The Fauci Diary Isn't What They Are Telling You

The scandal around Fauci's secret COVID diary is blowing up while Maga's claiming it's the smoking gun and things are just gonna get even crazier soon. What's really going on with the Mamdani grocery store backlash? Were the names behind some of the most disturbing Epstein emails might be about to finally be exposed? 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. Let's talk about this Fauci Diaries scandal. Or because you have Maga, again calling for the head of Anthony Fauci, after Senator Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's personal diary from during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's part of his investigation into whether the COVID-19 virus might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory and whether as Paul claims Fauci lied to Congress about it. With the diary, it doesn't actually provide the evidence that Paul and many others seem to think that it does. And instead, it largely shows that Fauci was dealing with a fast-moving crisis that science was struggling to keep up with. But, and it is a big butt, that is not to say that it pains Fauci in a positive light. You have it showing that he may have lied about some things and he at times appeared obsessed with his own fate. And so with all this, you have some Maga personalities calling for his imprisonment, some supporters calling for his death. All while he is now set to testify before Congress and what is definitely going to be a heated hearing tomorrow. But also, if you're not aware, scientists still have not definitively concluded where the virus originated. And so the debate over whether it may have leaked from a Chinese laboratory either accidentally or on purpose, it's still been raging all this time. And you have much of the conversation focusing on the question of whether the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci led for nearly 40 years, had funded so-called "gain-of-function research" at a lab in Wuhan. Right, and gain-of-function research? That basically involves messing with a genetic makeup of viruses to study them better and ultimately prevent pandemics. But you also have a hypothetical risk there that a super-powered virus could get out and can't be stopped. Now, Fauci, he repeatedly insisted that his institute never funded this type of research in China and that the most likely origin of the COVID-19 vaccine was in nature. But you have people like Rand Paul claiming otherwise in arguing that as a result, Fauci might bear personal responsibility for millions of COVID-19 deaths in the United States and around the world. And then this week, you had Paul announcing that his years-long investigation into the origins of the virus uncovered that Fauci kept this tire. And you, Paul, claiming that what Fauci wrote privately in what he told the country are two different stories. And he said that he was releasing Fauci's entries from December 2019 through December 2022, which is more than 1100 pages. While Rand Paul has it explained how he got this diary, it's typewritten so it looks like Fauci may have taken notes on his work computer, possibly for his memoir, which was published in 2024. He got Paul and others arguing that it shows Fauci was lying about the origin of the virus, pointing to what he wrote on January 26, 2020, which was, "Now we know the market was not the source. It was the amplifier." Or with that, appearing to reference the Wuhan fish market that had early on been thought to be a key site for the start and spread of the virus. But what you didn't have Paul pointing out is that Fauci followed that up by writing, having said that somewhere the virus jumped from animals to human. And Rand also notably didn't explain that all this is exactly consistent with statements made by Fauci publicly around the same time. And that includes at its scientific conference the same week, and in an interview with USA Today, less than a month later. Or when he used the exact same language describing the market as an amplifier for something that was already going on. Also, he failed to mention that just a few days later, Fauci still described claims that the virus had been deliberately or accidentally released in Wuhan as conspiracy theories that so far lacked evidence. Though then also very notably in that same entry, Fauci said that he had heard from experts who believed that certain mutations of the virus could not have occurred naturally. And he said that he had suggested getting a larger group of experts together to carefully look at this. And with that meeting, then taking place, the next day of the conference call and Fauci said in emails at the time that if they found evidence of a lab leak, they would have to alert appropriate authorities including the FBI. But then also after the meeting, he wrote in his diary that only two of the 11 other scientists on the call were convinced that the virus had occurred naturally, whereas quote, "the rest felt that deliberate insertion was possible." It's a poll also pointed to this entry to argue the scientific establishment was more divided than Fauci lit on in public writing, "This was never a 50/50 room." But there, you've seen pushback people saying scientists armed with little information and refusing to rule out a possibility. That is not the same as saying that they believed that theory or had solid evidence to support it. And then noting that the consensus that eventually emerged among most virologists was for natural animal to human transmission as the most likely origin. Right, you had one from Tulane University telling NPR that there's just no actual evidence for the lab leak theory and also noting that no one, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, had