- Sup, you beautiful bastards.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show.
And hey, hit that like button
if you want me to punch you in the throat,
because for some reason
when I threatened you with physical violence,
I get more love, I don't...
Who didn't hug you is the question?
(Philip sighs)
Let's just jump into it.
You know, the first thing that we're gonna talk about today
is an update to yesterday's story involving Pokimane,
Ninja and Jidion.
Now, I'm not gonna rehash everything in yesterday's video.
So to understand this,
I would recommend watching yesterday's show.
But the reason for the update is that Pokimane,
whether it be a direct response to my specific video,
or just kind of like online chatter in general,
she put out a tweet saying,
"I'm tired of people minimizing
the harassment I've received over the last week
to just L+ratio spam,"
and writing, "so here's a list" and wow!
Looking through it,
we really just reported kind of like
the last things that happened that led to the ban
and why everyone was angry at Ninja.
The bigger focus on the ridiculousness of the Blevins
threatening a defamation lawsuit against Pokimane.
And I'll link to the post in full down below
but let's go through some of it.
Because in addition to the things that we covered yesterday,
"Jidion tweeted negative and hateful things about me before
the hate raid and made YouTube videos about me" saying,
yes, "he did spam L+ratio,
but this part matters the least."
With her then detailing then detailing how Jidion
led this audience to bypass things that she tried to do
to stop the harassment.
And then after she put on follower mode in hopes to try and
stop the spam,
he told his viewers
"to follow me so they can spam me later."
Also saying the harassment "wasn't just towards her",
but Jidion opened up profiles of her subs
and called them "snitches for telling me what he was doing",
which then led to his viewers,
messaging her subs and harassing them,
telling them to kill themselves,
calling them slurs
but they're then going on to detail how he
was publicly making extreme sexual comments about her.
Also noting in addition to Ninja,
he asked for other streamers to go to war with him,
including Adin Ross,
and "asking Adin Ross to tweet at me/DM me,
which increased the spam I received."
Also saying that Jidion multiple times said that
she banned him from Twitch.
but saying "No, it's Twitch's decision.
And he would have been banned
if he hate raided anyone else."
But also noting that when she went live on Twitch,
he'd stream himself reacting to her stream
on his Instagram live, which she says
"made her receive even more harassment."
That's an addition to all of his fans,
spamming all of her social media platforms,
including threats, et cetera,
and seemingly trying to then end this
with followup tweet writing,
"I'm glad he apologized and told his viewers to chill.
Hope he does better in the future
and that this will be the last time
I have to talk about this."
And that, at least for now,
is pretty much where this update ends.
But I do want to kind of end on a personal note.
One, it was important me to try to rush this update in
because the harassment was far more egregious
than I was aware of.
And two, even though people will always tell you not to do
this, I do want to say,
I think I was justifiably criticized.
Well, the coverage yesterday was factual.
I think in an effort to,
to more specifically focus on just the insanity of the
Jessica Blevins and Ninja situation,
threatening a lawsuit ended up accidentally minimizing the
level of harassment, which once again,
we just walked through it, is crazy.
But the general spam and harassment situation was already
wrong, but this is a lot more involved.
I think it's important to acknowledge and address those
moments and not just be like,
"Hey, you criticized me, go fuck yourself."
Even though it does feel like everyone is at war,
there are a times, this is a shocker,
justifiable criticism.
And then we had Britney Spears hitting her sister,
Jamie Lynn with a cease and desist this week
over her recent book tours.
If you likely know by now,
Britney was recently freed from a 13- year conservatorship
under her father.
And over the past year in her fight to get out,
Britney has accused her whole family of doing nothing to
help get her out of the situation
where essentially she had no rights.
And when her father Jamie Spears in this #freeBritney
movement has largely been seen as the primary villain.
You also have a lot of people going,
"what did Jamie Lynn know?
What did she do?
What did she not do?"
And so now all those questions are in the air,
Jamie Lynn just so happens to be releasing a memoir,
which is the catalyst for what is now become a very public
war of words between the sisters.
And recently we've seen Jamie Lynn
doing a slew of promotional interviews in some
cases talking about Britney,
the conservatorship, her father and other personal matters
that are also apart of the book.
With some having criticized Jamie Lynn
for releasing a memoir at this time,
Britney included,
and in response to all of that,
you have Jamie Lynn trying to stick up for herself
saying the book is not about Britney.
