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--:-- John Bickley: World leaders descended on Davos, Switzerland this week for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. Our generation has reached a turning point, confronted by truly existential problems. What's on the agenda this year, and why has the conference become so controversial?
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--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, January 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Go to bankonyourself.com slash wire. That's bankonyourself.com slash wire.
--:-- John Bickley: The World Economic Forum's annual meeting of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, kicked off on Monday with the theme of cooperation in a fragmented world. This year, the organization faces increasing scrutiny from critics who worry it wields too much influence over world governments and international business.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, I honestly have to say I don't think it's very fair. To start with, the stated purpose of Davos is to bring world leaders together in order to pressure them to adopt certain policies. And those can be related to climate change or ESG investing, which really gained its life at Davos, or things like regulating online speech.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Megan Basham] So Megan, as the public has become a little more aware of the Davos Forum and the WEF more broadly, some of the ideas that have come out have seemed a little scary to some people. We've heard a lot about its framing of the pandemic as an opportunity for the Great Reset. There's been a lot of outrage over the phrase, you'll own nothing and be happy.
--:-- Megan Basham: The organization has kind of tried to frame this as conspiracy theories. But, I mean, I honestly have to say I don't think it's very fair. To start with, the stated purpose of Davos is to bring world leaders together in order to pressure them to adopt certain policies. And those can be related to climate change or ESG investing, which really gained its life at Davos, or things like regulating online speech.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Megan Basham] You know, I honestly have to say I don't think it's very fair. To start with, the stated purpose of Davos is to bring world leaders together in order to pressure them to adopt certain policies. And those can be related to climate change or ESG investing, which really gained its life at Davos, or things like regulating online speech.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then you look at the Great Reset, and that's an open initiative on the WEF website that you can go and read through right now. WEF founder Klaus Schwab published a book about it in 2020 And his idea is that the pandemic offered a unique opportunity to reshape national economies and social structures.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Megan Basham] So one of the top goals the WEF says it's looking at is solutions for the global recession that it projects will hit. So they say they'll be discussing national banking policies. And then they're also going to return to something that is a perennial topic at Davos. And that's what they call the climate crisis.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then this one is sure to spark some concerns again. They've been talking a lot about what they call the fourth industrial revolution. Essentially, they're looking at the speed of technological development and calling for governments and tech companies to partner together more proactively to enact what they call safety measures.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Megan Basham] And that was the kind of thing we saw when the iPhone launched. Well, this event has become extremely influential over the past few years. So we're going to continue to monitor.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for reporting. Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. Coming up, Illinois' governor faces pushback from sheriffs over a new gun control law.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, it's one of the strictest gun control laws in the country. It bans dozens of semi firearms that it classifies as assault weapons as well as magazines that hold more than a dozen rounds It also tasks state police with monitoring gun trafficking from neighboring states with less restrictive gun laws.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Tim Pierce] The resistance from law enforcement includes dozens of sheriffs across the state, including the sheriff of DuPage County, the state's second largest county with just under one million residents.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, just a truly horrific incident. What's at stake here in this fight in Illinois? It seems to be whether this new law has any teeth or not. Pritzker, of course, wants to see this law enacted to its fullest extent, but at least 70 sheriffs across the state's 102 counties are saying otherwise.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Tim Pierce] The governor has said any officers who don't enforce the law will be fired. The fact is that, yes, there are, of course, people who are trying to politically grandstand, who want to make a name for themselves by claiming that they will not comply.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But the reality is that the state police is responsible for enforcement, as are all law enforcement all across the state. And they will, in fact, do their job or they won't be in their job.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Tim Pierce] There isn't a defined process for removing sheriffs from office, though, other than voting them out. So it's not clear if Pritzker can actually make good on this threat.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The sheriffs don't seem overly worried about it either. Their ranks have only grown since the threat was made. All right, so they're not sweating it. Why are the sheriffs opposing this law?
--:-- John Bickley: [To Tim Pierce] Well, their reasons can differ, but a dominant theme with all of them is concern over the law's constitutionality. They say that they all took vows to uphold the U.S. Constitution and protect the rights of Americans, and this new gun law violates those rights.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Some of them also say that the law is likely to be overturned in court. Second Amendment advocates were already threatening legal action last month over the law, and experts believe their case has merit, especially considering some more recent rulings by the Supreme Court that have cut against strong restrictions on firearms.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Tim Pierce] Here's Monroe County Sheriff Neil Rolfing saying he won't enforce the law until it's litigated in court. I'm not going to sit here and tell people to violate the law. I mean, if you feel like you should register your firearms, register your firearms. If you want to abide by the law and register them, by all means register them. But that's not something we're going to proactively go out and look for and enforce at this time until it's litigated in court.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, it sounds like this issue may be around for years yet. Thanks for coming on.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce. Washington, D.C. may soon adopt a sweeping criminal justice reform bill that would lighten penalties for violent offenders. That bill just cleared a major hurdle after the city council voted overwhelmingly to override Mayor Miro Bowser's veto of the legislation.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: So, this is a major overhaul of D.C.'s criminal code, which is over a century old. The bill would lighten penalties for violent crimes, including carjacking, home burglary, robbery, illegal firearms, and even murder.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] All right, so a truly sweeping criminal justice reform bill here. Where is the bill in the legislative process right now?
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Well, as you mentioned on Tuesday the D Council voted 12 to 1 to override the D mayor veto of the criminal justice reform bill Bowser vetoed the bill earlier this month, but this is not the end of the road. One of the quirks of D.C. is that the bill now goes to Congress, where we'll undergo a 60-day review period.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] During this period, Republicans who want D.C. to be tougher on crime may try to block or change the bill, so we'll have to wait and see what happens there.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Now, why did Mayor Bowser veto it in the first place? Bowser vetoed the bill because she said she worried that decreasing the maximum allowable sentences for certain crimes, quote, sends the wrong message since D.C. is suffering with rising gun violence and youth homicides.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] She also said she was worried that allowing misdemeanor offenders to have a jury trial could overwhelm the courts.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Supporters of the crime bill, which include D.C.'s Attorney General Brian Schwab, say the overhaul will modernize the criminal code and make it more consistent and easier to understand.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] However, the Washington Post came out with a strong warning against the bill, saying it could potentially make the city, quote, more dangerous.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: The Post also pointed out that while supporters of the bill say Black people are disproportionately convicted of violent crimes, Black people are also more often victims of the same crimes. So the equity argument doesn't quite hold up.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] Right. And what does crime in D.C. look like these days?
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Well, overall, crime is up 23% in D.C. since this time last year, according to D.C. police. Homicides are up from 5 to 10. Sex abuse crimes are up from 2 to 6. Car thefts are up 78% to 278. And thefts from cars are up 31% to 372. There have been nearly 500 incidents of other thefts in the city recently as well.
--:-- John Bickley: [To Marietta Lordi] So there's a lot of trepidation around what this criminal justice reform will look like as far as safety for everyday people.
--:-- Marietta Lordi: Yeah, sure it is. Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks, John.
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--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. The U.S. Department of Justice reportedly decided against monitoring President Biden's legal team as they searched the president's home in Wilmington, Delaware.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, that's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
