Russell Brand Found GUILTY Of Rape and Denied Bail & EDP445 Finally Arrested

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Because with home repairs, it's usually less if and more when and or how many at the same time. And HomeServe has been helping homeowners for more than 20 years and serves millions of customers across North America. Or because home repairs, they're annoying enough before you add, okay, now who do I call to the situation? Join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe, right? For 50% less your first year, go to homeserve.com/defranco. That's homeserve.com/defranco or scan that code for 50% less. Savings compared to renewal price, void in California and Florida. EDP 445 was finally arrested on four felony sex crimes and the how and why is crazy and exposes a lot. Russell Brand was just found guilty of rape, taken into custody and is now facing years and years in jail. And as Trump's midterm wipeout has Republicans turning on him, we dive into an even bigger problem that's coming up for them. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show. You daily dive into the news starting with this. What a vibe shift there's been over the last 48 to 72 hours. Jump timelines, Texas is blue. It feels like accountability might be back on the menu and YouTuber EDP 445 AKA Bryant Moreland has now been arrested and charged with multiple felony sex crimes in California after admitting in a documentary that he had tried to meet up with a 13 year old girl for sex. Because a lot of people, they became familiar with Moreland because he was a major YouTuber who built up his following and videos of himself ranting, mostly about the Philadelphia Eagles. But then back in 2021, he allegedly exchanged explicit messages and planned to meet up with someone that he believed was a 13 year old girl in Bakersfield, California. But then it turned out that the whole thing was a sting operation by Predator Poachers, which is a civilian sting group run by a guy by the name of Alex Rosen that goes after adults who are allegedly seeking sexual activities with minors. And actually that incident became known as the Cupcake Sting because when he arrived at a Bakersfield apartment building to meet a supposed 13 year old girl, he told the camera crew that confronted him that he was just there to pick up a cupcake. - Well, I was actually coming out here to pick up a cupcake and then go back home. - And then after that, you saw his YouTube channels getting shut down, the Kern County Sheriff's Office investigated the incident, but ultimately no charges were filed. - I think that you had some reports noting that there were problems with the civilian sting operation, evidence handling and cooperation with investigating officers. But this also wasn't the first time that these kinds of accusations had come out against Moreland. Right back in 2020, he had a YouTuber by the name of Cold Raven posting a video that showed tons of screenshots and chat logs of Moreland flirting with multiple girls that he knew were underage. Right with Cold Raven also setting up a decoy of a fake 17 year old girl that Moreland fell for, setting the account explicit messages and then threatening them if he found the messages online. Right, and then more recently back in August, YouTube creator Mike Klum posted a documentary titled, Mind of EDP 445. And that took a deeper look at Moreland's history, the 2021 sting and his life since. But a key thing here, the documentary also outlined new allegations by a girl named Kayla Hoskins. Right, and she claimed that in 2023, when she was 15 years old, Moreland DM'ed her on Instagram and started sending her sexually explicit photos, videos and messages. Saying he wanted to take her virginity and fly her to Las Vegas to see him for her 16th birthday and also threatening to kill her if she said anything. And while they were messaging, Kayla connected with YouTuber Judion. Right, who set up a sting with her to catch Moreland, but he backed out and so Judion went off and went on to confront him alone, but nothing really came from it. Also, I should note here, this is an important aside. You have Kayla saying that she feels like she was exploited by Judion because he encouraged her to keep talking to Moreland when she wanted to stop. - I feel like I was his puppet because I was just like kind of doing the things he demanded me to do. - Though Judion has denied that, claiming that he always made sure that she was okay every time they talked, said he told her not to send any explicit messages or pictures and he argued that she wanted to continue with the sting. But the biggest thing about this documentary is that Moreland literally admitted to the allegations from both the 2020 sting and Kayla's interview. Right, as part of the movie, Moreland was actually interviewed by Chris Hansen of "To Catch a Predator" fame. And he asked him what he thought was gonna happen when he went to that apartment building in Bakersfield back in 2021. And he did not try the cupcake