- 'Sup, you beautiful bastards?
Welcome back to "The Philip DeFranco Show."
We got a lot of news to talk about today
so let's just jump into it.
Starting with fake news about an explosion at the Pentagon
is spreading on Twitter.
This morning, in no way was it hard to find accounts
including verified ones,
sharing an image of a smoke cloud
alongside the claim about the explosion.
Several of those posts alone
getting hundreds of thousands of views,
you even had news outlets like RT,
which is a Russian state media platform, spreading it.
And while they did eventually remove that post,
damage control was still necessary,
with Arlington Emergency Services trying to refute
all this misinformation spreading on Twitter,
writing, "There is no explosion or incident taking place
at or near the Pentagon Reservation
and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public,"
with tons of people now suggesting
that the photo is AI generated,
though no matter how it was made, it's a fake.
And the Department of Defense also confirmed it
as a piece of misinformation to Forbes.
Now, currently the source of the image
has still not been determined,
but even though this was a fake,
there were still real consequences.
Not only because this sparked a general fear
for a number of people,
but it sparked a fear with the stock market,
which dipped slightly this morning
as a result of the fake news going viral.
And again, this is just a small snippet
of a much much bigger problem that's only gonna get worse
'cause I'll continue to say this until I'm blue in the face,
the AI that you experienced today
is the worst that it will ever be again.
And remember, we've had a fake news problem
before the rise and the the lowering of the bar
for the accessibility of this tech.
The AI isn't the fire, that's already been raging.
This is the gasoline.
And then, why in the world
is Eric Adams evicting homeless veterans?
Right? That's the question people have been asking
since the New York mayor announced a plan
to bus some migrants to hotels
in nearby counties earlier this month.
And with that, Orange and Rockland Counties
suing to block that from happening.
And the state Supreme Court granting
both temporary restraining orders.
But by that point, many migrants had already arrived.
And so as we soon learned
at least 15 homeless veterans were forced outta their hotels
in short notice to make room for the asylum seekers
which is why we saw
for the next week right wing media taking this story
and going fuckin' wild with it.
- It's a total embarrassment.
It's a slap in the face to veterans,
to citizens of New York and this country
who are really being cast aside
to allow for asylum seekers to come here.
- These are our nation's heroes.
These are our veterans.
These are the best among us who deserve a helping hand.
They put their lives on the line.
- If you're gonna have to choose
one desperate person over another,
choose the ones you're already helping
who have served this country.
- Except now it all looks like
it was complete and total horseshit, right?
Because several of the homeless men
that were supposedly kicked outta the rooms
say they were duped by Sharon Toney-Finch,
a nonprofit leader who houses the homeless,
with her associates allegedly going to a shelter
looking to get volunteers for a trip to Connecticut
to speak to a local politician about homelessness,
with then 15 of them meeting her at a diner
where she bought them food and alcohol,
then rounded them up in the parking lot
and presented her plan.
Instead of a politician,
they would go in front of a local chamber of commerce
and pose as military veterans
who were forced out of a hotel
to make room for asylum seekers.
And if they weren't comfortable with that,
she allegedly instructed them
to say they had PTSD and couldn't speak.
And so they did it.
And the New York Post picked up that story
with it going viral in right wing circles.
But then the homeless men say that Toney-Finch
took them back to the shelter
and promised to return with their money,
but just never did.
So they spoke out,
and other holes in the story began to emerge.
But the graphic ex were telling a local outlet
that the photos of the hotel receipt
supposedly paid for by Toney-Finch
appeared to have been altered with smudges
behind the darker type and had different fonts.
The hotel manager also reportedly saying
they had no record of the transaction,
no veterans were at the hotel, and nobody was kicked out.
And so now we're seeing Toney-Finch saying
she only told a Republican state assemblyman
that she had homeless veterans who were displaced,
not that it was because of asylum seekers,
but he says he felt devastated and disheartened
after he confronted her about it and the truth came out,
saying, quote, "She alluded to the fact that
'maybe it's not exactly how I said it was.'"
And then when the Associated Press
confronted her on the phone,
she reportedly said, "We should have verified better,"
with her then quickly hang up after further questioning.
And with this, we've seen
continued fallout all over the place,
things like Fox News host Laura Ingram having no choice
but to apologize for spreading misinformation.
- Turns out the group behind the claim made it up.
We have no clue as to why anyone would do such a thing.
- And all this is the New York State Attorney General is
now saying she's reviewing details of the incident
determine whether she'll open a formal investigation
and Mayor Eric Adams also saying
he supports a probe of the incident.
And then how much actual influence does Andrew Tate have?
That was not the focus
of some random op-ed that we're gonna talk about
but rather actual YouGov poll data,
with The Independent reporting they've seen the data
and it revealed that 26% of men between 18 and 29 in the UK
and 28% of men from 30 and 39
agree with Tate's views on women,
also finding that men in their thirties
were slightly more likely to agree with Tate
on his thoughts about masculinity,
three in 10 supporting that,
compared to just a quarter of men 18 to 29.
