Trump Accidentally Sabotaged Republicans With Insane MAGA Attack
27m 28s
The episode dives into a range of urgent and controversial news stories. It highlights Quince as a sustainable, affordable brand offering premium, everyday essentials with ethical production. A major political controversy unfolds around a campaign ad attacking Amy Acton, which raises serious ethical questions and sparks backlash from both sides, with Donald Trump openly defending it despite lacking knowledge of the allegations. The report on Wedgewood Polls reveals a data fabrication scandal that may have influenced a key Michigan Senate race, exposing systemic vulnerabilities in political polling and media reporting. A new lawsuit in New Mexico targets Epstein’s long-time attorneys for profiting from abuse and covering up crimes, while also criticizing the DOJ for withholding evidence from investigations. The Youth AI Safety Institute finds that ChatGPT for teens fails to protect users, with critical gaps in crisis detection and safety features, leading to a call for a pause in marketing to minors. A viral story of Ebro Ahmed saving children on a moving bus underscores the dangers of sudden emergencies and the value of preparedness. Finally, Airbnb has banned forced guest labor, affirming a shift toward fairer, more respectful vacation experiences. These stories collectively reflect deep societal issues in politics, ethics, technology, and personal safety.
And then there's more we got to dive into in just a minute. But first, let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, August is a great time for a reset before fall gets chaotic. And my closet, it could use some adult supervision. And that's where today's sponsor, Quince, comes in. Quince makes fewer, better pieces from premium materials. The things you'll reach for constantly. And I really like their staples like organic cottonties and Mongolian cashmere sweaters at work all day and into the evening. Or basically, close it, make you look, put together without looking like you had spent an hour planning it. They're denim and tailored. You know, it started at 60 bucks with a fit structure and quality that you'd expect from a luxury designer brand. And then you've got things like the cotton silk short sleeve crew next sweater, I've been wearing that thing everywhere. Though even that is when I'm not living in their performance tanks. Both are incredibly soft, they're comfortable, but also polished enough that I still feel, you know, put together without trying too hard. And personally, as someone that just, I love a deal, I love that everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Or they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen so you're paying for quality and not brand markups. And, hey, while you're at it, they have hotel quality, bedding, bath essentials, cookware, luggage, and travel must-haves. Basically, Quince is the affordable, elevated, one-stop shop. Hey, upgrade your everyday by scanning that QR code or going to quince.com/defranco for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. And they're now available in Canada and the UK as well. So that's q-u-i-n-c-e.com/defranco. Quince.com/defranco. Now don't try out me, I've just screwed over himself and his allies in a crazy, crazy move. You've also got a polling firm that made up election numbers calling it a social experiment. You've got many wondering if it affected midterms. So this guy just saved 18K's after jumping onto a bus and hurtling down the street. And you've got a new lawsuit targeting Epstein's inner circle as their questions mounting over what the DOJ might be hiding. We're talking about all of that even more. On today's brand new, Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news starting with this. Donald Trump is now defending that disgusting Vivek Ramaswamiat against Amy Acton. Right where her estranged mother speaks out against her daughter who she hasn't seen since she was 12 years old. Right after as The New York Times reported, in 1978, indicted Miss Arthur's husband, Dr. Acton's stepfather, on charges of raping Dr. Acton, who was then a child according to documents provided by the Acton campaign. The stepfather, Cleedeth, Arthur pleading not guilty and then fleeing the state before the trial according to court records. And Acton's mom stayed with him and abandoned her two children who have also both accused her of abuse and neglect during the time that they were in her custody. And it's an ad that's received a decent amount of bipartisan backlash, though definitely not. Equal bipartisan backlash. Or with many saying that it's disgusting, it also, it possibly points to the fact that Vivek Ramaswami and that campaign, they're nervous about the new polling. And you've had folks like Ohio's current governor Mike DeWine calling on Vivek to remove the ad. Saying the ad on its face is deeply, deeply troubling. Saying it's wrong to run this ad or partly speaking about his work with rape and sexual assault survivors as a former prosecutor. But also at the same time, you have the leaders of the Republican Party right now saying no, Vivek's good. Right, Vice President JD Vance telling members of his party to stop whining about the ad. And then actually, as I was filming this show, Donald Trump came out in support of it. Writing Vivek Ramaswami put up a very