- What's up you beautiful bastards,
hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday,
welcome back to the Phillip DeFranco Show.
Buckle up, hit that like button and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we're gonna talk
about today is Ulta Beauty.
Who, if you don't know, they're a chain
of beauty stores where you get makeup, skincare.
This is because, recently an Ulta employee posted
a TicTok video that has just gone viral,
showing how the company allegedly disposes
of returned beauty products.
- This is how we do it at Ulta
when someone returns something, even if it's not used.
- And in that video, the employee Bianca Levinson,
then goes on to destroy beauty items
by scraping unused eyeshadow out of a palette,
snapping a new lip liner in half
and pouring out a full bottle of hair product.
And she also later went on to tell reporters,
"I was truly shocked that this is how returns were handled."
Also saying, "I wanted people to realize that
"when they return things,
"it's not always put back on the shelf.
"They should reconsider
"before returning items they purchased.
"I understand some people have
"to return things, but if it's not necessary,
"then I don't believe they should return it."
With Bianca then going on to say she estimates that
about 30% of returns are put back on the shelves
while the rest are destroyed.
And adding, "We most definitely have over $1000 worth
"of returned items per week."
And adding, "One time, I had a customer come in
"and return more than $300 worth of makeup
"that had to all be thrown out."
Now with this, Bianca's video was met with a ton
of criticism in the comments section
from people asking why the products were not donated,
especially given how many people are in need
and cash strapped during the coronavirus pandemic.
And that's why, in another post,
we saw Bianca saying that this is actually
a pretty standard practice in the industry.
The process being known as damaging out,
and it can occur for a few reasons.
The first being that if a product's seal is broken,
there's the possibility for cross-contamination,
so the items can't be resold or donated.
And secondly, it's argued that this is a practice
because dumpster divers will actually go find
the items in the garbage and then try
to return them to the store or resell them.
The idea is that damaging out
the products helps prevent this.
So that's also why you had some people pushing back when
the comparisons were being made to the likes of Burberry.
Also, if you don't get that reference,
Burberry actually came under fire a couple
of years ago for burning tens of millions dollars worth
of unsold clothes, accessories and beauty products.
This, reportedly, to avoid cheapening the brand?
And with this story, I will say,
it was very interesting to see the initial,
and somewhat continued, reaction to this.
Because it seemed like a number of people who are angry
at the company for having this policy were
also specifically angry at Bianca.
And so regarding that note,
Bianca said people should email Ulta their concerns
because she has no say in the matter.
But also adding, "I don't want people to come
"for Ulta and stop going at all.
"I want people to know that stores like Sephora,
"Bath and Body Works, Target, Walmart
"and many others all have to do the same, too."
And adding, "If I had a say so in what could happen,
"I would like to donate things like hygiene products
"to women's and men's shelters."
But adding, "I know that we can't because of
"the risk of infection and cross contamination,
"but if we could find a way to sterilize
"some products somehow, it would be worth a try."
And kind of touching on that note,
yeah, no one should be looking to Bianca for
the answers for this massive company right now.
Also, it's my personal opinion, I think any of
the outrage towards this young girl makes no sense.
It's not like she was giddy
while she was destroying the product
or mocking people who couldn't afford it and she's like--
- (low growling voice) This could have been yours.
- Also, no those used products should not be yours.
You don't know what anyone might have done
with the product, if they have something,
if it could transfer to you.
Like I'm not in the world of makeup person,
but what did you think would happen with the products?
For me personally, I would get the outrage
if we were talking about products
that were completely sealed that were being destroyed.
But otherwise, it seems like they're just trying
to prevent a potentially hazardous situation for a consumer
that would buy a used product, or at the very least,
because most companies are self-serving,
limiting the potential of that happening
and then possibly getting hit with a lawsuit.
If anything, it felt like Bianca's video was more
about, "Hey, be aware this happens
so you don't contribute to the waste."
All right, use the testers they have available
in the store before you make a purchase,
but also do so in a way that is clean and safe.
But hey, ultimately that's my opinion on this,
and of course I pass the question off to you,
what are your thoughts on this,
whether you agree or you disagree with me?
And then let's knock out some quickies.
First up, you had Kim Jong-un, who CNN reported,
according to US source North Korean leader
in grave danger after surgery.
