Sanctuary City Scrutiny & 2024 Hollywood Hits | 12.24.24

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary
Episode: Sanctuary City Scrutiny & 2024 Hollywood Hits | 12.24.24
Release Date: December 24, 2024
Host: John Bickley
Co-Host: Georgia Howe
Reporter Guests: Tim Pierce, Christian Toto
Producer: Brandon

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1. Shocking Crime and Sanctuary City Debate

Incident Overview
At the very start of the episode, Georgia Howe (00:03) highlights a disturbing incident: "A woman is set on fire in a New York subway in a shocking crime by a Guatemalan migrant." This crime becomes the focal point for a broader discussion on sanctuary city policies.

Host Commentary
John Bickley (00:08) ties the incident to immigration enforcement, stating, "It was allowed to happen because our city refuses to cooperate with ICE. And so we need President Trump and Tom Homan desperately to come in and clean up our city and secure our border."

Detailed Breakdown
Tim Pierce (02:13) provides an in-depth analysis of the crime, revealing that the suspect is a Guatemalan national who was previously deported but re-entered the U.S. illegally. Pierce explains, "The suspect first entered the US in 2018, was removed after a few days, then returned and lived in NYC shelters from 2023 until his arrest this past weekend."

Political Perspectives
Tom Homan (02:39) criticizes Democratic immigration policies, asserting, "This is another example of illegal aliens killing American citizens almost a daily occurrence... This is on this administration. As far as Governor Hoch is concerned, shame on her. She supports sanctuary status in that state."

Census Data and Migration Trends
Georgia Howe (03:22) introduces new census data indicating a significant influx of foreign-born migrants to blue states like New York, juxtaposed with domestic outmigration. Tim Pierce (03:32) elaborates, noting that from 2023 to 2024, the U.S. experienced its highest annual population growth in over two decades, "driven mainly by international migration," with 2.8 million immigrants arriving in the past year alone.

Impact on Blue States
Pierce (05:02) discusses the implications of this migration trend, highlighting that sanctuary policies and expansive entitlement programs in blue states attract immigrants. He notes, "Immigrants are attracted to blue areas... because these areas have higher taxes, higher unemployment rates, and more expensive standards of living, along with sanctuary policies and entitlement programs."

Criminal Activity Debate
The conversation shifts to the debate on immigrant-related crime. Pierce (05:48) acknowledges the ongoing discourse: "Crime committed by aliens is preventable with tough border enforcement," aligning with Homan's stance that lax immigration leads to increased violent crime.

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2. Presidential Pardons and Death Row Commutations

Biden’s Pardon Move
Georgia Howe (06:33) reports that President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates, shielding them from the death penalty. She introduces Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice (06:42) to delve deeper into the specifics.

Details of the Pardons
Christian Toto (06:53) describes the profiles of some of the pardoned individuals, emphasizing the severity of their crimes. For instance, Thomas Sanders (06:53) was "convicted in 2014 of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Lexis Roberts after shooting her mother in the head."

Political Implications
Toto (07:42) suggests that Biden’s actions may be politically motivated: "It's more a political calculation than some kind of grand moral statement." He references Biden's statement about not wanting a new administration to resume executions, hinting at strategic positioning before leaving office.

Controversies and Criticisms
Toto (08:24) points out that Biden's pardon spree, including high-profile cases like his son Hunter, has sparked backlash. He also mentions a recent Wall Street Journal expose alleging Biden's declining mental faculties, leading to calls for investigations into the legitimacy of these pardons. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton (08:24) has called for such an investigation, questioning who authorized the pardons if Biden is indeed impaired.

Future Developments
Tim Rice (09:45) anticipates further developments, especially with potential investigations led by Trump’s Justice Department, which could result in some pardons being overturned. He concludes, "We certainly will. And we'll also be sure to follow up if Biden pardons anyone else before leaving office."

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3. 2024 Hollywood Box Office Performance

Year-End Review
Georgia Howe (09:55) introduces the segment on Hollywood's performance in 2024, with Christian Toto joining the discussion. They reflect on the successes and failures of the year's film releases.

Box Office Hits
John Bickley (10:16) highlights Disney's strong comeback in 2024, contrary to their disappointing performance in 2023. Key successes include "Inside Out 2," "Deadpool," "Wolverine," and "Moana." He attributes Disney’s turnaround to a focus on rebooting old properties and leveraging existing intellectual properties (IPs).

Box Office Misses
Conversely, Bickley (10:55) discusses several underperforming films such as "Joker Fallih Doe," "Horizon An American Saga Ends" featuring Kevin Costner, "Madame Web," "Kraven the Hunter," "The Crow," and "Borderlands." These failures are attributed to weak storytelling and an inability to connect with audiences.

