- You're gonna get angry about this.
I just want you to be aware,
'cause this is so needlessly disgusting,
which I guess shouldn't be surprising.
In my experience, 90% of prank content creators
are, kind of, the worst, unfunniest, human beings
in the world.
Right, many of them, there's, like, not a joke,
it's just them harassing someone, or fake harassing someone.
And, the most recent of these lames
to get the Internet's attention was this guy,
who some, definitely not me, 'cause I'm not a bully,
have called D-Bag MaGillacutty.
And, he starts off his video
by talking about the homeless problem.
He then, in a belittling way,
introduces a man who appears to be homeless.
He then orders the food and it plays out like this.
- What's good, bro?
Yeah man, I got you a, I got you a Sprite, here.
A large fry, got you a Baconator, man.
I was homeless myself,
so I wanna make sure you get on the right path, you know,
you're always able to, you know, get back on your feet,
you know?
- I appreciate you, man - So I just,
I want you to enjoy this.
(delicate piano)
(cars drive by)
This is really good.
All right, take care. Have a nice day.
- The general response to this video blowing up,
was, "fuck this guy."
People calling him disgusting, saying he deserves no grace,
people hoping karma's real, celebrities like Lamar Jackson,
even chiming in and blasting this guy.
Someone also saying that this looks staged,
or this guy's, kind of, going for the gold
in the Outrage Olympics.
So, there you have people saying even if it is staged,
just highlights that this guy still sucks,
he's a horrible human being.
But, really, all I can say with this guy is, yes,
one, he is easily our douche bag of the day.
But two, none of this is surprising.
I think he's, kind of, just the latest example
of the "nothing matters harass people in public as long
as I get some attention" creator,
or the kind of person that doesn't care
about what kind of attention they're getting,
as long as they're getting some attention.
So, here it is,
congratulations on this being the most you'll ever matter,
which is pretty fucking sad.
You are a rim to be dunked on,
and a dumpster fire that set an example of what not to be.
And then, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are out.
Tucker Carlson, who had Fox News releasing a statement
saying the two of them had agreed to part ways,
and saying, "we thank him for his service to the network
as a host, and prior to that, as a contributor."
But, the timing of things, very key here.
One, at least public-facing, Tucker Carlson did not make it
appear like anything like this was about to happen with him,
on his last show on April 21st, saying, "See you Monday."
So, on Fox News, it doesn't even look like
he's gonna get to say an official goodbye to his audience.
And, two, a very key thing, this is happening
about a week after that massive defamation lawsuit.
Right, Fox News agreeing to pay $787.5 million
to dominion voting systems.
With all that connected to the network
and the host promotion of Former President Donald Trump's
false 2020 election claims.
While Fox News itself has said very little on the matter,
some sources told the LA Times,
the decision to oust Carlson
came from Robert Murdoch himself.
And, as far as what's next for Carlson, I mean who knows,
or is he gonna start his own kind of Alex Jones platform?
Is he gonna partner with a Rumble?
Is he gonna partner with an OAN?
Is he gonna try and get the Republican nomination?
Is he just gonna be Trump's VP?
Because, honestly, anything and everything is possible,
because even without Fox News,
Tucker Carlson is still massive in the conservative space.
He's arguably one of the most influential people
on that side, aside from Donald Trump himself.
And then, as far as Don Lemon,
according to Lemon, he just got fired.
Posting on Twitter, in whatever the hell this font is,
"I was informed this morning by my agent
that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned.
After 17 years at CNN, I would've thought someone
in management would've had the decency to tell me directly.
At no time was I ever given any indication
that I would not be able to continue
to do the work I have loved at the network.
It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.
With that said, I wanna thank my colleagues,
and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run.
They're the most talented journalists in the business,
and I wish them all the best."
Which CNN Communications responded,
"Bitch, what are you talking about?" tweeting,
"Don Lemon's statement about this morning's events
is inaccurate.
He was offered an opportunity to meet with management,
but instead released a statement on Twitter."
