Transcript

4.7.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Monday,
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April seventh, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for today is Roger Imperium by
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listener request. On Mondays, we begin by reading Paul Prather's
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weekly column from the Lexington Herald Leader. This week's article
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is titled You'll be seeing less of me in the
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days ahead as I try to step back beginning with
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this column. I'm stepping back from writing every week to
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only writing twice a month. This announcement will no doubt
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delight some of you and perhaps distress a few. But
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in either case, I wanted you to hear it from me,
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the proverbial horse's mouth or other parts. I wanted to
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make it clear this change is by my mind request.
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No one forced me, no one even suggested it. I'm
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not being cut back by some evil editor. I'm cutting
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myself back, as you know if you've stopped by here lately,
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I just celebrated another birthday at sixty nine, I don't
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have the energy or mental bandwidth I used to have
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I don't want to work as hard. Please don't send
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me concerned or critical messages about this. I'm not physically
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decrepit or alarmingly senile. My wife and son might dispute
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the latter, but I also don't have as many opinions
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as I once did. What I do have to say,
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I feel as if I've already said repeatedly. I've been
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writing columns since the late nineteen eighties and preaching sermons
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even longer than that. My plan for a long time
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was to fully retire by age sixty five from both
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writing and preaching, But as as is often the case,
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the world didn't conform to my plans. Among other things,
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the COVID nineteen pandemic came along, and I kept staying
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with the columns and the church alike, praying to do
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some small good during a difficult period. Lately, considering my
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options anew, I realized I'm not ready to completely pull
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the plug on either of my two vocations. It's harder
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than i'd anticipated to know when to bow out and
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when to keep going. My wife, Liz, and I have
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had multiple conversations about this. Trying to make up my
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mind has also given me greater empathy for my late father,
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as well as regret about how I handled his reluctance
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to step away from a pastorate we both shared decades ago.
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He and I were co leaders of the same rural congregation,
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I still pastor. I was fortyish, brimming with energy and ideas.
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He was about the age I am today. Day we'd
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had a long standing agreement, or I thought we did,
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that he would gradually shift into semi retirement and I
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would become the lead pastor. But when the time came
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for him to start inching toward the background he bought
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he simply couldn't let go. At least that's how I
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saw it. We both experienced pain. He thought I was
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pushing him aside, which wasn't my intention. I thought he
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was renigging on a good faith, common sensical arrangement and
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holding back the congregation, not to mention me. Sadly, our
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relationship never fully recovered after that. I made a vow
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to myself when I get old, I'll leave gracefully, and
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the sooner the better. I've since learned, though, that when
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you get to this age, matters don't seem as clear
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cut as they used to the world feels more complicated. Sorry, Dad.
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Several years ago I thought about quitting my columns altogether.
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I didn't want my editors to have to lead me
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away by the arm, sadly shaking their heads. Then, as
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I said, COVID nineteen happened. Also a couple of publications
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in other parts of the country asked for my permission
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to carry my columns, which meant an expanded audience and
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more pay I reconsidered, maybe I'd gotten my timing wrong.
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Maybe God wasn't through with me yet. I mean, who knows.
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That's a thing about the Almighty. He generally doesn't give
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you a flashing sign beside the highway pointing to the
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proper exit. I had similar thoughts about giving up the pastorate.
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That didn't pan out either COVID nineteen plus. As far
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as I could tell, my parishioners wanted me to stay.
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In any case, there was no forty year old waiting
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in the wings to replace me. As a small independent church,
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we had no denomination or hierarchy to appeal to for
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advice or logistical support. What I'm trying to say is
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it's been surprisingly hard to discern when to ride into
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the sunset and when to keep plugging. Am I still
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being used by the Lord? Or am I just unable
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to let go? I believe I'd be perfectly willing to
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leave if the spirit told me. But I also know
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the human heart is deceptive, and we rarely understand even
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our own motives. There are no blacks and whites here,
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only grays, including atop my head. For every plus, there's
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a minus. But for the foreseeable future, I'll be right
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here in this space, albeit less often than I used
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to be. As always, thanks for reading today's front page.
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Headlines from the Washington Post are as follows. NIH layoffs
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are hindering cancer trials leap forward, officials hold the line
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on tariffs. Numerous failures cited in Deadly hit on US
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base amid Anti DEI, push agency at its history exhibits Ovechkin.
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Overall fears rise as safety agencies hollowed. The first article
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from the front page of today's edition is titled NIH
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scientists have a cancer breakthrough, layoffs are delaying it. A
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big step forward in cancer therapy has been slowed by
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layoffs and new restrictions at the National Institutes of Health,
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where it was developed by Carolyn Y. Johnson. Scientists at
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the National Institutes of Health demonstrated a promising step toward
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using a person's own immune cells to fight gastro intestinal
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cancers in a paper in Nature Medicine on Tuesday. The
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same day, the agency was hit with devastating layoffs that
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left many NIH personnel in tears. The treatment approach is
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still early in its development. The personalized immunotherapy regimen shrank
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tumors in only about a quarter of the patients with colon,
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rectal and other GI cancers enrolled in a clinical trial,
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but a researcher who was not involved in the study
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called the results remarkable because they highlight a path to
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a frustratingly elusive goal in medicine, harnessing a person's own
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immune defenses to target common solid tumor cancers. Until now,
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cell based immunotherapy has worked mainly on blood cancers such
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as leukemia, but not the solid cancers that seed tumors
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in the breast, bringing lungs, pancreas, and GI tract I
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think this is a very exciting study, said Patrick Wu,
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president of the Moffat Cancer Center in Tampa. There's still
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a lot of work to do, but this is a
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really great start in the right direct but the progress
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arrives at a sad time for science and for patients,
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said the leader of the work, NIH immunotherapy pioneer, Stephen Rosenberg.
