Transcript

2.9.26 · 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, February ninth. Your reader is
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Rod Brotherton, And of course, as you know, RADIOI is
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a reading service intended for people who are blind or
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have other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Usually on Monday. As you know, we also start with
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Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Hair Leader. But
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Paul's roads must also have been clogged because he doesn't
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have one for us to read this year, So let's
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move on to the Washington Post headlines. The number one
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story is Trump leaves Republicans guessing on midterms plans as
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the outlooked Arkans. Republicans looking into the White House to
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lead in the face of the party's dimming prospects for
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November midterms are facing a crucial hang up the president.
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The party's flagship campaign committee and super PACs have no
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indication of how President Trump will deploy his three hundred
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million dollar plus war chest because the President has not
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approved a spending plan. Republican donors are funding expensive Senate
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primaries in Texas and Georgia because Trump has not cleared
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the field with his endorsement or, in the case of Louisiana,
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endorsing a challenger to the incumbent Republican. People who have
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spoken with Trump about these obstacles said he at times
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can be detached and noncommittal about his plans for spending
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and endorsements. One person close to the White House said
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some days the president seems not to care. Having already
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been impeached twice and indicted four times, Trump is less
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afraid of being impeached again than he is determined not
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to let a Democratic controlled House halt his policy agenda,
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a White House official said. The official and others spoke
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to the Washington Press on the condition of anonymity to
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hide private conversations, but a White House official said Trump
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is excited to get more engaged in mid term strategy
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and looking forward to increasing his travel this month, including
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a campaign style event outside of Washington this week. An
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Oval Office meeting to go over a handful of House
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endorsements Wednesday night turned into a five hour gab fest
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on the midterms. According to two people present, Trump said
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he wants to divide the tendency of the president's party
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losing seats in Congress in the midterms. One of the
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people said We'll spend whatever it takes. The person recalled
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Trump saying, go get it done. The president's political team,
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led by White House Advisor James Blair, campaign strategist Chris
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la Sevita, and pollster Tony Fabrizio, met in Palm Beach, Florida,
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on Friday to revise and review strategy and research from
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every competitive race in both chambers and develop estimates for
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what Republicans will have to spend to win. The team
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also briefed to retreat of Senate Republican campaign's arms on Saturday.
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For much of last year, the White House was an
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island of optimism. Trump's team would argue that the Republicans
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were better positioned at the same point in Trump's first term,
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based on data such as the president's approval rating, the
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generic ballot, and voter registration. Democrats, however, don't need at
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twenty eighteen sized blue wave to win the House, where
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Republicans currently hold the net zero as possible majority and
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are defending fourteen seats rated as toss ups by the
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Cook Political Report. Democrats are defending four toss up seats
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and Cook shifted eighteen seats in their favor in January.
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Republican's beans are anxiously awaiting a clear picture of the
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Trump team's plans, as the president's sagging approval ratings and
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democratic over performances and special elections have darkened the GOP's
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outlook for November's midterms. Most Republicans are not ready to
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criticize Trump in public, but privately, there is a rising
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frustration with an apparent lack of urgency from Trump and
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his staff, according to people who spoke to the Post,
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every time I talk to him on the phone, he says,
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how's the race going, and then he cites polls back
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to me, so I know he's following it closely, said
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Senator John Cronin, Republican of Texas, noting that Fabrizio is
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also his polster and La Cevita is a consultant to
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the super pac supporting his reelection. Still, Trump's endorsement has
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eluded Cronin. There's only one person in the world who's
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going to make that decision, and we can't wait, the
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senator said. Cronin's primary in Texas next month is dominating
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Republican anxieties on the Senate side, since national strategists see
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his toughest challenger, State Attorney General Ken Paxton, is weaker
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than the general election. According to a memo from the
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National Republican Campaign Committee obtained by the Post, holding the
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Senate seat for the GOP with Paxton as the nominee
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could cost an additional one hundred million dollars and a
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state where effective advertising costs eight million dollars a week,
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according to people involved in the race, Texas cannot be
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taken for granted. The memos is presenting internal polling that
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puts Cronin ahead of the Democratic candidates and Paxton behind them.
