--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: A coalition of states is petitioning the White House to label fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. What that would do is bring in new federal agencies to the fight. Could get the Department of Defense involved. Why are these states calling the drug a chemical weapon, and where is it coming from? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, September 28th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- [Producer Colton speaks in the background]
--:-- Colton: Hey there, producer Colton here. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you got to get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: A coalition of states is pushing the Biden administration to name fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Here to discuss America's ongoing struggle against illegal drugs is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, John, why do these states want fentanyl classified as a weapon of mass destruction?
--:-- John Bickley: Because, John, fentanyl is being sent here illegally by a foreign adversary, and it's killing people on a mass scale. And by the way, the problem has been getting worse over the past decade. Since 1999, about a million people have died from drug overdoses, and that number is growing year to year.
--:-- Tim Pierce: 16 states' attorneys general are calling on President Joe Biden to take a harsher stand on fentanyl and declare it a WMD. We don't know everything that would take place if the designation were made, but the biggest predictable consequence would be getting the Pentagon involved in drug enforcement as it relates to fentanyl.
--:-- [Audio clip of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody]
--:-- Ashley Moody: This isn't what we've seen in the past. This is something new. It's alarming. It's increasing exponentially in its time. This administration takes it seriously and treats this as a chemical weapon that it is.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, so let's step back a second. What is fentanyl and how deadly is it?
--:-- John Bickley: It's a potent synthetic opioid originally created to treat people in severe amounts of pain, such as people with late-stage cancer. It's dangerous. Ingesting just two milligrams, about the weight of a small mosquito, could kill someone.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's so deadly, in fact. A school staff member in Bakersfield, California, inadvertently overdosed after confiscating items from a student two weeks ago. So it is extraordinarily potent, vastly more so than heroin or morphine.
--:-- John Bickley: For some perspective, about two-thirds of all drug overdose deaths last year were due to fentanyl. According to the CDC, a record number of nearly 108,000 people died from drug overdoses last year. That was a 15% increase of 2020's record of about 94,000.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And during both years, synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, were by far the largest cause of those deaths. Where is most of this fentanyl in the U.S. coming from?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it's coming to the U.S. through Mexico, carried by drug smugglers across our southern border. But it's primarily being sourced from drug and pharmaceutical companies in China that have pretty cozy relationships with Mexican drug cartels.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Chinese drug companies make fentanyl or the precursors to fentanyl and ship the chemicals to Mexico where it gets refined. Then the cartels smuggle into the U.S. to sell. And this trafficking is getting worse.
--:-- John Bickley: It definitely is. You can get an idea of the scope of the drug smuggling operation by looking at how much fentanyl has been seized by law enforcement. In the 2021 fiscal year border patrol agents confiscated about 11 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border. Through August of this fiscal year border seizures of fentanyl have already eclipsed that record at 12 pounds.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Compare that to the two pounds confiscated at the border in 2013. The Drug Enforcement Administration reported confiscating an additional 15,000 pounds and 20.4 million fake pills laced with fentanyl in 2021.
--:-- John Bickley: Many Republicans have drawn a connection between the explosion of fentanyl at the border and illegal immigration, saying that a porous border is at the root of both problems.
--:-- Tim Pierce: An extremely dire situation we've got here.
--:-- John Bickley: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce. Coming up, the race between Dr. Oz and John Fetterman tightens. From all of us here at Morning Wire, we hope you're enjoying the show. Did you know that if you subscribe to Daily Wire Plus, you can get access to all Daily Wire has to offer? That means news, commentary, documentaries, movies, and so much more. Become a subscriber today. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and take us with you wherever you go.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As the race for Pennsylvania Senate heats up, the Daily Wire sent a producer to Braddock, Pennsylvania, where Democrat candidate John Fetterman spent 13 years as mayor. Joining us to discuss is Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, tell us about Braddock, Pennsylvania.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, sure. So Braddock is a tiny town outside of Pittsburgh. It's just one square mile with less than 2,000 residents. And in recent years, the town has fallen on some hard times, but it used to be quite prosperous.
