Transcript

5.19.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, May nineteenth. As a reminder,
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Radio Eye as a reading service intended for people who
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are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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to read printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton,
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and by listening request on Mondays, we begin by reading
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Paul Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Herald Leader, and
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this week's article is entitled God Loves Misfits and Outsiders,
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a faith Perspective. Since Cardinal Robert Prevost sixty nine became
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the first American elected as Pope, I've been racking my
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mind trying to find something semi intelligent to write about
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this momentous event. What I've come up with is congratulations
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to the new Pope, Leo the fourteenth. Ooh, not even
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simil I intelligent that. Let me assure you, I love
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the Roman Catholic Church and have a host of Catholic friends.
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I'm an amateur student of Catholic mysticism, and my wife
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keeps saying that if I ever retire as a minister,
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she might as well very well convert to Catholicism. But
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there are several reasons I find myself drawing a blank
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pope wise. First, I'm not Catholic. I'm the lowest of
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low church Protestants, a real.
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Speaker 2: Live Holy Rover.
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Speaker 1: I don't have a clue what Pope Leo might mean
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to the church's future. Second, all my favorite writers about religion,
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including David French and The New York Times, Michelle Burstein
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of the Washington Post, as well as scores of other
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competent journalists worldwide, have weighed in on the matter. Even
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if I went out and did a week's worth of
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old fashioned shoe leather reporting, I doubt I discover anything
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that would add a lick to the reams of stories
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already filed. Third, and this is my kicker. Across the
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many years I practiced journalism, I've always found this disconcerting
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quirk in my brain. The minute one hundred other reporters
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to send on a big story, I instantly lose interest
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in it. I find myself congenitively unable to follow a herd.
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If some ill advised news outfit had seen fit to
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fly me to Rome to cover the papal conclave, I'd
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probably have come home with profile of the guy who
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drives the popemobile, or a feature about the Vatican flunky
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who orders late night pizzas for the cardinals, or a
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piece on the HR employee who screens applicants for the
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Pontifical Swiss Guard. There's something wrong with me. I've spent
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most of my life as a mid fit, the guy
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standing on the outside of the fence looking in at
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all the cool, smart, pretty people. I'm not a contrarian.
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Some guys cast themselves as the proud rebels or iconoclass
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to draw attention.
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Speaker 2: That's not me.
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Speaker 1: I'd love joining the in crown. I like being liked.
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But in high school, when the other football players were
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banging their heads against the lockers to get their warrior
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hormones all jacked up before we went out for a kickoff,
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I sat in a corner, thinking, this is a high
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school ballgame. Boys, We're not facing the Wehrmacht.
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Speaker 2: It's not the fate of the world at stake.
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Speaker 1: Later, as my college buddies earned degrees in finance or
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law and went on to lucrative careers and country club memberships,
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I got not one but two degrees in English literature.
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I couldn't make a living. I could explicate the heck
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out of a John Dunn poem. As my former Southern
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Baptist friends converted into Wine Biblis Episcopalians, I became a Pentecostal.
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I started talking in tongues, preaching to boot. Yet my
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fellow Pentecosts turned to consider me too much of a freethinker,
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just too much a period. There's something awry in my
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head that zigs when everybody else zags. Can't explain it,
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I can't stop it. I'm weird, not weird for the
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sake of being weird, as I said, just just weird.
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Here's the part of that applies to you, even if
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you don't speak in tongues or try to write about popes. Recently,
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in an online Bible study podcast, I learned the word mamser.
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M am Zer is Hebrew and Yiddish for bastor. A
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chap Bod website explains it's a very derogatory reference to
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a difficult or unpleasant individual. Colloquially, mamser apparently can also
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refer to anybody regarded as strange or an outsider. That
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would be me in that sense. I'm definitely a mamser,
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and maybe that's you too.
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Speaker 2: If you're of a certain bent.
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Speaker 1: We're those odd souls who see things differently than the
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crowd does, maybe because we're always a healthy distance from it.
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According to Marty Solomon, a podcast host, I first heard
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use the word, and he's a Christian of Jewish extraction
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the Bible stories, mams are often are chosen for special
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missions and insights. Mamser's start out as outcasts that end
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up as he rose Thakam Gideon the puniest man in
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the least tribe of Israel who's bizarrely call to lead
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an army against a vastly superior midnight tribe. Or Mary
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the teenage version whose betrophil hasn't been consummated when she
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finds herself pregnant. Or Matthew Hate a taxgatherer and sell
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out to Roman occupiers, who, for no discernible reason, is
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picked by Jesus as an apostle. Their very differentness leaves
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them more willing to accept God's grace than some of
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their contemporaries are. They know they can't do much on
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their own, so they depend on the Lord. They're unafraid
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of losing face because they have no face to lose.
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It's one of the many varieties of paradoxes the Bible
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is full of. Here, God takes the oddest thing about
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someone and turns it literally into a superpower. There's hope,
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it seems for all of us. Maybe being strange is
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a backhanded gift from above, At least I want to
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think of it that way. Paul Prather, as you know,
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is pastor of the Bethesda Church near Mount Stirling, and
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you can email him at pr atpd at yahoo dot com.
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Speaker 2: Now let's turn to the news this.
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Speaker 1: Day of the Washington Post and our lead story this morning.