Now that came after the South Korean newspaper,
The Daily NK, reported that Kim had missed not only
a weapons test but also celebrations for
the country's most important national holiday last week.
And both of those absences were highly unusual.
And while you had outlets jumping on this story,
most of them were very cautious or
at least hesitant about what to say.
I mean, you did have MSNBC anchor Katy Tur tweeting out
that Kim was brain dead.
This according to two US officials
which she then quickly deleted that tweet.
The following up with the tweet that read,
"I've deleted that last tweet out
"of an abundance of caution.
"Waiting on more info, apologies."
We've also since seen a South Korean news agency
quote South Korean officials saying
that they had seen nothing to suggest that Kim was unwell.
With the South Korean presidential spokesperson adding,
"No unusual signs have been identified inside North Korea.
"There is nothing we can confirm with regard
"to Chairman Kim's alleged health problem."
You also had Reuters News Agency chiming in saying
that two South Korean government sources said
that the reports about Kim's health were not true.
So ultimately, as far as what we definitely know now,
we don't know anything.
Here's the thing, even if it did happen,
we likely wouldn't officially know
until North Korean media let every one know.
I mean, hell, back in 2011 when Kim Jong-ill died,
we didn't know until days after
when North Korean media announced it.
But, at the very least, it does appear
that US officials are looking into this.
In fact, you had National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien
saying on Fox and Friends this morning,
"We're monitoring these reports very closely
"and as you know, North Korea is a very closed society,
"there's not a free press there, they're parsimonious
"with the information that they provide
"about many things including the health of Kim Jong-un.
"So we're monitoring those developments closely."
You know, it is believed that Kim Jong-un,
who's 36, does have health problems.
This is linked to obesity and heavy smoking.
It's also believed that he's had to undergo surgery
for previous health issues in the past.
But ultimately, that's where we are right now.
Big if true, but we don't know if it's true yet.
Then in your every day general outrage news,
we had #adamdriverisoverparty trending on Twitter.
Among other things you had people calling him Islamophobic
and when I looked into it,
it really appeared to be a nothing-burger.
This appears to be connected to
an interview he gave with the New Yorker.
There he talked about how he enlisted,
he ended up joining the Marines after 9/11
because he wanted to fight against
the terrorists who attacked the United States.
And here's the thing, the thinking that Adam Driver,
there, is Islamophobic, already a stretch.
But then when you actually look at the piece,
you look at the interview, there's literally
a line that reads, "After 9/11, he found himself filled
"with a desire for retribution,
"although he wasn't sure against what or whom,
'It wasn't against Muslims,' he said.
"'It was we were attacked, I want to fight for my country
against whoever that is.'"
This negative reaction seems to be a split
of people genuinely angry and wanting to cancel Driver
as well as a bunch of people sharing fancams.
And in general, for me personally,
I think this whole situation is preposterous.
The idea of trying to cancel or shame a man who was like,
I'm gonna put my life on the line
to defend this country after we were attacked.
You pair that with the just Olympic-level,
gymnastics-level thinking of taking
the quote that was given and he's an Islamophobe,
like that's just unadulterated stupidity.
But from that I wanna share some stuff I love today
and today in awesome, brought to you by Squarespace.
Whether you need a domain, a website, an online store,
a whatever, make it with Squarespace.
Squarespace empowers people of all kinds
to create their online web presence
or launch their new passion project.
And with Squarespace, everyone can find a home there,
are you an entrepreneur, you're a blogger,
vlogger, musician, actor, fashion designer, whatever,
you got that new passion project,
there's a reason that so many people trust
and use Squarespace for their website needs.
And it's easy to see why.
There's nothing to install, patch or upgrade, ever.
Creating a beautiful website with Squarespace's
all in one platform has never been so simple,
it's extremely intuitive and easy to use.
And it includes fantastic things that you
usually don't think about until way after.
You also get their award-winning marketing tools
and analytics, you also get personalized support
from their award-winning customer care team
via email or live chat.
Whatever you need, they're available 24/7 to help you out.
So if you wanna make the smart move,
dip your toe, maybe take the next step,
go ahead and start your free trial today
over at squarespace.com/phil.
And when you realize you love it,
make sure you enter offer code Phil
to get 10% off your first purchase.