Even though, as her sister,
some of the stories do involve her.
Also, what's got a lot of people talking
is the most recent interview that Jamie Lynn did,
which was on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast
with host Alex Cooper.
But Alex is actually being hit with a wave of backlash,
even before the episode was released people saying,
"Why did we even invite Jamie Lynn?
She shouldn't get your platform."
But then of course,
a lot of people still listen to that podcast where we saw
Jamie Lynn talking about her father,
had substance abuse issues.
But as the baby of the family,
she kind of felt like she was protected and insulated from
some of his behavior.
But also saying that she had other sort of nerve wracking
experiences, noting that she didn't feel like Britney's
behavior would stay the same.
It could be erratic.
With Alex Cooper actually asking Jamie Lynn
about a passage in her book that read.
- [Alex] You write, "Britney said to me, 'Baby, I'm scared.'
And she took a large knife from the kitchen,
pulled me along to my room and locked us both inside.
She put the knife in the bedside table drawer
and simply repeated, 'I'm scared'.
She needed me to sleep beside her.
I knew something was wrong
and I was powerless to do anything about it."
- With Jamie Lynn saying she didn't know what Britney
was scared of or what prompted this
and adding that she never thought
that Britney would harm her but-
- I think that people need to remember,
I'm telling the story about what I experienced,
no matter who that person was that pulled me in through.
You have to understand, like,
that was an experience I went through
and it was really scary.
And I felt really unsafe.
- Also talking about how she felt like
she was living in her sister's shadows,
being sort of behind everything as her
parents dealt with her sister.
- It's like, imagine like a big ship.
And I'm like just the little like dinghy
riding in the waves, like trying to like (beep) survive.
- Adding that she loves Britney.
She admires her,
but felt like she was always responsible for her reputation,
even though that was not a possible thing for her to do.
- It's like my whole life,
I kind of felt like I didn't matter.
- So it's like, I just wish that mattered.
- We've seen Brittany respond to some of those claims
denying the knife story writing,
"I've never been around you with a knife
or would I ever even think to do such."
We've all seen Britney addressing Jamie Lynn
saying that she felt like she didn't matter,
with Britney writing on Instagram,
That "she's also had to ask herself if she mattered,
but also adding, you do matter.
And don't you think for one (beep) second you don't"
But also this is really just a small fraction
of the massive back and forth has been going on right now.
And so with all of that,
we then get to the cease and desist letter,
which was sent by Britney's lawyer,
Matthew Rosengart and obtained by variety,
with that letter addressing the press tour and saying,
"We write with some hesitation because the last thing
Britney wants is to bring more attention to your ill-timed
book and it's misleading or outrageous claims about her.
Although Britney has not read
and does not intend to read your book,
she and millions of her fans were shocked to see how you
have exploited her for monetary gains.
She will not tolerate it nor should she."
With it also mentioning some of the issues that Jamie Lynn
brought up regarding her father saying that,
Jamie Lynn of people should be sympathetic to Britney
and continuing,
"having endured a 13 year conservatorship that stripped her
of civil rights and fundamental liberties,
Britney will no longer be bullied by her father
or anyone else.
Britney was the family's breadwinner.
And she also otherwise supported you,
publicly airing false or fantastical grievances is wrong,
especially when designed to sell books.
It is also potentially unlawful and defamatory"
and the letter asking that Jamie Lynn
"cease and desist from referencing
Britney derogatorily during her book tour
or else legal action could be taken."
But from that,
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And then in potentially positive news,
I almost don't even want to talk about this story just out
of fear that we're gonna jinx it.
I'm not even a superstitious person.
Right now,
we have hit the point where we're getting experts saying
that this may be the beginning of the end of the Omicron
wave.
Right now in the parts of the United States where the
variant hit early, right?
Boston, New York, Washington, DC.
Yes, we saw a big spike in cases,
but just like in South Africa,
we're starting to see a dramatic decline.
Now, before we all start cheering preemptively,
remember this is not over yet.
I'm talking very much about the east coast.
There are still areas in the country where Omicron hasn't
even peaked yet.
