The Truth About Linus Tech Tips’ Controversy, Harassment, & Allegations, & Today’s News
Sup, you beautiful bastards. We got so much to talk about today, so I'm just going to hit you with the monkey and dive into it. This is a new issue. we need to talk about this big Linus tech tips update.
especially because, you know, I think the most oxygen and, the biggest spotlight's always given to the, the big juicy story, the accusations, unfortunately, a lot of the time you don't see the reporting later down the road of, you know, was there anything there? What are the updates? you know, in the YouTube world, this is massive news because Linus Tech Tips just released the results of a months long investigation. They found that they didn't have a toxic work environment nor allowed sexual harassment. also, if you're unfamiliar, this is just not fresh in your brain. Let's revisit. or so back in August of last year.
The LTT channel in the company above it, LMG, were accused by former employee Madison Soup of a ton of wrongdoings. easily. The main ones were that there was sexual harassment that went unaddressed and ignored, and that the company set her up for failure with poor communication and shifting expectations that were never relayed.
that, then causing a massive backlash against Linus and the company, the company promising that an independent investigation would be carried out since then, they've been almost completely silent on the issue with the company also having to juggle other issues that we've discussed on the show in the meantime. now the big news is that they've released the general findings of the investigation via a tweet. And if true, they look very good for LMG and LTT. so we learned that the entire thing was conducted by Roper Gray, which is a large Vancouver based law firm specializing in labor and employment law. them conducting a third party investigation.
that the main takeaway with this is that in summary, as confirmed by the investigation, allegations made against the team were largely unfounded, misleading and unfair. statement also going down. More specific allegations made by Madison, such as claims of bullying and harassment not being substantial. ID saying allegations of sexual harassment were ignored or not addressed were false. any concerns that were raised, were investigated.
furthermore from reviewing our history, the investigator is confident that if any other concerns have been raised, we would have investigated them. also goes on to pretty much claim that every one of Madison's claims were false, and that the company had made efforts to address her concerns when they were brought with really one of the only things on this being a mark against LMG being. Allegations of process errors and miscommunication while onboarding this individual were partially substantiated, but the investigator found ample documentary evidence of LMG working to rectify the errors and the individual being treated generously and respectfully. they had questions they were responded to and addressed.
so, you know, with this news, many fans are pretty happy with how everything played out, saying things like, to see this is going well. I just hope some of the fans don't go and harass or bully the employees that made these allegations. at the same time, there were some concerned about at least one aspect of the statement. with a company writing at this time, we feel our case for a defamation suit would be very strong. however, our deepest wish is to simply put all of this behind us. hope that will be the case.
Giving the investigators clear findings that the allegations made online were misrepresentations of what actually occurred. adding, we will continue to assess if there is persistent reputational damage or further defamation. And so some weren't happy with that statement.
saying things like, well, I believe the investigation was thorough and have no reason to doubt that the results of the investigation are correct. I really don't think it was good optics to make any mention of a very strong case for a defamation suit. well as I wonder who wrote this and thought it was a good idea to publicly threaten a broke, immature girl with a defamation lawsuit have been better to just sit on these results and not even mention them, than to come out and threaten a lawsuit. though there, we also saw people defending the mention and pushing back that LMG shouldn't have mentioned the defamation aspect. saying things like, a lot of people are complaining about the defamation part, but my take, it's fine and should be there. there's a lot of people defaming folks on the internet, either for clout or out of misunderstandings.
And it's a good thing that people are being reminded that consequences exist. with now all of this out there and people reacting to it, I got to pass the question off to you here. What are your thoughts with all this? it be about the findings of this independent investigation just generally or the more specific question regarding the mention of a defamation suit.
Taylor Swift and the Olympics are fueling fraud. in fact, we just saw BBC news do a report of how it's happening. Ryan with this. Highlighting how this scam warning is coming from UK finance.
because fraud, you know, is an issue at large right now with UK financing. Last year, consumers lost 86 million pounds trying to buy items that never materialized. well a lot on its own. That was a 28% increase from 2022. it comes to Taylor with specifically the BBC noted that Lloyds Bank previously said that fans had lost 1 million pounds trying to see the UK leg of the show. I mean, that's so far that doesn't even start until next month. the bank reporting that it's had 600 customers come forward so far about all this cash they've lost from the arrest for fraud.
