Transcript

3.3.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, March third. As a reminder,
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Radio I is a rating service intended for people who
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are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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to read printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton,
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and since it's Monday, and by listener request, we begin
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by reading Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Heralded Leader.
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This week's article is called most People Find God along
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a Winding Path. I've spent much of my life, some
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might say way too much of it in church. I
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have a background in the social sciences, and I've always
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been interested in hearing churchgoers stories about how they came
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to faith. I enjoy looking for patterns. Get to know
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the most devoted church goers, and you'll learn they're rarely
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who you assume they would be. Yes, I've met Christians
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who were raised in the fold, accepted the tenants from
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childhood on, never seriously doubted any of it, and have
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lived pious lives from the cradle to wherever age they
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are now in their forties, fifties, or eighties. But I've
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met only a handful of those folks, mainly that's not
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the story. Mainly, the people who've become devoted to their
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faith did so along a winding path. Some have been
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to jail, Some were atheists. Some grew up in church,
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rejected it in their youth, veered out into the wider
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world for years, and then reluctantly found their way back.
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Some hated organized religion. Even once they've made a commitment
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or a recommitment, many continue to struggle with alcohol, drugs,
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or other assorted problems they picked up along the way. Sadly,
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some lose those battles even while holding their faith. Deer
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belief is not a magic wand here's the commonality. Almost
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everybody I've ever talked to who displays a serious, heartfelt,
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lasting commitment to God has said there was a moment
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when the heavens opened up before them and they were
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transported into some new spiritual dimension they hadn't known existed.
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Heaven came down. You might say they were transformed on
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a dime. I've heard this from Catholics, Episcopalians, and Pentecostals alike.
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When I was a young pastor, I had in my
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congregation a guy from the mountains. He'd led by his
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telling a fairly reproar. In early life, he partied lot.
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Then he moved to Mount Sterling to work in a factory.
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One night at work, the assembly line broke. Repairs were
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under weigh. Production came to a halt. He decided to
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take advantage of the idle time by grabbing an app
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He broke down a couple of cardboard boxes, spread them
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on the floor under his workstation, and stretched out on
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this makeshift palate. He'd only been lying there a few minutes,
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he said, when without warning, he was overcome by a shimmering,
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unexpected aura of other worldly peace. He felt bathed in
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love and light. He saw unto the heavens, and suddenly
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realized God was real, that God cared for him intimately,
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and that God was right there in that factory. He
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felt new as a baby. The experience shifted the way
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he saw himself, God, and the world. It replaced the
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trouble and worry that had nettled him with joy and trust.
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After that he found his way to church. I've heard
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some versions of this story, the same story over and over.
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Ordinary people going along their merry or not so merry way,
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find themselves gobsmacked by a glorious God they didn't previously
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believe in, or believed in only some vague intellectual sense.
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In one moment, sometimes it's a series of moments, they
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are transformed and left a wash ingratitude. God stops being
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a theoretical proposition to accept or reject, and instead becomes
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a living presence. I wrote about this phenomenon in my
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final column in twenty twenty four. There I highlighted David
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Brooks New York Times essay about his journey from agnosticism
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to faith. When I was an agnostic, Brooks wrote, I
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thought faith was primarily about belief. Being religious was about
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having a subtle conviction that God existed in knowing what
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the stories in the Bible were true. I look for
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books and arguments that would convince me that God was
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either real or not real. Yet that wasn't at all.
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How he finally encountered God. When faith finally tiptoed into
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my life, it didn't come through information or persuasion, but
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at least at first, through numerous experiences. He said, These
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are the scattered moments of awe and wonder that wash
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over most of us unexpectedly from time to time. In
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those moments, you have a sense that you are in
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the presence of something overwhelming mysterious. Time is suspended, or
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at least blurs, and what is enveloped by an enormous bliss.
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Let me clarify what I am and what I'm not
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trying to say. I'm not saying everybody who's a church
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goer has had a transcendental experience. Probably most church goers haven't.
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A myriad of church goers seem unacquainted with the divine.
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I'm not saying everybody who's had one of these experiences
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finds their way to a church. I'm sure God visits
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people of all varieties, including some who've never darkened a
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church door. I'm not saying that people who've had such
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visions suddenly straightened up and live like I don't know,
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Mother Teresa picking up the pour off the Calcutta streets. Typically,
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the recipients of these visions go right on, glaringly human. However,
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what I am saying is that we've sometimes confused about
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how people arrive lasting, paradigm busting faith, the type of
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faith that becomes the most comforting and inspiring force in
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their lives. That kind of faith isn't something you can
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reason yourself or somebody else into the deepest faith is experiential.
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It's a mysterious, unexpected gift from above. Until God removes
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our blinders, we can't see him. But once we've seen him,
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we can't unsee. Try as we might, and as you know,
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Paul Pray through his pastor of the Bethesda Church near
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Mount Sterling, and you can email him at pr atpd
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at yahoo dot com. Now let's turn to the Washington
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Post and the lead story for this morning. As gopi's
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Medicaid cuts, Trump tries to avoid the political third rails.
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President Trump has insisted loudly and repeatedly that his administration
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won't cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. I've said that
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so many times. You shouldn't be asking me that question,
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Trump told reporters on Wednesday, invoking President George HW. Bush's
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famous campaign promise in nineteen ninety eight not to raise taxes.
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This will not be a read my lips. It won't
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be read my lips anymore. We're not going to touch it. Yet.