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Two patients treatments using the experimental therapy had to be
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delayed because NIH's capacity to make personalized cell therapies has
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been slowed by the firing of highly skilled staff and
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by purchasing slowdowns. These occurred even before major layoffs took
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place Tuesday. The quality of care at the NIH Clinical Center,
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the country's largest research hospital, remains excellent, Rosenberg said, but
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the Trump administration's aggressive downsizing of staff and hampering of
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routine activities, is beginning to delay that care. Everything I
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tried to do, I try to do at warp speed.
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These are people with desperate illnesses and nowhere to go,
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Rosenberg said. Right now, assuming things don't get any worse,
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it would be a month's delay. These are not patients
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that have very many months left. Natalie Phelps of Bainbridge Island, Washington,
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is one of those who can't wait. The forty three
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year old mother of two learned five years ago that
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GI's symptoms that her doctor had attributed to her second
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pregnancy were actually caused by coorectal cancer. Since then, Phelps
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has been through pretty much any hell I can go
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through an eighteen hour surgery to remove her initial tumor
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radiation to her brain, three liver surgeries, and forty eight
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rounds of chemotherapy, Still the cancer spread throughout her body.
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This fall, she felt hope when she arrived at the
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NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for two days of
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intensive testing to determine whether she qualified for one of
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Rosenberg's trials. She marveled at the quality of a the
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medical care and the efficiency of the work. When I
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was invited out just to be screened, I was overjoyed.
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I felt like I won the jackpot, Phelps said. Walking
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into the NIH, it just made me so proud. It
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was such a beautiful building, and everything was managed so
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professionally and efficiently, in a way that I hadn't experienced
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at any healthcare institute around the country. HHS responded to
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an email asking about clinical trial delays with a statement,
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NIH and HHS are complying with President Trump's executive order.
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Progress builds over years. For decades, scientists have dreamed of
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harnessing patient's own immune cells to attack cancers. Rosenberg has
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long been a leader in this field at the very
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cutting edge of medicine. In twenty seventeen, the first drug
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in a transformative new class of medicine, one based on
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a mute cells harvested from a patient's blood and genetically
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engineered to target cancer cells, was approved to treat blood cancers.
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Last year, a different type of cell based immunotherapy was
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approved from melanoma that has spread to other parts of
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the body or resisted other forms of treatment. Instead of
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engineering the cells, scientists harvest and expand cancer attacking immune
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cells taken from patient's own tumors, called tilS, short for
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tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. Those cells are normally present, but not
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in large enough numbers to slow down the cancer. Rosenberg's
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work has driven both approaches to cancer therapy forward, but
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despite the advances, finding ways to tailor this cell based
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immunotherapy approach to common solid tumors that cause the vast
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majority of cancer deaths has remained a major scientific challenge.
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Very rarely does research work in a straight line ideas
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you pursued them. Most things do not work. Some things
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do work. You build upon them. Rosenberg said, that's what
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happened in the new study. Rosenberg and colleagues first tried
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to create tilS using the method that worked in melanoma
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for eighteen patients with GI cancers that had spread. It
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failed completely. In the second iteration, his team sequenced the
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mutations present in each patient's tumor and used that information
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to sift out and expand the tilS that could home
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in on that patient's specific tumor cells. The results were
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far from a triumph, but provided a clue. This time,
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three of thirty nine patient's tumors shrank. In the last
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stage of the trial, the scientists added a drug called
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pembro lisamab that takes the breaks off immune cells. This
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time eight of the thirty four patients responded. Right now,
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only a few labs in the country can do what
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they just did, Wu said, patients who can't wait for progress.
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Rosenberg is already working to refine and improve upon the results,
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but he said in his many decades of cancer research,
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he has never seen anything like the turmoil outside his lab,
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which is beginning to affect the science. Two scientists involved
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in the specialized process of preparing sales for patient's treatments
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were fired in the probationary purge. Nine highly skilled scientists
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on his team have appointments that need to be renewed
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in twenty twenty five or early twenty twenty six, but
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with no assurance they will be. If they are not,
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that will set us back more. Rosenberg said, we've had
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to slow down our work and delay the treatment of
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some patients. Even more minor restrictions are throttling progress. Travel
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is restricted by an administrative order, so Rosenberg could attend
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a meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology, where physicians
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and scientists exchange ideas that move cancer care forward. After
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the probationary firings, the number of people capable of purchasing
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materials essential for research has plummeted, making it slower and
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more difficult to obtain supplies. Rosenberg is now worried that
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the massive reduction in force last week will make the
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process even more onerous. When Phelps went to NIH, she
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told her young children she was going to visit the
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best doctors in the country to see if they had
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a solution. Those doctors told her she was a good
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candidate for the TIL trial. With one caveat she needed
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to wait for one of the many tiny tumors in
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her body to grow large enough to meet the minimum
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size criteria. She went home, where she has been anxiously
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waiting for her tumors to grow large enough to qualify
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for the trial. Now she has a new source of fear.
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The changes the new administration has imposed have dampened her
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hope for the future. It's one thing that seems unfair.
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Why would a metastatic cancer patient need any more stress,
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Phelps said, Why slow down the research when cancer rates
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are on the rise, particularly with young people under fifty.
