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--:-- John Bickley: Trump issues a rebuke to Putin after Russia strikes Ukraine with missile and drone attacks. It's horrible those missiles landed. What's even worse is there are today people that were alive yesterday that are not alive today because this war continues and the president wants to stop it. How will the attacks affect peace negotiations?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, April 25th, and this is Morning Wire. A group of religious parents sue their school district over their children's forced exposure to LGBT content. A lot of parents are upset by this. Their religious rights are being overstepped. And the White House is warning parents and teens about the rise in child exploitation. And they've enlisted the help of country music star John Rich. It can save your kid's life. It's crucial.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Did you know that Fast Growing Trees is the biggest online nursery in the U.S. with thousands of different plants and over 2 million happy customers? This spring, they have the best deals for your yard, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to our show get 15% off their first purchase when using code WIRE at checkout. That's an additional 15% off at fastgrowingtrees.com using code WIRE at checkout. That's fast-growingtrees.com code WIRE. Now's the perfect time to plant. Use code WIRE to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply.
--:-- John Bickley: Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with a series of missiles and drones on Thursday. The surprise attack derailed U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. Here to talk about the latest in the war between Russia and Ukraine and President Trump's efforts to end it is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pearson.
--:-- Tim Pearson: So we had this barrage of attacks yesterday. Where does that leave peace negotiations? Stalled. Yesterday's attack on Kiev left at least a dozen dead and dozens more wounded and also killed what momentum there was toward a ceasefire. Up until yesterday, the White House had sounded optimistic about a deal. President Trump still believes there will be a deal, but there was an edge to his comments yesterday. We're in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired and I was not happy with it. If the bombs keep falling, will you consider additional sanctions for Russia, or what will you do if President Putin comes down?
--:-- John Bickley: I'd rather answer that question in a week. I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now, but I won't be happy, let me put it that way.
--:-- Tim Pearson: Ukrainian President Zelensky has been willing to work with the U.S. on peace terms, more willing since his disastrous White House meeting in February. Since then, Zelensky has agreed to sign a minerals deal with the U.S., and last month he said Ukraine would agree to a full ceasefire to set up peace negotiations. But Moscow never bought in. All they could agree to was a 30-day pause on attacks against energy infrastructure. Right. Now, over the weekend, the United States rolled out a proposed peace deal. What are the terms of that deal?
--:-- Tim Pearson: Right. The proposal was constructed by the U.S. and Europe, and it recognized Russian control of Crimea and accepted Russia control of land in Ukraine east It would ban Ukraine from NATO membership and start the U and Russia on a path of economic normalization with all sanctions lifted from Russia The proposal didn set limits on Ukraine military something Moscow had wanted, and it included the minerals deal with the U.S. Notably, it did not include any security guarantees from either the U.S. or Europe for Ukraine. Now, this was just the starting point. Obviously, the terms would change with negotiation. Yeah, about that. What do we know about where the two sides are in regard to a potential deal?
--:-- Tim Pearson: Well, we haven't seen much concrete action from Russia. Ukraine has said it wants to talk, but it will have some major problems with the peace proposal as it is currently written. Zelensky has already said that giving any occupied territory over to the Russians would be a red line. Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro traveled to Kiev this week to sit down with Zelensky. The Ukrainian president had this to say about the tone from the White House. We would like really to have this common understanding that Russia is the aggressor, not we. And we really want the United States not to search for the balance in this where it's painful for our people to hear.
--:-- John Bickley: As Trump is fond of saying, we'll just have to see what happens. Tim, thanks so much for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pearson: Good to be on.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Supreme Court looks poised to rule in favor of religious parents who want the right to opt their kids out of LGBT material at school. During heated oral arguments on Tuesday, the conservative justices pushed back on a Maryland school district. Here with more is investigative reporter Mairead Elordi.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Hi, Georgia. Yes, so this case, it's called Mahmood v. Taylor. It involves Montgomery County Public Schools, which is Maryland's largest school district. A group of parents that includes Muslims, Catholics, and a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian brought this case against the school district, which is just outside D.C. Thomas Taylor is the superintendent of the school district. In 2022, the district announced a new gender and sexuality curriculum, and at first they allowed parents to opt their kids out, but then the school district decided it was too difficult to allow opt-outs, so it's mandatory now. One of the books in the new curriculum is called Prince and Knight, about a prince who rejects princesses and falls in love with a knight. Another book is called Born Ready about a boy named Penelope. And another book tells the story of a girl attending her uncle's same-sex wedding. Yet another book is called Pride Puppy about a puppy who gets lost during a pride parade. One mom who protested on the steps of the Supreme Court on Tuesday said she pulled her kids out of Montgomery schools when she couldn't opt them out of the LGBT books.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Here's that mom talking to local news. They can keep the books. They can read it to their children. If there are parents who feel this is appropriate for their three-year-old, four-year-old and elementary kids, they can teach it to them. But we don't think it's right. We don't want it right to our kids. There has to be transparency. So parents in the school are clearly very unhappy. What did the justices say when they heard the oral arguments?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Well, the more conservative justices seemed highly skeptical of the school district's arguments. Justice Samuel Alito quizzed the lawyer for the school superintendent about why it supposedly too hard to let parents opt their kids out from reading LGBT books in class Take a listen What is the big deal about allowing them to opt out of this I think on the facts of this case, we have the natural experiment of the schools permitting these opt-outs and then finding that it was not administrable. It wasn't true in every school. Why is it not administrable? They're able to opt out of the health class, right? The health class is taught discreetly. There's a mandatory meeting for all parents where they are told exactly what's going to be taught in it. And they're given the option of opting out of the unit of instruction, not the particular... Well, that's how you define the unit of instruction. You could define the unit of instruction to include the reading of these storybooks. And that's not compelled as a matter of Maryland state law. It's not compelled as a matter of state law, but why should it not be compelled as a matter of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment? I don't think there's nothing. What is infeasible about doing that?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Amy Coney Barrett also seemed critical of the school district's claims. Here's Barrett. Well, it's not just exposure to the idea, right? If it's exposure, if it's presentation of the idea is fact, that's different, right? I don't. It's not just some people think. It's saying this is the right view of the world. This is how we think about things. This is how you should think about things. This is like two plus two is four.
