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--:-- John Bickley: Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and cities across Canada to protest the teaching of radical gender theory in schools. Right now, education is not education anymore. It's under tradition. What are the protesters' concerns and how are officials responding?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 22nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: After seven decades in the news business, Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp, who will now helm the media giant, and what effect has the Aussie left on the media industry? And in a desperate attempt to curb widespread public drug use, Philadelphia city officials have reversed their policy on supervised drug consumption sites.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Our children are walking over bodies and needles every day. We should not be banning a tool that could save lives. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: They're taking away our parental rights. They're asking the kids in school, young kids, to decide on the gender. Thousands of people gathered in dozens of cities across Canada this week to participate in the One Million March for Children. Protesters are calling for parental rights and an end to gender ideology in public schools.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. So Amanda, we've covered a lot of these types of protests here in the U.S. What's going on in Canada?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, it's a very similar story playing out in Canada, where these parents' concerns mirror that of American parents who want gender ideology out of public schools.
--:-- John Bickley: In fact, some counter-protesters accuse these Canadian parents of importing America's culture war. Specifically, organizers of the One Million March for Children state that their aim is to unite diverse backgrounds and face for a shared purpose.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So the policy and procedures that we do not agree with and do not want in schools is SOGI, which is a sexual orientation and gender identity ideology. And what that does is it teaches kids from kindergarten, from a very small age, where they're not developed mentally, to even understand or comprehend what is being taught to them. It confuses them. They should not be receiving sexual education in elementary school.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Folks on the other side of this, counter-protesters, which we saw a lot of in response to this movement, they say they want 2SLGBTQ plus inclusion and argue that banning this sort of sex ed denies trans people's existence and is hateful.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So how many people participated and where was it? There were protests in 92 cities and towns across Canada, and that was in every single province. Some of the demonstrations did include school walkouts too. Parents met their children outside of schools and then continued on the march.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In Ottawa alone, it's been reported that thousands of people showed up. And notably, these protesters were extremely diverse.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Right. The footage was actually pretty remarkable.
--:-- John Bickley: Rebel news reporter Robert Krejcik was on the ground in Ottawa. Here are two female protesters in their own words.
--:-- Robert Krejcik: I here because the education system and the government is trying to push this sexual indoctrination to our children. How can you teach sexual education about adult teams for sexuality to grade ones to grade eight? Why are you promoting in schools and they say, oh, you know, they're the minority and they're being discriminated against. I'm a minority too. Where's my flag?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Many of the protesters emphasize that they don't want hate for anyone and just want to be allowed to raise their children how they see fit. We absolutely respect all communities, all faiths, all walks of life in this beautiful country. What we are here to do is to voice our concerns as parents. You know, this event is an innocent event for families from coast to coast, for fathers and mothers, and we're just trying to protect Canada's kids.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Counter-protesters echoed a lot of the same things we hear in the U.S. They chanted that trans rights are human rights, and they called protesters transphobic, racist, and hateful. And they also argued that schools need to be safe spaces for kids who identify as LGBT.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There wasn't a lot of support just in general. But going to school, you know, teachers there were able to make sense of my emotions. I have friends who will help me figure things out.
--:-- John Bickley: The video does show that there were some clashes between both sides. Police had actually positioned themselves between the two groups as they continued to shout at each other. There were reportedly a handful of arrests made during the demonstrations.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, was this march in response to something specific or was it just general backlash? Probably a combination of both. This has been bubbling for a while now in Canada, but the march did follow a change in policy in New Brunswick. And now teachers there have to have parental consent before they start calling a student a new name or using different pronouns. That same policy was then adopted by the Saskatchewan government. So it sounds like they're seeing some success.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Has there been a government response? Well, the government is certainly not supportive of these protests. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to X to denounce the demonstrations.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Here's a direct quote. Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country. We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI plus Canadians across the country.
--:-- John Bickley: On Thursday, Rupert Murdoch, the tycoon who built a sprawling media empire, announced that he was stepping down as chair of Fox and News Corp, sending shockwaves throughout the industry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more on what it means for the future of the network is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. Cabot, a massive shakeup in the media world. What can you tell us about this decision?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, so it's been no secret that the 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch would have to step down eventually, but the timing of this announcement came as a near total surprise Thursday morning. In a memo to staff, Murdoch said, quote, For my entire professional life, I've been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles.
--:-- John Bickley: That new role will be Chairman Emeritus, a largely symbolic position that he'll assume in November when the transition is complete.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, Murdoch has been a giant in the industry. For those who might not be as familiar with his impact on the media landscape, can you give us a quick overview?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah so even those who know the name Rupert Murdoch have still been undoubtedly impacted by his work Murdoch began building his media empire in Australia and England acquiring newspapers like The Sun and overseeing enormous booms in their circulation He then began his forays in American media, purchasing The New York Post, Boston Herald, and Chicago Sun-Times.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But it was really broadcast media where he left his mark. In 1985, Murdoch acquired 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, along with a number of smaller TV stations that he later consolidated to form Fox, which, as you know, went on to become one of the largest networks in the country.