a precursor virus similar enough to COVID-19 virus to create the pathogen that ultimately caused the pandemic. And in fact, the scientists who initially told Fauci that they thought that the virus might have come from a lab prompting that whole conference call. You later had them saying that more extensive analysis and new data led them to say they didn't believe any type of laboratory-based scenario was plausible. And Fauci, while he publicly downplayed the possibility of a lab leak from the very beginning, he did consistently refuse to make definitive statements. Or with him, for example, expressing his view in a 2021 entry writing, I had always said that the very high likelihood is that the virus originated naturally from an animal reservoir jumping to a human. Then adding, however, over the past couple of days given the amount of speculation about the possibility of a lab leak, I have been saying that no one is 100% certain of the origin, including me, and so I'm calling for a thorough investigation. And adding, calling for an investigation is merely to put to rest the extraordinary amount of speculation and conspiracy theories. And going on to say, however, this is being interpreted as Fauci flip-flopping again. The far right is really amazing in their distortion of reality. Now with that, you know, not everyone, and the executive agreed with Fauci, but the FBI assessing his far back is 2021 that the virus most likely emerged in a lab incident in Wuhan. You also have Fauci, writing at the time that the FBI has no idea what they're talking about and adding, the reasons that they give do not make any sense. Also, in January 2025, the CIA becoming the second intelligence agency to come out in favor of the lab leak hypothesis, but even they acknowledge that the finding was made with low confidence. And ultimately, there was no smoking gun there, and there was also no evidence there that Fauci had solid information that with all this, he had withheld or lied about. And well, you can definitely still have something to criticize about the handling of the situation. This is just kind of how it is right now. Just like, it is also true that there are other things that Fauci may actually have been less than honest about. And so at 2022, interview, for example, you had Fauci saying that he had nothing to do with school closures during the pandemic. But in March of 2020, he wrote in his diary that he had convinced Mayor Bill de Blasio to close city schools. And he also said the California Governor Gavin Newsome had decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants based on Fauci's suggestion. Though notably, well, Fauci has also gotten a lot of the blame for mask mandates. He actually wrote in his diary that he really had a problem defending the ultra conservative approach of the CDC, regarding the wearing of masks outdoors. And then with that, when the policy did change, you had him writing. The radical right wing maniacs who blamed me for the rigidity of the CDC recommendations will probably not realize at all that it was me that triggered this change. Also, you had Fauci writing about his relationship and interactions with Trump. And sometimes he described it very positively, but ultimately, he painted a picture of a kind of dottering, distracted old man, even back then. But this was more than five years ago. And so, for example, you had a writing what he described as a disturbingly rambling discussion with Trump since he kept talking about TV ratings and hydroxychloroquine and influenza and virtually everything else as I was trying to keep him on track. Saying, "I insisted through the rambling and lack of attention span that the Potus explicitly say that this is not a quarantine." You also had him in other entries saying that Trump still didn't understand the pandemic and he described Trump at one point as acting even more erratically. And of course, just after the 2020 election he wrote, "Potus still insisting the GOP won the election, "completely alternate universe." Kaley and GOP senators, Graham, McConnell, Ted Cruz, all prostituting themselves by supporting the Potus' baseless claims, heading towards a constitutional crisis. With them then adding a week later, continual surge, 138,000 new infections yesterday. Potus has no interest at all in the pandemic. He is focusing on blocking Biden from being Potus. He is embarrassing the USA, however, 72 million people voted for. Difficult to understand, craziness has overtaken part of our country. And with all that, you had Fauci also deriding what he called the entire extreme right wing or public and group in the House and Senate, having completely sold their soul to the infinitely lying ex-president Trump. With them then also describing efforts from Paul and other lawmakers to question Fauci over what he viewed as conspiracy theories as an amazing and unbelievable waste of our time, while cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to soar. But then also as far as public perception, besides the misrepresented claims about Fauci's view of the virus' origin, you've also got a lot of right wing media focusing on his apparent excitement over becoming so well-known and admired. You had him writing proudly about his interactions with celebrities like Barbara Streisand, Julia Roberts, Kreme Abdul-Jabar, he saved copies of favorable press coverage. And he noted numerous interviews and media appearances that he had made. He even once wrote that he had achieved the Fauci Five by appearing on all five major Sunday morning TV news shows. You had him literally writing in one entry, "The public adulation of me has been amazing." And in another saying, "It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable in the world." And that's led to more criticism for many, including from Paul, who posted an AI-generated image of Fauci as a teenage girl, writing in a diary, for example, while also saying in another post, while America buried loved ones, Anthony Fauci was counting headlines that doted over him. And then, of course, this is also spark backlash from the wider right wing in Mago World. For example, Health Secretary R.F.K. Jr., blaming the media for building up Fauci and other experts at the accused of lying. The media malpractice that told us all we had to trust the experts, and that he was the expert that they elevated. And anybody who did not give complete line faith to these expert opinions, which we now know were lies, was marginalized, vilified, demonized, censored. >> Canceled. >> You also had people like Ben Shapiro taking Paul's claims of face value. >> As it turns out, it turns out that Fauci knew pretty much all along that the origins of COVID were in fact not related to a wet market. Now again, COVID was almost certainly a leak from the Wuhan laboratory. Everyone knows this. Fauci was the bad guy. Not because bad guys know they're being bad, but because they think they're lying for a higher purpose. Right, Fauci was lying because he thought he was quote unquote doing the right, and just happened to align with his personal interest. >> And then with all of that, you had people like former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greenson saying that Fauci needs to face consequences for his alleged crimes, writing in a post, I'll say it again, Fauci belongs in prison. So many lives were destroyed after the shutdown. Yet I doubt there will ever be accountability. Though then notably there, she added, especially from Trump. He loves the COVID vaccines and thinks he saved millions of lives from operation warp speed, which then makes a blame game even more interesting because with all this, you have people not just talking about investigations or prosecution, but you have accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers between them saying things like, "Dr. Fauci should be given the death penalty." And after receiving his fair trial, Anthony Fauci must be hung on live television as an example. And actually with all that, I'll say, among other things that are in those diary entries, Fauci also expressed concerns about threats to him and his family. There was far as the possibility that he could be targeted by the justice system. Paul has already repeatedly referred Fauci for a criminal prosecution, but Biden issued a so-called preemptive part. However, Fauci still scheduled a test to buy under Sipina before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which is chaired by Paul. And he argues that the pardon won't protect him from charges based on any lies that he tells tomorrow. So we're going to have to see what happens there, how it goes down, how Fauci responds to the many questions that he's sure to face about this diary, and whether Paul actually finds a way to get charges pursued. But in the meantime, I got to hear your initial thoughts, reactions, and where you think this is going to go, in those comments down below. And then there's even more that we get a dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, and one thing that I've learned after years of covering the news, is that often, actually, the biggest disagreements, it's not stemming from what happened, but how the story got framed. And so that's one of the reasons why I'm happy that ground news is sponsoring today's show. And I actually use their platform to sometimes compare coverage and get deeper context, so you can't get really anywhere else. Things like bias, breakdowns, factuality, ratings, and ownership insights. And I mean, take the recent debate over President Trump's Iran strikes. Some outlets like the right-leaning Washington Examiner focused on how the conflict's causing midterm worries. And while others like the Seattle Times, which Leanne's left, focused on how Congress has effectively been cut out of the decision-making process. And I like the ground news, puts that coverage side by side, showing you where outlets agree, what details the emphasize, and where the narratives start to split. And that can give you a better context and perspective that you're just not getting from reading one publication or scrolling through socials. Also, I'll say the blind spot feed, it surfaces stories, receiving heavy coverage from one side of the political spectrum, but little to none from the other. That ends up being useful with topics involving Congress, elections, foreign policy, right where the framing or lack of it can become part of the story itself. Hey, if you want to check it out, scan that QR code, or go to ground.news/debranko to get 40% off unlimited access to the vantage plan. That's ground.news/debranko. But then, diving right back into the news, totalitarian communism is almost here, and it's now coming with a 30% discount. Don't we have fun here? No, what I'm talking about is how much the food at Zora Mamdani's city-run grocery store is going to cost when they open their doors. Whereas, if you haven't been following this story, Mamdani plans to open one in each of New York's five burrows, and he's already selected locations for two of them, and the Bronx and Manhattan. And actually, I have the first set to open its doors by the end of next year, and the rest, they're going to open up before the mayor's first terms up. And to the press conference yesterday, you would Mamdani announcing that the stores will sell a collection of basic goods for 30% below typical retail prices. No exceptions, no gimmicks. Anyway, that number of being chosen