Transcript

10.6.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, October sixth. As you know,
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. You're reading for today's Rod Brotherton and
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as you know by listener request on Mondays, we begin
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by reading Paul Prather's weekly column from yesterday's Lexington Herald Leader.
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The week's article is entitled My latest health adventure raised
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more spiritual questions than it solved. Here's a tip. If
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you ever have to take a trip to the emergency room,
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just say these four words. I'm having trouble breathing. I
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showed up at an er a few weeks ago thinking
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I'd either picked up COVID nineteen or pneumonia, both of
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which I've had before. In my experience, those two illnesses
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feel similar. My wife Liz insisted on driving me. I
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had a fever, a cough and couldn't catch a deep breath.
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I tested my oxygen on an oximeter and it was
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in the low eighties. Not good. I figured I needed
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pav pax lavid or an antibiotic. When Liz and I
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reached the er. The intake clerk gave me a clipboard
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a paperwork to fell out. Then I said those four
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magical words, and instantly the whole plot changed. The clerk
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snatched the clipboard out of my hand. She called out
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something over her left shoulder that I couldn't hear through
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the glass barrier between us. The doors to the ear's
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entereds swung open, and a woman in scrubs appeared. Then
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I was on a gurney in my own private triage room.
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I'd guess less than two minutes had elapsed since Liz
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and I entered the hospital. Soon I had an ivy
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in my arm, a tangle of wires stuck to my torso,
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and the prongs of an oxygen hose in my nose.
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I had two doctors, a physician's assistant, a squad of nurses,
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and an assortment of texts, all hurrying in and out,
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monitoring vital signs and asking questions. Gee, this could be serious,
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I thought this could be for real. It was like
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starring in real life episode of The Pit, except I
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wasn't the heroic doctor about to save the day with
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a brilliant off the wall diagnosis. I was the poor
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sap about to code. Long story. I spent the next
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twenty four hours undergoing every test known to medical science.
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I was X rayed, ultarsounded, stress test, shot full of
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radioactive dye, and scanned. The medical folks tossed around terms
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like heart failure and blockages and whatnot. In the end,
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it turned out I had none of those things, and
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neither did I have covid or ammonia. What I do have,
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the doctors determined, is atrial fibrillation, a regular heartbeat. In
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my case, its symptoms were exacerbated by a petulant sleep
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apnea that my seapap machine wasn't touching. I've since received
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a new machine, which is supposed to be better. Also,
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I already knew my thyroid had spreaded several benign nodes,
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but I learned that nodules were pressing on my windpipe
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and restricting my air flow. Back home again, feeling all
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most normal, looking forward to okay, dreading probable surgery on
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that thyroid. An autumn now booked full of appointments with specialists. Still,
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there was a significant period in my hospital visit that
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Liz and I both thought this might be it, the
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big one. As Fred Sandford used to say, from a
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spiritual standpoint, my experiences on that front were disappointing, troubling.
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Even I believe in telling the truth when faith comes
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rushing in to redeem a dark situation and brings with
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it a piece that surpasses understanding. I've seen such things
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happen to others and to myself. But if you're going
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to tell the truth about those times, you also have
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to tell the truth about all the other times when
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faith seems to have no effect whatsoever. My er visit
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was one of those latter. Two times during that ordeal,
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thinking I might be on my last legs, I never
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had any sense of God's presence, no epiphany, no reassurance,
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no still small voice. There wasn't much fear either for
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some reason, just a big, silent nothing. In fact, about
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eighteen or twenty hours into my stay, I was lying
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beneath the machine that was taking pictures of the die
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coursing through my INNERDS. I was in the room by myself.
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The technicians watched from an adjacent room as I tried
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not to move, and my mind darted from here to there.
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It occurred to me I hadn't prayed once since arriving
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at the er the day before. I can't remember exactly
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what I said, but my prayer started with something along
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the lines of I don't know why I am in
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this situation. I don't know if there's any purpose in this.
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I don't even know if you're there. If you are there,
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I don't know if you're listening. But if you are
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there and you're listening, I'd appreciate some help. The response
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stone silence. If you're of a skeptical turn, you might
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be well thinking, of course, there was nothing but a big,
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yawning silence and response to your prayer. That's all. There is, nothingness,
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avoid doesn't have a voice. Someone else might say, hey,
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you weren't dying after all, so you didn't need a
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word from God. But I have heard from the other
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side and tough moments, big and small, not often, but
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clearly enough. It's changed my life. What's more, I've set
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by the bedsides of ailing friends and family as God's
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to them and change them. There's something really there. Yet
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sometimes for no discernible reason, that same God is so
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silent he might as well not exist. And that's part
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of the story too. During my time in the hospital.
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All I felt was my own humanity. I thought about
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the next test I will schedule for, and I thought
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about the uncomfortable hospital bed. I thought about Liz, my
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son and the grandchildren, but not about God. As nearly
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as I could discern, he wasn't thinking of me either.
