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[0] General Mark Millie and other administration officials testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday about President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan and faced some tough questions.
[1] But if all this is true, General Millie, why haven't you resigned?
[2] Along with the widely criticized withdrawal, General Millie was asked about his controversial calls with China about President Trump.
[3] We'll hear what Millie said about the calls and what he and other officials testified about Afghanistan.
[4] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[5] It's Wednesday, September 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
[6] After several court rulings, a panel of judges has decided that New York City's vaccine mandate for teachers and school employees can be implemented.
[7] Who is leading the resistance to the mandates, and what does the ruling mean for the city's schools?
[8] And Disney faces a massive lawsuit over its Marvel movies, which have brought the company over 20 billion in revenues.
[9] The lawsuit could have sweeping implications for future content.
[10] We'll discuss who's behind this suit and what Disney stands to lose.
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
[13] We have the news you need to know.
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[19] In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, General Mark Millie, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was put on the defensive over two issues, the much -criticized Afghanistan withdrawal, and controversial phone calls with China.
[20] Here to discuss the testimony as Daily Wire senior editor, Ash Short.
[21] So, Ash, Millie and others were brought to the Senate to be asked primarily about the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, so let's start there.
[22] What can you tell us about that?
[23] Did they defend it?
[24] Well, mostly.
[25] It's interesting because Millie, in particular, admitted that the United States' credibility was likely damaged by the Biden administration's withdrawal, which, as we've all seen, saw Afghans hanging from the wheels of planes evacuating the country and left hundreds of American citizens behind.
[26] I think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world and with adversaries is being intensely reviewed by them to see which way this is going to go.
[27] And I think the damage is one word that could be used, yes.
[28] But Biden's defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said he felt differently.
[29] I think our credibility remains solid.
[30] Clearly, a senator, there will be people who question things going forward.
[31] Not everyone on the panel defended the withdrawal, though.
[32] What did they say?
[33] General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U .S. Central Command, said he recommended the U .S. keep 2 ,500 troops in Afghanistan.
[34] He said not doing that would cause the Afghan army to collapse and the Taliban to take over, which is exactly what happened.
[35] Millie actually agreed with this sentiment, but it appears President Biden didn't follow that advice.
[36] So this appears to be more confirmation that President Biden was advised not to fully withdraw.
[37] Yeah.
[38] But Biden had said no advisors had told him to keep troops there.
[39] Right.
[40] That was his interview with George Stephanopoulos in August, where he said that, quote, no one said that to me. So no one told your military advisors to not tell you, no, we should just keep 2 ,500 troops.
[41] It's been a stable situation for the last several years.
[42] We can do that.
[43] We can continue to do that.
[44] No, no one said that to me. Then I can recall.
[45] Actually, Senator Tom Cotton pointed that out in the hearing.
[46] President Biden last month in an interview with George Stephanopoulos said that no military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence in Afghanistan.
[47] Is that true?
[48] Well, first of all, I know the president to be an honest and forthright man. And secondly, it's a simple question, Secretary Austin.
[49] Now, what about the China calls?
[50] Millie was also asked about that.
[51] First, set this up for us a little bit.
[52] What do we need to know here?
[53] Well, earlier this month, Bob Woodward published a book that made some pretty explosive claims about a phone call Millie made to his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zhou Zhang.
[54] According to Woodward, Millie was worried Trump would, quote, go rogue and, quote, spark a war with China.
[55] So he called his counterpart twice and assured him the U .S. would not strike.
[56] Millie also allegedly said during those calls that he would warn China if he learned that Trump was planning to attack.
[57] But Millie defended his calls.
[58] He said they had been coordinated with the Defense Secretary and Acting Defense Secretary at the time.
[59] The calls on 30 October and 8 January were quoted.
[60] coordinated before and after with Secretary Esper and acting Secretary Miller's staffs and the interagency.
[61] Millie was also emphatic that he did not believe Trump would attack China, which is directly contrary to Woodward's account.
[62] I am certain that President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese, and it is my directed responsibility to convey that intent to the Chinese.
[63] my task at that time was to de -escalate.
[64] Millie said during his testimony that there were witnesses to the calls and that he briefed then -secretary Mike Pompeo and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the second call.
[65] He also admitted to discussing the call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
[66] At no time was I attempting to change or influence the process, usurp authority or insert myself in the chain of command.
[67] Some contradictory statements coming out of this hearing.
[68] That's right.
[69] All right, Ash, thanks for keeping us informed.
[70] You're welcome.
[71] That was Daily Wire Senior Editor, Ash Short.
[72] Coming up, New York City is poised to lose thousands of teachers over vaccine mandates.
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[77] On Monday, a U .S. Appeals Court in Manhattan said the vaccine mandate for New York City public school teachers can go forward.
[78] Here to tell us what that means is DailyWire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
[79] So, Charlotte, can you tell us what's going on with this mandate now?
[80] Sure.
[81] So back in August, New York City's mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials announced that all employees of the city's Department of Education would need to have at least one shot of the COVID vaccine by September 27th.
[82] That order applies to all public school staff, which is about 148 ,000 workers and includes school, central staff, and some DOE contractors.
[83] So cafeteria workers, safety personnel, and janitors are also under this order.
[84] After some back and forth in the courts, the mandate was temporarily blocked and sent to a group of judges for them to look at.
[85] But on Monday, the judges said the mandate can go forward.
[86] A Department of Education spokesperson said the mandate will, quote, go into effect on Friday, end of day, so that by Monday, October 4, 100 % of educators and staff in our buildings will be vaccinated.
[87] So public school teachers in New York City have to be vaccinated.