excuse this time. - I showed up to that location that day trying to obviously meet up with an underage girl. You know what I mean? And I guess you can say trying to have sex. I don't know. - You trying to have sex with a 13 year old girl? - For the most part, yup. - Or with him admitting to sending texts and explicit pictures to a person that he thought was a 13 year old girl and acknowledging that he knew it was illegal. - You sent her pictures of your penis? - Yeah. - It's wrong. - Right, I know. - It's illegal. Had Alex Rosen not botched this, you might be in prison right now. - Thank God he didn't. - I knew that it was wrong. I knew that it was something that was highly illegal that shouldn't be done, you know? So I was clearly aware of the law and I was clearly aware of what I was doing. - And he went hands in arguing that the only reason that Moreland wasn't in jail was that the whole operation was botched from the get-go. Claiming that because the predator poachers team messaged Moreland first as a decoy 13 year old girl, the case was essentially unprosecutable. Right, and then regarding Kayla, you had Moreland just straight up admitting that the allegations were true. - I sent her a video of myself masturbating. Well, I mean the fact that she asked for the. Because in the moment, bro, you don't care. You really don't. - And again, when pressed by the documentary's director, he acknowledges that he knows what he did was illegal. - So you committed another crime you got caught, but yet got lucky again. - Yeah, it's a crime, got lucky again. Me personally, I feel like the reason why they didn't do anything is because I feel like, you know, God sees all, right? He sees my mistakes. Obviously I've been punished by him. Others have been punished. I've been punished by him and stuff. - But apparently God was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't, don't say shit I didn't say. Because you now have the Kern County DA hitting him with four different felony sex crimes related to the 2021 sting. Attempting to commit lewd acts upon a child, meeting minor for lewd purposes, contacting a minor with intent to commit sexual offense, and distributing or showing pornography to a minor. Anyway, the DA's office saying that they had reviewed the incident before, but faced, quote, "significant challenges in pursuing prosecution, particularly due to the lack of cooperation from the reporting parties." But then going on to say that the investigation was reopened after the comment was made by the DA. What are the comments Moreland made in this documentary explaining that the new evidence met the threshold for filing criminal charges? And so then with all this, you had Gideon posting a video of Moreland getting arrested outside of a dialysis center in Las Vegas. And you had him claiming in another video that he had flown to Nevada to track Moreland after a source tipped him off about the incoming charges. - I've been chilling here for the last three days. I've had 24/7 surveillance on him, seeing everywhere that he went. So today he went to the dialysis center. We were there. I called the non-emergency number. I let them know, hey, this dude has a felony warrant, extradition for back to California. He's right here, right now. We waited. EDP walked out the dialysis center, boom. They got him, y'all. - And so as far as what happens from here, you had the Kern County DA saying that an arraignment hearing will be scheduled once he has successfully extradited. And so for now, we're gonna have to wait to see how things develop. And in the meantime, I'd love to know your thoughts and reactions here, 'cause this seems to be a long time coming. And the way that we've gotten to this point has been a wild one. But then to jump from one scumbag to another, we gotta talk about how Russell Brand, right? Because you just had Russell Brand being convicted of multiple sex crimes in the UK, and he could potentially face up to life in prison. Right, because he's been on trial in London for a few weeks now, facing three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault, all of which he pleaded not guilty to. But then this morning, you had a jury finding him guilty on one of the rape counts, and the three sexual assault counts, and then acquitting him on the others. With a successful rape conviction, coming from a case in 2009, where a woman said that he anally raped her at his home. And then as far as the sexual assault ones, that included one, a woman who said that Brand pinned her to a wall, kissed her, and groped her in front of his entourage in 2005. Two, a claim from 2009, where a woman said that they were working on an ad together when he demanded a massage, and then pressed his face into her groin. And three, there was a situation where he sexually assaulted a woman at a party in 2004, though he was also cleared of orally raping that woman. And so with all that, you had Russell Brand being taken into custody while awaiting his sentencing, which will come down on Monday. And the