Morning Wire XX
[0] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley.
[1] It's Wednesday, February 8th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
[2] Congress held its first hearing on Twitter's alleged censorship of conservative viewpoints on Wednesday.
[3] Several former high -level executives testified, including former head of trust and safety at Twitter, Yol Roth, as well as legal counsel, Vijay Agade and Jim Baker.
[4] The hearing centered around Twitter's decision to censor the New York Post's 2020 story about Hunter Biden's laptop from hell.
[5] In 2020, Twitter noticed activity related to the laptop that at first glance were a lot of similarities to the 2016 Russian hack and leak operation targeting the DNC.
[6] And we have to decide what to do.
[7] And in that moment, with limited information, Twitter made a mistake.
[8] Did the U .S. government ever contact you or anyone at Twitter to censor or moderate certain tweets?
[9] Yes or no?
[10] receive legal demands to remove content from the platform from the U .S. government and governments all around the world.
[11] U .S. intelligence has reportedly linked the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down this past weekend to a vast surveillance program being conducted by the Chinese military against numerous foreign nations.
[12] According to a Washington Post report, the balloon surveillance program has targeted military assets in several rival countries, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
[13] The Alex Murdaugh double murder trial of his wife and son was brought to an abrupt halt today due to a reported bomb threat.
[14] Ladies and gentlemen, we have to evacuate the building at this time, so we'll be in recess until we discover what's going on.
[15] According to the courthouse, Judge Clifton Newman calmly ordered the evacuation right before lunch and instructed the crowd to stand across the street for the time being.
[16] Meanwhile, Murdaugh was transported away in a police car.
[17] Rescue teams in Turkey and Syria continued searching through rubble on Wednesday following the world's deadliest earthquake in over a decade.
[18] More than 11 ,000 have been confirmed dead.
[19] Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan visited the especially hard -hit Hate province where more than 3 ,300 people died and entire neighborhoods were destroyed.
[20] Residents there have criticized the government's response saying rescuers were slow to arrive.
[21] I talked to them and heard their voice, but unfortunately, as you can say, see here.
[22] They're very slow at work and they don't have enough equipment.
[23] Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hirsch reported today on Substack that U .S. Navy diving teams bombed the Nord Stream pipelines in coordination with Norway in September.
[24] According to Hirsch, the plan to attack the Nord Stream was initiated in February 2022 prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
[25] A White House spokesperson responded within hours calling the report, quote, false and complete fiction.
[26] A CIA A spokesperson said the claim was, quote, completely and utterly false.
[27] Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to London today to meet with the British Prime Minister as well as King Charles III.
[28] Zelensky is requesting dozens of fighter jets from the West in order to fight the Russian aggressors.
[29] Zelensky also met with French president Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Schultz in Paris on Wednesday.
[30] The Church of England has begun a liturgical commission looking into changing prayers and other parts of the liturgy by referring to God in a gender -neutral way.
[31] Currently, the Christian Church refers to God in the masculine form, but some leaders told media that might need to be changed to better reflect God's essence.
[32] A church representative told British media, quote, Christians have recognized since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in Scripture has not always been reflected in our worship.
[33] Many critics, including celebrities, are weighing in on the new AMC Theater's pricing structure, which would charge more for better seats at the movies.
[34] For example, Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood recently commented on the situation saying he believed charging more for preferable locations was unfair to individuals with less discretionary income.
[35] The pricing change, he said, would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward the higher income.
[36] A spokesman for AMC responded to the criticism saying every seat delivers an amazing movie -going experience, but the tiered pricing allows customers to choose a specific seat.
[37] The NFL network announced that broadcaster Michael Irvin has been pulled from the channel's Super Bowl coverage after an unnamed woman complained about his behavior following an incident Sunday at a hotel in Arizona.
[38] For his part, Irvin said he is, quote, baffled by the decision and claims that he spoke to the accuser for 45 seconds before shaking her hand and departing.
[39] Glendale police told media that no reports of sexual harassment have been filed with authorities, and Irvin insists that there was no impropriety during the interaction.
[40] Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James broke the NBA's all -time scoring record Tuesday night in a lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
[41] Kareem Abdul -Jabbar, the now former record holder, was in attendance for the historic night.
[42] James now stands alone with 38 ,390 points in his career.
[43] Here's a snippet from the radio call of his record -breaking bucket.
[44] LeBron, one -on -one against Kenrick Williams, backing him in.
[45] Turns, shoots.
[46] Scored!
[47] Now stands alone.
[48] Well, those are your drive -home updates this afternoon.
[49] To learn more about these stories, go to Dailywire .com, and for more in -depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.