The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Biden and Orwell’s ‘1984,’ Debt Ceiling Fight Ends, Top Twitter Employee Resigns | June 2

Starting point is 00:00:01 I'm John Pop. And I'm Virginia Allen. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, June 2nd. Here are today's headlines. The Senate voted Thursday evening to pass the debt ceiling legislation, clearing the way for President Joe Biden to sign it into law. The Senate vote to pass the debt ceiling bill was 63 to 36. The Senate also voted on 11 amendments on Thursday night, none of which passed.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, issued a statement after the bill's passage. He said, four months after Speaker McCarthy invited President Biden to begin negotiating a resolution to the looming debt crisis, an important step towards fiscal sanity will finally become law. Thanks to House Republicans' efforts, the Fiscal Responsibility Act avoids the catastrophic consequences of default and begins to curb Washington Democrats' addiction to reckless spending that grows our nation's debt. In the Senate, 31 Republicans, four Democrats and one independent voted against the legislation. Some of the 31 Republicans who voted against the legislation include Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee,

Starting point is 00:01:30 Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Mike Lee of Utah, and Katie Britt of Alley. Alabama. Democrat senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, John Federman of Pennsylvania, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon voted against the legislation as well. Senator Bernie Sanders and independent of Vermont also voted no. The House voted on Wednesday evening to pass the debt ceiling bill in a vote of 314 to 117, a total of 149 Republicans and 16, and 165 Democratic. Democrats voted for the legislation, while 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against it. And another four House members didn't vote at all. Biden is expected to sign the legislation

Starting point is 00:02:21 today. Has the Biden administration been working with social media companies to censor free speech? That question now sits before a judge. The state of Missouri has sued the Biden administration arguing that yes, the current administration has influenced and used social media to suppress free speech. The Biden administration disagrees. But a recent hearing on the case indicates that Judge Terry Dowdy of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana is not convinced of the Biden administration's innocence. The Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neill has been covering this story and he joins us now. Tyler, thanks for being here. Hey, glad to be here. Thanks, Virginia.

Starting point is 00:03:07 So Tyler, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, he shared about this hearing on Twitter today. What kind of questions was the judge asking the Biden administration's lawyers about their relationship with social media platforms? Yeah, so some of the questions he asked were really revealing. He asked the Biden lawyers, like if an American citizen questions the safe. and efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine or masks, you know, if that is protected under the First Amendment.

Starting point is 00:03:41 And apparently the Biden administration had a problem with just saying, yes, they said it could be, but often wouldn't be, which is really shocking. Like, I don't know. And often the history of what we've seen many of the studies showing what masks do and don't do, you know, that there are questions about the vaccine. And I mean, I took the first round of them. I was all for taking the vaccine. And yet, you know, we've learned afterward that there are complications that and I don't

Starting point is 00:04:16 know what the actual truth is, but people should be able to say it. And I thought that would be uncontroversial. But apparently not. The judge also asked something that, you know, we've been reporting on for a while. The judge asked if the First Amendment covered Americans' right to say that Biden is responsible for high gas prices and inflation. And Biden's answer was, it depends. So, you know, and that's a, for, from our reporting, I think it's patently obvious that

Starting point is 00:04:46 he is responsible, at least in part, for both of those things. Yeah. And yet the Biden administration wants to, won't commit to not silencing it as if, you know, they thought the First Amendment didn't protect this free speech. So it sounds like this judge was really trying to get in his questioning to the heart of the matter of where do Biden's attorneys stand on the issue of free speech. And specifically, what do they believe people can talk about on social media and not talk about on social media? And how is that covered by the First Amendment? And it was really fascinating to see that this judge actually brought up George Orwell's book, 1984, at 1,000.

Starting point is 00:05:33 one point. What did the judge say about that? Yeah, that was really shocking to me what made my radar go crazy for this story. The judge asked the feds if they had ever read George Orwell's 1984 pointing out the similarities between the case and the book. And I mean, I really want to see the transcript because I think the specific words the judge used are huge there. But I mean, for those who may not be familiar. And I think most Americans are very familiar with the book. But the dystopian novel presents an alternate reality where a totalitarian government uses constant video surveillance and mind conditioning to constrict the thoughts of its citizens. And so we have terms like big brother, like thought crime, like double think, which we'll use all the time in modern

Starting point is 00:06:18 American English that come directly from this book. And it was kind of looking ahead and seeing almost as a prophecy some of the ways that free speech would be silenced in the way that thought Certain thoughts would be demonized into suppression by our current, even scarily enough, by our current government working hand and glove with big tech companies. And it's not that the Biden administration said, oh, we're going to shut you down Facebook. We're going to shut you down, Twitter. If you do this, we're going to find you or anything. It was more like, hey, we're giving you a heads up that there might be some misinformation, that there might be things. And, you know, these companies were like, oh, yeah, we're going to trust the government when it comes to what is true and what is, you know, when it comes to what is protecting health in the COVID pandemic.