And the first bit of awesome today is,
if you want more of my dumb face after today's show,
you can get it, either in the form of new clips
that I released today, talking to James Charles
about several topics.
And/or my coverage there that was essentially
an extension of the Phillip DeFranco Show
though I shot it very much like it was an old PDS.
It was about this Twitch sub shaming clip
that's been going around, so I talked about that
over on the channel DeFranco Does.
Then in other awesome, we got
the Honest Trailer for Tiger King.
We've Lexi Underwood taking the expensive taste test.
Binging with Babish gave us caprese salad
from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
And the final bit of awesome, today is,
I did not realize how much Tucci-thirst there is out there.
Stanley Tucci, a man that I believe it's really hard
to argue that he's not a great actor.
He was trending yesterday because he released
a video showing how to make an agroni.
And he's just so casually charming that everyone fell
in love again, or for the first time, with him.
So if you need that Tucci escape, there's that.
And, hey, if you wanna see the full versions
of everything I just shared, the secret link of the day,
really anything I also talk about,
links as always are in the description down below.
And then let's talk about sweet, sweet black gold, oil.
That's possibly the weirdest way I could've introduced this,
but I do want to talk about oil.
But I did want to talk about this because I've seen
a lot of confusion over the past 24 hours.
And that's because of the price of oil in
the United States actually turned negative
for the first time in history.
With prices dropping by more than $50 per barrel to -$37.
That means that anyone trying to sell a barrel
of oil actually has to pay their buyer $37 per barrel
instead of the other way around.
And so this is actually a huge deal,
but a lot of the information that's out there
about this situation, it's super confusing
and dense unless you're an economist
or you work on Wall Street.
So what I'm gonna do here is try
to break down why this happened,
what it means for the economy,
what it means for the oil industry
and what it means for you.
A couple of different things
that caused this just insane and historical dip.
And the first reason, actually incredibly simple,
demand for this oil is low as hell right now
because of the pandemic.
People are driving less, planes are flying less,
the demand is just not there.
In fact, according to reports, it's now around 25
to 30% below what it was when the economy gradually began
to shut down starting in January.
But even while that demand was falling,
oil producing countries still kept producing oil,
even up until early April.
Like we talked about before, there was this huge dispute
with OPEC where the members wanted to cut production
because of the pandemic, but Russia refused.
Long story short there, that led to a price war
between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Saudi Arabia responding by flooding
the market with even more oil.
And then, it wasn't until April 12th where everyone reached
an agreement to cut oil production by 10%.
But by April 12th, the damage was already done.
Most places in the United States were shut down,
air travel was totally dead.
And that brings us to reason number two,
not only was demand low but the supply was greater
than demand because it maintained,
and even increased, during a time when it should not have.
And that also created another problem, storage.
Excess supply here means there are literal tons
and tones of oil barrels with no one
to buy them and nowhere to go.
The thing is, the oil industry here is not alone,
we've seen other industries, you know, they have too much.
In recent weeks we've talked about the demand
for milk now being low because of all the shut downs,
farmers have too much supply, they actually dump the milk.
But, today we're not talking about milk,
we're talking about oil and when you do that,
with oil it would be considered an environmental disaster.
So that's why normally, any extra oil,
you put it in storage.
But with the way, way, way more oil than we're used to
that we're talking about here,
that storage has started to run out very quick.
And understand, this is not just
in the United States, this is everywhere.
According to energy experts, the whole world has
an estimated storage capacity for 6.8 billion barrels,
and nearly 60% is filled.
But it is an especially big problem for the United States
because, for example,
one of the most critical storage facilities
in the United States, is in Cushing, OK.
It is where oil traded on the market is delivered
and according to reports, that facility,
which can house 80 million barrels,
only has room for 21 million more.
We're talking about almost 75% full,
and that is incredibly significant
because analysts believe that this lack of storage
at this super key facility is what set off
the panic among oil traders
that eventually resulted in the negative prices.
And that actually brings us to number four
of why we're seeing negative prices is actually caused
by the way that oil is traded.
Oil is traded in the market based on it's future price.
And so what that means is that when traders sell oil
on the market to buyers like oil refineries,
what they're actually selling is a contract
that says they will sell the oil for
a set price at a set future date.