Woke Politics in Films
Georgia Howe (11:32) raises the issue of "woke" politics in movies, probing whether 2024 saw a peak or decline in such themes. Bickley (11:45) responds affirmatively, indicating a reversal in progressive messaging with mainstream films avoiding heavy-handed political narratives. He cites examples like "Inside Out 2," "Twister," and "Bad Boys," emphasizing their focus on "straightforward storytelling, escapism, humor, relatable situations."

Anticipated Holiday Releases
As the episode approaches its end, Bickley (12:39) shares recommendations for upcoming holiday films. Highlights include "The Complete Unknown," a biographical film about Bob Dylan featuring Timothee Chalamet, and "The Brutalist," a historical drama starring Adrien Brody. These films are expected to resonate with audiences seeking quality storytelling without overt political agendas.

Host Endorsements
Georgia Howe (13:31) expresses personal enthusiasm for "The Complete Unknown," stating, "I know I'm gonna go see the Bob Dylan film," encouraging listeners to explore these upcoming releases.

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4. Closing Remarks and Schedule Update

Schedule Announcement
Georgia Howe (13:39) informs listeners about the upcoming schedule changes during the Christmas and New Year period. Producer Brandon (13:44) adds that while regular programming may be briefly paused, the team will continue to provide new content through interviews and special episodes, ensuring listeners stay informed.

Final Sign-Off
Georgia Howe (14:01) concludes the episode by reassuring listeners, "Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with a special Christmas edition of Morning Wire."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• John Bickley (00:08): "It was allowed to happen because our city refuses to cooperate with ICE. And so we need President Trump and Tom Homan desperately to come in and clean up our city and secure our border."
• Tim Pierce (02:13): "The suspect first entered the US in 2018, was removed after a few days, then returned and lived in NYC shelters from 2023 until his arrest this past weekend."
• Tom Homan (02:39): "This is on this administration. As far as Governor Hoch is concerned, shame on her. She supports sanctuary status in that state."
• John Bickley (11:45): "We've seen a real reversal [on woke politics]. Mainstream... there's been a real backpedal in this arena."
• Georgia Howe (13:31): "I know I'm gonna go see the Bob Dylan film."

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Conclusion

In this episode of Morning Wire, Hosts John Bickley and Georgia Howe tackle pressing issues surrounding immigration and sanctuary city policies, critically examine President Biden's controversial commutations of death row inmates, and provide a comprehensive review of Hollywood's 2024 box office landscape. Through insightful discussions and expert guest contributions, the episode offers listeners a nuanced perspective on the intersection of politics, crime, and culture.

Transcript

[Georgia Howe]

A woman is set on fire in a New York subway in a shocking crime by a Guatemalan migrant.

[John Bickley]

It was allowed to happen because our city refuses to cooperate with ice. And so we need President Trump and Tom Homan desperately to come in and clean up our city and secure our border.

[Tim Rice]

We break down the latest on the horrifying incident and the debate around sanctuary laws.

[Georgia Howe]

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor in Chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, December 24th, and this is a Christmas Eve edition of Morning Wire. President Biden commutes the sentences of 37 death row inmates, shielding various murderers from receiving the death penalty.

[Tim Rice]

And Hollywood pumps the brakes on Woke messaging in 2024, but continues to lean on old IP.

[John Bickley]

Everything that seems like a surefire hit, maybe not so much. And things that you think, well, I don't know if they'll connect with audiences. Boy, they do in a major way.

[Tim Rice]

We break down the year's top films, including what you should see this week.

[Georgia Howe]

Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

[Brandon]

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[Tim Rice]

A previously deported Guatemalan migrant has been charged with murder after allegedly lighting a woman on fire in a New York subway. The incident comes as sanctuary laws come under even more scrutiny.

[Georgia Howe]

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the horrifying incident in New York and the migration Trends across the U.S. so, Tim, first off, tell us about the incident in the subway.

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah. The suspect is a Guatemalan national in the US Illegally. From what we know so far, this suspect first entered the US in 2018, but he was only in the country for a few days before border enforcement removed him. Sometime later, he made it back into the country and he began living in New York city shelters in 2023. He apparently bounced around to a few different shelters before he was arrested over the weekend. Incoming border czar Tom Homan blamed the situation on Democratic immigration policies.

[Tom Homan]

Well look, this is another example of an illegal island killing American citizens almost a daily occurrence now you know, because historic number of criminal aliens walking the streets. Because this administration's policy in sanctuary jurisdictions and lacks immigration enforcement. ICE has her hands tied. Secretary Marty Orcas have given them priorities that they can't even go arrest an illegal alien anymore unless he's convicted, convicted of a serious crime, then maybe they can arrest him. So this is on this administration. As far as Governor Hocho, shame on her. She supports sanctuary status in that state. She welcomed thousands of illegal aliens to her state.

