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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, and welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's October 28th.
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, Georgia. Thanks for joining me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we have some big news. Several dozen states have sued Meta for knowingly addicting teens to their social media platforms. This is not about money; it's about protecting kids. And what we want is for the company to change its behavior.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. So, how did Facebook and Instagram ensnare young people, and what is Meta's defense?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, let's dive into that. New data reveals homicide rates in Democrat-run cities and counties far exceed those in GOP-run areas. Crime is higher in blue counties than red counties. Undoubtedly, and this problem has been going on for the last 20 years.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And we'll be diving into the data. Nearby residents of Colony Ridge are speaking out about the controversial development, all while the Texas state legislature considers legal action.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meta knew that its platforms were unsafe for young users. Yet Meta continued to claim that its products were safe and appropriate for children and teens. That was Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays announcing that she has joined dozens of other states in a lawsuit against Meta. That's the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
--:-- Chris Mays: The suit claims that social media platforms knowingly designed psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users compulsive and extended use.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, the first thing that jumped out to me about this lawsuit is just how many attorneys general have now joined it. I think at the last count, we were up to 33. So clearly this is transcending the usual political divide.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And, you know, that is just one lawsuit. There are actually eight other states, including Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Utah, that have filed separate complaints. So we're actually talking about the majority of the country suing Meta right now.
--:-- Megan Basham: And obviously that includes some very red states, which we have talked about before. But I think what may be more surprising are how many blue states have joined this, states like New York and California. So we do seem to have hit on the one issue that everyone can agree on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I think that speaks to the overwhelming evidence that social media is addictive, especially for kids and teens, and also that it's negatively impacting their mental health.
--:-- Megan Basham: So we've interviewed a number of social scientists who have confirmed that this was what psychologist Jean Twenge told us, for example. So we know that the more hours a day a teen spends on social media, the more likely it is that he or she will be depressed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, we have to keep in mind that social media companies have poured billions, you know, millions, if not billions of dollars into their algorithms that keep people on their sites for as long as possible and keep them coming back.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, to quantify her comment, according to the CDC, the number of high school students who experience feelings of persistent hopelessness and suicidal thoughts has increased by 40% since 2010. So of course, that's when kids begin to regularly use these kinds of platforms.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, John touched on this at the top, but what does the suit actually allege specifically?
--:-- Megan Basham: So the suit argues that Meta knew Facebook and Instagram were having this harmful impact on kids. And then rather than changing the algorithm to address those harms the company chose to mislead the public and then cover up some internal research that demonstrated this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this was what Brian Schwalb, Democrat attorney general of Washington, D.C., told CNBC.
--:-- Brian Schwalb: I think anybody who is relying on a business plan that causes people to be addicted and that doesn't fully disclose the risks associated with their product should be on notice that that type of behavior is not acceptable.
--:-- Megan Basham: The complaint also alleges that Meta knew that users younger than 13 were on these platforms and that it was collecting data from them without their parents' knowledge or consent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what's Meta saying about this in response?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, they put out a statement saying that they're committed to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online. And they say that they've introduced tools to help parents protect kids.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm reading a little bit here from the statement they put out. We're disappointed that these states have chosen to sue rather than work productively with companies across the industry to create clear age-appropriate standards.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, we've talked a lot about how the TikTok algorithm is specifically addictive. Why did these states choose to sue Meta instead of, say, TikTok or Snapchat or one of the others?
--:-- Georgia Howe: You know, that's a good question because certainly we have seen this concern. Especially with TikTok. And we have seen some similar legislation aimed at that company in particular.
--:-- Megan Basham: But Meta is by far the biggest player in the social media game. And of course, this is by far the biggest lawsuit we've seen. So strategically, if states were successful here, that might move the needle for all of these platforms in a way that targeting some of the smaller ones individually wouldn't.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it seems like at this point, everyone knows that these platforms are harmful. Hopefully one of these suits can get some traction sometime.
--:-- Megan Basham: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new study from a conservative think tank shows significantly higher homicide rates in Democrat-led counties than GOP-led counties, casting doubt on a widely used Democratic talking point about the safety of red versus blue states.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the study, which was conducted by the Heritage Foundation, is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta-Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: So the study from Heritage found that recent data shows blue counties or counties run by Democrats exceeded the homicide rates of red counties or counties run by Republicans by over 60%. And looking at data going even further back, all the way to the early 2000s, Heritage found that blue counties exceeded red counties homicide rates by over 88%.
--:-- John Bickley: Wow, so a significant amount.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, and what's particularly interesting about this study is it really flies in the face of a report from Third Way, a left-leaning think tank. That report found that red states had overall higher homicide rates than blue states.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, I'm in a state that has 28% higher murder rate than the state of California. I'm here in the freedom-loving state of Florida. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. Eight of the top 10 murder states in terms of increase in murder rates are all red states.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: I spoke to Dr. Kevin Dyerotna, who co-authored the Heritage Study, and he said the Third Way report is maybe technically accurate, but significantly flawed and really doesn't give Americans an accurate picture of what's going on.
--:-- John Bickley: For example Dr. Dyerotna said that by looking at state totals which is what the Third Way authors did they neglected to capture the diversity within each state namely different prosecutorial styles socioeconomics policing styles and so on.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: You have localities that are very soft on crime, and they are really driving what's going on in the state. So what we did instead was we analyzed the data on a county-by-county basis. And as a result of doing that, a completely different picture emerges.
