Morning Wire XX
[0] Congresswoman, I have seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to that data.
[1] They have never asked us.
[2] We have not provided.
[3] Well, you know what?
[4] I find that actually preposterous.
[5] Congressional lawmakers grilled the CEO of TikTok on Thursday.
[6] Does the U .S. considers a potential ban of the app?
[7] What changes are U .S. legislators demanding?
[8] And how is China responding?
[9] I'm Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howl.
[10] It's Friday, March 24th, and this is Morning Wire.
[11] A deadly drug -resistant fungus is spreading in U .S. nursing homes.
[12] They can sit on surfaces for almost a month and still be active.
[13] Who is most at risk and how can health care facilities protect their patients?
[14] And the Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Stanford Law School is now on leave after supporting the silencing of a guest speaker.
[15] We have the details.
[16] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[17] Stay tuned.
[18] We have the news you need to know.
[19] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[28] Lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned the head of social media company TikTok about concerns that the app allows the Chinese government to access American data.
[29] The platform is now facing a nationwide ban as Democrats and Republicans find a rare point of agreement that it poses a national security threat.
[30] Here to fill us in on what happened during Thursday's House Commerce Committee hearing is Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham.
[31] So Megan, obviously TikTok is trying to mount a strong defense here to keep the company from being banned in the U .S. Do you think it helped itself during that hearing yesterday?
[32] You know, I really don't think it did.
[33] TikTok's chief showed denied ties to the CCP in his opening statement.
[34] And he said that the company has been focused on, quote, building a firewall between American user data and its Chinese parent company, bite dance.
[35] But this tense exchange with Republican Congressman Bob Lata of Ohio proved that, as of right now, that firewall has not been erected.
[36] Yes or no?
[37] Do any bite -dance employees in China, including engineers, currently have access to U .S. user data.
[38] Today, all U .S. user data is stored by default in the Oracle cloud infrastructure, and access to that is controlled by American personnel.
[39] Do any bite -dance employees in China, including engineers, currently have access to U .S. data?
[40] Congressman, I would appreciate this.
[41] This is a complex topic.
[42] Today, all data is stored by default.
[43] Yes, yes or no. It's not that complex.
[44] Yes or no. do they have access to user data?
[45] After Project Texas is done, the answer is no. So Congressman Lata talking over, too, a little bit there, but his ultimate answer was that China does still have access to some amount of American user data.
[46] And the Project Texas, too, was talking about is the company's plan to move all of that data from proprietary storage in Singapore and Virginia to an American -owned Oracle facility in Texas.
[47] But that doesn't really solve the secure.
[48] problem.
[49] The bottom line is that the law in China is even if bite dance is a private company, it still has to answer to the Chinese government.
[50] So as long as bite dance owns TikTok, TikTok answers to Beijing.
[51] And on that note, another bad moment for Chu came when Congressman Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, pressed him over whether bite dance directly helped him prepare for that hearing.
[52] Chu tried to deflect saying he received, quote, unsolicited input from a lot of sources.
[53] But when asked whether ByteDance and TikTok share the same attorneys, Chu then had to admit that, yeah, they do.
[54] So it sounds like they addressed the national security angle, but there have also been other allegations against TikTok as well, specifically regarding the kind of content being pushed to kids by the algorithm.
[55] Was any of that addressed?
[56] It was.
[57] And you can say that Chu faced some pretty tough grilling overstudy.
[58] that show that the app is contributing to mental health issues for kids, especially teen girls.
[59] But that at least isn't unique to TikTok.
[60] It's really an all of social media problem.
[61] So I don't think that that's going to be the sticking point.
[62] Now, sometimes we see hearings like this, and not a lot always comes out of them.
[63] Can we expect to see any concrete action on TikTok?
[64] You know, you never want to say anything definitively when it comes to Congress.
[65] But given how bipartisan this is, I think that we do have a really good chance here.
[66] Right now, there are several bills pending that pave the way for a TikTok ban if it doesn't split from bite dance.
