Marvel Rivals Scandal Exposes a Brutal Problem, Mom Loses Baby Over IVF Mix-up, Trump, Milei, & More
PDS Published 02/19/2025
-
In vitro fertilization is in the news again, not because another red state deemed frozen embryos legally children, but rather because Trump is looking to expand it.
With the president signing an executive order this morning that states: [Image]
“Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000.” [Quote]
So to make that happen, he instructed the assistant to the president for domestic policy to bring him a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and “aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs” within 90 days. [Quote same link]
But while he’s doing that, we have another story about the absurdist nightmare that can occur when IVF goes wrong.
So let me introduce you to Krystena [Christina] Murray, a 38-year-old woman in Savannah, Georgia who says she’s wanted to be a mother ever since she was a little girl. [Screenshot, 01:04]
So she went through hell for it, reportedly undergoing 18 months of intrauterine insemination, to no avail. [Quote, find “18 months”]
Then she tried IVF for several months, saying she did follow-up exams, medical tests, blood tests, daily injections — nothing worked … until it did.
With her finally getting pregnant, using sperm from a donor she selected who reportedly looked like her, having dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. [Quote same link, find “dirty”]
And then, in December 2023, she reportedly gave birth, saying:
“the first time I saw my son, like any mom, he was beautiful and literally the best thing I've ever seen, but it was also immediately apparent … [dramatic pause] that he was African American.” [Quote same link and Screenshot, 00:59]
Yeah, this white woman unexpectedly popped out a black baby, and she had no idea why.
Now to be clear, her lawyer says she ain’t no racist; she was just concerned that her child obviously wasn’t biologically hers.
So she says she took an at-home DNA test, and sure enough, it definitely ain’t hers. [Quote same link, find “DNA test”]
Meaning someone at the fertility clinic implanted the wrong embryo inside her body, making her carry someone else’s baby to term.
So she notified the clinic, which notified the biological parents, who then sued for custody of the child.
Thing is though, by this point, Murray says she loved the baby and had bonded with him, breastfeeding him and taking him to doctors' appointments. [Quote same link, find “breastfeeding”]
[Clip, 01:04 - 01:12] Caption: “My baby is not genetically mine. He doesn’t have my blood. He doesn’t have my eyes. But he is and will always be my son.”
So she hired a lawyer and fought back, but says that after a “tremendous amount of money and time,” they told her she would likely lose her case. [Quote]
So last May, she went to a family court hearing and turned this child, whom she considers her son, over to another couple.
[Clip, 01:02 - 01:09] Caption: “I walked out of the building with an empty stroller. And they left with my son.”
With her telling ABC News, “I think about him every single day. There's not a day that I don't wonder what he's doing. I raised him for five months, but I didn't get to see his first steps. I don't know what his first words are. I don't know, what milestones he's hitting.” [Quote]
[Clip, 01:41 - 01:55] Caption: “The actions of the fertility clinic have come very close to destroying me, have left irreparable damage to my soul, and ultimately left me questioning whether I should be a mom.”
Now despite the whole episode, she says she is trying again with a different IVF clinic.
Plus she says she has no clue what happened to her own embryo, so who knows, maybe it was implanted in another woman who gave birth to her baby. [Quote, find “own embryo”]
In which case, and this is just my advice, steal the baby, Kristena.
Someone took your baby; now it’s time for you to take someone else’s, because two wrongs do in fact make a right.
Anyway, she’s not doing that; instead she’s now suing the clinic, Coastal Fertility Specialists, and some of its staff for a long list of offenses. [Image]
Those including negligence, gross negligence, bailment, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, battery, lack of informed consent, violations of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act and violations of the South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act. [Quote, find “gross”]
But her lawyer also stresses that this fuck-up is not unique to any particular clinic; rather, it’s a systemic thing. [Lead B roll into clip]
Which he says is because the industry is largely unregulated. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:36 - 02:51] Caption: “There are no reporting requirements when errors are made. There are no random and unannounced inspections. There are no statewide or federally required certifications for the staff who work at fertility clinics.”
Links:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-woman-sues-ivf-clinic-after-gave-birth/story?id=118933908
-
In wild international news, Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro (Jye-air Bol-so-nar-oh) plotted to poison his successor, shoot dead the Supreme Court justice investigating him, and reinstall himself as the country’s leaders following his defeat in the 2022 election.
