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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): With U.S. forces having now withdrawn from Afghanistan, hundreds of Americans and thousands of American allies remain in the Taliban-controlled country. We'll talk with a U.S. veteran whose team has already helped hundreds of American allies escape Afghanistan.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): I've been with these guys for over a decade, fighting with them, flying on the Mi-17 and doing different kinds of work throughout the country, whether it's counter-drug or counter-terror. And they're the most dedicated people I've ever seen. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, September 2nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): A Chicago judge blocked a mother from seeing her son because she had not received the COVID vaccine. What was the judge's rationale for issuing the order and then reversing it? And is this setting a dangerous new precedent with vaccines? And movie theater chains appear to be on the verge of imposing vaccine mandates for moviegoers. What's driving the push for mandates? And what has happened to theaters and other countries that have imposed them?
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Football season is back, and BetOnline is the number one spot for all your sports betting needs. Right now, new BetOnline users can earn up to $1,000 in bonus cash just for signing up. With the earliest betting lines and the largest selection of prop bets available online, Sign up now and start this season off a winner with BetOnline.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Though U.S. forces have now been fully withdrawn from Afghanistan, hundreds of Americans and thousands of American allies remain. Over the last few weeks, some U.S. veterans have taken initiative to rescue Americans and our Afghan allies from the country.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): So, John, you recently spoke to one of these veterans who's helping to head up these rescue efforts.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): I did. Before we hear from him, can you give us a little context?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Sure, I'd love to. So on Tuesday, I spoke with Travis Peterson. He's a retired master sergeant in U.S. Air Force. He served there for 21 years. He also served with the 6th Special Operations Squadron and conducted drug and counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So Peterson helped form a nonprofit called ARC Salas, which is a group of former special ops advisors like him and private U.S. citizens.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Okay. Their mission is helping protect and rescue Afghan allies and their families who were left behind.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So they've worked together to get people safely out of the country with every means available. And he actually couldn't even tell us about some of those means.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): How?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): I asked him about the organization, and here's what he told me.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): So Ark Salas, myself, and two others developed it about three weeks ago prior to the fall of Kabul. And our goal was to evacuate the families of the commandos so the commandos could stay and fight and stand for Kabul.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): Unfortunately, Kabul fell a lot quicker than anticipated. So it went from a movement of getting the families to safety to getting the commandos and their families to safety.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): How many people did your team rescue?
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): Off the ground and back to safety, I think we did four or five runs with a 737 from Stanton Group I would go in the 200 300 range somewhere around there
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): Amazing And those are all people who are exposed and now probably on the enemy list from the Taliban.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): Absolutely. All of my commandos and all my pilots and flight engineers, that's what I'm doing this for, was for those guys specifically.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): And then it just kind of turned into a mass evacuation of anybody that we could grab.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): So you launched this three weeks ago, have rescued hundreds of people. Is there an ultimate goal? Is there an end in sight for this mission? What's next?
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): We will keep going as long as we can for as many as we can. There's still 500 AMSITs on Kabul right now, American citizens that cannot get out. And our government left them behind.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): Now multiply that with all of the Afghans that helped us for the last 20 years, that fought side by side with me, saved my life numerous times, countless times, and I owe them this.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): And I'm talking to them daily, hourly, by the minute, from their command structure all the way down to their lowest guy, trying to comfort them.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): They know that death is coming for them. They know it's the very next day or the hour. They know their children, their wives are going to be burnt alive. They know what's happening.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): And it's disgusting.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): So what can be done going forward? How can we best help the people left behind?
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): I mean, there's so many things that can be done if this administration would just get out there and do something about it.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): It's this simple. We need a couple of borders opened up with safe passage. They give them safe passage into these borders.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): I can get them in, get them out to another country that has already accepted asylum procedures for these guys.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): We've coordinated with Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, numerous countries that will take these people out.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): All we need to do is get them out of Afghanistan. It's that freaking symbol.
--:-- Host (Travis Peterson): What I tell all of my guys, all the commandos, is that we're with them. The world is with them. Everybody's watching. Everybody's watching.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Hundreds rescued. What an incredible operation these guys have taken on. It really is.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Coming up, a Chicago judge blocks a mother from seeing her young son, then reverses the order.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): 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.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): A Chicago judge blocked a mother from seeing her young son this month because she had not received a COVID vaccine.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The judge's decision during a child support hearing is said to be the first ruling of its kind, and some worry it sets an alarming precedent.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid McArdle has the details for us.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): So Maraid, a judge decided that this mom couldn't see her own son because she hadn't gotten a vaccine. What happened here?
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): That's right. This is a huge case, and it's getting a lot of attention.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): So Rebecca Furlitt is a mom of an 11-year-old boy. She lives in Chicago and shares custody of her son with her ex-husband.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): In early August, the parents were taking part in a child support hearing on Zoom when Cook County Judge James Shapiro suddenly asked the mom if she had been vaccinated against COVID.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): She said no and asked the judge what that had to do with the hearing, which she said was just supposed to be about child support expenses.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Then the judge stripped her of all her visitation rights.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): The ruling was reversed on Monday after nearly three weeks, and the judge said Ferlich can see her son again.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): So her visitation rights were stripped and only due to her not being vaccinated
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): That right
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): How did the judge explain that move
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): The judge really didn't offer much of an explanation. He just said that Furlitt had to get vaccinated in order to see her son again.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Furlitt said she has not received a COVID vaccine because she has had adverse reactions to vaccines in the past and was advised by her doctor not to get the shot.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): The mom's attorney emphasized that the vaccination issue was not even raised by the ex-husband, although he supported the judge's decision.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): So the order has been fully reversed now.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Yes, Furlitt appealed the ruling, and the judge reversed the order on Monday and is allowing her to see her son again.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): The mom said that she is still afraid she will be called a, quote, endangerment to her son, though.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Furlitt's attorney criticized the judge for, quote, very much exceeding his judicial authority in this case.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): This seems like a pretty extreme case. Is there any legal precedence for this?