And most of the scam started on Facebook. you have the BBC estimating that if other banks have similar figures, there have been at least 3000 victims in the UK alone. notably, I do want to say when it comes to concert ticket news, it's not all doom and gloom.
because we got a major update here in the States with the Department of Justice now officially telling Live Nation to go fuck itself. although, to be fair, they didn't use that language. instead, you know, last month we talked about the very likely possibility that the DOJ was going to take legal action. Well, now its official is the department alongside over two dozen states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster today, the DOJ accusing them of monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition and markets across the live entertainment industry.
the DOJ saying that fans here in the U.S. are deprived of ticketing innovation and forced to use outdated technology while paying more for tickets and fans in other countries. Noting that Live Nation's reign of terror impacts artists and venues as well. and among the specific accusations, you have claims that Live Nation uses retaliation and threats against venues and competitors that try to get in its way, and saying that it uses long term exclusive contracts with venues to prevent them from using rival tickets or more than one ticketing option.
also among the claims you of the DOJ saying that it exploits its relationship with a firm called Oakview Group. it notably describes as a potential competitor turned partner that has described itself as a hammer and protector for Live Nation. one of the biggest things here is, as expected, this suit is seeking to break up Live Nation, but also on a more surprising note, it's seeking a jury trial.
now, for their part, Live Nation slamming the lawsuit, putting out a statement today saying, the DOJ lawsuit won't solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees and access to in-demand shows. Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment. as far as if that turns out to be true, we're going to have to wait to see how this plays out. in national news that I don't really know how to feel about. Yeah, for the first time on record, there are now more daily pot smokers than daily drinkers in the States. right in that according to a new study using highly reputable survey data published yesterday, it finding that in 1992, less than 1 million people self-reported using marijuana every day or nearly every day.
I compared to about 9 million who drank alcohol daily. but by 2022, while the number of alcohol went up to nearly 15 million daily, cannabis users exploded almost 18 million. notably daily use in general use, the the numbers get different. where alcohol is still consumed more extensively than cannabis, with only. It's still a lot of people 62 million saying you know, they've partaken and marijuana over the last year compared to 177 million for alcohol.
but the new data does show that cannabis is consumed more intensively. the study's author explaining to the AP good 40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use. I guess for alcohol use, that number is just 11%. right? These numbers are concerning to a number of doctors who warn that high frequency use is more likely to lead to addiction.
and with that, the CDC estimating that around a third of cannabis users already have cannabis use disorder. you know, with these numbers and some of the concerns, I'm especially interested whether you're stone cold sober, you you drink, you smoke, you do whatever. What are your thoughts here? Japan wants tourists to stop causing problems. And this isn't fully new news.
We've talked about this before. fact, tons of places worldwide have been enforcing new measures to get tourist either leave or chill the fuck and often it's because out-of-towners just generally get in the way of locals trying to live their life. Kyoto banning Torres from parts of the geisha district because people kept misbehaving. now we're seeing other actions, like a town in Japan that had a stunning view of Mount Fuji from one of its convenience stores.
right. So popular, the tourists often flock there to get some good old fashioned Insta pics. although I should say that store had a stunning view of Mount Fuji. Because the town actually just finished putting up black screens, blocking the view to deter tourists from heading to that photo spot.
the AP reporting that people in the town were annoyed, the visitors just kept blocking the sidewalk, getting into traffic on busy road, sometimes even going on to people's properties just to get a good pic. so while you had some locals telling orders that they like people coming to their town, there's just a limit. Especially saying that safety has to be accounted for. and this is where the outlet noting that this comes as tourism in Japan has skyrocketed lately. specifically The Washington Post even saying that the current surge is pushing Japan's world famous hospitality to the brink. this in part of just how crowded it is, as well as issues like tourists littering and causing other problems.
