Morning Wire - Removal Of the Military Vaccine Mandate | 12.7.22

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

The Biden Administration’s Covid vaccine mandate for service members is removed from the defense spending bill, the Dutch government is preparing to shutdown thousands of farms, and some of the biggest newsrooms in the U.S. see layoffs and other staffing issues. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.    Download the Cynch app and get your first tank exchange for just $10 with promo code WIRE. Visit http://cynch.com/offer for details. Sign up for stamps.com using promo code "WIRE" for a special offer that includes a 4-week trial, plus free postage and a digital scale: https://www.stamps.com/ Use code "WIRE" at checkout and save 70% off their Most Popular Package: https://genucel.com/wire Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Democrats join Republicans to remove the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate from the defense spending bill. What we're finding is they're kicking out men and women that have been serving. They're not meeting their recruitment. Now, military members will have a choice in whether they receive the COVID vaccine. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, December 7th, and this is Morning Wire. As part of the country's climate agenda, the Dutch government is poised to shut down thousands of farms? Why are officials taking such drastic measures and how are farmers in the country reacting?

And the ground remains shaky in some of the country's biggest newsrooms. We break down the latest on the layoffs and threats to leave. But before we get to those stories, the votes are in in the Senate runoff race in Georgia. And incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has been declared the winner against Republican Herschel Walker. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. The last thing you want to be doing the morning of the Christmas party is driving around trying to exchange your empty propane tank for a new one. Get ahead of the game this year with Sinch. Sinch delivers propane grill tanks right to your door on your schedule.

No long-term commitment or subscription required. Plus, you can track your order on the Sinch app from anywhere. Go online to Sinch.com, that's C-Y-N-C-H-com, or download the Sinch app to order. Use promo code Wire to get your first tank exchange for just $10. Visit cinch.com slash offer for details. Congress is moving to repeal military vaccine mandates from the defense bill despite opposition from the Biden administration. The House is expected to vote on the provision later this week. Joining us now to give us the latest details on the military vaccine mandate is Daily Wire Culture Reporter Megan Basham.

So, Megan, most parts of our society have moved on past COVID vaccines a while ago. But the military has been one of the holdouts. Does it look like that's going to come to an end? end soon? Yeah, you know, it does. And the reason is because Congress is facing the deadline for the defense authorization bill. And what that is is the legislation that funds the Pentagon for the next year. So Republicans feel that now is the time to finally repeal that mandate. And it also looks like Democrats are willing to work with them on that. So high-profile senators like Kentucky's Rand Paul and Florida's Rick Scott are arguing that the mandates are government overreach. And they've been

arguing that for a while. And they say they're willing now to hold up this legislation if it includes continued vaccine requirements. And of course, with Republicans taking control at the House in January, Democrats know that they're going to be facing a lot less bargaining power if they don't work with the GOP now. And also on top of that, some Republicans are also pushing for remedies and possible reinstatement for the thousands of military members who were discharged or lost benefits for refusing the vaccine. The House and Senate Armed Services Committees say they're looking at adding language to the bill that will require the Pentagon to complete a study on why so many religious exemption requests were denied and how the military

might compensate those individuals. Now, the White House has gone on record as opposing this repeal, as has Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. They say it's a question of military readiness for service members to be vaxed and boosted. How do Republicans respond to that? Well, they say military readiness is their primary concern, too. So right now, the military is facing the lowest recruitment levels in 50 years. And leaders like Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy point to the vaccine mandate as a primary cause. And then on top of that, more than 20 Republican governors sent a letter to President Biden, arguing that the man is what's keeping their states from meeting recruitment needs for the National Guard.

Republicans are also pointing to a waste of taxpayer money because trained men and women are continuing to leave the military over that mandate. To give you one example, the Air Force has discharged a lot of pilots who are very expensive to train over their vaccine refusal. I spoke to retired three-star Vice Admiral Dean Lee. He was an Atlantic area commander, and he's working with a group that says the mandate is directly responsible for a lack of readiness in the Coast Guard, for example. Moral is low and trust in leadership has eroded significantly. Everyone should be concerned about this. This is a matter of national security if you look at it across the board from a readiness standpoint.

Now, what about the medical argument? At this point, we know a lot more about the virus as well as the vaccine. and that includes some of the risks that the jab poses to young men specifically. Yeah, some people are, and that's probably not surprising, given that one study done specifically on the U.S. military, showed that members who received COVID vaccines actually had higher than expected rates of heart inflammation. That's something that Senator Rand Paul, who is, of course, himself a physician, addressed in a hearing on Monday.

The COVID vaccine has a risk of causing the inflammation. particularly in young men, particularly the young man that comprise over 90% of our military recruits. Well, this has been an incredibly divisive issue, so I'm sure a lot of service members are glad to have it resolved. Megan, thanks for reporting. My pleasure. That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. Coming up, the Dutch government threatens to shut down thousands of farms. Slaying through traffic to get to the post office, rushing to send gifts to your loyal clients.

Luckily, Stamps.com has everything you need to make your life a whole lot easier this holiday season. Stamps.com, the 24-7 post office that you can access from anywhere. This holiday season, trade late nights for silent nights and get started with Stamps.com today. Sign up with promo code wire for a special offer that includes a four-week trial plus free postage and a free digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. Just go to Stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page and enter code wire. As part of its effort to combat climate change and comply with EU regulations, the Dutch government is preparing to shut down up to 3,000 private farms,

drawing praise from environmentalists and outrage from farmers. Here were the details on what led to the decision and how it's being received is Daily Wire's senior editor Cabot Phillips. Cabot, what do we need to know? Well, this all comes as part of the Netherlands effort to rapidly reduce their nitrogen and carbon emissions to comply with new EU climate goals. As part of that mission, the country's taking aim at farms, which they say account for half of the country's emissions. Now, the Dutch government said earlier this year that they were hoping to cut livestock in the country by up to 30% and reduced nitrate emissions, which often come from fertilizers by up to 70% by the year 2030.