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Either Republican would face a competitive general election. The survey
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showed with Texas State Representative James Tallarico running stronger than
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US Representative Jasmine Crockett on the Democratic side. In a
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presentation to the Republican Senate Caucus on Tuesday, National Republican
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Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott of South Carolina said a
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recent Fox News poll giving Democrats a six point advantage
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in house races would put all nine Senate battlegrounds up
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for grabs, according to two people present. He also noted
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that Democratic candidates are raising more money for competitive races
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such as Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio. Senate Republicans were
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heartened on February first when Trump endorsed John E. Sinunu
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in the Republican primary for Senate in New Hampshire, following
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extensive lobbying by Senate Majority leader John Thune, Republican of
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South Dakota. Sinunu has criticized Trump in the past, but
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was leading in polls and National Republicans saw him as
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the strongest candidate to flip the seat being vacated by
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retiring Democrat Jean Shaheen, but lobbying for Trump to endorse
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Cronin has stalled as the incumbent has not established a
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clear polling lead in a three way primary with Paxton
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and Representative Wesley Hunt, even after allies poured fifteen million
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dollars into add supporting Cronin. Trump treasures his endorsements as
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definitive in primaries, and it often is in part because
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he resists backing underdogs. Early voting opens on February seventeenth
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for the March third primary. If no one wins a majority,
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the top two candidates will compete in a runoff. On
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May twenty sixth, Trump renewed hopes that he would wade
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into the race by telling reporters February first, I'm giving
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it a very serious look, the day before a Democrat
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won a special election in the state Senate district that
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Trump won by seventeen points. I've had many conversations about
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why I think that makes the most sense to get
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behind John Cronin. Thune told reporters last week. I don't
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have any inside knowledge when or what that might look like,
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when it might happen. Trump might clear the field with
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an endorsement in Georgia to challenge Democrat John Ausoff. The
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person close to the White House said the Republican primary
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includes representatives Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as
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former football coach Derrick Dooley, who was backed by Governor
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Brian Kemp. That race, though is not considered as much
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a priority for Senate leaders as Texas is, Senate Republicans,
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including Thune, have been frustrated by Trump's treatment of Senate incumbents.
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According to two people familiar with attentions, Senator Tom Tillis
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in North Carolina declined to run for re election in
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the battleground state after feuding with Tom Trump over medicaid
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cuts in the President's twenty twenty five tax cuts and
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spending package. Last month, Trump recruited and endorsed a challenger
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to Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, which the White House
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official said was the result of Cassidy's vote five years
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ago to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial of
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inciting the January sixth, twenty twenty one riot at the Capitol.
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I do not think it's a real problem when Senate
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Leadership Fund is on record supporting Cronin and Cassidy and
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President Trump is either silent or opposition to a sin
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referring to the main super pac supporting Senate Republicans. We're
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literally going to have Republican on Republican money being spent,
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and that makes no sense leading up to the general election,
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where we're going to have headwinds on the House side.
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The White House is pushed to protect the House majority
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using redrawn congressional maps. In Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri
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appear poised to net zero seats because of Democratic counteractions.
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In California, Maryland, and Virginia, the latter two still faced
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legislative or judicial hurdles. The White House still expects to
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pick up Republican seats from a new map. In Florida,
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after Governor Ron DeSantis, the Republican, last month announced the
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state legislative special session in April, the Sena said he
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waited to wait. He wanted to wait until then in
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the hopes of a new Supreme Court ruling they could
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reshape as many as nineteen House districts across the South
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by further weakening the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five.
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Trump has noted that the stakes of the midterms include,
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for him personally, the likelihood of being investigated or even
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impeached by a Democratic controlled House. His first administration uniformly
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disregarded oversight requests and litigated subpoenas until after his term. Now,
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some advisors expect the administration can stonewall congressional oversight, and
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the Democratic focus on investigating Trump could backfire on them.
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Leading up to the twenty twenty eight presidential election, Republicans
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still hold an overall advantage in fundraising. The House GOP
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campaign arm, which historically struggles to attract donors and uphill midterms,
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outraised its Democratic counterpart in twenty twenty five. The Democratic
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National Committee has more debt than cash, while the Republican
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National Committee has ninety five million dollars in the bank.
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Trump's main super pack, MAGA Incorporated, finished twenty twenty five
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with a three hundred and four million dollar stockpile, but
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the pack, led by La Cevita and Fabrizio, has been
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mummed with allies about its spending. The person close to
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the White House said the President is likely to approve
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spending in multiple waves and may reserve funds to maintain
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his political kingmaker role in the future elections and for
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legal fees. Thanks to President trump leadership, MAGA inc Will
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have the resources to help candidates who support President Trump's
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America First agenda of securing our borders, keeping our streets safe,
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supercharging our economy, and making life more affordable for all Americans.
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PAX spokesman Alex Feiffer said. While lawmakers await deals on
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what assistance they can expect from the super packs, Trump's
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team noted it was the largest outside spender in the
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December second special election to retain a House seat in Tennessee.
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President Trump and his team were all in for me.
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I wouldn't have won without them, said Representative Matt Van Epps,
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who won by eight point eight points, and a district
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Trump carried by twenty two points in twenty twenty four.
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I know they'll do the same for the entire America
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First Team in this year's midterms. The White House said
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it is actively scheduling multiple trips for the president in
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battleground states and districts in the coming weeks and months
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that will include local lawmakers. The White House has also
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encouraged Cabinet secretaries to minimize foreign trips and focus solely
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on domestic travel this year, encouraging officials to seek guidance
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on prioritizing key battleground districts. The White House officials are
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also helping to book Cabinet members on local media and
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target areas. Since Thanksgiving, Trump has visited the battleground districts
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of Representative Rob Bresnahan, Republican of Pennsylvania and Don Davis,
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Republican of North Carolina, as well as Detroit, home to
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a Senate and governor's race. In Iowa, home to a
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Senate race and two target house races. Vice President j
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D Vance visited battleground House districts held by Ryan Mackenzie
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Republican of Pennsylvania and Marcy Captored, Democrat of Ohio. Medicare
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administrator Mehmet Oz visited the districts of Representative Michael Lawler,
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Republican of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania.
