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--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's January 15th, and we've got a lot to cover today. The NFL is back, and FanDuel's got everything you need to play your game. From same-game parlays to live betting. Right now, new customers bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. 21-plus in president select states. 18-plus in Kentucky and Wyoming. Must be first online real money waging. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Pastors are sounding the alarm over a new conversion therapy law, which they say could be used to prosecute Christians for teaching the Bible. We'll hear from a pastor who's helping lead the fight against the laws.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And we're joined now by Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham. Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Megan, I think conversion therapy might be a new term for some people. Can you explain what that means?
--:-- Megan Basham: Sure. You might have heard it called reparative or ex-gay therapy. So in the past, it typically referred to any abusive or coercive treatment intended to retrain same-sex attracted people to prefer the opposite sex. And it's also been used on individuals who believe they were transgender to embrace their biological sex.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So when we talk about coercive, we're talking about everything from electroshock to brain-altering drugs. But there are almost no doctors who offer that kind of treatment today. And nearly every major healthcare organization has discredited that kind of practice. So that's not really what these laws and bills are targeting.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's right. So what are these laws targeting? Well, there are a number of implications, but churches and religious freedom groups say that the biggest issue is that these laws effectively ban preaching and teaching that draws on biblical standards for sexuality and gender.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So to give you an example, that new Canadian law known as C4, it bans any counseling that advocates for the Christian standard that sex is reserved for one man and one woman within marriage. Now, it could also potentially criminalize any instruction that confirms human beings are created as holy male or female from birth.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's right. And the Bible doesn't have a category for transgender, but it does have passages that teach that men aren't to dress like women and vice versa.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I spoke to Pastor John MacArthur about the issue, and this was just a little snippet of what he told me.
--:-- Megan Basham: So the case is being made that, yeah, this is talking about psychologists and counselors. And in some ways, that's the cover. That's the cloak, the disguise. Because look, they're not after the psychologists. They're after the church. This is the camel's nose way into the tent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this legislation bans counseling or advice to help someone turn from homosexuality or transgenderism, even if the person wants or is asking for that help. Now, in the Indiana case, it only applies to minors. But here's the kicker. The language of these laws is so broad, it could apply to almost any context.
--:-- Megan Basham: Say a pastor preaches a message from the pulpit about sexuality, and the authorities interpret that as trying to potentially convince someone in the audience not to be gay or transgender. Well, in that case, they could arrest him. Same with a teacher at a Christian school.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One prominent Canadian pastor, James Coates, you may recognize his name from when he defied those COVID shutdowns and kept his church open. Well, he says this legislation essentially, quote, criminalizes evangelism.
--:-- Megan Basham: Wow. So it essentially says that there's certain biblical passages that are off limits for pastors to preach in church.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it does. So I think a lot of people might hear this and they might think, okay, but that's Canada. You know, they don't have the same religious protections there as we have here.
--:-- Megan Basham: No, but you have to realize that LGBT groups have really ramped up efforts to pass these conversion therapy bills here. So already California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, a number of other states have some Conversion on the books and activists have been working to broaden their application.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then the Democratic Party made banning conversion therapy practices an official part of its platform last August.
--:-- Megan Basham: I think it's important to note that religious freedom groups are pointing out that there are no laws or bills going the other way. That is preventing teachers or therapists from counseling people to become transgender or homosexual.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it sounds like these laws, it's not like they're preventing people from tampering with other people's sexuality. It's really just going in that one direction of not biblical sexuality.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, exactly.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, so this was recently added to the Democratic Party platform, so it sounds like this is something that activists here have their eye on as well. How are pastors responding to that?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, a number of ways. They're filing legal challenges, issuing statements, all the things we would expect. But MacArthur hit on this idea of using the power of the pulpit. So he issued a call to U.S. pastors to preach about biblical sexuality on January 16th in defiance of laws and bills like this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, I've spoken to contacts at his church, and they tell me that thousands of pastors across the country have signed up. So that's going to be happening all around the country tomorrow.
--:-- Megan Basham: Good to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham. Coming up, real estate websites wipe out crime data for the sake of racial equity.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news. And you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows.