[67] And the White House is openly signaling it backs at least one of them.
[68] Now, what would that actually mean splitting from bite dance?
[69] Would that mean allowing an American firm to purchase them?
[70] Yes, and that is exactly what the White House is demanding.
[71] Now, how is China responding to all of this?
[72] Well, the reality is that 150 million Americans use TikTok, and China isn't just going to quietly give up ownership.
[73] The Commerce Ministry said on Thursday right before that hearing that Beijing will, quote, firmly oppose any sale of TikTok.
[74] So it seems likely that the CCP would block Bite Dance from selling TikTok, even if the company wanted to sell.
[75] A spokeswoman for the Commerce Ministry said that if Bite Dance is forced to sell, it will seriously undermine the confidence of investors from other countries, including China, to invest in the U .S. So sounds like a potential threat of trade retaliation there.
[76] Well, there have been a lot of concerns about this app for years at this point.
[77] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[78] Of course, my pleasure.
[79] That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham.
[80] Coming up, a deadly fungus is spreading in long -term care facilities.
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[87] The CDC reports that a potentially deadly and drug -resistant fungus is spreading rapidly in long -term care facilities and hospitals.
[88] Here to discuss is Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[89] Dr. McCarrie, thanks for coming on.
[90] Thanks so much.
[91] So tell us about this fungus that's currently spreading in hospitals.
[92] So it's a fungus called C. or Candida orius.
[93] And it's a fungus that was first identified in 2009.
[94] It was actually found in an ear infection of a Japanese woman.
[95] But in the last few years, there have been more and more cases in the United States now a couple thousand in the last year.
[96] And it's got a high mortality rate.
[97] About 30 % of the people who get it die.
[98] And it appears to affect people who are immunosuppressed or people who are in long -term care facilities.
[99] So this is a serious infection.
[100] It's unclear what the rate of spread, though, really is.
[101] now what's the disease process and how can we recognize it so it causes either an internal infection something like an ear infection or a skin rash and it's very characteristic in people who are immunosuppressed that is people who are at risk of fungal infections in general the concern with this particular type of infection though is that it appears to be resistant to many of the types of antifungal medications out there which may explain its high mortality rate Is there anything currently being done to contain it?
[102] So the typical cleaning agents, things like water with light soap or even ammonia -based cleaning solutions, don't work to kill this Canada orias pathogen.
[103] So many centers now are looking into deep cleaning with alcohol -based solutions and UV light, and they're trying to reduce transmission within health care facilities.
[104] people should be mindful that that is the primary place in where we are seeing this spread is within hospitals.
[105] Now, you said there were a few thousand cases last year, so clearly it doesn't spread as quickly as COVID.
[106] How is it transmitted?
[107] We think it's from surfaces, and particularly sort of doorknobs, bathroom surfaces, cables, sheets, anything in a hospital that could actually house one of these candida fungal pathogens.
[108] with it living as long as 30 days that could actually be a part of what we call colonized infections, people may be living with this Canada bacteria in a way that it's not harmful, but it could spread to somebody who is more at risk.
[109] So the concern is that it's sort of prevalent, but yet under -recognized.
[110] So this is spreading relatively slowly.
[111] Why are we concerned now?
[112] Well, in Mississippi, they recently reported 13 cases and four people had died.
[113] In the United States in 2021, we recognized about 1 ,000 cases.
[114] Now there may be 4 ,000 cases that we know of and many more out there.
[115] And with it living so long, with it sitting on surfaces for 30 days, we may have to sort of sound the alarm to people at risk to take extra precautions and get hospitals in that mode where they're doing the right type of cleaning to.
[116] address this type of pathogen.
[117] All right.
[118] Well, Dr. McCarrie, thanks for getting the word out and thanks for coming on today.
[119] Great to see you.
[120] Thanks so much.
[121] That was John Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCarrie.
[122] A Stanford University dean has been suspended after supporting student protesters who shouted down a federal judge attempting to speak on campus earlier this month.
