Oh, [ __ ] We lost. Spoke. We got the first images of the YouTuber Vitaly after 3 months in a Philippines jail. A US state is now proposing a tax for those who sin. Iran are being accused of threatening to, you know what, Donald Trump. ISIS now allegedly detaining Native Americans. NATO troops are being sent to Greenland. Speed has just made history yet again. And I bring to you the Empire's most special episode yet. [music] From in the car on the way to the airport to go and see Alex the editor for the first [music] time ever. Woo! This is going to be a weird and wild episode. And it only gets stranger when you know I start to say, [music] "Let's stop the yapping." Yes, I brought my whip. I'm going to whip Alex with it. Oh, and also this is a can of warm pee. Because Maddie refuses to stop because we are late to the airport. So, lots is going on and I think if she gets too angry, she's going to swerve the car and pee is going to go everywhere. Let's get into the news. >> [music] >> Okay, let's start with probably the craziest piece of news that we've covered in a while because if you spoke about something like this 10 years ago, you would be a conspiracy lunatic. Yes, Alex, I'm looking at you. But today, sorry Alex, we apologize for calling you a crazy conspiracy lunatic, is looking more real than ever. So, you know the weapon that the US military was using in Stranger Things 5 that they used on 11? Well, they might actually have a version of that IRL. So, over the past 10 years, it is believed that thousands of Americans have been secretly attacked with a mysterious secret weapon. And we're talking about US people. Now, this is actually known as the Havana syndrome. You may have heard of it because it's been reported by about 1,500 US diplomats and government personnel since 2016. And so, at that point you're thinking, "Well, they they can't all be crazy." And these shared symptoms include things like ear pain, memory issues, dizziness, headache. And in some cases, it's so bad that it's actually prevented people from going back to work. >> And bam, inside my right ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it that it gets too close to your eardrum, it's like that, you know, times 10. But what's crazy about this Havana syndrome is that there's potential evidence which links it to this mysterious type of weapon that is backpack size, it's portable, and it quote contains components of Russian origin. Got to be the Russians, huh? Huh? It's always the Russians. It's never the Russians. It's a trick question. And apparently this weapon, it doesn't shoot anything physical that you can see, which is why it's so mysterious. It shoots quote pulsed radio frequency energy. Yeah, we are in the Stranger Things realm of corn casserole. >> Now, this information is all thanks to a new groundbreaking 5-year-long investigation by 60 Minutes. And they reportedly spoke to various government personnel with inside information. But here's where things really get crazy. This mysterious device that no one can confirm or deny if it's real, well, apparently was acquired by the Department of Homeland Security in 2024 near the end of President Biden's term. And 60 Minutes even say that this cost Pentagon funding an amount exceeding eight figures. Now, they can't confirm if this is the same device that was used in those Havana syndrome attacks, but they do say that the government has been [clears throat] testing on it for over a year now. Now, this one is for Maddie. They have Moscow have said that they deny any relation to all of this. So, according to them, it is not the Russians, okay? Okay, no judgment. I'm watching you. Yeah, no judgment. >> want the Russians coming after me. Why? Huh? They're very pleasant people. Moving on. Talking about Russians, Vitaly, um that brother, oh my lord, got cooked. So, as you probably know by now, a few months back, he got arrested in the Philippines for very just and fair reasons. He was going around being a nuisance and the Philippines said, "No, no, no. We're not having these foreign people come here and just causing chaos for chaos' sake, for for likes and clicks." So, they slammed him in jail. And now for the first time, not only are we getting pictures of him looking scraggly with the beard grown out. >> How dare you? I don't know what they did to brother's cheeks cheeks in prison, okay? Nothing Why are you laughing? Cheeks. I'm talking about his beard. Now, obviously, he has roots in Russia, but he was living in America. So, I don't know if there's some issues where like we don't want to accept him back because maybe now he's got a criminal record and all sorts. We don't know why he's getting deported back to Russia. I mean, what the Philippines accused him of is pretty serious. Harassing locals, stealing, disturbing the peace, attempting to kiss a security guard, and even trying to seize a firearm. And apparently the conditions in the jail that he spent these months were pretty bad. We're talking shared cells with multiple inmates, no air conditioning despite the temperatures being around 97°F, uh this is what that is in Celsius. And of course, not great meals, all sorts. But yeah, basically the Philippines are saying, "Russia, you can have him back now. We we feel like we made a good enough example out of him. He's faced his penalty. Take him back." The big question is, is Vitaly going to go back to doing what he was doing before, making a nuisance in streams and stuff, or has he learned his lesson? Only time will tell. Moving on. Okay, here's something you probably have never heard about before. A US state is trying to introduce a tax for those who are sinners. They sin. Oh, and this is not just 5%. This is 50%. So, James Fishback, strange last name. You laughed again. Now, he's a Republican Party candidate for Florida governor, and he wants to introduce a 50% tax to all of those who are OnlyFans creators in the state of Florida. 