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The next article from the front page of today's edition
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is titled Team Trump defends tariffs as bipartisan opposition grows,
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markets slide. Members of Trump's cabinet urged Americans not to
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panic as questions and criticism of tariffs from conservatives and
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liberals alike picked up steam. By Garrett de Vink, Megan Vasquez,
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Maria Louisa Paul, and Caroline O'Donovan, Trump administration officials blitz
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television network Sunday to defend the president's massive tariffs that
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caused a sell off in the stock market and triggered
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recession fears. Arguing that the import taxes are already forcing
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dozens of countries to come to the bargaining table. Fifty
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countries were burning the phone lines into the White House
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to negotiate with President Donald Trump. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins
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told CNN State of the Union, don't panic. White House
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Senior Counselor Peter Navarro said on Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures,
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and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, speaking on NBC's Meet the Press,
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dismiss predictions from economists and banks that there would be
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a recession. The full court press from cabinet members and
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advisors came as the administration is under immense pressure to
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pull back on the tariffs, which have caused the biggest
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loss in American stock market wealth since the panic sell
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off as COVID nineteen spread in March twenty twenty. A
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growing number of conservatives are pushing back against Trump's moves,
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with a nonprofit backed by right wing megadoner Charles Koch
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leading a lawsuit against the tariffs, while some Republicans in
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both chambers of Congress are organizing a legislative effort to
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roll them back, and though administration officials remain in lock
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step in their support of Trump, some of the president's
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most vocal supporters are beginning to question the moves. Speaking
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via video call to a conference of Italian right wing
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politicians on Saturday, billionaire Trump funder Elon Musk said he
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hopes Europe and the United States will eliminate all tariffs
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between them. Hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, a regular defender
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of Trump, set on X on Saturday that he thinks
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the president will delay the implementation of the tariff's Monday,
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as Trump works through negotiations with countries that are willing
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to lower their own trade barriers. The risk of not
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doing so is that the massive increase in uncertain drives
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the economy into a recession, potentially a severe one, Ackman said.
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Ben Shapiro, the right wing pundit and co founder of
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The Daily Wire, called the tariffs probably unconstitutional and illogical,
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and The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, as well as
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guests on Fox News, have criticized the levies. Meanwhile, liberal
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politicians are landbasting the president, as did tens of thousands
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of protesters who took to the streets of Washington and
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cities around the country on Saturday, in what appeared to
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be the biggest demonstrations against Trump since he took office
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in January. Trump hanging tough still, Trump is holding the course.
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On Saturday, he implored followers on his social media platform
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Truth Social to hang tough. This is an economic revolution
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and we will win, he said. Trump administration officials offered
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two main justifications for the tariffs, saying they are meant
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to accomplish the long term goal of completely reforming the
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American economy while giving the US increased negotiating power to
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strike new trade deals. This is the ultimate deal maker,
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who is a businessman at the head of our government,
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Rollins said. At the same time, the Agriculture Secretary framed
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the tariffs as part of a long overdue new American
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order to protect U S industries, though she insisted the
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dip was a product of the markets adjusting. Rowlins acknowledged
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short term uncertainty for American farmers, noting that the White
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House is ready to deploy financial aid to them if needed.
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Some of the countries criticized by Trump for putting tariffs
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on American imports, such as India, do so to keep
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prices stable for their own farmers. Financial Analysts from global banks,
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including Barclays, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and the Royal
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Bank of Canada have all said the US stands a
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higher chance of entering into a recession if the tariffs
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are not pulled back. JP Morgan. Economists and analysts see
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a sixty percent chance of recession happening this year, but
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Besson said Sunday that the economy remains strong. There doesn't
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have to be a recession. Besson said, calling this six
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trillion dollars stock market drop a short term reaction and
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comparing the current moment to the early days of Ronald
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Reagan's presidency. He also rejected warnings from economists and skeptical
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fellow Republicans, arguing that the tariffs are a one time
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price adjustment and not a source of lasting inflation. Besson
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declined to say whether the tariffs are permanent, but said
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they have given Trump maximum leverage to renegotiate trade terms.
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The market consistently underestimates Donald Trump, he added, We're going
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to hold the course. Navarro, for his part, told Americans
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to hold on to their stock portfolios despite cratering share prices.
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Right now. The smart strategy is not to panic, just
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stay in because we are going to have the biggest
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boom in the stock market we have ever seen under
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the Trump policies, he said Sunday. We will find a
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bottom in this market quickly. We will hit fifty thousand
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on the Dow easily by the end of this term.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a basket of stocks representing
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thirty big well known companies, hid an all time high
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of just over forty five thousand in December. It was
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around thirty eight thousand when the market closed Friday, which
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came on the heels of the worst quarter for stocks
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since spring twenty twenty two. Meanwhile, GOP opposition to the
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tariffs is growing. Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, said
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Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation that on Monday he
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will unveil some of the support for his House Bill,
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a companion to a Senate bill that aims to bring
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back control of tariffs to Congress. The move is notable
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because the House has already passed a procedural vote to
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prevent the Chamber from voting on any proposed bill ending
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Trump's emergency decoration on tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China.
