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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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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--:-- Georgia Howe: Eric Adams has begun his first week on the job as New York City's new mayor, inheriting a city plagued with challenges. Unemployment remains high. Crime is high. COVID cases are high again. So how do we get our city back? What can we expect from the former police captain? And why are some critics already calling him de Blasio 2.0?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Tuesday, January 4th, and this is Morning Wire. U.S. population growth hit an all-time low in 2021. What's behind the plummeting birth rate in America, and are other countries seeing similar trends? And after a string of high-profile Twitter cancellations, podcast star Joe Rogan is getting behind a new tech platform. Where is Rogan turning, and why does he think it's the way forward for free speech online?
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. $30 off your first order plus free express shipping. Visit goodranchers.com slash wire today.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, was sworn into office on Saturday. And his governing style has already sparked both criticism and praise as New Yorkers try to figure out what to expect from the city's new leader. Many are hoping Adams will mark a shift away from his predecessor, Bill de Blasio's policies, but it's not yet clear if that wish will come true.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: I'm Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Maraid, it looks like Adams is following de Blasio's lead on certain things like COVID policies, but in other ways he's taking a very different approach. What have we seen so far?
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Right, well, he's given us a few hints so far. So, as you said, Adams, who's 61, took office on Saturday. Immediately, he surprised some by signing two executive orders that extend de Blasio's strict COVID rules, including the vaccine mandate for private sector employees.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Some critics have dubbed him de Blasio 2.0 for what they saw as a heavy-handed response to New York's surge in COVID cases, which appears to be caused by Omicron.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: However, Adams also signaled that he wants to keep the city open as much as possible, saying Monday morning that, quote, the city has to operate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So not much change for New Yorkers when it comes to COVID restrictions.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: No, and he said he's definitely planning to continue with the vaccine mandates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about crime? So Adams campaigned on a strong police force, and a lot of people think that's how he won the primary.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Right. Actually, that might be an area where Adams takes the city in a new direction. Adams is a former NYPD captain, and he's promised to restore law and order in a city that's seen crime skyrocket this year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Keep in mind, he ran against other challengers who vowed to defund or reimagine the police. So that was a major departure.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: He's also said that he wants to revive a controversial anti-crime unit. But as a Democrat he also aware of his party skepticism of the police so he promised to prioritize protecting civil liberties as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Already this week he visited an NYPD officer who was shot in the head. He also met with families of crime victims, and on his first day in office, he called 911 to report a subway fight while on his way to work.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: On Sunday, Adams said that New York's police officers will be, quote, responsible, but he also sent a pretty harsh warning to criminals. You will not bring violence to this city. That is not going to continue to happen in the city of New York.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Interesting. So definitely a law and order focus so far.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: What else have we learned about Adams in his first few days?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Adams has a particular love for New York's nightlife, a habit that's earned him criticism from some. He's already been seen out with everyone from rappers to PR professionals.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: There are also signs that Adams may end up having a better relationship with the new governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, than de Blasio had with former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, of course, resigned amid scandals.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Adams and Hochul have both signaled that they want to avoid tension. Hochul said recently that the, quote, era of fighting between New York's governor and mayor is over.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Well, this is definitely a new era for New Yorkers. We're going to have to see what changes and what doesn't.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Maraid, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi. Coming up, the U.S. population growth falls to a record low. 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 the 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. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts, no matter where your day takes you.
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, just how low has the rate of population growth fallen?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, to the point where calling it growth isn't really the right word. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's newest population report, the U.S. only grew by 0.1% in 2021, which for all intents and purposes means there was basically no growth at all.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: If you look at the data, the rate of natural increase, which just means the number of babies born compared to overall deaths, was just 148,043, which might sound like a lot. But in a country of 330 million, it's just a drop in the bucket. If you divide that by 50, it's fewer than 3,000 people per state.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, that's a huge problem because as the population ages, obviously there have to be enough young people to fill in behind them and help keep the economy going strong.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there is growing concern about what happens when right now the baby boomers get older, move out of the workforce, who fills their role.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the obvious question here is what happened? Is this all due to COVID?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, COVID certainly played a role. Throughout 2021, the immigration process was largely put on hold during the lockdowns. That resulted in far fewer legal immigrants than at any point in the past two decades.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And there were also obviously hundreds of thousands of COVID deaths, which contributed to the disparity as well.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But there is more to it. If you take a step back, population growth was already slowing considerably before COVID even existed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to most studies, there were two main reasons for that dip, the marriage habits of millennials and lower fertility rates.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Experts say economic factors like student loans and increased home prices, along with shifting cultural norms, have young people today waiting longer than ever to get married and in turn waiting to have kids.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The average first mother in the U.S. for example is now 28 years old. That is up from 21 a few decades ago. That's a big difference.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the other part here that isn't always talked about is the massive decrease in male fertility.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There have been numerous studies that have shown a 50% decrease in sperm count for American men over the last few decades.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And obviously that's taking a toll. One in eight American couples now say they've struggled with fertility problems.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a few different reasons there, but it's definitely a growing issue.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Is this isolated to the U.S. or are we seeing this globally?
