Morning Wire XX
[0] The jury has reached a verdict in the hate crime hoax case against Jesse Smollett, guilty on five felony counts.
[1] We'll unpack the decision and the evidence presented in the highly scrutinized trial.
[2] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[3] It's Friday, December 10th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] In an effort to retain teachers, some school districts are reverting to remote learning one day for week.
[5] What impact is remote learning having on kids, and why are educators arguing it's damaging to even ask that question?
[6] question.
[7] And the number of hate crimes in New York City this year has skyrocketed, rising by 100%.
[8] We'll discuss which groups are being targeted and the political angle of how the information is being covered.
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
[11] We have the news you need to know.
[12] This show is sponsored by Pure Talk.
[13] If you're with Verizon, AT &T, or T -Mobile, you're paying too much.
[14] Switching to Pure Talk saves the average family over $800 a year.
[15] Go to PureTalk .com.
[16] Find the Right plan for you and enter promo code, Wire, to save 50 % off your first month.
[17] A jury reached a verdict Thursday in the criminal trial of Jesse Smollett, who was accused of lying to police when he claimed he was the victim of a racist and anti -gay attack in downtown Chicago nearly three years ago.
[18] The Empire actor has been on trial since last week.
[19] Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Al -Lordi is here to discuss the decision.
[20] Maire, tell us about this verdict.
[21] Sure, so after six days of testimony and another day of closing, arguments, the jury determined that Smollett was guilty on five of the six charges, that he planned and carried out a fake attack on himself and then lied to police about it.
[22] So guilty on almost all of the charges, lay out those charges for us.
[23] Sure.
[24] Smollett was charged with six class four felony counts of disorderly conduct on suspicion of making false reports to police.
[25] The counts are some of Illinois's least serious felonies, but they still carry up to three years in prison.
[26] He pled not guilty to all charges.
[27] The jury, which consisted of five white men, five white women, one black men, and one Hispanic woman left the courtroom at about 2 .40 p .m. on Wednesday to begin what turned out to be over nine hours of deliberation before reaching the guilty verdict.
[28] So what were the main points in the closing arguments?
[29] Well, closing arguments were quite interesting.
[30] There were a few claims from both the defense and the prosecution that perked up the ears of observers in the courthouse.
[31] The defense attorney tried to convince the jury that Smollett wouldn't have arranged the crime in Chicago, saying, quote, he's dumb enough to go into Obama's city and pretend there's Trump supporters running around with MAGA hats.
[32] Give me a break.
[33] But special prosecutor David Webb finished strong saying Smollett is a, quote, serial liar who without question orchestrated a hoax race attack.
[34] The prosecutor said Smollett caused Chicago police to spend a huge amount of resources investigating a crime that ended up being fake.
[35] He also said that surveillance video contradicts Smollett's testimony.
[36] As a reminder, Smolet claimed that two men attacked him late at night in January 2019 near his Chicago apartment.
[37] He claimed the men shouted, This is Maga Country, along with anti -gay and racist slurs, put a noose around his neck, and poured chemicals on him.
[38] Right, and what were the other notable moments in the trial?
[39] Well, we heard some very interesting testimony from the two brothers who say Smolet paid them to carry out the fake attack.
[40] Brothers, Bola and Ola Asunderro are twins from Nigeria, and Ola worked with Smolet on the set of his show, Empire.
[41] the brothers testified that Smollett paid them to stage the attack on him in order to get media attention for himself.
[42] Smollett's defense attorney called the brothers, quote, sophisticated liars and said that they are motivated by fame and money.
[43] We also heard from Smollett himself, who took the stand on Monday and Tuesday, and continued to insist that he's innocent and really is the victim of a crime.
[44] Smollett told the jury, quote, there was no hoax.
[45] And Smollett has had some pretty high -profile supporters, right?
[46] That's right.
[47] Celebrities and politicians, flocked to support him when he first made the claim that he was attacked, including CNN's Don Lemon.
[48] On top of that, Black Lives Matter actually put out a statement Tuesdays saying they still support him.
[49] The co -founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles said, quote, we can never believe police over Smollett, calling him a, quote, black man who has been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for black freedom.
[50] Another major factor here, of course, is that back in 2019, the state's attorney for Cook County, Kim Fox, abruptly dropped the charges against Smollett.
[51] Right.
