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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, and welcome to Morning Wire. Today, we've got a packed show for you. We'll be discussing a disturbing story out of Loudoun County, Virginia, where a father is speaking out about the alleged rape of his ninth-grade daughter in a school bathroom. We'll also be covering Governor Greg Abbott's executive order banning vaccine mandates for all businesses in Texas, and the resignation of Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden amid an email scandal. I'm joined today by Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, John. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So, let's start with the story out of Loudoun County. A father has made some alarming allegations against the school district, and we'll be exploring those allegations in more detail. But first, let's set the stage. The school district is seeking to pass a controversial transgender policy, and it appears they may have concealed a ninth-grade girl was allegedly raped in a Loudoun County girl's bathroom just three weeks prior.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right, John. And we have Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak joining us to discuss this story. Luke, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Luke, where did this story start? Walk us through the incident back in May at the daughter's high school.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The girl's father was called to the school over a physical assault involving his daughter. When he arrived, though, it became clear that the situation was worse than just a physical assault. When he learned the school was dealing with that in-house, he blew up over the situation. The school actually called police on him because of the outburst.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what happened after that?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Law enforcement arrived, and they began to look into the situation. His lawyer says a rape kit administered that day later came back favorable to the prosecution, and prosecutors decided to pursue multiple felony charges against the boy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While records for minors are sealed, law enforcement have since confirmed that sexual assault charges were filed based on the incident that day. So the next incident involving Smith is that viral school board meeting in June in which he got arrested for disorderly conduct.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Smith had never been to a school board meeting before. He showed up to that meeting where that transgender policy was being discussed because of his obvious specific concerns. While he was at that meeting, the superintendent said he didn't know why the public would be opposed to the policy because school records showed that the schools have never had any assaults in any bathroom.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what happened next?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Smith started to get mad. After the meeting, actually, they called the meeting short because of so much controversy from a lot of parents who were concerned. And afterwards, Smith says a leftist activist came up to him, asked why he was there. He explained his reason for being there. And she said she didn't believe his daughter.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cops saw a heated exchange and intervened. Smith jerked his arm away. And soon he was wrestling with the cops who arrested him for disorderly conduct and dragged him away in that viral video that by now everyone has seen.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So disorderly conduct, ultimately not a very major charge, at least not considering that Smith was actually cited by the National School Board Association in their letter warning about potential domestic terrorism.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And particularly in Loudoun County, this is a charge that almost never carries jail time and is often not even prosecuted at all. Progressive County Attorney Buda Bibberidge wants to end mass incarceration and ran on a platform of oftentimes not pursuing charges and certainly not holding people in jail.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: But the top prosecutor herself actually showed up to prosecute Smith's misdemeanor case, which is virtually unheard of. And she was seeking jail time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So serious consequences for the father of the victim, but what about the alleged perpetrator? He was supposed to be on house arrest, but there was a new development there, correct?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Right. Last week, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office announced that a 15-year-old student had sexually assaulted a girl in an empty classroom in a school about a mile from the school where Smith's daughter went.
--:-- Georgia Howe: My reporting found that it was the same student. It turns out the school system had simply transferred the boy, and he allegedly struck again.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So another incident involving, allegedly involving the same boy. Correct.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Have school officials responded to all of these allegations? Not really. I reached out to the school system and received a generic non-answer citing their policies on not discussing incidents involving minors.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Even after this story was published, I reached out again. Still no response.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, just a really disturbing story. We know there are going to be more developments and more information coming in soon. So we'll look to your reporting for that. Thanks for coming on, Luke.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Of course. You can read more about the story and any updates at dailywire.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, Texas Governor Greg Abbott bans vaccine mandates for all entities in the state. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Monday banning vaccine mandates for essentially all businesses in Texas. Here to discuss the governor's order is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. Charlotte, good morning.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Morning, Georgia. So Governor Abbott has already taken some actions in the past to make sure no government entities can create vaccine mandates. But this time he took it a step further. To put it simply, Abbott's new order extends the protection against vaccine mandates to private companies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The order states that no entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Objections to the vaccination he said include personal conscience based on a religious disbelief or for medical reasons including prior recovery from COVID. So he's allowing people to use natural immunity as an exemption.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He also pressed the Texas legislature to pass a similar bill making this a law. His office has said the executive order would be rescinded if that ends up going through.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And why did Governor Abbott decide to do this now?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, part of this is a response to President Biden's mandates. Biden announced last month that all employers with over 100 employees needed to require workers to be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing before coming to work.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: He ramped up the pressure on private businesses last week. So today, I'm calling the more employers to act. My message is require your employees to get vaccinated. With vaccinations, we're going to beat this pandemic finally.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There was a lot of pushback to this, but nothing has really come of it yet. It seemed to maybe be more of an incentive to push businesses to mandate vaccines or give them a way to blame the Biden administration when they do so.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Abbott said in his executive order that the Biden administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workplace disruptions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another reason for the governor's move could be to potentially offset any labor shortage issues that mandates are said to be causing. Southwest Airlines, which has its headquarters in Dallas, had major cancellations all over the country this past weekend, and some speculated it might have to do with vaccine mandates.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right. We looked into Southwest earlier this week. How have they responded to this?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the airline said that federal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and they would be expected to comply with the president's order to remain compliant as a federal contractor.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Southwest CEO Gary Kelly discussed the situation on Tuesday. As I think you probably know, I've never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate. I'm not in favor of that, never have been. But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all the major airlines, have to have a mandate, a vaccine in place by December the 8th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has resigned after offensive emails were discovered dating back to 2011. Here with more information is Daily Wire sports reporter Joe Morgan. Morning, Joe.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Morning, Georgia. So Gruden resigns. He is out. For those who haven't been tracking this story, how did this all go down?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, this goes back a couple of days, John. So it began on Friday when the Wall Street Journal published a report regarding an email that Gruden sent to the then president of the Washington Redskins, Bruce Allen, in 2011.
