- 'Sup you Beautiful Bastards?
Hope you're having a fantastic Thursday.
Welcome back to The Philip DeFranco Show
and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we're gonna talk about today,
by far one of the most requested stories of the day today is
CNN is shutting down Beme, Casey Neistat's leaving.
This is huge news in the news ecosystem.
This was supposed to be CNN's big play to get younger viewers.
Obviously there was a tech angle.
Also some background for those who aren't familiar.
Massively popular creator Casey Neistat around 14 months
ago sold his company, Beme,
to CNN for an estimated $25 million.
So there's a lot of money behind it.
There was a lot of hype around it.
You might remember that Hollywood Reporter cover.
You got Jeff Zucker, Jake Tapper,
Casey Neistat on the cover, CNN's New War.
And while what Beme was trying to accomplish at this point was
confusing, it seemed like there are mainly two fronts.
The tech front and the actual video production front.
On the video front,
Beme News seemingly had some moderate success.
They brought on the fantastic Jake Roper AKA Vsauce3.
The last four videos have gotten between 106,000, 184,000 views.
And on the tech side, they had Beme Panels which was supposed
to incorporate some sort of viewer-audience interaction.
They also reportedly have an
unreleased live news app called "Wire".
As far as why this deal wasn't working,
Casey Neistat did an interview with Buzzfeed
and it was incredibly candid.
Casey reportedly saying, "I couldn't find answers.
"I would sort of disappear, and I would hide,
"and I would make YouTube videos for my channel because at least
"I would be able to yield something.
"I don't think giving CNN what I want to give them,
"and I don't think they're getting value from me."
Now while incredibly honest, that explanation rubbed some
people the wrong way.
This seeming to come from Beme having a 22 person team.
Some people reportedly will be absorbed by CNN
but some people are going to lose jobs.
And so there you have people who had been working there
before Beme was acquired.
People who were then brought on afterwords and you had
essentially a leader that was saying
they were trying to hide away.
And in situations like this, that's who I ultimately always
feel bad for, the employees.
Because they're people right now trashing Casey Neistat saying
he's a failure because of this.
And to that, I would say I think most people wished they could
fail like Casey Neistat failed.
I mean really think about it, Casey Neistat launched an app
that ultimately ended up being a failure.
He then, just from his position in the YouTube community and
also Jeff Zucker's son apparently having been a fan of
Casey Neistat and telling his dad about him,
sold said failed app company to CNN for,
once again, a reported, estimated $25 million in a
contract that would've most likely locked him down for a
good amount of time and
just 14 months after the deal was done, he's out.
I'm just saying, I wish my failures looked like that.
Now as far as what's next for Casey,
in a video where he announced this but then he removed and
then he announced it and then he removed it,
he said that he's not ready to share that.
- Matt and I personally are gonna move on.
To what? I don't know.
I'm not ready to announce that yet.
- And as far as people asking my opinion on this story,
I will say I like Casey Neistat.
I consider him a friend despite us having very different
opinions on a lot of things.
But what I really think this situation shows us is you can't
just throw money at something and expect it to work.
You have to have the right people and when it comes to
news, you need someone that is passionate about it.
That that is their number one thing all the time.
Even if you hire fantastic, dedicated people,
if the head is sick, you're gonna lose the body too.
And that's where I'm gonna end it.
I hope that you understand what I'm talking about.
The last thing I want this to sound like is I'm shit talking.
'Cause I really do believe that if Casey throws himself into
something that he is genuinely passionate about
there's no way it doesn't succeed.
But, all that said, I want to pass the question off to you;
What are your thoughts here? Expected it, it was a surprise?
What does it make you think about CNN or Casey?
Let me know in those comments down below.
From that, I want to share some stuff I love today in
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Then we have an awesome video from Seeker how NASA engineers
use origami to design future spacecraft.
We've got Jaiden Animation showing us
how to make life more interesting.
Life Noggin answering the question what if you
never ate fruits and vegetables.
A new "Pacific Rim: Uprising" trailer.
We had YouTuber Malinda Reese rapping about
YouTubers who don't suck.
Although, I am biased because I am the first person mentioned.
We then, surprising out of all people,
had Burger King making a video in support of net neutrality.
And if you want to see the full versions of everything
I just shared, the secret link of the day,
anything at all, links is always in the description down below.
And then let's talk about net neutrality news and updates.
The last time we talked about net neutrality was back in
mid-December when the FCC revoked the 2015 rules that
protected internet consumers.
Net neutrality is of course the rules and regulation that makes
all internet traffic equal.
This meaning that your provider wouldn't've been able to favor
one website over another.
A good example is that many providers want to make Netflix
pay more for being able to send data on their network.
And with Netflix, it's not even a hypothetical situation.
We've covered stories in the past where
Netflix traffic was being throttled.
And as much as I'm about the government getting out of the
way, allowing the free market to decide,
the way that ISPs are set across the United States,
very few people have options.
Many Americans have the choice of just one ISP for their area.
Others are limited to two.
Other places that are lucky get multiple
and so effectively in most the United States,
there are monopolies and duopolies in regions.