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It's all a mystery. It's all untelling. And as you
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know Paul Pray through his pastor of the Bethesda Church
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near Mount Sterling, and you can email him at prtpd
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at yahoo dot com. Now let's turn to the Washington
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Post and reading from the front page, the first story
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is Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans.
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The Trump administration is preparing a plan that would make
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it harder for old am older Americans to qualify for
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Social Security disability payments, part of an overhaul of the
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federal safety net for the poor, older, and disabled people
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that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits,
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according to people familiar with plans. The Social Security Administration
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evaluates disability claims by considering age, work experience, and education
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to determine if a person can adjust to other types
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of work. Older applicants, typically over fifty, have a better
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chance of qualifying because age is treated as a limitation
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and adapting to many jobs. But now officials are considering
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eliminating age as a factor entirely, erasing the threshold age
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to sixty. According to three people familiar with the plans
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who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private discussions,
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they also planned to modernize labor market data used to
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judge whether claimants can work, replacing an outdated jobs database
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that includes obsolete occupations such as nut sorters and telephone
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quotation clerks. Following a Washington Post investigation in twenty twenty two,
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it is unclear exactly how many Americans could lose access
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to disability benefits under the proposed rule changes. Jack Smulligan,
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a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute and a
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former Office of Management and Budget official through five administrations,
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wrote in a recent paper that if the proposed rule
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reduced eligibility for the disability program by ten percent, seven
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hundred and fifty thousand fewer people would receive benefits for
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all or part of the next decade. In addition, eighty
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thousand fewer widows and children would receive benefits because of
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the loss and eligibility of a spouse or parent, and
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that would lead to eighty two billion dollars less paid
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out over benefits over ten years, small Agan estimated. Smalligan
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said research has shown that a majority of older Americans
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who want to apply for disability benefits don't get another job.
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If the rule didn't consider age as a factor, more
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older disabled workers would probably start taking early retirement benefits,
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significantly reducing their monthly benefit amount. Older workers who claim
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retirement benefits at age sixty two, rather than receive Social
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Security Disability insurance, would receive thirty percent lesson benefits for
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the rest of their lives. The criteria already is really
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tight enough that we're actually restricting some people we probably
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should allow, Smulligan said in an interview. SSA spokesman Barton
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McKay said the agency is working on plans to propose
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improvements to the disability adjudication process to ensure our disability
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program remains current and can be more efficiently administered. This
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includes proposing policy updates to occupational data sources and optimizing
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their use to serve our customers and preserve the trust funds.
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McKay said, once the proposal is fully developed, we will
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share it publicly and request public comment through the standard
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rule making process. As with any rule making, we will
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consider and analyze public comments before deciding whether to finalize
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the rule. People familiar with the proposed changes said they
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are a priority of Russell Vought, the director of the
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Office of Management and Budget, who sought during Trump's first
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term to update the disability roles through executive action. At
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the start of Trump's second term, the White House Budget
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Office urged Leland Dudick, the acting commissioner at the time,
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to pursue rule changes shortly after he took office. Conservatives
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have long argued that since Americans are living longer and
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fewer have jobs that require manual labor, many physically disabled
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workers could adapt to desk work, broadening their work options
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and resulting in fewer people being granted disability benefits. Social
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Security officials prepared to issue a similar rule at the
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end of the first Trump administration, but ran out of time.
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We felt that so many more jobs are now available
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to disabled people, said Mark Warshansky, who led the work
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on earlier proposed rules as the SSA's Deputy Commissioner for
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Retirement and Disability Policy. During the Trump's first administration, but
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the nature of work has changed. Wwwshowsky, a senior fellow
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at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, predicted
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that while the new rule under consideration would allow the
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agency to turn away more older people, more people with
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mental disabilities are likely to be approved. Senator Ron Wyden
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of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee,
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argued that the rule change is just the first step
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in broader Republican plans to cut Social Security. This is
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phase one of the Republican campaign to force Americans to
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work into old age to access their earned Social Security
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benefits and represents the largest cut to disability insurance in
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American history, Widen said in a statement to the Post,
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Americans with disabilities have worked and paid into Social Security
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just like everybody else, and they do not deserve the
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indignity of more bureaucratic water torture to get what they
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paid for. The eleven billion dollar monthly disability program is
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separate from Social securities retirement system. It is also far
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more difficult to qualify for benefits under the program than
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the disability system for veterans. The administration faces a challenge
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finding ways to keep the retirement fund going as it
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approaches Insolvency. Commissioner Frank Bissiogo said this agency is not
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considering raising the age that retirees qualify for benefits, walking
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back in earlier comment that the administration had not ruled
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it out. Qualifying for disability benefits is a multi step
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process that can take years, particularly if someone is turned
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down and appeals. One of the first steps in the
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process is determining if the applicant has a serious illness
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or condition on a list of impairments such as als,
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terminal cancer, or chronic heart failure. If their condition is
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not dire, the applicant's age, work experience, and education become
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factors the government must weigh to if their disability still
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allows them to work. If they are over fifty, they
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have a better shot at qualifying for benefits because they
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are considered less able to adapt to new work. These
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factors have been responsible for making about forty two percent
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of applicants eligible for benefits. Social Security data from twenty
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twenty two shows to determine the jobs a disability applicant
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might be able to do, the agency has long relied
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on a database compiled by the Labor Department, which abandoned
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the list more than thirty years ago as the economy
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shifted away from blue collar work to information and services.