maximum sentence for rape under British sentencing guidelines is life imprisonment, though you did have the New York Times saying a more typical term is four to 19 years. But also a very big thing here is that each sexual assault count also carries a maximum of up to 10 years each. And with this, something I note that happened is because Brand has young kids, you had the judge saying, "I regret the hardship caused to the children, of course, "but the hardship has been caused "by serious criminal offending by their father." And you had Brand taking the stand saying that these claims, they've upended his life and left him without a single friend willing to testify on his behalf. With him saying that he had became obsessed with sex and used his fame and success to get sex, but still maintained that his encounters were consensual. But again, the jury, they did not see it that way, and they still convicted him on four counts with the Crown Prosecution Service also thanking the women for coming forward and adding, "This case sends a clear message that fame and status "do not change the fundamental issue of consent." Saying, "We hope today's convictions "give other victims of sexual offending "the confidence to come forward when they are ready, "no matter who the offender is "or how long ago the offense took place." And that last part was very crucial to this case because, as you may have noticed, he was convicted on charges stemming from around two decades ago. But the women, they didn't report the offenses at the time, and instead, they came forward after a documentary accusing Brand of abuse and misconduct aired a few years ago. And because of this, you had Brand's lawyer arguing that the accusers were, in his words, "thoroughly contaminated by the program "and only came forward "because the documentary invited them to." And actually, when leaving the court, according to The Hollywood Reporter, his lawyer got into a heated exchange with one of the reporters who was part of the documentary, telling her, quote, "I hope you're pleased with yourself." And then, when she responded that she was pleased that justice had been done, Brand's lawyer said, "Well, it wasn't. "You fucked it. "Congratulations." And actually, connected to that in his closing arguments, you had him defending Brand, saying that he was not a psychopath and, quote, "It is not criminal to treat women unkindly "before, during, or after sex," saying, "It is not, I am afraid, criminal to be disrespectful "or rude or to act like a crazy idiot." And also claiming that Brand, quote, "had an immense amount of sex and none of it was unwanted." and asking disgusting, distasteful, immoral, who cares? It's irrelevant to your consideration." But then also as far as the Crown Prosecution Service, they noted that there is no right way to respond to sexual offending and no typical timeframe for reporting it, saying prosecutions of sexual offenses can take place no matter how much time has passed. But the prosecutor also adding that these women had nothing to gain by accusing Brand of misconduct and further painting Brand as a predator, claiming that to him, women as a whole were disposable. They didn't matter to him, saying he didn't even need to know their names. They were just a means to an end. I mean, he didn't listen when they said no, he didn't stop. He didn't care. He kept on going until he achieved his ultimate aim. Right, and then also to pull back a bit, this case, it has kind of a political tilt to it. Because even though years ago, Brand was known as a comedian, in more recent years, he's taken a turn, posting videos about conspiracies, wellness, maha talking points, religion, right, aligning himself with certain types of people. And when allegations were first mounting against him, you actually had people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. coming to his defense. But for now, we'll wait to see what happens with the sentencing on Monday, and there could be even more legal challenges coming his way. Right, and then there's even more we gotta dive into in just a minute after a quick break with our sponsor. You know, my dogs are fully part of the family, which means they get love, attention, and apparently a level of food scrutiny I barely give myself. And that's why I like today's sponsor, Sundays for Dogs, right? The dog food that ticks all my boxes. It's real dog food made with human grade ingredients, including real meat, organs, and super foods, and my dogs love it. 