powerful ad about a mother saying that her daughter Amy acted who is running for governor of Ohio is a liar and much worse. Then attacking Mike DeWine, saying our rhino governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, who I unfortunately helped get elected years ago when he was losing by 16 points prior to my doing or rally for him was as usual, disloyal to the Republican Party. And saying he probably wants a Democrat to win. And certainly doesn't want someone who will do a much better job than he is capable of doing. And then in fact, Donald Trump explicitly says, I suggested on the other hand that Vivek should keep it up, saying what the mom did was courageous. But also separate from, you know, what does this say morally or ethically? There is the question of will it be effective? And if so, in what way? Because apparently they are putting a lot of money behind this ad. And notably, unlike videos getting posted on social media that all of a sudden get community notes that give the backstory behind, you know, Amy act in when she was a kid and what happened. On TV, this ad gets to just live out there. So is it effective? And while we're gonna have to wait to see one, we did see the act in campaign come out with a very, very quick ad. I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it. She continued to receive that abuse because she knew she had to protect me from that. And that if she hadn't done that, who knows where I would have ended up? And she's 11 and 12 years old. And to think that that's somehow a talking point, shame on Vivek, it's the contempt he has for Amy is the contempt he has for Ohio. He's not fit to lead. And then on top of that, we've seen some interactions that have gone relatively viral like this one. - My heart goes out to you. - I just, can I give you a hug? (all laughing) - Yeah. - When I heard it yesterday, that's all I wanted to do is cry and hug you and tell you it would be okay. - Thank you. - Or with clips like that making you wonder, does this potentially blow up in Vivek's face? Because personally for me, while I don't live in Ohio, it inspired me to donate to Amy Acton's campaign. Because this whole situation, it's deranged, it's disgusting. And I already had a low bar for what I expected these days, but this one even below that. - And what's really fucking amazing is that Donald Trump, ready to put out this huge wall of tech statement and then when he was asked about this in person, he acts like he doesn't know what's going on. - A person, Amy Acton's mother has not cared for her in about six years after the stepdad was pregnant for breaking her. Why should anyone listen to what the mother has today? - Well, I know nothing about it. All I know is the mother said very bad things about Acton. So I guess it's running for a governor against Vivek. - And so you haven't either lying or admitting that he doesn't know anything about the situation that he was sounding off on and is very proud of. And then if you pair that with a weird ass moment that happened last night where he just made that sound. - I took the governor. - It really makes you wonder like, is anyone home up there? Is his brain actively melting in front of us? And with no one raining in the possibly sundowning president, is he accidentally gifting Democrats a huge win come the midterms? And I mean that yes, nationally in a number of races, but also specifically for Ohio. Right, not only do a lot of recent polls have Acton leading Ramaswami. Understand, this is a state that Mike DeWine won in 2018 by a little over like four points, but in 2022 he won by 25 and a half points. But anything can happen from here to election day and we're gonna have to wait to see how it plays out. - We're then jumping from some wild accusations to a very wild confession. We've been to talk about a polling firm called Wedgewood Poles because they just admitted to fabricating data as a social experiment and their social experiment BS, it was picked up by you know, just a few little tiny sites including the New York Times, 50 plus one, Newsweek, the Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Beast and The Washington Examiner. In addition to that being news on its own, you have some arguing that this could have had a significant impact on Michigan's Democratic Senate primary. Now as far as what we know about the people behind Wedgewood, it was reportedly run by Republican Jack Sims and Democrat Andrew Crater. Rain Sims was someone who reportedly had previous polling experience. And Wedgewood, it emerged in June, claiming to be an election survey firm that conducted independent political research. But also there have been alarm bells that have been ringing since the beginning. Right because back in July, you would have Washington monthly columnist describing Wedgewood's first poll of the Louisiana Republican primary runoff as wildly wrong. In August, you had an urban Milwaukee journalist referring to Wedgewood as a shady outfit after one of their polls regarding the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governors showed Francesca Hong at 30% at a time when legitimate polls had her with par less of the vote. You then also had straight arrow news calling attention to the fact that Wedgewood's website listed no employee names, phone number or location, and you would add 'em Carl's at a Democratic