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US funding halted Africa's HIV crisis. Trump's cuts have forced
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a reckoning. When American taxpayer money started flowing here eighteen
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years ago, this country was the epicenter of the global
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HIV AIDS crisis and s twante world's highest prevalence rate
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and so much death that one in ten households was
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headed by a child. USAID unleashed a flood of a
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life saving anti retroviral pediatric drugs. It funded doctors and
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data systems. It helped build an ultra modern medical facility
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in the center of the country known as the Miracle Campus,
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that provided free healthcare. Behind an entrance sign saying from
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the American people to the nurses and doctors who arrived
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during that dire phase. This was America at its most ambitious,
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a superpower vowing to help solve the health crisis of
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the developing world. And Stwatini, US money helped extend the
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average life expectancy by more than ten years. But now
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a project that once embodied America's largest has exposed the
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pitfalls of that approach. Some aid and government workers in
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Swatini fearitz left the country. I'll prepare to take care
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of its own. Even after the HIV AIDS emergency eased,
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US aid kept flowing at a high volume. The United
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States took steps to pass responsibility to African countries, but
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kept its hand on crucial tasks. We shouldn't expect the
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US to take care of the chronic disease to infinity,
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said Echo Vanderwald, executive director of the Luke Commission, the
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charity that runs the Miracle Campus. S Watini, formerly known
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as Swaziland, is a New Jersey sized country of lush
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green hills wedged between Mozambique and South Africa. Relative to
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the country's population of one point twenty six million, the
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US investment here has been significant, roughly eight hundred million
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dollars since twenty oh seven, according to government records. Most
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of that money came as part of a single program,
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the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, as the acronym
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of PEP Far PEP Farm, launched by President George W.
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Bush said America had a duty to make this world better.
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Among health workers as well as as Twantini government officials,
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there's widespread consensus that the US earned tremendous goodwill with
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its investment here and helped turn the tide against the epidemic.
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Those officials and workers also criticized the abrupt nature of
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the Trump administration's foreign aid cuts as reckless. But now
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that the status quo has been disrupted, as Twatini must
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grapple with uncomfortable questions about what comes next, whether a
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post US health system might be more sustainable or more dangerous.
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The American government has stepped up and has been holding
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our hand for a long time, said Lizzie Niscoti, a
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former health minister. That is not something we can easily
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lose in Swatini. The Miracle Campus is at the center
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of that reckoning. Founded by an American husband and wife
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Echo Vanderwal, a physician's assistant, and Harry Vanderwal, a doctor.
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The Miracle Campus had become a celebrated emblem of US generosity.
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Almost every employee carried an iPad. Insurgeons used messaging apps
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to provide real time updates on procedures. The hospital had
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three D printers to customize medical equipment and drones that
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could transport medicine to rural villages. But beyond the modern equipment,
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there was another reason people had sought out the campus,
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According to interviews with patients and healthcare workers, the woes
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of Swatini's own public health system. The national hospital struggled
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to stock medicine and supplies, and government appointed investigators had
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accused officials of mismanaging the national drug supply, citing poor
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oversight and alleged corruption. Even as Swatini's government economy grew,
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the country was increasingly relying on US charity for the
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day to day care of its people. By twenty twenty three,
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after years of growing demand, the Miracle Campus was handling
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twenty four thousand patients a month, more than a quarter
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of the national load. According to data compiled by the
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Luke Commission based on government data. The Health Ministry did
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not respond to a request for comment. The van Derwalds,
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today in their early fifties, had never questioned their faith
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based motto to treat all seeking care. But two years
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before President Trump's decision, Harry asked his wife, are we
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part of the problem. We were carrying such a big
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portion of the national load echo SID. She called it unsustainable.
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One of the pharmacists at the Miracle Campus, den Belejezondo,
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went so far to say his country would have been
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further ahead if AID had been cut off years ago.
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The government would just have pulled up their socks, take
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ownership and say, no one is going to help us,
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so we need to do this on our own. US
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officials had been working with Swatini to gradually hand off
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more responsibility, with the goal of winding down some of
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the funding by twenty thirty. Wendy Benzerga, who is the
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US Agency for National Development country director in Swatini from
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twenty fifteen to twenty twenty, said that a lot more
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could have been done to begin to transition earlier, but
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AID becomes this big machine, said ben Gerza, who emphasized
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that she was speaking in a personal capacity. And not
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on behalf of the US government, and it's comfortable for everyone.
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The Washington Post did not uncover evidence that US funding
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was misused, and the government appointed investigators did not indicate
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that American aid money was involved in the alleged corruption.
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The State Department, in a statement said PEPFAR has been impactful,
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saving millions of lives helping bring the HIV numbers under control.
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Secretary Marco Rubio has stated that PEPFAR is an important
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and life saving program that will continue the statement's it.
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He has also said that PEPFAR, like all assistance programs,
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should be reduced over time if they are impactful in
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achieving their mission. Now that shift has arrived without any preparation.
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In early in February, US funding withdrawn and the Miracle
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Campus installed an entrance gate with a sign asking most
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patients to go elsewhere.
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Speaker 2: It shuddered.
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Speaker 1: The Maternity Ward halted preventive care and stopped treating diabetes
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and high pertension. It had to lay off most of
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half of its seven hundred workers. You couldn't even pay
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its utility bills. The last trickle of patients come for
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HIV AIDS medication refills or for special surgeries performed by
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doctors who agreed to work without pay until funds were available. Echo,
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the facility's executive director, says she sometimes believed that the
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campus near total shutdown is in Swatini's best interests. I
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had to say it, but I think it had to happen,
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she said. But on other days she sobs and she
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walks through the empty wards, or when she gets text
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messages former patients who say they have no other place
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to go for reliable health care, she still asks the
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same question that caused her to keep the doors wide
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open in the first place, What happens without us? They
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had first traveled to Swatini in twenty oh four, a
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trial to see if people like them might be able
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to help. Echo, who was raised in Idaho, had obtained
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her first passport specifically to.
