- So, during these tense times,
and as someone whose job
was essentially breaking down the specifics
about how the world is on fire that day
and someone who regularly has to talk
about the worst of humanity.
On this MLK day, I thought it might actually be helpful
to know that I am cautious optimist.
I actually have hope for our future over the long term
whether it be race relations, equality in general,
progress in general,
because as people smarter than me have said,
many of which don't possess the same privilege,
I have change (beep) mother (beep).
I forgot (beep).
Change is not a straight line.
Progress is not a straight line is what I was trying to say.
While I'd rather none of the negative,
one of the positives that has come from the negatives
is I can't remember another time in my life
where people, especially young people,
cared more about what was going on,
were engaged in trying to be the change
they wanted to see in the world.
But with that said,
welcome back to "The Philip DeFranco Show"
It is Monday, January 18th, 2021.
And let's just jump into the news of the day
so you can get back to yours.
The first thing up today is entertainment news
and here we'll start with the least controversial
or jarring, Olivia Rodrigo.
If you don't know, she's a singer
in "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" actress,
which is a name for a series that is so ridiculous,
but not as ridiculous as the wild numbers
we have seen from Rodrigo.
She released her debut single, "Driver's License"
on January 8th, just 10 days ago.
and it is absolutely destroying records left and right
across multiple streaming platforms.
One of the first major milestones that it reached
was setting the record for the most streams on Spotify
in one day for a non-holiday song,
then beating her own record just one day later.
Spotify also announced on Friday that it set the record
for the most streams for a song in a week
and Pop Crave reported that the song hit 100 million streams
and was the fastest song to ever do so.
Then over on Amazon Music, the song broke the record
for the most globally requested song on Alexa in a day,
as well as having the biggest global streaming debut.
It's also notably a trending audio on TikTok
which is in no small part,
one of the massive reasons that it has done so well.
Whether it be from people just connecting
to the song emotionally, talking about the drama,
or the theories about why she wrote the song,
who it's about, or of course,
just people dancing to it
because it definitely does not hurt to have huge creators
like Charli D'Amelio using the song in their videos
which I think is also why the music industry,
in general, has loved TikTok.
I mean, after having used the app for just a year now,
it is wild that you can essentially predict
what's gonna be on the top charts
after you see a few TikTok trends, but also as someone
whose primary release schedule involves YouTube first,
it is so weird seeing the love for TikTok
at that music industry has when you have people
on YouTube that like hum a song
and get their whole video taken down.
In that way news like this is always
a little bit weird to see,
but main point for Rodrigo is she's gonna be someone
that's really interesting to watch.
Then we talk about the news
and updates around Armie Hammer.
This is because Hammer is now apologizing
for referring to a woman dressed in lingerie
as Ms. Cayman on his private Instagram.
This after the Daily Mail shared photos
and videos from Hammer's secret Instagram account.
And in one of those videos,
he said he's going to have sex with a woman
he calls Ms. Cayman.
That resulted in the Miss Cayman Islands Universe Committee
noting that they were aware of the video,
that they were disturbed by it,
also confirming that the woman pictured
is not Miss Cayman Islands
and has no affiliation to the pageant.
Also, saying that they reported the incident
to the authorities and added the role of Miss Cayman
is in part, to serve as a role model
to young Caymanian women.
The depiction of the woman in the video
goes against all that our organization stands for.
But Hammer, then giving a statement
to the Cayman Compass saying,
"I would like to clarify that the person in my video,
which was stolen from my private Instagram,
is not Miss Cayman.
I am genuinely sorry for any confusion
my foolish attempt at humor may have caused.
Personally, I will say it's kind of weird,
but also predictable that this became a news story.
If you look at the actual post and then the caption itself,
you have to make some leaps to think that he's referring
to a contest winner, but at the same time
it's also not surprising that this became a news story
because of his other controversies and allegations,
including the messages that appear
to show him sending explicit sexual fantasies
that include violence, rape, and cannibalism.
Though, very importantly, I do wanna note
that these messages are not verified.
He has also called the claims bullshit.
We've also seen people like Bella Thorne backing him up,
writing on Instagram,
"People are crazy to fake this kinda shit.
This poor guy and his kids.
Like leave him and his family alone.
No way he is a freaking cannibal.
