- So at the risk of maybe coming off too feely feely
for some there's something that I have to share
because I think it will help others
or honestly even if it just happens to hit
at the right time for this audience of one,
you watching and listening right now,
I think will have been worth it.
So at the end of last year
over on the DeFranco Does channel I shared something
that I have been struggling with,
something that I've been embarrassed by, and something that
since then I've made great progress dealing with.
And I would also argue that since then
I've made great progress in almost every avenue of my life.
And while there are a lot of individual efforts
that I would go, "okay that's the reason,
"that's the reason."
At the core of it is something very simple and very strong.
And in fact, just four words that I repeat to myself.
You can call them power words, you can call them a mantra,
you can call them a tool,
but those four words are "I'm better than this."
Four words that I can say that remind me that I am bigger,
I am better than mistakes I've made in my past.
Four words that you can say right now.
If you want to do it with me, maybe it's cheesy.
I'm better than this.
Words that I hope you can take to heart
that let you know that
who you were yesterday is not everything you will ever be.
Who you are today is just a snapshot,
it's a before photo for who you can be tomorrow.
Just say the damn words.
I'm better than this.
A reminder that any moment of any day
I can take the first steps towards the thing that I want
because words have power, which can be a scary thing
when you remember some of the horrible stuff
the voice in your head has said,
but it can be a really empowering thing
when you make sure you put in the right words.
But yeah, that's it for this feely Phil cheeseball intro.
Welcome back to "The Philip DeFranco Show."
It is Thursday, January 14th, 2021.
And let's just jump into the news of the day,
so you can get back to yours.
I hope maybe that helped you.
Where we'll start today is with the entertainment news
where first up we have Armie Hammer.
He's an actor.
You might remember him from "The Social Network"
or "Call Me By Your Name,"
but he is now in the news for more controversial reasons
with it now being reported
that he's exiting the upcoming Lionsgate film
"Shotgun Wedding," which costars Jennifer Lopez
after disturbing messages attributed
to him surfaced on Twitter.
Messages that were reportedly leaked
by an Instagram account called HouseofEffie
and showcase conversations that she allegedly had
with the actor.
Conversations that contain graphic
and disturbing sexual fantasies, including violence,
rape, other really detailed unsettling situations,
and cannibalism.
Now a big thing I want to hit on,
these screenshots have not been verified
but have caused Hammer to trend on social media
over the weekend and then last night.
An ex-girlfriend of his has also expressed
that she believes these messages are real,
adding to the chatter and him trending.
It then led to the news
that Hammer would be leaving the movie.
First a production spokesperson broke the news
with a statement saying,
"Given the imminent start date of 'Shotgun Wedding,'
"Armie has requested to step away from the film,
"and we support him in his decision."
Following that Hammer released a statement
of his own saying,
"I'm not responding to these bullshit claims,
"but in light of the vicious
"and spurious online attacks against me,
"I cannot in good conscience now leave my children
"for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic.
"Lionsgate is supporting me in this,
"and I'm grateful to them for that."
So for now we have to wait
and see what else comes from there.
I have no idea how to transition from this.
In other entertainment celeb news
that does not involve allegations of cannibalism.
Nailed it!
You're seeing actor Ray Fisher continue to launch claims
that the DC Films president interfered with an investigation
into misconduct on the "Justice League" set.
For those unfamiliar, this situation begins back in July
when Fisher who plays Cyborg in DC films
accused director Joss Whedon of creating a
"gross, abusive, unprofessional
"and completely unacceptable work environment"
during reshoots for "Justice League."
With Fisher saying that Whedon was enabled
by two executives, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.
Investigation was launched into this.
There was a lot of back and forth feuding
between Fisher and the studio.
But you also have the likes of Jason Mamoa backing Fisher
adding what happened was worthy of investigating.
Gal Gadot also expressing support professors speaking up.
And ultimately in December Warner said
that the investigation had concluded,
and that remedial action had been taken
but did not give a ton of detail.
Though of note weeks prior to this,
it was announced that Joss Whedon was leaving his show
at HBO and Warner effectively parting ways with the studio.
And at the end of 2020 Fisher said
that he didn't want to work
on any production Hamada was a part of,
and that is noteworthy
because he believes that Hamada actually interfered
with that investigation in order to protect Geoff Johns
who is his friend.
Which brings us to yesterday
because Fisher made a lengthy post on Twitter confirming
that WB had in fact decided to remove him from "The Flash,"
which upset him, but he said he wasn't surprised
and said that it was more important
to bring awareness to Hamada's actions.