which I mean, just having been there, the littering alone would make people go crazy because it's so fucking clean there. there were times I was walking around and everything was so clean. I was like, do I live in a third world country? But then on top of, like, the normal tourist stuff, we've also recently seen streamers and YouTubers under fire for going to the country just to be a nuisance, with you haven't people like Johnny Somali, for example, who Business Insider reports has been arrested twice in Japan for trespassing in for disrupting business at a restaurant. have also been other instances, like where a YouTuber went viral and faced backlash for using Japan's public transit without paying.
actually with is one of the biggest voices now speaking on it is PewDiePie as well. He's still a massive creator. He lives in Japan now, and he just put out a video saying that YouTubers are ruining the country. with that saying that all of it started back with Logan Paul and it's kind of turned into this infestation, showing examples of tourism issues and nuisance streamers and saying, It is really frustrating because, like for a lot of people, Japan is an escape of this bad behavior that's just done in public. A lot of times, I'd say the whole world is like terrible. But, you know, Japan is generally seen as more polite in that form if you want to protect them. right.
Noting that YouTubers especially are trying to get outraged clicks at the cost of people who just want to live there and they're just trying to go about their day. think because it's Japan, everyone is so nice. People like assume it's okay to take advantage.
Almost like they have this idea that, oh, no one's going to tell me off. So it's okay. Yeah, dumbasses. They're the ones. They're like, oh, I can do whatever I want. They're so nice, so dirty. Yeah, exactly.
Like there's something in the hair actually racist about that. I feel like the thing is, is these instances become all that more common. They will get handled one way or another. either by local legal means that, the platforms in general or the, the audiences at large, though there. would argue that especially in recent years, there's been this emergence of audience that just loves news and streamers. loving the wild West, what the fuck aspect of it, and not thinking about the actual impact to what's happening in those streams.
so because those creators often have different, shittier audiences. don't think there's really any amount of outrage or shame that impacts this, aside from platforms doing something or something being done legally. Like with local or national laws and the enforcement of those. you know, I am a sucker for good packaging. Not going to lie. know, most of you know, by now I'm a huge fan of liquid I.V..
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is in some boiling hot water and I was just left going really boiling hot. That's a Jacuzzi. Alito is just chilling. He's one of the nine most powerful judges in the country.
A lifetime appointee. and if you've got Justice Clarence Thomas just openly having sugar daddies and he's not recusing himself with stuff that involves his wife and the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Like what? You know, we should and can talk about any and all of these situations that we see play out with the Supreme Court. to act like any meaningful action will ever really be taken. That's it's a little bit silly at this it doesn't take into account where we are politically in 2024.
but let's talk about it, because Alito has been facing a ton of backlash since last week, when the New York Times reported that an upside down American flag, a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement, had been flown outside his house in the days after the insurrection. right. And that's significant not only because of what it symbolizes, but because Supreme Court justices are supposed to remain independent and avoid political statements or displays on matters that could come before them. now, Alito, for his part, responded like a lot of husbands do when they don't want to deal with some stuff. he blamed his wife for him. That's Martha Ann Alito. and telling the times I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs.
Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs, sources interviewed by the outlets saying that Martha and had been in an ongoing clash with a family on the block, we displayed an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, but saying because of the timing, the neighbors had interpreted the inverted flag as a political statement by the couple. as you know, with this, you had numerous judicial experts saying that the move was a clear violation of ethics rules and raised concerns about alito's ability to be impartial in cases involving the election in January 6th. you know, that could be super significant because the court is set to rule on two major insurrection related cases in the coming weeks. I mean, one of those is literally whether Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. know, that little low stakes which is why we've seen tons of people going after Alito, with many Democrats calling on him to recuse himself and some conservatives even criticizing I mean, even Lindsey fucking Graham said the actions were not good judgment. and now that backlash has actually gotten even louder.
Because the reason we're talking about this today is that The times reported yesterday that another flag associated with January 6th and Trump was flown outside another one of his houses last summer, with re pictures obtained by the outlets and accounts of nearly half a dozen people revealing that an appeal to heaven flag was brandished at the Alito's Long Beach Island home in July and September of 2023. with also a Google Street View image from last August showing the flag up. with the times explaining, well, the flag originally dates back to the Revolutionary War. More recently, it's become a symbol of support for former President Donald J.