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With the aim of modernizing the job's data uses, Social
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Security has paid the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than
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three hundred million dollars to build a complex directory of
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twenty first century jobs. The spending came under scrutiny from
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lawmakers on Capitol Hill following the earlier Post report, and
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the agency is still not using the modern data when
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reviewing disability claims, according to two former officials. Starting next year,
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the agency plans to develop a computer generated database using
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the modern jobs data to determine which jobs, if any,
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someone seeking benefits could perform. Disability advocates say they worry
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that the database will be programmed to come up with
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a vast array of jobs, particularly if advancing age is
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no longer a limiting factor, and will end up denying
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benefits to tens of thousands of claimants every year. Michelle Spataford,
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a senior attorney for the New York Legal Assistance Group,
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said she frequently finds older disabled clients are not able
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to go back to work if they are denied benefits.
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Because they struggle to keep up with the technical and
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physical skills required of modern work. In addition, employers may
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be less than inclined to hire workers nearing retirement age
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over younger hires. You couldn't stop working because you reach
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a certain age and you think disability benefits are the
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next logical steps. Bat of foresaid, nobody does that because
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disability benefits are almost always less money than full time wages.
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The changes come as new disability claims have declined. State
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level data shows that disability applications are down seven percent
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this fiscal year compared with the previous year, according to
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an Urban Institute analysis. Meanwhile, initial denials of disability claims
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are up according to the same analysis, which found the
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SSA has approved nearly three percent fewer claims last fiscal
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year compared with this one. More than fifteen million Americans
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received monthly disability checks as part of two programs, Social
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Security Disability insurance for those with the work history who
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have become disabled before retirement, and Supplemental Security Income, an
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anti poverty program for poor, elderly and disabled people that
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pays about eight hundred dollars a month. At the same time,
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Social Security is working on plans to rescind a Biden
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narrow rule that expanded SSI eligibility for recipients who lived
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with relatives or roommates receiving help from the Supplemental Nutrition
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Assistance Program or other public assistants. Restoring stricter standards could
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roll back payments for about four hundred thousan Americans, according
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to an August report from the Center on Budget and
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Policy Priorities. Spatafor said she expects her clients impacted by
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this change could see their payments reduced by a third,
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and other cuts to snap as part of Trump's sweeping
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tax and spending plan could further devastate households. Any small
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cut in that delicate balance can be the difference between
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paying utilities that month, Spatafoor said. McKay, the SSA spokesman,
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said the change would return us to long standing criteria
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and policy to promote program integrity again. As is standard
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with rulemaking processes, the proposed rule will be made publicly
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available and the public will be given an opportunity to
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comment before the rule is finalized. And the next battle
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increases over the use of the National Guard as judge
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deals trump new setback and plans to deploy troops to Portland.
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A federal judge late Sunday dealt another blow to the
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Trump administration's plans to send troops to Portland after a
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weekend of heated confrontations between protesters and federal agents there,
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temporarily blocking hundreds of California National Guard members as they
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were being deployed to Oregon's biggest city over objections from
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Democratic governors in both states. US District Judge Karen j
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Immergrant said the government appeared to be directly defying her
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previous temporary restraining order from a day earlier, blocking the
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administration from sending Oregon's National Guard to the city by
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instead deploying members of the California Guard. Immigrant at Trump
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pointee confirmed to the bench in twenty nineteen, issued a
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new broader order Sunday to prohibit the administration from deploying
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any state's National Guard troops under federal control to Oregon.
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The decision came after California's Governor, Gavin Newsom, the Democrat,
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joined a lawsuit filed by Oregon as the Pentagon confirmed
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that Trump ordered about two hundred National Guard members to
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be a assigned from California Oregon Governor Tina Kuttik said
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later Sunday that about one hundred had arrived and were
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sent to a camp operated by the Oregon Military Department,
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and we're about one hundred there were on the way.
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Newsomb celebrated the decision, saying in a statement that California's
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National Guard would be heading home. Donald Trump tried to
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turn our soldiers into instruments of his political will, and
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while our fight continues tonight, the rule of law, said
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hell No. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat, said
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earlier that the state would expand its effort legally to
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include fighting deployments from out of state, accusing the President
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of being hell bent on using the military absent the
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facts or authority to do so. It is up to
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us and the courts to hold him accountable. Rayfield set
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on the Twitter side x. Later Sunday, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker,
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another Democrat, said that the Guard in his state was
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informed that Trump had ordered four hundred members of the
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Texas National Guard to be sent to Illinois, Oregon, and
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other locations. Trump on Saturday had ordered the activation of
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three hundred National Guard troops to Kago against the wishes
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of Pritzker, who has also said he would sue. We
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must now start calling this what it is, Trump's invasion.