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Speaker 2: Make the trip.
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Speaker 1: Harry, from North Carolina, had never traveled farther than Canada.
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They had four young children, some savings from flipping houses,
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a deep Christian faith, and a sense that we're ready
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for the task. As they saw it, this was part
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of what it meant to be an American, not hesitating
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to offer help, whether to a neighbor or someone overseas.
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As Americans, we want to run in and fit things,
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Harry said, hours off the plane, they saw people dying
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of HIV AIDS. By twenty oh six, weeks after Harry
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finished his residency, they had moved for good. They rented
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inn an apartment started crisscrossing the nation with medical supplies
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stuffed in the back of trucks. On the main objectives
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in those years before widespread drug availability was chillingly modest,
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delaying orphant hood. By twenty ten, the Van der Walls
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had their first contact with US Agency for International Development
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for performing adult circumcisions that reduced the risk of HIV
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and AIDS. The contract sum was modest one hundred and
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eighty thousand dollars, but Echo remembers feeling that they had
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broken the barrier into the world of foreign aid. Three
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years later, they bought farmland near a river. Initially, they
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just used the land's old dairy barn to store their
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medical supplies, but the money kept coming in, ultimately forty
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million dollars from US eight according to government data.
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Speaker 2: They used those.
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Speaker 1: Funds for doctors equipment and later solar panels and other technology.
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They leaned on private charitable foundations, mostly from the US
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and Canada. As they kept building out the campus. What
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took form spread across two hundred acres, defied the stereotypes
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of a health facility in a developing country. They constructed
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an auditorium for team meetings and church themed musical shows.
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They added an in house farm team that grew maize
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and other ingredients for hospital meals. He added a wood
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team that made canes and crutches and fabricated parts for buildings.
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The UK Commission hadn't been there for Swatini, I think
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most people would have been dead by now, said Kolani
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and Kambuli, a security guard who works at the campus
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and lost both of his parents to HIV AIDS in
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the early two thousands. They provided the finest health care
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in the country, said Barbara Staley, an American Catholic missionary
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who has worked on and off in Swatini since twenty
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oh four. But as demand skyrocketed, they also made personal
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decisions they admit were reckless. During the coronavirus pandemic, they
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took out a loan against the value of their home
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to help cover operational costs. In national drug shortages, they
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used a line of credit to buy medicine from South Africa,
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and in twenty oh three they drained their retirement savings
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to help pay employees. Whatever was in the bank account
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it's gone, Harry said. They eventually realized they had gone
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too far to keep the campus running, and by twenty
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twenty four they were scaling back some services and using
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charitable donations to pay debts. Those moves also meant they
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relied on USAID more than ever for their day to
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day operations. By the time of the Trump administration's decision,
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they had no margin for error. According to the Loop
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Commission's twenty twenty three financial statement, thirty three percent of
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its revenue came from us AID. The campus's fate has
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now become Sytini's top political battle, dominating local front pages
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and serving as a proxy for broader questions about how
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the Kingdom moves on from the era of big Usaid.
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While almost everybody agrees that it's foolish for the campus
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to sit there empty, the debate centers on whether Swatini
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should offer a sustained financial lifeline and whether the charity
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running the campus should come under government control. In Kosi,
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a senator who served as Health Minister until twenty twenty
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three said the Luke Commission had been offered a financial
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deal two years ago on the condition that the government
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could approve the chairman of the board. They flatly refused,
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and Kosi said. Echo and Harry said they never received
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a formal offer and instead wanted financial support without submitting
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to a government takeover. A parliamentary port last year detailed
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how the back and forth negotiations had created bad blood
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between the Health Ministry and the Luke Commission. In many ways,
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Echo and Harry are no longer outsiders. They are citizens
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of Swatini and referred to the country monarch, Miss Watieth
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the third as our king. They raised their children here.
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They dress for formal occasions in traditional Swazi wrap around fabrics,
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but they say they don't feel ready to make their
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hospital part of a national health system that can't stock
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its own drugs. Doing that, Echo says would be the
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biggest mistakes we'd make in our lives. When Velleppie Accello
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heard about Trump's decision the slash foreign age, she thought
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to herself, I sen your seat belts. As director of
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Health Services at Swatini's Health Ministry, she had been imagining
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this moment. For years while setting in on meetings with
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US officials where they talked about PEPFAR's future and about
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passing off more and more work to local partners, she
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had helped the country take major steps in self sufficiency,
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buying its own anti retroviral drugs, for instance, rather than
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relying on international donations. We thought that the PEPFAR funds
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would take us to twenty thirty slowly and gently, she said.
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Before the Trump shut down, the US had retained responsibility
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for crucial tasks in Swatini's day to day healthcare, not
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just by funding the Miracle campus, but by paying workers
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who were performing testing and working in communities of the
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USAID money flowing into the country, Global non governmental organizations
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like PACT and the Elizabeth Blazers Pediatric AIDS Foundation had
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been among the biggest historical recipients. An assessment published in
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late March from un AIDS, a United Nations program devoted
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to fighting the disease, said there has already been a
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significant decline in HIV case identification Swatini and described a
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risk of supply stockouts in three to six months.
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Speaker 2: In Kosi.
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Speaker 1: The former health minister said that Swatini still has one
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of the highest HIV rates in the world and that
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removing foreign aid support means restoking the emergency. That is
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just logic, she said. Okello said Swatini is past the
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stage where the US decision might collapse the health system.