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Bush ultimately broke his promise and raised taxes, and Trump
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may also find it difficult to keep his pledge not
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to touch the three entitlement programs that provide benefits to
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more than one hundred and thirty million Americans. Social Security, Medicare,
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and Medicaid represent more than forty percent of the federal
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budget and a major focus of the Trump administration's operation
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to cut government spending, with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk saying
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that the three programs represent major sources of waste, fraud,
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and abuse. Republicans also can see that Medicaid, the safety
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net health program that provides coverage to more than seventy
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million lower income Americans, is likely to face the brunt
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of potential cuts under a House budget resolution that passed
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last week and instructs GOP lawmakers to find eight hundred
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and eighty billion dollars in federal savings. But Trump officials
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across the administration have been instructed to avoid any perception
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of actions cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. According to
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two people who spoke on that condition of anonymity to
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discuss internal conversations, I can only tell you what President
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Trump has told me, which is that he wants me
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to make Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare better. Robert F. Kennedy,
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Junior Trump's picked to lead the nation's health agencies, told
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a Senate panel in January a response to repeated questions
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about Congressional Republicans' potential efforts to cut Medicaid, the coming
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budget and legislative fights are shaping up as a test.
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Do the programs remain a political third rail, as Republicans
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vividly remember from Trump's first administration, when their failed attempt
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to repeal the Affordable Care Acts Medicaid expansion helped cost
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GOP control of the Congress, Or is there a path
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to cut programs that some watchdogs acknowledge are bloated by
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wasted spending without being punished by voters. This past week
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provided a preview of those tensions, as some House Republicans
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publicly agonized before deciding to vote for their party's budget plan,
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and GOP leaders assured them that they would protect American's
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health coverage. We're going to cut the fraud, waste and
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abuse out of Medicaid, and that's where we're going to
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get part of the savings to accomplish this mission, House
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Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, said Wednesday night on CNN.
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Some Republicans and Trump allies, such as former White House
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strategist Stephen K. Bannon, have urged the GOP to tread
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carefully as they weigh changes to Medicaid, specifically warning that
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any cuts could harm Trump's low income voters. Concerns about
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cutting health programs also extended to the ACA, long demonized
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by Trump as the failed Obamacare program. A recent memo
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by Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward, who conducted polling for
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Trump's campaign, and is Republicans to extend tax credits for
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ACA health coverage they are set to expire this year.
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It is popular and would be good politics for the
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House and Senate GOP to embrace it, Fabreezio wrote in
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an email. Trump and GOP leaders previously have signaled that
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they do not plan to continue those tax credits. Meanwhile,
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Democrats and advocacy groups have denounced House Republicans vote as
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a blow to health coverage and a bits cuts. Liberals
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quickly announced a flurry of new ads highlighting the risks
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to Medicaid and blasted supporters with emails warning that their
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healthcare coverage was endangered. Republicans need to stop listening to
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Donald Trump and Elon Musk who want tax breaks for
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their billionaire bodies and start listening to their constituents who
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just want to stay on their healthcare, Senator Paddy Murraymocratic
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Washington told reporters on Thursday. Surveys show that many Americans
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are wary of cutting Medicaid or any entitlement program, while
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most Americans think that corruption, inefficiency, and red tape are
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major government problems. According to an APRC poll released in January,
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majorities also said that programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and
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Social Security need more funding, not less. Americans are also
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roughly split on the work being done by Musk and
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his allies in the US DOGE Service. A IPSOS poll
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found that thirty seven percent of Americans said Musk was
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cutting wasteful government spending, while thirty four percent said he
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was cutting necessary government programs, and the remainder said they
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were unsure or had no response. Trump, Musk, and their
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allies have repeatedly framed their efforts as simple fraud fighting,
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with the President and his billionaire advisor recently servicing claims
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of widespread problems with Social Security payments for deceased Americans.
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When you see people that are two hundred years old
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that are being sent checks for Social Security hmm, some
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of them are actually being sent checks, Trump said Wednesday.
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Analysts and watchdog groups have said that the problem is
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neither new nor a sign of widespread fraud, but a
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technological issue with social securities tracking system and does not
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represent a source of significant spending. Musk has further argued
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that Democrats are using overly generous entitlement programs to lure
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undocumented immigrants into the United States and shift the voting base.
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Why is the Democrat propaganda machine so fired up to
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destroy me, Musk ask popular podcaster Joe Rogan in an
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episode posted on Friday. The main reason is that entitlements
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fraud for illegal aliens is what is serving as a
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gigantic magnetic force to pull people in from all over
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the world and keep them here. Democrats have dismissed Musk's claims,
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pointing to his past comments alleging a debunked link between
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illegal immigration and voting Democrats also insist they are willing
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to consider changes to entitlement programs, but not as the
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GOP pushes ahead on a budget plan that they say
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is focused on lowering taxes for the party's wealthy supporters.
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We need to look at how to make these programs
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work better, and I think there are some good examples
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of that at the state level. What they're talking about
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is not that, said Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota.
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They're looking to save money by reducing health insurance for
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people who really needed. Medicare and Social Security, which provide
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benefits to older Americans, are widely popular, generally have been
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insulated from political pressures. Democrats and Republicans have spent decades
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trading accusations about which party is cutting or defunding those programs,
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making it difficult to enact reforms or pursue wasteful spending.
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But Medicaid, which serves low income populations, traditionally has been
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more vulnerable to potential changes and cuts. The first Trump
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administration pursued work requirements in addition to funding changes that
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experts and advocates warned wood curb enrollment harm the program.
