Transcript

6.20.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post. It is Saturday,
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the twentieth of June of twenty twenty six, and your
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reader is Alice Stainer, with the reminder that radioizes for
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those blonded with other incidences are making it difficult to
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hold or read printed material. And I start with the
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front page of Today's Washington Post, and the top left,
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well a little more than half the page left is
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taken out by a picture of four people dancing, three
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in purple shirts, one in pink, and two have on
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type of cargo pants. One has on black tights and
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the other has on red shorts. That one with the
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red shorts is holding a megaphone, and they are part
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of what the Smithsonians. Anacostia Community Museum hosted an all
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day event featuring a dozen live performances and programs for
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the commemoration of the Federal holiday that's June teenth, recognizing
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the day in eighteen sixty five that enslaved people in
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Texas that Scalvelston, Texas finally learned that they had been
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freed more than two years after the emancipation Proclamation. And
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there are people in the background, but these four are
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particularly vibrant and dancing. To the right of the picture,
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Israel assessed as likely to undercut around p Steel Now
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who pressed on war in Lebanon, strikes on Hezballah, add
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to growing rifted with US, Ellen Nakashima, John Hudson, Jerry's
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and Warren P. Strobol. Like Jerry, I'll have to come
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back to him. Below that article is screw worm outbreak
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gains the US foothold spread a flesh eating maggot fuel
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scrutiny of Trump administration by Isaac Arnsdorff and Lena H.
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Sum Sun. Below the picture Democratic Socialist on the march
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in big cities urban voters are turning to candidates to
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the left of mainstream Democrats by Ben Bendet. And below
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that Antifa tag criminalizes dispense defendant say they say they
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tracked ice in Minneapolis, They're now accused of a plot
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by Molly Hennessy Fisk and Jeremy Roebuck Or to Minneapolis.
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To its right is a picture it says New Polisic
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no problem. And this is a picture of many many
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fans draped in red, white and blue, one with a
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USA big finger, hands raised in the air, sunglasses on
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joy on their faces as fans in Lela's celebrate a
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US goal while watching a broadcast of the Fiefle World
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Cup match. The US team rolled to a two is
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nothing victory against the outclassed Australians with out generational star
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Christian Polisic, who is nursing a left calf injury, punching
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its ticket to the knockout round. And I did watch
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that game, it was quite exciting. In UK, a big
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leap in bid to oast Starmer Andy Burnham wins seal,
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setting stage for a leadership change by Steve Hendricks in
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London the first big article Andy Burnham wins UK Parliament seat,
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a key step in bid to oast Prime Minister. Burnham,
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the mayor of Greater Manchester, is now positioned to challenge
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer for leadership of the governing Labor
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Party and to seize the top job. And there is
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a picture of Andy Burnham, who is the newly elected
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Labor Party lawmaker, greeting supporters following his victory in the
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maker Field by election in Wigham on Friday, and you
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see him leaning towards one of his fans. He's got
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his hand outstretched and she's got hers up in a
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high five, and he's got glasses of dark suit on
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and I really can't see his face. He's got dark hair,
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can't really tell what he looks like. By Steve Hendricks
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out of London, the politician maneuvering to push Prime minist
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British Prime Minister Keir's Dahmer out of his job. Greater
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Manchester Maya Andy Burnham won a special parliamentary election Thursday,
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a key step toward a leadership battle for control of
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the ruling Labor Party. The victory returns Burnham to the
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House of Commons, where he's served sixteen years, and sets
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the stage for a leadership challenge in coming weeks that
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could make him the Prime Minister. Under the UK's polem
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mentary system, a new national election is not needed. Burnham
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defeated a field of candidates from the anti immigrant Reform
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UK Party and five smaller parties in the maker Field
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by election, a contest that drew national and international attention
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as the launching pad for Burnham's expected bid to replace Starmer.
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His decisive win, taking about fifty five percent of the vote,
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was confirmed in the early hours of Friday. Reform UK's
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Robert Kenyon, a plumber and local council member who had
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hoped to capitalize on his populist party's recent momentum in
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working class districts like this one, finished a distant second
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with about thirty four percent. The margin is likely to
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encourage Abor figures who have pushed burnham Ford as the
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politician's best positioned to bunt Reform UK's rising popularity in
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post industrial areas that traditionally voted Labor but have turned
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against the party in recent elections. The maker Field vote
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was widely understood both in Westminster and on the ground
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in the local cluster of former coal towns as a
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proxy battle over Starmer's future. Starmer, weakened by collapsing poll
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numbers and a string of bruising local election losses to
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Reform UK, is increasingly viewed within his own ranks as
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a liability Labor can no longer afford to carry into
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the next general election, which is scheduled for twenty twenty nine.
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Reform UK is led by Nigel Pirogogy, an architect of Brexit,
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the country's departure from the European Union, which yielded years
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of economic stagnation rather than the British renaissance that Farji
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and others have predicted. Burnham, a center left figure with
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deep working class roots and a populist touch, is seen
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by many in Labor as the man best equipped to
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revive a demoralized party. A lifelong Labor member with working
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class roots in the area, he spent sixteen years in
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Parliament representing nearby Lee a Ser and served brief stints
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in cabinet post as Health Secretary and Culture Secretary before
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losing a bid for the party leadership in twenty fifteen.