--:-- Megan Basham: So in the late 1800s, Pittsburgh steel magnate Andrew Carnegie built a plant there. And these days, it's the home of around 1,700 people, only 34% of whom are employed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Shadre Jones, Braddock's youngest mayor. She took over as mayor when Fetterman became lieutenant governor.
--:-- Shadre Jones: A lot of people don't have money. The people that own their houses are mostly elderly people. And that's the issue with most of the population being elderly. When they pass away, the population just dwindles or people move away.
--:-- Megan Basham: In between the many abandoned buildings downtown are a handful of little nonprofits that do their best to help those struggling residents. Fetterman's wife, Giselle Barreto Fetterman, was very instrumental in encouraging nonprofits to enter Braddock while her husband was mayor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Her own organization, Free Store 15104, redistributes donated goods to needy residents. She keeps a blue and pink Protect Trans Kids sign out front, as do a lot of the other nonprofits around the town, which I think speaks to the kind of progressive initiatives the Fettermans attracted to Braddock.
--:-- Megan Basham: And by many accounts, Fetterman was popular as mayor. Here's one Braddock resident we caught up with outside of a dollar store.
--:-- Braddock Resident: He did all he could do, I guess, as a mayor of a small town. And I think he does represent progression. And we need to be a lot more liberal and take everybody into account, not just our own selfish interests.
--:-- Megan Basham: So this is the town where John Fetterman started his political career. How did he get into politics and how did he become such a star on the progressive left?
--:-- Georgia Howe: So after growing up in the more affluent town of York, Pennsylvania, Fetterman earned a master's degree in public policy from Harvard. And in 2004, he was sent to Braddock by a government public service agency called AmeriCorps with the task of starting youth art programs there.
--:-- Megan Basham: Two years later, he narrowly became the city's mayor and remained in that post until 2019. At that time, he became Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor. As for why he been successful a lot of voters like that he has a working class every man appeal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, he known for showing up at campaign events wearing a hoodie and basketball shorts. Although I will note that Republicans have been quick to point out his Harvard degree and the fact that he was financially supported by his parents well into middle age.
--:-- Megan Basham: But it's undeniable that he's able to speak to voters about working class issues. As for his platform, he is, as we know, very progressive. For example, the top-line issue on his campaign website is drug decriminalization, and he has supported the idea of state-sanctioned drug injection sites.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He's also a strong supporter of LGBTQ initiatives and socialized health care. He's also advocated for reducing Pennsylvania's prison population by a third.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, here's an ad his campaign is running explaining his plan for reducing prison sentences.
--:-- [Audio clip of John Fetterman's campaign ad]
--:-- John Fetterman: There are individuals that, quite frankly, don't need to be in prison. It doesn't make anyone more safe. This is a philosophy and a commitment that I would take to the United States Senate.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, this message has proved to be competitive in Pennsylvania. Most polls show him slightly up compared to Republican Mehmet Oz. The real clear politics average currently has him up 4 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But importantly, there are some valid criticisms of his leadership approach. For example, here's former Mayor Chaudre Jones, who, I should note, is a lifelong Braddock resident and a strong supporter of Fetterman.
--:-- Chaudre Jones: Like, the first mistake he made when he came here was he didn't ask the community what they needed. Instead, he was like, hey, here's a fine dining restaurant or, hey, here's this thing. And, like, he criticized after he built the park, he criticized, why is there a halfway house down the street from this park? And meanwhile, that's been there. That was there for years. And we're like, that's not going to move. You built this park here. This is on you.
--:-- Megan Basham: Perhaps most importantly, what has gotten the most press coverage are concerns about his health. Right. So the elephant in the room with Fetterman is his health. Opponents are saying he isn't mentally fit for the job.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. So Fetterman had a stroke earlier this year, just days before his primary. And he spent the first few months after the election recovering behind closed doors. Now he frequently stutters and loses his train of thought during stump speeches.