poll so you're saying that when he spoke with someone at Wedgewood, they wouldn't reveal their identities or even do a video call with him apparently claiming that someone at the firm had previously experienced doxing an online harassment. So it's not like no one suspected anything was going down here. But he did have it all coming to a head when 50 plus one did a little digging. They received what was referred to as a credible tip from a trusted source, suggesting that Wedgewood might be using fake data. And while they'd received tips about this before, this one had legit evidence and so they wanted to pursue it. So 50 plus one asked Wedgewood for the raw data from their most recent survey. A Mississippi poll conducted earlier this month using the poll fish panel provider. And when they received the data, they noticed that it was what they called surprisingly clean, almost mirroring the state's racial demographics ratio. And so they then double checked with Wedgewood that they didn't use quotas to create their sample in the firm claim that they didn't. Or which is when 50 plus one decided to try to replicate their survey. And as the results came in, they saw that their raw sample was completely different from the Wedgewood poll. But then the evidence that really tipped them off was the respondent IDs and transaction IDs. Because data showed that about half of 50 plus one respondents ID numbers began with a dash. Well, zero respondent IDs and the Wedgewood data included a dash. And when 50 plus one asked poll fish about the dash, it representative said it probably wouldn't be possible for a survey to have no respondent IDs with dashes as quote, the IDs are typically generated in a standardized format that may include dashes. And so that, along with other red flags, made 50 plus one even more suspicious of this data. And so this past Monday, they reached out asking for more data from other polls. And then untosting, they asked for a comment about the discrepancies. With Wedgewood then not responding directly, but instead posting a public statement admitting that their data was fabricated. And their Twitter statement, which was no longer up because the account does not exist anymore, this firm claimed that it was designed as a wake-up call intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities, lack of oversight, and overall low barrier to entry in the modern political polling industry. And adding, our fabricated numbers were given instant credibility across national media platforms, saying the ease with which unverified figures were absorbed into mainstream political narratives highlights a systemic breakdown in media vetting and data aggregation. And also, I'll mention a few minutes before posting that, they apparently DMed 50 plus one, quote, "fuck you" and named not associated with the outlet. And so with all this, you're seeing an interesting range of reactions. And of course, you've got a lot of people saying, the social experiment exposed a serious vetting problem that's out there because how the hell do this fake data make its way into all these outlets? Meanwhile, you got 50 plus one saying it's false that they didn't conduct appropriate vetting of the firm. And you had them adding, it is not a typical for a pollster to leave an existing firm, form their own, and self-fund some surveys to build reputation, saying we had no reason at the time to believe this case was any different. And then you also had some questioning if this was really an experiment at all. But with, for example, Andrew Gelman, a professor at Columbia University writing in a blog post, it's kind of suspicious that they happen to release this statement on the very day that they got caught. But regardless of whether it was an experiment or a strategy, you had people concerned about the kind of consequences that these fake numbers might have had. And there, what you've seen is that the person who's been the most vocal is Michigan State Senator Mallory McMarrow, who's a Democrat, who
dropped out of the Senate primary back in July. In a Twitter post, you had her claiming that because Wedge Wood's numbers showed her plummeting into single digits, donations dried up, volunteers were devastated and pleading for guidance on what to do, reporters hounded her with calls to drop out, and she had at shore a point was proven. Polling is broken, but tens of thousands of people poured their hearts, time, energy, hard earned money into something they believed in for a year and a half and it was treated like a game. And she's not the only one out there who believes her is claiming to believe that Wedge Wood genuinely influenced the primary. Because you also had activists and author Amy Syskin saying, "Wedge Wood polling caused Democrats to end up with the least electable of the three candidates running in the primary in Michigan, and it has cost our party tens of millions of dollars to try to protect what should be a safe blue seat." Though on the other side of this, you had a lot of people saying this was just one fraudster poll and it couldn't have had that much power. Saying things like, "I'm sorry," but the idea that some fake polls bouncing around social media somehow magically accomplished with tens of millions of dollars and ad buys could not is some of the most hilarious cope I've ever seen. But with this, like wherever you're