Transcript

4.8.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for April eighth.
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As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
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people who are blind or have other disabilities that make
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it difficult to read printed material. Your reader for today
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is Chris Greco. Today's front page headlines from The Washington
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Post are strike on playground shatters a city. Russian attack
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on Crivia Writh is the worst against children since it
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launched its full scale war. Trump opened to tariff deals,
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but no delay threatens new duties As China responds. CEO's
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boosters express doubts over trade war. Pundits, GOP legislators among
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Trump allies beginning to speak out. High Court lifts hold
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on Venezuelan deportations, but the justices also say detainees must
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be given due process rights. As social secure site crashes,
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doze slashes, Musk's team pushes to downsize the agency's IT
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staff amid tech issues, this time a muted Miasle's response.
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The first article from the front page of today's edition
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is entitled A Russia strike on a playground leaves Zelenski's
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hometown in anguish, by Lizzie Johnson and Serhil Korochuk. The
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priests arrived at the children's playground with a teddy bearer,
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swinging incense and chanting the names of the nine children
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who died here on Friday. Timofi Tavestuk, the three year
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old who loved hunting for ladybugs, Oleina Kutsenko and Daniel Nikositsi,
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fifteen year olds who had just started dating, telling their
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friends that it was serious armand triplets, a nine year
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old who had recently presented a book report at a
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school on one of his favorite reads about a fantastical
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land for children. Only to enter they had to sacrife
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some memory. Three days had passed since Russia struck the
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playground of the ballistic missile, killing twenty people, among them
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nine children in injuring ninety and what the United Nations
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Commissions on Human Rights said was the worst attack on
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juvenile since the beginning of Russia's full scale invasion to
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crid by leaders around the world would happen here at
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first draw as a muted response to the United States
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u S Ambassador to Ukraine, bridget A. Brink, initially did
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not mention mention Russia's role in the strike, before changing
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course on Sunday, saying that the US stood in solidarity
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with Ukraine. Kre Free, the hometown of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky,
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had barely begun to mourn its dead when Moscow falsely
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claimed the attack was a successful strike on a quote
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military target, as medic zipped the bodies of children into bags.
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On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it had
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killed eighty five officers at a meeting between commanders of
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the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Western instructors at a restaurant.
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The Washington Post reviewed security footage from the restaurant near
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the park, which showed employees cleaning up after an afternoon
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beauty industry forum hosted by a local business association. No
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military members were present, the video shows, and local officials
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and witnesses said only civilians were killed. To compare that
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statement with the reality seeing the bodies of all the kids,
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said Zivana Tolmach, thirty six, who attended the beauty forum
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and was hospitalized for a serious head injury from the strike.
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It haunts me. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov doubled down on
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Russia's claims during a Monday news conference rushing off a
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question about whether Moscow might have made a mistake with
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inaccurate intelligence. I suggest that we focus here on the
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statements of our Ministry of Defense, Peskov said. Our military
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hits exclusively military and near military targets. On Monday morning,
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the priest stood in the damp spring grass a soccer
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balls kick away from where the missile buried five feet
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burrowed five feet into the earth, and prayed for the
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strike's victims. They included seven year old Ratislavatsko, who was
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sitting in the back seat of his parents car near
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the playground with his ba sister, who survived, also killed
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with seven year old Arena Samadina, who was playing on
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the swings with her four year old cousin, who was
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undergoing her second life saving surgery. Ariana's grandfather, watching from
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a park bench, died as well. There are no words
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that we can find for families who lost the most
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sacred thing, said the head priest, Mercury Scorhoud to a
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gathering of neighbors bundled in winter coats and wool hats,
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faces drawn like a bitter april sky. His stepped past
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two ribbons of caution tape placing the teddy bear on
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the sandbox. The Iskander missile, launched from Russia's Tagarong region
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about two hundred and fifty miles away, reached the playground
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within minutes. Ukrainian authority said it exploded grenade sized bomblets
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in the showering the area with shrapnel and eviscerating everything
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in their path. Razor sharp shards of metals stripped back
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bark from the trees. They shattered windows, snapped the chains
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off the swing set, punctured corticized holes in the metal slide,
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and poundered holes in the pavement. And they sliced through
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small bodies, leaving blood stains in the sand by the
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merry go round. The hardest part is to explain to
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the parents that they don't have a kid anymore, said
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Nazar Mesura and an antithesiologist at a local hospital who
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treated so many victims after the strike that he knew
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them only by triage number, not name. The playground has
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become a repository for the city's grief. Every surface now
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covered in spring flowers, plush animals, candy bars, and toy cars.
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The teeter tutter tipped under the weight of gifts candles burned,
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the smell sweet and overpowering, as nearby neighbor sliced plywood
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to cover their gaping windows. A thirteen year old boy
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in a blue shirt hoodie pulled up over his brown
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hair a fist sized chunk of shrapnel from the soil
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to show his friends. Approaching the swing set, they pushed
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their fingers through the jagged holes in the metal frame. Already,
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neighbors were debating what would become of the playground. I
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think this place needs to be bulldozed, said vlad Eumicrin,
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a twenty nine year old medic who lives near by.
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He gripped his three year old daughter in his arms,
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her pink velcrow sneakers kicking into his side with a
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bouquet of flowers in his hand. Their long afternoons on
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the swing set were over another piece of her childhood
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lost to war. The cease fire is laughable, he added,
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They just want to destroy us. By Monday morning, third
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grade teacher and Ntelia Freelik still hadn't decided how to
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explain to her students why Hermann wouldn't be in classed
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that day. He was six years old when full scale
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war began nine when it ended his life. While the
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children had grown accustomed to violence, they weren't used to
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being targeted in the sandbox. Since January, Russia has struck
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their city twelve times, probably related to its proximity to
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the front lines, leaving thirty two people dead and one
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hundred and seventy three injured, including those killed. Friday, hours
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after the attack on the playground, drones killed another person,
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an injured seven and creevy re official said Felicks had
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spent hours texting with Hermann's classmates. They were struggling. She said.
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Three days of morning were set to begin the most
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Crievore has ever had, with the first funerals beginning that day.
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Some children were being buried together in joint memorials, including
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the fifteen year old couple, their open caskets side by
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side in the church. I'm very sad and scared, wrote
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one girl to Friedlik. He was a friend to me,
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said another. I don't know how to react, Freelich said,
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wondering if class should be canceled. Should I put an
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end to this? But I understand kids have to grieve
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in their own way. Ultimately, she didn't have to decide
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the air siren. The air alert siren again canceled. Class
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held in a bomb shelter beneath the school when it
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wasn't online. Felix's third floor classroom is no longer deemed safe.