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Medicaid has never been considered a political third rail like
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Medicare and Social Security, but that's starting to change. Larry Levitt,
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executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a non
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partisan healthcare research group, wrote in a message Medicaid covers
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more people than Medicare and Social Security, and low wage
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workers in Medicaid had become a prominent part of the
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Trump political base. Medicaid advocates say that political support for
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the program is stronger than at the start of the
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first Trump administration, with more enrollment and popular recognition in
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twenty seventeen when the GOP embarked on its repeal bid,
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but that the program remains at risk. If Medicaid was
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a true third rail, I wouldn't be doing so much
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work to explain the catastrophe consequences of these cuts, said
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Anthony Wright, executive director to a Family's USA, a non
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partisan healthcare advocacy group. He predicted that Republicans would regret
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any attempt to scale back healthcare coverage, citing how some
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voters have recently confronted their lawmakers with angry questions about
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Trump's cuts to government programs. I think the town hall
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responses are just the beginning, Wright said. Brian Blaze, who
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served as a House White House economic official in the
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first Trump administration, set efforts to overhaul Medicaid are beginning
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to be opposed by entrenched interests that benefit from spending
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on program. The healthcare industry doesn't want to change anything.
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States don't want to change anything, said Blaze, who now
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serves as president a Paragon Health Institute, a right leaning
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think tank. He criticized the proliferation of financing gimmicks such
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as taxing health care providers to draw down additional Medicaid reimbursement,
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with the money going back to providers and also being
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used for unrelated state priorities, and other moves that have
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shifted costs for the program from the state to the
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federal government. The White House has also bristled at any
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perception that health care is imperiled under the new administration,
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with officials dismissing recent coverage of a brief disruption to
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Medicaid payments and changes to how the National Institutes of
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Health funds biomedical research as fake news. The American people
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gave President Trump a mandate to improve health care for
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everyday Americans while streamlining government bloat, Cushed De Sigh, a
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White House spokesman, said in a statement. The Trump administration
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is committed to protecting Medicaid while slashing the waste, fraud,
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and abuse within the program, reforms that will increase efficiency
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and improve care for beneficiaries. Blaize said Republicans had learned
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from prior attempts to pursue healthcare reforms, touting his own
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organization's work. One of the benefits now that we didn't
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have in twenty seventeen is Paragon putting out information on
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what's going on with the Medicaid program, said Blaze, whose
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group has published several reports and commentaries widely cited by
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GOP lawmakers. A newsletter written by Blaze on Wednesday highlighted
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wasteful Medicaid spending growth under the Biden administration and argued
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that the House's budget efforts would largely reverse that. Another
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recent newsletter urged lawmakers not to back away from the
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coming healthcare fight. Responsible governing invokes making tough decisions, Blaze wrote,
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And the next story a Midwest Texas measles outbreak. Vaccine
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resistance hardens When the local hospital warned of a brewing
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measles outbreak, Kaylee Branter urged fellow residents of this rural
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West Texas community to beware of vaccinating their children. Two
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weeks later, her unvaccinated seven year old son came home
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from school with a fever. The telltale ral symptoms and
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swift recovery only hardened branton HER's anti vaccination convictions, even
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after an unvaccinated child died of measles at a hospital
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eighty miles away. We're not going to harm our children
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or risk the potential to harm our children, she said,
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so that we could save yours. Texas worst measles eruption
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in three decades has surged to one hundred and four
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six known cases, with the true toll much likely higher,
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exposing how under vaccinated communities are unnecessarily vulnerable to one
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of the world's most contagious diseases. Experts say the first
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known victim was six and otherwise healthy. According to two
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individuals with known knowledge of the case who spoke on
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the condition of anonymity to discuss details that haven't been
22:26
publicly released, the life threatening outbreak in West Texas starkly
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illustrates the stakes of slipping immunization rates and the ascension
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of vaccine skeptics, including secretary of the Public Health Establishment,
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and it revealed how fear and the scientifically false claims
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of the anti vaccine movement have seeped into communities such
22:52
as Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak hardening attitudes
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about vaccines pro and con in the face of a dangerous,
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preventable disease. Brandtner, who's thirty four, said she decided not
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to vaccinate her children after years of her own research
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and because she said her nephew hashed into the vaccine
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against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. She moved from New Mexico
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to Texas in part because it's easier here to claim
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an exemption to school vaccine mandates. A cough, running nose, fever,
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and rash to a healthy child is mild, but vaccine
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adverse reactions are severe, she commented on January thirtieth on
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the local hospital's Facebook post, which described Measle's Simpsons. Brantner's son, Paxon,
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recovered from measles with little problem, she said, after she's
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had him organic food and cod liver oil, bathed him
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in magnesium salts, and rubbed him in beef tallow cream
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infused with lavender. The family took precautions to protect others
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in the community, such as ordering groceries for pickup and
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keeping their older son out of school, and he developed
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a measle's rash on Friday. Medical experts and the Centers
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for Disease Control and Prevention say harm from vaccines is
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rare and is vastly outweighed by the risk of preventable disease.
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Two doses of the measles vaccine are ninety seven percent
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effective against the virus. The origins of the outbreak remain unclear.
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Infections quickly spread within Gaines County's Mennonite community, a diverse
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religious sect of thousands, some of whom educate their children
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at home or at private schools without vaccine mandates, but
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the outbreak is no longer concentrated just in that group.