50%? 50% is just ridiculous. And just you wait till you hear the next part because it gets crazy. And if you're wondering why Mr. Fishback called it a >> [laughter] >> sin, he says, "A, it's a sin, and B, he says that he basically wants to discourage the type of behavior creating this type of content." He says that he will use the estimated $200 annually that this would generate for the government and then use that money to pay for teachers and improve school lunches. How noble, Mr. Fishback. And here's the part where it's starting to show cracks in this whole moral good. He went as far as to at Sophie Rain on Twitter. And then he says to her, "You better be ready to pay up or quit." And he will not allow a generation of smart and capable young women to sell their bodies online. Now, Sophie Rain responded posting a video saying that she's already paying 37% in tax. And so, an additional 50% would be 87% in taxes. Now, let's all be real right now. 87% in taxes is not going to happen. It's absolute It's not realistic. So, what do you think is happening here? He's punishing smart and capable women. No, actually. Um my hypothesis of this is that uh he's trying to make a name for himself. He's running for a Florida governor, and he's thinking, "Well, I'm an unknown person. How does everyone know my name?" Well, how about you go viral? You you use the OnlyFans creators. You You You use a subject that is near and dear to people's gaslighting hearts, and you go viral. And guess what? It has gone mega viral. And guess what? Another form of marketing, the OnlyFans creators, well, they love a good going viral because that earns them subscriptions. And so, she's clapped back. They're in this big back and forth. But let's be real, there is no chance someone is getting taxed 87%. It's not realistic. So, it leads me to believe this is all a marketing stunt for both of them. Who would have thought that OnlyFans creators and politicians would make such a great team? Everyone would have thought that. But what do you guys think? Do you think that OnlyFans creators should have to pay a sin tax or not? Or do you think it's discrimination? What do you think? I think that's cooked. That's cooked from a young independent woman herself. >> let them be entrepreneurs. Ah, moving on. Okay, the irony of this next story, if you had a chart, it would be off the charts. According to tribal leaders in the United States, ICE are now detaining Native Americans, which makes you wonder, "Where are you going to send them? They were there before you." So, according to what a president of one of the tribes in South Dakota named Frank Star, he says that four of their members were arrested by ICE in Wait, guess. Just guess where. Where everything happens nowadays, Minneapolis, on Friday. And apparently three of them have since been transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling. And apparently Snelling Snelling, I don't know how to pronounce that. It's got a notorious anti-indigenous history. God, my eyes. Now, we have We I guess we're going to have to have sun in my eyes. Can you just um stop the sun from shining if that's possible? That would be nice. Maybe just do a right turn here. He said tribal citizens are not aliens and are categorically outside the immigration jurisdiction. Now, DHS have not responded to this and they haven't given the reason why these individuals were arrested. Now, it is possible that ICE detained them for other illegal activity, but we're just going to have to wait and see. Either way, whole thing pretty ironic. Let me know your guys' thoughts in the comments, but for now, Moving on. Guess what? We've got a story about the UK not allowing people into the country as well, but this one's a little bit different. So, a conservative Dutch influencer named I'm going to just Let's just call her Ava. What is that? No. >> Try it. No. Let us hear you give it a go. Vladingerburg. Vladin- Vladingerburg. There you go. Halfway. Thank you. Man, I need some energy. Imagine. Okay, I need to go through this. Let me concentrate. You You focus on driving. Oh my gosh. So, basically, Ava, she claims and she posted screenshots of this of her being banned from entering the UK because of her political views, actually criticizing Keir Starmer. So, she posted this screenshot and she explained that she didn't apply for a UK visa. She was at a political rally all the way back in September last year and then they sent her this and it said, "Your UK ETA has been canceled from January the 13th." This means you cannot travel to the UK without a visa. And then they gave her the reason why. "Your presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good. You cannot appeal this decision." She then goes on to say that the timing of this is very suspicious because again, she didn't apply for this recently. But what she did do recently was put out a tweet criticizing Keir Starmer and I don't even know if I can even say what she said on here. So, let's just block the words out. And basically, this has sent Twitter into an absolute frenzy and they're accusing the UK government of pretty much anti being anti free speech. Again, we don't know if that tweet about Keir Starmer was the reason, but her presence not being conducive to the public good, what could that mean? It's I