(coughing)
- So I ran a poll on the YouTube community tab
asking, "Glasses or no glasses?"
I kind of don't care, but people seem
very vocal about it,
and the vast majority said, "Yes, Phil, more glasses,
"you're better with the glasses."
Which is why I'm not wearing these glasses.
At least today, even though they make my eyes
feel generally better throughout the day
'cause I'm not your dancin' monkey.
Unless a very large number of you hit that like button,
in which case I will dance.
You should probably not include any of that,
that's, I feel like that's kinda just, it's stupid.
'Sup you beautiful bastards,
hope you havin' 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
is the youth, TikTok, and activism.
And this story actually starts with
teachers in Clark County, Nevada.
They are probably planning to walk out on
September 10th to protest against the school district
for failing to honor a promise it made
regarding their salaries.
Educators said they had been previously told that
they would earn raises so long as they further their
education by completing professional development courses.
But the district later refused to follow through
on that agreement saying that it lacked the funds to do so.
And reportedly, the consequences of a strike here
could have a devastating impact for the school district
which is the fifth largest in the county.
Now in response to this news, the district filed
an emergency court motion to block the strike
and have a judge issue an order against it.
And there, if the order was imposed,
the union could have faced fines of up to $50,000 a day.
But still, Clark County teachers felt
that they had no choice but to take a stand here.
And while all of this was happening,
you had some very, very frustrated students.
With many local students who were
outraged about this situation including 16 year old
Gillian Sullivan taking their frustration out on TikTok.
Sullivan whose mom has worked for the district
for more than 20 years uploaded video on the app
where she explained the situation saying that the district
would not pay the teachers with quote,
"Spent the past three years earning enough credits
"out of their own pockets, spending extra hours
"outside of school to earn credits
to get a raise," and adding--
- Personally, I don't think this is fair,
and I'm kinda like sick of our district thinking
it's okay to walk all over teachers and students
all of the time!
So if you're sick of this, too,
and you want respect for yourself as a student
but also for your teachers, please strike September 5th
'cause I'm done, and you should be, too.
Like, teachers deserve more respect than that,
and it's disgusting.
- And within days, Sullivan's video went viral.
There's a lot of support.
Many also commenting about similar issues
that their own school districts are facing.
Also, in another post, Sullivan responded to users
who said that their districts were just as bad,
if not worse, arguing that the entire school system
in the United States is flawed and encouraged
all students to skip school on September 5th.
Her posts also made their way onto Twitter
where they picked up more steam, more support, more praise.
Also inspiring other students to upload similar TikToks
including another student in her district,
17 year old Leonardo Bueno.
- We should also be speaking up about
teachers being underpaid and not getting their salary.
Teachers put their life and you know,
dedication in teaching us because they
are teaching the future of this country.
- And, while many seemed prepared to actually participate
in this student and teacher strike,
those plans have since been called off.
And that's because late Wednesday,
the Clark County School District
and the Clark County Education Association
said that they had reached a tentative agreement
to resolve the issue.
That agreement reportedly including a salary increase
for the educators who completed their
professional development program
as well as a 3% raise and more funding for health insurance.
Now keep in mind that according to the AP,
the deal still needs to be ratified
by union executives and district trustees.
However, right now it does appear that both sides
expect no issues on approving this move.
And as far as my reaction to this story,
I know that there's gonna be a debate
as far as how effective these students speaking up
on TikTok and then that going to Twitter.
How effective that was.
But personally there, I will argue, very.
It took an otherwise just local story,
and they turned it into a national issue.
And while yes, 78% of the content on TikTok right now
are various people hitting the woe.
I wanted to say that in the most boomer way possible.
I would personally love, and I expect to see more of this,
since TikTok is just the medium of a certain generation.
So it just makes sense that this group is also going
to share information that way.
Hell, I've actually seen people kind of talking
about the news, granted they meme it, but it still
conveys that information well.
And also, I guess just kind of final note.
Good on all these students for actually
supporting their teachers.
I feel like teachers, in addition to
being kind of underappreciated,
get shit on a lot, so it's kind of awesome
to see that support.
But, of course like with everything we talk about,
I'd love to know your thoughts on this.
Then, in news that I think is actually awesome
for online entertainment, YouTube has announced that
as of September 24th, any of their new YouTube Originals,
their YouTube Specials, they will now be available
for free, with ads.
