- Stop what you're doing. Actually, wait (chuckles).
What you're doing is watching this video.
Keep doing that.
But it has been brought to my attention
that the bunny behind me has no name and needs a name.
So I pass that responsibility on to you.
What should the bunny's name be?
Don't mess this up.
"This is a news show."
(upbeat music)
(monkey squeaking)
- 'Sup you beautiful bastards?
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show.
I got a fantastic Wednesday show for you today,
but first a friendly reminder to grab what you want
while you can over at BeautifulBastard.com.
We just had the June drop.
Grab yourself one or some of the, oh my god,
so comfortable, Emotionally Exhausted tie dyes
and or one of the, Are You Taking Care Of Yourself?
tie dyes,
and or one of the Beautiful Bastards Embrace Changes line
all available at that top link down below
or BeautifulBastard.com.
But with that said, buckle up, hit that like button,
and let's just jump into it.
Hey y'all first up today let's do some rapid fire news
based off of your recommendations.
Every day on the text line
people are asking me to talk about this story or that story.
A lot of them really don't have a lot of depth
but I figured hey, let's tie 'em all together.
Starting with Jeffree Star said he keeps around 100 guns
and is quote, "waiting for someone to trespass
on his property."
Well, one, he wouldn't be the first YouTuber
to say something like that.
And two y'all, let's be honest.
If Jeffree star is really just waiting to
be able to legally kill someone, that's kind of a win.
'Cause I don't know about you
but I see Jeffree posting this picture and I'm like,
oh he definitely flies people out to a private island
and then hunts them just to feel something.
Like both the people in that picture look
like they have lobbied Congress to legalize The Purge.
Then according to The Post,
Jennifer Anderson trolled as nepotism baby
for calling out stars famous for nothing.
With her at one point during a Variety interview saying,
"The thing of people becoming famous
for basically doing nothing.
I mean Paris Hilton, Monica Lewinsky, all those."
And here's what I'll say.
I think there are plenty of examples of people
pretty much being famous for nothing.
Though, I think if you're able to stay famous
and get people to still care about you for some reason
despite there being no reason to,
I think that is a skill in itself.
Though I do personally take issue with her
including Monica Lewinsky because she,
like she wasn't trying to be famous.
Right? She has remained famous today
because she's actually a good writer.
But I mean back then, do you remember?
Somehow you had a situation where
the President of the United States, Bill Clinton,
cheated on his wife with an employee
while, I mean, you wanna talk about power dynamics,
while not only being her boss
but being the most powerful person
in the world and still a ton of people
made her out to be the primary villain.
She, without a desire to became famous, a punchline.
Meanwhile, the guy that cheated on her
had the people around him throwing her under the bus.
Oh, and as far as nepotism in Hollywood.
Yeah. There's a lot of it.
Do pretty much any research
on almost any of the stars that you like
and you'll find out that a majority
of them have like, rich ass parents
or parents with connections.
Sure. You can say money doesn't buy happiness
but as sure as fuck buys opportunities
and safety net, after safety net, after safety net.
And then more specifically when it comes
to the world of acting, when I've talked
to actor and actress friends that are in the industry,
it does seem like having a following online is
now becoming a mass, or has become a massive part of it.
And for me, this random story kind of brings me
to the question of will we have massive stars
like we used to have?
Or there's been more and more of a conversation
where there being so much content out there
you're not gonna have like the next Tom Cruise,
the next Will Smith, but I don't know how true that is
or if it's universal, because I just saw that like one
of the guys from BTS had a live stream that had
over 6 million people watching
and he was washing dishes.
Though, that's more of an example
of mainstream famous using the internet rather
than internet famous jumping into the mainstream.
I don't know this is what happens when you give me stories
and I have no set goal at the beginning of it.
And then we gotta talk about the fact that if
the FDA had not dragged their feet on their latest approval,
which just happened this week,
Will Smith would still be able to go to the Oscars.