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Hours later, once the threat had passed, the school held
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a special ceremony for the children and their parents to
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honor Herman and two of his schoolmates who had also
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died in the strike. The small white cloth table held
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portraits of the two boys and girl, nestled amide a
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cluster of bouquets. We are gathered here because of tragic
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events that happens on a sunny day like this, said
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Headmaster Andre Rogel. Russians are taking not only the best
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of our sons and daughters, but our future. After a
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moment of silence, children carried flowers to the memorial for
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other children, before returning to him to the arms of
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their mothers. Across Creevy ree, Hermann's family were preparing for
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their final goodbye. The boy who loved legos and roeblocks
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had been measured for his casket and dressed in nice clothes.
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When a person is born, you see how fragile life
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is in that moment, said his father, Valerie Tripple, those
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who start wars, they need to be present in these
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moments to see that vulnerability of human life. I was
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changed after the birth of my son. I changed my
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opinions on the world. I saw how he was born,
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and I saw how he died. He paused a washing grief.
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How do we go on? The next article from the
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front page of today's edition is titled Trump suggests openness
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to deals threatens new tariffs in China by Jeff Stein,
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Aaron greg and Taylor Telford. President Donald Trump on Monday
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signaled that he was open to cutting deals with countries
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around the world to yeize tariffs, partially stabilizing markets that
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had been rattled by an intensifying trade war. While Trump
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and many White House advisors continued to suggest there would
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be no quick and to new import duties, the President
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also fueled optimism that deals with individual countries could avert
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worst case economic scenarios. Major stock index has closed largely
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flat after sinking for several consecutive days since the White
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House unveiled major new tariffs last week. After a dizzying session,
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the S and P five hundred ended down just zero
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point two percent Monday, While the tech heavy in ASDAK
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Composite Index was barely positive, the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
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which contains just thirty stocks, closed down just shy up
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one percent. We're going to get fair deals and good
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deals with every country, and if we don't, we're going
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to have nothing to do with them, Trump said in
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a joint Oval Office appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
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Nett Yahoo. They're not going to be allowed to participate
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in the United States still, Trump and his advisors also
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gave numerous indications that the trade war could intensify before easing.
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The president rejected the idea of pausing tariffs before they
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were implemented to allow agreements to be reached. It's the
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only chance our country will have to reset the table,
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because no other president would be willing to do what
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I'm doing, or to even go through it, he said. Now,
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I don't mind going through it because I see a
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beautiful picture at the end. Through interviews in social media posts,
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Trump and his team made clear over the weekend and
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on Monday that there would be no speedy end to
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the import duties announced last week. Peter Navarro, a senior
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White House aide, dismissed conciliatory gestures by Vietnam as insufficient
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to reach a deal. The White House quickly shot down
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rumors on social media Monday that a delay in implementing
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the tariffs was under consideration, and Trump threatened additional fifty
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percent tariffs on China in response to the retaliatory measures
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introduced by Beijing, which would take duties on some Chinese
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made goods above one hundred percent. Over the weekend, he
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amplified claims on social media that he was intentionally crashing
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the stock market. Economists say lasting damage is likely unless
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Trump quickly reverses the measures he imposed last week, adding
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a ten percent tariff on all imports to the United
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States and much higher tax rates for goods from dozens
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of specific countries. All indications from the President and his
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advisors or that they are not down that is shocking
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given the performance of financial markets and imminent economic damage,
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said Michael Strain and economists at the American Enterprise Institute,
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a center right think tank. They will have to change
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course if they want to avoid severe economic damage and
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don't want to be wiped out in the twenty twenty
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six and twenty twenty eight elections. Some analysts have remained
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optimistic that the White House could still reach agreements with
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foreign trading partners, paving the way to lower tariffs. Trump
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said last week that tariffs give us great power to negotiate,
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and his advisors over the weekends stressed that more than
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fifty countries have reached out seeking deals. These messages have
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added to the overall economic confusion while also providing some
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hope for investors that the tariffs may prove short lived.
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It's really hard to see how we get out of this.
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But the silver lining is that these things were put
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on with a flip of a switch and can be
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taken off with the flip of a switch, said Scott Linsecombe,
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director of General economics at the Cato Institute, a center
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right think tank. That's really cold comfort for everyone right now.
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It's just uncertainty on steroids. At this point. The objective
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is totally unclear. Trump threatened the new fifty percent tariff
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for Chinese goods after Beijing on Friday matched the thirty
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four percent tax rate that Trump had announced for imports
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from China. The president said the higher total was a
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response to the retaliation if China does not withdraw its
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thirty four percent increase above their already long term trading
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abuses by tomorrow April eight, twenty twenty five. The United
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States will impose additional tariffs on China a fifty percent,
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effective April ninth, the President posted on truth Social Additionally,
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all talks with China concerning their requested meanings with US
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will be terminated. Other signs emerged Monday of intensifying trade hostilities.
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Vietnam offered to take its tariff barriers to zero, but
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Nabarro said such a move means nothing to us because
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the White House wants the country to address its non
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tariff cheating, which he identified as intellectual property theft and
13:59
other mechanisms. Trump announced a forty six percent reciprocal tariff
14:04
rate for Vietnam last week, using a formula that many
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economists say is badly flawed. Investors seeking conciliatory signs from
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the White House had their hopes dashed early. Stock condexes
14:16
suddenly rose in the morning on reports that Kevin Hasset,
14:19
a top Trump advisor, said that the White House would
14:22
consider a pause on all countries, but China markets quickly
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retreated yet again as it became clear that the speculation
14:28
was based on a Fox News interview in which Hassar
14:31
did not make that suggestion. The White House dismissed the
14:34
report as fake news. Markets fell after the administration clarified
14:38
has its comments, rose again and fell once more after
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the Trump Trump's Truth social post. The extraordinary voluntarity captured
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the unease on Wall Street. Stocks were facing another week
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of elevated uncertainty about tariffs, their duration, and the potential
14:55
far for more retaliation, said Carrol Schleife, chief market strate
15:00
at them Private Wealth in Minneapolis. She noted that investors
15:04
are puzzling through what makes sense under new teriff regimes.
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While the past few days in marks have been unsettling,
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market readjustments to unexpected events are often swift and brutal
15:14
as traders search for a new floor and work new
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information into their models, Shlief said Monday in comments email
15:20
to The Washington Post. This current volatility was exacerbated since
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stocks were trading at record highs and elevated valuations back
15:28
in February. Heading into this market correction, Trading volume on
15:33
the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday and Friday was
15:35
about eighty percent higher than the daily background. According to
15:38
DC based stock analyst Michael Farr in April twenty twenty,
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by comparison, early in the coronavirus pandemic, trading volume was
15:46
forty percent higher. Tremor's continued Monday, as markets across the
15:50
Asia Pacific region and Europe traded sharply lower. The Hang
15:54
Sang Index in Hong Kong fell by thirteen point two percent,
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its worst one day plunged since nineteen nine twenty seven.