We also have many people believing the messages,
including the likes of Jessica Henriquez,
who's one of his exes who have said
that the DMs are real and we should not question victims.
There's also another ex who further the claim saying
that he wanted to barbecue and eat her.
Also, detailing allegations of emotional abuse.
Actually, on that note,
as the discussion around these allegations continues,
many are calling for the focus on it to change..
Whereas a lot of the public takeaway has been mainly jokes
about Armie Hammer as a cannibal.
Is he really that?
Or is he just, is it kind of like a kink?
Many arguing that that should not in any way
be the main point with outlets
like "Jezebel" putting out a piece saying
that the public should focus more
on the actual allegations of abuse instead.
You also people like Empress Wu, a professional dominatrix,
telling Rolling Stone
that there are clear consent violations
in those messages attributed to him
which should be the core focus and issue
with her noting that people should talk less
about his kinks and more about that.
And ultimately, that is where we are
and we'll have to wait to see what else comes
from this conversation as well as
if there are any other developments or responses.
The last bit of entertainment news is that on Saturday,
the New York Times posted a controversial article
that details how children have increased their screen time
during the pandemic.
The article in question begins with an anecdote
about a man who after a heated argument
with his 14-year-old son, James,
said, "I've failed you as a father."
This because reportedly his son used to focus his free time
on mountain biking and playing basketball,
but now reportedly devotes nearly all of his leisure hours,
about 40 a week, to Xbox and his phone.
The man even being quoted in the Times as saying,
"I'm not losing my son to this."
But, the Times going on to say,
'nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic,
parents across the country and the world
are watching their children slide down
an increasingly slippery path
into an all-consuming digital life."
And noting that during the first nine months of 2020,
the app Roblox saw an increase of 82% over the year before.
However, the article has also received a hefty amount
of backlash from other outlets,
many saying that it glossed over the fact
that video games and the internet have helped many people,
kids and adults, stay connected and sane
during this terrible time.
A reporter for the Times also writing,
"This seems strange considering how the world
is falling apart and democracy is dying
in front of our eyes, but yeah, sure,
let's consider that kids might be playing too much Roblox."
Also, of note, if you go through the actual Times article,
they only twice directly get James' perspective
on what's been happening.
And even with how limited it is,
I look at it and I go, oh yeah.
First, he explains that he started high school
this past fall, but because of distance learning,
he didn't get many chances to make new friends.
Second, he explains that
after his family dog died New Year's Eve,
he ended up playing video games
with his friends to help him not think about the loss.
But then, the article immediately switches focus
to his mother who says,
"What are you going to do when you're married and stressed?
Tell your wife you need to play Xbox?"
And my answer is, yes.
As long as the relationship is fair
you shouldn't feel bad about me time.
Sometimes I just need to decompress and be by myself.
Sometimes that's me doing chores by myself
and sometimes that's me playing Rocket League
or something with a story.
Also, because I'm trying to be safe in a pandemic.
It's one of the best ways I get to actually interact
with my friends.
And that's fine as long as you also have things
that you can do together
and you're giving them time as well
to do whatever they wanna do by themselves.
Relationships and marriage are a marathon,
not a sprint, and while it's great to have a unit,
you never stop being an individual
and it's important not to forget that.
And secondly, fuck anybody else
for judging how you are surviving during this time.
Thank God so many of us have the technology
that we have today.
I can't even imagine how miserable,
this has already been a horrible past year,
but if we didn't have the tools and crutches
that we have thanks to the technology
that we have in 2020 and 2021,
it would have been a nightmare on top of a nightmare.
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Then, in news surrounding the debate
around social media moderation regulation
versus is it just unwarranted censorship?
We should talk about Twitter temporarily suspending
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's account
this past Sunday.
According to Twitter, Green's account was locked
for 12 hours because of what they call multiple violations
of our civic integrity policy.
This, notably following President Donald Trump's
permanent ban in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
So, it's also not too surprising they did this,
especially since Greene's account includes a treasure trove
of false claims about voter fraud in Georgia
as well as pedaling things like QAnon conspiracy theories.
And this ended up being yet another story
that continued the debate of is this just censorship
or is this a private company saying, hey,
we're not gonna be complicit
in spreading propaganda and lies.
And would it actually be more concerning
if a private company was forced to further propaganda?