because, apparently, food prices nationwide have gone up by just over 30% since 2019, so these stores, they're going back to pre-pandemic prices. And you've got the city projecting that they'll cut New Yorker's average grocery bill by 15%, so about $90 a month or roughly $1,000 a year. For many, that 30% discount is the difference between an evening spent around the dinner table with family, or working another double shift to make ends meet. Right, and they're arguing that there's a need for this. With Mamdani setting a survey from late last year, they found that more than 40% of New York City families can't afford weekly food costs. Now, granted, he says of the prices they will be re-evaluated each month, but that's arguably more stable than private grossers, whose prices go up and down on a weekly basis. That means no weekly fluctuations, nor sticker shock at the checkout line. And I've already talked about it at the beginning. They're focusing on the most basic goods that people need to survive. This core set of goods will include all fresh produce, meat, and seafood along with 20 other essential items, like cheese, milk, and bread. Now, immediately with us, you had criticism rolling in, with, for example, the New York Post calling the plan vague, setting a random West Harlem resident who said, "It's stupid and added. What kind of bread? I'm not letting them choose what kind of bread I want. I'm not taking anything other than what I want. I won't eat mayonnaise unless it's helmets." Which I will say, that went from zero to don't fuck with my mayonnaise so fast. But also, I should note that the city is not the one that's actually going to be picking which brands get stocked, or because Mamdani is inviting private operators to bid for the chance to run these stores. And so the city will cover the rent, maintenance, and property tax, as well as dictate the mission, standards, and store design. And then the private operator, they'll handle day-to-day stuff like sourcing products, stocking shelves, assuring quality, and hiring staff. If you know how to run a grocery store, and you want to do more to help your fellow New Yorkers, I encourage you to head to grocery.nyc. Also, as far as the staff, they'll receive family sustaining wages and benefits, and they'll be allowed to organize a union if they want to. And while you have all of this, stunning really nice on paper, you then have critics arguing it is not going to work in practice. With some, predicting that local stores will shut down, the government stores will become the only option, shelves will empty, rationing will start, you'll see daily rushes, hoarding, and lines around the block. Meanwhile, you have others imagining near apocalyptic catastrophe, with supply chains breaking down, people panicking and fleeing, the government trying to box them in with an exit tax, and those who remain stop working, hoard goods, and turn on their neighbors as society descends into chaos. But also, I will say, as far afresh, as that specific picture may seem, there is reasonable concern at the heart of it. Right? New York's local bodegas and corner stores, they're not sitting pretty on mountains of cash. They often get by with really small profit margins, like one to three percent. And so you do have many small business owners worried that if the city starts undercutting them by 30%, they just won't be able to compete. We hardly pay your rent, utility bills, employers, and we just get in by. Imagine coming and opening another business is going to be harder for us to compare with the government. Imagine that, and 30 percent. Now, in his defense, you have Mamdani saying that they're only going to be discounting these basic goods, and they're not even going to sell stuff like alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, or pot food. All the way, she says, drives revenue for the bodegas. Plus, New York's home does some 13,000 bodegas anyway, so it's downfall that just five new stores are going to cause economic ruin. And that's as he says that these specific locations that his administration has selected can accommodate the competition. When you are speaking about a dense neighborhood, there is more than enough market for both existing grocers as well as one city run grocery store. The city already operates subsidized markets, for example, at Essex Street Market. And those are operating near multiple grocers, multiple bodegas. And we have not seen harm to local stores or operators. And in fact, Mamdani argues that making the city generally more affordable enables working class people to stay there, and that actually means more customers for private grocers in bodegas, not less. That is also if the stores actually serve the people they're meant to serve. And so some are asking, what if people take advantage of the discounted items by reselling them somewhere else at a markup? And we're actually in response to that, you have the city's plan, including a free membership card program that will track sales and block excessive bulk purchases. But then still, you have others saying, well, what about the cost? Isn't this going to mean higher taxes? And yet, I mean, there, there's really no way around it. This is going to cost the city money. 