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It has infected people like the Brandnor family who are
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not men, and it spread across nine West Texas counties
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and cross the border into New Mexico. The outbreak spurred
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hundreds in the region to vaccinate themselves and their children
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as the threat of the virus became immediate, but it
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has made others dig in their heels, arguing that measles
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is no worse than chicken pox or the flu. While
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most children with measles recovered, as many as one in
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twenty develop pneumonia. According to the CDC, one in a
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thousand experienced swelling of the brain, which can leave a
25:38
child deaf or with an intellectual disability. For every one
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thousand children with measles, one or two die. Still some
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living with the outbreak argue that it is a good thing.
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Girls can grow up and pass antibodies to their children
25:58
to shore up protection and in infancy. While infected children
26:02
gain lifelong immunity, doctors warn that comes at a cost.
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They could have had the same immunity with the vaccine,
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said Tammy Camp, a Lubbock pediatrician who oversees doctors who
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cared for the child who died, and unfortunately there's a
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child who paid a very heavy price for that. Conditions
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were ripe for a regional outbreak of measles. In Gaines County.
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It has Texas's third highest rate of public school children
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thirteen point six percent whose parents came a conscientious exemption
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for at least one vaccine. In one tiny school district,
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nearly half the students claim an exemption in local private schools,
26:51
Officials believe the unvaccinated rate is also high. Measles spreads
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with extraordinarily efficiency, hanging in the air for hours even
27:03
after a carrier leaves the room. That's why public health
27:07
experts say a population needs at least a ninety five
27:10
percent vaccination rate to achieve herd immunity. Measles was eliminated
27:18
in the United States in the year two thousand, but
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periodically re emerges, often after an unvaccinated person travels to
27:27
a country where measles still broadly circulates. There have been
27:31
recent cases in the Seattle area, New Jersey, and southern California.
27:37
If vaccination rates are high, it's like throwing a match
27:41
into soaked wood and it fizzles out. If it infiltrates
27:46
the community with pockets of unvaccinated people, it's like throwing
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a torch into a parched forest and igniting a wildfire. Kennedy,
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a longtime critic of measle shots and other childhood vaccinations,
28:00
has not urged Americans to get vaccinated as federal officers
28:04
did during past measles outbreaks. In an op ed published
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Sunday on the Fox News website, Kennedy called on parents
28:13
to discuss measle shots with their healthcare providers. The decision
28:18
to vaccinate is a personal one, Kennedy wrote. Vaccines not
28:23
only protect children individually from measles, but also contribute to
28:28
a community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be
28:32
vaccinated due to medical reasons. Because Gaines County has no
28:37
movie theater, limited healthcare options, and and few big box stores,
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people travel to cities more than an hour away for entertainment, shopping,
28:47
and advanced medical care, creating opportunities for the virus to
28:51
spread through new pockets of unvaccinated people. Measles outbreaks often
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link back to the titanly knit groups with below average
29:00
vaccination rates, even if the majority of the community is immunised.
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In twenty seventeen, measles tore through a Somali community in
29:10
the Minneapolis area, infecting more than seventy Next year, a
29:14
measle's outbreak in New York City infected more than six
29:18
hundred Orthodox Jews to see disease detectives are seeing similar
29:24
conditions among the West detective Mennonites. The spotlight on Mennonites
29:30
has bred resentment in the community that they are being
29:33
unfairly blamed, stereotyped as insular, or conflated with subsets of
29:38
Homish people who as jew Modern medicine and technology, Mennonites
29:44
descended from persecuted European and a Baptists have roots in
29:48
the community that stretch back to the nineteen seven have
29:51
roots in the community that stretch back to the nineteen seventies,
29:54
when hundreds immigrated from Mexico. There are more than half
29:58
dozen churches, ranged from sprawling halls where hundreds pack the
30:01
pews and services are live streamed, to tiny buildings on
30:04
the outskirts of town. Some are recognized as people who
30:08
speak low German or as women who wear head coverings,
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but many are indistinguishable from the other residents. They work
30:16
as baristas, staff home style cooking joints, and run construction companies,
30:22
sometimes wearing traditional clothing. Jake Fair, pastor of the Mennonite
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Evangelical Church, who wore jeans and a blazer as he
30:30
delivered a sermon about the dangers of anger, said Mennonite
30:34
clergy do not use their pulpits to dissuade parishioners from
30:37
getting vaccines. People base their decisions on their own convictions,
30:42
he said, which range from skepticism of big pharma to
30:45
a preference for natural immunity. It's not a matter of religion,
30:50
said Fair, who noted that he and his four children
30:54
are vaccinated. This gets pushed as a narrative that we
30:58
are not taking good health protocols and we're sort of
31:02
these anti vaccine people, and that's just simply not the case.
31:07
He and other local leaders set a minnite school and
31:10
daycare deserve credit for temporarily closing after measles exposures, as
31:15
do parents willing to abide by the twenty one day
31:18
isolation guidance for unvaccinated children who have been exposed to
31:22
the virus. Tina Simmons, a local Mennonite historian and author,
31:28
described the ongoing measles outbreak as just another trial endured
31:32
by a resilient people. It's not like, oh, we're so anxious,
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this is an outbreak. We got to really be scared.