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Japan's benchmarked Nickay two hundred twenty five fell seven point
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eight percent, the lowest ince October of twenty twenty three.
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In Europe, Germany's dacks fell by nearly ten percent at
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the open before trimming losses, while the stocks six hundred
16:15
was down more than four percent. The CBOE Volatility Index,
16:20
known as Wall Street's fear gauge, climbed nearly seven percent
16:23
Monday to reach its highest level of volatility since twenty twenty.
16:28
Richard Sapristin, chief investment officer of Treasury Partners in New York,
16:32
attributed the swift and sudden market decline to investor efforts
16:35
to reprise amid and impending recession from the burden of tarofts.
16:41
The uncertainty of trading partner retaliation is still weighing on
16:44
the markets, Sapristine told the Post. Markets won't rebound until
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tariffs are negotiated and reduced, until valuations move even lower
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to very compelling levels, and until fundamentals improve, and none
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of these factors are in the cards at this time.
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Relief come from the Federal Reserve in the form of
17:02
emergency policy easing of economic conditions deteriorate and unemployment spikes,
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Sapristine noted, but the Central Bank faces a quandary due
17:12
to the rising inflationary pulse that could occur from tariffs.
17:16
Larry Tentarelli, Chief Technical Strategies for the Blue Chip Daily Report,
17:20
warned investors to keep more cash on the sidelines amid
17:23
the volatility. There was no real blueprint to model current
17:27
market conditions against, Tentarelli said in a note. As stocks
17:32
keeps slipping, Wall Street has begun pushing back on Trump's
17:35
economic agenda and his annual letter to shareholders. J P.
17:39
Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond warned that tariffs are likely
17:43
to increase inflation have led many to consider a greater
17:46
probability of a recession at a time when prices are
17:49
already elevated. He also cautioned that a trade war could
17:52
damage economic relationships that have been vital to the nation's
17:56
extraordinary standing of world affairs. Bill Ackman, a billion hedge
18:00
fund manager, called for a ninety day time out on
18:02
tariffs and an ex post over the weekend, arguing that
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waging economic war on the whole world at once could
18:08
destroy confidence in the United States as a trading partner,
18:12
as a place to do business, and as a market
18:14
to invest capital. There are early signs the stock tumult
18:18
is causing investors to reassess stakes and riskier assets, a
18:21
trend that could eventually make it more expensive for everyday
18:24
Americans and businesses to borrow money. On Friday, investors withdrew
18:29
one point three billion dollars from exchange traded funds holding
18:33
corporate loans with adjunk credit ratings, a record outflow, according
18:37
to JP Morgan Chase Research note. At the same time,
18:41
the spread, or difference in yield widened between junk bonds
18:45
and safe assets such as treasury securities. Junk spreads should
18:49
be considered the cannery in the coal mine, said Joseph
18:52
brucellis chief economist at RSM. Widening credit spreads are often
18:57
a harbender of a general credit crunch. If it were
19:00
to spill over into the real economy, would cause a recession.
19:05
The next article from the front page of today's edition
19:08
is titled Cracks Appear among Trump's Cheerleader's mid market Turmoil
19:14
by kat zak Ruski, Sarah Ellison and Theodoric Meyer. As
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the world reels from President Donald Trump's trade war, JP
19:24
Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond is alerting shareholders that the
19:27
talis will slow down growth. Podcaster Ben Shapiro is warning
19:31
that the president's vision of international trade is mistaken, and
19:35
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, is advising that the
19:38
tariff's strategy carries enormous risk. Trump's terrists are increasingly alienating
19:43
some of the corporate titans influencers in the even Republican
19:47
lawmakers who served as his boosters. As the president plows
19:51
ahead with a trade strategy that has prompted wild swings
19:54
in the markets, the criticism criticism is an early sign
19:58
that the economic turmoil caused by his trade war could
20:01
leave lasting political scars for Trump, who doubled down on
20:04
the strategy by threatening new tariffs against China on Monday morning.
20:09
The Chining marks our departure from the general acquiescence among
20:12
Trump's allies during the first two and a half months
20:14
of his shock and awe presidency. Influential leaders in many
20:18
spheres largely remained silent or cautiously supported the White House
20:22
as it slashed the federal workforce, strained alliances with Europe,
20:25
and unleashed an immigration crackdown during the first seventy days
20:28
in office. World leaders who have sought to appease Trump's
20:32
America First agenda amid wars in Ukraine and Gaza are
20:35
also coming to the negotiating table, as Israeli Prime Minister
20:39
Benjamin Natanniahu makes a last minute visit to the White
20:42
House amid the economic threats, and while Trump fields calls
20:45
from other worried heads of state. Trump appeared undeterred by
20:49
the public pressure on Monday, saying that he would not
20:52
pause the tariffs, but major stock indexes closed largely flat
20:55
after he suggested that he was open to striking deals
20:58
with countries seeking him mitigate the tariff fallout. We're going
21:02
to get fair deals and good deals with every country,
21:05
and if we don't, we're going to have nothing to
21:07
do with them, Trump said. The cracks and Trump's clout
21:10
were most visible in corporate America, as the executives who
21:14
once touted Trump's policies as good for business raced to
21:17
measure the impact of the tariffs on their portfolios and
21:20
supply chains. Executives who sounded the alarm on Trump's plans
21:24
for tariffs during his final first term had minimized the
21:27
impact of the duties during the early weeks of his administration. Diamond,
21:32
widely viewed as one of the most influential leaders on
21:35
Wall Street, told CNBC in January that the terroriffs were
21:38
a valuable economic weapon and to quote, get over it.
21:42
But on Monday, he used his influential Annual Shareholder's Letter
21:45
to warn that Trump's menus of levies would result in
21:48
inflationary outcomes both on imports and prices in the United States.
21:53
The recent terrorists will likely increase inflation and are causing
21:56
many to consider a greater probability of a recession, he wrote.
22:00
Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager who endorsed Trump
22:03
after the July assassination attempt, wrote on ex on Sunday
22:07
that going ahead with the new tariffs was tantamount to
22:10
launching an economic nuclear war. He pressed the White House
22:13
to slow down an institute a pause on the levees.
