- Sup you beautiful bastards.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show,
coming to you live, prerecorded,
from the guest bedroom at Casa DeFranco.
So far, it appears that COVID has not kicked my ass
but has unfortunately resulted in the symptoms
of my nose just won't stop running,
and I'm irritated by anyone that tries to interact with me
but taking it at a day at time and we'll see.
Like I said as long as I have a voice, there will be a show.
So buckle up, hit that like button if you want me
to punch you in the throat and let's just jump into it.
Yo first up today Red Bull may be in trouble
and that's because of this absolutely
stunning record breaking stunt they tried to do in Arizona,
which you know as anyone that's ever gone
to ASU can tell you
Arizona's the perfect place to make some mistakes.
But the company attempting and the keyword is attempting,
to make cousins Andy Farrington and Luke Akins
the world's first pilot to take off in one plane,
and land in another.
More accurately land in each other's planes
because the plan was to go up
in two separate single engine plane.
Then at 14,000 feet drop in a tandem nose dive,
jumping out of their own planes and crawling into the others
pulling them back up out of a nose dive
just 2000 feet above the ground
which you know, super simple, a regular Sunday.
And so everything goes fine
but one of the pilots with him managing
to regain control the plane and land safely.
The other guy just has to watch
as the plane he's supposed to get in spins outta control
and ultimately crashes into the desert.
So he pulls his parachute and he lands on his feet instead.
Here's the bit of good news
even though this was incredibly risky, nobody got hurt
which I mean we kinda just have to be thankful
that the pilot didn't get into the plane
before it spun outta control.
But it turns out this stunt may not have just been risky,
but in fact illegal,
because the FAA requires pilots
to man their planes at all times for obvious reasons.
But reportedly Andy and Luke the pilots here,
asked for a waiver beforehand,
arguing that the event would be in the public interest
since it promotes STEM fields
except you have the FAA saying, "Cool story bro.
We denied your request on Friday.
We said no, this just isn't safe."
Even despite the pilot saying
they held commercial pilots license,
they conducted over 20,000 skydives,
and more than 100 dive test flights without incidents.
So now you have the FAA investigating the crash,
you have the National Transportation Safety Board
opening an investigation,
and so we'll have to see what happens from there.
But I will say for Luke, this was kind of a tame stunt.
I don't know if you remember him but back in 2016,
this is just so crazy.
Back in 2016, he dove from 25,000 feet
without a parachute or a wing suit,
and he successfully landed in a net
half the size of a football field.
So it'll be interesting to see
what happens from the investigation,
but I'm sure this is not the last
we're gonna hear from these guys.
And then in both amazing
and at the same time kind of depressing
because we as a society constantly compare ourselves
to other people in better situations,
we need to talk about Bhad Bhabie
because she posted a picture,
that appears to show that net money,
not even gross money, net money,
she brought in 42 million dollars
from OnlyFans over a year.
And she did this because she previously claimed
she made 50 million dollars on the platform
which you can see in her gross total,
but apparently enough people doubted her.
So she just came in hot with these receipts.
And the thing is like, I do well for myself
but this made me feel middle class.
No I'm not gonna be a hater.
I believe that sex work is real work.
I've been very very clear about that.
Granted with this specific situation
it does feel a little bit weird
because there were just like so many people
waiting for her to turn 18
that she made like a million dollars in the first six hours.
So there's that creepy element.
But at the end of the day, when she did this
she was a consenting adult
doing with her body as she pleased,
and she made bank and even more impressively,
She made it off of a weird Dr. Phil interview.
You kinda did the reverse Kim Kardashian.
Rather than nudity or sex tape
and then going kind of more mainstream she did the opposite.
Though I will say because of the rise of OnlyFans
that is becoming increasingly common.
Or you have a number of examples on TikTok for example,
you have very attractive people,
posting thirst trap, dancing, kind of lips sync videos,
they then turn that into an OnlyFan's career,
that makes the millions upon millions of dollars.
Val Delphine, who just came back to the public,
and tonight I think is a great example of that.
Her and others essentially using
every other social media platform,
as just a free promotional tool.
And these creators I think are also a fantastic example
of not every view is equal.
If I get a million views on a video,
I got some sponsored dollars, YouTube,
unless they demonetize me, they kick me some money,
we do our clothing drops every two to three months,
but you know whenever you sell anything
you're kinda hoping, one to 5% of people
that see that content by.
