--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the hosts introduce themselves]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's July 15th, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Today, we're talking about the disconnect between what some of our leaders are saying and what they're doing. Specifically, Mark Zuckerberg's spending on personal security while donating to Defund the Police groups.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And we're joined by Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presa Giacomo to discuss this connection between the anti-police movement and private security.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, what do we know about Zuckerberg's donations in light of this report on his own private security?
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Investigative reporter Li Feng uncovered this week that Zuckerberg's foundation, CZI, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, has given $3 million to a company called PolicyLink since 2020. That company bills itself as working toward advancing economic and social equity.
--:-- John Bickley: PolicyLink is one of the organizations behind defundpolice.org. That project is even more explicitly anti-police, describing itself as a one-stop shop for organizers and advocates looking for tools, resources, and trainings to divest from policing and build safer communities.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Zuckerberg's CZI has also given $2.5 million to Solidaire. That group promises to help donor organizers mobilize and advance the front lines of social justice movements.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In one example, the group has boasted about helping strip Oakland of $18 million from its police budget.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: And meanwhile, reports show Zuckerberg has spent tens of millions of dollars on his own private security, correct?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, he sure did. Meta company filings reveal that some $43 million were spent for security measures on Zuckerberg and his family over the past three years.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: And the criticism is Zuckerberg and other elites, for that matter, are spending big money to effectively undermine police in American neighborhoods, which has been associated with causing spikes in crime, while being able to fund their own private protection.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. And Zuckerberg isn't the only elite to support the defund movement while having ties to private security. We've actually seen that for years.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Yeah, we've seen this since 2020, and that's when those Black Lives Matter protests and riots really took off about defunding the police. But one of the most eye examples comes from another billionaire eBay founder Pierre Amityar.
--:-- John Bickley: He invested in a private security startup after spending millions of dollars to support the defund movement.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: This is pretty interesting because this seems to be one step above quietly protecting yourself while advocating to defund the police for others.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Critics say Amityar can financially gain from this boom in the private security industry, which has reportedly grown by $2 billion since 2020.
--:-- John Bickley: Wow. This apparent hypocrisy extends to politicians too. One of the most vocal supporters of the defund the police movement is New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: From 2021 to October of last year, AOC reportedly spent $120,000 on security protection. That's according to the New York Times.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A report in April from the Washington Free Beacon found that AOC and her fellow so-called squad congressional representatives spent over a combined $1 million on security measures since May of 2020.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: And again, that's around the time the defund movement really took off.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Missouri Democratic Representative Cori Bush is certainly another standout here. She's one of those members of the squad. She directed $490,000 to private security for the 2022 election cycle, while simultaneously heavily promoting the defund movement.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Not only is that a pretty penny, but Bush notably hired her then-boyfriend and now-husband, Courtney Merritt, for his security services for her campaign.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She reportedly paid Merritt more than $62,000. So even a potential conflict of interest there.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: What is the rationale from those who promote and even invest in the defund movement while building up their own private security?
--:-- John Bickley: The main reasoning seems to be that they're public figures and therefore they need more protection than the average person.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: The New York Times, for example, noted that AOC has received an increase in threats since 2021.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cori Bush was actually pressed about the seeming disconnect, though, last year, and she gave a really fiery and memorable reaction on CBS Airwaves.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So either I spent $70,000 on private security over the last few months, or I could possibly have a death attempt on my life.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: I have private security because my body is worth being on this planet right now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I have private security because they, the white supremacist, racist narrative that they drive into this country.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Well, the point here is that we don't want to see anyone die, whether they're a public figure or just the average citizen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New data from Gallup shows Americans' confidence in higher education plummeted this year to an all-time low.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with more on what's behind the lagging confidence and other polls on how Americans feel about affirmative action in higher education is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Cabot, what are we seeing here with these polls?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, fascinating trend here. So according to a new Gallup poll, Americans have less faith in higher education than at any point on record, with just 36% expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence.
--:-- John Bickley: Those numbers are markedly different from what we saw just eight years ago. The same poll in 2015 found 57% of Americans with a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in the institution.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So we're talking about a 21-point drop in less than a decade. And during that same time period, the number of Americans expressing very little confidence more than doubled from 9 to 22.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A seemingly rapid sea change in how Americans view higher ed.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Where was that drop most noticeable? Well, the drop in confidence was seen everywhere. Literally every category and demographic included in this survey saw a decline.
--:-- John Bickley: The biggest drop, though, came among Republicans. Back in 2015, 56% of GOP voters expressed confidence in higher ed. Today, that number is 19%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We saw a similar 16-point drop among independents from 48 to 32, while the smallest drop came from Democrats. It fell from 68 in 2015 to 59% today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, it's worth noting, when you break down the numbers based on age, gender, education level, and party ID, the only demographic in the entire survey where the majority of Americans still have confidence in higher ed is the group comprised of Democrat voters, where 59% still express confidence.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there is a noticeable disparity between Republicans and independents and then those on the left.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What's behind the lack of confidence? So the reasons do vary largely based on age and party affiliation.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This specific poll didn't get into the reasons, but in past polling, we've seen that younger Americans and those in the Democratic Party tend to lack confidence because of the ballooning cost of higher education.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They often argue that the system is rigged to benefit the elite and trap lower and middle-class Americans in a state of perpetual debt after graduating.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So that's why they're not trusting. But for older Americans and GOP voters, the lack of confidence overwhelmingly stems from ideological concerns.
