Transcript

8.18.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: August eighteenth, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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Speaker 1: is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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Speaker 1: or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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Speaker 1: printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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Speaker 1: To day's front page headlines from The Washington Post are
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Speaker 1: war has Trump in a quagmire, conflict's end was declared
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Speaker 1: to be near. Fighting goes on as sixty day window
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Speaker 1: on Arondeal closes. Next, New Florida mapriorients Wasserman Schultz, white
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Speaker 1: Democratic congresswoman aims to win heavily black district. The next
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Speaker 1: headline Kushner and Netnyahu make little progress. Demilitarization of Hamas
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Speaker 1: withdrawal of Israelis from Gaza stalled. Next, another rise in
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Speaker 1: kindergarten vaccine exemptions in U s record high for the
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Speaker 1: only twenty five through twenty six school year continues a trend,
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Speaker 1: and the final headline from today's front page, race is
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Speaker 1: on to prep for new deadly viruses. In addition to
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Speaker 1: those stories, there are two other photographs on the front page,
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Speaker 1: The first titled Force on Fire in Belgium. The caption
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Speaker 1: reads a Belgian firefighter stands among charred tree stumps in
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Speaker 1: an area affected by a wildfire in Whim on Monday.
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Speaker 1: One of Belgium's biggest ever wildfires continued even as cooler
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Speaker 1: weather and rain ease conditions. The other photo is captioned
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Speaker 1: Bumper to bumper traffic. Much faster cars and no pedestrians
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Speaker 1: will be competing on the streets of DC this weekend
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Speaker 1: during their Freedom two fifty Grand Prix IndyCar Series race
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Speaker 1: around the National Mall. The photograph shows a man crossing
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Speaker 1: the street in the foreground. In the background is the
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Speaker 1: Dome of the Capitol. Across the street is a banner
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Speaker 1: which reads Freedom to fifty Grand Prix. A couple of
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Speaker 1: cars can be seen on the street. Now let's turn
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Speaker 1: to our first item, entitled war has Trump in a quagmire?
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Speaker 1: Conflicts end was declared to be near. Fighting goes on
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Speaker 1: as sixty day window on Iran deal closes. By Cleave R.
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Speaker 1: Woodson Junior and Rachel Chason. Sixty days ago, seated beside
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Speaker 1: French President Emmanuel Macron at a lavish dinner at the
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Speaker 1: Palace of Versailles, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of
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Speaker 1: understanding with Iran and declared the beginning of the end
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Speaker 1: of the US conflict with Tehran. The quote historic breakthrough
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Speaker 1: would lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormus
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Speaker 1: and ensure Iran never obtained a nuclear weapon, the White
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Speaker 1: House declared. Trump advisers said the deal would demonstrate that
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Speaker 1: the president could end, rather than prolong, the kind of
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Speaker 1: endless wars in the Middle East he had spent years
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Speaker 1: denoun The agreement set aside two months for talks to
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Speaker 1: turn the interim truce into something more ambitious, a broader
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Speaker 1: settlement of the decades long standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
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Speaker 1: That window has now closed. The war has not ended,
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Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut, Detailed negotiations over
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Speaker 1: Iran's nuclear program never began. The United States has resumed
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Speaker 1: its blockade of Iranian ports. Tehran is demanding concessions that
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Speaker 1: the Trump administration has rejected, and the administration has now
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Speaker 1: publicly disowned several of the key points in the ill
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Speaker 1: fated memorandum, including development of a plan quote with at
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Speaker 1: least three hundred billion dollars for the reconstruction and development
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Speaker 1: of Iran, a waiver of sanctions to allow Iran to
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Speaker 1: sell oil and a dialogue between Iran and Oman over
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Speaker 1: how to run the Strait of Hormuz. Trump on Monday
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Speaker 1: went so far as to threaten to bomb Oman over
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Speaker 1: its talks with Iran on management of the strait, through
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Speaker 1: which twenty percent of the world's oil used to pass.
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Speaker 1: If Oman gets in the way, Trump said in a
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Speaker 1: Fox News interview, the US would bomb the s out
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Speaker 1: of them. He demanded that Iran raise the white flag
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Speaker 1: of surrender, while insisting that neither the approaching midterm elections
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Speaker 1: nor the passage of time was putting pressure on him
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Speaker 1: to reach a deal. I have no time schedule, Trump said,
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Speaker 1: I'm not in a hurry. Midterms have nothing to do
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Speaker 1: with my thinking. Six months after he launched a tax
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Speaker 1: on Iran in coordination with Israel, and seventy eight days
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Speaker 1: before elections that will determine whether his party retains control
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Speaker 1: of Congress, Trump confronts the kind of open ended conflict
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Speaker 1: he claimed he was uniquely equipped to avoid, one with
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Speaker 1: no obvious military resolution, no diplomatic breakthrough inside, and mounting
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Speaker 1: economic and political costs at a home. Continuing to standoff
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Speaker 1: risks leaving him presiding over a war that undercuts one
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Speaker 1: of the central premises of his political identity. The war
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Speaker 1: has helped to erode voters trusts in Trump and may
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Speaker 1: have larger consequences in the midterms, said Lee Merongov, director
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Speaker 1: of the Marris University Institute for Public Opinion. For a
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Speaker 1: lot of voters, the war in Iran is linked with
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Speaker 1: the economy. When the Strait closed, the price of gas
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Speaker 1: went up. Merongov said. The problem for President Trump and
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Speaker 1: the Republicans is that a lot of what he was
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Speaker 1: elected on seems to not be being fulfilled. So there's
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Speaker 1: a sense of no rationale for why we went in,
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Speaker 1: and no clear sense of how it's going, and no
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Speaker 1: indication of how we're going to get out, which is
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Speaker 1: the opposite of what makes for good politics. The White
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Speaker 1: House did not respond on the record to questions about
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Speaker 1: the memorandums expiration or its impact on the president's placetical goals,
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Speaker 1: instead noting his public statements. But administration officials say the
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Speaker 1: White House is leaning heavily on the hope that the
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Speaker 1: US campaign of economic pressure will push Iran to a
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Speaker 1: breaking point. President Trump's been very focused on the economic
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Speaker 1: pressure Jared Kushner, the President's sun in law and envoy,
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Speaker 1: said Monday in an interview with Fox News, if you
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Speaker 1: look at the Iranian economy, it's way worse off. It
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Speaker 1: was bad before the war, it's way worse off now,
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Speaker 1: he said. Kushner added, however, that so far, Iran is
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Speaker 1: not showing any interest in doing something that makes sense
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Speaker 1: for US. Officials point to Iran's soaring inflation, record, low
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Speaker 1: currency value, falling oil and tax revenue, mounting reconstruction costs,
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Speaker 1: and growing strains on the banking system. In the administration's telling,
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Speaker 1: those pressures are reaching beyond ordinary Iranians and beginning to
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Speaker 1: hit the country's elite as well, eroding purchasing power and
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Speaker 1: creating uncertainty even around government paychecks. But the US has
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Speaker 1: applied economic pressure on Iran for decades, and even in
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Speaker 1: the best case for Trump, the latest mooths probably would
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Speaker 1: take many months to play out. Any economic pain will
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Speaker 1: be felt primarily by the Iranian people, rather than forcing
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Speaker 1: change from the increasingly hard line regime, said Alan Eyre,
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Speaker 1: a former diplomat who served on the US negotiating team
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Speaker 1: that secured the twenty fifteen Iran nuclear deal. The US
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Speaker 1: withdrew from that deal in twenty eighteen. Under the first
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Speaker 1: Trump administration, the US has no good options, said Ayre,
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Speaker 1: who is a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute.
