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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The U.S. sees a significant political shift among parents during the pandemic. I want to know where your candidate stands on education and open schools. This is all I care about. We break down the issues driving them to make different decisions in the voting booth. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's August 6th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. The UK has ordered England's only pediatric gender clinic to close after criticism of their practices, particularly regarding puberty blockers. We discussed the issues causing the closure and how it came to light. And a microchip shortage threatens the production of everything from cell phones to cars. What does it take to make this all-important product? And will the war in Ukraine spark a full-blown crisis? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- [Producer Colton speaks]
--:-- Host (Colton): Hey, everyone. Producer Colton here. President Ronald Reagan believed that all great change in America begins around the dinner table. Well, all great meals in America begin with Good Ranchers. They deliver 100% American meat born, raised, and harvested in the U.S. right to your door. Go to GoodRanchers.com slash wire to get $30 off your order, plus free shipping. That's GoodRanchers.com slash wire.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Large groups of parents shifted their political views during the pandemic. Here to tell us more about the shift among parents is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. All right, Charlotte, the New York Times recently profiled a group of parents who make up this new voting block. What did those parents say?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks, John. So the Times piece discussed an intense political shift among parents that occurred during the pandemic, with many of them becoming single-issue voters. These parents have latched on to specific issues like vaccine and mask mandates, and they're willing to abandon their political party if they find a candidate who espouses their beliefs. The Times interviewed 27 parents who all had similar stories about switching their viewpoints. They were worried about their kids being isolated during school lockdowns and fought to reopen schools and nearly all blamed legislators for the shutdowns.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Many of these parents were not especially politically active until the pandemic, but many attended protests or found like-minded people online. Since 2020, hundreds of Facebook groups sprang up. Some focused on reopening schools, some were anti-masking or anti-vaccination. Some also joined anti-vaccine groups on WhatsApp and Telegram. And in some cases, these parents even started asking questions about other vaccines that have been around for a long time, like measles.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: This all comes as Americans are generally less trusting of their institutions. A recent Gallup poll found that the average confidence among all institutions was at a new low of 27%. From 2021 to 2022, Americans' confidence in the medical system dropped six percentage points. And for public schools, it went down four percentage points.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Right. We've been watching the decline in confidence in these institutions for quite a while now. Now, the big question is, how is this going to play out in the midterms? What are we seeing there?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Election experts are wondering the same thing. Nearly all the people profiled in the New York Times were Democrats who are now disillusioned with their party candidates. But it's unclear how big this voting block is. Right though we did see unhappy parents really turn the tide on the Glenn Youngkin race in Virginia. Right. And in the Glenn Youngkin case, we also saw a lot of parents who had lost trust with the education establishment in addition to the medical establishment, particularly when it comes to sex and gender issues.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: When you add in that block, it's a larger coalition. According to a report from American Enterprise Institute, schools have long been legally required to tell parents about students' medical and behavioral concerns, but school districts around the country have quietly put in place new rules for employees telling them to affirm these gender transitions of the students while often keeping it from parents. A lot of parents see this as a massive infringement on their rights to make decisions for their own kids.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Here are some parents speaking about transgender issues like bathroom policies at a Virginia Beach school board meeting last year. It has been demonstrated that students cannot learn in an environment in which they do not feel safe. These children should be dealt with on a personal and private level with their parents. Matters that directly or could directly impact a parent's God-given stewardship of their children should not be placed in the hands of any one individual.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): This political shift we're seeing plays into a wider conversation about parents' rights, which not only has to do with vaccine and mask mandates, but also with schools generally keeping information from parents, specifically when it comes to curriculum and approaches to LGBT issues. Definitely an issue that has a lot of wide implications.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. Coming up, the UK orders the closure of England's only children's gender clinic. If you like 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.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The UK is ordering England's only children's gender clinic to close after an independent review criticized the clinic's practices. The Tavistock Gender Clinic has long been criticized for cavalierly prescribing puberty blockers to children, some of whom later said they regretted their gender transitions. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi is here with the details for us. So, Maraid, what's happening here? Why did the U.K. order Tavistock to close?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Sure. So the U.K.'s National Health Service made this announcement on Thursday. The NHS said the Tavistock Youth Gender Clinic in London must be shuttered by next spring. This decision to close the clinic, which was founded in 1989, comes after the NHS commissioned an independent review of Tavistock that was pretty damning.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: The review was headed up by Dr. Hilary Cass, an outside pediatrician. Cass said the way minors were being treated now puts them, quote, at considerable risk of poor mental health and distress. She also said that having just one clinic is not, quote, a safe or viable long-term option. Cass also said there are, quote, critically important unanswered questions about puberty blockers.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: We should note, too, that last month, the FDA issued a warning about the dangers of puberty blockers, linking them to brain swelling and even permanent vision loss. Now, the independent review was initiated by whistleblower reports from within the clinic. So what concerns did they raise?
