- So today's show is a heavy one.
It is a devastating one.
Specifically, I'm speaking of the second half
of today's show.
We're going to start off lighter,
talk about some other things as well.
But because this is one of the heavier ones,
I'll ask you to hit that like button,
do anything and everything to feed the algorithm gods,
cause this is the kind of stuff that sometimes
YouTube suppresses from us.
That said, welcome back to Philip DeFranco Show.
And let's just jump into it. First up today,
we've got the news and controversy around Lizzo, Cardi B and
even Bella Poarch, getting in the mix.
And the focus on this story being two things.
One: the release of Rumors by Cardi B and Lizzo,
as well as fat phobia in general.
And part of this stemming from Sunday,
Lizzo goes on Instagram Live.
She talks about how the negativity impacts her.
- People say shit about me
that just doesn't even make sense.
It's fat phobic,
just racist and it's hurtful.
If you don't like my music, cool.
If you don't like Rumors the song, cool.
But a lot of people don't like me because of the way I look.
And I'm like.
- Also saying she doesn't want to say
the exact things being said,
because she doesn't want to give those words power.
You know, following this,
we saw a lot of support coming out for Lizzo,
some from Cardi B,
as well as other entertainers and influencers
like Bella Poarch saying:
"Sad to see society and the internet come together
"to try and take down people,
"especially such positive leaders and role models.
"This is the part that jades me about the world.
"We'll never appreciate greatness until it's gone."
But also with this connected or not to the Lizzo situation
we've seen on social media, especially in like
the last 24 or 48 hours,
a lot of pushback about other incidents involving things
that other people refer to as fat phobia, body shaming,
or just outright threats.
It's one of these incidents that appears to have one of the
biggest spotlights on it right now, especially on TikTok,
being the, this clip with Danny Mullen, from a podcast.
- Fat girls ideally they have (beep) that protrude further
than their big belly.
- Right, we need help.
- If not, they need to be shot in the head like cattle.
- And then going on to say that he would want a samurai
to then slice up a woman
just long enough so that he could have sex with her still.
Like I prefer not to even say what he said verbatim.
And so with that,
in addition to the backlash of users on TikTok,
like auntkaren0 calling for accountability,
- [auntkaren0] We need to demand that you,
to review the guidelines,
because I know for a fact
they have to be violating something and we demand better.
- Right? And with it as well, in general,
it's mainly been backlash.
We have seen people debate both sides,
some defending Mullen and the podcast,
saying these are just jokes.
They're dark, edgy jokes, but jokes.
Whereas on the other side you have people saying, okay,
jokes are one thing.
But by calling for the actual violence against women,
that's a complete other thing.
It's strange, disgusting, oddly specific.
It's, and with this story,
whether it be the first part with Lizzo or the second part,
I would really love to know any and all
thoughts you have on this.
Then you've got the likes of Jake Paul back in the news.
Because, remember back in 2020 when the FBI raided his home,
that after Scottsdale police confirmed in June 2020,
that Jake was facing charges for trespassing,
an unlawful assembly over an incident after
the George Floyd protests.
With them dropping the charges as the investigation
moved over to the FBI.
But at the end of last week,
the situation changed with the U.S. Attorney's Office
in Arizona giving Raiders a statement saying
"based upon the investigation and evidence available
"at this time, the United States Attorney's Office
"for the district of Arizona is not pursuing federal charges
"against Jake Paul for his conduct."
But it turns out the situation may not be completely over
because as of this morning,
a TMZ reporting that the city of Scottsdale
has decided to refile their two charges against Jake Paul.
With the outlet saying that he's due in court
after labor day and could face a maximum year
in jail if convicted.
Then in the mix of a politics, and COVID news,
which we talked about yesterday,
the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocking
two counties from opposing mass mandates
that defied Governor Greg Abbotts' statewide ban
on masking requirements.
Those counties, Dallas and Bexar, which houses San Antonio,
had previously received a green light
to implement the mandate from a lower court,
but this new ruling made it obsolete.
But, despite that, Bexar County still says
that they're going to keep them their mask mandate,
arguing that the court's ruling has little practical effect
since a full case on whether or not it can impose a mandate
is being heard today.
