- So I'm going to be completely straight up with you,
I was 50/50 on even releasing today's show.
I'm just, I'm tired
and I think it's a little bit because of my sleep
but also how is it March again?
Remember when we were like, man,
this is going to be a weird couple of weeks.
And then the clothes that we wear every day just
slowly turned into, how can I also make it feel
like I'm still in bed.
And I've got hope,
I think there's a light right around the corner.
I've also been very privileged enough with my
with my job, and my living situation.
But it is, it is still heavy on my mind.
So if I feel out of it today, let's blame that.
Also, please do not in any way, pity me.
I, I, things are good.
Other than up here, if anything, my hope in sharing
this is you don't, you don't feel alone
if you have similar feelings, because *ahh*
Anyway, let's jump into the news.
And first up today, let's talk
about this troubling situation around James Charles.
So if you haven't seen there's a story that blew up
about a 16 year old boy who accused youtuber James Charles
of grooming, saying that James sent him nude photos.
Right and so the accuser who goes by Isaiyah on Twitter
and redzai on Tik Tok, where he has 200,000 followers,
he posted the accusations and videos on both platforms
and both platforms have actually removed them,
but re-uploads still exist on YouTube.
So he basically says that they started talking
on Snapchat on February 17th with him hoping
that it would be just kind of a fan talking
to an influencer kind of conversation.
But then things allegedly turned rather sexual with him
sharing some of the messages that James allegedly sent him
including one where James appears to have asked him to
send a video from the shower while he flexed his muscles.
Also another with graphic sexual language
with him also including censored nude
and partially nude photos that James allegedly sent to him.
And with this Isaiah said, he told James that he was only 16
but that he still kept asking for pictures.
With him also claiming that James asked
to FaceTime him and saying of this whole situation.
- I've heard multiple stories about him doing this to people
but you never believe it until it happens to you.
So now I'm a big believer
of what James Charles does to other people.
- Now as far as James' response to this
he said that Isaiah's story is false saying
that he was under the impression that Isaiah was 18,
not 16, calling the grooming accusation
completely false claiming that he found Isaiah
on the Instagram explore page, saw that Isaiah followed him
and then decided to add him on Snapchat.
With him then saying he woke up
to snaps of him being very excited, as well as, lewd photos
of him and saying, "I asked how old he was right away.
And he told me he was 18.
So I started flirting back."
But did not ask for any ID to confirm his age
with him going on to say, "it's now clear.
Based on the video he uploaded, he was taking photos
of me with another device and had an ulterior motive
from the beginning.
Later in the day, he said a few things
that made me question the validity
of his original age answer
and when I asked him to confirm his age,
once again, he admitted he was 16.
I told him I was really uncomfortable
and apologized for flirting, but he insisted
on continuing talking, saying it could be our little secret.
He's a fan of mine and would never tell anyone.
I told him I wasn't okay with this.
He started getting upset.
And at this point I unfriended him.
We haven't spoken since."
Also saying that he is not trying to victim blame
or even make himself a victim,
he's just trying to share his side of the story
especially because he has faced similar allegations
in the past.
With him also saying
that he will now ask for an ID of every guy
he has a conversation with to confirm their age.
But Isaiah has since responded in several tweets,
insisting that James knew that he was 16,
writing "James we know I blocked you,
you never asked for my age. After I told you I was 16
you proceeded to ask me for nudes and said it didn't matter.
You called me hot and said,
'I wish the timeline could speed up
so you can be 18.'
If you're going to text someone make sure
you know their age."
With him also saying
that he is contacting the police about this.
Also, as we see happen with situations like this,
since this story broke at least two other people
have come forward with their own stories about James.
And while I'm looking into those,
I won't be going into them now.
Right, some of the situations are different,
they're developing.
For example, there was someone that came out
with a story that they were 17 when James flirted
with them saying that it never got sexual.
Right and then you see that it looks like
those tweets have been removed.
So the question about why, who did it,
what does it mean for the story?
But what I can say is that we reached out
to James Charles to see if he had any updated comment,
any replies that he'd like to say,
but we have not heard back from him yet.
But we did see him reply to someone today
who said that he couldn't "notes app" his way
out of the situation.
With James replying, "I'm not trying to get
out of anything. No matter what happened.
It was unacceptable, embarrassing
and I should have taken the extra steps to research
the person I was talking to. There is no excuse.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
This is on me."
But that is where we are with this story right now
and I would love to know your thoughts on this situation.