--:-- Mairead Elordi: That's right. Tavistock employees raised concerns in 2020 that children were being pushed into gender transition too fast. Employees claimed their concerns were shut down. One staff member said, quote, Let pray that I am wrong because if I am not wrong very many vulnerable children have been very poorly treated and will be left with potentially a lifetime of damage here.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Children were reportedly referred for puberty blockers after just one consultation at Tavistock. There was also apparently a case where a girl was being bullied at school for coming out as lesbian, and then she suddenly transitioned to identify as transgender. One child even reportedly said her mother wanted her to go on hormones more than she did.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: So for now, existing Tavistock patients can continue to get treatment at the clinic, but later they'll be able to transfer to children's hospitals in London and Manchester. Now, you recently reported that Sweden has also been rolling back hormone treatment for kids.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Yes. So last year, Sweden's youth gender clinics stopped prescribing puberty blockers for children. One of the country's six clinics uses puberty blockers in clinical trials, but that's the only time. Sweden now emphasizes psychotherapy for minors with gender dysphoria instead. In February, Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare updated its guidance for treating gender dysphoric youth, saying that, quote, The risks of puberty-suppressing treatment and gender-affirming hormonal treatment currently outweigh the possible benefits and should be offered only in exceptional cases.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Sweden's health agency went on to say that there's a lack of, quote, reliable scientific evidence concerning the efficacy and the safety of both treatments. They also noted increasing cases of kids detransitioning, especially among girls. Finland and France also initially embraced puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children, but now they're also taking a step back.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: So far in the U.S., a handful of states have attempted to pass laws outlawing medical gender transition for minors. Arkansas and Alabama passed laws banning hormones for minors, but in both those cases, the laws were blocked. Tennessee banned the use of hormones in prepubescent children in 2021. The Florida Department of Health has also gone on record saying puberty blockers should not be prescribed to children and has moved to block Medicaid payments for the treatments. But even there, the treatment is not banned outright.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: On a national level, though, the Biden administration continues to promote early transgender surgeries and hormone treatments as crucial for the health of minors who identify as transgender and non-binary.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): All right. Well, Mairead, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Alordi. Semiconductors make nearly every piece of modern technology function. Despite being ubiquitous, their production is highly technical and specialized, which makes them extremely susceptible to supply chain disruptions. The U.S. Congress has just passed the CHIPS Act, which intends to bring back semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S., but the Ukrainian war is about to spark a new chip shortage that will make the previous one seem trivial in comparison. Here to explain more is Daily Wire writer Tim Meads. So Tim, first, let's start with the basics. What do semiconductors do?
--:-- Tim Meads: Well, good morning, John. Semiconductors, which are sometimes called microchips, are essentially the brain that allow modern technology to run. So take computers, for example. Computers basically operate by asking one question over and over and over again at unimaginable speeds. Is the electricity flowing? And you produce information that can be displayed or manipulated by having the answer be yes at one moment and then no at the next. Microchips allow us to control the flow of that electricity, and without those semiconductors, computers can't run.
--:-- Tim Meads: All right, so what are semiconductors made of and how are they made? Well, if you've ever taken a walk on the beach, you're standing on some of the elements in semiconductors. The most common element in semiconductors is actually silicon, which is extremely abundant, and sand is almost half of silicon. But in order to create a semiconductor silicon is melted down and recrystallized as a cylinder which is cut into ultra thin disks wafers.
--:-- Tim Meads: From there the wafers are etched with a cutting laser and a few other elements are inserted to adjust and really create the final product's conductivity, which will allow electricity to flow through it. Each wafer is then broken down into tens of thousands of semiconductors. The whole process is highly temperamental, and it's prone to failure.
--:-- Tim Meads: As you mentioned, the world was already facing a chip shortage because of COVID-19 lockdowns interrupting the supply chain. But the war in Ukraine really added to that problem.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Right. Now, what part of this process is affected by that war in Ukraine?
--:-- Tim Meads: Sure. So it all comes down to neon. The laser that carves the necessary grooves into the silicon uses a mix of noble gases to produce the beam, with neon gas comprising 95% of that mix. Without proper etching, the end result is useless. It doesn't do anything.
--:-- Tim Meads: The problem is that Ukraine refines half of the world's neon. There are two factories in Ukraine that produce neon. One is in Odessa, and it's been without power since the first day of the war. The second is in Mariupol. Well, more accurately, it was in Mariupol. The Russian siege in an urban annihilation program of that city has left that location a smoldering husk.
--:-- Tim Meads: Ukraine won't be producing any more neon until the war concludes. And it will take a few years after that to return to pre-war output levels. The largest semiconductor companies have emergency stock of neon. They've prepared, but those supplies aren't infinite. A few companies have invested in on-site neon recycling, which helps, but even that won't fix the problem.
--:-- Tim Meads: Even the most prepared players in the industry will soon need to operate at but a fraction of pre-war levels starting late this year. So if Ukrainian production is out of commission for several years, what are the alternatives?
--:-- Tim Meads: Well, if necessity is the mother of all inventions, one of the first steps is creating new facilities to produce neon. All neon production is a product of continued refinement from steel production, which means any prospective sites for new facilities to produce neon need to be near steel production. They also need to have cheap energy readily available. And that actually positions the U.S. as the best candidate in the world when considering all the factors.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Well, thank you so much for coming on, Tim.
--:-- Tim Meads: Thank you, John.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That was Tim Meads, writer for The Daily Wire. Other stories we're tracking this week. China is staging extensive military exercises off Taiwan, including firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait and activating planes and warships in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's unofficial visit to the island earlier this week.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Warner Brothers shelved the $90 million film Batgirl this week, seven months into the project.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Florida, experiencing a lack of teachers, created a pathway for military veterans to teach students.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Interest rates in the United Kingdom are spiking after the Bank of England increased rates by the largest increment in 27 years.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Scientists in Israel created the first synthetic embryos in the world without fertilized eggs. The finding could open up a new way to get cells for human treatment.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): NBC's longest-running series, Days of Our Lives, will leave the broadcast network after 57 years to start streaming on Peacock.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. 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.
