- Today, we're talking about Selena Gomez's plastic surgery
scandal and accusations, Sabrina Carpenter got a priest
removed for what he did, the amazing rescue of these miners, the truth about this Olympics controversy goes deeper than you'd expect, and I got a little secret for you at the end of today's show. We're talking about all
that and so much more on today's brand-new, extra
large "Philip DeFranco Show," your daily dive into the news. So just make sure you
hit that Like button, otherwise
I will punch you in the throat, and let's jump into it
starting with celebrities and plastic surgery, they go together like
peanut butter and jelly. And I mean, it's really gotten to a point where you have a lot of people assuming that celebrities just get
plastic surgery these days with the latest person
getting the spotlight being Selena Gomez, and that's because you
had outlets like Pop Base and Pop Tingz both
sharing new photos of her, with people then looking at those photos, and saying sh
e looks very
different, writing things like, "She showed a picture of Lily
Rose Deep to the surgeon. "Almost unrecognizable. "How many faces does this woman have? "Is it just me, or does her face change "every time she posts?" And with that, people
accusing her of getting things like a full facelift, or
getting work done on her cheeks, with tons of people making fun of her, saying that it looks botched, and joking that she deserves to look bad after the way she spoke
about Israel and Palestine.
But then at the same
time, you have, of course, people defending her,
noting that she has lupus, and the disease itself and
medications for it can cause weight fluctuations, right? And if you gain, or lose
weight in your face, you might look different, and so, you had people saying things like, "Y'all know you can hate Selena Gomez "without being weirdos
about her lupus, right? "And so, every time she loses weight, "everyone is going to
say that she has surgery "and has a new face, even when
we
all know she has lupus? "And the dopamine rush some of y'all get "when talking shit about someone
with an autoimmune disease "won't change your sad
realities, by the way." On top of that, there are photos of her in one of the same outfit, so taken seemingly on the
same day as those pictures, where her face doesn't seem as angular, and all this obviously coming 'cause we don't know
Selena's situation, right? She hasn't said one way, or the other, which, I mean, even that is a topic. I mean, accus
ations already
get thrown around all the time, but I mean at this stage of the internet, where engagement farming
is so fucking insane, I think it borders on weird
to actually expect celebrities to comment on every accusation, especially when we're talking about things like that aren't crimes. And also notably, all of this playing out as you had other big
names shutting down rumors about themselves, right? You had a plastic surgeon
posting a video about how he gave his famous
client a good jawli
ne only for the person to
get canceled a week later, suggesting in the hashtags
that it was a standup comedian, so many thought that it was Matt Rife, with Matt then actually commenting that lying about someone's
medical history is illegal, seemingly implying that it wasn't him, though whatever the situation, there's also a whole conversation about medical professionals
putting out shit like this. And on top of that, you
also had Jennifer Lawrence and Kylie Jenner having a conversation in "Inter
view" magazine, where there rumors about
their faces coming up, with the women noting
that a lot of the time it's just makeup that
creates these illusions, and Jennifer saying, "I
also think it's incredible "what makeup can do because
I work with Hung Vanngo, "who over-lines the lip, and
I call him a plastic surgeon, "because everybody in the last few months "since I've been working
with him is convinced "that I had eye surgery. "I'm like, 'I didn't have eye
surgery, I'm doing makeup.'" Jennifer
also saying
that simply growing up will change your face, explaining, "I lost baby weight in my face, "and my face changed because I'm aging. "Everybody thought I had a nose job, "and I'm like, 'I've
had the exact same nose. "'My cheeks got smaller. "'Thank you for bringing it up.'" Kylie also saying the same
thing happened to her, but also noting she had lip filler. Then people will also
use photos of her now and compare them to when
she was like a child, and there, Kylie saying, "I'll
see bef
ore and after photos "when I'm 12 years old versus 26, "and my eyebrows are filled
differently, I have contour on. "I'm like, 'How can you
compare my 12-year-old face "'and say I've gotten my jaw
shaved and eyelids removed?' "I'm like, 'What are we talking about?'" You know, with the overall
aspect of this story, or any of the individuals mentioned, I'd really love to know
your thoughts on this. And then Sabrina Carpenter
just got a priest in major, major trouble,
though, I just, in his defense,
this is the least
controversial, or disturbing way I've seen a priest get
national news attention in the past two decades. So let me explain, right? She filmed part of her
music video "Feather" in a church in Brooklyn, and in the video where she
either watches the deaths of, or just straight up murders
men who have wronged her, she then attends their funeral
at a church, then dancing up and down the aisle and on the altar in front of their
caskets, all while wearing maybe a not church
appropria
te outfit, right? She's got a short black tulle
dress and sky high heels, you know, an outfit
that maybe I could rock after a few more months
of not skipping leg day, and this video came out
just before Halloween, and a few days later the
Catholic News Agency reported that Bishop Robert Brennan
was appalled by the video, and planned to investigate
