- Sup, you beautiful bastards.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show.
And just very quickly,
I wanna apologize for yesterday's show.
I felt a little off yesterday, a little bit slow.
So, I was like, Hey I'm gonna speed up the show 5%.
But, completely on me,
I accidentally uploaded a version
that was 20% sped up.
So, if you're wondering,
why was Phil doing an impression
of Eminem doing "Rap God" in yesterday's show?
That's why.
But, that said,
welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show.
Hit that like button.
If you want me to punch you in the throat, you weirdo,
and let's just jump into it.
And to kick things off,
today was one of the most requested stories.
Let's talk about whatever the hell this is.
♪ This song is for the entrepreneurs and hackers ♪
♪ All the misfits and smart slackers ♪
- [Phil] What?
♪ Razzlekhan, the Versace bedouin ♪
So, that musical genius, that icon,
the voice of a generation is apparently
what a multi-billion dollar criminal looks like.
Yes, really. She goes by Razzlekhan.
Her real name is Heather Morgan.
And apparently, in addition to being
a better lyricist than Eminem,
having a better flow than Biggie,
according to her website,
she's also a software CEO, a writer, an economist
and a few contradictory other things.
And in her bio, as a contributor to Forbes,
she wrote, when she's not reverse engineering
black markets to think of better ways
to combat fraud and cyber crime,
she enjoys rapping and designing street wear fashion.
And that description just makes me smile from my heart
because she is also allegedly tied
to one of the largest heist
and money laundering schemes in history.
Yes, really. Yesterday Morgan and her husband,
Ilya Lichtenstein, were arrested by US authorities
and are accused of attempting
to launder $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin,
and to fraud the United States
which means that I'm sorry, fans of true music.
Morgan and her husband are both facing upwards
of 25 years in prison.
Now, as far as how the hell
did they even get that much Bitcoin?
Apparently, they were holding onto 120,000 coins
that were stolen off a Bitfinex back in 2016.
And according to court documents, the couple managed
to launder 25,000 Bitcoins so far
through a complex series of transactions
that ended with the funds being deposited
into accounts owned by them.
With the feds ultimately getting them
because they got access
to one of her husband's cloud storage accounts.
And in that account, they found a list
of more than 2,000 crypto wallets and keys.
So, once they had that,
they followed the transaction history
of everything through the wallets.
They were able to link the couple directly to the hack.
And since then, authorities have managed
to recover more than 94,000 Bitcoin,
which is valued right now at $3.6 billion,
which actually makes this
the largest recovery in DOJ history.
And with all this, in a statement,
you had Assistant Attorney General,
Kenneth A. Polite Jr. issuing a warning
to those who think that cryptocurrency protects
their illicit activities from scrutiny.
Saying, "Today, federal law enforcement
demonstrates once again that we can follow money
through the blockchain,
and that we will not allow cryptocurrency
to be a safe haven for money laundering
or a zone of lawlessness within our financial system."
And as far as those impacted by the 2016 hack,
there could be hope here.
With Bitfinex saying they will be cooperating extensively
with authorities and are working to establish our rights
to a return of the stolen Bitcoin.
And so from here, we'll have to wait to see, you know,
can people actually get their money back?
If so, how much and what happens
to the Crocodile of Wall Street?
(laughs) What a shitty name!
Anyway, with this story, I would love to know
what are your thoughts here?
And then, we need to talk about the war going on
between lawmakers, nurses, travel nurses
and hospitals right now.
And that in part,
because some members of Congress right now wanna cap
some of the nurses' salaries.
Right, so it's no secret
that the past two years have taken a nasty toll
on our healthcare system
with the hospitals overloaded, nurses overworked
by the flood of COVID patients
in general, economic shock.
And as a result, nurses have left their jobs in droves
whether it's because of burnout, fatigue,
poor work conditions, pay, both, some other reason.
Now, to be clear, it's not like everything
before the pandemic was completely fine
in the American healthcare system.
I mean, hell!
According to the President of the National Academy
of Medicine last November,
40% of pre-pandemic physicians reported depression
and suicidal ideation.
And then, after COVID hit, things got even worse.
Some 60 to 75% of clinicians reporting symptoms
of depression, exhaustion, sleep disorders, and even PTSD.
So in no way, is it surprising that with so much stress,
more people are just giving up
and about 20% of healthcare workers have quit their jobs
between the start of the pandemic and this past November.
And because of those quitting, of course,
someone has to fill that gap.
So, say hello to travel nurses.
My mom. Where you see we have staffing agencies
dispatching nurses to hospitals across the country
to compensate for temporary staffing shortages.
