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--:-- John Bickley: It's Friday, April 19th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: U.S. officials have confirmed that Israel launched several strikes against Iran Friday in the early morning hours. This was a retaliatory action for Iran's missile attack against Israel last week.
--:-- John Bickley: Reuters reports that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet had approved the strike on Monday. It took days of negotiations within the War Council with the U.S. and other allies on what the scope of the attack should be.
--:-- John Bickley: The goal was one that would balance a proper response but not escalate the conflict.
--:-- John Bickley: Morning Wire spoke to Aryeh Lightstone from Israel. He is former senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
--:-- Aryeh Lightstone: These attacks were done in such a way not to, quote, embarrass Iran and to allow Iran some degree of plausible deniability of which Iran has been out in full force, declaring that Israel did not attack it and there was no damage in this non-attack.
--:-- Aryeh Lightstone: And in such a way, I do believe that this round has concluded. In no way shape or form is the war Israel against Iran over but this round of direct attacks in between Iran and Israel I believe is over for a period of time.
--:-- Aryeh Lightstone: I think we will see an uptick of attacks from Hezbollah and Lebanon to Israel and vice versa as the war continues to be played out now via proxies.
--:-- John Bickley: In related news, the U.S. used its veto power to reject a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have allowed the Palestinian-controlled territories to become full members of the UN.
--:-- John Bickley: The resolution was put forward by Algeria. Twelve of the 15 members voted yes. Switzerland and the UK abstained. Only the U.S. voted no, saying allowing statehood now would undermine a lasting peace in the region.
--:-- John Bickley: In a highly controversial move today, the Biden administration has added gender identity to Title IX, asserting that sex discrimination now includes transgender, non-binary, and other LGBT identities.
--:-- John Bickley: The changes also reversed due process protections put in place by the Trump administration. Schools that don't follow its dictates will face the loss of federal funding.
--:-- John Bickley: The rule change was met with swift backlash from those who say it puts women and girls in danger.
--:-- John Bickley: Among the critics is former senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, Sarah Partial Perry.
--:-- Sarah Partial Perry: The new rule also erases other important protections like due process protections for students accused of sexual misconduct, free speech protections for students and teachers who don't want to use preferred pronouns, and parents right to know if their child is in the process of a gender identity social transition at school.
--:-- John Bickley: Mortgage rates have risen again above 7%, leading to a drop in the number of homes sold.
--:-- John Bickley: The National Association of Realtors, or NAR said home sales dropped 4% since February. That's the largest drop since 2022.
--:-- John Bickley: The rising interest rate combined with changes to real estate agent commissions which was brought on by a lawsuit against NAR, appears to be causing the home buying slowdown, and it's expected to last at least until July.
--:-- John Bickley: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has qualified for the ballot in Michigan.
--:-- John Bickley: Here are the details as Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan were nominated by the Independent Natural Law Party, which has ballot access in the battleground state.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Michigan is critically important in the next presidential election. Trump won the state in 2016, but Biden took home the win in 2020.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Meanwhile, members of the Kennedy clan shunned their relative and endorsed Biden for president.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's Kennedy's sister, Carrie Kennedy.
--:-- Carrie Kennedy: President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for.
--:-- John Bickley: Scotland has paused the use of puberty blockers on minors.
--:-- John Bickley: Morning Wire reported last week that England's National Health Service commissioned a report known as the Cass Review to research transition treatments.
--:-- John Bickley: The review found that there was a lack of evidence justifying the use of puberty blockers on children experiencing gender dysphoria.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, Scotland's only gender Clinic, located in Glasgow, released a statement saying that they will not issue any new puberty blocker prescriptions.
--:-- John Bickley: Police swarmed Columbia University Thursday afternoon, arresting several anti-Israel protesters.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell.
--:-- Zach Jewell: In an email to students and staff, President Shafiq said she asked police to clear the campus despite her hopes that such a move would never be necessary.
--:-- Zach Jewell: In the early afternoon, hordes of cops in body armor and face shields swarmed the campus and surrounded the encampment, which has been the center, for all the campus demonstrations since Wednesday.
--:-- Zach Jewell: The hundreds of students who occupied the South Lawn did not resist when police arrested them, and onlookers yelled at the police as the arrest took place.
--:-- Zach Jewell: Among those protesting was the daughter of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. While she does not attend Columbia, she has been suspended from Barnard College, where she is enrolled.
--:-- John Bickley: A bizarre claim by President Joe Biden has been debunked.
--:-- John Bickley: During a visit to the Scranton, Pennsylvania World War II memorial, the president claimed that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals.
--:-- John Bickley: But an official report by the U.S. Defense POW-MIA accounting agency says Finnegan was a passenger on the plane. It went down in the ocean after both engines failed.
--:-- John Bickley: One crew member was recovered by a passing barge, but the body of Biden's uncle was never recovered.
--:-- John Bickley: Asked about the claims, White House spokesperson Corrine Jean-Pierre joked that she doesn't have a cannibal tab in her press binder.
--:-- John Bickley: And the guitarist and founding member of the Allman Brothers band, Dickie Betts, has died.
--:-- John Bickley: That I was born a rambling man. Betts wrote and sang Ramblin' Man, the band's most popular song.
--:-- John Bickley: He told Rolling Stone magazine back in 2020 that he initially wrote the song for Johnny Cash, but then decided to sing it himself.
--:-- John Bickley: Betts suffered from cancer and COPD. He was 80 years old.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, those are your drive-home updates this afternoon.
--:-- John Bickley: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- John Bickley: And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, Listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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