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It will be harder to pass this in the House,
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no doubt, Bacon conceded. I think if we get sixty
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votes in the Senate, it'll put pressure on the House
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to look at this, And if we continue to see
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the stock market go in a certain direction, or if
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we see inflation or unemployment shift in a bad way,
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think this bill becomes very viable. People voted for Trump
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because of inflation, immigration, and crime, he noted, adding I
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don't think tariff's was really a big factor in people's
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decision making in electing him. Last November, while Trump's cabinet
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members claimed that dozens of countries are trying to reach
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the president to negotiate, Democrats seized on the fact that
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Trump had spent some of the weekend playing golf. That
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may end up being the most enduring image of the
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Trump presidency. Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, said on
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NBC's Meet the Press, the President out on a golf
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cart while people's retirement is in flames. While there's growing
23:26
by partisan support in Congress to reign in Trump's tariff authority,
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the moment demands immediate action, Schiff added, I think given time,
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we can get that done, but we don't have time
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right now. He said. This economy is in a tails
23:42
spin and we need to be wrestling that now. The
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next article from the front page of today's edition is
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titled Army cites glaring failures in drone attack that killed
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US troops. An investigative report obtained by the Post details
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how it Iranian backed militants evaded detection at a remote
24:03
outpost in Jordan by Alex Horton. A drone attack that
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killed three U S soldiers in Jordan last year was
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most likely preventable, according to a military investigation that determined
24:16
that numerous failures, from complacency and indecisiveness to outright negligence
24:22
contributed to the worst assault on American troops since the
24:25
fall of Afghanistan. The small outpost, known as Tower twenty two,
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is along Jordan's border with Syria and Iraq and largely
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had been spared from the assaults on American positions in
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those countries by Iranian proxies furious with the United States
24:43
for its support of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. However,
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on the morning of January twenty eighth, twenty twenty four,
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while most of the bases, three hundred and fifty troops
24:54
slept there were indications and attack might be imminent. Army
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investigators learned an intelligence report transmitted to Tower twenty two
25:04
approximately ninety minutes before the strike, warned that militia groups
25:08
had discussed openly on social media their intent to target
25:12
U S forces in the area, prompting Tower twenty two's
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second in command to tell the watch team to stay vigilant.
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But when their radar picked up an unknown object heading
25:24
toward the base, no one assessed it as a threat,
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and vitally no one issued an order for everyone to
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take cover. The investigation found four minutes later, a powerful
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explosion throttled the base's living quarters. Oneida Oliver Sanders, whose
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twenty four year old daughter, Sergeant Kennedy Sanders, was killed
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in the attack, told The Washington Post that when Army
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officials explained the investigation to her family, they were thorough
25:52
and forthright about the lapses that were found. She said
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she was encouraged to learn there were other troops who
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brave danger to he but disturbed that the attack drone
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was allowed to breach the base's defenses. They did have
26:06
time to alert them to take cover, and because of
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poor judgment, they didn't, Oliver Sanders said. Also killed in
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the blast were Staff Sergeant William Jeron Rivers forty six
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and Sergeant Brianna Alexandria Moffatt twenty three. More than seventy
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personnel were wounded, some seriously. This account is based on
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the voluminous report detailing the Tower twenty two investigation, a
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copy of which was obtained by the Post via the
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Freedom of Information Act, interviews with the slain soldiers, survivors,
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and a separate summary of the findings the military provided
26:44
to them. The report is more than forty five hundred pages,
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though the Army withheld more than half of it and
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redacted much of the material it released. The incident is
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the only deadly strike on US troops since Iranian backed
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militants unleashed their campaign of violence. In response to the
27:02
Guys of war, the Pentagon rushed additional defenses to the
27:07
region to shore up protections for deployed service members, but
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Tower twenty two, a support base for another American outpost
27:15
nearby in Syria, was deemed to be at lower risk
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of attack. Officials have said the investigation's findings appeared to
27:23
have some contradictions. For instance, investigators faulted Tower twenty two's
27:28
leaders for failing to visualize risk and not appreciating the
27:32
likelihood of an attack, Yet commanders above them also failed
27:37
to envision the base's vulnerability. Four months before the attack,
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Army Central, which oversees operations throughout the Middle East, denied
27:46
a request for an air defense system capable of shooting
27:50
down drones because investigators found only one such system was
27:54
available and troops in the United States needed it to
27:58
prepare for deployments. A request for a radar system that
28:02
could better detect drones was also denied. The reports said
28:07
the only counter drone defenses at Tower twenty two were
28:10
electronic warfare systems designed to disable the aircraft or disrupt
28:15
their path to a target. According to the investigation and
28:19
previous reporting by the Post, a spokesperson for Army Central
28:24
did not respond to repeated requests for additional information, including
28:28
regarding who at Army Central denied Tower twenty two's appeal
28:32
for an air defense system. The Sanders family was told
28:36
that four officers faced disciplinary action as a result of
28:40
the attack. The investigation does not identify them or detail
28:44
what their punishment was the attack. While senior military leaders
28:50
determined there was less risk facing Tower twenty two, soldiers
28:54
posted there would later report increasing unease. In October, a
28:59
drone was brought down outside the base perimeter, and smaller
29:03
reconnaissance drones were seen nearby in subsequent weeks, but troops
29:08
struggled to detect or disable them. Sanders, Rivers, and Moffat
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belonged to an engineering unit responsible for reinforcing Tower twenty
29:16
two defenses. Rivers, an experienced non commissioned officer, helped oversee
29:22
electrical work. Moffat and Sanders operated heavy machinery such as
29:26
bulldozers and excavators. The day before the attack was spent
29:33
preparing for construction projects. After dinner, Sanders and Moffat went
29:39
to a tent to partake in one of the few
29:41
luxuries of a Middle East deployment, playing a few rounds
29:45
of call of duty. After one a m. They retired
29:48
to the spartan housing unit they shared. While they slept,
29:52
the night crew in the Base Defense Operations Center, or
29:56
b DOC monitored intelligence streams and the facility's air defense systems.
30:03
At one point, a laser was pointed at Tower twenty
30:06
two from Roupebah, a camp less than two miles away
30:10
housing thousands of displaced Syrians. Just past four a m.
30:15
Tower twenty two received the report that a telegram channel
30:19
affiliated with local militias had posted about plans for a
30:23
drone attack. The investigation says. At five thirty a m.
30:27
Troops in the operations center watched as a US drone
30:31
finished a surveillance flight. A minute later, the screen pinged
30:36
showing an unknown object approaching Tower twenty two from the south,
30:40
but the watch team and a powerful surveillance camera was
30:44
focused on the friendly drone as it came into land,
30:47
the report says. At five thirty five am, the investigation
30:52
says a low whirring sound like a lawnmower could be heard,
30:56
and then a fiery blast. A leader who was not
31:00
identified in the report burst into the b doc and
31:03
screened how did you guys not see it? The report says.