Right? So you know how we all learned way more
information about alopecia than we ever expected
to learn because Will Smith slapped Chris Rock
for what he said about his wife, resulting in everyone going
what the fu- was that real?
And then a few minutes later
people Googling it and going, oh, okay.
So it's an autoimmune disease where the immune system
attacks hair follicles often causing them to fall out
and leading sufferers to large bald spots
or being entirely bald.
And actually it can be more than just
a cosmetic problem right?
The hair on your scalp, it helps block the sun,
other hair follicles, such as eyelashes, nose hairs,
and hairs in your ears have major functions.
Allergies, which already suck
can be far worse for those people, hearing can be affected.
And there hasn't really been an effective treatment
for it with topical creams being mostly experimental
and with unclear results.
But doctors had found
that a family of arthritis medications known
as JAK inhibitors had promising results on mice.
So some began to prescribe them off label
to alopecia patients and they got surprising results.
Leading Eli Lilly, a drug manufacturer to
sponsor different blind studies involving 1,200 people
with severe alopecia for their JAK inhibitor, finding
that nearly 40% of those who took the drug had complete or
near complete hair regrowth after 36 weeks with almost half
of the patients having their hair back after 52 weeks.
And the side effects were relatively mild
with things like slight respiratory infections,
urinary tract infections, or acne.
So with how great these results were you have people going
well, why does it even need to be approved
if doctors are already giving out the drugs off label?
Well like most things in the American medical system
it comes down to insurance.
It was extremely difficult for doctors
and patients to convince the insurance companies to
cover these drugs, which would cost upwards
of $2,500 for uses that they weren't approved for.
While Eli Lilly has now been approved
for one treatment using their JAK inhibitor
both Pfizer and Concert Pharmaceuticals are
on the verge of also being approved for their versions
which is a potential positive
because patients who may not respond well
to one drug and this family may respond better to another.
So fantastic and life changing news for the nearly
300,000 Americans who suffer from severe alopecia.
But unfortunately still it was too late to
protect Chris Rock.
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And then, you know, yesterday I told y'all we
weren't gonna get a January 6th hearing today
possibly because the Supreme Court was gonna throw down
a decision on Roe v Wade.
And obviously you can't split airtime
between the attempted take down of democracy
in the U.S. with the fall of Women's Rights.
But what actually happened is the Supreme Court
did not post their decision today, but the January 6th
committee did release some more information, right?
We knew that the committee has been looking into
what has been described as alleged surveillance tours
tours given by some junior Republican lawmakers
just ahead of the insurrection.
And in particular here, they had asked representative
Barry Loudermilk to talk about a tour that he gave
on January 5th, suggesting that the committee had
information that the tour wasn't what it seemed.
Now, Loudermilk denied that and at the time said,
"A constituent family with young children
meeting with their member of Congress in the House office
buildings is not a suspicious group
or reconnaissance tour.
The family never entered the Capitol Building."
Now, it turned out that the tour ended up being around
15 people, not just a small family,
but Capitol Police still said in a recent letter
that they had looked at the footage of the
Loudermilk tour and found nothing suspicious,
with Republicans touting this as a victory
saying the Democrats were just trying
to make something out of nothing,
but today the committee released the footage they have
and it showed Loudermilk, giving a tour of the
Capitol complex to a group that had at least one person
who was later alleged to have filmed threats
against lawmakers on January 6th, on the way to the Capitol.
- [Group Member] We're coming in like white on rice
for Pelosi,
Nadler,
(group member laughs)
Schumer.
Even you AOC, we're coming to take you out.
We'll pull you out by your hairs.
- Now with this, it is possible
that Loudermilk had no idea that the man was dangerous
or would make threats against lawmakers.
But the footage of the tour shows people
in that group acting as some would say odd,
and or as the committee put it,
certain tour group members
such as the man who had made threats
were cataloging parts of the complex that are quote,
"not typically of interest to tourists
including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints."
