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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, October 12th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. We've got a lot to cover today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Southwest Airlines continued to cancel hundreds of flights on Monday, after canceling over 2,000 flights this past weekend and stranding passengers across the country. The airline denied allegations that the cancellations were due to a pilot walkout prompted by vaccine mandates.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And we're going to dive into that story in just a minute.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But first, let's talk about some other news. On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Merck asked the FDA for emergency use authorization of its new drug for treating COVID. The oral pill has been shown to slash hospitalization rates by 50% and deaths by even more.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll speak to a leading expert about the promising new treatment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated in recent weeks, with China ramping up the rhetoric for reunification and displays of military might. What is America's role in this worsening situation?
--:-- John Bickley: And how has it responded to China's, quote, provocative military activity?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: This show is sponsored by Birch Gold Group. Inflation is destroying the dollar. Birch Gold Group can help. Protect your IRA or 401k with a precious metals IRA. Text WIRE to 989898 to claim a free info kit on physical gold and silver. There's zero obligation.
--:-- John Bickley: [Brief pause] This weekend, mass flight cancellations from Southwest Airlines left thousands of travelers scrambling to get home at airports around the country. Though the airline publicly blamed weather and air traffic control problems for the move, others have speculated that vaccine mandates may have played a role.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here with more is Daily Wire managing editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, Cabot, what's going on with Southwest?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, so on Saturday, out of the blue, they canceled 808 flights. That's about 25% of all of their flights for the day nationwide. Another 34% of their flights were delayed as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a lot of flights.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Then on Sunday, they canceled another 1,018 flights, or 30% of their total flights for the day. Keep in mind, this was a three-day weekend with Columbus Day on Monday, so airports were already packed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And these cancellations caused mass chaos with tens of thousands of travelers stuck without a way home.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So the obvious question is why? I mean, what caused the cancellations?
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's where this gets complicated.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So we don't know for sure what caused them, but we do know that the explanation coming from Southwest appears to contradict reality on the ground.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the airline claimed the flights were canceled due to bad weather, staffing issues, and air traffic control problems.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But the weather excuse doesn't really make any sense because other airlines would have been affected by that, and they weren't. Other airlines only canceled 1% to 2% of their flights over the weekend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the air traffic control excuse also doesn't make much sense.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The FAA themselves publicly refuted Southwest, saying that they had no issues on Saturday and Sunday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They issued a statement saying, quote, some airlines continue to experience scheduling challenges due to aircraft and crews being out of place.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But that's basically them washing their hands of it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, I mean, a lot of people weren't buying the explanations from Southwest, and there was speculation on social media that it might have been a result of Southwest's vaccine mandate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So what can you tell us about that?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, that the leading theory right now for a lot of people Southwest did announce last week that in order to comply with President Biden vaccine order they be requiring the shot for all employees by December 8th
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Then on Friday the same day the cancellations really started, the Union for Southwest Pilots challenged the mandating court, calling it unlawful in a lawsuit.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So people are saying it's no coincidence that the mass cancellation started the day the pilots union issued a legal challenge.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Senator Ted Cruz, for example, tweeted that the cancellations were, quote, Joe Biden's illegal vaccine mandate at work.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Others have also pointed out that Southwest has publicly been dealing with staffing shortages since earlier in the summer and say the odds of this all coming to a head the day the pilots union sued the airline over the vaccine mandate seems slim.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, has the pilots union said anything about this vaccine mandate or the role?
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's kind of the thing. They say that they have nothing to do with the shortage.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The Southwest union issued a statement saying they're aware of the cancellations, but, quote, can say with confidence that our pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, one possible explanation is that under the Railway Labor Act, airline employees are not allowed to go on strike without first entering mediation with the airline itself.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's something that they haven't done yet.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this could be an unofficial strike that the union just can't address for legal purposes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But again, that's speculation at this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Over the weekend, numerous flight experts said an airline canceling this many flights with no real explanation was almost unheard of.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Brian Summers, the editor-at-large of travel site Skift, said, quote, Something doesn't add up about Southwest's explanation. Southwest should tell its customers more about whatever issue is causing this meltdown.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that seems to be the general sentiment right now from people on both sides of the political aisle, and especially from stranded passengers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So what's next? Are things getting any better?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, on Monday, there were still a few hundred flights canceled along with mass delays, particularly in Denver, Baltimore, and Dallas and other Southwest hubs.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And the continued problems have already had a massive financial ramification as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Southwest shares were down more than 3% over trading on Monday.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Moving forward, the airline said they're offering increased overtime to address worker shortages and that they expect things to straighten out by the end of the week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But a lot of travelers who are stranded right now are kind of saying we'll believe it when we see it.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, an intriguing mystery.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for the update.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire Managing Editor Cabot Phillips.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: On Monday, pharmaceutical giant Merck announced that they're seeking FDA authorization for a new oral medication that's been shown to drastically reduce both hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us to discuss the promising new treatment is Dr. Namanje Bumpus, professor and director of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Thanks so much for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So last week, Merck made big news when it announced that its new COVID pill, malnupiravir, seemed to have a high rate of success in treating COVID patients. What can you tell us about this new treatment?