Writing, "Walter Hamada interfering
"with the 'Justice League' investigation is a
"completely separate issue than the investigation itself.
"And while Walter's behavior was not a point of focus
"for the investigation of the 'Justice League' reshoots,
"his dangerous and enabling actions
"during the investigation process must be called
"to account."
He then discussed the process of bringing up the claims
that led to the investigation
and how he believes Hamada has handled that.
With him explaining that
when he tried to escalate misconduct claims with Hamada,
Hamada tried to throw Whedon and Berg under the bus
in an effort to save Johns even though Fisher reiterated
that Johns was part of the issue.
Fisher adding that he felt it was important
he used his voice here, saying,
"No one in any profession should have to argue
"with their employer for their claims of abuse.
"And that if ending his time as Cyborg is the cost
"to bring awareness to this issue he'll pay it gladly."
But this morning we saw Warner Media standing by their man,
releasing a statement in support of Hamada
with Warner Media chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff saying,
"I believe in Walter Hamada and that he did not impede
"or interfere in the investigation.
"Furthermore, I have full confidence
"in the investigation's process and findings.
"Walter is a well-respected leader known by his colleagues,
"peers, and me as a man of great character and integrity."
Warner also saying they remained in business with Johns
who produces a number of projects for the studio.
Then we should talk about how Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
has defended his platform's decision
to permanently ban President Trump.
And I will say here,
his comments in this lengthy Twitter thread are interesting
because in this Dorsey says
that he doesn't celebrate or feel pride
in our having to ban Trump from Twitter or how we got here.
But also saying,
"I believe this was the right decision for Twitter.
"Offline harm as a result of online speech is
"demonstrably real and what drives our policy
"and enforcement above all."
But then also adding,
"That said having to ban an account has real
"and significant ramification.
Among that fragmenting public conversation,
dividing people, limiting the potential for clarification,
redemption and learning.
Also noting that, and understand these are Dorsey's words,
"sets a precedent I feel is dangerous.
"The power an individual or corporation has
"over a part of the global public conversation."
Dorsey then continuing by addressing the claims
and criticism that Trump's ban
on Twitter violated free speech, saying,
"A company making a business decision
"to moderate itself is different
"from a government removing access,
"yet can feel much the same.
"If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement,
"they can simply go to another internet service."
However, there Dorsey also notes
that this concept has been challenged over the past week.
This didn't happen just on Twitter.
Multiple social media platforms have now banned Trump.
But also Dorsey saying he doesn't believe
that Trump's bans on social media were coordinated,
saying, "Most likely companies came to their own conclusions
"or were emboldened by the actions of others."
It's easier for someone to walk through a door
if it's already been kicked down.
Look, these concerns around censorship
and precedent aren't just coming from Dorsey.
I mean, you also have the likes of Joe Rogan talking
about Amazon's decision to shut down Parler, saying.
- Like, yeah, it's not good if someone gets on there
and they're talking about violence against the government
or violence against individuals
or they're spreading racist ideas
or whatever the fuck they're doing that disturbs people
and angers people.
You're right.
That's not good.
But I do not think that the solution is to shut them down
because the real problem is that it sets a weird precedent.
It sets a precedent where the people that are in power
can decide that something is wrong speak, something is bad,
and you can just eliminate it completely.
- And actually ahead of the inauguration,
social media platforms are not the only businesses changing
their policies in an attempt to crack down
on real-world violence ahead of the inauguration.
This morning, for example, Delta airlines announced
that starting this weekend and continuing into next week
it will not allow people traveling to DC
to check in guns on flights.
This also coming after yesterday
when the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA,
announced that it will now be adopting
a zero tolerance policy on unruly passengers.
With the FAA saying that it's seen a disturbing increase
in incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights
with threatening or violent behavior.
And noting the cases have stemmed
from both passengers refusing to wear a mask
or from the recent attacks on the Capitol.
So because of that,
the FAA will now immediately pursue legal enforcement action
against any passenger who assaults, threatens,
intimidates, or interferes with airline crew members.
That policy will be in effect until the end of March
and violators could face fines of up to $35,000.
Also in DC itself, a number of preparations are being made.
Both Airbnb and its subsidiary hotel tonight
have canceled most reservations ahead of the inauguration
with the only exception being for long-term stays
and stays for medical care with Airbnb also saying
if you are impacted they will fully refund reservations
and will also reimburse hosts with the money
that they should have made from those bookings.