[52] A special prosecutor was assigned, and those charges were restored.
[53] Well, this has been a lengthy saga that's gripped the nation in this chapter, at least, is over.
[54] Thanks, Maraid.
[55] Of course, thanks, John.
[56] Daily Wires, Marade Allorty.
[57] Coming up, parents are furious as teachers push for a return to remote learning.
[58] You can get this show and all of the content you love, wherever you are, all on the DailyWire app.
[59] Even if you're not a DailyWire member, you'll be first to know.
[60] what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows.
[61] Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
[62] Schools are starting to close down again in some areas of the country, but parents are speaking out against the negative impacts of school interruptions.
[63] Here to tell us what's causing the closures and how it's affecting students is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
[64] So Charlotte, what's the latest on this?
[65] So yes, once again, some schools are shutting down.
[66] although this time not for safety reasons.
[67] This round of closures is the result of negotiations with teachers who say they are burnt out.
[68] According to the New York Times, at least six Michigan school districts prolonged Thanksgiving break and three districts in Washington randomly closed on the day after Veterans Day.
[69] A district near Detroit told parents on a Sunday in October that it would be remote on Friday and then continue every Friday until February.
[70] One school in Florida shut down schools for the whole week of Thanksgiving, pointing to the fact that they hadn't used any hurricane days.
[71] Again, this was only possible because Mother Nature spared us this hurricane season.
[72] We understand that this change impacts families in child care, and that is why we are working on multiple options that will help families that may need it.
[73] And a Utah school district said all of its schools will do remote learning one Friday each month from November until March.
[74] And do we have any idea what the argument for this is?
[75] Obviously, this is really difficult to spring on parents.
[76] Yeah, well, it actually appears to have something to do.
[77] with teacher morale and employee shortages rather than the safety of in -person learning.
[78] Since the remote learning style wasn't available before COVID hit, it now seems as if schools are offering this to teachers to prevent them from leaving.
[79] The Teachers Union in Portland, Oregon is suggesting early release days for some of its schools after they come back from winter recess.
[80] The president of the Portland Association of Teachers said they're getting a, quote, alarming amount of teachers asking for assistance in quitting.
[81] And Randy Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the times that teachers are, quote, trying the best that they can, but they're saying it's been too much.
[82] One school in Oregon called off classes for several weeks because of the number of fights happening at the school, which brings up an interesting point.
[83] Many teachers are burnt out due to poor policies that make it difficult to maintain a safe work environment.
[84] And do we have any data on the impact school closures have on students?
[85] Well, there has actually been some resistance to tracking that.
[86] For example, the New York Times ran a headline earlier this year, titled, Does it hurt children to measure pandemic learning loss?
[87] The piece argued that shining a light on the lost learning might, quote, incite a moral panic and paint an entire generation as broken.
[88] The data would also reveal that the largest losses were among black, Hispanic, and low -income children, information which some educators argue would be damaging if revealed.
[89] That said, we do have some hard data.
[90] As can be expected, virtual learning definitely negatively impacted kids' learning abilities.
[91] analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research found, quote, a decline in pass rates from the 2018 to 19 school year to the 2020 to 21 school year in all states.
[92] Wow, so a decline in every state.
[93] Yes, the decline ranged from around negative 32 percentage points to negative 2 percentage points.
[94] The data suggests that there were significant decreases in test scores overall during the 2020 to 2021 school year and that reliance on virtual learning was associated with larger decreases.
[95] More research showed that the harm didn't end after schools reopened, but has built over time.
[96] For example, this spring, third graders at a low -income school scored 17 percentile points lower in math when contrasted with similar students in 2019.
[97] Students in wealthier schools also scored lower than in the past, but not as drastically.
[98] One report from earlier this year showed that kids were, on average, four months behind in reading and five months behind in math.
[99] Location and income level was also a factor.
[100] students in lower -income households, cities, and suburbs fell behind more than kids in higher -income households and those who lived in rural communities.
[101] The report found that black and Hispanic children were also more negatively affected than their white peers in both reading and math.
[102] So as parents struggle to find child care and personally witness the impact of remote learning on children, it's really creating a rift between parents and teachers.
[103] Right.
[104] So it sounds like the public school model, at least in its present form, isn't really working for parents or teachers.
[105] Yeah, it seems that way.
