--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Vermont Christian school has been banned from tournament play across all sports after their girls' basketball team refused to play a team with a male player who identifies as female. What are the current regulations in the state, and how is the banned school responding? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: It's March 18th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. A new report from the Claremont Institute found that the recently collapsed Silicon Valley Bank directed billions of dollars to various progressive causes. What I found was this almost religious adherence to ESG standards, which have really become the standard norm of operations in American financial systems. We have the details. And more and more men are likely to be single. What's causing the rise and what role is technology playing? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: form makes it incredibly easy, all you got to do is fill in the blanks. Go to epicwill.com slash wire to save 10% off your complete will package.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The transgender sports issue has once again made national headlines after a Christian school in Vermont was banned from competing in all-state tournaments for refusing to play a women's basketball game against a team with a male player who identifies as female. This comes a few months after a Vermont high school girls volleyball team from a different school was forced out of their locker room after a trans athlete allegedly made an inappropriate remark to other players who then complained.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the latest development in the state is sports reporter and Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- David Cohn: Hey, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Hey, David. So what triggered this and what exactly have Vermont officials done in response?
--:-- David Cohn: So three weeks ago, the girls basketball team for Mid-Vermont Christian School forfeited its state tournament matchup against Long Trail because the latter school was allowing a male to compete on the girls' team. The head of school for MVCS, Vicki Fogg, initially stated, quote, we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.
--:-- John Bickley: That decision has now led to the 15-member executive council for the Vermont Principals Association, which governs high school athletics in the state, to vote unanimously in favor of prohibiting Mid-Vermont Christian School from participating in all future VPA activities, meaning this ban extends beyond just basketball.
--:-- David Cohn: All right, so all sports punished as a result. That correct?
--:-- John Bickley: Has there been a statement from the Vermont Principals Association?
--:-- David Cohn: Yes, Jay Nichols is the executive director of the Principals Association and he announced that the VPA quote reiterates its ongoing support of transgender student athletes. He said that if the school doesn't want to follow their rules, quote, that's fine, but then you're not a VPA member, unquote.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, we should note that this has been complicated by some other recent forfeitures. The association appears to have had a different set of rules in January when several girls' basketball teams refused to play games citing racial slurs as their reasoning.
--:-- David Cohn: In reference to that situation, Nichols said, quoting again here, We encourage our kids to speak out. From our perspective, that's a good thing, unquote.
--:-- John Bickley: So taking a stance on a racial issue appears okay, but not a gender issue. It appears that way.
--:-- David Cohn: Will there be an opportunity for the school to appeal? Yes, there will. The school has made clear that it is frustrated by the decision. Mrs. Fogg issued her own statement. She said the school is disappointed with the decision of the VPA Executive Council and intends to appeal.
--:-- John Bickley: She went on to say, quoting again here, Now, it's also worth noting here, John, the Vermont Agency of Education's policy on transgender athletes is a bit ambiguous. It reads in part, quote, Generally, students should be permitted to participate in physical education and sports in accordance with the student's gender identity. Participation in competitive athletic activities will be resolved on a case-by-case basis.
--:-- David Cohn: Okay, so generally there does a lot of work. Exactly. Yet another high-profile case of the gender identity issue directly impacting girls' sports and now those of an entire school.
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Right. Dave, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- John Bickley: The Claremont Institute has released new data detailing the corporate donations of the recently collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and found that it had given tens of millions to the Black Lives Matter movement and pledged to invest billions more in progressive ESG initiatives.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us to discuss is Tristan Justice, the Western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux.
--:-- Tristan Justice: So on Tuesday, the conservative Claremont Institute published a new database that chronicles the corporate contributions to Black Lives Matter movement and adjacent causes. And so I was scrolling through the database and I found Silicon Valley Bank, which, of course, just collapsed this month after the investors made a series of bad bets.
--:-- John Bickley: And so the Claremont Institute found, they pledged $74 million to Black Lives Matter groups and related causes.
--:-- Tristan Justice: And so what we essentially have here is a bank that was beholden to progressive activism that unfortunately led investors to be distracted. So once I saw that $74 million number from the Claremont Institute, I immediately began coming through the public reports from Silicon Valley Bank.
--:-- John Bickley: Of course, what we have is a massive financial institution, really in the belly of the beast of progressive America out in Silicon Valley.
--:-- Tristan Justice: So coming through the reports they talking religiously about DEI which is diversity equity inclusion They touting diversity left and right and touting all their investments in all these different programs to make it look like a beacon of American progressivism
--:-- John Bickley: You say you also saw some investment in climate activism and some rhetoric involving it. Can you unpack that for us?
--:-- Tristan Justice: Silicon Valley Bank and its parent corporation invested billions of dollars in climate activism and projects for, quote, green sustainability, which, of course, is just synonymous with wind turbines and solar power.
--:-- John Bickley: And of course, that's to the detriment of a reliable American power grid, which has been reliably running on fossil fuels for decades and decades.
--:-- Tristan Justice: And of course, it just kind of plays into this broader culture on Wall Street of this religious adherence to ESG standards, which is, of course, the detriment of not only the American consumer, but also their shareholders.
--:-- John Bickley: The bank's commitment to ESG that you mentioned at the top, how broadly does that impact the banking industry as a whole?
