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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: After months of talks between Washington and the Kremlin, WNBA star Brittany Griner has been released from a Russian prison in a prisoner swap for an infamous Russian arms dealer. The most important emotion that I have right now is just sincere gratitude. What is Griner's family saying? And why are some highly critical of the exchange? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, December 9th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The New Zealand government took custody of an infant after his parents requested unvaccinated blood for the child's required transfusion. What's next for the family? And is there a growing marketplace for what's being called clean blood?
--:-- John Bickley: And the makers of American Girl Doll are under fire for endorsing gender transition in a new book about puberty. What exactly did the book say? And why are parents saying they've lost trust in the brand?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: code WIRE for an additional 10% off your order. That's GenuCell.com slash WIRE. GenuCell.com slash WIRE.
--:-- John Bickley: WNBA star Brittany Griner, who was arrested in Moscow in February, has been released from Russian prison after months of negotiations and a growing public movement for her release. But while Americans are cheering the news, the terms of that release, including that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman helped broker the deal, have sparked controversy.
--:-- David Cohn: All right, so David, Greiner is now free. Where is she now, and how did her lawyers make that happen?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, Brittany Greiner has been released from the penal colony where she was imprisoned. President Biden tweeted early Thursday morning, Moments ago, I spoke to Brittany Griner. She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home.
--:-- David Cohn: Her spouse, Sherelle, also delivered a statement Thursday upon her release. thanking everyone who stood by them through the extremely difficult situation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today my family is whole, but as you all are aware, there are so many other families who are not whole. And so BG's not here to say this, but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home.
--:-- David Cohn: Greiner's release comes by way of a one-for-one prisoner exchange in which the Biden administration traded convicted Russian arms dealer Victor Bout.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's also worth noting, Georgia, Paul Whelan, the former Marine who was imprisoned in Moscow four years ago this month on charges of espionage, was not a part of this exchange, despite attempts by the State Department to include him in negotiations.
--:-- David Cohn: Right Well and the administration inability to get Wieland freed has also been the subject of a lot of criticism as has the role that Saudi Arabia may or may not have played there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, let's talk about the criminal that Greiner was swapped for. That's Victor Bout.
--:-- David Cohn: Well, he's known by the infamous moniker, the Merchant of Death. He was arrested in 2008 during a joint sting operation involving the U.S. and the Royal Thailand police. He was then convicted in 2011 by a jury in Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Bout purportedly has deep ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the 2005 film Lord of War is supposedly based on Bout's black market activities.
--:-- David Cohn: Right. So a lot of concern going forward about the threat that his release might pose to America and our allies, as well as the signal that it sends trading him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, just let's review, for people who have not been following the Brittany Griner story, how long has she been in custody and what was she convicted for?
--:-- David Cohn: So Brittany Griner was arrested on February 17th at an airport just outside of Moscow for traveling with what customs officials described as vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is a cannabis product. At that point, Greiner was jailed while awaiting trial.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Her reason for being in Russia was to play club basketball there during the WNBA offseason.
--:-- David Cohn: Now, the public did not find out about her imprisonment for a few weeks because one week later, February 24th, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine on the orders of Vladimir Putin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That move, of course, has complicated the U.S.'s relationship with Russia in many respects beyond just this matter.
--:-- David Cohn: It wasn't until March 5th that the news officially broke of Greiner's detainment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Roughly two months later, on May 3rd, the U.S., for the first time, declared that Greiner was being wrongfully detained.
--:-- David Cohn: Then on Independence Day, Brittany Griner penned a letter to President Biden in which she pleaded for his help.
--:-- Georgia Howe: By this time, the public was aware that the State Department was negotiating a prisoner exchange with the Kremlin.
--:-- David Cohn: Three days after that, on July 7th, Greiner pleaded guilty to the drug charges.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then about a month later, on August 4th, the two-time Olympic gold medalist was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in Russian prison.
--:-- David Cohn: She was then moved to a penal colony 200 miles from Moscow on November 17th, where she has stayed until her release Thursday morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Brittany Griner is finally free. That's fantastic. Let's hope we can now see that same level of urgency applied to Whelan's release. Let's hope.
--:-- David Cohn: All right. Well, David, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, a child is in government custody in New Zealand after his parents requested unvaccinated blood for a transfusion.
--:-- Brandon: Hey, guys. Producer Brandon here. I used to have one heck of a time getting a good night's sleep. due to shoulder pain, but then I found MedCline. The MedCline patented pillow system cushions your body in a supremely comfortable sleeping position that is clinically proven to provide effective acid reflux and shoulder pain relief.
--:-- Georgia Howe: MedCline sleep systems are FDA registered in doctor recommended medical devices. I love my MedCline shoulder pain relief system and now you can too. Get 20% off when you go to medcline.com slash wire.