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He then traded Westminster for local office, winning the mayoralty
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of Greater Manchester three times in building a reputation as
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a pragmatic, populist minded executive. In his victory remarks, Burnham
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made clear he saw Thursday's results in the constituency in
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northern England as a step toward a much bigger job.
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He said, everyone knows that politics isn't working. Everyone can
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feel that the country isn't where it should be. Tonight
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could just could be the turning point from here on.
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I will give everything I have got to make it so.
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Under Labor rules, Burnham had to win the parliamentary seat
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before he could challenge. Starmer Burnham is now positioned to
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make a formal bid to take the party's top job, and,
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because Labor still has a commanding majority in the Commons,
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become the prime minister. Former Health Secretary West Streeting, who
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he resigned from the cabinet in May, has said he
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will launch his own leadership challenge. A challenge requires the
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formal backing of at least eighty one Labor MP's twenty
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percent of its parliamentary faction to trigger a leadership vote
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by Host members, which would then go to a vote
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by the wider party membership. He remains unclear exactly how
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long that process might take. Stormer repeatedly has said that
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he intends to fight to keep his job, which he
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won in a landslide victory two years ago, but a
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number of Labor lawmakers have said publicly that the prime
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ministers should avoid a bruising internal fight and instead set
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a timetable to hand overpower to Burnham. Thursday's decisive result
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will give Burnham momentum. Political expert said it was a
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great result for Andy Burnham, said Tony Travers, a political
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science professor at the London School of Economics, whether Starmer's
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days and fights depends on how many of his ministers
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and MP's publicly stand by or desert him. The next
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few days will be crucial. Here's an unusual article. Flesh
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eating maggot outbreak puts Trump administration response under scrutiny. The
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New World screw worm spread from southern Mexico to Texas
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in two years when the administration cut staffing and funding.
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Isaac Earnsteff and Lena H. Sun. When health authorities found
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New World screw worm in a Maryland resident last to August,
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alarmed beef industry leaders rushed to assess how to limit
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the market impact of a flesh eating aerosite best known
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for infesting cattle and other livestock. Emails obtained by the
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Washington Posts show conversations have began six days before the
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US Department of Agriculture publicly disclosed the case. Now that
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the US has twelve confirmed cases in cattle, goats, sheep,
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and a dog in Texas and New Mexico, alarmed ranches
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and local officials are questioning whether USDA is being transparent
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about the scale of the outbreak in doing everything possible
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to contain it. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins has publicly downplayed
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the danger and pointed fingers at the previous administration, even
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as experts say the reemergence of a grizzly pest confined
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to South America for decades has exposed shortcomings in the
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government's ability to respond. Eradicating the outbreak requires targeted releases
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of sterile flies, but the US won't have enough sterile
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flies until a new facility comes online next year at
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the earliest. This is not a simple show up, stamp out,
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depopulate and leave. It will take us some time, and
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ultimately what we need is more sterile flies, said Dougley Hoskins,
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under Secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs. USDA has not
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declared an emergency, a step experts encouraged and that the
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agency's own response playbooks said would mobilize more federal resources.
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Another cabinet level agency, the Department of Health and Human Services,
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already did so last year. A senior USDA official who
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is not authorized to speak publicly, said the agency has
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can continuously evaluating the issue and already has the power
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it needs without declaring an emergency. Affected farmers are not
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getting enough information from the USDA. About what happens to
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their herds if they're put into a containment zone, said
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John Paul Shusta, a rancher and county judge in Kinney County, Texas,
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between Mexico and Sabala County, which has three confirmed cases.
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An infestation could prevent him from taking cattle to market
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and require expensive treatments. A really light Brook Rollins. But
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young lady, you dropped the ball on this one, Shuster said.
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Rollins is widely viewed as having future political ambitions in
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her home state of Texas, and critics suspect her of
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minimizing the crisis to make it look like she has
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this situation under control. A person closed to Rollin since
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she does not talk about running for office. Senate Democrats
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called on USDA to consider using the Defense Production Act
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to boosterifly and to compensate affected producers for losses from
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having to quarantine and treat their animals or delaying their
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time to market, similar to past programs to cover losses
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from the Avian flu. Otherwise, producers may be reluctant to
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report their cases and suffer the economic damage. You can
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quarantine something you're not aware of. You're depending on folks
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willingness to self report. Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Villisak, a Democrat, said,
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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican who lost his
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primary in March despite Trump's endorsement, said branch may be
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trying to avoid detection. Everybody says, well, hell, I'm not
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doing that, Miller said, Calling it a quarantine scared the
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hell out of everybody. Rollins rejected Miller's suggestion as unserious
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and dangerous. A second senior USDA official said the agency
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is reviewing whether and how to provide compensation to affected producers.
