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--:-- Host John Bickley: 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.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: Afghanistan descends into chaos as the Taliban seizes more control of the country. After the U.S. embassy was abandoned, thousands of U.S. troops were ordered back in to help the evacuation efforts. We'll look at the increasingly dire situation on the ground in the war-torn country. I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, August 16th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host John Bickley: A massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, killing hundreds and leaving thousands more homeless. Now, search and rescue teams race against time as a tropical storm approaches the reeling nation. We'll get the latest updates from Haiti.
--:-- Host John Bickley: And a Rhode Island mom is being sued by one of the largest teachers unions in the country. What information is this parent seeking, and why is the union moving to block her request? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Host John Bickley: This show is sponsored by WyoTech. WyoTech, one of the nation's leading auto and diesel training schools, sees the trades as America's front lines. WyoTech is shaping young men, women, and veterans to build careers and businesses. America is built on the trades, and WyoTech is leading the way in training. Visit wyotech.edu to subscribe and donate to the future technicians of America.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban have quickly retaken vast areas of the country. With Taliban forces now surrounding the capital city, many are describing the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal as a failure. Here to discuss is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth. Hi, John. Morning.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Morning, John. Ian, we've been covering the developments in Afghanistan. What's the latest?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, over the weekend, the situation in Afghanistan passed a critical point with the accelerated withdrawal of American troops by the Biden administration. In the past few weeks, the Taliban have flooded across the country, filling the void left by US forces with little to no effective pushback by Afghan government soldiers. They now control almost every major city, and over the weekend, they entered the capital city, Kabul. Reports indicate that Taliban fighters took control of the country's presidential palace soon after President Ashraf Ghani fled on Sunday, after which the Taliban leader was declared the new Afghan president. Obviously a key milestone in the Taliban's bid to take full control of the nation.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Not only are the Taliban on the edge of controlling the entire country, if they don't already, remaining U.S. personnel have been rushed to evacuate as the Taliban close in. The U.S. military evacuated the acting ambassador on Sunday to Kabul airport after U.S. officials abandoned the embassy. And Americans of the country were even warned to shelter in place with reports that the airport is also under fire. And all of this forced the Biden administration into a last-minute decision to deploy thousands of Marines and soldiers located in the Middle East to assist with the evacuation.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So thousands of troops going back. How much of the country does the Taliban control?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, the latest figures show that the Taliban now controls almost 350 districts. Around 40 are still being fought over, which means that only 12 remain in the government's hands. But it not just a territorial victory we got to contend with In terms of manpower the Taliban have released thousands of prisoners during their advance including ISIS and al members 5 prisoners were held in Bagram Air Base alone which the Afghan government surrendered to the Taliban on Sunday And this is the same airbase the US left in early July in the middle of the night without even notifying the base's new Afghan commander, which resulted in a lot of blowback against the Biden administration.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And then there's the issue of seized military supplies. The US spent billions on supplying the Afghan forces, with these weapons and other equipment now falling straight into the hands of the Taliban. What sort of equipment are we talking about here?
--:-- Ian Howarth: We're talking small arms, light weapons, vehicles, Humvees, and ammunition. Some reports seem to show that the Taliban are now even in control of US-made Black Hawk helicopters, which would only make the Taliban's advance even easier if they're airworthy.
--:-- Ian Howarth: What's been the political reaction to all this?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, it's fair to say that the Biden administration is being heavily criticized for the withdrawal, which many are describing as a complete disaster. Much of the political backlash, which I'm sure we'll discuss in the coming days, relates to the overwhelming danger Afghan civilians, particularly women, will now be in under the Taliban. When he was asked last year whether he would be responsible for the almost certain wave of human rights abuses which would return if the Taliban took control, Biden said he would not. But then don't you bear some responsibility for the outcome if the Taliban ends up back in control and women end up losing the rights.
--:-- Ian Howarth: No, I don't. And just last month, President Biden rejected the notion that a rapid withdrawal of this kind could lead to the outcomes we're now witnessing in Afghanistan. Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse. That is not true.
--:-- Host John Bickley: So in the next few days, not only do we have to consider the real-time implications of a resurgent Taliban and the impact this will have on ISIS and al-Qaeda, we will also be tracking the fallout here in the U.S. and abroad especially as China looks to gain a foothold in the region in the absence of Western influence.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, please keep us updated as more information comes in. Thanks, John.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Thanks, Ian. Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: Did you know your internet provider is legally allowed to log your internet activity and sell it to advertisers? We here at The Daily Wire make sure this doesn't happen with ExpressVPN, which secures your online activity from your ISP. Get an extra three months of ExpressVPN free at expressvpn.com slash wire.