--:-- John Bickley: Dr. Odair-Rotnow highlighted another flaw from Third Way, and that has to do with how the think tank categorized red versus blue states.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: The problem with their study was that they held a red state fix for the last 20 years. Namely, what they did was they assumed all states that went for Donald Trump in the last election and the ones that went for Joe Biden in the last election remained that way for the last 20 years, which is just ridiculous.
--:-- John Bickley: You don't have to have a PhD in political science to know that states change from red to blue over time.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: The bottom line is that crime is a local phenomenon. And as a result of that, any analysis needs to be done at a local level. Third way, fail to do so.
--:-- John Bickley: So the true difference here is a sort of reductive state level approach versus county level.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Right. Now, conservatives and even some liberals have connected soft on crime policies with higher murder and crime rates. Do these studies tie any specific policies to these higher rates?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. So the Heritage and Third Way papers look specifically at homicide rates, so we don't have specific policies there.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: But Dr. Dyerotna told me his past research does connect specific policies to higher murder rates. My colleague, Kelly Stimson, Zach Smith, and I had a paper last year titled The Blue City Murder Problem, where soft on crime policies definitely were associated with higher homicide rates.
--:-- John Bickley: Policies that have sought to prevent prosecutors from seeking life without parole sentences, not prosecuting violent teenagers and adults, not seeking the death penalty and so forth, are refusing to prosecute misdemeanor crimes.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: And as a result of being soft on crime, things just get out of control.
--:-- John Bickley: It's always good to get more data when we see these competing narratives.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Presta-Giacomo: Yeah, anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a bombshell letter to several U.S. congressmen asserting that Colony Ridge, a controversial development outside Houston, is attracting thousands of illegal immigrants and has affected the quality of life of nearby residents.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Spencer Lindquist has been speaking to Texas officials and residents about their experience with Colony Ridge and its massive growth.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: So in this letter, Paxton called out the development for, quote, enabling illegal alien settlement in the state of Texas. He also honed in on Colony Ridge's business model, saying this form of real estate development and financing has created an attractive opportunity for non-citizens to cross the border and settle in Texas.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Paxson placed the blame on two local politicians, State Senator Robert Nichols and State Representative Ernest Bales, for passing legislation that allowed the development to act virtually as its own city and tax residents.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: As we've reported, Bales has received campaign donations from Colony Ridge developer William Trey Harris.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. I spoke with U.S. Congressman Brian Babin. He represents the Texas district that contains Colony Ridge, and he actually led that congressional letter.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: And while he happy that the attorney general is addressing his concerns he hopes that the Texas legislature will take effective action.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It has been an enormous burden on Liberty County upon Cleveland Independent School District And as we've seen over the last few years, there have been overdoses, there have been murders, there have been missing persons, gunfire during the night. just a lot of disruptions of society in this particular area and now spilling out into other areas as well.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: All right, so the development is damaging the quality of life for others in the area. That's the claim.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And based on conversations I had with residents in Plum Grove and the surrounding area, he's spot on. Plum Grove is a small town of less than 1,000 residents and it borders Colony Ridge.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: I talked to Everett Needham. He lives in Plum Grove, just two miles from Colony Ridge, and his family has been there for four generations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Needham said that Colony Ridge looks like a third world country and he's confident that illegal immigrants are settling in mass.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Many residents have expressed growing fears about the crime there. A female resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity told me she is scared to death to leave her house.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She said she's been rear-ended in the neighborhood twice, both times by people who didn't have driver's licenses and no insurance. Now she's considering leaving the area altogether.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: The biggest concern for many is the lack of resources to properly police the area. There are already tens of thousands of people there, and developers say it could expand to as many as 200,000.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right, so tell us more about that, the law enforcement concerns.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Yeah, so law enforcement officials say that the unregulated system is attractive to cartels, which are likely active in the area.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Liberty County Sheriff Bobby Rader on The Michael Berry Show.
--:-- Bobby Rader: I've heard rumors that cartels bind up these houses.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: He explained that the unknown size of the development makes patrolling it difficult. The population is. Some people say 50, some people say 75,000. The most that I have at one time is three deputies, so I've got one deputy for every 16,700 people based on the 50,000. If it's 75,000, I've got one deputy for every 25,000 people.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rob Frayer is the first assistant district attorney for neighboring San Jacinto County, and he explained that, quote, you're dealing with a population that is uncooperative with law enforcement anyway. Any person-on-person crime is very difficult to prosecute.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: And the population boom has had a massive effect on the local schools. Cleveland Independent School District has seen its population explode, doubling in enrollment since 2018. And with those numbers has come drug problems.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Last year, there was only one incident of a drug overdose. In the first two months of the 2023 school year, there have been 15 drug incidents. Eight of those required emergency services, four required Narcan.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: That's the drug used to counter overdose. The school suspects that counterfeit Percocets laced with fentanyl could be to blame.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And with all the problems surrounding Colony Ridge, Badman warned that the situation could become drastically worse if the legislature does not put a stop to it and it is allowed to grow to its projected size of 200,000 residents.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: It will be an enormous problem. It will be the end of, really, the solvency and the independency of the United States of America when this many people can come in and these things will be going everywhere. Our country will change for the worse and will never, ever be the same again.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so a pretty dire warning there from the congressman.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Spencer, thank you for continuing to pursue this story.
--:-- Spencer Lindquist: Thank you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with an extra edition of Morning Wire.