But then, you also had comments from the CEO of CNN,
who said in a memo that Lemon and the network parted ways,
but that lemon will, quote,
"forever be a part of the CNN family."
So, a few different takes just float now there,
about how all this actually went down.
Though, notably with that,
it is worth noting that the timing here is important,
especially as Lemon had been embroiled
in some sexism controversies,
first receiving flack for comments that he made
about Nikki Haley, and then variety later reporting
on an alleged pattern of Lemon mistreating female staffers.
So, that's where we are on both of these right now.
It's one of the biggest cable news shake ups
we've seen in a while.
But, the one thing we do know for sure,
because of everyone that's involved in this,
we're gonna know a lot more, probably very soon.
And then, we're now seeing even more fallout
from the situation with Bud Light and trans influencer,
Dylan Mulvaney, which if you didn't see,
all started when Dylan posted a video to her channel
drinking a Bud Light,
and specifically promoting a March Madness campaign
the company was doing involving a $15,000 giveaway,
and Bud Light giving Dylan a customized can
with a drawing of her face on it, and oh my God,
the amount of anti-trans backlash we saw was massive,
but it was also unhinged!
Like, you would've thought that Bud Light was
forcing people to have sex reassignment surgery,
the way that people were reacting to this.
They just sponsored her for a video,
but boom, almost instantly,
you had Kid Rock shooting up cans of Bud Light.
You had people steamrolling bottles,
restaurants pulling the beer.
There was also just a larger boycott of the brand,
in general.
But, also, there were even reportedly threats made
to multiple Anheuser Busch facilities.
And again, all of this happened,
not because like this was a national campaign or something,
or they were actually printing Dylan's face on the cans
for the general consumption.
As the spokesperson explained in a statement,
Bud Light partners with hundreds of influencers
to connect with a variety of demographics,
and Dylan was just one of them.
And, in some of those small partnerships,
they included special gifts like the can they gave Dylan,
and even officially stating this is not something
the general public could purchase,
but that conservative rage was real,
the boycotts seemingly scaring Bud Light,
and they issued a statement saying,
"we never intended to be part of a discussion
that divides people,"
and the CEO saying his time serving for the country,
taught him about accountability, freedom, hard work,
and respect, and he's committed to protecting
the company's history and heritage.
Closing, "moving forward I will continue to work tirelessly
to bring great beers to consumers across our nation."
And, that statement, amazingly, pissed off everybody.
All right, the conservatives who are boycotting Bud Light,
saying this doesn't go far enough,
to explicitly condemn Dylan.
But, then you had people on the other side pissed off,
because it looked like Bud Light was distancing themselves
from Dylan, just leaving her out to fend for herself,
and they, you know, pulled back, right?
And, because of that, this situation has just continued,
and continued, with all that, bringing us to today's news
of two marketing executives taking a leave of absence now.
The firsts being Alissa Heinerscheid,
the Marketing VP of Bud Light,
and the second being Daniel Blake,
who, per the Wall Street Journal, oversees marketing
for Anheuser Bush's mainstream brands.
And, a spokeswoman telling the outlet,
given the circumstances,
Alyssa has decided to take a leave of absence,
which we support.
Daniel has also decided to take a leave of absence.
So there, you had the Wall Street Journal claiming
that sources familiar with the matter,
say the decision to go on leave was not voluntary.
And, regarding Heinerscheid departure, in particular,
you had tons of people pointing to comments she made
on a podcast back in March, notably,
that podcast came out before the Dylan Mulvaney controversy,
and there she talked about her desire
to revive Bud Light's brand to attract younger drinkers,
saying Bud Light had a fratty reputation,
that needed to be updated.
So, with this latest update of these two stepping away,
you have conservative culture warriors rejoicing.
but then on the left you have people saying,
"is it our turn to boycott Bud Light?"
Which is why, where I'm gonna leave you with this story,
is a question.
What are your thoughts on everything that's transpired,
so far?