But, of course, over the last week and a half now,
moves like this have been increasingly scrutinized.
In fact, this past weekend,
we saw Poland's hard-right justice minister proposing
what they call a new freedom of speech protection law.
And notably, if it passes,
that law would prevent social media platforms
from deleting content or banning users
who don't break Polish law.
And, if a platform were to refuse to comply
with an order to restore either a banned user
or deleted content, it would face fines
of anywhere between $13,000 to $13 million.
However, domestic regulations on their own
are likely to be ineffective
and that's why we've also now seen reports
that the Polish prime minister
is lobbying the European Union to regulate the issue.
And on the other side over there,
critics of the law have argued that the over removal
of content on social media is a non-existent risk,
especially when compared
to hate speech targeting LGBTQ plus communities,
Muslims, and refugees.
Also, another angle and part of this debate
in a recently released interview with the Associated Press,
singer Selena Gomez criticized social media companies
for allowing misinformation to fester online
ahead of the attacks on the U.S. Capitol,
saying "It isn't about me versus you,
one political party versus another.
This is about truth versus lies
and Facebook, Instagram and big tech companies
have to stop allowing lies
to just flow and pretend to be the truth.
And adding, "Enough is enough."
And then a tweet, Gomez also called out CEOs
like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey,
and Susan Wojcicki to take action saying
that they have failed the American people.
But also, a thing to note is we're just now seeing
the implications of what happens
when social media companies crack down even harder.
In fact, we're now seeing that
in the week since Trump was first banned on Twitter,
election misinformation has plummeted by 73%.
Those numbers coming from
the San Francisco based analytics firm Zignal Labs
which also found the conversations
about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions
to 688,000 mentions across several social media sites.
The report also finding that hashtags and phrases used
by QAnon supporters declined over the past week.
This likely the result of Twitter banning
more than 70,000 accounts associated with QAnon.
The director of one digital forensic research lab saying,
"Bottom line is that de-platforming, especially at the scale
that occurred last week, rapidly curbs momentum
and ability to reach new audiences.
That said, it also has a tendency to harden the views
of those already engaged in the spread
of that type of false information."
Also, I think it is important to note,
and this is just me saying this,
is there is a reason to believe
that this kind of curbing may just be temporary.
It takes time to migrate to all the other platforms,
get it all figured out.
I mean, we're seeing a lot of people downloading new apps.
Which of course, among those we saw Parler getting hit
with its own crackdown.
Though, there is some news there.
Parler looks like it's once again showing signs of life.
In an update on the site, CEO John Matze posted
a message saying, "Hello world, is this thing on?"
And then in a note below address to both lovers and haters,
saying that the platform is working
to resolve any challenges,
AKA Apple and Google removing them from the app stores
as well as Amazon's decision to de-host the platform.
Also, in this whole space,
it's gonna be interesting to look at lawsuits.
You know, last week we talked about Parler is suing Amazon,
but another lawsuit that I wanna talk about
is just this past Sunday
we saw a DC-based nonprofit suing Apple
in an attempt to actually get it to remove Telegram
from its app store.
And for a keynote here, after Trump's various bans,
there were a surge of pro-Trump conservatives signing up
for Parler, but as Parler faced those challenges,
we then saw, among other things,
many people moving over to Telegram.
However, Telegram thus far has not received
the same level of scrutiny
which is why the nonprofit, Coalition for a Safer Web,
has filed for this lawsuit,
arguing that Telegram now hosts white supremacists,
neo-Nazis, and other hateful content,
all of which violates Apple's terms of service
for its app store.
With this, if you're wondering
why is this group not also suing Google?
The answer is they actually plan to.
Though, these lawsuits could be long shots
for actually kind of a fairly ironic reason, section 230.
The same article that Trump wants repealed
because he thinks that
it is unfairly being used against him,
is also the same article that could protect Telegram.
And that's because the main thing about section 230
is that it grants platforms broad immunity
from responsibility for most of the content that they host.
The last things I wanna talk about today
are around the inauguration happening Wednesday
and the Capitol in general.
Where I'll start is with just two days to go
until the inauguration,
security has been massively ramped up
in the nation's capital.
While the inauguration is usually a high security event,
Washington has now instituted security measures
not seen since the Civil War.