--:-- John Bickley: They argue that colleges are dominated by the left and essentially indoctrinate students with liberal ideologies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Critics on that front have touted studies showing that liberal professors outnumber conservative professors by 10 to 1 in most studies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it's not hard to understand why there's waning trust among GOP voters.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We also received some new polling on another key issue impacting higher ed, and that's affirmative action.
--:-- John Bickley: Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So most will remember last month's monumental Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action. And again, it barred colleges and universities from admitting students based on race.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, according to a number of recent polls, that practice has become deeply unpopular with the majority of Americans.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, a Pew survey out last month found that just one in three Americans approve of colleges using race as a factor in admissions, while only one in five said it made the college admissions process more fair.
--:-- John Bickley: But again, on this front, there is a clear split along party lines.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Democrats support the practice by a margin of 54 to 29, while Republicans oppose it 74 to 14%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And there's also a clear breakdown among racial groups, where Black Americans support the practice 47 to 29.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hispanics are split evenly at 39 to 39, while whites and Asians overwhelmingly oppose the practice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So now the question becomes if those numbers begin to shift once the SCOTUS ruling takes effect in the coming months and years.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It will start to see how that ruling plays out in public perception.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New research is raising the alarm about the safety of America's beaches.
--:-- John Bickley: A recent study suggests that potentially dangerous levels of bacteria are contaminating the waters where Americans are swimming.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Charlotte, tell us about this study.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So according to a new study by Environment America, over half of beaches around the country tested positive for potentially unsafe levels of fecal contamination on at least one day last year.
--:-- John Bickley: That means that the levels were over the EPA's highest protection level beach action value, which is a method states can use when deciding whether they should alert people about beach safety.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Getting down to the numbers, for most cases, this meant that a beach was deemed potentially unsafe if 32 out of 1 swimmers got sick.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So over half of beaches were unsafe on at least one day, and that defined as about 3 of swimmers getting sick.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: What the likelihood that our listeners have visited one of these potentially unsafe beaches?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Unfortunately, it is fairly likely, especially because beaches could have had dangerous bacteria when they weren't tested in the study.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: 363 beaches around the country, which is around 11% of those measured, had this potentially dangerous contamination on at least 25% of the days they were tested.
--:-- John Bickley: And swimmers can experience health effects from taking a dip in contaminated water.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: These can take the form of stomach illnesses, respiratory disease, as well as rashes and eye and ear infections.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The report pointed out that 57 million illnesses are estimated to occur in the U.S. every year from swimming in popular water sources, and most of them are not reported.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: A study released earlier this year found that the bacteria in contaminated seawater can actually enter the air too.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So even if people weren't swimming there, they could have been breathing in bacteria.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But scientists have said more research needs to be done on the health effects of that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, are certain regions of the U.S. more affected?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: It does vary by region, but the numbers were pretty bleak across the board.
--:-- John Bickley: The Gulf Coast had the worst levels. On at least one day last year, 84% of beaches on the Gulf Coast were potentially unsafe for beachgoers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: At the Great Lakes, that number was 63%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hawaii and Alaska had the best numbers there at 24%, but still almost a quarter.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The East Coast had 48% of its beaches at these levels, and the West Coast was 70%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Communities near San Diego have been experiencing this firsthand for years as sewage has spilled from Tijuana.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: More recently, it's led to the shutdown of almost 30% of the San Diego coast.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Philip Musigas, San Diego Coast Keepers.
--:-- [Audio clip of Philip Musigas]
--:-- Georgia Howe: They have a joint agreement with Mexico to kind of work on the problem. But there doesn't seem to be a sense of real urgency.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And oftentimes, the actual levels in the water are much higher than the limit, right? They are way over the limit.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Do we know what's causing the contamination?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: It could be a little bit of both. A big issue is infrastructure.
--:-- John Bickley: First of all, the expanded construction of waterproof areas like roads and parking lots allows more polluted rainwater to get into the ocean and rivers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: There's also the issue of sewage systems that haven't been updated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Big factory farms are also a contributor because lots of manure comes from them and the local farmland can't keep up with it.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: That manure can get into our waterways when it rains if the agricultural land can't soak it up first.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So small farms would potentially create less of a risk.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But remember, places like California are making it harder for small farms to exist.
--:-- Georgia Howe: New regulations are threatening to restrict how farmers can operate their farms, which could result in fewer small farms existing at all.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: On a positive note, the other major beach disaster this year was the massive blob of sargassum seaweed drifting toward Florida.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was threatening to ruin many beaches for the whole season.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, that blob has shrunk by 75%, which is a huge relief for beach lovers in Florida.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, if anyone wonders, this will not stop me from swimming this year.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But Charlotte, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks so much, Charlotte.
--:-- John Bickley: Thank you 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 stand with our mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- John Bickley: You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back later this afternoon with an extra edition of Morning Wire.