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She noted that years before US support arrived, the country
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had declared a national emergency, launched local education programs, and
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created a National Response Council, and Swatini was the first
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country in Africa to reach a landmark Global AIDS target
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known as ninety five ninety five ninety five, referring to
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the percentages of people who know their HIV status, are
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undergoing therapy and have successively suppressed the virus. But after
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the withdrawal of USAID, many in Sytini are angry not
25:06
in America but at their own government. Patients across the country,
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as well as doctors at government hospitals, said that while
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Satini has mounted a strong response to HIV AIDS, it
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has allowed deepening problems in its overall health system. Patients
25:26
tell similar stories of going to hospitals for basic drugs
25:30
and being told the essentials aren't in stock. The government
25:35
says it's taking the problem seriously and three years ago
25:39
commissioned an internal investigation that examined years of health and
25:44
drug procurement records. The final investigation, which was not made
25:49
public but was obtained by the Post, laid out a
25:53
scheme in which officials systematically buy drugs the country doesn't
25:58
need or about to expire. The scheme enriches suppliers, the
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report says, to make direct payments to complicit bureaucrats who
26:08
have accepted trips abroad and used cash to purchase luxury cars.
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People living in Swatini do not connect the Kings to
26:17
the drug shortages, but political distance abroad say his system
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of patronage, as well as his lavish lifestyles with up
26:25
to sixteen wives and a fleet of luxury cars, fosters
26:31
a culture of corruption. You've got one person who is
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accountable to nobody but himself, says Ignatious Delamani, a political
26:40
activist based in South Africa who chairs a group called
26:44
United Swatini Diaspora. Eswatini's Health ministry declined to respond to
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our list of questions about drug shortages and alleged corruption.
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It also did not respond questions about the Luke commission.
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It does a die situation, said Zakhili de la Mani,
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director of the forensic company that led the investigation. People
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are living in hell because there are no drugs, hence
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the Loop Commission and other private clinics that are the
27:14
go to for trying to survive. Six weeks after the
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USA was halted, the security guard at the Miracle campus
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Interests had turned away patients with broken bones, people in tears,
27:28
even his own relatives. One nurse had sold off cattle
27:32
to help manage bills, another had downsized apartments. The employees
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were accruing back pay, but Echo worried that the uncertainty
27:41
dragged on the entire Miracle campus could come on glued,
27:46
so she called in morning, meeting three hundred people crowding
27:50
into an auditorium, with Harry in the background as a
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grandchild tugged at his knee. She acknowledged that she didn't
27:57
have many updates, that money still wasn't coming, and spoke
28:02
again and again about how painful this had been. But
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her speech as it went on took on the feel
28:09
of a pep talk, both for her staff and herself.
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She said the facility still had a future, one that
28:17
wouldn't rely so heavily on what people decide in another country.
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The meeting ended with a prayer. Staff spent the rest
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of the day filling anti retroviral prescriptions and performing a
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skin graft for a six year old girl bitten by
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a venomous snake. Echo and Harry treated an upstairs conference room,
28:36
spending one fall day and then another huddling with advisors
28:39
and strategizing about their future. Eventually they sketched out a
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vision of a smaller Miracle campus, about one sixth of
28:46
its size of the peak. There relies more on private donations.
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They also decided for the first time to start charging
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patients who could afford it. Harry still said he viewed
28:56
America as having the spirit of compassion. But as much
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as Americans rush in to solve problems, he said, they've
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been never very good at getting out. There wasn't a
29:06
clear exit strategy. They'd built the most advanced medical campus
29:10
in s Ytni, but now was just idle equipment and
29:15
pretty landscaping. The sun had set, the staff had gone
29:19
home after almost two decades in the eight industry. This
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is what had come to Harry and Echo late at night,
29:28
trying to figure out how to start over and our
29:33
next story US officials say substantial progress made in China
29:39
trade talks. The United States and China made substantial progress
29:45
and trade talks over the weekend, Treasury Secretary of Scott
29:48
Descent said Sunday, after representatives from the two countries met
29:53
amid and escalating trade war. More details will be announced Monday,
29:59
officials from both country said. The White House claimed in
30:03
a news release Sunday that the US announces China trade
30:07
deal in Geneva, but did not provide any specifics. The
30:13
and US Trade representative Jamison Greer, met with Vice Chinese
30:17
Premier he Laffing in Switzerland over the weekend. As both
30:22
sides appear eager to ease economic hostilities. The US has
30:28
slapped one hundred and forty five percent tariffs on Chinese goods,
30:34
far exceeding the import duties President Trump camp campaigned on
30:38
while running for president. China, in turn, has raised tariffs
30:43
on US made goods to one hundred and twenty five
30:45
percent and banned the export of some vital raw materials.
30:52
I'm happy to report that we've made substantial progress between
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the United States and China and the very important trade talks,
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Thecent told reporter Sunday Greer added that perhaps the differences
31:05
were not so large as maybe thought. Chinese delegates also
31:11
spoke to the media Sunday and a news conference in Geneva. Hey,
31:16
the Chinese Vice Premier, said the discussions were candid, in
31:21
depth and constructive, adding that they were an important first
31:25
step to resolving differences and had laid the foundations for
31:29
retroducing trade tensions. On Friday, before the talks took place,
31:35
Trump said the US could lower tariffs on China to
31:39
eighty percent, but added that he was leaving the terms
31:42
up to the scent. The talks in Switzerland reflected the
31:47
mounting economic damage from the tariffs Trump has imposed thus far.