At least, that’s according to a 272-page indictment that’s now been filed by the country’s top lawyer.
And now, get this, the judge that Bolsonaro allegedly tried to assassinate?
As the head of the federal investigation into the former president, he’s the one who now gets to decide how to proceed with the case.
Notably, with his first order of business being to decide whether Bolsonaro represents a flight risk and should be held in jail until trial. []
But also, that judge?
He’s now being sued by Donald Trump’s media company.
With that complaint being filed just hours after the indictment against Bolsonaro.
But also just about one month after Bolsonaro explicitly called on Trump to take action against the judge in an interview with The New York Times.
With the Times now suggesting, and I quote:
“The lawsuit appeared to represent an astonishing effort by Mr. Trump to pressure a foreign judge as he weighed the fate of a fellow right-wing leader who, like him, was indicted on charges that he tried to overturn his election loss.”[]
And with that, to make sense of all this, we should go back to that election.
Right, in 2022, Brazil’s current president Lula defeated Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat and baselessly claimed that the only way he could have lost was as a result of election fraud.
And a few months later, thousands of his supporters attacked the country’s presidential palace, supreme court building, and house of congress.
And while all that may sound familiar to anyone in the U.S. that’s where the similarities end.
Right, in June of 2023, the country’s top electoral court ruled that Bolsonaro abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system – banning from running for office until 2030.
And then, in November of last year, the country’s federal police formally accused Bolsonaro of attempting a coup.
And finally, this week, you had those charges being brought by the country’s prosecutor-general, with him revealing those new allegations about the plan to assassinate Lula and the judge, and adding:
“The members of the criminal organization structured a plan at the presidential palace to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger.”
“The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”[]
And with that, assuming the Supreme Court accepts the charges, Bolsonaro will stand trial and reportedly face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.[]
And considering the power that that one Supreme Court justice in particular has over the case, it’s why you have people wondering whether the Trump lawsuit is really a coincidence.
And so to get into that, the case is being brought by the Trump Media & Technology Group, which is majority-owned by Donald Trump and is the company behind his social media network Truth Social –
But also, notably, Truth Social? It relies on fellow right-wing platform Rumble for cloud hosting, video streaming, and other back-end services.
And with that, Rumble is also named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
In fact, the entire case is mostly based around the fact that the judge ordered Rumble to remove the accounts of prominent supporters of Bolsonaro.
Right, Truth Social hasn’t actually been subject to the judge’s orders at this point.
But since the company is partly dependent on Rumble’s technology, it says it risks "operational challenges" in the United States as a result. []
And with that,even though this is a case against a Brazilian judge, it’s being filed in the U.S. on the basis of U.S. law.
With the companies claiming “The Gag Orders demand that Rumble, from its Florida-based headquarters and without any Brazil operations, enforce a universal ban on the targeted accounts—imposing a total blackout that extends even to U.S. users.” []
And with that, accusing the judge of censoring “legitimate political discourse in the United States” and “undermining fundamental constitutional protections enshrined in the First Amendment.” []
So, of course, it’s unclear how or whether the lawsuit will affect the state of play in Brazil.
But notably, until now, this judge? He hasn’t caved, even with his life on the line.
Right, beside the alleged assassination plot, a Bolsonaro supporter tried to bomb the Supreme Court.
But that hasn’t stopped him from ordering the arrest of the Bolsonaro’s allies or the confiscation of his passport.
And similarly, he hasn’t bowed to criticism about his decision to suspend hundreds of social media accounts belonging to Bolsonaro supporters – even from the world’s richest man.
Right, you may remember, last April, Elon Musk announced he’d be lifting restrictions against accounts banned under the judge’s authority.
And after a months-long feud culminating in Brazil’s telecom agency blocking access to X across the entire country, Musk backed down and complied with the judge’s demands.
And now all that said, one thing to note, there’s a real debate in Brazil about whether this judge has gone too far at times.
And so I’d love to hear your thoughts about that, as well as the Trump lawsuit against him, and then just the craziness of the allegations against Bolsonaro.
-
The video game world was just rocked after some of the team behind Marvel Rivals -- one of the most successful launches out there -- was just laid off.
The news came from Linkedin, where one of Rivals’ game director Thaddeus Sasser wrote:
“My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games…and were just laid off!” []
Sasser’s team apparently worked on “new level design mechanics, gameplay mechanics, and so on.”
He went on to say that he’d be highlighting members of his team that need new jobs in a series of posts.
Other members of the team, like level designer Jack Burrows, wrote:
“Just couldn’t dodge that big boot I guess, no matter how big the success of the gig.” []
But the news came as a complete shock, as Marvel Rivals came out of nowhere in December to become a smash hit almost overnight, with some reports claiming it’s already made $136 million. []
One big question is what justification NetEase -- which is the parent company behind Rivals -- could possibly have for these layoffs, leading people to write:
Online people made memes like:
“Make bad games? Fired.
Make good game? Fired.
Make incredibly successful game? Believe it or not, also fired.” []
MoistCritical also went off about the situation and went over Sasser’s post and saying:
“He seems pretty upset, and rightfully so because you usually don’t expect that when your product is so good that you helped build. You don’t really think you’ll be the one on the chopping block ‘cause logically that doesn’t really check out. It doesn’t pass the smell test. ‘Hey, this thing is doing so well we’re going to celebrate by spitting in your face. Leave. Leave.’ That’s not something a lot of people expect except in the video game industry! Because in the video game industry there’s not telling who’s going to get flushed down the shitter.” @3:18-3:53
Charlie went on to bash companies for keeping CEOs around that he believes are incompetent while getting rid of talented teams that have skills which can continuously be used as the game continues to grow.
However, there are some who feel this is all getting blown out of proportion, like this take from Grummz.
(Granted, Grummz is a grifter who bashes any game that is “woke,” but he has worked in the industry and this is one of his most level-headed statements).
“6 people were laid off from the US division of Netease. This may have been the entire size of the Seattle Marvel Rival's office. 6 is unfortunate but still a small number compared to the entire dev team on Rivals.” []
Grummz went on to say, “This looks like a simple re-org and a tiny trim of staff. Not the core-shaking development Kotaku and others are trying to make it out to be.”
Which is almost exactly the reason NetEase said when outlets asked them.
Essentially these layoffs were for “organizational reasons” and that doesn't mean development will slow down.
“We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game. We’re excited to deliver new super hero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base."
But I think MoistCritical possibly hit the nail on the head when he said that even if these layoffs are justified… The timing is just really bad optics.
Right, the game is a smash hit and a team partially behind it is effectively “punished” because of it.
At the same time, was there ever going to be a good time for NetEase to do this?
Go to Vessi for 15% off your first order.
-
Y’all need to hear about this insane drama and verdict in the trial of A$AP [A-sap] Rocky.
Who, if you’re unfamiliar, is a 36-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper; his real name is Rakim Mayers [Pronounce 00:27]. [B roll, 00:13]
And the fact he was being tried for a crime is notable on its own because he’s already tied up in a number of upcoming projects. [Same B roll]
From headlining the Rolling Loud festival in March, to chairing the Met Gala in May, to starring in a Spike Lee-directed movie alongside Denzel Washington this summer. [Quote, find “Spike” and same B roll]
So a conviction on two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm could have completely upended all of that.
But according to the LA County prosecutor, back in 2021 he tried to shoot his one-time friend from high school and former bandmate: A$AP Relli [Relly]. [Screenshot, 00:57]
Right, they used to belong to the same rap collective which they called the ASAP Mob, short for Always Strive and Prosper, but they’re friendship had grown bitter. [Quote, find “prosper”]
So reportedly they agreed to meet in a parking garage one evening to clear up their differences. [Same quote]
But the prosecution presented surveillance video purporting to show the pair fighting, with Rocky holding a gun and later shooting at Relli. [B roll, 01:31 - 01:44]
So Rocky got charged, and he pled his innocence, turning down a deal that would’ve gotten him only six months in jail for confessing to one of the counts. [Quote, find “180”]
Meaning that instead, he faced up to 24 years in prison, though the prosecution only sought eight. [Quote same link, find “24”]
And with that gamble, the three-week trial began. [Image]
With the whole thing centering on one question: was the gun real or fake?
Right, because no weapon was actually recovered at the scene or presented as evidence.
So Relli alleged that it shot real bullets, while Rocky claimed that it was actually a prop gun from his D.M.B. music video with Rhianna that only fired blanks. [B roll, 01:21]
And each side laid out their respective arguments.