Additionally, the DC Metro plans to temporarily shut down
13 stations near the Capitol and national mall.
And on top of that, 26 bus routes will be detoured
around the capital's expanded security perimeter.
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Then we should talk about how you can
now officially download thousands of CIA UFO records.
Not a sentence I thought I would ever say.
But all of this is thanks to John Greenwald Jr.
and The Black Vault,
his online archive of declassified government information.
So according to reports,
the CIA created a CD- ROM,
are there gonna be people that don't know what a CD-ROM is?
(Phil groans)
So according to reports,
the CIA created a CD-ROM full of UFO documents
that were eventually declassified through a long string
of freedom of information request spanning decades.
The Black Vault purchased the CD last year
in an effort to make sure that it was up to date
with all its info.
And on January 7th Greenwald finally finished uploading
its 2,780 pages of content to his site
for the public to access as PDFs.
And according to the site, the CIA says
that this is all the information they have on UFOs.
However, Greenwald noted that there may be no way
to entirely verify that.
Still though it includes some really interesting information
that people have already started to dig through.
In fact, Greenwald tweeted yesterday,
"In the past 24 hours from this tweet
"622,000 people generated 30.7 million hits
"on my server
"and downloaded nearly 26 terabytes worth of data."
But actually this new data dump is just a drop in the bucket
of the total information that The Black Vault hosts
on its site.
They're reportedly hosting more than 2 million pages
of declassified government documents.
Then we should talk about how yesterday
CD Projekt Red took part in a YouTuber rite of passage,
making an apology video,
specifically releasing a five minute video apologizing
for the issues that users had with Cyberpunk 2077.
Like we talked about when the game launched last month,
it faced a ton of backlash from console players
who ran into bugs, frame rate problems, and more.
Issues eventually prompting Sony to pull the game
from its PlayStation store.
There were refunds being offered.
And in the video addressing the problems,
the company co-founder said.
- Despite good reviews on PC,
the console version of Cyberpunk 2077
did not meet the quality standard we wanted it to meet.
I and the entire leadership team are deeply sorry for this.
And this video is me publicly owning up to that.
Please don't fault any of our teams for what happened.
They all are incredibly talented and hardworking.
Myself and the board are the final decision makers,
and it was our call to release the game.
- Also saying some of the issues stemmed
from the fact that they underestimated
what it would take to bring the game to life.
Also pointing to difficulties about having to work
from home during the pandemic.
And as far as what comes next,
the company shared a roadmap of future updates
on top of the ones they've already released.
One will be coming in the next 10 days,
a larger and more significant one coming
in the next few weeks.
With the co-founder also stressing,
and this was a big key thing here
because this is where a lot of the other outrage
and kind of backlash came from,
that his team intended to make the updates
without what he called obligatory overtime.
Adding, "Avoiding crunch on all of our future projects
"is one of our top priorities."
As far as when you should expect Cyberpunk 2077
to return to the PlayStation store, we don't know.
With the developers saying that they're working on fixes
and updates and that they're working with Sony
to bring it back as soon as possible.
Then in really big news, we should talk about
how former Michigan governor Rick Snyder has
now been charged with two counts of willful neglect of duty
for his role in the Flint water crisis.
He of course was the state's top executive
when local officials decided
to switch the city's drinking water source
to the Flint River back in 2014.
A move that was supposed to be a
temporary cost saving measure
while the pipeline was being built to Lake Huron.
But the water also wasn't treated properly for corrosion.
So you had lead contaminated water being released
into the homes of people all over the city.
So because of that, 12 people died
and at least 90 were sickened by Legionnaires' disease.
As far as Snyder, he appeared in court this morning via Zoom
pleading not guilty to the two charges.
Which I do want to note if you're someone that's hoping
that he serves a lot of time,
there's not a lot of hope for that right now.
The charges are misdemeanors,
and if convicted he faces up to a year in prison
and as much as a $1,000 fine.
But still the fact that there are charges is a big deal
because they make him the first governor
or former governor in the state to ever be charged
with a crime for alleged conduct while in office.
Also he's not the only one being targeted here.
In a press conference this morning,
prosecutors announced charges
against eight other former state and city officials
as they reported their investigation findings.
This includes a former state health director
and some of Snyder's close aides.
And in total 41 charges have been filed
across all nine people
with some facing charges of involuntary manslaughter
and extortion.