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The White House provided statements from Lawler North Carolina, US
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Senate candidate Michael Whiteley, Senator John Housted of Ohio and
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Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and RNC advisor Danielle Alvarez
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raising Trump and his staff for their support. It's only
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February and there is time for more, but I'm glad
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to go and have very strong support from the President
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and his administration, Husted said. Story in the next story
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is Killers without a Cause. The rise of neolistic violent extremism.
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Amid a wave of high profile killings and political violence
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in the United States, investigators have been confounded regularly by
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the absence of a recognizable agenda. The assailants in several
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cases shootings of bombing, and planned drone attacks resisted familiar
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labels and categories. They were not Democrat or Republican, or
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Islamist militant or antifa or white supremist, there was something
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new in their manifestos. These attackers declared their contempt for
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humanity in a desire to see the collapse of civilization.
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Law enforcement officers and federal prosecutors who begun to describe
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these attacks as a contemporary strain of neholism, an online
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revival of the philosophical stance that arose in the nineteenth
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century to deny the existence of moral truths and even
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meaning in the universe. Recent assailants who have been tagged
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as niilists include the following, a fifteen year old shooter
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in Madison, Wisconsin, who left behind a manifesto entitled War
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against Humanity, in which she described the human races filth.
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A twenty four year old man who plotted a drone
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attack to blow up the Nashville power grid was seeking
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to precipitate the start of the end for the interconnected
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or otherwise globalized world. A self described anti natalist's twenty
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five year old guy Edward Arcas, blew himself up outside
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an in vitro fertilization clinic in May, having argued that
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humans should not be brought into existence without their consent. Sickly,
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it comes down to I'm angry that I exist and
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that nobody got my consent to bring me here the clinic.
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Bomber said in a recording posted online. There's no way
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you can get consent to bring someone here, so don't
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effing do it. By March, federal prosecutors had droppted the
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Rubik II, coining a new official term for the variety
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of this destruction, nehilistic violent extremism, which they defined as
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criminal conduct and furtherance of political, social religious goals that
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derived primarily from a hatred of s society at large
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and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing
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indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. The first known use
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of the term came in the prosecution of a Wisconsin
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teenager who murdered his parents in February of twenty twenty
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five as part of a plot to foment a civil
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war and assassinate public figures. While the hatred of these
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attackers sometimes veered into racist views, what stood out to
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investigators was the broader desire to attack all of society.
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We're seeing a set of cases in which the existing
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definations did not apply, said Cody Zaschek. A researcher with
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the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and former New York Police
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Department counter terrorism analyst who also worked on counter terrorism
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policy at the State Department, passed eighteen months. The United
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States has experienced a wave of high profile targeted violence,
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including school attacks, a handful of bombings, and the assassinations
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of a Minnesota state legislature, the head of the United
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Healthcare Company, and conservative activist Charlie Kirk. While the targets
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were varied, the alleged assassins all claimed to be committed
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to furthering a cause. To better understand the phenomenon, the
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Washington Post analyzed incidents in which the perpetrator or perpetrate
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oars left written explanations of their motives. According to the investigators,
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from a search of academic databases and news clips, seventeen
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attacks fit the bill in the period from July twenty
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twenty four, when the first assassination attempt was made on
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Donald Trump, to December of twenty twenty five. Several of
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the attacks were political in the conventional sense, aimed at
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either Democrats or Republicans, or motivated by anger at the
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Israel Israel Gaza war, particularly the treatment of the Palestinians,
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but six of those assailants fit something like the neolistic pattern,
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while three others were motivated by a narrowly focused grievance
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that had rarely popped up before. The special interest attackers
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included Luigi Mangione, who was charged with gunning down a
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United Healthcare chief executive in Manhattan in December of twenty
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twenty four because of his anger at the industry. Army
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Green Beret Matthew Livesberger, who blew up his Tesla cyber
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truck in front of a Las Vegas casino in January
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of twenty twenty five citing the loss of US military
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lives in Afghanistan, and Shane Timura, who attacked a Manhattan
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office building and over the National Football League's handling of concussions.
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The attacks transformed individual sense of outrage into national spectacles.
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The lists are different. In past decades, people holding solitary
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grievances against society may have struggled to act on them,
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but the Internet has provided them easy, accessible technical expertise, and,
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despite their distaste for society, a sense of community. The
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IVF clinic bomber queried an AI application for information about
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the detonation velocity he could create with a certain type
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of chemical. The Nashville plotter, seeking to sow chaos by
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blowing up the city's power grid, allegedly found information on
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YouTube about how to build a drone to carry explosives.