how the video was allowed to be filmed there, with
that claiming that the parish did not follow policy
regarding the filming on church property,
which
includes a review of the scenes and script, though notably here, the
parish apparently claimed that it was the production
company who misrepresented what the video's content would be. And actually with this, we have
an update with a new report from "The New York Times"
saying the monsignor who greenlit the video's
filming was taken off administrative duties at the church, though apparently this actually happened not long after the video came out. It's just reports are being released now. And yo
u know, for his part,
the priest has apologized to his community for any
distress this incident caused, but also adding that when
he looked Sabrina up, he found nothing alarming, and thought it would be a good opportunity to create a bond with young artists, and claiming that the final
edit of the funeral scene was not what he was
initially presented with, and right now it does
seem like his community is willing to forgive him, with one parishioner telling
"The New York Times," "The punishment d
id not fit the crime. "We still love him, we still back him," which I will say, I think,
shows the forgiveness that the church should have, even though, and I think the Catholic Church
would agree with me here, this is the worst thing to
happen in the Catholic Church in the past two to
three decades, no doubt, and it shows how dedicated they
are to their flock's safety. And then in huge international
news, India just announced that they've rescued
41 construction workers who were trapped
undergr
ound for over a week. Right, so these 41 men were working on the $1.5 billion Char Dham Highway, which is meant to connect
four Hindu pilgrimage sites and is one of Prime Minister
Modi's prized projects. However, while they we're
digging through the Himalayas, the tunnel collapsed and
trapped the men for 17 days, and while it's unclear right now what exactly caused the collapse, the mountainous region is
well known for earthquakes, floods, and landslides. And as far as how the Char Dham 41 manag
ed to stay alive so long, it's
because rescue crews drilled little passageways into the chamber, and pumped in oxygen, water, and food, and at the same time, crews
were working around the clock to open up a passage big
enough to get the men out. And while they tried a number of methods, the one that proved to
be the most effective, despite many snags along
the way, was just to drill through the debris that
was blocking the tunnel with eventually the workers connecting a three-foot-wide pipe to t
he outside. Now, with this, initial reports indicated that a wheeled stretcher was
sent to them to help them out, but according to the chief
minister of the local state, the workers actually preferred
to crawl out on their own, which also after all that
time was a good indication of their health with a minister adding that they were all healthy. And so, with this, we saw
crews and locals celebrating each time a man came out of the tunnel, although the rescued workers
understandably didn't stay l
ong as they were sent away in ambulances to make sure that they were actually fine, and reportedly, after this whole ordeal, the workers are getting
$1,200, which I know is not and does not sound like a lot, but at the same time, these workers are from India's poorest states
and working a low-paying job. So that $1,200 ends up actually
being equal to six months of the average salary in the state. Though also with this you
had the local chief minister reportedly asking the
company that these 41 w
orkers be allowed to go home and
spend time with their family for 15 days, 20 days, or even a month, though also, for me personally, I can't imagine being
in these men's shoes, 'cause, I mean, the
reality is they are likely going to have to go back to this job, and I know my soft Play-Doh ass would be completely traumatized, so the idea of going back
is almost unthinkable. But hey, for now, let's live in the now, and just be happy that everyone's okay. And then in US politics, we gotta talk abou
t Tommy Tuberville, 'cause Tommy is either
the biggest hypocrite, or the biggest idiot in Congress, and I know some of you are
thinking, "Why not both?" But I remind you, this is
Congress we're talking about. There's a lot of competition out there. I can't be just handing
out trophies, willy-nilly. George Santos compared himself to Mary Magdalene the other day. But specifically what I'm talking about with Tuberville today is this
clip of him that went viral where he's talking about
the $114 mill
ion requested by the Pentagon for its
diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs
for the next fiscal year, - $114 million on diversity training? You gotta be kidding me. You know, we've got the weakest military that we've had in probably
your and my lifetime. Now, we've got a lot of
good military people, but infiltrating our military
is all this wokeness, and it's coming from the
top, coming from Joe Biden, coming from Secretary of Defense Austin- - Which I know people are
gonna ha
ve their opinions on the military's gone woke, or whatever, but specifically with
saying that the US military is so weak, it is important to remind you what Tuberville is probably
hoping that you've not realized, or maybe forgotten. He is the man who is literally
single-handedly preventing the transfer of power in the
highest levels of the military by holding up hundreds and
hundreds of officer promotions, and his supposed reasoning being that he doesn't personally
like a Pentagon policy that gi
ves service members time off and travel reimbursements for abortions, or other reproductive care,
like fertility treatments. And so, he's gone full baby