The free market can't really prevail when the laws make it so
that these things are allowed to exist in this manner.
Right, so if Comcast, Verizon, ATT they decide
to change things, you can't go,
"I'm leaving. I'm gonna use this other ISP that's not a dick."
Instead you'd have to go,
"That's not cool. I'm either gonna deal with it or
"just not have access to the internet."
But thanks to Ajit Pai, who was part of the 3-2 vote in the FCC,
those rules were revoked.
With Pai stating, "Under my proposal, the federal government
"will stop micromanaging the internet."
ISPs claim that the increased traffic but not the increase pay
to them from these websites are slowing down their ability to
properly maintain and implement infrastructure.
As I mentioned then, it wasn't a completely done deal and we were
going to see fights across America.
And that's what we're seeing.
We saw Senator Chuck Schumer claiming that he would propose
legislation that would bring net neutrality back.
Also thanks to Republican Susan Collins joining
his side in the Senate, they had enough votes
but it still will not likely happen.
Even if it passed in the Senate, the Republican controlled House
would very likely shoot it down.
And that's without talk about whether
President Trump would sign it or not.
In addition to that, we saw 22 state and D.C. Attorney Generals
having filed lawsuits fighting the rule change.
We've also seen many states promising to protect consumers
and reinstate net neutrality rules.
California has introduced legislation trying
to protect net neutrality.
States such as North Carolina, Illinois
they are considering doing the same.
Also this week, we saw big news from New York and Montana.
Governors Steve Bullock, Andrew Cuomo signing nearly
identical executive actions that would force ISPs to follow
net neutrality rules and if the ISPs don't,
they risk losing their contracts.
Reportedly, New York initially had plans to introduce
legislation like California but then Cuomo decided that this
executive action, like what was happening in Montana,
that would be a faster and better bet.
That said, both states will have the new rules be for all new and
renewed contract starting
March 1st in New York and July 1st in Montana.
Bullock saying in regard to this move,
"If you want to do business with Montana,
"there are standards on net neutrality
"you will have to follow."
And Cuomo stating, "The FCC's dangerous ruling goes against
"the core values of our democracy,
"and New York will do everything in our power to protect
"net neutrality and the free exchange of ideas.
"With this executive order, we reaffirm our commitment to
"freedom and democracy and help ensure that the internet remains
"free and open to all."
And this will affect almost all the largest ISPs.
We've got Charter, CenturyLink, AT&T,
Verizon, Frontier, XFINITY.
But, of course, like with everything in this situation,
it's little more complicated.
The FCC has attempted to preempt this action by having new rules
in place which say the states can't enact
their own net neutrality rules.
And the reason that's complicated is while the FCC can
take preemptive action there are some limitations to it.
And an example of that is in 2016 the FCC lost a court case
where they attempted to stop states from blocking expansions
of municipal broadband network.
Thus proving that the FCC's ability to preempt states
isn't all that powerful.
And the states are arguing that their new rules are well within
their power of procurement.
And what they're saying there is that because they are a state
they can demand regulations in negotiations for contracts which
then leads to the confusion whether the FCC's preemptive
actions can apply to the state's ability to negotiate a contract.
Then we saw what appeared to be AT&T trying to have a
Darth Vader redemption moment.
News came out that AT&T called for net neutrality rules to be
passed by Congress.
Their CEO Randall Stephenson saying,
"AT&T is committed to an open internet.
"We don't block websites. We don't censor online content.
"And we don't throttle, discriminate,
"or degrade network performance based on content. Period."
Adding, "The commitment of one company is not enough.
"Congressional action is needed to establish an
"'Internet Bill of Rights' that applies to all internet
"companies and guarantees neutrality, transparency,
"openness, nondiscrimination
"and privacy protection for all internet users."
And continuing with, "Such legislations will not only
"ensure consumer rights are protected,
"but it would provide consistent rules of the road for all
"internet companies across all websites,
"content, devices, and applications."
So is this Vader killing Palpatine?
It doesn't really look like it.
Many experts saying that this looks sneaky.
People pointing out that Stephenson is actually calling
for regulations across ISPs, content devices,
websites and applications.
And that stands out because the old rules
only applied to the ISPs.
Not including all the other things that Stephenson listed
and that's because they operate
in a fundamentally different way.
Additionally, the statement only disagrees with blocking and
throttling but not paid prioritization
or data cap exemption.
And this is something AT&T already does
with their mobile services.
So it's not crazy to assume that
they want that opening for a reason.
As I've mentioned in videos where we've discussed
net neutrality over the past few years,
the way that ISPs will do this, and not initially, but the way
they will throttle and discriminate against content
is paid prioritization.
They're not slowing or throttling other content.
It's just that the content from companies that they own or
companies that have paid them will get the better speed.
Maybe we'll start seeing more data caps but if you use this
company that they also happen to own,
it doesn't go towards your data cap.
People start feeling like they're getting perks,
special access but what's actually happening
is they're getting fucked.
And in response to this announcement from AT&T,
pro net neutrality group, Internet Association,
which also represents a huge amount of websites,
issued this statement saying, "It is impossible to believe
"that AT&T is serious when they have such a long track record
"opposing consumer protections like net neutrality.