--:-- Host John Bickley: On Saturday, a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, leaving hundreds dead and thousands more displaced. Here with the details is Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips. Morning, Cabot.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Morning, John. What do we know so far about Haiti?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the epicenter of this earthquake was in the southwest part of the country, about 60 miles outside Port-au-Prince, the capital. Right now, we're told that 724 people have died, but experts say that number is certain to rise in the coming days. Many roads into smaller towns are cut off right now due to landslides, and because of Wi-Fi and cell phone outages, officials have almost no information about what's going on in some of these more remote areas.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Keep in mind, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and many of the homes and even larger buildings there just aren't built to withstand an earthquake, let alone one of this magnitude.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What's the response been within the country?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, remember, Haiti's president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated last month, and the country's been in turmoil ever since. Right. Experts are worried that the power struggle going on right now could slow the government's response to the disaster. In the meantime, Interimum President Ariel Henry promised to get aid to those affected, but that's going to be a complicated process. Right. In the southern part of the country, gangs control many of the major transportation routes, So officials were worried that trucks carrying aid would be held up or robbed Now the gangs have reportedly agreed on a truce to allow aid to get in but that could change at any moment
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We also seeing reports of a tropical storm heading towards Haiti. What do we know about that?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the timing of this earthquake could not have been worse. Tropical storm Grace is about to make landfall with sustained winds around 50 miles an hour. That might not sound like much, but many buildings in the country have been weakened by the earthquake, so there's concern about how they'll hold up. There's also tens of thousands of Haitians right now without a home, and many have been sleeping on soccer fields or in the streets, and they have nowhere to go as the storm approaches.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The storm is also expected to drop up to 15 inches of rain on some parts of the country, which again is going to slow rescue operations even more. And experts also warn that the rain is going to increase the chance of landslides, which are already more likely to happen following earthquakes. So it's just a nightmare.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You mentioned earlier that Haiti was already hit by an earthquake in 2010. How similar is this?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This quake was actually slightly stronger at 7.2 compared to 7.0 in 2010. But from what we're seeing at the moment, the devastation looks to be less extreme. The 2010 disaster killed over 200,000 people. That's 2% of the country's population and left a million and a half people homeless. This most recent earthquake struck just 60 miles from the epicenter of that 2010 incident. So unfortunately, many of the same people who still have not fully rebuilt their homes were hit again.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And how has the U.S. responded?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: President Biden appointed U.S. aid administrator Samantha Power to oversee the federal aid response. She announced Sunday that the U.S. would be sending a 65-person team to help with search and rescue efforts and provide medical care. And the U.S. Coast Guard was also working in the country over the weekend, helping evacuate the injured and transporting Haitian doctors to the affected areas.
--:-- Host John Bickley: A lot all at once in Haiti. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Talk soon.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: In a case that has made national headlines, a Rhode Island parent is being sued by one of the nation's largest teachers unions after she submitted a request for information about what's being taught at schools. Morning Wire's Georgia Howe recently spoke with the parent. Georgia, tell us about this case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, I'm excited to put my reporter hat on today. Right. So Nicole Solas is the mom of a kindergartner in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and she's being sued by the National Education Association. According to the suit, the NEA is suing to prevent Ms. Solas from gaining access to information from her local school district, specifically teacher emails, which Ms. Solas believes contain evidence of willful political indoctrination in the classroom.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to Solas, she's concerned about her child being exposed to radical ideology, particularly relating to race and gender. And she's encountered some major red flags that made her concerned about her school district in particular and specific teachers in that district.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Basically, the union is suing to prevent that information, particularly teacher-administrator communication, from being released. And they're claiming that teacher emails are private, personally identifiable information.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Got it. Whereas Ms. Solas is claiming that that communication is public information and that it's relevant for parents who want to know what their kids are learning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So why does she think teachers are politicizing their classes?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, primarily because, and this is according to Ms. Solis, they say so openly on social media. She also asked her child's principal about it, and here's what she had to say about that conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And she said, yes, they don't call the students boys and girls. They refrain from using gender terminology, and they embed the values of gender identity in the classroom. So in terms of anti-racism or critical race theory, she said that they have a certain line of thinking that they teach students in every grade Ms Solis also found evidence that local teachers were giving students extra credit for political activity They received extra points if they testified on a bill at the statehouse which was about whether teachers would teach about race and sex. It was a bill banning CRT that was being proposed. Ms. Solis also uncovered an RFP, or request for proposal, from the district seeking an equity auditor. and it specifically stated in the RFP that the district wanted the auditor to be proficient in critical race theory.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, if they're not teaching critical race theory and it's not in the district, why do they want an auditor, an equity auditor to come in and revise the curriculum and be fluent in critical race theory? It sure seems like they're intent on teaching critical race theory if that's what they want from the auditor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Absolutely. So Ms. Solis is arguing that information about what kids are learning isn't always clearly listed in public curriculum, but that other documents, including emails, do show explicit political motives. She's claiming that parents are entitled to see all of the relevant information about what's being taught.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What about the district? Is it cooperating?
--:-- Georgia Howe: No. The district actually attempted to sue her at one point, saying that her FOIA requests, that's the Freedom of Information Act, they were too much of a burden, but they dropped that suit. They actually held a five-hour school board meeting where Ms. Solas claims she was the main subject. My school committee sat there and had this struggle session about their feelings about my public records requests. And all of their, I mean, I think one or two of them even started crying. It was a genuine show trial where they posted my public records request on a big screen for everyone to see. They named and identified my husband. And they allowed people in the community to stand up to a microphone, call me a racist, tell me that I am linked to a national racist group.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So really strong resistance to releasing teacher communication.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yes, but Ms. Sola says she has a lot of support from the community. And she says she isn't backing down. She insists that this information, specifically teacher emails, is key to exposing what is being taught in our schools. And everyone, now that we know how scared the NEA is of emails coming out from the school district, everyone should request emails.
--:-- Host John Bickley: A fascinating case that's turned a lot of heads. It is.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Other big stories we're tracking this week. A federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of President Trump's Remain in Mexico policy. The program, which required thousands of migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico during the process, was halted by President Biden in his first few days in office and formally ended in June. The Biden administration, the judge said, failed to take into account several critical factors and heed warnings from officials who said repealing the program would result in a surge of migrants.
--:-- Host John Bickley: And the COVID lockdowns tighten in Australia, with officials in New South Wales significantly raising the fines for violating the stay-at-home order. State police will now fine residents in Sydney and other cities $5,000 Australian dollars for violations, up from $1,000. The lockdowns were extended Saturday due to an increase in COVID cases.
--:-- Host John Bickley: If you like 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. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Host John Bickley: If you like this podcast, 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.