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Semen said, you work through it, and you learn from
31:44
your hardships and you get stronger because of it. Zach
31:50
Holbrook's executive director of the South Plains Public Health District,
31:53
which includes Gaines County, recently visited Siemens at the museum
31:58
she runs to share a Medical journal article about the
32:02
four months it took to end the measles outbreak in
32:04
an Amish community in Ohio in twenty fourteen. Some Mennonites
32:10
have faulted him for singling out their community, but Holbrook
32:14
said he's just trying to provide information about the burgeoning risk.
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Holbrook's worries that the younger generations do not understand the
32:22
dangers of measles, and that he and his staff are
32:25
now seeing. At a testing site outside the hospital, a
32:29
mother showed up with a baby with blue lips, a
32:33
sign the infant was struggling to breathe. That has haunted me,
32:38
Holbrook said, that would be the impetus for me to
32:41
do everything I can to get the message out about
32:44
measles vaccine. Vaccines can be a victim of their own success.
32:50
When diseases vanish, the memory of their dangers and the
32:54
urgency to eradicate them fade. Marina Tovar brought her fifteen
33:00
month old daughter, Cambri, to be vaccinated at the Lubbock
33:03
Health Department after Sunday church services. She'd already planned to
33:08
vaccinate her daughter when the family's insurance plan restarted, but
33:11
sped up her plans after reading about the outbreak. Why
33:16
would I chance her getting it, Tovar said, noting that
33:20
her two older children received vaccines and they've been just fine,
33:25
so we just wanted to keep her protected the best
33:27
we could. But first hand experience does not always change
33:32
views on vaccines. On a morning last week when minnite
33:36
onned pizzeria, a Minnite couple told the waitress that their
33:39
sixteen year old son's recent vott of measles was minor. Oh,
33:43
it was a rough couple of days, but nothing worse
33:46
than the flu, the father, Peter said. In an interview,
33:51
the couple said they view childhood vaccination as tantamount to
33:54
Russian roulette because of the risk of side effects. They
34:00
spoke on the condition that their last names not be
34:03
published because they said local Mennonites have been harassed and
34:07
ostracized since the outbreak began. The couple said those who
34:12
choose not to vaccinate their children are unfairly vilified. They
34:16
said they protected the community by keeping their son and
34:18
his older siblings home after he tested positive for meedles.
34:23
Measles some people have it really bad, but most people
34:27
don't dislike with the vaccine, said Marry the mother. Where
34:31
there is a risk, there should be a choice. Experts
34:36
said the choice not to immunize has consequences for the community,
34:42
even when people experience mild illness and isolate once sick.
34:47
People infected with measles can transmit the virus four days
34:52
before the rash appears. Infants are too young to be vaccinated. Still,
34:59
some here believe the vaccines themselves are responsible for the
35:02
rapid spread of the virus. They repeated false claims from
35:06
anti vaccine activists outside Texas who blamed free vaccine clinics
35:12
launched in early days of the outbreak for accelerating infections.
35:18
They have seized on a handful of measles cases and
35:21
vaccinated patients five out of one hundred and forty six
35:25
with vaccination status unknown for sixty two according to state data,
35:31
to argue that the unvaccinated are not to blame, but
35:36
epidemiologists say it's not surprising that occasional infections will occur
35:41
among vaccinated people when an outbreak is rapidly growing. Ben Edwards,
35:47
a physician in Lubbook who treats some patients in Seminole,
35:50
including a family with measles, recently released an episode of
35:54
his podcast about the outbreak in which he described mass
35:58
infection as God's version of measles immunization. Edwards said the
36:04
ideal treatment for measles is not all that dissimilar from
36:07
other infectious diseases. His advice for patients is to undergo
36:11
up mitochondrial tune up to strengthen their immune response. Go
36:18
out and get a green juice, or just drink some
36:22
water with a pinch of sea salt and go sit
36:24
outside and listen to a bird chirp. Edward said, it
36:28
sounds crazy, but it's the basics. It's what our ancestors knew.
36:35
His views stand in stark contrast with the pleas of
36:38
those on the front lines of the outbreak to get vaccinated.
36:42
All twenty confirmed measles patients treated at Covenant Children's Hospital
36:47
and Lubbock were unvaccinated, official said Summer Davis, a pediatric hospitalist,
36:55
has cared for about half of them, including the one
36:58
who died. This is a disease they didn't have to
37:03
get if they had adequate vaccination or if we had
37:07
adequate herd immunity, Davy said, Knowing there was a way
37:11
to prevent it is the heartbreaking part. And now in
37:17
world news, European leaders doubling down on backing Zelensky after
37:23
the Trump blow up rattled European leaders said Sunday they
37:28
were doubling down on supporting Ukraine and boosting military aid
37:32
following the televised Oval Office breakup and blow up between
37:36
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Vlodimir Zelensky. The embattled
37:42
Zolensky was greeted with cheers outside ten Downing Street and
37:46
a warm hug from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer when
37:50
he arrived late Saturday for an emergency summit of European leaders.
37:55
The pair embraced again at the start of the session Sunday,
37:59
which Starmer described as once in a generation moment for
38:03
European security, and they set side by side during the talks.
38:08
The display of support stood in stark contrast with comments
38:12
Sunday from Trump administration officials who heaped blame on Zelensky
38:17
for the White House uproar. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz
38:22
described Zelensky's behavior as incredibly disrespectful, and Secretary of State
38:28
Marco Rubio accused him of disrupting US efforts to get
38:31
Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an into the war.
38:36
The London gathering, which included the leaders of France, Germany,
38:41
Canada and other nations did not produce a formal statement,
38:46
but participants agreed to sustain or boost military aid flowing
38:50
to Ukraine, Starmar told reporters afterward, and to insist that
38:55
Kiev be directly involved in any negotiations with Moss Scout.