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The official said, if people think they're going to fix
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the problem behinving it, they're just going to make it
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worse for themselves than everybody else. Last August, around the
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time of the human case in Maryland last year, administration
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officials discussed and emergency response involving multiple agencies, but decided
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against it, according to a former administration official involved with
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the discussions. Instead, Rollins and the White House set up
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a New World Sworm Dictoric Directorate within USDA to leave
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the response and coordinate with other departments. The directory grew
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from ten to one hundred staff. The first senior USDA
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officials said, but USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,
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whose responsibilities include screw worm detection and treatment, lost nearly
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two thousand employees last year, more than twenty percent of
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its workforce, as the Trump administration downsized the federal government.
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Former officials said that cuts eroded the agency's expertise and
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left fewer people available to deploy in an emergency. Many
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senior officials have felt threatened in their jobs and resigned
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or retired, leaving successes with less than a year on
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the job. The staffing reductions at APHIDS overall are a
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big problem. It hurts the ability to respond to new outbreaks,
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said Kevin Shay, a retired APHIS administrator and a forty
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five year veteran of the agency. The first senior USDA
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officials said the administration has a plan to scale up
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the response to involve officials from HHS and the Defense
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Department if necessary. As in other parts of the administration
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where officials overshot, some of the cuts were reversed. USDA
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fired and quickly re hired National Animal Health Laboratory Network
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staff and restored some jobs at the hard hit Plant
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Protection and Quarantine Program. The Trump administration's dismantling of the
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US Agency for International Development also cut about three hundred
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and eighty two million dollars from the United Nations's Food
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and Agriculture Organization, including the Global Health Security Program targeting
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diseases in pasts such as the New World screw worm.
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It's much more expensive than if we dealt with it
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the first time, said Katie Pediaste, the Democratic candidate for
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Congress from the Testric district where the cases have been found.
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Tony Gonzalez resigned from their seat in April, and Governor
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Greg Abbott, Republican, has not scheduled a special election to
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fill it until it's a complete crisis. It's not going
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to get the attention it deserves from this administration, Padia said.
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The Republican candidate, Brandon Herrera, did not respond to a
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request for comment. Some officials involved in the response worried
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that the outbreak may already be larger than the confirmed
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case counts suggests. According to an experienced vetinarian involved in
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the response, that concern stems in part from the first
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known US livestock infestation discovered in the Young calf in
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southern Texas, with no known connection to other cases, the
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nearest previously known infestation was dozens of miles away. How
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it jumped that far, we don't know, the veterinarian said.
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Some USDA officials believe additional cases are likely to be
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discovered in the coming months, even as containment efforts expand.
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Questions also remained about the infested dog in New Mexico.
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USDA initially said the dog traveled south of the border,
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then officials reversed themselves. The state vetinarian, Samantha Holock, said
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there was a language barrier at the clinic that treated
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the dog, and an interpreter lay a help establish that
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the dog never left home. Officials are still trying to
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determine how the dog became infested, Hollick said. The first
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senior USDA officials said the scattered outbreak is consistent with
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data from Mexico, explaining that the fly attends to hitchhike
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on animals rather than travel in a swarm. The rancher
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with the first case, Robbie Graff of La Priora, Texas,
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praised USDA's response in a June eleven news conference with Rollins.
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He said USDA started dropping flies within two days. The
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infested calf made a full recovery and he hasn't had
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any more cases. If you see something, please turn it in,
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he said. Unlike many lapstock diseases, New World screw worm
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can infest virtually any warm blooded animal. Cattle, sheep, and
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goats can become infested, but so can deer, feral hogs, raccoons, squirrels,
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and the exotic game animals common on some Texas ranches.
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Female flies lay eggs in open wounds or body openings
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of a warm blooded animals, and when the eggs hatch,
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the larvae maggots burrow in and feed on living tissue
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that causes painful, foul smelling wounds that can become serious
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if they are not treated. Early recent data suggest human
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infestations are uncommon, roughly one reported human case for every
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one hundred reported animal cases, but experts say that ratio
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can fluctuate significantly depending on local conditions on how thoroughly
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cases are detected and reported. The risk to the general
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US public remains low, but elevated for those traveling too
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or living in the areas with known outbreaks, such as
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Central America and Mexico. Officials emphasis that the food supply
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remains safe because cattle are inspected before slaughter. A jointly
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operated US Panama facility is currently producing about one hundred
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million steroflies a week operating at full capacity. USDA is
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helping establish a second production facility in Mexico that is
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expected to eventually produce another one hundred million flies a week.