Flint residents have been waiting a very long time
for there to be some sort of justice
or any consequences whatsoever.
One of the last times we talked about this was 2019
where prosecutors dropped 15 criminal charges tied
to the Flint case,
saying that the investigation would begin again
from scratch.
At the time citing concerns about
how the special counsel had conducted its probe.
But it also wasn't until last year
that the state reached a $600 million settlement
with the victims,
establishing a fund which residents can file
for compensation.
But these new charges are gonna be something
we should keep an eye on.
Then let's talk about unemployment news,
and how the hell we're gonna get out of this.
Because what we're seeing right now is
another 965,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week
which is the highest number of new claims since last August.
Notably also 181,000 more filings in the week before,
marking the largest week-to-week increase
since the beginning of the pandemic.
Additionally, more than 284,000 Americans filed
under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program
for self-employed people and gig workers.
A jump in that category of 100,000 more claims
than the week prior.
But also notably economists have said
that they expected to see more people filing claims
as a result of the stimulus package
that was passed last month
which among other things added an additional $300 a week
in federal unemployment benefits.
But overall it is still important to note
that the job market is still struggling.
In fact, just last week, the government reported
that the US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December,
marking the first net loss
since the mass layoffs this past spring.
Of course a big part of these economic declines is due
to the renewed closures and restrictions
that have been imposed
as coronavirus cases continue to reach new highs.
But according to reports, economists have also said
that the struggling economy is also partially explained
by the fact that it took Congress 10 months
to pass another stimulus package.
This even after tons of essential fiscal programs expired
over the summer.
But there's a light in the distance.
There is some good news.
Despite the current slump analysts are saying
that things will start looking up for two main reasons.
One, in the longterm as more people are vaccinated
and COVID cases drop restrictions will be eased,
allowing normal consumer activity to resurge,
and two, in the short term,
the economy and the American people can expect
to see a boost from the influx of stimulus measures
and new spending that Biden has promised.
Stimulus that unless there's some unforeseen issue,
he and Democrats should be able to implement
now that they have both the House and the Senate,
which actually connects us to the news
that Biden is expected to unveil a set
of massive stimulus proposals during a speech this evening.
Now, as of recording this video,
Biden's team has not yet said how much that plan will cost.
But last week, the president elect himself said
that he would deliver trillions in economic relief.
And as for what is expected in this package,
Biden has said there will be significant funding for state
and local governments, small businesses,
and to help reopen schools
as well as billions of dollars
to speed up vaccine distribution.
Other people briefed with Biden's plan also reportedly said
that this will include an extension
of the extra federal unemployment benefits
which are currently set to end in March for many workers
as well as more aid for renters.
And then of course, one of the most significant provisions
would be the stimulus checks.
While the December package included an additional $600
in direct payments, many have argued
that is nowhere near enough.
This including Biden himself, who last week said.
- We need more direct relief flowing to families,
small businesses, including finishing the job
of getting people that $2,000 in relief, direct payment.
600 is simply not enough.
- As far as what that'll look like,
we've seen some contradictory reports.
Some places reporting
that he's going to announce $2,000 outright.
Others saying the $600 prior will be factored in.
So you're looking at an additional $1,400.
But also that is reportedly not the only direct aid
that Biden is expected to give to the American people.
With several people familiar with his plans
also telling the Washington Post,
this will include new benefits for children in poor
and middle-class households including a proposal similar
to his campaign pledge to provide $300 per month
to American households for every child under six,
as well as $250 per month for every child
between the ages of six and 17,
as well as an expansion of the existing child tax credit
so that it will include millions of poor families
that are currently excluded from the program.
But also a thing you should note,
one of Biden's top economic advisers has said
that these ambitious plans will be rolled out in two parts.
With the first package expected to be focused
on immediate economic recovery efforts
and direct aid to Americans.
And some of these provisions may also be included
in the second package, which is expected to center more
on long-term economic factors like job creation,
infrastructure, energy projects,
as well as healthcare and education spending.
And of course with this,
I'd love to know your thoughts on this story,
but that is also where I'm going to end today's show.
Thank you for a fantastic week back.
I know we have to talk about some horrible stuff sometimes,
but just in the past week,
I feel like I have refound my love for this show.
So thank you.
I love your faces, you beautiful bastards.
Also, if you missed any of the shows this week
highly recommend you check it out.
There's a lot of stuff this week.
But yeah, with that said thank you
for watching news that matters for people that care.
I'll see you next time.
And remember you are better than this.