mean, it's got to be about her political views, which she shares very widely online. But I'm sure we'll get an update on this very soon. What do you guys think? It just feels like the UK, man, they're banning everything right now. I was going to talk about another story. The UK is considering banning alcohol-free alcohol for young people because it might be considered a gateway into alcohol. So, Why is it called alcohol-free when there's no alcohol in it? Surely at that point, it's just a drink. Cuz it tastes like alcohol. Or it's got like going to be making our own threats. So, several NATO member countries Remember, America is part of NATO. It includes Germany, Sweden, France, Norway. They're all going to Denmark. There is this only a small amount of troops, but they're all going to carry out drills, training exercises with Denmark in Greenland. In fact, Canada and France have even said that they plan to open consulates in Greenland's capital. So, it's like everyone's trying to kind of I don't know. Greenland, poor Greenland. There are like 30,000 people there. Now they've become the center of everything. What's even crazier about this is that a bunch of officials from Denmark and Greenland arrived at the White House a couple of days ago. And according to Polymarket, they are saying that Trump's offer to buy Greenland is reportedly higher than the entire GDP of Denmark. And Denmark's GDP is between two 424 to 431 billion. Half a trillion dollars is crazy. I wonder if you could raise that with only fans taxes. And [laughter] buy Greenland. Now, from what we've heard from this meeting, I don't think Denmark liked whatever was being proposed, but we'll keep you updated. Moving on. But speaking of Trump, did Iran just threaten to assassinate him? This week, Iran broadcasted the following images on state television, which has caused a lot of people to freak out. There's already been some alleged connections in the past between assassination plots on Trump and Iran being the people behind that. But these new images come from a pro-government rally where someone was holding up a poster depicting the image of the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. And the caption underneath it translates to, "This time it will not miss the target." That's pretty crazy. Now, obviously, the state themselves did not make it. They just broadcasted it for everyone. And because it's state television, it's very different from let's say CNN broadcasting that because they're a private company. There are also a lot of protests with chance in the crowd chanting death to America. Moving on. Also, once again, Speed has made history. He's apparently become the first person ever to livestream from inside the Great Pyramids of Giza. In fact, we're getting to the point where Speed is such a massive celebrity that Egyptian officials cleared the entire pyramid section of all tourists just so that he could have a special alone tour. That's pretty insane. Imagine that. The seven one of the seven wonders of the world with all that history just being cleared for you alone. Your little singleton. Wild. And let me just add, that is a streamer. The fact that social media stars can become that big and that notable. Alex is going to hate me for glazing him, but W Speed yet again. Moving on. Oh, my back is broken. And then, for our last story, I want to award someone the strangest [ __ ] of the year award. It's a new award that we're now >> [laughter] >> You just don't know. No, this one is weird. This one is weird. Shut up. 34-year-old Jonathan Gerlach from Pennsylvania was recently arrested. You listening? Why are there so many weird last names today? Insert meme of Jacob Zuma saying, "Listen properly." Listen properly. Gerlach. You hear me? Was arrested after authorities discovered more than 100 human skeletal remains in his basement, including skulls, long bones, and mummified feet. Feets and hands. So, over the course of several months, Jonathan has been breaking into graveyards and stealing human remains to sell online. Brother, is working at McDonald's that bad? Why Why is this your hustle? He reportedly broke into cemeteries and even went as far as to damage mausoleums, pry into underground vaults, and rappel 10 ft underground to reach some of these graves. And the people that he stole, some of them were as old as in 1800s. And then he brought them home. Weird. Weirdest [ __ ] of the year award. Well done. Oh, and police found a trail of cigarettes and energy drinks at the graveyards, which is exactly the type of condiments that you would imagine a person that steals bones would consume. Yeah, Jonathan Gerlach would probably love this one. Oh, and apparently, he advertised his collection of skulls on IG. So, he wasn't the smartest one either. Yeah, he is now facing over 500 criminal charges and authorities now have to go through the painstaking process of finding these people, some of which is just their their great-great-grandparents and tell them, "Your, you know, your ancestors were stolen and I'm sorry to tell you this." Crazy, man. So, well done, Jonathan. You get the weirdest [ __ ] of the year award. I mean, it's January, so you're probably going to get topped. It's going to be a weird year. But I think that is where we round out the most epic special edition episode coming from the News Daddy car. Mobile mobile empire. Anyway, all right. I will see Alex before I see you guys and that's going to be crazy. I will see you on Monday for the biggest video ever, confronting TikTok. All right. Just going to sneak that one in there. Thank you very much. See you then. But for now,