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Last year, USDA announced another production facility in Texas with
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an eventual weekly capacity of three hundred million flies, but
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it's not expected to start operations until sometime in twenty
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twenty seven. Even once the supply of steroflies reaches five
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hundred million a week, pushing the parasite back through Mexico
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and restoring the natural buffer that kept the fly in
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South America will likely take years, not months. Current and
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former officials said, even under the best of circumstances, we're
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talking about years. It's not hopeless. We know how to
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do this, but it's going to be painful and costly. Shay,
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the retired APHIS administrator, said, US intelligence warns Israel is
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likely to undermine around peace steel officials say Israeli Prime
24:30
Minister Benjamin Netanya, who faces pressure to continue a military
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campaign in Lebanon. Current and former US officials said Ellen Nakashima,
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John Hudson, Jerry she and Warren P. Strouble. US intelligent
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agencies have warned the Trump administration that Israeli Prime Minister
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Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to take steps that will undermine
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President Donald Trump's effort to reach a lasting peace deal
25:04
with Iran, as the Israeli premier faces intense political pressure
25:10
to continue waging his country's war in Lebanon. Current and
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former US officials said Israel appears intent on maintaining military
25:22
operations against Iran's proxy Hesbelah in Lebanon, an aim that
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would float a core element of the fledgling agreement that
25:32
calls for an end to hostilities in that country, according
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to intelligence reports, including one circulated this week, said the officials.
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The analysis comes at a moment of growing tension between
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netin Yahoo's government and Trump administration officials, who have publicly
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warned Israel against launching attacks against Hesbelah that might derail
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Trump's deal. On Friday, Israel launched air strikes across southern
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Lebanon in response to a hesblodrone strike that killed four
26:08
Israeli soldiers. As clashes continued, US and Iranian officials said
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they postponed talks due to begin in Switzerland on Friday.
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Vice President J. D Vance, who was to lead the
26:23
US delegation, postponed his trip. If Nathan Yahoo redoubled his
26:28
military campaign in Lebanon, he would not only threaten the
26:32
framework for an agreement signed by the United States and
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AROUND on Wednesday, but he could rupture the relationship with
26:40
an American president that has been integral to his political fortune.
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Speaking at a news conference in France on Wednesday to
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announce the US AROUND memorandum of understanding, Trump said that
26:55
he has a little dispute of a Lebanon with Netting
26:59
Yahoo and has urged the Israeli leaded to not knock
27:03
down every building. Knock down a building every time someone
27:08
walks into it. That's from Hesbelah. The new US intelligence
27:12
report concludes that, in the face of national elections this fall, Netigna,
27:18
whose political survival is linked to the showing of his
27:22
domestic audience, that he will not withdraw troops from Lebanon,
27:26
and that he is intent on escalating the fight with Hesbela,
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said one US official familiar with the report. The official,
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like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because
27:39
of the matter sensitivity. The US intelligence report also describe
27:45
Israel's frustration with the terms of the Trump peace Memorandum,
27:49
which undermine its broader objective of maintaining maximum pressure on Tehran.
27:54
According to a current and former official, the report conveys
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Israel's perception that the agreement could constrain its ability to
28:03
defend itself against Tesbolah. One forma official said, Trump admin
28:09
officient officials insist that the terms do not prevent Israel
28:14
from retaliating against Tesbola if fired upon, and that net
28:18
Yahoo's concerns pale in comparison to the need to complete
28:22
a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to stave
28:26
off a global economic crisis. The report reflected that any
28:31
suspension of hostilities or withdrawal from Lebanon will be seen
28:36
in Israel as a defeat for Netiyahu, said the current official.
28:41
Israeli military activity in Lebanon is for the sole purpose
28:45
of defending Israel's citizens from continuous attacks by Hesbolah, said
28:52
as senior Israeli government officials speaking on the condition of
28:56
anonymity according to the government's protocol. In response to requests
29:00
for comment about the US intelligence analysis. Popular opinion in
29:06
Israel remains highly supportive of efforts to dismantle Hesbelah, the
29:11
Iranian proxy group that joined its partner Hamas in attacking
29:16
Israel with rockets in October twenty twenty three. Tens of
29:20
thousands of Israeli disbased from their homes in the countries
29:25
north by drones and missile strikes, have demanded that Netanyahu
29:30
decimate Hasbelah, and he has come under the withering criticism
29:34
from across the domestic political spectrum for failing to eliminate
29:38
the militant threat fully. Seventy percent of Jewish Israeli support
29:44
intensifying the fight against Hesbola, according to a made poll
29:48
by the Institute of National Security Studies, a leading Israeli
29:53
think tank. An Israeli political analysts widely say that a
29:57
military pullback would be interpreted by voters as a sign
30:01
of defeat. Even if Israel does not escalate fighting in
30:05
Lebanon by bombing the southern suburb of Beirut Hesbil, a
30:09
seat of power, its refusal to withdraw troops from the
30:13
country south is likely to doom the fragile accord between
30:17
the US and Iran, a second JUSS official said, offering
30:21
an independent analysis. Continuing to occupy a part of Lebanon
30:27
is a recipe for disaster, said the official, adding without
30:32
a full Israeli withdrawal, the likelihood of resumed hostilities between
30:37
the Israeli military and Hasbala is all but certain. Israeli
30:42
cabinet officials are standing their ground. For every tear shed
30:46
by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry.
