The Michael Knowles Show - Morning Wire： Twitter Censored Covid Information & Bail Reform Failure ｜ 12.29.22

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, we will not be releasing an episode of the Michael Knowles Show today,

00:00:03.560 but to keep you informed on the biggest news of the day, here is today's episode of Morning Wire,

00:00:08.380 another show here at Daily Wire where you get the news you need to know every day in 15 minutes or

00:00:13.040 less. Check it out. The latest set of Twitter files reveal how the platform suppressed opinions

00:00:21.680 concerning COVID-19. One of the things that is most disturbing, quite frankly, is that when these

00:00:27.880 files came out, the FBI attacked many of us and called all of us collectively conspiracy theorists.

00:00:37.200 What methods did the social media company use and how heavily was the federal government involved?

00:00:42.680 I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, December 29th,

00:00:48.720 and this is Morning Wire.

00:00:50.120 The celebrity-funded Bail Project is being sued by a waiter who said he was shot seven times by a

00:01:00.720 repeat offender freed by the group just days earlier. Two shots in the back, one also punctured

00:01:07.280 the lung and then one punctured the stomach. And demand for employees in a tight labor market is

00:01:13.040 leading some companies to drop their college degree requirements. We'll tell you which companies are

00:01:17.820 saying no degree necessary. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you

00:01:23.760 need to know.

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00:01:54.120 The latest revelations from internal Twitter records show that the White House pressured the

00:01:58.440 platform to suppress COVID opinions that conflicted with government messaging. Meanwhile,

00:02:03.380 a new poll shows that a majority of voters want an investigation into the FBI's efforts to censor

00:02:08.140 speech on social media. Here to catch us up on the latest news from the Twitter files is Daily Wire

00:02:13.600 culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, previously you've reported that the FBI and DOJ pressured

00:02:20.580 Twitter execs to censor news concerning Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings and other election-related

00:02:26.540 content. But these latest drops are now centered on COVID. What do they show?

00:02:32.260 Well, what they show is a similar pattern, but this time it appeared to be the White House itself that was

00:02:37.600 asking for Twitter to censor posts that were related to the pandemic. So these documents show this was

00:02:43.400 happening under both President Trump and President Biden. According to one Twitter employee, the Trump

00:02:48.840 administration wanted help combating misinformation about runs on grocery stores. Now, the Biden

00:02:55.500 administration pushed for anti-vaxxer, that was their term, accounts to be suppressed. They specifically

00:03:01.640 asked, for example, why independent journalist Alex Berenson hadn't been banned from the platform

00:03:07.540 immediately after he said this about the COVID vaccine. And I'm just going to quote,

00:03:12.680 it does not stop infection or transmission. Don't think of it as a vaccine. So what's interesting to

00:03:18.820 note there is that in both the Trump and Biden cases, the information that they were hoping to see

00:03:24.380 suppressed was actually true. Now, as that pressure was ramping up from the Biden White House, Twitter began

00:03:30.520 censoring medical opinions from some very qualified voices, like Ivy League trained doctors and

00:03:36.720 epidemiologists who were challenging things like the necessity for kids to get the jab. And one more

00:03:43.260 key point on this, the email suggests the Twitter executives did feel coerced. To give you one example,

00:03:50.080 one Twitter employee told another, quote, mercifully, we had answers when they were discussing the White

00:03:56.620 House's questions about why they weren't suppressing some posts or users. Now, what do we know at this

00:04:02.900 point about other social media companies? Was the FBI doing the same thing across platforms?

00:04:09.320 Yeah, it appears so. So some internal communications reveal that Twitter's regular meetings with an FBI

00:04:15.800 task force also included, and I'm quoting from independent journalist Matt Taibbi's reporting,

00:04:21.140 virtually every major tech firm, including Facebook, Microsoft, Verizon, Reddit, even Pinterest,

00:04:28.420 and many others. So they also showed that representatives of another unnamed government

00:04:34.020 agency were also almost always present at these meetings. Taibbi says context suggests that these

00:04:40.240 were likely CIA personnel. Now, I know last time we talked, the FBI had issued a statement saying that

00:04:46.720 they provide information about risks to a lot of companies. Have they said anything else since

00:04:51.920 then? So they said in a statement, quote, it is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others

00:04:58.380 are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the

00:05:04.120 agency. But George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News that this response

00:05:10.840 should be unsettling to Americans. It was highly inappropriate because the FBI has said that

00:05:17.160 combating disinformation is one of its priorities. So it's a very menacing thing when you have the

00:05:23.300 largest law enforcement agency attacking free speech advocates. So Turley went on to point out that

00:05:30.500 when the FBI and CIA were implicated in Watergate in the early 1970s, there was an outpouring of calls

00:05:37.240 across the political spectrum to see those agencies investigated and reformed. And he says he's

00:05:43.900 alarmed that not only are so many public officials downplaying or staying silent on the Twitter files,

00:05:50.260 so are most of the major media outlets. Now, according to some new polling, though,

00:05:55.340 it sounds like a lot of Americans actually agree with Turley. Yeah, exactly right. So a Rasmussen survey

00:06:01.680 released the day after Christmas found 63 percent of likely voters want Congress to investigate the

00:06:08.240 FBI's effort to control content on social media. And it looks like they're going to get their wish.

