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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: The Disinformation Governance Board has been paused, and its leader, Nina Jankiewicz, has resigned. The department's work across several administrations to address disinformation that threatens the security of our country is critical, and that will indeed continue. What comes next for the controversial board?
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, May 19th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: A shooting in Chicago's tourist-heavy Millennium Park has led to a curfew for unaccompanied teens. How is social media contributing to Chicago PD's growing crime problem?
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: And deaths from synthetic drugs like fentanyl are skyrocketing in America, and drug trafficking at the southern border is a major contributor to the crisis. Who's behind the deadly trafficking and what's being done to address it?
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Following weeks of criticism, the Biden administration is backing away from plans to launch a disinformation board as part of the Department of Homeland Security. The Washington Post revealed Wednesday that their sources say the board has been placed on indefinite hold and Nina Jankiewicz, the woman nominated to lead it, has resigned.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Here to tell us how the controversial effort fell apart is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, it feels like from the get-go, the administration was fighting an uphill battle to get this project off the ground. What happened here?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it did. You know, there were a lot of reasons for that. And to start with, the administration's nominee to head up that board, Nina Jankiewicz, well, she presented plenty of controversy. So the ostensible purpose of this board was to fight the spread of misinformation and disinformation, especially online. Yet Jankiewicz herself shared erroneous claims on social media. She retweeted numerous posts related to the Trump-Russia collusion story. Those have since been debunked. She also posted claims casting doubts on the veracity of the New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop reporting. She called that a Trump campaign product. Well, that story turned out to be true. So she really didn't have the best track record on disseminating factual information herself.
--:-- Megan Basham: But critics also point out that these posts all ran in one political direction, against Republicans. So there were a lot of questions over whether she would be politically neutral enough for a job like that.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Right. And some of her ideas for how misinformation could be combated also raised eyebrows. She suggested, for instance, that verified Twitter users could edit other users' tweets if they found them misleading. Among the people who were critical of that notion was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has a deal pending to buy Twitter. He called it disconcerting.
--:-- Megan Basham: This was pundit Douglas Murray on Fox News last week, offering some pretty typical criticism. So she wildly inadequate for the job but effectively nobody should have the job It shouldn be a job that should exist in America to tell us at government level what is true and what is not So it appears that Murray's larger point there is that he doesn't actually think the board should exist at all.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Right. And while Django has made a lot of headlines, that was really the broader issue. The board's mission was, as we said, to target misinformation and disinformation that could, quote, affect border security, American safety during disasters, and this was the big one, public trust in our democratic institutions.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah. Well, that allows for some pretty broad power. Who decides what undermines public trust in democratic institutions? Right. So that's what critics like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul focused on, likening it to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, just hearing some of that language, it seems that DHS could have been facing a string of lawsuits over this board. Yeah, exactly. Especially given that a big part of the national discussion we've been having over the last couple of years is whether big tech's content moderation counts as censorship because it's being done by private companies. So some of those arguing that it does point to pressure the government has brought to bear on social media platforms, essentially arguing that they're acting on behalf of the government.
--:-- Megan Basham: In terms of actions, Alex, that we have taken or we're working to take, I should say, from the federal government, we're flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. So the disinformation board would have acted as a further extension of that. But constitutionally, it posed a much more clear-cut problem because it would, in fact, have required the government itself to play a direct role in censoring and suppressing online speech.
--:-- Megan Basham: So two attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana had already filed a lawsuit against the administration, arguing that it is, quote, directly colluding with social media platforms to censor disfavored speakers and viewpoints in violation of the First Amendment.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: So if the board is just on hold, do we have any sense yet if plans could be revived?