22:17
This is not what we voted for, he wrote. On Friday,
22:20
Eli Lily CEO David Rix delivered a grim assessment of
22:23
the impact of Trump's tariffs on corporate America, warning that
22:26
companies would probably have to slash research or staff. It's
22:30
a pivot in nuance policy, and it feels like it'll
22:33
be hard to come back from here, he said during
22:35
an interview Friday with the BBC. His tone was starkly
22:39
different from the optimistic disposition in late February when he
22:42
joined with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other top administration
22:46
officials in Washington to announce that Eli Lilly would invest
22:49
at least twenty seven billion dollars in expanding manufacturing in
22:52
the United States. Some CEOs are breaking their silence after
22:56
largely betting that the Trump White House would be good
22:59
for business. Many CEOs have been wared to criticize any
23:03
of the president's policies for fear that they would lose
23:05
their seats at the table or become a target for
23:07
the President's attacks, just as law firms, universities, and other
23:11
institutions have done. Last week, major trade groups, including the
23:15
National Association of Manufacturers, criticized Trump's trade policies as companies
23:20
sought power and numbers in voicing their concerns to the
23:23
Trump administration. Trade associations speaking up as a toe in
23:27
the water, said one industry lobbyist, who spoke on the
23:30
condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the discussions. Tesla's CEO,
23:35
Elon Musk, one of Trump's top advisers, broke with Trump's strategy,
23:39
saying at an event Saturday they had hoped to see
23:41
a zero tariff situation between North America and Europe. He
23:45
also took swipes at Trump's trade advisor Pina Navarro, who
23:48
has been a key advocate for the tariffs. A PhD
23:52
in econ from Harvard is a bad thing, not a
23:54
good thing. Results in the ego brains is part one problem,
24:00
Musk wrote. In one post. He also wrote that Lutnik's
24:03
defense of tariffs on uninhabited islands was funny, adding a
24:06
smiley emoji. Many of Trump's other surrogates and industry have
24:10
been notably silent as the stock market slides. Venture capitalist
24:15
Marc Andreesen, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and other business leaders
24:19
who endorsed Trump for president have not commented on the tariffs,
24:22
after previously boosting Trump's economic policy throughout the campaign and
24:28
the early weeks of his presidency. A cohort of podcasters
24:31
and online influencers have helped boost Trump to their millions
24:34
of followers, but in recent days some of them began
24:37
to lash out. Shapiro, who initially supported Florida Governor Ron
24:42
DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary before switching his support
24:46
to Trump, spent much of his recent episodes highlighting the
24:49
flaws in Trump's tariff push to his audience. The President's
24:53
vision of international trade is, I'm sorry to say, mistaken,
24:57
he said this week on The Ben Shapiro Show. So
25:00
this is a massive tax increase on American consumers. That's
25:04
what this is, and it is designed to be so,
25:06
he said, adding that it is probably unconstitutional, one of
25:10
the biggest tax increases on consumers in history, which he
25:14
said was predicated on a bad idea of how international
25:16
trade works. The emerging criticism had not been limited to tariffs.
25:23
Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host who endorsed Trump on
25:27
the eve of the election, called the administration error in
25:30
inadvertently deporting legal immigrants horrific. The thing is, like, you
25:35
got to get scared that people who are not criminals
25:38
were getting like lassoedop and deported and sent to like
25:41
El Salvador prisons, Rogan said on a recent podcast episode.
25:46
Rogan was referring to Andre Jose Hernandez Romero, a Venezuelan
25:50
makeup artist who was deported to El Salvador after the
25:52
Trump administration identified him as a trend des Arguis gang
25:56
member through his tattoos, which family members have said have
26:00
nothing to do with the gang. Rogan had already derided
26:03
Trump's fight with Canada. This is so ridiculous. I can't
26:07
believe that there's like anti American, an anti Canadian sentiment
26:12
going on, he said. I think it's ridiculous, and I
26:15
don't really think they should be our fifty first state,
26:17
he added. Barstools Sports founder Dave Portney criticized the tariff's
26:22
and a video recorded last week, Portneuf Fortney Portnoy a
26:27
supporter of Trump, said that he has down seven million
26:29
bucks in stocks and crypto and it's tariff city. Trump
26:33
has put his terraffs all over the place. I've been
26:35
trying to understand them. I don't like it's more like
26:38
a trade deficit tariff. Senate Republicans, including Trump allies and critics,
26:43
have grown increasingly concerned about the tariffs Trump announced Wednesday.
26:47
As the stock market dived, people are going to panic
26:50
of this continues, and they're in a bit of a
26:52
panic now, said Kevin Kramer, Republican of North Thepe North Dakota,
26:58
describing the mood among center rep Republicans. Still concerns about
27:02
the tariffs haven't led Trump supporters to sour on him yet,
27:05
he said. If the tariffs start hurting individuals and they
27:09
start feeling not hurt in substantial ways, even Donald Trump's
27:12
strongest supporters may second guess, Kramer said, but I don't
27:16
think we're at the second guessing stage yet. Cruz, another
27:20
Trump loyalist, warned that Trump's tariff's strategy carries enormous risks.
27:24
I love President Trump, the senator from Texas, said Friday
27:27
on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, I am his
27:31
strongest supporter in the Senate. I think he's doing incredible
27:34
things as president. But here's one thing to understand. A
27:37
tariff is a tax, and it is attaxed principally on
27:40
American consumers. Even as Republican senators worried about Trump's tariffs, though,
27:46
fifty one of them voted Saturday morning for a budget
27:48
framework that would allow them to start drafting his top
27:51
legislative priority, a big, beautiful bill to cut taxes and
27:55
increased border funding. Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louis, said
28:00
he would vote yes in part because of the economic
28:03
uncertainty caused by Trump's tarots. The stock market has had
28:06
two successive days of greater than fifteen hundred points decline,
28:09
Cassidy said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.
28:12
This kind of crashing stock market creates uncertainty, which makes
28:15
companies less likely to invest, which makes it less likely
28:18
than new jobs will be created. The next article from
28:23
the front page of today's edition is titled Supreme Court
28:26
lifts hold on Venezuelan deportations to El Salvador for now
28:30
by Justin Juvenal and Anne E. Marimo. A divided Supreme
28:35
Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration
28:37
to use a controversial wartime authority to deport alleged members
28:41
of a Venezuelan gang, but said detainees must first have
28:44
an opportunity to challenge their deportations. The five to four
28:48
rulings did not touch on the underlying legal questions about
28:51
the government's use of the Alien Enemies Act, one of
28:54
the most high profile and contentious immigration enforcement actions so
28:58
far in President Donald Trump's second term. Instead, the majority
29:01
of ruling that the five Venezuela and immigrant immigrants who
29:04
challenged the policy did so in the wrong court, leaving
29:09
open the possibility that those targeted for deportation could refile
29:12
their case in Texas or other jurisdictions where they are detained.
