The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Sen. Tim Scott Hits Back at Obama on Race, Sen. Mike Lee Rips Fox News, University to Shut Down Confucius Institute | June 16

Starting point is 00:00:02 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, June 16th. Here are today's headlines. South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott is pushing back against former president Barack Obama on the issue of race. The Hill reports that Obama criticized Scott's prior remarks that he made on race and racial progress in the U.S. during a podcast interview with David Axelrod, who was Obama's White House senior advisor. Here's what Obama had to say. And so if a Republican who may even be sincere in saying, I want us all to live together, doesn't have a plan for how do we address crippling generational poverty that is a consequence of hundreds of years of racism in the society. And we need to do something about that.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Scott responded to those comments from Obama on Thursday. Scott said, let us not forget, we are a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression. Democrats deny our progress to protect their power. The left wants you to believe faith in America is a fraud and progress in our nation is a myth. Scott added that the truth of my life disproves the lies of the radical left. We live in a country where little black and brown boys and girls can be president of the United States. The truth is we've had one, and the good news is we will have another. And in other related news, Senator Scott defended the Parents' Rights Group,

Starting point is 00:01:50 Moms for Liberty, and condemned the Southern Poverty Law Center for using race as a weapon. The Southern Poverty Law Center has put the parental rights group on a map with hate groups like the Klu Klux Klan. During a recent interview with The Daily Signal, Scott said that the provocative hit. history of race in his country should not be weaponized against moms who simply want their kids to be educated and not indoctrinated. Scott defended Moms for Liberty as moms who want the focus of education to be ABCs and not CRT, standing for critical race theory. He also noted that there are African-American moms, Hispanic mothers, white mothers, and Asian mothers that are all a part of moms for liberty. We will leave a link to Tyler O'Neill's full report in today's show notes.

Starting point is 00:02:44 Fox News is reportedly celebrating Pride Month. The Daily Wires Matt Wall shared on Twitter that Fox is promoting far-left organizations pushing gender transition on children. Fox is also reportedly encouraging employees to expand their perspective by reading sexually explicit books written by trans-activists about sexuality. The Daily Signal's Mary Margaret Ollahan has been reporting on this. Mary Margaret, thanks for being with us. If you would, share with us what is going on here. How is Fox inviting its employees to celebrate Pride Month? Yeah, so it's good to be here, Virginia. Fox Corporation has been pushing a ton of different pride materials on its employees, and that includes the employees of Fox News, many of whom we know are conservative, but apparently some of them are not.

Starting point is 00:03:35 and Matt Walsh's expose last night highlighted that there are some employees at Fox who are actually very anti-conservative. One of them whose profiles I was looking at earlier today makes a number of very anti-conservative statements while he's working for this company. We've already had former Fox News employees tell the Daily Signal that there are a lot of people behind the scenes who are not conservative and don't align with the conservative values that Fox presents as, and this is very concerning for a lot of people. You reached out to Senator Mike Lee to get his thoughts on this situation. What did he have to say about what we're learning about what's going on behind the scenes at Fox? Yeah, Senator Mike Lee had a very interesting response. It was both deliberate and compassionate to all the good people he knows working at Fox News. He said, Fox News has a lot of good talent and produces much-needed conservative content.

Starting point is 00:04:28 But if that network turns on its currently loyal fan base and becomes like literally every other broadcast and cable news outlet, its most avid viewers will go somewhere else, and they will do so quickly never to return. Wow. Well, we're going to continue following what's going on at Fox, and Mary Margaret, thank you so much for your reporting on this. Thanks for having me. A New York University will shut down its Confucius Institute by the end of June after facing intense scrutiny from Wisconsin Republican Representative Mike Gallagher. Gallagher serves as chairman of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition. between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

Starting point is 00:05:09 China funds Confucius Institutes, which were founded in 2004 as cultural centers operating on college campuses. In the past few years, these centers have come under some pretty intense scrutiny as operations of Chinese state influence. Gallagher said on Thursday, I'm going to see Alfred University finally doing the right thing and shutting down its Confucius Institute. But the Confucius Institute is only one tool in the CCP's toolbox. It will use research partnerships, talent programs, and other initiatives

Starting point is 00:05:44 to gain access to sensitive research and technologies that fuel the People's Liberation Army's Advancement. Gallagher sent a letter to Alfred University President Mark Zupin on May 31st and launched an investigation into the university. A lawyer representing Alfred University responded to Gavre University, responded to Gallagher in a letter Tuesday, writing, even though Alfred University does not engage in classified research, it has for multiple years engaged with the Department of Commerce and the FBI to strengthen its expert control policies and processes.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Vice President for Marketing and Communications at Alfred University, Mark Daines, told the Daily Signal in an email, While our community has benefited from the cultural programming provided by the Confucius Institute that we have operated since 2008, current geopolitical concerns regarding China make it difficult to continue to run it. With respect to those concerns, we have decided to close our Institute effective June 30, 2023. The Iowa Supreme Court has blocked a six-week abortion ban. Iowa currently allows abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Washington Examiner. Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds is behind this push for a six-week abortion ban. Back in 2019, a district-level court blocked Reynolds' six-week abortion ban.

Starting point is 00:07:17 That was, of course, before Roeby Wade was struck down. Then in 2022, Iowa took a significant step toward protecting life when the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the Iowa Constitution does not include a right to abortion. With Roe v. Wade no more and the ruling on the Iowa Constitution, Reynolds sent the six-week abortion ban back to the court for reconsideration. But the Iowa Supreme Court ruled three to three. The Tide ruling sends the ruling back down to the lower court, meaning that the lower court's ruling stance. And that six-week abortion ban has again been blocked. Planned Parenthood celebrated the ruling calling it a resounding victory for Iowans and reproductive freedom.

Starting point is 00:08:05 Finally, today the man who shot and killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been found guilty of federal hate crime charges. The shooter carried out the mass shooting back in October of 2018. Now he could face the death penalty. The Hill reports that the shooter's defense didn't claim his innocence, and since, Instead, they sought to convince the jury to spare his life. His attorneys also repeatedly offered a guilty plea on all charges in exchange for life in prison, but federal prosecutors chose to go forward with the trial. The Hill also reported that the shooter was found guilty on all 63 felony charges.

Starting point is 00:08:50 The jury will meet once again at the end of this month on June 26th to decide the shooter's penalty. And just a quick announcement before we go today, we will not have a top news show on Monday. We will have an interview edition on Monday morning in honor and celebration of June 10th, but we'll be back with you for Top News on Tuesday afternoon. We are going to leave it there today. Thank you so much for joining us for the Daily Signal, Top News. And of course, if you haven't had a chance, be sure to check out our morning show, where we bring you interviews with lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices.

Starting point is 00:09:25 On Monday morning, I'm going to be sitting down with Ari and Craig Jolla to discuss Juneteenth and talk about a really unique education initiative that she's starting to train young people on the power of finances and using money well. Also make sure to subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you get your podcast and help us reach more listeners by taking just a moment to leave a five-star rating and review. Thanks again for joining us today and we'll see you right back here on Monday morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Kate Trinko.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Sen. Tim Scott Hits Back at Obama on Race, Sen. Mike Lee Rips Fox News, University to Shut Down Confucius Institute | June 16

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