote sets a dangerous precedent." Saying, '
"It lays the foundation
to stop any development project,
mining or non-mining,
in any area of Alaska with wetlands
and fish bearing streams."
But here we're seeing the EPA
and the decision supporters standing by it,
with the EPA administrators saying
the decision was made after extensive review
of science and technical research,
arguing, "We're committed to making science-based decisions
within our regulatory authority
that will provide durable protections
for people and the planet.
And that's exactly what we're doing today."
And the director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay calling
the decision, "A moment of justice." after being told
the mine was inevitable.
But we're not done here because the EPA has acknowledged
that the decision could be overturned in the future,
but stands by the science behind it,
saying, "Obviously, a final determination may
be challenged in a federal court,
and we can't predict what future administrations may
or may not do, but what we can assure everyone
is that there is a very solid record here."
And so that appears to be the way that things will likely be
for at least the next two years,
unless something happens with
the legal challenges in that time span.
But for now, that's where we are.
And that's where I'm gonna end today's show.
For more news, you might have missed, I got you here,
but my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo' faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.