70 million dollars to be exact. That's out of the 125 billion dollar budget. But still, I mean, that's just to get the stores up and running. The city doesn't have estimates yet on how much it's going to cost them to keep it going since it'll depend on a lot of factors. So regardless, in theory, it should amount to a downward redistribution of wealth with richer people's tax dollars subsidizing a discount for poorer people's groceries. And of course, whether you like that or not, it will often depend on your philosophical outlook. But there, I'll say if you look at the comments in the New York City subreddit, they are largely negative there. You've got a lot of folks basically echoing the same objections that you just heard that the stores are going to hurt local businesses, that there will be shortages, that the quality will decrease. And then for the conservative fact, should this whole thing, apparently, it stinks like the totalitarian nightmares of the 20th century. This has never been tried anywhere, except for, you know, Cuba and the USSR. And pretty much all the communist countries. This is socialism and communism. And it's best. But here, I'll say, you don't actually have to look to just Cuba or Russia, for example, as state-owned supermarkets. You can actually stay right here in America. Or because it's actually been tried in several places like Baldwin, Florida, and Eerie Kansas, where the town's only local store clothes are the government stepped in to fill the gap. And actually, even in New York City, Mayor Fiorrello La Guardia created city-owned markets less than a century ago, as Mamdani pointed out. He did so because he believed in a simple definition of the task of government to make people's lives better. But also with all this, it is worth noting that those two stores that I mentioned in Florida and Kansas ended up closing down in 2024 for financial reasons. But then again, it doesn't guarantee failure in New York City. It's not a struggling small town. You have this huge, prosperous city, and so we're gonna have to see how the experiment plays out. Though also, when these stores open managing the money, it's not gonna be their only challenge. Or because without a doubt, there is going to be a battle over the perception of all this. And you just know that if there is a single banana that is bruised or maybe a little bit too ripe, box, news, the New York Post, Ben Shapiro, they're gonna plaster that shit all over social media. And so really whether these stores are objectively good or not, and once again, we're gonna have to wait to see. They're gonna have to fight against a right-wing propaganda machine that is already before there even a thing trying to make them look terrible. And the groundwork's already been late. Zoran stores probably are going to give you plastic schla-- disgusting, emulsified, guar gum garbage. And then also, while you've got Mom Downey dealing with this, on the other side of things, you have Trump again finding himself unable to escape a very big skeleton in his closet, the Epstein files. Right, because we might just end up getting more documents pending a decision from a judge this week. And that's because over the weekend, a federal judge ruled the DOJ has to turn over a set of redacted or withheld Epstein documents to the court by Thursday for a review. And these documents reportedly include emails sent to Epstein about women and girls where the sender's name was redacted as well as FBI notes about Trump and other documents not in English. And you've got this stemming from a case where independent journalist Katie Feng sued the DOJ for concealing those files. And now you've got this judge asking the DOJ to provide documentation proving that the redacted names are in fact the names of victims. And in the case of one specific file named Potential Co-Conspirators, the DOJ has to prove that the redacted names are those of law enforcement personnel involved in the investigation. But also, people are most interested in these emails because they include some of the most question parts of the file, like one redacted sender who told Epstein, "Thank you for a fun night. Your littlest girl was a little naughty." And another where someone told Epstein, "I found at least three very good young poor, but we were so tired. I will cover up this week. Meet this one, not the beauty queen, but we both like Sarah Law." And then also one where someone's complaining to Epstein about the articles and Reuters and the Guardian and the ad, "The key are the 14 to 15-year-old girls. I am a sexual pervert because I say they are now of a reproductive aid. And my heart goes out to you, brother, being called a sexual pervert is no fun. Hope you are fine and more than well protected." But you might remember that when the files were first released, there was a ton of allerage that these individuals were redacted, or because people felt that these were just incredibly disturbing messages and the public had a right to know who wrote them. And in fact, you had the reporter suing the DOJ adding. Blanche says this is from a victim. The overarching big question that we all know the answer to, "What are you hiding, Donald Trump? What are you hiding, Trump, DOJ? And what are you hiding Todd Blanche, personal lawyer for convicted felon Donald Trump?" Now, as far as what comes next, after the DOJ turns these files in this week, the federal judge will look at them unredacted to decide if they should be released. And that's actually something that could have a fast turnaround because, of course, to Forbes, he could rule any time after Thursday for them to immediately come out. Or, he could provide up to a 60-day delay. Then also, something very crucial about this timeline is that the files are due to the court on Thursday, which is a very big day for the DOJ for another reason. That's when the Senate Judiciary Committee is currently scheduled to hold a vote on Todd Blanche's confirmation, though, that could be such a mess that it does get postponed. And there, you got Epstein's Vibers urging Senators to vote against it, arguing that he's mishandled this case enough, and he shouldn't be officially confirmed as Attorney General. Where they're putting most of their focus is with