00:06:14.220 Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has already sent FBI Director Christopher Wray

00:06:20.180 what's called a preservation notice, citing evidence that suggests the Bureau has been demonstrating,

00:06:26.320 and I'll quote here, hostility to the First Amendment. Now, that letter asked the Bureau to provide

00:06:32.720 all of the FBI's documents and communications referring or relating to content moderation on

00:06:39.600 Twitter's platform. In fact, Jordan also asked for a full and complete accounting of that $3.5 million

00:06:46.340 that the FBI paid Twitter for what it called processing their requests.

00:06:51.700 Megan, thanks for reporting.

00:06:53.240 Anytime.

00:06:53.600 That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.

00:06:57.260 Coming up, the victim of a violent attack sues the Bail Project.

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00:07:29.780 A popular chapter of The Bail Project, which has been backed by A-list celebrities,

00:07:35.380 closed its doors after being sued by a waiter who blames the group for being shot several times.

00:07:41.320 Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta-Giacomo. Hey, Amanda. So an alarming story

00:07:47.440 here and one that traces back actually to 2020 and the Floyd riots. First, tell us about this

00:07:52.460 shooting incident.

00:07:53.920 Hey, John. Yeah, a man named Rashawn Gaston Anderson was arrested in November 2021 for burglary and theft,

00:08:01.460 just one day after he had been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. Then he was released

00:08:06.200 without having to pay any bail when The Bail Project stepped in and paid $3,000 to free him.

00:08:11.280 Six days after he was sprung, Gaston Anderson shot at Chang'an Wong 11 times while Wong, who came to

00:08:18.300 America from China, was working as a waiter at the Shanghai Taste Restaurant. Wong was hit by seven

00:08:24.240 bullets and somehow survived, though he suffered lifelong permanent injuries, and he's now suing The Bail

00:08:29.600 Project. Here's Wong speaking through a translator to News 3.

00:08:33.280 Thank to God's grace for saving me and all the hard work the medical team put in, and now I have

00:08:42.820 a second chance at life. By the way, Gaston Anderson has pleaded guilty and was sentenced earlier this

00:08:48.320 month to seven to 18 years behind bars over the shooting. And what exactly is Wong claiming in this

00:08:53.760 lawsuit? Wong is seeking $15,000 in damages from The Bail Project and claims in the suit that the group

00:09:00.160 used, quoting here, no due diligence in determining whether Gaston Anderson would be a danger to the

00:09:06.180 community and likely re-offend. Wong is also seeking another $15,000 each from Gaston Anderson and the

00:09:12.800 owner of Shanghai Plaza. A spokesperson for The Bail Project confirmed the shuttering of the Vegas

00:09:17.920 chapter while claiming it was not connected to the litigation. Now, this is a popular fund with

00:09:24.120 celebrities. Who are some of the names backing The Bail Project? Yeah, it's definitely a celebrity

00:09:29.000 favorite. We have musician John Legend and his model wife Chrissy Teigen. They pledged money to the group

00:09:34.720 during the 2020 George Floyd riots. Teigen notably seemed to taunt conservatives who objected to her 0.99

00:09:40.520 donation by doubling her total contribution to a total of $200,000 for The Bail Project and two other

00:09:46.900 progressive bail funds. Legend and other celebrities like actors Danny Glover and Richard Branson

00:09:51.880 also sit on The Bail Project's advisory board. It's also worth noting that Kamala Harris famously urged

00:09:57.780 people in June 2020 to support a different but similar bail fund, the Minnesota Freedom Fund that

00:10:03.840 paid bail for jailed rioters. Now, the major criticisms of this movement, the so-called

00:10:08.640 decarceration movement, is that it breeds repeat offenders and often hurts the very communities these

00:10:14.320 groups say they're trying to help. This seems like the claim being made in this lawsuit, correct?

