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[0] Eric Adams has begun his first week on the job as New York City's new mayor, inheriting a city plagued with challenges.
[1] Unemployment remains high.
[2] Crime is high.
[3] COVID cases are high again.
[4] So how do we get our city back?
[5] What can we expect from the former police captain?
[6] And why are some critics already calling him DeBlasio 2 .0?
[7] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[8] It's Tuesday, January 4th, and this is Morning Wire.
[9] U .S. population growth hit an all -time low in 2021.
[10] What's behind the plummeting birth rate in America, and are other countries seeing similar trends?
[11] And after a string of high -profile Twitter cancellations, podcast star Joe Rogan is getting behind a new tech platform.
[12] Where is Rogan turning?
[13] And why does he think it's the way forward for free speech online?
[14] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[15] Stay tuned.
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[23] New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, was sworn into office on Saturday, and his governing style has already sparked both criticism and praise as New Yorkers try to figure out what to expect from the city's new leader.
[24] Many are hoping Adams will mark a shift away from his predecessor, Bill de Blasio's policies, but it's not yet clear if that wish will come true.
[25] Daily Wire investigative reporter Marade Alorty is here with more for us.
[26] So, Marade, it looks like Adams is following de Blasio's lead on certain things like COVID policies, but in other ways he's taking a very different approach.
[27] What have we seen so far?
[28] Right.
[29] Well, he's given us a few hints so far.
[30] So as you said, Adams, who 61, took office on Saturday.
[31] Immediately, he surprised some by signing two executive orders that extend de Blasio's strict COVID rules, including the vaccine mandate for private sector employees.
[32] Some critics have dubbed him DeBlasio 2 .0 for what they saw as a heavy -handed response to New York surge in COVID cases, which appears to be caused by Omicron.
[33] However, Adams also signaled that he wants to keep the city open as much as possible, saying Monday morning that, quote, the city has to operate.
[34] So not much change for New Yorkers when it comes to COVID restrictions.
[35] No, and he said he's definitely planning to continue with the vaccine mandates.
[36] And what about crime?
[37] So Adams campaigned on a strong police force, and a lot of people think that's how he won the primary.
[38] Right, actually, that might be an area where Adams takes the city in a new direction.
[39] Adams is a former NYPD captain, and he's promised to restore a law.
[40] order in a city that's seen crime skyrocket this year.
[41] Keep in mind, he ran against other challengers who vowed to defund or reimagine the police, so that was a major departure.
[42] He's also said that he wants to revive a controversial anti -crime unit.
[43] But as a Democrat, he's also aware of his party skepticism of the police, so he's promised to prioritize protecting civil liberties as well.
[44] Already this week, he visited an NYPD officer who was shot in the head.
[45] He also met with families of crime victims, and on his first day in office, he called 911 to report a subway fight while on his way to work.
[46] On Sunday, Adams said that New York's police officers will be, quote, responsible, but he also sent a pretty harsh warning to criminals.
[47] You will not bring violence to this city that is not going to continue to happen in the city of New York.
[48] Interesting.
[49] So definitely a law and order focus so far.
[50] What else have we learned about Adams in his first few days?
[51] Well, Adams has a particular love for New York's nightlife, a habit that's earned him criticism from some.
[52] He's already been seen out with everyone from rappers to PR professionals.
[53] There are also signs that Adams may end up having a better relationship with the new governor of New York, Kathy Hockel, than de Blasio had with former governor Andrew Cuomo, who of course resigned amid scandals.
[54] Adams and Hockel have both signaled that they want to avoid tension.
[55] Hulkel said recently that the, quote, era of fighting between New York's governor and mayor is over.
[56] Well, this is definitely a new era for New Yorkers.
[57] We're going to have to see what changes and what doesn't.
[58] Marade, thanks for reporting.
[59] Thanks, Georgia.
[60] That's Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allorty.
[61] Coming up, the U .S. population growth falls to a record low.
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[66] According to new data from the Census Bureau, 2021 marked the slowest rate of population growth in the history of America.
[67] Here with more on what's causing the decline and what it means for the country is Daily Wire's Cabot Phillips.