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): No, this is the first case like this. But it set off alarm bells for some people who worry that it could set a dangerous precedent of parents having their children taken away from them because they're unvaccinated.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Right.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Apparently, this particular judge has a habit of asking people in his courtroom about their vaccination status. He's asked people in other cases if they've been vaccinated.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Yes.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): In a video of a different virtual court hearing, Judge Shapiro admitted that he has ordered some parents and some kids to get vaccinated.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): The judge said that it is, quote, stupid not to get the shot and said that, quote, the only people not getting vaccinated are dying.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): So we've got a non-medical professional ordering a medication.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): That brings up some interesting legal questions.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): It does.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Should we expect to see more judges bringing up vaccination status in cases?
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): We'll have to see. But there were two cases in New York where judges ordered defendants to get vaccinated. In one case as a form of rehabilitation and in the other as a condition of release.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Rehabilitation.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Right. And both defendants were accused of petty crimes unrelated to health.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): In Furlitz's case, though, the order prompted serious backlash.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): People clearly don't like worrying that their child will be taken away over a vaccine.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): This may just be one rogue judge trying to use children as leverage to push adults to get vaccinated, but many people are concerned that he's setting a very disturbing precedent that other judges hopefully will not copy.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Fascinating case. Thanks, Mairead.
--:-- Host (Maraid McArdle): Anytime.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The list of places where you might soon have to show proof of vaccination is growing. Along with several cities and large employers, some concert venues and sports arenas have started independently requiring it as well.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Now, the biggest movie theater chains may be about to join the mandate movement.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Here to tell us just how likely this is and how many movie theaters could be affected is Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Good to talk to you, Georgia.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Always great to chat with you, Georgia.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So to start, can you give us the general lay of the land here? How likely is this to actually happen?
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Yeah, well, I have to say it is pretty likely.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): CinemaCon just wrapped up in Las Vegas on Thursday, and that's the annual meeting of the National Association of Theater Owners.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): From what I'm hearing, vaccine mandates were apparently one of the big topics up for discussion.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So the head of that group is a man named Nathan Finian, and he told the Hollywood trade publication, The Wrap, that most theater owners are open to it.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So he called it a mixed bag because they know that these mandates are going to keep some potential ticket buyers away.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): But he also said that theater owners are hoping that vaccine mandates could be a net positive for them because some of the people who are afraid of going to the movies right now out of fear of the Delta variant, Well, they'll come back if they're confident everyone else in the audience is vaccinated.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): You know he said by and large the organization thinks mandates are going to spur people interest in getting vaccinated
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): And then in the long run that that going to bring them back to the movies
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): At the same time you have studio executives telling outlets like The Hollywood Reporter that they would also like to see these mandates.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): And how much of the movie theater business does the National Association of Theater Owners represent?
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): A huge proportion of it. It includes the biggest chains in the business, your Cinemarks, Regal, AMC, as well as hundreds of these independent operators all around the country.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So basically, they account for more than 35,000 screens in all 50 states, which means if they agree to impose these vaccine requirements, it's pretty much going to affect just about every American who likes going to the movies.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So going back to that hypothesis that vaccine mandates will bring people back to theaters, is there any evidence for that?
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Actually, there's some pretty good evidence against it.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): I think that big business and big Hollywood, they can be pretty insulated communities.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): And my guess is that they're probably hearing far more from the side that wants mandates and thinks they're a good idea than they are the side that's resistant to them.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So you'll see, for example, The Hollywood Reporter, as I mentioned, they're quoting these executives saying they want the mandates.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): You're seeing The Atlantic running opinion essays that it would be such a great thing to do.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): But then you look at the reality.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So last month, when France started requiring vaccination proof or a negative COVID test to get into the movies, their box office revenues immediately dropped 70%.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Oh, wow.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Yeah, and Italy saw something very similar, a 40% drop after they started mandating these vaccines.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So it's rebounded somewhat since then, but overall, it's down significantly.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): And some people might assume that because Hollywood tends to lean left, that theater owners are just going to go kind of with what's politically popular in their business.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Is that true?
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): You know, on many other topics, I might say this, but unlike some of these other mandate stories we're seeing, I don't get the sense that this is political posturing.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): When you hear from these theater owners, you get the impression that they really are scared to death.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): It finally looked like they were about to turn this corner in the early summer. Viewers started going back to movies. They wanted to see them on the big screen.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): But then the Delta variant hit and attendance dropped again.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): In the meantime, they're also, of course, fighting off the streaming revolution.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): So I think the fact that they're even talking about it on the record illustrates just how desperate they are to get back to business as normal.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): And I really think that what you're seeing is a fight for survival.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Yeah, I mean, that's understandable. The question remains, though, are mandates really the right way to go about it?
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Yeah, yeah. Thanks again for being here, Megan.
--:-- Host (Megan Basham): Always happy to do it.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Other stories we're tracking this week.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): A Texas abortion law went into effect on Wednesday that could essentially ban most abortions after six weeks once a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Abortion providers tried to get the courts to stay the law, but a lower court and the Supreme Court decided not to rule on their requests.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): And a petition to recall the San Francisco School Board has received 70,000 signatures, putting the issue on track to successfully appear on the ballot.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): According to recent polling, 60% of San Francisco adults support recalling the school board, including 69% of public school parents.
--:-- Host (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.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): That's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): If you liked 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