The San Antonio city attorney saying,
"the governor cannot use his emergency powers
"to suspend laws that provide local entities
"the needed flexibility to act in an emergency.
"His suspension authority is meant to facilitate action,
"not prohibit it."
Likewise, the Dallas Independent School District
also said that it would continue to enforce its
mask mandate for students and staff.
And notably, this comes at a time where COVID cases
are surging in Texas, with experts noting that COVID related
hospitalizations have spiked 400% in the past month alone.
Also just yesterday 11,500 were hospitalized with the virus,
which is the highest number that the state's seen
since January.
Then another day, another massive, massive data breach.
This one, reportedly targeting T-Mobile customers,
that could lead to the release of over
100 million people's private information.
Enough people to basically cover T-Mobile's entire
US customer base, right?
Reportedly we're talking names, social security numbers,
phone numbers, physical addresses,
and driver license information.
According to Vice's Motherboard,
which first reported the story yesterday,
the hacker or hackers who stole the information
and posted their intent to publicly sell
some of it on an underground forum.
With that, reportedly they're asking for six Bitcoin
or roughly $280,000 as of this morning.
And as for the rest,
they say that they're selling that privately.
Currently, T-Mobile has confirmed that it is investigating
the post, but it has yet to confirm
if the information is valid.
But you also have Motherboard saying that they've seen
samples of the data and that it can now confirm
that the information is accurate.
And in fact, on T-Mobile customers.
Then let's definitely talk about
the federal government's top auto safety agency
now opening a formal investigation into
Tesla's Autopilot function
after a series of crashes involving emergency vehicles.
Right, we're talking about the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
and it says that it has identified 11 incidents
across nine states since 2018, where Tesla vehicles quote,
"encountered first responders scenes,
"and subsequently struck one or more vehicles."
With the agency saying that,
"most of the incidents took place after dark."
Adding that the crash sites,
"included scene control measures
"such as first responder vehicle lights, flares,
"and illuminated arrow board, and road cones."
Reportedly all those incidents happening when the cars had
Autopilot or Tesla's Traffic Aware Cruise Control engaged.
Also noted that in the seven of the crashes caused,
a total of 17 injuries and one death.
The agency saying that it's probe will examine how Tesla
monitors driver engagement
and how vehicles identify roadway obstacles.
And it will cover Tesla models,
Y, X, S, and three from 2014 to 2021,
which is an estimated 765,000 cars.
And, potentially devastating for Tesla,
reports say that the agency's finding could force it to make
Tesla recall all those cars and make changes to its system.
But for now, I mean,
we're going to have to wait to see what happens next,
but I mean, this is also far from the first time
that Tesla's Autopilot system has been called
into question or even defended.
Perhaps most notably the National Transportation Safety
Board previously found Autopilot partly to blame in a 2018
fatal crash in Florida.
Tesla Board's, as far as a recording,
has not made a statement about the new probe,
but we've seen the public react.
Shares down nearly 5% as of midday trading on Monday.
Though as many outlets have pointed out
that the company has defended itself in the past,
arguing that driving with Autopilot engaged
is safer than not.
Then we should definitely talk about this
Snopes scandal, right?
The fact checking website facing a major reckoning
over the weekend.
And that's because in an exclusive investigation,
Buzzfeed News found that the sites co-founder,
David Mickelson, plagiarized dozens of articles
between 2015 and 2019.
Right, in side by side screenshots,
Buzzfeed showed Mickelson ripped off whole sections
of other articles from different outlets,
including the Guardian, the LA Times and New York times,
CNN, NBC News and the BBC.
Reportedly all of that was in an attempt to quote,
"scoop up traffic," with one former employee
telling the Outlet "that was his big SEO/speed secret.
"He would instruct us to copy texts from other sites,
"post them verbatim so that it looked like we were fast
"and could scoop up traffic,
"and then change the story in real time.
"I hated it and wouldn't tell any of the staff to do it,
"but he did it all the time."
However, on the other side of this, in his own statement,
Mickelson told Buzzfeed,
"I didn't come from a journalism background.
"I wasn't used to doing news aggregation.
"A number of times I crossed the line
"to where it was copyright infringement. I own that."
Also saying in a separate statement,
"there is no excuse for my serious lapses in judgment.
"I am sorry."
But still, with that Snopes has now taken down
60 articles published by Mickelson.