31:53
China said at sex sports to the US and April
31:55
dropped twenty one percent from the year before, and economists
31:59
of four KA asked an increased likelihood of a US recession.
32:04
White House officials have grown alarmed by Chinese curbs on
32:08
exports of rare earth minerals, which are used to make
32:11
military drones, consumer electronics, electric cars, and other important products.
32:19
Before the talks, Basin had also expressed the desire to
32:22
reduce trade barriers, saying the current tariffs are not sustainable.
32:28
We don't want to decouple. What we want is fair trade,
32:33
he told Fox News on Tuesday. Chinese officials had repeatedly
32:39
pledged to fight to the end, but they had also
32:42
said Beijing is open to talks if the US shows
32:45
sincerity by reducing tariffs. Beijing had softened its rhetoric recently
32:51
after Trump spoke about his hopes of making a deal
32:55
with Chinese leader Xijinping, even as it has continued to
32:59
understand that China is the aggrieved party and to project
33:03
itself as a reasonable power to the rest of the world.
33:08
China's defiant stance was bolstered Friday by data showing that
33:13
a huge drop in shipments to the US didn't meaningfully
33:17
slow overall Chinese exports. Shipments to Southeast Asian countries were
33:23
up by twenty one percent, contributing to last months stronger
33:27
than expected overall export growth for China. The data underscored
33:33
a widespread effort by Chinese exporters to avoid the duties
33:37
by re routing trade through third countries using a mixture
33:42
of legal and illegal methods. And next about the new pontiff,
33:49
Pope Leo's debut clear connections to Francis, but he's his
33:54
own man, as he has done in every major appearance
34:01
since being named.
34:02
Speaker 2: Pope.
34:02
Speaker 1: Leo the fourteenth invoked the name of his predecessor before
34:06
a massive throng of one hundred and fifty thousand people
34:10
during his first Sunday blessing in Saint Peter's Square. Then
34:15
he did something noticeably uncharacteristic. Pope Francis he sang ah
34:22
liluja he in toned reverently in Latin. The moment spoke
34:27
to an evolving truth. As much as Leo has echoed
34:31
France's since his dramatic debut on the Central Balcony Thursday,
34:37
the first American pontiff is also fast emerging as his
34:40
own man. Predictions have followed the new pope since his
34:45
big reveal that he will be the anti Donald Trump,
34:50
an American with dual US Peruvian citizenship in the Vatican,
34:55
promoting kindness and dignity for all, in contrast to the
34:59
American in the Law.
35:01
Speaker 2: That he will be.
35:02
Speaker 1: Francis the second in all but name, continuing his predecessor's
35:07
mission even in.
35:08
Speaker 2: A similar manner.
35:10
Speaker 1: But some of that might already be proven true. But
35:14
it's not also that simple. In his first Mass as
35:18
Pope Leo spoke on Friday of the cruel power inside
35:22
luxurious palaces and the sincerity of ordinary people, a favorite
35:28
theme of Francis's. On Sunday at Mass, in the crypt
35:32
of Saint Peter's Basilica, he spoke not of doctrinal fire
35:36
and brimstone, but of serving the Catholic flock as a
35:40
good shepherd. Like Francis, he used his public Sunday message
35:45
to limit the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. He also
35:49
harkened back to John Paul the Second, echoing that the
35:53
Pope's evangelizing catchphrase, do not be afraid. Francis was known
35:59
for a lotly sense of humor, a trait Leo was
36:02
displaying within hours of his ascent Thursday, when he returned
36:07
that evening to colleagues and friends at his pre papal lodgings,
36:11
the young daughter of a staff member asked him to
36:14
sign a Bible. I have to get some practice with
36:17
my signature. The former Robert Prevos quipped gently to laughter,
36:22
I have no use of the old one anymore. On Saturday,
36:28
he paid homage to Francis, the orchestrator of his meteoric ascent,
36:33
and a man with whom he appears largely in theological lockstep,
36:37
though a poignant visit to his tomb. But Leo has
36:42
staked out differences too. He is already nodding more to
36:46
the formality embraced by some traditionalists than Francis and Austere's Jesuit,
36:52
who never did. In his freshly minted official photo, Leo
36:57
wears a richly embroidered stole over scarlet shoulder cover, like Francis,
37:03
who rejected elaborate investments and favored all white. Rather than
37:08
speak to the masses on Sunday from a corner window
37:11
as Francis did, Leo appeared more reserved and awkward than
37:15
his more emotive predecessor, took center stage on the Loggia,
37:20
the main balcony of Saint Peter's. Italian media have reported
37:25
Leo will follow the tradition of popes and move into
37:29
the papal apartments in the Grand Apostolic Palace, rather than
37:33
emulate Francis, who chose a more humble quarters at a
37:36
boarding house behind a gas station. A Vatican official, speaking
37:41
on the condition of anonymity to The Washington Post to
37:45
discuss plans not yet announced, said Leo is likely to
37:50
move into the papal apartments. On Sunday, the Vatican cryptically
37:55
announced that the seals affixed to the apartments after Francis's
37:59
death had been ceremoniously removed.
38:03
Speaker 2: Michael J.