--:-- Megan Basham: Short answer, given that its rollout was kind of a debacle, I doubt it. And you never want to say never about these things. But given that even DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted that the administration could have done a better job of communicating what it is, it sounds to me like they're throwing in the towel.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah, I can see why that would be the case. Thanks for that story, Megan. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Coming up, violence erupts when hundreds of teens gather in Chicago's Millennium Park, causing Mayor Lori Lightfoot to take drastic action. The value of your IRA or 401k has likely ballooned thanks to the longest bull market run in U.S. history. But every bull run is followed by a recession. If you want to take some of your profits now, solidify them with gold from Birch Gold. Text WIRE to 989898 for a free zero-obligation info kit on holding gold in a tax-sheltered retirement account. Again, text WIRE to 989898 and secure the gains you've made while you can.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: A new trend on social media is causing mass disturbances and violence in Chicago, presenting a vexing challenge for police officers already struggling to curb the city's crime problem. After a 16 was shot and killed in a public park Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced restrictions on teens hanging out in the park a decision that was slammed by some critics Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi is here with the details for us
--:-- Mairead Elordi: So Mairead first what prompted these new restrictions?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Yeah, so these restrictions were a response to another tragic Saturday in Chicago last weekend where a 16-year-old was fatally shot in Millennium Park. The shooting happened on the early side of the evening around 7.30 p.m. after hundreds of kids swarmed the park after hearing about a meetup on social media. This was part of a phenomenon called trends, where kids circulate information about meetups in public places. Basically, it's like a party where hundreds of kids show up at once, and the Bean in downtown Chicago has become a popular location for these events.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: According to police, the scene was complete chaos, with crowds of teens spilling out into the surrounding streets. Apparently, this particular trend became deadly when one teen shot another teen in the crowd. Police were called, and 26 juveniles were arrested, and seven guns were recovered. In response to these so-called trends and their potential for violence, Lightfoot announced that unaccompanied teens will no longer be allowed in the park past 6 p.m. from Thursday through Sunday.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Now, I want to be clear. It gives me no pleasure to impose these rules and restrictions. But having exhausted every other opportunity, every other tool and remedy, we've got to go to this next step to make sure that our jewel of Millennium Park is available and open to everyone. Minors must be accompanied by, quote, at least one responsible adult, Lightfoot said. She said the policy will be strictly enforced and violations will be dealt with swiftly.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: The city already had a general 11 p.m. curfew for minors on weekends, but Lightfoot announced she's pushing it up to 10 p.m. She encouraged parents to be aware of the rules and talk to their children about them. Also, Lightfoot called on the Chicago Police Department to crack down on tracing guns found in the hands of minors and criminally charging adults who have given guns to kids.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Okay, so it sounds like Chicago already had a curfew in place. Has that strategy been shown to be effective?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Right. Well, Chicago has actually had an 11 p.m. curfew for minors on the weekends since 1992. But the city still has one of the nation's highest murder rates. According to research from Purdue and the University of Virginia looking at crime in D.C., there's not strong evidence that curfews reduce crime. In fact, they may actually be counterproductive.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Now, it seems like it would also be very hard to enforce a selective curfew for teens, especially in a place like Millennium Park. I mean, that's a tourist attraction, and 6 p.m. is quite early for summer evenings.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Right, and critics have pointed that out. For example, the American Civil Liberties Union of Chicago criticized the move, saying that the new curfew and rules for teens in the park will lead to more police encounters with teens and that it will disproportionately punish minority kids.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Well, Maraid, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Thanks, Georgia. That's Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Deaths from synthetic drugs are soaring in America. The CDC reported more than 100,000 deaths from drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021, an increase of 29% from the previous year. About two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Many components of these lethal drugs come from China to Mexico, where they are assembled by drug cartels who then traffic them across the southern border.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Here to discuss is Carrie Sheffield, Senior Policy Analyst at Independent Women's Voice.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: So Carrie, what have you heard from analysts on this issue?
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Well, thanks for having me, Georgia. So in 2021, Customs and Border Protection, the CBP, reported that the number of fentanyl seizures along our southern border they spiked from 596 seizures in fiscal year 2016 all the way up to 11 last year
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Here some sound from Derek Maltz He's a former senior official with the Drug Enforcement Administration. It started out with the direct exports from China to America on mail services through the dark web, the Internet. But then the Chinese got smart because the Trump administration put a lot of pressure on them and they started controlling fentanyl analogs. Then they started forming the alliance and the partnership with the cartels. And the cartels are about making money.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Julio Rosas, a former U.S. Marine and author who writes extensively about the U.S. border, told me that the level of brutality and military sophistication of the Mexican cartels has grown immensely in recent years, particularly the one called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Now, just to give you an example of the kind of brutality he described, this vicious gang has been known to cannibalize some of its victims. Now, when you say military sophistication, what do you mean? Are these groups in possession of military-grade technology?
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Yes, exactly. Sergio de la Peña, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, he has warned that the CCP, the Communist Party of China, wants to create what he calls a reverse opium war as part of a geopolitical play. He said that China has America in its crosshairs and is acting to purposefully destabilize free society through this chaotic drug trade.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: So what kind of defensive action has the U.S. taken up to this point?
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Well, the CPB port director for the Laredo Port of Entry down in Texas, he recently told the press that his agents are testing out what they call multi-energy portals. Now, this is a new scanning technology. It allows agents to scan trailer trucks without drivers having to leave the cabs. CPB says that if this system is approved, this would increase the percentage of trucks being screened from 15 percent to 90 percent, which would be a game changer in detection.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: That said, most experts say that we're well behind the eight ball at this point. In fact, Malts and others have urged Congress to officially recognize the geopolitical threat inherent in the drug trade, and they want to declare Mexican drug cartels as terrorists. Well, that would be a pretty significant move.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Yeah, it would. So if they designate the cartels as terrorist organizations, this would broaden the toolbox, basically, available to the U.S. government in this fight. And the Trump administration actually did consider taking this step in 2019. That was after the brutal murder of nine U.S. citizens in a Mormon community in Mexico. But Trump soon halted the plans at the request of the Mexican president.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Now, I do have to say that there is also some pushback from some border control experts who say that applying the terrorist label on these Mexican cartels would make it easier for illegal immigrants to claim asylum. And that's going to be even more challenging as Title 42 expires.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Right. There are definitely some competing priorities to weigh at the border.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Carrie, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That was Carrie Sheffield, Senior Policy Analyst at Independent Women's Voice. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know. If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. When you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