Also for some extra context here
those stats are among men who know who Andrew Tate is,
and it seems that most men do.
93% of the younger group familiar with him,
86% of the group in their thirties.
But also, outside of those demographics,
there is a drastic difference,
with those in the UK at large less aware of Tate
just 63% of British adults having heard of him.
And even more notably, of that now larger group,
only 6% held a positive view of him,
though that still doesn't shake the sizeable grip
that he has on key demos.
And then, Meta got slapped with a massive $1.3 billion fine
with the European Union ordering them to pay that
after discovering the Facebook broke privacy laws
by transferring the data from European users to the US
and specifically saying that
for years Facebook have been illegally
storing the data of EU citizens
on American servers where it can be too easily accessed
by US spy agencies.
And so also as part of the order,
Meta will be required to stop
sending European data to the US
and delete the information it currently holds.
Now Meta for its part has promised to appeal the decision,
arguing in a statement that
while there was no immediate disruption
to Facebook in Europe,
the move could have sweeping implications
that go beyond Meta,
claiming the decision is flawed, unjustified
and sets a dangerous precedent
for the countless other companies transferring data
between the EU and US.
And actually to that point,
this landmark decision is also increased pressure
for the US to complete a deal that would allow
Meta and thousands of other multinational companies
to keep transferring foreign data to the States.
And actually a preliminary version of that deal was struck
between Biden and EU leaders last year
but it still needs to be finalized,
which is a very key thing to understand
because without that, today's ruling
could create very very serious challenges
for some of the biggest companies out there.
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And then we're just 10 days away
from a total economic catastrophe, right?
Because the Treasury secretary has repeatedly said
that on June 1st, that is the hard deadline
by which the debt ceiling must be raised
to prevent the US from defaulting for the first time ever,
something that would not only trigger a recession
but also send global markets into complete disarray.
And as this ticking Doomsday clock ticks down,
Republicans and Democrats have failed to reach
any kind of agreement, right?
Because the situation at hand is
Republicans have said they will not agree to any debt deal
until Biden agrees to massive spending cuts
that would significantly roll back
much of his domestic agenda.
And so far, Biden has refused to cave,
with Democratic negotiators instead proposing a plan
to freeze but not reduce federal spending
in the next fiscal year.
But ultimately what we saw were Republicans
rejecting that plan on Friday and ending negotiations.
And while we saw talks briefly restart that same night,
they stalled again, prompting Biden
who was at the G7 summit in Japan
to cut his trip early and head home
to take part in the talks,
with the president now set to meet
with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy today
where they'll hopefully actually begin to sort shit out.
And with those two, I mean,
we've seen some kind of tempered optimism
with McCarthy saying that Biden, quote,
"walked through some of the things he's still looking at,
he's hearing from his members;
I walked through things I'm looking at,
I felt the part was productive,"
but adding, "Look, there's no agreement, we're still apart."
Biden also echoing that.
And while that may not sound incredibly optimistic
it is a notable and big shift from over the weekend
where Biden slammed House Republicans,
even at one point saying
"I can't guarantee that they wouldn't force a default."
And also very significantly, Biden once again
raised the possibility of invoking the 14th Amendment
to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional
because of a clause that requires the US to pay its debts,
with him having said at the summit
that he believes he has the authority,
but reiterating that that is a last resort option.
So we'll wait to see how that plays out.
I think it is important to talk some of the specifics
of what happens if we actually see America default, right?
As some reports have noted the most dramatic impact
might be a pause in regular federal payments
to tens of millions of American families,
including seniors on Medicare and Social Security
and people relying on food stamps.
Additionally, veterans who served our country
would be impacted
as the government's supposed to pay out $12 billion
in veterans benefits on June 1st.
Also, many of the millions of federal employees
would be placed in this limbo
with the federal government unable to pay
the 4 billion in salaries it needs to by June 9th,
a situation impacting a broad group
of essential workers like military personnel,
food safety inspectors, air traffic controllers.
But for now, we're gonna have to wait and see.
The unfortunate thing is
the thing we're waiting to see is
a total economic collapse or not, you know, no biggie.
And then, an eight year old girl died
under the watch of US Border Patrol
and there's been a wave of backlash
as information has come out.
All this reportedly starting on May 14th
when the girl who was at a Texas border patrol facility
first reportedly complained about abdominal pain,
nasal congestion and coughing.
She then tests positive for influenza,
officials begin treating her
with acetaminophen, ibuprofen and Tamiflu.
And by this point, they reportedly knew about
her medical history, which included
heart problems and sickle cell anemia.
But then with all this,
they reportedly just transferred her and her family
to another facility in Texas,
which her mother says was dusty and smelled like urine.