39:00
In the war, Europe's aim, now, Starmer said, was to
39:05
arm Ukraine sufficiently so that it could begin any peace
39:09
talks from a position of strength. Countries had expressed interest
39:14
in joining a coalition of the willing that would help
39:17
guarantee the peace a future deal, he said. Starmer and
39:22
French President Emmanuel Macron, both of whom also met with
39:26
Trump last week, were seeping seeking to shape a diplomatic
39:31
cleanup of US Ukrainian relations. Starmer said the two and
39:36
possibly one or two others, would act as mediators between
39:40
Washington and Kiev, working on a ceasefire plan acceptable to
39:44
Ukraine and Europe that they would present to Trump. Macron,
39:49
in comments to Francis Le Figaro on Sunday, suggested a
39:53
potential one month truce in the air and see and
39:57
on energy infrastructure, which could be paired with negotiations if
40:02
it holds, and followed by a potential European troop deployment
40:06
in the event of a settlement. British Armed Forces Minister
40:11
Luke Pollard said earlier Monday that there was no agreement yet,
40:15
though options were on the table as talks led by
40:18
Britain and France continue. Starmer, who has talked to Trump
40:22
at least twice since the Zelensky meeting, said the gathering
40:26
solidified Britain's own commitment to Ukraine. We are doubling down,
40:31
he said, and announced a new two point seven billion
40:34
dollar loan for Ukraine, backed by frozen Russian assets and
40:38
two billion dollars in exporting financing to help Key purchase
40:42
air defense missiles manufactured in Belfast. Obediately after the summit,
40:48
Zelensky flew by helicopter to an audience with King Charles
40:51
the Third at Sandringham, the monarch's country retreat. Zelensky, who
40:56
on Friday left the White House early after the fractious
40:59
exchange with Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance, said
41:02
the King's invitation made him feel very happy. Starmer also
41:08
extended the royal invitation to Trump and a full blown
41:11
state visit at their Thursday meeting at the White House
41:15
as part of his own attempt to shore up American
41:17
support for Ukraine. The Prime Minister asked Sunday whether he
41:22
trusted Trump, answered yes, saying he believed Trump was sincere
41:27
in his desire for a lasting peace in Ukraine, but
41:31
he acknowledged that the Oval Office verbal brawl made him squirm.
41:36
European Commissioned President Ursula Andre Deden said Sunday summit, which
41:41
was planned before Zelenski's meeting with Trump, was meant to
41:44
make clear that Europe remained committed to the embattled country.
41:50
Following the meeting, she told reporters that Europe needed a
41:53
surge in military spending to rearm itself. Starmer and Macron
41:59
made clear they would continue their campaign to rescue lease
42:03
some American backing for Ukraine, even as they confronted growing
42:07
evidence that Trump's pivot toward Putin could be genuine and lasting,
42:12
and that Europe would be forced to take on more
42:15
of Ukraine and possibly its own defense. Beyond the frayed nerves,
42:21
everybody should return to calm, respect and recognition so that
42:26
we can move forward concretely, because that's what's at stake.
42:30
Is too important. The Krontol French media late Saturday, Nacross
42:35
said Zelensky had told him he was willing to restore
42:39
dialogue with the United States, including on a negotiated US
42:43
Ukrainian minerals agreement that went unsigned during his aboartive Washington visit.
42:49
Italian Prime Minister Georgie Melone has established warmer relations with
42:54
Trump than most leaders in Western Europe, meeting with him
42:58
three times since Trump's re election. The right wing leader
43:02
suggested Sunday that Italy could play a key role in
43:06
bridge building, but the White House meltdown puts her in
43:10
a squeeze between Trump, other European leaders, and her rivals.
43:14
At home. Maloney has staunchly backed Ukraine and opposed Russia,
43:19
even against pushback from within her ruling coalition. Deputy Prime
43:24
Minister Matteo Salvini, a political rival, lashed out repeatedly in
43:29
Ukraine over the weekend and called on Italy to side
43:33
with Trump on ending the war. The Italian press has
43:37
featured interviews with Paolo Zampoli, an Italian born New York
43:41
real estate investor known as a Trump a close Trump ally,
43:47
and during a tour through Italy, Zampoli made clear Trump's
43:51
antipathy for Zelenski and the angered Maloney could face from
43:55
the right for backing him. Maloney's position on Ukraine must change,
44:01
Zampoli told the Italian outlet Ilfoglio. Trump doesn't like it.
