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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Friday, December 15th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: The Department of Health and Human Services has opened up an investigation into the University of Pittsburgh over accusations that it illegally harvested fetal tissue from aborted babies for experimentation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress.
--:-- John Bickley: The new emails show university officials confirming in November 2021 that they had been subpoenaed by the HHS Office of Inspector General.
--:-- Georgia Howe: CMP President David DeLaden told The Daily Wire, quote, "the University of Pittsburgh has been a center for some of the most barbaric government-funded experiments on the body parts of late-term aborted babies."
--:-- John Bickley: We now have the first confirmation with these FOIA documents that this is all subject of a formal federal law enforcement investigation of the Office of Inspector General.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The potential upcoming presidential rematch of Donald Trump versus Joe Biden has a majority of voters very unhappy.
--:-- John Bickley: According to an AP-Nork poll, 56% of adults, regardless of political party, would be very or somewhat dissatisfied if Biden is the Democratic nominee, while 58% said the same about Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Probably most importantly, 43% of independent voters said that they would be unhappy with each man winning his respective party's presidential nomination.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's Neil Newhouse from Public Opinion Strategies.
--:-- Neil Newhouse: These are probably the two most unpopular figures at this point in time to be the potential nominees for president ever.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans are unhappy because they think they should have more choices.
--:-- Neil Newhouse: They're looking at the candidates as two old white men who are aging out of existence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Non-restaurant service workers earned 7% less in tips in November compared to the same period last year.
--:-- Neil Newhouse: That's according to data collected from 300,000 small businesses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Economists believe consumers are experiencing tipping fatigue now that shoppers are asked to add a tip when using credit cards to pay for a cup of coffee or even a bottle of water.
--:-- Neil Newhouse: To combat lower tip totals, Los Angeles and Chicago passed laws allowing workers who rely on tips to earn the federal minimum wage.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On the bright side, 15% of those surveyed by financial firm Bankrate say they will increase their tips for housekeepers, nannies, and mail carriers during the holidays.
--:-- John Bickley: Several data points are pointing to a stronger economy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Retail sales grew 0.3% in November, and that number is adjusted for seasonal shopping trends.
--:-- John Bickley: The robust sales show consumers are not letting inflation slow down their spending.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The unemployment rate fell, and the Federal Reserve left the benchmark interest rates steady while saying there would be at least three rate cuts in 2024.
--:-- John Bickley: That would mean lower mortgage rates will likely be in homebuyers' futures.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Jerome Powell explaining the positive outlook this week.
--:-- Jerome Powell: I have always felt since the beginning that there was a possibility that the economy could cool off in a way that enabled inflation to come down without the kind of large job losses that have often been associated with high inflation and tightening cycles.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A jet blue plane attempting to take off in Colorado narrowly avoided disaster when the tail of the plane struck the runway in a hasty ascent.
--:-- John Bickley: The pilot was attempting to avoid a head-on collision with another plane that was slated to land on the same runway.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Data collected from after the event indicates that the approaching plane was about 2.6 miles away from the departing flight when the JetBlue Airbus A320 began its ascent.
--:-- John Bickley: The incident occurred in 2022, but the results of the investigation were reported by the Associated Press this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The near miss comes amid a severe shortage in air traffic control personnel.
--:-- John Bickley: The original Mickey Mouse from the 1928 Steamboat Willie short cartoon will enter the public domain on January 1st of 2024.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That means the use of the original black and white Mickey Mouse will be free to use in merchandise because of the 95-year-old copyright expiring.
--:-- John Bickley: Attorney Jake Watson explains the importance of copyright protections.
--:-- Jake Watson: Now, as you might imagine, this is incredibly significant because it allows literally anybody to take the original work to use it and even to resell it without the permission of the copyright owner.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The more modern version of Mickey will remain under the control of Disney Corporation.
--:-- John Bickley: McDonald's new spinoff chain, Cosmix, launched this week with a flagship location near Chicago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Patrons waited in four-hour lines and traffic cops had to be deployed to manage the traffic flow.
--:-- John Bickley: Cosmix is being described as McDonald's answer to Starbucks, offering a wide variety of beverages and light snacks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Fans took to social media to share their reviews.
--:-- John Bickley: [Audio clips of fans' reviews play]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Creamy avocado. Bro, that sauce. Try a drink. It is Pop Rocks. Hasprong. It tastes different from the big one. Blueberry boost. This one's slight. I like the other one better. I can feel one. Ooh.
--:-- John Bickley: And finally, a treat for sky gazers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Geminids meteor shower will occur over the next week, peaking this coming Wednesday and Thursday.
--:-- John Bickley: NASA scientists say the asteroids will come from every direction and will be plentiful with 60 to 120 meteors every hour.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While most meteors are caused by comets, the Geminids follow asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the sun.
--:-- John Bickley: Happy viewing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- John Bickley: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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