Morning Wire XX
[0] Elon Musk bought 9 .2 % stake in Twitter after criticizing the platform for failing to protect free speech.
[1] Howe would the richest man in the world leverage his ownership stake of Twitter?
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[3] It's Tuesday, April 5th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] As the Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion pills take center stage.
[5] What are abortion pills?
[6] How do they work?
[7] and will states put restrictions on them?
[8] And public schools in Boston are dealing with a string of violence after the city got rid of school police officers last fall.
[9] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[10] Stay tuned.
[11] We have the news you need to know.
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[18] Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, sent shockwaves in the social media world Monday, revealing that he spent nearly $3 billion to purchase almost 10 % stake in Twitter.
[19] This makes him the largest single shareholder in the company.
[20] Musk's announcement sent Twitter's stock price soaring 25%.
[21] Here to give us some background on what might have led to Musk's decision and how the world's richest man could influence the company's policies going forward is Daily Wire Culture Reporter Megan Basham.
[22] So, Megan, while Musk's announcement is causing headlines, it wasn't exactly a surprise, was it?
[23] No, it really wasn't because, you know, if you've been paying attention, Musk has been hinting about this for a few weeks now.
[24] To set the context for those of you who maybe don't live on Twitter like I do, the platform has been especially aggressive in censoring political speech and even legitimate news stories.
[25] So along with kicking former President Trump off the platform, back in 2020, shortly before the presidential election, it notoriously banned the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, and it suspended the paper's Twitter account.
[26] Then just last month, the platform suspended satire site the budget.
[27] Babylon B for a joke that called Biden's transgender assistant health secretary Rachel Levine, man of the year.
[28] Here's Babylon B CEO, Seth Dillon, talking about that.
[29] Maybe this is a watershed moment.
[30] I'm not sure.
[31] But it's an important issue where we're talking about basic truths, you know, men being men, women being women, and the fact that you're not allowed to just state the truth.
[32] You know, this is the point that I keep making repeatedly.
[33] And I've said this, you know, since this incident happened, speaking the truth is not hate speech.
[34] Well, and Musk is known for being a fan of the Babylon Bee, correct?
[35] That's right, he is, and he famously went on the Bee's podcast last year.
[36] Certainly, Musk has been critical of Twitter's speech policing policies for a while.
[37] So back in December, Twitter announced that Parag Agrawal was taking over a CEO from founder Jack Dorsey.
[38] Now, Agrawal has been fairly critical of free speech.
[39] He said in interviews that he thinks speech is too easy on the internet and that Twitter should make more of an effort to, quote, emphasize speech that's part of a healthy public conversation.
[40] In response, Musk posted a meme that depicted Agrawal as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
[41] Right.
[42] So then on March 25th, Musk posted a Twitter poll saying free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
[43] And he asked his 80 million followers if they believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle.
[44] Well, more than 70 % of the 2 million.
[45] plus respondents said, no, Twitter does not adhere to the principle of free speech.
[46] The next day, he tweeted, quoting here, given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
[47] What should be done?
[48] Is a new platform needed?
[49] Well, as you might expect, a lot of people again responded.
[50] And many pointed out that other social media startups like getter, parlor, gab, well, they've had a lot of trouble getting off the ground.
[51] Instead, a lot of those people suggested that Musk should just buy Twitter.
[52] Why not, right?
[53] Well, it appears Musk agreed with them.
[54] Well, now that Musk is Twitter's largest shareholder, is there any indication of how he might wield that power?
[55] There is some, and I think it's important to note here that unlike Google, Facebook, Amazon, Snap, some of those companies, Twitter's founders don't have special voting control over its future.
[56] So what that means is that it is very susceptible to outside pressure from shareholders.
[57] shareholders like Musk.
[58] The business news show Squawk Box asked stock analyst Dan Ives what he thinks Musk's buy signals.
[59] Musk is not going to do this just to take a passive stake.
[60] He's going to ultimately try to either really change Twitter intern in terms of more active stake or, you know, eventually could lead to a buyout.
[61] And I think that's how he's going about it.
[62] So I think we can see by this that the finance world is fully expecting that Musk is going to take some action.
[63] to ensure that speech flows a little freer on that platform.
[64] All right.
[65] Well, Twitter's next shareholder meeting is in May, so could be interesting.
[66] Yeah, definitely could be.
[67] All right, Megan, thanks for reporting.
[68] That's Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham.
[69] Coming up, the battle over abortion pills heats up.
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[73] Abortion pill regulations come under increased scrutiny as states prepare for a Supreme Court ruling affecting Roe v. Wade.
[74] Here to give us the latest is DailyWire's Charlotte Pince Bond.
[75] All right, Charlotte, why is there a sudden interest in regulating these pills?
[76] Well, the abortion pill issue has been pretty back and forth over the past several years.
[77] But part of the reason this is becoming a hot topic now is that during COVID, the requirement for women to get the first of the two pills in person after being seen by a physician was lifted by a federal judge.
[78] The Trump administration challenged that and eventually won in the courts, but then in April, the FDA said it was going to allow the pills to be sent through the mail and prescribed via telemedicine during the pandemic.
[79] The FDA permanently loosen the rules in December.
[80] So now abortion pills can be sent through the mail or even potentially bought or acquired online.
[81] Are there risks associated with this for the mother?
[82] There are some.
[83] So abortion pills, which are sometimes referred to as medical abortion or chemical abortion, they're approved by the FDA for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
[84] The process usually involves two sets of pills.
[85] The first one, Mipipristone, kills the fetus by blocking progesterone.