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But then, Devin, right back into your news. It turns out that when you start a war that no one wants, and you spend all your time talking about men's butts and Nicki Minaj's butt and ballroom projects, you get fucked in the midterms. I did not mean to hit that word that hard. That's just the energy I'm feeling right now. But that's because on Tuesday, you had Republicans having their worst loss since the post Watergate election of 1974. Donald Trump is such a bad president, we as Americans have been learning so much about geography and history. And in the past day and a half, you've seen Republicans busy playing the blame game. We've had Trump saying that it's the candidate's fault and telling every news outlet the biggest issue is that I wasn't on the ballot, even though there are viral hype edits showing he kept saying, "Hey, vote like I'm on the ballot." And of course, that's while most of his own party, even people who were on the MAGA train for a very, very long time are going, "Yeah, no, we lost because you're a terrible fucking president." - Was it the execution of the Iran war? Yes. Was it tariffs? Yes. Was it the reflecting pool? Yes. Was it truth social statements and threats against the Fed chair and well-publicized ICE controversies? Yes. And dumb memes? Yes. And yes. And also yes. And also yes. It was all the things. Three big things have happened since President Trump 2.0 took office. Unaffordability, chaos, corruption. - Instead of talking about ballrooms or Sean Hannity's paycheck or the asses of various Republican politicians, our leaders are supposed to empathize, or at least pretend to empathize, with what life is like for average Americans. - They're going to have to learn how to win without daddy on the ballot. And to find their ethical center and not just be puppets of Trump's. - And as we talked about before, you even had JD Vance writing that novel-length tweet about how Republicans lost because of the war and the cost of living. And perhaps for once, a lot of these insufferable people, they're all right. Because after lying and telling everyone that he was the anti-war candidate, Trump's war in Iran, it's gotten more than 20 US service members killed. It's cost US taxpayers at least more than $47 billion and it sent gas prices up 40%. And while he's been publicly defending the war and calling the resulting high gas prices short-term pain for long-term gain and talking about the affordability crisis being a hoax. Right, how can it be real if all my rich friends are making money from the stock market and the stock market is the only indicator of what's happening with the economy and not people actually buying shit at the grocery store or being able to? Despite all that, reportedly his advisors have been warning him for several months that it could hurt Republicans in the midterms. You even had a White House senior official telling Reuters that six weeks before the election, internal polling warned that Republicans were going to lose big, but Trump, he just refused to change course on Iran. Or that officials saying, ultimately, he just didn't care. He refused to listen to anyone. And so it ends up not being a secret that the war is a key piece to the brutal loss for the Republicans in large part because of its connection to the affordability crisis. Though, of course, by no means was that the only terrible move that Trump has made in his second term so far. You also have the huge issue of immigration and specifically the aggressive enforcement operations that led to the shooting of two innocent American citizens in Minnesota last winter, Renee Good and Alex Preddy, on top of so many other situations. Or with many, including some who had voted for Trump, finding that very, very disturbing and just way too extreme. And apparently you've had Trump flip-flopping on immigration throughout the years. Sometimes saying that he wanted a bigger crackdown, but at other times deciding, hey, this has gone too far when reportedly Melania complained about people she knew getting deported. And so with these very significant bubbling tensions over the Iran war, immigration, and affordability leading up to the midterms, Trump, he didn't exactly rush to do damage control. Instead, because this is Trump we're talking about, he managed to make matters even worse for his party in an impressive number of ways. With maybe one of the biggest being pushing out Republican candidates in Senate races who could have had a better shot at winning in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and more. Because rather than being good at your job or candidate viability, he preferred candidates who were loyal to him. And well, post-November 3rd, we see how that worked out for him. When his aides, they told him back in the spring and summer that voters were very concerned specifically about his handling on affordability, he ignored them, right? He called the polling fake. And instead of focusing on the actual issues in the weeks leading up to the election, you had Trump mostly making headlines for yapping about the White House ballroom and renovations and for admiring John Husted's ass, which maybe got some laughs in the room, but it just baffled and frustrated a lot of voters. And on top of all that, he apparently fucked up the Republicans' initial midterm strategy that revolved around Zoran Mamdani. Because according to the Wall Street Journal, their whole brilliant idea was to make Mayor Mamdani the scary socialist bad guy who represented an