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It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying
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federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes,
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and it will now involve sending in another state's military troops,
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he said in a statement. The Trump administration, which has
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said troops are needed to protect immigration and Customs of
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Enforcement facilities and agents conducting operations, has already asked the
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US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to allow
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it to federalize the two hundred National Guard troops from
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Oregon while appeals are making their way through the courts.
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Oregon responded by asking the appeals court to keep the
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temporary restraining order in place to mark a significant escalation
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as the Trump administration presses ahead with his push to
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increase deportations amid clashes between immigration authorities and angry residents
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and over objections from states and setbacks in court. Immigrant,
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in her decision late Saturday, wrote she expected a trial
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court to agree that the president exceeded his constitutional authority
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in mobilizing federal troops for local work and probably violated
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the Tenth Amendment. Immigrant said Trump had not met the
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standard to call up troops and pointed to substantial evidence
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that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not
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significantly violent or disruptive in the days or even weeks
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leading up to the President's directive, prompting White House Deputy
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Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to accuse the judge of
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legal insurrection. In Portland, federal law enforcement on Saturday night
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enforced protesters away from an Immigration and Customs enforcement facility.
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Officers in military style attire with helmets and respirators fired
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pepper balls into the crowd and deployed canisters of chemical irritants,
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engulfing apartment buildings in white smoke and leaving protesters and
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passers by coughing and crying. Tensions spiked also in Chicago Saturday,
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when an armed agent shot and injured a female motorist.
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Trump officials said the agent fired defensive shots at a
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female motorist after officers vehicles were rammed and boxed in
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by several drivers in a Southwest Chicago neighborhood. Separately, six
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people were arrested Saturday outside an ICE facility in broad
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View Illinois, just west of Chicago, courting the state police.
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Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin characterized the shooting
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incident as a response to an ambush carried out by
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domestic terrorists who also threw gas, rocks and bottles at
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law enforcement. Law enforcement alleged that the female motorist later
27:22
identified by federal officials as marimand Martinez, was armed with
27:28
a semi automatic weapon. She was shot and wounded, but
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drove away from the scene and was later treated at
27:35
a hospital and taken into FBI custody. Charging documents file
27:41
Sunday against Martinez and a man, Anthony Ion Santos Ruiz,
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did not mention a weapon belonging to either. They were
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accused of using deadly weapons their vehicles to assault and
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impede federal officers. Pritzker TOLDSI in State of the Union
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on Sunday that his office had not been able to
28:04
verify the initial account and was seeking more information. He
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accused the Trump administration of misrepresenting what led up to
28:15
a deadly shooting of a Chicago man by federal immigration
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officers last month, and questioned the department's account. They won't
28:23
let US access the facts. They are just putting out
28:27
their propaganda, Prinsker said. Prinsker said that Trump, Homeland Security
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Secretary Christy L. Newim, and others misrepresenting Chicago and Democratic
28:40
run cities as urban war zones in need of rescue,
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arguing that it is federal agents who are sowing chaos.
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They are the ones that are making it a war zone.
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Prinsker said, they want mayhem on the ground. They want
28:56
to create the war zone so that they can send
28:58
in even more troops. On Fox and Friends on Sunday,
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Nuwham contended that some protesters in Chicago were planning attacks
29:09
and setting bounties to kidnap or kill federal law enforcement.
29:16
Our intelligence indicates that these people are organized. They're getting
29:21
more and more people on their team as far as
29:24
attacking officers, and they're making plans to ambush them and
29:28
to kill them, Num said, without sighting specific threats. The
29:34
Chicago area was calm Sunday afternoon, both outside the Ice
29:39
facility in Broadview and in the city neighborhood of Brighton Park,
29:44
where weekend journeers bustled past pieces of tailed light marking
29:49
where colliding vehicles had led to the shooting on Saturday,
29:54
and while internal ICE policies require agents to display their badges,
30:00
they don't have to comply if they believe their safety
30:03
is at risk, and there is no constitutional prohibition of
30:07
immigration officers' use of masks. Such facial coverings have traditionally
30:13
been avoided by law enforcement because it tends to intimidate,
30:18
a tactic criticized last week by US District Judge William
30:22
Young in Boston. Young, appointed by Ronald Reagan, rule the
30:27
administration had been illegally targeting non citizen protesters in violation
30:33
of their First Amendment right of free speech, in part
30:38
with ICE agents wearing masks to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Miller,
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Trump's deputy chief of staff, described the clash as an
30:49
Oregon as an organized terrorist attack on the federal government
30:53
and its officers, and said local and state officials have
30:56
refused eight ICE officers facing relentless terrorist attacks and threats
31:02
to life. The deployment of troops is an absolute necessity
31:07
to defend our personnel, our laws, our government, republic order,
31:13
and the republic itself. Miller, and architect of Trump's immigration strategy,
31:19
wrote on x the president is the commander in chief
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of the Armed Forces, not an Oregon judge. The scene
31:29
outside the Porcelain Ice facility on Sunday was largely subdued,
31:34
punctuated by occasional scuffles that were recorded in livestream by
31:39
witnesses and participants in all sides Widers confrontations had occurred Saturday,
31:46
when the facility's metalgates swung open and federal officers emerged
31:51
in formation to move protesters back before vehicles entered or left.