But when you have a creator
that is just selling access to view their body
and you as a viewer because you're watching them,
you're already inclined to want to see more,
every view matters more.
And I think that's also why I think
one of the most ingenious OnlyFans plays,
comes from creators Adam 22 and Lena The Plug.
Lena who we've had on the show before,
to talk about OnlyFans when they were changing their policy.
But also she and Adam have this podcast,
where there is a safe work element,
where they talk to often adult stars,
and they can post that safer work content anywhere.
But then there's a whole porn aspect,
where all of a sudden they fuck their guests.
And it's just really fascinating to see
the safer work social media pipeline to OnlyFans.
It's just very mainstream now.
But ultimately I think the main point of this story,
is I'm jealous, congratulations, and I hate you.
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And then we need to talk about what's happening in Shanghai
because shit is going off the rails right now.
So authorities have been imposing
an extremely harsh lockdown for weeks now
to combat a COVID outbreak that's gotten out of control.
The government prohibiting people from leaving their homes,
even to procure food.
Instead just dropping off rations to people,
and many ordering delivery services instead.
Though everything's causing a food shortage
with social media flooded by complaints,
that residents can't access delivery services,
and weren't prepared for an indefinite lockdown.
And as far as the lockdown, you have CNN's David Culver
who's trapped inside Shanghai
describing the repression there.
- The extent of my freedom
is all the way to my terrace door here.
We're lucky enough to at least get some fresh air outside.
Our community volunteer sending me this image
of what's on the other side of our door.
A freshly taped paper seal, a reminder not to leave.
- And adding how he has so little food
that he has to ration it to make it last writing,
"In my community the government delivers food
once every few days.
Deliveries range from a box of vegetables and eggs,
to a vacuum sealed piece of pork
or some traditional Chinese medicine."
And adding, "The handouts alone are not enough
to feed one person let alone an entire family
beyond a day or so."
And now it appears that the food that people are getting
from the government may be fucking awful.
With Bloomberg reporting,
"The people across several neighborhoods
claim they got stomach pains and diarrhea
after eating government food rations
like braised duck, and meatballs."
But then more and more people confirming those claims
until it became a top trending story
on China's Weibo messaging platform,
resulting in neighborhood committees
instructing residents to throw out the food
and district officials opening a probe into the matter.
So in addition to the government trapping people indoors,
punishing them if they leave,
forcing them to leave if they test positive,
at one point splitting up families,
they're going hungry because they can't even trust
what little food's being given to them.
It's a fucking nightmare, which is why it's not shocking
that things like this really eerie video went viral recently
(people screaming)
Those are people in their high rise apartments
screaming out their windows, whaling in collective agony.
Then you had another video of a drone hovering overhead
telling people, please comply with COVID restrictions,
control your soul's desire for freedom.
Do not open the window or sing.
Like I can't even imagine what would happen
if they tried to do something like this in the United States
like granted you had people acting
like they were doing this in the United States.
This is truly horrifying.
And so we're seeing things
like people coming outta their homes
to protest the use of an apartment complex
as an isolation facility, the police hearing them out,
understanding them, I'm lying.
No police were actually beating them back in this video
that's now gone viral
though it has been scrubbed by Chinese sensors.
The cops dragging people toward a white van,
people screaming bring them back,
just a few days ago you had authority
suddenly erecting green fences
outside apartment buildings without warning,
apparently targeting so-called sealed areas,
where everyone is prohibited from leaving,
because at least one person tested positive.
We've been seeing and hearing more and more.
Like over the weekend,
there was this short documentary titled,
"Voices Of April," went viral on Chinese social media,
with people telling stories of their experiences
living in Shanghai.
Though it's China sensors jumped on
to take down the film and stuff out any references
to it on the internet,
even going as far as to block the word April on Weibo.
Though we have seen people try to fight back
on spreading this information.
The Chinese people have to deal
with a crazy censorship from the CCP.
So they have figured out ways to evade the sensors
like posting the video upside down,
and betting it in cartoons,
or circulating it through QR codes and cloud services.
It's essentially this never ending game of cat and mouse.
I mean fuck you know it's bad
when the government there is even censoring
the first line of its own national Anthem which says,
"Rise those who don't want to be enslaved."
I guess because it's easier than adding an asterisk,
unless the CCP is doing the enslaving.
But ultimately I think what this story shows us
in addition to the CCPs cruelty,
is that well you can have health measures in place,
zero COVID is not working.
Then we need to talk about the ongoing war in Ukraine
which is officially gone over two months now.