boy blowout temper tantrum, insisting that until
that policy is reversed, he will block the Senate
from mass confirming military promotions, a
process that, key thing, for decades has typically been bipartisan and totally non-controversial. And he has continued this for months, despite widespread criticism, and that criticism also
coming from ma
ny members of Tuberville's own party, with tons of Republicans condemning him for jeopardizing military readiness and damaging the US military at a time when we're dealing with
multiple international crises, which is why with this
clip we saw a ton of people immediately hitting back at Tuberville, noting, one, he's never
actually served in the military, and two, saying that he's
a big, fat hypocrite, arguing that yes, the military
actually has been weakened, but it's literally
Tuberville who's d
oing that, and this has been echoed by people who served high up in the military and Republican lawmakers, with the likes of former
US Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman tweeting,
"I agree with you, Tuberville. "The US military is weakened,
but not by wokeness. "It is weakened by your attacks, "obstruction of military promotions, "and your serving our enemy's interests," but adding, "Despite, you,
the US military remains "the most powerful force in the world," as well as Republican Repres
entative
Adam Kinzinger writing, "Tuberville is an idiot, wrong, "and obviously doesn't
understand the absolute lethality "of the US military. "Come on, Alabama, do better." But also, here's the big thing, that brain-melting stupidity aside, we might actually see some
movement on the nominations that Tuberville is holding up soon, and that's because this past
weekend Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote a
letter to his colleagues where he outlined his agenda for December and made it clear
breaking
Tuberville's blockade would be a priority, and
saying they could achieve this by bringing a resolution to the floor that was already advanced by
the Senate Rules Committee and would circumvent
Tuberville by allowing the blocked promotions to be considered in large groups by the full Senate, and in order for that to happen, it would need to receive
at least 60 votes, so Republicans would need to get on board. But given all of the Republicans who have spoken out against Tuberville, it see
ms like that could actually happen. But could and should and
will are not the same thing, so we're gonna have to wait
and see how this plays out. And then y'all, this is
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Olympics and the International Olympic Committee is already fucking shit up, which honestly, I could be referring to a number of things there, but specifically what I
wanna talk about today is lacrosse, right? 'Cause just a few weeks ago,
the IOC approved lacrosse to be added to the 2028
roster, marking the first time in over a century that the sport will return as a medal event, and as a part of that
decision, the IOC also approved four other sports, baseball,
or softball for women, cricket, fl
ag football, and squash, and in the statement announcing the move, IOC President Thomas Bach argued, "The choice of these five
new sports is in line "with the American sports culture "and will showcase iconic
American sports to the world," and adding, "Their inclusion
will allow the Olympic movement "to engage with new
athlete and fan communities "in the US and globally," right? Each of the five sports the
committee added is intended to represent different
aspects of American culture, and lacros
se, which is widely considered the oldest team sport in North America, is meant to represent the
Indigenous tribes in North America that invented the sport. In fact, it's been
reported that organizers for the Los Angeles
Olympics and World Lacrosse, the sport's international federation, leaned heavily into the
Indigenous history of the sport to sell the IOC on the idea. But despite all that, the IOC is refusing to let a team of Indigenous players, whose ancestors literally
invented lacrosse, pla
y in the 2028 games, right? And the team in question is
the Haudenosaunee Nationals, formerly known as the Iroquois Nationals, and they represent the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which is a European-like
alliance representing the six Native American nations, whose territory included the
parts of Upstate New York and neighboring Canada where lacrosse was conceived in the 1100s. And according to historians,
Native American nations in the region would play with
as many as 100 to 1,000 men on fields t
hat could stretch for miles, and in games that could last for days, and the importance of the sport
in Native American culture really can't be understated here. I mean, it was played to prepare for war, to settle disputes, and as a social event, where tribes would get
together to play and trade. But the value of the game also went beyond just practical purposes. Many tribes also believed that lacrosse held medicinal powers, earning it the name the medicine game, a name that's actually still used
today by some Indigenous folks. And the true significance of
the sport for these cultures was perfectly illustrated by Neal Powless, a member of the Onondaga Nation and former professional player who said, "Lacrosse is part of that
story of our creation, "of our identity, of who we are. "So when we play the game, we always say "that there's a simultaneous
game going on in Sky World, "and our ancestors are playing with us," and adding, "Lacrosse isn't just a game. "It's a medicine, it heals. "Yo
u hear it time and
time again how the spirit "of the sport itself has healed people, "because they believe that it's medicine "that speaks to the spirit and the soul." Those sentiments and values hold true for many Indigenous people today, and lacrosse sticks are
