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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
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--:-- John Bickley: The controversial U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan enters its final days. With American citizens and Afghan allies likely to be left behind, along with billions of dollars worth of military equipment, some former U.S. Special Forces soldiers have taken evacuation efforts into their own hands. We'll look at the latest developments in the ongoing crisis. I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, August 30th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After dozens of Texas Democrats left the state last month in order to block legislation, Texas House Republicans have finally passed their election integrity bill. How did the bill finally make it to the House floor, and how could it impact elections in Texas going forward?
--:-- John Bickley: And failing to quarantine after a positive COVID test could mean jail time in Mississippi. How does the state plan to enforce the strict isolation policy? And how are residents responding?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: As the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan draws to a close, the concern that American citizens and Afghan allies may be left behind is growing by the day. In the face of this reality, some Americans have taken the evacuation effort into their own hands. Here to discuss the latest from Afghanistan is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Ian, before we dive into this amazing rescue story, what are the updates from Afghanistan?
--:-- Ian Howarth: When it comes to the evacuation effort, it looks like things are wrapping up, despite the growing reality that American citizens and Afghan allies will be left behind. If needed, the U.S. is going to continue to evacuate people right up until President Joe Biden's deadline of August 31st, with the Pentagon saying they will prioritize the removal of U.S. troops and military equipment in the final days.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to the State Department, there are hundreds of U.S. citizens trying to leave Afghanistan. And on Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan effectively admitted that Americans, green card holders, and Afghan allies would be left behind.
--:-- Ian Howarth: After August 31st, we believe that we have substantial leverage to hold the Taliban to its commitments to allow safe passage for American citizens, legal permanent residents, and the Afghan allies who have travel documentation to come to the United States.
--:-- John Bickley: And then there's the additional factor of ongoing terror threats. After the deadly attacks in Kabul last week, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members, as well as more than 100 Afghan civilians, the Pentagon said they killed two ISIS-K operatives using a drone strike.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The Biden administration has continued to warn of a high terrorist threat as evacuations continue, though, with airstrikes being used to stop what appeared to be more suicide bomb attacks on Sunday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so evacuations are ongoing but it appears that some Americans and Afghan allies will be left behind and the threat of terrorism remains.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, and this is made worse by reports of the sheer amount of military equipment left behind by the Biden administration which has now fallen straight into the hands of the Taliban.
--:-- John Bickley: Right, we've seen some reports on that. What sort of numbers are we talking about here?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, at the end of the week, Representative Jim Banks, who was in the U.S. Navy Reserves, gave a brief summary of what has been left behind in Afghanistan. The Taliban now has access to over $85 billion worth of American military equipment. That includes 75,000 vehicles, over 200 airplanes and helicopters, over 600,000 small arms and light weapons.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Taliban now has more Black Hawk helicopters than 85% of the countries in the world.
--:-- Ian Howarth: If any American is harmed or killed and not safely evacuated, or if any of this military equipment or weapons are used to harm or kill an American, the blood is directly on Joe Biden's hands.
--:-- John Bickley: On a more positive note, tell us about this incredible rescue effort reported over the weekend.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, this is truly an amazing story. In an operation codenamed Pineapple Express, a group of U.S. Special Forces soldiers, including retired Green Berets and SEAL team commanders, secretly rescued hundreds of members of Afghanistan's special forces and their families.
--:-- Georgia Howe: These were all US allies who had been left for dead by the Biden administration, according to reports.
--:-- Ian Howarth: These special ops soldiers were driven to take matters into their own hands after one of the Afghan commandos they had served with got in touch. He told them he was on the run from the Taliban and that his visa had not been approved when the Taliban took over on August 14th.
--:-- John Bickley: The plan started by using a code word, pineapple, to help them be identified and put on airplanes by Marines. Then they began venturing outside the U.S. military perimeter around the Kabul airport, defying the Biden administration's restrictions, by the way.