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They found places online to share their anger with the
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like minded. There was a time when terrorist activity was
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organizational in nature. It was structured bombmaker, recruiter, foot soldier, leader,
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said Michael Jensen, the director of research for the Polarization
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and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University. The
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advent of the Internet chipped away at that pretty quickly,
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Jensen added. What's scary now is that we don't know
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where the next threat might be coming from. It was
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kind of a societal disorder that Sean Barnes, as police
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chief of Madison, Wisconsin, hoped he would never have to confront.
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Natalie Rutno had just turned fifteen. She wore glasses, had
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light blonde hair, and was small for her age. She
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stood only four feet five and weighed ninety pounds. But
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on the morning of December sixteenth, twenty twenty four, she
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entered her school in Madison. The abundant live Christian school.
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Carrying a used Glock nine millimeter handgun, which she had
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paid four hundred and ninety nine dollars for three months earlier,
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she opened fire in a study hall, getting off twenty rounds.
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She did not speak and had a calm and angry
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face during the gunshots. A student witness told the police
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that she killed two people, a teacher and a student,
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and injured six others, and then turned the gun on herself. Initially,
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investigators from the Madison Police struggled to make sense of
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her motives. Some news accounts highlighted the racist slurs and
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Nazi imagery she had carried online. These suggested her actions
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were driven by anti Semite or white supremeist beliefs, but
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the target of her attack, a predominantly white Christian school,
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didn't fit that explt nation, and the days after the shooting,
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news outlets sought ways to explain what may have led
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Repnu to this level of violence. She had been depressed,
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some said, possibly bullied at school, and upset after her
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parents divorced each other for the second time in twenty twenty.
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She had been in therapy. She lived with her father,
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Jeffrey Rupno, who drove recycling truck, and she stayed some
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weekends with her mother, Melissa Rupno, who was an apartment
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property manager. Barnes, then the chief of police, had to
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face residence in the news media demanding an answer why
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did she do it? He was not alone in struggling
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to understand her motive. When innocent people are killed, people
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want some idea of why it happened, he said. What
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the initial news accounts missed is that for more than
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two years before the shooting, Natalie Rutno had fallen for
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the shadowy snares of the Internet. In June of twenty
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twenty two, Repno had created a profile on a friendmaking
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app for young people known as Swipper and listed her
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age at seventeen. She was just twelve, though in the
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seventh grade. Through Swipper and Snapchat, she had come into
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contact with a man from Illinois who sent her a
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number of lude texts. The man said he was seventeen,
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and one day arranged a visit with her home, and
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when her father was not at work, he then took
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her to a Best Western hotel room. The man was
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actually twenty two. Police charged him with child enticement, according
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to court documents, Rutnow's online activity continued, and with eighteen
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months she was planning the attack on Abundant Life. After
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rupnos shut up Abundant Life with public and news media
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clamoring for an understanding, Investigators traced her online activities, spoke
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with friends and teachers, and in her bedroom discovered her
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six page manifesto. Rutno had an online account for forum
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that hosts images of people's dying violently. Fans on such
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websites are classified by researches as part of the true
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crime community, a non ideological online subculture or fascination with
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mass killers sometimes stretches into admiration some fans. The investigators
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of the attacks are reviewed as romantic lovers, outcasts who
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turned to violence in revenge against society. The recent violence,
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neolistic or not, may be traced to the nation's increasingly
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aggressive political arguments. People hear the rhetoric and they think
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of violence as a solution. Barnes, the former Madison police chief,
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also traces the roots of the alienation of some young
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killers to the rage visible in society at large. This
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kind of behavior is called that's referring to I will
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leave to the FBI. But what example are we setting
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when leaders at the highest levels act in ways that
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do not suggest unity or peaceful resolution or compromise. Our
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children are watching when we have at this at the
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highest levels. How are we going to address these issues
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of I hate everyone and our next story? This Maryland
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Labs quantum computer could cure cancer and steal passwords. Inside
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a warehouse turned laboratory in suburban Maryland, a team of
28:42
theoretical physicists and engineers is racing to build a quantum
28:47
computer and processor powerful enough to surpass the most advanced
28:51
computers on earth. These scientists have a lofty goal. They
28:57
want to rapidly accelerate a cure for cancer, but if
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they're successful, the quantum computers they can create could also
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up end online security and pose a threat to personal data,
29:10
financial institutions, and even national security. The scientists hope to
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use quantum mechanics to craft a new type of computer
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that can perform tasks impossible to do with today's classical computers,
29:26
like modeling complex chemical reactions between new drugs and cancer
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sills long before the treatments ever go to human trials.
29:35
Doing so could spread up the development of new medicines
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by telling researchers which compounds have the best chance of
29:42
success before they start testing, eliminating unlikely candidates and fast
29:48
tracking the best contenders. Unlike artificial intelligence, which became ubiquitous
29:55
almost overnight after the launch of chat GPT in twenty
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twenty two, quantum computers would create a completely new computing infrastructure,
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one that could even more profoundly change the modern world.