30:51
All of Lebanon should burn, National Security Minister Isimah bin
30:56
Vere said Friday on social media net Yahoo is risking
31:02
huge friction with Trump, who undertook the war with Iran
31:06
on February twenty eighth at the Israeli leader's urging and
31:10
soon found himself mirrored in a conflict that has cost
31:14
tens of billions of dollars, sent global glass prices soaring,
31:19
and saw the deaths of thirteen US troops, said Danny Citrinawitz,
31:24
a former Israeli military intelligence analyst. Phoebe's in a very
31:31
tough situation, said chitrinarwitzk Now, senior researcher at the Tel
31:36
Aviv based Institute for National Security Studies, using the nickname
31:41
of its Israeli prime minister, adding he's seeing his greatest rival,
31:47
the Iranian regime, being strengthened by the US administration, and
31:52
he cannot do anything about it. On two consecutive weekends
31:58
this month, Netanna, who launched air strikes against Beirute in
32:03
response to Hesbala provocations that threaten to jeopardize Trump's fragile deal.
32:08
The strike on June seventh triggered around to launch ballistic
32:12
missiles in retaliation, and tensions were diffused only when the
32:17
White House intervened. Israel struck Beirut again Sunday, hours before
32:22
the Trump administration pushed through the Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran.
32:28
Even after the deal was signed, neta Yahoo and his
32:32
allies have remained defiant, insisting they will not withdraw troops
32:36
from southern Lebanon and would continue carrying out strikes even
32:41
if that angered Trump. The White House threw a brushback
32:46
pitch Donald J. Trump is the only head of state
32:51
in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation
32:55
of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens
32:59
to be the head of state of the world super power.
33:03
Vice President j. D. Vance told reporters in the White
33:06
House Press briefing Room Thursday, adding, if I was in
33:11
the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be
33:14
attacking the only powerful aline that I have left in
33:18
the entire world. The israel defense forces occupy more than
33:23
two hundred square miles of Lebanese territory and have forced
33:27
more than one million residents from their homes, though some
33:31
have returned to create what it calls a deep populated
33:35
security zone. More than three thousand people have been killed
33:39
by the Israeli campaign since it began in mid March.
33:42
According to Lebanese authorities, we will stay in the Lebanon
33:47
security buffal zone for as long as necessary, Netanyahu told
33:52
reporters in Jerusalem this week. On some issues we see
33:57
less are to ah net Nyahu said, referring to his
34:01
relationship with Trump. Harrison Mann, a former US Army officer
34:09
who served as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency,
34:13
said the US intelligence reporting captures a key incentive driving
34:17
nets to Yahoo's policy decisions. Man said permanent war and
34:24
territorial expansion have been the animating forces of Israeli politics
34:28
for years. It's no surprise that with elections coming up,
34:33
Netta Yahoo has to prove he can do these better
34:36
than his opponent. But Trump has leverage over Israel. The
34:42
US can cut off munitions, jet fuel, and maintenance support,
34:46
limiting the scope of any Israeli offensive, freeze critical intelligence sharing,
34:52
or withdraw US forces currently deployed to project Israeli airspace,
34:58
raising the cost of the any Israeli wall Man said,
35:04
US presidents have largely avoided such actions, though some have
35:08
taken notable steps. During the moments of tension with the
35:12
Israeli government. President Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened Israel with sanctions
35:17
if it didn't remove troops from the Sinai Peninsula in
35:21
nineteen fifty six. President Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of
35:25
advanced F sixteen fighter jets in nineteen eighty one in
35:30
response to Israel's surprise bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor,
35:36
and President George H. W. Bush withheld housing loan guarantees
35:41
in an effort to force Israel to stop building new
35:44
Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. If you
35:49
ask me, has an American president ever threatened to impose
35:53
real costs and consequences on Israel in real time, the
35:57
answer would be no, said Aaron David Miller, a Senior
36:02
fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has
36:06
advised both Democratic and Republican administrations. But if Iran does
36:12
not constrain Hesbela's attacks on northern Israel, he said, I
36:17
don't care what Trump says. Net Yahoo is going to respond.
36:24
Why Democratic socialists like Lewis George in d C keep
36:30
winning in cities. Genie Lewis George's sweeping victory in the
36:36
Democratic primary follows a trend of urban voters running the
36:41
candidates to the left of mainstream Democrats. And there's a
36:45
picture of mayorial candidate Janice Lewis George meeting with campaign
36:51
volunteers outside of the Benning Stoddard Recreation Center voting station
36:56
in southeast Washington on Tuesday, the day of DC's primary election.
