The Daily Signal

The word "knitting" normally evokes quaint images of grandma sitting in her rocking chair by the fireplace, needles and yarn in hand, as she makes a pair of mittens for her grandchildren to wear while they play in the snow.Less likely are images of self-appointed social justice warriors demanding fealty to a cause as they systematically expunge conservatives from online forums. Even less likely are images of physical confrontations occurring at in-person knitting gatherings.In 2019, a blog post about a knitting enthusiast going to India exploded into a debate about "colonialism" and "white supremacy" in the pastime. A series of commentaries posted on the website Quillette detailed how the online social justice squabble bled out into the real world, resulting in real-life altercations between knitting enthusiasts in England.Jon Kay, a senior editor at Quillette and editor of the new book, "Panics and Persecutions: 20 Quillette Tales of Excommunication in the Digital Age,” has his own thoughts on this epic yarn."It's tragi-comic," explains Kay, "It's hilarious because these are people who knit, but it's also tragic in the sense that a lot of these people, like, this is their life and their community. Their social community is other people who knit on these Instagram groups and other social media, and they're getting thrown out."Kay joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the absurdity of the knitting incident, as well as cancel culture more generally.We also cover these stories: During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas whether he was warned about the flood of Haitian migrants arriving at the southern border. After a phone call between President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, France's ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, who had been recalled, will be returning to Washington next week. Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times over tax documents of his that she leaked. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 1 in what some are saying is the biggest abortion-related case of the past four decades. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization could result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the returning of power to the states to set their own abortion laws, as they did prior to the high court's 1973 ruling in Roe.“I feel very confident that we're going to win,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says. Fitch, a Republican, has filed briefs with the Supreme Court asking the justices to deliver “strong clarity” on the issue of abortion in their ruling. The high-profile case goes back to a Mississippi law passed in 2018, which restricts abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Days after the bill passed, Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state's only abortion clinic, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law, which was enjoined by a lower court and is currently in abeyance.Fitch joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain the significance of the case and what will happen to abortion laws across the country if the court upholds Mississippi’s law. We also cover these stories: President Joe Biden addresses the U.N. General Assembly for the first time since taking office. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas again claims the American border is closed. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urges the Biden administration to stop deporting the growing number of Haitian migrants arriving on the southern border. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden recently purged his predecessor's appointees from government boards and commissions, in what critics call an unprecedented break with tradition.Appointees named by Donald Trump while he was president, among them former senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, were told bluntly by letter to resign or be terminated within a day.Luke Rosiak, an investigative reporter for The Daily Wire, has extensively covered both the firings and the consequences of Biden's actions."There are really serious problems that can happen when our long-term institutions, which are kind of designed to keep our country stable over the course of many decades, become beholden to a White House [administration] that may only be in office for four years," Rosiak says.Besides advisory boards for the various military academies, the Trump appointees targeted by Biden include the Equal Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Arctic Research Commission, and the National Board for Education Sciences, Rosiak reported.Normally, members of such panels carry over for the remainder of their terms when a new president from either major party takes office.Rosiak joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss his reporting and the implications of Biden's departure from tradition and precedent.We also cover these stories: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visits the Texas border again. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., calls on Democratic leaders to ignore the Senate parliamentarian's ruling and push on with including immigration policies in the $3.5 trillion spending package. Pfizer announces that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children ages 5 to 11 and generated a “robust” immune response in a clinical trial. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of Cubans took to the streets in July to protest the county's communist government. But since then, two months later, we have heard very little about the pro-democracy movement in Cuba. Many of the individuals who led the protests are now in prison, says John Suarez, executive director at the Center for a Free Cuba. Despite that, Suarez says he remains hopeful for Cuba’s future. “[T]here's a profound desire by Cubans for change,” Suarez says, adding that what is needed now “is international solidarity, not just in the United States, but from the democratic world more broadly.”  Suarez joins “The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss the strength of the pro-democracy movement in Cuba and how America can play a role in moving the Caribbean island nation toward freedom.  Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a simple way you can say thank you to two U.S. military veterans. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says. Brnovich filed a lawsuit against the president and other Biden administration officials on Tuesday, arguing that the vaccine mandate is an assault on state sovereignty. "[W]e know from reading Federalist 45 and Federalist 51 that people like James Madison, who wrote the Constitution, expected the states to push back against the federal government," Brnovich says.The attorney general, a Republican, also says, “Nowhere in the Constitution does it provide or does it allow the president or the federal government to require any sort of vaccines."Last week, Biden signed an executive order mandating the vaccination of all federal employees and contract workers. The president also directed the Department of Labor to write a rule mandating all organizations with 100 employees or more to require all their employees be vaccinated or tested weekly. Brnovich says the president’s actions not only violate American freedoms, but also the equal protection clause of the Constitution.The Arizona attorney general joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what he hopes to accomplish through the suit.We also cover these stories: Idaho puts in place crisis standards of care throughout the state, citing the number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization. After an article from The Daily Signal and a press release from The Heritage Foundation, online retailer Amazon rescinds an ad ban for a new book released by Heritage Foundation scholar Mike Gonzalez.  