[Tim Pierce]

So Homan very clearly stating that lax immigration policies do lead to violent crime.

[Georgia Howe]

While we do have some new census data that says foreign born migrants are flocking to states like New York while native born people are leaving those same states. What can you tell us about that?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, the Census Bureau's report released last week shows that the United States from 2023 to 2024 hit its highest annual population growth in over two decades. And the increase was mainly driven by international migration. In the past year, the US took in roughly 2.8 million immigrants. In percentage terms, foreign migration made up 84% of the increase in the US population in the past year alone. Also worth noting that 2.8 million is on top of the roughly 4 million immigrants that the US took in from 2021 to 2023. These numbers include all immigrants, whether legal or illegal. And that's the background to this editorial by the Wall Street Journal that points out that blue states more than made up for losses from domestic migration with gains in foreign born immigrants. These states are well known sanctuaries for illegal aliens. For example, California lost about 240,000 people to domestic out migration in the gained over 360,000 foreign born immigrants. That trend is the same in New York, Illinois and New Jersey. Each state more than made up for its losses to outmigration with foreign migration. At the same time, red states such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee have gained population from both foreign and domestic migration. The Census Bureau has admitted that red states should have had more House seats because of these population shifts. And blue states are overrepresented in the Congress and in the Electoral College.

[Georgia Howe]

Now what's the impact been of this population shift in some of those blue states?

[Tim Pierce]

Well, part of that answer has to do with why immigrants are attracted to blue areas in the first place. As the Wall Street Journal points out, these areas tend to have higher taxes, higher unemployment rates and generally more expensive standards of living. However, in addition to sanctuary policies aimed at thwarting federal immigration enforcement, these areas also tend to have expansive entitlement programs that aliens can take advantage of. And then there's the problem of migrant crime, which police say that murder in New York falls under. Now, the migrant crime debate has been a persistent one in US Immig policy. On one side, there are those who say immigrants actually cause crime at lower rates than Americans. On the other side, proponents for tougher immigration policies say that that shouldn't matter. The key point is that crime committed by aliens is preventable with tough border enforcement.

[John Bickley]

Right?

[Georgia Howe]

Well, that's the case that Homan was making. Tim, thanks for coming on.

[Tim Pierce]

Thanks for having me.

[Brandon]

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[Georgia Howe]

President Biden caused a stir on Monday when he commuted the sentences of 37 inmates on death row, the latest in a string of controversial presidential pardons.

[Tim Rice]

Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice is here with the latest ATM so needless to say, you don't get on death row without doing something very serious. Who are the people Biden pardoned?

[Christian Toto]

Yeah John, it's a real rogues gallery. Fair warning, some of these descriptions are going to be pretty brutal. So there's Thomas Sanders, who was convicted in 2014 of kidnapping and murdering 12 year old Lexis Roberts after shooting her mother in the head. He held Roberts captive in the woods for days before brutally murdering her. Brendan Basham and Chadrick folks kidnapped and killed the woman after escaping from jail. And Darryl Roberts killed a cop during a bank robbery in 2005 and Jason Brown stabbed a postal worker to death. All of these men had been sentenced to death before Biden halted all federal executions after taking office. Now they're going to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Biden left just three death row inmates sentences intact. All three were mass murderers, so we try to avoid naming them since those types are often motivated by notoriety Those three will still be subject to execution when Trump takes office and presumably restarts federal executions.

[Tim Rice]

Now, you mentioned Trump. Is this another one of Biden's efforts to sort of tie his hands before leaving office?

[Christian Toto]

Yeah, absolutely. He actually specifically said that in his statement announcing the pardons. Biden wrote he could not in good conscience stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted. He also said it was his conscience and experience as a public defender that has made him more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. Now, a lot of people have pointed out that Biden's moral argument here is undermined by the fact that he left three people on death row. And it seems like he chose to pardon all but the three most famous mass murderers facing a death sentence. That's led critics to speculate that this was more a political calculation than some kind of grand moral statement.

[Tim Rice]

Right. The move is certainly rife for criticism, but Biden has already come under fire for some controversial pardons in the past. Is this any different?