And reportedly in that time period,
Russia has lost more troops than they did
fighting for nine years in Afghanistan.
On top of that they've lost hundreds if not thousands,
of vehicles alongside making only minor gains
when compared to their original war goals.
That being said, it's obviously not all good news
for Ukrainians or any good news.
Thousands have died, including many civilians,
and most of their largest cities
are either heavily damaged from the fighting
or in the case of Mariupol' essentially no longer exists,
with millions also having to flee the country.
And the UN expects that by the end of the year,
well over 8 million people will have left.
Which is completely understandable
because in addition to the extreme danger
for the people there and their families,
there's also low economic prospects
as Ukraine's economy is in shambles.
Which is also why it's not super surprising
that yesterday Ukrainian officials asked the US
for $2 billion dollars per month
in economic aid across the next three months,
alongside another 3 billion from other partners.
And so far the US has provided about 1 billion dollars
in economic support.
And last week, the Biden administration announced
that it sought another 500 million
but apparently neither is enough.
The treasury secretary Janet Yellen
seems open to the idea saying,
"We've gotta find ways to meet Ukraine's needs.
And on our part, it will involve going back to Congress
with a supplemental request."
And adding, "We were inspired by their courage,
and stand with them,
and we'll do everything we can to pull our resources
to support the needs that are identified."
Also beyond holding some talks in Washington this weekend
US, Ukrainian officials also met in Kiev,
with secretary of state Anthony Blinken
making his way there, which is very notable
as he's the highest ranking official
to go to the country since the war began,
and he made the trip alongside defense secretary
Lloyd Austin. And on top of that visit,
the US and Ukraine will have high level talks
facilitated by the likely appointment
of a new US ambassador to Ukraine, pending Senate approval.
But there have been repercussions to these talks,
alongside an increasing amount of arm shipments to Ukraine
which have angered Russia.
Right shortly after Blinken and Austin's visit concluded,
railways and train stations throughout Ukraine
were targeted by Russian attacks
which honestly isn't that surprising.
Russia has bitched and moaned
about the West arming Ukraine since the conflict began,
and now that Ukraine is getting heavier and heavier weapons,
Russian complaints have only intensified,
leading Russia's foreign minister to once again
ominously warn that the threat
of nuclear war in Ukraine is real
as well as describing conflict as a Western proxy war,
which yeah Russia would know how that's done
since it's essentially from their playbook
in Vietnam in Korea.
And speaking of Russian audacity
to complain about a conflict that they started,
let's take a quick look at what's happening in Russia.
Since the war began, there have been multiple instances
of Russian railways and facilities being blown up.
The cause of these officially is relatively unknown.
Sometimes it's blamed on possible saboteurs in Russia,
other times as a false flag operation,
and other times is likely Ukrainian attacks.
Either way Russia blames the attacks on Ukraine,
and uses them as justification to
"Step up" Russia's own attacks.
But can you imagine starting a war
bombing tens of thousands of Ukrainian homes,
killing thousands, wiping cities off the map,
and then getting mad
when Ukraine hits Russian military targets.
And understandably Russia, isn't getting much sympathy
with UK's armed forces minister saying this morning
that Ukraine has a completely legitimate right
to attack Russian targets.
But there are worries
that regardless of how this conflict escalates,
this could spill over into neighboring countries.
Although there are claims
that Russia seems to be doing that already.
Over the last two days explosions rocked to radio center
and security headquarters in Transnistria,
a Russian back breakaway region in Moldova.
And this is in a common occurrence
leading to Ukrainian officials claiming
it was a Russian false flag operation.
And if Russia decides to invade Transnistria,
then it could not only secure
another Russian majority territory,
but also threatened to open another front in the war.
It also lines up with a claim
made by Russian military commander last week
with Russia allegedly aiming to take
all of the Black Sea coast
and establish a corridor to Transnistria.
However, US officials have been less quick
to jump to conclusions.
The Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby telling CNN
that it was too soon to know exactly what happened here,
who's responsible.
We're watching this as best we can.
That's probably a good place to end
because a sentiment reflects a lot of how this war is gone.
We never fully know what Russia's war aims are
and they seem to be extremely flexible.
But there are expectations that Russia is aiming to ramp up
its efforts in Ukraine by May 9th,
in order to mark a major military holiday there.
Putin weather real or not,
will likely wanna have some kind of victory to rally around.
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
As always thank you for watching,
subscribing to these daily dives in the video.
My name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.