--:-- Brandon: That's 20% off a better night's sleep today at medcline.com slash wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Parents in New Zealand have lost medical custody of their critically ill baby after requesting non-vaccinated blood for necessary transfusions. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hi John Yes definitely an urgent matter The six baby boy who not being named for legal reasons, he has a congenital heart defect and needs a heart operation to survive.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The child's parents also want him to get the surgery, but they requested that the hospital use blood from pre-approved donors who have not received the mRNA COVID vaccine.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The parents say that they're worried about risks the vaccine might bring to their baby and that they have lined up donors willing to give this blood.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The hospital, though, said no. They said there were no known risks associated with COVID-vaccinated blood transfusions and that they could not accommodate the request.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The issue ended up going to the court and the court sided with the health officials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so did the hospital say it just wasn't feasible to choose a specific donor for the blood?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, health officials don't want to set this precedent of patients choosing their own blood because of the chaos that could cause to the healthcare system.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They also argued that the approved donors might not be able to provide all the necessary blood products and that there isn't a medical reason to not use blood from blood banks.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: What's notable about this case is that the judge went ahead and awarded the state medical custody of the child until after the surgery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Justice Ian Galt made it clear in his ruling that these are loving parents who want the best for their child and that they want the surgery too.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: But the state has the right to make medical decisions with respect to this heart operation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, this family is not the first to make a request like this. We recently heard about a growing market for so-called clean blood.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, there certainly seems to be. Right now, we have a Swiss nonprofit building a global network called Safe Blood Donation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what they're doing is they're trying to connect unvaccinated blood donors with recipients looking for this clean blood.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The founder said he created this network for people who want to have a free choice of blood donors for whatever reason that might be.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But this is a long ways away from being a viable solution for most people.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Getting hospitals and insurers to accept these alternate blood banks would be a major undertaking.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Regardless, Safeblood's end goal is to open blood banks worldwide for its members.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: For now, the nonprofit is asking hospitals and health officials to accept direct donations of unvaccinated blood from willing donors.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, a complex issue here for sure.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, my pleasure. That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta-Giacomo.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The American Girl brand, known for its popular line of historic dolls, is under fire for a new book about puberty that encourages girls to question their gender and includes advice on how to access puberty-blocking hormones.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, just cutting to the chase here, what's the exact language in this book that has parents so upset?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the name of the book is The Smart Girl's Guide to Body Image, and it's available online or you can get it at American Girl stores.
--:-- Megan Basham: And this particular line of books, I'll preface by saying, is targeted at girls from around age eight to 12.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it's basically what to expect during puberty.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, in a section with the heading Gender Joy, the book discusses how gender is separate from sex and that a person might not know what their gender is and that they might want to take medicine to halt uncomfortable changes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I'll just read a few verbatim quotes here. So the section starts out with this. The way you show your gender to the world through clothes and behaviors is your gender expression.
--:-- Megan Basham: Your gender expression can be feminine, masculine, or somewhere in between and it might change The book then continues Parts of your body may make you feel uncomfortable and you may want to change the way you look That totally okay You can appreciate your body for everything it allows you to experience and still want to change certain things about it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then this is the part that's getting especially a lot of attention. If you haven't gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body's changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity.
--:-- Megan Basham: So the book clearly seems to be endorsing puberty blockers there. And it then follows that up by saying, again, quote, studies show that transgender and non-binary kids who get help from doctors have much better mental health than those who don't.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then it finishes by providing a list of organizations that girls can contact if they're questioning their gender and don't think they can trust their parents.
--:-- Megan Basham: And that list includes LGBT activist groups like the Trevor Project and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Why is it just now getting press?
--:-- Megan Basham: So my guess is no one noticed the content before now because parents don't really think they need to review American Girl books for controversial gender messaging.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the first revelations about it popped up at the religious news outlet The Christian Post.
--:-- Megan Basham: A small business owner and mom of two girls ages 8 and 10 came across the material in an American Girl store, and she wrote an op-ed about it in November.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I spoke to that mom, who is choosing not to share her name, and she said she actually first noticed signs that American Girl was promoting gender ideology in products for very young children.
--:-- Megan Basham: One of the main clues was the introduction of a feminine boy doll for ages three to six in their Welly Wishers line.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I was really, my head started to turn when I saw that come out.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I've seen it coming in so many ways, but I knew that there's no ground that I can consider as safe anymore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I have to say, no, these ideologues will not have my children. And therefore, I must vet every single thing that comes before my children's eyes.
--:-- Megan Basham: To that point, I had one teacher tell me that she's been recommending an older version of this book to other moms for years as a resource for girls who are entering adolescence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And she said she feels betrayed.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, I guess this is just a reminder to look at the stuff your kids are reading.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: My pleasure. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. Independent journalist Barry Weiss published the latest update on what are being called the Twitter files Thursday night.
--:-- Brandon: Hey, guys. Producer Brandon here. I used to have one heck of a time getting a good night's sleep. due to shoulder pain, but then I found MedCline. The MedCline patented pillow system cushions your body in a supremely comfortable sleeping position that is clinically proven to provide effective acid reflux and shoulder pain relief.
--:-- Georgia Howe: MedCline sleep systems are FDA registered in doctor recommended medical devices. I love my MedCline shoulder pain relief system and now you can too. Get 20% off when you go to medcline.com slash wire.
--:-- Brandon: That's 20% off a better night's sleep today at medcline.com slash wire.
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