Trump for a religious strand of the Stop the Steal campaign, and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. and very notably here. That flag, which has been embraced by Christian nationalists, was also carried by a number of insurrectionists and featured prominently on January 6th. and notably with that as a recording, neither Alito nor the court have responded to the revelations about the second flag.
with people wondering. Is he going to try to blame Martha again or say it's not supposed to be connected to that? It's the other thing. you know, as a result, we've seen tons of people renewing their calls for Alito to recuse himself from the January 6th cases. this again, including top Democrats like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who wrote on X, did another neighbor make alito's wife mad? How many MAGA battle flags does Alito need to fly for the quarter Judicial Conference to see there's a problem? but also some have gone even further saying that more needs to be done than just recusal, with the likes of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez telling MSNBC. Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on January 6th and is now going to be presiding over court cases that that have deep implications over the participants of that rally.
And while this is the threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy. And in the Senate, we have gavels there should be subpoenas going out, there should be active investigations that are happening. as far as whether any of that is going to materialize, we'll have to wait and watch, but as I made abundantly clear at the top of I don't really think that with the state of things that the people are held accountable. that is purely a numbers game, a power grab or power enforcement.
But hey, every now and then, I am wrong. It sometimes does happen. So we'll have to wait to see not only what happens, but if Alito responds as well as it does, the court responded, what is it? Yo, this is insane. It just feels like nothing can just be good. always someone or something.
Fucking everything. And I'm saying that today. Because remember how he talked about the VA benefits or burn victims? according to a new report, there are allegations that a handful of wealthy corporations are illegally siphoning off that money for themselves. for those of you that missed that news because your life does not revolve around the show.
How fucking dare you. US military used to burn all its trash from bases abroad in giant pits with jet fuel. you think was obviously a bad thing? And it was it would smother nearby service members and toxic fumes that caused a long list of medical conditions, especially cancer and respiratory issues. so in 2022, Biden signs the Pact act vastly expanding benefits for victims, burn pits and other toxic exposure.
the big news this week was that on Tuesday, he announced that over a million claims have been approved so far under the new law. usually that means one of two things. either one. The vet applied for benefits all on their own or two.
They got help from a veterans service organization or VSO. for example, Veterans of Foreign Wars or disabled American Veterans to pick two well-known examples. those being nonprofit groups that have been officially accredited by the VA's since the 1950s and are required by law to provide assistance free of charge for initial claims. now there's also a new group of kids on the block offering to do the same exact thing for a hefty price tag.
And with none of the certifications, Washington Post actually identifying as many as 100 unaccredited for profit companies that make hundreds of millions of dollars helping veterans apply charging anywhere from 5000 to $20,000, their clients signing contracts that bind them to pay a one time fee equal to five times their new monthly disability payment, or increase. which is wild because literally a federal law prohibits exactly that. notably, back in 2006, Congress removed criminal penalties for that law. Effectively defending it. And either way, these companies also argue they're just basically doing educational or consulting work. their clients ultimately submitting their own claims. So they're not actually breaking the law.
that argument seems to be contradicted by the industry's own advertising, which pitches their services as a substitute for the traditional vsos, promising a higher chance of approval, and accusing both the Vsos and the VA of failing to meet veterans needs to be fair, they're, you know, they've kind of got a point the VA has long been criticized for putting vets through a bureaucratic slog, delaying the process and ultimately denying legitimate claims. all of which the Biden administration has tried to improve. And it's had some success, with like we talked about the approval rate for Pact act related claims reaching an impressive 75%. Now, in its effort to speed up the process and expand outreach, the VA has found itself straining to accommodate all the new claims. or even have to bring on over 11,000 new employees to deal with the workload.