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The team at the ion Q facility in College Park, Maryland,
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is completing is competing against scientists in Japan, Korea, Britain, Texas,
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New Mexico, Illinois, Massachusetts, and elsewhere around the world. State
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officials see the technological race as a chance to grow
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Maryland's economy and lessen its reliance on the federal government.
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Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat who calls quantum computing a
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lighthouse industry from Maryland, has launched a one billion dollar
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plus effort to create a local industry hub. But that
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investment is a bet, one that might not pay off
30:51
for years, and that carries both financial and real world dangers.
30:56
Quantum computers are an entirely new kind of technology which
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excels where classical computers often struggle. The most analyzing incredibly
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complex systems affected by multiple probabilities. By using ideas from
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quantum physics, they may be able one day to answer
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impossibly complicated questions that classical computers simply cannot address. One
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of the key differences between your laptop at home and
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a quantum computer is that one uses bits and the
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other uses kibbits or quantum bits. Classical computers use bits
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to record massive amounts of data. Each bit can have
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a single value, either zero or one, and each bit
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added to a processor makes the computer more powerful. One
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hundred bits are one hundred times more powerful than one,
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but computer's cubic packs in even greater punch. For each
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cubit added to a quantum's processor, the computer's power grows exponentially.
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A single cubit can hold a superposition value of zero
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and one at the same time. Two cubits can make
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four variations of those values zero, zero, zero, one, one
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zero and one one. Three cubits can have eight different combinations,
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and just ten cubits generates one thoy twenty four permutations,
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already more than five hundred times as powerful as a
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single cubit. To make a cubit ions cues, scientists strip
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an electron from the outermost shell of a uterbium atom
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and use a magnet to pull the now charged particle
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in too an ion trap that yetterbim ion becomes one
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cubit inside a quantum compressor. Line up enough of these
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cubits inside the ion trap, and the processor gains perhaps
33:14
enough power to fundamentally change the world. Peter Chapman, former
33:21
executive director and chairman of the board of ion Q,
33:25
had been traveling the globe to convince potential partners that
33:29
the Maryland based companies trapped ion quantum computer as the
33:34
best shot to add commercial success. He has also been
33:38
thinking about the good and the bad that the nascent
33:41
industry could accomplish. A successful quantum processor could eventually gain
33:47
enough computing power to model unfathomably complex chemical reactions. It
33:54
could also save power. While existing supercomputers often reside in
33:59
data centers that suck up power, Chapman said some quantum
34:04
computers can run plug into a normal wall outlet and
34:09
could save a lot of electricity by absorbing some of
34:12
the work done by traditional processors, and quantum computers could
34:18
optimize all kinds of thorny business operations, such as delivering
34:23
packages along the most efficient route, or finding the cheapest
34:26
way to build a car. But there's also a worrisome risk.
34:33
A powerful quantum computer could crack the encryption technology that
34:38
protects bank accounts, government databases, medical records, and virtually every
34:44
other piece of sensitive data that exists in a digital form.
34:49
In the simplest terms, encryption works by scrambling data into
34:53
a secret code that can be unlocked only with the
34:57
right key or password. To break it, a classical computer
35:01
would have to test each potential password individually, a gargantuan
35:08
and proheadita blee time consuming task. A powerful quantum computer
35:15
could test huge numbers of potential passwords all at once,
35:19
allowing it to crack that code and break into accounts
35:23
without permission in a matter of minutes. Broken encryption could
35:28
also create new military threats. It's silly to fire a
35:33
missile and a plane over the Strait of Taiwan, because
35:36
if I can break encryption, I can just log onto
35:40
the plane and shut down the engines. It's a much
35:42
cheaper method, Chapman said. Ion Q and its partners in
35:47
Maryland also focused on creating tools to guard against those risks.
35:53
The company is investing in ideas like a quantum Internet
35:57
and unbreakable codes would defend against the potential threats posed
36:02
by quantum computing. We're building these things to solve cancer,
36:07
not create problems, Chapman said. We need to provide the
36:11
solutions that protect the world from the technology that we
36:15
are developing. Maryland also wants to win this race, seeing
36:20
the quantum industry as a way to free the state's
36:23
economy from a dependence on federal spending that recently has
36:27
led to severe budget shortages. The state has secured more
36:32
than one billion dollars in state, federal, and private funding
36:35
for a Capital of Quantum initiative to propel quantum research
36:39
centered on the University of Maryland's Discovery District, located near
36:43
the ion Q facility in College Park. The hope is
36:49
that Maryland can become the world's premiere hub for the industry,
36:53
much like Silicon Valley is now for technology. The future
36:59
of well created, as Quantum said last fall during the
37:03
keynote speech at the Quantum World Congress in Northern Virginia,
37:07
the future of economic prosperity is quantum, and that's why
37:13
the State of Maryland we're focused on becoming the capital
37:16
of quantum. So far, tech companies appear to agree. In September,
37:23
Microsoft denounced plans to join the Discovery District, adding a
37:27
formidable player to the state's quantum race. Charles Tahan, a
37:33
partner in Microsoft Quantum, said that the company is trying
37:37
to build the world's best quantum computer and that Maryland
37:41
stuck out as a place with right investment people and
37:44
long term vision. To accomplish that goal, it really requires
37:49
a lot of expertise. We need the best talent, the
37:52
best technologies, from the best refrigerators to the best quantum
37:56
chips to the best software. He said, is already home
38:01
to plenty of researchers and engineers, and also boasts proximity
38:06
to key government agencies such as the National Security Agency, NASA,
38:11
the Department of Energy, and the Defense Department that are
38:14
likely to become some of quantum's biggest customers. To hans It,
38:20
of course, Maryland isn't winning every leg of the quantum race.
