--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, and I'm joined by my co-host Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, we're talking about the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. But first, let's take a look at the news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. Democratic senators are celebrating Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation as the first black female justice on the Supreme Court. But some Republicans have doubts about her record.
--:-- John Bickley: She is a nice person. She is well-educated. But I'm looking for someone who will rule in favor of America's future. And I don't see that in this judge.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Which Republicans voted to support the justice, and how could the midterms affect Biden's next Supreme Court pick?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, April 8th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New York City continues to be a more dangerous place to live. From shootings to shoplifting, we have details on why the violence is escalating.
--:-- John Bickley: And Elon Musk's purchase of nearly 10% of Twitter's stock is just the latest example of shareholder activism. We explore how shareholder meetings are becoming the new frontier for political activism.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Companies themselves are voluntarily saying that we will not accept a board member unless they add to our diversity metrics. That NASDAQ, the stock exchange where most technology companies are listed, are saying that you cannot go public on NASDAQ unless your board is sufficiently diverse.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: Go to TessaMays.com. That's T-E-S-S-E-M-A-E-S.com. And use promo code WIRE to get 20% off your purchase.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Thursday, Ketanji Brown-Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Here to explain how the votes broke down by party, as well as the implications as we approach the midterms, is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, as we expected, the U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday. Here's Vice President Kamala Harris announcing the decision.
--:-- [Audio clip of Vice President Kamala Harris announcing the decision]
--:-- Ian Howarth: Three Republicans joined the 50 Democrats in the Senate to confirm Jackson, who was celebrated by many as the first black woman on the Supreme Court. The Republicans who voted to confirm now Justice Jackson were Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, Romney's vote was the surprising one here, correct?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, his decision was particularly unusual because he previously voted against Jackson when she was nominated to the appeals court for the DC circuit less than a year ago.
--:-- John Bickley: But on Monday, Romney released a statement confirming his intent to vote in favor of Jackson, saying that he believed she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity.
--:-- Ian Howarth: On the other hand, Senator Lindsey Graham voted against Jackson's nomination, having previously voted in favor when she was nominated to the appeals court. He explained why this would be the first time he'd vote against any Supreme Court nominee, noting that he expected a Democrat president to appoint left-leaning judges to the federal courts, but that the Supreme Court is, quote, different from the circuit court.
--:-- John Bickley: Now that you're talking about the Supreme Court, you're making policy, not just bound by it. And it's worth noting that after the announcement, it looked like Romney was the only remaining Republican who stayed to applaud Jackson's nomination as other GOP senators filed out of the room.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So let's talk more about the Republican reaction here. With the midterms coming up, it's possible that control of the Senate will be back in Republican hands. How could things change if President Biden nominates another Supreme Court pick?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, this is really where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell comes in. A few days ago his team circulated a memo titled The Case Against Judge Jackson Elevation to the Supreme Court which criticized her prior judicial experience and her quote inability to answer basic questions.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The memo focused on three points. First, her dodging of questions regarding court packing. Second, her supposed inability to explain her judicial philosophy. And finally, her sentencing record, especially regarding child pornography offenders, which many critics have labeled as being far too soft.
--:-- John Bickley: For example, in one child pornography case, Jackson sentenced someone who pled guilty to possessing videos and images of children engaged in sex acts to just three months in prison when the federal sentencing guidelines recommended eight to ten years.
--:-- Ian Howarth: But now, with Jackson being nominated regardless, the focus has moved on to, as you said, what happens if the GOP takes back the Senate. McConnell has been pretty clear and warned Biden that if Republicans do win back control of the Senate, Any nominations will have to move to the center if he wants to fill another Supreme Court vacancy if one opens up.
--:-- John Bickley: And Lindsey Graham was even more clear on the subject, saying that Jackson would not have been confirmed if Republicans held the Senate.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So with the midterms fast approaching, it's likely that the potential for another Biden Supreme Court pick will be used as a real motivating factor for Republicans come November.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, and as they say, elections have consequences, so we'll see how things shake out. Exactly. Thanks for the update, Ian.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's Ian Howarth. Coming up, New York City's crime wave shows no signs of subsiding.