Within this obviously following the insurrection,
but also with intelligence agencies warning
of threats for more violence.
In an unprecedented move,
the National Park Service announced on Friday
that the National Mall,
which usually hosts massive crowds
watching the inauguration,
will be closed until at least Thursday.
The inaugural ceremony itself will also be scaled down due
to both security threats and the pandemic.
Various barricades ranging from small metal barriers
to tall fencing reinforced with heavy concrete blocks
have been set up around the Mall
and in other parts of the city,
such as federal buildings and businesses,
this also includes the Capitol complex itself
which will be entirely shut off
to the public on Wednesday and is currently surrounded
by a seven foot fence topped with razor wire.
Also, as we mentioned last week,
over a dozen Metro lines will be shut down
and more than two dozen bus routes will be detoured
around the security perimeter.
Also, we've learned that car traffic
in most of the city will either be banned entirely
or limited exclusively to residents and businesses only.
Several bridges that connect D.C. to Virginia
will also be shut down
and all street closures are subject to change
or can be extended
at the discretion of the Secret Service.
And, in addition to the wide variety of military
and law enforcement personnel who are normally involved
in an inauguration security,
around 25,000 National Guard troops have also been deployed
from all across the country.
That is nearly two and a half times the number present
for previous inaugurations.
And actually notably here, we've also seen reports
that officials have been vetting all 25,000 coming
to Washington because they're also worried
about an insider attack.
But also, a thing to keep in mind,
it is not just D.C. that is ramping up security.
There have also been mass deployments
of the National Guard and other law enforcement officers
to state capitals all across the country following calls
for armed protests in all 50 States.
Though, so far, most of the activity that has been seen
around state houses are small, peaceful demonstrations
by a few people, some of whom have also been armed.
And most of the biggest armed rallies
have only included two dozen people or even less.
Though, notably all of the largest protests
have been held by or included members of the Boogaloo Boys
which is a far right group that wants to start
a second Civil War.
With the group showing up in some of the highest numbers
in front of the Capitol buildings
in Ohio, Michigan, and Utah,
but as was the case with all the other demonstration so far,
the people who have shown up
have been far out numbered by security officials.
And in some cases, spectators.
Then, as far as Trump himself,
in his literal last day in office,
sources have said that Donald Trump will grant pardons
to around 100 people.
With people familiar to the matter having reportedly said,
among others, the president will grant clemency
for white collar criminals and high-profile rappers,
but some of the names reportedly being floated around,
you have WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange,
former Trump advisor and guy that would maybe be okay
with Fauci's head being on a pike, Steve Bannon,
as well as people like Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.
Also in the last few weeks, we've seen several reports
that Trump was considering preemptively pardoning himself,
his top aides, and his adult children.
But very notably there, it's not clear
if he can actually even do that legally,
especially because none
of them have officially been charged with anything.
As of right now, sources say
that at least he will not be pardoning himself.
But, regardless of who ultimately gets pardoned,
many have condemned Trump for potentially using his last day
as president to grant clemency
for so many people who have been charged with crimes,
most of whom appear to be allies or supporters of him,
especially because at the same time,
Trump has been using some of his last fleeting moments
in power to execute more people.
Just this weekend,
the Trump administration carried out its 13th execution
since July on a man named Dustin Higgs.
Actually with Higgs' his death,
Trump is now overseeing more federal executions
than any president in over 130 years.
And in fact, he will be leaving office having executed
nearly one out of every four federal death row prisoners.
That is where we are right now.
And I think it's kind of important
that we just prepare for the next 72 hours
because we should expect a massive news dump
because we're gonna have last minute pardons
and moves from Trump and his administration.
The Biden administration will then get installed.
What are the number of executive orders
that we should expect right out the gate?
What's gonna happen with the legislation
that Democrats wanna push through now
that they have the House and the Senate?
But, Trump was just impeached a second time.
There's a lot that we're gonna have to go through,
but I will be here for you every step of the way.
And actually on that note,
that's where I'm gonna end today's show.
Of course, I'd love to have your thoughts
on anything I covered today,
but this is ultimately where today's show ends.
As always, thanks for being a part of this community,
subscribe and like and all the good stuff,
it helps get us in front of more eyes
to help spread some more common sense.
Yeah, as always, thanks for watching news that matters
for people that care, I'll see you tomorrow.