And notably there right after the 24th,
you have the new season of Liza On Demand,
of course starring Liza Koshy, released on the 25th,
as well as reportedly the drama Impulse on October 16th,
along with free windows to catch up with each
series' first season.
Also, as of today, the fantastically well-reviewed,
and I personally like, season one of Cobra Kai
is now out there for everyone to receive,
but it also appears that there's a little bit of a catch,
but maybe, kinda, not really.
It does appear to be a little bit of a windowing angle.
As Deadline explains, "For instance Premium members will
"continue to be able to binge the full new seasons
"of Impulse and Liza on Demand, while one new episode
"will be rolled out weekly for ad supported or AVOD viewers.
"Additionally, YouTube Premium subscribers will
"have exclusive access to director's cuts
"and bonus content for YouTube Originals when available."
And personally, I'm very fascinated
to see how this plays out.
Right, because I feel like YouTube's done a good job
of bringing big advertisers, big brands to the table.
And then you know, YouTube was kind of hiding some
of the, I'm not going to say best content,
but the content that they threw the most money at
behind a paywall, and when you were looking at episodes
that were not behind the paywall,
like the first episode of season one of Cobra Kai.
Those numbers were wild that it makes you kinda wonder,
"Well, how many people actually paid then
"for the subscription to watch the rest of the season
"versus maybe just falling off or pirating it instead."
Which I will say regarding pirating,
it'll be interesting to see what happens
with this new move for YouTube.
Right because the people that don't have YouTube Premium,
right, they get the episodes once a week.
Each one of those videos also serves as kind of an ad
to say, "Hey, if you want more, you could just pay
"for a subscription.
"By the way, when you sign up, it's free."
Right, so how many people are gonna go,
"Ah, I could wait for this,"
versus, "Oh man I have to subscribe to YouTube Premium now,"
versus, "Oh man I gotta pirate this now."
It's gonna be very interesting to see
because it is somewhat of a unique release schedule.
But with all the said, and I'm very fascinated
by your response to this,
what do you think about this move,
and what do you think that we will see,
will it boost subscriptions, pirating, both, neither?
I know my kind of viewing habits,
but I'd love to know your thoughts here.
But from that, I wanna share some stuff I love today,
and today in awesome brought to you by fullsail.edu/phil.
And Full Sail, if you don't know, specializes
in entertainment, media, technology, and the arts.
At Full Sail, they're committed to hands-on education.
You can study online or attend their Florida campus.
And best of all, they offer accelerated degree programs.
Actually, a good number of people from the nation,
and even past employees of mine have been
Full Sail graduates.
Hell, actually even my sister is starting up this year.
And at Full Sail, you'll get the knowledge
and hands-on experience, but you also get to connect
with successful grads and students to build your network.
Full Sail Special Blend has produced a community
of inspiring creative people who push each other
to do amazing things.
Work on and make amazing projects come to life.
And hey, if you want more info, you want to check this out,
be sure to head over to fullsail.edu/phil, and check it out.
And the first bit of awesome today is we put out
an extra news video today.
It took a look at, tried to condense, and explain
the U.S. and China trade war.
Tariffs, manipulation, theft, and after today's show,
I highly recommend you check it out.
It'll be one of the top links down below.
Then we have HBO putting out a very interesting
trailer for "What Happened on September 11."
Based on the trailer, it looks like a look back
on that event of people kind of sharing the story
for kids who weren't old enough to really remember it.
Which I think is a very interesting
and important angle on it.
Wired gave us a scientist explaining
how a fire tornado forms.
Marvel Entertainment gave us
Journey Through the History of Marvel Comics.
First We Feast gave us Marques Brownlee
and Casey Neistat playing Truth or Dab.
Binging with Babish gave us pan pizza.
Vogue gave us some famous people
getting ready for the VMAs videos.
And then the Phil.chrono.gg Partner Game of the Day
today is, actually really special, we got a game at launch.
It is Heave Ho.
It is a weird, quirky, fantastic game
where the goal is just not to fall.
You can play it with up to four players,
and best of all, if you grab it using my link
and my store before 9 a.m. tomorrow and/or
while supplies last, you can get it
for 15% off, just $8.50.
If you wanna see the full versions
of everything I just shared,
the secret link of the day, really anything at all
links as always are in the description down below.
And then, let's talk about the news around James Comey.
And if you've seen this story pop up today,
you've probably seen it described
with kind of one of two headlines.