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Speaker 1: The war has broken a complex system, and it's not
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Speaker 1: getting back to the way it was before February twenty eighth.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, Trumps standing has eroded as the war
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Speaker 1: has dragged on. Strikingly. Surveys show an erosion of support
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Speaker 1: among Republicans, whose intense loyalty has been the foundation of
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Speaker 1: Trump's political power. An economist Yugov poll released last week
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Speaker 1: found Trump's approval among Republicans at seventy nine percent, a
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Speaker 1: second term low and fifteen points below its level shortly
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Speaker 1: after he returned to office. The share of Republicans who
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Speaker 1: strongly approve of his performance has fallen even more sharply,
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Speaker 1: from sixty eight percent to forty eight percent. A Washington
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Speaker 1: Post IPSOS poll last month found a new low of
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Speaker 1: fifteen percent of Americans approved strongly of Trump's job performance.
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Speaker 1: The finding marked the first time the Post ipso's poll
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Speaker 1: found that significantly more than half of Trump approvers support
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Speaker 1: him only somewhat rather than strongly the declines cannot be
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Speaker 1: attributed to the Iran Wars alone. Voters have also expressed
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Speaker 1: frustration about inflation, gasoline prizes, and other aspects of Trump's presidency,
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Speaker 1: but those issues have increasingly become intertwined. The war and
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Speaker 1: the continued disruption of oil shipments have helped make Trump's
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Speaker 1: foreign policy predicament an economic and political problem at home.
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Speaker 1: Trump has continued to insist that an end to this
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Speaker 1: dalemate is in the offing. On Monday, he told Fox
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Speaker 1: News that the US was engaged in back channel talks
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Speaker 1: with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. An IRGC spokesman quickly
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Speaker 1: denied the claim. Brigadier General Hussein Mhebi told Iran's semi
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Speaker 1: official Tasenium News agency that there were no talks between
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Speaker 1: the Revolutionary Guard officials and the Americans, dismissing Trump's assertion
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Speaker 1: as a product of defeat and desperation in the war.
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Speaker 1: Robert Kagan, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, who has written
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Speaker 1: extensively about U S power and foreign policy, said that
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Speaker 1: Trump has few attractive military options in Iran and that
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Speaker 1: the U S has effectively lost control roll of the
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Speaker 1: strait of Horrmus for the foreseeable future, leaving the administration
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Speaker 1: increasingly reliant on economic pressure. But Kagan said that setback
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Speaker 1: may not necessarily translate into lasting political damage for Trump.
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Speaker 1: If gas prices remain relatively stable and the US avoids
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Speaker 1: another sustained shooting war, he said, aaron could gradually recede
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Speaker 1: from voter's attention. I can see a situation where the
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Speaker 1: majority of Americans don't care about the strategic defeat that
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Speaker 1: we have faced, if we are not shooting at Iran
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Speaker 1: and if gas prices are not going up, Kagan said
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Speaker 1: he could get a political win out of a disastrous
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Speaker 1: military defeat. He just has to spin it for his voters.
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Speaker 1: Scott Clement and Karen de Young contributed to this report.
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Speaker 1: This item is accompanied by a photo captioned President Donald
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Speaker 1: Trump is confronting the kind of open ended conflict he
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Speaker 1: claimed he was uniquely equipped to avoid and a money
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Speaker 1: made guinea images. The photo shows a head and shoulders
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Speaker 1: shot of President Trump. Behind him can be seen the
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Speaker 1: seal of the President of the United States. The next
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Speaker 1: item from today's front page is entitled New Florida map
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Speaker 1: reorients Washerman Schultz white Democratic congresswoman aims to win heavily
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Speaker 1: black district by Tao Armas from Sunrise, Florida. When Republicans
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Speaker 1: cut up her mostly blue congressional district to boost their
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Speaker 1: chances in the midterm elections, Representative Debbie Washerman Schultz, a Democrat,
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Speaker 1: faced a choice. The veteran lawmaker could have stuck to
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Speaker 1: her home address and a new, predominantly white district that
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Speaker 1: went for Donald Trump by ten percentage points. Instead, Washerman
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Speaker 1: Schultz jumped into the primary for a neighboring district in
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Speaker 1: Broward County, where a handful of prominent African American leaders
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Speaker 1: were already vying to represent an area that is more
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Speaker 1: than forty percent black. That's how she ended up at
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Speaker 1: a holiday concert in this sweltering suburb earlier this summer,
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Speaker 1: passing out handshakes and pamphlets as she stressed the one
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Speaker 1: thing that set her apart from her primary opponents other
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Speaker 1: than her race. We don't want to lose the power
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Speaker 1: and experience I have for Broward, she said, pausing only
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Speaker 1: briefly as she zipped through the crowd in her rhinestone
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Speaker 1: covered platform sneakers. It's essential we have people with enough
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Speaker 1: experience to be able to fight A fifty nine year
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Speaker 1: old former National Party chair and frequent cable news presence,
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Speaker 1: Washerman Schultz is among the nation's most prominent incumbents, being
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Speaker 1: forced to reintroduce themselves and make the case for seniority
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Speaker 1: this year. Yet more so than other contests, her primary
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Speaker 1: race in Florida's twentieth district represents the often thorny trade
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Speaker 1: offs Democrats face as Trump and the GOP have sought
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Speaker 1: to redraw maps across the country and illuminate deep blue
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Speaker 1: seats in Congress. After the Supreme Court weakened the Voting
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Speaker 1: Rights Act this year, some veteran Democrats across the South
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Speaker 1: have been forced to choose between running on more politically
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Speaker 1: competitive turf or bowing out entirely. Washerman Schultz chose a
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Speaker 1: third option, turning her election into a contest that effectively
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Speaker 1: pits congressional experience against racial representation. It's especially potent when
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Speaker 1: the ranks of black lawmakers in Congress are all but
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Speaker 1: guaranteed to dwindle, said Corey Shearer, president of Broward's Black
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Speaker 1: Democratic Caucus, which has backed a rival candidate, Dale Wholeness.
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Speaker 1: She's been an ally but Suddenly it's feeling more like
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Speaker 1: she's using the familiarity she's built against us. Sheer said,
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Speaker 1: with the landscape of all that, somebody who says they're
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Speaker 1: our friend decides, Hey, I'm in trouble and I'm going
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Speaker 1: to take yours. Four other candidates are seeking the nomination Wholeness,
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Speaker 1: a former mayor of Broward County, a young progressive activist,
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Speaker 1: the district's disgraced former congresswoman, and a nineteen nineties rapper,
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Speaker 1: perhaps best known for the song Miso Horney. But it
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Speaker 1: may be difficult for any of them to edge out
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Speaker 1: Washerman Schultz, who has a massive advantage in fund raising
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Speaker 1: and name recognition. A former state lawmaker who made the
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Speaker 1: jump to Congress in two thousand four, Washerman Schultz is
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Speaker 1: quick to point out that she has represented at least
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Speaker 1: some of Broward County for more than thirty years in government.
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Speaker 1: She has spent most of that time in Washington, where
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Speaker 1: over eleven terms she gained an influential spot on the
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Speaker 1: Appropriations Committee. Anne served a controversial stint as chair of
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Speaker 1: the Democratic National Committee on weekends and holidays, though she
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Speaker 1: became a fixture at events like this Fourth of July
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Speaker 1: concert where she whizzed through carnival booths and lawn chairs
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Speaker 1: faster than the cover band on stage could shuffle through
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Speaker 1: its set list. Man she is just phenomenal, said Stacy
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Speaker 1: toppin fifty four, who grabbed a selfie with a congresswoman
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Speaker 1: in the crowd. I always always see her out in
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Speaker 1: the community. The area's representation in Congress is bound to
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Speaker 1: change no matter what. The new maps pushed by Republican
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Speaker 1: Governor Ron De Santis redrew the lines embroward a diverse,
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Speaker 1: populous area that includes Fort Lauderdale to give his party
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Speaker 1: much more of an edge. Two congressional districts anchored in
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Speaker 1: Broward keep small slices of this deep blue county, including
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Speaker 1: Washerman schultz home base in the city of Weston, while
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Speaker 1: taking in more conservative areas to the south and west.