--:-- Ian Howarth: During nighttime operations, they worked unofficially with U.S. military personnel and the U.S. embassy to move people, either one at a time or in pairs, to safety at the airport.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As of Thursday last week, the group said they had rescued as many as 500 Afghan allies and their families.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Amazing. That's 500 people who probably would have been left to fend for themselves under the brutal regime of the Taliban. Truly incredible story.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for the update, Ian.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Late last week, the Texas House passed an election integrity bill after a lengthy showdown involving Texas Democrats and Republicans. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Charlotte, this has been an ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats in Texas. What's the latest?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, as you know, the Texas House Democrats have taken unprecedented action to block Republicans' voting legislation. In May, Democrats held a walkout to block votes on certain bills before the legislative session ended. Republican Governor Greg Abbott then called a special session, and Democrats famously fled the state, boarding private planes headed for Washington, D.C. to keep the Republicans from having enough members, called a quorum to approve the bills.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They were gone for almost six weeks.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right. A few weeks ago enough Democrats came back to the statehouse for it to resume business. The legislature passed the election integrity bill on Thursday night after around 12 hours of debate and gave it final approval on Friday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what is each side saying about the bill?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Republicans argue that it is crucial to protect election integrity since the democratic process is obviously the foundation of our political system. They say they are simply trying to ensure that every legal vote and only legal votes are counted and fraud is prevented and punished.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Republican Andrew Murr, who authored the legislation, also made the point that Texas has consistently reviewed its election laws, and this is just another example of updating its laws.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Meanwhile, Democrats have said that these voter laws are essentially racist, particularly attempts to require voters to provide IDs. The suggestion is that minorities are less able to attain IDs than whites, which Republicans say is a racist claim itself.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, this is a debate we've been hearing for a little while now. What exactly is in the bill?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The bill is aimed at preventing fraud in state election conduct. It increases criminal penalties and creates criminal offenses for acting in a way that goes against the law. It also essentially bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting, which Harris County, a more liberal area, did last year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It also includes protections for poll watchers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: It's important to note that approved IDs for early voting mail-in ballot applications include more than just a driver's license, such as a specific personal identification card or the last four digits of someone's social security number. They can also use certain expired IDs that are otherwise valid. So several options.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah. The bill also extends early voting time periods and protects the ability for people to vote after a polling place closes if they're in line by closing time.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: How does this fit into the broader nationwide debate about election integrity?
--:-- Georgia Howe: After the 2020 presidential election, a lot of Republican state legislatures and members of Congress in D.C. started looking to pass legislation that would address the nation's concerns about election security. At the same time, Democrats have tried to federalize election laws in an effort to remove what they call barriers to voting, including requiring ID.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Under the Democrat plans, states would have to get pre-clearance or pre-approval from the federal government to change their voting laws. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled against parts of this pre-clearance method.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What's next for the Texas bill, though?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Now it heads to the Senate, where the lawmakers can approve any changes made to it. And they passed a similar bill in August. The Republicans control the state legislature, so the bill is likely to pass. And Governor Abbott is expected to sign it into law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The Mississippi State Health Department recently issued an alert telling people who have tested positive for COVID to isolate for 10 days or face severe consequences. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs told Mississippi residents last week that if they don't isolate after testing positive, they could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Here to discuss what's going on in Mississippi is Daily Wire editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Ash, why is Mississippi warning about such severe punishments for people who test positive for COVID?
--:-- Ash Short: Well, Mississippi has been struggling to get people vaccinated and get a handle on the virus. And the state has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Just 45% of Mississippians have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, and just 37% are fully vaccinated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The state hospitals also currently have more COVID patients than they have at any other point in the pandemic.
--:-- Ash Short: The state as of last week had 1,457 patients in the hospital. Of those, 457 were in the ICU and 324 were on ventilators.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's in the entire state? Yes.
--:-- Ash Short: For reference, the state population is about 3 million. So they say they're trying to get things under control with these warnings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, but critics are saying they're doing it in an extreme way. The state has long had a law that criminalized willfully failing to quarantine if one has a life-threatening communicable disease. But the state is now pushing them in a more aggressive manner.
--:-- Ash Short: And there's been some strong pushback in the state, correct?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. I recently spoke to Douglas Carswell, president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, and he said that issuing threats was the wrong way to go about this.
--:-- Ash Short: What this is about is public officials wanting to be seen to be in control, that they're not in control. None of their interventions can really affect the trajectory of this virus. But they seem to think that by issuing threats, they look as though they're doing something about it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Issuing threats to people saying that if they don't quarantine, if they don't obey the quarantine restrictions, it's a little bit like insisting that people wear masks. It's about officials appearing to be doing something.
--:-- Ash Short: Instead, Carswell said that we should be presenting people with the facts and an honest assessment of the risks. Tell them the truth, for example, which is that 90% of the people in the ICU facilities in Mississippi's hospitals with COVID, 90% of them haven't had the vaccine. If you've had the vaccine, you're as safe as can be. Give people the facts, treat them as adults, and let them make their own judgments.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How would Mississippi officials even enforce this mandate? It's not clear they could.
--:-- Ash Short: The state health officer told people that if they test positive, they must isolate for 10 days and confine themselves to a, quote, specific room away from others in your home. He also suggested using a separate bathroom if possible and to wear a face mask around others in your family if you have to interact.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But of course, it's extremely difficult for the government to know someone tested positive and then didn't isolate for a specific amount of time.
--:-- Ash Short: Right. Do people have restrictions after coming out of the 10-day isolation? No. After the 10 days, people don't need a negative test to reenter society. They just need to be fever-free for at least 24 hours and have their other symptoms improved.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is the state taking any other action related to COVID, like vaccine mandates? Not on a state level.
--:-- Ash Short: Individual sectors are insisting on mandates. For example, Mississippi's only Level 1 trauma center, which is a state university, announced recently that all staff and students would need to be vaccinated. This was a reversal from its previous policy of allowing people to choose not to be vaccinated as long as they wore N95 masks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Ash, thanks for keeping us informed.
--:-- Ash Short: You're very welcome.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday. The Category 4 storm is the most powerful on record to hit the state, matching the strength of Hurricane Laura last year.
--:-- 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 tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