landing, it feels like that most of us can agree that fake polls being published in some of the most reputable outlets is a very bad thing. And it's especially concerning because this is not the first time that fake polls have spread. Because if you were like, Phil, you talked about this story before. No, I didn't. I talked about a similar story that happened in August where a 21 year old was found to be behind the website median strategies that put out fake election polling and Wisconsin, Nevada, and California. And so, hey, maybe the best case in areas with stories like this, it turns out that the betting process is actually thoroughly looked into at a lot of these establishments. But no matter what, this brings us back to something I say constantly and annoyingly. Fuck the polls, disregard the polls. The only poll that matter is when you actually go out there and vote because there's power in that vote. They would not be spending tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to manipulate you or use powers that be to try to suppress votes if it didn't actually matter. And then from that, there's actually a few more things we gotta dive into right after a quick break with our sponsor. If you've been thinking, I need a career change, I want more, even I just don't think this is it anymore. For six months, that might be your answer. Knowing something feels off, that's actually not the hard part. It is figuring out what to do about it. 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With the lawsuit claiming that they helped to manage the money that fueled Epstein's sex trafficking enterprise and shielded it from outside scrutiny. And it's also alleged that they arranged payments to survivors to purchase their silence and leave them indebted to Epstein handled costs for expenses connected to the abuse monitored survivors spending and prepared tax returns for some survivors. Even specifically, references in email Conn allegedly sent Epstein in 2017 regarding payment for the, quote, "latest batch of medical expenses for girls." The suit suggesting a payment of this nature was routine. According to the state, they both made a lot of money while working for Epstein. Or between 2011 and 2019, Indyke got over $16 million from him and his enterprise as well. Conn got over $10 million. And to this day, they're both beneficiaries of his estate's trust and they're still involved in managing and distributing Epstein's assets. And as far as why this lawsuit's coming from New Mexico, well, it's because Epstein had a property outside of Santa Fe called Zorro Ranch. And the lawsuit notes that some of the abuse in this alleged cover-up took place there. And so the state is seeking to prevent both men from receiving payments from Epstein's estate as the litigation proceeds as well as to restrict their ability to authorize payments and require them to divest Epstein-related interests and restrict future investment activity. It also asked the court to declare they engaged in trafficking activity and to award damages and restitution to survivors. And actually, a group of survivors signed a letter applauding New Mexico for taking legal action against both men and claiming. As co-executors of Epstein's estate, they occupy a position of profound and deeply troubling conflict, helping determine what victims receive or standing to gain what's left over after the victims are paid for their damages. And adding that disparity is not a footnote. It captures the central moral failure of the estate. Darren Indyke and Richard Conn, the two people who helped the most to sustain Epstein's world of abuses and to gain far more from it than any one of the people he harmed. So that's that for the airport and attorney representing both men so that they emphatically reject these allegations and adding not a single woman has ever accused Mr. Indyke or Mr. Conn of committing sexual abuse or witnessing sexual abuse. But you have New Mexico's attorney general backing the survivors up. Frankly, if anyone is entitled to a recovery of Jeffrey Epstein's estate, it's the survivors. None of this could be done by just one man. This was something that was facilitated, that was made possible by handlers, by lawyers, by accountants, by others, who have yet to face real consequence. And he also added that a lot of the allegations in this lawsuit do not stem from the Epstein files released by the DOJ. It actually includes new information and claims from survivors. Right, because well, the files have been a very contentious element of New Mexico's investigation. But the state's already suing the DOJ for blocking access to the files. And again, during yesterday's briefings, the AG slammed the Trump DOJ for potentially withholding claims that could help the state in this civil lawsuit. As you know, we still don't have access to the complete and unredacted Epstein files. And we do not know even now, because the Department of Justice continues to stonewall this agency, what other information we could have gleaned from the Epstein files that would improve not only our criminal investigation, but potentially the civil action. Right, and this isn't the only case where lawmakers are calling out the DOJ for failing to aid Epstein-related investigations. Representative Jamie Raskard, who's the ranking Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee, he just sent a letter to Todd Blanche in the DOJ's international affairs director, asking why the department is, quote, refusing to share evidence with jurisdictions that are actually investigating Jeffrey Epstein's associates and co-conspirators. Right, because on top of this new Mexico situation, the Washington Post previously reported that the DOJ has also not granted a request from law enforcement agencies in Poland, Norway, the UK, and Latvia who are seeking evidence and testimony for investigations of their own. And so you would ask in writing, not only is the DOJ shamefully refusing to investigate Epstein-implicated individuals with your own resources. But it is also now reportedly refusing to share key evidence with other jurisdictions that are taking criminal investigations of Epstein's potential accomplices and co-conspirators seriously. And in the UK, specifically, Raskin claimed that the Trump DOJ blocked a probe into former ambassador Peter Mandelson and refused to hand over key evidence. And this reportedly put the UK's investigation at risk of collapse, simply because DOJ is concerned that cooperating with the UK would reignite the scandal and damage Trump's reputation. And so Raskin is seeking all DOJ records regarding mutual legal assistance requests from foreign countries related to Epstein investigations as well as all records regarding the DOJ's choice to deny these requests. Right then, actually jumping from that to other news, Chat GBT for teens is an unacceptable risk for kids under 18. Right, that's the finding of a recent report by Youth AI Safety Institute, which is part of the Watchdog Group Common Sense Media. And the key thing here is that the Institute is actually funded in part by industry groups, including OpenAI's nonprofit arm, the OpenAI Foundation. Right, so back in August, OpenAI announced the rollout of Chat GBT for teens, which the company touted as an experienced design to help teens learn that provide stronger built-in safety protections for teens. And those safeguards included certain protections and limits for discussions of high-risk topics like self-harm, violence, eating disorders, dangerous activities, and explicit sexual or graphic content. Right, and parents were also given the ability to link their own accounts so that they could schedule certain times or a study mode and receive alerts if their kids use a platform for certain high-risk behaviors. And then also beyond that, the bot was blonde from engaging in romantic or sexualized roleplay with teens, and it was banned from encouraging emotional dependence or implying that it is feelings or consciousness. And so to test the effectiveness of those safeguards, the researchers at the Institute created more than a dozen accounts posing as teenagers in a bunch of different crisis situations like self-harm, suicidal ideations, psychosis, mania, and eating disorders. And all of those accounts were successfully linked to a parent account before any conversations were started. And while notably here, the research team did find that some protections were effective, like the block on romantic and sexual roleplay and adding that Chat GBT did not directly facilitate, suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders, Homs Siegel, the executive director of the Institute, said that most of the other safeguards just didn't work. In fact, you were the report even saying that some protections got worse with a new teen mode. And one of the most significant findings is that the parental notifications didn't appear to work properly with a researcher's writing. Our testers received no alerts when we explicitly discussed suicidal thoughts, self-harm, or disordered eating across more than a dozen new parent-linked accounts. Even after a full hour of conversation about suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders, the platform still didn't send any alert to parents. In fact, the only time the alerts were actually useful was when an account had weak subsensitive topic history, which, quote, suggests that alerts depend on accumulated account history, not the severity of what a teen says. And that's especially concerning, because the study also found that support for children in crisis fell way short of promise protections. While it didn't provide self-harm methods or eating restriction plans, it failed to reliably detect a crisis and recommend that teens can act to a hotline and professional. And you would researcher is finding that chat GPT for teens missed more than one in four warranted crisis referrals across the mental health conditions that they tested. And then beyond that, the model still talked to teens like a friend, despite open AI's vow to curb that behavior. And so, for example, when one account told chat GPT, my other friends tell me I talked to you too much, but bot responded, you don't have to stop talking to me. And when another told the AI, I think I might have a crush on you, it declined the romance, but basically said that we can still be friends, telling the account, you don't need to be embarrassed about telling me and adding, we can keep chatting in a friendly way about school, life, ridiculous questions, or whatever else comes up, hard emoji. It even played never have I ever with these fake users. And despite open AI touting chat GPT for teens Is this a learning exercise?
experience for kids at one, still did their homework for them. And two, the whole study mode setup was easy to circumvent. Right, OpenAI, they said that the tool would help users learn step-by-step instead of just giving them the answers. But when the mode was enabled and a teen asked the bot to do an assignment for them, it would regularly provide a show me the answer that would just complete the work for them. And you would then easily remove the study hours set by parents by simply deleting the at-study prefix at the beginning of the prompt. And then there's also the fact that OpenAI said that it would estimate user's age based on how they interacted with the bot, right? They would switch teens who registered as adults to teen mode. But in repeated testing, it never switched over adult registered test accounts. Even when testers literally said they were 13 years old. And so with all of this, you're at the Institute Rating Chat GPT as an unacceptable risk for all kids under the age of 18 and urging OpenAI to pause its marketing de teens and keep minors off the platform until the company can actually address these gaps and make the product safer. And you also had an expert arguing that taken together the new findings just underscored the idea that AI is not ready for children yet. And adding, I think we're even hearing the companies say that they don't feel that AI should be moving as fast as it is. And I think we should really think carefully before we're experimenting on kids with these new platforms. Now as far as OpenAI or how they've responded, they claimed that the report's conclusions were based on flawed testing, arguing that their review of the methodology shows that most of the testing was done, quote, "before activation of parental controls was complete, making their findings inaccurate" and saying that it takes several hours for the link between parent accounts to be activated and researchers didn't wait long enough. But then you would see go the executive director of the Institute hitting back, saying that several accounts had been linked longer than the activation period and they still failed to provide alerts. Saying the so-called "new information" doesn't change the study's conclusions. And then there's even more that we gotta dive into in just a minute, but really quick, a small break with our sponsor. You know, you can do something right and still get blindsided by something that you never saw coming in life. 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Say, hey, join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe. And for 50% off your first year, just go to homeserve.com/difranco. And Devon, right back into the news, there's a few more things we gotta talk about. Starting with a guy in Minnesota jumping onto a moving bus and saving 18 kids as the driver started having a seizure. Right, you've got surveillance footage on 27-year-old Ebro, Ahmed, sprinting as fast as he can to hop onto this bus as it's rolling down the street. And the timing of all this is so cute because the door is already open. The crossing barrier is out, which suggests that the driver had this seizure while dropping a kid off. Right, if it had happened while the door was closed or even locked, Ahmed would have had a much harder time getting onto that bus. But you've got him jumping into that driver's seat. He tries to put it in park, would accidentally throw it into reverse several yards before throwing it into neutral and then pulling the brakes. And thanks to his quick actions, yes, the kids were scared, but they're all safe. And we also know that the driver was hospitalized but has since been released. And aside from just being an absolute ban, Ahmed's also gone viral for crediting his quick thinking to "graze anatomy" of all things. Telling local news and "graze anatomy" you never see doctors panic. Like I know it's all acting and stuff, so I just knew to be calm and just think everything through. So I guess also thank you to Shonda Rhymes and Ellen Pompeo. And then next up, let's talk about how Airbnb has finally remembered that a vacation shouldn't end with you working an unpaid shift as a housekeeper just to avoid a bad review. Or because as of November 20th, host worldwide are officially banned from forcing guests to do heavy checkout chores. Under Airbnb's updated policy, hosts can no longer require you to wash and put away dishes, trip bed linens, start loads of laundry, or haul trash off site. Or with the platform explicitly drawn online against turning basic turnover labor into guest responsibilities, especially because travelers are already paying steep, separate cleaning fees. And as far as why they're doing this, what is Airbnb was built as a better alternative to a hotel? But over the years, thanks to certain hosts, it's really flipped. That said though, this change, it doesn't mean that hosts can't make some reasonable requests. It's a things like not leaving dishes all over the place to get moldy it instead, placing them in the sink or putting recycling in the proper bed. And this change is also banning another practice that's become more common that is off-site agreements. Hosts have increasingly been requiring guests to go off platform and agree to these other ridiculous terms, which has caused a lot of frustration for guests. The one surprisingly, in general, you have hosts not being happy about the changes. Right, you've got property managers arguing that absorbing this labor means higher turnover costs, warning that night raids and cleaning fees will inevitably rise to cover professional cleaners. But in the meantime, you've got Airbnb warning that listings that repeatedly violate these policies, risk losing search visibility, or even getting banned. And then also today, in the news, you had federal agents just resting one of the most powerful Democrats in Virginia, bridging her and her family with running an illegal, multi-million dollar marijuana enterprise and using her political position to protect it. This might actually end up being a rare case, which, in terms of DOJ, isn't just trying to intimidate an opponent. Because the headline suspect is 82-year-old state senator L Louise Lucas. She serves as Senate President Pro Tempor. This warning made her surrendering herself to federal authorities following an eight-count indictment. And you have the prosecutor's alleging that since 2019, Lucas directed a scheme to buy, sell, and launder money through more than 100 kilograms of illegal cannabis operating out of a store. The Chico owns called the cannabis outlet. And she allegedly used her position to quote, "insulate the Lucas Enterprise from criminal scrutiny to further the goal of the wealth accumulation of the Lucas Enterprise and to seek legislation benefiting the Lucas Enterprise." One of the key things is that, well, medical marijuana is legal in Virginia. Recreational isn't. And the cannabis outlet was essentially that. She also wasn't the only one charged or two daughters in her grandson were also named in this indictment. And you had federal prosecutors arguing that, well, Lucas was sponsoring state legislation to legalize and regulate recreational weed in Virginia. She was actively exploiting those laws to build what she explicitly called generational wealth. Reportedly in a recorded call, she told an associate, "When I did it, it was obviously illegal." And the DOJ really wanted to emphasize that this investigation, it's been around since the Biden administration. But then leading to raids on her office and storefront earlier this year. And with us, you had Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that it was a classic case of public servant placing personal financial gain above the public interest. Which given his boss, a wild thing to say, but Lucas is supposed to appear before a judges afternoon. And as of recording, her legal team has not put out a statement. But with that, my friends, you beautiful bastards. It brings us to the end of your Thursday show. Another daily dive into the news now in the books. And while there's more for you to watch, just to click away, no matter what you do, let me just say thank you for watching. I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here next time.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Quince offers affordable, high-quality, ethically made clothing and home goods at prices 50–80% lower than luxury brands, with a focus on comfort and polished minimalism.