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Speaker 1: The other districts, however, remained easy holds for Democrats, even
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Speaker 1: though their boundaries changed. Where some sought opportunity for Washerman
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Speaker 1: Schultz to fight back in a district designed to favor
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Speaker 1: a Republican, she saw it differently. In late May, she
15:54
Speaker 1: announced she would be running in one of the safe
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Speaker 1: blue districts, which had been left without an incumbent after
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Speaker 1: then Republican Sheila's Cheerfulest McCormick, a Democrat, resigned amid federal
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Speaker 1: money laundering charges. Cheerfless McCormick had already announced she would
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Speaker 1: be seeking the seat again. The ballot also includes progressive
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Speaker 1: activists Elijah Manley, former county mayor Wholeness, and rapper Luther Campbell,
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Speaker 1: also known as Uncle Luke. Washerman Schultz said she spoke
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Speaker 1: with dozens of Roward leaders in making her decision. Her
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Speaker 1: long tenure and spot in Democratic leadership, she determined were
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Speaker 1: too important to risk losing. You want to make sure
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Speaker 1: that you have someone who knows the communities and knows
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Speaker 1: their values, who has delivered for them and knows how
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Speaker 1: to fight for them, she said in an interview, adding
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Speaker 1: lived experience is important, and so is experience in Congress.
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Speaker 1: Yet plenty of Democrats in and outside Florida are taking
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Speaker 1: a different stance. Some pointed out to her directly that
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Speaker 1: she would be the first non black representative to fill
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Speaker 1: the seat since its career. In the early nineteen nineties,
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Speaker 1: Ten of the state's fifteen elected Democratic National Committee members
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Speaker 1: signed a statement saying that Washerman Schultz was treating one
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Speaker 1: of Florida's few remaining majority black districts as a political opportunity.
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Speaker 1: House Majority Leader Jakim Jeffreys, Democrat from New York, declined
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Speaker 1: to endorse her, citing the sensitivities of the moment in
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Speaker 1: terms of an unprecedented Jim Crow like assault on black
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Speaker 1: political representation. And Representative Yavette d Clarke, Democrat from New York,
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Speaker 1: chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, put it more diplomatically.
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Speaker 1: We had a conversation, she said. Encouragement was not part
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Speaker 1: of that conversation. Washman Schultz said the primary playing out
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Speaker 1: on Twitter was different than the mood on the ground.
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Speaker 1: The criticism, she said, did not reflect how our constituents felt.
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Speaker 1: Including a far warmer reception at the holiday celebration in
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Speaker 1: an arena parking lot, Rose Dawes, a sixty three year
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Speaker 1: old in a Jamaican flag shirt, leaped out of her
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Speaker 1: lawn chair to greet Washerman Schultz. Thank you for your service,
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Speaker 1: she told the congresswoman, because you've been in office for
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Speaker 1: a long time. A few tenths away, I'm Rita Baloup
18:15
Speaker 1: nodded as a congresswoman recounted her unannounced overside visit earlier
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Speaker 1: that week to a US Emigration and Customs enforcement facility
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Speaker 1: near by. An assistant principal Balrup said she has seen
18:28
Speaker 1: how a heightened ice presence has spooped some students from
18:31
Speaker 1: coming to school. It matters that she's been standing up
18:35
Speaker 1: for a big issue, Thirrup said, after we need someone
18:39
Speaker 1: who can navigate that well. In my mind, experienced Trump's color,
18:44
Speaker 1: but others were left with a different feeling. The following day,
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Speaker 1: Washerman Schultz attended a Sunday service at a large Black
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Speaker 1: Baptist church in Fort Lauderdale, where she and other candidates
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Speaker 1: briefly greeted the congregation. Vaughn Howard, forty seven, walked out undecided.
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Speaker 1: Going down a list of candidates, he had hesitations about
19:04
Speaker 1: each of them. Washerman Schultz included, It's not like she's
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Speaker 1: new to our community, he said, but I'm not sure
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Speaker 1: she has the voice to speak for our community. Clara N.
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Speaker 1: S Morrison, Washington contributed to this report. This item is
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Speaker 1: accompanied by photos. The first is captioned. Representative Debbie Washerman Schultz,
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Speaker 1: Democrat from Florida, takes the stage at a Fourth of
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Speaker 1: July celebration in Sunrise, Florida. She is seeking a twelfth term,
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Speaker 1: but running in a redrawn district. Tao Armis The Washington Post.
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Speaker 1: The next photo is captioned gathering for the City of
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Speaker 1: Sunrise's Fourth of July celebration, which featured bands, food trucks
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Speaker 1: and fireworks. Tao Armis The Washington Post. The photo shows
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Speaker 1: in the foreground two individuals seated in lawn chairs. Behind
19:56
Speaker 1: them are more individuals and lawn chairs and several canopy
20:00
Speaker 1: tents with a large group of people gathered. The next
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Speaker 1: photo is captioned Washerman Schultz poses for photos with people
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Speaker 1: at the Fourth of July event. Teo Armas The Washington Post.
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Speaker 1: The photo shows Miss Washerman Schultz with an individual on
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Speaker 1: either side while another person takes a photo. The next
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Speaker 1: item from today's front page is entitled Kushner and net
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Speaker 1: Yahoo make little progress Demilitarization of Hamas withdrawal of Israelis
20:30
Speaker 1: from Gaza stalled by Leo Soroka, Karen De Young, Joshua Yang,
20:35
Speaker 1: and Mohammed el Chama from Tel Aviv. The President's son
20:40
Speaker 1: in law, Jared Kushner, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin net
20:43
Speaker 1: Nahou met Monday in Jerusalem, but made little progress toward
20:48
Speaker 1: fulfilling a plan for complete demilitarization of Hamas and the
20:52
Speaker 1: withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. In his statement following
20:56
Speaker 1: the meeting, President Donald Trump's Board of Peace said it
21:00
Speaker 1: had agreed with Israel's insistence that there would be no
21:03
Speaker 1: pull out of the israel Defense forces from Gaza before
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Speaker 1: all Hamas weapons, tunnels, and infrastructure are gone. One senior
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Speaker 1: Board of Piece official, speaking on the condition of anonymity
21:16
Speaker 1: to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said the post meeting statement was
21:20
Speaker 1: worded carefully to avoid conflict and take into account Israel's
21:24
Speaker 1: contentious national election in October, in which Gaza will be
21:28
Speaker 1: a central issue. The talks with Kushner were intended to
21:31
Speaker 1: find breathing space between two seemingly irreconcilable views and keep
21:36
Speaker 1: the talks alive at least through the fall. The official added.
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Speaker 1: The Israelis are going to give us some space over
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Speaker 1: the next few weeks to see if we can get
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Speaker 1: this disarmament process fast tracked, move forward, and give it
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Speaker 1: a chance, the Board of Peace official said. The official
21:52
Speaker 1: pointed to a planned humanitarian housing project in southern Gaza
21:56
Speaker 1: for about fifty thousand Palestinians that would serve as a
21:59
Speaker 1: trial initition to clear a small zone of Hamas and
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Speaker 1: its weapons, allowing Israeli forces to pull back. The fifteen
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Speaker 1: point plan, touted as a breakthrough by Trump in late July,
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Speaker 1: called for Israeli forces to withdraw in concert with Hamas disarmament,
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Speaker 1: but hopes of implementing the peace plan were brought to
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Speaker 1: a standstill a few days later when net Nyahu, in
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Speaker 1: a stark break with Washington, said that the timing was
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Speaker 1: unacceptable and that Israel would not withdraw until all Hamas
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Speaker 1: weapons were gone. For its part, Hamas has demanded that
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Speaker 1: Israel seize all military attacks, which have killed more than
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Speaker 1: one thousand gossens since the ceasefire began in October, as
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Speaker 1: a first step toward disarmament. Israel contends that its strikes,
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Speaker 1: which also have killed civilians, are permitted under Trump's original
22:51
Speaker 1: peace plan as self defense against imminent attacks from Hamas.
