- So let's start today's show off with a brand new segment
I like to call
News headlines around the internet
net net echo.
Starting with "Kendall Jenner said breaking
into modeling was harder because of her reality show."
- Sure, Jan.
- You delusional, privileged, rich girl.
You're complaining that all the doors that were opened
for you are letting in an uncomfortable breeze.
Then, Fauci says "you can do whatever you want on July 4th
if you're vaccinated."
(alarm beeps)
- [Announcer] This is not a test.
This is your emergency broadcast system
announcing the commencement of the annual purge
sanctioned by the U.S. government.
- Now, some dumb people are going to say
he was referring to indoor, or like mass gatherings.
I obviously think that he's talking about the purge.
It's right there, it's clear as day.
I don't make the rules, he said what he said.
And finally, "Netflix is releasing
a terrifying dating show called Sexy Beasts
and the trailer is basically a 90 second acid trip."
It can't be that bad.
- I want to get married,
I want to have babies before I'm like 26.
Do you have health insurance?
- Oh.
- There's inter-species relationships happening
on my grounds.
I won't stand for it.
- Then, we definitely have to talk
about this story that I was going to put
in the headline segment
but we have to dive deeper into the specifics.
The headline reads, "Redneck Rave
descends into throat slashing,
impalements and mass arrests."
Also. Yes.
If you're wondering, that sign that the Daily Mail included
in their coverage does say what you think it says.
So let's talk about the details.
There was a five day country music festival that took place
at the Blue Holler Off-Road Park, Kentucky.
The event ran from the 16th to the 20th.
It was dubbed the Redneck Rave and it was organized
by a country rapper known as Justin Time.
Among other activities, it promised live music,
a demolition derby, a midnight mud run.
And it was billed as
America's wildest and craziest country party,
with promoters claiming to have sold 20,000 tickets
which varied between $50 and $250.
Just to set the tone right off the bat
you had police in Edmondson county saying rocky start,
finding meth, marijuana and an open bottle of alcohol
in literally the first vehicle that they stopped
at a traffic checkpoint.
With that, by the way being on top of the fact
that one of the people in the car
had two active warrants out for their arrest.
And in fact, by the end of the festival,
police said that they charged 48 people
from five states and arrested 14 of them.
Now that said, most of the charges
were drug, alcohol or traffic related,
but some of the most disturbing reports
to come out from the event include one person
who is still at large slitting the throat
of their supposed friend.
A 29 year old man also allegedly strangled a woman
until she passed out in a fight that was over a blanket.
Meanwhile, a different person lost part of their finger
after his vehicle, which was lifted up using a jack
slipped off and landed on his hand.
You had another impaled in the abdomen after driving
over a two to three inch log that broke
through the bottom of his recreational vehicle,
with that man actually having to be airlifted
to the hospital with the log still inside him.
Keep in mind, this is on top of,
of course the separate reports
of lacerations, broken bones and other injuries
which, depending on how you score things overall,
this actually may have been more tame than last year.
Because yes, while there was all out insanity,
there were no reported deaths, which you can't say the same
of one of last year's Redneck Raves.
And what's wild about this event is it was
kind of like two completely different understandings
and versions of it.
On one side, you have the local police
seemingly exhausted knowing that this event
was going to be a problem
because of the past gatherings overwhelming their personnel.
Law enforcement even trying to prepare
for the event by putting deputies
on mandatory overtime and enlisting the help of volunteers
because the authorities there don't normally have the budget
or the staff to provide 24 hour coverage.
And in fact, they were so overwhelmed
they didn't even have enough personnel
to manage the event itself
with the Sheriff's office deciding to catch offenders
outside the perimeter of the festival's location
hoping to at least contain any illegal activity
from the surrounding neighborhoods.
But then, on the other side of this,
you have Justin Time seeming to spin that,
suggesting the violence wasn't happening
on the festivals watch, also seemingly loving
that they're getting this coverage
and announcing another three-day Redneck Rave
for October 2021.
Then, in which celebrity is apologizing today news,
we have the Adonis that is Michael B. Jordan.
So essentially like we've seen with a lot
of other celebrities, he decided to launch a liquor brand,
with him launching a rum over the weekend
under the name J'Ouvert.
Which immediately became a problem,
because you had people, including some of his fans
accusing the brand of cultural appropriation
and exploitation.
And that's because it uses the name
of an annual festival held in Trinidad and Tobago,
along with other Caribbean islands during Carnival
to celebrate Caribbean culture
and emancipation from slavery.
And though Jordan's business partner
on the project is from Trinidad,
Jordan has no ties to the culture.
So many accused him
of seemingly treating it as an aesthetic,
with others also worrying about the name being trademarked,
fearing that it could erase J'Ouvert history
as people come to just associate it
with the name of his drink.