--:-- Tristan Justice: Well, the risk from ESG is industry-wide. I mean, these are becoming almost religious principles among Wall Street financial firms. You have BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Signature Bank, which also just collapsed. You have all these financial firms that are trying to virtue signal to compete for investors and shareholders, playing into this ESG scam, which is, of course, hurting the American consumer, jeopardizing national security.
--:-- John Bickley: BlackRock last year lost $2 trillion. It's the largest asset management firm in the world. and they began last year with $10 trillion in assets and they finished 2022 with $8 trillion.
--:-- Tristan Justice: And so now you have calls for Larry Fink to resign and step down from state treasurers who are also divesting their funds of taxpayer dollars from these financial firms that are not only exploiting their own constituents' tax dollars against them, but they're putting their fiduciary duty at risk.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Tristan, thank you so much for joining us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was the Federalist, Tristan Justice.
--:-- John Bickley: A recent study is making waves after finding that rates of singleness among young men have skyrocketed, with the group now twice as likely to be without a partner compared to young women. The report comes as other data shows Americans are less sexually active than they have been in decades.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more on what's driving the trend and its cultural implications is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, this story has been making the rounds online. You've dug into it. What can you tell us?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, a number of recent studies and surveys have shown a massive shift in the dating and sex lives of Americans, especially among young men. The latest numbers from Pew Research show that 30% of Americans consider themselves single, but when you look at those under the age of 30, those numbers skyrocket.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While 34% of young women are single, 63% of young men say they're without a partner. That's the highest mark among that demographic on record and up from 51% back in 2019.
--:-- John Bickley: It's worth noting that's also the largest disparity between the genders that we've seen on record.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, we've also seen interesting trends regarding sexual activity among young Americans.
--:-- John Bickley: Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, a slew of recent studies have shown that a larger share of Americans are sexually inactive than at any point on record. For example, the latest General Social Survey found that 26% of American adults had not had sex in the last year. That's the highest number in the history of the survey.
--:-- John Bickley: You kind of see the trend here. A lot of records being broken.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And among young men, 30% reported having not had sex in the last year. That's triple what we saw in 2008.
--:-- John Bickley: While another recent study shows that 27% of young men report having had no sex since they turned 18. For context, that number was 8% as recently as 2008.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Wow, so a major increase.
--:-- John Bickley: So to the million-dollar question, what are the causes for these trends?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, technology has played a massive and undeniable role. Researchers point to two main elements on that front, social media and pornography.
--:-- John Bickley: With regard to social media millions of young people have replaced regular social interaction with online activity So while they may feel like they in constant communication with friends or people of the opposite gender they spending less time out and about meeting people in real life So the opportunities to find a partner have simply gone down.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the role of pornography on this trend simply cannot be overstated. As porn has become instantly available to virtually everyone, many people, especially young men, have less of a desire to go on a date or find a girlfriend because they have a low-risk, low-effort means of sexual gratification.
--:-- John Bickley: And it's a pretty destructive cycle. The science is overwhelming that porn negatively impacts sex drive, inhibits dopamine production, increases the odds of erectile dysfunction, and leads to less satisfaction in real-life sexual encounters.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Sociologists almost universally point to porn as one of the key issues in this negative trend that we're seeing.
--:-- John Bickley: There are also some cultural aspects at play here. What do we know about that?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, culturally, as more women enter the workforce and delay having children to focus on their careers, Sociologists say that they often become more choosy when it comes to settling down, and they often prioritize men in more stable situations with more professional success.
--:-- John Bickley: And those types of men tend to be older.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Researchers say that could account for who exactly the 66% of young women in relationships are dating and why you're not seeing the same number among younger men.
--:-- John Bickley: There's also the reality that men and women are just waiting longer than ever to get married. Right now, the average age of first marriage is 30 for men and 28 for women. In 1990, it was 26 and 24, respectively.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So a lot of young people, they're single just because they aren't interested in a serious partner.
--:-- John Bickley: What role did isolation from COVID lockdowns play here?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, it's impossible to know exactly how big of a role lockdowns played, but we do know that they certainly contributed to higher rates of loneliness. And obviously, that's going to impact dating and sex.
--:-- John Bickley: While both men and women said their social circles shrank during the pandemic, it was men who struggled more.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Since 2020, multiple studies have shown that men reported having fewer friends and social gatherings than women.
--:-- John Bickley: And to that point, the latest numbers from the Survey Center on American Life showed that 15% of men now report having no close friends. In 1990, instead of 15%, that number was just 3%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So a five-fold increase in the span of three decades.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, yeah, a worrying trend on multiple fronts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington State on Thursday, with the Washington incident spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound. No injuries were reported. It wasn't clear what caused either derailment.
--:-- John Bickley: The American Kennel Club announced Wednesday that for the first time in more than 30 years, Labrador retrievers have been replaced as America's favorite dog. In 2023, French Bulldogs became the most popular breed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The AKC's top 10 for 2023 were French Bulldogs, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Poodles, Bulldogs, Rottweilers, Beagles, Dachshunds, and German Shorthaired Pointers.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you love our show and stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- John Bickley: And if you're a Morning Wire super fan and you want to represent our show you can shop our merch selection at dailywire.com slash shop we have a pretty elite Morning Wire mug we have t-shirts, we have tote bags pretty soon we're restocking our hoodies and you can find all of that at dailywire.com slash shop
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning thanks for waking up with us we'll be back later this afternoon with an extra edition of Morning Wire.