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Speaker 1: In the coming weeks, the Board of Peace will establish
23:00
Speaker 1: a commission to determine whether Israeli attacks comply with the
23:04
Speaker 1: original restrictions on responding to imminent threats. According to the
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Speaker 1: Board of Peace official, during the meeting. The two sides
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Speaker 1: also agreed on establishing working groups on disarmament and demilitarization
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Speaker 1: of Gaza, and another to focus on sanitation, clean water,
23:20
Speaker 1: and other public health issues for the people of Gaza,
23:24
Speaker 1: the Board of Peace set in its statement, Kushner was
23:27
Speaker 1: joined by the group's director, Nikolai Maladinov and former British
23:31
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Tony Blair, a member of the body's executive board.
23:35
Speaker 1: The Board of Peace was set up in the aftermath
23:38
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty five ceasefire deal to release the
23:41
Speaker 1: remaining hostages that Hamas had seized during the October seventh,
23:45
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three attack on Israel. On Sunday, Kushner held
23:49
Speaker 1: rare talks with Ahamas delegation in Egypt, seeking to advance
23:53
Speaker 1: the stalled Gaza peace deal. The meeting was with Khalil
23:57
Speaker 1: al Hayah, the group's new leader. The Sociated Press reported.
24:01
Speaker 1: Ahma's official told The Washington Post that Ahayah was in
24:05
Speaker 1: Egypt for talks and that the delegation met with all mediators.
24:09
Speaker 1: The Hamas official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to
24:13
Speaker 1: discuss a private meeting, said the group's talks with Kushner
24:16
Speaker 1: focused on the fifteen point plan, which Hamas has accepted,
24:20
Speaker 1: and their objections to Israel's opposition. Israel is also under
24:25
Speaker 1: pressure from the United Arab Emirates, which joined with other
24:28
Speaker 1: predominantly Muslim countries Sunday in condemning nat Nyahu's refusal to
24:33
Speaker 1: move forward with Trump's plan. Last week, a US official
24:37
Speaker 1: told the Post that Israel is not being asked to
24:40
Speaker 1: rely on trust or to make irreversible moves before verified
24:45
Speaker 1: steps are taken on the ground. Speaking on the condition
24:48
Speaker 1: of anonymity to describe sensitive matters, the official added that
24:52
Speaker 1: the objective remains the full decommissioning of weapons and ensuring
24:57
Speaker 1: Gaza can never again pose the kind of threat Israel
25:00
Speaker 1: faced on October seventh. Net Yahoo is fighting for political
25:04
Speaker 1: survival in the October election. Polls show him trailing major opponents,
25:10
Speaker 1: and annalyst said that he is less likely to make
25:12
Speaker 1: any major commitments in an election year. Net Yahoo does
25:17
Speaker 1: not want people saying he approved withdrawals before the election,
25:20
Speaker 1: said Gayel Telsher, a political analyst at the Hebrew University.
25:25
Speaker 1: Kobe Michael, a former official in Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs,
25:29
Speaker 1: said American pressure may not yield results except for a
25:33
Speaker 1: limited Israeli redeployment along the Yellow Line, the boundary separating
25:37
Speaker 1: Ares and Gaza under Israeli military control. Speaking last week
25:42
Speaker 1: at a government meeting, Nat Yahoo presented himself as someone
25:46
Speaker 1: who can say no to Trump. We can and know
25:49
Speaker 1: how to stand our ground, even against our best friends,
25:53
Speaker 1: when necessary, he said. Deyong and Yang reported from Washington
25:57
Speaker 1: and Elshama from Beirut. Susan van Haidamas in Beirut contributed
26:02
Speaker 1: to this report. This item is accompanied by a photo
26:06
Speaker 1: captioned Jared Kushner shown that the State of the Union
26:09
Speaker 1: address in February was joined by Board of Peace director
26:13
Speaker 1: Nikolai M. Laudnov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
26:17
Speaker 1: a member of the body's executive board, Nathan Howard Reuters.
26:21
Speaker 1: Next from today's front page is an item entitled another
26:25
Speaker 1: rise in kindergarten vaccine exemptions in the US. Record high
26:29
Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty five through twenty six school year
26:32
Speaker 1: continues a trend by Lena H. Sun. The share of
26:37
Speaker 1: US kindergarteners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the
26:41
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five through twenty twenty six school year rose
26:45
Speaker 1: to another record high, according to federal data posted Monday.
26:49
Speaker 1: The sharp increase from three point six to four point
26:52
Speaker 1: two percent seeking exemptions about one hundred fifty five thousand
26:56
Speaker 1: students extends a years long erosion of childhood immunization rates
27:02
Speaker 1: as the country battles its worst measles resurgence in thirty
27:05
Speaker 1: five years. As exemptions increased, US kindergarten vaccination rates fell
27:11
Speaker 1: slightly for all reported vaccines from the year before. Coverage
27:15
Speaker 1: for the major vaccines required for kindergarten MMR that is measles,
27:20
Speaker 1: mumps and rubella, DTAPP that is diphtheria, tetanus and acelluar protussis,
27:27
Speaker 1: poliovirus vaccine polio and vericella that is chicken pox decreased
27:33
Speaker 1: in more than half of states for the second year
27:35
Speaker 1: in a row, The CDC said. The latest numbers from
27:39
Speaker 1: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrive as President
27:43
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior seek
27:47
Speaker 1: sweeping changes to the childhood immunizations schedule. Trump last week
27:51
Speaker 1: directed federal health officials to move toward giving the measles, mumps,
27:55
Speaker 1: and rubella vaccines separately rather than in the combined MMR shot,
28:00
Speaker 1: and to space out childhood vaccinations over more medical visits.
28:04
Speaker 1: The combined shot has been a corner stone of measles
28:07
Speaker 1: prevention for decades, and separate measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines
28:11
Speaker 1: are not currently available in the United States. The proposal
28:16
Speaker 1: defies guidance from major medical groups and is directly at
28:19
Speaker 1: odds with CDC's own scientific guidance. No published scientific evidence
28:25
Speaker 1: shows any benefit in separating the combination m m R
28:28
Speaker 1: vaccine into three individual shots, the agency says on its
28:32
Speaker 1: m m R Vaccine Safety page as of Monday. Elsewhere
28:36
Speaker 1: on CDC's website, the agency says combination vaccines reduce the
28:41
Speaker 1: number of injections children receive while providing the same protection,
28:45
Speaker 1: and may help more children get recommended vaccinations on time.
28:50
Speaker 1: The new CDC data released this week shows a continuing
28:53
Speaker 1: decline in childhood vaccination rates and rise in exemption rates,
28:58
Speaker 1: and What's at Stake as He'd makes iministration, seeks to
29:01
Speaker 1: remake federal vaccine policy. The biggest factor in the increasing
29:05
Speaker 1: exemption rate came from families seeking non medical exemptions. The
29:09
Speaker 1: data shows exemptions increased across a broader expanse of the
29:13
Speaker 1: country last year, rising in forty one states and the
29:17
Speaker 1: District of Columbia compared with thirty six states and the
29:20
Speaker 1: district in the previous year. Twenty four states now report
29:24
Speaker 1: exemption rates exceeding five percent. In terms of vaccine coverage,
29:29
Speaker 1: the data shows that ninety two point four percent of
29:31
Speaker 1: kindergarteners had received the required two doses of the MMR
29:35
Speaker 1: vaccine during the twenty twenty five through twenty six school year,
29:39
Speaker 1: down slightly from ninety two point five percent the previous year.
29:44
Speaker 1: Before the coronavirus pandemic, the rate was ninety five percent,
29:49
Speaker 1: the level at which it is generally considered unlikely that
29:52
Speaker 1: a single infection will trigger a disease cluster or outbreak.
29:56
Speaker 1: The number of kindergarteners attending school without documentation completing the
30:00
Speaker 1: MMR vaccine series was about two hundred eighty thousand during
30:04
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five through twenty six school year. Coverage
30:08
Speaker 1: for other required childhood vaccines also declined, dropping to ninety
30:12
Speaker 1: two percent for DETAP from ninety two point one percent
30:16
Speaker 1: the previous year, and a ninety two point four percent
30:19
Speaker 1: for polio from ninety two point five percent the previous year.