actually still given to babies of those Native American nations at birth. But for many Indigenous folks, lacrosse also goes much
further than culture. It's a key element of
Indigenous sovereignty, right? Native Americans played
the game
for centuries before European colonists
settled the land. But like many aspects of
North American history, the modern game as we
know it today was shaped by European influences, and unfortunately, European
colonizers treated lacrosse much like they treated the
land of Native Americans. They saw it, they stole
it, they made it their own, and then largely excluded
the Indigenous people who came first, with the
modern game of lacrosse as it's played today first evolving outside of Native
American
tribes in Canada during the 1800s. And as the game became
increasingly popular, it spread to the US, and
eventually extended to other parts of the world outside North America, and over the course of the
20th century, clubs, leagues, and federations popped up all
over the world at all levels from pee-wee to college to professional. But the history of Native
American involvement in those lacrosse organizations
is spotty at best. I mean, it wasn't even until
1983 that Haudenosaunee formed their own
national team, right, then called Iroquois Nationals with the women's team being
founded the year later. When the leaders of the
Confederacy officially sanctioned the team, they hoped
that the move would help put them on track toward
national recognition, and five years later they got their wish when the international
federation that governs lacrosse admitted the team into the organization, allowing them to play
internationally as their own nation. While that might sound
like a small thing to s
ome, that was absolutely massive, right? 'Cause while the Confederacy
was once recognized as a nation, it has since
become an unrecognized state, and its independence is
mostly established in treaties with other nations, but
not by sports leagues, or international institutions. So having an international
sports league recognize them as a nation was a huge step for
the Confederacy to be viewed as a nation and sovereign entity. In fact, it wasn't even
until the team formed that that the Confederac
y designed its own flag and composed a national anthem, and that recognition also
spread internationally with members of the team traveling abroad using Haudenosaunee passports. Now, that said, they have
run into trouble sometimes, like when the UK refused
to honor the passports, and blocked both the
men's and women's teams from crossing their borders. The team was also initially excluded from last year's 2022 World Games, though they were eventually
allowed to compete after the US and Canadian
Olympic Committees gave them the sign-off,
and Ireland dropped out to give the team their slot. And despite the road bumps,
the team has been able to rise through the ranks to become
one of the best teams in the whole world, with
the men's team winning three bronze medals at
international championships, including one this year. Right now, they're actually ranked third out of nearly 50 international teams only falling behind the US and Canada. And so, all of that
brings us to the question why is
the IOC preventing the
third best men's lacrosse team in the world from competing
in the 2028 Olympics? And there, well, the
Haudenosaunee is not a member of the IOC, or the United Nations, and in a statement to the
media, the IOC explained, "Only national Olympic
committees recognized by the IOC "can enter teams for the Olympic Games." Now, notably the committee
did say that the US and Canada could include
athletes from the Confederacy in their respective teams
depending on their passports, but
notably, it's unclear how
many of those members have US, or Canadian passports, or if they would even
wanna do that, right? 'Cause again, their passports
are a major point of pride, and a symbol of their
pursuit of sovereignty. Back in 2010 when the UK
blocked the men's team from entering, the athletes refused the state department's offer to give them emergency US passports. But with all that said, there
is some hope here, right? There's still arguably a
lot of time for the IOC to change its mi
nd, or come
up with some kind of way for the team to compete, with spokespeople for both World Lacrosse
and the L.A. Games saying they will work to find what was referred to as creative solutions that also respect IOC rules,
and very notably here, there is in fact past
precedent for the IOC allowing exceptions to
the national team rules. For example, a handful of territories, including Puerto Rico and
Hong Kong, are contracted in some form to countries
through agreements that allow them to compe
te
with their own teams. And since 2016, a team of
refugees from numerous countries, like South Sudan and
Afghanistan, has also competed. In fact, there is even
specific historical precedent of Native American teams playing lacrosse in the Olympics, right? Back in the 1904 Olympics,
Canada sponsored a team of Native Americans from the Mohawk tribe, which notably is now part of
the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, to compete in lacrosse with
that year being the first time the sport was included in the
Olympics. The Mohawks actually won a bronze medal. So it really feels like they could super easily make this happen. But also with that, it is the
IOC that we're talking about, and for all it's preaching
about peace, and brotherhood, and honoring cultures,
it really doesn't seem like they're gonna walk the walk here. But for now, I'll wait to
see if they prove me wrong, and we'll just kind of have
to keep our fingers crossed that they decide to include the people who literally invented the game.