[Christian Toto]

Well, yes and no. Of course, those in favor of the death penalty for the most violent offenders will be upset by this move. And people who think Biden has been abusing the presidential pardon power are going to see this as the latest overstep. Remember, Biden has pardoned a record breaking 8,000 people, including his son Hunter, to whom he granted an unprecedented, sweeping pardon. So there's that. But there's another wrinkle here. Just last week, the Wall Street Journal published a shocking expose of how Biden's team covered up his declining mental faculties, proving once and for all that the president has been impaired for his entire term. So now the question becomes, is Joe Biden really the one driving these pardons? And if not, who is? Yesterday, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton called for Congress and the Trump Justice Department to investigate these pardons for precisely that reason. Cotton wrote, on X contracts, wills and other legal actions are null and void if a party is mentally incompetent, as Joe Biden obviously is, who was making these decisions and signing for Joe Biden? One other thing to note, as of this recording, we haven't heard from Trump yet, but it's probably safe to assume that he'll have something to say about this and may take Cotton's suggestion and direct his administration to investigate these things. Whether or not that could lead to some pardons being overturned, we'll have to wait and see.

[Tim Rice]

We certainly will. And we'll also be sure to follow up if Biden pardons anyone else before leaving office. Tim, thanks for reporting.

[Christian Toto]

Anytime.

[Tim Rice]

The Hollywood box office had a solid showing in 2024, but fell short of 2023 totals.

[Georgia Howe]

Joining us to discuss the 2024 box office hits and misses is Christian Toto, host of the Hollywood and Toto podcast. So Christian, before we get into some recommendations for what to go see now, let's do a quick year end review. What were some of the biggest?

[John Bickley]

Well, we had a Disney comeback, which was surprising because 2023 was pretty bad for the Mouse House. They had a lot of duds on their lineup, but this year was radically different. And it starts with inside out 2. Came out over the summer, made a ton of money and that was very successful. And it's going to show Disney's future is rebooting old properties, putting out the sequels, basically leaning on their IPs. And of course they also had Deadpool and Wolverine, which are another massive hit. And they finished things off with Moana too. So really an interesting year for dis. Never count them out.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, 2024 didn't quite hit the numbers that 2023 did. What were some of the misses?

[John Bickley]

Well, there are quite a few. We can only count a few of them, but wow. Let's start with Joker Falih Doe, just an absolute dud critically and commercially. No one wanted to see that film. But also you had a couple of major storytellers who really just couldn't connect with audiences, including Kevin Costner. He has this grand vision for this four part western series. And the first chapter came out, Horizon An American Saga Ends and no one went to see it. But also some superhero duds including Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. And then other just outright flops including the Crow and Borderlands. Just it was really a rough year on that side of the ledger.

[Georgia Howe]

Now one thing that has really irked audiences for several years now, more than that actually is the woke politics that tend to show up in movies. Was 2024 the wokest year yet or is it petering out?

[John Bickley]

Absolutely not. We've seen a real reversal there. Now you see some of that progressive messaging and maybe in one of the Oscar bait films or two. Certainly that's possible and we've seen that to a limited degree. But when we're talking about the mainstream, yeah, there's been a real backpedal in this arena. And again, it starts with Disney. They were maybe one of the biggest culprits in this regard, but in recent times they've been dialing it back. I think Inside Out 2 is a perfect example. And even other films like Twisters and Bad Boys ride or die. Just straightforward storytelling, escapism, humor, relatable situations. Doesn't really go there. I think the biggest surprise was Twisters in that they didn't even get into a climate change discussion. That was probably the most shocking part of the year.

[Georgia Howe]

December is often the month that studios drop their prestige films, their films that they're hoping are gonna get Oscar buzz. What are some of the most anticipated films that are coming out this holiday season that people can go see?

[John Bickley]

Well, I want to start with my favorite. It's called the Complete Unknown. It's the story of Bob Dylan's early years. It might be my favorite film of 2024. And Timothee Chalamet is terrific as the young Bob Dylan. He allegedly spent six years playing guitar trying to sound like Dylan. He does sing Dylan songs in the movie. It's a wonderful story. And I think because Dylan was so inscrutable, the movie kind of captures that as well. I think people are going to really enjoy that. And then some of the movies that come out around this time of the year are in limited release. So they come out in New York or la, maybe other cities nationwide. Then they kind of go wider in January. And I believe that may be the case with the Brutalist. It's a three and a half hour movie. It's set after the Holocaust that follows an architect played by Adrien Brody. It's wonderful. If you're looking for films they don't make anymore, well, this is one of them. You just have to maybe look a little harder to find it.

[Georgia Howe]

Well, I know I'm gonna go see the Bob Dylan film. Christian, thanks for coming on.

[John Bickley]

My pleasure.

[Georgia Howe]

Before you go, we just wanted to give you a quick reminder about our schedule as we head into Christmas and the New Year.

[Tim Rice]

Over the next two weeks, we'll be taking a break from our regular schedule to switch things up a bit. But don't worry, we will be providing new content every single day in the form of excellent interviews and special episodes. So keep tuning in. Of course, in the event of any major news, we won't hesitate to drop an extra episode.

[Georgia Howe]

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with a special Christmas edition of Morning Wire.

[Brandon]

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