30:23
Speaker 1: For some diseases, like measles, even a small decrease in
30:27
Speaker 1: vaccination rates can lead to more outbreaks of disease because
30:31
Speaker 1: community immunity requires over ninety five percent of susceptible individuals
30:35
Speaker 1: to be immunized. And Your Racine, president of the American
30:39
Speaker 1: Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement, this risk is real.
30:44
Speaker 1: The United States is experiencing a thirty five year high
30:47
Speaker 1: for measles cases as federal officials continue to elevate misleading
30:51
Speaker 1: and disproven information about vaccines, inserting unnecessary fear and confusion
30:58
Speaker 1: into family's decision making, and we are seeing the results.
31:02
Speaker 1: More than a quarter of a million children started kindergarten
31:05
Speaker 1: last year without protection from the MMR vaccine. On Friday,
31:10
Speaker 1: CDC reported two thousand, five hundred sixty six confirmed measles
31:14
Speaker 1: cases so far this year, one hundred one more than
31:18
Speaker 1: the previous week's taally and already exceeding the two thousand,
31:21
Speaker 1: two hundred eighty nine cases recorded during all of twenty
31:25
Speaker 1: twenty five. Ninety three percent of the cases were in
31:28
Speaker 1: people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.
31:33
Speaker 1: CDC made no mention of the record increase in exemptions
31:36
Speaker 1: in a statement accompanying Monday's data, and stopped short of
31:40
Speaker 1: directly encouraging parents to vaccinate their children. Instead, CDC said
31:44
Speaker 1: that it continues to encourage parents to discuss vaccination options
31:49
Speaker 1: with their doctors. If parents are worried about what shots
31:53
Speaker 1: their children need for school, they should keep in mind
31:56
Speaker 1: that states, not the federal government, generally said fact nation
32:00
Speaker 1: requirements for school attendance. Public health experts say as of
32:05
Speaker 1: August eleventh, thirty states had announced that they are no
32:08
Speaker 1: longer relying solely on federal guidelines for their own childhood
32:11
Speaker 1: vaccine recommendations. According to KFF, a health policy organization, many
32:17
Speaker 1: state health departments have said they will rely on external
32:20
Speaker 1: expert groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics instead.
32:25
Speaker 1: Decades of research involving millions of children have established the
32:29
Speaker 1: safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine. Two doses of
32:33
Speaker 1: the vaccine are about ninety seven percent effective in preventing measles,
32:37
Speaker 1: which can result in serious complications, including pneumonia, swelling of
32:42
Speaker 1: the brain, and in rare cases, death from respiratory and
32:46
Speaker 1: neurological complications. According to the CDC. Extensive research has found
32:52
Speaker 1: no link between MMR vaccination and autism. The White House
32:57
Speaker 1: has said its proposed changes to the immunization schedule, which
33:01
Speaker 1: also call for reducing the number of universally recommended vaccines,
33:05
Speaker 1: are designed to align the United States with its peer nations,
33:08
Speaker 1: but peer nations like Denmark, Australia, and Canada give MMR
33:13
Speaker 1: immunizations in a combination vaccine. Britain this year began replacing
33:18
Speaker 1: the MMR shot with a four in one vaccine that
33:21
Speaker 1: also protects against chicken pox. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana,
33:27
Speaker 1: blasted Trump's overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule Sunday, saying
33:31
Speaker 1: it will raise costs for patients and make vaccines less accessible.
33:36
Speaker 1: Trump has defended the move as sparing children from the
33:39
Speaker 1: combination MMR vaccine, which he said was quote sort of
33:43
Speaker 1: like a nuclear weapon. Now instead of your child getting
33:47
Speaker 1: two shots, she has to get six shots, Cassidy said
33:50
Speaker 1: Sunday on ABC's This Week. Instead of you missing work
33:54
Speaker 1: to take your child to the doctor two times, you're
33:56
Speaker 1: doing it six times. And instead of the the insurance
34:00
Speaker 1: company paying for two visits, is now paying for six visits.
34:05
Speaker 1: The collision between the White House's vaccine agenda and the
34:08
Speaker 1: scientific guidance of the agency charged with carrying it out
34:12
Speaker 1: also presents an immediate test for Rika Schwartz, who began
34:16
Speaker 1: work as CDC director last week. During Schwartze's confirmation process,
34:21
Speaker 1: senators repeatedly pressed her on whether she would defend scientific
34:26
Speaker 1: evidence if Kennedy or other administration officials sought changes unsupported
34:31
Speaker 1: by it Cassidy ultimately supported her nomination after initially expressing concerns,
34:37
Speaker 1: saying after additional conversations that he was confident Schwartz knows
34:42
Speaker 1: what she is doing and will stand against those who
34:44
Speaker 1: do not. Even though the CDC is responsible for federal
34:49
Speaker 1: vaccine policy following recommendations from its independent Vaccine Advisory Committee,
34:54
Speaker 1: scientists at the agency said they did not know that
34:57
Speaker 1: the executive order was coming and official are unsure of
35:01
Speaker 1: what it means for the agency. The White House is
35:04
Speaker 1: calling for Kennedy's Department of Health and Human Services Task
35:07
Speaker 1: Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines to craft proposed changes within
35:11
Speaker 1: ninety days. The long defunct panel was revived last year
35:15
Speaker 1: after a push from anti vaccine activists. That task force
35:20
Speaker 1: makes recommendations that aim to improve vaccine safety, not to
35:24
Speaker 1: determine the optimal vaccine schedule. Public health law experts have said.
35:29
Speaker 1: This item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned
35:33
Speaker 1: a child receives a measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination joy
35:38
Speaker 1: RADL Getty Images. The next photo is captioned President Donald
35:44
Speaker 1: Trump speaks after signing an executive order in vaccines on
35:47
Speaker 1: August tenth Jim Watson, AFP Getty Images. The President is
35:53
Speaker 1: seated at a desk apparently in the Oval Office. Behind
35:56
Speaker 1: him can be seen the American flag and a flag
35:59
Speaker 1: with the sealing of the President of the United States.
36:02
Speaker 1: Checurity Robert F. Kennedy Junior stands behind and to the
36:05
Speaker 1: President's left. Behind the President on his other side is
36:09
Speaker 1: a young woman. And the final photo accompanying this item
36:13
Speaker 1: as captioned Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana, is a
36:18
Speaker 1: critic of the administration's vaccine policies rod Lamke Ap. The
36:23
Speaker 1: photo shows a senator walking in a hallway apparently in
36:26
Speaker 1: the Capitol, accompanied by two other men, and the final
36:31
Speaker 1: item from today's front page is entitled race is on
36:35
Speaker 1: to prep for new deadly viruses by Ian Duncan. The
36:39
Speaker 1: White House is working to strengthen safeguards against biological attacks
36:43
Speaker 1: after staffing cuts early in the second Trump administration depleted
36:48
Speaker 1: expertise in a field where officials increasingly fear artificial intelligence
36:53
Speaker 1: could make it easier to create pathogens. By the end
36:56
Speaker 1: of President Joe Biden's term, the White House had built
36:59
Speaker 1: a team of as many as thirty people focused on
37:02
Speaker 1: biological security, according to three former government officials who worked
37:06
Speaker 1: on the issue, two for Biden and Trump and one
37:09
Speaker 1: just for Biden and spoke on the condition of anonymity
37:13
Speaker 1: to avoid professional retaliation. This specialized staff was charged with
37:18
Speaker 1: coordinating the web of federal agencies that deal with biohazards
37:22
Speaker 1: and provided scientific guidance to top officials. That team rapidly dwindled
37:27
Speaker 1: after Trump returned to office amid cuts and reorganizations, said
37:32
Speaker 1: the three former officials, as well as a fourth former
37:34
Speaker 1: official who also worked for both administrations. At times, nobody
37:39
Speaker 1: at the White House was dedicated solely to biosecurity, according
37:43
Speaker 1: to three of the former officials, The losses have come
37:46
Speaker 1: as the administration has delayed replacing key Biden era directives
37:51
Speaker 1: It revoked a twenty twenty three executive order on AI
37:55
Speaker 1: calling for stronger biological safeguards, and cast doubt on a
37:59
Speaker 1: policy issued the FI the following year designed to require
38:02
Speaker 1: companies to screen buyers seeking genetic components that could be
38:06
Speaker 1: used to create biological agents, widely seen by experts as
38:10
Speaker 1: a basic pillar of the nation's defenses. Trump directed officials
38:14
Speaker 1: to produce a revised version by August twenty twenty five.