And then, you know, things
in Ukraine continue to be an absolute show as the
war slowly approaches its second anniversary
in just a few months with the biggest fighting being focused on the city of Avdiivka,
which is right on the doorstep of the breakaway Donetsk,
with Russia reportedly losing thousands of men trying to advance on the little town of 30,000, although I should say formerly of 30,000, with now just 1,350
people still living there, as most of the town is a ruin and the home of a gr
owing battle. There are also now reports that
Russian troops are advancing from many sides of the town,
although notably at the cost of the highest Russian
casualties since the war began, according to UK defense
intelligence, right? They're now averaging 931 losses per day, which is even higher than
the Battle of Bakhmut, which averaged 776 losses per day. But unfortunately, that doesn't mean that Russia's not gaining ground,
because they are in the region, but it's at the cost of human lives, a
nd that's definitely been taking its toll as that's been the strategy since day one, with AP and intelligence
officials just releasing intercepted phone calls
of Russian soldiers from the front lines
with most of these coming from the start of 2023
during the Battle of Bakhmut, but if this was the sentiment back then, it is probably worse now, right? In some calls, they're
pretty candid about the war, saying things like, "No
one fucking needs this. "This is simply genocide,
a fucking genocide."
Others also well-aware of the
fact that Ukraine was getting more and more advanced
arms from the West, saying, "This is just a huge testing ground, "where the whole world is
testing their weapons, fuck it, "and sizing up their dicks, that's all," and there were also many calls for people to just dodge the draft, with
one man telling his friends, "I'm telling you honestly, if
there's even a slight chance, "get exempted from service. "But if the summons comes for
mobilization, fuck it to hell. "Jo
in Wagner, or the contract
soldiers, or wherever you can. "God forbid the mobilized. "The mobilization are the lowest," with him then going on to explain that the contract soldiers at
least get some days of leave and get to bathe and launder
their clothes regularly. But for the regular soldiers,
often there's no leave for months on end, and no
regular way to clean themselves, or their clothes. And all in all, there is a sentiment that what would've already been a
miserable experience, you know,
getting sent to war, is
being made so much worse by the way that Russia
treats its drafted troops, though Russia isn't just stopping at treating its troops poorly. It's also now moved to
weaponize the migrants it has, but not with guns. Instead, it's being
accused of funneling them to the Finnish border to attempt them to have Finland take them on, right? I mean, before last
month, Finland would get less than one asylum seeker
a day from the border, but over this last
month, there's been 900, an
d it's actually gotten to a
point where Finland has closed every border crossing with
Russia, except one in the Arctic, and when Russia started using that one, Finland moved to close
every border crossing. So now if someone's seeking asylum, they need to use a maritime
port, or an airport. And unfortunately, the
people suffering the most in this exchange are the asylum seekers who are stuck in frozen Northern
Russia with few resources, and the border is set to remain
closed until December 13th.
And so, as this war grinds on, I'm sure that we're gonna continue to get developments like this, especially as everyone's
dealing with the various ways Russia's trying to strike back at every perceived diplomatic insult, but hey, follow to stay in the loop. And then, y'all, the holidays are here, so let the fantastic sponsor
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one meal kit today. And then y'all, Amazon has
officially conquered UPS and FedEx beating out
both in parcel volumes, making it the biggest delivery
business in the US, right? After f
lying by FedEx in
2020, they managed to deliver more packages last year than UPS, and this year they are on track to deliver nearly 6 billion packages
by the end of the year, where UPS projects only
around 5.3 billion. But also here is a key thing, and what we're gonna dive into, where it gets really interesting, Amazon's number, that count,
it's limited to packages they shipped from beginning to end, right, from warehouse to front door, whereas the UPS and FedEx numbers, those include packages
they hand off to the US Postal Service,
which on that note, I mean, the US Postal Service, of course, still has everyone beat by
far with the highest volume, handling hundreds of millions of packages from each of the other big three. You know, with everything
that we're seeing, it's really wild to think of
how recent all of this is. I mean, less than a decade
ago, no one really thought Amazon had a prayer of making it this far. I mean, back in 2016,
the then CEO of FedEx called the idea fantasti
cal, but we saw in the following
years Amazon building a massive delivery business, and now operating dozens of warehouses and managing nearly
280,000 drivers worldwide. However, even though
Amazon is handling billions and billions of their
own packages every year in bigger cities, they have
increasingly relied on the USPS for the last mile deliveries
in rural areas, right? And so, what that means is
that these local post offices are being absolutely flooded
with Amazon boxes and bags, like with
what we've seen
in the small Minnesota town of Bemidji, about 100 miles
south of the Canadian border, where notably we have seen
the local implementation of a deal between the USPS
and Amazon to deliver packages along with traditional
mail absolutely leaving their mail service in disarray. I mean, since November,
the Bemidji Post Office has been buried underneath
Amazon packages, and local postal workers
saying they have orders to deliver those first, which then results in