--:-- Georgia Howe: No, it's definitely not just us. Birth rates are also plummeting in Europe and much of Asia.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Spain, Italy, and Japan, for example, all saw negative growth in 2021. And every country in Western Europe was under 1% growth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: China, which for decades had a brutal one-child policy to keep population growth low, is now reversing course. They're begging people to have kids. They're offering extra fertility services and even closing abortion clinics nationwide.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The only areas that saw any noticeable growth were in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of South America.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So several other countries are seeing similar trends.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Definitely.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Has there been any reaction from the political world?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, in past decades, there were a lot of politicians talking about this issue, just the other way around. In the 60s and 70s, they were all talking about global overpopulation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And many leaders actually urged people to slow down on having kids. Obviously, those predictions were totally off.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And now politicians are, for the most part, quiet on the issue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There has been bipartisan support for measures that usually encourage population growth, like increased child tax credits.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But most political leaders haven't addressed the problem specifically.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, that could start to change in coming years as the population continues to age and births continue to decrease.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if the political messaging changes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It will.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Big tech censorship has ramped up in the last few days, with both Twitter and YouTube removing interviews between popular podcaster Joe Rogan and two different medical experts.
--:-- Megan Basham: I'm Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In reaction, Rogan announced he is joining the new social media site, Getter, and he's asking his millions of fans to join him.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, to start, what exactly did YouTube and Twitter censor?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Rogan, as we all know, is known for being very open to interviewing people whose ideas don't always conform to, let's say, establishment views.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right. And his approach to COVID treatments and the government response to the pandemic has not been any different.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So last week, he sat down with Dr. Robert Malone, a prominent virologist who helped pioneer mRNA vaccines.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, during the interview, Malone suggested that pharmaceutical companies have a financial interest in pushing vaccine mandates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And he also suggested that COVID vaccines could be more harmful than getting the virus for certain demographics.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, here's a bit of what he told Rogan. Our government is out of control on this, and they are lawless. They completely disregard bioethics. They have broken all the rules that I know of, that I've been trained on for years and years and years. These mandates of an experimental vaccine are explicitly illegal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So then a couple of weeks before this interview, Rogan interviewed a cardiologist named Peter McCullough, who advocated for multi-drug therapy to treat COVID.
--:-- Megan Basham: YouTube has now removed the videos of those podcast interviews. And meanwhile, just a day before his interview with Rogan was released, Twitter banned Malone's account.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And so do we think that's why Rogan has joined Getter?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well he didn't expressly say so, but if you look at his comments and the timing, it's a pretty reasonable assumption to make.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So on Sunday Twitter permanently suspended Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for what it called, quoting here, repeated violations of its COVID misinformation policy.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, it's hard to imagine that Joe Rogan couldn't be suspended under that same rationale, given those recent podcast guests.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. So Rogan announced the same day as Green's ban that he was opening a Getter account.
--:-- Megan Basham: And he said, quoting in here, just in case stuff over at Twitter gets even dumber, I'm here now as well. Rejoice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm assuming he didn't say stuff.
--:-- Megan Basham: No, he used a different word. A little censorship of my own there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, this probably is the first time a lot of people are hearing about Getter.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Getter is a social media platform that very much like Twitter is geared towards short form posts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It will also allow users to upload images and videos up to three minutes long.
--:-- Megan Basham: So former Trump communication strategist Jason Miller launched it on July 4th of last year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it bills itself as being a home to free speech and independent thought while rejecting cancel culture.
--:-- Megan Basham: So it just kind of very directly takes aim at those big social media giants.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, there aren't many public figures out there who are influential enough that they can move the needle on big tech dominance.
--:-- Megan Basham: But I think a lot of people might argue that Joe Rogan could be one of those rare stars.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I think those people have a point.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, he has over 11 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 8 million followers on Twitter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So that's an awful lot of people who might want to follow him over to this upstart platform.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, as proof of that, Getter said in a press release Monday that after Rogan announced he was joining the site, it saw the biggest surge in signups in a single day since its launch.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, that said, other free speech competitors like Parler and Gab have not managed to reach Twitter's level of influence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. And it seems like there's a good chance that Rogan's going to be talking about all this on his show coming up.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes, I'm sure he will, and I'm sure a lot of people will be tuning in to hear it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right.
--:-- Megan Basham: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Of course, anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham. Other stories we're tracking this week. Apple has become the first company to ever reach a massive $3 trillion market value.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That means Apple is now worth more than Netflix, Disney, Walmart, Home Depot, MasterCard, and Facebook combined.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: On Monday, the FDA approved Pfizer booster shots for children ages 12 to 15.
--:-- Megan Basham: The CDC says two shots of the mRNA vaccine are only around 35% effective against Omicron infection, but the booster doubles that effectiveness.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Dr. Anthony Fauci, citing public, quote, pushback, said Sunday that the CDC might be considering an update to their recently changed guidelines for people who have tested positive for COVID.
--:-- Megan Basham: Asked about the CDC's decision to reduce the quarantine period from 10 days to five when asymptomatic, Dr. Fauci said officials are now considering adding a required test after five days.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter available exclusively to Daily Wire members.
--:-- John Bickley: Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll see you tomorrow.
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