It's still struggling, officials also telling the post that training fell short and the staff have worked mandatory overtime most months. also the training manual for toxic exposure cases has been revised multiple times, causing delays and inaccurate decisions. of which is helped by the fact that the agency still relies on an outdated processing system requiring manual work. as of April, there was a backlog of more than 300,000, we've seen at least one Gulf War vet giving the for profit company that he hired a positive review, him, saying that he paid it $5,000 and got his disability rating boosted from 30% to 90%, adding that they did more for me in six months that I did in 18 years. notably, this is others are much less grateful for the service that they received, for example, one saying it looks like they're throwing you a lifeline when they're just taking advantage of you.
also have current and former employees from the companies themselves accusing them of prioritizing profits and volume over actually helping vets, saying they make unrealistic promises and about minimal time to individual cases. with one former coach who quit due to ethical concerns, explaining was charging veterans $20,000, who I potentially spent 45 minutes on the phone with. calling his former employer a veteran male that outsources most contacts to contract employees in the Philippines.
also some that have allege that these companies have harassed them for payment, even when they settled their bills and decided to file claims on their own. is also why it's not shocking that many have sued these companies, alleging they charged excessive fees and used deceptive trade practices. with notably law firms, accredited claims agents and even the Texas attorney general joining them in the courtroom.
now you also have the VA saying it's open investigations into almost 40 unaccredited companies since October of 2022, it also sending cease and desist letters to about two dozen of them. we've even seen New York, new Jersey and Maine banning or restricting for profit claims. Companies and similar bills are pending in at least five other states. a very big thing is, on the federal level, lawmakers have actually introduced a bipartisan bill with backing from 44 state attorneys generals last year to restore the Justice Department's authority to seek criminal charges against the firms. a very key thing there is that within months, the industry then formed a trade group led by Trump's former acting VA secretary, it immediately dishing out campaign contributions and sending an army of lobbyists to Washington.
which apparently worked because the bill has not yet come up for a vote thanks to some key GOP lawmakers. fact, what we're seeing is they're now trying to push policy in the opposite direction. Republicans introducing a bill last year that would create a pathway to accreditation for the industry and capping fees there at $12,500 for each claim. in the meantime, bats are losing their hard earned benefits not only to these corporations, but also to scammers. fact, from 2015 to 2019, the FTC got over 160,000 fraud reports from vets, a median loss for veterans from fraud standing at 44% higher than other civilians.
this is part of the reason why I feel so defensive and fucking infuriated for our vets. Because. Put your fucking political beliefs to the side. This is one of the most exploited fucking groups in our country. They go off to fight. How many pointless wars for politicians back home? They risked their lives.
They get injured, traumatized, poisoned on their own fucking bases. then they come home and they get stiffed by a stingy government bureaucracy, the government that fucking loves them so much. as if that wasn't enough, they get exploited by vampire capitalism and victimized by criminals. it's all just equal parts infuriating and heartbreaking. I've got more news for you in just a second.
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with that pointing to a conflict between the Democratic Party and state law. right. And what he's talking about here is a law that requires political parties to certify presidential candidates 90 days before the election, which is August 7th of this the party isn't actually set to officially nominate him until the Democratic National Convention, which doesn't take place until August 19th through the 22nd.
very notably here, this is actually a super minor procedural issue that's not at all uncommon and usually resolved very easily. mean, Washington and Alabama also face similar deadline problems this year, but both managed to address With Washington officials agreeing to accept a provisional certification while Alabama's legislature extended their state's deadline so Biden could qualify. in fact, Ohio itself has even passed extensions to the state deadline when it ran up against party conventions in both 2012 and 2020. in fact, earlier this month, the state Senate passed legislation that would do the same this election, but this week, Republican House Speaker Jason Stevens told reporters that the GOP controlled chamber wouldn't be passing the legislation, saying there's just not the will to do that from the legislature. and adding it's a hyper political environment at this time of year.
there are some Republicans who just didn't want to vote on and there were some who did want to. I think there are other alternatives to it. So why create a stir that's not necessary. but notably there, Republicans have also shot down the other alternatives to keep Biden on the ballot.