Then in other celebrity news we can talk about,
we had Taylor Swift in the news.
Though it kind of goes past just another celebrity story.
It's kind of just the continuation of this conversation
we've seen happening through news stories
over the last few weeks that has largely been focused
on how people, the media, entertainment,
treat women who are famous.
Right so the way this recent news goes,
you had Netflix releasing a new original series
called Ginny and Georgia, which has sparked outrage
among Taylor Swift's fans.
And this, because in one of the episodes,
the character Georgia asks her daughter Ginny
if she has broken up with her boyfriend
to which Ginny replies, "what do you care?
You go through men faster than Taylor Swift."
Alright, so people see it, someone posts it,
it spreads like wildfire, we see the phrase,
"Respect Taylor Swift" begin to trend on Twitter.
But also it prompts fans to point to a 2017 episode
of Degrassi: Next Class, which is also co-produced
by Netflix, along with other companies,
and in that episode, a character says
"Taylor Swift made an entire career off of her exes."
Right, and for many fans,
these types of jokes are especially frustrating
because Swift herself has long been critical
of the narrative and sexism in general.
Right, she's addressed it in several interviews, songs,
and even her own Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.
In one interview saying, "If I could talk
to my 19 year old self, I'd just say,
'Hey, you know you're gonna date
just like a normal 20 something should be allowed to,
but you're going to be a national lightning rod
for slut-shaming.'"
And in fact, with this situation specifically,
Taylor weighed in herself this morning, tweeting,
"Hey Ginny and Georgia, 2010 called and it wants
it's lazy, deeply sexist joke back.
How about we stop degrading hardworking women
by defining this horse shit as funny.
Also, Netflix after Miss Americana,
this outfit doesn't look cute on you.
Happy Women's History Month, I guess."
And with this story,
I would really love to know your thoughts
because depending on where you see people talking
about this greatly, different reactions.
Right, some saying this is yet another example
of slut-shaming famous female celebrities,
saying that it is disgusting, uncalled for,
there is a double standard, but on the other end
you have some people saying it's just jokes.
Right, saying that Taylor Swift's relationships
have been in the public eye, they're a part of her music,
so they should be fair game.
Though that also opens up the other debate
with Taylor Swift and her relationships.
Right, some have said and joked
that that Taylor Swift gets into these relationships
so she can make music about them.
But you have people saying no, that's actually just one
of Taylor Swift skills, she's in the public eye.
People are going to speculate and say things anyway,
this is her like super power.
But like I said, I pass the question off to you
and I'd love to know what you're thinking and why.
And then let's take a second to pay some bills
and thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Public.
If you're thinking about investing in your future
or you're looking for a new way to invest
where you can buy any stock for any amount of money.
You're looking for a place you can trust
that actually cares about regular people,
a place where you can share and learn ideas
with a social community of investors, Public is for you.
By combining great features like fractional investing
in a social and educational community,
Public makes it possible to learn and build
your investing competence at your own pace.
And for those that don't know fractional investing
allows you to buy stocks in small slices
so that you can own a greater variety of stocks
than you could otherwise.
Start small, invest $1, $5, $50 or more and own fractions
of all the companies that you love.
And of course they have fantastic things
like zero commission fees on standard trades
and unlike a number of their competitors, they don't do that
by selling what you're trading to the fat cats.
And best of all, if you sign up using
my link in the description down below
or you go to publicdefranco.com, you get a free stock
once you open an account.
It's the ultimate win-win-win so check it out,
see if it's for you and start thinking about your future.
And then let's talk about Syria because on Friday
the U.S. military conducted an airstrike
on an Iranian backed militia in Syria.
According to the reports,
the airstrike was conducted as retaliation
after the militia launched rockets into Northern Iraq
and killed civilians, contractors, and injured
a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.
But despite airstrikes having been a routine response
in this situation over the last 20 years,
the decision drew instant backlash.
Because this is the first such strike of Biden's presidency
and for many, it set the tone and seemed to contradict
some of his earlier stances when running for office.
For example, back in 2019, he made it rather clear
that he wanted to get out of Iraq as soon as possible,
and Afghanistan soon, but such airstrikes are often blamed
for further entrenching the United States and the region.
And it's hard to sum up the different criticisms
that Biden received for this decision is essentially
the entire political spectrum pushed back
against this move and only a few approved of it.
I mean, for example, starting with Congress,
many Democrats called the move unconstitutional.
Though that not too surprising
because in the past Nancy Pelosi claimed
that similar strikes required congressional approval.