31:57
By midday Sunday, only a handful of demonstrators were present
32:01
and traffic flowed freely. Last week, an address at Quantico, Virginia,
32:08
before generals and admirals summoned from around the world, Trump
32:12
said he needed armed forces to police American cities, to
32:16
crying what he said was the enemy within, and saying
32:20
that he should be allowed to use military force domestically.
32:24
Trump on Sunday continued to press the issue, saying Portland
32:28
is burning to the ground. You have agitators, insurrectionists. Turn
32:34
on your television, Look at your television. The governor, the mayor,
32:37
and the politicians are petrified for their lives. And our
32:43
next story, Biden's TikTok law turns into a big win
32:49
for Trump. When President Biden signed a law last year
32:54
forcing the sale of TikTok, top democrats and China hawks
32:59
heralded as a triumph. Four years earlier, President Trump tried
33:04
and failed during his first term in the White House
33:07
to push through a similar measure, but the Biden administration
33:11
worked aggressively with Congress craft, the law, official said, would
33:15
sever all risks of political influence from China, where TikTok's owner,
33:21
Bite Dance, is based. Now, some critics of an extraordinary
33:27
deal to spin off a US version of TikTok, say
33:30
that efforts has backfired. The app's recommendation algorithm will remain
33:36
in bite Dance's hand under the proposal, undermining one of
33:40
the Biden team's central justifications for the law. TikTok's new
33:46
owners are likely to include corporate interests tied to some
33:50
of Trump's most prominent backers, including Larry Ellison, jeff Yass,
33:55
and Rupert Murdoch, who some fear could exert their own
33:59
political influence. China even eked out its own kind of
34:04
win in the process, hitching the company to broader negotiations
34:09
with the United States regarding concessions on tariffs and trade.
34:15
The wildly popular video app will soon be spun off
34:19
into a new US joint venture mostly owned by American
34:23
investors who are patriotic and love America, a senior White
34:27
House official said, Money, a consortium of investors from the
34:32
tech giant Oracle, the investment group silver Lake, and other
34:38
groups will own about eighty percent of the company under
34:41
the deal, which is not yet finalized but for which
34:45
China and the US have confirmed their general support. Trump
34:50
is expected to sign an executive order this week declaring
34:54
that the deal, largely negotiated by administration officials, will be
34:59
a qualify divestiture satisfying the Biden Laws requirement to allow
35:05
TikTok to continue operating in the US. That order could
35:10
serve as an ignoble funeral for the Biden Law, which
35:14
followed years of backed room regulatory work, congressional hearings, and
35:19
an aendorsement from the Supreme Court, only to end with
35:23
the social media platform more deeply linked to Trump's allies
35:28
than ever. Biden's team had argued that TikTok, with one
35:35
hundred and seventy million US users, was too powerful to
35:39
remain in Chinese hands, saying its extensive stores of US
35:44
user data and for U recommendation algorithm could be misused
35:50
to boost propaganda and undermine free expression. TikTok denied any
35:56
such capability, including before the Supreme Court. A person familiar
36:03
with TikTok strategy who spoke on the condition of anonymity
36:07
to discuss internal details, said the apps policies, algorithm reviews,
36:13
and trust and safety teams are all designed to prevent
36:16
political manipulation and will continue operating after the US spent off,
36:23
but the lack of transparency in the process has raised
36:26
concern among civil liberties experts about political manipulation from a
36:31
different quarter, the Trump administration and its political backers. David Greene,
36:39
a director of the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation,
36:44
said in a statement that the law has only resulted
36:48
in turning over the platform to the allies of a
36:50
president who seems to have no respect for the First Amendment.
36:56
Emma L. Bryant, a visiting associate professor with the University
37:00
of Notre Dame who researches influence in propaganda, said the
37:05
heavy involvement of the White House and the private company's
37:08
affairs raised the possibility that Trump was cherry picking the board,
37:15
making deals with his buddies, and creating a medium monopoly
37:19
to keep himself in power. The government has basically forced
37:24
this company into American ownership, so it's playing a role
37:28
in what the company will be, she said, and where
37:30
does that line stop. Bryant said she worried that the
37:35
new company could politicize its content modernization decisions and in
37:40
a way that would bolster pro Trump viewpoints and suspress
37:44
suppress criticism, a parallel to the argument TikTok critics made
37:50
against China before the law passed last year with bipartisan support.
37:56
Similar concerns have also been expressed about Elon Musk, the
38:00
billionaire owner of X, and Larry Ellison's son David Ellison,
38:06
the new owner of CBS. It's incredibly troubling how quickly
38:12
medium moguls are capturing the information space at a time
38:16
when there's a crackdown on speech. More broadly, Bryan said,
38:20
they're grabbing and seeking to control more and more of
38:24
the infrastructure through which political debate happens. After Biden signed
38:29
the law requiring byte Dance to sell the app or
38:33
have it banned in the US, Trump pledged repeatedly to
38:38
save TikTok, saying he had become a big star of
38:42
the app, which he tried to ban during his first presidency.
