Morning Wire - Gaza Aid Suspicions & Homeschooling Hype | 11.2.23

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

Hundreds from Gaza are allowed through the Rafah gate into Egypt, homeschooling numbers see dramatic increase, and California Governor Gavin Newsom receives criticism over claims he made regarding his COVID policies. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Black Rifle Coffee: Get 10% off your first order or Coffee Club subscription with code WIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Shopify: "Get a $1 per month trial at https://www.shopify.com/morningwire" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Rafa Gate has temporarily opened, allowing hundreds to flee Gaza and to Egypt. But how many Americans remain trapped in the region and how much humanitarian aid is ending up in the hands of Hamas? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, November 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. Home schooling sees the most dramatic increase of any education approach over the last few years. What's driving the trend and which groups are seeing the most growth? And California Governor Gavin Newsom comes under fire for claiming that he took a local approach when it came to COVID policies. I'm not consumed by what we did wrong. I've consumed a little bit more by what we did right.

I mean, we lend the nation in terms of health, wealth, and education. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says he can't guarantee that U.S. aid to Gaza won't end up in the hands of terrorists, but that it remains a vital life. lifeline for Palestinian civilians. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce joins us now to talk about Blinken's visit to Capitol Hill and update us on the war in Israel. Hi, Tim. So what can you tell us about Blinken's testimony before Congress on Tuesday?

Well, he was there to push President Biden's spending priorities, one of the most controversial of which is continued aid to Gaza. Blinken said that the aid is important because a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza would destabilize the Middle East and put Israel in a tougher spot than it already. is. He even acknowledged that some of that aid is likely to be diverted by Hamas for terrorist activities, which he called spillage. But he said the benefits outweigh the risks. Here's Blinken. Can I promise you in this committee that there'll be 100% delivery to the designated recipients? No, there will inevitably be some spillage. We haven't seen it to date, but I think we have to

anticipate that. Republicans were skeptical and pointed out that Hamas is a major destabilizing force in the Middle East. Senator Bill Haggurdy of Tennessee asked if the U.S. had unintentionally helped create the conflict by indirectly supplying terrorists in Gaza. Here's some of that exchange. Every foreign aid dollar that goes into Gaza is controlled by Hamas. They either direct it, they tax it, or they divert it. They even take pipes intended for the water system for civilians and turn those into rockets that are aimed at Israel. We've seen Hamas' own videos demonstrating this. So I'm going to come back and ask you, can you guarantee you? that U.S. taxpayer dollars weren't used in October 7th.

What I guarantee is that we take every possible precaution to ensure that these resources are not diverted. According to Blinken, the U.S. and United Nations are sending about 50 trucks a day of supplies into Gaza. Before the war broke out, aid came in on 500 to 800 trucks a day, but the secretary said the goal for now is to work up to just 100 trucks.

Okay, meanwhile, the fighting in Gaza has really intensified recently. What's the latest on the war? Yeah, things have really ramped up. Israel has brought a lot of firepower against Hamas recently. That, in turn, has led to more calls for a ceasefire over the amount of Palestinian civilian casualties. Here's the Prime Minister Netanyahu responding to those calls on Monday. Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas,

to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen. Israel has mixed ground operations with heavy bombardment to take out terrorist strongholds. Now, it's an unfortunate fact of this war that those targets are almost always in civilian areas. That's why Israel struck the Jabalya refugee camp with coordinated ground and airstriks on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to the Israeli military, a Hamas command and control complex was located in tunnels beneath the camp, and it housed a senior Hamas commander who planned the October 7th terror attack. Israel said the commander was killed alongside a number of Hamas militants in the strike.

Israel says it's lost about 330 soldiers since the start of the war. We don't yet have reliable figures on Hamas casualties. A lot of grim news. Now, for civilians that have been caught up in the war, some are now getting out of Gaza. What do we need to know there? Right. The Rafah crossing in Gaza's south is now open for critically injured Palestinians and some foreign nationals to leave Gaza. It's the first time any significant number of people have been allowed to leave Gaza since the war began

and came about after negotiations between Egypt, Hamas, Israel, Qatar, and the United States. Notably, there are still hundreds of Americans stuck in Gaza. One estimate is around 500 Americans still trapped in the region. It's unclear when they will be allowed out. Well, a lot of focus right now on getting them out of there. Tim, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Coming up, homeschooling enjoys massive momentum.

Since the pandemic, states across the nation have seen explosive growth in homeschooling, which is now the country's fastest growing form of education. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestoge-Ochamom. So Amanda, we've been tracking this increase ever since the pandemic when it really took off. We just got some new updated data. So what do the numbers look like in 2023? Hey, Georgia. So it can be a little tricky to pin down exact numbers,

and that's mainly because states have differing protocols about reporting homeschooling. But recent analysis from the Washington Post found that there was a stunning 51% increase in homeschooling in the 22 to 23 school year. That's really significant growth, and it's almost as high as the biggest surge year at the start of COVID. 2021 saw a 60% growth, and 11% of families were homeschooling, so more than 1 in 10. Now, what about the total number of homeschooled kids? Do we know that? So the last federal numbers we have are from 2019. and those indicate that 1.5 million children were homeschooled. The post analysis found that now there are anywhere from 1.9 to 2.7 million. So a jump from 1.5 to potentially almost 3 million.