Let me know in those comments.
And then, Twitter is as weird, all over the place,
and chaotic as ever.
Post Elon Musk acquisition, right?
Because last week Musk finally carried through his plan
to take away legacy check marks for verified users,
leaving only people who paid for Twitter blue,
with blue check marks.
That is until he didn't do it,
but then only did it for some people, but then,
even then took it back, because later learning
that Elon Musk was saying that he was paying for the likes
of William Shatner, LeBron James and Stephen King
to keep their check marks.
But then, also over the weekend, a ton of other big names
got their check marks back, with there being this belief
that if you had over a million followers
you would all of a sudden,
automatically get your check mark back.
But, as places like Forbes have noted,
that's not totally consistent with who has blue checks,
which then resulted in a lot of celebrities going,
"ew, no, guys, just so we're all on the same page,
I did not buy the check mark."
All right, you at everyone from Lil Nas X saying,
"on my soul I didn't pay for Twitter Blue,
you will feel my wrath, Tesla Man,"
all the way to the likes of online creators, like Valkyrae,
Hasan Piker, and Ethan Klein,
with him going as far as to say that it's defamation
for Twitter to claim he paid for Twitter Blue.
Also, I will say again, esteemed colleagues,
members of the jury, I have been well documented,
on the record, to have been a subscriber or Twitter Blue
before Meme, Steel, and Space Karen bought the company,
before he made the blue check mark a symbol
that you're a part of his fan club.
And, he tricked so many of his fan boys into this mindset
of, like, if you're not willing to give Elon Musk $8,
you don't care about free speech.
But, the main thing I'll say is,
what a weird marketing strategy.
Let's make everyone more aware
that you can buy a blue check mark,
by giving them to celebrities, and the celebrities going,
"Ew, how did I get this on my shoe?"
And then, Musk getting in combative with those people.
I mean it's entertaining for me,
but it just doesn't seem like a winning strategy.
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And then, strong majorities of Americans
oppose banning medication abortion.
But, the courts might be ignoring them soon,
despite recent headlines that you've seen.
All right, so according to a new poll from Marist,
in partnership with several media organizations,
nearly two in every three respondents
said that they disagree with banning abortion by medication.
And, a very key takeaway,
that includes a majority of Republicans, 55%.
And, also significant,
61% said they don't don't think that federal judges
should be able to overturn the FDA's approval
of a prescription drug, with a poll also finding
a continued decline in trust in the Supreme Court,
with just 37% saying they have good or a great amount
of competence in the court,
marking the lowest level of confidence
since Marist first began asking the question five years ago,
when nearly 60% said they had a good
or great deal of confidence in the high court.
And, notably, all this comes after the Supreme Court,
on Friday, blocked a lower court decision
to ban the abortion pill, at least for now,
which I also gotta give you some context here,
for this whole battle centers around a case,
filed by abortion opponents in Amarillo, Texas,
where you had a Trump nominee
with long-held anti-abortion views,
being the only sitting judge.
And, in their suit, the group argues that the FDA
had improperly approved the drug, Mifepristone,
that being the first pill that's taken,
in a 2-drug medication abortion process.
This, despite the fact that the drug was authorized
by the FDA more than 23 years ago,
and has been approved in dozens of other countries.
And, since its approval in the US, medication abortion
now makes up more than half of all abortions,
done in America.
And, more than 5 million Americans have used Mifepristone
to end their pregnancies.
But, to no one's surprised this specific Texas judge
ruled in favor of that argument,
banning Mifepristone nationwide,
and marking the first time ever that the court has ordered
the FDA to suspend a medication that it approved.
But, we saw the decision quickly appealed
in a 2-to-1 decision,
the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
said that the pill could stay available on the market
while the legal process plays out in court,
with the judges there indicating in their order
that the anti-abortion groups
couldn't challenge the FDA's approval of the drug,
because the statute of limitations for doing so,
was so long passed.
But, they did also impose a number of restrictions on access
specifically rolling back rules the FDA had implemented
in recent years, that allowed patients to get abortion pills
in the mail, and by telehealth,
as well as reverting the use of the drug,
to just seven weeks into pregnancy,
reversing a 2016 decision that had extended it to 10 weeks.
But now, with the Supreme Court's ruling,
it reinstates all the FDA's authorizations
for the time being,
which means that now the whole matter's being passed back
to the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court,
which has scheduled oral arguments in the case,
for May 17th.
Though, whatever happens there,
that's not gonna be the end of the road,
because it's all but guaranteed that whatever decision
the judges make here, that's gonna get appealed
to the Supreme Court, especially 'cause there's also another
abortion pill case playing out in a federal court,
in Washington state, where notably,
you have an Obama appointed judge,
ruling that the FDA can't do anything
to limit abortion pills in 17 states and DC.
And, while that ruling is not national in scope,
those 17 states represent the majority,
where abortion is still legal, and you have experts saying
it would be impossible for the FDA to have one set of rules
for some states, but not others.
But, whatever ends up getting decided,
this is gonna impact not just access to abortion, but,
I mean this could also totally upend
the FDA's regulatory process for all drugs,
and set legal precedent for court intervention.
And then, we've seen an absolute mad dash out of Sudan
right now.
All right, since the fight between the military,
and paramilitary forces, known as the RSF,
erupted over a week ago, at least 450 people have died,
as well as nearly 4,000 injured.
Though, both of those numbers,
are likely a significant undercount, and all that,
despite numerous agreed upon ceasefires
that consistently broke down.
So, over the weekend you saw foreign governments,
with nationals in the country, landing aircraft,
and organizing convoys to pull them out,
with over 100 US Special Forces
swooping into Khartoum, via helicopter,
then evacuating just as many American diplomats
and their families, as well as Germany and France
reportedly getting 700 people out.
And that was followed by evacuations
for pretty much everybody, the British, Chinese, Italians,
Dutch, Spanish Canadian, Saudis, Lebanese, and Indonesians.
You also had some 700 United Nations NGO, and embassy staff,
reportedly escaping in a convoy to Port Sudan yesterday.
And that, notably being the main extraction point
for many foreign nationals
who aren't affiliated with their governments.
All right, because the airport in the capitol, Khartoum,
is closed, and we've heard reports of gunmen
just prowling the streets, robbing people with shops,
and homes being looted.
And, that in addition to the constant gunfire, airstrikes,
and artillery shelling, it's extremely hard and dangerous
to get outta the city, much less the country.
And, even the port, is some 500 miles away from the capitol,
which is likely why the US Navy said
that it may deploy assets to the port to assist Americans
who make it there, after previously warning
that it could not coordinate evacuations
for private individuals.
And now, a State Department spokesperson
saying it's in touch with several hundred such people,
and adding.
- We have been clear-eyed about how American citizens
should not travel to Sudan for months now.
- Though Biden has promised the US would help
the 16,000 Americans thought to be stuck in Sudan
to whatever extent possible,
which could entail using intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance capabilities to advise safe routes
outta the country.
But also, while foreign nationals enjoy access
to that kind of support, millions of Sudanese locals
are just stuck there, many of them hiding indoors
for the past 10 days, rationing food, water, electricity,
and medical supplies, since most hospitals in Khartoum
have shut down, as well as,
there's been a near total collapse of internet
and cell service, which is why we've seen many of them now,
looking at westerners hopping on planes and boats
with outrage,
with one resident who fled after a mortar crashed
into her house, tweeting "to the western negotiators,
you put us in this mess, and now you're sweeping in
to take your kinfolk, the ones that matter,
and leaving us behind to these two murdering psychopaths."
But also, some have managed to leave,
with thousands packing whatever they can into trucks,
and high tail limit across the border.
And then, in addition to all of that,
the spillover of refugees now threatens to overwhelm
Sudan's already impoverished and unstable neighbors,
like Ethiopia, which is still recovering from 2 years
of civil war in its Tigray region, or South Sudan,
where civil strife has ravaged the country,
ever since it's split off in 2011.
And, that conflict back then, notably sending a torn
of refugees and asylum seekers into Sudan,
making up most of the estimated 1.1 million people
living there today, many of whom are now running back down
south where they came from, pin-balling between
these two countries that are just ripping themselves apart.
And then there's Chad,
which is a country that just had a coup two years ago,
and may have another one if Russia gets its way, all right,
because you had that leaked US Intel,
describing an effort by the Russian mercenary, Wagner Group,
back in February, trying to recruit rebels
and topple Chad's government.
And, this is an estimated 10 to 20,000 people fleeing
Sudan's Darfur region, have arrived in Chad,
adding to the 400,000 Sudanese refugees already there.
But, then also speaking of Wagner, sources now tell CNN
that the group has supplied Sudan's RSF paramilitary
with surface-to-air missiles,
and satellite images also showing increased activity
at Wagner bases in neighboring Libya,
where a Russian-backed warlord controls swaths of land.
Though in response, you had Wagner's leader
denying supporting the RSF.
Though, also there on Friday he offered to act
as a mediator in the conflict.
But also, Wagner had close ties with Sudan's military
for years before its recent internal split,
splitting it for gold mining concessions, and arms deals.
And, as recently as February,
Russians foreign minister reportedly discussed plans
with Sudanese leaders,
to complete a naval base at Port Sudan, on the Red Sea,
by the end of this year,
which is also just one of the reasons
why Sudan is such a strategically crucial outpost.
Also, sharing the Nile waters with Egypt,
which has been struggling to keep Ethiopia from building
a mega-dam on the river.
Well, South Sudan uses a pipeline the runs through the north
to export oil to China.
So, that's why with all of this chaos,
there's fear that as international forces maneuver
to protect their strategic interest,
we could see this conflict turn into a big proxy war.
And then, a Christian cult,
known as the Good News International Church, in Kenya,
has reached its illogical endpoint.
They reportedly believe that if they starved themselves
to death, they would go to heaven, they would meet Jesus,
and now, police have uncovered at least 73 bodies
from mass graves in a forest.
Though, that number has also been going up all day,
and may continue to rise.
With the Kenyan Red Cross saying 112 people
have been reported missing to a tracing and counseling desk
it has set up at a local hospital.
And, all this coming just over a week
after the cult's leader, Paul Mackenzie,
was arrested on a tip suggesting his followers had died,
to which I will say it's always when these people,
that that take religion, and they do extra horrific things
with it, that I hope that there is an afterlife,
because there's really no suffering on this Earth,
that can negate what this man has done here.
And then, you got a scandal enveloping the highest ranks
of the UK's conservative party right now,
with the latest casualty being Deputy Prime Minister,
Dominic Raab, who stepped down Friday,
and that after an independent investigation found that
he bullied civil servants, and abused his staff
during stints as Justice, Foreign and Brexit secretaries.
Though he denied any such claims,
but still saying that he resigned,
because he was duty-bound to do so.
So now, he's being replaced as Deputy PM, by Oliver Dowden,
and Justice Secretary by Alex Chalk.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak,
is busy with his own controversy,
cause last week a parliamentary watchdog unveiled a probe
into whether he properly disclosed his wife's interest
in a company that, key thing, stands to benefit
from a massive boost of free childcare in his budget.
And this, after Sunak fired the tory party chairman
back in January, for failing to come clean
about a multi-million dollar tax dispute.
And, before that, cabinet member Gavin Williamson quit
back in November, over his own bullying allegations.
And, all this, hitting the conservatives especially hard,
since Sunak entered office on the promise
that he would restore the party's order and integrity.
And, that is where I'm gonna end today's show.
As always, thank you for watchin', likin',
and being subscribed
for more of these daily dives into the news,
and we'll see you tomorrow.