--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm your host John Bickley.
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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Balance of Nature. Go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first fruits and veggies set. plus $10 off each additional set. That's balanceofnature.com promo code WIRE.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, May 3rd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden White House coerced big tech, Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Amazon to censor Americans, true information about COVID and Biden critics. That's the conclusion of a new 800-page report by the Judiciary Committee. The report lays out the tactics used by the Biden White House to censor posts, books, or videos critical of the preferred COVID narrative, as well as the content moderation changes made by these corporations as a direct result of that pressure campaign.
--:-- John Bickley: The report also details what it calls the disastrous health measures caused by the censorship, including, quote, unnecessary extended school closures and unconstitutional vaccine mandates. These policies led to needless, quote, harm and suffering for the American people. We'll have more on the report on Monday.
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--:-- John Bickley: The CEO of NPR has been asked to testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to address accusations of progressive bias at the publicly funded organization Ori Berliner a senior editor at NPR resigned recently after going public with claims that the organization lacks any conservative voices and attempted to undermine Trump's presidency. Some Republican lawmakers have called for defunding the taxpayer-supported group. The CEO, Catherine Marr, will appear May 8th.
--:-- John Bickley: A second Boeing whistleblower has died. 45-year-old Joshua Dean became ill two weeks ago, was hospitalized and diagnosed with a bacterial infection, and died suddenly earlier this week. Dean is one of the first quality control auditors who raised concerns about the Boeing 737 MAX jets back in October 2022. He worked for Spirit Aerosystems, a Boeing supplier. He says he was fired in 2023 as retaliation for pointing out problems with the 737. His family requested an autopsy and his mother told NPR, quote, We're not sure what he died of. We don't know if somebody did something to him or did he just get real sick.
--:-- John Bickley: The other whistleblower died back in March. 62-year-old John Barnett died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Charleston, South Carolina. He was on break from giving testimony against the aerospace company. His death is also under investigation.
--:-- John Bickley: The IRS announced its plans this week to increase audits by up to 50%. The agency says it will use funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to go after wealthy individuals and corporations who earn more than $10 million, and it will triple audits of corporations with more than million in assets But a report released in 2023 shows that it was the poorest tax filers who were most audited A report by Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that nearly half of all audits done in 2022 were on those earning $25,000 or less.
--:-- John Bickley: IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel blamed underfunding for his agency's inability to analyze complicated returns. So if you had a middle, low-income taxpayer, even when we were underfunded, we could figure out and determine together with the taxpayer what was owed. But for complex filings, it became increasingly difficult for us to determine what the balance due was. So to ensure fairness, we have to make investments to make sure that whether you're a complicated filer who can afford to hire an army of lawyers and accountants, or a more simple filer who has one income and takes the standard deduction, the IRS is equally able to determine what's owed. And to us, that's a fairer system.
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--:-- John Bickley: The presence of bird flu continues to worry health experts. 36 farms in nine states have reported the H5N1 virus in their cattle. The FDA says milk, cottage cheese, and sour cream have all tested positive for bird flu, but that pasteurization kills the virus, so it does not pose any danger to humans. Testing on baby formula, ground beef, and eggs came up negative. Thus far there is one confirmed case of bird flu in a human who worked closely with infected farm animals Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm says while the virus has spread among mammals humans face little risk.
--:-- John Bickley: The virus has surely changed a lot since its first origin, and the one that we are dealing with now has become a virus that is readily killing mammals. Over 200 mammal species have now been infected. It surely has been devastating to the bird population, But in fact, if anything, I think it has gotten farther and farther away from being a serious human virus challenge. And that's why I think I very much support the WHO and the CDC's declaration that this is still low risk for humans.
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--:-- John Bickley: While the H5N1 virus may not be a threat to beef, there is 16,000 pounds of ground beef being recalled. The beef sold at Walmart stores in nine states from Massachusetts down to North Carolina may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The packages include ground beef, sirloin patties, chuck patties, and prime rib beef steak patties, all dated April 26th through the 27th. Consumers should dispose of the packages or return them to the location they were purchased.
--:-- John Bickley: And Peloton is cutting 15% of its workforce, or about 400 employees, and its CEO is stepping down. The actions were announced Thursday after the luxury exercise company said that it had quote, no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue. Peloton has not turned a profit since 2020.
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--:-- John Bickley: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon. 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.