37:03
And she's wearing a light blue jacket over a white
37:07
top and she has got signs that say Genice Lewis
37:11
George DC Mayor and DC Mayor excellent neighborhood schools. This
37:21
is by Ben Bendet, Democratic socialist who are gaining power
37:27
and large cities notched another major win this week, with
37:32
Janice Lewis George, heavily favored to become the next mayor
37:37
of the nation's capital. Lewis George defeated a more moderate
37:43
candidate in the Democratic primary for DC mayor, which is
37:47
tiremount to the general election. In a deep blue city,
37:51
she would join other recently elected city leaders aligned with
37:56
the Democratic Socialist of America, including New York book Maya
38:01
Zoron Mundami and Seattle Maya Katie Wilson, both of whom
38:06
took office this yield. Their victories are made possible by
38:11
a mix of factors that are not purely ideological. Voters
38:16
gravitated to Democratic Socialist as an alternative to traditional Democrats
38:22
because they are frustrated by President Donald Trump, establishment Democrats,
38:27
and the high cost of living. According to DSA activist
38:32
and political strategist, people are feeling like they have to
38:37
work way harder to get by, and meanwhile they're seeing
38:41
Elon Musk become the first trillionaire in the world, said
38:46
National da SA co chair a Sheik Sidiki, a former
38:51
district resident who volunteer for Lewis George's twenty twenty DC
38:56
council campaign, who added the up administration is just administering
39:02
policies that make people's lives worse, and many people feel
39:06
like the Democratic Party establishment is not really putting up
39:10
a fight. Democratic socialism, a loosely defined ideology popularized by
39:17
the twenty sixteen presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, independent
39:23
of Vermont, combine strong support for democracy with policies further
39:28
left than those of mainstream Democrats designed to reduce economic inequality,
39:34
expand social programs, and strengthen work of rights. DSA members
39:40
pay dues to the organization, which does not directly cut
39:44
large checks to candidates, but does offer a large national
39:48
network of small donors that can boost campaigns. Lewis George,
39:56
a thirty eight year old former juvenile prosecutor who has
40:00
been one of the most liberal local lawmakers, ran an
40:03
affordability focused campaign with the grassroots army powered by unions
40:09
and the DSA. She attended her first DSA meeting in
40:13
twenty eighteen and continues to appear at them, often referring
40:18
to herself and others as comrade. President Donald Trump last
40:23
week threatened to take over the city if she becomes mayor,
40:27
energizing voters who saw her as A leader to fight
40:30
the president. She finished ahead of former council member Kenyon R.
40:35
McDuffie in broad swaths of this city across racial and
40:40
income lines, except for some of the wealthiest neighborhoods, and
40:44
is performing especially well in younger precincts. Uparnorage, a fullmer
40:50
chair of the local DSA chapter, appears likely to win
40:54
a council seat, and liberal candidates are ahead and other
40:58
key races in a show of the DC left's power.
41:04
Philadelphia and New York's local governments also have significant DSA representation.
41:11
Several congressional primaries next week in New York will test
41:15
the organization's influence on a federal level, as a pair
41:19
of DSA backed challengers try to unseat one incumbent Democrat
41:25
and another's chosen successor. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, Democrat,
41:31
faces a left wing challenge this November by Nithiah Rahman,
41:36
the first LA City council member elected with the endorsement
41:40
of the DSA. Some Democrats fear that the rise of
41:45
democratic socialism that is appealing in heavily liberal urban areas
41:51
could harm the democratic brand elsewhere. Matt Binnett, Executive Vice
41:56
president of Public Affairs with Third Way Center left think tank,
42:02
said he worried that Democratic Socialist and other leftist candidates
42:06
could advance through parmiers this year and lose very winnable
42:11
races in the singh states of Michigan and Wisconsin. We
42:15
the Senate left have got to be louder, Bennett said,
42:20
We've got to make clear how dangerous this is substantively
42:24
and politically. DSA activist Kunda that traditional Democrats are failing
42:30
to inspire voters. Of February Washington Post ABC ifso's poll
42:36
found that six and ten Americans saying that Trump and
42:39
the Democratic Party are out of touch with most people's concerns.
42:45
Amara Cromes, a Metro dc DSA member and DSA endorsed
42:51
candidate for Prince Georgie's County Council in Maryland, said he
42:55
has seen membership spikes since Trump returned to the White
42:58
House as people feeling helpless seek an antidote. We've seen
43:04
a big swell in people who in a few years
43:07
ago would have been a pod Saved America type, said Chrome's,
43:12
referring to a popular mainstream liberal podcast. These big brains
43:17
interests with their fancy political theory. Have just given up
43:20
on the idea that continuing to do the same yes,
43:24
and he can actually give us a different result. Faith
43:28
in capitalism is slipping, and socialism does not carry the
43:32
same toxic brand among young voters that it does with
43:36
older Americans who grew up during the Cold War. And
43:39
August twenty twenty five, Gallop Pole found that in forty
43:43
nine percent of Americans ages eighteen to thirty four had
43:47
positive views of socialism, compared with thirty percent of Americans
43:51
fifty five and older. The survey fund that Americans are
43:55
on balance prefer capitalism to socialism, but the favorability of
44:00
capitalism dropped from sixty percent in twenty twenty one to
44:04
fifty four percent. Joseph Giverghisi, the executive director of Air Revolution,
44:12
said socialism may be attracting voters looking for something radically different.
44:18
They see that their standard of living is falling and
44:21
the political system isn't delivering for them. Isn't working for them,
44:27
said jee Varghesi, whose organization was founded by Sanders. While
44:33
candidates across the political spectrum have seized on affordability as
44:37
a central campaign issue, democratic socialists have offered some of
44:42
the most sweeping policies to address the cost of living,
44:46
which their detractors often describe as unrealistic or too expensive.