Right, a really big jump there. And there was also a recent household pulse survey from the U.S. Census, and that estimate was even higher as much as 3.6 million homeschooled kids. Now, where are we seeing this and what kind of demographics are most affected? So it's pretty interesting. We're seeing New York in Washington, D.C., with the highest rates of increase in homeschooling since 2018. Those areas more than doubled their numbers. And that was actually concentrated in urban areas. And as for demographics, it was pretty wide-ranging across the board. But census data does show that black households had the largest rate of increase out of any racial group. So from the start of the pandemic to the fall of 2020, homeschooling went from just 3.3% of those households to 16.1.1. Now, a lot of families started homeschooling during the COVID era for some pretty straightforward reasons, primarily that they were stuck in their homes. What are some theories as to why the trend has continued? A survey from the Washington Post showed that parents were concerned about a range of issues, from school safety to bullying to curriculum. We've covered here some of the more ideological curriculum

that's corrupt into schools, and that typically touches on sexuality, transgenderism, and racial theories. While this survey is one of the most recent ones we have in the past, parents have typically cited some of the same issues. School environment and safety, for example, that was the top reason for homeschooling, and then the desire for moral instruction. That was a close second. Now, some listeners might not realize how new the homeschooling movement is. Can you give us a little bit of background on that? Right. I mean, it wasn't even legal to educate your own child at home in all 50 states until 1992. By 1995, there were about half a million homeschooling. schooled students, so growth has been pretty slow up until the past few years, but recent changes

in state funding structures have made it a more accessible option. For example, Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Florida, they all now offer educational vouchers for homeschooling households. In Florida, the state with the second most homeschooled children, Governor Ronda Sands has signed a bill in September that expanded school voucher eligibility to around $7,800. Now, opponents say this sort of voucher expansion is unfair for public schools. They say it starves the public schools because money leaves the system when children leave the system. As a result, some activists, including some teachers' unions, they're pushing for more homeschooling regulations. A child welfare advocate and emeritus professor at Harvard Law School named

Elizabeth Bartholet, she said policymakers should worry about whether these kids are, quote, learning anything. You know, that said, the same argument can be made about many. of the public schools, these homeschooling families are trying to escape. Right. Well, just anecdotally, ever since COVID, I've personally seen so many more families opting for alternative schooling. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. California Governor Gavin Newsom's claim in a recent interview that he let local school districts make lockdown decisions is drawing widespread criticism.

Meanwhile, the governor is reportedly returning to the idea of adding the COVID shot to the list of school-mandated vaccinations. Here with more is Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. So, Megan, to start with Newsom's interview, we're seeing a lot of reactions out there. What exactly did he say? So this interview is with Fox 11 in Los Angeles, and the anchor asked him whether he got some things wrong in handling the pandemic and what he might do differently next time. In particular, the anchor asked about shutting down schools, and this was part of Newsom's response.

I mean, in certain parts of the state they were open. And we gave local control. Remember, California's 150 school districts, we have a local system, the local control-funded formula. It's a constitutional construct. It allows localism. And we advanced localism. We allowed that local control. And in some cases, it was, yes, they waited too long.

In other cases, they didn't. Now, that created a lot of pushback from many experts, people like Stanford epidemiologist, Jay Batacharya, and also a number of parents' rights groups, because, quite frankly, it's just not true. And a lot of people are asking if this is part of Newsom's attempt to rewrite history, possibly as part of a presidential run. Right. Well, that claim may come as news to a lot of people. What were the statewide rules, if any? Right. I suspect it will. And if you're not familiar, the governor's office issued multiple school closure orders. And those were statewide and they did continue well into the 2021 school year. So more than a year after the start of the pandemic. And those

lockdown mandates applied to both public and private schools. And then you look at the fact that California was also the first state to implement statewide lockdowns and curfews. In fact, at the time, the nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet Cal Matters called Newsom's order, and I'm quoting, an unprecedented level of state intervention. At the same time, Newsom also issued orders that ensured school districts would continue receiving funding even if they stayed closed. So it's really just very difficult to see how Newsom can now claim that these were local decisions. And I think it's also worth noting, along with that, that California's state of emergency declaration that gave Newsom the power to suspend or change laws only came to an end this past February. And that declaration

allowed for more than 500 legal and policy measures. Among those was a March 19-2020 order for people to stay home. And it was not a request, and it was punished as a misdemeanor with up to $1,000 in fines, or six months imprisonment, so pretty serious. And he famously closed down public beaches in Orange County with local officials calling that an active retribution because he apparently felt locals weren't complying enough with his lockdown orders. So the big question for a while was, of course,

was it actually working? How did California fare overall during COVID? Well, the governor boasted in that interview that California performed much better economically and in loss of life than some of these other large states, that were read and didn't lock down like Florida. But a major study that was published in The Lancet just a few months ago actually contradicts that claim.

It found that while it is true that Florida's death rate was higher than Californias, the disparity disappeared once they controlled for age and health characteristics of the respective populations of these states. Florida, for example, has a lot more retirees. So the author said that if you control for those factors, Florida would actually have performed better. Then you look at Newsom's claim that California's economy outperformed these large red states due to his COVID policies. Well, that also at the very least is debatable.

Some outlets like the Wall Street Journal have tracked and found that non-lockdown states saw much stronger recoveries. Well, Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.