According to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, migrants, staff, and border communities were exposed to greater risks of COVID-19 infection by the department’s failure to adequately screen incoming migrants for the disease. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As debate rages in Congress over spending packages and election reform bills, Senate confirmations for President Joe Biden's executive branch nominees continue to move forward.Some higher profile nominees—such as Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget and David Chipman as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—attracted enough critical attention to sink their nominations.But Biden nominees such as Tracy Stone-Manning, his choice to run the Bureau of Land Management, have flown largely under the radar."I think she's indicative of this pattern in the Biden administration of where they're just not bothering [to vet nominees] and they're just pushing [them] through," says Tom Jones, co-founder of American Accountability Foundation, a nonpartisan educational organization that highlights the administration's appointments.Jones joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss some of Biden's most problematic nominees and why Americans should keep a close eye on the process.We also cover these stories: Biden says he has "great confidence" in Gen. Mark Milley to continue as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff despite published reports that Milley secretly spoke with a Chinese counterpart near the end of the Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump criticizes Milley's reported actions, as do Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Republican governors accuse the Biden administration of playing politics with the COVID-19 pandemic after the White House announces it will restrict distribution of an effective treatment to fight the coronavirus.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After President Joe Biden finished his speech last Thursday evening announcing new COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a reporter called out, “Is this constitutional?” Biden, leaving the room, did not stop to answer. The president’s new vaccine mandate directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Labor Department, to require all organizations with 100 employees or more either to test their employees weekly for COVID-19 or ensure they are vaccinated. Biden also signed an executive order requiring that all federal employees and contract workers be vaccinated. One of the most important questions to ask is whether OSHA "has the statutory authority ... to issue a rule of this type,” Heritage Foundation legal scholar John Malcolm says. Biden’s requirements likely will affect between 80 and 100 million Americans, some of whom now face the choice of taking a COVID-19 vaccine or losing their job. Malcolm, who is a senior legal fellow at Heritage and directs its Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain the constitutionality of vaccine mandates and the likelihood that litigation over a new OSHA rule will rise to the Supreme Court. (The Heritage Foundation is the parent organization of The Daily Signal.)We also cover these stories: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announces the filing of a lawsuit against the Biden administration in response to proposed vaccine mandates. Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to face questions about the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Senate Democrats unveil legislation to change federal election law in response to new Republican-led election reforms in Texas and Florida. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The left is the dominant force in media today. Leftists control all the levers of cultural power, from the TV writers' room to the film sets in Hollywood. These leftists use their cultural power to dictate what you can and can't see.The latest casualty is an episode of the hit sitcom "The Office," which aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013. Without explanation, Comedy Central removed an episode titled "Diversity Day" from rotation, likely in an attempt to avoid offending some viewers.The episode mocks lead character Michael Scott (played by Steve Carell) as he makes a fool of himself by using various racial stereotypes, employing satire to illustrate just how terrible Scott’s racism is.Emily Jashinsky, culture editor at The Federalist, joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about the new censorious left, as well as how conservatives can claim their place in the media landscape.We also cover these stories: The House Foreign Affairs Committee holds its first hearing examining the rushed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fallout from it. House Democrats say they intend to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy to finance their $3.5 trillion spending proposal. An upstate New York hospital system will have to "pause" delivering babies because of a staff shortage caused by some employees' refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccination. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judge Michael Warren felt conviction after his daughter asked him why there wasn't a specific time each year dedicated to remembering American history and celebrating the nation's founding. "We need to start a new celebration for America," Leah, only 10 at the time, told her father.Warren, a judge on the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County, Michigan, says he determined that he couldn't complain about that lack and then not do anything about it."So we decided to be audacious and to do a week," he recalls.In 2012, father and daughter formally co-founded Patriot Week. Every Sept. 11-17, they invite all Americans to join them in remembering the patriots who founded our country, the documents that established our government, and the history we must never forget. Warren joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share the history of Patriot Week and the resources offered by their website for families, schools, and communities to take part in the celebration. Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a police officer who saved nine lives during her first year of service. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty years ago today, Islamist terrorists struck America. Across the country and around the world, Americans were left battered and broken in the aftermath of the first significant attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor. Life could never be the same after Sept. 11, 2001.But life didn't stop after that terrible day. Survivors had to go on, amid immense pain and suffering inflicted by those who would destroy our way of life. The question is how?Tim Brown is a retired New York firefighter who survived 9/11. He's also a motivational speaker who uses his grief and trauma from that day as a tool to help others work through their own issues.“For every person who was obese, pregnant, injured, disabled, there were four or five office workers, not cops or firemen, helping that person," Brown says of what he witnessed that day. "And it made me proud of humanity, because we help each other. That's what we do.”Brown, 59, joins this bonus episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss what he experienced on 9/11 and share how others can push past their own awful circumstances.   Enjoy the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices