- As someone that covers, consolidates,
just generally talks about the news
for the last 15 years as my job,
I am an appreciator of headlines.
I consider it an art.
It's a way to drive interest, to evoke an emotional reaction
which is exactly what I had when someone linked me
to a Reason article titled
"Most Americans Have Not Put on Pandemic Weight, Actually,"
which Elizabeth Nolan Brown,
I don't know why you woke up and chose violence today,
but okay.
But also once you get past that headline
and you actually look into the research
that it's talking about,
it's a very interesting multi-tiered story
that goes beyond just trying to shame people like myself
for gaining 30 to 40 pounds.
The survey at the center of this is from the APA,
the American Psychological Association.
And they found that slightly more
than six in 10 US adults report undesired weight changed
since the start of the pandemic.
Like your girlfriend in college, goes both ways.
Though more one way than the other.
Finding that 42% of US adults reported
undesired weight gain, 18% undesired weight loss,
with the average gain and loss being 29 and 26 pounds.
Also breaking down the results in different categories;
age, race, gender.
Also highlighting loss and gain
if you're a parent or an essential worker.
Though I do want to note in places like the New York Times
and separate articles have said this,
kind of understanding the scope
of this problem has been a challenge.
There have actually been a number of surveys out there.
And the issue is that surveys that simply ask people
about their weight, they're notoriously unreliable.
Self-reporting not always accurate.
I think anyone that's ever talked to a guy about their size
or their height or otherwise beforehand,
and then they met, don't always match up.
And you know, here's the thing.
There are other aspects of this story to talk
about where they notice trends
like in the beginning of the pandemic
people were eating healthier
but slowly became more sedentary.
But for me personally,
I think the goal of sharing this story is no matter
who you are right now know that what you're struggling with,
especially if it has to do with your health and your weight,
you are not alone.
Please know this.
And I said this from the beginning of the pandemic,
and I'll say it again,
in the beginning it was mainly because people were like,
"We're locked down.
"Time for hustle culture."
This has been a global traumatic event.
You in no way have needed to thrive over the past year.
If you have, props to you.
But really as long as you survived,
you have done good enough.
This is a moment in time
that I don't think I'm alone in saying this,
I can not wait for us to put behind us.
It's a thing that we just discuss and talk about,
like, just it's something that happened.
Okay.
So stop being hard on yourself, you idiot.
A better tomorrow can start today.
You are not alone in this and you are not less than.
You are just, you're experiencing it.
Okay, I'm glad we had this chat.
But that said, let's talk about the continued fall out
and the updates around David Dobrik.
We've been talking about different aspects of this story
for about a week now.
One of the biggest of course was Insider publishing
a huge report where you had a girl accusing a creator
by the name of Durte Dom of raping her
while she was too drunk to consent back in 2018
when she was filming a video with the Vlog Squad.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, the lead up,
a lot of the details,
I'm gonna link to our previous coverage down below.
But where we last left things,
we were talking about how David Dobrik was losing sponsors.
We're also seeing even more today.
With the likes of General Mills, HBO Max, Audible,
Bumble, Frank's Red Hot, and Honey,
all confirming to Insider that they have no plans
to work with Dobrik in the future.
We also saw what many consider David's biggest partnership
Seat Geek following as well,
reportedly saying to Tube Filter
they are "not currently working with David Dobrik
"or the Vlog Squad
"nor do we have any future planned campaigns."
And then easily the biggest update to this story is
that late last night David Dobrik uploaded
a second apology video.
I'm gonna link to it in the description down below,
so you can watch it yourself.
But some of the highlights here,
one, I mean, he acknowledged
that his initial video fell short.
He also emphasized that in making this video,
he did not want to discredit what the accuser said
nor what people like Trisha Paytas
and the reporter who broke the story have been saying.
Also in this video, talking about how the video
that was filmed the night that the alleged rape happened
should have never been shared.
And that the situation should have never happened.
- I mean, I fully believe the woman who came out against Dom
and said she was by him.
As it was reported,
the next day I got consent to post the video.
Even though I got the consent to post that video,
I should have never posted it.
And I, what I understand now
and I didn't understand before is that she sent that text
because she felt like she had to,
not because she wanted to,
and that's (beep) up and I'm sorry.
I want to apologize to her and her friends
for ever putting them in an environment that I enabled
that made them feel like their safety
and values were compromised.