[86] And the second one, misoprostol, induces labor.
[87] So women take these pills and they basically experience a miscarriage, which can have medical risks, especially if the woman hasn't been evaluated by a doctor.
[88] One of the main concerns is ectopic pregnancy, which happens when a fertilized egg attaches outside of the uterus.
[89] On an ultrasound, a doctor can see that and not give out an abortion pill.
[90] Rupured ectopic pregnancies can be life -threatening.
[91] and pro -life activists have fought to have safeguards in place to protect against this.
[92] Another concern about these drugs being sent through the mail is that this could provide cover for sexual abuse.
[93] For example, if a very young girl becomes pregnant, it's important for her to be seen in person so a medical provider can screen for abuse.
[94] Got it.
[95] So walk us through what some states are doing in response to this.
[96] Can they do anything since this is the FDA we're talking about here?
[97] Yeah, they're certainly going to try.
[98] Some are introducing bills to, to limit the availability of the pills.
[99] Right now, 19 states require the person administering the pills to be physically present when the drugs are given.
[100] And Planned Parenthood has said that 24 states have introduced new restrictions on abortion pills this session.
[101] Legislators in 13 states have also proposed bills that would make it so that doctors have to educate women about abortion pill reversal treatment just in case they have regrets.
[102] We're also hearing about some controversial legislation affecting the end of pregnancy or even post -pregnancy.
[103] What can you tell us there?
[104] Right.
[105] Maryland and California are under intense scrutiny right now for some new bills that some pro -life activists say would allow infanticide.
[106] In California, a bill was introduced saying people shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual potential.
[107] or alleged pregnancy outcome, which includes miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.
[108] So the concern there is that parents can't be investigated for an infant's death within that first week.
[109] Here's California Assembly member Buffy Wicks, one of the sponsors of the bill, speaking in January.
[110] The legislation I am introducing will make it crystal clear that in California we will not criminalize women for stillbirths, pregnancy loss, or abortions.
[111] So it sounds like we should expect the battle over abortion to continue to escalate.
[112] Right.
[113] Charlotte, thanks for the reporting.
[114] That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence -Bond.
[115] Public schools in Boston are seeing an alarming increase in violence after the city removed police from schools last year.
[116] The recent spate of violence has prompted concerns about the new safety system, which no longer includes cops on campus.
[117] Daily Wire investigative reporter Marade Allorty is here with details for us.
[118] So, Marade, what's the situation?
[119] like in Boston schools these days?
[120] Sure.
[121] So back in September, when schools started, Boston got rid of the regular police officers who have patrolled the city's public schools for decades.
[122] The schools replaced them with so -called school safety specialists.
[123] Since then, there has been an unprecedented string of violent attacks in schools.
[124] This has prompted a discussion about public safety and that decision to not have police stationed on campus during school hours.
[125] From a data perspective, overall, police responded to a total of 100, 77 incidents at 62 schools in Boston between the beginning of this school year and Thanksgiving break.
[126] That's according to 911 call data from the Boston public school system.
[127] More than a quarter of those 911 calls were for incidents involving fighting or assault.
[128] Now, what do these attacks look like?
[129] Do we have any examples?
[130] Yeah, well, some of them are very serious.
[131] In early November, a 16 -year -old female student was arrested for knocking her principal unconscious.
[132] In another incident just this month, a teacher and student were shot in the parking lot of Tech Boston Academy.
[133] The victims were a 31 -year -old man and a 17 -year -old boy.
[134] They both suffered serious but non -life -threatening injuries.
[135] Here's Officer Gregory Long.
[136] This is a very concerning and disturbing set of circumstances.
[137] Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for our students and our teachers, not a place where they're subjected to brazen and random acts of violence.
[138] More than a week later, two teenage males, a 17 -year -old and a 16 -year -old, were arrested in connection with the shooting.
[139] So these schools are seeing some very dangerous behavior.
[140] Correct.
[141] And what is the city done to address it?
[142] Well, police leadership and the Boston mayor both addressed that shooting when it happened.
[143] Boston mayor, Michelle Wu, said the situation was unacceptable and said the city would do everything it takes to ensure that each school is safe and welcoming.
[144] Other than that, though, we haven't heard a lot of specifics about how the city will address the concerning trend of violence in schools this year.
[145] And just to clarify, the decision to remove police was the result of activist pressure in 2020.
[146] That's right.
[147] Massachusetts' 2020 police reform bill was the turning point that prompted Boston's public schools to stop hiring police officers to be on site during school hours.
[148] The law doesn't explicitly remove officers from schools, but it does require school police to receive hundreds more training hours in order to stay on campus.
[149] Most of them opted to go without police and just hire school safety specialists without.
[150] handcuffs or arrest powers instead.
[151] Hopefully we'll see some more concrete action soon.
[152] Marade, thanks for reporting.
[153] Thanks, Georgia.
[154] That's Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allorty.
[155] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[156] Several states sued the Biden administration on Monday for their plans to end Title 42.
[157] Missouri, Arizona, and Louisiana argued that the termination is bad policy and is profoundly illegal.
[158] And for an update on Ukraine, DailyWire's Ian Howe The world has continued to react in horror to the awful images of what appear to be murdered civilians in Ukraine.
[159] Over 400 civilian bodies have reportedly been found near the capital city, Kiev, with Ukraine accusing Russia of both war crimes and genocide.
[160] On Monday, President Joe Biden echoed this sentiment, calling Putin himself a war criminal.
[161] Meanwhile, the U .S. is pushing to have Russia removed as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
[162] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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