38:18
Speaker 1: More than a year later, it is yet to appear,
38:21
Speaker 1: even as AI companies say their most advanced models are
38:25
Speaker 1: gaining increasingly sophisticated biological capabilities alongside the hacking skills that
38:30
Speaker 1: have alarmed officials this year. They have kneecapped themselves in
38:34
Speaker 1: their ability to create any policy that would have staying power,
38:38
Speaker 1: said one of the former experts who recently worked directly
38:41
Speaker 1: on outbreak response policy. That's the risk. They're not playing
38:45
Speaker 1: the long game. The whole purpose of having the technocrats
38:49
Speaker 1: there is to advise political leaders on the nuanced trade
38:53
Speaker 1: offs of taking one path or another. In the absence
38:57
Speaker 1: of a large team, the White House has relied on a small,
39:00
Speaker 1: revolving cast of employees. They have included a junior fellow
39:05
Speaker 1: without a security clearance, a part timer from the research
39:08
Speaker 1: Organization RAND, a pair of CIA staffers with little expertise
39:12
Speaker 1: in the field, and an Air Force doctor who had
39:15
Speaker 1: been a consultant to the White House Medical Office, according
39:18
Speaker 1: to the three experts, a White House official said the
39:22
Speaker 1: administration was working to strengthen the bidenary policy, calling it
39:26
Speaker 1: inadequate and technically limited despite the staff devoted to developing it,
39:31
Speaker 1: and did not address questions about the staffing changes. The
39:34
Speaker 1: administration's commitment to addressing AI and biological safety risks is
39:39
Speaker 1: clear and ongoing, the official set in an email. The
39:42
Speaker 1: White House has been developing policy for over a year,
39:45
Speaker 1: including in our AI Action Plan last summer. The Trump
39:50
Speaker 1: administration has acknowledged the biological security risks AI poses, while
39:55
Speaker 1: touting the potential for the technology to help keep the
39:57
Speaker 1: nation safe. Trump told foreign leaders gathered at the United
40:01
Speaker 1: Nations last year that he wanted to prevent biological weapons disasters,
40:06
Speaker 1: and said AI was a tool to help as a pentagon.
40:11
Speaker 1: A former health official who led Operation Warp Speed, the
40:14
Speaker 1: effort during the first Trump administration to rapidly produce a
40:17
Speaker 1: vaccine for the coronavirus, is involved in efforts to use
40:21
Speaker 1: AI to speed the development of new defenses against future
40:25
Speaker 1: pandemics and to deter by a warfare. Part of the
40:29
Speaker 1: work involves analyzing billions of tweaks to antibodies to assess
40:34
Speaker 1: how to respond to the new forms of the coronavirus.
40:37
Speaker 1: But that work is taking place in a government that
40:40
Speaker 1: analysts and the former experts say has been drained of
40:44
Speaker 1: expertise amid broader cuts to federal public health and science funding.
40:49
Speaker 1: The White House removed all the staff from the Office
40:52
Speaker 1: of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, an organization created to
40:57
Speaker 1: lead the nation's response to the kind of majorca outbreak
41:00
Speaker 1: that the most dangerous kind of bioweapon could trigger. The
41:04
Speaker 1: office was resurrected as Ebola spread in Africa this spring.
41:09
Speaker 1: A National Security Council unit dedicated to health security was
41:13
Speaker 1: also shut two of the former experts said, and parts
41:16
Speaker 1: of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and
41:19
Speaker 1: Department of Homeland Security responsible for biological threats were broken
41:23
Speaker 1: up as part of broader reorganizations. A scientist who worked
41:28
Speaker 1: on biotechnology and national security issues in both the first
41:32
Speaker 1: Trump and Biden administrations said the federal government is not
41:36
Speaker 1: taking a leading role in coordinating a response to the
41:39
Speaker 1: risks posed by the rapidly evolving technology. Every time an
41:44
Speaker 1: administration changes over, there's a lot of continuity that just
41:48
Speaker 1: gets disrupted, said the scientist, who spoke on the condition
41:51
Speaker 1: of anonymity because they were not authorized by their employer
41:54
Speaker 1: to speak publicly. In the transition from Biden Trump, they said,
41:58
Speaker 1: when it comes to bioso security, that happened in a
42:02
Speaker 1: very disruptive way. There has never been one federal agency
42:06
Speaker 1: responsible for biosecurity, a sprawling field that encompasses efforts to
42:11
Speaker 1: secure research labs, aspects of public health work, and international diplomacy,
42:17
Speaker 1: and which is increasingly focused on the role of AI.
42:20
Speaker 1: But an analysis of Trump's most recent budget requests by
42:24
Speaker 1: the Council on Strategic Risks, a Washington based security policy
42:28
Speaker 1: think tank, concluded that the administration's rhetoric on biosecurity was
42:32
Speaker 1: not matched by its funding proposals. In a separate analysis,
42:36
Speaker 1: the group found that spending across multiple government departments peaked
42:40
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four before declining slightly in Trump's first year,
42:44
Speaker 1: with the administration proposing further cuts, general programmatic cuts and
42:50
Speaker 1: agency specific reorganizations have restricted and eliminated key programs, clouding
42:55
Speaker 1: budgetary transparency and weakening us to TURNS efforts, the Council
43:00
Speaker 1: wrote in a blog post. When Trump returned to office
43:03
Speaker 1: last year, his team was focused on eliminating barriers to
43:06
Speaker 1: the development of AI technology. That approach began to shift
43:10
Speaker 1: this spring when a new generation of models proved to
43:13
Speaker 1: be capable of hacking into computer networks, leading administration officials
43:18
Speaker 1: to embrace the kind of government oversight of yet to
43:21
Speaker 1: be released tools that they had once spurned. There are
43:25
Speaker 1: now signs that officials are taking additional interest in the
43:28
Speaker 1: potential dangers. That has included a recent string of briefings
43:32
Speaker 1: on biological risks between Open AI and the White House
43:36
Speaker 1: and half a dozen government agencies, according to a person
43:40
Speaker 1: familiar with the meetings who spoke on the condition of
43:42
Speaker 1: anonymity to describe their private nature. Politico reported this month
43:47
Speaker 1: that the White House was launching a new initiative involving
43:50
Speaker 1: its Cybersecurity Office and a top official at the Department
43:54
Speaker 1: of Health and Human Services. Leaders in the AI industry
43:58
Speaker 1: have long said that their tools being used to enable
44:00
Speaker 1: a biological attack ranks among their top fears. I'm getting
44:06
Speaker 1: very frustrated, said David Rawman, a professor of medicine at
44:10
Speaker 1: Stanford University who worked on pandemic response in the Biden
44:13
Speaker 1: White House. The newest AI models, such as Anthropics, Mythos
44:18
Speaker 1: and open AIS g PT five point six, have continued
44:22
Speaker 1: to get better at high level biological research. But just
44:26
Speaker 1: as a model's ability to write computer code has made
44:29
Speaker 1: them good at hacking, their biological capabilities have stoked fears
44:34
Speaker 1: that they could be used to help build a new bioweapon,
44:38
Speaker 1: set off a new pandemic, or aid even a relative
44:41
Speaker 1: amateur in carrying out a biological attack. This month, the
44:45
Speaker 1: journal Science published the results of a successful effort to
44:49
Speaker 1: use AI to engineer new viruses. They were designed to
44:53
Speaker 1: infect bacteria rather than humans, but the outcome was a
44:57
Speaker 1: clear sign of what is becoming possible. As early as
45:01
Speaker 1: last summer, researchers at open AI determined that they were
45:04
Speaker 1: close to reaching high levels of capability in biology, which
45:09
Speaker 1: the company defines as capabilities that significantly increase existing risk
45:14
Speaker 1: vectors for severe harm. The company briefed the Trump administration
45:19
Speaker 1: and hosted more than fifty government experts for a summit
45:22
Speaker 1: at its San Francisco headquarters at July to discuss how
45:25
Speaker 1: its systems could be used for biological defense. The Washington
45:29
Speaker 1: Post has a content partnership with open Ai. The company
45:34
Speaker 1: said it has continued to work with the administration, aiming
45:37
Speaker 1: to provide officials with access to a special version of
45:41
Speaker 1: GPT for biological defense that it calls rosalind the administration
45:46
Speaker 1: has increasingly prioritized this important issue as AI capabilities have expanded,
45:52
Speaker 1: and we welcome their partnership, an open AI spokeswoman set
45:55
Speaker 1: in an email. Despite the growing concern, scientists remain divided
46:01
Speaker 1: on how serious the risks are, how soon they might materialize,
46:05
Speaker 1: and how the nation should prepare. Large language models that
46:09
Speaker 1: power chatbots could be helping terrorists to do tricky lab work,
46:13
Speaker 1: and specialized biological design tools could aid in the creation
46:18
Speaker 1: of new kinds of deadly pathogens not readily recognized by
46:21
Speaker 1: current methods of surveillance. In October, researchers at Microsoft detailed
46:27
Speaker 1: how they had patched gaps and detection systems after using
46:30
Speaker 1: AI to engineer digital versions of thousands of toxins that
46:34
Speaker 1: were not caught by the existing safety net. A report
46:38
Speaker 1: by RAND concluded that attackers have a significant advantage over
46:42
Speaker 1: defenders when it comes to biological incidents. Someone carrying out
46:46
Speaker 1: an attack could make multiple efforts, while authorities need to
46:50
Speaker 1: be able to tackle every threat because even one could
46:53
Speaker 1: result in catastrophic consequences, leaving American AI firms have sought
46:59
Speaker 1: to lock down their models, blocking them from answering questions
47:02
Speaker 1: about risky biological research and providing more capable systems only
47:07
Speaker 1: to trusted partners, but AI guardrails are imperfect and open.