29:17
The detainees are confined to Texas, so venue is improper
29:21
in the District of Columbia, the justices wrote of the
29:24
challenge in U S District Court in DC. As a result,
29:28
the government is likely to succeed on the merits of
29:31
this action. The ruling said detainees are entitled to notice
29:34
within a reasonable time frame and must have an opportunity
29:37
to challenge their removal. Including the government's use of the
29:41
Wartime Act. The decision appears to take the central legal
29:46
issue of the case away from Judge James E. Busberg
29:48
of U. S. District Court in Washington, whose temporary restraining
29:52
order blocking the deportations prompted impeachment calls from Trump and
29:57
his allies and triggered a showdown between the p president
30:00
and the Judiciary. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Junior and
30:04
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Junior, Neil M. Gore Sutch,
30:08
and Brent M. Kavanaugh were in the majority on the ruling.
30:12
Kavanaugh defended their decision in a brief statement, saying the
30:15
majority's disagreement with the other four justices is not over
30:18
whether the deteenees received judicial review of their transfers. All
30:22
nine members of the court agreed that judicial review is available.
30:25
The only question is where that judicial reviews should occur.
30:29
The court's three liberal justices forcefully dissented, joined in part
30:33
by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The liberals warned of potential
30:38
life or death consequences from the majority's order and criticized
30:41
their colleagues, saying the ruling flouts well established limits creates
30:45
new law on the emerging doctet emergency doctet, and it
30:49
leads the serious threat our intervention poses to the lives
30:54
of individual deteenings. They emphasize that the court's order on
30:58
Monday means the government cannot again and usher any detainees
31:01
onto planes in a shroud of secrecy and without a hearing,
31:05
as it did on March fifteenth, Nor can the government
31:08
immediately resume in removing individuals without notice, wrote Justice Sonya Sodemayer,
31:13
joined by Justices Elaine Kagan, to Tanji Brown, Jackson and Baron.
31:18
To the extent the government removes even one individual without
31:21
affording him notice and a meaningful opportunity to contest a
31:24
planned deportation, she added, it does so indirect contravention of
31:29
an edict by the United States Supreme Court. Trump last
31:33
month declared the presence of the Venezuelan trende a gang
31:36
in the United States, an invasion and invoked the seventeen
31:39
ninety eight Alien Enemies Act, which is aimed at removing
31:42
citizens of a nation with which the United States is
31:45
at war. The government then rushed to deport Venezuelans to
31:48
a notorious mega prison in al Salvador using the Wartime
31:52
Act to justify sending deportees to a country where they
31:56
are not citizens. Bosburg halted the deportations and re response
32:00
to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties a
32:03
liberties union, which said Trump can't invoke the Act to
32:06
the port Venezuelans because the United States is not at
32:09
war with the country. They called the president's use of
32:11
the Act unprecedented. The Act was meant solely to address
32:15
military hostilities directed at the United States, not criminal activity
32:19
by a gang during peacetime. ACLU attorneys wrote in a filing,
32:24
But more than one hundred and thirty Venezuelans were removed
32:26
on the same day. Vosburg issued his order without advanced
32:29
notice or a chance to challenge the government's assertion that
32:33
they were part of the gang. US officials later acknowledged
32:37
that many of the deportees did not have criminal records
32:39
in the United States. Government attorneys called Bosberg's block on
32:44
such deportations while litigation continues as unconstitutional imposition on the
32:49
president's broad authority to deal with national security issues and
32:52
conduct foreign policy. They claimed the gang is operating in
32:56
the United States at the behest of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro,
33:00
an idea disputed by government intelligence agencies. This case presents
33:04
fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national
33:08
security related operations in this country, the president or the judiciary.
33:13
Acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris wrote in court filings,
33:17
the constitution supplies a clear answer the president. The Republic
33:21
cannot afford a different choice. Homeland Security Secretary Christy L.
33:27
Noam celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling in the social media
33:30
post Monday evening President Trump was proven right once again.
33:34
Scotus confirms our commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump has
33:39
the power to stop the invasion of our country by
33:41
terrorists using wartime powers. Leave now, or we will arrest you,
33:45
lock you up, and deport you, she wrote. The ACLU
33:50
called the justices ruling that migrants are entitled to challenge
33:53
the government's claim that they are gang member is a
33:55
huge victory. We are disappointed that we will need to
33:58
start the court process over again in a different venue,
34:01
but the critical point is that the Supreme Court said
34:03
individuals must be given due process to challenge their removal
34:06
under the Alien Enemies Act. Lead ACLU attorney Lee Gallerant
34:12
said in a statement. Jackson also wrote separately from the
34:16
other liberals, sharply criticizing the majority for handling a complex
34:20
matter through the court's emergency docket rather than with the
34:23
usual lengthy briefing. In oral argument, she invoked the Court's
34:27
infamous decision during World War II to allow the end
34:30
tournament of thousands of Japanese immigrants in Japanese American citizens,
34:34
and said Trump is leaning on a century's old wartime
34:37
statute to risk people away to a notoriously brutal foreign
34:41
run prison. For lovers of liberty, this should be quite concerning.
34:45
With more and more of our most significant rulings taking
34:48
place in the shadows of our emergency docket, today's court
34:51
leaves less and less of a trace, Jackson wrote, But
34:54
make no mistake, we are just as wrong now as
34:56
we have been in the past, with similarly devastating consequences.
35:00
It just seems we are now less willing to face it.
35:04
The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times three
35:07
other times in the nation's history, and only during war time,
35:10
including World War II, when it was used to hold
35:13
tens of thousands of people, including U. S. Citizens of
35:15
Japanese descent. A three judge panel on the US Court
35:19
of Appeals for the d C's Circuit upheld Bosberg's pause
35:22
on deportations two to one, emphasizing that it was a
35:25
temporary decision and not the final word on the legality
35:28
of Trump's use of the Act. Bosberg called the Trump
35:31
administration's use of the Act problematic and concerning. He also
35:36
questioned whether Trump officials purpurposely defied his March fifteenth order
35:41
blocking deportations under the Act when he told the government
35:45
it should return any planes already carrying deportees from the
35:48
United States. Trump officials have since said the Venezuelans who
35:52
were deported under the Act were beyond u S air
35:55
space at the time of Bosburg's order and therefore could
35:58
not be returned. Al Salvador's president, Naive Bukell, who agreed
36:03
to jail the deportees in exchange for payment from the
36:05
United States, appeared to celebrate their arrival in his country
36:08
in the wake of Bosberg's ruling UPSI too Late, Mukelly
36:12
posted on x with a crying from laughter emoji and
36:15
an image of a newspaper headline above about the order.
36:19
The case also spurred Republicans on Capitol Hill to seek
36:22
ways to reign in federal judges who put temporary blocks
36:26
on many of Trump's initiatives while lawsuits challenging their legality proceed.