31:08
The call was sounded for everyone to take cover, and
31:11
people raised barefoot to the bunkers as shrapnel and other
31:14
debris rained down. Once the all clear was given, personnel
31:19
rushed to the wreckage to look for survivors, pushing through
31:23
their own injuries and with the threat that more attack
31:26
drones could be on the way. Rivers was killed on
31:29
impact and buried in the rubble. The report says the
31:33
force of the explosion propelled Sanders onto the roof of
31:36
her housing unit. She and Moffatt were unresponsive and taken
31:40
to the surgical station, which was overwhelmed with patients. Physicians
31:45
tried to resuscitate Moffat, but the crush of wounded personnel
31:49
forced them to move on to troops they felt they
31:51
could save. The report says a vampire call was announced
31:56
over the loud speaker, and service members lined up to
31:59
donate bloe blood. It was an urgent and dangerous moment.
32:03
Some time later, another drone approached and was shot down
32:07
by an air defense system at the tamp Garrison, a
32:10
US base thirteen miles away in Syria. The report says
32:15
the base chaplain administered final rights to Sanders, Moffat, and Rivers,
32:20
and fellow service members guarded their remains before a helicopter
32:24
arrived to evacuate them. Problems exposed. The Army's investigation places
32:31
significant blame on the Operations Center's leadership and crews. The
32:35
attack was allowed to happen because of their failure. To
32:39
interrogate or assess the unidentified aircraft that pinged on the radar.
32:43
The investigation concluded troops monitoring for incoming threats told investigators
32:49
that they did not see the drone on their screens,
32:52
describing instead two objects they assessed were birds or too
32:56
far away to be a concern. Yet, when there was
32:59
an opportunity to alert base personnel to a possible threat,
33:03
there was confusion among troops in the operations center about
33:07
roles and responsibilities. The investigation found the night shift was
33:12
considered the most likely period an attack could occur, but
33:16
an enlisted leader rather than an officer, was in charge,
33:19
and as a result, the crew did not feel fully
33:22
empowered to make important decisions. The report says, even when
33:26
faced with imminent danger to the base. Leaders at Tower
33:31
twenty two also failed to implement proper training, and the
33:34
base's battle drills were inadequate. Investigators determined service members told
33:40
investigators that watching the friendly drone land may have distracted
33:44
them from scrutinizing the unknown object. The militants also may
33:48
have anticipated that the landing was a moment the base
33:51
had limited views of inbound threats and programmed their attack
33:55
drone to strike about the same time. Other factors included
34:00
a cumulative exhaustion among the night crew and radars that
34:04
don't classify whether coming objects are drones. In response, army
34:10
officials reduced the night shift from twelve to eight hours,
34:13
assigned more leadership to the base, and conducted more training.
34:19
Francine Moffatt told the Post that she was comforted to
34:22
learn her daughter received final rights, but overcome by the
34:26
thought that she could not hold her in her last moments.
34:29
She said she struggles to recall much from the army's briefing.
34:34
When you say her name and say deceased, you can't
34:37
hear anything else. Moffatt said her daughter's legacy has endured
34:41
though Brianna Moffatt was a reservist and when not fulfilling
34:46
her army duties, worked at a treatment center for cerebral policy,
34:50
which created an award in her honor. Sean Sanders Kennedy,
34:56
Sanders's father, said he and his wife were heartened by
34:59
the dedication of her fellow troops who ensured their daughter's
35:02
remains were protected, though he acknowledged it was difficult to
35:06
accept the failures. Investigators found it's beyond frustrating to know.
35:11
Four minutes elapse and human error allowed this to take place.
35:15
He said his daughter was full of potential and planned
35:19
to study radiology, explained and after her death, their community
35:23
in Waycross, Georgia came together to support the family. Today,
35:28
a section of their street has a new name, Kennedy L.
35:31
Sanders Way. The next article from the front page of
35:36
today's edition is titled amid Anti dei Push. National Park
35:42
Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad. Since Trump took office,
35:47
the Park Service, an agency charged with preserving American history,
35:52
has changed how its website describes key moments, from slavery
35:56
to Jim crow By, John Swain and Jared Jeremy B. Merrill.
36:02
For years, a National Park Service web page introduced the
36:06
Underground Railroad with a large photograph of its most famous conductor,
36:11
Harriet Tubman. The Underground Railroad the resistance to enslavement through
36:16
escape and flight through the end of the Civil War,
36:20
refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain
36:23
their freedom by escaping bondage. Page began Tubman's photograph is
36:29
now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service
36:33
stamps that highlight Black white cooperation in the Secret Network
36:39
and that featured Tubman among abolitionists of both races. The
36:44
introductory sentence is gone too. It has been replaced by
36:48
a line that makes no mention of slavery and that
36:51
describes the underground Railroad as one of the most significant
36:55
expressions of the American civil rights movement. The effort bridged
36:59
the divides of race, the page now says. The executive
37:04
order that President Donald Trump issued late last month directing
37:08
the Smithsonian Institution to eliminate devisive narratives stirred fears that
37:13
the president aimed to whitewash the stories the nation tells
37:17
about itself. But a Washington Post review of websites operated
37:22
by the National Park Service, among the key agencies charged
37:26
with the preservation of American history, found that edits on
37:30
dozens of pages since Trump's inauguration have already softened descriptions
37:36
of some of the most shameful moments of the nation's past.