Plus it's a important to remember that other thing
that lags behind cases being reported,
and that is the number of deaths,
because if everything continues to track,
when you have a peak number of cases,
you need to wait about two weeks to see when we're gonna
hit the peak number of deaths,
which I think is also why we saw over the weekend,
the US Surgeon General, warning people
we have not nationally hit our peak yet.
It's important to keep in mind at a time where yes,
it does appear that Omicron is less severe in the sense of
like killing you.
It's still killing a meaningful number of people every
single day.
Even though I think, you know, at this point,
I feel like we've all kind of been forcefully desensitized
with those numbers, but knock on wood somewhere,
you do it to you, son of a (beep),
if everything continues like we've seen in other places hit
earlier, we could see a light at the end of the tunnel,
but also with that,
we have to keep in mind and cross our fingers that there's
no immediate variant, right after Omicron.
That's actually something that Bob Wachter,
chairman of the University of California,
San Francisco Department of Medicine told Axios.
And adding "it really does feel like the building blocks of
a conversion from pandemics to endemic are all there"
But still also adding to remember
"Over the past two years, if we've learned nothing else,
it's that this virus surprises us.
And there are always the possibilities of new factors
and curve balls."
With this news in this story,
I really would love to know what are your,
what are your thoughts?
How, what are you,
how are you feeling right now?
How you doing?
How are you holding up?
And then for a few weeks now,
air travel's been a complete nightmare.
Airlines canceling flights due to weather, empty flights.
And now 5G.
It turns out that there's a big concern over 5G though.
Do not worry, we're not going into crazy territory.
We're not saying that 5G causes COVID.
Remember those people?
Anyway. I mean, this is really of Emirates, Air India,
Japan airlines, British Airways,
and more announcing that they would be changing and
canceling international flights to the US
because of issues with 5G.
And this won't be happening at every airport.
Each airline has targeted different airports
over the problem.
But as far as what is the issue?
Without getting too into the details,
the signal from 5G towers can interfere with older
aircraft's radar altimeters,
which are the things to see how close they are to the ground
in bad weather.
A thing that I very much want on my airplanes,
especially whenever I'm flying into Atlanta.
You fly in,
it feels like the clouds are like 15 feet above the ground.
Yeah and then the reason you have this issue
is the altimeter and 5G rely on certain radio
wave frequency ranges known as bands.
Recently, in order to accommodate wireless
providers wanting to offer 5G to customers,
the government allowed more radio bands to be used by
wireless companies.
However, some of these bands,
especially the ones that AT&T and Verizon plan to use
for their 5G rollout today,
are right next to bands used by some aircraft altimeters.
And this issue really only seems to affect the older
aircraft because their equipment isn't as good at
differentiating between the bands.
I kind of think of it like two radio stations bleeding over
one another, except one is giving you fast speeds
so you can watch yellow jackets and the other letting you
know where the ground is when you're traveling hundreds of
miles an hour in a flying tube.
So, you know, equally important.
And in fact,
this is such a concerning issue that the FAA issued an order
back in December,
that banned pilots from using these altimeters around
airports where low visibility conditions
would normally require them.
Which obviously, not ideal and brings us to why airlines
don't even want to deal with the problem.
The CEOs from 10 airlines this week releasing a letter of
warning of catastrophic consequences if Verizon and AT&T
rolled out their service,
urging the government to further delay the rollout of 5G
near airports.
With that then prompting AT&T and Verizon
to both agree later on Tuesday
to delay deploying 5G towers near airports.
So if that's where you're living,
your work and you're driving through,
you gonna have to stick with 4G for now.
Well, yeah, the airlines aren't happy about this.
I would say the cell carriers are furious.
The spokesperson for AT&T saying,
"We are frustrated" read pissed the fuck the off,
"by the FAA is inability to do what nearly 40 countries have
done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology
without disrupting aviation services.
And we urge it to do so in a timely manner."
So kind of just saying to the FAA,
"there are 41 people in this room
and you're the dumbest fucking one.
What is your problem?"
You know that this has been coming
and thanks to the pandemic,
you've had essentially two light flight years to actually
deal with this.
And also if you're an American and you're like
"this isn't gonna affect me, right?
This is gonna be an issue for travelers.
I don't travel."
It's also going to affect the economy
because it affects commerce and cargo planes.
Yeah, as it stands now,
the current bandaid fix is kind of a two mile 5G free
buffer zone around airports,
but that deal is only supposed to last for six months.