38:04
Speaker 1: Matt, editor of the traditionalist Catholic outlook The Remnant, called
38:09
it a good sign the light in the Pope's window
38:13
overlooking the piazza will come on again. He wrote on
38:17
x Welcome back Holiness. That doesn't mean duh. Pope, as
38:24
he's becoming known in his native Chicago, will always bring
38:27
the bling. Close up photos have revealed Leo, like Francis,
38:33
is rejecting the fancy red slippers of previous pontiffs and
38:37
walking in the footsteps of his predecessor, so speak, by
38:41
wearing simple black shoes. Both men, Francis and Jesuit and
38:47
Leo and Augustinian, took the vows of poverty of their
38:51
religious orders. What is clear is that Leo will not
38:55
be a carbon copy of Francis. I think he's going
38:59
to bring some formality to his presentation of himself as Pope,
39:03
said the Reverend Thomas Reese, a former editor of the
39:07
Jesuit magazine titled America. We saw what in the clothes
39:12
he wore on the balcony. He had a prepared text
39:15
when he spoke with while Francis was pretty much spontaneous.
39:20
I think that Leo was smart. He just didn't try
39:24
to imitate Franci's but his heart, like Francis, is with
39:28
the poor. Leo's past commitments suggest he, like Francis, might
39:35
be skeptical concepts such as gender theory and the ordination
39:40
of women as deacons, but he has already offered liberal
39:44
Catholics some reason for cheer. The papacy he has described
39:49
suggests alignment with his predecessor, and at an official gathering
39:55
of cardinals on Saturday, he reaffirmed the church's commitment to
39:59
the nineteen sixties era Second Vatican Council. The Council's actions,
40:05
which aim to modernize the Church with masses celebrated in
40:08
local languages, more robes for lay people, and greater outreach
40:13
to other denominations and faiths, still rankle some traditionalists on
40:19
the world stage. Leo's early messaging suggests he'll stand in
40:24
contrast to Trump, whose anti immigrant nationalism France is openly criticized.
40:31
The job of the Pope is to preach the gospel
40:35
of Jesus, who constantly told us how we should respond
40:40
by loving one another, loving our neighbor, especially the poor,
40:46
the hungary, the thirsty.
40:48
Speaker 2: Griese said, that's part of.
40:51
Speaker 1: The DNA of being pope. He's not looking for a
40:54
fight with Trump, but he's not going to tone down
40:57
the gospel message just because Trump doesn't like it. In
41:02
the massive crowd that turned out for Leo's first Sunday
41:04
blessing amid a preplanned Jubilee event involving an elaborate procession
41:10
of bands from across Italy, Catholics reflected on the loss
41:14
of one pope in the rise of another. I think
41:18
that he has some things about him that already appear
41:21
unique to his own spirituality, said Mike Kelsey thirty seven,
41:26
visiting from Spokanne, Washington, with his wife being Augustinian, you know,
41:32
kind of focusing on maybe what we think will be
41:36
some social Catholic teachings. But I also think that he
41:40
knows that in inertia from Pope francis to be continued,
41:44
and I would hope that's what the cardinals saw when
41:46
they elected him. Diego Mussella fifty six brought his mother,
41:53
Emilia s Bozito seventy nine to Leo's first blessing as
41:57
a Mother's Day present. It was too soon to gauge
42:01
the differences between the two popes, but noted that the
42:04
Augustinians and Jesuits are significantly different worlds. Whereas Francis right
42:12
away meant to portray himself as the puntaff for the people,
42:15
Leo has stressed the value of the Church, yoursella said.
42:20
He pointed out that Leo has dressed more like John
42:22
Paul the Second and Benedict the sixteenth. It's a statement
42:27
on the power and hegemony of the Church, Leo explained Saturday.
42:32
He had picked his name to honor the nineteenth century
42:36
Pope Leo the thirteenth, who addressed the social question in
42:40
the context of the First Great Industrial Revolution. He spoke
42:44
of promoting social justice at a time of similar upheaval
42:49
with the rise of technology and artificial intelligence, another point
42:53
on which he dovetails with Francis. Leo was also back
42:58
Francis's idea, the idea of inviting select lay people to
43:03
serve as voting members of the church's top decision making body.
43:07
Speaker 2: At Vatican Councils.
43:09
Speaker 1: It's among the legacies of France's that were most criticized
43:12
by traditionalist bishops and cardinals after his death. I think
43:16
the main similarity is their desire to continue the work
43:19
of the Second Vatican Council and to continue the progress
43:23
of sitonality, and also be a person who is with
43:26
people on the margins. The Reverend James Martin, an American
43:30
Jesuit who ministers to LGBTQ plus Catholics, said Sunday in
43:35
Saint Peter Square. I mean, those are clear connections with
43:40
Pope Francis, said Martin, whose ministry France's encouraged. But he's
43:47
his own man. He's not Francis Junior. He's Leo the
43:52
fourteenth and out of business. This Los Angeles port is
43:57
among the first casualties of Trump's trade war. From Los
44:02
Angeles on a sunny spring morning, when the Port of
44:05
Los Angeles should be a blur of activity, more than
44:09
half of the container ship berths here set empty. The
44:13
steel booms on dozens of towering ship to shore cranes
44:17
point idly to the sky. These are the front lines
44:22
of President Trump's trade war. The number of shipping containers
44:26
that arrived at the nation's top container port last week
44:30
was roughly one third lower than during the same period
44:33
last year, a sharper decline than during the depths of
44:37
the Great Recession. More than one fifth of the giant
44:40
ships that were scheduled to call in Los Angeles this
44:43
month have already canceled, and that number is expected to rise.
44:49
Trump's one hundred forty five percent tariffs on Chinese goods
44:53
and Beijing's triple digit retaliation are bringing a swift halt
44:58
to the trans Pacific flow of electronics, clothing, furniture, industrial parts,
45:04
and everything else that the world's two largest economies exchange.
