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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of Daily Wire. It's Friday, March 29th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today marks one year since Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia. The Wall Street Journal reporter was detained over claims of espionage, which he and the journal strongly deny.
--:-- John Bickley: Just this week, he appeared in a Moscow courtroom. A six-second video of him was released to the public, but no media was allowed in the courtroom.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The judge ruled that Gershkovich will remain detained during his pretrial hearings. U Ambassador to Russia Lynn Tracy has visited Gershkovich in jail and says he is in good health and is wrongfully detained.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden has been called to testify in his impeachment inquiry. House Oversight Chairman James Comer sent a formal request to the president on Thursday suggesting a date of April 16th for his appearance.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Comer also requested written answers to several questions regarding Biden's business meetings and involvement in several foreign dealings.
--:-- John Bickley: The letter said the committee had identified $24 million that had flowed from foreign sources to you, your family, and their business associates. The chair wants to know the source of those payments.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Comer's letter went on to say, "In light of the yawning gap between your public statements and the evidence assembled by the committee, as well as the White House's obstruction, it's in the best interest of the American people for him to answer questions from members of Congress directly."
--:-- John Bickley: Ford plans to cut hourly workers at one of its Michigan electric vehicle factories.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Earlier this year, Ford cut production of its F-150 Lightning truck due to slower demand. Ford employs 2,100 workers at the Dearborn, Michigan factory.
--:-- John Bickley: 700 will remain, 700 will be transferred to work on the Ford Bronco and Ranger, and the remaining 700 employees will be offered retirement or reassignment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ford sold 24,000 Lightning trucks in 2023.
--:-- John Bickley: Mail ballots must include a handwritten date to be valid in Pennsylvania.
--:-- Georgia Howe: An appeals court ruled that requiring a date on the outside envelope does not violate the Civil Rights Act.
--:-- John Bickley: The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the rule which was challenged by the ACLU of Pennsylvania who says this will cause thousands of ballots to be disqualified.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Republican National Committee called the decision a "crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence."
--:-- John Bickley: Democrats vote by mail in larger numbers than Republicans. The decision will likely be challenged.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Adele Natural Cosmetics. Visit adelnaturalcosmetics.com and use code WIRE for 25% off your first order.
--:-- John Bickley: That's A-D-E-L naturalcosmetics.com with code WIRE.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is warning about the collapse of Social Security.
--:-- John Bickley: He believes retirement at 65 is much too young and needs to be reconsidered.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Our entire retirement system was based on statistics that were created 50 years ago, whereby most Americans retired between 60 and 62 then.
--:-- John Bickley: But most Americans then passed away at 67. And today, statistically, a couple 60 years old in good health, one of them is going to live over 90.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The other question is, should we reevaluate how we work and how long we work? Because we all need purpose in life.
--:-- John Bickley: And in most places most people find purpose obviously maybe with their grandchildren their children their community.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many people find purpose in their jobs. We solve problems through conversation. And the one area where we have no conversation is the affordability of retirement and the whole concept of retirement.
--:-- John Bickley: And we need to start a global and, most importantly, a national dialogue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Life magazine is being relaunched more than 20 years after it was shut down.
--:-- John Bickley: Model Carly Kloss and her husband Josh Kushner announced that they bought the rights to Life magazine and planned to bring the iconic publication back in both print and digital form.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They also bought fashion magazine ID from Vice Media late last year.
--:-- John Bickley: Kloss told The Hollywood Reporter, "We see life as an uplifting and unifying voice in a chaotic media landscape."
--:-- Georgia Howe: Josh Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump and served under President Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: And Puxatawney Phil is a father. Famous for his yearly weather predictions on Groundhog Day, Phil and his wife Phyllis welcomed two baby groundhogs this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The family of four is safe in their borough at the Puxatawney Memorial Library.
--:-- John Bickley: Phil has been amazingly making his weather predictions since 1886.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- John Bickley: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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--:-- Announcer (Voiceover): This episode is brought to you by Beam. Try Beam's best-selling dream powder for up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com slash wire and use code wire at checkout. That's shopbeam.com slash wire.