- Also saying that he didn't know what was happening
at the time, but that he should have,
and that it should have been his responsibility
to make sure that everyone was okay, but he did not do that.
Also going on to say that he didn't understand
that there is an uneven power dynamic and structure
when people came to hang out with the Vlog Squad
to make videos.
- People felt like they had to be silent
for the sake of my video,
and that's not right and it's (beep) up, and I'm sorry
- He then addressed the previous
sexual harassment allegations
that Dom had faced in the past.
This including from YouTuber Ally Hardesty
who said that he groped her
and forcibly kissed her back in 2017.
This is in part because when Dom made a video addressing
his poor behavior with women,
David supported him with a comment saying,
"Proud of you, Dom.
"Being an idiot is easy.
"Owning up to it is tough.
"Glad you made this."
With David apologizing for believing Dom over the women
in these situations.
- I couldn't wrap my head around a childhood friend of mine
doing this to people and actually hurting people.
And I'm sorry for that.
Not only did I discredit you, Ally,
but I platformed Dom,
and not only did I platform Dom,
but I platformed the subject of sexual
in a negative way where I made jokes about it.
- With Dobrik again reiterating
that he stopped making content with
and started distancing himself from Dom in 2019
when he started to become aware
of these unfair power dynamics.
Though there it should be noted
that some people have disputed that timeline.
Also saying that what Dobrik is saying here
might be misleading.
This due to the fact that it looks like they appeared
in the same content together on Dom's channel
as recently as March, 2020.
But if you actually search for that video now,
it's been deleted.
Some people saying that it happened in the last 24 hours
which would make the timing suspicious.
Though it wasn't technically on David's vlogs,
so people can come to their own conclusions there.
But back to Dobrik's apology video,
he had it that he essentially fucked up at that time
because even though he was coming to realize all of this
in 2019 and he was changing,
he still didn't apologize to the women
which he says he is sorry for.
Also you have Dobrik
just kind of addressing his past content in general.
- Before my content shifted to be more responsible
and positive, I said and did things
that were really offensive and I called them bad jokes,
and I can't even call them bad jokes.
And it was cowardly of me to say in my last apology
that I missed the mark because it's (beep) gross.
And I'm sorry.
- And adding that while some people that he talked to said
that he needs to fight back,
push back against cancel culture,
he said instead he really thinks he needs to take the time
to learn and grow from his mistakes,
as well as take a break from social media.
And adding that when he comes back,
he wants things to be different.
- I want to be able to have a place of checks and balances.
I want to have HR,
and I want to be able to have people communicate discomfort
in a way that's comfortable to them.
- And then closing by again apologizing
by saying that he wants to be available
to anyone he may have hurt in the past.
Also noting that he's gonna be reaching out to some.
So, that is the video.
And as far as my opinion, it kind of doesn't matter.
The apology is not for me.
It's not on me to forgive or not forgive Dobrik.
My opinion here really has no weight.
One thing I would say though is I think
that this is the video
that he should have put out initially.
Like, we've talked about in the past,
I understand why celebrities don't react to backlash
or certain things in the media,
but this just, this was at a completely different level
and it needed to be treated thus.
But as far as the reaction to this video in general,
I mean, depending on where you saw it
or where people were talking about it,
it was really different.
As far as the video on YouTube,
it has been received very, very well.
About 11 hours after uploading it has about 397,000 likes,
only around 17,000 dislikes.
In general, it appears that the people
that are liking this video,
supporting David through this are happy he put it out,
saying that it shows
that he actually does take this situation seriously.
Saying he's not making excuses, he's owning up to it.
Now people can actually focus on Dom.
But also scattered in those comments,
but also heavily on social media,
you have a lot of people saying it is too little too late.
Some saying it only appears
that he's taking it seriously now
because it's hurting his money.
As we've discussed, he's losing sponsors,
he's losing investors.
Some reactions also going viral like,
"David Dobrik said he couldn't wrap his head around the fact
"that his childhood friend was an assaulter,
"and that's literally the problem.
"Men will ignore and discredit women
"but won't hold their besties accountable."
But ultimately that is where we are
with this story right now.
Obviously we're gonna keep our eyes on this
to see what happens next.
But the big thing here is I want
to pass the question off to you.
What are your thoughts here?
Do you personally feel like the apology was genuine,
he did the right thing here,
it's good to see him say this?