38:46
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed
38:50
an executive order his first four commanding his administration not
38:55
to enforce the TikTok law. Since January, TikTok has remained
39:01
operational in the US, while a negotiating team led by
39:05
Vice President j d Vance has worked with Byte Dance
39:09
and Chinese officials toward a quasi takeover deal that would
39:14
allow the app to stay online. During that time, investors
39:19
have flooded the White House expressing interest in the deal,
39:23
including officials from Murdoch's Fox Corporation, According to two people
39:28
familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of
39:32
anonymity to discuss confidential talks. Trump sued Murdoch and others
39:38
in July over a story in a different media property
39:42
he owns, The Wall Street Journal, after it reported on
39:46
a two thousand and three birthday letter and drawing that
39:49
Trump allegedly gave to Jeffrey Epstein. The lawsuit is ongoing
39:55
decisions on who will get to buy into the final
39:58
deal have been made the White House negotiators, not by
40:02
byte Edance. Those share of the new TikTok spinoff will
40:07
shrink under the deal to just below twenty percent. Some
40:12
of Byteedance's institutional investors will get a share of the spinoff,
40:17
including Susquehanna International Group, whose co founder Yas gave millions
40:24
to support Trump's re election campaign. The person said. One
40:28
of the new investors, Oracle, will also retain a role
40:32
as TikTok's security provider, hosting Americans user data and employing
40:38
algorithm reviewers to audit the app's underlying code. Larry Ellison,
40:44
Oracle's co founder, is an outspoken Trump supporter and one
40:48
of the world's richest people. Rush Doshie, a former Biden
40:54
national security official now at the Council on Foreign Relations
40:57
think tank, said the prime says had the appearance of
41:01
crony capitalism because of how much Trump's ally stood gain.
41:07
The TikTok deal doesn't look open to all market participants,
41:11
he said. It seems like it's open mostly to those
41:15
close to the administration already, including its political supporters. Byte
41:21
Dance will duplicate the recommendation algorithm, retain it solely on
41:26
US user data and license it for use in the
41:30
spun off app, the White House official said, arguing that
41:35
the oracle overseen arrangement would neutralize any risk of Chinese interference.
41:41
The app will be overseen by a seven member board
41:45
of directors with national security and cybersecurity experience. Byte Dance
41:52
we'll get to install one of its own representatives, but
41:55
the US government will not, the White House official said.
41:59
The names of all investors handboard members have not yet
42:03
been disclosed. A Rati prab Kahar, Biden's science and tech advisor,
42:10
said she worried that significant authoritarian dangers would still exist
42:15
under the new structure. Why would we trust the licensed
42:19
technology from byte dance anymore under this scenario. Why do
42:25
we want a presidentially appointed board determining an algorithm for
42:30
the company? She asks. The US government is expected to
42:35
receive a transaction fee worth billions of dollars as part
42:40
of the deal. One person familiar with the process said
42:44
Trump demanded a similar payout during a failed attempt to
42:48
force the app sale in twenty twenty, saying a very
42:51
large percentage of the company's price tag should be paid
42:55
into the US Treasury. Trump's signing of the order. Later
43:00
this week, the White House official said, would initiate another
43:04
one hundred and twenty day pause of the law, during
43:07
which Byte Dance would sign a framework agreement naming the
43:12
new investors. The White House official said they were one
43:17
hundred percent confident China will approve the deal, but acknowledge
43:22
that some hurdles remained, including regulatory and antitrust reviews on
43:27
the Chinese and US sides. TikTok is one of the
43:32
most influential media platforms in the US, playing a growing
43:37
role in how Americans of all ages, but especially the young,
43:42
learn about current events, follow influential figures, and participate in
43:47
political debates. Top Democrats and Republicans have invested in accounts
43:54
there with the hopes it could boost them in the
43:57
future elections, and Trump, whose White head House just made
44:01
an account, has said it helped him win the twenty
44:04
twenty four race. From China side, However, the app is
44:09
part of a social media industry that is seen as
44:12
less important economically and geopolitically than sectors such as artificial
44:18
intelligence or manufacturing. Tech analyst Rui Ma said Beijing officials
44:24
have four years criticized the robbers logic that Washington used
44:30
to force the app sale, saying it showed America's hypocrisy
44:35
declaring China a heavy handed and kleptomaniac state. But the
44:40
app's fate did offer Chinese negotiators real value as a
44:44
bargaining chip, especially given Trump's robust pledges to save the app,
44:49
said Ma founder of the research firm tech Buzz. China.
44:56
In the US, TikTok is a cultural, commercial, and political
45:00
force that Washington wants full control over. For Beijing, TikTok
45:07
itself is far less important, she said. What matters in
45:12
US China negotiations are structural issues such as barriers to
45:17
trade and capital flows, which directly shaped the Chinese economy
45:22
in people's livelihoods. These are much more important to both
45:26
the government and ordinary citizens than the fate of an
45:29
overseas app. Though the senior White House official characterized some
45:35
of the negotiations as tough, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bissent
45:40
said they included aggressive asks, the White House has yet
45:45
to say what terms were reached to help seal the
45:47
deal after months of vowing to block any deal. Chinese
45:51
officials said last week that recent talks in Spain between
45:56
the two superpowers had been in depth and constructed, and
46:00
expressed tentative support for a deal based on mutual respect.