So there, you had people comparing it to when
Kim Kardashian wanted to name her brand Kimono.
And understand, this isn't kind of like
one or two people were kind of angry
and that got turned into a story.
At one point, Trinidad and Tobago's
minister of trade and industry said
this might be of interest to their government.
On Tuesday, you had Nicki Minaj who is Trinidadian
calling on Jordan to address the issue,
which was notable not only because she is such a big artist
that of course put an even bigger spotlight
on the situation,
but because it's a dramatic shift
from how she's talked about Michael B. Jordan in the past.
- Shout out to Donatella Versace
for custom making this outfit for me
and shout out to Michael B. Jordan
cause he's going to be taking it off of me tonight.
- But whether it be the prospect
of potentially losing that opportunity and/or
just general public pressure,
it appeared to actually be effective.
With Michael B. Jordan just a few hours later
writing on his Instagram story,
"I just want to say on behalf of myself and my partners,
our intention was never to offend or hurt a culture we love
and respect and hope to celebrate and shine
a positive light on," saying
"The last few days have been a lot of listening
a lot of learning and engaging
and countless community conversations," and closing.
"We hear you.
I hear you and want to be clear
that we are in the process of renaming.
We sincerely apologize
and look forward to introducing a brand
we can all be proud of."
And it may be the cynic in me, just like that,
Michael B. Jordan got millions upon millions of dollars
of free promotion for his soon to be named liquor brand.
Then we had Logan Paul back in the news, right on the heels
of his very lucrative cuddle session with Floyd Mayweather.
This because there's been growing speculation
and allegations that he may have actually broken the law.
So reportedly, Logan was sighted in the UK this week
potentially for a collab with the group Sidemen
or some other project.
So with that, you have people speculating
that he may have violated England's quarantine
and travel restrictions by going out and about.
You had some saying yesterday
that Logan had been spotted walking around
on the street and had allegedly gone
to England just four days ago,
though it is hard to verify exactly when he got there.
But that said, assuming
that he was traveling from the United States
which is designated in England as an Amber country,
he is required to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival
which means that yes, he may have broken that rule
but it also gets a little bit murky.
Some noting that there are various jobs that are exempt
from these rules, but you know
that's mainly essential, emergency kind of work.
I mean, we don't know
if he got a different kind of exemption, any of the details.
Also you have people pointing to the fact
that he may have used kind of a test to release scheme.
That allows people to end their quarantine early
if they test negative,
but you can only do so starting on day five.
So people were speculating,
if he only arrived four days ago, it doesn't add up.
But once again, it's unconfirmed.
But from that, I want to take a second
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Then, in potentially big creator
and more importantly, independent creator news,
we should look to Twitter.
This, because along with announcing interesting news
about them, they have opened up applications
for Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces.
So super follows, think of it kind of like a Patreon.
You get exclusive content, community access,
subscriber only newsletters, supporter badge,
stuff like that, and Ticketed Spaces
is exactly what it sounds like.
They have Twitter Spaces, which of course,
is their kind of Clubhouse clone.
It's an audio conversation between the host,
whoever they bring on, you have the audience there.
And if you qualify and you get accepted,
you can sell tickets to that space.
So on one hand, I could do something like
filming my podcast A Conversation With,
maybe I have the guests come in on that
or I just allow people to listen live.
I sell tickets to that, I find a new way to monetize,
and/or probably because the internet is the internet,
one of the biggest Ticketed Spaces right off the bat
will be some OnlyFan girl, farting into her iPhone.
Which, hey, no hate, but you know
that's what's going to happen.
But, pun intended, one of the biggest pun again intended,
one of the biggest things that Twitter announced
with this is that they said they will only take 3%
of revenue generated and then, like a progressive tax plan,
once that creator makes $50,000,
the company will begin to take 20% from that point on.
But also, keep in mind, this doesn't take into account
that a lot of this is happening on the phone,
which means that 30% will likely be taken out
by Apple App and Google Play stores.
But still, this is incredibly significant creator news
because it's going to allow a lot of people
that haven't been able to monetize to monetize.
And I mean, for most all creators and I feel
like this is true across the board,
you can make what you're doing far more sustainable
and actually bring in way more money
from doing things directly with your audience
than taking sponsorships.
Which, no shade to sponsorships.
Thank you to the sponsors.
Then, in really interesting news,
and this really interesting moment, I want to talk
about chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
army general Mark A. Milley.
So to set the stage for you,
you had several people speaking before House Armed Services
this including General Milley,
as well as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
And from this, there were several narratives
being thrown around online.
I mean, for example, you had Representative Matt Gaetz
tweeting out a video where he said that he confronts
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
on the military's advocacy of critical race theory.