00:10:18.140 Yeah, exactly. Reports have highlighted issues with The Bail Project's Chicago chapter in

00:10:23.620 particular. Some of the felony defendants after being bailed out by the group were quickly charged

00:10:28.720 with new crimes, which critics view as otherwise avoidable. The Chicago Tribune highlighted a case

00:10:34.300 where a 34-year-old man named Christopher Stewart, a four-time felon who was facing charges for illegal

00:10:39.940 handgun possession, he was sprung by The Bail Project only to be charged with attempted murder some

00:10:45.040 four weeks later. And what are the supporters' arguments for the group? What did they say about

00:10:50.500 the purpose or need for these bail fund groups? Yeah, most of these advocates are pretty clear that these

00:10:56.660 charities or bail reform policies, they're meant to promote racial equity above all else. The Bail 0.76

00:11:02.540 Project explicitly states that its mission is to, quote, prevent incarceration and combat racial and

00:11:08.540 economic disparities in the bail system. One well-known proponent of bail reform and other criminal

00:11:14.180 justice reform measures is New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Back in 2018, AOC, citing the

00:11:21.540 population of incarcerated Black Americans, actually called for efforts to reduce our prison population

00:11:26.940 by 50 percent. Last year, when she was asked about bail reform and rising crime, she denied that the

00:11:33.040 problems in New York were tied to bail reform at all and advocated for fewer jails and more spending

00:11:37.800 toward mental health programs and other resources. If we want to reduce the number of people in our

00:11:42.300 jails, the answer is to stop building more of them. The answer is to make sure that we actually build more

00:11:48.060 hospitals, we pay organizers, we get people mental health care and overall health care, employment, etc.

00:11:55.180 Interesting. And we'll have to see where this lawsuit from Wong goes from here. Amanda, thanks for

00:12:00.000 reporting. Yeah, anytime. That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.

00:12:07.800 In a tight labor market, some employers are dropping the requirement for college degrees.

00:12:12.840 The movement away from requiring a degree is happening in both the public and private sectors.

00:12:17.720 Here to give us the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. So Charlotte, first off,

00:12:23.020 what percent of job listings currently say they now require a college degree?

00:12:28.360 Hi, Georgia. So according to the Burning Glass Institute think tank, 41 percent of job listings in the U.S.

00:12:34.840 listed bachelor's degrees as a requirement last month. But that's down from 46 percent in 2019.

00:12:42.600 Now, is this just a reaction to the tight labor market or are employers actually finding that

00:12:47.140 degrees are just less relevant than they were in the past?

00:12:50.080 The biggest factor is the tight labor market. In September, there were 10.7 million job openings,

00:12:55.760 but only about 5.8 million unemployed Americans. So just looking at those numbers,

00:13:01.160 employers had to get creative and make compromises. But another big factor is the recognition that

00:13:06.500 college degrees just aren't necessarily relevant in a lot of modern workplaces. Instead of focusing

00:13:12.260 on degrees, these companies are specifically seeking out relevant experience and expertise.

00:13:17.780 For example, Google, Delta Airlines, and IBM have all cut down on the education demands for specific

00:13:23.080 roles. We spoke to Nicholas Giordano, professor of political science at Suffolk Community College in New

00:13:28.860 York, about why companies are moving away from requiring degrees for new hires.

00:13:33.360 They're not coming in with the critical skills necessary to perform in the workforce.

00:13:37.500 And I think what we're going to see going forward is that there may be more emphasis placed on

00:13:42.200 attending two-year schools. You get some of the academics, you get some of the technical,

00:13:46.740 and that's all you need in order to go into the workforce.

00:13:50.540 Now, sometimes we see trends first in the private sector,

00:13:53.720 but you've reported that we're now beginning to see the same trend in government jobs as well.

00:13:58.900 Yes. This fall, Democrat Josh Shapiro successfully won the governorship in Pennsylvania.

00:14:03.840 Shapiro said during his campaign that he would propose changing the educational requirements for

00:14:08.260 a variety of state positions and advocate for more skills-based hiring. At the federal level,

00:14:13.780 Republican Representative Elise Stefanik introduced the Advancing Skills-Based Hiring Act,

00:14:18.520 which would help employers who want to move towards a skills-based hiring approach but might

00:14:23.500 be worried about doing so for legal and regulatory reasons. Charlotte, thanks for reporting.

00:14:28.660 Thanks for having me on. That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.

00:14:35.820 Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.

00:14:38.940 We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.

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00:15:05.040 slash offer for details. Well, that's all we got for you here today. If you enjoyed this episode of

00:15:09.540 Morning Wire, you can hear John in Georgia anywhere my show is available. So wherever you are listening

00:15:16.020 right now, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the Daily Wire Plus app, search for Morning Wire and give

00:15:21.900 them a follow. We'll be back next week with The Michael Knowles Show. See you later.

The Michael Knowles Show - December 29, 2022

Morning Wire： Twitter Censored Covid Information & Bail Reform Failure ｜ 12.29.22

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