But, notably with the uniquely large shortages after COVID,
the demand for these nurses is way larger
and, so are their paychecks.
Right? It's basic supply and demand.
When the demand is high, prices go up.
But it's also, it's kind of fucked.
Like, if you're in nurse, and you're like
I'm staying with this hospital,
you're essentially being penalized because of your loyalty.
And I mean, not to blow up my mom's spot,
and I don't know exactly how much she is getting paid,
but looking at the data, looking at the reports,
many travel nurses are getting paid twice as much
as their permanent counterparts or in many cases,
even more than that.
Data from Vivian Health shows
that the pay for travel nurses jumped
from $1,706 in December of 2019
to $3,290 per week in December of 2021.
And coincidentally, the travel nursing industry
has doubled in size over the past year.
And with all this, you might be asking, you know,
why don't these hospitals just pay
their permanent nurses more, right?
They're gonna essentially have to pay more
to have expensive staffing agencies,
expensive travel nurses.
And the answer, like a lot of things, is the government
where a lot of that COVID emergency relief money
that was dished to hospitals multiple times
during the pandemic has been used to hire travel nurses.
I mean, just to use two examples,
you had FEMA in January saying Hawaii would get $95 million
for traveling healthcare workers.
And, as of November, Texas spent nearly $7 billion
in federal aid on temporary nurses, doctors,
and respiratory therapists.
And so, now you have some trade groups arguing
that travel nurse agencies are exploiting
a tight labor market to charge exorbitant prices.
And in fact, on January 25th, almost 200 House lawmakers
even asked the White House
to investigate the spike in wages for travel nurses.
With the Wall Street Journal reporting yesterday
that the White House is now saying
that it's taking steps to alleviate the nursing shortage
and pressure on wages,
namely by connecting healthcare providers
to communities that need workers through grants
and loan repayments, as well as providing funds
for hospitals to recruit staff.
But still, some believe that is not enough,
arguing that lawmakers should put a price cap
on travel nurse salaries,
which unsurprisingly has led to a lot of fear
among travel nurses who are like, "oh shit!
My income could take a hit."
With some even arguing,
yeah, there should be a cap,
but it should be on hospital executives.
You also have others who believe the solution is
to just fill the staffing shortage
with more full-time nurses.
But as the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association explained,
It becomes this vicious cycle
where you're chasing your tail and it's escalating.
Right? The more travel the nurses make,
the more full-time staff is going to question
whether or not to make the switch.
Right. And amid all of this there's this growing riff
between the hospital executives
and full-time nurses who often feel alienated
or even resentful over the pay discrepancy.
Also, quick fun thing.
If you ever wanna fill 15 minutes up,
ask a full-time nurse and a traveling nurse
what they think about the other.
90% of the time, you'll be like,
oh shit, high school really never does end.
But also that said, if I was a full-time nurse
and I was essentially being penalized for my loyalty,
I'd be fucking petty as shit.
But that's the story, some of my takeaway
and now I pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts here?
Especially if you or someone you know
is in the healthcare industry.
And then, to be very blunt,
do you wish that your pooping experience could be better?
I know you're like, ah, my neck!
What a hard pivot!
But I just feel like I needed to say it that way
because I'm about to say a lot of technical terms.
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And then, it's that time of year again.
We get Oscar nominations
and thus controversy, anger and debate.
And this year across the categories, yes,
you have people saying "this movie got snubbed,"
"this actor got snubbed."
With one of the big focuses
for many people right now being on Best Picture
and "Spider-Man: No Way Home".
When it comes to Best Picture,
you have 10 potential nominees
which was actually a recent change
made over a decade ago.
It used to be just five nominees, but in 2009,
they changed it to be anywhere from 5 to 10,
with them specifically doing that
because so many people felt like
The Dark Knight got snubbed.
But also in that time, the Academy rarely ever nominated
the full possible 10 movies.
And as far as like Superhero movies,
it rarely ever happened.
Though you do have examples like Black Panther.
But this year, they said
they would commit to do a full list of 10, right?
Leaving room for options.
So, the "Spider-Man: No Way Home",
which got amazing reviews,
did amazing at the Box Office
despite the pandemic slump we've seen.
You had a lot of people throw their hands
up in the air and go, what the fuck?
Right, because it's not even like,
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" didn't try to get a nomination.
They did a full campaign to land one.
With producer Amy Pascal telling the Hollywood Reporter,
"Just because they're a certain kind of genre
doesn't mean they're not quality movies.
We all got in this business to make movies
that people want to see, that make people feel things,
and I think this movie legitimately does that."
