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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden's vaccine mandates face growing resistance from members of the airline industry who are calling themselves the Freedom Flyers. Now their mission is spreading to airline passengers and beyond.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's medical tyranny, is really what it is. It comes down to, we have members within our group who are vaccinated and we have members within our group who are not vaccinated. So this is not a pro or anti-vaccine push. This is pro-medical freedom.
--:-- John Bickley: We speak to the Freedom Flyers co-founder regarding his concern about the future of medical autonomy in America.
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--:-- John Bickley: A school board member has resigned in Loudoun County, Virginia, as a result of reporting on an alleged rape in a girl's bathroom. Investigative reporter Luke Rosiak joins us to give us the latest on his bombshell reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And also in Virginia, in just over two weeks, voters will elect a new governor. How is the battle over schools and education affecting the tightening race? And what does the election mean for the rest of America?
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up at Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden's vaccine mandates for all federal and many private employers appears to already be significantly impacting some industries, including airlines. One group pushing back on mandates is Freedom Flyers. Formed at the beginning of September, its membership has exploded to tens of thousands and now includes workers in other industries, including trucking, train, and subway operators.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to talk to us about the group's goals is its co-founder, Jason Kunisch.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: Hi, thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So first, what is your group's rationale for fighting against vaccine mandates?
--:-- Jason Kunisch: It's medical tyranny, is really what it is. It comes down to, we have members within our group who are vaccinated and we have members within our group who are not vaccinated. So this is not a pro or anti-vaccine push. This is pro-medical freedom, anti-coercion, because we realize that there's two topics we're talking about today, one of which is vaccines and the other is employment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Both of those can be swapped out. For example, today we're talking about vaccines. Tomorrow we could be talking about some other medical procedure that you would not otherwise partake in if it's not coerced upon you.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: The other one is your employment. Today, we're talking about employment, but tomorrow it could be your social security, your 401k access, your digital banking, et cetera. And so if you look around at the landscape, one could very easily see that that's where this could be going.
--:-- John Bickley: So you really see this as a slippery slope here?
--:-- Jason Kunisch: Oh, very much so. And I think that the slope will get more slippery as we go on if we don't stop this here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you estimate that your organization now numbers some 85,000 members.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: That's incredible. And it goes to show that this message and what we're doing is resonating with people. And I want to add too that it's not just transportation individuals right now. We also getting passengers. So this is reaching sectors that are far greater than the transportation industry.
--:-- John Bickley: And that's what we're fighting for. We're fighting generally for the American people because we know that they're going to be next. If they can get us, if the federal government, through these mandates, can affect this amount of change within the airline industry. It's our view that the passengers are next.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And there's evidence of that because of the House bill that's now on the floor regarding vaccination and testing requirements for domestic interstate travel. Right. House bill 4980 that requires full vaccination for passengers.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: We've been tracking the handling of mandates by the various airlines. What's the latest?
--:-- John Bickley: It's you know that that's a tough one because it's the airlines and the unions specifically are having a a reaction to this.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: The airlines in my opinion they're seeing this mandate for federal contractors specifically right now they have to respond to it and so they've almost got a gun to their back saying hey airline you need to make your employees do this certain thing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in addition to that, there's the unions. And as we all know, unions are comprised of the members and the union heads have had a duty to fairly represent the membership.
--:-- Jason Kunisch: And up until now, they have not been doing that. And we have very credible knowledge from the top of specifically our unions that because the union leadership is pro mandate, pro vaccine, that they're trying to get the rest of the group on board with that because that's their own personal agenda.
--:-- John Bickley: And so we're trying to ask, why is that? Why are you not fighting for us just for medical freedom? Why can't we make our own choice?
--:-- Jason Kunisch: Well, let's hope you guys get some answers.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Freedom Flyers co-founder Jason Kunish. Coming up, the fallout continues from the allegations of a cover-up of sexual assaults in Loudoun County schools.
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--:-- John Bickley: Last week, we revealed the shocking backstory behind a viral photo of a man being arrested at a Loudoun County School Board meeting about a transgender policy. The man's ninth-grade daughter was allegedly raped in a bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt three weeks before. They arrested the father, Scott Smith, for disorderly conduct, then passed the controversial policy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Two weeks ago, the same student was arrested for a different sexual offense at another school.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us is the investigative reporter that broke this story here at The Daily Wire, Luke Rosiak.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So, Luke, this has gotten attention across the country, but it also has somewhat forced some change in Loudoun County, Virginia. Can you tell us a little bit about what's happened since your story broke?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Quite a lot. You may recall progressive school board member Beth Bartz, who lectured the crowd the night of Scott Smith's arrest, saying, quote, Our students do not need to be protected, and they're not in danger.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: On Friday, she resigned. Bartz is the same board member who previously was part of that anti Facebook group that threatened to hack and expose parents who voiced dissent about some of the school policies.
--:-- John Bickley: Now she was already facing a recall. Now that she's resigning, that means her colleagues will select a replacement rather than voters. So the voters don't have a say in her replacement.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: That's right. The second thing that happened is that Superintendent Scott Ziegler apologized. Well, sort of.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm sorry that we failed to provide the safe, welcoming and affirming environment that we aspire to provide. This has been a very difficult time for our community. We are committed to finding ways to improve our processes to ensure that Loudoun County schools are safe for all of our students.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, but did he explain why he told the school board that there had never been any bathroom assaults?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: He says he thought the question was whether there had been any assaults in bathrooms by transgender or gender-affluid students specifically.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Board member Bartz asked a question about discipline incidents in bathrooms that I wrongly interpreted as incidents involving transgender and gender fluid students.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: I regret that my comments were misleading and I apologize for the distress that error caused families. I will do better in the future.