37:40
Some were edited to remove references to slavery. On other pages,
37:45
statements on the historic struggle of black Americans for their
37:48
rights were cut or softened, as were references to present
37:53
day echoes of racial division. The Post compared web pages
37:58
as of late March to earlier v versions preserved online
38:01
by the Internet Archives a Wayback Machine. Changes in images, descriptions,
38:07
and even individual words have subtly reshaped the meaning of
38:11
notable moments and key figures dating to the nation's founding
38:16
abolitionist John Brown's Doomed Raid, the Battle at Appomattos, and
38:20
school integration by the Little Rock Nine. An educational page
38:25
on Benjamin Franklin which examined his views on slavery and
38:29
his ownership of enslaved people, was taken offline last month.
38:34
The review found mentions of Thomas Stone, a signer of
38:39
the Declaration of Independence, owning enslaved people, were removed from
38:43
several pages on the website of the Stone National Historic
38:47
Site in Southern Maryland. A reference to other enslaved African
38:51
Americans in that region was changed to enslaved workers. Trump
38:57
has pursued broad executive orders and us other measures aimed
39:01
at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the public
39:06
and private sectors. His Inauguration day order targeting DEI programs
39:11
in government did not explicitly call for websites to be edited,
39:16
but has been interpreted aggressively by some officials, most notably
39:20
at the Defense Department, which purged many pages that celebrated
39:25
notable minority veterans after an outcry, Some were later restored.
39:30
At the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, political
39:35
appointees directed senior career officials to identify web pages that
39:39
might need to be changed, According to two Park Service
39:43
employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of
39:47
feared retribution, the senior career officials asked staff members to
39:53
compile lists of potentially problematic pages. The employees said those
39:58
lists were sent up the management chain for consideration. The
40:02
employees did not know whether the changes identified by the
40:05
post were made as a result of this process, but
40:08
one said that some staff members were expansive in selecting
40:12
pages for edits. The employees said staff members received only
40:17
vague guidance and that the selections were made amid a
40:20
frenzy of fear at a time when thousands of federal
40:23
workers were losing their jobs. You draw as broad a
40:27
brush as possible, because the consequences of missing something are
40:31
a lot more severe than the consequences of doing too much,
40:35
the employees said. A third NPS employee, also speaking on
40:40
the condition of anonymity, said that some web page changes
40:44
resulted not from demands from above, but from lower level
40:48
employees seeking to comply with what they believed Trump wanted.
40:53
An Interior spokesperson did not respond to a request for
40:56
comment on the employees's accounts. Asked about the website changes,
41:02
a Park Service spokesperson offered a statement but didn't address
41:06
specific edits. The National Park Service has been entrusted with
41:11
preserving local history, celebrating local heritage, safeguarding special places, and
41:17
sharing stories of American experiences. The statement said, we take
41:22
this role seriously and can point to many examples of
41:25
how we tell nuanced and difficult stories about American history.
41:30
The Post examined changes on thousands of Park Service web pages.
41:35
The vast majority were routine. A handful added mentions of
41:39
slavery or enslaved people. The Post could not identify every
41:44
change made since Trump took office, in part because the
41:47
wayback machines archives are not comprehensive. On the website of
41:52
Minuteman National Historical Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts, a passage about
41:57
the lack of recognition for black soldiers who fought for
42:01
American Independence was removed why don't we hear more about
42:06
this part of the American Revolution the passage began, According
42:10
to archive versions of the site, Unfortunately, systemic racism and
42:16
historical bias have erased or buried many records of black
42:20
and indigenous people who played a prominent role in the
42:23
founding of the United States. A statement about the legacy
42:27
of John Brown, who hoped to start a revolt by
42:31
enslaved people in the run up to the Civil War,
42:34
was removed from a page on the website of Harper's
42:37
Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia. John Brown's complex
42:42
legacy remains a powerful symbol in America's ongoing dialogue on
42:47
race justice and the fight against oppression. The line said.
42:52
Extensive changes were made to multiple Park Service pages about
42:55
the underground Railroad, and a landing page directing children to
43:00
educational materials about it has been offline since last month.
43:05
Since nineteen ninety eight, the Park Service has been required
43:08
by federal law to recognize the underground railroad and to
43:12
produce educational materials about it. Andrew Deemer, a professor at
43:18
Towson University and author of a book on one of
43:21
the network's founders said that while some white abolitionists supported
43:25
the Underground Railroad, changes identified by the Post minimized the
43:30
legal and political forces arrayed at the time against enslaved
43:34
African Americans. Overall, the revisions seek to emphasize harmony and
43:39
unity and to de emphasize conflict in a way that
43:43
is out of step with how historians have written about
43:46
the Underground Railroad in recent decades. Deimer said. Other changes
43:50
appear on the website of Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park
43:55
in Virginia, where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces
43:59
in April eighteen sixty five, leading to the Civil War's end.
44:04
One page about the surrounding town was rewritten in a
44:07
way that incorporated two new mentions of slavery in the
44:11
years before the war, but on other pages about the
44:15
battle and the subsequent emancipation of local enslaved people, all
44:20
references to President Abraham Lincoln's views of the war were removed,
44:25
as were some references to Union Army commander General Ulysses S.
44:29
Grant's views. Some mentions of slavery were cut, along with
44:34
details of how white hostility in the area thwarted the
44:37
efforts of freed black people to enter their society. Greg
44:42
Downs of the University of California at Davis, a specialist
44:46
in Civil War history who has written several Park Service publications,
44:50
said that changes warped history. A country that cannot tell
44:54
the truth about itself cannot assess what has led it
44:58
to moments of greatness in the past and what could
45:01
lead it again to greatness. He said. Alterations were also
45:05
made to Park Service content about major figures and events
45:09
in the civil rights movement during the twentieth century. A
45:13
page about the Niagara Movement, a group founded in nineteen
45:17
o five by the African American civil rights leader W. E. B. Dubois,
45:22
was changed to remove two references to the struggle for equality.