36:31
Representative darryl Issa, a Republican of California, said in opening
36:36
remarks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that it was
36:39
a major problem when a judge believes that he can
36:41
order a full plane of criminal aliens back to US soil,
36:45
essentially saying that two hundred years of statute is to
36:48
be overturned by his quick order. Democracy Forward, which is
36:52
representing the migrants along with the ACLU, said the Supreme
36:56
Court ruling affirms what we have long known. The Trump
36:59
administration acts it unlawfully when it removed people from this
37:02
nation with no process. We are disappointed at the court
37:06
sought to intervene in this matter at the preliminary stage
37:09
and before the district court could hear further argument. We
37:12
will continue to use all legal tools to protect our
37:14
clients and people across the nation from removal without process.
37:18
Sky Perryman, the group's president and chief executives, said in
37:22
a statement. The next article from the front page of
37:25
Today's edition is titled Social Security Website keeps Crashing as
37:30
DOGE demands cuts to it staff by Lisa Rain, Hannah Nattinson,
37:36
and Elizabeth Weskin. Retirees and disabled people are facing chronic
37:41
website outages and other access problems as they attempt to
37:44
log in to their online Social Security accounts, even as
37:48
they are being directed to do more of their business
37:50
for the agency online. The website has crashed repeatedly in
37:54
recent weeks, with outages lasting anywhere from twenty minutes to
37:57
almost a day, according to six current and formal officials
38:00
with knowledge of the issues. Even when the site is
38:03
back online, many customers have not been able to sign
38:06
into their accounts or have logged in only to find
38:08
information missing. For others, access to the system has been slow,
38:12
requiring repeated tries to get in. The problems comes the
38:16
Trump administration's cost cutting team, led by Alan Musk, has
38:20
imposed a downsizing that's led to seven thousand job cuts
38:23
and preparing to push out thousands more employees at an
38:26
agency that served seventy three million Americans. The new demands
38:30
from Musk's US DOGE service include a fifty percent cut
38:33
to the technology division. Responsible for the website and other
38:36
electronic access. Many of the network outages appear to be
38:40
caused by an expanded fraud check system imposed by the
38:43
DOGE team. Current and FORM officials said the technology staff
38:48
did not test the new software against a high volume
38:50
of users to see if the servers could handle the rush.
38:52
These officials said the technology issues have been particularly alarming
38:57
for some of the most vulnerable social security customers. For
39:00
almost two days last week, for example, many of the
39:03
seven point four million adults and children receiving monthly benefits
39:06
under the anti poverty program known as Supplemental Security Income,
39:10
or SSI, confronted a jarring message that claimed they were
39:14
currently not receiving payments. Agency officials acknowledged in an internal
39:18
email of staff. The error messages set off widespread panic
39:22
until recipients discovered that their monthly checks had still been
39:26
deposited in their bank accounts. Another breakdown disabled the SSI
39:30
system for much of the day on Friday, prompting claimed
39:34
staff to cancel appointments because they could not enter new
39:36
disability claims in the system, and blocking some already receiving
39:40
benefits from gaining access to their accounts. Social Securities response
39:45
has been oops, said Darcy Milburn, director of Social Security
39:48
and health care Policy at the arc A National Security,
39:53
a national nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities. The
39:57
group filled dozens of calls last week from nervous clients
39:59
who saw the inaccurate message and assume their monthly check,
40:02
usually paid on the front first of the month, would
40:05
not arrive. It's woefully insufficient when we're talking about a
40:08
government agency that's holding someone's lifeline in their hands. Milburn said.
40:13
The disruptions are occurring as Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek and
40:16
the Doze team moved to layoff large swaths of the
40:20
workforce in a new phase of downsizing. Thousands of employees
40:24
already have been pushed out, many in customer facing roles,
40:27
others with expertise, and the agency's cumbersome technology systems. At
40:32
least eight hundred of the three thousand employees left in
40:34
the division that manages all of the Social Security databases
40:38
face layoffs, a senior official set on Friday, the newly
40:42
named Chief Information Officer, Scott Colter, a MUSC aligned private
40:45
equity analyst, has demanded a cut of fifty percent. The
40:48
official said. The network outages are won in a cascade
40:52
of blows to customer service that have also hobbled phone
40:55
systems and field office operations. As the workforce shrinks, a
41:00
surgeon visitors to the website is overwhelming the computer systems
41:03
as customers nervous that the rapid changes that the agency
41:06
will compromise their benefits, download their benefit in earning statements,
41:10
and attempt to file claims. President Donald Trump has said
41:14
that his administration will were not reduce Social Security benefits.
41:18
The chaos could accelerate starting April fourteenth, when new identification
41:22
measures are set to take effect that will require millions
41:25
of customers applying for benefits to authenticate their identity online,
41:29
part of the administration's campaign to root out allegedly fraudulent claims.
41:35
We're just spiking like crazy, said one senior official, who,
41:38
like others in this article, spoke on the condition of
41:40
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about
41:44
agency operations. It's people who are terrified that dog is
41:48
messing with our systems. It's the sheer mass of volume
41:51
freaked out people. The Social Security Press Office said in
41:54
a statement that officials are actively investigating the root cause
41:57
of the incidents, which they called brief death disruptions, averaging
42:01
about twenty minutes each, with the exception of the SSI
42:03
error message, but on several occasions, including during an outage
42:08
last Monday, customers were shut out of the website for hours.
42:11
The system was back online last Monday after two hours,
42:14
but lingering issues lasted throughout the afternoon while all backlog
42:18
queries were processed. Current and former officials said, and a
42:24
system upgrade on Saturday in late March took several hours
42:28
longer than anticipated and un knocked out the network three times.
42:32
In a recent ten days stretch, the online systems the
42:35
field office staff rely on to serve the public have crashed,
42:38
said one employee in an Indiana office. The down programs
42:42
included tools employees used to schedule visits, to see who
42:46
has booked an appointment, and to check who has arrived.
42:48
The employee said. It is unheard of for the system
42:51
to fail this often, and each outage has led to chaos.
42:54
They said. Suddenly forced offline as they were taking claims,
42:58
the staff members scribbled down client information then had to
43:01
wait until later to load it into the computer, doubling
43:04
or tripling the amount of time in work involve the
43:06
employee said. In other instances, managers or security guards improvised
43:11
a solution after the online scheduling system failed. The employee
43:15
said they walked out to the reception area, wrote down
43:18
numbers on paper slips, and started handing them out to
43:21
people waiting in line. The network crashes appear to be
43:24
caused by an expansion initiated by the Trump team of
43:27
an existing contract with a credit reporting agency that tracks names, addresses,
43:31
and other personal information to verify customer's identities. The enhanced
43:36
fraud checks were now done earlier in the claims process
43:39
and have resulted in a boost in the volume of
43:41
customers who must pass the checks, but the technology staff
43:45
did not test the software against the high volume of
43:48
users to see if the servers could handle the rush.