Starting point is 00:07:12 Yeah, I know there's, I know there's grave concerns. And I think what this lawsuit really is Missouri-led lawsuit really gets to the heart of the matter is have social media companies been working hand in hand with the Biden administration? And has the Biden administration actually put pressure on social media's to, label certain things as misinformation, things like that. So it's going to be really fascinating to see how this case continues to roll out. Obviously, what happens here in this district court, and then if it moves even further up the chain into higher courts. But Tyler, we really appreciate your reporting on this story, and we'll be sure to leave

Starting point is 00:07:49 a link in the show notes to your full report on it. Yeah. Thanks so much, Virginia. The debacle between Twitter and the Daily Wire yesterday appears to have resulted in the resignation of a top Twitter employee. Multiple sources have confirmed that Twitter's vice president of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, has resigned from the social media platform. Yesterday, we explained that the Wire had arranged to air its movie,

Starting point is 00:08:13 What Is a Woman, with Matt Walsh on Twitter? The Daily Wire asked Twitter if they could stream the film on Twitter for 24 hours. Twitter said yes and offered the Daily Wire a package to host the movie on an event page on Twitter. Then Twitter reviewed the film, and according to the Daily Wire's Jeremy Boring, the platform then told the Daily Wire they could no longer purchase the package and Twitter would no longer be able to provide any promotion of the film. Twitter labeled it as hateful conduct because of what the social media platform said is misgendering in the film. When people took to Twitter to complain about Twitter limiting the reach of the film, CEO Elon Musk responded. Musk said this was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed referring to the documentary airing on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:09:00 The Wall Street Journal interviewed Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety. After her resignation, Erwin declined to comment on why she left the company, but the resignation on the same day as the conflict with the Daily Wire are not believed to be accidental. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has lost the endorsement of a New Hampshire State Republican representative due to his attack on former White House press secretary, Kaylee McAnney. New Hampshire Representative James Spillane said Thursday, I can no longer continue endorsing former President Donald Trump. I am officially withdrawing my endorsement,

Starting point is 00:09:39 as his most recent attack on Kaylee McAnneigh is beyond comprehension and explanation. Against my deepest hopes that Trump had learned some measure of control, he has attacked those who have been his staunch supporters with no regard for their loyalty. He added, I cannot condone the vitriol and disregard for others that Trump has been exhibiting, and I withdraw my endorsement immediately. I am endorsing Ron DeSantis for president in 2024. I pray for the nation that DeSantis remains true to his positive messaging and continues on to win the Republican primary with his vision of positive American success. The decision comes after the former president posted on true social criticizing McAnney.

Starting point is 00:10:30 Trump said, Kaylee Milktoast McAnney just gave out the wrong poll numbers on Fox News. I am 34 points up on DeSanktonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it's not 34. She knew the number was corrected upward by the group that did the poll. The rhinos and globalists can have her. Fox News should only use real stars. The real clear politics polling average has Trump 30% running ahead of DeSantis.

Starting point is 00:11:05 Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not mince words while discussing Russia's unprovoked invasion into Ukraine. While speaking in Helsinki, Poland on Friday, Blinken said Putin's war, against Ukraine has been a strategic failure. Let's take a listen to Blinken's comments via BBC news. Today, what I want to do is set out this and the many other ways Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine has been a strategic failure, greatly diminishing Russia's power, its interests, and its influence for years to come. And I'll also share our vision of the path to a just and lasting peace. When you look at President Putin's long-term strategic aims and objectives, there is no question. Russia is significantly worse off to date than it was before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine,

Starting point is 00:11:57 militarily, economically, geopolitically. Russia invaded Ukraine back in February of 2022. Now, as you recall from our show earlier this week, NBC News reported that there were more drone attacks against Russia. Some of the attacks have reportedly hit two oil refineries, about 50 miles away from Russia's Black Sea oil export terminals. Now, the second round of strikes comes after previous strikes yesterday that hit residential areas of Moscow. These are the first of their kind since Russia's invasion. And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode of the Daily Signals, Top News.

Starting point is 00:12:32 Now, if you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check out our morning show right here, the same podcast feed we interviewed lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Some great stuff. On Monday morning, we're excited to be. bringing you a conversation between the Daily Signal's Tyler O'Neill and President of the Center for Urban Renewal, Star Parker. Yeah, you don't want to miss that one. It's a great interview. Also, make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by leaving us a five-star rating and a review. We read and appreciate all your feedback. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you right back here on Monday morning.

Starting point is 00:13:10 The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheris. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Biden and Orwell’s ‘1984,’ Debt Ceiling Fight Ends, Top Twitter Employee Resigns | June 2

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