And you've got Marvel head, Kevin Feige,
telling the Hollywood Reporter,
"It's a good thing when people are in a theater
and they stand up and cheer.
It's a good thing when people are wiping tears
because they're thinking back on their last 20 years
of movie going and what it has meant to them.
That, to me, is a very good thing, the sort of thing
the Academy was founded back in the day, to recognize."
But still, that doesn't change the situation.
They did not land a nomination,
except actually just for visual effects.
And personally, I've got a foot in two different camps.
One is, okay, I really don't care.
Like, I don't think,
I can't remember the last time
I watched or cared about the Oscars.
But, two, given the movies
that we got in the past year,
how the fuck is "Spider-Man: No Way Home"
not at least in the Top 10?
Why are y'all doing this to Zendaya's boyfriend?
It just feels like, more often than not,
they penalize movies for being theatrically successful.
But, I also understand that's just my opinion.
So, what's yours?
And then, y'all Florida Man is at it again.
And by "Florida Man," I mean governor Ron DeSantis,
And by it, I mean, making life harder for LGBTQ kids.
How thoughtful of him
to take a break from villainizing masks
and go back to old school conservative values.
So, what we're talking about is
that the Florida Senate Education Committee
just advanced legislation, that critics have dubbed
the ""Don't Say Gay" bill,
which would prevent school districts
from "encouraging discussion about sexual orientation
or gender identity in primary grade levels
or in a manner that is not age-appropriate
or developmentally appropriate for students."
But, oh, my God!
What a surprise.
The text of the bill does not define
what would be considered age-appropriate
or developmentally appropriate.
And because we're talking about a state
that is in part represented by Matt Gaetz,
there are understandable concerns
about leaving the definition of age-appropriate
open to interpretation.
And while the lawmaker who proposed this measure has said
that it would just keep the topics
out of the curriculum, not classroom discussions,
there's no mention of curriculum in the text.
Also, other notable provisions in the legislation
include allowing parents to sue schools
if they think they're violating the law
and if they don't inform parents
about "critical decisions affecting a student's mental
emotional, or physical health or wellbeing."
But once again, not clearly defining
or getting into specifics.
And as one democratic Senator pointed out,
critical decisions could be something as basic
as a kid being served a vegetarian lunch
without their parent's okay.
But still, despite the very obvious issues with this bill,
it was advanced after DeSantis voiced his support
for the move on Monday,
saying "Schools need to be teaching kids to read, to write.
They need to teach them science, history.
We need more civics and understanding
the U.S. constitution, what makes our country unique,
all those basic stuff."
Yeah, all those basic stuff.
Like, figuring out how a fucking sentence works, Ron.
But, one of the main things here is that,
while conservatives have argued
that this legislation is about parental rights,
Democrats and advocacy groups have slammed it
as clear discrimination against LGBTQ youth.
With many noting that studies have shown
that schools are a crucial support system for LGBTQ kids.
Right. I mean, for example, there was a 2021 survey
of more than 82,000 youth conducted by the Trevor Project.
And they found that 30%, only 30% of kids
said their home was LGBTQ affirming
while half said their school was.
Which, quick side note,
if you can't love your child and support your child
just because they're LGBTQ, fuck you.
What a useless, empty shell of a human being you are.
I know they say you get more flies with honey
and you know, you wanna try and like talk sense to people.
But no. Like, there is the forward thinking part
of myself where I'm like,
"Hey, I really hope that you can kind of deconstruct
why you feel the way you feel."
But then the other part of me kind of just wishes
that a giant rock would fall on your head.
Life's already hard as it is for most people
and you're just not gonna be there for your kid
because of something they can't control?
Like, it used to be a thing
where people would see someone
that was like anti-gay,
and they'd be like, I hope you have a gay kid.
But no! That's just more trauma for kids
that don't have a support system.
You know, kind of, taking the feelings
and the thinking there,
it's why you had people like Chasten Buttigieg,
the husband of transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg,
tweeting last month that this bill will kill kids.
Noting that another Trevor Project survey found
that 42% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered
attempting suicide last year.
And those criticisms have only grown
since the "Don't Say Gay" bill
cleared the committee yesterday
with President Biden himself,
even chiming in to condemn the measure,
saying "to those who will be impacted
by this hateful bill, to know that you are loved
and accepted just as you are."
And adding, "I have your back and my administration
will continue to fight for the protections
and safety you deserve."
But, still that said, ultimately
that is where we are with this story.
And I mean, it's pretty much all but assured to pass.
But ultimately, that is where that story
and today's show ends.
As always, thank you for watching,
hitting that subscribe button to join
for these daily dives into the news.
I love yo' faces and I'll see you tomorrow.