Or are you in the camp of it's too little too late,
this is David Dobrik just trying to protect his future
and his money?
What do you think and why do you think that?
I'd love to know in those comments down below.
From that let's take a second to pay some bills
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Then easily one of my favorite political stories of the day,
let's talk about Sidney Powell.
For those that don't recall
because you've tried to push that ugliness
out of your brain, she of course is the pro Trump lawyer
who spent months pushing false claims about the election.
Funny enough, she's in the news now regarding those claims
because she is arguing in court that
"no reasonable person would conclude
"that the statements were truly statements of fact."
And more specifically here,
you had Powell's lawyers making this argument
in a motion to dismiss a defamation case
against her brought by Dominion Voting Systems,
which is the election equipment manufacturer
that she claimed helped steal the election.
Arguing that she was merely sharing her opinion
and that the public could reach "their own conclusions"
about whether the votes were changed by election machines.
But I would argue the counter to that is
apparently there's a lot of "unreasonable people."
'Cause a lot of people ate up the conspiracy theory
she was spouting.
Also I will say because it's been awhile and, you know,
given enough time you start forgetting things,
how ridiculous they are,
I went back to look at what her quotes were,
and I forgot there are some fun ones like,
"The Dominion Voting Systems,
"the Smartmatic technology software,
"and the software that goes
"in other computerized voting systems here as well,
"not just Dominion,
"were created in Venezuela at the direction
"of Hugo Chavez to make sure he never lost an election
"after one constitutional referendum came out
"the way he did not want it to come out."
To me that appears that she is making a statement
as if it's a fact also, by the way, no.
As AP fact-check notes,
"Dominion does not have any ties to Venezuela
"nor does it have a partnership with Smartmatic.
"At most Smartmatic is an international company incorporated
"in Florida by Venezuelan founders."
Powell also saying,
"One of the software's most characteristic features is
"its ability to flip votes.
"It can set and run an algorithm
"that probably ran all over the country
"to take a certain percentage of votes from President Trump
"and flip them to President Biden."
That did not happen.
And as AP fact-check notes,
"There's no evidence that any of Dominion's systems
"switched votes from Trump to count as votes for Biden."
And adding, "A statement released by the Cybersecurity
"and Infrastructure Security Agency,
"a federal agency that oversees US election security,
"says there's no truth to claims that votes cast
"for Trump were switched to count for Biden or deleted."
Ultimately, that is where we are with this story.
Now it's gonna be interesting to see what happens
with this case.
And if Sidney Powell has more luck here than she did
with the whole situation that got her
into this defamation case in the first place.
And then the last thing that we're gonna talk
about today is the heavy and horrible news
that 10 people yesterday were killed
at the King Super grocery store in Boulder, Colorado
after a shooter opened fire on customers
and responding officers,
with an officer being among the 10 that died.
During a press conference this morning,
authorities released the names of the victims
as well as the suspect who has already been charged
with 10 counts of first degree murder
and is expected to be moved to jail later today
from the hospital where he is currently being treated
for a gunshot wound in the leg.
Well, of course on my show
I don't show the names or the faces of these mass murderers.
According to the police, he is a 21 year old man
who lived in Arvada, a suburb of Denver
that's about 65 miles away from Boulder,
and he has lived most of his life in the United States.
The police in Arvada also now saying
that they had two encounters in 2018 with the shooter.
One on a report of third degree assault
and one of criminal mischief.
With it now being reported
that he was convicted of misdemeanor assault
against another student
in a classroom regarding that first encounter.
Additionally, according to reports,
FBI officials already knew the suspect's identity
because he was linked to another person under investigation
by the Bureau.
With federal law enforcement officials
also separately confirming
that the shooter used an AR-15 type of assault rifle.
And that is actually a very significant part of this story
because this attack comes just 10 days
after a judge blocked the city's ban
on assault style weapons and large capacity magazines.
But notably while it is right now hard to say either way
what kind of immediate impact that ruling might've had here,
it was actually implemented following the Parkland shooting
in order to prevent shootings exactly like this.
And according to a police affidavit made today,
the suspect purchased a semiautomatic pistol
less than a week before the attack.
Though it is unclear at this time if he used the gun
in the shooting because the affidavit also said
that he had that pistol and the AR rifle,
which is why among the numerous reactions,
we saw a lot of people calling for gun reform.
