Morning Brief: Russia Bombards Ukraine Amid Peace Talks, SCOTUS School Case & Sextortion Awareness

Russia reportedly continues to hit Ukraine with deadly strikes after President Donald Trump issues a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A group of religious parents sue their school district over their children’s forced exposure to LGBTQ content. And, the White House is warning parents and teens about the rise in child exploitation, enlisting the help of country music star John Rich.

It’s Friday, April 25, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:

Russia Bombs Ukraine, Frustrates Peace Efforts

Topline: Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with a series of missiles and drones on Thursday, and according to CNN, inflicted another round of strikes on Friday. The surprise attacks have derailed United States-led ceasefire negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.

Thursday’s attack on Kyiv left at least a dozen dead and dozens more wounded, and also killed what momentum there was toward a ceasefire. The following night, Moscow reportedly launched another round, killing at least eight more people. Before the attacks, the White House had sounded optimistic about a deal, but after Russia’s Thursday attacks, the President appeared much less sanguine.

TRUMP: We’re in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired, and I was not happy with it…

REPORTER: …If the bombs keep falling, will you consider additional sanctions for Russia, or what will you do?

TRUMP: I’d rather answer that question in a week, I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now, but I won’t be happy, let’s put it that way. Things will happen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been willing to work with the United States on peace terms – more willing since his disastrous White House meeting in February. Since then, Zelensky has agreed to sign a minerals deal with the United States, and last month, he said Ukraine would agree to a full ceasefire to set up peace negotiations. But Moscow never bought in – all they could agree to was a 30 day pause on attacks against energy infrastructure.

Over the weekend, diplomats released a proposed peace deal constructed by the United States and Europe that recognized Russian control of Crimea and accepted Russia’s control of land in Ukraine’s east. It would also ban Ukraine from NATO membership and start the United States and Russia on a path of economic normalization – with all sanctions lifted from Russia. The proposal didn’t set limits on Ukraine’s military – something Moscow had wanted – and it included the minerals deal with the United States. Notably, it did not include any security guarantees from either the United States or Europe for Ukraine. Vice President JD Vance called it a “very fair proposal.”

Zelensky has already said that giving any occupied territory over to the Russians would be a red line. Zelensky has also taken issue with how the Trump administration has approached the negotiating table. “We would like to have this common understanding that Russia is the aggressor, not [Ukraine],” Zelensky told Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro in an interview this week.

SCOTUS Hears Case On Religious Opt-Outs From LGBTQ Curriculum

Topline: The Supreme Court looks poised to rule in favor of religious parents who want the right to opt their kids out of LGBTQ material at school.

In 2022, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland’s largest school district, introduced a new gender and sexuality curriculum. At first, they allowed parents to opt their kids out, but then, the school district decided it was too difficult to allow opt outs and made attendance mandatory. In response, a group of parents that included Muslims, Catholics, and a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian brought a case against the school district.

One of the books in the new curriculum is called “Prince and Knight,” about a prince who rejects princesses and falls in love with a knight. Another book is called “Born Ready” about a boy named Penelope, and another book tells the story of a girl attending her uncle’s same-sex wedding, and yet another book is called “Pride Puppy” about a puppy who gets lost during a Pride parade.

“They can keep the books,” one plaintiff said on the steps of the Supreme Court. “They can read it to their children if there are parents who feel this is appropriate for their 3-year-old, 4-year-old and elementary kids, they can teach it to them, but we don’t think it’s right. We don’t want it read to our kids.”

The more conservative justices seemed highly skeptical of the school district’s arguments. Justice Brett Kavanaugh quizzed the lawyer for the school superintendent about why it’s supposedly too hard to let parents opt out their children from reading LGBTQ books in class. “The plaintiffs here are not asking the school to change its curriculum. They’re just saying look, we want out. Why isn’t that feasible?”

Even some of the usual critics seemed sympathetic to parents in this case. Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten of the ​​American Federation of Teachers admitted she would not actually recommend these books to elementary schoolers, although she still called for “inclusivity.”

John Rich Promotes Awareness Of Sextortion

Topline: Country music star and entrepreneur John Rich has teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security to warn Americans about the dangers of child sexual extortion.

The Department of Homeland Security has a campaign called “Know2Protect” – you can find that on the DHS website. Its goal is to raise national public awareness about a rapidly growing crime called sexual extortion – also known as sextortion. Sextortion is when a predator coerces or tricks a minor into sending them sexually explicit images or video footage, and then threatens to release that material unless the minor either produces additional explicit content or gives them money. A Daily Wire investigation covered this topic in-depth earlier this month, but in summary, there were 36 million reports of suspected online child exploitation in 2023 alone.

John Rich is amplifying DHS’ awareness effort. The country star heard about sextortion a few months ago, after his wife and 15-year-old son attended a related talk from DHI Special Agent Dennis Fetting. Immediately, Rich reached out to DHS with ideas to get out something more accessible to the public. This week, Rich, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and Agent Fetting hosted a livestream event on sextortion. It was reposted online by President Trump, and so far, it has racked up millions of views.

“I’m fully aware of the dangers that are out there for our kids right now,” Rich said. “They are being targeted on apps, video games, social media – places you would never dream of, like innocent sounding games like Roblox, Minecraft, things like that, where predators are acting like they’re another kid and they’re creating a relationship with your kid, and then they lower the boom, then they start to extort and extort. They do everything from force the kids to send nude pictures of themselves, to take pictures of their parents’ credit cards front and back so they can extort money. They threaten them with killing their family, burning their house down, posting the pictures all online. It results in kids, some of them becoming suicidal – it’s a major, major problem. So to me, millions of parents needed to hear about this.”