45:10
I can't imagine our government spending another thirty days in
45:13
the current environment. I don't think it's sustainable. I don't
45:17
think the consumer is going to be able to put
45:19
up with it. I'm not sure there's going to be
45:22
enough on the shelves for people to buy in another
45:25
sixty or ninety days, said Joseph Grigorio, Junior chief operating
45:31
officer of the Pacific Companies, provider of trucking, storage, and
45:35
cargo handling services. As US and Chinese negotiators met in
45:40
Switzerland over the weekend for talks aimed at cooling the
45:43
trade tensions. Dock workers were working fewer hours. Truckers who
45:49
haul containers full of goods to and from the port
45:52
have become handing their keys to the bank rather than
45:55
making payments on surplus vehicles. After rising in a rule
46:00
by about five and a half percent, LA's container imports
46:04
this month are expected to plunge by twenty five percent.
46:08
The abrupt adjustment playing out here offers a glimpse of
46:12
the costs involved in moving from a global trading system
46:16
that the president says routinely cheated Americans to the golden
46:21
age he promises. Trump's vision of a more self sufficient
46:26
economy imagines must lets importing and much more manufacturing, says
46:31
Mark muro A, senior Feelings at the Brookings Institute. If
46:36
all of this does play out, it is a pronounced
46:39
geographical implications. Bluer coastal areas receive more of the pain
46:45
and the redder areas benefit from factory building. If Trump
46:50
persists in trying to remake the US economy into a
46:54
bastion of self sufficiency, port communities will see growth prospects.
46:59
Identity here and in such places as Seattle, Houston, Savannah, Georgia, Baltimore,
47:06
and New York. One out of nine jobs in a
47:10
five country Southern California region is tied to the flow
47:13
of cargo. According to Jeane Soroca, executive director of the
47:18
Port of Los Angeles, that's more than one million people,
47:22
including freight four warders, brokers, warehouse workers, truck drivers and
47:28
dock workers. Brandy Good is the third generation of her
47:32
family to work on the docks. As vice president of
47:36
Local thirteen of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the
47:41
twenty year veteran sees the cargo slow down rippling through
47:44
the ranks. We are feeling the impact. It's already happening,
47:49
she said. First to see their hours cut are the casuals,
47:54
the on call workers who do not have guaranteed schedules
47:58
under the union contract. Full time dock workers are guaranteed
48:02
some pave and when there's no work, but now some
48:06
are working fewer shifts or lower paying jobs than they
48:10
normally perform. On Friday, there was enough work only for
48:14
thirty three long short gangs, down from fifty in mid April.
48:19
The gang sizes vary but generally include about twelve workers.
48:24
Sal Di Costanzo the union's port liaison, with eighteen years
48:28
on the docks, said workers hope to stay busy during
48:31
the current slowdown, performing equipment maintenance. But the uncertainty is
48:36
taking a toll. It gets quieter, and the quieter it
48:40
gets higher, the anxiety will be and we honestly don't
48:46
know when this will end, he said. Trump so far
48:49
has shown a little sympathy for those affected by the
48:52
port slowdown. Last week, he called it a good thing,
48:55
not a bad thing, since it means less of the
48:58
unfair trade with China that he says has hollowed out
49:02
American manufacturing.
49:05
Speaker 2: At least for now.
49:06
Speaker 1: Trump's tariffs are acting like a tourniquet on the flow
49:08
of goods from China's factories to Americans customers. For the
49:12
first time since China joined the global trade system in
49:14
twenty oh one, Americans are not buying large quantities of
49:19
inexpensive made in China merchandise. Chinese export factories still hum,
49:26
but increasingly their products go to customers in Europe, Southeast Asia,
49:31
and Africa rather than in the United States. Total Chinese
49:36
exports in April rose by eight percent compared with one
49:39
year ago, while shipments to the ISS fell twenty one percent.
49:43
Without an early trade war armistice, the economic casualties here
49:48
will mount. The President suggested Friday that he might lower
49:52
taxes on Chinese imports, which was still punishing eighty percent,
49:56
but that is still too high for major imports to
49:59
resume normal orders. Despite a recent rush to bring imported
50:04
goods into the United States before tariffs took hold, retailer's
50:08
inventories relative to their sales are lower now than on
50:12
the eve of the pandemic. That suggests stores could run
50:17
short of some products within weeks. One importer of sophisticated
50:23
audio equipment has ordered its Chinese supplier to halt shipments
50:28
and hopes that Trump will cancel the one hundred and
50:30
forty five percent levies tariffs on the goods that have
50:34
accumulated at the Chinese factory, with top one million dollars,
50:38
a crippling burden the small business, according to its chief executive,
50:43
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter,
50:46
saying that he feared retaliation by the Trump administration. The
50:51
company has already raised its retail price and shrunk its
50:55
profit margin. The executive said he supports Trump's goal of
51:00
bringing manufacturing work back to the United States, but it's
51:04
impossible to quickly shift production to a country like India
51:07
or Vietnam. This is the type of thing that takes
51:11
years to do. The supply chain has to be created
51:14
first before forcing companies to replace their current offshore supply chains,
51:19
he said. Even if Trump negotiates away the highest trade
51:24
killing taxes, mini analysts and executives expect his ten percent
51:29
universal tariff will be permanent. The Chinese goods that make
51:33
up nearly half of the merchandise arriving in LA are
51:37
likely to face higher levies. Though no one can predict
51:41
with any confidence just how high global trade slows so
51:46
to economies, and seventy percent of this economy is based
51:50
on you and me buying that will slow as well,
51:55
said Siroca, the port director. All four of greg business lines, trucking, equipment, leasing,
52:02
maintenance and cargo storage and Steve adoring are down by
52:06
roughly thirty percenty SID, the Long Beach, California company, started
52:11
by his father, Joe Senior in nineteen ninety as whether
52:15
numerous economic downturns and supply chain disruptions, but this episode
52:21
forged by government policy, is different. This is not something
52:26
we were expecting. We're in a tough spot right now,
52:30
Gregorio sid a few miles from the port. There's evidence
52:35
at Waterfront Logistics of the status that spreading through the
52:39
supply chain, unused trailer chassis or stacked high in the yard,
52:44
not far from several hundred shipping containers full of merchandise
52:48
which a major retailer is paying the store here rather
52:52
than clear it through customs and incur exorbitant import taxes.