And that is known as a futures contract.
And so when someone says oil prices,
they're not talking about a physical barrel filled
with oil, they're actually talking
about the price of the futures contract.
So when you buy a futures contract,
you're agreeing to buy a thousand barrels of oil
and the price of that contract depends
on the supply, demand and the quality.
Each contract trades for a month,
and when it expires the buyer either needs
to take physical possession of their oil or store it.
But here no one wanted that oil
because there's no demand and no place to store it.
And because today is the last day
to buy those May contracts,
what we saw yesterday was just a massive rush to sell.
So you had traders trying to offload those contracts
as fast as possible so they didn't have to incur the cost.
And when they couldn't find buyers for May,
it set the prices into the negative for the first time ever.
Now with all of that explained,
it brings us to what does this mean for
the economy and what does this mean for you.
Well first of all, if you're hoping
that you will get paid to put gas in your car,
that is not what we're looking at here.
Those negative prices are only for barrels of crude,
so unless you are a refinery, good luck.
But in general, cheap oil means cheaper gas prices
and this is actually a trend that we're already seeing.
As far as the economy and the oil industry,
the future is somewhat mixed.
Regarding the negative prices, experts generally think
that this is a short term thing.
Right, one day's trading when
a contract was expiring isn't damning, it will bounce back.
I say this because futures contracts
for June are still trading around $22 a barrel.
But, $22 a barrel is still really cheap and as long
as prices are low, oil producers are going to suffer,
with some reports saying that if this goes on for a while,
many smaller producers could go bankrupt
and that can cause more long term damage as well.
As more oil facilities are forced
to close and stop production,
more and more people will lose their jobs.
Those are shaking investor confidence in oil,
already, today, we're seeing stocks fall.
And moreover, we've seen a number of experts say
that this is part of a much, much bigger trend.
With these experts saying that this oil situation,
combined with closing factories
and businesses and rising unemployment,
it points to what's known as deflationary collapse.
And that's were there's a huge supply of goods
and services that demand can't meet, causing prices to fall.
While this is something that does happen,
some people say that this will be unlike
almost anything we've seen before.
As one report pointed out, "the broader takeaway is that
"the COVID-19 crisis is an extraordinary deflationary shock
"to the economy, causing the idling of a vast share
"of the world's productive resources.
"Don't let shortages of a few goods, like face masks
"or toilet paper confuse the matter.
"The consequences will almost surely persist
"beyond the period of widespread lockdowns."
And so as far as what can be done here, there's actually
a few things regarding the United States.
According to the Financial Times,
this includes urging deeper cuts from OPEC,
tariffs on foreign oil imports,
freeing up more storage capacity,
including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,
paying producers to keep oil in the ground
or extending financial support to oil companies.
And here, Donald Trump, for his part,
said yesterday he is looking at putting as much
as 75 million barrels in the SPR
which is used to store oil during crises.
But there it's important to point out
that already 635 million barrels of oil are in that reserve
and 75 million will put it at max capacity.
And regarding this topic,
we also saw Trump tweet this morning,
"We will never let the great US oil and gas industry down.
"I have instructed the Secretary of Energy
"and the Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan
"which will make funds available,
"so that these very important companies
"and jobs will be secured long into the future."
But, here billions for the oil companies
could be controversial.
That's not just like a guess,
when the administration recently proposed spending
$3 billion to fill the reserve as part
of the stimulus package, congressional democrats refused.
And so the question becomes with the changing situation,
could you get more people on the same page.
But ultimately, that's where we are with this right now.
Unfortunately, like almost everything
that we're talking about, we're living in
a developing situation, lots of unknowns all over
the place, we're gonna have to wait
to see what happens next.
But with this, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts
especially regarding that last point.
Do you think that the oil industry should
be bailed out here, yes, no, why, why not?
And then let's talk about immigration in
the United States because, if you didn't see,
President Donald Trump last night tweeted,
"In light of the attack from the invisible enemy,
"as well as the need to protect the jobs
"of our great American citizens,
"I will be signing an executive order
"to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States."
Now that said, no official order has been written,
so the details are unclear, though Donald Trump is expected
to have something to sign this week, even as early as today.
Now that said, even though we don't have anything
official written down,
we have seen officials speaking to a number
of news outlets indicating what might be possible.