44:06
Trump officials lined up Sunday to pin the White House
44:09
blow up on Zelenski. Rubio accused the Ukrainian president of
44:15
filing Trump's plans to strike a cease fire with Russia,
44:19
claiming Zelensky disrupted American efforts to get Putent to the
44:23
negotiating table. That's our goal, Rubio said in an interview
44:28
with ABC News is this week. Don't do anything to
44:32
disrupt that. That's what Zelensky did. Unfortunately, he found every
44:37
opportunity to try to Ukrainian splain on every issue tools
44:44
he gathered. Trump's National Intelligence director said Zelensky directly challenged
44:49
Trump in the Oval Office and showed his lack of
44:52
interest in any good faith negotiations. There's going to have
44:56
to be a rebuilding of any kind of interest in
44:59
good faith and go siations before President Trump is going
45:02
to be willing to re engage on this. Gabbertel House
45:06
Speaker Mike Johnson, the Republican of Louisiana, said, Zelensky berated
45:11
and interrupted his host instead of expressing gratitude for the
45:15
extraordinary help that the US has provided his country and
45:20
that effectively helped him stay alive and in power. Trump,
45:24
Johnson said, is the only figure on the entire globe
45:29
who was powerful enough to bring and he was in
45:32
the process of doing that, and he was very, I
45:35
think excited about the deal that was going to be consummated,
45:39
but President Zelensky went in and blew it up. At
45:44
least one Republican lawmaker disagreed with that characterization. Senator James Langford,
45:50
Republican of Oklahoma, who has supported the USA does Ukraine
45:54
and its battle against Russia, told meet the President Zelensky
45:58
was rightfully seeking assurerences that Washington would provide security if
46:03
Putin were to violate a peace agreement, as he has
46:06
done in the past, and Senator Bernie Sanders, the Independent
46:10
from Vermont, said calls by some Republicans for Zelenski's resign
46:14
were horrific. Zalinsky is leading a country trying to defend
46:20
democracy against an authoritarian dictator Putin who has animated his country,
46:25
he told NBC Starmer called the London Summit before the
46:29
White House meeting as a follow up to two gatherings
46:32
of European heads of state who have sought to respond
46:36
to Trump's upending of a long entrenched security and trade norms.
46:41
The British leader continued his push to place London at
46:45
the forefront of Europe's response to the Trump of evils.
46:49
Starmer fast tracked surge in British defense spending Saturday and
46:53
pledged troops as a main part of a political future
46:57
European security force in Ukraine. On Sunday, he called on
47:01
other European governments to grow their militaries and join a
47:05
coalition of the willing and taking up the slack in Ukraine,
47:10
NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed optimism that Europe's breach
47:16
with Trump could be healed and next how Doge detonated
47:22
a crisis at a highly sensitive nuclear weapons agency amid
47:28
the tumult of mass firings. The Trump administration's dismissal of
47:32
workers who maintain America's nuclear weapons delivered perhaps the greatest shock.
47:39
These are people with highly sensitive jobs, the Energy Department
47:43
would later acknowledge, who should never have been fired. Almost
47:48
all the workers were re hired in an embarrassing about face,
47:52
a prominent example of how the administration has had to
47:56
reverse dismissals in multiple instances where its scattershot approach caused
48:02
deeper damage to agencies than anticipated. The employees of the
48:07
National Nuclear Security Administration are stewards of a sprawling government
48:13
system that keeps five thousand nuclear warheads secure and ready.
48:20
They make sure radiation doesn't leak, weapons don't mistakenly detonate,
48:25
and plutonium doesn't get into the wrong hands. Yet late
48:30
the night before Valentine's Day, the Trump administration perfunctorily fired
48:35
seventeen percent of the National Security Nuclear Administration's workforce over
48:40
these strenuous objections of senior nuclear officials. The president said
48:47
workers critical to national security would be exempt from the firings,
48:51
but then there was an active decision to say these
48:54
positions are not critical to national security, said an official
48:58
at the nuclear agency who's spoke on the condition of
49:01
anonymity to avoid reprisals. It is so absurd, I don't
49:05
even know what to say. The episode provided to be
49:09
among the biggest blunders of the Trump's first weeks in office,
49:12
as he deployed the brunt instrument of the US DOGE Service,
49:16
overseen by billionaire White House advisory Elon Musk, to radically
49:20
slash government payrolls. A stream of panic call from lawmakers
49:26
in both political parties led to rapid reinstatement of most
49:30
of the three hundred and fourteen nucletar engineers, technicians and
49:34
managers who had been fired via email but not before.
49:39
The incident inflicted chaos in confusion within the eighteen hundred
49:43
person agency, illuminating the dangers of applying Silicon Valley's move
49:48
fast and Break things playbook to government agencies that have
49:52
deadly serious missions. The novice costcutters instilled at the Energy Department,
49:58
several nuclear workers in interviewed said appeared to lack a
50:02
basic understanding of the work of the NNSA, an arm
50:07
of the department that is a key pillar of the
50:09
national defense. These are jobs directly tied to keeping bad
50:15
things from happening being at facilities in places like Tennessee, Texas,
50:20
New Mexico, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri, said an official
50:25
who recently left the agency and speaking on the condition
50:29
of anonymity to avoid damaging the career. A lot of
50:32
them are in red states, and these lawmakers are not
50:36
thrilled by the potential for bad things happening in their communities.
50:41
The Energy Department said in a statement that fewer than
50:44
fifty people were ultimately dismissed from the nuclear Agency, and
50:48
most were in administrative or supportive roles. It said federal
50:52
contractors who had the most day to day operations at
50:55
nuclear weapons plants and laboratories were exempt from cuts. Energy
51:00
Secretary Chris Wright, an oil executive and fracking pioneer, spent
51:05
much of the previous week reassuring employees during a tour
51:09
at federal nuclear facilities. He told Scripts News that I
51:14
probably moved a little too quickly there, and when we
51:17
made mistakes in layoffs at NNSAY, we reversed them immediately
51:21
in less than in twenty four hours. The administration's cost
51:25
cutting blitz, rushed and lacking transparency, has forced it into
51:31
other reversals after the practical or political implications of certain
51:35
firings became clear. The firings of officials working to stop
51:40
the spread of bird flu, protect the food supply, and
51:43
review medical devices have been reversed. Musk made himself light
51:48
of a mistake. He said that Doge made of the
51:51
accidentally canceled efforts to stop the spread of the ebolavirus.