With Relli testifying that he believed one of the bullets grazed his hand. [Quote, find “grazed”]
To which the defense argued that his injuries were just “knuckle scrapes” that could have been sustained in a fight or a fall. [Quote]
Adding that police couldn’t locate evidence of a discharged weapon at the crime scene. [Quote, find “discharged”]
But Relli testified that he returned to the area later that night and retrieved two 9-millimeter shell casings. [Same quote]
Then, the defense painted Relli as the aggressor, claiming that he attacked Rocky on the night of the shooting. [Quote, find “him twice”]
Adding that Rocky kept the prop gun for times when he didn’t have security and only fired it to prevent Relli from attacking one of his friends. [Same quote]
With Relli claiming that Rocky threatened to kill him, and Rocky claiming that Relli knew it was fake.
But not all of the trial focused on the substance of the allegations.
With both sides’ attorneys and the judge getting personally heated, to say the least.
[Clip, 00:21 - 00:35; Clip, 03:43 - 03:46; Clip, 04:52 - 04:56; Clip, 07:32 - 07:35; Clip, 07:41 - 07:45; Clip, 07:50 - 07:53; Clip, 07:11 - 07:13; Clip, 06:08 - 06:12] Caption: [Prosecutor:] “The tone that we get when we make an objection should be sustained is ‘what are you doing?’ That’s what was said. You specifically-” [Judge:] “Lower your voice and don’t yell at me. I’ve told you before. I’ll listen to what you say. Speak in a normal tone of voice.” … [Defense attorney:] “They have to!” [Prosecutor:] “Your honor-” [Defense attorney:] “Let me finish.” … [Prosecutor:] “He doesn’t know or care about the law. That is clear.” … [Defense attorney:] “That’s unethical. That’s unethical.” … [Prosecutor:] “One more thing out of him and we air everything that’s happened in this case.” [Defense attorney:] “Ooh!” … [Defense attorney:] “I’m so fearful *inaudible*.” [Prosecutor:] “You should be, Joe.” … [Defense attorney:] “I’ve just about had it with him.” … [Prosecutor:] “Court knows …” [Judge:] “I’ve heard enough from both of you.”
But despite all that, they finished their closing arguments last week, giving Rocky the weekend to contemplate his fate.
Then on Tuesday, after deliberating for nearly three hours, the jury emerged, and the verdict was read.
[Clip, 00:00 - 00:11] Caption: “We, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Rakim Mayers, not guilty.” *Cheers*
With Rocky then seen diving from the defense table into the gallery and hugging his partner Rhianna, his attorney, and his supporters while sobbing, clearly overwhelmed by relief and joy. [Continue B roll]
With him telling the jurors “Thank y’all for saving my life.” [Same B roll]
But while the district attorney said he respected the jury’s decision, he also added:
“Our office remains committed to seeking accountability for those who break the law, no matter their status or influence. Fame does not place anyone above the law, and we will not waver in our pursuit of justice for victims and the community.” [Quote]
So that’s the end of that, at least in terms of criminal charges, because Rocky still has some civil stuff pending against him.
But whether you love him or hate him, know his music or don’t, let me know your thoughts down below.
Links:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/asap-rocky-shooting-gun-assault-trial-verdict-rcna191822
-
Argentina’s Javier Milei joined the club of world leaders who promoted a cryptocoin… except unlike Trump he’s in a ton of hot water because of it.
The coin is called LIBRA and it was billed as a way to help rebuild the Argentinian economy, with Milei posting on Friday:
“This private project will be dedicated to encouraging the growth of the Argentine economy by funding small Argentine businesses and startups. The world wants to invest in Argentina.”
The coin then took off… until it died.
Within just about 24 hours, the coin completely tanked in value, leading to what some outlets claim was a “$286 million crypto catastrophe” and a 96% devaluation.[]
The collapse led to many speculating that this was a rug pull.
We’re not a crypto channel so all you need to know is that a rug pull can happen in many different ways and essentially means the value of a coin is raised super high before the backers sell out and abandon the project.
We don’t know for sure if that’s what happened, and we’ll let Coffeezilla figure that out.
And he’s already been on the case. Right, this weekend he released an interview he did with Hayden Davis, one of the people who was behind the project.
(and someone who reportedly made a ton of money off the collapse).[]
In it, Davis claims that he was only brought in to strategize the coin’s launch and didn’t have much else to do with it.