"We support strong enforceable net neutrality rules which were
"consumer protections on the books until AT&T and
"their allies had their way."
And with all of that said, that is where we are today.
There are still fights on many fronts.
Some futile, some very complicated.
Also there is a possibility that this could have an impact
on the 2018 election.
One important thing to note there is it's just
one of many factors.
But for now, we have to wait and see.
And then let's talk about this horrifying situation
in Cape Town, South Africa.
Now, South Africa is one of the top 50 driest countries and they
are considered a water scarce region.
So much so that in Cape Town there have been restrictions on
water usage in place since at least 2005.
And that already bad situation has been made so much worse by
the worst drought in over a century which began back in 2015
and is still ongoing.
June of last year, Cape Town implemented
a Level 4 drought restriction.
This limiting water usage to 26 gallons per person per day.
September pops up to Level 5.
January 1st of this year it goes a Level 6.
That's a limit of 23 gallons per person.
And on last Thursday they announced
Level 6B set for February 1st.
This will limit water usage to 13 gallons per day per person.
And that number is pretty scary.
13 gallons, that's 50 liters.
According to the World Health Organization,
50 liters a day is the minimum needed for a person
to meet their basic needs.
Also to draw comparison to make you realize
how little water that is, the average American
uses 80 to 100 gallons a day, so 379 liters.
As far as what comes next, the next thing is Day Zero.
And Day Zero is what they're calling the day that water
storage is at 13.5%.
When that happens, all the taps will be shut off
except the ones to hospitals.
At this point, there will be 200 locations where people will be
able to get 25 liters per day per person.
Which I don't even think I'm being cynical here,
that is going to be a disaster.
You're talking between 3.7 to 4 million people with
only 200 points of access.
And to make things worse for those hospitals,
the 13.5% sounds like a good amount just one place.
Reportedly, the last 10% of stored water is unusable in
reservoirs due to silt and debris.
Now when is day zero?
Well, according to Cape Town officials,
that was going to be April 22nd until Monday where officials
announced that Day Zero is now April 12th.
And reportedly the reason for this change is people are just
not meeting their water usage goals.
It was reported last week only 41% of people
in Cape Town were meeting it.
And according to Mayor Patricia De Lille,
"The people who are still wasting water seem to believe
"that Day Zero just can't happen or that the city's
"seven augmentation projects, set to produce around
"200 million liters per day, will be enough to save us.
"This is not the case and, while our water augmentation program
"will make Cape Town more water resilient in the future,
"it was never going to be enough to stop Day Zero."
Now as far as what she's referencing there,
Cape Town has seven projects currently being worked on
to secure alternative water sources.
Four of those are desalination plants
with three behind schedule,
two are groundwater drilling efforts with both
behind schedule and one is a water recycling facility, and
you may have guessed it, it's behind schedule.
Additionally, there other city projects but they are still in
the planning phases. And as you might expect,
we're also seeing a black market pop up for water.
Reportedly people already hoarding and selling plastic
containers for water as well as water itself.
So people stocking up for themselves and also people
looking to make money from this situation are probably
contributing to the current problem.
And right now the big question mark for the situation is,
what happens once Day Zero is here?
It doesn't appear that the drought is going to end anytime
soon and so does that mean people will leave?
Are we about to see mass migration?
When you have this level of drought,
of course, that lends itself to fires but once it does finally
rain that lends itself to flooding.
Also there's concern from experts that if it is dry for
far too long, the pipes that actually carry the water will
begin to crack and very quickly it's changing from a question of
"what then" to "what now."
And we'll have to wait and see.
Then on a story that's definitely not connected,
The Doomsday Clock, the symbolic clock setup by
the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that is
meant to show us how close we
are to a worldwide catastrophe is now set
to two minutes to midnight.
30 seconds closer to midnight than last year.
This is the closest it's been to global midnight since 1953.
That was also at the height of the Cold War.
This according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is,
"In 2017, we saw reckless language in the nuclear realm
"heat up already dangerous situations and relearned that
"minimizing evidence-based assessments regarding climate
"and other global challenges does not lead
"to better public policies."
Also an additional point they made that's getting a lot less
coverage is, "Emerging technologies and global risks."
Writing, "The science and security board is deeply
"concerned about the loss of public trust
"in political institutions, in the media, in science,
"and in facts themselves."
Mentioning sophisticated hacking operations,
the spread of disinformation.
Writing, "Corporate leaders in the information domain including
"established media outlets and internet companies such as
"Facebook and Google have been slow
"to adopt protocols prevent misuse of their services
"and protect citizens from manipulation."
And there's really not an end to the story.
The document does contain some of the recommendations on how to
make things better but they're scientist.
People don't listen to them for some reason.
And so I guess let's just end on the very happy note
that it's not just in your head.
It is a very scary time.
There is reason for concern and I know that I normally try and
end my shows of a silver lining even if things are bad but
sometimes it's good to just stare at the problem
and really acknowledge it.
That's actually where I want to end today's show.
And remember if you liked this video,
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But that's it. 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.