51:56
The administration has directed to the agencies to reverse dismissal
52:00
of military veterans and military spouses, as well as workers
52:04
who staffed the Veteran's Crisis Line, a suicide prevention program.
52:09
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fired and then
52:12
reinstated employees overseeing aid to first responders and survivors of
52:18
the September eleventh, twenty eleven, twenty one attacks from terrorists.
52:23
At the Environmental Protection Agency, some employees were brought back
52:27
to the office after officials placed them on leave under
52:30
the mistaken belief that they'd worked on diversity, equity and
52:34
inclusion efforts. At the Nuclear Agency, the initral firings were
52:40
so haphazard that entire divisions are still reeling, said current
52:44
and former agency staff. Like other agency and administration employees
52:50
interviewed by The Washington Posts and quoted in this article,
52:53
the employees spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. Paradoxically,
53:00
the administration's rush to notch firings quickly was seen as
53:04
a missed opportunity by outside specialists and critics who argue
53:08
the agency needs and overhaul. Nuclear hawks say the operation
53:13
is mired in red tape that Hamper's efforts to modernize
53:17
the arsenal plans for replacing old warheads and innovating new
53:22
weapons designs are far behind schedule and over budget. The
53:28
n essay is failing, said Robert Peters, a research fellow
53:32
focused on nuclear weapons at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative
53:36
think tank. Most of the weapons in the Arsenal are
53:40
older than the average American, but the firings did not
53:44
appear to be driven by a plan to improve the agency. Instead,
53:49
the department leaders compile the list of all the people
53:52
who could be fired because they were in probationary period
53:55
or employment, and then terminated most of them. The list
54:00
included many highly specialized experts with advanced degrees who had
54:05
recently been promoted from another position or joined the agency
54:09
from the private sector. According to administration officials who were involved,
54:16
its obvious those people did not understand how our nuclear's
54:19
weapons systems work, said Jim Walsh, a nuclear arms scholar
54:24
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies program. This
54:30
was in competence after supervisors were given the list in
54:34
early February of who could be fired. They were given
54:38
two hours to file any appeals. They were told to
54:42
keep those written appeals extremely short, and most of the
54:46
appeals were rejected. By February twelve. They were allowed two
54:51
or three sentences to make the case for an employe
54:53
to stay set an employee. Later, supervisors were told all
54:58
of the people on the list would be terminated anyway.
55:01
By midnight February thirteenth, hundreds of letters had been dispatched
55:06
by leadership at the Energy Department to nuclear scientists, engineers,
55:10
radiation specialists, and other workers at nuclear operations from Los Alamos,
55:16
New Mexico, to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They were abruptly cut loose.
55:21
Their access to their email and any government computer systems
55:25
was cut off. Caught up in the purge were several
55:29
workers key to the operation of the government's only plant
55:32
for assembling and dismantling nuclear weapons, called Pantexts. It's near Amarillo, Texas.
55:39
It is the backbone of the weapons modernization effort and
55:43
also the only place where the United States can safely
55:46
dismantle its many aging warheads. We have weapons coming out
55:52
of the stockpile for good reasons at a federal nuclear employee,
55:56
and there's a long queue for dismantlement. It all has
56:00
to go through pian texts. Walsh was bewildered that the
56:06
department fired critical workers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
56:10
which remains central to the nuclear US weapons program eighty
56:15
years after its scientists built the first atomic bomb. Among
56:20
those who received termination letters were the radiation manager, the
56:24
emergency preparedness manager, and the fire protection engineer. As first
56:29
reported by the outlet Bulwark, if you fire all those
56:33
people and something wrong happens, what can I can go?
56:38
Very badly? Wall said, you think the fires in California
56:42
were bad, imagine if you had a radiation fire. Many
56:48
of those dismissed from the agency and then rehired told
56:52
Q level security clearance, which gives them access to nuclear secrets.
56:58
Nuclear non proliferation experts in Washington warned of the risks
57:03
of firing such workers who have knowledge that's highly valuable
57:08
to rogue states and terrorist groups. When the Iron Curtain
57:12
fell and such nuclear workers in the Soviet Bloc faced unemployment,
57:17
the United States rushed to make sure they were supported
57:20
financially so they didn't tell secrets out of desperation. The
57:26
panic calls the next morning were led by Congressional Republicans
57:30
typically loathed to criticize Trump, according to Energy Department officials
57:35
who were briefed and spoke on the condition of anonymity
57:38
because they were not authorized to to close details, and
57:42
among those who dialed Rights office, according to those people,
57:45
was Representative Scott de Jarlets, Republican of Tennessee, a conservative
57:50
Republican who chairs the Congressional subcommittee overseeing the Nuclear Agency.
57:54
And Tennessee is home to the Y twelve National Security
57:57
Complex and Oak Ridge, which makes components for nuclear weapons.
58:01
The facility also stores radioactive materials and manufactures fuel for
58:06
the Navy's nuclear powered vessels. And it was built as
58:09
part of the Manhattan Project to enrich uranium for the
58:12
first US atomic bombs. And now this concludes the reading
58:17
of the Washington Post for today, Monday, February three. Your
58:22
reader for today has been Rod Brotherton. If you have
58:25
any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please feel
58:29
free to call us at eighty five nine four two
58:32
two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening, and now
58:37
please stay tuned for continued programming right here on RADIOI