--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's January 22nd, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, Georgia. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me, John. We've got a lot to cover today. A new report found that teachers' unions are now raising tens of millions of dollars, and their leadership is using those funds to support causes that some critics say are completely unrelated to education.
--:-- John Bickley: We talk with the lead author of the report. Eric Eggers from the Government Accountability Institute, who issued the report. Morning, Eric.
--:-- Eric Eggers: Good morning, John.
--:-- John Bickley: So education is a hot topic in the country at the moment. The Chicago Teachers Union just agreed to come back to the classrooms while you've got lawsuits across the country from parents over what they think is objectionable content being taught in classes. How does this new report speak to all that?
--:-- Eric Eggers: Right. So I think this new report would actually examine both the rise in campaign spending on behalf of the American Federation Teachers and also the National Education Association. It also looked at the internal resolutions that the AFT had passed. And what it does is they actually reveal the organization's priorities.
--:-- John Bickley: What does that mean?
--:-- Eric Eggers: What the two data sources each show is actually how much more active the country's teachers unions have become politically. And the shift that's occurred, which now has union leadership actually voicing consistent support for a host of left-leaning social and political positions that you wouldn't typically associate with the education industry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So let's start with the spending. What did you find and how does it explain some of the things we're seeing in the news in terms of classroom closures?
--:-- Eric Eggers: So back in 2008, the NEA and AFT combined donated roughly $8 million to political campaigns or related entities. But by 2020, that number had increased dramatically up to more than 30 million. And more than 99% of it actually goes to Democrats.
--:-- John Bickley: Really? And this is why union leadership gets to help write CDC guidelines for school reopenings and why some unions were able to help keep schools closed despite parental opposition. Their financial clout, coupled with an intentional shift in organizational mindset, shed some light into how they've attained this new status.
--:-- Eric Eggers: What do you mean shift in organizational mindset?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, one of the report's key findings is actually an admission by the former head of the NEA, Lily Esclen-Garcia, that the quote core business of the NEA is no longer lobbying for things like pensions and health insurance things that impact the day lives of the teachers they represent. Rather, Glenn Garcia said the new focus of the union is social activism and political lobbying.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So when Chicago teachers unions agreed to reenter the classroom last week, Chicago's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was explicit as the driving force behind the shift in position. And it wasn't a desire by teachers or union leadership to get back to work.
--:-- Eric Eggers: I want to make sure that parents understand we heard you. We're not standing here making this announcement without the parent activism, the parent voices, the parent demands that we heard.
--:-- John Bickley: All that to say, unions have dramatically increased their political power as reflected in both their financial and organizational priorities. And as we've seen, they're wielding that power, as we saw in Chicago, even when it's directly at odds with parents and lawmakers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about what's happening in the classroom? We've seen lots of lawsuits throughout the country over things being taught in the classroom or things happening outside the purview of parents. What do you find regarding actual classroom content?
--:-- Eric Eggers: So in reviewing the internal resolutions passed by the AFT, we found that a significant percentage of them actually featured advocacy for cultural or social positions that a lot of Americans might find divisive.
--:-- John Bickley: In 2020, the American Federation of Teachers passed 34 resolutions. But of those 34, 16 of them advocated for some form of racial justice, things like calling for a Black Lives Matter in school week. And another four of them actually supported increased sensitivity for gender and LGBT-related issues.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And while some people might think that that's totally appropriate, those are actually the exact same topics that are being taught at the local level that parents across the country are objecting to in some aggressive and legal ways, including lawsuits.
--:-- Eric Eggers: Yeah, we've seen parents really getting engaged in their schools on a new level over the last year. They really have.
--:-- John Bickley: Eric, thanks for reporting on this important story.
--:-- Eric Eggers: Sure thing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Eric Eggers of the Government Accountability Institute and co-host of the Drill Down podcast. Coming up, Prince Andrew is stripped of his royal titles.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With Epstein dead and Maxwell behind bars, the focus of the ongoing child sex trafficking case is now falling on British royal Prince Andrew.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to give us the latest on the Prince Andrew saga is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth. So first off, Ian, how have things changed recently?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, the big news when it comes to Prince Andrew specifically is that his last ditch attempt to have the civil case against him thrown out failed last week. Prince Andrew's legal team had argued that he was released from reliability by a previously secret 2009 agreement between his accuser, Virginia Jeffrey, and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- John Bickley: However, when the $500,000 settlement was uncovered, it didn't mention Prince Andrew by name, only other potential defendants. But a New York judge rejected this argument, which means that Prince Andrew will be heading to court after all.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And so what's the fallout from this decision? Just a few days later, Buckingham Palace announced that the queen, who is Prince Andrew's mother, had stripped him of his military titles and royal patronages. He also can't use the style His Royal Highness in any official capacity.
--:-- John Bickley: In a statement Buckingham Palace said quote with the Queen approval and agreement the Duke of York military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen
--:-- Ian Howarth: This is just the latest example of Prince Andrew effectively being shunned from the royal family. However, the Queen isn't cutting him off completely as it's been reported that she will still bankroll Prince Andrew's legal battle and help fund the cost of a settlement if needed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And are there any further updates on the Epstein-Maxwell story more broadly?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, as we reported on Morning Wire this week, Jelaine Maxwell has now decided to stop fighting to protect the names of eight men who allegedly had sex with underage girls procured by Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- John Bickley: These men are referred to in a 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell by Virginia Jeffrey, and now it's likely that these names will eventually be made public.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And this is where it's important to remember that while Prince Andrew is one of the highest profile names at the moment, there are others who are skirting beneath the radar. Jaffray has publicly accused other men of having sex with her when she was underage.
