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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, and welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm here with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, July 29th.
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, Georgia. Thanks for joining us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're going to dive into the latest developments on the COVID-19 response, including the Biden administration's move to enforce vaccine mandates across the federal government. We'll also look at the string of vandalism and arson cases targeting churches in Canada, and the Supreme Court's decision to hear a case that could impact Roe v. Wade.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Let's start with the Biden administration's move to enforce vaccine mandates. The CDC's reversal on masking policies for vaccinated Americans has sparked confusion and partisanship. The Republican Party has been criticized for not embracing the science on vaccination. How are Republicans responding to the new policies?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Good morning, Georgia. The Republican Party has been delinquent in embracing the science that people need to be vaccinated. For example, Black and Hispanic people are disproportionately represented among those choosing not to be vaccinated. And both of these groups lean heavily Democrat.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a good point. The Biden administration is now looking to enforce vaccine mandates across the entire federal government. This move has sparked concern, also fueled by the CDC's reversal on masking requirements and the continued polarization around COVID-19.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The seemingly coordinated move to mandate vaccines in certain areas appears to have been a catalyst for more drastic change. On Tuesday, President Biden was asked about expanding vaccine requirements to all federal employees, and he effectively said that those who aren't vaccinated just aren't that smart.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And in the hours that followed, the Biden administration moved quickly. Today, the president will announce that all federal employees and contractors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular testing and other requirements.
--:-- Ian Howarth: This all comes soon after the CDC reversed course on masking, saying that even vaccinated Americans should wear masks, at least in what they're calling COVID hotspots.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, that's definitely what critics are saying, with some claiming that leaders in the Democratic Party are only adding further confusion. For example, Vice President Harris pushed vaccines as a way of avoiding wearing a mask, apparently contradicting the latest CDC guidance.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Nobody likes wearing a mask. But President Biden was asked about these sorts of mixed messages, and he pivoted to place the blame for the spread of the Delta variant squarely at the feet of unvaccinated Americans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Can you unpack that a little bit for us? The phrase pandemic of the unvaccinated came about in recent days after the CDC announced that a large proportion of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 involved unvaccinated people.
--:-- Ian Howarth: But there is definitely a political layer here. Democrats are mainly pointing to red states with the apparent goal of connecting the label of unvaccinated with the Republican Party.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Republican Party has been criticized for not embracing the science on vaccination. But it's far more complicated than that. For example, Black and Hispanic people are disproportionately represented among those choosing not to be vaccinated.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And both of these groups lean heavily Democrat. So the overly partisan move to blame one side or demographic for the pandemic of the unvaccinated simply isn't supported by the data.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And speaking of the Republican Party, we have seen pushback against vaccine mandates from some red state governors. Yes, and it's more than just vaccine mandates we're talking about. When we add the return of mask requirements and talk of lockdowns into the mix, the situation becomes even more complicated.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The state of Florida has been routinely scrutinized on these subjects, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to the latest wave of criticism by promising to protect people's rights.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, look, if anyone is calling for lockdowns, you're not getting that done in Florida. I'm going to protect people's livelihoods. I'm going to protect kids' right to go to school. I'm going to protect people's right to run their small businesses.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Governor DeSantis also rejected the CDC's latest guidance, saying they were not based in science and that his state would ban all mask mandates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other Republicans are also looking to counter these COVID-related mandates, so this debate isn't going away anytime soon.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Clearly, COVID-19 will continue to be a partisan issue. That's for sure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for the update, Ian.
--:-- Ian Howarth: My pleasure. Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Up next, dozens of churches across Canada have been targeted by arsonists and vandals. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Morning, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Morning, Ben. So tell us what's been going on in Canada.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Well, dozens of churches have been vandalized and 10 have been set on fire since June 21st. Churches in six Canadian provinces and the Northwest Territories have been affected.
--:-- John Bickley: Do we know if these events are linked?
--:-- Ben Johnson: It's impossible to know since many of the arsonists are still at large. But they appear to stem from anger over a federal government policy that ended decades ago.
--:-- John Bickley: From the 1880s until the 1970s, thousands of indigenous children were placed in residential schools, mostly operated by Catholic or Anglican churches.
--:-- Ben Johnson: An estimated 4,000 children died there and many others were abused. It was a real tragedy.
--:-- John Bickley: And how does that history tie in with the latest arsons? Why now?
--:-- Ben Johnson: Over the last several months, the remains of some of those children have been found on the sites of those former residential schools. 215 bodies were found in May, 751 in June.
--:-- John Bickley: Some of the vandalized churches had the numbers 215 and 751 spray-painted on them.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Has any of the vandalism been directed against churches involved with the schools?