other mail, like chec
ks, credit card statements, and
health insurance documents getting backed up for days at
a time, which, hey, you know, I love Amazon Prime, getting some shit I randomly thought of a day later, but probably less important than someone getting their bills. And so, you see things like a
local engineer having to worry about getting checks for
tens of thousands of dollars from clients on time. Meanwhile, other businesses are worried about their own checks
making it to vendors on time, and even just r
esidents
are experiencing delays on their time-sensitive bills. But the ones getting hit the hardest are the local mail carriers, the ones actually delivering
the packages, right? Because many carriers in
rural areas like Bemidji use their personal vehicles
to deliver what used to be a couple dozen small
parcels and the paper mail on an eight, or nine-hour route. But now those same routes
are taking 10 to 12 hours with trucks jammed so full of packages that some drivers can barely
see out of the
windows, and this as they're not
getting any additional pay, their days off have been canceled, and the office has even banned sick leave for the rest of the year, which is a thing I didn't even know you could legally do. And so, in Bemidji, at least
five carriers have quit so far, and veteran mail carrier
Dennis Nelson organized a symbolic strike earlier this month outside the post office,
though an important note there, that is not a strike as we know it, and that's because the USPS
union act
ually signed away the right to strike over 100 years ago. But still, you had Nelson gathering people outside the post office on a
cold morning a couple weeks ago carrying signs expressing
their frustration. And so, you have carriers asking Congress to just grant postal workers
the right to even strike, with Nelson saying, "Without
the right to strike, "our union does not
have a dog in the fight. "We're considered an essential service. "If Amazon is our priority, "we don't see how delivering toil
et paper "and shoes for Amazon makes
us an essential service," and here's the important thing. This problem is not
limited to just Bemidji, or even just Minnesota. When the deal was first
negotiated back in 2013, it was only implemented in major cities like Los Angeles and New York City. But according to Nelson, as
the implementation spread to smaller towns, the local
post offices haven't gotten the necessary support, saying, "They've introduced Amazon packages "in quite a few other offices, "bu
t they've never put the
infrastructure, equipment, "or personnel in place
to handle the volume. "Those other offices
lost many, many carriers, "and even years later are still struggling "to get the job done," and another picketer in Bemidji saying, "Every small city that Amazon hits, "it just crushes their mail system. "It's too much to put on your workers, "and every time this place asks
for help, they get denied," which does seem to be the
case, with the mayor of Bemidji reaching out to local
members of Congress who said that their power
over the USPS is limited. Now, notably with this Senator
Tina Smith sent a letter to the US Postmaster General
regarding the reports that, quote, "Amazon is interfering
with timely deliveries "and stretching the agency's
already overburdened workers "too thin," and in that she
said, "As Postmaster General, "you are responsible for
ensuring that the Postal Service "meets its service standards, "and it is clear right now
that things are not working "as
they should. "Entering into contracts that
your system cannot support "is a breach of your responsibilities." But this notably as a Postal
Service spokesperson said that they are unaware of any significant
delivery issues in Bemidji. And so, now you have this
situation where mail carriers are pushing other rural
carriers across the country to rally their public around them as they fight against this
onslaught, with Nelson saying, "We need the public to
get behind us on this. "We're the face of
the
post office to the public. "We're the ones out in all
kinds of weather doing our jobs, "the ones the public sees every day," and adding, "I'm encouraging
all rural carriers "across the nation to do
exactly what we are doing. "Let the public, let the
people that you serve know "exactly what's going on." And with this, for their
part, Amazon has responded to the situation saying that
the Postal Service approves their forecast every week, and adding, "We work directly with the USPS to balance "
our delivery needs with
their available capacity. "We recognize that, like
us, other major retailers, "small businesses, and the
communities they serve, "rely on the local USPS to deliver, "which is why we'll
continue to collaborate "on package volume each
week and adjust as needed," though obviously it is one
thing for them to say that, and then another thing for that actually to be implemented in a proper way, because we can talk
about company statements and spokespeople, but when
the people o
n the ground actually doing the fucking job are saying, "Hey, this is crazy," we
should probably open our ears, ideally use our mouths, and maybe fuckers in
Congress will do something, I mean, other than just
find ways to fill their and their friends' wallets. And then let's talk about Yesterday Today, where we take a look
back at yesterday's show, we dive into those comments, and see what y'all had
to say about the news, starting with the news and
debate on is Disney dying, and there y'all sayi
ng things like, "The problem I have with Disney is that "they're just not bringing
in quality movies. "Why would I go see a Disney
film I know will be mediocre "over an actually interesting
film that's experimenting? "A good example is why
watch 'Wish' when this year "and last year have brought
about some of the best "animated movies that
are evolving the genre?" And with that people
responding, "It's the trailers. "'Elemental' was actually really good, "but the trailers made it seem like "a 'Ro