And in the video you have Gaetz say,
- How should the Department of Defense
think about critical race theory?
- General Milley wants to make a comment at that time,
is unable to, but Secretary Austin says
- I don't know what the issue of critical race theory is
and what the relevance here with the department.
We do not teach critical race theory.
We don't embrace critical race theory.
And I think that's a spurious conversation.
- With the Secretary then going on to note,
as far as the things that maybe people
inside of the military are talking about,
they've actually enjoyed having
the ability to speak to one another.
Then, in addition to that,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
was then later able to give his comment
and I really just wanted to share it in its entirety,
because I think it's an incredibly important
mindset to have.
- First of all, on the issue of critical race theory,
et cetera, I'll obviously have to get much smarter
on whatever the theory is.
But I do think it's important, actually,
for those of us in uniform
to be open-minded and be widely read.
And the United States Military Academy is a university.
And it is important that we train and we understand,
and I want to understand white rage, and I'm white
and I want to understand it.
So what is it that caused thousands of people
to assault this building and try to
overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?
What caused that?
I want to find that out.
I want to maintain an open mind here
and I do want to analyze it.
It's important that we understand that
because our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines
and guardians, they come from the American people.
So it is important that the leaders now
and in the future do understand it.
I've read Mao Zedong, I've read Karl Marx,
I've read Lenin, that doesn't make me a communist.
So what is wrong with understanding,
having some situational understanding
about the country for which we are here to defend.
And I personally find it offensive that we are
accusing the United States military,
our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned
officers of being quote woke or something else
because we're studying some theories that are out there.
That was started at Harvard Law School years ago.
And it proposed that there were laws in the United States
antebellum laws, prior to the civil war,
that led to a power differential with African-Americans
that were three quarters of a human being
when this country was formed.
And then we had a Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation
to change it.
And we brought it up to the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
It took another a hundred years to change that.
So look it, I do want to know, and I respect your service
and you and I are both Green Berets, but I want to know.
And it matters to our military and the discipline
and cohesion of this military.
And I thank you for the opportunity
to make a comment on that.
- Then, in no way surprising
but still incredibly important political news,
we should talk about all 50 Senate Republicans
voting yesterday to block the voting rights bill aimed
at countering the growing wave
of election restrictions imposed by GOP
governors and legislatures.
Once again, even as I'm out there
trying to enjoy a fat daddy summer,
maybe you're having a hot girl summer,
we cannot downplay the incredible significance here.
This is the entire Republican caucus voting against
even opening up debate on a bill
that attempts to bolster American democracy
at a time where it is endangered.
Democrats, who all voted unanimously to open debate,
yes, that even includes Sinema and Manchin,
they condemned the move.
With party leaders and President Biden promising
to redouble their efforts
to pass federal voting rights legislation into law.
But, also being honest with the situation,
there are very few paths forward
for Democrats to pass voting rights legislation.
I mean, any hope of bipartisanship is basically
off the table, even Manchin,
who was like, let's do compromise.
This is all about bipartisanship.
All the Republicans, like,
you thought we were being serious?
No, shut your dumb face.
So really the only remaining option for Democrats
will be to get rid of the filibuster.
But, it doesn't look like the Democrats
have the votes for that either.
I mean, a day before the vote, Kyrsten Sinema
who's a Democrat and a vocal opponent
of scrapping the filibuster wrote an op-ed
in the Washington Post defending her view.
An argument that some have called
simply incoherent to its core.
This because in her op-ed, she said, you know
if we destroy the filibuster, we will lose much more
than we gain and saying "to those who want to
eliminate the legislative filibuster
to pass the For the People Act,
I would ask: would it be good for our country
if we did only to see that legislation rescinded
a few years from now and replaced
by a nationwide voter ID law
or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections
over the objections of the minority?"
To which her critics are saying, that is already happening.
It's just happening state by state right now.
You have voting restrictions of all kinds being passed
by Republican controlled legislative majorities.
But, while I'm a cynic
and I don't believe that things will change
and that people will change their opinions,
things could still change.
Especially because we're already seeing
a new wave of mounting pressure
from numerous progressive lawmakers and groups
including Representative Ayanna Pressley,
who tweeted, "the people did not give Democrats
the House, Senate and White House
to compromise with insurrectionists.
Abolish the filibuster so we can do the people's work."
But for now, we'll just wait and see.
And you know, it's only democracy in the balance.
No big deal, back to your hot girl summer.
And ultimately with this story, or honestly
anything else that stood out to you today
I'd love to know your thoughts
in those comments down below, because this,
yes it's a news show, but it's also a conversation.
And two, this is the end.
Thanks for watching, like and subscribe
and all the good stuff. Bye.