--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the hosts introduce themselves]
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, March 5th.
--:-- John Bickley: We've got a lot to cover today, so let's get started.
--:-- John Bickley: Independent Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona says she won't seek a second term. This comes after a bipartisan package of bills aimed at securing the southern border as well as delivering funds to both Israel and Ukraine fell through.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sinema, a former Democrat, had spent months negotiating the legislation. Sinema's decision makes one of the most closely watched Senate contests now a two-way race between Republican Carrie Lake and Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's a bit from Sinema's announcement.
--:-- Kirsten Sinema: Despite modernizing our infrastructure, ensuring clean water, delivering good jobs and safer communities, Americans still choose to retreat farther to their partisan corners. These solutions are considered failures, either because they're too much or not nearly enough. It's all or nothing. The outcome less important than beating the other guy. The only political victories that matter these days are symbolic, attacking your opponents on cable news or social media. Compromise is a dirty word.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meta-owned social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, and Threads were all down for many users around the world this morning.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has more.
--:-- Zach Jewell: According to downdetector.com, Facebook and Threads were impacted harder than Instagram, even though Instagram feeds were reportedly not refreshing for some users, and some couldn't access the app at all. Many Facebook users also reported not being able to log in. A spokesman for Meta stated on X earlier that they were working to restore access to everyone. The outages were originally thought to pose some issues for campaigns this Super Tuesday, as many of them rely heavily on those platforms.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meta also experienced problems in several other areas for the company, including its admin center and two of its business products. The problem seems to have been resolved as of this afternoon, though the cause has not yet been revealed.
--:-- John Bickley: The manslaughter trial for the father of the 15-year-old Oxford High School shooter is set to begin today with jury selection.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the latest.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: James Crumbly faces four charges of involuntary manslaughter, one for each student who was killed by his son. His trial comes just a few weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbly, was found guilty of the same charges. Her sentencing is scheduled for April 9th. James and Jennifer's son was sentenced to life in prison without parole over the shooting. He pleaded guilty to two dozen charges, including first-degree premeditated murder.
--:-- John Bickley: Attorneys representing James filed a motion to reschedule the trial, arguing that media coverage would impact any hope of finding an impartial jury. The judge has allowed for the inclusion of the shooter's journals and texts, both of which largely contributed to Jennifer Crumbly's trial.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden is ramping up political pressure on the Israeli government to allow in more humanitarian aid and rein in its military operation in the Gaza Strip.
--:-- John Bickley: At the same time, Biden is continuing weapons deliveries to Israel. This comes after the administration airdropped humanitarian aid into Gaza and the vice president met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political rival, Benny Gantz.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The administration has also upped public criticism of Israel's operations in Gaza, but as NBC reports, not as much as Vice President Harris would like.
--:-- Kamala Harris: The threat of Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated. And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. This will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in.
--:-- John Bickley: NBC reports some of the vice president's speech was toned down by the national security counsel for being too harsh, though Harris's communications director denies these claims.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The United Nations says it's found reasonable grounds to believe some victims of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7th were indeed raped and sexually assaulted.
--:-- John Bickley: The UN's conclusion comes nearly five months after the attack, despite early testimony from survivors accusing the terrorist group of these horrific acts.
--:-- John Bickley: The third highest U diplomat Victoria Nuland is retiring and will step down this month.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire senior editor Joel Needler has more.
--:-- Joel Needler: Nuland served as a foreign service officer and assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs during the Obama administration. She retired after Donald Trump was elected but returned to government during the Biden administration as undersecretary of state for political affairs. In her 30 years in government, Nuland was extremely hawkish on Russia and a proponent of harsher sanctions on Vladimir Putin. She was a staunch supporter of Ukraine, urging the U.S. to send more weapons. She was considered an ideal candidate to succeed Wendy Sherman as Deputy Secretary of State and even served as acting deputy since Sherman's retirement seven months ago. Ultimately, though, President Biden nominated Kurt Campbell to be Secretary Blinken's number two, bypassing Newland.
--:-- John Bickley: A federal judge in North Dakota has ruled that employees of Christian business groups do not have to offer health insurance coverage to employees seeking transgender medical treatments.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Judge Daniel Traynor ruled that the government cannot force the Christian Employers Alliance to comply with rules requiring that coverage. The decision is considered a big win for religious freedom advocates against the LGBT lobby.
--:-- John Bickley: And former First Lady Michelle Obama is not running for office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In a statement, Obama's office made it clear that her 2024 plans do not include running for the presidency. This news comes amid speculation from both sides of the aisle that the former first lady may replace the politically hobbled Joe Biden on the 2024 ticket sometime this summer.
--:-- John Bickley: That's it for 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.
--:-- [Music starts playing]
--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to visit Shopify.com slash morningwire for a $1 per month trial.
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--:-- [Music continues to play]
--:-- Georgia Howe: And this episode is brought to you by Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash morningwire. That's shopify.com slash morningwire.