--:-- John Bickley: The Supreme Court will decide whether parents can opt their kids out of LGBT material in school. We'll likely get a ruling on this case by June or early July. Well, a lot of parents are watching this very closely. Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- John Bickley: Country music star and entrepreneur John Rich has teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security to warn Americans about the danger of child sexual extortion, an online epidemic that has skyrocketed. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Press.
--:-- Amanda Press: So we recently covered the alarming rise in the sexual extortion of minors. The White House is now taking this on directly. Tell us about this new effort. Right. So DHS has a campaign called No to Protect. You can find that on the DHS website. Its goal is to raise national public awareness about a rapidly growing crime called sexual extortion or sextortion. Now, sextortion is when a predator coerces or tricks a minor into sending them sexually explicit images or video footage and then threatens to release that content unless the minor either produces additional content or gives them money. We covered this more in depth earlier this month, but to give the audience an idea on its growing prevalence, there were 36 million reports of suspected online child exploitation in 2023 alone.
--:-- Amanda Press: Now, amplifying DHS's awareness effort is John Rich. This week, Rich, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Agent Fedding hosted a live stream event on this issue. It was reposted online by President Trump, and so far it's racked up millions of views. As a mother and as a grandmother, I know that by having the right conversations, we can make sure that our kids and our teens understand all the risks out there. And we can equip families with resources We can help stop online predators right in their tracks Agent Fedding laid out some really eye information like how there are whole websites dedicated to child abuse content and how predators use those websites to network with one another to target children
--:-- Amanda Press: The event was also very candid. Agent Fedding and Rich, both fathers to teen boys, they discussed sextortion as dads and they offered advice to parents. If you as a parent are paying for that device and you're paying for that cellular plan, there should not be a password that can keep you out of that thing. That's correct. You own it. You've got to keep your kids safe. I made my two sons sign contracts with me. This is an idea for parents out there that I did, and it's worked very well. I go, I'm loaning you the phone. Here's a document, and there are stipulations for you to maintain the loan, or I can repossess the phone at any time if you break any of these stipulations in the loan. And it's about a page and a half long, but it's everything from you cannot download apps without my permission. I will always have the code to your phone. I can check your phone anytime.
--:-- Amanda Press: I was able to catch up with Rich before the event went live on Wednesday, and he told me that this live stream was the most important information he's ever put out on social media. As a dad, I'm fully aware of the dangers that are out there for our kids right now. It's totally different than when I grew up. They are being targeted on apps, video games, social media, places you would never dream of, innocent sounding games like Roblox, Minecraft, things like that, where predators are acting like they're another kid and they're creating a relationship with your kid. And then they lower the boom. Then they start to extort and sextort children. They do everything from force the kids to send nude pictures of themselves, to take pictures of their parents' credit cards front and back so they can extort money. They threaten them with killing their family, burning their house down, posting the pictures all online. It results in kids, some of them becoming suicidal.
--:-- Amanda Press: Rich also encouraged others with big platforms or small platforms to reach out to the Trump administration with their ideas. It's one great thing about the Trump administration, on top of a lot of great things, they are accessible. They want to have positive impact. They want to work with you and they're listening. They're listening to the general public. I'm general public. The entire live stream with Rich and DHS is available on the Daily Wire's website and John Rich's Axe account. It's a great resource for parents as well as teens. Clearly, there's an urgent need for action on this issue. Glad to see big names like John Rich helping move this effort forward.
--:-- Amanda Press: Thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Before we go, we want to share some big news. Starting on Monday, April 28th, we're launching a video version of Morning Wire. You've trusted us for fast, accurate news, and now we're excited to bring you into our studio to see us on video. For audio listeners, don't worry. It won't change your listening experience. It's just another way to enjoy the show. You'll be able to find Morning Wire video on our YouTube channel and, of course, on the Daily Wire app and website. Or you can continue listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
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