Senators Tom Tillis in John Korn, or because you've had both, expressing their doubts with Blanche for a few reasons, especially the anti-weaponization fund. But then also, the Epstein files have actually come up with Tillis actually saying that he would not advance the nomination unless Blanche met with Epstein's accusers. And while that meeting did take place, who had one survivor writing an op-ed, calling it a box-checking exercise to secure Tillis' vote and adding, Blanche offered no meaningful explanation for how the red action failures happened, who approved the release or what steps he would take to prevent survivors from being exposed to guys. Saying we were told to take our information to the FBI, we have already done that. Telling us to start over was not a plan for accountability. There was no attempt to work with us. It was another way to dismiss us. And you then are arguing that the country needs an Attorney General who can listen to survivors and hold predators accountable and then making this plea to Tillis specifically. Saying if your support for his confirmation depends on his ability to treat survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault with honesty and respect, then you and every Senator should vote no unblanche for Attorney General. And this matters because if Blanche cannot get Tillis or Korn in support, he's in trouble. Well personally, I'm not going to hold my breath here. We will have to wait to see what comes from the vote. But then also I'll say it seems like now after months at Trump, being able to dodge the issue by pointing to the war, the midterms, or any of his side shows, the Epstein files they are back in the news cycle again. And for a number of reasons, including just last night while speaking in Michigan, you had him getting heckled while hitting his usual talking points about the economy in tariffs. It was causing tremendous problems for your jobs. But now all of that is changing because I placed historic tariffs on foreign producers and manufacturers, including a 25 percent tariffs on foreign automobiles. He's a communist. He's a communist. Thank you. He's a communist. We're running against communist. I didn't even hear the guy I think. And also in recent weeks, there have been headlines about obscene associates dying, though the files and Trump's efforts to suppress them coming up at the White House correspondence dinner. An actor also made a massively violent rants suggesting that Trump was a pedophile. The Epstein files. The Epstein files. Don't you want to see what's in there so that we can hold people accountable. These fucking rapists. We're just cold with it. That sheds the keys to the nuclear cut. He's like, like, all up into 13-year-olds. Like, dude, what? Go to jail. So it appears that it is back in the cultural conversation. People still want answers. They don't want the keys jingled, they distract them. They want someone to be held accountable. But as far as if that can happen with the people that are in power right now, that seems I will say unlikely, in my opinion. And then there's more we're going to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, there are certain bills that I review carefully. And then there's my phone bill, which historically has been more of a "don't make eye contact with" situation. Or because when something's on autopay, apparently it can just keep taking your money forever without having to explain itself. And that's where today's sponsor, Mint Mobile, comes in. They make wireless pricing extremely easy to understand. 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But then from that, for your final block of today's show, I am going to cram some more news you need to know down your throat like I'm making some foie gras. And so first up, you've got the big news that starting next year, you're going to be able to get peacock with your YouTube premium subscription. And apparently, it's going to come at no extra cost. Or because you have YouTube and NBC Universal finally striking a deal after their shaking negotiations last year. And there, you would NBC even warning that they were considering going dark on YouTube TV if they couldn't land the right deal. And well, they eventually worked something out to patch things over. We really weren't sure how that was going to play out for the long term. But now, you've got this multi-year deal working for both of them. NBC, they get better distribution for peacock and YouTube. They get an extra boost to its premium package, adding perks like more live sports content and access to Universal Studios movies. And so that's why I'm saying that this appears to be where the streaming world is heading. Programmer is trying to reach as many people as possible, even if that means dipping into audiences they don't own directly. There are some big numbers here. YouTube has over 125 million premium subscribers while peacock, they have around 48 million. And that's as the access to peacock is ad supported. The next step, you've got Mitch McConnell, who is definitely 100% alive and issuing the statements that they say that he is issuing. Though he, apparently, is two options prove that he can actually work or resign. Because that is what you have a Kentucky governor Andy Beshear telling him in a letter to his office yesterday. And that, of course, because McConnell's been MIA for more than 48 days at this point due to health reasons. And yesterday, you had a capital physician saying that he still hasn't been cleared to leave rehab. And that's as you have the rest of the country stuck on a rollercoaster we can't get off of. And so you had Beshear saying President Trump is stuck in a war of his own making. Prices continue to rise and Americans voting