--:-- John Bickley: And we're proud to announce our exclusive partnership with Good Ranchers, the 100% American meat company. With Good Ranchers, you help support local American farms and ranches while getting steakhouse quality cuts. They win on quality, price, and mission. Head on over to goodranchers.com slash wire or use code wire at checkout to get their biggest offer ever. $30 off your first order plus free express shipping. Visit goodranchers.com slash wire today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Canadian pastors are warning that a new conversion therapy law in their country could be used to prosecute Christians for teaching biblical sexual ethics. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Indiana legislators have introduced a similar bill. In response, ministries across America, led by prominent California pastor John MacArthur, are planning to preach about the issue on January 16th in a show of peaceful protest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to tell us more about how bans on conversion therapy are affecting religious groups and how clergy are responding is Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, I think conversion therapy might be a new term for some people. Can you explain what that means?
--:-- [This section is already covered earlier]
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be right back after this break.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome back to Morning Wire. We're joined now by Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi. Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Maraid, it kind of looks like these home-buying websites are scrapping their crime data right when Americans are actually looking specifically for that information. What are the companies saying their reasons are here?
--:-- Maraid Elordi: So both Realtor.com and Redfin said they're concerned that the crime data is racially biased against minorities. Both companies announced on the same day in December, they won't include crime data on their websites to help guide homebuyers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. In Realtor.com's case, they actually scrapped a crime map that some users said was the site's most useful feature. CEO David Doctorow said the company has been working to, quote, break down those hurdles relating to discrimination in home ownership.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Now, Realtor.com initially said that it would, quote, reimagine how to provide safety data for buyers. But the company told me last week that they don't have any updates on that.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay. In Redfin's case, the site never had a crime map, but they were considering adding one until they decided it could reinforce racial bias against minorities.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Redfin actually went even further and declared that the available crime data should not be on, quote, any other real estate site either. So they're weighing in on what other sites should be offering.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So did they offer any details on why they think the available crime data is biased?
--:-- Maraid Elordi: So Redfin did try to explain its thought process. Redfin said it considered using data from both the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Victimization Survey. But both of those data sources had issues such as missing unreported crimes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And do we know what's causing this specific shortage for things like groceries? I mean, most of these items, I would guess, are domestically produced.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Well, there are several factors at play here. Winter storms, supply chain delays, and labor shortages are all causing problems. And of course, there's the COVID factor of the Omicron variant.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Tuesday, the CEO of grocery store chain Albertsons spoke on an earnings call about the shortages. We were expecting that supply issues to get more resolved as we go into this period right now. Omicron has put a bit of a dent on that.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: So there are more supply challenges and we would expect more supply challenges over the next four to six weeks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the lack of workers is also playing into this. There have also been lots of workers absent from their jobs recently, more in the past two weeks than in all of 2020.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: The National Grocers Association reported that grocery stores have less than their typical amount of workers, noting that lots of its members are operating with fewer than 50 percent of their typical workforce.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Not to mention inflation is still an ongoing issue, which isn't helping.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Right. And we recently reported on how the consumer price index went up 7% last year, which is the quickest pace since 1982.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Exactly. And the producer price index went up 9.7% in December. That's the highest calendar year rise ever recorded.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Many are placing the blame directly on President Joe Biden for the lack of goods. Just last week, the hashtag bare shelves Biden trended on Twitter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Then on Wednesday, White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese spoke about what's being done to address the shortages. Over the course of this fall, we've seen concerns about product shortages in particular categories and otherwise.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: What we've seen overall, if you look at retail inventories, including grocery store inventories, they're actually higher now than they were pre-pandemic, so in a pretty healthy place.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But that doesn't mean that there's logistical challenges at bottlenecks that may be localized.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: And to the degree that we can work with private sector companies and help ease the challenges in their private sector supply chains.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, I think we're all hoping for a real solution and hopefully soon.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. Other stories we're tracking this week. Wastewater data from over 100 U.S. cities indicates the Omicron wave may be peaking.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After seeing peaks in the first week of January, some cities, including Boston and New York, now show significant slowing or even precipitous drops in viral remnants.
--:-- John Bickley: The visa of unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic has once again been revoked by the Australian government. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke announced the decision on Friday, claiming it was in the interest of protecting public health.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The top-ranked tennis star's visa had been reinstated by a court earlier in the week. His lawyers are appealing the decision. Djokovic has won the Australian Open a record nine times.
--:-- John Bickley: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back next week with the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: If you liked this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We'll see you next time.