43:51
Current and former official set connectivity issues and bugs with
43:55
the expanded system have caused the portal that manages logins
43:57
and authentication for many Social security applications to go down,
44:01
Officials said at a Weekly Operations meeting on March twenty eighth.
44:05
It was made public last week. Wayne Lemon, Deputy Chief
44:09
Information Officer for Infrastructure and IT Operations, acknowledged the network
44:13
crashes and said while they had been brief, we prefer
44:16
no outages. He said the outages were under investigation and
44:20
may involve challenges we've experienced with a number of partners.
44:23
Part of the problem may be that the outages have
44:25
occurred during high volumes use of the network. Is there
44:30
a spike in demand or something in the environment causing
44:32
the issues, Lemon said Customers, Meanwhile, they're growing more frustrated.
44:37
In Upland, California, seventy two year old Kathy's Stetcher and
44:41
began trying to apply for retirement benefits more than a
44:44
week ago. One of her first steps was to visit
44:46
the Social Security website to book a required appointment at
44:49
her local field office because she believed she had to
44:52
authenticate her identity and purpose in person first. But over
44:56
several days stretching from last month through Wednesday, the website
45:00
wouldn't let Stetcher's schedule a visit. The site displayed a
45:03
small bar reading make an appointment, she said, but whenever
45:06
she clicked on it, nothing happened. When she finally reached
45:10
someone on the phone, the website's booking tool wasn't working,
45:12
she said. The employees sighed and told her that similar
45:16
problems had become routine, forcing customers to wait on hold
45:19
for hours. So much was changing so fast that the agency,
45:22
the employee said. In recent weeks, Robert Renilo, sixty seven,
45:27
retired financial analyst in New York, found himself stuck when
45:31
he tried to update his emergency contact by designating his
45:35
niece instead of his wife, who has dementia. Since he
45:38
began receiving retirement benefits five years ago, Niolo has never
45:43
missed a payment or had trouble getting online. He said
45:46
that this time he got an error message and kept
45:48
getting them bad request When read one notification, according to
45:52
a screenshot he provided to The Washington Post, there has
45:56
been an unexpected system error. Read another. He was directed
45:59
to try again during regular service hours on the East Coast.
46:03
So Randi Yellow kept trying three to five times a
46:06
day every day for the next five days. He tried
46:09
at different times. He tried using his phone instead of
46:11
his Chromebook. He tried different internet browsers, Chrome, Edge, Duck,
46:15
dot Go. Nothing worked. By last Monday evening, he still
46:19
had not managed to get into his account to change
46:21
his emergency contact. He has begun to imagine the worst.
46:25
What if something happens to him overnight, leaving his wife
46:28
the only person authorized to communicate with Social Security on
46:31
his behalf. She probably wouldn't know how to call nine
46:34
one one if he collapsed on the floor. Ranniello said.
46:37
She certainly wouldn't understand how to manage or consider financial matters.
46:42
If you were to call her right now, she wouldn't
46:44
know how to answer the phone. Ranniello said, That's why
46:47
it's so frustrating to me. I can't make a simple
46:49
transaction on the Social Security website. In Westborough, Massachusetts, outside Boston,
46:55
last Monday, Chris Hubbard checked the Facebook feed, where the
46:58
statewide community of parents of disabled children receiving SSI benefits
47:02
post news and information, and saw that a friend logging
47:05
into the Social Security website was notified that her child
47:09
was not receiving benefits. Hubbard and her husband Tom have
47:12
a profoundly autistic son. The monthly check to pay for
47:15
the group home where he where he lives, was ready
47:18
to go into the mail the next morning, the first
47:21
of the month, when his SSI check always hits his
47:23
bank accounts. When Hubbard logged in his son's account, also
47:27
showed no history of payments. My mind was racing, she recalled.
47:31
She envisioned going through the agonizing process of reapplying for
47:34
benefits for her son. She couldn't sleep and continued to
47:37
check the website until two point thirty am, same message.
47:41
On Tuesday, the check had finally been deposited by nine am,
47:44
but the message, now clearly in error, was still up
47:47
on the website that afternoon. The whole thing was very alarming,
47:50
Hubert said. The next article from the front page of
47:54
today's edition is titled Trump has faced measles before the
47:59
difference this time RFK JR. By Lauren Weber, Lena H's
48:04
son Finnet Naphel, and Rachel Rubin. Six years ago, as
48:11
measles outbreaks cropped up across the country, President Donald Trump
48:15
was asked what parents should do. They have to get
48:18
the shots, He said, the vaccinations are so important. On Sunday,
48:23
Trump was asked about the growing measles outbreak in Texas
48:25
and New Mexico. In so far a fairly small number
48:29
of people, he said, though the outbreaks were similar in
48:31
size at the time of both interviews. This is not
48:34
something new. Two children have died of measles related complications,
48:38
and a third death has been linked to the infections.
48:40
So far this year. No one died in the twenty
48:43
nineteen outbreaks. Public health experts and former officials are bemoaning
48:48
the current lack of action, noting the clear difference between
48:51
the government's response then and now. With Robert F. Kennedy
48:54
Junior as Health and Human Services Secretary and increasing public
48:58
hesitancy over a vaccine, the centers for disease control and
49:02
prevention have been muzzled, messaging has been muddled, and public
49:05
health funding has been slashed. This response does an incredible
49:10
disservice to what public health could be in this country.