And the first day there,
her daughter woke up with a headache and a fever,
with the mother saying that
the agents repeatedly ignored her pleas
to hospitalize her daughter over the next few days
like when she complained to one agent
about her daughter's bone pain.
She says he responded by saying,
"Oh, your daughter's growing up, that's why her bones hurt.
Give her water."
And then when her daughter was struggling to breathe
she says doctors still refused to send her to a hospital.
At one point, she even says the girl stopped walking
and couldn't eat because of a sore throat.
With ultimately on their last day in CBP custody
going to the facility's medical unit three separate times,
one for vomiting, a second time for a stomachache,
and a third time for what appeared to be a seizure,
with the mother carrying her daughter
into the unit that time.
And finally they took her seriously
and brought the girl to a hospital.
There, despite their best efforts to revive her with CPR,
she became unresponsive and was pronounced dead.
With all this happening last week, and it marked
the family's ninth day in border patrol custody,
according to the mother,
which is also an odd amount of time
because the average time migrants spend in custody
is just 77 hours as of Sunday.
And that's while agency policy states
that people should not be held more than 72 hours.
But as it turns out
that rule is often violated during unusually busy times.
And border facilities have been overcrowded
since Title 42 expired.
But even with that, it's not clear why
this girl and her family were kept so long in particular
nor do we have any answers
on why she wasn't given adequate medical care.
And then, a major crisis may have just been averted
at least for now.
And that's because today, California, Nevada, and Arizona
have finally reached a deal
to take less water from the Colorado River
after months of negotiations.
And notably, this historic agreement comes as
the essential water source has been on the verge of collapse
due to the years of overuse
and unprecedented climate-related mega-drought.
And I really do not want to undersell this, right?
Because not only is the Colorado River
an essential source of drinking water
for 40 million Americans in seven states
and parts of Mexico,
but it also irrigates 5.5 million acres of crucial farmland,
while its dams to provide electricity
to millions of homes and businesses.
But also in recent year, the river's flows have dropped
by nearly one third compared to historical averages.
And that threatens a devastation
of water systems in the West.
And according to the New York Times, this deal calls
for the federal government to provide nearly $1.2 billion
to irrigation districts, cities, and tribes
for their agreement to temporarily use less water.
The three states have also agreed to
additional cuts beyond that, which taken together
would amount to a 13% reduction in total water use.
And while 13% by itself just sounds like a little,
the reporting on this describes the decision as, quote,
"among the most aggressive ever experienced in the region
and likely to require significant water restrictions
for residential and agricultural uses."
But also a key note here is this agreement only extends
through the end of 2026, at which time
all seven states that rely on the Colorado River
will almost certainly need to come up with
more permanent solutions,
especially as further declines in water reserves are likely.
And then every day America inches more and more
towards becoming a full-on renter nation.
And right now you'll see plenty of people
saying it's a terrible time to buy a house in America.
And actually because of that, more built-to-rent houses
are being built across the country.
And in some places like Arizona
have over 2,000 built-to-rent homes
under construction per million residents.
But the National Rental Home Council CEO saying
built-to-rent housing is quickly emerging as
an essential and highly desirable sector
of America's housing market,
adding that America's facing a housing shortage
of somewhere between 3 million and 6 million homes,
saying, "Anything that brings more housing into the mix
is a positive."
But also one of the biggest problems with renting
is the rent itself.
I think we're all aware that as time goes on, rent goes up,
but the rates and comparisons are key here,
with Moody's Analytics reporting
that rent has increased by 134.9% since 1999,
but income has only increased by 76.8%.
Meaning that today the median renter would need to pay
29.6% of their monthly income on rent alone
in the first months of 2023.
And all this is a recent Redfin report said that
there are only four major cities where a typical house
has a lower mortgage than cost of rent, right?
And that's connected to the rising interest rates
which is also why you have a lot of people
not selling their homes right now
and instead being interested in renting, right?
If you own a home and you got a mortgage
with like a 2.8% interest rate, who's selling?
Like unless you need cash on hand
like you wanna be super liquid.
Just to highlight the drastic change
we've seen over the last few years,
let's say you buy a million dollar house.
you put $200,000 down, right?
You have an $800,000 mortgage.
If you got that at a 3% rate, you are paying $4,160 a month.
But if you did that same thing at a 6.5% rate
you are looking at a monthly payment of $5,844.
That is a drastically different world.
So that's why you have so many people saying like,
"Oh, I feel like I have golden handcuffs on."
If I sell this property
with the intent to buy somewhere else,
I'm just fucking myself.
But if I now rent this house out
in a world where 6.5% is what's expected,
that person can probably make a nice profit.
Even though as is often the case
the person mos dumped on is the renter.
And that's where I'm gonna end today's show.
As always, thank you for watchin', likin',
and bein' subscribed to these daily dives into the news.
My name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo' faces and I'll see you tomorrow.