meo and Juliet' knockoff," and saying, "'Wish's' trailers
make it look like crap, too," which I will say about "Elemental." They did advertise that movie weird. Like I remember one trailer
focusing on a character that is kind of a throwaway character, though I am glad I ended up
bringing the kids to watch it, but it really was because I was like, "I gotta do some with the boys today, "and I don't know what." You also had others arguing,
"From my perspective, "the issue with Disney seems to be on
e, "or both of the following. "One, a lack of effective
advertising and marketing, "as I had literally no clue "about any of the movies mentioned, "at least one of which I would've
been interested in seeing, "and I'm chronically online, or two, "they are pushing out
too many movies too fast "and not putting enough time
and effort into each one "to make sure it will
be good and successful." I will also add to that and say I wonder how movies like
"The Marvels," for example, how much that was impa
cted
by the actors' strike, right? Because the actors weren't
able to promote that movie until practically the day it came out, so there was just nothing
in the lead up to it, though, also, right, that's conjecture. Like we have no idea if it
would've done just as bad, good, whatever, 'cause I will say, I ended up watching it in
theaters, and I was like, "Oh, actually, this is
a pretty good movie." Though I definitely will
say with Marvel stuff, I have, it's become more
of a pick and choose thin
g, rather than I have to watch everything, and for me personally,
I think that's because some of the series have really fell flat, though I am not including "Loki" in that. Both seasons of "Loki,"
I had a lot of fun, and then I will say the
other thing that got a lot of attention and
conversation in the comments, and I was happy to see
that, was the apple story, which I will say I found
fucking fascinating. I was like, "I really
wish this could've been "the lead story," but apples, you know, not
the the most sexy story,
but it was so fascinating, and I left some of y'all
even comments like, "The apple story made me teary eyed. "Growing up with food insecurity "and working as an adult
with the unhoused community, "I cannot tell you how groundbreaking "I want this surplus initiative
to be for the sake of kids "like I was and their families," as well as, "As a food insecure
family in West Virginia, "we have absolutely been
benefiting from the apple abundance "at our local food banks. "I d
idn't understand why
it was happening until now, "but I was so grateful to get "bushels of apples every single week. "Our household includes a pregnant person, "who's been craving apples like crazy, "and our dog absolutely
loves the homemade Kongs "that we've been able to
make from a cored apple "and all natural peanut butter. "And this blessing has
been so much healthier "than some of the other
foods that we can afford, "not to mention that it's
a quick and easy snack "when you're too exhausted
from working all day "to even try to cook something," to which I will say my favorite
response to that comment, 'cause dad jokes, "Wow,
with so many apples, "there can't be a doctor within
miles from where you live." I hate that that made me laugh, but I will say in general
with the comments, it was so fascinating
to see how many people are actually being impacted by
a story that we just covered, and hopefully, you know,
we can provide a bigger and bigger spotlight on all
the good that's provid
ed, and we see more of it in the future. 'Cause, I mean, it is so
atrocious that we can have people that are, you know, so food insecure and at the same time
have so much food waste. It is a math problem that
currently makes no sense, and we should try to remedy that, but that is where your daily dive into the news is gonna end. Now, as promised for your
secret video of the day, I got you covered right here. You can click, or tap to watch that, or I got a link in the description. But of course,
with that said, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco,
you've just been Phil-ed in, I love yo faces, and I'll see
you right back here tomorrow to break down more news.
Comments
I remember how people body shamed Christina Applegate when the final season of Dead to Me came out. They mocked her weight gain and accused her of having botched plastic surgery. She’d already publicly announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and that the illness drastically changed her body and face. People still continued to shame her, even accusing her of lying about her MS. People need to mind their own business.
The Selena Gomez situation really is a reminder that you can never please some people. I’m not even a huge Selena Gomez fan but seeing how people mocked her for her weight gain from meds that literally keep her alive to now shaming her for having a slimmer face is just insanity. No one should be commenting on other’s bodies for any reason but the contradictions really show these people want any reason to hate and bully.
As someone who’s mother works in the USPS, hearing about the Amazon story connects so many dots. I can’t count how many times I’ve spoken with my mother about work where she would finish her work in time but be forced to go back out and help her coworkers. It was always “this route isn’t finished.” or “(Person’s name) wasn’t moving fast enough.” Sometimes it would mean an extra hour, sometimes it meant 4-5. And it doesn’t matter the conditions either. 100 degrees and humid. A literal blizzard. It’s no wonder they are so understaffed.
Im Irish and I never heard about the Irish team giving up their spot so Haudenosaunee could play. It absolutely blew my mind but also didn't surprise me. Our team represented better Ireland by not playing more than they could have by playing because that was a move that respected both the Native and our own histories. What we learn in school history that seems to stay in our minds as adults when it comes to questions of injustice and fairness. Absolute legends.