49:12
It would actually be difficult to even call it an
49:15
anemic response. At Peter Marx, who is the Food and
49:17
Drug Administration's top vaccine regulator until the Trump administration pushed
49:21
him out last month, Kennedy, who has a long history
49:24
of disparaging vaccines, initially underplayed the severity of the outbreak
49:28
and promoted unproven treatments while stressing that vaccination is a
49:32
personal choice. Kennedy has contended that he is simply seeking
49:36
good data about vaccines, and is said during his confirmation
49:39
hearing that he supports the measles vaccine. The Trump administration
49:43
has cut coronavirus pandemic funding to states, resulting in the
49:47
reductions to staff who are tackling outbreaks, and has often
49:50
not countered misinformation promoted by the anti vaccine nonprofit group
49:54
that Kennedy founded. In a typical measles response, the CDC
49:58
would hold multiple news briefings, issue more health advisories, and
50:02
release analysis of the measles cases and a forecast of
50:05
the outbreaks trajectory, according to Anne Schuchchad, a former top
50:10
CDC official. Instead, the CDC, which takes the lead on
50:13
outbreak responses, has not held a single briefing for experts,
50:17
for experts or reporters, nor has the agency received permission
50:21
to update clinicians about the outbreak. There has been no
50:25
concerted federal government push for vaccination comparable with the upport
50:28
in twenty nineteen. Decades of scientific research have proved there
50:33
is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, despite
50:36
previous claim from Kennedy, the anti vaccine group he founded,
50:39
and the anti vaccine movement that has been emboldened by
50:42
his new authority. Only after a second child died of
50:45
measles in Texas, and Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican of Louisiana,
50:50
leader of the Senate Health Committee, called on top health
50:52
official Sunday to promote vaccination. To Kennedy posts that the
50:56
most effective way to present to prevent the spread of
50:59
measles of the U S MMR vaccine. It's shocking that
51:02
it's in April when the Secretary of HHS finally acknowledged
51:06
that vaccines are the best way to prevent measles. Shutecott
51:09
said Texas reported its first case in late January. When
51:14
leaders are so confused or even malicious, it's really scary,
51:17
she said. The weaker the message to parents and clinicians,
51:20
the worse it's going to be, said Shutchod, who fought
51:24
several major disease outbreaks in her thirty three years at
51:26
the CDC. Secretary Kennedy has consistently and vocally endorsed vaccination
51:32
as the most effective tool against measles. White House spokesman
51:35
Cushed de Size said in an emailed statement. Under his leadership,
51:40
HSS has facilitated measles vaccinations and deployed CBC resources to
51:45
respond to the ongoing measles outbreak, He added, the Washington
51:48
Post opted to ignore the facts and cherrypick expert sources
51:52
to rate a partisan hit piece. HHS did not immediately
51:56
return a comment return a request for comment on the
51:59
differences and the government's approached to the measles outbreak in
52:02
twenty nineteen and twenty twenty five, the CDC has conducted
52:07
a forecast for this measle's outbreak, according to two federal
52:10
health officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for
52:12
fear of retaliation, it was sent to HHS officials for approval,
52:17
but it has not been publicly release. The official set
52:20
there are more than six hundred cases in the United States.
52:23
In additional cases in Mexico, the forecast suggests that one
52:26
will occur for two to three months, which spread from
52:29
the Mennonite community in Texas, the epicenter of the outbreak,
52:32
to the general population. The worst case scenario envisions unchecked
52:37
spread for six more months. As of Friday in Mexico
52:40
at one hundred and twenty six confirmed cases, almost all
52:43
in the state of Chihuahua, with no fatilities fatalities. Since
52:49
Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization,
52:52
the CDC is not able to talk directly to other countries,
52:55
delaying the flow of information to the U. S Public
52:57
Health Agency, According to federal health officials who spoke on
53:01
the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. As a
53:05
result of the pause on external communications imposed by HHS
53:09
in January, the CDC often has asked for permission to
53:13
update websites or join telephone calls, except for emergency and
53:17
outbreak responses. The CDC has deployed multiple teams to Texas
53:22
and has been updating its measles website every week. A
53:25
core group on the response has been working even while
53:27
twenty four hundred people at the agency were laid off
53:30
last week. Three staff members working on the measles outbreak
53:33
in Texas and New Mexico were among those who received
53:36
layoff notices, including one employee who was part of an
53:39
outreach team to under vaccinated communities. According to two staff
53:43
members who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear
53:46
of retaliation, the Faberal government also is plying back billions
53:50
of dollars in coronavirus funds that local and state health
53:52
departments were using to help address outage responses. Outbreak responses. Normally,
53:58
when a state invites the seat ABC's assistance, the agency
54:01
help state and local health officials identify clusters, speed up testing,
54:05
and pushed messaging out, said Andrew Pavia, a pediatric infectious
54:10
disease expert at the University of Utah. But their ability
54:13
to respond has been limited and their ability to get
54:15
the message out has been severely hampered. Pavious CDC has
54:21
been uncharacteristically quiet and slow to get out data, which
54:25
suggests that they are being restricted by political actors. In
54:28
twenty nineteen, then Health in Humans Services Secretary Alex Hazzar
54:33
set on Fox News that some communities have been the
54:35
subject of massed disinformation campaigns they need to get their
54:40
kids vaccinated. That stands in sharp contrast to what Kennedy
54:44
has said. He has claimed that the measles shot causes
54:47
deaths every year, touted lifetime protection against measles after an infection,
54:52
and directed the CDC to add language to its Measles
54:55
Care Guide guidance endorsing the new use of vitamin A,
54:58
which has been touted by anti vaccin activists as an
55:01
alternative to vaccination. Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbic texts which
55:06
has treated many of the children hospitalized with measles during
55:09
the outbreak, has reported patients with signs of vitamin A
55:12
toxicity after their parents reported using the nutrient for treatment
55:16
and prevention. Before those reports, Kennedy stated in an interview
55:20
that the toxicity issue is no longer an issue. The
55:23
current administration and RFK have created uncertainty and people are dying,
55:28
said north Of Sanders Saunders, executive director of the Safe
55:32
Communities Coalition, which advocates for vaccines. If we continue to
55:36
let misinformation shape policy, it's just going to get worse.
55:40
On Sunday, shortly after he called the MMR vaccine effective
55:43
in stopping the spread of measles, Kennedy posted photos with
55:46
the families of the two children who had died and
55:49
two doctors who have treated Meazel's patients using aerosolized buddhisonide,
55:54
a steroid treatment, and clarothromian, an antibiotic. The doctors, whom
55:59
Can Kennedy called extraordinary healers, are prominent critics of vaccines,
56:04
and the drugs Kennedy touted are not recommended measles treatments
56:07
and can be harmle infectious disease doctors say, my jaw
56:12
just dropped, and I said, Wow. Unbelievable that within the
56:14
span of just a few hours he speaks out of
56:16
both sides of his mouth, said Craig Spencer, an associate
56:20
professor of public health and emergency medicine at Brown University.
56:24
Ben Edwards, one of the doctors, has been critical of
56:27
measles vaccines and has spread debunct claims about shots leading
56:30
to autism. In an episode of his podcast, You're the Cure,
56:35
Edwards described the outbreak as God's version of Measle's immunization.
56:39
Everards did not return a request for comment. A handful
56:43
of GOP senators, such as Cassidy, have strongly supported the
56:46
need for vaccinations in this outbreak, but most have not
56:50
directly addressed the government response or Kennedy's role in it.
56:54
When asked last month on CNN whether he was comfortable
56:57
with the Health Secretary's Measle's response under James Langford, Republican
57:01
of Oklahoma, said to Kennedy's testimony when he went through
57:04
the confirmation process and said Kennedy has been clear on
57:07
his support of vaccines. Due to time constraints, we will
57:12
need to end that item at this time. This concludes
57:15
the reading of the Washington Post for today, April eighth.
57:18
Your reader for today has been Chris Greco. If you
57:22
have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please
57:26
feel free to call us at eight five nine four
57:28
two two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening,
57:31
and now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio
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