45:27
For example, a description of the group's renewed sense of
45:30
resolve in the struggle for freedom and equality became simply
45:35
its renewed sense of resolve. Shawn Lee Alexander, a Dubois
45:40
biographer and professor at the University of Kansas, described the
45:45
auterations as subtle yet profound in suggesting that racism no
45:49
longer required confrontation in the United States at the time.
45:54
Although these changes may appear inconsequential to some, they collectively
45:59
contribute to the erasure of the historical narrative of black
46:02
struggle for civil, political, and economic rights, which continues to
46:07
this day. He said. Similar amendments were made to the
46:11
website of the Little Rock Central High School National Historic
46:14
Site in Arkansas, which marks the place where nine young
46:18
African American students braved a racist mob and military resistance
46:23
from state authorities to integrate a previously white only school
46:27
in nineteen fifty seven. Proclamations that the students opened doors
46:32
for others pursuing equality and education around the world were
46:36
edited on at least six pages to remove the word equality.
46:41
One of the surviving members of the Little Rock nine,
46:44
Elizabeth Eckford, told the Post that the edits masked the
46:48
fact that the group had explicitly fought for equality of
46:51
opportunity their trying to rewrite history. Edford said, we can
46:56
never have true racial reconciliation until we an honestly acknowledge
47:00
our painful but shared past. The next article from the
47:05
front page of today's edition is titled alex Ovechkin is
47:09
Hockey's greatest scorer. He's also Washington's forever that Ovechkin has
47:15
played his entire NHL career in a Capital sweater. Is
47:19
an amazing accomplishment unto itself. Passing Wayne Gretzky is just
47:24
the latest high point by Barry's Verluga. He is thirty nine,
47:30
but at that moment Sunday afternoon, he became a kid
47:33
on a pond again, slinging a puck into the back
47:36
of the net, then belly flopping onto the ice, sliding
47:40
over the blue line in delirium. Alex Ovechkin established himself
47:45
as a goal scorer without peer. There's no point in
47:48
acting your age with a sizzling wrist shot so appropriately
47:54
on the power play, so appropriately from just outside the
47:57
left face off circle. The washer Hington Capital's absolute icon
48:02
beat a New York Islander's goalie named Ilya Sarokan, a
48:06
fellow Russian. In a box above the ice at Ubs Arena,
48:10
Wayne Gretzky rose from his chair and clapped for the
48:14
first time in eleven three hundred and thirty eight days.
48:18
Gretzky did not hold the NHL's record for goals Ovechkin did.
48:23
They say records are made to be broken, Gretzky told
48:26
the crowd, facing Ovechkin a few minutes later. But I'm
48:30
not sure who's going to get more goals than that.
48:34
That would be eight hundred ninety five, eight hundred ninety five.
48:39
This is something crazy, Ovechkin said afterward. I'm probably going
48:44
to need a couple more days or maybe a couple
48:46
of weeks to realize what does it mean to be
48:49
number one? But I can say I'm very proud. Process it,
48:54
savor it. Consider how unlikely it seemed a decade ago,
48:59
five years ago, even early last season, when Ovechkin went
49:03
long stretches without a goal and Gretzky's record seemed further
49:07
and further off. And then think about how the record
49:11
only solidifies, how Ovechkin's arrival in Washington two decades ago
49:15
completely transformed how a town felt about a sport. I
49:20
just want to remind everybody there's like, what would it
49:24
be like. BC Capital's owner Ted Leonsis said, make that
49:29
bo before Ovechkin, another era so distant, right, Leonsis said?
49:37
And then to be out on the ice and see
49:39
that many Caps fans there and the people in red
49:42
chanting his name. You can't overstate how much he's changed things.
49:47
Sunday was about the moment, and the man and the
49:50
on ice ceremony celebrated it all. The NHL stopped the
49:54
game and rolled out a carpet and blazoned with eight
49:58
ninety five, and both teams stood to the side, tapping
50:01
their sticks on the ice in respect. Gretzky offered his
50:05
hand to Ovechkin and they embraced, and then he took
50:09
the mic. What a day, huh, said Ovechkin, who reset
50:14
the record in his one thousand, four hundred eighty seventh
50:17
game the same number. Gretzky played like I always said
50:21
all the time, it's a team sport. And without my boys,
50:25
the whole organization, the fans, the trainers, coaches, I would
50:30
never stand there, and obviously I would never pass the
50:33
great one. So fellas, thank you very much. I love
50:36
you so much. When he was done, Ovechkin kissed mother Tatiana,
50:41
wife Nastia, and sons Sergei and Ilya. That he did
50:46
this as a father of two boys old enough to
50:48
understand what their papa just accomplished. Drives home exactly how
50:52
long he has tied up those yellow skate laces for
50:55
the capitals for Washington. Remember when he arrived Shoot if
51:01
you're in high school or even college, you don't it
51:04
was that long ago. This was two thousand and five.
51:08
Major League Baseball had just returned to the district. Joe
51:11
Gibbs was in his second stint in town, trying to
51:15
revive the NFL team. Washington, where a still newish MCI
51:20
Center gave the Capitals a downtown home, was decidedly tempered
51:24
about hockey. In the most recent season before Ovechkin showed up,
51:28
only five NHL teams drew fewer fans than the Caps.
51:33
Ovechkin changed that, not immediately, but eventually. He first pushed
51:38
the Capitals into the playoffs in two thousand and eight.