Being part of the Haudenosaunee, Mohawk nation, it makes me incredibly happy that Phil is bringing a spotlight to our people, though I wish it was under positive circumstances. Indigenous peoples and our battles for sovereignty and even just survival is so often overlooked because people think we’re gone. Nyá:weh Phil, (thank you), you’re a true ally. -[]-[]-/\-[]-[]-
Have good day ❤😍🌹
The Selena Gomez situation is yet another sad reminder that tons of people who claim to be "against body shaming" suddenly become okay with it as long as it happens to people they don't like and/or allows them to indulge in some thinly-veiled ableism.
My mom has been a mail delivery worker for the USPS for 15+ years. She delivers on a rural route using her personal vehicle. Every holiday season she tells me how inundated with amazon packages the post office gets. She'll make multiple trips a day back to the post office to refill her vehicle with packages stacked as high as she can and work until after dark to get them all out, and she's dealing with preparing for her own holidays on top of that. She can't even enjoy those holiday days off because she knows that the next day is going to be a huge backlog of packages that she'll have to work double to get out. She has three different vehicles that my dad constantly has to work on because the miles are wearing them out so fast. It kills me that she has to work this hard for such little pay so that people can get their fancy toys delivered in 48 hours, and it just gets worse every year.
wow i’m not in touch with sports but it still seems wild to have known next to nothing about the history of lacrosse until this story. feels incredibly unfair that the Haudenosaunee team is being blocked, especially as original creators of the game and for being so highly ranked. love ireland’s team defending them in 2020, even if they obviously shouldn’t have had to.
Thank you for covering the USPS situation Phil. I’m a current rural mail carrier and it is absolutely crazy this year. Some of us are taking 1-3 extra trips per day for package deliveries. It seems more and more like we’re an Amazon delivery service that carries mail on the side. Plus, it’s extremely hard to recruit and retain new carriers because of how bad a job it is right now.
It’s quite historically significant that the Irish lacrosse team dropped out so the Indigenous team could compete. The love those two cultures have for each other is amazing.
Both of my parents work as mail carriers for Canada Post, and I can tell you that the amount of mail around the holidays is HELLISH. Like, when December rolls around they physically don’t have any more space at their unit to store the parcels before they can be sorted and delivered kinds of insane volume. My Dad chooses to work Sundays during the holiday season to keep the mail-buildup over the weekend from getting quite as soul-crushing as it would otherwise be on Monday. Everyone, remember to be nice to your postal workers!
I've always thought of lacrosse as the "rich private school kid" sport. I have never heard of the Native American roots of the game, which makes me really sad as one of my good childhood friends was Native. I really got an appreciation of their culture, and the way it is so commonly swept under the rug, even in 2023, is a bit mind-blowing.
So glad to hear about the 41 workers in India who were brought out of the tunnels safely after being trapped. After the awful Pike River mine disaster here in New Zealand back in 2010, where we lost 29 lives, it was a relief to hear that it was a successful rescue, and not recovery, operation.
Thank you for covering the Lacrosse story Phil. So important to give this a voice.
As a Rural Carrier I appreciate you talking about what we're going through with the insane amount of amazon packages we're being flooded with. A lot of what you covered and what was said about the terrible conditions we have are true. Our post office gets so filled to the brim with packages everywhere we barely have room to walk around. Ever since Thanksgiving week we've been getting at least 2 amazon trucks coming every single day and the 2nd one always comes too late in the morning so we've been having to delay them over and over again and it feels like we'll never catch up like this until after Christmas maybe. There's so many things I could touch on how absolutely terrible everything is and has been since I've been working for them but it would be too long for most people to read. I would love it if people who are ordering packages can try to be patient and understand that most of us carriers are doing what we can.
The story of the Native Americian team and larcosse got me. The second you said the Irish team dropped out and forfeited their spot so the Haudenosaunee could play made me smile. The native Americans helped the Irish out in their time of need and they never forgot. Any chance they have to pay them back they do. The Irish have provided more assistance to the native American nations then our own American government in recent years. Makes me sad to be an American but proud to have had my family roots in Ireland.
I appreciate you doing the story on the USPS. I have been a carrier for over twelve years and this is the worst working environment I have experienced. They write us up for using sick leave and have been denying legitimate Fmla requests. Management doesn’t care if we are sick or tired and try to push us to deliver all our packages in an eight hour shift. Keep up the good work Phil!
The fact that we have not improved our mailing service since the introduction of the highway system is a major contributing factor. I hate what Congress has done to USPS. At one point USPS was going to be the service of the people by extending their service to offer things like email, banking, and other essential services that most businesses fail to offer in rural communities. When you tell me that Amazon is harming rural communities because of Congress, of course this has been happening for decades now. Amazon just accelerated the problem
I'm glad you talked about USPS. In my city the workers start at 5 or 6AM and they don't finish until 10 PM or midnight due to the high volume of packages and regular mail they have to deliver. I would see them every day and they would say they especially hate the holidays for the reason they hardly have any time for themselves