out-of-touch party. And they were gonna have their Republican House candidates using him in their messaging. But then one, Mamdani has actually been implementing very, very successful, positive, liked policies. And two, apparently Trump has like this little schoolgirl crush on Mamdani. He just couldn't resist when the mayor invited him to meet in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly. We even had the journal describing House Republicans as apoplectic over that meeting, right? Because those clips, the Trump and Mamdani looking friendly, they didn't do anything good for their candidates trying to run on an anti-Mamdani message. You even had Mike Johnson calling the Gracie Mansion meeting an unforced error on Trump's part. And actually, yesterday, you had Mamdani weighing in on Republicans' crushed dreams of making him the villain. - When you were first elected, a lot of Republicans were giddy. They thought you could make you something of a boogeyman they could use to hurt Democrats across the country. How do you think that went? - Well, I didn't see much of myself in a lot of the ads across the country. And I think what Republicans have found is that their agenda of betraying working class Americans is one that is growing tired with many across the country. - So yeah, there's a situation where, you know, people are apparently tired of this administration and Trump, he's apparently tired of making an effort or at least making the kind of effort that would help his candidates. And really, it kind of just felt like he didn't give a damn about these midterms. With him seeming more concerned or at least engaged with his own agenda or his own thoughts than helping his party. Which maybe is connected to why he had an uncharacteristically chill response to the blue nuke that dropped on Tuesday. Saying that he's accepting the results and it's probably bullshit, but saying that he was willing to work with Democrats. And then again, he seemed to just want to talk about construction. But ultimately, where we are right now is Trump's got two years of what many see as a lame duck presidency. And there are a lot of questions about how he's going to approach things. And actually, you already have some Republican allies and strategists calling on him to shake up the White House personnel and to change course on the deeply unpopular Iran war and tariffs. Come January, because Democrats will have the power to block Trump's legislation and investigate his administration, the fear is that he might double down on his unpopular agenda and just try to use executive authority to the fullest extent. But at least today, it is hard to say exactly how this is going to play out, because you do have Trump saying that he's willing to work with the Democrats while also saying that he'll just veto everything. Something that did stand out is you had Senator Bernie Sanders, for one, actually expressing an optimistic outlook on dealing with Trump for the next two years. - If Trump wants to veto it, that is his constitutional right. I'm not so sure, by the way, that he will, because Medicare for all is extremely popular. Trump can do what he wants. But Trump is a funny guy. You know, I don't think he's all that ideological. I think he's a politician, and I'm not so sure that he will react all that negatively to a progressive agenda, believe it or not. - But then, taking a step away from the midterms and what's to come, I think we should talk about the news that despite an attorney general investigation calling the entire process into question, Indiana just executed a man using lethal injection, and it's actually only the first of three scheduled for today, because you have a lot of people talking about Jeffrey Weisheit right now. And he was sentenced to death by a jury back in 2013 for murdering his girlfriend's children, Caleb and Alyssa Lynch, who were five and eight years old. While their mom was at work and he was babysitting, prosecutors say that Weisheit bound and gagged Caleb, locked Alyssa in a closet, and set the house on fire using railroad flares before fleeing across state lines. And so those kids, they died of smoke inhalation, and in his 13 years on death row, Weisheit has appealed his conviction several times, including on the grounds of ineffective counsel, and even requesting the Supreme Court review his case, but all of those things got shut down. And you've had the sand and the hourglass continuing to fall, but in the days leading up to his scheduled execution, we saw what some described as a last minute scramble. If not to save his life, at least stop his death. Because it turns out there might be some really sketchy shit happening with the pharmacy that supplies the state with the pentobarbital that it uses for lethal injections. And the way that we found out about all this is actually kind of crazy, because Indiana state law usually protects the identities of participants, pharmacies, and suppliers involving carrying out executions. That stuff's usually kept on the DL, 