Right, Buzzfeed news put out "James Comey won't face charges
"for sharing memos about his interactions with Trump."
And you have places like Fox News with the headline,
"Read DOJ watchdog's list of all the times
"ex-FBI boss Comey broke the rules."
Or like this headline from The Guardian saying,
"Comey violated FBI policies by leaking Trump memos
"Justice Department rules."
Right, and the thing is,
all those things are actually accurate.
It's just kind of interesting to see who leads with what.
So yes, today the Inspector General
of the Justice Department released a report.
And among other things, it says quote,
"The responsibility to protect sensitive
"law enforcement information falls in large part
"to the employees of the FBI who have access to it
"through their daily duties.
"Former Director Comey failed
"to live up to this responsibility by not safeguarding
"sensitive information obtained during the course
"of his FBI employment, and by using it to create
"public pressure for official action,
"Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000
"current FBI employees, and the many thousands more
"former FBI employees who similarly have access
"to or knowledge of non-public information."
The memo going on to say,
"Comey had several other lawful options
"available to him to advocate for the appointment
"of a Special Counsel, which he told us was his goal
"in making the disclosure."
And the memo then adding,
"What was not permitted was the unauthorized
"disclosure of sensitive investigative information
"obtained during the course of FBI employment,
"in order to achieve a personally desired outcome."
And ultimately, with all of this,
the DOJ ended up declining to charge Comey.
This because quote,
"They didn't believe there was evidence to show Comey knew
"and intended to violate laws
"on handling classified information."
It's been interesting watching the reaction from this
because I've seen people kind of on both sides
of this issue taking a victory lap.
For example, you had Comey tweeting out
that the "DOJ IG found no evidence,"
adding, "I don't need a public apology from those
"who defamed me, but a quick message
"with a sorry we lied about you would be nice."
Then adding, "And to all those who've spent two years
"talking about me quote going to jail or being
"a quote liar and a leaker, ask yourselves
"why you still trust people who gave you bad info
"for so long, including the president."
So on the other side, you have people like
Representative Jim Jordan tweeting,
"Now we know why Comey didn't want
"to prosecute Clinton, he didn't see a problem
"mishandling sensitive information.
"After clearing her, he did it too.
"Comey, like Clinton, thinks he's above the law."
We also saw a tweet from President Trump's account
reading, "Perhaps never in the history of our country
"has someone been more thoroughly disgraced
"and excoriated than James Comey
"in the just released Inspector General's Report.
"He should be ashamed of himself."
But yeah, that's the story as it is right now.
And of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on this.
And then, let's talk about Brexit.
It's been a minute since we talked about this.
And specifically today, we're going to be talking about
Boris Johnson suspending British Parliament ahead of Brexit,
and why this move has outraged a ton of people.
And a quick oversimplified recap here
to get things started.
United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union
back in June of 2016.
Right after that vote, you had then
Prime Minister David Cameron resigning,
Theresa May then stepping up to take the position.
She originally planned to take the UK out of the EU
by March 2019, but of course, we're still talking
about that, so you know that did not happen.
Government tried to withdraw in January.
Notably, that easily failed.
Two more votes then failed in March.
This largely because of a dispute over the border
between the Independent Republic of Ireland
and the UK-controlled Northern Ireland.
May then asked for an extension
to the withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU
to which the EU said, "You have until the end of October."
Long story short, there May ends up resigning in June.
And then a series of votes later,
Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister in July
once his party elected him as the conservative leader.
Johnson said he'd negotiate for a better withdrawal deal
with the EU but the EU has said it will not change the deal.
Johnson has also said that they'll move through Brexit
with or without a deal which has been
a massively contentious topic.
This because many experts warn that
in addition to other things, a no-deal could
lead to shortages of food, gas, and medicine.
Economists also fearing that a no-deal Brexit
could tank the economy.
And all of that simplified condensed mush brings us
to yesterday when Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth
to suspend Parliament.
Now as a figurehead, the queen must
remain politically neutral,
but it's formality for the Prime Minister to ask
the queen before suspending Parliament.
And of note there, it would have been seen
as a very unusual move for her to deny his request.
Which is likely why she granted it.
Now, Parliament was already scheduled
for a three and a half week break
starting September 16th, but now, Johnson has
tacked on an extra week to that recess,
and all of that is important because it means
that Parliament has less time to actually reach a deal
to leave the EU.