46:05
Nicholas Burns, the former US ambassador of China who stepped
46:09
down in January, welcomed the planned meeting between Trump and
46:14
Chinese President Sizimping next month in South Korea, but said
46:19
he hoped the administration would not agree to diminish the
46:22
strong actions Biden took to, for instance, blocked the sale
46:26
of China of advanced American technologies that could help the
46:30
Chinese military compete against the US in the Indo Pacific.
46:35
Alan Rosenstein, a former national security advisor to the Justice
46:40
Department who is now a law professor at the University
46:43
of Minnesota, said he worried about what the US had
46:47
given away to preserve TikTok for its new American investors.
46:52
The President may very well quote unquote save TikTok, but
46:58
at what cost? He said. Z knows that Trump wants
47:03
TikTok much more than China cares about it. I was
47:06
a Chinese diplomat, I'd be delighted. Some observers are willing
47:12
to give the negotiation teams the benefit of the doubt.
47:16
Ryan Fittisuk, the former Biden administration official who is now
47:21
a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he thought
47:25
the deal offered the least offensive option before the Chinese
47:30
and US negotiating teams and could help resolve some of
47:34
Washington's lingering concerns about the potential for Chinese interference. But
47:40
some terms of the deal, including byte Dance's continued ownership
47:44
of the algorithm, would ensure that the concern over TikTok
47:49
censorship and this information would continue. He said. The quiet
47:55
truth is that Washington wants to keep a version of
47:58
TikTok operation more than Beijing fear's losing access to the
48:03
American social media market. He said, I'm not sure that
48:08
concern is really addressed by allowing the licensing of an
48:12
algorithm that is ultimately developed by bite Dance. And the
48:18
next story. Supreme Court allows Trump to fire democratic member
48:23
of the Trade Commission. The Supreme Court on Monday cleared
48:28
the way for President Trump to fire the sole remaining
48:31
Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission, the latest victory in
48:36
his aggressive push to exert greater control over the federal bureaucracy.
48:42
The justices overturned a lower court injunction that reinstated Rebecca
48:47
Slaughter to her position with the agency that oversees antitrust
48:52
and consumer protection issues while litigation over her removal works
48:57
its way through the courts. Ruling, while provisional, is significant
49:03
because the High Court also said it will hear arguments
49:06
in December on overturning a ninety year old president that
49:11
allowed Congress to set up independent, non partisan agencies insulated
49:17
from political interference by the President if they do not
49:21
wield executive power, as is customary in cases decided on
49:26
the emerging emergency docket. The justices did not offer reasons
49:31
for their ruling, and it was unsigned, so the vote
49:35
count was unclear. The decision came over the objections of
49:40
the Court's three liberal justices, who have regularly argued against
49:45
such moves. In a series of rulings by the High
49:47
Court allowing the President to fire the heads of several
49:52
independent agencies, the majority stay order. By stay order, has
49:58
handed full control of all those agencies to the president.
50:03
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, he may now remove,
50:08
so says the majority, though Congress says differently. Any member
50:13
he wishes for any reason or no reason at all,
50:18
and he may thereby extinguish the agency's bipartisanship and independence.
50:24
In nineteen thirty five, the Justices rule that President Franklin D.
50:29
Roosevelt could not fireboard member of the FTC William Humphrey
50:34
simply because he opposed the president's New Deal policies. Congress
50:40
had stipulated that members could only be fired for inefficiency,
50:45
neglect of duty, or malfeasans. The case is known as
50:49
Humphrey's Executor versus the United States. The current Supreme Court
50:55
has all but overturned that president in recent rulings. Justices
51:00
allowed Trump to fire democratic members of the Consumer Product
51:04
Safety Commission in July and members of the National Labor
51:08
Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board in May. Trump
51:13
gave no reason for the officials dismissals, despite statutes staying
51:18
they could only be removed for cause. Because the Constitution
51:24
vests the executive power in the president, the majority wrote
51:28
in the May decision, he may remove without cause executive
51:33
officers who exercised that power on his behalf, subject to
51:37
narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents. A case involving Trump's
51:44
bid to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has also
51:49
made its way to the High Court. Trump has asked
51:52
the justices to allow him to immediately remove Cook from
51:56
her position. The court has not ruled on that request.
52:02
Trump moved to fire Cook in August, claiming she had
52:06
committed mortgage fraud. Cook sued, denying any wrongdoing and asserting
52:12
that the allegations were a pretext to get rid of
52:14
her so Trump could push the FED to lower interest rates.
52:19
The Justices have suggested that the constitutional rules governing the
52:24
FED may differ for those federal agencies like the FTC.