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Yes. So what we know currently is really what has been released by Merck so far as far as information. And what they're saying is that this is a drug that they've designed to inhibit replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So this is essentially for use in people that have mild to moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 disease.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: And so in their study, what they found is that in people with that mild to moderate COVID-19 that were within five days of symptom onset that they saw about a 50 decrease in risk of hospitalization.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And also importantly they saw in their treatment group no deaths where apparently in the placebo group, there were eight deaths.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: So they seem to also see elimination, at least, of death in the treatment arm in this initial study.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So importantly, by blocking replication of the virus, the idea is that you already have the virus in your body, but that this drug would prevent it from being able to just continue to reproduce and spread throughout your body.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: So hopefully it would stop it from replicating or at least substantially slow it down so that you wouldn't progress to severe disease.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Also, they did the study in people who were at risk of severe COVID-19.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: So that also seems to be critical. People at risk for severe COVID-19, hopefully slowing down progression to that potentially by inhibiting replication of the virus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Why is there so much excitement around this medication other than the obvious success rate?
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Well, I think that it offers a potential treatment option. It's an oral treatment and there are currently monoclonal antibodies that have emergency use authorization for treatment in the United States and are used also throughout the world.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are given by intravenous or subcutaneous injections.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: So it's different than being able to take a treatment orally.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For many people, they would much prefer even an oral medication over an injectable.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Okay, so the next step here is FDA approval. Is there a timeline on that or an expectation for that approval?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I think certainly there's the expectation and hope that this drug could be in use at the end of the year, the beginning of 2022.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: I think it's going to really depend on when everything is submitted to the FDA and international regulatory bodies, and then how quickly things go as far as, you know, looking at the data and how the data really look when lots of scientists at these agencies are looking at them and regulators are looking at them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But certainly the hope is end of this year, early 2022.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Great. Yeah, let's hope that's the case.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Dr. Bumpus, thanks so much for joining us today.
--:-- Dr. Namanje Bumpus: Thank you for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Johns Hopkins University's Dr. Namanje Bumpus.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: In recent weeks, tensions have worsened in Asia, with Chinese military aggression being directed toward Taiwan, as China looks to capitalize on what is being portrayed as military weakness on the part of the Biden administration.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Hi, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what's the latest on the tensions between China and Taiwan?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, the last time we chatted, things were getting tense in the Indo-Pacific. Earlier this month, the Chinese Air Force sent over 150 military jets into Taiwan's airspace, with their foreign minister responding, saying they would fight to the end if China attacked.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And since then, things have gotten a lot worse.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi vowed to achieve so-called reunification with Taiwan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He did so while speaking in what the CCP called the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the 1911 revolution, saying that, quote, Those who forget their heritage, betray their motherland, and seek to split the country will come to no good.
--:-- Ian Howarth: He added that he wanted a peaceful reunification under the controversial one country, two systems.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, in the past, the Taiwanese government has had a pretty firm message against the so-called reunification.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah they are Taiwan president spoke out against Xi call for reunification saying that the island would not bow to pressure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: She said that Taiwan would continue to build up its defensive capabilities to stop China from imposing a path which quote offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people.
--:-- Ian Howarth: China was also performing some military drills that some people thought were sort of an intimidation technique.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, that's right.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yesterday, China's military claimed it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: However, video of the drills showed calm weather while a tropical storm is currently moving through the area, so there is some doubt about when the video was filmed.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So it is possible that this is nothing more than a saber-rattling propaganda move, but will still be very concerning for Taiwan to witness.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the Biden administration has, in the past at least, tried to ride the fence when it comes to China.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Have we seen any change in strategy from the White House in light of these recent events?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Not really, no.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Earlier this month, the US did warn China that provocative military activity would undermine any regional peace and stability.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But it seems that this warning was just ignored.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Made worse by the fact that the US military presence in Asia has been eroding over time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All while the Chinese military has grown at dangerous rates.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So not only do some people think it's unlikely that the US would intervene if China invaded, it's not even clear that the US would even win if they did intervene.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For example, the Pentagon organized a war game simulation in October of 2020, and an American team struggled against Chinese weaponry in a simulated battle over Taiwan.
--:-- Ian Howarth: This means that even though the White House press secretary promised unwavering support for Taiwan earlier this year, it's not clear what this even means anymore.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Our support for Taiwan is rock solid. Taiwan is a leading democracy and major economy and a security partner.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And we will continue to strengthen our relationship across all areas, all the areas we cooperate, including on economic issues.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So with the U.S. being portrayed as weak in the Indo-Pacific by an ever more aggressive Chinese Communist Party, all on the back of Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, it's quite possible that China could soon seize what they're seeing as an opportunity.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Ian, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week. On Monday, Sydney, Australia began lifting some of its strict lockdown measures, at least for fully vaccinated residents.
--:-- John Bickley: Sydney is now allowing vaccinated customers back into cafes, gyms, and restaurants after they were shut out due to its zero COVID policy, a policy the country is now rethinking.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In response to the reopenings on Monday, Australians celebrated the so-called Freedom Day.
--:-- John Bickley: And New York parole officers are voicing concern in response to a new bill signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, which would allow for the immediate release of over 160 people currently being held at Rikers on nonviolent charges.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While inmate advocates are cheering the law, parole officers argue that the legislation removes accountability for individuals still completing their sentences and will ultimately lead to more crime.
--:-- 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
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