This including prominent politicians
like Senator Chris Murphy
who has lobbied extensively for common sense gun controls.
since the Sandy Hook shooting,
writing on Twitter, "This is the moment to make our stand.
"Now.
"Today our movement is stronger than the gun lobby.
"They are weak.
"We are potent.
"Finally, a president and a Congress
"that supports gun reform no more Newtowns,
"no more Parklands, no more Boulders.
"Now we make our stand."
With him also noting that the Senate Judiciary Committee is
having a prescheduled hearing on gun violence that is
"the predicate to bring a comprehensive
"background checks bill to the floor."
And tweeting, "The two most significant drops
"in rates of American gun violence
"in the last 100 years came immediately following
"the two most significant gun law reforms passed
"by Congress.
"That's not a coincidence."
But on the other side of this,
you also have people like Senator Ted Cruz responding
to similar remarks made by another Senator by saying.
- Every time there's a shooting,
we play this ridiculous theater
where this committee gets together
and proposes a bunch of laws
that would do nothing to stop these murders.
What happens in this committee
after every mass shooting is Democrats propose
taking away guns from law abiding citizens
because that's their political objective.
- Though Cruz and other politicians
like representative Lauren Boebert
also received a lot of backlash for their comments
or rather their weak statements.
Boebert for example was criticized
for not issuing a public comment after the shooting
in her state, and she actually got slammed even more
when she finally released a statement
because her response was,
"While some elected officials have
"already started using the shooting
"to advance a political agenda, I refuse to do so."
Which I will say maybe five, 10 years ago
when I was acting like an enlightened centrist,
maybe it would have been a similar argument
I would have had.
My response now is as far as reactions,
if not now, when?
Like, for example, obviously a different situation,
but if you had all these intersections where you live
where there are no stop signs or stop lights
or anything like that and just a ton of people were dying.
People are crashing into each other, T-boning each other,
maybe, I don't know, there there's a visibility issue.
Tons of blind spots going into it.
I would say that it is a smarter move
to sooner rather than later go,
"maybe we install stop signs?" My reaction is not gonna be,
"why are you politicizing this tragedy?"
I'd be like, "Oh, you're trying to find a solution
"to what appears to be a continuing problem."
And so I just kind of wanted to say that
'cause that's my kind of issue of like,
it's too soon to try to do something about the problem.
I've grown to just really hate that sentiment.
And I will say it is interesting
in the situation that we're in that, you know,
we keep talking about like, "oh my gosh,
"I can't wait 'til we get back to normal."
But I had forgotten that we were talking
about shootings seemingly constantly before the pandemic
which is actually something
that former president Obama hit on in his statement, saying,
"A once in a century pandemic cannot be the only thing
"that slows mass shootings in this country.
"We shouldn't have to choose between one type of tragedy
"and another."
Also adding, "We are grateful
"for the courage of officer Eric Talley
"who ran into danger to protect others
"and we hope his memory
"and the memory of all those we've lost will not be
"in vain."
And saying, "We can make it harder for those
"with hate in their hearts to buy weapons of war.
"We can overcome opposition by cowardly politicians
"and the pressure of a gun lobby that opposes any limit
"on the ability of anyone to assemble an arsenal.
"We can and we must."
And closing,
"Because this is a normal we can no longer afford."
And that is actually something we saw
President Biden himself echoing.
- The United States Senate,
I hope some are listening,
should immediately pass the two house pass bill
to close loopholes in the background check system.
This is not and should not be a partisan issue.
This is an American issue.
It will save lives, American lives,
and we have to act.
We should also ban assault weapons in the process.
- [Phil] Now, notably here,
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer did say today
that he would bring the background check bill
before the Senate.
Though he did not say when.
And there is a question of what would actually happen
in the Senate.
Because while, yes, you do have a 50/50 split in the Senate,
you also have moderate Democrats
like Joe Manchin already saying they oppose it.
So it's unclear what's gonna happen next,
if we'll see any tangible legislation anytime soon.
And ultimately with this story or really anything
that stood out to you today,
I'd love to know what you're thinking
in those comments down below
because this is the end of the show.
As always thank you for hitting that subscribe button,
joining the family, hitting the like button,
all the good stuff.
If you're looking for more news to watch,
I got you covered right here or in the top links down below.
But with that said of course as always,
my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.