47:12
Speaker 1: AI said in July that its testing of leading Chinese models,
47:16
Speaker 1: which are made freely available, indicates that they do not
47:19
Speaker 1: have the same kind of protections built in. I think
47:23
Speaker 1: we have a massive collective action problem in front of us,
47:26
Speaker 1: said Wellman, the Stanford professor. AI systems have gone on
47:30
Speaker 1: runaway hacking sprees in recent months, but for now, experts
47:34
Speaker 1: say the barrier between the digital world and the biological
47:37
Speaker 1: one presents a major hurdle and an important line of defense.
47:42
Speaker 1: Yet that could begin to change as companies seek to
47:45
Speaker 1: automate laboratories. The ultimate fears are ways out, said Crystal Grant,
47:50
Speaker 1: a researcher at the Council on Strategic Risks. We have
47:54
Speaker 1: a lee time before they're here to prepare ourselves. Because
47:58
Speaker 1: the same abilities can allow ana to be used for
48:00
Speaker 1: dangerous and helpful biological research. Many scientists also fear their
48:06
Speaker 1: work becoming too tightly regulated. The Trump administration recently released
48:11
Speaker 1: a new policy on what it calls dangerous gain of
48:14
Speaker 1: function research. It's a long standing approach involving tinkering with
48:19
Speaker 1: pathogens in order to better understand how to defend against them,
48:23
Speaker 1: but it has become increasingly controversial in the wake of
48:26
Speaker 1: the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration has embraced the theory
48:31
Speaker 1: that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab that was
48:34
Speaker 1: undergoing gain of function work. Some scientists say the new
48:38
Speaker 1: policy is vague and could impede legitimate research in the
48:43
Speaker 1: private sector. Researchers complained that biological guard rails Anthropic put
48:48
Speaker 1: on its most powerful model were too strict. The company
48:51
Speaker 1: loosened the restrictions this month. Paul Friedrichs, a retired Air
48:55
Speaker 1: Force general, said the need to get the balance of
48:58
Speaker 1: safety and progress right underscored the need for strong leadership
49:03
Speaker 1: and expertise in the federal government. Friedrichs, who ended his
49:07
Speaker 1: government career leading the White House Pandemic Office, under Biden
49:11
Speaker 1: said the cuts in the Trump administration have unquestionably left
49:15
Speaker 1: the nation less well prepared and at risk of squandering
49:18
Speaker 1: an incredible opportunity were on the cusp of curing some
49:23
Speaker 1: of the banes of humanity. Friedrich said. This item is
49:27
Speaker 1: accompanied by a graphic. It is a drawing showing a
49:30
Speaker 1: bomb exploded apart with what appears to be bacteria escaping
49:35
Speaker 1: from it. Now, let's turned to the interior the a
49:39
Speaker 1: section of today's paper. When the first atomism from the Optimists,
49:44
Speaker 1: entitled peck goose honks to alert family of barnfire, saving
49:48
Speaker 1: their animals, Goosey rushed out of the barn, squawking so
49:51
Speaker 1: forcefully he woke up Bert Gerber, who had never heard
49:54
Speaker 1: him honk before. By Kyle Melnick, Bert Gerber was woken
49:59
Speaker 1: up in the the middle of the night by a
50:01
Speaker 1: loud and unfamiliar honking noise. He walked outside in his
50:05
Speaker 1: flip flops to find his family's barn, where about sixty
50:08
Speaker 1: turkeys and chickens slept on fire. Gerber grabbed a water
50:12
Speaker 1: hose and rushed towards the flames, which he put out
50:14
Speaker 1: in about three minutes. The fire had not reached the animals,
50:18
Speaker 1: All of them survived in just a couple more minutes.
50:22
Speaker 1: Gerber said it would have been too much for a
50:24
Speaker 1: water hose. A few hours later, Gerber watched footage from
50:28
Speaker 1: a surveillance camera in his yard in Richmond, Texas. The
50:31
Speaker 1: footage showed his family's pet goose, Goosey, waddling out of
50:35
Speaker 1: the barn amid the fire and honking several times. One
50:38
Speaker 1: squawk was so forceful he sounded like he was wailing.
50:42
Speaker 1: The noise woke up Gerber, prompting him to extinguish the
50:45
Speaker 1: fire before any animals were hurt. He said it was
50:48
Speaker 1: the first time Gerber heard Goosey, who was typically quiet
50:52
Speaker 1: and shy, honk. Later that day, August third, Gerber's wife,
50:57
Speaker 1: Chelsea Gerber, shared the video on social media, where more
51:01
Speaker 1: than one million people have witnessed Goosey's fortuitous screeching. Goosey
51:05
Speaker 1: wasn't just making noise, wrote Chelsea Gerber, thirty nine. He
51:09
Speaker 1: was sounding the alarm three months before the fire. Chelsea Gerber,
51:14
Speaker 1: who manages a breeding farm, didn't want to get a
51:17
Speaker 1: pet goose. She said the geese her family raised in Vassar, Michigan,
51:21
Speaker 1: often chased and bit her when she was a child,
51:24
Speaker 1: but she and her daughter, Elena, nine, visited a Texas
51:28
Speaker 1: poultry exposition in May that let visitors hold a goose.
51:32
Speaker 1: Elena became emotional petting a cestapool gosling's fluffy feathers. She
51:37
Speaker 1: wanted to take the goose home, and her mom reluctantly agreed.
51:41
Speaker 1: The family bought a plastic children's pool, which Goosey excitedly
51:45
Speaker 1: runs to when Chelsea Gerber fills it every morning. As
51:49
Speaker 1: Goosey grew in recent weeks, he moved from sleeping on
51:52
Speaker 1: the family's back porch to a red barn with chickens
51:55
Speaker 1: and turkeys. He likes sleeping in a stall beside the
51:58
Speaker 1: chicken coop. That's where Goosey was around one a m.