[123] Here with more on what prompted the suspension and how the university is responding is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
[124] Hey, Gabby.
[125] So first, how did this all get started?
[126] So the story starts back in March when circuit judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee, was invited to speak to the Stanford Federalist Society, a conservative club on campus.
[127] According to Duncan, the school told him beforehand that there might be protests, but that they were, quote, on top of it and would make sure the event went on his planned.
[128] But that did not happen.
[129] When he arrived on campus, there were around 100 students screaming at him, some saying they hoped that his daughters were raped while others shouted that he was racist and anti -trans.
[130] In particular, the students were upset with a case in which Duncan were friends.
[131] from using the preferred pronouns of a transgender prisoner who was on trial for child pornography charges.
[132] Now, if there had just been students involved, that would be one thing.
[133] But it was the involvement of a dean at the school that really escalated the situation.
[134] Yeah, tell us about that angle here.
[135] Well, as Duncan began his speech, the heckling continued to the point where he just could not go on.
[136] Here's a bit of how that sounded.
[137] So you've invited me to speak here, and I'm being heckled nonstop.
[138] And I'm just asking for an administrator to some...
[139] At that point, an administrator did step in, but that administrator was Tearyan Steinbach, school's associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[140] But rather than calm the students, the dean gave a brief address supporting them in their efforts and telling Judge Duncan that they were simply protesting racist and anti -trans policies that he had helped uphold.
[141] For many people here, your work has caused harm.
[142] Is it worth the decision that is positive?
[143] I look out and I say, I'm glad this is going on here.
[144] After a few more minutes of Duncan attempting to give his speech and respond, he was eventually forced to leave.
[145] Soon after, video of the event began going viral online.
[146] Yeah, it's not hard to see why.
[147] And that prompted a pretty strong response from the school.
[148] Yeah, for obvious reasons, the video did not reflect well on Stanford Law School.
[149] Keep in mind, law schools try to maintain good relationships with judges because those same judges decide which law students are offered to all important clerkships.
[150] So it was in the best interest of the school to respond strongly, which they eventually did.
[151] The law school's president, Jenny Martinez, first sent a letter to Judge Duncan, apologizing for the disruption of the event, calling it, quote, inconsistent with our policies on free speech.
[152] And then later this week, Martinez announced in a 10 -page letter to the school that Dean Steinbach had been placed on disciplinary leave for her actions and supporting the demonstrators.
[153] She also announced that all students at the law school would be required to undergo a half -day training, on free speech and the First Amendment.
[154] What sort of reaction have we seen from students at the law school?
[155] Well, after Martinez announced the suspension and publicly apologized for a second time to Duncan, hundreds of students protested outside of her office, accusing her of supporting hate speech and anti -trans policies.
[156] And while no students were ultimately punished for their role in the incident, leaders of the group that organized the protests have also since demanded that their names and images be removed from stories that were covering the demonstration.
[157] They say it would lead to harassment.
[158] Now, critics say that that's an ironic request, given that those same students posted the names and images of students who were in the conservative federalist society on posters around campus ahead of the event.
[159] And one other interesting note here, the protest was not completely spontaneous.
[160] The local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild was involved in organizing it.
[161] That's a group that has dozens of chapters in law schools across the country and has organized many similar disruptions in the past.
[162] And what about the other side?
[163] What have conservative students had to say?
[164] Well, for their part, conservatives on campus say that they've long faced discrimination on campus and that one reason students reacted so strongly to the presence of Judge Duncan is because they aren't accustomed to hearing conservative points of view and don't know how to react when they do.
[165] Now, to that point, we have seen hundreds of similar events over the last few years where conservatives were disrupted or shut down by left -leaning protesters on campus.
[166] So it is worth pointing out.
[167] This does go beyond just Stanford.
[168] Well, something tells me this won't be the last time we discuss free speech on campuses.
[169] Cabot, thanks for reporting.
[170] Anytime.
[171] That's Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
[172] That's all the time we've got this morning.
[173] Thanks for waking up with us.
[174] We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.