38:24
Even ion Q, the state's homegrown quantum venture, decided last
38:28
year to strike a twenty two million dollar deal in
38:31
opening New Quantum Computing Network's hubs in Chattanooga. Tennessee rather
38:35
than in Maryland. Republicans faulted More and the Democrats who
38:40
control state politics for making Maryland less attractive to the
38:44
tech industry by instituting a new tech tax, they say
38:51
strains the very industries the governor hopes to grow. A
38:56
Maryland headquartered company has looked at the numbers, looked at
39:00
the climate, and said, uh thanks, but no thanks, said
39:05
Minority Leader Steven S. Hershey, junior Republican of Queen Anne's
39:11
said shortly after ion Q announced the Tennessee facility, Maryland
39:16
offered special treatment, and they still chose Tennessee. That tells
39:22
you everything you need to know about how unfriendly we've
39:26
become to innovation and investment. More has continued to invest
39:32
in and boost quantum as a way to increase the
39:35
state's economic competitiveness. The governor's proposed twenty twenty seven budget
39:41
include seventy four million dollars in investments in quantum computing,
39:45
with twenty million to bring in new ION headquarters in
39:49
College Park. The money will also support the University of
39:53
Maryland's quantum startup foundry and quantum test beds, the creation
39:59
of a deep tech facility in the Discovery District and
40:03
recruitment efforts in Prince George's County to bring faculty experts
40:08
to the University of Maryland and the Applied Research Laboratory
40:12
for Intelligence and Security known as r less Arlis. The
40:18
turnaround on Maryland's investment is unclear. Many believe that a
40:23
powerful quantum computer is still at least a decade off,
40:28
if not too away from realization. Not only does a
40:32
quantum computer have to work, it has to surpass the
40:35
abilities of a classical computer to be truly useful and profitable.
40:40
Classical computers are also improving every day. If classical computers
40:45
and quantum computers were in a race to Mars, classical
40:49
computers would already be passing the moon, while quantum computers
40:53
have not left Earth. But quantum computing power can grow exponentially,
40:59
meaning quantum computers could catch up to classical computers very quickly.
41:06
Although quantum computing still has a long way to go
41:08
before it reaches the moon. Chapman said he believes that
41:12
a quantum future is very close at hand. He said
41:15
he expects quantum to become popular very quickly, the same
41:18
way artificial intelligence did. Before chat GPT, there were a
41:24
lot of people who said AI is never going to happen,
41:28
Chapman said, and then boom, overnight it just appeared. And
41:32
the world wasn't ready. When open ai launched chat GPT
41:39
just three years ago, the technology had many doubters. Now
41:44
lawmakers are scrambling to understand and regulate AI, Businesses are
41:51
rushing to adopt the new technology, and many people are
41:55
using AI in their daily lives to draft emails, write code,
42:00
and even to find companionship. The technology is seemingly everywhere.
42:07
Chapmain sees a similar future for quantum computing. I think
42:11
quantum is going to come faster than anyone could possibly
42:14
have predicted, and it will shock the world, he said.
42:18
One day everyone will suddenly wake up and realize, Wow,
42:24
we just cured cancer using a quantum computer and I
42:28
didn't even know they existed. Well, how far off is
42:33
one day? I think it's two and a half years,
42:38
Chapmin said. Our next story, why doctor Oz wants you
42:45
to retire later. Mimic Oz, administrator of the Centers for
42:51
Medicare and Medicaid Services, is working to persuade Americans that
42:55
they should postpone retirement for one year. It is whether
43:00
they'll buy it. He has repeatedly said delaying retirement a
43:06
fraught decision for millions, especially low earners who have undersaved
43:11
for it marks physical vigor and could help grow the
43:16
economy and reduce the national debt. Getting the average American
43:21
to work one year longer by starting earlier or retire
43:24
later will generate about three trillion dollars for the economy.
43:28
Because they feel healthy, they're vital, they feel strong, and
43:33
they have agency over their future. Oz said at the
43:35
National Press Club on Monday. It's better for society if
43:41
people engage for longer, Oz said in the interview. The
43:45
Democratic National Committee attacked Oz's proposal in a press release Tuesday,
43:50
suggesting he was advocating for people to work longer to
43:54
help pay for President Trump's tax and immigration bill, which
43:59
added roughly three point four trillion to the federal deficit.