--:-- John Bickley: No, this has affected Christian churches in general. Ironically, one of the targets was a church of indigenous people.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Vietnamese Christians also had their church burned in Calgary. Pastor said his members fled communism in order to find freedom in the West, but he says they've never experienced persecution like this, even in Vietnam.
--:-- John Bickley: We think that it's not safe to be in Canada compared to Vietnam. It never happened like that.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The government might shut the church down, but they never burned the church like this.
--:-- John Bickley: A church founded by Egyptian Christians, St. George Coptic Church in British Columbia, was also burned down. Obviously, they had nothing to do with the residential schools.
--:-- Ben Johnson: How has the Canadian government addressed this?
--:-- John Bickley: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed that topic earlier this month.
--:-- Ben Johnson: I understand the anger that's out there against the federal government, against institutions like the Catholic Church. It is real and it is fully understandable.
--:-- John Bickley: Canadian Christians say the government's been slow to respond or to investigate.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The Coptic Church, for example, had surveillance footage of another activist who tried to set the church on fire a few days earlier. Their bishop is asking, since there was such a clear and present danger, why the government didn't do more to protect their building.
--:-- John Bickley: And Christians say Canadian media have largely ignored the story as well.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Well, thanks for coming on, Ben, and thanks for helping get this story out there.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case out of Mississippi that could have serious implications for abortion around the country. Experts say the case could impact the standing of Roe v. Wade and set a new precedent for abortion access. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Hi, Georgia. So, Charlotte, give us some background. Why is this case being discussed so much?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, under current law, states generally have to allow a woman access to an abortion up to the point of viability, which is when the baby can survive on its own.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: This has generally been marked at around 20 to 24 weeks, but some states determine viability in other ways. A Mississippi law passed by Republicans in 2018 called the Gestational Age Act made abortion illegal at the 15-week mark, with exceptions for certain medical emergencies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So before the viability standard that other states use.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right. And the Jackson Women's Health Organization, an abortion clinic in Mississippi, challenged the law. And to this point, lower courts have sided with them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so where are things now?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, Mississippi recently filed a brief that specifically said the Supreme Court should overrule the decisions in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those and other cases held that the Constitution protects a woman's right to get an abortion and that a state cannot place undue burden on women getting an abortion before viability.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So why is the Mississippi case so important?
--:-- Georgia Howe: People are paying attention to this case, Georgia, because it could impact Roe v. Wade, the nation landmark abortion ruling.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, the justices said that they would consider the question of whether all pre prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the court could essentially continue the current legal standard, or it could change the precedent and possibly allow states to ban abortions after any length of time.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Wow, so this could open the door to more measures, like heartbeat bills, for example, which haven't always been enforceable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: How are abortion activists responding?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: They're pretty concerned. Nancy Northup leads the Center for Reproductive Rights. They're representing the group challenging the law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The court cannot uphold this law in Mississippi without overturning Roe's core holding.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And that core holding that every pregnant person has the right to decide whether to continue their pregnancy prior to viability, that has been reaffirmed again and again and again and again.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another issue at play here is the balance of the Supreme Court. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other Trump appointees lean right and have typically ruled in favor of pro-life measures.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: This case is going to be getting a lot of attention as activists on both sides are well aware that this could result in a situation where states are once again able to decide their own laws on abortion like they could before the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So when can we expect a decision?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The court will hear the case during its next term, which starts in October. And a decision could come next summer.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll definitely be watching. Thanks for reporting, Charlotte.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Absolutely.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are the top stories this morning, but there's more in the news to keep an eye on. Other big developments that we're tracking this week.
--:-- John Bickley: A majority of Americans, 55%, now say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country. This according to a new ABC News Ipsos poll.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This is nearly a 20-point increase from early May, when the same poll showed 36% of Americans believed the country was going in the wrong direction.
--:-- John Bickley: The same poll found that just 45% of Americans reported feeling optimistic, also down nearly 20 points from May.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Around 50,000 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally have been released into the U.S. without being given a court date.
--:-- John Bickley: In an unprecedented move, the migrants were given a list of addresses and contacts for ICE offices and told to report to officials.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to Axios, thus far, 13% have shown up at the offices.
--:-- John Bickley: And the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled against a web designer who did not want to create same-sex wedding websites.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After being asked to create a website she says would have violated her religious beliefs, Lori Smith filed a pre-enforcement challenge to Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act.
--:-- John Bickley: The three-judge panel ruled against Smith, stating, quote, A faith that enriches society in one way might also damage society in another.
--:-- 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: If you liked this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to Daily Wire members.
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