Something the Biden administration pushed back on citing
the War Powers Act which has been used by presidents
to justify the use of force without congressional approval.
And that is one of the few areas that he received support,
as many Republicans praised the decision to retaliate
against militias who target U.S. personnel in the region.
But also in the public eye, many mocked Biden's apprehension
over expanding executive power to forgive student loans,
but he seemingly was comfortable using it to bomb militias.
We also saw others pushing back against
the idea from the administration that this was a form
of defensive retaliation,
writing things like, "the latest Biden air strike
is being spun, as quote, 'defensive' and 'retaliatory'
despite it's targeting a nation the U.S. invaded Syria
in response to alleged attacks on U S forces
in another nation, the U.S. invaded Iraq.
You can't invade a nation
and then claim self-defense there. Ever."
You also had many critiquing how the media
portrayed the event by claiming that they treated Biden
much more softly than they would have with Trump.
Right, with people essentially saying
you get the same end result with a Trump or a Biden
in this situation, a U S bombing.
But the media coverage is different because what,
he didn't call the country, a shithole country?
I'll also say this isn't the only story we have today
that hits on this note.
Right, this because on Friday
the Biden administration declassified a report
from earlier this month that found
that the Saudi crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
aka Muhammad "Bone saw."
He in fact approved the killing
of Washington post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi back in 2018,
which was shocking news to no- who is surprised?
But yeah, there's a long awaited report,
which supports findings
from numerous international organizations found
that an elite team of operatives who helped carry
out the brutal murder dismemberment
of the outspoken journalist reported directly to MBS.
But also very notably, the Biden administration also said
that it would not directly punish MBS
because doing so would risk hurting relations
with the kingdom, which are key
to a number of strategic alliances in the region
and whose leaders the U.S. also fear would be pushed
towards China if they cut ties.
And instead, the administration has announced travel
and financial sanctions on other Saudis involved
in the killing and members of the Royal guard.
And so while yes, many top lawmakers
on both sides have praised the Biden administration
for declassifying the report, which is a stark contrast
to Trump who brushed aside reports
from U.S. intelligence agencies on the matter.
They also condemned Biden for not taking direct action
against MBS and pressed him to do more.
With this including representative Adam Schiff,
the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,
who spoke out against the administration's decision
in his column in the Washington Post,
writing "there are ways to bring about more
personal repercussions without completely
rupturing the relationship.
This is an official U.S. government statement
that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
has blood on his hands, and that blood belongs
to an American resident and journalist.
I think that's very powerful."
But at the same time, we also saw some senators saying
that they think Biden will ultimately do more.
Right, which is also something that White House
Press Secretary Jen Psaki also hinted at over the weekend
telling reporters, "behind the scenes, there are a range
of diplomatic conversations that make absolutely clear
to the Saudis and others around the world
that this is going to be a different kind of relationship."
To which, my response is I'll believe it,
when I see it, Jen.
Behind the scenes conversations feels appropriate for
I don't know, a plethora of things,
and then there's a line and then way the hell past
that line is the murder of an American resident.
Right and so let me be clear here,
I am glad that Donald Trump is no longer president.
I think he was one of the worst.
I think he threatened democracy,
but Joe that also doesn't mean
that you're not a hypocrite and a pussy in this situation.
America either stands for something
or it doesn't and your inaction
or rather your weak actions in this moment, I give credence
to critics who say that in a situation like this
you're just like Trump, but with different window dressing.
We knew that Trump didn't give a shit
about Khashoggi's murder.
Right, that the relationship and probably more importantly,
the arms deal with Saudi Arabia far more important to him.
But what we're seeing from the Biden administration thus far
in this situation is barely better.
You acknowledge a Mohammad "Bone saw" has blood on his hands
and so let's punish low-level players in the conspiracy
that were reporting to him.
And then maybe there's going to be some harsh words
behind the scenes, that's, that's how America
becomes a beacon of human rights.
But yeah, I'd love to know your thoughts on these
especially because both of these stories represent some
of the first major foreign actions that Biden has taken.
I'd really love to know where you stand, why,
any and all thoughts you have on this topic.
I'd love to see those comments down below.
And that is where I'm going to end today's show,
as always thank you for being a part of my daily dives
in the news, subscribing and hitting that like button,
all the good stuff.
If you're looking for more to watch
maybe you missed the last Philip DeFranco show
or you should check out the podcast I did with Matt Mercer,
it will maybe hold you over
until we have Markiplier on next week.
But with that, of course as always,
my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.