White House representatives saying it could
temporarily halt new green cards
and work visas being issued.
Also here saying that temporarily could mean 120 days or so.
Though, again, this is just a ballpark number.
We also saw officials speaking to the Wall Street Journal,
saying the order is expected to include exceptions
for migrant farm workers and healthcare workers.
It is also not expected to impact those already
in the United States or have already began
the visa renewal process.
Once again, these are things being said by officials
and reports and nothing in official document language.
One of the things we've learned over
the last three years is sometimes what actually happens
and what was initially said, it doesn't line up.
And with an announcement like this,
we saw a variety of responses.
This including applause from Republican legislators
with people like Alabama Representative Mo Brooks
sharing Trump's tweet and saying,
"Wow, one thing about Donald Trump,
"he knows how to put American citizens first."
Arizona Rep Paul Gosar also saying,
"Thank you, Donald Trump, all immigration
"to the United States should halt
"until every American who wants a job has one."
But on the other side of this, you had a number
of Democrats who were not supportive of this decision.
With New York Representative Jerry Nadler tweeting,
"President Trump now seeks to distract us
"from his fumbled COVID-19 response by trying
"to put the blame on immigrants.
"The truth is many immigrants are on our front lines,
"protecting us as doctors, nurses, health aides,
"farmworkers and restaurant workers."
Texas Rep Joaquin Castro also saying,
"This action is not only an attempt
"to divert attention away from Trump's failure to stop
"the spread of the coronavirus and save lives,
"but an authoritarian-like move to take advantage
"of a crisis and advance his anti-immigrant agenda.
"We must come together to reject his division."
Now with this situation,
one of the questions I've seen posed is can
the President actually do this?
And looking into it, yes anything can be contested,
it does appear that he does have the legal authority.
And this is because of a provision of
the Immigration and Nationality Act that reads,
"Whenever the president finds that the entry
"of any aliens or of any class of aliens
"into the United States would be detrimental
"to the interests of the United States,
"he may by proclamation, and for such period
"as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry
"of all aliens or any class of aliens
"as immigrants or nonimmigrants."
And while everyone can have opinions of if this is
the right thing or the wrong thing,
I would say if any thing I'm kinda just surprised
that it took him this long to make this move.
This announcement comes
after he's already been eliminating vast amounts
of immigration and travel to the United States.
Travel-wise, he's restricted certain kinds of travel
from China, though as we've talked about before, not all.
He's also suspended some travel
from Europe to the United States,
also closed borders with Canada and Mexico.
Though, I will say that with travel,
I think more people are on the same page
so I could understand to limit travel like that.
Then in jumping back to the immigration side of the story,
that's where we see way more people disagreeing
and Trump has actually done a ton to ban certain aspects
during this outbreak.
Routine visa services for most countries have stopped.
Customs and Border Protection have also expelled thousands
of migrants under a public health order
and so this kind of just seemed like the next step.
And here's the thing,
while I don't think that's a unique opinion,
to think that this was inevitable from Trump,
at the same time you've got a number of people arguing
that this will just be ineffective
and it's just pushing the President's agenda
that he wanted before the coronavirus pandemic.
For example we saw the Cato Institute putting out
a piece today saying, "there is no correlation
"between immigrant share of a county's population in
"the United States and its rate of cases or deaths
"from COVID-19 controlling for population density."
And adding, "Ultimately, viruses will spread faster
"where people are bunched together regardless
"of where they come from."
But that's where we are with this story right now.
Obviously we're waiting to see what
the actual details of this looks like.
Yeah, of course, with this story I wanna hear from you,
what are your thoughts on this potential move?
Let me know in those comments down below.
And that is where I'm going to end today's show.
And hey, if you liked this video, you like diving into
the news with me each day, hit that like button.
Also if you're new here, definitely subscribe,
definitely tap that bell to turn on notifications
so you don't miss this daily show.
Also if you're looking for more to watch right now,
I put out a new video on a different channel,
or maybe just missed yesterday's Phillip DeFranco show,
you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there
to watch either of those right now.
But, with that said of course as always,
my name's Phillip DeFranco, you've just been Phil'd in,
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.
- I hope you liked this video.
Subscribe if you like it.