This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.
Extreme Weather Hits California
Extreme weather continues to hit California. Forecasters predict the Golden State will be pummeled yet again by heavy rains, thunderstorms, and up to eight feet of snow – in higher elevations such as the Sierra Nevada.
The ominous weather also threatens to flood as the mountain’s snowpack begins to melt. The state has been hit by numerous storms in the past few months, which have killed at least 30 people.
In related weather news, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that the weather phenomenon known as “La Nina” has ended after three years. La Nina is known for increasing hurricane activity on the Atlantic and worsening drought conditions in the west.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Hospitalized
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday evening after falling during a dinner. Daily Wire researcher Michael Whittaker joined Morning Wire’s “Afternoon Update” for more:
“A spokesperson said Senator McConnell suffered a concussion during the fall and will remain hospitalized ‘for a few days of observation and treatment.’
McConnell was attending a private dinner for the Senate Leadership Fund when he tripped and fell. The 81-year-old senator is a polio survivor, and he suffered another fall in 2019 during which he fractured his shoulder.”
Twitter Files Hearing
On Thursday, Congress held its first Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on the “Twitter Files.” In the hearing, independent journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger testified on their release of emails allegedly showing collusion between the social media platform and the government to censor or silence some viewpoints.
Multiple Democratic representatives pressed the two journalists to reveal their sources behind the Twitter leaks, among other questions. Here’s one exchange involving Taibbi, Texas Democratic congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and Republican Committee Chair Jim Jordan:
Rep. Garcia: "So you're not gonna tell us Musk first approached you?"
Matt Taibbi: "You're asking a journalist to reveal his sources."
Garcia: "So you consider Musk to be the direct source of all this?"
Matt Taibbi: "Now you're trying to get me to say he's the source."… https://t.co/JmY0IUClz4 pic.twitter.com/JLjm6MIQ4F
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) March 9, 2023
Taibbi also explained what he thinks The Twitter files helped reveal:
Matt Taibbi discusses how our own federal government is being turned into an instrument of censorship and social control: "Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation requests from every corner of government, from the FBI,… https://t.co/i1Xr2MEspf pic.twitter.com/Y0pv3SIQBs
— Becker News (@NewsBecker) March 9, 2023
FBI Christopher Wray’s Stunning Claim About TikTok
FBI Director Chris Wray stunned U.S. senators during a Wednesday hearing when he revealed that the Chinese Communist Party has the ability to take control of “millions” of Americans’ phones through the wildly popular TikTok app.
“If you look at the Chinese government’s gobbling up of information and data, and then the use of AI and other tools, ultimately supercomputing, things like that, to marshal all that data to conduct targeting for espionage, targeting for IP theft, targeting for the all the things that I and others on this panel have been calling out about the Chinese government,” Wray said. “Data is the coin of the realm, those who have the best information have the power and that’s what that enables them to do.”
Wray’s comments come as Congress could authorize President Biden to outright ban the app in the United States.
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Russia’s Unprecedented Blitz On Ukraine
And, this morning, Russia launched an aerial assault on Ukraine. The Daily Wire managing editor Greg Wilson told Afternoon Update:
“The wee-hour skies of Ukraine were lit up Thursday by what is being described as an unprecedented blitz on major cities including Kyiv and Lviv. The barrage of 81 missiles included six hypersonic weapons capable of penetrating the capital’s air defenses. Critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions across the country were bombarded, according to Ukrainian officials. At least six deaths and numerous casualties have been reported so far. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called it a ‘difficult night’ in a Facebook post, but vowed to make the Russians pay for their quote ‘miserable tactics.'”
Update On Kidnapped Americans In Mexico
And, the drug cartel behind the kidnapping of four Americans in Matamoros, Mexico has turned over the men they say were behind the deadly kidnapping. The five men were tied and dumped on the street along with a letter from the Scorpion faction of the Gulf cartel apologizing to the families of those killed and the citizens of Tamaulipas.
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