Democrats had attempted to resolve the issue with a provisional certification like Washington State did, but la Rose rejected that. him citing an opinion from the state's attorney general. Shocker. Also a Republican, who said that there isn't anything in Ohio law that would permit that move. Beyond that, the legislature could technically pass an emergency law, but that would also require a two thirds vote in both houses, which is highly unlikely.
so basically, the only option LA Rose has given them is for the Democratic Party to move their whole entire convention just to accommodate Ohio. rather more specifically just to accommodate Ohio Republicans. the secretary writing in a letter to the chair of the Ohio Dems saying that unless the party complied with the deadline, he would instruct boards of election to begin preparing ballots that do not include the Democratic Party's nominees. with that said, there is a third thing the Dems could do.
could just sue is as and sources are actually saying that Biden is considering taking that step, importantly, their lawsuit would likely result in a long, drawn out legal battle that could take months to resolve. we've got a slew of big international news. when I say big, I mean that in two ways. starting with the fact that China has surrounded Taiwan and what it's calling a strong punishment.
these two days of military exercises are in retaliation for what they called separatist activities because of Taiwan's elections earlier this year. And the new president calling on China to stop intimidating them and recognize their democracy. though you have China saying those supporting independence for Taiwan will be left with, quote, heads broken and blood flowing. notably while China believes that declaring independence is something Taiwan could do, it doesn't have to. And it won't, because the reality is, is that Taiwan is already its own country. is nothing to declare independence And this is these Chinese drills are simulating a full scale armed invasion and a blockade of Taiwan, is why Taiwan says that China is undermining regional peace.
adding that they don't seek conflict. But if China wants to fight, will fight. with unsurprisingly, the U.S condemning the Chinese aggression in Japan,
in the U.S expected to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion. at least under the current leadership. And they've built a coalition that may include the majority of the West and the majority of China's neighbors. then we've also got Kenya now being the US's newest major ally. him notably being the first sub-Saharan Asian to receive the designation of non NATO major ally.
And they're actually the 20th nation to get so this will allow them to obtain better weapons and have closer security cooperation. though some have asked, why is this happening, well, Kenya has been a key part of American counterterrorism forces in East Africa. also part of the Ukrainian defense contact group and have deployed police officers to Haiti. this will actually be Biden's third formal ally behind Qatar and Colombia. and Kenya will also be the fourth African nation to become a major U.S. ally alongside Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
then, as promised, the other kind of big international news, a man in New Zealand has been fined for trying to body slam an orca whale. So the New Zealand government is calling this a body slam. though in some of the team's expert analysis, they think it's more of a belly flop or a flying body press. the killer whale was swimming near his boat. When he then jumped off the boat at them.
If he tried to body slam the whale, that means picking up the whale and slamming it. We're getting into the semantics. just saying. Words matter. anyways, the main thing is that the authorities are simply saying that it left them genuinely stunned, and saying that it's stupid behavior and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the welfare of the orca. in New Zealand, they try to avoid these situations.
I mean, flying body presses are obviously a bad idea, but it's also illegal to swim with orcas there, is also why he's already been fined $365. with that amount, it sounds more like a price of admission rather than an actual penalty. there's a big question right now about just how fucking hot it's going to get this summer. records. Do you remember just how hot last summer was? Right. 2023 was overall the hottest year on record. And it wasn't even close.
saw insane heat waves all over the globe, as well as tragic and often historic levels of heat related deaths. and so after all that, you might think, hey, this summer we deserve a little break, a little reprieve from the boiling temperatures. Right. Well, like with most things on the show, things are not looking too good. because this last April was just the hottest April on record for Earth.
with one scientists even saying that this whole year has a 66% chance of being the hottest one of all time. we've already got reports warning that this summer specifically will, at the very least be brutal. if not potentially record breaking, with for example, The Washington Post explaining that high temperatures will be driven by a likely switch from El Nino to La Nina in the latter half of the summer. even though La Nina does have a slight cooling effect on the planet, it can turn up the summer heat in the US, especially as climate change is also pumped up. Temperatures. the reported that some areas of the country will also experience dry weather and as a result, likely droughts.
and while you had one meteorologist talking to Axios, questioning if this is definitely going to be the hottest summer ever. even he noted that it is still probably going to be insanely warm. And we need to be prepared for what, you know, is why we have a lot of organizations introducing new tools to try to handle this. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for example, just recently partnered with the CDC to expand its experimental heat risk tool that gives information and guidance to those vulnerable to extreme weather and who need to take extra precautions. right.