52:57
Inside his command posts, Western Bar, the company's chief strategy officer,
53:03
gestures towards a wall mounted monitor displaying a continually updated
53:09
tallly of the number of shipping containers on his eighty
53:12
five acre site one thousand, five hundred and sixty four.
53:17
That tells me we're slow, he said. Normally there would
53:21
be around three thousand metal boxes in the yard with
53:24
constant new arrivals and departures. Waterfront is a third party
53:29
logistics company that operates a trucking fleet, warehouse and translating
53:34
facility labar In recent weeks, has diversified his customer base,
53:40
increasing his chances of emerging from the current slump unscathed.
53:44
His six hundred thousand square foot warehouse holds massive coils
53:49
of steel, palettes of Chinese solar panels and bottled water,
53:54
and fewer consumer goods. He is frustrated by the difficulty
53:58
of forecasting where the trade wore is headed. When you
54:02
don't know if it's going to be a two week thing,
54:05
a two month thing, a six month thing, a year
54:08
long thing, a horror foreverthing, it's a little bit more difficult. Guys,
54:14
we kind of the tail and the dog is the porty,
54:17
said some freight businesses. Trump's flurry of import taxes has
54:23
aggravated an already difficult environment. Competition among trucking firms that
54:28
service deports has become a specially cut throat. Rates in
54:33
many cases are almost unchanged from a decade ago. A
54:37
number of smaller trucking companies recently filed for bankruptcy. According
54:41
to Freight Waves and Industry publication, the stock values of
54:46
major trucking companies like JB. Hunt and Schneider National have
54:51
lost more than twenty percent this year. At TGS Logistics,
54:55
a trucking firm based in Fresno, California, Robert Lawyer, the
55:00
chief operating officer, has laid off twenty drivers and six
55:04
office workers in the past three months. Unless cargo volume
55:08
is rebound soon, he fears he will need to let
55:11
more people go to conserve cash. TGS abandoned the purchase
55:17
of more than two dozen, two hundred and fifty thousand
55:19
dollars trucks and is considering outsourcing some back office jobs
55:24
to nations such as Columbia, as many of its competitors
55:28
already have done.
55:30
Speaker 2: Right now, we're hurting.
55:32
Speaker 1: It could be three to six month hurt, and hopefully
55:35
then in the long run, yes, the intended goal comes
55:38
to fruition, Oeo said, but in the meantime we have
55:43
to figure out how to survive. And finally, Trump Putin
55:47
to talk as Ukraine Europe pushed for immediate seas fire
55:52
ahead of a highly anticipated money phone call between President
55:55
Trump and Russian President Putin to discuss ending the war.
56:00
Sushia bombarded Ukraine with nearly four hundred drones over the
56:03
weekend and what many say is the sign of Russia's
56:06
hardline approach. Monday's planned conversation follows a flurry of diplomacy
56:11
over the weekend as Ukrainian and European officials sought to
56:15
convince the Trump administration of the need for an immediate,
56:18
unconditional ceasefire and to ramp up pressure on Russia to
56:23
take serious steps toward peace. Trump has framed the peace
56:28
agreement as a negotiation primarily between Moscow and Washington, raising
56:33
concerns that the two leaders could agree on a deal
56:35
that suits Russia but fails to protect Ukrainian security and independence,
56:40
setting the scene for a future Russian invasion. On Friday,
56:46
Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks since the
56:49
early weeks of the war, but aside from a prisoner swap,
56:53
they agreed only to continue negotiation over a possible seasefire.
56:59
Trump endorsed the but then diminished their importance before they began,
57:03
clearing that nothing would be resolved till he and Putin
57:07
spoke directly. I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether
57:11
you like it or not, until he and I get together,
57:14
he told reporters last week. Despite concessions from the Trump administration,
57:19
Putin has repeatedly brushed off pressure for an unconditional thirty
57:24
day ceasefire, and Ukraine has prepared for the likelihood that
57:27
Putin would continue to drag out the process, pushing for
57:31
conditions that Kiev sees as unacceptable. Ukrainian official said, we
57:37
have conveyed to the American side and we are convinced
57:40
that this is true. That Ukraine has taken far more
57:44
real steps toward peace than Russia, a Ukrainian official familiar
57:48
with the negotiation said Monday. He said the phone call
57:52
was an important attempt to reinvigorate the peace process. And
57:57
this concludes the reading of the Washington Post for to day, Monday,
58:00
May nineteenth. You're a reader for today has been Rod Brotherton.
58:04
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions concerning this program,
58:08
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
58:11
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening,
58:15
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
58:20
on Radio I