He also touched on accusations that this was a scam, saying:
“You know, people are saying this was a rug pull. That’s not objectively true. There’s what? $60 million on the bonding pull of liquidity that’s locked. That $300 million market cap. It’s a plan gone miserably wrong.” @5:46-6:04
He went on to insist the coin was “sniped,” meaning that a cabal of independent people managed to raise the value of the coin before selling at the top and crashing it.
I’ll link to that full interview down below if you want to check it out after this video, but keep in mind that it’s a lot of “inside baseball.”
Either way, the collapse of LIBRA has led it to being called another memecoin, which is a name given to coins that probably shouldn’t exist and are just pure gambles without a utility.
(compared to say Bitcoin, which at least pretends it wants to be a legitimate currency).
And to be clear, these collapses happen extremely fast.
Right, Milei took down his Friday post just a few hours after making it, and saying in a follow up:
"A few hours ago I posted a tweet, as I have countless times before, supporting an alleged private venture with which I obviously have no connection.”
"I wasn’t informed of the project’s details, and after learning about them I decided not to continue promoting it (that’s why I deleted the tweet).”[]
Crypto fans and investigators aren’t convinced Milei isn’t involved, although Davis told Coffee that he largely wasn’t and just promoted the coin.
Speaking of which, there are alleged texts from Davis that claim he has access to Milei’s sister and “I send $$ to his sister and he signs whatever I say and does what I want. Craziest shit.”
Which -- if true -- certainly doesn't help Milei at all.
(Davis does deny this though and said, “ "Recent media reports claiming I paid President Javier Milei or his sister, Karina Milei, to launch the Libra memecoin are completely false. I never made any payments to them, nor did they request any. Their only concern was ensuring proceeds from Libra would benefit Argentina’s people and economy.").
There’s a lot of talk that Argentina’s opposition will try to use the situation to impeach Milei, and a federal judge has already opened an investigation into the situation.
However, those impeachment efforts are unlikely to go far unless investigations reveal crazy new details.
But that’s not where this ends, because there’s another controversy stemming from this -- what to do next?
Right, Davis still has control over the liquidity pool -- which is essentially a big reservoir of money that is supposed to help “Stabilize” coins.
Coffee suggested that he uses it to help some of the people crushed by this launch recoup some of their money.
And we’ve seen some pretty big names pretty much demand they get their money back.
Such as Adin Ross, who reportedly lost $300,000 because of this.
Normally this would be unheard of, but Davis has already kind of opened that floodgate by reportedly giving Dave Portnoy like $5 million he lost right when the coin launched -- something he calls a mistake but an in-the-moment decision to try and keep the coin’s launch alive.
All of this is still playing out so we’ll have to wait and see.
-
Then I have a couple of different pieces of immigration news.
First up, the Trump administration has reportedly now paused immigration applications filed by migrants from Latin America and Ukraine who are already in the U.S. legally under certain Biden-era policies.
This including many who are fleeing war and other deadly crises.
Right, according a memo obtained by CBS News, the freeze applies to several Biden administration programs that allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the U.S. legally through an immigration law known as parole.
Which gives the U.S. government the power to quickly admit foreigners on humanitarian or public benefit grounds.
And while the Biden administration used parole at an unprecedented scale, when Trump took office, his administration suspended those efforts, halting new entries under the programs.
But this new effort goes much further, with the memo specifically ordering a pause on all “pending benefit requests” filed by hundreds of thousands migrants who are ALREADY allowed in the U.S. under three different Biden-era programs.
The first is a policy called Uniting for Ukraine, which offered safe haven for around 240,000 Ukrainians with American sponsors fleeing the war.
The second program allowed 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans sponsored by U.S. citizens to enter the country.
And the final program let some Colombians, Ecuadorians, Central Americans, Haitians and Cubans with American relatives to come to America while they waited for a family-based green card.
But because the people who entered the legally U.S. under those programs were only given work permits and deportation protections that usually last just two years, many of them applied for other immigration benefits.
This including green cards, as well as benefits given to people fleeing countries on humanitarian grounds like asylum or and Temporary Protected Status.
But with this new pause, migrants who came to the U.S. legally under those three Biden-era programs will be unable to access these services.
Now, as for why this is being done, the memo announcing the decision claims that, quote:
“fraud information and public safety or national security concerns are not being properly flagged in USCIS' adjudicative systems.”
With the directive noting that the Biden administration temporarily paused the parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans due to fraud concerns.
And going on to reference an investigation that found that thousands of applications under that initiative had “serial sponsors,” information of dead individuals, or identical addresses.