That's meant to give people a bigger picture of the weather in their area by using a scale to show the health risks associated with the heat, humidity and more. it's also meant to help them determine what kind of outdoor activities are safe, or if certain medical conditions might make them more at risk. Kimberly McMahon of the National Weather Service, telling the L.A. times that it's not just for people who might be sensitive to heat waves. Right. It's for everyone, including local officials and community organizers who can use it to decide if they want to open cooling centers or disperse water to those who need and those cooling centers, they're a big focus in a lot of places, like Arizona, for example, which saw relentless heat last year.
I mean, you know, literally nearly 650 people died from heat related issues in just Maricopa County. with many condemning the government for having such a slow response. and so this year, Maricopa County's expanding access to cooling centers, increasing their hours. And many people have already use these services. you also had, for example, Bloomberg doing a report on how small businesses are navigating all this. you know, because he can really take an unexpected toll on them.
When it's hot, people don't want to go out as much. They don't want to do anything. They don't want to window shop and meander around town.
also just more expensive to operate a business during the summer. with, for example, the outlets speaking to the owner of an ice cream in a lobster roll shack in Maine whose electric bill skyrocketed. When it's hot. and on top of all that, in order to prepare for the heat and hopefully make sure people still want to come into the shop. He's spending $25,000 on heat pump heads.
and this is a lot of restaurants are going to be shelling out money that they don't have on similar cooling measures. I mean, it's to the point where some think the government needs to step in and offer more help to these businesses that have increased expenses as a result of heat waves. Because I need you to understand it's not just ice cream shops being affected. the consequences of what we're talking about. They're massive. Right? Bloomberg noted that the 2023 heat wave in Texas, it cost the state's economy nearly $10 billion.
of course, this isn't just a problem for the United States, right? These sweltering temperatures have been an issue around the globe. I mean, Europe 2023 was a scorcher. And the continent largely is not built for such warm weather. and obviously plenty of countries and cities are going to be taking measures to mitigate the harm from heat, some turning to air conditioning and strengthening their power systems. Right.
Increasingly using solar and wind power for electricity, cities like Barcelona weighing more creative options for a few years. Like painting the roofs of buildings white to cut down the heat. but of all the cities in Europe when it comes to this summer, most eyes are on Paris right now. which makes sense? They're going to be hosting a little event called the Olympics. few places like NBC news noting that usually locals in the city, they have a solution to dealing with heat waves in the late summer. get the fuck out of Dodge and go somewhere else.
but the city's obviously going to have a metric ton of people there this year. so there are already major concerns with one of the biggest being at the athletes village isn't going to have air conditioning. and even though most Americans, including myself here that in we're like are so they they just did they just die. the organizers there have maintain that they still have a thorough plan for keeping athletes cool. with one speaking to Reuters saying we designed these buildings so that there would be comfortable places to live in in the summer and 2024 and later on. And we don't need air conditioning in these buildings because we oriented the facade so they wouldn't get too much sun during the summer.
And the facades, the insulation is really efficient. with a matting that they're using naturally cool underground water to cool the air of the apartments. the city also saying that it wanted to prioritize environmentally friendly options whenever it could in its Olympic efforts. and organizers have actually tested this more sustainable cooling option, with NBC sports doing a report saying they studied the area's temperatures block by block. though this is some countries have remained skeptical in their preparing to do a bring your own AC situation.
If the weather gets really though also a conversation, a question that's popped up because of this, connected to the Olympics is should the Olympics move? Right. And I don't mean the place. I mean the time with people wondering if it makes long term sense for the Olympics to be in late July and August, Right. At least in a city along a latitude similar to Paris. but that is a specific problem for another time. And, of course, with the the heat situation in general, I'd love to know your thoughts here. have your recent experiences been? What are your new concerns? anything and everything. Leaving those comments down below.
but that is where your final PDFs for the week is going to end. but hold in your tears. We're gonna get through this Because, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco.
You've just been filled in. I love your faces. And I'll see you right back here on Monday.
2024-05-25 01:22