--:-- Megan Basham: Here's a clip from a recent rally.
--:-- [Audio clip of John Fetterman's rally]
--:-- John Fetterman: What is wrong with demanding for an easy, safe kind of their income, a path to a safe place for them to win? Or excuse me, to work.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, his team has thus far been reluctant to participate in a debate with Oz. And even progressive outlets like The Washington Post have started pressuring Fetterman to debate or release his health records.
--:-- Megan Basham: For their part, the Fetterman campaign says he does plan to debate, but they have yet to commit to a date.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, this is one of the most pivotal seats in the country, so it'll be interesting to watch.
--:-- Megan Basham: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, anytime. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Dallas, Texas is the latest city to adopt a racial equity plan following the footsteps of several progressive cities. Dallas says it wants to team up with more social justice groups and hire more minority city workers among a long list of goals. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraida Lordi is here with the details for us.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: So, Maraida, what does Dallas's racial equity plan look like?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hi Georgia. So Dallas racial equity plan sets goals that they hope will lead to quote tearing down the walls of racial ethnic and socioeconomic injustice in the city. The city says it wants to be an outlier in the country as far as diversity equity and inclusion and eventually become the nation's most equitable city.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: The plan has been in the works since March of last year when the Dallas City Council directed the city to develop a racial equity plan. So what are the plan's specific objectives?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, first, the plan starts off with a land acknowledgement to the Native Americans' original ownership of North America.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: After that, one of the equity goals that stands out is Dallas wants to arrest fewer minority residents for low-level crimes. Specifically, the city wants to reduce these arrests by nearly 500 by the end of 2025.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Dallas also wants to place more minority youth offenders in its first offenders program instead of prosecuting them. A similar program was put in place in San Francisco in recent years.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Dallas's racial equity plan also promises that the city will follow through on a litany of smaller goals, including hiring more minority and bilingual city workers, addressing illegal dumping in minority areas, establishing more free vaccine clinics, having more workforce development programs for minorities, encouraging minorities to visit the library more, hiring more female city technicians, streamlining the permit process for affordable housing, partnering with more social justice groups, improving sidewalks in minority neighborhoods and identifying which neighborhoods are most at risk of gentrification.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The plan also includes some interesting initiatives to increase pet ownership among minorities. For example, they want to set up pop-up pet food pantries and will encourage minorities to adopt more cats and dogs.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: The plan also includes millions of dollars to update water and wastewater infrastructure in minority areas and money to support minority artists. Lastly, the city plans to build a memorial for victims of racial violence, costing $812,000.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, Dallas is not the only city to implement a racial equity plan. Where else has this been done?
--:-- Maraida Lordi: So Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and several other smaller cities all have some form of racial equity plan in place, just to name a few. LA approved its plan just weeks before the police custody death of George Floyd. San Francisco, perhaps the country's most liberal city, has racial equity plans for every city department. Some cities have more targeted racial equity plans. Atlanta, for example, has a racial equity plan aimed specifically at affordable housing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we'll have to do a follow-up on how these plans are working for these cities.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks, Georgia. That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraida Lordi.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. Los Angeles officials are challenging the accuracy of the most recent count of homeless people living in Los Angeles County, which counted zero homeless people in a Venice Beach area known as Ground Zero for homelessness.
--:-- [Audio clip of news report]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Nearly three-fourths of American workers say that the cost of living is outpacing wages, according to a new report. Bank of America's 12th annual Workplace Benefit Report, Navigating a New Era of Financial Wellness, noted that more American workers are feeling pressure on their financial wellness because of soaring inflation.
--:-- [Audio clip of news report]
--:-- Georgia Howe: An 84-year-old pro-life female activist canvassing for a ballot proposal surrounding abortion laws in Michigan was shot in the back by an unidentified man last week while passing out pamphlets. Michigan State Police have begun investigating the case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