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Russia reportedly continues to hit Ukraine with deadly strikes after President Donald Trump issues a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A group of religious parents sue their school district over their children’s forced exposure to LGBTQ content. And, the White House is warning parents and teens about the rise in child exploitation, enlisting the help of country music star John Rich.

It’s Friday, April 25, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:

Russia Bombs Ukraine, Frustrates Peace Efforts

Topline: Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with a series of missiles and drones on Thursday, and according to CNN, inflicted another round of strikes on Friday. The surprise attacks have derailed United States-led ceasefire negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.

Thursday’s attack on Kyiv left at least a dozen dead and dozens more wounded, and also killed what momentum there was toward a ceasefire. The following night, Moscow reportedly launched another round, killing at least eight more people. Before the attacks, the White House had sounded optimistic about a deal, but after Russia’s Thursday attacks, the President appeared much less sanguine.

TRUMP: We’re in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired, and I was not happy with it…

REPORTER: …If the bombs keep falling, will you consider additional sanctions for Russia, or what will you do?

TRUMP: I’d rather answer that question in a week, I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now, but I won’t be happy, let’s put it that way. Things will happen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been willing to work with the United States on peace terms – more willing since his disastrous White House meeting in February. Since then, Zelensky has agreed to sign a minerals deal with the United States, and last month, he said Ukraine would agree to a full ceasefire to set up peace negotiations. But Moscow never bought in – all they could agree to was a 30 day pause on attacks against energy infrastructure.

Over the weekend, diplomats released a proposed peace deal constructed by the United States and Europe that recognized Russian control of Crimea and accepted Russia’s control of land in Ukraine’s east. It would also ban Ukraine from NATO membership and start the United States and Russia on a path of economic normalization – with all sanctions lifted from Russia. The proposal didn’t set limits on Ukraine’s military – something Moscow had wanted – and it included the minerals deal with the United States. Notably, it did not include any security guarantees from either the United States or Europe for Ukraine. Vice President JD Vance called it a “very fair proposal.”

Zelensky has already said that giving any occupied territory over to the Russians would be a red line. Zelensky has also taken issue with how the Trump administration has approached the negotiating table. “We would like to have this common understanding that Russia is the aggressor, not [Ukraine],” Zelensky told Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro in an interview this week.

SCOTUS Hears Case On Religious Opt-Outs From LGBTQ Curriculum

Topline: The Supreme Court looks poised to rule in favor of religious parents who want the right to opt their kids out of LGBTQ material at school.

In 2022, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland’s largest school district, introduced a new gender and sexuality curriculum. At first, they allowed parents to opt their kids out, but then, the school district decided it was too difficult to allow opt outs and made attendance mandatory. In response, a group of parents that included Muslims, Catholics, and a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian brought a case against the school district.

One of the books in the new curriculum is called “Prince and Knight,” about a prince who rejects princesses and falls in love with a knight. Another book is called “Born Ready” about a boy named Penelope, and another book tells the story of a girl attending her uncle’s same-sex wedding, and yet another book is called “Pride Puppy” about a puppy who gets lost during a Pride parade.

“They can keep the books,” one plaintiff said on the steps of the Supreme Court. “They can read it to their children if there are parents who feel this is appropriate for their 3-year-old, 4-year-old and elementary kids, they can teach it to them, but we don’t think it’s right. We don’t want it read to our kids.”

The more conservative justices seemed highly skeptical of the school district’s arguments. Justice Brett Kavanaugh quizzed the lawyer for the school superintendent about why it’s supposedly too hard to let parents opt out their children from reading LGBTQ books in class. “The plaintiffs here are not asking the school to change its curriculum. They’re just saying look, we want out. Why isn’t that feasible?”

Even some of the usual critics seemed sympathetic to parents in this case. Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten of the ​​American Federation of Teachers admitted she would not actually recommend these books to elementary schoolers, although she still called for “inclusivity.”

John Rich Promotes Awareness Of Sextortion

Topline: Country music star and entrepreneur John Rich has teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security to warn Americans about the dangers of child sexual extortion.

The Department of Homeland Security has a campaign called “Know2Protect” – you can find that on the DHS website. Its goal is to raise national public awareness about a rapidly growing crime called sexual extortion – also known as sextortion. Sextortion is when a predator coerces or tricks a minor into sending them sexually explicit images or video footage, and then threatens to release that material unless the minor either produces additional explicit content or gives them money. A Daily Wire investigation covered this topic in-depth earlier this month, but in summary, there were 36 million reports of suspected online child exploitation in 2023 alone.

John Rich is amplifying DHS’ awareness effort. The country star heard about sextortion a few months ago, after his wife and 15-year-old son attended a related talk from DHI Special Agent Dennis Fetting. Immediately, Rich reached out to DHS with ideas to get out something more accessible to the public. This week, Rich, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and Agent Fetting hosted a livestream event on sextortion. It was reposted online by President Trump, and so far, it has racked up millions of views.

“I’m fully aware of the dangers that are out there for our kids right now,” Rich said. “They are being targeted on apps, video games, social media – places you would never dream of, like innocent sounding games like Roblox, Minecraft, things like that, where predators are acting like they’re another kid and they’re creating a relationship with your kid, and then they lower the boom, then they start to extort and extort. They do everything from force the kids to send nude pictures of themselves, to take pictures of their parents’ credit cards front and back so they can extort money. They threaten them with killing their family, burning their house down, posting the pictures all online. It results in kids, some of them becoming suicidal – it’s a major, major problem. So to me, millions of parents needed to hear about this.”

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