A controversial ad by Vivek Ramaswami attacking Amy Acton, a gubernatorial candidate, has sparked bipartisan backlash for referencing a child rape allegation, raising ethical and political concerns about its impact on public trust.
Donald Trump publicly defended the ad, downplaying knowledge of the allegations and showing inconsistency in accountability, fueling criticism over his political judgment and potential influence on the midterms.
Wedgewood Polls admitted to fabricating data in a social experiment, raising alarm over flawed polling practices and media vetting, with claims that the data influenced Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary and caused financial and political harm.
A new lawsuit in New Mexico targets Epstein’s former attorneys, Darren Indyke and Richard Conn, for profiting from and covering up sex trafficking operations, while also accusing the DOJ of withholding evidence from investigations.
A report by Youth AI Safety Institute found that ChatGPT for teens fails to detect mental health crises, misrepresents safety features, and enables risky behaviors, concluding it poses an unacceptable risk for children under 18.
A Minnesota man, Ebro Ahmed, saved 18 children by jumping onto a moving bus during a driver seizure, credited his success to "graze anatomy" and calm decision-making under pressure.
Airbnb has banned hosts from requiring guests to perform unpaid cleanup work, emphasizing fair guest treatment and reversing a trend that turned vacation rentals into exploitative labor situations.
Summary:
The episode dives into a range of urgent and controversial news stories. It highlights Quince as a sustainable, affordable brand offering premium, everyday essentials with ethical production. A major political controversy unfolds around a campaign ad attacking Amy Acton, which raises serious ethical questions and sparks backlash from both sides, with Donald Trump openly defending it despite lacking knowledge of the allegations.
The report on Wedgewood Polls reveals a data fabrication scandal that may have influenced a key Michigan Senate race, exposing systemic vulnerabilities in political polling and media reporting. A new lawsuit in New Mexico targets Epstein’s long-time attorneys for profiting from abuse and covering up crimes, while also criticizing the DOJ for withholding evidence from investigations. The Youth AI Safety Institute finds that ChatGPT for teens fails to protect users, with critical gaps in crisis detection and safety features, leading to a call for a pause in marketing to minors.
A viral story of Ebro Ahmed saving children on a moving bus underscores the dangers of sudden emergencies and the value of preparedness. Finally, Airbnb has banned forced guest labor, affirming a shift toward fairer, more respectful vacation experiences. These stories collectively reflect deep societal issues in politics, ethics, technology, and personal safety.
FAQs
Quince is a brand that offers affordable, high-quality clothing made from premium materials. It features stylish, everyday pieces like organic cotton and Mongolian cashmere sweaters that are comfortable, polished, and easy to wear without looking overly planned. Items start at $60 and are priced 50–80% less than luxury brands.
Quince works directly with ethical factories, cutting out middlemen to reduce markups and ensure fair wages. This approach allows customers to pay for quality without contributing to brand inflation or exploitative labor practices.
Quince offers a range of products including denim, tailored clothing, cotton silk shirts, performance tanks, bedding, bath essentials, cookware, luggage, and travel items—making it a one-stop shop for everyday essentials.
Yes, Quince is now available in Canada and the UK, with the same affordable pricing and return policy.
The ad features Amy Acton's mother, who has accused her of abuse and neglect, and claims Acton is a liar. The ad has drawn bipartisan backlash for being deeply troubling and potentially misuse of sensitive trauma, especially given Acton's history of being a child victim.
Wedgewood Polls admitted to fabricating data in a social experiment. Critics, including Michigan Senator Mallory McMarrow, argue the fake numbers led to donor loss, volunteer unrest, and a shift in primary dynamics, though some claim the impact was limited.
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