[68] So, Cabot, just how low has the rate of population growth fallen?
[69] Well, to the point where calling it growth isn't really the right word.
[70] According to the U .S. Census Bureau's newest population report, the U .S. only grew by 0 .1 % in 2021.
[71] which, for all intents and purposes, means there was basically no growth at all.
[72] If you look at the data, the rate of natural increase, which just means the number of babies born compared to overall deaths, was just 148 ,043, which might sound like a lot, but in a country of 330 million, it's just a drop in the bucket.
[73] If you divide that by 50, it's fewer than 3 ,000 people per state.
[74] Now, that's a huge problem because as the population ages, obviously there have to be enough young people to fill in behind them.
[75] and help keep the economy going strong.
[76] So there is growing concern about what happens when right now the baby boomers get older, move out of the workforce, who fills their role?
[77] So the obvious question here is what happened.
[78] Is this all due to COVID?
[79] Yeah, COVID certainly played a role.
[80] Throughout 2021, the immigration process was largely put on hold during the lockdowns.
[81] That resulted in far fewer legal immigrants than at any point in the past two decades.
[82] And there were also, obviously, hundreds of thousands of COVID deaths, which contributed to the disparity as well.
[83] But there is more to it.
[84] If you take a step back, population growth was already slowing considerably before COVID even existed.
[85] According to most studies, there were two main reasons for that dip, the marriage habits of millennials and lower fertility rates.
[86] Experts say economic factors like student loans and increased home prices, along with shifting cultural norms, have young people today waiting longer than ever to get married and in turn waiting to have kids.
[87] The average first -time mother in the U .S., for example, is now 28 years old.
[88] That is up from 21 a few decades ago.
[89] That's a big difference.
[90] Yeah.
[91] And the other part here that isn't always talked about is the massive decrease in male fertility.
[92] There have been numerous studies that have shown a 50 % decrease in sperm count for American men over the last few decades, and obviously that's taking a toll.
[93] One in eight American couples now say they've struggled with fertility problems.
[94] So a few different reasons there, but it's definitely a growing issue.
[95] Is this isolated to the U .S. or are we seeing this globally?
[96] No, it's definitely not just us.
[97] Earth rates are also plummeting in Europe and much of Asia.
[98] Spain, Italy, and Japan, for example, all saw negative growth in 2021.
[99] And every country in Western Europe was under 1 % growth.
[100] China, which for decades had a brutal one -child policy to keep population growth low, is now reversing course.
[101] They're begging people to have kids.
[102] They're offering extra fertility services and even closing abortion clinics nationwide.
[103] The only areas that saw any noticeable growth were in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of South America.
[104] So several other countries are saying similar trends.
[105] Definitely.
[106] Has there been any reaction from the political world?
[107] Well, in past decades, there were a lot of politicians talking about this issue, just the other way around.
[108] In the 60s and 70s, they were all talking about global overpopulation and many leaders actually urge people to slow down on having kids.
[109] Obviously, those predictions were totally off.
[110] And now politicians are, for the most part, quiet on the issue.
[111] There has been bipartisan support for measures that usually encourage population growth like increased child tax credits, but most political leaders haven't addressed the problem specifically.
[112] Now, that could start to change in coming years as the population continues to age and Earths continue to decrease.
[113] Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if the political messaging changes.
[114] It will.
[115] Cabot, thanks for the reporting.
[116] Anytime.
[117] That's DailyWire's Cabot Phillips.
[118] Big Tech censorship has ramped up in the last few days, with both Twitter and YouTube removing interviews between popular podcaster Joe Rogan and two different medical experts.
[119] In reaction, Rogan announced he is joining the new social media site, Getter.
[120] And he's asking his millions of fans to join him.
[121] Here to tell us what likely sparked Rogan's move and what it could mean for the social media landscape is Daily Wire Entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
[122] So, Megan, to start, what exactly did YouTube and Twitter censor?
[123] Well, Rogan, as we all know, is known for being very open to interviewing people whose ideas don't always conform to, let's say, establishment views.
[124] Right.