44:51
Mandami called for free buses and publicly owned grocery stores
44:55
during his campaign. Lewis George campaigned on universal, affordable childcare
45:01
and significant new housing development, which her voters frequently cited
45:06
in interviews at polling places. Nissa Harper, a single mother
45:11
of four children who voted for Lewis George in a
45:14
part of southeast Washington known for concentrated poverty, said she
45:19
has been drawn to democratic socialist policies, including heavily subsidized childcare.
45:25
Happers said she left the workforce to care for her children,
45:28
but has had difficulties returning between appointments school and who's
45:33
going to be there when there's a sickness. Adherents of
45:38
democratic socialism often graduated from college and entered a world
45:42
where the system feels broken, said Zachary Tashman, Metro DC's
45:48
DSA Labor Working Group co chair. Tashman said, many of
45:54
these people have parents and they lived the American dreams,
45:57
so they know what it should be and they're not
46:00
getting it. Bill Leightfoot, who chaired the mayoral campaigns of
46:04
outgoing Centrist Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, Democrat, said ideology doesn't
46:10
fully explain the success of Democratic Socialist candidates in d C.
46:15
He said many voters turned off by the city's leaders
46:19
stayed home, and those who did cast votes craved the
46:23
most aggressive opposition to the White House. Lewis George benefited
46:28
as crime, which is often the losing issue for leftist candidates,
46:33
faded as a concern in the district. According to the
46:36
Washington Post Schalar School Scholing polling, in the weeks before
46:41
the election, forty two percent of DC voters said crime
46:44
was an extremely or very serious problem in the city,
46:48
compared with sixty five percent in April twenty twenty four.
46:52
One in five voters named crime is the top problem
46:56
heading into this year's mayoral race, and Parenn and those
47:00
voters favored mcdufe by wide margin imperant compared with thirty
47:05
six percent before the twenty who twenty twenty two mayoral election.
47:13
Lightfoot also said Lewis George's Union support gave her the
47:17
best ground game to reach voters. Democratic Socialists in DC
47:21
and beyond have also benefited from an energized base willing
47:25
to canvas voters, which is especially useful in high density,
47:30
walkable cities. Lewis George on Thursday called the DSA an
47:35
integral part of her campaign's ground game, reaching thousands of
47:40
voters where they live. They know how to knock on doors,
47:45
she said. Raj, the DSA activist turned DC Council candidate,
47:52
said volunteers knocked on doors in her ward more than
47:55
nine ninety thousand times. Supporters were hired of the Trump
48:01
administration and a democratic establishment de view is complicit, making
48:06
them eager to mobilize for democratic socialism. She said. This
48:11
is the moment where I think you have two visions.
48:15
Either you have fascism or you have democratic socialism and
48:19
the idea that everyone should have dignity and have a
48:23
dignified life, said Raj. Listen to this. Researchers tested chet
48:32
bots against elite fundraisers and debaters. Here's who won. Researchers
48:40
put professional fundraisers and commercial aim models head to head
48:46
to raise money for the nonprofit Save the Children. The
48:51
chat bots one with a caveat by Miriam wald Vogel.
48:58
It can be awkward to add ask for money, even
49:01
for a good cause. But a group of Britain based
49:05
researchers have found a very capable partner with no qualms
49:10
about appealing for cash AI chatbots. Over more than one
49:15
thousand conversations with a collection of donus, the AI model
49:20
Claude was nearly three times as effective at eliciting donations
49:26
for Save the Children as a group of professional fundraisers
49:29
who had worked on campaigns for the humanitarian group. In
49:35
addition to persuading a greater percentage of participants to donate
49:40
some portion of their one pound study bonus, Claude Opus
49:45
four point six also elicited an average donation thirteen times
49:50
higher than that elicited by the human fundraisers. The study,
49:57
which was released as a pre print on Monday and
50:00
has not yet been peer viewed, suggests that the chatbosibility
50:05
to spit out claims far faster than expert humans gives
50:09
it an edge. In a separate persuasiveness test, Claude and
50:14
other commercially available models, such as Google's Gemini two point
50:19
five pro o perform to lead competitive debaters by four
50:24
point six percentage points, But when the researchers constrain the
50:28
models to the same number of words per conversation as
50:33
the debaters the AI advantage more or less vanished. It's
50:39
not just particularly close in terms of how much information
50:44
and how elegantly the humans are able to pull together
50:47
these messages on the fly compared to what the AI
50:51
can do, said Kobe Hackenberg, a PhD student at the
50:56
University of Oxford and the studies lead off of In
51:01
both the debate and fundraising trials, the AI models were
51:05
prompted to cite experts and emphasize novel information rather than
51:10
focusing on emotional appeals, and they did, spewing out messages
51:16
nearly five times the length of those written by the
51:18
professional fundraisers. Against the debaters, they deployed a bed thirty
51:24
seven facts per conversation, each abate fifteen to twenty minutes
51:29
in length. The debaters could only manage ABT three in
51:33
an initial trial, but they offered more after practicing against
51:37
the bots. Anaked shirok Vordi, a twenty twenty four winner
51:43
of the World University's Debating Championship who was with the
51:47
University of Oxford, said in an interview that he was
51:53
really upset for a little bit when he found out
51:56
that he had been bested by a bot, added that
52:01
he felt a bit like Lee Sidole, the world champion
52:05
Go player who lost a series of games to a
52:07
Google AI model in twenty sixteen. I felt some of
52:12
those feelings of like, oh my god, the skill set
52:15
that I thought I had has been taken away compared
52:17
to these models, chak Cravorty said. Chakravorty and the other debaters,
52:24
most of them experienced in the British parliamentary format, were
52:28
tested on statements about British politics, such as whether the
52:32
United Kingdom should keep the Mornarchye or raise the pension age.