[88] It looks that way for now, but an attorney who brought the lawsuit for the teachers said that he and another lawyer are asking the Supreme Court to get involved.
[89] And where's the resistance to the mandate coming?
[90] from.
[91] Well, union leaders are saying the mandate will lead to staff shortages because it will result in thousands of teachers and staff being fired.
[92] We've actually already seen a similar situation play out with health care workers, so teachers' union leaders are hoping to avoid that same fate, which is why they had asked the mayor to hold off on the order.
[93] As of Monday, de Blasio stated that 87 % of all DOE workers had gotten at least one dose.
[94] That includes 90 % of teachers and 97 % of principles.
[95] However, de Blasio sounded confident that the mandate would be successful.
[96] He was asked about it on Monday.
[97] We're going to have the staffing we need.
[98] And the mandate has already worked because it's encouraged so many people who get vaccinated to protect each other and our kids.
[99] So we're confident we're going to win in court.
[100] We're confident we're going to be able to implement this as early as the end of the week.
[101] And we're confident we're going to have the personnel we need.
[102] Turns out he was right about the court part for now, but many workers in the city will be waiting to see what other repercussions could come from vaccine mandates.
[103] Thanks for reporting, Charlotte.
[104] Daily Wires, Charlotte Pence Bond.
[105] Disney is embroiled in a lawsuit over the rights to the highest -grossing movie franchise of all time.
[106] Several comic book artists who helped create Marvel's most iconic characters are now asking for a share of the studio's earnings.
[107] But on Friday, parent company Disney filed a countersuit to defend its sole ownership of these superheroes and all the money they generate.
[108] Here to explain the details of the case is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
[109] Hi, Megan.
[110] Hi.
[111] So as far as Hollywood lawsuits go, this one's about as big as it gets, right?
[112] Yeah.
[113] The financial stakes on this one are just sky high.
[114] So, as we all know, collectively, Spider -Man, Iron Man, the rest of the superhero gang there, well, they've earned about $23 billion.
[115] And the biggest of them, 2019's Avengers Endgame, that one alone brought in two point.
[116] $0 .8 billion.
[117] Right.
[118] So that kind of illustrates just what a goldmine Disney has with Marvel.
[119] It's, you know, not going too far to say it's unprecedented.
[120] No other film franchise even comes close to this.
[121] Right.
[122] And I guess it's not surprising then that some people are coming forward to claim a piece of it.
[123] What's the gist of this case?
[124] So under the 1976 Copyright Act, authors or their estates can regain ownership of creative work after a certain number of years.
[125] but it depends on the terms under which they created that material.
[126] So basically, if I pay someone to write a story, whether as an employee or as a work -for -hire assignment, then I own it.
[127] But if they create the work on their own and then sell it to me, they can eventually regain some rights.
[128] So this past spring, the heirs of several Marvel comic book writers filed a suit claiming that they qualify as that latter group.
[129] Well, the biggest names here are Steve Ditko, who co -created Spider -Man, Dr. Strange, maybe you've heard of those guys, and Larry Lieber, Stan Lee's younger brother who worked on Iron Man and Thor.
[130] So if Disney loses this lawsuit, it will have to start sharing profits generated from all of those big -name characters starting in June, 2023.
[131] I think some people might be surprised to hear that this wasn't the case already that they didn't already share some of those rights.
[132] They might, but you know, you have to remember that unlike, you know, a Star Wars or Harry Potter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was patched together from decades of intellectual property created by dozens of artists.
[133] So this was not clean cut like a Star Wars, and it's not the first time it's come up.
[134] In 2014, a similar lawsuit involving the Incredible Hulk, X -Men, Captain America, well, it looked like it might go to the Supreme Court.
[135] Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in particular, signaled that she had interest in taking up the case.
[136] But ultimately, it's settled out of court, so here we are all again.
[137] And what's Disney's argument against this?
[138] So in the countersuit they filed on Friday, Disney said that these characters do fall under the umbrella of work made for hire.
[139] So they said, for example, that Ditko was assigned to illustrate Spider -Man, and Marvel maintained creative control and paid him a per -page rate.
[140] And the heirs of the creators say, what about that?
[141] Well, as you might expect, they pretty strenuously disagree.
[142] The lawyer representing them told the New York Times that these guys were all freelancers or independent contractors.
[143] And here's his quote, working piecemeal for car fare out of their basements, so I'm not employees.
[144] So let's zoom back a bit here.
[145] What's the big picture impact of this beyond Disney?
[146] Well, you know, to me, it's really that this intellectual property trend, what they call IP, it comes with some pretty big hazards of its own.
[147] You hear movie critics all the time complain that everything today is sequels and repackages based, you know, on popular toys, comic books, old TV.
[148] shows.
[149] And largely, that's because studios don't want to take a financial risk on unknown characters that don't come with that built -in fan base.
[150] But depending on what happens here, this shows there can be some pretty big risks with established characters as well.
[151] And the problem isn't going to go away.
[152] So it'll be interesting to see if we get close to the Supreme Court here again.
[153] Yeah, it would be really interesting to see if it goes that far.
[154] Thanks for the reporting, Megan.
[155] Absolutely.
[156] That was Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.
[157] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[158] The prestigious Lancet Medical Journal is being criticized for referring to women as, quote, bodies with vaginas on its latest cover.
[159] The quote in question comes from the featured article titled, Periods on Display.
[160] And multi -platinum R &B artist R. Kelly was found guilty Monday of sex trafficking, bribery, racketeering, and the sexual exploitation of a child.
[161] The 54 -year -old singer faces 10 years to life in prison.
[162] If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to MorningWire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five -star review.
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