Now with this Loudermilk himself
has responded to request that he speak more
about the tourists saying,
"The false narrative that the committee
and Democrats continue to push that Republicans,
including myself, led reconnaissance tours
is verifiably false."
With him also highlighting that no one
in the tour that he led was criminally charged
in relation to January 6th.
But you have others saying, regardless
this shows that at the very least people
on the tour were obviously acting suspicious
and nothing was done about it.
But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see
if the committee has anything else to attach to this,
what else comes out.
And of course that starts back up again tomorrow.
And then after yesterday's elections in five states
we are now basically halfway through the primary season.
And overall yesterday was a very good day
for Republicans and indicates that the party is
on a solid path to make gains in November.
With that being especially true in Texas, where
we saw Republican Mayra Flores win a special election
in the Rio Grande valley to fill a seat vacated
by a Democrat.
According to reports Flores will now be
the first Republican to represent the district,
and the first Latina Republican from Texas in Congress
with the GOP hailing her win as an indicator
that their efforts to win over Hispanic voters is working.
But some say while these inroads are notable,
Flores's victory specifically may be short lived
noting that this was just a special election.
So Flores still has to participate in the
November election where her district has been redrawn
to heavily favor Democrats.
But Texas wasn't the only place
that we saw important Republican wins
and especially wins among Trump backed candidates.
And those who have embraced the big lie.
In fact, according to 538
only three Republicans who have said that the 2020 election
was legitimate won their races yesterday,
and only one of those three,
representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina,
won in a contest that was along pro Trump anti-Trump lines.
And very notably here, another anti-Trump Republican
in the state that voted to impeach Trump
ended up losing his race to a Trump endorsed challenger.
But the place that we saw the most significant inroads
among election denying candidates yesterday was Nevada
which is arguably one of the most important things
because it is set to be one
of the most competitive battleground states,
with some of the most consequential races
that could determine the balance of power
in the House and Senate this fall.
Right, for example, in a key Senate race
that is very much up for grabs
Republicans nominated former attorney general
Adam Laxalt, who was once the leader
of Trump's efforts to overturn the election
in Nevada and has been endorsed by the former president.
Meanwhile at the state level,
Jim Marchant, who organized a network
of 2020 election deniers won the Republican primary
for Nevada Secretary of State.
Which is especially alarming because a victory
for him in November would give a big lie promoter
serious power over election administration
as a state's top election official.
But Nevada is by no means the only place
where this is a threat.
According to reports, as we near the halfway point
of this cycle's primaries,
"The potential for far right Republicans
to reshape the election systems
of major battleground states is growing much closer
to reality."
With Republican voters so far
nominating "dozens of candidates for offices
with power over the administration
and certification of elections who have spread falsehoods
about the 2020 presidential election,
and sowed distrusted in American democracy."
And what's even more concerning is this is far from over.
We're only halfway through and according
to a new analysis from the Washington Post,
more than 100 GOP candidates who backed the big lie
won their elections just by the end of May
when only a third of the primaries were complete.
And while yes, Trump backed candidates
saw embarrassing losses in Georgia,
they have been regaining some ground in primaries since.
In fact, according to an Axios tracker updated
to include yesterday's races
only nine of his candidates in competitive races
have lost so far, while 26 have won.
Though, the outlet did point out that
while his record is still positive overall
it is far weaker when candidates running unopposed
or in non-competitive races are filtered out.
But still Axios noting that another 20 competitive races
are still in progress,
with the upcoming primaries in Colorado, Arizona
and Wisconsin getting flagged as opportunities
for Republicans demonstrate how willing they are
to support big lie candidates.
And so with this, what I'll say, and it's especially
to the democratic groups yesterday that we talked
about that are trying to promote far, far right people
because they think it gives them a better matchup.
You know how a lot of people voted for Biden
even though they didn't really support Biden,
and it was more that they didn't like the other guy?