[125] And his approach to COVID treatments and the government response to the pandemic has not been any different.
[126] So last week, he sat down with Dr. Robert Malone, a prominent virologist who helped pioneer MRNA vaccines.
[127] Well, during the interview, Malone suggested that pharmaceutical companies have a financial interest in pushing vaccine mandates.
[128] And he also suggested that COVID vaccines could be more harmful than getting the virus for certain demographics.
[129] Now, here's a bit of what he told Rogan.
[130] Our government is out of control on this, and they are lawless.
[131] They completely disregard bioethics.
[132] They have broken all the rules that I know of that I've been trained on for years and years and years.
[133] These mandates of an experimental vaccine are explicitly illegal.
[134] So then a couple of weeks before this interview, Rogan interviewed a cardiologist named Peter McCullough who advocated for multi -drug therapy to treat COVID.
[135] YouTube has now removed the videos of those podcast interviews.
[136] And meanwhile, just a day before his interview with Rogan was released, Twitter banned Malone's account.
[137] And so do we think that's why Rogan is joined Getter?
[138] Well, he didn't expressly say so, but if you look at his comments and the timing, it's a pretty reasonable assumption to make.
[139] So on Sunday, Twitter permanently suspended Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Green for what it called, quoting here, repeated violations of its COVID misinformation policy.
[140] Well, it's hard to imagine that Joe Rogan couldn't be suspended under that same rationale, given those recent podcast guests.
[141] Right.
[142] So Rogan announced the same day as Green's ban that he was opening a Getter account.
[143] And he said, quoting in here, just in case, stuff over at Twitter gets even dumber, I'm here now as well, rejoice.
[144] And I'm assuming he didn't say stuff.
[145] No, he used a different word.
[146] A little censorship of my own there.
[147] Now, this probably is the first time a lot of people are hearing about Getter.
[148] What is Getter?
[149] So Getter is a social media platform.
[150] that very much like Twitter is geared towards short form posts.
[151] It will also allow users to upload images and videos up to three minutes long.
[152] So former Trump communication strategist, Jason Miller, launched it on July 4th of last year.
[153] And it bills itself as being a home to free speech and independent thought while rejecting cancel culture.
[154] So it just kind of very directly takes aim at those big social media giants.
[155] Now, there aren't many public figures out there who are influential enough that they can move the needle and big tech dominance.
[156] But I think a lot of people might argue that Joe Rogan could be one of those rare stars.
[157] What do you think in that regard?
[158] I think those people have a point.
[159] He has over 11 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 8 million followers on Twitter.
[160] So that's an awful lot of people who might want to follow him over to this upstart platform.
[161] Now, as proof of that, Getter said in a press release Monday that after Rogan announced he was joining the site, it saw the biggest surge in signups in a single day since its launch.
[162] Wow.
[163] Now, that said, other free speech competitors like Parlor and Gab have not managed to reach Twitter's level of influence.
[164] So it'll be a pretty tough hill for get her to scale to really become competitive.
[165] Right.
[166] And it seems like there's a good chance that Rogan's going to be talking about all this on his show coming up.
[167] Yes, I'm sure he will, and I'm sure a lot of people will be tuning in to hear it.
[168] Right.
[169] Megan, thanks for reporting.
[170] Of course, anytime.
[171] That's Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham.
[172] Other stories we're tracking this week.
[173] Apple has become the first company to ever reach a massive $3 trillion market value.
[174] That means Apple is now worth more than Netflix, Disney, Walmart, Home Depot, MasterCard, and Facebook combined.
[175] On Monday, the FDA approved Pfizer booster shots for children ages 12 to 15.
[176] The CDC says two shots of the MRNA vaccine are only, around 35 % effective against Omicron infection, but the booster doubles that effectiveness.
[177] And Dr. Anthony Fauci, citing public, quote, pushback, said Sunday that the CDC might be considering an update to their recently changed guidelines for people who have tested positive for COVID.
[178] Asked about the CDC's decision to reduce the quarantine period from 10 days to five when asymptomatic, Dr. Fauci said officials are now considering adding a required test after five days.
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[181] Thanks for waking up with us.
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