'cause you know, capital punishment's kind of controversial. And the way that's usually handled is by redacting the hell out of any and all paperwork affiliated with the purchase that the state makes from these pharmacies. Except Weisheit's attorneys were able to match an invoice saying that the state paid $275,000 for six vials of pentobarbital to another from a year before for the same amount. And a quick side note, that is an insane price tag, right? The average vial commercially made injectable pentobarbital reportedly goes for somewhere between 15 to $16,000. These guys are making some money. Right, but then also that second invoice had an address that led Wise Heights' legal team back to an Indianapolis-based pharmacy called Farmanique, which is currently under investigation by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and the state's board of pharmacy. And it has been for over a year. You had Rokita's office filing complaints against Farmanique, putting their license on probation, finding even more violations, and it's even gearing up to potentially suspend their license altogether next week. And you're not just looking at little violations. According to state disciplinary records, the allegations include pharmacy staff being unqualified, working in insecure and contaminated environments, and the pharmacy generally mishandling drugs. Right, inspections found shelves full of random unlabeled bottles, as well as bottles upon bottles of expired drugs. And according to an FDA inspection report from March of this year, quote, "The facility is not maintained in a good state of repair, "creating unsanitary conditions, "whereby drug products may be contaminated with filth." And so in late September, after the board of pharmacy concluded Farmanique had violated their probation, they demanded that the company come and defend itself before the board against possible license suspension. And even worse, sanctions. Except, according to Wiseheight's legal team, the day after the board's demands came down, the department of correction paid Farmanique that $275,000 for six vials of pentobarbital that we talked about. And then you had the pharmacy's legal team requesting their disciplinary hearing be postponed until November 9th, a few days after Wiseheight's execution. And so you had Wiseheight's attorney writing a letter to the board of pharmacy accusing Farmanique of, quote, "Unsettling an unethical conduct regarding dealings "with the Indiana Department of Corrections "to avoid this board's disciplinary action "just long enough so it could complete a sale "at an outrageously high markup in time "for Mr. Wiseheight's execution." And so it's actually because of Wiseheight and this whole situation that this has come to light. Right, Wiseheight's legal team actually laid out all this dirty laundry when they filed to halt his execution, saying, "Laid bare, the apparent conduct here "is patently unworthy of the public's confidence "in the solemn exercise of state power "in taking a human being's life in the name of the people." Now, it is worth mentioning that the state has not confirmed anything about the supplier of their lethal injection drugs, but they did defend the process with a spokesperson saying, "The Department of Corrections is in compliance "with Indiana laws that govern the confidential procurement "of drugs utilized to carry out a court order "at execution." And adding, "We remain confident in our process "and our ability to humanely carry out "the lawfully imposed sentence "for the murders of two innocent children." But then also with that, right, it's not just the pharmacy and the legal aspect there. You had Wiseheight's legal team pointing to the recently botched execution of Krista Pike in Tennessee, saying that Indiana's lethal injection protocol compares, quote, "unfavorably to Tennessee's." And if something like that happened in Tennessee, then catastrophic failures are even more likely in Indiana. You even saw Alyssa and Caleb's father, Steven Lynch, separately writing Governor Mike Braun to request a halt to Wiseheight's execution, saying, "I request that Jeffrey Wiseheight receive life in prison "without eligibility for parole." And adding, "With the remaining years of his life, "he would be able to continue seeking the Lord's forgiveness "and redemption for his action." Which is similar to what he said to the parole board when Wiseheight appeared before them for a clemency hearing last month. Though very importantly, Lisa, the kid's mom, different story. You had her asking the board to uphold the death sentence and keep the focus on her children, saying, "Every birthday, every holiday, every landmark moment "is marked by their agonizing absence. "Time passes, but the weight of losing them never fades." And so you had the parole board ultimately recommending against clemency, Braun agreed, and even with this news about the pharmacy, that didn't change his mind. But Wiseheight's legal team, they kept fighting, filing an emergency stay of execution