Also revoking his ability to publish.
However, reportedly at this time,
he is still going to remain chief executive at the company.
Though, seemingly in an attempt to hold Snopes' name
above the water, we saw the chief operating officer noting
that most of the plagiarize articles were published
before the outlet brought in its current managing editor
and editorial team.
We also saw eight of Snopes' writers condemning
Michelson's behavior and saying,
"no writer participated in this behavior,
"nor did any editors."
But ultimately that is where we are right now.
And it's going to be interesting to see how Snopes
moves forward from here,
especially with Michelson still in charge
and there being a debate that's still going on.
But from that, I want to take a second to thank
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And the second half of today's show
is that we focus on very important international news,
starting with Haiti.
Haiti, if you don't know, was struck by a 7.2 magnitude
earthquake on Saturday that has killed nearly 1,300 people
and injured at least 5,700 others,
according to the numbers released on Sunday.
And notably that shake was more powerful than the 7.0 one
that hit Haiti back in 2010,
which of course killed more than 200,000 people.
But this time the quake reportedly hit a
less densely populated area in the Southwest
part of the country.
Now that said, it does need to be understood
this is still a developing situation.
It is impossible to assess the full scope of the casualties
and the damage right now.
The rescue teams continuing to dig through
the rubble of collapsed structures.
The quake and its aftershocks have had a devastating impact
on thousands of locals left suffering and displaced.
Tragic videos from the scene showing people screaming
and sobbing in the streets as they scrambled to save
or just locate their loved ones.
Reports say that more than 27,000 homes have been damaged
or destroyed along with schools, churches,
and other structures.
While there's never a good time,
the earthquake could not have come at a worst time
for Haitians, who were still reeling
from the recent assassination of the country's president.
And top of the political turmoil that followed,
and made a wave of gang violence.
Government is just not financially equipped
to handle such a crisis.
Haiti is considered the poorest nation
in the Western hemisphere,
and its already dealing with the effects
of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, they had only just started undergoing
a mass rollout of vaccine.
You also have the Southern peninsula
still recovering from hurricane Matthew,
which hit back in 2016
and the devastation will soon get worse
because of Tropical Depression Grace,
which is expected to hit the area today,
triggering mudslides and flooding,
which will further hamper rescue and recovery efforts.
Now with this, the U.S. along with the United Nations
and several other relief organizations
have already promised to send assistance.
Which is definitely needed,
as hospitals are overwhelmed with patients
and low on even the most basic of supplies.
As well as a ton of locals out there struggling to get ahold
of essentials like food and water.
So we'll have to keep an eye on this absolutely devastating
story to see how the situation changes.
And then of course, the final thing today is Afghanistan.
The country has now fallen.
And to describe this as anything other than
an unmitigated disaster, I don't know how you do that.
Just jumping straight into it, the Taliban have managed
to retake Afghanistan within essentially a week
after capturing Kabul on Sunday.
It's leadership posing for interviews
from the presidential palace.
And in a later statement,
a spokesperson said that the war is finally over
and that they would now be in charge.
And then, this reportedly just hours
after the Taliban arrived,
Afghanistan's now former president fled and resigned
to avoid, quote, "a flood of bloodshed."
With him also on his way out, according to some outlets,
taking massive amounts of cash and luxury vehicles.
But for many Afghans,
that is such a minor issue compared to them just trying
to get out right now.
This morning, we saw thousands flee to Kabul airport,
the last lifeline out of the country after
border crossings were closed.
And heartbreaking and devastating videos
that appear to be from movies and not real life.
You see hundreds storming the airport doors,
rushing the tarmac,
people desperately trying to get on flights,
where they're waiting in a line to get onto
a military plane, helping evacuate refugees,
or by trying to force their way onto a plane,
or in the most desperate and tragic of cases,
holding on while the plane takes off.
Also on that note, as recording,
they are reports of at least seven deaths at the airport,
most likely from stampeding, people falling off of planes,
or possibly even gunfire from either Taliban
or security forces.
But reportedly, despite the scenes of chaos at the airport,
American forces are currently in charge there,
and trying to get some semblance of order.
3,000 troops were sent back to Afghanistan last week
to help evacuate its 10,000 embassy staff.