rights are being eliminated. All while McConnell is absent and refuses to communicate clearly and directly with the people he serves. Because what we've heard from his office in the last few weeks has been unclear to say the least. You've gotten some updates, but really, they've all been written and then also connected to weird photos. And that, of course, has raised some red flags. His office also released a statement earlier this month saying that he initially kept quiet about this most recent episode because people as age, quote, has a date to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. But to that, you had Beshear saying, I understand anyone's desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of his state's US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy. That's the deal. And we all know it when we run. And so now with this letter, you have Beshear also calling on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to get to the bottom of McConnell's medical situation and to let the American people know what is really going on. And if he isn't fit to serve, Beshear said Thune should start the voting process to get him out. But then also in the news, you had Japan just getting hit by a massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake, collapsing historic landmarks, trapping people in damaged buildings, and sending shockwaves across the region. The tremor reportedly hit at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometers, meaning that the surface shaking was extremely intense. I mean, you're looking at a maximum JMA-intensity 7, which is the highest level on Japan's seismic scale. And the footage we're getting is crazy. Parts of the historic 400-year-old Kumamoto castle stone walls, collapse, and a massive dust clouds over the area. Meanwhile, you had local authorities hoarding severe structural damage across multiple towns, though, things like key infrastructure and the nuclear power plants, those are reportedly fine. But in Kishima, for example, a section of the Aeon Mall reportedly collapsed, which triggered fires, and sent emergency crews racing to search for survivors. And it's actually because of massive collapses like this that, right now, we don't know how many deaths or injuries there have been. Are you local officials saying that between 20 and 30 employees of the mall haven't been contacted, and some officials are anonymously saying that they expect there to be a surprising amount of deaths? And that's as you've got locals trying to get to their hometowns to check on loved ones who are facing some problems as transit is shut down. You've got bullet trains being suspended, even slower options are facing backups, because at least one freight train was derailed. But also some good news here is that an initial tsunami advisory for one meter waves along the nearby coastlines was officially lifted after two hours with no major waves recorded. But still, you have officials warning that strong hazardous aftershocks remain a major concern over the coming days. But right now, you have rescue operations actively underway, and you have the Prime Minister stating that life safety is the government's top priority. But then last up today, let's end, kind of light, but still interesting. Arizona State University just turned content creation into an official degree program, right? So it is not just a class. It is four full years, at least 120 credits, and it includes gen eds, and so it's the real deal. You've got them teaching content strategy, personal branding, audience analytics, and other tools that are meant to give students what they need to start a career online. And for their capstone project, instead of a paper, it's left it choose a platform, develop a content strategy, and build a full online presence. And you've got all of this as content creation has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and it's really only been getting more valuable with ad spending, creator tools, and all the developments. And you have studies finding that more than half a Gen Z, they're looking to join that crowd. And so you're seeing reports framing this program as a way for the university to keep up with the flow of entrepreneurship. Because soon, the highest earning businesses, they could be personal brands instead of just random startups. And on top of that, you've got people saying that the program also shows another industry shift because it's housed under their school of journalism and mass communication, which then also it just goes to show how much the lines between journalism and content creation are blurring right now. Right? And research shows that people actually go to social media for news more than they go to things like TV or online websites. So of course, rightly, there are concerns there because, you know, obviously just because you have a camera and a lot of followers does not mean that you're a journalist. And I also will stress there, well, I've had many a young journalist come to me and say I inspired them to go that route. I personally do not consider myself one. You know, I'm just a guy doing a little newsy news thing, which on that note, thank you so much for watching another one of my newsy news things. And actually, if you're not 100% filled in yet, I just put out another really interesting news video. Let's call it a bonus video. We dive into what's very likely going to be a horrific problem if you take generic drugs. It's crazy. It's why you had some stocks plunging. A lot of people just really uncertain about the future. You can check it out by clicking your tab on the screen or I got links in the in the description or the top-hand comment. But yeah, I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.