[106] Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
[107] That's Daily Wires, Charlotte Pence Bond.
[108] New York City's police department announced this week that the number of hate crimes in the city has skyrocketed by 100 % this year.
[109] But with some hate crimes receiving more focus than others, some say a political angle is being applied.
[110] Here to tell us more as Daily Wires, Ian Haworth.
[111] Ian first, tell us about this new data.
[112] Sure, so this starts with previous data the FBI released back in August, which showed a dramatic increase in the number of incidents compared to previous years.
[113] Here's how CBS News reported on that data.
[114] The number of hate crimes in the U .S. rose last year to the highest level in more than a decade.
[115] The FBI recorded 7 ,759 hate crimes last year.
[116] That's a 6 % increase from 2019 and the most since 2008.
[117] The network then focused on certain categories of attacks in 2020.
[118] Attacks against black people rose from 1 ,930 to 2 ,770.
[119] 555 in 2020, while the number of crimes against Asians jumped to 274 in 2020, up from 158 in 2019.
[120] And that brings us to the new data from the New York City Police Department, which was released this week and showed that hate crimes have skyrocketed in 2021.
[121] We should note that New York has become one of the epicenters of the anti -police movement following the waves of violence we saw throughout 2020.
[122] Okay, so let's look a little closer at this report from the police department.
[123] What'd they tell us?
[124] They said there have been 503 reported hate crimes this year as of December 5th, which is up from 252 for all of 2020.
[125] So a 100 % increase.
[126] What's driving this?
[127] Police are blaming the spike on crimes against the Asian community, with a 361 % increase in reported hate crimes.
[128] There were 129 this year compared to 28 last year.
[129] The number of anti -black hate crimes actually decreased from 34 in 2020 to 30 this year.
[130] The number of anti -Jewish hate crimes went up from 121 to 183, while the number of hate crimes related to sexual orientation went up from 29 to 85.
[131] Big jumps.
[132] Yeah, and one layer we should point out, though, is that while every accurately reported hate crime is obviously deplorable, there is a significant layer of politicization applied when people in the political sphere talk about hate crimes.
[133] And this is particularly true when it comes to talking about the victims and the perpetrators.
[134] Right, this is a politically loaded topic.
[135] Unpack that for us a bit if you could.
[136] Well, first off, when it comes to the perpetrators, changes in hate crime numbers are actually used to fuel arguments based on the supposed rise of white supremacy, but based on the FBI's data, this isn't accurate.
[137] For example, there were 6 ,780 known offenders when it came to hate crime incidents.
[138] 55 % were white, while 21 % were black.
[139] So white people are actually underrepresented among those committing hate crimes, while black and African -American people are overrepresented.
[140] This certainly counters the narrative that white supremacy is the sole driving force behind the rise in hate crimes.
[141] And then when it comes to victims, some targeted groups tend to receive more focus than others.
[142] Jews, for example, are disproportionately the targets of hate crimes in New York City, even compared to Asians based on the latest data.
[143] But most reports and political reactions remain focused on the latter.
[144] Clearly, it's a more complicated picture when it comes to these kinds of crimes than we often hear reported.
[145] Yeah, it is.
[146] Thanks for digging into the data for us, Ian.
[147] Thanks, John.
[148] DataWire's Ian Howard.
[149] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[150] On Thursday, the FDA approved the use of the Pfizer booster shot in adolescents who are 16 and 17 years old.
[151] The move updates the emergency use authorization for the vaccine, allowing adolescents to get a third dose of the vaccine at least six months after their initial vaccination.
[152] Starting next year, New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2008.
[153] The law will gradually raise the legal age to buy tobacco until virtually all citizens are underage.
[154] Provisions will exist for pre -existing smokers, but nicotine levels will be reduced in commercially available products.
[155] Approximately 11 % of New Zealanders smoke cigarettes.
[156] That number is 29 % for indigenous New Zealanders.
[157] And a Starbucks coffee shop in Buffalo, New York, has become the first in the U .S. to vote in favor of unionizing.
[158] Starbucks corporate leadership has fought against organized labor for years, claiming it's better to have managers negotiate directly with employees.
[159] 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.
[160] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[161] Thanks for waking up with us.
[162] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
[163] If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to DailyWire members.
[164] Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at DailyWire .com slash subscribe.
[165] Use code MorningWire to try a reader's past membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.