And over the next few days,
it is expected that over 6,000 more will arrive,
although understand, this is a developing situation.
Just as we were recording this,
it's also being reported that the U.S. has now halted
evacuation flights,
because reportedly things are too chaotic and too dangerous.
I mean, kind of just a thing to understand
what the situation is with how genuinely crazy it is.
There's a lot of information that's coming out
that can also be contradictory.
Now with that said, as of right now, reportedly,
the Taliban has not made any serious efforts to interfere
with the evacuations.
Although there have been reports that they've set up
checkpoints around it,
and sometimes they've even taken shots at
aircraft's leaving.
You also have the U.S. saying that it plans to evacuate
at least 5,000 people a day.
And not just Americans,
but also the Afghans who were eligible for a special visa
because they worked with U.S. forces.
But that's where a lot of the concern is right now,
because it's not just a few people.
There's probably 80,000 Afghans qualify for this,
but it's unclear how many people will actually
be able to get out,
and for how long the U.S. will be able to maintain control
at the airport.
But, for as long as it's able,
the Pentagon says that it's planning to relocate
30,000 applicants to the U.S.,
despite not having their paperwork done or vetted.
Something that President Biden said just a month ago
is against the law.
But seemingly is reversed as the situation deteriorates.
It's also not just the U.S. that's offering support.
A range of Balkan countries have offered refugee status
to Afghans alongside Canada and Iran.
The situation has also influenced many European countries
to stop deporting Afghans who have been rejected for asylum,
but with all that said, with the Taliban in charge,
the question of, well, what happens next?
Some Western nations are urging the international community
to not accept the Taliban as a legitimate
government of Afghanistan.
While places like Russia and China seem to be
in the opposite boat.
For the Afghans there on the ground themselves,
it looks like they returned to strict Islamic rule
with draconian punishments and few rights for women.
You know, almost immediately we saw the city of Kabul
preparing for that, by doing things like removing adverts
featuring women,
and women also largely avoiding going out in public
after Sunday.
But you also have the Taliban saying
we're not the same Taliban.
Saying they won't go back to all the old rules,
saying that they'll allow women to go around unaccompanied
by male relatives.
They won't require women to wear burkas.
Instead saying that hijab will be enough.
Also claiming the girls will be allowed
to go back to school.
But the same time,
while they may be saying that,
there are mixed reports of some areas under Taliban control,
have already returned to its more strict interpretation
of Islamic law in scripture, which prohibits those things.
Which is why we're also now seeing the UN Security Council
calling for an immediate end to the violence in the country
and for the Taliban to set up a government
that treats women on a completely equal basis.
But I also wouldn't hold my breath on that.
Right, but with all of that said,
it brings us to the final thing that we're going to talk
about today. And that is,
it ultimately revolves around the question of
how did this end up being such a shit show?
What went wrong?
Like earlier this year,
the public was told that Afghanistan may not even fall
to the Taliban.
That then later turned into the government could hold on
to major cities for weeks, if not months.
But the Taliban kept pushing,
taking more and more territory,
leading to U.S. officials saying late last week
that at least Kabul could hold out for weeks.
Nut none of that panned out.
So you had people going, how did this happen so quickly?
We've spent 20 years and billions of dollars,
training the Afghan National Army.
But that army repeatedly had over 300,000 troops,
tons of U.S. equipment,
and inside of a handful of special forces units,
it largely didn't fire a single shot when the Taliban
rolled into city after city.
And it seeming that many of the calculations being made for
how long the central government would last
were based on the National Army actually doing something.
But the reality is that it was an open secret
that the army was a paper tiger and extremely inept.
Recruits were alleged to have spent most of their time
getting high, looking to play both sides for cash,
officers there were notoriously corrupt
and skimming cash as often as possible.
And on top of that, it failed to forge a national identity.
As most Afghans actually care more about local ethnic
and tribal ties, rather than some abstract Afghan one.
I mean this isn't new news.
As far back as 2013, we has Vice making documentaries,
talking about this issue.
And reportedly it is largely not changed since then.
And so that's led to a series of questions about the
political spectrum that mainly boiled down to:
That was such an open secret.
And we knew we were leaving Afghanistan
by the end of the month, then why did we rely on them?
Why wasn't there a push to evacuate sooner?
