Morning Wire - Israel Retaliates & New Title IX Rules | Afternoon Update | 4.19.24

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

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This episode is brought to you by NetSuite. Download NetSuite's popular KPI checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at netsuite.com slash morningwire. That's net suite.com slash morning wire. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, April 19th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update. U.S. officials have confirmed that Israel launched several strikes against Iran Friday in the early morning hours.

This was a retaliatory action for Iran's missile attack against Israel last week. Roiders reports that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, had approved the strike on Monday. It took days of negotiations within the War Council with the U.S. and other allies on what the scope of the attack should be. The goal was one that would balance a proper response, but not escalate the conflict. Morning Wire spoke to R.E. Lightstone from Israel. He is former senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel. He believes the attack sent a message, but was also measured. These attacks were done in such a way not to, quote, embarrass Iran, and to allow Iran some

degree of plausible deniability of which Iran has been out in full force, declaring that Israel did not attack it, and there was no damage in this non-attack. And in such a way, I do believe that this round has concluded in no way, shape, or form is the war Israel against Iran over, but this round of direct attacks in between Iran and Israel, I believe, is over for a period of time. I think we will see an uptick of attacks from Khazbalah and Lebanon to Israel and vice versa, as the war continues to be played out now via proxies. In related news, the U.S. used its veto power to reject a UN Security Council resolution that would have allowed the Palestinian-controlled territories to become full members

of the U.N. The resolution was put forward by Algeria. 15 members voted yes, Switzerland and the UK abstained. Only the U.S. voted no, saying allowing statehood now would undermine a lasting peace in the region. In a highly controversial move today, the Biden administration has added gender identity to Title IX, asserting that sex discrimination now includes transgender, non-binary, and other LGBT identities. The change is also reversed due process protections put in place by the Trump administration. Schools that don't follow its dictates will face the loss of federal funding. The rule change was met with swift backlash from those who say it puts women and girls in danger.

Among the critics is former Senior Council at the U.S. Department of Education, Sarah Partial Perry. Perry said, quote, under the new rule, girls and women will no longer have any sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, housing accommodations, or other educational programs. Women's sports are likely in danger, too. Perry added that the new rule also erases other important protections like due process protections for students accused of sexual misconduct, free speech protections for students and teachers who don't want to use preferred pronouns, and parents write to know if their child is in the process of a gender identity social transition at school. Mortgage rates have risen again above 7% leading to a drop in the number of homes sold.

The National Association of Realtors or NAR said home sales dropped. 4.3% since February. That's the largest drop since 2022. The rising interest rate combined with changes to real estate agent commission, which was brought on by a lawsuit against NAR, appears to be causing the home buying slowdown, and it's expected to last at least until July. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has qualified for the ballot in Michigan. Here with the details is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. Kennedy and his running mate Nicole Shanahan were nominated by the independent natural law party, which has ballot access in the battleground state. Michigan is critically important in the next presidential election. Trump won the state in 2016, but Biden took home the

win in 2020. Meanwhile, members of the Kennedy clan shun their relative and endorsed Biden for president. Here's Kennedy's sister, Carrie Kennedy. Has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncles stood for. Scotland has paused the use of puberty blockers on Miners. Morning Wire reported last week that England's National Health Service commissioned a report known as the Cass Review to research transition treatments. The review found that there was a lack of evidence justifying the use of puberty blockers on children experiencing gender dysphoria. Now Scotland's only gender clinic located in Glasgow released a statement saying that they will not issue any new puberty blocker prescriptions. Police swarmed Columbia University Thursday afternoon,

arresting several anti-Israel protesters. Here with more is Daily Wire Reporter, Zach Jewell. In an email to students and staff, President Shafiak said she asked police to clear the campus despite her hopes that such a move would never be necessary. In the early afternoon, hordes of cops in body armor and face shields swarmed the campus and surrounded the encampment, which has been the center for all the campus demonstrations since Wednesday. The hundreds of students who occupied the South Lawn did not resist when police arrested them, and onlookers yelled at the police as the arrests took place.

Among those protesting was the daughter of Minnesota Congresswoman Elon Omar. While she does not attend Columbia, she has been suspended from Barnard College where she is enrolled. A bizarre claim by President Joe Biden has been debunked. During a visit to the Scranton Pennsylvania War War II Memorial, the president claimed that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals. Ambrose Finnegan, when he called him Uncle Boise, he was shot down. And he was an Army Air Corps before there was an Air Force. Before a single-engine plane, the Connoisse's flights over New Guinea,

he had volunteered because someone couldn't make it. Got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in the beginning at the time. They never recovered his body. But an official report by the U.S. Defense P-O-W-M-I-A accounting agency says Finnegan was a passenger on the plane, It went down in the ocean after both engines failed. One crew member was recovered by a passing barge, but the body of Biden's uncle was never recovered. Asked about the claims,

White House spokesperson Kareen Jompier, joked that she doesn't have a cannibal tab in her press binder. And the guitarist and founding member of the Alman Brothers band, Dickie Betts, has died. Betts wrote and sang Rambling Man, the band's most popular song. He told Rolling Stone magazine, back in 2020 that he initially wrote the song for Johnny Cash, but then decided to sing it

himself. Betz suffered from cancer and C-O-P-D. He was 80 years old. All right, those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to Dailywire.com, and for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.