Also because historically Parliament usually
convenes in times of national crisis.
In fact, some have even speculated that Parliament
might have tried to cancel the initial recess,
right the three and a half weeks, to allow for more
time to talk about Brexit,
but instead, we saw this move from Johnson.
Which actually regarding that, even some in Johnson's own
conservative party said that the move could be challenged
in court, which regarding this move by Johnson,
you may be asking why he would do this.
And according to Johnson, it's to give his government
time to lay out a quote,
"new, bold, and ambitious domestic agenda after Brexit."
But limiting Parliament also means that lawmakers
have less time to block a no-deal Brexit.
However, Parliament is expected to try to block
a no-deal Brexit in their limited time
within the next two weeks.
And the fact today, Labor Party Leader,
Jeremy Corbyn said that he would try
to block the suspension with legislation.
Corbyn has also said that he plans to hold a vote
of no-confidence against Johnson,
to which actually President Trump jumped into the mix
tweeting, "Would be very hard for Jeremy Corbyn,
"the leader of Britain's Labor Party,
"to seek a no-confidence vote against new Prime Minister
"Boris Johnson, especially in light of the fact that
"Boris is exactly what the UK has been looking for
"and will prove to be a great one.
"Love UK."
So there was that.
Also, so far, there's already been an attempt
in the Scottish Courts to reverse this suspension.
Also, we've seen a big reaction from the people.
As of recording this video, an online petition
requesting that Parliament not shut down
has garnered around 1.5 million signatures.
People have also taken to the streets protesting,
reportedly chanting things like,
"No one voted for Boris," and "Stop the Coup."
Which actually, on social media,
"Stop the Coup," was trending.
And there you had several pointing to a past statement
by Johnson saying that he wouldn't suspend Parliament.
In fact, in that statement, he actually called
such an action arcane.
So you had people saying things like,
"You can't trust a word this liar says."
"This isn't about left, right, center, leave, or remain,
"this is about ensuring that democracy can never be
"put on pause when an unelected politician
"finds it inconvenient."
Which I will say on that note, Johnson was elected,
but that election was only decided by about
139,000 votes from conservative party members.
Also along with your everyday folk,
you had some celebrities like Hugh Grant
jumping into the mix blasting Johnson by saying,
"You will not fuck with my children's future.
"You will not destroy the freedoms my grandfather
"fought two world wars to defend.
"Fuck off, you over-promoted rubber bath toy.
"Britain is revolted by you and your little gang
"of masturbatory prefects."
We've also notably seen some lawmakers resign today.
That including Scotland's
Conservative Party Leader Ruth Davidson.
Although, of note there, in her letter of resignation,
she points to the birth of her son
as one of the main reasons for resigning,
though she did mention feeling conflicted
over Brexit, so news outlets in the UK have linked
the timing of her resignation to Parliament suspension.
You also George Young resigning
from Parliament's upper house.
And in a letter, he said that Johnson quote,
"risks undermining the fundamental role of Parliament
"at a critical time in our history
"and reinforces the view that the government
"may not have the confidence of the House
"for its Brexit policy."
You also had David Lidington saying this was quote,
"not a good way to do democracy and sets a very bad
"precedent for future governments."
Also reportedly telling the BBC,
"that if the opposition Labor Party had done something
"similar, some of my Tory colleagues who are cheering
"at the moment, would be turning purple with rage."
We also had some supporters of Johnson
essentially saying that this outrage
is kind of faux outrage.
People like Leader of the House of Commons
Jacob Rees-Mogg adding,
"I don't think there is any attempt to railroad."
And specifically calling the big reaction
to this news, "the candyfloss of outrage."
But ultimately, at the moment of filming this video,
that is where we are.
It's gonna be a very interesting couple of months.
Of course, I always love to know everyone's thoughts
on this, but if you live in the EU, if you live in the UK,
I'd really, really love to know your thoughts
on what's going to happen.
That's where we're going to end today's show.
And hey, if you like this video, be sure
to hit that like button.
Also, if you're new here, you want more,
be sure to hit that subscribe button,
and definitely click that bell to turn on notifications.
Also, if you now 100% filled in, we have that brand new
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to watch either of those right now.
But with that said, of course, as always,
my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in.
I love yo faces, and I'll see you next time.
As I'm recording... (bell dings)
♪ All around me are familiar faces ♪