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--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, February 8th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Congress held its first hearing on Twitter's alleged censorship of conservative viewpoints on Wednesday. Several former high-level executives testified, including former head of trust and safety at Twitter, Yul Roth, as well as legal counsel Vijay Agade and Jim Baker.
--:-- John Bickley: The hearing centered around Twitter's decision to censor the New York Post's 2020 story about Hunter Biden's laptop from hell. In 2020, Twitter noticed activity related to the laptop that, at first glance, bore a lot of similarities to the 2016 Russian hack and leak operation targeting the DNC. And we had to decide what to do. And in that moment, with limited information, Twitter made a mistake.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Did the U.S. government ever contact you or anyone at Twitter to censor or moderate certain tweets? Yes or no.
--:-- John Bickley: We receive legal demands to remove content from the platform from the U.S. government and governments all around the world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Intelligence has reportedly linked the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down this past weekend to a vast surveillance program being conducted by the Chinese military against numerous foreign nations. According to a Washington Post report, the balloon surveillance program has targeted military assets in several rival countries, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
--:-- John Bickley: The Alex Murdaugh double murder trial of his wife and son was brought to an abrupt halt today due to a reported bomb threat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ladies and gentlemen, we have to evacuate the building at this time, so we'll be in recess until we discover what's going on.
--:-- John Bickley: According to the courthouse, Judge Clifton Newman calmly ordered the evacuation right before lunch and instructed the crowd to stand across the street for the time being. Meanwhile, Murdaugh was transported away in a police car.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rescue teams in Turkey and Syria continued searching through rubble on Wednesday following the world's deadliest earthquake in over a decade. More than 11,000 have been confirmed dead.
--:-- John Bickley: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited the especially hard-hit Hattie province, where more than 3,300 people died and entire neighborhoods were destroyed. Residents there have criticized the government's response, saying rescuers were slow to arrive.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I talked to them and heard their voice. But unfortunately, as you can see here, they're very slow at work and they don't have enough equipment.
--:-- John Bickley: Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported today on Substack that U.S. Navy diving teams bombed the Nord Stream pipelines in coordination with Norway in September.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to Hersh, the plan to attack the Nord Stream was initiated in February 2022 prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
--:-- John Bickley: A White House spokesperson responded within hours calling the report, quote, false and complete fiction. A CIA spokesperson said the claim was, quote, completely and utterly false.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky traveled to London today to meet with the British Prime Minister as well as King Charles III. Zelensky is requesting dozens of fighter jets from the West in order to fight the Russian aggressors.
--:-- John Bickley: Zelensky also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris on Wednesday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Church of England has begun a liturgical commission looking into changing prayers and other parts of the liturgy by referring to God in a gender-neutral way. Currently, the Christian church refers to God in the masculine form, but some leaders told media that might need to be changed to better reflect God's essence.
--:-- John Bickley: A church representative told British media, quote, Christians have recognized since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in Scripture has not always been reflected in our worship.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many critics, including celebrities, are weighing in on the new AMC theater's pricing structure, which would charge more for better seats at the movies. For example, Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood recently commented on the situation, saying he believed charging more for preferable locations was unfair to individuals with less discretionary income.
--:-- John Bickley: The pricing change he said would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward the higher income. A spokesman for AMC responded to the criticism, saying every seat delivers an amazing movie-going experience, but the tiered pricing allows customers to choose a specific seat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The NFL Network announced that broadcaster Michael Irvin has been pulled from the channel's Super Bowl coverage after an unnamed woman complained about his behavior following an incident Sunday at a hotel in Arizona.
--:-- John Bickley: For his part, Irvin said he is, quote, baffled by the decision and claims that he spoke to the accuser for 45 seconds before shaking her hand and departing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Glendale police told media that no reports of sexual harassment have been filed with authorities, and Irvin insists that there was no impropriety during the interaction.
--:-- John Bickley: Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James broke the NBA's all-time scoring record Tuesday night in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the now former record holder, was in attendance for the historic night.
--:-- John Bickley: James now stands alone with 38,390 points in his career.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's a snippet from the radio call of his record-breaking bucket. LeBron, one-on-one against Kenrick Williams, backing him in. Turns, shoots, scores! There he is! And LeBron now stands alone as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