The same can and will be said in the 2022 midterms.
What we're talking about is an ongoing existential threat
to the very core of democracy
and not nearly enough people are taking it that seriously.
And then in international news, we should definitely talk
about the effort to deport illegal migrants over in the UK
and that, because it is splitting the country right now
we've got some dramatic news on it.
Right so back in April,
the conservative government announced a policy
to deport some asylum seekers
who entered the country illegally,
redirecting them 4,000 miles away to Rwanda instead
where they can seek permanent refugee status,
apply to settle there on other grounds,
or seek asylum in a third country.
With this is meant to deter migrants
from arriving through what the UK government calls
illegal dangerous, or unnecessary methods
like smuggling themselves in small boats or trucks.
For some background here
migrants have made that journey from Northern France
across English channel for a long time now.
And over 28,000 entered the UK in boats last year
up from 8,500 a year before that with notably dozens
of people dying on the way, like the 27 who drowned
in a single incident when a boat cap size last November.
And under the government's plan
they've got some accommodations waiting for them in Rwanda
which you can see in this video
from Hope Hostel in the Capitol.
So naturally with this, you had charities, lawyers,
and other rights groups opposing the plan
in courts questioning whether Rwanda
is a safe destination for these refugees.
With the likes of the UN refugee agency condemning this
as unworkable and discriminatory, accusing the UK
of shifting its burden to a developing country
and shirking its responsibility to take in refugees.
Which all leads us to yesterday's news
because the first flight of refugees
to Rwanda was set to depart in the evening.
You had 37 people originally supposed to be on board
but due to legal challenges, that number dwindled down
to just about seven with one of them telling the guardian
he is in a "very bad mental state" and doesn't want to go
to Rwanda, a country which he knows nothing about.
And last ditch efforts to stop the flight altogether failed
with a court of appeals rejecting them on Monday
and the Supreme court upholding the policy on Tuesday.
But then just an hour and a half
before the plane was about to take off
the European Court of Human Rights
barges in the door and goes, wait, wait, wait,
stopping the flight after ruling
that one of the seven asylum seekers,
a 54 year old Iraqi man,
he can't be deported until three weeks
after the delivery of the final domestic decision
in his ongoing judicial review proceedings,
which threw all seven cases back into the courts
at least until a high court ruling on the policy next month.
So now you have UK Home Secretary Priti Patel saying
preparations for the next flight will begin now
and defending the policy in front of lawmakers.
- We cannot keep on spending nearly 5 million pounds
a day on accommodation, including that of hotels.
We cannot accept this intolerable pressure on
public services and local communities.
(audience murmuring)
It makes us less safe as a nation because those who come
here illegally do not have the regularized checks
or even the regularized status.
- [Audience Member] Yeah.
- And because evil people smuggling gangs use the
proceeds of their ill-gotten gains to fund other
appalling crimes that undermine the security of our country.
- You also have the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Filippo Grandi expressing bewilderment
at the government's plan yesterday.
- We believe that this is all wrong.
This is all wrong.
I mean, saving people from dangerous journeys is great,
is absolutely great.
But is that the right way to do it?
Is that the right?
Is that the real motivation for this deal to happen?
I don't think so.
I think it's,
I don't know what it is.
- And even some refugees have been speaking out
like this Iranian in a British detention center
who arrived by a boat being told to prepare
for deportation then given a late reprieve.
- Did you ever think that they would send you to Africa?
- [Interviewer Translating over speech] I thought in the UK
there were human rights, he says.
But so far I haven't seen any evidence.
- And so for now we're in this situation
where it looks like it's gonna be drug out for a while
in the judicial system
and probably turn into even more of a mess.
But with this recent news and the asylum plan in general
I'd love to know your thoughts.
Of course, that goes to everyone.
But especially if you're in the UK.
And ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
My name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love yo' faces and I'll see you tomorrow.