52:36
They were also given time to prepare. We were pursuing
52:40
a slightly different strategy, initially about trying to build a
52:44
rapport with the one person with the AI person, Tabardi
52:48
said he had. The other debaters then went for a
52:52
second round of conversations. After reviewing the prompts given to
52:55
the large language models, their study results and they outputs,
53:00
and after practicing against the models, even with this extra preparation,
53:05
they could close only about one fifth of the gap.
53:09
Francesco Salvey, a PhD student at Princeton University unaffiliated with
53:14
the study, said the findings were one more piece of
53:17
evidence demonstrating the persuasive powers of lms. He added that
53:23
while previous research had already demonstrated that chatbots could beat
53:28
regularly humans in arguments, the study's findings on the elite
53:32
debaters were particularly notable. But just because the chatbot says
53:38
it doesn't make it true. The chatpots had widily varying
53:42
degrees of accuracy according to an LM powered system that
53:45
graded each claim made in conversation based on a search
53:49
for corroborating evidence. Open AI's chat PT five point four
53:56
scored an average of eighty nine, while x is aio
54:00
rock scored twenty six in the aggregate. Greater truthfulness did
54:05
not make an AI model more persuasive. The inaccuracies were
54:09
often subtle, Hackenberg said, like a report that sounds totally reasonable,
54:14
but it just doesn't actually exist. You'd have no real
54:18
way of knowing that unless you were going to stop
54:21
and google it on the spot, he added. During the
54:24
fundraising part of the study, researchers also asked participants to
54:28
rate how persuaded they felt on several statements hypothesized to
54:33
drive giving, such as agreeing that a donation could be impactful,
54:38
of feeling that they had learned something in the conversation.
54:42
The AI models were more effective than the professional fundraisers
54:46
on every single metric by at least five percentage points.
54:50
The study also did not investigate humans and the LM's
54:54
working together to persuade an avenue that might have more
54:58
realistically captured how AI tools could be used in the workplace,
55:03
said Max By, a psychologist and AI persuasion researcher unaffiliated
55:08
with the study. When we have a highly creative professional
55:13
doing something, they wouldn't just say, okay, I generate this
55:18
for me and then you're doing my job. It would
55:21
be like AI creates multiple versions of something with a
55:25
human being a curator, I said. In the real world,
55:30
Hackenberg emphasized chatbox might not have this much of an edge.
55:35
During the testing, the debats and fundraisers were limited to
55:39
written conversations rather than speaking. It's very hard to get
55:45
people to engage with fifteen minute, every very information dense
55:49
dialogues in the real world, Hackenberg said. While there's risk
55:54
about every very persuasive AI systems that are controlled and
55:58
accessed by a small number of we don't know exactly
56:02
this will play out. Trump visits new Air Force one,
56:08
a luxury gift from Qatar that will soon fly him.
56:12
The seven forty seven jumbo jet has a new blue,
56:15
red and gold paint scheme preferred by the President by
56:21
Tera Copp and Michael Berenbaum. President Donald Trump on Friday
56:25
visited the Katari seven forty seven jumbo jet that has
56:29
been converted so that it can serve as Air Force one,
56:33
speaking in front of a newly painted plane that he
56:36
said would deliver a level of luxury that nobody's ever
56:39
seen before. The jet formerly flew the Katari royal family,
56:44
which gifted it to Trump last year. It recently arrived
56:48
at Joint Base Andrews, sporting a new dark blue, red
56:52
and gold paint scheme preferred by the President and needing
56:56
to complete a few last flights before serving as the
57:01
Air Force one. On Friday, Trump visited Andrews for an
57:06
event that was built as remarks to Air Force service
57:09
members to get a private tour of the gifted aircraft,
57:12
which Guitar offered shortly after Trump's second term began. The
57:17
aircraft was inside a closed hangar on base. A podium
57:21
was set up near a banna that read during what
57:24
they said can't be done, but underneath the presidential seal
57:29
on the new planes underbelly, the gift of a luxuries
57:36
yet from a foreign government has little president in the
57:39
US history. The nation's founders were concerned about the president's
57:44
decisions being swayed by gifts from any king prince of
57:48
foreign state, and drafted the Constitution to ban taking presence
57:53
without permission from Congress. Trump has said that the gift
57:57
was made to the nation and not to him personally,
58:00
but he is also said the jet would be part
58:02
of his presidential library following his presidency. And with that,
58:08
I end reading to Day's Washington Post for the twentieth
58:11
of June of twenty twenty six. Have a great week end,
58:16
take care, and I'll see you next week. By