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, indeed. And then in 1996, he launched Fox News. So it's easy now for people to assume that political commentary networks have always been around. But Murdoch was really a pioneer in the space.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He essentially invented the political commentary network. And fun fact, he was also the first to ever implement news tickers at the bottom of the screen, which are now on every single news platform in the world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: By 2007, he purchased the Wall Street Journal and continued on as one of the most influential people in the country, even if that influence was largely wheeled behind the scenes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, really hard to overstate the effect he's had on the media world. So tell us about the plan to replace him.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, as expected, one of Murdoch's sons, Lachlan, will now take the helm as Fox and News Corp's sole chair. Lachlan had already been promoted to CEO of the Fox Corporation back in 2019, but it'll now have near total control over the empire his father built.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And look, he takes the reins at a really important time for the company. Fox sold the majority of their entertainment assets to Disney back in 2018, and has since focused much more heavily on live sports and news content. And while the ratings have been rock solid throughout the last decade, Lachlan is going to have to contend with a growing trend of cable cutting as a smaller share of Americans than ever before now have access to traditional cable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So all eyes will be on him in the coming months and years to see how he shifts the company's focus to contend with that new reality.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, and it's been really difficult for a lot of these networks.
--:-- John Bickley: What does Murdoch's departure mean for the future of Fox when it comes to its political coverage? So Rupert Murdoch insisted in no uncertain terms that his son would continue to uphold the conservative tilt of the network.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He said in his memo to staff that, quote, Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause. Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He later added that his son would continue in the fight for, quote, freedom of speech and freedom of thought.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, for his part, the younger Murdoch has referred to Fox in the past as Joe Biden's, loyal opposition. And while more liberal than his father on a number of social issues, is still considered a hardline conservative. So at the moment, it does appear unlikely Fox will depart from their right-leaning programming.
--:-- John Bickley: But regardless, this is a major shakeup centered around one of the most influential men in the history of American media.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: In its latest attempt to curb rampant public drug use, Philadelphia passed a bill last week banning supervised drug consumption sites across most of the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi is here with the details. So Maraid, first off, tell us about Philadelphia's new drug site bill.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Hi, Georgia. Right, so the Philadelphia City Council approved this bill on Thursday last week. The bill would update zoning codes to ban supervised drug consumption sites in nine of the city's 10 districts.
--:-- John Bickley: These kind of sites involve allowing people to bring their own drugs and take them under the supervision of clinicians to prevent an overdose. The sites often offer addicts free supplies like clean needles and information about addiction treatment as well.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: So the Philadelphia ban was drafted by council member Quetze Lozada who represents the Kensington neighborhood Kensington is one of the country largest open drug markets Just walking down the street, you can see homeless people dealing and shooting up drugs, some really harrowing scenes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Lozada was passionate at the council meeting. She said she will not apologize for standing up for Kensington residents.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: It is disturbing to me that the voices of the people who don't have to deal with the day-to-day trauma that our children and our community have to deal with, it is disturbing to me that they think that their voices should be heard louder than those who walk those streets every day.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, was this a narrow vote? My understanding was that city leadership was actually supportive of these safe injection zones.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Well, actually, the city council vote was almost unanimous, 13 to 1. But the city council meeting was very heated. Dozens of people on both sides of the issue still showed up to cheer or even heckle the speakers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This bill now heads to Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney. He's been supportive of these supervised drug consumption sites and may refuse to sign it. Either way, though, the city council has enough of a majority to override a veto.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Now, a couple of years ago, we ran some stories about state-issued crack pipes. Some listeners may remember that. Is this indicative that the supervised drug use trend might actually be reversing?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it might be. Philadelphia's move actually comes just a week after Portland, another city with a serious drug problem, passed a ban on using hard drugs on public property.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: But Oregon's state legislature still needs to approve Portland's ban because since 2020, hard drugs have been decriminalized under Oregon's state law. But polling from earlier this year from DHM research indicates that 63% of Oregonians would prefer to recriminalize hard drugs. Portland's new emergency ordinance also attaches criminal penalties to drug use on public property, about six months in jail or a $500 fine.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So definitely walking back some of the decriminalization efforts we saw.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Right, but not all blue cities are done with decriminalization. For example, in 2021, New York City became the first city to allow these supervised drug consumption sites. In the first three months of those sites, they saw about 800 people make about 9,500 visits, and that's just two sites. Staff claim they've prevented more than 1,000 overdoses since the sites opened.
--:-- John Bickley: However, at one point, two regulars of the sites died when they apparently overdosed elsewhere while the sites were closed at night.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Now, what about California? We typically think of California as being kind of the tip of the spear for progressive movements like this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: True. Hard drugs are technically still illegal on the state level in California. But last year, Governor Gavin Newsom actually vetoed a bill that would have allowed certain California cities to open these supervised drug injection sites.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: He said that while he still supports harm reduction strategies, he was worried about a world of unintended consequences from approving unlimited sites.
--:-- John Bickley: That said, at the beginning of this year, San Francisco moved to allow nonprofits to operate these so-called safe injection sites in the city.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: It's also important to note the DAs in California's larger cities typically don't prosecute drug possession.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, when it comes to public policy, the proof is in the pudding. We'll see how these cities do with their drug problems.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Maureen, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks, Georgia. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