And then let's talk about the absolutely massive updates
regarding New York attorney general Latisha James'
fraud investigation into former president,
Donald Trump and his family business,
the Trump organization,
because yesterday James announced that she had significant
evidence of Trump and his company falsely and fraudulently
misrepresented the value of assets in the former president's
personal worth to quote
"financial institutions for economic benefit."
Marking the first time that Latisha James has made specific
accusations against Trump and his business.
With all of this coming from a nearly 160 page filing,
asking a judge to order Trump, Ivanka and Donald Jr,
to comply with subpoenas for their investigation
after the former president sued James,
to block her from questioning them.
With the filing claiming that Trump and the company
inflated the value of six properties,
including several golf courses and Trump's own penthouse
in Trump Tower on financial statements to obtain favorable
loans, tax deductions and insurance coverage.
With the document adding that many
of the financial statements were quote,
"generally inflated as part of a pattern
to suggest that Mr Trump's net worth was higher
than it otherwise would have appeared."
With James outlining several specific examples,
such as a financial statement where the value of Trump's
Seven Springs estate in Westchester was boosted by the fact
that it listed seven mansions worth $61 million that didn't
exist at all,
which resulted in Trump receiving millions of dollars in tax
deductions on that property,
as well as another in Los Angeles.
Also in another notable instance,
you have the AG's office saying that the $327 million value
of Trump's penthouse in Trump Tower that was calculated off
the financial statement that falsely reported his home is
nearly triple its actual size.
Claiming that it was 30,000 square feet though
Trump had signed document stating it was actually 10,996
square feet.
Well, there are other similar examples
that last one is especially significant
because it directly ties Trump himself to the
allegations of financial wrongdoing.
It's also not the only instance,
but the one we're gonna be talking about now.
With the filing also saying that the Trump organization,
Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg,
who notably was indicted this past summer on multiple
criminal charges relating to the business tax dealings
implied that Trump was involved in finalizing the false
valuations.
Also another top Trump organization executive testifying,
that he was under the impression that Trump reviewed the
statements before they were finalized.
Also note here while the filing provides less direct links
to Trump's children,
it does detail their involvement.
Specifically alleging that Ivanka Trump rented an apartment
at Trump park avenue and was given an option to buy
for $8.5 million despite the fact that the property
was valued at more than 20 million,
it also connecting Donald Trump Jr to some of the properties
flagged, claiming that there's evidence
that he was consulted on the statements of financial
condition.
And though he's not named in the subpoena,
it's also worth noting that the filing says that Eric Trump
pled the Fifth more than 500 times
in response to questioning.
And so with all of that,
you have Latisha James arguing that it's necessary for
her investigation to question Trump and his two children
on their alleged involvement with her tweeting last night,
"We are taking legal action to force Donald Trump,
Donald Trump Jr And Ivanka Trump to comply
with our investigation into the Trump organization's
financial dealings.
No one in this country can pick and choose if and how the
law applies to them."
And adding that "all three have all been closely involved in
the transactions and questions.
So we won't tolerate their attempts to evade testifying
in this investigation."
Now, as far as responses to all of this,
Trump himself has not issued a statement,
but his Trump organization attorney
representing Don Jr and Ivanka did respond
by arguing that the subpoenas violate the constitutional
rights of the family.
And in a statement this morning,
the Trump organization denied James' allegations
as baseless and accused her of trying to mislead
the public yet again.
But as far as what happens next,
it's important to remember that there's actually two things
happening here.
Latisha James' his investigation is civil,
and because of that, she can only sue Trump,
his company and his children,
but she can't file criminal charges.
But that's why a key thing here is that her probe
is running parallel to a criminal investigation
into the same conduct led by the Manhattan district attorney
who does have that power.
But of course, both investigations are still underway.
And while James' office says it has not decided to that
the current evidence merits additional legal action,
that may change if the Trumps are forced to testify.
But with all of that said, that is where we are now.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this,
but also if this progresses,
I mean one of the key things with Trump,
as far as his success.
and I mean that even before the presidency
is he knows how to like stretch these things out to delay.
So who knows what's gonna happen, when it's going to happen.
But notably,
this is still a massive step in a series of investigations
that have been going on for years.
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
So of course, with that, thanks for watching.
I love yo' faces and I'll see you tomorrow.