44:03
As the political debate intensifies, salary and education are likely
44:09
to deeply influence how people hear that message. Research shows
44:14
wealthier Americans are already engaging longer. Those with college degrees
44:19
and higher income tend to retire later, have more savings,
44:24
live longer. Researchers have found they're more likely to be
44:28
interested in their work and see it as part of
44:30
their identity. Seventy six percent of people with a graduate
44:36
degree are still working at age sixty seven, compared with
44:40
thirty nine percent of people with only a high school diploma.
44:44
According to the Shortz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, people
44:49
who didn't attend college and earn less have a vastly
44:53
different experience. They're more likely to work in physically demanding jobs,
45:00
retire earlier, have less savings than die sooner. They're far
45:05
less likely to have the kind of mentality stimulating well
45:09
paid jobs that could keep them excited to work longer,
45:13
as Oz is suggesting. Most people do not have jobs
45:18
that are intellectually engaging, and they have other things they'd
45:21
like to do in life, said Teresa Amiable, a Harvard
45:25
Business School professor who has studied white people decided to retire.
45:30
Dianne mczigell, sixty five, said her decision to retire as
45:35
an at IT specialist at the Justice Department at age
45:38
fifty nine wasn't difficult. She had largely enjoyed her job,
45:44
visiting employers' workstations to troubleshoot their computer problems, but mcziggel
45:50
was starting to get a bad attitude about the work
45:52
she'd been doing for nineteen years. It was just like, nah,
45:58
I don't want to be here anymore, she said. Now
46:01
she feels content spending her time reading, exercising, and hanging
46:06
out with her cats. Margaret Spellings, the sixty eight year
46:11
old president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank,
46:15
said she plans to stay in her role through the
46:17
rest of the Trump administration and won't step down from
46:20
one of the boards she serves on until she hits
46:22
age ceiling seventy five. I think people who retire too
46:28
early are boring, boring, boring, said Spellings, who served as
46:33
Education Secretary under President George W. Bush. They play pickle ball,
46:39
they have nothing to do, and watch too much TV
46:43
that ain't me. Retirement age has been rising across the
46:47
board for decades, although west of it's range because there's
46:51
no fixed definition for retirement. The average American now works
46:56
about four years longer than during the nineteen eighties, according
46:59
to the out polling. In twenty twenty four, men retired
47:04
at sixty four point six and women retired at sixty
47:07
two point six on average. According to the Center for
47:11
Retirement Research at Boston College. OZ often cites the results
47:16
of a twenty twenty who Gallop pole where people reported
47:19
retiring at sixty one, but the rise in retirement age
47:24
may be slowing. The factors that drove it have mostly
47:28
played out, including Congress raising the Social Security eligibility age
47:33
by two years, gains and education and life expectancy, and
47:38
fewer employee pensions, said Alisia Manell, a senior advisor to
47:43
the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Now, with
47:48
low earnings, they really can't work much longer than they
47:52
are working, Manel said. Manel, who's eighty three, led her
47:58
center unto a little more than a year ago and
48:02
shifted to lower commitment advisory role. I'm a strong advocate
48:07
if you can keep working as long as you can,
48:09
she said. Nothing is better in life than structure. It
48:13
eliminates a lot of anxiety, and a lot of people
48:16
get joy out of their work. Peter Young, sixty five,
48:20
of Alexandria, Virginia, is still working, not because he wants to.
48:25
He would love to retire from his job at Reagan
48:28
National Airport transporting rental cars, but needs the money roughly
48:32
eight hundred dollars he collects from Social Security every month
48:36
isn't enough to cover his rent. He says the work
48:40
is boring, but not that he has found it hard
48:42
to get job interviews at his age. I was hoping
48:47
to enjoy the rest of my golden years, but that's
48:50
not going to happen right now, he said. Higher earners
48:53
can work longer partly because they tend to live longer.
48:57
Life expectancy for the richest five percent of Americans is
49:01
roughly eight years longer for men and five years longer
49:06
for women than for the poorest five percent. These disparities
49:12
are unfortunate, and the administration is trying to fix that.
49:15
I said. Part of the solution is getting people healthier,
49:20
largely through better diets, so they're motivated to work longer.
49:24
He said, I do have concerns that part of the
49:29
reason people retire at age sixty one instead of sixty
49:32
five is because they don't feel healthy. They retire and
49:35
sort of fix their health, and it should be the opposite.
49:39
Your health should be tuned up the whole time. People
49:44
who work longer tend to enjoy better physical and emotional
49:47
health and have stronger social connections. That's partly correlation. Healthier
49:53
people are more likely to work than sick people. But
49:56
staying in the workplace and also help people stay sharp.
50:00
According to Deborah Whitman, chief public policy officer for AARP,
50:07
when we have mentally stimulating work, it helps slow the
50:11
pace of cognitive decline. Whitman said, mind numbing jobs tend
50:16
to do the opposite. OZ has been airing another argument
50:20
for people working longer, it helps the economy. He's roughly correct.