52:30
A federal appeals court has blocked the firing of Cook
52:33
for the time being. Trump dismissed Slaughter and the second
52:37
Democratic member of the five member FTC, Alvarado Badoya, in March.
52:43
Slaughter and Bedoya filed a lawsuit soon after, saying the
52:48
President had overstepped his authority. Doya eventually resigned from the commission.
52:55
In July, A federal judge rule for Slaughter, saying Trump
52:59
had illegally dismissed her. A divided appeals court found the
53:04
president removed Slaughter without cause, which was illegal under the
53:08
Humphreys executor President. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts
53:14
Junior issued a temporary ruling this month allowing Trump to
53:18
remove Slaughter while the High Court was deciding whether to
53:22
act on her case. Trump officials argued in their appeal
53:27
to the High Court that the FTC that exists today
53:30
is far different from the Commission in nineteen thirty five,
53:34
which exercised much more limited powers, so Humphrey's executor was
53:40
no longer the controlling precedent. They sided the Court's recent
53:44
rulings allowing the president to remove independent agency heads as
53:48
more relevant. The modern FTC has amassed considerable executive power
53:55
in the intervening ninety years, powers that equal or exceeds
53:59
that of the National Labor Relations Board, Merit System Protection Board,
54:04
and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, government attorneys wrote. Slaughter's
54:09
attorneys said she would continue to fight her removal. Congress
54:15
gave independent regulators removal protections to preserve the integrity of
54:20
our economy, her attorneys set in a statement. Giving the
54:24
executive branch unchecked power over who sets on these boards
54:28
and commissions would have seismic implications for our economy that
54:34
will harm ordinary Americans. On Monday. The Supreme Court also
54:40
turned aside requests by members of the Merit Protection Systems
54:44
Board and National Labor Relations Board fired by Trump to
54:49
hear their cases before lower courts issue final judgments. And finally,
54:56
Trump touts the Navy and avoids GOP nominee for governor
55:00
a Virginia visit in his first time addressing a crowd
55:04
in Virginia since his election, President Trump embraced the power
55:08
and pageantry of the US Navy, but steered clear of
55:11
the state's race for governor, a notable omission for a
55:15
president who rarely passes up political opportunity. Virginia's November fourth election,
55:21
one of two statewide races in the country this year,
55:25
is widely reviewed as a referendum on the Trump administration
55:29
and a tune up for next year's congressional mid terms.
55:33
Polls consistently have shown the Democrat on track to flip
55:37
a seat Republicans currently hold lieutenant governor win some early seers,
55:43
the GOP candidate has lagged by a wide margin in
55:47
both fundraising and polling against Democrat Abigail span Berger. Some
55:53
Republicans have criticized Earl Seers for running an eccentric and
55:58
low key campaign. The Sunday event in Norfolk, at the
56:03
nation's largest naval base, could have been a chance for
56:06
Trump to inject fresh energy into Earlsear's campaign. The candidate attended,
56:13
sitting in the front row of the VIP section, but
56:16
Trump did not mention her name. Instead, the President focused
56:21
on heralding the muscle of the Navy and the highlighting
56:24
issues he knows are popular with his base, including crime
56:28
fighting in major cities, ending wars around the world, and
56:33
railing against a culture he sees as to woke. The
56:38
gathering was advertised as a celebration of the United States
56:42
Navy's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Over several hours, Trump
56:47
watched destroyers launch missiles and fire shells into the ocean.
56:52
He landed in Marine one on the deck of the
56:55
towering carrier as the top gun anthem blasted over the
56:58
speakers descended a red staircase as sailors shouted USA, this
57:05
is a rally, Trump said from the stage between the
57:08
two warships. This is sort of a rally, let's face it.
57:13
He spoke to a crowd of about ten thousand sailors,
57:16
who largely did not respond to Trump's more partisan lines,
57:20
but plotted loudly when he said he would support pay
57:24
raises for service members and make sure they are paid
57:27
despite the government shutdown. Sailor's next paychecks are scheduled for
57:32
October fifteenth. They will miss them if Democrats and Republicans
57:37
in Congress cannot find a compromise on a federal money bill,
57:41
but like civilian workers, will be paid retroactively when the
57:45
shutdown ends. Despite the current Democratic induced shut down, we
57:50
will get our service members every last penny, Trump said.
57:55
The sailors, for the most part, stayed silent when Trump
57:58
characterized Democrats, says mat on our shoulder, or discussed the
58:02
crime cracked down in American cities. Some sailors clapped when
58:06
Trump said we're not politically correct anymore. We win. Supporters
58:13
for the president was more evident, however, than it was
58:16
last week when Trump addressed hundreds of the US military's
58:19
top leaders in a highly partisan address. Then generals and
58:23
admirals set mostly silent, in keeping with the military's non
58:28
partisan tradition. And this concludes the reading of the Washington
58:33
Post for today, Monday, October sixth. Your reader has been
58:36
Rod Brotherton If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions
58:40
concerning the program, please feel free to call us at
58:43
eighty five nine four two two sixty three ninety. Thank
58:46
you for listening, and now please stay tune for continued
58:50
programming right here on Radio I