That inevitably means putting some farmers out of business, which has not gone over well. The Dutch initially hoped to find volunteers who were willing to sell their farms to the government so that they could be shut down, or volunteers who would willingly shift their operations, entirely to drastically cut emissions basically overnight, but there have not been many takers. One report said just 30 farmers have so far accepted voluntary buyouts. Only 30. Yeah. And the government's responded by moving to forcibly close the farms. Exactly.

The country's so-called nitrogen minister now says publicly for the first time that if not enough volunteers step up, the government will forcibly shut them down. With compensation and what she called, quote, pain in the heart. Obviously, not much consolation for those losing their farms. No, I think not. Yeah. Among the 3,000 farms they're looking to seize are those deemed the, quote, peak polluters, or those also located near what the government says are environmentally sensitive areas.

Keep in mind, the Netherlands is the world's second largest agricultural exporter, trailing just the United States and total value of products, which is shocking when you consider it smaller than West Virginia. And that means the industry is hugely important to the country's economy, which is really setting off some alarm bells. Okay, so major global implications here. Why is the government taking these kinds of drastic actions? Is this really just about combating climate change?

Yes, and no. It's a bit complicated, but over the last few years, a series of government infrastructure plans have been put on hold by Dutch high courts because they violate nitrogen and carbon regulations set by the European Union. The courts say that if the country wants to move forward with those construction projects, they have to cut emissions elsewhere, and the government obviously views farms as the most logical scapegoat. As one official spokesperson put it, quote,

a relatively small part of the economy is blocking the rest of society. Now it's going to happen because we have our backs against the wall. Essentially, the Dutch government says their hand has been forced and that everyone is going to have to make sacrifices in order to fight climate change, starting with farmers. All right, so it's the farmers being sacrificed for other initiatives. What sort of reaction has this drawn from the farmers? Well, they are furious to put it lightly. Over the last year, we've seen a wave of massive demonstrations with tens of thousands,

thousands of farmers and their supporters marching in cities around the country, driving their tractors to government buildings and even shutting down highways. Remember, there was that one incident we talked about on the show where a farmer was shot at by a government official. What's the main argument they're making? Well, beyond the obvious point that it's their land and they shouldn't have it taken by the government, they say they're being unfairly targeted. They point out that other industries should be targeted first in reducing emissions because food production is a matter of national security and the most vital industry of all, especially with the war. in Ukraine damaging the already fragile supply chain lines, especially there in Europe, they say that airline industries and manufacturers are being left alone because they're more in lockstep with the government and are basically getting preferential treatment. So now the question becomes how much of a fight the farmers will put up and what the reaction is from others in the country. Yeah, I'm sure many are bracing themselves here. Yeah, Kavana, thanks for reporting.

Anytime. That's the Daily Wire senior editor, Kavit Phillips. Major shakeups have occurred in some of the biggest newsrooms in the country in recent weeks. all at a time when independent journalism is gaining more of a footing. A slew of layoffs took place at CNN, including some of the network's prominent names and faces. Meanwhile, the New York Times has been threatened with a potential walkout of their entire newsroom as early as this week, owing to a failure of the paper and the journalist's union to agree on a new contract. And just yesterday, it was reported that BuzzFeed was laying off 12% of its staff.

Here to discuss this and some developments in new media journalism is columnist David Marcus. Hi, Dave. Let's start with CNN. What's the situation at the network now? So the new president of CNN, Chris Licked, who took over from and embattled Jeffrey Zucker this year, had promised cuts and layoffs, both to save about $100 million, but also to rebrand CNN, back to more of a straight news outlet and less of an opinion outlet. Over 400 employees got pink slips this past week, And that included some like Crystaliza and others who were viewed to have a left-wing bias. You might remember just after Licked took over, he also fired Brian Stelter. They're really trying whatever they can over there.

I mean, Don Lemon was moved to the morning, Jake Tapper to nighttime. So far, ratings are still low, but they're clearly trying to mix it up. Moving on to the New York Times, this has been a bit of a slow-motion car crash. Really since early September, this threat of a walkout has been looming. How likely is it and what are the sticking points? I don't know how likely it is. The sticking points are pretty typical, health care plans, pensions,

of course, the brand new post-COVID negotiating point of how often workers actually need to show up at work. But really, they want to raise, and they say if they don't get it, they'll hit the bricks. And of course, this is awkward for a paper like the Times that is very pro-labor, very pro-union, has a readership that is as well. they run the risk of looking hypocritical here.

But at the same time, the Times leadership also knows that they have a bit of a reputation these days of being bullied by the newsroom or of the inmates running the asylum. So this is a tough spot. Where did that reputation come from? The leadership of the nation's biggest paper has basically lost control. And could the walkouts just further that perception? I'm sure it could. There have been several incidents, chief among them, an op-ed by Senator Times. cotton about using the National Guard for the 2020 riots.

That newsroom uprising against that op-ed led to the firing of Van Opinion page editor James Bennett. But more generally, there's just a sense that the Times has an agenda in a way that hasn't been true in the past. For example, there's been really minimal coverage of the release of information from Elon Musk about Twitter's actions during the 2020 election, obviously centering on the Hunter Biden laptop. It seems the Times and its newsroom want no part of this story, which is curious given its gravity.

We'll see what the future holds there. David, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. That was Daily Wire contributor, David Marcus. Another story we're tracking this week. The Trump Organization was convicted on tax fraud on Tuesday in a case brought forth by the Manhattan District Attorney. The penalties are not expected to jeopardize the future of the former president's company. Well, it's all the time we've got this morning.

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