52:02
Speaker 1: When the fire ignited in the barn. A few seconds later, Goosey,
52:06
Speaker 1: about four months old, hustled into the yard with a
52:09
Speaker 1: warning cry. The Gerber said the fire was probably caused
52:13
Speaker 1: by a sealing wire that overheated or was chewed by
52:15
Speaker 1: an animal. Reviewing the security camera footage later that morning,
52:20
Speaker 1: Bert Gerber said Goosey looked like a phoenix rising from
52:23
Speaker 1: the ashes. Chelsea Gerber said tears filled her eyes witnessing
52:27
Speaker 1: Goosey's efforts. I don't think we give animals enough credit
52:31
Speaker 1: for how emotional they truly are, she said. And if
52:34
Speaker 1: you listen to them, they do communicate with you, just
52:38
Speaker 1: not with words. Goosey seemed unfazed by the incident, the
52:42
Speaker 1: Gerber said, and has been rewarded with its favorite snack peas, romayne, lettuce,
52:48
Speaker 1: and watermelon. He has appeared to take on a guardian
52:51
Speaker 1: roll among the birds. When a turkey named Puppy leaves
52:55
Speaker 1: her nest of a dozen eggs, Goosey sits atop the
52:57
Speaker 1: eggs to keep them warm, the Gerber said, but he's
53:00
Speaker 1: still shy. Goosey avoided reporters from Houston news station Cage
53:05
Speaker 1: O U, who came to the barn to report on
53:07
Speaker 1: his heroics. A few days after the fire. The Gerber said,
53:11
Speaker 1: they are replacing the wiring in the barn and hope
53:13
Speaker 1: to eventually build a new one. Chelsea Gerber once told
53:17
Speaker 1: her daughter that Goosey would be their only pet goose.
53:20
Speaker 1: Now she's considering getting a female goose. She would name Lucy.
53:24
Speaker 1: Now rush On gosling, she said. But if they happened naturally,
53:28
Speaker 1: we would be thrilled. This item is accompanied by photos.
53:33
Speaker 1: The first is a video which is captured a pet
53:36
Speaker 1: goose hung several times in the early morning August third,
53:39
Speaker 1: to alert his owners to a barn fire in Richmond, Texas.
53:43
Speaker 1: Video Chelsea Gerber. Yes, storyful. That's the video that has
53:47
Speaker 1: been described in the story. The next photos captioned Goosey,
53:52
Speaker 1: a pet goose, alerted his family to a barn fire
53:54
Speaker 1: in Richmond, Texas. Chelsea Gerber. The photo shows Goosey sitting
53:58
Speaker 1: in some grass. The next photo is captioned the Gerbers
54:03
Speaker 1: took Goosey home in May. Chelsea Gerber. The photo shows
54:07
Speaker 1: a very young Goosey in a cardboard box. The next
54:11
Speaker 1: photo is captioned Elena Gerber nine became emotional when she
54:15
Speaker 1: met Goosey at a Texas poultry exposition in May. Chelsea Gerber.
54:19
Speaker 1: The photo shows Elena holding Goosey. The next photo is
54:24
Speaker 1: captioned Goosey lounging in his pool, Chelsea Gerber. The next
54:29
Speaker 1: item from today's A section is entitled After Beloved Jackie
54:33
Speaker 1: the eagle's death, fans turned on her caretakers as a
54:37
Speaker 1: bird's health failed. Wildlife professionals said they were flooded with
54:40
Speaker 1: questions about her care by Corl Reynolds, Christian Weaver starts
54:45
Speaker 1: her mornings first with the Bible, then the bald Eagles.
54:49
Speaker 1: Weaver is among millions who have spent hours watching a
54:52
Speaker 1: live stream trained on a family of bald eagles nested
54:56
Speaker 1: high above California's San Bernardino Mountains. The webcam allowed viewers
55:01
Speaker 1: to follow Jackie, the first eagle chick believed to have
55:04
Speaker 1: hatched in the San Bernardino National Forest Big Bear Valley,
55:08
Speaker 1: and her mate Shadow. Friends of Big Bear Valley installed
55:12
Speaker 1: the camera in twenty fifteen, and the nonprofit has a
55:15
Speaker 1: mass more than four hundred sixty million views on YouTube.
55:19
Speaker 1: Weaver began to tune in about two years ago after
55:22
Speaker 1: her mother encouraged her to do so, but in recent weeks,
55:26
Speaker 1: Jackie had been missing from view. The eagle was being
55:29
Speaker 1: treated for an illness by veterinarians at the Ojai Raptor
55:33
Speaker 1: Center north of Los Angeles. Then last week, the center
55:37
Speaker 1: announced that the beloved fourteen year old eagle had died.
55:41
Speaker 1: Weaver was heartbroken, yes, but she was also suspicious. Oji
55:47
Speaker 1: Raptor Center has some explaining to do, she wrote on
55:50
Speaker 1: the social media platform x just saying. Weaver said she
55:55
Speaker 1: took a lot of flak for even saying something about it,
55:58
Speaker 1: but she wasn't the only fan insistent on answers. Even
56:03
Speaker 1: as the Oji Raptor Center posted multiple social media updates
56:06
Speaker 1: a week about Jackie's condition, fans circulated a petition demanding
56:11
Speaker 1: more frequent posts. Friends of Big Bear Valley also received
56:15
Speaker 1: a deluge of calls while Jackie was ill and off screen,
56:19
Speaker 1: said Jenny Voisard, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit. Callers suggested
56:23
Speaker 1: medical treatments they thought the eagles should be receiving, or
56:26
Speaker 1: demanded updates about her condition, Voicard said. While caring for Jackie,
56:31
Speaker 1: the Raptor Center posted that wildlife professionals increasingly faced constant
56:36
Speaker 1: requests for information, repeated phone calls, unexpected visits, messages on
56:41
Speaker 1: their personal social media accounts, and in some cases contacted
56:45
Speaker 1: their private homes. That statement further angered Weaver. She said
56:50
Speaker 1: she wasn't used to the eagle being out of sight.
56:53
Speaker 1: Last year. She even kept the television in her bedroom
56:56
Speaker 1: tuned to Jackie's nest. With Jackie sequestered in OJI, Weavers
57:01
Speaker 1: said she became convinced that doctors were worthholding information. She
57:06
Speaker 1: said she didn't call the caretakers like other fans, but
57:09
Speaker 1: doesn't think the center should have been bothered by those
57:12
Speaker 1: who did, as some turned on Jackie's caregivers, though voice
57:16
Speaker 1: Art said the campaign, particularly the petition, had grown absurd.
57:21
Speaker 1: Artificial intelligence generated images of Jackie spread online, prompting the
57:26
Speaker 1: Raptor Center to ask fans not to share them. A
57:29
Speaker 1: particularly insidious rumor, voice Art said, where claims that the
57:32
Speaker 1: Raptor Center was pretending that Jackie was still alive to
57:36
Speaker 1: collect donations. Members of the Friends of the Big Bear
57:39
Speaker 1: Valley staff tried responding when they could, voice Art said,
57:43
Speaker 1: but eventually they restricted comments on at least one post.
57:47
Speaker 1: The sheer volume of comments and emails like there's no
57:50
Speaker 1: way anybody could keep up, voice Art added. Amy Reese
57:54
Speaker 1: watched the drama unfold from afar she'd set up an
57:57
Speaker 1: eagle webcam in twenty ten, fifteen hundred miles away in Iowa.
58:02
Speaker 1: She recalled predicting with a colleague ahead of its launch
58:05
Speaker 1: that they were going to have so much fun sharing
58:08
Speaker 1: the live stream that she said would be her last
58:11
Speaker 1: moment of peace for years. Due to the constraints of time,
58:16
Speaker 1: we will be unable to complete this item. This concludes
58:19
Speaker 1: the reading of the Washington Post for today, Tuesday, August eighteenth,
58:23
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Your reader for to day has been
58:26
Speaker 1: Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions
58:30
Speaker 1: concerning this program, please feel free to call us at
58:33
Speaker 1: eight five nine four two two six three nine zero.
58:36
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and now stay tuned for continued
58:39
Speaker 1: programming on Radio I