--:-- John Bickley: One problem is that the May 28th rape allegedly was at the hands of a gender fluid student.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another problem is that the afternoon of that incident, the principal sent an email saying police were at the school only because of an issue in the main office that did not threaten the safety of the student body.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Finally, schools are required to report all sexual assaults to the state. The Daily Wire revealed on Thursday that Loudoun reported zero on state statistics, both for the time period covering the May rape as well as an earlier well-known incident.
--:-- John Bickley: That appeared to be the final straw. This lack of oversight that existed prior to my tenure also contributed to errors in our state reporting regarding disciplinary incidents in the school.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The division inadvertently omitted some information in the past. That is extremely concerning, and we are taking steps to make sure that this process is improved.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I imagine some parents were not fully reassured by that statement. They were not.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: And clearly this has raised some significant systemic issues in Virginia's education system that people are now demanding be addressed, including the family of the May assault victim who says they plan to sue the Loudoun County Public Schools.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, there's a lot of pressure on the school board now. We'll see if there's any other shakeups to follow.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: That's Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak. As we approach the midterm elections in 2022 and the general election in 2024, one gubernatorial race is becoming a microcosm of the larger cultural battle in the U.S.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to tell us why Virginia is now at the center of a national conversation is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Hi, John.
--:-- John Bickley: So before we look at the implications of the race itself, can you give an overview of the gubernatorial election coming up?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Absolutely. All eyes are turning to Virginia right now as the state's gubernatorial race is coming to an end in a few weeks. Virginia's current Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, won't be running for re-election, not because of the 2019 scandal involving either blackface or a KKK outfit in his medical school yearbook, but because the state's constitution doesn't allow governors to serve two terms in a row.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The race is between Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who won the Democratic Party primary and is a former governor, and Glenn Youngkin, who was selected at convention and is a businessman.
--:-- John Bickley: The election will be held in Virginia on November 2nd, and the winner will be sworn in on January 15th, 2022. If Junkin wins, it would be the first time in 12 years that a Republican has held the governor's office.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Look, there's already been a ton of national attention on this race and it just growing. Why is this one gubernatorial race so important?
--:-- Georgia Howe: The issues at the center of this one race are the issues that voters are facing across the country. Vaccines and vaccine mandates, the economy, employment, and the attitude towards Joe Biden and the federal government.
--:-- John Bickley: If we look at the polling data, McAuliffe the Democrat is leading Youngkin the Republican by under 3% among likely voters. But this is well within the margin of error.
--:-- Ian Howarth: If we think back to election night, for example, how many times did states flip against the polls when they were within that margin of error?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sure, right. But there are a bunch of warning signs which will be worrying Democrats in Virginia and across the country.
--:-- Ian Howarth: For example, Youngkin is leading with independents, a voting bloc which could sway elections in 2022 and 2024.
--:-- John Bickley: And then when we zoom in and look at specific issues, we're seeing a return of a familiar battle between COVID-19 and the economy. Democrats are tending to be in favor of COVID-19 restrictions, while Republicans are favoring issues relating to jobs and the economy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And this is a trend we're seeing on a national level.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Another issue we've been following closely at the Daily Wire is schools. And Loudoun County, for example, is in Virginia. How does this subject of schooling factor into this race?
--:-- John Bickley: For a lot of voters in Virginia, what their children are being taught in school is becoming a central issue for this election, especially with the Democrat candidate weighing in on whether parents should even have a voice in the classroom.
--:-- Ian Howarth: I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. Youngkin and Republicans in the state are making schools a focus, especially after months of closed classrooms and greater media coverage of issues like critical race theory and transgenderism in schools.
--:-- John Bickley: It's no longer a campaign. It's a movement, Laura. Watch Virginia stand up, not just for Virginia parents, but for America's parents.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it is. Thanks, Ian.
--:-- Ian Howarth: My pleasure.
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--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who was previously harassed by activists in a women's bathroom and on a commercial flight for pushing back against the Democratic-backed reconciliation bill, continues to face protests.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The director of activist group Our Revolution stated, we're committed to bird-dogging Kyrsten Sinema with her constituents until the very end.
--:-- John Bickley: The group promised to continue to, quote, make her life unpleasant or uncomfortable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: At least 17 American Christian missionaries, including three children, were kidnapped Saturday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Christian aid group was leaving an orphanage when they were allegedly abducted by gang members.
--:-- John Bickley: The kidnapping is part of a larger pattern in the area, worsened by recent unrest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And state officials in Colorado announced this week that in 2023, individual and small group health insurance plans in the state will start covering, quote, gender confirmation health care as part of the state's, quote, essential health benefits.
--:-- John Bickley: Approved procedures include jaw, cheek, and eye modifications, facial tightening, facial bone remodeling for facial feminization, breast surgery, and laser hair removal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Before we sign off today, we'd like to note that The Daily Wire could not be breaking significant stories like our exclusive investigative reports on Loudoun County without you, the listeners, especially our members.
--:-- John Bickley: To keep the exclusive reports coming, Go to dailywire.com and become a member today.
--:-- 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.