--:-- Georgia Howe: These men include billionaire hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, Clinton cabinet member Bill Richardson, former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, and several others, including Alan Dershowitz, who served as Epstein's lawyer. They have all denied Jaffray's claims.
--:-- John Bickley: There are then multiple parts of this story which are largely being ignored by the mainstream media. These include testimony that the FBI found a cache of Epstein's sex tapes but didn't reveal what's on them, the fact that no one seems to know where Epstein's vast wealth came from, or that Epstein was basically let loose after early investigations into his criminal behavior.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Needless to say, Prince Andrew might be the face of the current story, but there is an entire underworld beneath his notable name, which is largely being ignored by the wider media.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, it sounds like there's still a lot more to learn about this case.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That's Daily Wires, Ian Howarth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week marks one year since Joe Biden's inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.
--:-- John Bickley: The president said he outperformed expectations in 2021. Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson asked a Republican congressional leader to go through the metrics, and he joins us here to share the results. Good morning, Ben.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Good morning.
--:-- John Bickley: So first, Ben, what did President Biden cite as his greatest accomplishments in the last year?
--:-- Ben Johnson: During the press conference on Wednesday, the president highlighted the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as the passage of the American Rescue Plan and his trillion-dollar infrastructure bill.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But then he selectively cited economic statistics. We created 6 million new jobs, more jobs in one year than any time before. Unemployment dropped, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent. Child poverty dropped by nearly 40 percent.
--:-- Ben Johnson: And for the first time in a long time, this country's working people actually got a raise. He also said he lowered insurance premiums and he implied that he fixed the supply chain crisis last year.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, you spoke with Representative Kevin Brady, the ranking Republican member of the House Ways and Means Committee. What did he make of the president's account?
--:-- Ben Johnson: He had a much different take, as you can imagine. President Biden began his presidency, to use the baseball analogy, standing on third base and promptly stole second.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Congressman Brady pointed out some of the economic facts the president left out of his press conference. He is now 1.1 million jobs short of his promises from the last COVID stimulus. Small business pessimism is at a 48 low because inflation has been so high in one year.
--:-- Ben Johnson: President Biden took back all of the wage gains that families were seeing from the previous years under President Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
--:-- John Bickley: To expound on that, it's true that the economy added six million new jobs. But as we've discussed, that's slightly fewer jobs than the Congressional Budget Office projected before he passed three trillion dollars in new federal spending.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's true unemployment is down, but that's because so many people have exited the labor market that stores can't find workers. Insurance premiums for employer-sponsored health care plans increased by 4% last year.
--:-- Ben Johnson: And it's true that wages rose 4.7% in 2021, but as the congressman alluded, inflation rose even more. In practice, wages fell last year by 2.4%.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, in real dollars, that's an average of $5,000 a year, $3,500 in higher prices, and $1,500 from what economists in the 70s called bracket creep. That's when inflation pushes taxpayers into higher tax brackets.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As far as the supply chain is concerned, officials simply started finding ships that docked too long near the port, which made it appear that there was less cargo to unload. In fact, the number of ships idled at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach surged to a record-breaking 105 vessels earlier this month.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So you're saying here that there was some meaningful context left out of these statistics.
--:-- John Bickley: Exactly. What other data would help put the Biden administration's first year into, you know, better perspective?
--:-- Ben Johnson: Well, you know, Biden once again defended his withdrawal from Afghanistan, which most Americans support, but he made no apologies for the botched strategy that left American citizens stranded and hunted by the Taliban.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's also important to highlight issues the president didn't mention at all, like violent crime. Murders rose in at least 22 major cities in 2021, placing them at or near record highs.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The murder of police officers hit its highest level in years. A total of 346 officers were shot in the line of duty and 73 were killed.
--:-- John Bickley: Biden said nothing about the highest rate of illegal immigration in U.S. history or the explosion of fentanyl overdoses, which have eclipsed car accidents and suicide as the leading cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The most common question I get back home in Texas where I live is who's leading this country?
--:-- Ben Johnson: Congressman Brady said all this is leading Americans to ask some hard questions.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, I guess we'll have to see what the record looks like this time next year.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Thanks, John. Thanks for the opportunity.
--:-- John Bickley: That's Daily Wire's Ben Johnson.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. NBC News is not going to send announcers to attend the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games in China over worries about COVID-19.
--:-- John Bickley: The move comes amid concerns over cybersecurity for athletes traveling to China.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And a bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt, which has stood prominently in front of the American Museum of National History in Manhattan since 1939, was removed just after midnight on Thursday morning.
--:-- John Bickley: The statue, which will soon reside in North Dakota, depicts Roosevelt on a horseback flanked by two figures, a Native American man and an African man.
--:-- 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.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back next week with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
--:-- [Theme music starts playing]
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll see you next time.
--:-- John Bickley: Goodbye.
--:-- [Theme music continues to play as the episode ends]