50:26
If everyone on the verge of retirement were suddenly to
50:29
decide to work just one year longer, gross domestic product
50:33
would grow by six trillion dollars over a decade, estimated
50:38
Mark Goldwien, senior policy director for the Committee for a
50:42
Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that opposes large federal deficits.
50:48
It would also extend solvency for Social Security, which is
50:51
projected to be depleted roughly seven years from now. But
50:57
people decide to retire based on highly personal reasons their savings,
51:02
job satisfaction, or health. Congress already tried to motivate people
51:07
to work longer with nineteen eighty three's legislation that gradually
51:12
raised the eligibility for full Social Security benefits from sixty
51:17
five to sixty seven. It worked, but lower income people
51:21
still claim these benefits earlier than wealthier people. That means
51:27
paying a penalty. Someone earning sixty two thousand dollars a
51:31
year the median US salary for full time workers would
51:35
get twelve hundred and ninety three dollars a month if
51:38
they started claiming at sixty two. According to Social Securities
51:43
Benefit Calculator, the payment goes up to one nine hundred
51:48
and fifty nine dollars if they wait until sixty seven,
51:51
and then if you wait till seventy, the age the
51:54
maximum benefit becomes available, would get them twenty five hundred
51:59
and fourteen dollars. Waiting to claim social Security is a
52:05
really good way to improve retirement well being, said Karen Smith,
52:09
a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who studies taxes
52:12
and subsidies. But the people claiming later tend to already
52:18
be in a better financial position. Twenty seven percent of
52:21
people earning less than thirty seven five hundred dollars had
52:25
claimed Social Security by age sixty three, compared with eight
52:30
percent of those earning more than seventy thousand dollars, according
52:34
to a twenty twenty three analysis by the Schwartz Center.
52:40
Young said he claimed social security after turning sixty five,
52:44
after he had been fired from a previous job as
52:47
a material specialist at the airport where he helped transport
52:51
airplane parts on the tarmac. He kept job hunting, though,
52:56
and said he found his current one, which he said
52:59
pays fourteen dollars an hour, because he has never been
53:03
able to save for retirement. I've got no choice and
53:10
now finally want to lose weight. Here's why exercise probably
53:15
won't help. As sports medicine physicians, I spend days treating injuries,
53:23
studying human performance, and helping my patients move. I prescribe
53:27
exercise for health and deeply believe in its power. The
53:31
evidence is overwhelming. Exercise lowers cardiovascular risk, improves blood sugar control,
53:37
strengthens bones, preserves cognitive function, and reduces the risk of depression, cancer,
53:43
and early death. But there is one area where exercise
53:47
consistently falls, short weight loss. A patient in her fifties
53:53
recently came to me frustrated. She walked most days, strength
53:57
trained twice a week, followed a careful diet, her weight
54:00
barely budged. She asked me the question I often hear
54:05
what is the point of exercise if the scales don't move?
54:09
The irony that was almost everything important about her health
54:13
was improving. The problem was that she had been conditioned
54:17
to focus on the wrong number and a culture that
54:22
treats the gem as calorie burning machines. Many people expect
54:26
exercise to shrink their waistline. When it doesn't, frustration follows.
54:32
The truth is that our expectations are misguided. Large studies
54:37
shows that exercise alone usually produce modest weight loss, just
54:41
often a few pounds over six months. That's because your
54:45
body will correct for the extra activity by increasing your
54:49
appetite or by lowering the calories burned for other bodily functions.
54:55
In a twenty twenty four randomized trial involving middle aged
54:58
adults who are overweight, eight participants assigned to regular exercise
55:03
without changing their diet improved fitness and metabolic markers, but
55:06
lost little weight. As we age, the challenge grows resting,
55:12
metabolism slows, and the body becomes more efficient at conserving energy.
55:17
Various factors influence this, including age related scarapena or muscle loss.
55:22
With aging, and we have to exercise for longer or
55:26
more intensely, to the point it may become unrealistic to
55:29
achieve a caloric deficit substantial enough for weight loss. That
55:34
does not mean exercise fails. It succeeds brilliantly. We have
55:40
simply been asking it to do the wrong thing, and
55:44
that is why my advice often surprises patients. I would
55:49
rather see someone mildly overweight and physically active than thin
55:54
and inactive. The former usually has better fitness, stronger bones,
55:59
more muscles, when greater protection against disease. The latter may
56:04
look healthy, but often carries hidden risks. If the goal
56:09
is long term health, prioritize movement and muscle not way alone.
56:14
Walk more, lift weights, climb stairs, carry groceries, build strength
56:19
into daily life. Use exercise as a tool for healthy longevity,
56:23
not as a standalone vehicle for weight loss. For decades,
56:28
we have equated thinness with health. It is time to
56:31
change that. Consistent movement may or may not change your weight,
56:36
but it always improves health, and that is the outcome
56:39
that truly matters. And this ends the reading of the
56:43
Washington Post for today. Your reader has been Rod Brotherton.
56:46
Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for
56:49
more news right here on radio, I