--:-- John Bickley: You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news. And you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio cut a billion dollars from the city's police department in an effort to bring equity. Two years later, the city's experiencing a massive crime wave.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more on what police say is causing the spike and how New Yorkers are responding is Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, Cabot, just how much of a crime surge are we looking at here?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, according to the NYPD, in the first three months of 2022, there's been a 44 percent increase in crime across the board. Shootings were up 14 percent. Rapes were up 16 percent. And shoplifting is up 81 percent.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, the spike really began in 2020. And at the time, many elected officials in the city said the wave was just a result of economic angst and uncertainty caused by COVID. But now as we're coming out of lockdowns, crime is still trending up noticeably.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the problem has gotten so bad that New York Mayor Eric Adams actually went to Washington, D.C. this week to ask President Biden for federal support.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So what do we know about the cause of this spike? Well, some progressive leaders in the city say there's a nationwide crime surge right now, and that typically when times are hard economically, crime goes up. And to a certain extent, they are right, but the spike in New York goes beyond what we're seeing nationally by a pretty wide margin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Critics say that in large part, it's because of two things. The city's move to cut funding to the police and zero bail policies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: During the height of the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movement in 2020, former mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would be cutting a billion dollars from the NYPD budget as part of an effort, in his words, to, quote, prioritize our communities most in need and create a fairer city for all.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Around that time, the city also passed a series of no-bail laws to combat what they called racism in the criminal justice system.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. We talked about that on the show a good bit. Yeah. And critics, including many NYPD officials, say that that policy and others like it have since allowed thousands of criminals to simply be released back onto the street after they been arrested.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, one anti-crime unit made 135 arrests in a three-month period last month and 90 of those arrested were released back onto the street.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And across the board, almost without fail, every criminal we see in the stabbings and shootings that are taking place is someone who's been arrested in the previous months, but released in large part because of these zero-bail policies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week, NYPD Commissioner Keyshawn Sewell addressed that point. It's clear what we are confronting. A perception among criminals that there are no consequences even for serious crime. We need tangible changes with a balanced system that puts victims first.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's also worth pointing out where the crime is happening specifically. This surge is impacting tourist and business areas that have typically been immune to more serious violent crime in the past.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in the last few months alone, we've seen multiple people killed or injured in stabbings in and near Times Square and multiple violent attacks at subway stations right in the heart of Midtown where typically tourists are staying.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that might not be slowing the number of tourists going to the city, at least yet, but it is having an impact on the number of New Yorkers who say they're preparing to leave the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. There was a poll that came out that showed just how deeply this issue was affecting New Yorkers. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we've talked on the show about the mass exodus of people leaving New York for places with less crime and lower tax rates, specifically Texas and Florida. But the issue has become even more pronounced in recent months.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One recent poll found that 59% of New Yorkers agreed with the statement, quote, my family would have a better future if we left New York City permanently. That's a 12% jump compared to the same time last year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the number one reason people listed for potentially wanting to leave was crime. 41% said poor public safety is the main reason they would want to leave. And inflation and the rising cost of living came in second at just 19%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So clearly crime is playing a major role in potentially driving New Yorkers out of the city.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. New York's not the only state with this problem.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips. Billionaire Elon Musk's purchase of nearly 10% of Twitter's stock and his new membership on the platform's board of directors has stirred up more debate about free speech online and the rise of shareholder activism.
--:-- John Bickley: We spoke with best-selling author and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy about the broader implications of all this.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: I think this is pretty interesting because he's paving a path that I think might be the most promising path for driving cultural change in corporate America and in the market more generally.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It is not through divestments or through boycotts. It is actually through representing the voice of everyday citizens and everyday shareholders as a shareholder, including in the boardroom.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: And so that's what I think is so interesting about the move. I don't know whether Elon Musk is actually going to be able to, with a 9.2% stake and one board seat, tilt the scales at Twitter by very much.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But I think that he has paved the path for a really interesting mechanism that I predict we're going to see a lot more of is shareholder activism address the problem of the marriage of progressive orthodoxy and big business.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: Exactly. And this is a big part of what the ESG movement has done. A lot of people focus on the so ESG environmental social governance factors movement in capital markets as being focused on not investing in gun manufacturers or whatever.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a small part of it. The real issue is that firms like BlackRock that the world's largest asset manager who manages over a trillion of American citizens' money.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: The real problem is not that BlackRock is divesting from companies like Exxon. The real problem is that they're invested in companies like Exxon and they vote for actually new boards of directors, as they did last year voting for three new board members, that change the purpose of that company from being about drilling oil to being about doing something else.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They say, drill less oil, do something else. Well, guess what? I think that that is distorting the behavior of companies across corporate America, in part because BlackRock and State Street and Vanguard, those are the three largest asset managers, they don't actually represent the shareholders.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: They're not the shareholder. They're the stewards of other people's money, everyday citizens' money. What makes the Elon Musk move really interesting is he's showing up as an actual shareholder with his money.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now the top shareholder of Twitter who's going to say that I actually, as the shareholder and owner of the company, want to see that company heading in a different direction.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: And Musk here is really countering the ESG movement. For those not familiar with that term, ESG, can you define it for us?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, so it is basically a three-letter acronym that is designed to bore you into submission, to lull you into submission, and it is successful in doing that for most Americans.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: But what it basically means is it is a political ideology that says that companies are supposed to take action to advance particular agendas. Environmental factors like fighting climate change, that regardless of what governments say, companies need to behave in a certain way to fight climate change voluntarily.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we could talk about how voluntary this really is, but that's the theory. An advocate of the ESG movement will tell you that it is through the market itself that we need to solve that problem or solve historical systemic racism through the so-called S, social factors, the quota systems that you see on boards for racial and gender and sexual orientation-based quotas.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: What ESG does is said, forget the political process. Let's just do this, get this done through the market, where people work, where they bank, where they invest, where they work, and we can achieve that worldview without the pesky constraints of the Constitution or the lawmaking process that stop us from achieving a more just world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If politics is going to stop us and the Constitution is going to stop us and the checks and balances are going to stop us. Let's just do it through the market instead. That's really what this is all about.
--:-- Vivek Ramaswamy: Well, Vivek, thank you so much for talking with us today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, glad to be honest, as always.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was entrepreneur and bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy. And to hear more about ESG, tune in Sunday for a deep dive on the movement.
--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that his state will be providing charter buses to send illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to Washington, D.C.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the first entirely private astronaut team going to the International Space Station is set to launch today from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