with the state Supreme Court less than 12 hours before he was scheduled to die. And with that, citing all the insanity with the pharmacy, its potentially questionable handling of the drugs, the pending license revocation, and even the crazy markup that it was selling for. But that also ended up not being enough, with the court ruling three to two that the execution would go forward as planned. You had Jeffrey Wiseheight being put to death via lethal injection at midnight and declared dead at 12:45 this morning. And again, this is just one of three executions scheduled for today. Though not just in Indiana, right? In Florida, they're scheduled to execute Jesse Guardardo, and in Alabama, there's Michael Taylor. But also for a lot of people, the important thing about this story isn't the death penalty itself, right? Whether this guy should die or not. Though obviously there are a lot of feelings about capital punishment, but this is specifically about the system that we have, and is it being used every day in a way that makes sense? Is it broken? Are people wondering, does it make sense that a pharmacy on the brink of losing its licenses pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars of state money? And you've got people wondering, how long has this been happening? Is this happening somewhere else? If so, how many places? And also if this is what we're finding when you scratch a surface, what else is going on? But for now, you know, we're gonna have to see how the investigation plays out, and we'll see if we get any answers. Right, and then there's even more we gotta dive into in just a minute after another quick break with our sponsor. So hey, thanks to today's sponsor, Rocket Money. I've been using them for years because keeping track of where my money goes, it's not always easy. Between work, family, and everything else, it's easy to forget about subscriptions, renewals, and recurring charges stacking up in the background. And that's what I like about Rocket Money. It helps me keep a better handle on my finances. Rocket Money tracks your subscriptions in one place so you can actually see what you're paying for. And if there's something you don't want anymore, premium can help cancel eligible subscriptions in just a few taps. Also, Rocket Money can send alerts for large transactions, upcoming bills, new subscriptions, and low balances before they catch you off guard. And the spending breakdown, that's useful too, because it shows you which categories are actually taking up the most room. And that ends up being a lot more helpful than just looking at the total and wondering how you got there somehow. And for me, it's really about seeing the full picture without having to manually track every single thing myself. You know, Rocket Money's premium features, they're worth paying for, but you can also try it for free for your first seven days when you sign up with my link in that description or by scanning the QR code on the screen. And hey, if it's not for you, you can cancel on the app before your trial ends, but I think you'll love it. And then, Devin Wright, back into the news. We're gonna end on a couple of stories, starting with, you know, the K-pop industry, it's not just glamor and fun worth billions. For many, whether they're just starting out or some of the biggest groups in the world, it looks more like corporate indentured servitude. You now have more people looking at this thanks to a New York Times investigation that looked at leaked contracts for the mega group New Jeans that they signed when they were between 14 and 17 years old. And the conditions, to many, are just shocking, right? Normally, South Korea has a standard contract template designed to protect minor performers. Stuff like guaranteeing basic human rights, sleep, education, and limits on working hours. But the contract that New Jeans signed straight up stripped those child protections out. And instead, you had former insiders describing practices like rehearsing until 2:00 AM, constant camera surveillance, and four out of five members dropping out of school entirely. And then, it actually gets worse. Before they even debuted, staff were photographing the teenagers from multiple angles to evaluate cosmetic procedures. And then, despite effectively forcing them to have the procedures, their contract required them to pay back a substantial amount spent on the cosmetic work. And when one mom tried to push back and negotiate terms in 2022, label executives essentially told her, "It's these terms, or you're gone." And the corporate control doesn't even stop when their deal ends in 2029. Or you have the clauses revealing that even after the contract expires, the company retains the right to exploit their likeness, voice clones, and AI avatars without their consent. And then, just rubbing salt in the wound, they get to slash the royalties owed to the artists on repackaged music. I will tell you, for the most hardcore K-pop fans, a lot of this is not shocking. But the industry is notoriously