Claiming that some of those applications were proven to be fraud and that some migrants who were allowed to enter the country under the program “were not fully vetted.”
Now, as far as what happens next, the memo does say the pause can be lifted once officials complete a “comprehensive review and evaluation” of the migrants paroled into the U.S. under these three Biden administration initiatives.
But it’s also unclear how long that will take, and experts saying that, in the meantime, this move effectively puts these migrants into legal limbo.
And if the government ends their parole status entirely, they will be open to deportation.
So we’ll have to keep our eyes on that one.
But the second piece of immigration news I want to hit on is that the Trump administration has now ended legal representation for unaccompanied minors who cross the border without adults.
Right, for some quick context here, when underage migrants present themselves to immigration officials at the border without a parent, they are put in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement — ORR.
From there, ORR works with a broad network of shelters, foster homes, and group homes to care for those minors.
With legal nonprofits acting as subcontractors to provide screenings to see if the children can avoid deportation while the ORR looks for family members in the U.S. who can take over custody.
And, until now, the ORR has had a contract for over $200 million each year that gives those legal nonprofits the funding needed to represent around 26,000 unaccompanied minors court.
As well as offer “Know Your Rights” trainings and provide legal screenings for tens of thousands more.
But now, this latest directive cuts that funding and orders all lawyers to immediately stop all work.
Though, notably, according to some reports, the stop-work order doesn’t necessarily end legal representation for kids who already have it.
Because if an attorney has already filed paperwork in court as the recorded lawyer for a certain case, they’re obligated to continue their representative unless they ask a judge to be removed.
But, at the same time, the directive also ends all funding, so experts say it’s unclear how the nonprofits that offer legal services can continue to do so, with many now at risk of closing down altogether.
So, as a result, you have immigration advocates arguing that this move effectively removes essential services from vulnerable children.
Including many who have faced abuse and neglect, been trafficked, or are fleeing prosecution.
With experts saying this just opens them up to exploitation and an increased risk of trafficking.
Which undermines a decades-long bipartisan to make sure that children who have been trafficked have access to the proper legal resources.
But, that said, this move is all but certain to be challenged in court.
Right, Trump already tried to halt funding for a similar porgram that offered legal representation and resources for adults in detention, but DOJ actually reversed the order two days later after nonprofit groups sued.
But the final immigration story I want to hit on today is that the White House posted a video of shakled immigrants being deported and called it “ASMR.”
Yep, you heard that right.
Yesterday, the White House uploaded the video on X and Instagram with the caption “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight”[][]
With that 40-second video showing footage of shackles jangling as they are pulled from a basket and laid out on an airport tarmac.
As well as presumed migrants with handcuffs and chain-link restraints walking around the tarmac or onto a plane.
Right, and unsurprisingly, that elicited a big response.
With many condemning the post, saying it was disturbing and dehumanizing, accusing the White House of mocking people fleeing persecution.[][][]
Others also saying the video was fascist or comparing it to Nazi Germany, like the Lincoln Project, which retweeted the post with the caption:
Some also said this crosses a line for them even if they oppose illegal immigration, like one person who wrote:
“Am I against deportations? No. Am I against glibly posting videos like this and labelling them ‘ASMR,’ as if the sound of chains is supposed to give me pleasure? Absolutely.” []
But, on the other side, there were also plenty of people applauding the post.[][][]
This including Elon Musk, who retweeted it with the caption “Haha wow” and a medal emoji.[]
You also had the media responding similarly, with left-leaning outlets slamming the post while right-leaning sources echoed the positive sentiments and downplayed the post.
Like the Daily Caller, which called the video “a Savage Move To Keep Gen Z On MAGA Train”
As well as Breitbart, which ran the headline: “White House Trolls Illegal Aliens with Sights, Sounds of Deportation”
But all of this is probably exactly what the White House wanted — to get a big response and get people talking, even if it’s not all good.
Right, love him or hate him, it’s simply a fact that Trump and his faction of the party are reactionaries, adn this is exactly what they thrive on.
You oculd even say this is exactly what the whole platform was built on, in many ways.
But this is the Philip DeFranco show, this is a conversation — so I’d really love to know what you think about this or any of the other stories I just talked about.
Go to Saily and use the code Phil to get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! ⛵
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-1948397688-277bac445f3d406399bae33f348d92b0.jpg){kind=link}