51:41
From that rock the Red Run, when he won his
51:44
first of three Hart Trophies as the NHL's MVP, the
51:49
Capital sold out five hundred and eighty eight straight games. Hockey,
51:54
for so long was the city's most successful sport. The
51:57
Stanley Cup run of twenty eighteen, led by Ovechkin, defined
52:02
by Ovechkin, buried the idea that the nation's capital had
52:06
become home only to athletic misery. He made the idea
52:10
of winning winning it all possible twenty years back. I mean,
52:16
said Nicholas Backstrom, his primary center for seventeen years. It
52:20
was not a lot of hockey back here. Gretzky's name
52:24
has long been synonymous with the sport, but it was
52:27
also obvious that passing him transcends hockey. The video tribute
52:32
that played after the on ice ceremony featured characters from
52:36
all corners of the athletic and entertainment worlds, Michael Phelps
52:40
and Steve Carell, Michael Jordan and Vince Vaughn, Ryan Zimmerman
52:45
and Snoop dogg Derrek Jeter and Katie Ledecki sharing their congratulations.
52:51
It's such a cool moment for me to have video
52:53
from legends, Ovechkin said, Remember when he entered last season
52:59
seventy two goals, shy of tying Gretzky. He followed that
53:03
with the longest slump of his career, eight goals in
53:06
his first forty three games. He was thirty eight. It
53:10
was reasonable to assume he was slowing down. It was
53:13
logical to conclude Gretzky was safe. But this march to
53:19
pass him simply re emphasizes what a remarkable athlete and
53:23
competitor of Vetchkin is to do what he's doing at
53:27
This age is incredible, said defenceman John Carlson, a teammate
53:31
for sixteen seasons. I think people are sleeping on that,
53:37
regardless of the tread that has worn off the tires.
53:39
When Ovechkin can sniff a milestone, he wants to consume
53:43
it whole. His second period goal against the Islanders, his
53:47
forty second of the season for number eight ninety five,
53:51
made it seven goals in his past seven games, an
53:54
unrelenting charge toward the mark. This all came in a
53:58
four to one loss, Yet there were so many smiles,
54:02
so much ceremony, so much relief. Before Avechkin arrived in
54:06
the visiting dressing room, the capitals all changed into red
54:10
eight ninety five t shirts. Someone shouted where are the beers?
54:15
And they were needed because when the captain finally entered,
54:18
they sprayed him with foam. Ovechkin put his head down
54:23
and his teammates swallowed him. The group hugged, then jumped
54:26
and chanted, oh oh, oh oh. They were as Ovechkin
54:31
was when he scored like children. Biggest goal in the
54:34
history of the game, shouted left wing Tom Wilson, who
54:37
slid Ovechkin the tape to tape pass that led to
54:40
the record breaker. It makes me a little bit emotional,
54:44
Wilson said later, because I just think so much of him.
54:48
The entire scene was emotional. Forever team mates Backstrom and
54:53
t j Oshie out this season with chronic injuries, hugged
54:57
their old teammate, and a boy goat. Some one barked,
55:01
officially christening Ovechkin as the greatest of all time. Eventually,
55:06
the Capitals gave their captain a standing ovation. He stood
55:09
in the middle of them. It's not me, he said,
55:13
we did it. Let's keep it effing rolling. It's over finally.
55:18
Now the real stuff is coming. The real stuff will
55:21
be the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs. It's a measure of
55:25
Avetchkin's relentlessness and the capital standing in the NHL that
55:29
his twentieth team will enter the postseason as the top
55:32
seed in the Eastern Conference, perhaps with the best record
55:36
in the league. That was not lost on Gretzky or
55:40
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who made their way to the
55:43
dressing room and addressed Ovechkin and the Caps. We all
55:48
know that this is the ultimate team sport. Betman told them,
55:51
now that this goal was accomplished, we know you have
55:54
another one in mind, Alex. I can't stress enough how
55:58
incredible you are, Gretzky said, I felt like I scored
56:02
the goal. I'm so happy for you. He told the
56:06
Caps that when he broke the old record held by
56:08
Gordy Howe, his team's owner gave him a rolls Royce.
56:12
Ovechkin looked at Leonsis and spread his arms. Where's mine
56:16
in body language. They took photo after photo, the greatest
56:21
goal scorers in hockey history, surrounded by the twenty twenty
56:24
four twenty five Washington Capitals. Ovechkin holding the puck that
56:29
broke the record, wrapped in red and white tape that
56:32
set eight hundred ninety five goals. Congratulations to everyone, Gretzky concluded,
56:38
Congratulations from the great one, Congratulations from all of hockey.
56:43
But Alex Ovechkin deserves congratulations beyond all of that. Very
56:47
few athletes have completely altered what a sport means to
56:51
a city. He grew up in Moscow. He broke a
56:54
hallowed record on Long Island. He belonged to Washington forever
56:58
and ever and ever. The next article from the front
57:02
page of today's edition is titled Worries Grow over risks
57:07
to Americans as Trump cuts health safety agencies. The chorus
57:12
of experts issuing warnings include Republican lawmakers, former Trump officials,
57:18
and civil servants who worked under GOP and Democratic presidents.
57:23
By Dan Diamond and Hannah Nathanson. Somewhere on a grocery shelf,
57:29
or in a restaurant, or on a food factory floor
57:32
in America lurk bacteria that haven't been detected yet, perhaps E. Coli,
57:37
which is linked with food poisoning, or more of the
57:41
chronobacter that led to infant illnesses sparked a nationwide shortage
57:45
of infant formula in twenty twenty two and led to
57:49
major reforms at the Food and Drug Administration. Due to
57:53
time constraints, we will need to end this article at
57:56
this time. This concludes the reading of the Washington Post
58:00
for today, Monday, April seventh, twenty twenty five. Your reader
58:05
today has been Roger Imperion. If you have any questions, comments,
58:10
or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
58:14
us at eight five nine four two two six three
58:18
nine zero. Thank you for listening, and now please stay
58:22
tuned for continued programming on Radio I