exploitative, even if "Hi, New Jeans" label is allegedly the biggest offender right now, right? Like, you have performers not allowed to be in relationships, and only the absolutely most famous are able to break free of their labels for some degree of fame. But I would personally stress that just because it's normal does not mean the near total ownership of teens, the careers, and their futures is right. And so, hey, maybe fans, they'll start demanding that South Korea actually enforce its laws against exploitation, or maybe they'll just ignore it after the next popular song drops. And I guess time will tell. Right, and then, also in the news today, you've got Republicans officially sweating for a whole different reason right now. Their two favorite Supreme Court justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, they're both in their 70s, but they refuse to step down anytime soon. You've got that refusal triggering some massive panic right now. And that's because in this moment, Republicans have the White House and the exact alignment that's needed to safely replace these judges with conservative judges in their 40s who could lock down a 6-3 majority for the next 30 years. But you had Alito recently confirming that he's staying put through at least this full term, and Thomas, he's shown zero interest in packing his bags. And while they haven't said why, I mean, let's be real. They have spent decades in the ideological wilderness, and now that they hold real power, they wanna wield it. The issue for Republicans is that come January, Democrats are taking control of the Senate, and they're not gonna approve any of Trump's replacements. But it's not a tight 51-49 split where you have to go, "Oh God, what's Fetterman gonna do?" So that means that the seemingly guaranteed window to secure a conservative majority for a long, long time, that's closing fast. And so if after January, there is a single unexpected medical emergency, suddenly that guaranteed conservative seat, it could vanish. So you've got legal strategists and Republican lawmakers privately screaming because they've seen this movie before, right? The Ruth Bader Ginsburg playbook, but in reverse. She famously refused to step down despite her failing health during Obama, and her refusal set up a perfect storm for Trump and conservatives to take over the court. And come 2028, if a Democrat wins the presidency and holds onto the Senate, which it looks like they would, and then something happens to any of the justices, that conservative supermajority could take an immediate hit. But hey, we'll see what happens. And in the meantime, let me just throw this out there. Thomas and Alito, if they're ever interested in a free lifetime supply of cigarettes and Big Macs, hit me up, I'm your guy. And then for your final bit of news today, a banking app just left 3 million people locked out of their life savings. And by the afternoon, it forced the president of Paraguay from office. Right, because at the heart of this is Wayno Bank. It's this fintech that roughly half of Paraguay's six and a half million banked at. But you had it facing a solvency crisis after the central bank found it had less than 50% of the reserve funds it was supposed to. And that led to the central bank shutting it down, leaving roughly 60% of all adults, including retirees, using it for state pensions, payouts, completely screwed as their funds were frozen. So there was absolute chaos in the capital, but protesters, they weren't viewing this as just bad tech or bad banking. President Santiago Pena, he was the target. Because Pena previously held shares at the company that controlled the bank, and the central bank chief that he appointed was an ex-senior executive at Wayno. And so you had opposition lawmakers calling it out for what it looked like, an alleged web of conflicts of interests and coverups involving over 800 million people and over $500 million in public funds. And while Pena, he tried to calm the public, claiming that the financial system was sound and promising people that they would get their money back, as furious protesters surrounded government buildings and his own conservative party abandoned him, lawmakers launched emergency impeachment proceedings. And so facing political collapse, you had Pena posting a video announcing his resignation. Though still, you had lawmakers voting to start impeachment proceedings anyway in order to strip any immunity from him. And so now with Vice President Pedro Ayanna taking over the nation in financial free fall, you've got millions of citizens desperately waiting to see if they'll ever actually recover their savings. Now, my friends, you beautiful bastards is the end of your Thursday show. Thank you for watching, liking, sharing, being a part of these daily dives into the news. I got more for you to watch right here, or I got links in the description for you. But no matter what you do, know that my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces. And I'll see you right back here next time.