And why was there a sudden collapse
leading to what will likely be this generation's
fall of Saigon moment.
These are questions that we don't have answers for right now
and may not have them fully for years.
But right now, a lot of the blame
is being put on the Biden administration, right?
As recently as Saturday,
we saw Biden blaming Trump for the Taliban's rise,
while Trump similarly stacked the blame on Biden.
You look to social media, there's a lot of finger pointing
to whether it be to people or specific moments.
For some going all the way back to the beginning,
blaming Bush and Congress.
Others also pointing the finger at presidents who followed.
Obama and Trump.
You also of course, had people pointing to Biden because,
while he didn't start the war, continue the war,
make a deal to end the war,
he was in charge of the U.S. pullout.
Biden and his administration seemingly caught off guard.
Even though there have been people warning that he needed
to move people out sooner.
Then of course you have people pointing back
to Trump and Pompeo.
People noting that Trump was the one that made the agreement
with the Taliban.
Also noting that Trump released thousands of Taliban fires,
including the Taliban leader slash
looks to be the new president of Afghanistan.
People pointing to Trump just a month ago,
saying at a rally:
- Afghanistan, by the way, I started the process.
All the troops are coming back home.
They couldn't stop the process.
(cheering)
21 years is enough!
Don't we think? 21 years.
They couldn't stop the process.
They want to, but it was very tough to stop the process.
The only way they last is if we're there.
What are we going to say?
We'll stay for another 21 years?
That we'll stay for another-
The whole thing is ridiculous.
- And some have even gone as far as to blame you,
you watching right now.
With Tom Nichols putting out a piece in the Atlantic called
Afghanistan Is Your Fault.
Noting that the "war was immensely popular at the outset."
And as recently as June of this year,
70% of the U.S. public wanted America out of Afghanistan.
Right, 77% of Democrats,
73% of Independents and 56% of Republicans.
But of course, with that, you're gonna have people saying,
"yeah, support for leaving, but not like this."
So that then leads you into the debate of,
we always knew this was going to be bad.
It was just what level of bad, right?
Because there is leaving and then there's
completely botching the situation.
Poorly handling the pullout despite many months of lead time
and reports that the Afghan National Army
wouldn't do anything.
And actually the last one thing that I'll tack onto this
story is, just before uploading today's show,
President Biden spoke to the country,
I'll link to the full speech down below.
But the CliffsNotes version:
Biden's saying of the war in Afghanistan was never supposed
to be about nation building,
never supposed to be about making a democracy.
Was about preventing an attack on the Homeland.
Saying that "I inherited Trump's deal."
And he had to follow that agreement
or escalate the situation.
Saying that there was never going to be a good time
to withdraw U.S. forces,
but also saying it did unfold quicker than anticipated.
Saying the Afghan political leaders, they gave up.
The military collapsed without even trying to fight.
That Americans should not fight in a war that Afghan forces
are not willing to fight themselves.
Saying we gave them every tool we could.
We gave them every chance to determine their own future.
Saying that if the Afghan forces couldn't do it now,
after all the time and investment,
that there was no chance that more time on the ground
from U.S. boots was ever going to make a difference.
Adding that our global adversaries, Russia and China,
would love nothing more than the U.S.
keep flooding money into this forever war.
Also saying before it fell,
he urged the government to seek a settlement
with the Taliban, but the former president refused,
saying that they could fight, they could last.
Regarding why evacuations did not happen sooner,
among other things,
he said that part of the Afghan government
and its supporters discouraged them from a mass exodus,
saying that exodus would then trigger a crisis.
But ultimately Biden here saying
that he stands by his decision to withdraw the United States
from the country.
Also, I think that the U.S. can still carry out
counter-terror operations around the world
without constant true presence.
And warning that if the Taliban attack U.S. personnel
or those who helped us,
the U.S. response will be swift and forceful.
Yeah, ultimately with this story,
I do want to pass the question onto you.
What are your thoughts right now with everything
that we're seeing happening?
Whether it be what's happening on the ground,
the blame game, any and all things.
I'd love to hear from you in those comments down below.
Yeah, ultimately that is today's show.
Of course, as always, thank you for watching, liking,
subscribing,
all the ways that help us do what we do every day.
And of course my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in.
I love your faces and I'll see you tomorrow.