--:-- Joe Morgan: The email was discovered during the NFL's investigation of workplace misconduct inside the Washington football team organization. In the email, Gruden was talking about the executive director of the NFL Players Association to Mara Smith, who is black. Gruden said in the email that Smith has, quote, lips the size of Michelin tires.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was quickly viewed as racially insensitive by the NFL, the Raiders organization, and obviously online.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Gruden apologized, saying that he was upset at the time of the email as he didn't like how the players were going about the negotiations. There was a lockout on the horizon at the time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so over the weekend, it seemed like he was maybe going to be able to get past this email, but something's changed here, huh?
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, it did a bit. So following the Raiders loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday Gruden apologized once again saying that he doesn't have quote an ounce of racism in him.
--:-- Georgia Howe: His players defended him with running back Josh Jacobs and Denzel Perriman who are both black sticking up for their coach.
--:-- Joe Morgan: But then on Monday night the bombshell hit The New York Times published additional emails that the NFL discovered in their investigation, including emails that are being slammed as homophobic and misogynistic.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As reported by the Times, Gruden sent emails while he was working as an analyst for Monday Night Football to Allen and others regarding women referees in the NFL, homosexual players being drafted in the NFL, and the topic of players protesting the national anthem.
--:-- Joe Morgan: According to the report, Gruden called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a gay slur. Goodell appears to be the subject of many emails, with Gruden using similar language when referring to the commissioner.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The emails were sent between 2011 and 2018 and included criticism of Goodell for his attempt to reduce concussions in the game of football, which Gruden reportedly felt was discouraging parents from allowing their children to play the game of football.
--:-- Joe Morgan: I see. According to the Times, Gruden also felt that Cadell and the NFL should not have pressured the Rams to draft, quote, queers. A reference to Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL in 2014.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right. The drafting of Sam was seen as a really big deal at the time. It was a huge deal, though he didn't make the regular season roster.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Right. The ultimate sin, Gruden spoke negatively of players kneeling during the National Anthem during these emails as well, saying that Eric Reid, one of the prominent players known for protesting the National Anthem, should lose his job.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He also criticized Barack Obama and called the then-Vice President Joe Biden a, quote, nervous, clueless P-word.
--:-- Joe Morgan: All right. Yeah, he's done. He resigned Monday night. I think it's over for Gruden.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a Super Bowl champion coach and pretty beloved media personality, it's over for him, it seems like.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, look, right now, he's not coaching in the NFL anytime soon. Incredible. Thanks, Joe.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, thanks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire sports reporter, Joe Morgan. Other stories we're tracking this week. A Wyoming coroner announced Tuesday that 22-year-old Gabby Petito died by strangulation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, had been traveling across the country documenting their travels on social media when she went missing. Laundrie is currently the subject of a massive FBI manhunt.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Navy nuclear engineer and his wife were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of selling U.S. Navy submarine secrets to a foreign power and are now facing a potential maximum penalty of life in prison.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Annapolis-based nuclear engineer is accused of passing data cards to foreign spy operatives by stashing them in items such as a peanut butter sandwich and Band-Aid wrapper.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The engineer's wife, a teacher who reportedly followed various left-wing, quote, resistance groups online, is accused of acting as a lookout. Motives are not known at this time.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And concerns about myocarditis or inflammation of the heart is causing several countries to recommend a single-dose protocol for the Pfizer vaccine for minors.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Health officials in Hong Kong are now recommending a single dose for children ages 12 to 17, whereas England and Norway are recommending one dose for children ages 12 to 15.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to the CDC, myocarditis remains a rare side effect and typically resolves within two weeks.
--:-- 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like 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.
